Chapter 2393

"How can there be several dozen? Isn't there only one Secret Realm entrance?" According to their past intelligence, there was only one. But now the Panlong Ruins had flashing points all over the city, looking quite evenly distributed.

"A smokescreen." Perhaps the previous adventure teams had only found one. Now, under the Mist's exploration, the other Secret Realm entrances in the Panlong Ruins had nowhere to hide.

But the Earth Mother wasn't stupid either; these several dozen flashing points were a bit too many, making it blatantly obvious something was off.

Secondly, those two captives from before — the witnesses to the He father and son's first two entries into the Panlong Secret Realm — had sworn up and down that the Secret Realm entrance was in the Fortune Pool at the South Gate Plaza.

But the flashing points in the Mist right now did not include the Fortune Pool!

What did this mean? Was the Fortune Pool entrance hidden so well that even it couldn't detect it?

It refused to believe it.

The Earth Mother hmphed and issued an order to the monsters at the South Gate Plaza: "Focus the search on the water pool in front of the Maitian Temple!"

Another order was for the other monster troops to disperse and explore the nearest flashing points.

So what if there were seventeen or eighteen locations? It had plenty of subordinates; dispersing to inspect them was no effort at all.

A one-eyed giant walked to the edge of the Fortune Pool, took out a bag of dark red powder from its bosom, and carefully sprinkled the powder evenly across the entire pool, not even sparing the stone benches on the pool's rim.

This was stone powder peeled from the Earth Mother's body, extremely sensitive to divine abilities and techniques; as long as there was the slightest fluctuation of spiritual energy here, it would instantly change color.

The one-eyed giant didn't even dare breathe heavily, for fear that a single sneeze would blow the stone powder away.

After sprinkling it, they waited quietly for a moment.

However, no good.

Whether it was the Mist or the stone powder, neither had any reaction upon encountering the Fortune Pool.

Then what about the other flashing points? The Earth Mother urged impatiently.

"Are these trash itching for a beating? They've been scouting for half a day, so why hasn't any news come back yet?"

It urged again, and the monsters replied with trembling fear:

"S-still... haven't found it!"

The Earth Mother had no choice but to suppress its temper and continue waiting.

After a good long while, a monster troop finally reported back:

Following the bright light, they had found a broken stool in a dry well behind a certain residential house.

The reason they couldn't confirm for a long time was because this well was originally filled with junk and fallen leaves, the well mouth was small, and it wasn't easy to get down. The monsters had to flip through things one by one to investigate; it was terribly slow going.

But this well wasn't the Secret Realm entrance; the thing flashing was that broken stool.

Another monster troop was even more frustrated; they were searching Zhong Shengguang's former residence.

There was a secret room under this mansion, and the hidden door was concealed exceptionally well — how could the monsters find it? In their anxiety, they had to rely on brute force to break through.

Only after they violently smashed the house and then smashed open the underground secret room did they discover a half-broken saber placed inside.

The thing emitting light was the saber, not the secret room itself.

Another monster troop had an even worse time. They discovered a spot on the city ground was glowing.

What to do? They could only dig it open to find out.

No matter how hard the ground, it wasn't harder than these monsters' iron-shovel-like claws. But they dug and dug and dug, yet dug into an underground river with abundant water!

Panlong City's planning back then had been very reasonable, originally designed with many underground drainage ditches to help with rainy season drainage. After many years, these dark ditches and culverts were still intact and still functioning.

After this monster troop dug open the ditch, they found it was still glowing inside, so they quickly rallied their spirits and kept digging.

But they dug and dug, and in the end found an embroidery needle in a mud clump...

This was simply too much of a screw-over — no, too much of a screw-over for monsters!

Most maddening of all, to prevent these glowing objects from disguising the real entrance, the monsters still had to carry the stone powder and sprinkle it again.

Still nothing gained.

The glowing objects they collected were also uniformly handed over to Jade Capital City, placed before the Earth Mother.

They looked like ordinary items from commoners' households.

But the Earth Mother casually picked up a couple, lightly pinched them, and they turned to dust, vanishing with the wind.

The Earth Mother leaned in for a sniff and immediately understood.

"These are items taken out from inside the Secret Realm!" That was why they glowed upon contact with its divine ability.

Every word the Earth Mother spoke sounded like it was squeezed out of a millstone, "Good, good. This is no ordinary Guardian Spirit!"

A Guardian Spirit's temperament differs from living beings; they are usually stubborn and rigid, incapable of adaptation — how would one know to use this kind of smokescreen?

"Our opponent... is most likely alive."

The one-eyed giant commander at its side let out a low growl, asking for instructions on the next step.

Jade Capital City had three great monster troop commanders: the One-Eyed Giant Shu Yan, the Violent Bear Chu Ba, and the Wolf King Yin Ya.

"Continue searching, check all the remaining locations too!" the Earth Mother said coldly, "The opponent wants to mix fish eyes with pearls, hiding the real entrance."

The monsters acknowledged the order and left. Every location they finished searching eliminated one flashing point; searching all the rest was only a matter of time.

But this was the biggest problem: it was very obvious that Jade Capital City's opponent wanted to delay for time.

Why? Could dragging it out turn the tables or wait for reinforcements?

If the opponent was truly alive, why could they enter the Secret Realm? What connection did they have with the Panlong Ruins?

The Earth Mother recalled what those two captives had said — over the past ten-plus years, only the He father and son's team had entered and exited the Panlong Ruins twice unscathed; everyone else was either dead or maimed.

Could it be?

It had only come from Shao City recently; the Nine Nether Great Emperor was far away, tens of thousands of li distant, the probability of him crossing two great empires to rush here was relatively small. In other words, the most likely culprit was Shen Wang He Chuanhua stirring up trouble in the dark!

"A bunch of trash!" Another small stone figure jumped onto the Violent Bear King's shoulder, pointing at the Panlong Ruins: "Go in, let me see for myself!"

This was also an Earth Mother avatar. It knew its subordinates weren't too bright; to know what was really going on inside the ruins, it still had to see with its own eyes.

The Violent Bear King carried the small stone figure across the floating bridge and walked into the Panlong Ruins.

Upon entering the South Gate Plaza, the small stone figure started issuing orders: "To the water pool!"

The Violent Bear King walked straight toward the great pool.

The little stone man gave it a sharp rap on the forehead with a flick of his finger: "Blind? The Blessing Pool is to your left! Head toward the temple!"

That sound was heard by the monsters nearby. Fortunately, the Violent Bear King has thick skin and hard bones—had it been an ordinary person, that blow would have burst their brains out.

The Violent Bear King felt wronged—this southern plaza is full of water; every spot is a pool! And which one is the temple?

It dared not speak its anger, only turned twice on the spot, then walked toward the tallest-looking building, guessing that must be the temple.

Arriving at the edge of the Blessing Pool, the Earth Mother glanced at the massive stone statue lying not far away—this is the statue of the Heaven-Filling Goddess, already severed head from body. The stone head's position is very close to the pool water.

"Indeed, it is the Heaven-Filling." The Earth Mother's avatar leapt to the edge of the Blessing Pool and bent down to inspect.

After the stone powder was poured in, the pool water remained clear and transparent to the bottom, except that all the fish were dead, belly-up and floating on the surface.

Thanks to the reader Mumushuicao for the reward~~~