The sound of the tides in the East Sea was like a sob. Nezha walked upon the waves, the Universal Heaven Ribbon trailing behind him, casting a glow that spanned a hundred miles. The moment his Wind and Fire Wheels crushed the crest of a wave, scarlet blood began to seep from the reefs of the former Chentang Pass. At the very spot where he had taken his own life five hundred years ago, the sea waters spiraled into a vortex, and within its center, a nine-petaled blood lotus slowly bloomed.
"This is..." Nezha steadied his agitated Universe Ring and pried open the lotus petals with his Fire-Tip Spear. The scene revealed within the stamen shattered his spirit—Li Jing, standing atop the Exquisite Pagoda, was driving soul-suppressing nails engraved with dragon patterns into the brows of children. The faces were all too familiar; they were the infants who had starved to death during the great drought at Chentang Pass!
The Red Lotus Karmic Fire suddenly spiraled out of control, and Nezha’s three-headed, eight-armed manifestation appeared against his will. His left face, a demonic visage, bared its fangs and roared, shattering the reef for ten zhang: "Li Jing, you old villain!" His right face, a spiritual visage, whispered in tears: "Father..." His central, true face had eyes burning red. With a hum, the Universe Ring smashed through the illusion, revealing the horrifying truth at the bottom of the blood pool: eight hundred child souls, their crowns pierced by golden threads, were being funneled along the undersea currents toward the Dragon Palace of the East Sea.
The Universal Heaven Ribbon spontaneously coiled around one of the child souls. As the fabric soaked in the bloody light, water-patterned, secret text emerged: *Deep of the East Sea, All Spirits as Sacrifice.* Nezha recognized the handwriting—it was the delicate, floral script his mother, Madam Yin, had used when teaching him to read! On the eve of his suicide all those years ago, his mother had embroidered the very same patterns into the lining of the Universal Heaven Ribbon.
"Mother..." A metallic tang rose in the young god’s throat, and the Red Lotus Karmic Fire grew wildly in the depths of his pupils. The Wind and Fire Wheels ground across the sea surface, plummeting into the abyss; wherever they passed, the seawater turned to blood mist. Thirty thousand zhang beneath the sea, the trench carved by the Ruyi Jingu Bang gaped like a hideous wound. One hundred thousand child souls were pinned to blood-red coral, the soul-suppressing nails in their chests radiating the familiar, precious glow of the Exquisite Pagoda.
Li Jing’s cold laughter echoed from the void: "Rebellious son, do you dare commit patricide?" The Exquisite Pagoda descended with a crash; the chains hanging from its base held the tattered soul of Madam Yin. Around the ghost’s neck was a soul-binding ring—it was the very Longevity Lock his mother had crafted for him with her own hands on his first birthday!
"Li! Jing!" Nezha’s bones cracked and popped as his Samadhi True Fire turned a ghostly blue. The Fire-Tip Spear channeled a lightning storm from the nine heavens, but it was repelled the moment it touched the Exquisite Pagoda. The tower shimmered with the phantoms of three hundred and sixty-five divine generals, all of whom held positions on the Investiture of the Gods. Huang Tianhua, Lei Zhenzi... the souls of his former comrades had been refined into puppets within the tower!
Sun Wukong’s playful voice pierced the water curtain: "Little one, this fire of yours isn't burning quite fast enough!" The Ruyi Jingu Bang suddenly thrust up from the seabed; the King Yu inscriptions on the staff resonated with the Universal Heaven Ribbon. The golden threads binding the child souls snapped, inch by inch, transforming into a sky full of golden butterflies that swarmed toward the Exquisite Pagoda. Every butterfly wing reflected scenes of Nezha as a child flying kites with his parents.
Li Jing finally revealed his true form, the Heavenly Eye on his forehead identical to Yang Jian’s: "Did you truly think the Universe Ring was a gift from Taiyi?" He tore open his immortal armor, and the Spirit Pearl Fragment embedded in his heart surged with green light—it was the very piece of soul that had been missing from Nezha! When Taiyi Zhenren had used lotus flowers to reshape his body five hundred years ago, a petal had been missing from the heart of the lotus—the very soul-strand that his own flesh and blood had stripped away. The Red Lotus Karmic Fire bloomed completely, and nine fire dragons soared from the seabed, scorching the Exquisite Pagoda until it glowed red-hot.
"Mother, I have come to take you home..." Nezha tore the soul-binding ring apart with his bare hands, and Madam Yin’s tattered soul dissolved into light, tucking itself into his embrace. The Universal Heaven Ribbon surged three thousand miles, binding the twelve dragon-coiled pillars. The talismans on the pillars, inscribed with "Mandated by Heaven," twisted in the Karmic Fire, rearranging themselves into the blood-red proclamation: "Defy Heaven, Change Fate."
A dragon’s roar echoed from the deep. Ao Guang’s ten-thousand-zhang dragon body rose from the Guixu. The half-piece of Empress Nüwa stone gripped in his dragon claw resonated with the Mending the Heavens mark on Sun Wukong’s Ruyi Jingu Bang. Yang Jian’s Three-pointed Double-edged Blade suddenly cleaved the void; the blade’s light revealed the true face of the original Investiture of the Gods—the jade scroll floating at the dome of the Dragon Palace was feeding on the essence of Yaoji!
"So that is how it is..." Nezha condensed the hundred thousand child souls into a sword of Karmic Fire; the faces of the people of Chentang Pass appeared on the blade. This strike would pierce not only Li Jing’s armor but also five hundred years of twisted father-son karma. As the Exquisite Pagoda shattered, the fragments of the Investiture of the Gods falling from its base revealed a chilling truth: beneath Li Jing’s divine title were inscribed four blood-red words: "Slaughtered Wife to Attain Dao!"
Sun Wukong thrust his staff through the ley lines of the Dragon Palace, his wild laughter shattering the coral for a hundred miles: "What a fine 'Orthodox God of the Heavenly Court' you are!" The Ruyi Jingu Bang multiplied into the thousands, each shadow of the staff engraved with the names of the monkey tribe of Flower-Fruit Mountain. The Universal Heaven Ribbon spontaneously wrapped itself around the staff, the blood-written words of Madam Yin merging with the essence-blood of the monkey tribe, condensing eight thunderous characters in the air: "No Father, No Heaven, Let It All Burn!"
The eye of the Guixu on the seabed suddenly opened, reflecting the image of Yang Jian cleaving the mountain to save his mother. The divine light from the Judicial True Lord’s Heavenly Eye pierced through the Thirty-Three Heavens, illuminating the truth: the crown of the Jade Emperor in the Lingxiao Palace was set with the souls of the loved ones of all who had dared to resist!