Where Immortals Once Walked

In any case, while Juju remained awake, there was basically no chance of rebuilding the Grand Spirit-Gathering Array, with or without the star map. Therefore, it was no longer subordinate to Beijia. If Lingxu City were to resume making offerings to it, those offerings would have to be more plentiful and of higher quality.

Earlier, because of the Chains of Oath, it had smashed the Star-Plucking Tower, stolen the divine object, and severely offended the Heavenly Palace and the heavenly gods. In order to give both sides a way out, it wanted to keep something in reserve. Hence, once the Chains of Oath came undone, it turned around and sold He Lingchuan and the spider immortal out to the Heavenly Palace, using that as a means to begin repairing relations.

This was called jumping back and forth between sides, with pure self-interest at heart.

The Chains of Oath might be useful, but they were not all-powerful. They could not restrain the evil thoughts Juju kept hidden in its heart.

He Lingchuan had known from the start that this rock-fire aberrant creature had not sincerely wanted to make a deal, so he was neither shocked nor furious. After all, he had seen plenty of such characters in his original world.

People who loved playing petty tricks and taking advantage of those they dealt with, treating everyone else as fools.

Now that Juju had switched to the enemy’s side, this chaotic affair had once again become a conflict between He Lingchuan and the Heavenly Palace.

Fortunately, he usually kept the little fire man inside the mirror and only brought it out when executing missions. Juju did not know his origins, his appearance, or where he lived.

The pursuers’ target was already very clear:

Intercept He Lingchuan and the spider immortal, and tonight would count as their victory.

Zhu Erniang raced through the forest. From a distance, it seemed almost as though her feet never touched the ground. Her speed was enough to make even the fastest warhorse hide its face in shame.

After leaving Mount Xu’s territory, she was also beyond the range of the spirit rain and no longer slowed by origin energy.

Thousand-Heart Rock was currently only a kilometer and a half away from where they were.

He Lingchuan suddenly sensed something strange and looked down.

There was a wound on Zhu Erniang’s left abdomen. Flesh and blood were continuously turning into black smoke and evaporating. Yet due to the spider immortal’s extraordinarily powerful vitality, the flesh grew back just as quickly.

As this cycle repeated, smoke kept rising from the spider monster’s body.

“Is your wound alright?” He Lingchuan could not help but ask. “What divine technique did Baizhantian use?”

No matter how thoroughly he had prepared tonight’s surprise attack, there was no way he could have predicted that the god to descend would be Baizhantian.

“It’s not.”

“...”

“Collapse.” Zhu Erniang continued racing as it spoke. “That is its famous technique. It can instantly decompose and annihilate anything it touches. Fortunately, it is currently using it through a skin-sack, so its power is far from what it once was.” She rolled one eye toward He Lingchuan before adding, “Still, it is more than enough to deal with you.”

If the spear tip so much as touched He Lingchuan, he would vanish completely.

He Lingchuan shuddered.

No wonder the heavenly gods were unstoppable. This was hardly a power that present-day cultivators could withstand.

“But it isn’t having an easy time either,” Zhu Erniang added. “Courtesy demands reciprocity, after all. I gave it a dose of my venom.”

That was where the bloody hole in Lu Shishi’s back had come from.

Zhu Erniang’s venom back in the Demon Nest had already been vicious enough to melt a living person into liquid in moments. Now that she reclaimed her immortal body, the toxin was even more potent.

He Lingchuan thought for a moment. “Let me help you.”

With that, he drew Fleeting Life and jumped down.

Zhu Erniang had no objection. If the power of collapse were not removed, it would continue to consume her strength.

The power within this immortal molt was precious beyond measure. She did not want to waste even a sliver of it.

But moving across the body of a spider monster in full sprint was like maneuvering across a mountain of blades. From every angle, countless meter-long spikes pointed straight at him. If not for the agility of his Swallow’s Return movement technique, he would probably already have been pierced through with dozens of bloody holes.

A faint light flashed in Zhu Erniang’s eye, and the spikes near the wound softened, becoming tough and elastic.

This trick had something in common with a porcupine’s quills. He Lingchuan easily stood over and began cutting away the large chunks of flesh near the wound.

Sometimes, no spell or divine technique was as effective as physical cutting.

Pain made Zhu Erniang hiss, but she still forced her muscles to relax.

Even with Fleeting Life’s sharpness, and without activating any special effects, He Lingchuan found cutting through the wound especially difficult. It was harder to deal with than refined steel.

It would be nice if I had some help.

The thought had barely formed when Fleeting Life Saber suddenly shone with a layer of red light.

“Hm?”

No, it was not just Fleeting Life. A faint red glow was radiating from his entire body.

This was origin energy.

And the feeling was one he was incredibly familiar with—

The origin energy of the Gale Army!

He Lingchuan froze for a moment.

I can actually use the Gale Army’s origin energy in reality? How is this possible?

Zhu Erniang urged, “Hey, are you done?” Why did he stop halfway through?

“Almost!”

He Lingchuan suppressed his shock and focused on operating on her first.

With the support of origin energy, the work became much easier. It was not that the monster immortal body’s toughness had decreased, but that origin energy naturally restrained greater monsters. With its enhancement, Fleeting Life’s sharpness became even more astonishing.

Soon, He Lingchuan carved out a chunk of flesh as large as two wine barrels and threw it onto the ground.

A few breaths later, it turned into ash.

Zhu Erniang felt much more relaxed. With the power of collapse removed, the wound quickly filled in and healed. After a dozen or so breaths, it had returned to its original state.

Only then did He Lingchuan have time to pick up Fleeting Life and examine it carefully.

This treasured saber had been with him for too long, and the battle on Mount Xu had been too intense, so he had instinctively overlooked Fleeting Life.

Now that he calmed down and sensed it again, he discovered that Fleeting Life had silently gained an additional trait:

The saber’s master could borrow the origin energy of Panlong City. Its strength was related to his rank and to Panlong City’s state.

He Lingchuan had always known that Fleeting Life’s traits could still improve further, but he had not expected such an unexpected delight!

Haha! I can actually use origin energy again!

Seven or eight out of every ten times he had suffered losses after leaving Yuan had been related to origin energy. As a lone wanderer fighting alone, whenever he faced Beijia experts, he was suppressed by origin energy from the very start.

Now, this weakness was largely, if not completely, resolved. It was equivalent to He Lingchuan’s combat strength suddenly surging by a large margin.

How could he then not be ecstatic?

This should have been the new power brought by the divine object becoming complete after the lid of the Generous Pot was absorbed into the divine bone amulet.

Otherwise, the battle inside the array eye earlier had already been thrilling enough, yet there had not been the slightest trace of origin energy to help him.

After this rush of joy, all kinds of questions came flooding in, some of them contradicting his understanding of things.

But He Lingchuan had no time to think them through, because Zhu Erniang immediately warned, “Baizhantian is here.”

Two arcs of light cut in from the side, and their speed was not much slower than Zhu Erniang’s.

Hm? Why are there two?

When He Lingchuan saw who had come, he immediately jolted.

State Preceptor Qing Yang?!

He also saw State Preceptor Qing Yang launch a whistling arrow into the sky, which then burst into brilliant red, yellow, and white.

Heavens, she just fired a signal flare. He remembered that the Heavenly Palace’s garrison on the ground was not far from here. At a gallop, they could arrive in a little over fifteen minutes.

He Lingchuan said decisively, “We have to shake them off. We can’t let them run into the snail toad.”

In this chase, both sides were moving swiftly, and it would be very difficult for He Lingchuan to meet up with Dong Rui.

Even if Dong Rui could come to receive him, these two heavyweights were following too closely!

The snail toad needed time to go underground. After witnessing Baizhantian’s divine technique, He Lingchuan seriously doubted whether the snail toad could escape in time beneath its hands.

That was someone who could dig ten meters into the earth with one strike.

No matter how tough the snail toad’s shell was, it was unlikely to be able to withstand a combined assault from God Baizhantian and State Preceptor Qing Yang. Besides, He Lingchuan had personally received State Preceptor Qing Yang’s attack. Lingxu City’s oldest State Preceptor did indeed have real skill.

The snail toad was He Lingchuan’s most important vehicle for escaping Lingxu City. It absolutely could not be damaged.

“My illusions won’t fool them.” Not only did the other side possess all sorts of divine techniques, but they also had origin energy. Even if the mirage monster came in person, it probably could not deceive those two. “You’d better have another method!”

“Mm, I actually do have a backup plan.” With Juju’s interference, the simplest escape plan had already failed. He Lingchuan knew it was time to activate Plan B.

Alas, he had already predicted beforehand that they would most likely end up in this sort of scenario.

He took a gourd from his chest and shook it twice. “Head west to the Grass Sea! Tell Dong Rui to meet us at the Grass Sea too. Since they insist on chasing us so hard, I’ll give them another big gift!”

Without a word, Zhu Erniang turned west. Along the way, she released large quantities of spider silk, spreading it densely through the air. No matter what the silk caught on, it immediately stuck fast, forming layers upon layers of webbing.

There was more water to the west, and the forests began to grow lush, making it even more favorable for her to hang webs.

Unless the enemies chasing behind them could sprout wings and fly past, they would inevitably end up with their faces and bodies tangled in the web. And once that happened, how could their speed not slow?

One had to know that her spiderwebs were not afraid of blades, water, or fire.

Zhu Erniang herself had a history with Baizhantian and was not afraid of a direct fight. But she clearly understood that the current situation was unfavorable for her. Once Baizhantian and State Preceptor Qing Yang caught up and held her down, Beijia’s reinforcements would soon arrive, and their overwhelming strength would inevitably drag her down.

The timing, terrain, and people were all against her, so refusing to run would be no different from accepting death.

Besides, this immortal molt had been reclaimed only after tremendous hardship. The power inside diminished with each use, and she wanted to conserve what she could.

So, retreat it was.

He Lingchuan pulled out a bow and arrow from his storage ring and likewise shot a signal arrow into the sky.

In truth, this was a firework. Once it rose into the air, it exploded into red, orange, yellow, green, and blue lights, forming three or four lotus patterns. It was especially beautiful.

Most importantly, it was conspicuous.

The thunderstorm was only falling within Mount Xu’s range. Against the dark sky, a firework this bright could be seen clearly from more than five kilometers away.

He had not been boasting. He had long since thoroughly surveyed the mountains, rivers, and terrain near Mount Xu.

For an operation of such importance, failure most likely meant death. How could he not have done his research beforehand?

Mount Xu’s territory was crisscrossed by streams and rivers that naturally connected to external water systems. One of its upstream sources was the Grass Sea.

That area was vast, with complicated waters, shallow shoals, and reed marshes. It was a very suitable alternative escape route after leaving Mount Xu.

He Lingchuan had done his homework thoroughly and knew that although the Grass Sea’s shallows were extensive, its deep-water regions were far broader. The deepest parts even reached two hundred meters.

Even if a heavenly god descended into the mortal realm, its spiritual sense would find it difficult to pierce the waters of such a deep and expansive lake.

Of course, the most important thing was that someone would be there to receive them.

As for that fellow Juju, He Lingchuan had never truly trusted it.

That old monster had betrayed the Grand Return Sect and betrayed the Heavenly Palace. Its record was utterly rotten. Once the Chains of Oath fell away, how could He Lingchuan not know that it would sell him out?

Selling out its master or friends for glory seemed to be Juju’s standard practice.

There was simply no way He Lingchuan would have staked everything on Juju. Hence, having several backup plans was very necessary.