(PS: The next two chapters contain a great deal of worldbuilding and were extremely difficult to write, but all of these settings will be necessary for the book's future—they are absolutely not filler. The second chapter is still being polished. Once these chapters are done, the fifth arc will officially begin!)
Lu Chen's heart churned with waves.
"Not inferior to the Plague-Wielding Young Lord? The Plague-Wielding Young Lord is a guardian deity of the Plague Department..."
Lord God of Wealth chuckled. "Now that the Seven-Treasure Exquisite Pagoda obeys your command, and the Pagoda-Bearing Heavenly King is so eager to mend relations with you, what does the divine office of a mere guardian deity amount to?"
After a slight pause, he could not help asking, "By the way, worthy brother, now that you have refined the Exquisite Pagoda, can you not use the pagoda's divine power of suppression?"
Lu Chen shook his head. "Perhaps the Pagoda-Bearing Heavenly King's divine soul has long been bound to the Exquisite Pagoda. Though I can control the pagoda, I cannot use its other divine abilities. Even while inside the pagoda, I cannot suppress those great fiends and demons... Frankly, it is rather like a chicken rib."
Lord God of Wealth burst into laughter. "A chicken rib? That is not right, worthy brother. Since ancient times, this precious pagoda has obeyed only the Pagoda-Bearing Heavenly King. Now that you can control it, that alone is worth more than a thousand armies."
He suddenly lowered his voice. "You must know that the Pagoda-Bearing Heavenly King's third son, Nezha, the Great God of the Three Altars and Sea Assembly, has always taken the pagoda as his father. The reason the Pagoda-Bearing Heavenly King is so anxious over the Exquisite Pagoda is, in the end, because he fears