Chapter 2378: Mutual Surveillance

Sihai True Person frowned: "But this just shows that this ruin is being manipulated by a powerful will, which is why it set a trap for the living."

"It's probably the Great Square Vessel." Mingyao Supreme Venerable said, "The Earth Mother and the Heavenly Demon came here, wasn't it for it? For over a hundred years, the Heavenly Demon couldn't take this supreme treasure away, and who knows what method the Earth Mother might have."

Sihai True Person snorted: "This traitor of the mortal realm!"

He had personally participated in the Immortal-Demon War, hated demons as enemies, and at that time couldn't stand the Earth Mother's so-called neutrality and detachment from affairs. Moreover, the Earth Mother is now colluding with the Heavenly Demon.

Mingyao Supreme Venerable said: "Since the Heavenly Demon has allied with the Earth Mother, they have some confidence in this matter; we cannot afford to be careless."

Lingjinbao's face was full of worry: "The Earth Mother holds the power of an entire city; we are few in number, and if we really fight, we will likely be at a disadvantage."

"Once we confirm that the Earth Mother's target is indeed here, we will seek aid from Ling Mountain." Sihai True Person said without hesitation, "Even if the Earth Mother can truly take the Panlong Ruins, the process won't be too smooth. This is our good opportunity; once missed, dealing with it later will be even harder. Not to mention, this ruin is related to the Great Square Vessel."

Mingyao Supreme Venerable waved his hand, and a large group of withered-leaf butterflies flew out of his sleeve: "They will arrive soon; let's place a few spies here."

Now the Panlong Wasteland is lush with greenery, and inside the ruins, plants are flourishing; in brick cracks, wall corners, and stone fissures, flowers and grasses grow everywhere, with the most vigorous trees reaching two zhang in height.

These withered-leaf butterflies, numbering perhaps in the hundreds or thousands, flew out and perched on various nooks and crannies, their forms changing to blend with the surrounding flora.

On flowers they became flowers, on leaves they became leaves; even if a demon or person approached closely to examine, they might not detect anything unusual.

He Lingchuan saw this and exclaimed: "What remarkable divine ability!"

Dong Rui, however, said unhappily: "Do you still have the mind to praise others? These withered-leaf butterflies cover the entire ruin; our process of entering the Secret Realm will likely not escape their surveillance. In other words, these few immortals may already know we are coming."

This surveillance method is extremely concealed and silent. If it weren't for He Lingchuan now being able to control the Panlong Secret Realm and thus retrieve the ruin's images from the past three days, we would absolutely not be able to detect what Mingyao Supreme Venerable has done.

"Let them know, I've changed my face, big lady——" He Lingchuan turned to look at Zhu Xiuer, "——disguised as a scorpion."

After obtaining a stronger cicada-shed, Zhu Xiuer can instead shrink even smaller. Its usual body size is not much larger than a yellow dog, and outwardly it looks like an oily, smooth scorpion essence.

He Lingchuan also doesn't know how it does this, but ordinary soldiers of Shen State, even when using yuan power, cannot see through it.

"They also don't know our true identities, only that we jumped into their inaccessible Secret Realm." He Lingchuan laughed, "I think they will rush over to see what's going on."

Zhu Xiuer said more sharply: "Since the withered-leaf butterflies have been constantly surveilling here, when Panlong Ruins fought Yujing City earlier, they were probably watching the whole time."

At this moment, the image of Sihai True Person in the water also said: "Withered-leaf butterflies? Isn't this something belonging to Immortal Mingke?"

"My junior brother lent me to use them." Mingyao Supreme Venerable said, "I also called him over to help; he will arrive in a few days."

In the water, these few people wandered around the ruins, found nothing, and thus left again through the South City Gate.

At this moment, a small incident occurred: Lingjinbao discovered that the water of the Blessing Pool had become clear once again.

Earlier, the pool water had been dyed red by the earth dragon's blood, and standing three zhang away one could smell its distinctive muttony odor; but when they passed the Blessing Pool again, the water had become clear, fish swimming lazily to and fro, as if they had never poured any toxic or harmful substances here.

Sihai True Person immediately said: "Even if this pool is not the entrance to the Secret Realm, it still has some mystery; we should focus our attention on it."

After saying this, the few people left the Panlong Ruins, still riding the avian demon as they left the Chi Po Highlands.

Upon arriving here, the water surface rippled open, and there was no image.

"Ling Mountain has indeed already tracked us here, and moreover gathered great powers and cultivators, preparing to act against the Earth Mother." He Lingchuan pondered, "Since both sides have intentions to cause trouble, Ling Mountain will certainly be able to alleviate our burden."

He raised his third finger: "Third matter, we need to find a suitable opportunity to rebuild the Secret Realm. Once Commander Zhong's power disappears, the Earth Mother will surely perish!"

Dong Rui said without hesitation: "Are these Ling Mountain immortals not seeking reinforcements again? Give them some time."

"Alright, during this period, going to Heishuicheng will require more caution; it's best to change faces." He Lingchuan thought, "Zhu Xiuer's appearance is too conspicuous; just leave her here."

No matter what Zhu Xiuer's disguise looks like, in the end she is still a demon. He Lingchuan and Dong Rui are humans; using a clam horn to change appearance, others would not notice.

Zhu Xiuer could only resentfully lie flat on the ground: "You guys go quickly and come back quickly."

But just at this moment, the divine bone necklace suddenly trembled slightly.

He Lingchuan reached in and pulled out a neatly folded letter from the round hole in the necklace.

Zhu Xiuer immediately stood up: "Huh? Du Shan sent you another note again?"

Only Du Shan can send messages to He Lingchuan in this way.

Speaking of which, as the spiritual energy of the mortal realm has recovered from revival to abundance, the immortals' former long-distance communication methods have gradually become usable again. But all methods ultimately still restrain under one condition:

Energy consumption.

The basic condition for long-distance and ultra-long-distance communication that cannot be bypassed is the medium, that is, the so-called "transfer station."

The farther the transmission distance, the greater the energy consumption.

The connection between the Heavenly Demon and the Heavenly Palace is already very close, but the Lingxu Holy Venerable most of the time issues divine edicts, still through the wordless "Heavenly Book."

As for energy, save where possible; the Lingxu Holy Venerable is the head of the household, knowing that firewood, rice, oil, and salt are precious.

But Du Shan sending messages to He Lingchuan, however, utilized a major BUG, namely the Great Square Vessel!

The interface of the Great Square Vessel with the present world actually has two: one is He Lingchuan's divine bone necklace, the other is the Hao Yuan Golden Mirror in the Chicheng Chixiao Golden Hall.

How closely these two items are related to the Great Square Vessel needs no further explanation.

He Lingchuan utilized the characteristics of these three to develop his own exclusive communication method, namely Du Shan delivering paper notes and folded slips to the Hao Yuan Golden Mirror; these paper items would then pass through the divine bone necklace and be delivered into He Lingchuan's hands!

The Great Square Vessel serves as the transfer station between the two.

The energy loss in this process is basically borne by the Great Square Vessel. He Lingchuan believes that, for the Great Square Vessel at this time, this loss can be neglected.

Of course, he and Du Shan, as standard opportunists, also tried stuffing other things into the Hao Yuan Golden Mirror, wanting to see what else could be transported over long distances.

What He Lingchuan most wanted to transport, of course, was an army.

But if the destination is outside Chicheng, the Hao Yuan Golden Mirror does not accept living beings.