Where Immortals Once Walked

The Grass Sea was about fifteen kilometers from Tianji Peak. At Zhu Erniang’s running speed, they could reach it in just a few moments.

He Lingchuan turned to look behind them and saw the two great experts still pursuing relentlessly, both moving faster than galloping horses.

“Didn’t you say Baizhantian was poisoned? It doesn’t look like it’s been slowed at all.” Hm, could it be because origin energy has weakened the poison?

Lingxu City’s origin energy had once made him so envious that he could almost die.

But now, heh.

Lu Shishi’s outer shell kept bleeding, but Baizhantian seemed utterly unconcerned. It threw its long spear at Zhu Erniang several times and unleashed divine techniques several more, but the spider immortal dodged them all.

Zhu Erniang’s thick, heavy body somehow managed to gracefully dodge about in a serpentine manner several times as she ran.

It turned out that trying to ambush a spider monster with eyes on the back of her head was no easy task.

Baizhantian’s face darkened. It opened its hand toward the spider monster’s back, then twisted sharply to the right.

Deific Technique: Two-Point Fold.

A black hole appeared at the same time in front of Zhu Erniang and Baizhantian. It was pitch-black and exerted a powerful suction force on everything nearby.

If Zhu Erniang entered, she would immediately appear before Baizhantian, effectively moving her nearly a kilometer in an instant.

If Baizhantian entered, it would step right up to Zhu Erniang and be able to engage her at close range.

If they both entered at the same time, well, that would be like both sides rushing toward each other. Fortunately, Baizhantian still had State Preceptor Qing Yang on its side.

This was not a combat technique; rather, it was merely a short-range teleportation spell, but in the present situation, it was extremely effective.

Zhu Erniang nearly crashed headfirst into the black hole.

Luckily, her agility was wildly disproportionate to her physique. At this moment, she drew on the abilities of a jumping spider. All eight legs sprang off the ground at once, sending her vaulting upward as she tried to leap over the black hole.

Fortunately, He Lingchuan grabbed tightly onto the spider spike beside him. Otherwise, he would have been flung away.

Baizhantian stepped into the black hole, and in the next instant emerged beneath Zhu Erniang. It casually hurled its long spear, then pressed both palms together and shouted, “Crush!”

Zhu Erniang was in midair, yet by some unknown means, she was still able to dart upward. The refined steel spear shot past her and missed.

But then the spear exploded, and Baizhantian clapped its palms together.

As its palms met, the fragments scattered in the air contracted, suddenly shrinking toward a single point.

Deific Technique: Spatial Compression.

Within the range covered by the spear fragments, every object would be compressed by the deific technique into a tiny dot.

After the spear exploded, the rear half of the spider immortal ended up within the coverage of the fragments. In other words, Zhu Erniang was very likely to be torn in half by the deific technique.

The immortal molt was extraordinarily tough, and steel spears might not be able to do much against it. Baizhantian had done this deliberately, wanting her to savor this pain.

With a soft whoosh, the spear fragments compressed into a small metal ball no larger than a bayberry.

Zhu Erniang, however, did not simply let Baizhantian do as it willed.

The instant the deific technique took effect, she flashed away, reappearing over a hundred meters away!

Teleportation.

No matter how the space behind her compressed, it had nothing to do with her anymore.

Immediately afterward, State Preceptor Qing Yang also crossed through the black hole and arrived. With a lift of her hand, she fired three arrows.

The three arrows formed a triangular arrangement. Once they landed, they covered an area several hundred square meters in size, perfectly enclosing Zhu Erniang.

With the three arrows as the boundary, azure light flickered throughout the triangular region. Every step Zhu Erniang took became as heavy as eighteen tons—

State Preceptor Qing Yang’s spell had suddenly increased the gravity within the area by more than sevenfold!

Adapting to this kind of gravity was not difficult for the spider immortal. Still, the real difficulty was instantly and immediately restoring her steps to the same light and graceful manner in the middle of a fast-paced battle.

And the two pursuers were right beside her!

Without hesitation, He Lingchuan pulled out a special lightness talisman from his chest and slapped it onto Zhu Erniang with a smack.

This was one of the treasures he had left over from the Fu Realm. It could offset four times gravity for twenty breaths.

Although it could not completely eliminate the effect of State Preceptor Qing Yang’s spell, it could greatly ease Zhu Erniang’s burden.

“Hold on tight!” Zhu Erniang’s voice sounded by his ear at the same time.

She leaped forward with all her might. At the same time, all the spikes across her body and all eight legs contracted together. The plump spider turned into a giant ball and rolled forward for over three hundred meters!

It just so happened to be a downhill slope, and her speed was not slow at all.

If she could not run, then rolling would do, would it not?

At a time like this, she had no intention of preserving the dignity of a spider immortal.

State Preceptor Qing Yang and Baizhantian could only watch helplessly as she rolled away.

In moments, she rolled out of the range of the azure light.

Immediately afterward, the giant ball sprouted eight legs again and scuttled away with a strange gait.

Baizhantian’s furious voice came from behind them, “Zhu Erniang, three thousand years later, you still only know how to run. You haven’t improved at all! Don’t you want to avenge your elder sister?”

Zhu Erniang acted as though she had not heard a thing and continued lowering her head to run the long distance.

If she could escape, then she would be the winner. What was there to fight about? Her mind was perfectly clear.

He Lingchuan held his dizzy head and looked back. Baizhantian and State Preceptor Qing Yang had once again been left nearly a kilometer behind.

After that brief exchange, it seemed as though nothing had changed.

No wonder Zhu Erniang had sworn so confidently in the Demon Nest, saying that once he found the immortal molt, all he needed to do was blow the xun and leave the rest to her.

Lady Two truly is an expert at this.

Perhaps the previous move had consumed too much energy, because Baizhantian also stopped using techniques and simply chased after them in silence, holding back its anger.

State Preceptor Qing Yang glanced at it and sighed inwardly. The heavenly god had misjudged the situation again this time.

She could tell that Baizhantian’s descent had mainly been aimed at Juju. This god’s combat strength was formidable, and with Chenyuan assisting from the side, it would have been enough to give Juju a proper beating.

Unexpectedly, Juju’s waist had turned out to be so flexible. It kneeled at the first sign of danger, so Baizhantian’s target became the spider immortal and the invader.

This spider immortal’s combat power could not compare with Juju’s, but her ability to flee was truly first-rate. Trick after trick came one after another, and she truly deserved to be an ancient monster that had survived from the Ancient Era to the present.

Baizhantian was formidable in a real fight, but the same could not be said when it came to a chase.

As the chase continued, the two sides had already covered four and a half kilometers. He Lingchuan shot another firework into the sky.

This firework was called Concentric Rings. When it exploded, the pattern was a large ring with smaller rings nested inside it, four or five rings in succession, each a different color.

“Even with origin energy reducing its effects, my poison is not so easy to endure.” Zhu Erniang still remembered their earlier conversation. “These heavenly gods simply do not cherish their outer shells. They are only using a blood-boiling divine technique to suppress the poison inside the body. Besides, from what I can see, that shell is not very suitable. Just wait. In less than an hour, it will explode.”

“What happens when it explodes?”

“What else?” Zhu Erniang hopped over a huge boulder and kept moving her eight long legs. “The skin-sack or shell dies violently, and the god’s avatar returns to the divine realm. Then the danger facing you and me will be reduced by more than half.”

“If we still haven’t escaped by then.”

He Lingchuan guided her along small paths.

Juju’s rampage on Mount Xu had caused a volcanic eruption, and the disturbance was simply too great. Team after team of Lingxu City elites should be rushing from the Grass Sea to reinforce its defenses. He had no desire to meet them head-on along the main roads.

He also seized the chance to ask, “What sort of shell counts as suitable?”

Zhu Erniang deliberately turned one eye to glance at him. He still has the mind to ask questions in a life-or-death crisis? He really is no ordinary person. “A body that allows a god to exert greater power without collapsing quickly can be considered suitable, I suppose. I do not know the specifics. But look at Baizhantian’s current body. It clearly will not do.”

He Lingchuan looked at Lu Shishi, but thought of the Red General.

Without comparison, one would not know to be shocked. Baizhantian had not descended for long, yet Lu Shishi’s body was already showing signs of collapse. What about the Red General?

Mitian’s descent seemed to place no burden on her whatsoever.

Aside from Zhong Wuhan’s body being especially suited for divine descent, could it also have been because of the Generous Pot?

In the blink of an eye, Zhu Erniang had covered several more kilometers. He Lingchuan continued firing fireworks.

But this time, before it could reach high into the sky, an azure arrow arrived from behind and struck down the signal arrow he had fired.

State Preceptor Qing Yang could no longer stand it and had made her move.

He Lingchuan looked back and saw both pursuers wearing expressions cold as frost.

Fine then. He shrugged. The people who needed to receive the signal should already have received it.

* * *

When the Grass Sea competition opened, the scene had been extremely grand. Crowds were packed everywhere, and the noble families all arrived in their finest splendor.

Now, half a month later, the competition was nearing its end. The weather had also turned cold, and the vegetation had withered further. Even the once-spectacular reed marshes had shed more than half their plumes, leaving only bare stalks. Thus, very few idle people remained here. Most of those still present were logistics personnel for the various competing teams, as well as the Grass Sea garrison guarding the rift.

Powerhouses from the mortal realm could pass through the eye of the storm into the Fu Realm, and naturally, aberrant creatures from the Fu Realm could also cross over.

Therefore, every year during the competition, the garrison maintained strict vigilance to prevent those creatures from rushing into the mortal realm and wreaking havoc.

As this unit only had to work once every two years, it was temporarily formed from elite soldiers drawn proportionally from the Imperial Guard, the Tongxin Guard, and other forces. They began training three months before the Fu Realm opened each time.

Elite guards were stationed on both ends of the Storm Gate—that is, the entrances in both the mortal realm and the Fu Realm.

In the first ten days, the guards on both sides had already dealt with close to a hundred duonao beasts that had attempted to force their way through the Storm Gate. A few really had managed to cross and charge into the mortal realm, but they had been dealt with by the guards here as well.

As time passed, fewer and fewer duonao beasts came through. That was because most of the duonao beasts around the spacetime rift had already been killed by the participating teams.

With the hunting workload reduced, the spectators who came to place wagers had decreased, and the garrison’s work had grown leisurely as well. From time to time, they could rest their feet, chat, and eat a little.

But today was different.

The Grass Sea was very close to Mount Xu. Just now, everyone had seen the eruption from Tianshu Peak, heard the thunderous boom, and felt the earth tremble.

They wondered if that nightmare earthquake from more than ten years ago was about to happen again.

Then, in the blink of an eye, the direction of Lingxu City was also filled with flames and rumbling explosions.

Everyone was baffled. No one knew what had happened in either place.

Immediately afterward, order after order flew to the Grass Sea. Following the principle of using the nearest available forces, the Lord Emperor mobilized the elites here and sent them separately to Mount Xu and Lingxu City.

They had to fight fires on both fronts.

The garrisons on both ends of the Storm Gate originally totaled about six thousand men. In one move, five thousand were transferred away. The Grass Sea Hunt had been held for several hundred years, and Lingxu City understood the habits of duonao beasts perfectly. Experienced soldiers could handle things without making mistakes, even with their eyes closed.

In any case, the hunt was nearing its end. There was no real need to leave so many elites stationed at the Grass Sea.

By comparison, the safety of Lingxu City and the Heavenly Palace was naturally far more important.

And so the defensive forces here were suddenly drained nearly entirely.