Chapter 2483: Necessary Loss, That's All

The Land of Nothingness.

He Lingchuan continued to fight, but absolutely would not stray too far from the Earth Mother:

"I'm curious, what exactly did you do to Xiao Ying?"

Shangguan Biao rolled his eyelids: "What are you saying?"

As he spoke these words, he tunneled into the earth twice, dodging He Lingchuan's Immortal Binding Rope.

The Nine Nether Great Emperor possessed quite a number of powerful magic treasures; he had to be careful. Being able to transfer damage to the Earth Mother did not mean he stood on undefeated ground; now the Nine Nether had already changed tactics, wanting to use a lasso-type magic treasure to bind him up.

But doing so was very difficult, because this was Shangguan Biao's home turf.

"The Du Zhishan Secret Realm displayed the night of your Qi Deviation; inside, every matter was an evil matter, every person an evil person, every detail an element driving you toward Qi Deviation. Only Xiao Ying was an exception." He Lingchuan still remembered very clearly, "She was your childhood friend; to you she should have represented 'beauty'; why would she appear on the night of your Qi Deviation?"

Shangguan Biao did not speak.

"In your true experience, that night she fundamentally never appeared at all, right?" He Lingchuan stared into his eyes, "The 'Flowing Light' Secret Realm is a mutable Secret Realm; you tampered with your own memories!"

What a Secret Realm reflects is not necessarily history; it could also be a segment of memory branded onto the heart.

"Didn't you say everyone under heaven can betray you? Perhaps it was your actions after Qi Deviation that made you record her final beauty in the Secret Realm."

"You think mentioning Xiao Ying can disturb my Dao Heart?" Shangguan Biao stared at him and sneered twice, "Naive! After seeing the vast ocean, who would still miss that little ditch in front of their own gate?"

"The weak inherently must submit to the strong; the flesh of the weak inherently should provide nourishment for tigers and wolves! Since Xiao Ying hoped I would succeed smoothly, naturally she must contribute her actual actions, assist me with all her strength to advance courageously!"

"Oh, is that so?" He Lingchuan asked him, "Then what end did she herself meet?"

"All men must die, but one must die with value. If not for this Secret Realm's existence, I wouldn't even remember what she looked like long ago!" Shangguan Biao described it lightly, "You fools just can't stand seeing me at peace; you think I should feel guilty and self-reproach in the deep of night; ah hahaha, this only shows you yourselves are fussy and indecisive, Dao Hearts not firm enough! We cultivators must first wield the wisdom sword, sever worldly ties!"

"You want to sever worldly ties, yet cannot sever your own obsessions and greed." He Lingchuan said leisurely, "Also true. You could even sell out your own birth mother to exchange for a splendid future; a mere childhood friend counts for what? Necessary loss, that's all."

Shangguan Biao smiled: "Exactly. You 'Great Emperors' don't all call yourselves 'Solitary Rulers'? Shows you've long comprehended this principle, yet still pretend to be muddleheaded with me while understanding perfectly?"

At this moment his avatar quietly circled behind, about to sneak attack He Lingchuan; the Earth Mother threw a large rock, striking it into pieces from a tricky angle.

Not far off, several streaks of Lei Ting descended from the sky. And He Lingchuan thrust out with his single saber; the saber light in no way fell short of the Lei Guang, chopping Shangguan Biao into eight pieces.

The stone man collapsed on the spot, without any dragging of feet.

But not far away, a new stone man was already coalescing.

Seeing this scene, He Lingchuan was also not the least bit surprised. This was not the first time he had chopped Shangguan Biao into eight pieces, and it hadn't delayed the man from reassembling his body.

During the stone man's formation period, Shangguan Biao's soul body hid who knows where; he wouldn't foolishly let He Lingchuan seize him.

Holding the Stone Heart, Shangguan Biao practically shared a health bar with the Earth Mother. Every bit of damage He Lingchuan inflicted on him was taken by the Earth Mother.

This can't go on.

The Earth Mother in the Lei Chi suffered two heavy injuries in succession, her figure swayed twice, and a few more rocks fell off, but she didn't utter a sound.

She was silently enduring, yet also very frustrated.

Taking advantage of Shangguan Biao regrowing his body, He Lingchuan said to the Earth Mother: "You needn't be despondent either. If your awakening were meaningless, why would Shangguan Biao go to such lengths to make you sleep for thousands of years? When it comes down to it, you are the true source of all power in Jade Capital City! If you can wrest this power back, Shangguan Biao himself is merely a wisp of a lone soul, very easy to deal with!"

He didn't speak fair words; even as a mere soul body, Shangguan Biao's cultivation was very high.

The Earth Mother said sullenly: "Easy for you to say; how to wrest it back?"

"I can use a new Secret Realm to defeat Shangguan Biao, but there's a premise: this must be a fair contest." He Lingchuan said seriously, "Shangguan Biao has been stealing your power to maintain the Secret Realm, charging it. So not only can I do nothing to him, my Secret Realm also finds it very hard to devour the Flowing Light Secret Realm."

The Earth Mother said aggrievedly: "I'm not willing either!"

But its Stone Heart was in Shangguan Biao's hands; even if it was ever so unwilling, half its power was still being diverted away.

"This is equivalent to you helping him deal with me." He Lingchuan pointed out, "Over the past thousands of years, Shangguan Biao destroyed Longfeng Valley, controlled Jade Capital City, committed countless outrages against heaven and reason. Whether you are willing or not, he used your power to accomplish these things. Cultivators speak most of karma; this is the karma you cannot avoid being stained with."

The Earth Mother's mouthful of strong teeth nearly bit to pieces.

This person spoke correctly; if he couldn't borrow its power, Shangguan Biao might not have been able to accomplish these things. It had slept with its head covered these years, yet unexpectedly karma and karmic obstacles had already entangled it, impossible to shake off!

"Continuing to struggle against Shangguan Biao like this, you're doomed to lose." He Lingchuan said in a concentrated voice, "You know nothing of the Land of Nothingness; in here you are absolutely no match for him!"

The Earth Mother raged: "He trapped me here; what exactly does he intend to do?"

"Before, he used the dew of the Wind Dew Golden Lotus to coax you to sleep; that was a soft approach." He Lingchuan said seriously, "Now that you've awakened and know the truth, you're unwilling to sleep peacefully again. The soft way failing, he has to resort to the hard way. That is to imprison you again, severely injure you until you fall into a coma once more!"

Repeat old tricks.

"I anticipated his intention, which is why I followed down together when you were detained into the Land of Nothingness." Otherwise, whether it was the Earth Mother's mind, scheming depth, or methods, all were far from being Shangguan Biao's match; she would easily be manipulated by him again. He Lingchuan's previous efforts would have been wasted.

"Pardon my bluntness, if you're schemed against by him again, who knows when you'll awaken next." He Lingchuan wasn't entirely threatening her; he understood Shangguan Biao's mindset, "It's also possible you'll never wake again. Shangguan Biao will take even more radical measures, making you no longer cause him trouble, letting him smoothly and happily continue using your identity to manage Jade Capital City."

"Absolutely not!" The Earth Mother roared, "I'd rather self-destruct than let him succeed!"

The Blood Demon secretly cold-laughed twice; with this sentence, things would be easy.

He Lingchuan waved his hand: "It won't come to that."

"You've said so much; you have a way to stop him, right?" The Earth Mother wasn't as stubborn as she appeared on the surface, "Otherwise you wouldn't need to waste so much breath on me!"

He Lingchuan was silent for two breaths, then said: "There is. But this method, you won't like it either."