Old Ginger Is Spicier

"But after searching for so long, I still couldn't find it, so I gave up and came back."

"Father, this is everything that happened during my two breakthroughs in strength today. There's nothing wrong with it at all, Father. If there's nothing else, I'll be going now."

Nezha combined the truth of some of his experiences with his own fabrications to weave a lie, attempting to deceive Pagoda-Bearing Heavenly King Li Jing. After telling him this, Nezha tried to leave as quickly as possible.

"My son!"

Just as Nezha had stepped out of the tent, Pagoda-Bearing Heavenly King Li Jing, suddenly called out to him.

"Yes, is there something you need, Father?"

Nezha stopped in his tracks, turned around, and asked Pagoda-Bearing Heavenly King Li Jing, with a beaming smile, what he wanted to do?

Do you think your father is an idiot?

Pagoda-Bearing Heavenly King Li Jing, asked Nezha through gritted teeth.

"How could I do this, Father? You have to believe me. In my heart, you've always been the person I admire most."

Upon hearing Pagoda-Bearing Heavenly King Li Jing's words, Nezha immediately denied them, stating that Li Jing was still the person he revered most.

"Nezha, you really can't lie, you know that?"

Do you know why that demon monkey didn't kill the Giant Spirit God?

Li Jing asked Nezha these two questions.

"How could I...?"

Nezha was about to speak in rebuttal when Li Jing interrupted him with a flick of his wrist.

"You won't lie. This has always been the case since childhood. Just like when you killed the third prince of the Dragon King of the East Sea, if you hadn't acted hastily back then, and instead let the third Dragon King of the East Sea attack you first, and then retaliated, even if you had annihilated his soul, you would still be in the right."

"And what happened? You not only killed the third prince of the Dragon King of the East Sea, but you also pulled out his dragon tendons and played with them like a rope. I asked you if you killed the third prince of the Dragon King of the East Sea, and while you were playing with the dragon tendons in your hand, you told me you didn't kill the third prince of the Dragon King of the East Sea."

Pagoda-Bearing Heavenly King Li Jing, first used the fact that Nezha killed the Third Prince of the Dragon King of the East Sea when Nezha was a child and then lied as evidence to prove that Nezha really couldn't lie.

"This is your lying skill, and after all these years, you haven't improved at all."

Then Pagoda-Bearing Heavenly King Li Jing, added a comment, giving Nezha a disdainful look.

"The real reason why the demon monkey didn't kill the Giant Spirit God wasn't because he couldn't kill him, nor because the Giant Spirit God ran too fast, but because the demon monkey simply didn't want to kill him. He wanted the Giant Spirit God to come back and deliver a message. To put it bluntly, the Giant Spirit God was our vanguard, and in reality, he was an envoy between our army and Sun Wukong."

"As the saying goes, 'In war, one should not kill the messenger.' This monkey demon must have known this principle, so after teaching the foul-mouthed Giant Spirit God a lesson, he released him."

"And you probably remember what he said when he brought the Giant Spirit God back: he would be there waiting for us to come and fight him. But this time it's a formal war, so he won't show any mercy. Anyone who tries to capture him will be killed one by one."

"Therefore, starting from the time of the Giant Spirit God, whoever goes there, even if they are defeated and cannot defeat him, will be wiped out completely, and he will never leave any survivors to bring back."

Do you understand what I'm trying to say?

After Pagoda-Bearing Heavenly King Li Jing, finished speaking, he paused and asked Nezha if he had understood the meaning behind his words.

"Um, this, that, I..."

When Pagoda-Bearing Heavenly King Li Jing, who was speaking to him, suddenly stopped and asked him if he had understood what he meant, Nezha was completely dumbfounded. When Pagoda-Bearing Heavenly King Li Jing spoke, Nezha knew that he was about to be subjected to a long and rambling lecture.

So he didn't take Pagoda-Bearing Heavenly King Li Jing's words to heart at all, and started to have all sorts of wild thoughts, his mind wandering off into the distance.

Nezha only heard Pagoda-Bearing Heavenly King Li Jing, say, "The reason that the monkey demon didn't kill the Giant Spirit God isn't because he couldn't kill him." After that, Nezha's thoughts completely drifted away.

Based on Nezha's experience over the years, whenever Pagoda-Bearing Heavenly King Li Jing, wanted to launch into a long lecture, it would take at least half an hour. So, although Nezha's body was there, his spirit had long since wandered off somewhere else.

So when Pagoda-Bearing Heavenly King Li Jing, suddenly stopped and asked him a question, Nezha didn't even realize what he was asking and could only stammer out a few words.

"Sigh, judging from your expression, I knew you weren't listening to me. Now listen carefully, and I'll tell you the whole story."

Seeing Nezha's behavior, Pagoda-Bearing Heavenly King Li Jing, could only sigh helplessly. He had three sons in total, but he felt most indebted to this youngest son.

Back then, his youngest son, in Chentang Pass, rid the people of a scourge by killing the third prince of the Dragon King of the East Sea. As a result, the East Sea Dragon King followed the clues and found him. At that time, he was not yet the Pagoda-Bearing Heavenly King, and the Dragon King of the East Sea came to his door to threaten him.

If he did not hand over his third son, Nezha, the Dragon King of the East Sea would unleash a great flood, turning Chentang Pass into a vast swamp and turning hundreds of thousands of people in Chentang Pass into water ghosts. The Dragon King of the East Sea spoke these words with great determination.

Because the Dragon King of the East Sea had lost his son, he didn't care about anything anymore. So it was very likely that his statement about flooding Chentang Pass was true. However, Li Jing was the governor of Chentang Pass at the time.

For the sake of the hundreds of thousands of people in Chentang Pass, he was willing to give his life to the Dragon King of the East Sea to pay tribute to his son. However, the Dragon King of the East Sea refused and only wanted Nezha's life. Li Jing could only endure the excruciating pain in his heart and hand over his most beloved youngest son.

At the moment Nezha was killed by the Dragon King of the East Sea, no one could know how much pain he was in. Fortunately, True Person Taiyi intervened in Nezha to save him.

Although Nezha harbored resentment and hatred towards him after Nezha return, Li Jing didn't care at all. As long as his beloved youngest son was back, that was enough. No matter how much Nezha hated him, so what? He could still see him.

Fortunately, after settling the matter with the Dragon King of the East Sea, and with the mediation of Nezha's master Golden Person Taiyi, the relationship between the father and son finally improved considerably. Although there were still some minor rifts, they were no longer a serious problem.