The Investiture: Unlimited Blade Works Nezha
Chapter 357 - 356: Hurry up and serve the dishes, I’m starving!

Chapter 357: Chapter 356: Hurry up and serve the dishes, I’m starving!

The Dragon Clan wants to risk it all, but they must first enhance their Qi Fortune. No one goes gambling in the stock market while cursed with bad luck to the point where even drinking cold water chips their teeth, right?

Wouldn’t that just be throwing their wealth away?

Whether the Dragon Clan succeeds or fails has nothing to do with Nezha. If they succeed, Hao Tian will have to figure out a way to suppress them. If they fail, Nezha will continue working hard on projects to gain Merit and indirectly support his cultivation.

Merit is truly a wonderful thing. Even if it’s not used directly to boost cultivation, using it to speed up cultivation progress can increase the pace by two or three times.

Moreover, as the most intelligent, strongest, and deeply rooted leader of the Three Clans, could the Ancestor Dragon really be content to spend his entire life trapped in the eternally sunless Sea Eye?

After chatting for a while, Nezha couldn’t sit still and decided to take a stroll.

Lingshan, as a Saint’s domain, is one of the three places Nezha knows best. Leisurely, he wandered to the Eight Treasures Merit Pool.

Although he had a lot of Merit, it was still nothing compared to the two Saints.

A Great King Turtle was facing a golden egg nearby, blowing bubbles.

Wuyun Immortal’s situation was indeed quite tragic compared to his original status, but he fared far better than the other Seven Attendant Immortals. That’s why he was their leader after all—deep fortune really does matter.

Nezha took out an exquisitely beautiful gold coin, placed it on his palm, tapped it twice, and made a wish: "I wish to become a Saint!"

Then he tossed the gold coin in front of the Wishing Turtle.

Wuyun Immortal, who had been blowing bubbles at the golden egg, turned around with a baffled expression on his turtle face.

Hey buddy, if I were that impressive, why would I still be lying here?

Nezha seemed to read Wuyun Immortal’s expression and pressed down on his turtle shell. "Hah, you can’t even fulfill such a simple wish. You, as a Wishing Turtle, really don’t cut it."

After saying this, he gestured, and the gold coin flew back to Nezha’s palm.

Wuyun Immortal: ...

I’m not human, but you’re truly a dog. Tossing a gold coin for a wish and then snatching it back—seriously?

Wuyun Immortal had already noticed the extraordinary quality of the gold coin in Nezha’s hand. If it were the old days, he wouldn’t care much for it, but now that he’s fallen on hard times...

As Nezha wholeheartedly toyed with the turtle, a soft chuckle suddenly came from behind. He turned around and saw Peacock Great Bright King Bodhisattva Kong Xuan.

Nezha felt a little awkward.

"Sister Kong Xuan, you’re here too?"

Kong Xuan nodded.

"I came to check on Roc. Roc’s fragmented soul has been regenerating here for less than a hundred years, and it’s already close to recovery. In another hundred years, it should be able to transform successfully again."

"What about the Innate Yin Yang Qi?"

"Brother, please don’t interfere. If fate has decided it’s no longer aligned, let Roc honestly serve as a protector in Buddhism—it might not necessarily be a bad thing."

Nezha thought for a moment and agreed. Worst case, he could compensate Roc later.

Afterward, Nezha began discussing the Seven-colored Divine Light with Kong Xuan. Nezha had reached minor achievement in all seven colors, but further improvement was proving incredibly difficult. He speculated that the issue might be his lack of fancy tail feathers.

Of course, Kong Xuan harshly criticized this theory. She carefully explained the profound principles of the next stage of the Divine Skill to Nezha and advised him not to rush. The current bottleneck was mostly due to his limited years of cultivation, leaving insufficient time for deeper exploration.

Nezha accepted Kong Xuan’s explanation—so I’m just too young after all!

After catching up on some lessons with Kong Xuan, it was almost time for the Dharma Assembly to begin. The two headed together to the halfway point of Lingshan.

Nezha was already familiar with the main steps of the assembly: incense burning, live release, scripture teaching, and feeding.

When Nezha and Kong Xuan arrived at the venue, they took their seats. The highest spot naturally belonged to Amitabha Buddha and Zhunti Buddha Mother, though they were absent. Below them was World Venerable Tuo Ta Treasure Light Tathagata Buddha.

Next to him were Past Buddha Duobao Tathagata Buddha and Future Maitreya Buddha...

Beneath the Buddha rank were the four Great Bodhisattvas, followed by the Arhat Protectors...

Nezha didn’t care much about these figures but paid attention to a woman beside Maitreya. It wasn’t because the woman was particularly beautiful; Nezha had met at least seven or eight out of ten of Buddhism’s high-ranking members. So how come he had never seen this female Bodhisattva before?

Moreover, the aura of this woman seemed familiar to Nezha, but he truly hadn’t encountered her before.

The woman, noticing Nezha’s gaze, didn’t shy away but instead gave him a gentle smile full of compassion.

Nezha: ???

...

Below Lingshan, tens of thousands of Sha Mi continuously worshipped the Buddhas and Saints above. The images of the World Venerable and other Buddhas manifested, showering countless Golden Light blessings upon the devoted believers.

Immense Incense Fire Merit spread across Lingshan. Numerous Buddhas and Bodhisattvas revealed satisfied smiles, marking the completion of the first step: incense burning.

Next was the live release step.

Faithful attendees of the Dharma Assembly released spiritual objects they had prepared in advance across Lingshan—pigeons, koi fish, mice, scorpions...

Hmm, this certainly contributed to the biodiversity of Lingshan. As a Holy Land of Buddhism filled with Spiritual Energy and bathed in daily Buddha light, these creatures might someday give Monkey three or four dozen trials...

After live release came scripture teaching, and currently, World Venerable was presiding over it.

Old Li’s cultivation wasn’t particularly high; this was more about formality and symbolic gesture.

Of course, if your cultivation was lower than his or even matched his, you could still learn a lot—after all, how often does one get the chance to sip tea with a Saint or read their handwritten scriptures?

Nezha, however, was bored out of his mind!

Hurry up and serve the dishes already—I’m starving!

Neither Buddhism’s "lamp oil" nor Heavenly Court’s incense fire mattered much to Nezha. If possible, he’d rather receive direct payments.

Unfortunately, with Buddhism struggling financially, where would they find money to spare for Nezha?

Scripture teaching dragged on for forty-nine days, and just as Nezha was nodding off, the next step—feeding—finally came. Nezha thought he could finally grab a bite himself, but it turned out this segment was about feeding others!

Considering the scarce resources among the surrounding spiritual beings, whoever came up with this process probably wasn’t thinking straight.

Finally, Old Li discussed the future development of Buddhism. Leadership figures were allowed to leave at last, much like how school principals deliver opening speeches at sports meets—they’re not expected to sit through the whole event, right?

Old Li had other matters to handle with others, while Nezha finally got a bite to eat from Lady Yin.

"Sister Kong Xuan, do you recognize the woman beside Maitreya?"

Kong Xuan furrowed her brows. She mostly held an honorary position on Lingshan and had little involvement in Buddhist affairs.

"I don’t know. Even back in the Primordial era, I’ve never seen this female immortal."

"What about her cultivation level—how does it compare to yours?"

Kong Xuan, though proud, would never lie. After sizing her up for a while, she responded, "It’s hard to say without a real confrontation, but I’m seventy percent confident I could take her down."

Nezha was puzzled. Where did Maitreya find such a powerful figure?

Kong Xuan accompanied Nezha for a while before leaving. She didn’t particularly enjoy staying at Lingshan, anyway.