Chapter 2048

Luo Xie exclaimed joyfully: "Elder Liu, Mr. Dong!"

"What happened?"

Luo Xie immediately summarized the recent events, finishing in a few words, then pointed to the flat, round boulder where He Lingchuan and Nan Ronghe had stood earlier and said: "This stone is suspicious; we turned it over."

Liu Qingdao glanced twice and declared: "Great Mountain-Moving Formation! The Emperor and the others have been transported away. This formation can at most send people fifteen li away."

That distance is quite far! Luo Xie and the others heard this, and their hearts sank.

Liu Qingdao also felt two parts of strangeness in his heart. He Lingchuan is cautious, versatile in methods, and outstanding in strategy, yet he was successfully ambushed here.

Who did it?

Hey, who else could it be!

Luo Xie pointed to the surrounded Nan Rong soldiers and said: "These are all subordinates of Nan Ronghe! Can you track the whereabouts of the Emperor and Elder Xu Tu?"

Liu Qingdao knew he had done nothing wrong. Why would He Lingchuan stand on this large stone? Because Nan Ronghe stood here, and because Nan Ronghe placed the captured monster here as well.

Only the Great Mountain-Moving Formation could have taken He Lingchuan away.

"I cannot. I only know that Junior Brother Xu Tu encountered great trouble. But where exactly they are—" Liu Qingdao shook his head, "—my connection with Xu Tu has been severed, so I can only speculate they are in a sealed location."

"Sealed?" Luo Xie's face changed color, "Could it be a cage?"

"Or perhaps a barrier, a small world." In any case, the problem has become thorny.

Luo Xie then said: "I have already sent out search teams in eight directions; even if they met with misfortune, I would receive news here."

As his words fell, a shadow circled down from the sky and landed on a branch beside Luo Xie.

It was a mountain eagle.

It was the scout Luo Xie had brought, responsible for high-altitude circling to search for He Lingchuan.

"Not found." The mountain eagle reported, "I searched the area within fifty li, but the forests here are dense."

Liu Qingdao immediately said: "The other side is prepared; they likely set up a barrier."

"What should we do now?"

Liu Qingdao looked toward Dong Rui, whose face was grim, and he also shook his head.

He also had no clue.

Liu Qingdao said in a deep voice: "Increase manpower, continue searching for abnormalities within fifty li around. Hope the Emperor will soon give us a signal."

Even the simplest signal will do, as long as it gives them a direction to pursue!

The mountain eagle took flight again, this time needing to fly farther.

Luo Xie again dispatched two more teams to go out and search.

About half a ke later, Liu Qingdao suddenly felt something and gazed straight toward the north.

This feeling...

Not long after, the mountain eagle descended again from the sky, urgently reporting: "Twenty li to the north, two beams of light descended from the sky into the wild forest below!"

Good, good, we have a direction now! Liu Qingdao transformed into light and chased due north, leaving only one sentence behind:

"I'll go first."

In the Battle of Overturning the Sea, the immortals of the Huan Sect nearly suffered total annihilation; over a dozen fellow disciples, now only he and Xu Tu remain.

This sole surviving junior disciple, he protects with doubled care.

This time, Dong Rui and the Gui Yuan closely followed behind.

Dong Rui did not forget to instruct Luo Xie: "Leave some people here to guide the way; the main force will arrive shortly."

North of Luòfèng Pond.

Seeing Pan Qing's strike succeed, Mu Su Zhenjun also secretly breathed a sigh of relief, and in a deep voice said to the two great immortals: "Knock down the saplings, quickly!"

Pan Qing swallowed the prey into his belly, immediately turned to search for the blood demon. Under its protection, the small tree had already grown over three zhang tall, and, as if finding a rhythm, grew faster and faster!

Seeing it rush over, the blood demon instead let out a harsh, cold laugh: "At death's door, still full of pride!"

Hearing this, Qing Yang's brows furrowed.

What other trickery?

Sure enough, as the blood demon's words fell, Pan Qing's charging momentum stalled, his body suddenly curled up, as if in great pain.

Everyone wondered: "What's going on?"

Pan Qing's abdomen suddenly swelled up.

It is inherently abnormally thick; it's hard to imagine what could further inflate it.

Pan Qing endured the pain, opened his mouth, wanting to spit it out.

Normally, snakes periodically expel indigestible parts of prey, such as fur, hooves, large bones, etc. —this is natural.

However, this snake immortal's stomach acid is strong; few things escape digestion. Moreover, its belly has already been refined into a space; once prey enters, it cannot fly out even with wings.

But this thing expanded at an astonishing speed, so fast that even the space inside its belly could not contain it, and it burst directly!

Everyone saw its abdomen swell terrifyingly, the diameter of the bulge exceeding three zhang.

With such a bulk, Pan Qing wanted to vomit but could not.

Inside the Mu Wang Ding, a sound came from somewhere, very clear:

"Big!"

Immediately followed by a "gua" cry of misery, Pan Qing's belly skin burst on the spot!

Amid the splashing blood light, something rose from the flesh and blood of the giant serpent—

Golden Armor Divine General.

The first thing it did upon standing was to pull out its own giant hammer and fiercely smash toward the snake's head!

Pan Qing's belly burst and intestines flowed; though severely injured, it did not die. Given time, it can recover.

He Lingchuan would not give it this opportunity.

Qingyang Qi Jie: Is this guy hiding in the mirror space again?

At this moment, a man and a woman appeared inside the cauldron, the woman pointing her joined fingers at the Golden Armor Divine General and shouting sharply:

"Shrink!"

A beam of white light enveloped the Golden Armor Divine General, causing its size to shrink abruptly to about half its original size.

It suddenly had short legs and short arms, so this hammer missed the giant snake's head and instead struck the ground, with a duang sound directly creating a deep pit.

Divine technique, "Shrink and Expand at Will".

Theoretically it can make the target smaller or larger, but the final effect still depends on the target's cultivation level and divine ability proficiency.

If this move were used on Shituo or other immortals, the effect might be very weak, but the Golden Armor Divine General, though sturdy in form and strong in strength, has nothing to do with "cultivation", so this divine technique faces no resistance when applied to it.

Even so, the woman's five senses bled instantly, and upon landing she "hissed" and vaporized.

The Golden Armor Divine General is too large; shrinking it consumes enormous divine power, which this small frame cannot withstand.

Taking this opportunity, Pan Qing's great snake strained to move outward.

Meanwhile, Qingyang raised her hand and shook the wooden staff in her grip, which instantly turned into a long bow with two tender leaves at the tip.

She drew the bowstring, and a white arrow appeared out of nowhere, automatically nocked onto the bow.

Qingyang did not need to aim much, for her target was that small tree.

Just an ordinary arrow, without wind or thunder sounds, without special effects, merely pure speed. The Blood Demon, in the midst of its busyness, blocked once, but failed to stop it; the arrow flew past its hand and "duk" struck the tree trunk.

"Eh?" The Blood Demon was very surprised.

Upon reflection, this arrow was not fast, but slow!

Its speed was far slower than it appeared, so much so that even the Blood Demon, a monster not relying on eyes, misjudged it.