Chapter 2473: Ungrateful Wretch

It had six arms, so it could easily fire six shots in succession. The water of Lei Chi could also provide it with endless weapons.

In just a breath's time, it hurled thirty-six thunderbolts at He Lingchuan, nearly sealing off all his escape routes front, back, left, and right.

He Lingchuan had not yet risen to his feet, so he had no choice but to unleash his great shield to block the thunderbolts, but from behind came a small gust of yin wind.

The crouching beast on the pauldrons of the Bell Dragon Battle Armor instantly came to life, lunging backward fiercely and immediately grappling with the enemy.

Yet something still lurked on He Lingchuan's rear shoulder; the Blood Demon Cloak puffed up high but still failed to completely block it!

To He Lingchuan, this felt like being fiercely stung by a hornet, burning with pain.

Turning his head, he saw two unusually thick stone scorpions.

But the upper bodies of these two scorpions were humanoid, with two stone pincers like crabs, blocking the advance of the crouching beast.

Their tails were bent and slender, bearing a single sharp hook.

Needless to say, it was this tail hook that had just pierced through the cloak and battle armor's defenses in succession, embedding itself in He Lingchuan's back.

Though the wound was not deep, the poison was potent; even with yuan energy protecting his body, He Lingchuan found his left arm numb and nearly unable to lift.

At this moment, Shangguan Biao's dual-blade assault arrived again, and the Stone Yin Viper also seized the chance to fire another seven or eight arrows at him, each arrow at a tricky angle, aiming to cut off his retreat and leave him flustered, with no time to save himself.

In this situation, He Lingchuan had no chance to apply medicine to himself, so he gritted through the numbness in his left hand and threw something backward:

"Catch it, help me draw out the poison!"

What he threw was a poison sac.

The poison sac of the Cave Spider Queen, specialized in absorbing all kinds of poisons.

The Blood Demon behind him materialized a hand to catch it, pressed the poison sac onto the wound, and drew out the poison for him.

For this, it even endured two blows of thunderbolts from the Stone Yin Viper, being zapped with a sizzling sound and gritting its teeth in pain.

And in Lei Chi, the Earth Mother pondered for a few breaths, suddenly snapped a stone chain, and fiercely swung it at the Yin Viper!

The Yin Viper was coordinating with the main body to continuously fire thunderbolts at He Lingchuan; sensing wind behind its head, it wanted to dive underground, but the Earth Mother's chain-swinging speed was outrageously fast—before the Yin Viper could even lower its body, the stone chain struck its hind waist.

With a crack, it was directly whipped apart, scattering stones across the ground.

The Earth Mother also let out an angry roar: "Ow!" It hurt!

Shangguan Biao's injuries were all to be compensated by Stone Heart. This time, it was the Earth Mother swinging the chain at herself, injuring her own body.

But it at least gave He Lingchuan temporary respite; in the fierce battle, he freed his hand, pressed down on his wrist, and fired two sleeve-arrows backward, hitting one stone scorpion at close range.

The stone scorpion exploded on the spot.

The Earth Mother rolled her eyes, and stone powder fell from her body again.

He Lingchuan fought while shouting at it: "Manage the sand table, don't worry about me!"

The Earth Mother was still manually controlling the terrain changes on the sand table, striving to move the ordinary secret realm of Yujing City beside the Panlong Ancient City, while Shangguan Biao naturally would not allow it.

The two rulers of Yujing City were both exerting their power, competing against each other, making the entire city tremble as if a magnitude-twelve earthquake were approaching, buildings collapsing in rows, alleys severed one after another.

Even the stones on the Earth Mother's body were falling rustle by rustle, looking quite disheveled.

To He Lingchuan, the Earth Mother's current tasks were far more important than its direct participation in battle. For it was helping him achieve one of the most crucial goals of infiltrating Yujing City—powering the new Panlong secret realm!

The new secret realm built upon the Great Expansion Heavenly Pearl as its foundation ultimately lacked sufficient energy; relying solely on its own reserves, it could not be completed on schedule.

He Lingchuan had set his sights on Yujing City, which housed as many as dozens of secret realms; if the Panlong new secret realm could capture them, it should be able to sustain its own growth.

Now, this goal was being realized step by step with the Earth Mother's help.

Dong Rui also asked him from afar: "How is the new secret realm coming along?"

He Lingchuan only said two words:

"Not enough!"

The Panlong secret realm was becoming increasingly perfected and stronger, but it needed more energy!

During the fierce battle, Shangguan Biao also had no idle mouth, saying to the Earth Mother: "You foolish thing, as long as you obediently go back to sleep, these entanglements and disputes have nothing to do with you!"

"You thief, you dare not even dream of stealing my power again!" the Earth Mother strained to sit up, "Your secret realms are all powered by me—wait and see, I will destroy them all!"

"Your control over your own power is not even as good as mine!" Shangguan Biao sneered, "You were originally just a second-rate spirit beast; I developed your talent to the utmost, I made you unprecedentedly strong, I made the name 'Earth Mother' resound across the world! Lingshan could not subdue you, and heavenly demons seeing you would have to fawn and grovel! All of this is because of me!"

"If left to your own devices, you would still be the watchdog of Fenglong Valley, picking up a few mouthfuls of their discarded scraps and cold leftovers. Before I took over, even the lowly servants of Duzhi Mountain looked down on you, dared to dock your rations! Hehe, without me, how could you have achieved your current status and position?" Shangguan Biao grew louder and louder in his scolding, "You ungrateful wretch!"

Pa, pa, pa——

Before the Earth Mother could retort, He Lingchuan seized the moment to clap twice.

"Occupying the magpie's nest, yet still shamelessly taking credit. I have personally slain thousands of evil people, and your thick-skinned audacity truly ranks among the top five."

"You call me a wicked person, but what are you yourself?" Shangguan Biao sneered, "Who would steal faith, falsely claim to be the 'Reincarnated Dragon God,' and deceive billions of beings? The Great Emperor of the Nine Underworlds? I spit, I see you as the Great Emperor of Lies!"

"If I am wicked, then this fellow is a liar!" He turned to the Earth Mother and said, "You've only exchanged a few blows with him, yet you're destroying Yujing City for him! Every spear he has lodged in my body has caused you real, tangible harm—look, has he ever stopped?"

"No matter how wicked he is, you are worse." The Earth Mother rebutted, while straining to push the next secret realm to the edge of Panlong Ancient City, "Humans have said: when choosing between two evils, pick the lesser! Moreover, I will never again sign a contract with you humans, whether it's you or him—you can forget about it!"

It was not stupid; it wondered why these people were helping it.

Having stayed in Fenglong Valley for so long, even its stone-like head had been influenced by constant exposure. The first thing it learned was that the world hustles and bustles for profit; if these people had no ulterior motive, why would they oppose Shangguan Biao, and why would they stand here now?

It spoke bluntly, but He Lingchuan nodded: "Rest assured, I will not force you. As long as you cooperate wholeheartedly with us to eliminate Shangguan Biao, you will regain your freedom!"

The Blood Demon had stayed by his side for long, and they had developed tacit understanding; now it came to assist: "When the tree desires stillness, the wind does not cease. Even if you regain your freedom, Earth Mother, the heavenly demons will still eye you hungrily, and you will not enjoy peace!"

"Why?" The Earth Mother fumed. It just wanted a little peace and tranquility—was that really so hard?