When Nezha received Taiyi's message, he was crouching beside a dried-up ditch outside Chaoge, washing the wound on his leg.
The Message Jade Talisman trembled three times in his robes. He took it out and pressed it to his ear. Taiyi's voice squeezed through from the other end, pitched extremely low, as if he were afraid of being overheard. "Ling Zhuzi, Golden Light Cave. Return at once. There's news from Bai Yan—those on the Investiture of the Gods List can be deified in the flesh. The living can go on it too."
Nezha clenched the jade talisman in his palm, his knuckles tightening until they turned white.
Deified in the flesh. The living could go on it too.
He stuffed the jade talisman back into his robes and stood. The gash on the outside of his left leg, cut open by the tip of a spear, pulled sharply. He bent slightly at the waist, but forced back any sound, then strode toward camp.
After night fell, he slipped into nine tents one by one. The first was Lei Zhenzi's. The man was sprawled flat on his back, snoring loudly enough to shake the heavens. Nezha poured a small vial of colorless, odorless medicine down his throat. Lei Zhenzi's snores cut off abruptly, and his whole body went limp, as if his bones had been drawn out. The second was Yang Jian. His alertness was high; the moment Nezha lifted the tent flap, he opened his eyes. Nezha showed him a vial of medicine and gave it a shake. Yang Jian looked at him for two breaths, then closed his eyes again and opened his mouth to take the medicine.
The third, the fourth, the fifth... seventeen people in total. Nezha dosed them one by one, his movements growing faster and