Chapter 2449: New Secret Realm Emerges

Come out? From where did you come out?

The one-eyed giant king was utterly confused, but the Earth Mother had already slammed downward and vanished in an instant.

……

By the time it surfaced again, it had already reached the garrison of Changfeng Valley.

The two people behind the screen in the hall still looked on the verge of death.

Seeing the Earth Mother appear, Li Yun on the ground let out a strange cry: "Not done yet, not finished counting!"

After saying that, he sped up counting the grains of rice, but his hands trembled violently.

"Trash." The Earth Mother glanced at it, grabbed the golden sword on King Ye's statue's chest, and pressed down hard.

Inside the screen's Secret Realm, lightning flashed and thunder rumbled, and several thick bolts of lightning suddenly struck the two prisoners.

The two convulsed as if electrocuted, their eyelids flipped up, and they emitted puffs of green smoke all over their bodies, but they couldn't even cry out.

Ten seconds later, the Earth Mother released the sword hilt, and the lightning ceased abruptly.

The two people inside the screen collapsed on the ground, gasping heavily.

The Earth Mother's punitive force was just right—it made them suffer immensely but did not cause them to vanish into smoke.

Want to escape? Not that easy.

Liu Yisheng didn't even ask why it had suddenly attacked for no reason; once this wicked disciple had achieved success, he acted as he pleased, without any reason.

The Earth Mother then asked: "Was there an outsider who came by just now?"

Liu Yisheng struggled to sit up: "Do we really need to be asked this? Aren't you always luring outsiders into the city?"

The Earth Mother's hand rested on the golden sword again, frightening Li Yun into a loud cry of "ah ah ah."

"Next time you retort, first think clearly whether you want to suffer."

Liu Yisheng could only lower his head and say: "Someone came by."

"How many?"

"Six."

The Earth Mother pressed hard on the sword hilt, and another intense electric shock descended in the screen's Secret Realm.

This time it lasted longer—fifteen breaths.

Liu Yisheng's hair was all scorched, and Li Yun's left ear was blasted apart.

The Earth Mother stopped her hand and said lightly: "You're lying."

"Liu Yisheng, we've known each other for thousands of years—you lie, and I can't tell?" It bared its teeth, treating this expression as a smile, "In this world, truly few people know you better than I do."

"Four. Four outsiders came looking for us." After enduring two electric tortures, Liu Yisheng spoke with great effort, "Three are one-eyed giants, one is a scorpion demon. I didn't ask about their origins, I don't want to know, and I certainly don't want to know what you'll torture out of them later."

The Earth Mother gave a faint smirk.

It had played many little games with these two people; Liu Yisheng's hope of escape had been dashed again and again, and now he dared not harbor any hope, so he didn't ask about their origins either. Anyway, in the end, they'd all turn into corpses.

"What did you tell them?"

"Everything, as always." Liu Yisheng spoke woodenly, "Your name, your past, your grudges with Changfeng Valley, your control over the Earth Mother. I say whatever I know."

"Good, you did well." The Earth Mother nodded satisfied, "What do you think, where will they go next?"

This question was novel; the Earth Mother had never asked it before. Liu Yisheng looked up at it strangely: "You don't know?"

Is the Earth Mother unable to find these people's whereabouts, or does it simply not know how to deal with them?

The Earth Mother's hand pressed again onto the hilt of the golden sword.

It had said before that it disliked Liu Yisheng's retorts.

So Liu Yisheng immediately changed: "Wait, wait, let me think..."

"Since they asked about the Stone Heart, they should be going to find its true hiding place, right? Or perhaps they want to destroy you directly?" Liu Yisheng stared at the Earth Mother, his eyes not hiding hatred, "After all, you are the root of all this evil. Only in outsiders' eyes does the Earth Mother take the blame for you."

The Earth Mother, or rather Shangguan Biao, said cheerfully: "Good, then good."

But the very next instant, it suddenly turned its head toward the southwest:

"Huh?"

The Panlong Ruins actually underwent a change!

The Earth Mother sank downward and vanished in place.

Li Yun immediately exhaled in relief, sat down on the ground, but Liu Yisheng stared blankly at the desolate Changfeng Valley scenery beyond the screen.

The Earth Mother said it could see through his lies at a glance.

Hey, really?

……

When the Earth Mother reappeared, it was already on the southern city gate of Panlong Ancient City.

Now the fusion degree between Yujing City and Panlong Ruins has reached nearly eighty percent, and at most another quarter-hour remains to complete this great "assimilation."

Then the Earth Mother will be able to haul away the Panlong Ruins, and this chaotic great battle will end in its complete victory!

If the Heavenly Demon still wants to come take a share then? Hah, hahaha, hahahaha!

But the Earth Mother didn't return to the city wall because of this good news, but because a huge fish shadow in midair was frantically striking the Panlong Ruins below!

Exactly the shield-skin fish that earlier rammed open the false Secret Realm gate for it!

The shield-skin fish's performance was even more violent and ferocious than before, but as it is a guardian spirit, its strikes seem not to be against solid objects, so the various demons did not feel the intensity of the impact.

Earlier at the Changfeng Valley garrison, the Earth Mother had already sensed something wrong with its Secret Realm, and now it waved its hand toward that lake surface.

Waves of mist surged toward the lake surface.

This is mist infused with divine power; just as it drifted past, the mist burst forth with red light.

Not only is the shield-skin fish's lake surface glowing!

The Earth Mother saw red light flashing in its eyes, and it slammed the wall battlements hard: "Finally! The new Secret Realm here has finally surfaced!"

"Ah?" The Violent Bear King, who had just caught up to the city wall, heard this and was stunned. "There's another new Secret Realm?"

During this period, the thick fog had been drifting in and out of the Panlong Ruins, and aside from a pile of fake glowing items, no genuine Secret Realm entrance could be found. How come, in Mother Sovereign my lord's words, a new Secret Realm has now popped up?

The Violent Bear King had fought several relics alongside the Earth Mother, but this time, dealing with the Panlong Ruins, it was utterly bewildered.

How could it be this complicated? It made its head buzz with pain from going around in circles—couldn't it be simpler? It was just a creature that followed orders to work.

The stone giant's big mouth split open into a wide gap, like a gloomy smile: "Before was before, now is now. And this new Secret Realm is too greedy—just as it surfaced, it wanted to devour its kind in Jade Capital City!"

Forcibly merging two originally unrelated great cities had a huge side effect: the city layout became a mess, utterly unplanned. But the Earth Mother was fighting while devouring the Panlong Ruins, so such minor details, she would only adjust later.

The direct consequence of doing this was unavoidable: the Panlong Ruins came into direct contact with the relics inside Jade Capital City.

Just like now, the relic where the Shieldskin Fish resides is a salt lake, and after adjustment, it became adjacent to the Liu River of the Panlong Ruins. And somehow, the Liu River and the salt lake have been connected.

Know this: the Liu River is not an independent river, but is connected to the Panlong Ruins' extensive water system. So the salt lake's water drained out all at once, while the Panlong Ruins' water flowed backward into the salt lake.

The commotion and sound waves during this period were tremendous, like the surging flood of the great river Dajiang, with wave crests shooting up over two zhang high.