As Zhao Xuan's words fell, the Pagoda's silhouette on the Golden Ao Three Steles slowly grew clearer.
It was a seven-story golden Pagoda.
Though the Pagoda had yet to take physical form, it already carried the intent to suppress.
A line of old text hung beneath the Pagoda's base.
[Li Jing receives the Pagoda and suppresses Nezha.]
Inside the General's Mansion at Chentang Pass, Nezha's expression changed abruptly.
Li Jing saw that line as well.
He gripped the General's Seal, the veins on the back of his hand slowly standing taut.
Lady Yin instinctively pulled Nezha behind her.
Nezha did not hide.
He watched the Pagoda's silhouette cast down by the Three Steles and said quietly:
"Is this the Pagoda prepared for my father?"
Zhao Xuan looked toward Chentang Pass.
"Yes."
"In the old list, after father and son turned against each other, this Pagoda would fall into Li Jing's hands."
"From then on, you were no longer Li Jing's son."
"You were the one held beneath the Pagoda."
Silence settled over the General's Mansion at Chentang Pass.
Li Jing stared at the Pagoda, his face livid.
He had already rejected that subsequent decree about entering the Heavenly Court by suppressing his son.
But now, the Three Steles had truly revealed the Pagoda's silhouette.
That meant that along the old path, the Pagoda had been waiting for him all along.
Waiting for Nezha to rebel against his father.
Waiting for him to receive the Pagoda.
Waiting until nothing remained between father and son but suppression.
Nezha looked at Li Jing.
"Father, will you accept it?"
Li Jing did not answer immediately.
He stared at the Pagoda's silhouette, truly understanding for the first time what he had been written to become.
In the old list, he was not merely