The Investiture: Unlimited Blade Works Nezha
Chapter 71: The Dog Head Playing with Gu Worms

Chapter 71: Chapter 71: The Dog Head Playing with Gu Worms

The overwhelming insect swarm instantly engulfed Yu Yuan and Yu Hua. Yu Yuan immediately performed a mudra, forming a gigantic Samadhi Fire shield to protect them, but the swarm was crazed and fearless, continually charging into the shield.

In an instant, the two were entirely enveloped by the swarm. Yu Yuan’s robust flesh allowed him to persevere, but Yu Hua let out a tragic cry: "Master, save me! Wuwuwuwu!"

Yu Yuan promptly unleashed his Shangqing mana at full strength, sending a massive ring of fire surging outward. When he looked towards his disciple’s position, Yu Hua had already been devoured by the insects, leaving not even a trace behind.

Though Yu Yuan wasn’t deeply attached to Yu Hua, there was still some sentiment, and he roared furiously, channeling his power to the limit. Suddenly, a monstrous entity surged out of the swarm like a cannonball, slamming into Yu Yuan. The creature’s beetle-like mandibles latched onto Yu Yuan’s body, emitting a chilling crunching sound.

Yu Yuan summoned his strength and hurled the creature aside. As the monster chewed Yu Yuan’s flesh, a sound like metal scraping echoed from its throat: "Nephew Yu Yuan, long time no see, ha-ha-ha!"

Yu Yuan clutched his wound, his face aghast: "You... you are?"

"I’m your Uncle Lü Yue, ha-ha-ha!"

"Lü Yue, didn’t you already—?"

"I’ve been reborn! Ha-ha-ha!"

With that, he said no more. The dense swarm of insects once again engulfed Yu Yuan. Though Yu Yuan’s physical body was formidable, impervious to the insects’ bites, they began burrowing into his body through his eyes, ears, mouth, and nose.

Yu Yuan was equally ruthless. He condensed a blazing fire spark within himself, swallowing it in one swift movement. The fire spark erupted inside his body, sweeping through with horrifying heat, instantly killing the insects burrowing inside.

However, Yu Yuan was severely injured as well. Without hesitation, he tore open his arms, letting his molten-like blood spill out to forcefully carve a path for survival.

Then he charged out, grabbing Huang Feihu and several others as they fled.

Huang Feihu’s army suffered devastating losses. The only fortunate news was that the swarm seemed inexplicably restricted and didn’t continue their pursuit.

The group hastily returned to Xinye and conveyed the news to Nanchang.

This battle marked the greatest loss for Nantang since its establishment.

Nantang urgently convened a council, but they genuinely had no viable solutions.

Half a month later, the insect-human army arrived at Xinye City’s gates. The silver lining was that they didn’t know how to use tools.

Deng Chanyu looked down at the insect-humans, who bore various insect appendages. Instinctively, she felt a mix of revulsion and terror.

Meanwhile, deep beneath the Blood Sea, within the Mountain and River Map where Nezha was cultivating, a massive red exclamation mark suddenly appeared in his mind.

Nezha instantly grasped his teacher’s intention. Exiting the Mountain and River Map, he called out, "Yan Zhi Fairy, bring me out!"

A flash of red light, and the red-robed Blood God’s daughter, Yan Zhi, appeared.

"Yan Zhi Fairy, please take me out of the Blood Sea."

"Oh? Don’t you want to visit that little Rashamon girl? She keeps thinking about you every day."

"No need. I have urgent matters. Please pass on my regards to her instead."

Nezha departed the Blood Sea and quickly traversed Ghost Gate, arriving at Xinye, where he met Deng Chanyu.

Deng Chanyu was delighted to see Nezha but knew this wasn’t the time for idle chatter. She first took him to see the gravely injured Yu Yuan.

When Nezha saw Yu Yuan, his skin had turned a fiery red, and a chunk of flesh at his chest seemed to have been ripped away, leaving a grisly wound.

Upon seeing Nezha, Yu Yuan struggled to sit upright. Nezha quickly reassured him and handed him an 8,000-year-old Peach. The Peach, attributed to Ren Water, was highly suitable for Yu Yuan’s current condition.

Understanding its value, Yu Yuan was deeply moved and consumed it whole, even swallowing the peach kernel.

After meditating for a while, the redness in his skin subsided, and his condition improved significantly. Together with Huang Feihu and others, he explained to Nezha the entire sequence of events.

After hearing their account, Nezha’s expression turned grim. The mention of the Ten Thousand Mountains alone spelled trouble, not to mention a Beast God emerging—a situation where even borrowing the Slaying Immortal Sword might not suffice.

And insect-humans? That didn’t sound much better.

"Why don’t you ask the teacher about this?"

Nuwa eventually replied, "Have you heard of Pan Hu?"

Nezha had never encountered Pan Hu in the Primordial Era, but he did recall some mention in his past life: "Is that the dog-headed man?"

Nuwa was surprised that Nezha had heard of Pan Hu and explained, "Indeed, a dog-headed figure. Pan Hu Ancestor belongs to the first generation of beings after Heavenly Creation. He never attended Daoist Ancestor’s three lectures. His Great Dao differs from that of Primordial beings; it’s the Dao of Gu. He’s been hidden away, cultivating in the Primordial world all this time. I have no idea why he’s acting now."

Fearing Nezha might not understand Gu worms, Nuwa elaborated: "Gu refers to the practice of letting thousands of insects battle and consume one another, with the surviving king of insects becoming the Gu."

Nezha wasn’t sure whether this was good or bad news.

Good news: Pan Hu is spell-casting oriented. If he’d been ramping up physical power since Heavenly Creation, even Nezha’s Daoist Ancestor grandfather couldn’t withstand his pickaxe.

Bad news: His path is rooted in the Gu Dao, and Nezha dreaded the possibility of Pan Hu conjuring something like parasitic cicadas or ’Ten-Thousand-Me’ Gu. Add an opening monologue poem to set the mood, and it’d be game over.

The latest development: Lü Yue was still alive.

While shocking, it paled compared to the threat posed by Pan Hu Ancestor. Based on Yu Yuan’s description, Nezha suspected Lü Yue had been refined into a Gu King by Pan Hu Ancestor.

Nezha’s suspicions were spot-on. Lü Yue’s physical body had been destroyed by Nezha; his Divine Soul clung onto an old poison insect he had cultivated, escaping death. Eventually, he was inexplicably drawn to a dog-headed figure exuding thick black aura.

Pan Hu cast Lü Yue into a jar housing countless poison insects to raise Gu.

The brutal process defied description, but Lü Yue’s Golden Immortal foundation enabled him to slaughter all the insects and achieve evolution.

Thus, he became the current Gu King, Lü Yue.

Nezha was no longer a clueless rookie. After the Nether River incident, he had a rough understanding of his Daoist Ancestor grandfather’s intentions.

But now, being tasked to confront Pan Hu Ancestor, whose cultivation rivaled that of a Second Corpse Quasi-Saint—seriously?

"Grandfather, you’re putting far too much faith in me!"

After meticulous consideration of the situation, Nezha grasped one key notion: this mission required allies.

And where better to find allies than the Jie Sect?

Not long ago, Tongtian had shielded Lü Yue, only for Lü Yue to betray the sect, even killing Jie Sect’s fourth-generation direct disciple, Yu Hua. This was an outright slap in Jie Sect’s face!

The Saint’s dignity was paramount—trivializing it wasn’t an option. Dare to utter even one insult against a Saint in front of their disciple, and you’d be courting death.

Nezha glanced at the recovering Yu Yuan and said, "The matter of Lü Yue concerns internal politics within the Jie Sect. How about visiting Saint Tongtian, my teacher’s brother?"

Yu Yuan, having endured such calamity, knew he couldn’t resolve the issue himself. Lü Yue was but a pawn, yet he had severely injured Yu Yuan’s Taoist Body, leaving him in this state—how could a mere Heavenly Immortal like Nezha handle him?

Wait—

Nezha’s a Heavenly Immortal now?