The Investiture: Unlimited Blade Works Nezha
Chapter 337 - 336: Mother-in-law’s Birthday?

Chapter 337: Chapter 336: Mother-in-law’s Birthday?

At this moment, Nezha was shirtless, banging away at the forge.

"Nezha? Nezha! Hey!"

Long Ji’s face was flushed with shyness, though her gaze never left Nezha’s bare skin.

Nezha curled his lips. You’ve touched it before, so why are you still embarrassed to take a look?

"Long Ji, didn’t you say you hated how hot the Sun Star is? What are you doing here then?"

Long Ji’s face was red as a tomato. Whether it was from embarrassment or the heat was unclear.

"I came to find you for something! Um, my mother’s big birthday celebration is coming up. Have you prepared a gift yet?"

Nezha froze at her words. Recently, he had been busy blacksmithing and comprehending the Power Dao, so he had completely forgotten about it.

"Has Daji and the others prepared theirs?"

Long Ji rattled off a list of the gifts Daji and the others had prepared, then sighed with worry.

"Nezha, what do you think I should give? I neither know how to weave Heavenly Clothes nor how to polish gemstones. I’m so useless!"

Clang! Clang!

Nezha struck the Chaos Bell Fragment a few final times before putting it away. He comforted her, "Well, I haven’t prepared anything either. Why don’t we figure something out together?"

"Hehe, Nezha, you’re the best."

But what kind of gift would be suitable? You can’t just give another lamp; that’d seem pretty thoughtless.

Back in the mortal world, the most impressive gifts were houses and cars.

Clearly, houses wouldn’t work here, especially since, strictly speaking, the entire Heavenly Court belongs to her family. That left cars.

Hao Tian’s vehicles were all about grandeur. When he traveled, he rode in the "Eight Scenic Phoenix Chariot, Nine-Light Treasure Cover," a carriage just slightly inferior to Yuanshi Tianzun’s Nine Dragon Incense Sedan, signifying that his status was just a notch below that of a Saint.

In contrast, the Queen Mother didn’t have a chariot for traveling.

For one, she didn’t like going out much—this was a common issue among top female immortals in the Primordial world. Secondly, she didn’t really care about appearances.

But having something and never using it are two different matters.

"Look, your father has a Divine Dragon pulling his chariot and goddesses accompanying him; it’s incredibly imposing. What if we gift your mother something even grander?"

Long Ji’s eyes lit up.

"Sure!"

"Alright, I’ll craft the chariot, and you can find the mounts to pull it. There may not be many Phoenix Clans left in the Primordial world, but how about we find nine Qingluan birds instead?"

The Phoenix Clan had faded from the Primordial world long ago, but there were still plenty of avians with Phoenix bloodline. Among them, the Qingluan were considered the most beautiful.

Back then, Nuwa chose a Qingluan as her mount not just because it knew how to curry favor but also because its physical beauty was unmatched—it made her look stunning when she rode it.

Other famous female immortals from the Primordial world also preferred this bird as their mount, from Yunxiao to the Queen Mother of the West, and even the reclusive, introverted Shi Ji loved them.

Only someone like Senior Sister Jin Ling, who thought it was a good idea to make seven little piggies pull her chariot, could be considered an outlier. If you didn’t know better, you’d think she was carrying around emergency rations!

Roast them a little, sprinkle some cumin and chili powder, and they’d smell amazing!

Of course, this was just talk. Jin Ling Saint Mother would never let Nezha actually roast her little piggies.

Inside Nuwa Palace, Nuwa held two Creation Jade Scroll Fragments in one hand while her other hand wove Creation Power through the air, seemingly crafting something.

Beside her, a Qingluan used its mana to hold up the Heavenly Observation Realm, occasionally adjusting its angle to give Nuwa a better view of the broadcast.

Hearing the content within the Heavenly Observation Realm, the Qingluan asked, "Goddess, should I call Caiyun over to hold the mirror for you? Do you want me to go?"

Most of Nuwa’s attention was still focused on her hands.

"Go on, and be quick about it. Caiyun’s mirror-holding skills are far inferior to yours."

Qingluan: ...

I knew it—Goddess can’t live without me!

"Yes, Goddess."

After arranging for Caiyun, the Qingluan headed straight for Lishan. To be honest, she was delighted Nezha had thought of her Qingluan Clan for something good.

Wasn’t this an easy way to help the younger generation secure connections and get into the system?

After discussing the plans with Long Ji, Nezha began forging the vehicle. The design was still based on the same principles: weaker in strength but rich in features, and visually stunning.

In summary, four words: flashy but impractical.

The Queen Mother was a top Quasi-Saint who had already slayed her Second Corpse. If she ever had to fight, even the sturdiest vehicle would be utterly useless.

Meanwhile, Long Ji cheerfully descended to Lishan to search for Qingluan.

When she arrived, the Qingluan was already there waiting for her but pretended to know nothing. Although Long Ji had come to request the Qingluan’s help, she wasn’t foolish enough to neglect the Lishan Old Mother.

She specifically "borrowed" some of the best-quality Peach and Spirit Fruits from the treasury as a greeting gift.

The Lishan Old Mother was delighted. Boys preferred livelier, mischief-making types, but girls liked those who were obedient and polite.

After chatting with Long Ji for a while, she gifted her a beautiful five-colored bracelet and then departed.

Afterward, the Qingluan took Long Ji to meet her clan. With Nuwa’s protection, the Qingluan Clan wasn’t truly in decline, but the heritage of the Phoenix Clan had mostly been lost. The highest cultivation among them was her, a Taiyi Golden Immortal.

After hearing Long Ji’s request, the Qingluan specifically summoned the prettiest females in her clan for Long Ji to choose from. Why females, you ask?

Because the Qingluan figured that if a bunch of handsome young men were surrounding the Queen Mother every day, even if the Queen Mother was okay with it, Hao Tian probably wouldn’t be too thrilled.

Long Ji, being delightfully unconcerned, picked twelve beautiful girls with pleasing appearances and started training them for teamwork.

Although only nine were needed to pull the chariot, there had to be some backups, right?

What if one of the girls was unavailable for some reason? Would the Queen Mother have to cancel her outing?

The Queen Mother’s birthday celebration was shaping up to be one of the most grandiose events in the Primordial world. While the denizens of the Heavenly Court were busy preparing their gifts, Hao Tian, though looking forward to the occasion, remained focused on serious matters—namely, assessing which immortals posed a threat to him.

Who were the key individuals?

First was the Great Master Xuan Du of the Human Sect and Duobao Daoist of the Jie Sect.

Although these two hadn’t progressed as far as he had on the path of Slaying the Two Corpses, they weren’t far behind. Another notable figure was Zhen Yuanzi, the Loose Cultivator.

Though Zhen Yuanzi viewed his future as unclear, Hao Tian considered him an even greater threat than Xuan Du and Duobao, his two junior martial nephews. Hao Tian believed he was stronger than Zhen Yuanzi, but only by a narrow margin.

As for the Ancestor of Nether River and Kunpeng, after being thwarted by Nezha twice, Hao Tian no longer viewed them as genuine threats.

One had been split in two and driven mad, while the other had had a Good Corpse destroyed. In Hao Tian’s eyes, their paths were already cut off, with no prospects for further advancement.

Hence, these three individuals were to be invited to the Peach Banquet without question.

But the choice of who to extend the invitations to required careful consideration.

Representing the Jie Sect was Wen Zhong, head of the Thunder Department. Wen Zhong, who had a bit of a penchant for authority, didn’t decline when Hao Tian issued the order. After all, it wasn’t exactly a bad thing—he was just attending a banquet.

With the Jie Sect’s Sect Leader and Senior Sister absent, Duobao Daoist, having glimpsed a faint ray of light in his own path, was unwilling to get bogged down with responsibilities. Hence, the sect’s current affairs were being temporarily managed by Wudang Saint Mother.

As one of the Jie Sect’s most level-headed female immortals, she agreed to Wen Zhong’s involvement out of respect for Senior Sister Jin Ling. Since she couldn’t attend herself, she turned to Duobao for assistance.

Upon his return to the Primordial world, Duobao had harbored thoughts similar to Hao Tian’s and thus readily accepted the task.