A cat that lingers beside a saint

The main hall was deathly silent.

Apart from Nezha's rapid breathing, there was no other sound.

The white-haired mouse covered its mouth with both hands and stared wide-eyed.

In his astonishment, he inadvertently revealed a few strands of beard near his mouth.

Although the sword was very fast, it still made a sound when it pierced the exquisite pagoda.

Nezha kept his eyes fixed on the pagoda the whole time. When the blue light passed through the pagoda, he felt a mix of emotions. For a moment, flames even surged from the soles of his feet.

Su Bai instinctively shrank back; he had a very bad feeling.

He felt like he had... gotten into trouble.

……

At this moment, Li Jing, who was still receiving offerings in the mortal world, suddenly felt his eyelids twitch violently.

As a deity, he shouldn't have believed in such talk of a twitching left eye bringing wealth and a twitching right eye bringing disaster.

But precisely because he is a deity, his eyelids are even less likely to twitch easily.

As ordinary people say, if you believe, it exists; if you don't believe, it doesn't.

But now, he has no choice but to believe it or not.

Li Jing looked up at the sky, then his gaze fell on his empty hands.

tower!

Where is my pagoda?

How could you forget again?

Ignoring the offerings of mortals, Li Jing turned and flew towards the sky.

In the blink of an eye, Li Jing arrived at the South Heavenly Gate, and just as he was about to step in, a figure suddenly blocked his way.

"Where is the Heavenly King going?"

Upon seeing the visitor, Li Jing hurriedly bowed and said, "So it is the Great Benevolent, Tranquil, and Joyful Heavenly Venerable. This disciple has forgotten something in the palace and is about to make a trip to retrieve it."

The Celestial Venerable Miaole smiled faintly, patted the gourd at his waist, and said softly, "Since I have nothing to do today, Your Majesty, why don't you come with me for a stroll? It's quite a coincidence, I don't know why, but lately I've been thinking about some past events. In this Heavenly Court, there's no one I can talk to. I wonder if Your Majesty would be willing?"

Li Jing pondered for a moment. Before becoming a god, he had served as an official in the mortal world, and now that he had become a god, he was still serving as an official.

To him, becoming an official was an extremely simple matter.

That's officialdom, you know.

It's just a matter of personal favors.

Even deities need to interact with each other in a human way.

"Please wait a moment, Heavenly Venerable. I'll be right back."

However, before Li Jing could turn around, Miao Le waved her hand, and the surrounding scenery changed instantly. When he came to his senses, he had already arrived at the Taoist temple of Miao Le Tianzun.

"What does the Celestial Venerable mean by this? I merely wish to retrieve the Exquisite Pagoda."

"Heavenly King, for your own good, you should stay with me for a while. As for your pagoda, I think someone will come and retrieve it for you soon, and it will still be intact."

Li Jing was no fool; his expression changed instantly upon hearing the word "complete."

It's that rebellious son!

Perhaps sensing what Li Jing was thinking, the Celestial Venerable Miaole touched the gourd at his waist, pondered for a moment, and gently shook his head, saying, "Your Majesty is overthinking this. This exquisite pagoda was originally built to restrain the Third Prince's ferocity. Now, it has been personally bestowed the title of Great God of the Three Altars and Seas by His Majesty. Even if he has many magical treasures, he would never easily do such an absurd thing."

"Who else could it be but that unfilial son?" Li Jing was trembling with anger.

Miao Le Tianzun gave an awkward smile, but shook his head and refused to say anything.

……

Inside the imperial palace.

Nezha sat on the couch with his feet propped up on the desk.

Flames began to surge from the wheels of fire beneath their feet, and a burnt smell could occasionally be detected in the main hall.

He leaned back on the couch, arms crossed, with the Fire-Tipped Spear stuck beside him, the Hun Tian Ling wrapped around his shoulders, and the Qiankun Ring shimmering with golden light.

In his arms, a kitten would occasionally peek out and look towards the door.

"Don't come back, don't come back, please don't come back!"

Su Bai originally planned to run away, but according to Nezha, Su Bai had never seen such a grand scene before, and since he was going to see it sooner or later anyway, he might as well take advantage of the moment.

The white-haired rat hid behind a stone pillar in the main hall, constantly using her supernatural powers to try to send a message to Li Jing, letting him know everything that was happening in the palace.

However, given her cultivation level, it would be quite difficult for her to transmit the message to the Thirty-Third Heaven.

With Nezha nearby, she dared not openly pass on messages.

"Maybe we should leave. I have a feeling he might not be coming back today."

"Leave? Where do you think you're going? This is my father's palace. Such a precious treasure is left here unattended. What if it gets stolen?"

"We're not leaving. We'll stay here and guard him today!"

"Then why don't you let me go!" Su Bai felt like he was going crazy; all he wanted now was to return to the void.

Nezha laughed and stuck his finger into Su Bai's mouth.

"What is Little Cat Daoist afraid of?"

Just as Su Bai was about to speak, the voice of a white-haired rat suddenly came from behind a pillar in the main hall.

"Brother, this treasure is connected to the Heavenly King's mind. If something happens to the tower, the Heavenly King will surely sense it. I'm afraid he won't be coming back today."

Nezha jumped slightly; he had forgotten about that.

Fortunately, the white-haired rat reminded him, otherwise he would have really been waiting here for several days.

However, Nezha didn't know where to look for Li Jing. But thinking about it carefully, if Li Jing already knew that his pagoda had a problem, it would be very difficult to find him in the Heavenly Court.

Just as Nezha was about to leave, he seemed to remember something, turned around, picked up the dimly lit, exquisite pagoda, and said with a smile, "Such a treasure, if left here, might attract the attention of villains. I'll keep it safe for now."

"I will go and find my father. When I find him, I will present it to him in person."

No sooner had Nezha left than the white-haired rat followed closely behind, running off in another direction.

The exquisite pagoda is malfunctioning; Nezha has gone mad.

Either of these would be enough to shake up the entire Heavenly Court.

Especially that cat that appeared out of nowhere.

In the white-haired mouse's view, the problem must lie with the cat; otherwise, how could the pagoda be broken?

You should know that last time, it wasn't just Erlang Shen who came; even the stable boy who caused havoc in the Heavenly Palace back then secretly came in with Nezha.

Neither of these two masters managed to break the pagoda, but after this cat appeared, the pagoda started having problems. Who would believe it wasn't the cat's doing?

……

In one day, Nezha searched almost the entire Heavenly Court, except for the Thirty-first Heaven and above.

He would ask everyone he met, "Where is my father?"

This scene, however, made all the gods in the Heavenly Court feel that the atmosphere was a bit off.

Thinking back, when the immortals were receiving incense offerings in the mortal realm, Li Jing's expression was indeed rather unpleasant, and he quickly left afterward.

Since then, the immortals and gods have never seen Li Jing again.

Nezha's search and Li Jing's sudden disappearance have inevitably led to suspicion among the crowd.

Is this going to be a story of filial piety and parental love?