Chapter 1572: He Xiao's Backup Plan

The mirror muttered: "If you had received this intelligence earlier, you could have made a layout in advance. Now..."

Now I don't know if it's too late.

Fifteen days, they missed the most precious fifteen days!

The mirror asked the core question: "How are you going to find his whereabouts?"

For the Great Emperor of the Nine Netherworlds, how much did Bai Ziqi find out? Will he be unfavorable to He Lingchuan?

But Bai Ziqi walked on the vast Glittering Gold Plain, which was like being invisible. Who could dig out his path?

"If he arrives in the Yao Nation, it will be difficult to handle."

He has been smooth in Tianshui City for several months. Once Bai Ziqi comes, his original old problem is exposed again, which is—

The foundation is not deep, and there is no force locally.

If it were in Julu Port, the Peng Nation, or even the Allied territory, He Lingchuan would have plenty of ways to investigate Bai Ziqi in reverse.

But changing to the Yao Nation, this is a big problem.

Saying such heavy words, He Lingchuan stood up and stretched, his bones creaking, and his tone changed at the same time: "But I think, Metropolitan Envoy Bai is very busy, how can he come so fast?"

He said this sentence very steadily, effectively soothing the mirror's emotions, and the mirror also heard the overtones: "Hmm? What do you mean?"

Isn't Bai Ziqi busy tracking the Great Emperor of the Nine Netherworlds? "Fortunately, I left a hand earlier." He Lingchuan murmured, "I don't know if Bai Ziqi jumped in?"

The Yangshan Archipelago was built by him from small to large, and the situation on the Glittering Gold Plain was also opened by him. It can be said that He Lingchuan is dealing with "people" all the time, and now he also manages tens of thousands of people, involving cross-regional, multi-departmental, and multi-group cooperation.

Outsiders always think that since an organization is established and rules and regulations are formulated, it can operate precisely like a machine without mistakes, and firmly implement the leader's will.

And no matter what happens, it will be done with a sneeze.

Naive.

The fact is that the organization's work will always have unexpected negligence, inexplicable mistakes, strange problems, and even a sudden big thunder, blowing you to see stars and buzzing your head, doubting life.

The more links, the more trouble you encounter.

The more personnel involved, the greater the probability of error.

Any organization is run by people, and "people" are the units most prone to slack and mistakes. The larger the organization and the more mixed the personnel, the harder it is to coordinate and do things well.

How many successes and failures are finally attributed to individuals.

So the most taboo thing about planning is to be tight, and it must leave room, and it must be downward compatible. This is the experience He Lingchuan summarized in his experience as a superior.

He left a backup plan

He Lingchuan stroked the Medicine Ape's head, "Good Lingguang, help me keep watch, don't let anyone in."

"Mm-hmm." Lingguang jumped out the window and stood on the roof.

He Lingchuan closed the doors and windows casually before sticking the Soul-Capturing Mirror to the wall.

"Open your mirror world."

As soon as the words fell, a faint light flashed on the wall, and a door appeared out of thin air, while the mirror disappeared.

He Lingchuan's mind stirred, and the black battle armor appeared out of thin air, covering his entire body.

He then took out the Dragon-Head Mask and put it on; the gentle and kind Island Master He instantly transformed into the majestic and mysterious Great Emperor of the Nine Netherworlds.

The next second, he opened the door on the wall and stepped inside.

Heat rushed toward his face.

The space behind the door was a huge natural cavern; the ground was black rock, but not far away, red light flowed, thicker and brighter than blood. Heat sprayed from the soles of his feet, filled with the scent of sulfur.

If this wasn't purgatory, it was a volcanic crater.

He Lingchuan's voice came from beneath the mask: "Do we have to be this dramatic?"

The Soul-Capturing Mirror had been by his side for many years, and having consumed countless heavenly treasures and Emperor Flowing Plasma, the mirror world was no longer what it used to be; it could even open up separate small spaces and small worlds within the mirror for his temporary use.

This function was exactly what he needed right now.

The mirror's voice rang out from all directions, exceptionally hollow: "You are the Lord of the Netherworld, shouldn't you be in purgatory when you make an appearance?"

Its master needed a lavish display to match this identity, after all.

He Lingchuan sighed helplessly: "Where is it?"

"Right in front, by the lava pool." The mirror kindly reminded him, "Don't be afraid, the lava won't burn you."

The temperature of the lava in the mirror world was also real, but it would not burn the master of this realm.

He Lingchuan walked forward and sure enough, saw a wooden staff stuck by the side of the bubbling lava pool.

This staff was old; the staff body had been polished to a sheen, and the staff head was carved with a fierce-looking human head, eyes tightly closed, but a pair of fangs protruded from the corners of its mouth.

He Lingchuan walked up to the staff, first lit seven sticks of incense for it, and muttered a few incantations.

The incense smoke rose straight up, and the wind had vanished.

Afterward, He Lingchuan took out a Dragon-Punishing Pillar, pried open the lid, and brought it close to the underside of the staff head.

A wisp of red smoke emerged from the pillar, flying away as if it had consciousness, as if it wanted to quickly distance itself from He Lingchuan and this wooden staff.

The first wisp successfully flew away.

Just as the second wisp came out, the human head on the staff head actually made a movement:

It seemed to wake from a dream, opened its mouth, and took a deep breath, instantly sucking the red smoke into its mouth!

Just looking at its expression, one could tell it was extremely satisfied, just like an old smoker who had quit for three days finally tasting a mouthful of chewing tobacco, or eating a bowl of snow dumplings on a sweltering summer day.

More wisps of red smoke emerged from the Dragon-Punishing Pillar one after another, and were immediately snatched up by it.

The staff head was still unsatisfied, but He Lingchuan tightened the lid and took a step back.

The human head on the staff had already opened its eyes and stared fixedly at He Lingchuan: "It's you again, Great Emperor of the Nine Netherworlds! The gods of the Flash Gold Plain are all inquiring about your news."

"Let's hurry." Summoning a god using this method had a very short time limit, "God Puyin, I heard the people from the Tiangong have looked for you?"

Before the Great Emperor of the Nine Netherworlds left last time, he had taken away the wooden staff from in front of the Puyin temple altar.

This staff followed God Puyin to receive incense and had a deep connection with it, so it could be used as a tool to initiate communication.

However, God Puyin usually couldn't track the whereabouts of the incense staff because He Lingchuan kept it in the small world within the Soul-Capturing Mirror, which was completely isolated from the outside world, only temporarily relaying when He Lingchuan forcibly summoned God Puyin.

Before and after the havoc in the Tiangong, the Soul-Capturing Mirror couldn't have managed this.

It was evident that the mirror's gluttonous eating and drinking—no, diligent cultivation—over the past few years had yielded results.

"Oh?" God Puyin was curious, "How did you know?"

The Great Emperor of the Nine Netherworlds suddenly summoned it, which also surprised God Puyin; its first reaction was to expand its divine sense to check the location here.

Huh, it actually couldn't locate it.

It only knew that this place didn't seem like the human world.

"Where are you?" It looked left and right, but the human head had a limited range of motion, and it could only see the glowing red lava pool to the side, "Is this a small world?"

If he could summon it into a small world, this guy really had some skills.

The Great Emperor of the Nine Netherworlds chuckled coldly.

Intelligence from Giant Deer Port said that Bai Ziqi was going to Shizhoutou and Liuping. Then the wild god temple in Shizhoutou might also be a key target of his visit; after all, the Eight Plains Township was right behind Shizhoutou, and God Puyin likely knew if there was any movement there.

The Great Emperor of the Nine Netherworlds spoke again: "Did you tell Bai Ziqi the news about the Thousand-Illusion True Person's array?"

God Puyin stared straight at the Dragon-Punishing Pillar in his hand: "One more mouthful."

He Lingchuan stepped forward and let it have another satisfying mouthful of Nightmare Qi.

"Ah—I told him, I told him everything."

"And then?"

"He was very interested, asked in detail from beginning to end, and then left." God Puyin sized up the black-armored man in front of it. The little secret of the Thousand-Illusion True Person was passed to it by the Great Emperor of the Nine Netherworlds; otherwise, how could it know everything that happened on White Hair Mountain hundreds of miles away?

"You didn't reveal the source of this secret, did you?"

"Why would I say that?" God Puyin said lazily, "The information you gave wasn't fake, and Bai Ziqi was also very interested. I used it to trade for a few Dragon-Punishing Pillars, and the Lingxu crowd also has a chance to dig out the Thousand-Illusion True Person. Isn't this a win-win for everyone?"

It couldn't let the God Realm know that it had made a deal with the Great Emperor of the Nine Netherworlds, otherwise, the consequences would be endless.

Besides, both the Great Emperor of the Nine Netherworlds and Bai Ziqi were generous, so wasn't it better for it to earn Dragon-Punishing Pillars from both sides? "Are you still hiding in the God Realm?"

God Puyin was annoyed: "How did you know?"

"The Shali Heaven and the Lingxu gods have clashed, and you have Dragon-Punishing Pillars and don't want to be cannon fodder." Then the only option was to hide and stay low, "Do you have any new news for me?"

"In another twenty days or so, an unprecedented Emperor Flowing Plasma will erupt."

The Great Emperor of the Nine Netherworlds: "I already knew about this."

"Then there seems to be nothing else? Why would the Heavenly God want to loot the Immortal's cave dwelling?"

"Need you ask?" God Puyin said as a matter of course, "Enemies who have been fighting to the death for thousands of years, wouldn't they kill each other if they had the chance?"

"Anything else?" He Lingchuan always felt the truth wasn't that simple.

God Puyin shook its head:

"With the Dragon-Punishing Pillar, killing an immortal allows one to absorb a massive amount of Nightmare Qi!"

"Anything else?"

"Nothing."

He Lingchuan pressed further: "Nothing, or you don't know?"

"Nothing, nothing."

God Puyin still wanted to say something more, but He Lingchuan reached out and pulled out the incense on the ground.

A small whirlwind immediately blew up on the spot.

The incense extinguished, and the human head on the staff head closed its eyes again.

The conversation between man and god ended here.

He Lingchuan looked around: "Where is the exit?"

"Inside the magma."

"……"

"I'm serious." The mirror said with a grin, "How about next time the Great Emperor of the Nine Netherworlds makes an appearance, he rushes out from a lava door? I can arrange it, and I can make it go boom-boom with fire behind you." Creating a bunch of sound and light special effects.

He Lingchuan ignored it and jumped straight into the magma.

Sure enough, after a flash of red and black before his eyes, he found himself back in the study.

The mirror spoke in his arms, and this time there was no echo: "Hey, that last question, did God Puyin lie?"

"Even you could tell." Did that even need asking?