Chapter 31: East King Sword
It was just a few days ago that I last came, everything in the White Bone Cave remains as before.
As I walked into the cave, I caught sight of the Shi Ji Empress from afar, and all the fearless courage Nezha had earlier seemed to dissipate.
Sticking to the cave walls, I wondered whether I should retreat or advance, and what I should say or speak if I did approach. Yet before I could make any additional moves, it was Shi Ji who spoke first.
Her tone was chilly and full of mockery as she said, "Well, well, aren’t you the bold little monkey, daring to deceive my disciple at the entrance of the cave, but now you’ve lost your spine in front of me?"
"Greetings to the Shi Ji Empress," Nezha bowed respectfully, thinking to himself that one shouldn’t hit a smiling face, especially since he was still a child, so he foolishly grinned and said, "I really have no idea why Cai Yun Daoist brother has a problem with me. If I didn’t fight back, he would have slashed me with his sword, so I had no choice but to bind him."
"The Daoist brother, I understand now; it’s not your fault. Come here, shouting from such a distance is tiring—aren’t you tired? I am."
Nezha thought to himself that he didn’t understand yet what she realized, but obediently took steps towards her, and bowed once again when he came near.
Seeing that Nezha, though a disciple of the Chan Sect, did not lack any junior’s etiquette, Shi Ji couldn’t find a reason to get angry. Moreover, for some reason, she naturally felt close to him, seemingly closer than with her own two disciples. It was as if he had a better affinity with the Dao. Thus she asked, "You just left and came back again, what matter brings you here?"
"Nezha left that day... to the East Sea... Yaksha... Great Witch..."
Nezha related the subsequent events honestly, and before he could play the pity card to seek help, he heard Shi Ji let out three big laughs, saying, "Hahaha, well killed! These few old mud eels, with little power, relying on their duties from the Heavenly Court, now they dare to disregard my Jie Sect."