After Ao Tu had met Yuanshi Tianzun, Great Immortal Zhenyuan, and Old Mother Lishan, he headed to the Heavenly Realm.
Meanwhile, on Green Cloud Mountain.
After Ao Tu left, Heavenly King Li and the Bull Demon King's forces faced one another for a time.
Mahamayuri Bodhisattva still had not returned.
Heavenly King Li could not help growing uneasy.
Given the Demon Dragon's condition when he fled, Mahamayuri Bodhisattva should have captured him and brought him back very quickly. Yet so much time had passed without his return that something had most likely gone wrong.
The two armies continued their standoff. After waiting a while longer, Heavenly King Li grew still more afraid, worried that the Demon Dragon might return before Mahamayuri Bodhisattva did, and ordered his troops to withdraw for the time being.
Several more days passed, but there was still no sign of Mahamayuri Bodhisattva.
Heavenly King Li's heart gradually sank.
Mahamayuri Bodhisattva's failure to return naturally meant there was a very strong chance something unexpected had happened. The Demon Dragon might already have returned and could even be recovering in Banana Cave right now.
Heavenly King Li therefore summoned Erlang and asked him to scout the Demon Cave for information.
Before long, Erlang returned and reported that he had not seen the Demon Dragon.
Hearing this, Heavenly King Li felt even less certain what to do.
If the Demon Dragon had not returned, why had Mahamayuri Bodhisattva not returned either?
Could something else have happened to the two of them out there?
Or was this the Demon Dragon's trick, deliberately hiding to lure him into deploying his troops?
Holding his military treatise, Heavenly King Li leafed back and forth through its discussions of feints and realities. In the end, he dared not act rashly and only sent men