Volume One, Chapter Nineteen: The Three-Day Deadline, Uncanny Happenings Abound

Chapter Nineteen: Three Days of Strangeness

Leaving the Perilous Shore and the Heavenly King's Palace, Tu Zhe's return brought the Jin brothers immense joy.

Without a word of explanation, Tu Zhe rushed in, took the puppy straight into his arms, and placed the Nandimitra Sandalwood Pill in the dog's mouth, quietly waiting for it to awaken.

During this time, Jin Mu wanted to ask several times about what had happened after Tu Zhe was taken away, but seeing Tu Zhe's eyes never leaving the puppy, he had to suppress his curiosity.

After dozens of heartbeats, the puppy began breathing rapidly, its body trembling, chest and belly heaving like waves. Suddenly, it opened its mouth and spat out a mouthful of clotted blood. Tu Zhe grew anxious and turned to Jin Mu, asking, "Dad, is the puppy going to be alright?"

Jin Mu replied, "It'll be fine once the bad blood is out. This sandalwood pill is miraculous for healing, able to bring the dead back to life. Your uncle and I have never seen its like. Where did you get this pill?"

Tu Zhe waved him off, too preoccupied to explain, wiping away the blood from the puppy's lips with his sleeve, ignoring the large bloodstains on his own body.

The puppy now opened its eyes and asked weakly, "Rascal brother, which level of hell am I in now?"

Tu Zhe's eyes grew moist as he stroked the puppy's little head. "What nonsense is that? Your brother brought you a miracle pill. You're back among the living, you little rascal..."

At those words, the puppy sprang up, looked around, and cried out in its childish voice, "Wow! It's true! Poor dad, poor uncle, where's little Lei Lei?"

Tu Zhe also turned to look at Jin Mu and Jin Si.

Jin Mu stammered, unable to get the words out, so Jin Si said, "Oh, brother, you'll choke to death if you keep bottling things up. Let me explain. Little Lei and Shudra probably went to steal the sandalwood pill. With you gone, we didn't have any medicine left, and the puppy was dying... So little Lei, well, did what he had to..."

Tu Zhe grew frantic. "What? Little Lei went to steal a pill? Why didn't you stop him? If he gets caught, won't they beat him to death?"

Jin Si replied, "We didn't notice, and in a blink, they were gone..."

Tu Zhe immediately got up to leave. "No, I have to find them..."

The puppy cried, "Me too! They went to save me, I have to go too!" With a leap, it nestled itself in Tu Zhe's arms.

The Jin brothers exchanged glances. Jin Si bellowed, "What are you looking at? If the kids are gone, nothing else matters! If you won't go, I will..."

Meanwhile, in the Mani Treasury Heavenly King’s Hall, the young Heavenly King was receiving an unexpected visitor—the eldest son of Lord Indra, Indrakaya.

Indrakaya, all respectful courtesy and a guileless smile, spoke softly, "My father sent me to visit Uncle Mani Treasury, and to pass on a message. He requests your presence at the Hall of Virtue three days from now to observe the trial—and asks that you not bring along anything inappropriate..."

Mani Treasury gave a wry smile and casually tossed out a Sky-Shadow Crystal. "I won't be attending. Kindly tell your father that I have a cold and am unfit to travel for the next few days."

Indrakaya's eyes sparkled with amusement—scared, are you? If you were going to act this way, why did you record the images in the first place? You sly old fox.

Indrakaya took his leave, leaving the young Heavenly King Mani Treasury muttering to himself in the hall.

Within half a day, a dozen young heavenly kings, including Mani Treasury, handed over their Sky-Shadow Crystals, all asking the Ten Celestial Sons to excuse them from the assembly in three days. Their excuses were remarkably consistent—they all claimed to have colds.

Really? Since when can heavenly kings catch colds? Even the lowest celestial slaves wouldn't know what a cold is, let alone the lords of heaven.

So the strange atmosphere continued to spread atop Mount Sumeru.

Not far outside the Bhūtasiddhi Heavenly King's palace, Qin Lei hid in a mist of clouds, anxiously awaiting Shudra. Watching the hundreds of yakshas patrolling outside the palace, he had no idea how Shudra managed to sneak in.

Just as he was fretting, a breeze passed by, and Shudra’s voice whispered at his side, "Brother, let's go. I've got it..."

Qin Lei gaped in astonishment. That fast?

The two slipped away in haste, hidden by the clouds.

Within the Bhūtasiddhi Palace, the Heavenly King opened his eyes from meditation, gazing with amusement in the direction the two had fled. He sighed and muttered, "You two bumbling thieves think you could steal my pills? If I hadn’t let you, you’d never have succeeded. I can’t just lend them to you openly, but stealing... well, that’s another matter..."

The strangeness continued to spread across Mount Sumeru.

In the Hall of the Celestial Consort, Indra, Lord of Heaven, stood gazing longingly at the back of Consort Delight. She leaned on the balustrade, her graceful silhouette inflaming Indra’s desire. Alas, she never favored him, refusing to submit to his advances.

There was nothing he could do. After all, his main wife held her place, and outside the palace, beauties abounded. Though Consort Delight was strikingly beautiful, the endless trysts with celestial maidens were a pleasure of their own.

Any other consort would have been banished to the cold palace, but Consort Delight was different. Not only did her famed beauty bring him prestige, but her unruly father, the Asura King Rahu, was not one to let his daughter suffer. If not for the Nation-Guardian Dharani, he might not have survived that battle years ago. He dared not provoke Rahu again.

Still, if he couldn’t strike her, he could at least taunt her.

So Indra sneered, "Consort, I’m just reminding you—open your mind, recognize the situation. Don’t say what shouldn’t be said, don’t do what shouldn’t be done. Don’t always look at me with jealousy in your eyes; the fumes will cloud your judgment, won’t they?"

Consort Delight turned to him with a cold laugh, "Liberate myself? You’re already as liberated as a brothel-goer—do you want me to become a whore too? You may leave. What I do and say is none of your concern. If you have the guts, divorce me and send me back to my father in Mahabodhi City. Let’s be done with each other."

Indra replied menacingly, "Don’t dream of it. Alive, you’re mine; dead, you’re my ghost. Don’t think I don’t know you helped that brat Tu Zhe. What’s your game?"

Consort Delight replied scornfully, "Do I owe you an explanation? I do what I please; it’s none of your business. Leave now, or you’ll make me sick..."

Indra stared at her for a long moment; she met his gaze, unflinching.

With a sharp gesture, he snapped, "Do as you will!"

With a disdainful snort, she turned back to the scenery outside.

Indra swept out of the hall.

Meanwhile, Huluzhina fiddled with a handful of Sky-Shadow Crystals, his face dark. Damn it—so many young heavenly kings recorded those images? They dare to cross me?

Second brother Quboga drawled, "Eighth brother, you’re the clever one. If this were up to me, I’d be scared stiff. But you? I’m sure you’ll find a way to deal with those old foxes. We’ll all be watching."

Huluzhina flared, "What’s that supposed to mean? Are you mocking me or hoping for chaos?"

Quboga laughed, "What could I do? Chaos or not isn’t up to me—but maybe it’s up to you..."

"You—"

Eldest brother Indrakaya said, "Enough. We’re brothers, not enemies. What’s with the bickering? If you want to be Lord of Heaven, fine. But your big brother isn’t dead yet, is he? If you’ve got the guts, see who can kill me first! What nonsense. I’m out of here."

As the brothers dispersed, Huluzhina gnashed his teeth. "Alright, you old bastards, there’s plenty of time. I’ll play you to death, just you wait..."

Tu Zhe flew through the sky with the puppy in his arms, anxious. "Hey, my dear dog, how far can you see? Who knows where those two have gone?"

The puppy replied in its childish voice, "Very far—I don’t know how far, just very, very far. Let me take a look..."

The puppy sent its spiritual sense far and wide, then suddenly said, "Over there, over there—they’re coming back!"

Tu Zhe asked urgently, "Where? I don’t see them."

The puppy replied, "Of course you can’t—they’re still tens of thousands of yojanas away."

The Jin brothers following behind exchanged looks. What kind of puppy was this? A spiritual sense that could reach tens of thousands of yojanas—most young heavenly kings could only reach ten thousand at best. Was this really a dog?

Tu Zhe was exasperated. "Then hurry, let’s go catch up before they get caught!"

The puppy replied, "No worries, I see they’re heading back. Let’s just wait for them on their way—how about that?"

Tu Zhe hesitated, "If we go to meet them, with your powers, it shouldn’t take long, right?"

The puppy blinked its bright eyes. "But I just recovered, didn’t I?"

Tu Zhe, feeling guilty, hugged the puppy tighter.

He’d been so anxious he’d forgotten all about that. "Alright, we’ll wait..."

The Jin brothers said, "Let’s go meet them. You two wait here, in case those two make a detour and end up robbing someone else..." After asking for the direction Qin Lei and Shudra were returning from, they sped off on clouds.

And then began the puppy and Tu Zhe’s lively conversation.

"Rascal brother, who gave you the Nandimitra Sandalwood Pill that saved me?"

"Well... originally, I wasn’t supposed to say, but you’re my dearest, so I can’t hide it from you."

"So who was it?"

"Well, you know there’s that number one beauty of the Three Realms—"

"Oh wow! The number one beauty gave it to you? Rascal brother, I really admire you! Was it Consort Delight? I’ve heard all about her—she’s my idol! Rascal brother, can you see the little stars in my eyes?"

"Hiss—my dear dog, don’t pinch me! I’m fragile!"

"Rascal brother, did the number one beauty give you anything else? Why do you smell different—like you’re wearing a fragrance you never had before?"

"It’s a space treasure, a Panduriva Flower artifact—there’s loads of room inside—could you please pinch more gently..."

"Oh, so—do you think Consort Delight is really, really beautiful?"

"Well, you see, she’s sworn siblings with me now, so from now on we’re all family, right?"

"Oh, so if you wanted to court her, that’d be... well, incest?"

Tu Zhe was left with black lines all over his face.

By the time the Jin brothers returned with Qin Lei and Shudra, Tu Zhe’s chest was covered with bruises from the puppy’s pinching.

Back at the Perilous Shore Heavenly King’s Palace, Tu Zhe looked coldly at Qin Lei. "Tell me, am I your big brother or not?"

Qin Lei was stunned—what was this about? He’d just risked his life to steal the sandalwood pill. Shudra was also baffled.

Tu Zhe turned to Shudra. "And you, do you realize how dangerous that was? You two have guts, stealing a pill from the Bhūtasiddhi King’s Palace. Should I be grateful? If anything happened to you, what would I do—go throw my life away again?"

Qin Lei and Shudra hung their heads in silence.

Tu Zhe grinned and punched them each. "Next time, use your heads. Dammit, my brothers aren’t so easily lost!"

That evening, shocking news spread: the Myriad Artisan Treasure Pavilion’s wards had been broken, and numerous treasures stolen. Master Myriad Artisan was beside himself with rage.

Tu Zhe stared at the ceiling for a long time, muttering, "What a feat. Damn—will they silence the witnesses now?"