Claiming the Throne of Gods, Starting from the Rebirth of Nezha
Chapter 204 Old Affairs of the Past

Chapter 204: Chapter 204 Old Affairs of the Past

Despite having joined the Chan Sect for just a few decades, Shen Gongbao’s reputation within was by no means small.

A few decades, for cultivators with achievements in cultivation, is but a mere flick of the fingers.

Yet, in this brief period, he reached the Golden Immortal Realm, leaving countless senior brothers who joined before him far behind.

He was a genius.

This point, even those in the sect who had long been famous had to admit; even the Heavenly Venerate himself often praised him for his intelligence during his sermons.

He escaped from the battle, now reduced to nothing but a head.

Below the skin of his neck, four new hands grew, and with those twenty fingers, he scuttled forward on the ground like a centipede.

His physical body had been nearly completely destroyed, and his Primordial Spirit also sustained some damage.

But that didn’t matter.

He was still alive.

Only in this state, there was no chance for him to escape from the Eight Hundred Miles of Pine Forest.

Not to mention confronting the God-slaying Worm, even if he encountered an eagle, it could easily carry him back to its nest and peck him clean.

He might as well take a gamble and follow the Netherworld River upstream, in search of the source of the Ten Thousand Yellow Springs!

That was his very purpose.

As long as the Primordial Spirit is condensed, what’s a physical body? He could simply seize another one.

He scuttled rapidly across the Chaotic Stone Beach, fingers too short, occasionally stumbling, and when he reached a downhill, he would start rolling on the ground like a ball.

Amidst the tumbling, the image of a woman surfaced in his mind.

Shen Gongbao couldn’t help but laugh, but this smile on his face, if seen by the faint-hearted, would likely scare them out of their wits.

This woman was Shen Gongbao’s mother.

She had died sixty years ago.

In the Chan Sect, Shen Gongbao was undoubtedly a glorious genius, but sixty years ago, before he was taken as a disciple by Yuanshi Tianzun, he was just a snot-nosed kid chopping firewood in a secluded mountain village.

He had a father.

But might as well have not had one.

This father, he drank, gambled, racked up a heap of debt, never took care of business, and the only ’physical work’ he knew how to do was beat people.

Beat him.

Beat his mother.

Since Shen Gongbao could remember, his mother had always been in ill health, bedridden year-round.

The village doctor prescribed a remedy; of course, his family couldn’t afford the medicine, but thankfully the required herbs could be found in the mountains. So the young Shen Gongbao would often carry a bamboo basket on his scrawny back and head into the mountains to gather herbs under his mother’s worried gaze.

After gathering herbs, he would prepare the medicine; while simmering the medicine, he could also chop wood, cook meals, and deliver the chopped wood to the landlord’s house, then on the way back, the simmered medicine would be just right and wouldn’t burn.

Because he had calculated it all.

"Everything is according to plan."

Little Shen Gongbao would sit by the bed and look up as his mother drank the medicine, his face filled with sincere joy.

Yet, immersed in his memories, Shen Gongbao still found it strange.

This time, what he saw was not the weak but loving gaze of his mother from his memories, but rather his little self squatting by the bed.

"Such a good boy. Mommy feels much better after drinking the medicine you prepared. In the future, don’t go into the mountains to concoct medicine anymore. There are wild boars in the woods, and it’s too dangerous for someone as young as you."

"Okay, mother, I’ll be careful."

Shen Gongbao thought of the big wild boar, indeed, he had seen it once.

It was as tall as a wall, frightening him so much that he hid in a muddy pit for an entire afternoon. When he went back, not only did he fail to gather any herbs, but he also tore his only piece of clothing and was brutally beaten by that creature bearing the title ’father’.

Since then, Shen Gongbao had set many traps in the mountains.

Every time he went up the mountain, he would check if that big wild boar had fallen into one of them. If he caught the pig, he would have money to take his mother to see a doctor in the town outside the mountain.

"This matter must be kept secret from father."

That, too, was part of the plan.

"Mother, I saw a large swarm of fireflies on the back mountain, so green and pretty. I wanted to catch one and bring it back for you to see, but I held it too tightly in my palm, and by the time I got to the front door, it had already died."

Little Shen Gongbao hung his head low while his mother reached out and gently touched his head, softly saying, "My dear, remember that when you want to grab something, you must give it your all, but the more precious the thing, the gentler you must be..."

The wooden door full of patches creaked open, the cold wind poured in, and Mother began to cough incessantly.

That was almost the most terrifying sound to Shen Gongbao.

Father was back.

Shen Gongbao turned his head and looked at the inebriated man, first closing the door properly and then throwing a couple more logs into the stove, making sure the smoke didn’t get into the house.

He watched as his father, who had just entered the room, collapsed onto a chair, continually complaining about how unlucky he was that day, having lost a lot of money, which was why he had turned to drinking and so on.

Shen Gongbao frowned slightly, but thought to himself:

Father, even so, I am immensely grateful to you for bringing me into this world, for letting me open my eyes to see the blue sky, the white clouds, and Mother.

Shen Gongbao never saw that wild boar again.

Nor did his mother manage to go to the town outside the village to see a doctor. In fact, she died not long after, her withered and bluish body lying stiffly in the bed, her eyes wide open, staring at the dark ceiling.

After burying his mother, Shen Gongbao was beaten by his father when he saw that he actually had money for a coffin; his father cursed him as a betrayal, and then demanded money from him.

Shen Gongbao gave him the rest of the money.

When his father was drunk and lay unconscious on the very sickbed that his mother had once slept in, Shen Gongbao walked to the bedside with an axe for chopping wood in hand.

He held the axe with both hands, gently, yet with all his might.

Shen Gongbao looked at his father and whispered, "I really am grateful to you, I will repay you well."

Then he lifted the axe and chopped the thing known as ’father’ to pieces.

In the deep forests and wilderness, there was no king’s law.

But without the king’s law, there was still the clan.

Shen Gongbao knew that if he didn’t handle the corpse properly, those elder clansmen who usually didn’t care about anything would surely come out and execute him as a ’monster’ if they found out.

While he was disposing of the body, an old man with a white beard appeared silently behind him.

Shen Gongbao had never seen him before.

Yet the hand holding the axe tightened even more.

This matter must not be discovered by anyone!

Almost subconsciously, he wanted to swing the axe out, but he couldn’t.

The old man might be old, but he was extraordinarily tall.

And himself.

He had just chopped so frantically that he had almost used up all his strength.

In the end, he abandoned the idea and asked, "Who are you? Where do you come from?"

"Who I am is not important. I just want to take you as my disciple. Would you be willing?"

Shen Gongbao, looking up, felt a slight soreness in his neck.

"Are you a scholar from the city?"

"Hehe, I am not, but I like children who enjoy reading. If you’re willing to take me as your master, I can also teach you how to read."

Hearing this, Shen Gongbao agreed, for his mother’s greatest wish before her death was to see him study in the city.

It was only later that Shen Gongbao learned that the white-bearded old man was Yuanshi Tianzun.

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