The Investiture: Unlimited Blade Works Nezha-Chapter 267 - 266 Hao Tian Regrets a Bit

Nezha listened for a bit and felt that although Gold Star Taibai was quite skilled and adept at navigating various situations, his compliments were repetitive and outdated, truly out of touch with the times.

"Brother Taibai, why say those superficial flattering words to make me happy?"

This time, Gold Star Taibai was genuinely impressed by Nezha’s actions.

"Brother, compared to you, I really can’t hold a candle, but I’ve been muddling through in the Heavenly Court for many years. If you ever need anything, just say the word!"

"Among brothers, why act so distant?"

Gold Star Taibai smiled, but inwardly sighed. See, the comparison is obvious—Hao Tian is truly a piece of work!

After throwing Nanji Lao Deng into the mix, Nezha was overjoyed, and the two of them leisurely rode the clouds back to the Heavenly Court.

Upon their return to the Heavenly Court to report to Hao Tian, he was utterly stupefied upon hearing about Nanji Immortal’s fate.

He looked at Nezha with a peculiar expression.

Wait a sec—dude, I’ve served the Old Lord as a child attendant for so many years, and I’ve never heard of him having a grandson?

After resolving the matter, Nezha threw in some follow-up commentary, stripping Nanji Immortal of his divine duties. There wasn’t much else to be done—he couldn’t even step through the gates of Yuxu Palace now. What could he still do?

It seemed as though everything had settled down just like that.

The gods dispersed, and Nezha, full of confidence and swagger, left with a group of Star Lords to continue his work. He truly had a packed schedule to handle.

As for Hao Tian, he resumed his pretense of dealing with official matters in the Palace of the Polestar.

But after poring over it for a while, he just couldn’t calm down internally!

With the Demon Realm invasion fresh in his mind, the more he thought about his own response, the more ineffectual he felt. He didn’t think he had done anything wrong, but Nezha’s starkly contrasting role made him stand out even more.

Luo Hou dared to face-off directly, and Yuxu Palace dared to storm in unannounced.

In comparison, here Hao Tian stood, the Heavenly Emperor, and Luo Hou had practically camped outside his door to berate him. That was next-level humiliation.

Back then, Luo Hou spouted insults like "gatekeeper" and "child attendant," not even putting Hao Tian in his eyes.

To summarize the feeling, it was like failing to clap back properly in an argument during the day, only for regret to gnaw at you afterward.

Four words: deeply regrettable!

The thought struck him—would his appearance of weakness incur the disapproval of the Old Lord?

He couldn’t even measure up to a Golden Immortal spoiled brat who was greedy and lustful. Judging by his own standards, if one of his subordinates acted as embarrassingly as he had, he himself would absolutely have been furious!

The fear of being judged by others was unsettling, but self-induced fear was even worse.

A kind of emotion that hadn’t surfaced in countless Yuan Hui began spreading in his heart: fear.

The fear of losing his authority, the fear of derisive gazes from others, and the fear of disappointing his Old Lord.

Hao Tian was undeniably a top-tier Quasi-Saint, but this level of insecurity gnawed at him. He quickly adjusted his mindset, though some lingering cracks remained.

After much deliberation, he devised a solution: retaliate against the Demon Realm!

And not just that—he would personally lead the expedition!

This wouldn’t just restore his dignity as the Heavenly Emperor; it could also rationalize his previous weaknesses and patch over his own inner flaws.

The only issue: he didn’t know if he could beat Luo Hou.

He mused over the fact that he was already the strongest beneath the Saints.

Would he win?

He must win!

...

The first order of business for a counterattack on the Demon Realm was to pinpoint its location.

Gripping the Hao Tian Mirror, he searched high and low but had no luck. In the end, he reluctantly took it to the Turquoise Pool to seek help from his junior sister.

Queen Mother Yaochi immediately gave him a look reserved for fools upon hearing his request. Really, what’s your thought process here?

The Demon Realm camped out at your gates and you didn’t react, but now you want to charge into their home turf, as if afraid you might win too easily?

At that moment, Queen Mother Yaochi seriously doubted that Long Ji’s intelligence had clearly been inherited from her dim-witted father.

However she felt inwardly, she held her tongue and chose to assist Hao Tian.

Fine, go ahead—just don’t expect me to go with you.

Pooling the power of two top-tier Quasi-Saints, the Hao Tian Mirror, and the combined authority of the Heavenly Emperor and Queen Mother overseeing the Three Realms, they finally identified the Demon Realm hidden in a dreamlike realm.

The Demon Realm existed atop Demon Buddha Luo Hou’s divine body, but at such an advanced level, the notion of "atop" became highly abstract.

Simply put, they found it but couldn’t enter.

What were they supposed to do—fall asleep as a group and dream of invading the Demon Realm?

The famous master of killing in dreams hadn’t even been born yet!

Hao Tian was undeniably powerful, but in this area, he was utterly stumped.

After bidding farewell to the Turquoise Pool, he convened another court meeting.

Nezha, for his part, genuinely couldn’t figure out whether he was the transmigrator or if Hao Tian was. These days, the relationship between sovereign and subjects wasn’t as warped as in later eras.

In later times, it might have been Heaven, Earth, Sovereign, Parents, and Teacher.

But now it was Heaven, Earth, Teacher, Parents, and Sovereign. ƒreewebηoveℓ.com

As Immortals, the sovereign-subject relationship now resembled that of followers and their boss.

Yet, in Hao Tian’s case, it turned into "You are my subject, thus you’re my slave. Do as I command—live if I say live, die if I say die."

Such a mindset was, honestly, too ahead of its time.

Nezha, as the Ziwei Emperor, was technically Hao Tian’s deputy rather than a subordinate. He found the Heavenly Emperor’s leadership style, which revolved around constant meetings, to be unbearably annoying, so he skipped it and instead sent his capable secretary, Wenqu Star Lord Yang Chan.

During the court meeting, Hao Tian focused on two main topics: first, finding the entrance to the Demon Realm; second, expressing his intent to personally lead the counterattack and urging Heavenly Soldiers and Generals to train hard.

The Heavenly Court’s Treasure Vault was indeed well-stocked, with countless cultivation techniques and arrays, even fragments of the All Heavens Star Battle Array.

The task of training the army was entrusted to Wen Zhong of the Thunder Department, known for his skill and his place among the rankings.

As for locating the Demon Realm entrance, it became a bounty task—anyone who succeeded would be handsomely rewarded!

Having just repelled the Demon Realm invasion, the Immortal Gods nodded in agreement, but after dispersing, they gathered in small groups, gossiping.

"The gods of the Heavenly Court sure have no authority!"

One after another, they showed little initiative. If it hadn’t been for Ziwei Emperor’s intervention last time, the Heavenly Court would’ve been breached. And now they want to counterattack? Keep dreaming!

The consensus was clear: as long as the entrance couldn’t be found, no attack could be launched. Delaying was the way to go!

Hao Tian was anxious to prove himself, but there was little he could do while confined to the Palace of the Polestar.

Meanwhile, Nezha was focused on cultivation as Yang Chan softly and meticulously explained the situation, then asked, "Nezha, if there really is a counterattack on the Demon Realm, would you and Second Brother be in danger?"

Instead of directly answering, Nezha replied, "As Mystic Sect disciples, it is our unshakable duty to eliminate demons and uphold the Dao. What’s a little danger compared to that?"

...

The Heavenly Court, while ostensibly "searching" for the Demon Realm’s entrance, seemed to have settled into peace once more.

Yet, the gravity of the Demon Realm’s assault on the Heavenly Court could not be understated.

The Heavenly Court was the faction established by Hao Tian on the behalf of the Daoist Ancestor, representing the orthodoxy of the Primordial world. The Primordial world belonged to the Mystic Sect, and the Mystic Sect was the Righteous Dao. For the Demon Dao to attack the Righteous Dao was essentially a rebellion against the Heavenly Gang!

Surprisingly, the group most affected by this was not Hao Tian but the Western Sect.

This 𝓬ontent is taken from fre𝒆webnove(l).𝐜𝐨𝗺