Lao Tzu is Ji Gong

Just as Nezha was about to stop, the rolling stone suddenly accelerated and rushed towards him. If Nezha hadn't been careful, he would probably have been buried under the rolling stone by now.

Nezha turned left and ran around the lobby, while the rolling stone seemed to come alive, closely following behind him. This time, it didn't move at varying speeds as before, but rolled at a constant speed.

Nezha's strength gradually gave out, and his pace slowed down. The rolling stone that had been following closely behind seemed to have lost patience and started spinning rapidly, trying to crush Nezha under it. Suddenly, Nezha's eyes lit up when he saw the path he had seen before, so he led the rolling stone toward that path.

"Three...two...one..." With a sharp turn, the rolling stone made a "thud" and became embedded in the path. Nezha lay motionless inside the main hall.

It took me a while to come to my senses. It was truly a close call. Fortunately, I was clever and resourceful enough to resolve the crisis. Come to think of it, I had only just entered and had already experienced such a thrilling scene. I wonder what else I might encounter as I go deeper into the building.

Nezha regretted coming in. Even if he wanted to leave now, his retreat was blocked by the rolling stones. He could only grit his teeth and crawl forward. Perhaps there would be some unexpected surprises inside!

Suddenly, Nezha noticed a faint image on the gold-inlaid plate, which was none other than the portrait of the ancient god Gonggong.

Beside the portrait, the life of the ancient god Gonggong is clearly recorded in an inscription. Gonggong was sent by the Nine Heavens Mysterious Lady to aid Chiyou against the Yellow Emperor, who was supported by Nuwa. When the Yellow Emperor attacked Chiyou's army in the southern wilderness of Zhuolu, Gonggong went to meet him in battle.

He held his own against the four generals under the Yellow Emperor: Zhurong, Limu, Jumang, and Yingzhao. Later, Nuwa set up an altar on Mount Buzhou to seal the sky, preventing Chiyou's troops from retreating. Gonggong was furious and cursed the gods for their injustice.

He then crashed into Mount Buzhou and died, breaking Nuwa's Heaven-Sealing Formation and allowing the Jiuli tribe's troops to escape after their defeat. Gonggong died in the Battle of Zhuolu.

Upon seeing this, Nezha suddenly understood, his heart filled with shock. Perhaps this was his destiny; some things are meant to be yours, and what is not yours, you can't take no matter how hard you try.

Nezha composed himself and continued walking forward, only to find that he kept going in circles. He had been walking for a very long time, but in the end, he was still able to circle back to the center of the main hall.

Nezha plopped down on the floor of the main hall and began to ponder deeply. This couldn't go on forever; he had to find a way to break the deadlock, since they couldn't get out anytime soon.

Nezha adjusted his breathing, forced himself to calm down, sat cross-legged, made hand gestures, took deep breaths, and slowly entered a state of selflessness.

Time passed slowly, and Nezha's heart became more and more calm and undisturbed. Suddenly, his eyes lit up, and Nezha opened them, stood up, and thought of something.

I learned some formations from my master before. Everything in the world has its own laws! This formation is also known as the Binding Needle. The method to break the Binding Formation is to respond to all changes with constancy.

If you are alive, the formation is alive; if you are dead, the formation is dead. Just now, he had already sensed that the path to the left of his body changed the moment he opened his eyes and stood up.

Knowing how to break the formation, Nezha simply lay down on the ground and pretended to be dead. After an unknown amount of time, he seemed to have taken a nap and then woke up. Nezha silently counted in his mind: "One...two...three..."

Suddenly, he stood up and rushed to the left diagonally. Sure enough, a small path appeared in the left diagonal direction. Nezha sped up and rushed out, entering another small path.

As expected, his guess was correct; that was the direction of the exit of the trapping formation. Even trapping formations come in many kinds, all of which are simply formations designed to confuse human judgment.

Some trap formations require you to find the formation eye. Of course, trap formations that require finding the formation eye are just ordinary trap formations. Truly advanced trap formations do not have a formation eye. The only thing you can do is make it think you are dead, so that its attack power will not be aimed at you.

Even after reaching the path, my heart was still pounding.

Relying on the light of the luminous pearl, they continued forward, their hearts pounding with fear. The two previous surprise attacks had left Nezha in a panic, fearing that any carelessness would result in an attack. However, no matter how careful they were, they could not escape the formation's attacks.

Nezha was walking along when he suddenly fainted and collapsed on the road. When he woke up again, he suddenly found that he had returned to his childhood. Although he was still very young at that time, he was already very naughty. For fun, he pulled out the dragon tendons of the Dragon King's son.

Because of this, he got into a lot of trouble and suffered many accidents. When Nezha realized what was happening, he dragged his small body and prepared to break the dragon prince's tendons.

"No, don't!" He was resisting because he knew what kind of accident he would suffer if he did this. However, he couldn't control his body. He watched as he peeled off the dragon prince's tendons bit by bit, and dragon blood splattered all over him, but he had no reaction.

After successfully skinning and pulling out the dragon prince's tendons, Nezha happily used the dragon tendons as a whip all the way home, singing as he went.

Chapter 1006 Nezha Lets Go of His Resentment

What does it mean that the little Nezha doesn't move? Meanwhile, the Nezha inside his body is perfectly conscious. He has been trying to control the little Nezha's body all along, but he has found that all of this is in vain.

He couldn't do it, nor could he control Nezha's body; he could only watch helplessly as Nezha took the dragon tendons home and showed them off to his father.

The moment he saw his father, he couldn't help but recall all the pressure Li Tianwang had put on Nezha. Yes, he still couldn't let it go.

He didn't know why his father was so cold to him. Nezha, who was lost in his thoughts, was suddenly brought back to his senses by a muffled voice.

"Nezha, you brat, come out and face your death!" It was the Dragon King who came knocking on his door after learning that his son had been skinned and had his tendons pulled out by Nezha.

Li Tianwang picked up little Nezha and carried him up to the city gate. A large dragon was circling in the sky. At that time, little Nezha did not know what fear was, so he was not nervous at all after he went up to the city gate. He could not have imagined that his father would be so cold and heartless to him.

"I wonder what brings the Dragon King here?" Li Tianwang bowed and looked up at the Dragon King, his already serious face becoming even more solemn.

"Why are you asking me? Go ask your good son what he did to my son!" The Dragon King was furious, and a strong wind suddenly arose, breaking several century-old trees in the city.

"What does the Dragon King mean by saying that?" Li Tianwang's heart skipped a beat. He thought of the golden whip that Nezha had been holding earlier, and now it seemed that something was wrong. The smell of blood on Nezha's body was very strong at the moment.

"Nezha, tell me, what happened?" Li Tianwang turned to Nezha and asked, his eyes blazing with anger.

"It's just pulling out the dragon's tendons, what's the big deal? Father, wait a moment, I'll go pull out the dragon's tendons too," Little Nezha said nonchalantly.

"You beast, kneel down now!" Li Tianwang heard Nezha admit that he had pressed something very badly, just as he had guessed.

Nezha fell back into his previous emotions: the Dragon King flooding the city gates, the people being displaced, his father entrusting him to the old Dragon King, his suicide attempt, and being saved by his master.

Although a long time has passed, he still feels great pain whenever he thinks about it. Gradually, he sealed all those past events deep in his heart, and if he couldn't remember them, he wouldn't feel pain.

Thus, his relationship with his father remained the same as before, one of loving father and filial son. However, history repeated itself today, and all of this reappeared before him, causing him to become extremely violent.

Nezha suddenly felt that he could control Little Nezha's body, and he even had an uncontrollable urge to kill his father.

"Nezha, hurry up and apologize to the Dragon King!" Seeing Nezha kneeling motionless and unresponsive, Li Tianwang couldn't help but want to take action against him.

"Nezha, you brat, come out and be buried with my son!" The Dragon King began to flood the city, causing panic among the people. In the blink of an eye, the water in the city reached waist-deep.

Many people chose to flee to the city gate in order to save their lives, only to find out the whole story behind it all – it was all because of Nezha.

"Kill him, kill him!" Nezha's actions aroused public anger. In order to quell the anger and to give them an explanation, Li Jing, the Heavenly King, decided to hand Nezha over to the Dragon King for him to deal with.

"Nezha, you killed my son, now die in my son's place!" The old Dragon King spat out a beam of golden light, which flew towards Nezha.

"No, I've already died once. This is all fake, all fake." Suddenly, Nezha stood up from the ground, picked up the Universe Ring, and took away the Dragon King's golden light.

Seeing this, Li Tianwang was furious. He picked up his sword and stabbed Nezha. Although Nezha knew his fate, it was still very clear to him at this moment. This pain, being experienced again, almost broke his heart.

"I'm sorry, Nezha, I will never hurt you again. It was your father's fault." Li Tianwang's voice echoed in his mind. Yes, these were his father's tears after his death. He knew his father loved him.

"Nezha, wake up! I'm willing to die for you if you can wake up."

Suddenly, Nezha came to his senses and realized that all of this was an illusion, not real. Nezha sat down to meditate, relaxed himself, stopped imagining the previous scene, and cleared his mind.

After an unknown amount of time, the noisy sounds gradually faded away. Nezha suddenly opened his eyes and realized that it was just a dream. If his mind had been less firm, he would probably have already perished in that formation.

Nezha adjusted his mindset and thought about it again. Did his father really not love him? No, his father did love him. Even after the dragon tendons were pulled out, his father intentionally protected him. It was just that if he hadn't sacrificed himself, many people would have been sacrificed.

Giving himself to the Dragon King was a last resort. Yes, from childhood to adulthood, of the three brothers, his father favored him the most, so how could he say that his father didn't love him?

Some things, you only understand the meaning after you think about them carefully. After this incident, Nezha finally let go of his hatred for Li Tianwang. Yes, he was relieved and would never hold a grudge against his father again. His father loved him.

All parents in the world love their children.

Nezha was determined to find Sun Wukong. He wanted to rescue his father and all the gods in the world. He stood up, regulated his breathing, put away his hand gestures, and continued on his way. Although he did not know what dangers awaited him ahead, he was determined to move forward without hesitation. The more dangerous the place, the more it could stimulate his potential and arouse his fighting spirit.

The determination and confidence in Nezha's eyes were clearly different from before; his mind was more resolute and more mature.

Walking along the path to its end, where there was a wall, Nezha stopped and studied it for a while before suddenly tapping on the wall a few times.

With a loud rumble, a stone gate slowly rose up.

..............

Chapter 1007 A Game of Life and Death

The stone gate slowly rose, revealing a game of chess with white pieces and black pieces.

To move forward, one must first solve this game of chess. Nezha cried out in alarm, for he could not understand the black and white pieces and was dazzled by the game of chess that appeared before him.

Nezha observed for a long time but still had no clue. He clutched his head and roared, "Heavens! This is so difficult! What the hell is this thing?"

He knew in his heart that even a skilled chess player might not be able to decipher the chessboard that appeared in this secret passage, let alone someone as clueless about chess as him. It was quite frustrating.

"I can't solve this, what should I do?" Nezha was extremely anxious, but he was completely helpless with this game of chess. He couldn't keep trying again and again.

Generally speaking, in this kind of life-or-death chess formation, one wrong move will trigger the mechanism. Thinking about the previous hardships and dangers, Nezha felt a headache coming on.

Whoever designed this trap is truly despicable. This kind of trap is clearly designed to kill people!

Moving forward is wrong, retreating is wrong; for a moment, Nezha is in a dilemma. If he moves forward, he doesn't know how to place his piece. If the chess formation is correctly solved, everyone will be happy. However, the game has triggered a mechanism, and he doesn't know what kind of danger he will face.

However, he knew that it would definitely be stronger than before, and just imagining the previous embarrassing situation made Nezha's scalp tingle.

If he were to leave now, not only would he have to go through all the traps he had encountered before, but he couldn't guarantee that he would be so lucky as to escape unscathed again. Besides, the only path leading outside was blocked by a huge rock.

Should we advance or retreat?

Never mind, advancing is dangerous, retreating is dangerous too! It's better than waiting to die in the same place.

Nezha got up, patted the dirt off his body, and carefully observed the chessboard in front of him. He looked at it from all angles, but still couldn't find a single pattern. Indeed, it was quite difficult for someone as clueless about Go as him to find a solution to the game.

There's a 0.01% chance, but of course, he wouldn't be so narcissistic as to think that he just happened to be lucky enough to get that less than one percent chance.

As he watched, he became sleepy and dreamed of his master, Taiyi Zhenren.

"Nezha! Nezha!" Suddenly a familiar voice entered Nezha's ears.

Who's calling me? It's... Master's voice, is it Master? Nezha opened his heavy eyelids and sure enough, a white-bearded Taoist priest in a Taoist robe, holding a whisk, stood before him.

"Master, it really is you! Nezha missed you so much!" The moment he saw his master, Nezha couldn't help but burst into tears. All the things that had happened during this time were pressing down on his chest, and in this one moment, they all erupted.

"Good child, don't cry, what's wrong?" Taiyi Zhenren looked at Nezha kindly, hugged him tightly, and stroked his hair.

After making Nezha cry enough, Taiyi Zhenren blushed with embarrassment. Nezha looked at Taiyi Zhenren, who was still as kind as ever. "Master, I'm trapped in this chess formation and can't get through."

"Oh? What kind of chess formation? Let me take a look." Taiyi Zhenren smiled at Nezha, as if with him there, no problem was insurmountable.

Nezha looked at his master, who had helped him so much that he had no way to repay him: "Master, it's right here." Nezha pointed to the chessboard in front of him, looked at his master, and quietly waited for his answer.

"Nezha, yin is yang, and yang is yin. Yin and yang are reversed, and the sun and moon are clearly distinguished."

Like heaven and earth, above and below, movement and stillness, cold and heat, emptiness and fullness, dispersion and gathering, they not only repel each other but also depend on each other for existence. Yang is rooted in Yin, and Yin is rooted in Yang; without Yang, Yin cannot exist, and without Yin, Yang cannot transform. Yang is contained within Yin, and Yin is contained within Yang. Yin and Yang are divided into two and then united into one, opposing yet unified.

"What is false is true, and what is true is false! If you are not subject to life, then death is also death. Remember this well, remember this well!" The Grand Master Taiyi looked at the incomplete game and said with profound wisdom.