Where Immortals Once Walked

Of course, He Lingchuan did not know that the original array eye was, in truth, an ancient magical artifact in its own right, known as the “Changjin[1] Sphere.” Under divine guidance, the Heavenly Palace had modified it into an array eye capable of containing a spider immortal’s molt and reflecting the star map.

It was one of a kind.

Meanwhile, the backup array eye was merely an imitation of the Changjin Sphere that the Heavenly Palace had developed later. Though its appearance and functions were quite similar, it ultimately lacked the Changjin Sphere’s most important trait.

With the Swallow’s Return movement technique, He Lingchuan moved through the crack no slower than an ape. By now, the little fire man on his shoulder had also recovered its senses. Realizing what he was doing, it kept cheering him on, “Faster, faster! I can already see the Suspended Dipper Stone!”

He Lingchuan shot it a disdainful look.

Still, the fissure that Juju’s dozens of huge fireballs had blasted open was genuinely deep. He crawled another ten-odd meters and finally saw a massive grayish-white boulder.

“That’s the Suspended Dipper Stone!” Juju cried in delight. “Dig it out... wait, hold on!”

It jumped onto the Suspended Dipper Stone and touched it a couple of times, as if to sense it carefully. Then it said to He Lingchuan, “Upward! Go up! There’s still space above it!”

Upward?

He Lingchuan climbed higher, and sure enough, he saw something seemingly embedded within the crystal.

He drew Fleeting Life and hacked and dug with all his might. Shards of crystal fell rustling down, and the thing hidden inside became clearer and clearer.

“Floating stones?” He Lingchuan was overjoyed. He had not expected to find the storage compartment for the floating stones.

The crystals shone with beautiful light—violet, blue, red, and green. At night, they looked especially dreamlike.

However, He Lingchuan knew that once these things were dug out, there would be nothing romantic about them at all.

Both the Grand Spirit-Gathering Array’s array eye and the floating islands relied on floating stones to replenish the Suspended Dipper Stone’s energy. Only then could they remain suspended in the sky. Therefore, every floating device’s Suspended Dipper Stone had a storage compartment for floating stones.

Scooping these out was far easier than digging up the Suspended Dipper Stone itself.

He Lingchuan first dug out several of the largest pieces and threw them into his storage ring, then began raking the rest outward.

The floating stones tumbled down in a steady stream.

These things did not float on their own. They only worked once infused into the Suspended Dipper Stone.

The heroes of Lingxu City had entered the Fu Realm, fought with all their might, and risked life and limb to bring back these floating stones, and now he was wasting them by the handful.

Just then, the little fire man suddenly screamed, “Behind you!”

Behind me? He Lingchuan dodged aside, catching the blur of a dark shadow from the corner of his eye.

He shifted again at once and felt a faint stir of wind pass his ear, slicing close along his cheek.

Huh? It’s that aberrant creature?!

No, that was wrong. This one was a full two sizes smaller, about the same height as He Lingchuan.

The larger ghost beast was over three meters tall when it stood up. There was no way it could squeeze into such a narrow space. Besides, it was probably locked in fierce combat with Zhu Erniang right now, so how could it come down here looking for him?

Ah, so there are actually two of them, one large and one small, and they’re nearly identical in appearance.

No wonder I thought I saw the creature had two tails earlier. This smaller one was probably just lying on the larger one’s back.

The creature changed direction with terrifying speed. After missing its first pounce, it immediately twisted back around, only to meet He Lingchuan’s raised left hand. A sleeve arrow shot straight at its left eye!

Unfortunately, the thing recognized the danger and dodged again.

He Lingchuan inwardly cursed. Though the refined gold sleeve arrow had been finely crafted by Songyang Mansion, the distance between them was barely sixty centimeters, leaving no room for it to gain power.

Still, he seized the opening and kicked the creature in the shoulder, knocking it off balance. Extraordinarily agile opponents like this one were often not especially powerful. It was easy for him to throw them off balance.

At a time like this, He Lingchuan would never hold back. Even a boulder would have cracked on the spot beneath his kick. But when his foot struck this aberrant creature, it throbbed faintly with pain.

Damn it, it’s fucking hard! Is its body forged from refined steel?

At that moment, the aberrant creature’s tail whipped up with the momentum and stabbed straight at He Lingchuan’s heart.

Compared to a human, it had five limbs to fight with. Worse still, its tail could actually bloom open and shoot a black needle. The needle shot out with a whoosh and struck the mirror squarely.

Ding!

He Lingchuan masterfully blocked the attack. Right after that, he did not dodge; instead, he turned his hand and chopped off the creature’s tail with a single slash!

Thanks to Fleeting Life’s unstoppable sharpness, he managed to cut it off. Had he used an ordinary blade or sword, he probably would not have left even a white mark on the aberrant creature.

The creature hissed in pain.

He Lingchuan also howled in agony.

The pustules on the aberrant creature’s body had suddenly burst during the fight, spraying pale green pus in every direction. A few droplets pierced through his protective vigorous qi and landed on him, while the rest dispersed into the air, injuring anything they touched.

His clothes were immediately corroded through, leaving several holes. Fortunately, the spider silk inner armor he was wearing stopped the corrosion from spreading.

But his exposed skin was not so lucky. A bloody hole was eaten into the back of his hand, its edges blackened, and the wound so deep that bone was visible.

If it were eaten through any further, he would not even be able to hold his blade.

Fighting such an agile opponent in such a narrow space was truly difficult.

He Lingchuan gritted his teeth, flicked his wrist, and threw a stink dumpling at the aberrant creature.

Not knowing what it was, the creature cautiously avoided catching it. But the scented dumpling burst against the rock beside it, and an indescribable stench instantly filled the entire space!

Generally speaking, creatures with keen noses could not withstand such an odor attack. Even though He Lingchuan had held his breath in advance, his eyes still stung a little.

Yet this aberrant creature did not care in the slightest. Instead, it stopped, took two deep sniffs, and even opened its mouth...

Its face could not make much of an expression, but He Lingchuan somehow felt that it looked rather intoxicated.

Taking advantage of the chance, he quickly swallowed a Flying Head Gu[2].

This gu insect had come from Sun Fuping, who had once used it against He Lingchuan in the Panlong Ruins. It fed on the essence of the heart and brain, but after it ate its fill and spent two months digesting, it turned into a great tonic that could be swallowed, and it was especially effective at restoring blood and qi.

He Lingchuan rarely had reason to use it, but now his blade-wielding right hand was wounded, seriously hindering his performance.

The aberrant creature’s intoxication lasted less than two breaths before it remembered its mission and pounced at He Lingchuan again. Its speed was simply outrageous.

Ever since he had made progress in the Swallow’s Return movement technique and gained the support of true energy, He Lingchuan rarely met opponents faster or more agile than him.

But this thing was so fast it did not seem like a creature of the mortal realm.

Clearly, it and the large one above were likely a mother-and-child pair of monsters, captured by the heavenly gods and refined together into ghost beasts.

The little fire man on He Lingchuan’s shoulder was so anxious that it scratched its ears and cheeks. “Hurry up and empty out the floating stones! Hurry, hurry!”

Success was right in front of it, yet it could not do anything itself!

Hard-pressed in battle, He Lingchuan even had trouble forcing out the breath to speak. “Why don’t you do it yourself?” The terrain in this narrow crack was atrocious, and the creature’s occasional flurries came as fast as a woodpecker’s pecking. He had no idea what kind of innate ability that was. The fact that he had not already been gouged full of holes was proof enough of his reflexes.

“If I could do it, what would I need you for?!” the little fire man said bitterly.

After the Grand Spirit-Gathering Array had restarted, it could no longer damage Mount Xu’s structures. Otherwise, it would have smashed this array eye down long ago. Why would it need He Lingchuan to climb in here and dig away?

The aberrant creature pounced again.

Speed against speed. He Lingchuan was beginning to adjust to its rhythm. The moment he saw its shoulder joint move, he raised his shield in advance. The blow landed squarely under its chin, knocking its head sideways.

The aberrant creature flew into a rage, bounding back and forth between the cracks in the stone as it searched for a suitable angle of attack.

When it lunged again, He Lingchuan shifted the angle of his shield. The mirror-smooth surface reflected the creature’s entire body.

The aberrant creature froze at the sight of itself in the mirror.

There seemed to be many of its kind inside the reflection, three, four, five, six... packed densely in a row, all howling at it without end.

The Soul-Stealing Mirror’s innate soul-snatching ability had finally found its chance to activate. It shouted at He Lingchuan, “Now! Hurry! I can’t hold it for long!” Confused or simple-minded creatures were the mirror’s favorite targets.

Fleeting Life swept in right after, flashing with icy light.

The aberrant creature still instinctively hopped back two steps.

Fleeting Life shaved off the upper half of its skull above the ears. Black blood splattered everywhere.

Just then, several long howls suddenly came from above.

That was the trapped mother beast roaring. It could not defeat the monster immortal.

The little aberrant creature fighting He Lingchuan had lost half its head, yet it did not die on the spot. Instead, it screamed and dashed upward.

Mother and child creatures such as these were often linked by heart. That feeling had overridden the compulsory orders the Heavenly Palace had imposed upon it.

What tenacious vitality. He Lingchuan did not give chase. Instead, he turned back and worked frantically to clear out the floating stones. That was his first priority.

Ten left...

Five left...

All gone.

The last floating stone left the compartment, and He Lingchuan immediately felt his body lighten.

With its energy dug clean, the array eye began falling immediately.

As it dropped, it even spun, making at least two full 360-degree rotations.

Success! The little fire man gave a delighted yelp and shouted, “I knew you could do it! I really didn’t misjudge you!”

It refused to believe the Heavenly Palace could still have a third or fourth backup array eye.

No one played nesting dolls like that.

Panting, He Lingchuan said, “I’m going to fall to my death!”

He was spinning along with the array eye, and in another moment, he would drop into the deep ravine.

Zhu Erniang would surely be fine. As for him, well, that was hard to say.

The little fire man laughed loudly. “With me here, you couldn’t die even if you wanted to!”

A blazing red light suddenly erupted below. A giant palm reached up and steadily caught the array eye in its hand!

Juju had arrived, and it had manifested its true form.

Zhu Erniang’s monster immortal body was already twelve meters tall, but compared to the giant aberrant creature below, she looked as tiny as a toy.

Seizing the moment, He Lingchuan quickly climbed out of the fissure and went to find Zhu Erniang.

He saw that the large ghost beast had already been wrapped in spiderwebs, layer after layer, inside and out, until it could barely move.

The small ghost beast was attacking Zhu Erniang frantically, but it could do nothing against the body of a monster immortal.

It could not break through her defenses at all.

In the end, Zhu Erniang swiftly rolled the large ghost beast over several times, wrapping it into a huge, constantly squirming cocoon. This was the spider monster’s specialty, and she did it with effortless skill.

The little ghost beast was hissing in frantic distress. Then it turned its head, spotted He Lingchuan, and charged straight at him again.

Its modified brain had not been very good to begin with, and now it had panicked completely. The moment it saw a living thing, it rushed forward, madly tearing and biting.

This time, He Lingchuan was perfectly calm. He threw a stone ball at it.

The stone ball was black as an egg, but its surface was covered in dark red cracks.

The aberrant creature casually caught it and was about to throw it away when the stone ball suddenly burst, turning into a fiery snake that coiled around its arm.

It truly was a fire snake, formed entirely of lava. Molten rock even flowed across its body, and when it fell to the ground, it burned a hole through the surface with a sharp hiss.

The aberrant creature tried to fling it off, but was that even possible?

1. Chang here can mean smooth, unobstructed, free-flowing, or expansive, while jin here is metal/gold. Anyway, I believe there to be no historical or mythological reference here. ☜

2. First mentioned in Chapter 75: The Black Dragon’s Lifeline. ☜