Chapter 2429

Mingke Xianren continued analyzing: "This is the triple-layered damage, each layer a fierce battle. Even if Dimu is immensely powerful, by this point it must be exhausted and extremely weak. Shangguan Biao is just taking advantage of its weakness to enter and seal its essence and spirit within the Secret Realm. Hmm, without these several great battles, Shangguan Biao might not have been able to deal with Dimu."

Zhu Xiuer, as a great demon, also felt a sense of common hatred: "Dimu has encountered such a sect master as Changfeng Valley—truly, it has suffered bloody misfortune."

Mingke Xianren nudged his chin toward the direction of the Wind Dew Golden Lotus: "Our purpose in entering this Secret Realm is to seek Dimu's stone heart or essence—or if our inference is correct—could it possibly be hidden within this Wind Dew Golden Lotus?"

Zhu Xiuer immediately looked toward He Lingchuan.

He Lingchuan likewise looked toward the Wind Dew Golden Lotus, lost in thought.

"Shangguan Biao's deliberate act of moving the Wind Dew Golden Lotus into the Duzhi Mountain Secret Realm is itself worthy of attention," Mingke Xianren said solemnly. "Everything within this Secret Realm is illusory, but the Wind Dew Golden Lotus is real, and Shangguan Biao has consistently had people send demon blood from outside to irrigate the lotus. The dew of this plant has the effect of calming the spirit and granting rest—perhaps Shangguan Biao, in one stroke, directly placed Dimu's essence and spirit within the lotus. Would that not be achieving twice the result with half the effort?"

"We have lingered too long in this Secret Realm; we must quickly obtain a result." Mingke Xianren still harbored an unspoken concern, unaware of how his senior brother's investigation of the white house was progressing. Judging by the current situation, the likelihood of it being a trap is as high as ninety percent or more. "Furthermore, even if Dimu is not within this golden lotus, after we extract and examine it, we can still replant it in its original position."

Zhu Xiuer also expressed agreement: "Yes, why not open the lotus and see what's inside? If there's nothing, then there's nothing—we can then go search elsewhere."

The cost of trial and error is very low.

He Lingchuan stared intently at the golden lotus, his hand pressed against his chest, as if muttering to himself: "Is our target perhaps within this golden lotus?"

Then he felt the Divine Bone Necklace tremble several times, and he saw a thread of red light fluttering around the lotus.

A remarkably dense red light.

Under the influence of the Divine Bone Necklace, he observed that other treasures merely emitted light, but the red light on this golden lotus could flutter up and down within a radius of one chi around the lotus, like fish playing among lotus leaves.

The Divine Bone Necklace not only gave a definite answer, but it also presented that answer in bold and enlarged form.

Dark under the lamp—dark under the lamp! Mingke Xianren was right; our mission's target this time is indeed hidden within this golden lotus!

He Lingchuan furrowed his brows, instead feeling somewhat surprised.

At this moment, all three heard a faint sound.

Zhu Xiuer was most sensitive to the faint vibrations coming from the ground:

"Someone is coming this way, and their numbers are truly not small—several have high cultivation, perhaps they are coming for us."

By the time the pursuers arrive, attempting to pluck the Wind Dew Golden Lotus will no longer be as easy as it is now.

Mingke Xianren stared at the Wind Dew Golden Lotus, a sliver of cold light flashing from his sleeve: "Time waits for no one—act now!"

￥￥￥￥￥

After successfully sending his three companions into the Duzhi Mountain Secret Realm, Ling Jinbao retreated to the Changfeng Valley garrison, found a high hill, and hid there.

Earlier, he had disguised himself as a one-eyed giant to deliver the blood vats, but under the watchful eyes of the stone man's incarnation, he himself could not enter, so he could only wait outside.

Of the four infiltrators, his cultivation was the weakest. But Ling Jinbao maintained a good mindset—someone must always stand guard outside, after all, to handle communication duties.

The hill where he hid was high and densely vegetated. With nothing else to do, Ling Jinbao simply climbed up a giant king palm tree and gazed toward the battlefield outside Yujing City.

From this vantage point, he could just make out the battle taking place on a slope in the northern suburbs of Yujing City.

Since the recovery of heavenly and earthly spiritual energy, the intensity of human warfare has actually been continuously escalating, especially among cultivators. Ling Jinbao had previously participated in several such battles, but none compared to the great war between Ling Mountain and Dimu!

The immortals of Ling Mountain had all taken the field, bombarding Dimu's barrier with wild, indiscriminate explosions, more splendid than New Year's fireworks. And yet Dimu managed to stand firm amidst the siege of so many immortals and cultivators; once this battle ends, its fame will spread far and wide.

Now, Dimu's demon army and the counterattack of the heavenly demons are also extremely swift and fierce.

Ling Jinbao had just seen a colossal firebird descend from the heavens and crash into the barrier—its body alone exceeded thirty zhang in height, surrounded by rolling golden-white flames, heralding terrifying heat.

Half the sky was illuminated by it.

Judging by its speed and momentum, if it were to strike head-on, its power would likely far exceed that of the previous single meteorite fall from heaven.

He recognized this as likely the spell of the Sihai True Person—ancient immortals were indeed formidable, surely having prepared this for a long time.

After such prolonged fighting, Dimu's barrier had been heavily consumed and was no longer as solid as initially; this strike from the firebird, unmatched in momentum, might truly shatter it.

But just then, a cyan light shot out fiercely from within Yujing City—though not as brilliantly radiant as the firebird, its speed was not slow in the slightest.

Ling Jinbao boasted of his exceptional eyesight, yet he could only just manage to discern that it seemed to be a rotating……

Uh, a turtle?

The rotating turtle is not uncommon among amphibious demons, but it is not only massive—capable of toppling a small mountain peak—and its shell is covered with large and small sharp ridges, making it appear exceptionally thick and hard.

In merely two breaths' time, the rotating turtle collided head-on with the firebird.

Boom—this collision triggered an explosion, smoke and dust nearly covering half of Yujing City!

The blinding light forced everyone to avert their eyes and shut them tight.

The rotating turtle was blown to pieces, its shell fragments flying in all directions.

Yet, having been blocked by it, the fire phoenix also failed to unleash its full force upon Dimu's barrier, merely grazing it before losing all subsequent power.

It exploded upon the barrier into a display of fiery trees and silver blossoms, illuminating the entire sky, then vanished.

Only then did Ling Jinbao belatedly realize that this rotating turtle should have been one of the most fearsome weapons of the heavenly demons during the Wei Fa era—

The Gui Shou!

Besides ransacking immortal caves everywhere in search of divine descent skin bags, the heavenly demons also harmed many demons, transforming them into Gui Shou.

The later demon puppets were merely improvements upon the Gui Shou, adapted to survive in ever-thinner spiritual energy environments.

But in this era when spiritual energy has once again become abundant, the Gui Shou have found renewed utility.

They are larger in size, stronger in power, more robust in build, and their divine abilities are more formidable. Indeed, they can even, on partial divine battlefields, block and impede the steps of cultivators and immortals.

Formerly, although the Heavenly Palace stored many large Gui Shou, it was difficult to transport them to the battlefield. These great treasures are by nature extremely violent—once unsealed, they would immediately erupt and harm people—so long-distance transport has always been a major difficulty.

The last time the Heavenly Palace dispatched Envoy Du Yun to investigate the Panlong Ruins, they used the Child-Eating Gui Shou. That is, they sealed juvenile Gui Shou within living persons, and when in use, activated them to burst forth from the body.

Although this solved the problem of long-distance transport, the Gui Shou that a human body can carry are usually only juvenile, with limited power.

But the Gui Shou appearing today on the Yujing City battlefield—each and every one is a massive colossus!

(End of Chapter)