Claiming the Throne of Gods, Starting from the Rebirth of Nezha

Ten-man Captain Zhou Quan is from Lizhu Village near Chentang Pass.

In the thirty-five years since his birth, through marriage, childbirth, and friendships, he never took even half a step beyond Chentang Pass.

With the unique craftiness of a fisherman, he stealthily appraised the rich young master sitting atop the city wall, with three parts fear and seven parts curiosity in his eyes.

Every soldier and civilian at Chentang Pass knew that General Li Jing ran a tight ship, and his first two sons were both dragons and tigers among men, but this third son, Nezha, was a natural-born fool and mute.

Yet just yesterday, the fool, the mute, spoke his first words, and today the madam even found him a tutor, becoming one of the most interesting occurrences in the tranquil and uneventful lives of those at Chentang Pass.

"He really can talk now, huh."

Zhou Quan mumbled to himself and, lost in thought, was startled when Nezha appeared beside him, causing him to take several steps back.

Nezha curiously said: "Why are you so afraid of me?"

"It's just, I was momentarily distracted, that's all."

"Nonsense, you are scared."

After locking eyes with Nezha, Zhou Quan found himself inexplicably without the will to hide anything, and he confessed: "My lord, forgive me, these past few days I have heard too much gossip and it has disturbed my mind."

"What sort of gossip? Tell me."

Nezha instantly reverted back to a seven-year-old child, sat on the city wall, and softly kicked the thick back of Dahai, who also let him do so, looking completely content.

Zhou Quan wiped the cold sweat from his forehead and said: "Reporting to my lord, it's some tales handed down by the older generations from the fishing village. Some say you were possessed by a demon, and only then did you suddenly gain spiritual intelligence, I..."

As he said this, Zhou Quan's teeth began to chatter.

He thought, if this Nezha really was possessed by some demon, displaying its true form and swallowing him whole right now...

Nezha laughed heartily: "Do you believe it?"

"I don't believe it, my lord."

"Good that you don't. Nezha is Nezha, next time when you go home and meet those rumor mongers, tell them to shut up."

Zhou Quan felt relieved and put on a smiling face, saying: "My lord rest assured, don't be angry, the villagers are well-intentioned. In fact, following the General's orders, a few days from now, they will hold a ritual to pray to the heavens and ask for blessings to remove disaster from you."

Nezha was somewhat surprised to hear of Li Jing's plans, his heart warmed, but his face showed indifference as he gestured with his hand: "There's no need to go through such trouble."

Speaking of the ritual made Zhou Quan's heart tighten as if he recalled some painful memories he could not bear to look back on; his expression grew terribly grim but he quickly masked that emotion the next second.

Nezha observed all of this, and though he found it strange, he did not dwell on it. He had other business at this place today.

He asked, "I heard there's a treasure of Chentang Pass called the Qiankun Bow and the Sky-shattering Arrow stored on this tower, do you know of this?"

"I do."

"Where is it?"

"Just around the corner ahead, on the rack of weapons at the top of the city wall."

"Take me there."

Zhou Quan brought Nezha over and what surprised Nezha was that these mythical treasures were simply lying on the weapon rack atop the city wall.

The bow was three feet three inches long, its body a deep ink color shining with a subtle dark gold luster under the sunlight, reminiscent of the stars twinkling in the night sky, radiating an aura of ancient mystery. The bowstring was taut and simple, without decoration. Carved on the arms of the bow were dragons playing with pearls, each scale lifelike, as if ready to soar into the sky at any moment, shaking heaven and earth.

The Sky-shattering Arrow, one foot and two inches long, was as dark as ink, yet shimmered with a metallic luster in the sunlight. The arrowhead was extraordinarily sharp, like the most piercing cold light at dawn.

"Indeed, weapons of slaughter," Nezha sensed the oppressive chill, "When the Qiankun Bow is drawn, clouds shift and winds change, when the Sky-shattering Arrow is loosed, the sun and moon grow cold. These must be the Qiankun Bow and the Sky-shattering Arrow without doubt."

"The young master is correct."

Nezha reached out to gently stroke the bow and asked, "Such treasures left here without any guard, aren't you afraid of them being stolen by thieves?"

Zhou Quan responded with a laugh: "My lord makes a jest. The Qiankun Bow and the Sky-shattering Arrow are incredibly heavy. Transporting them up to the city tower required twenty stout strongmen, let alone thieves, even if you search the entire Chentang Pass you won't find a single person who can lift them up, much less draw the bow and notch the arrow."

"No one can lift them?"

"No one can lift them," Zhou Quan asserted with confidence.

Nezha's eyes darted about, and he crouched in front of the bowstand, wondering to himself how heavy the Qiankun Bow really was. It didn't look that large, but what material could it be made of? At the same time, he stretched out his hand and took hold of the bow.

Just then, another patrol of Armored Soldiers approached, and the leader, who was still a distance away, called out loudly, "Zhou Quan, how come you're slacking off again when I only looked away for a moment?"

"Calling me a lazybones again, Liu Feng, you son of a turtle? Which dog's eyes of yours saw me slacking off?"

Liu Feng, just like Zhou Quan, was a Ten-man Captain patrolling the city wall. He laughed and said, "If you're not slacking off, then what are you doing holed up here? Be careful, or I'll report you to the General, and you'll be dismissed to go sun-dry salted fish by the seaside!"

Liu Feng was joking; even if it was reported, the Prefectural Chief above them would merely kick him on the butt, telling him to go wherever he pleases.

In the tranquil Chentang Pass, patrolling the city wall was such a tedious task that anyone incapable of slacking off would have died of boredom long ago.

Zhou Quan said, "You must be blind not to see that I'm here assisting the young master with the Qiankun Bow."

"Young master? Which young master?"

"Which other young master could there be in Chentang Pass right now?"

Reminded by Zhou Quan, Liu Feng finally noticed the diminutive figure of Nezha, and his brain, idle for quite some time, clicked into gear, thinking, "Could this be the Third Young Master Nezha?"

The eyes of the ten men, plus Zhou Quan and Liu Feng, twelve pairs in total, converged on Nezha. Yet Nezha didn't even turn his head.

His attention was wholly concentrated on the bow.

Nezha held his breath and exerted his strength in complete stillness. To the others' astonishment, they felt the ground tremble beneath their feet and, in a daze, it seemed as if they saw the young boy lift the Town Guardian Treasure Bow above his head!

"Thi-Third Young Master!" Zhou Quan's eyes widened, his teeth tremblingly drug out the words, unable to utter half a syllable more.

Nezha held the Qiankun Bow in one hand and smiling, said to Zhou Quan, "You were right, this bow is indeed quite heavy."

"Divine Power of the young master!"

No sooner had the words been spoken than Zhou Quan tried to kneel to pay his respects, but Nezha held him up with one hand, and he couldn't kneel down no matter how hard he tried.

"Don't be so formal, just call me Nezha."

Liu Feng, still doubting whether there was some problem with the Qiankun Bow, heard Nezha ask, "Do you know of Skull Mountain White Bone Cave?"

Liu Feng answered reflexively, "Yes."

"Where is it?"

"Look towards the south. Eighty li away, there's a Stone Mountain standing alone out of a thousand peaks, perilously steep. That's Skull Mountain. As for whether there's a White Bone Cave up there, this subordinate does not know."

Nezha looked toward the south. His eyesight was several times stronger than an ordinary person's; standing high and gazing far, he caught a glimpse of a rocky spire.

He chuckled lightly, drew back the bowstring as if it were suspended in the void, and with a creak, bulging veins appeared on his forehead, and the bow was drawn to its full arc the next moment!

Seeing this, the surrounding Armored Soldiers stepped back, for with the draw of the bow, should the bowstring snap and hit anyone, they wouldn't live to tell the tale.

But before the people could even react, Nezha had already put the Qiankun Bow back on its stand.

"Young master?"

"I said, just call me Nezha."

"Nezha?"

"What's the matter?"

"No... It's nothing."

After this event, the stories of the Third Young Master from the Li Jing Mansion possessing boundless Innate Divine Strength spread throughout Chentang Pass.

And at the exact moment Nezha was drawing the bow...

Eighty li away, at Skull Mountain.

There was a stone cave on the mountain, in front of which bloomed a hundred flowers, and butterflies flitted among them. There lay a Divine Deer amidst the flowers.

The sleeping Divine Deer suddenly awoke and turned its head to look towards the back of the stone cave.

There, carved on the cave were three characters: Skull Cave.