Chapter 2523: Next Stop on the Subway, Arrival

The world above ground remained unchanged, with no one aware that a colossal entity was silently moving beneath the earth.

To avoid alarming Song State, the Earth Mother had not surfaced for over ten days.

Contrary to outsiders' expectations, although Panlong Ancient City saw no daylight, the light source at the center of the barrier above the city had an intensity comparable to the sunlight of the Shen and You hours, so the interior and exterior were not pitch black.

The Earth Mother's advance was extraordinarily smooth; the city's inhabitants felt no jolts, as if standing on flat ground—even placing a cup of water on a table left its surface utterly still.

After being transformed by the Earth Mother, Yujing City was also renamed, directly called Panlong Ancient City. However, outside the city, there remained vast plains, known as the Earth Mother Plains—simple and clear.

The large-scale demolition and relocation plan in Yujing City had only been carried out halfway, but the vacated land had already been restored to various terrains, basically divided into mountains, waters, fields, and forests, with caves and deserts. The forest had not yet grown well, but the medicinal herbs in the spirit fields had begun to flourish luxuriantly, and the muddy pits in the mountains had started to attract wild boars for bathing.

On the plains, humans and demons also lived, but the barrier erected by the Earth Mother could block their communication with the outside world; all forms of communication and positioning divine abilities could neither send nor receive, ensuring the Earth Mother remained sufficiently concealed during its subterranean journey and would not expose its position.

During its journey, He Lingchuan, being idle, once again entered Mist Valley alone, walked to the edge of a puddle, and reached out to disturb the water's surface:

"Let me replay my battle with Jia Lou Tian once more."

The Divine Bone Necklace and the Soul-Capturing Mirror are faithful recorders, capable of replaying the important battles and events he has experienced, facilitating his post-event review.

Many immortals and demons possess similar divine abilities, but none are as effortless for He Lingchuan.

This divine ability naturally consumes energy; he is so stingy that he doesn't even use a mirror, instead directly rubbing against the large square pot.

After the water surface stilled, what appeared was He Lingchuan's battle process in the Void Realm.

In fact, over these past days, he has reviewed these images repeatedly, especially when Jia Lou Tian's decree-divine-form underwent changes, even requiring him to enlarge and pause for observation.

Knowing oneself and knowing the enemy ensures victory in a hundred battles. However, studying and pondering the opponent's divine abilities is actually an extremely tedious task, for even if one looks back and forth repeatedly, it is difficult to make any progress.

After having him repeatedly study it seven or eight more times, the Soul-Capturing Mirror, stifling a yawn, asked:

"Is what Naraku Tian said not true?"

Could it be that he intentionally deceived or misled the master? After all, he is also renowned as a great celestial demon for his cunning.

"If he truly is as He Chunhua said, not in a hurry to descend to the lower realm, then he could fully add obstacles to the Lingxu Holy Venerable and other celestial demons; moreover, Naraku Tian knows that the Lingxu Holy Venerable's divine descent plan is at the point of no return and must be executed, so repeatedly giving him trouble is to seize the opportunity to weaken the Lingxu Holy Venerable's prestige and the strength of the Lingxu multitude." He Lingchuan analyzed, "From this perspective, his goal aligns broadly with mine in this matter, so the possibility of him deceiving me is smaller."

"The decree-divine-form is very mysterious; Jia Lou Tian himself would not explain it to others. The so-called 'triangle' theory of order is merely Naraku Tian's one-sided view, but after prolonged reflection, I still find his reasoning sound." He then said, "I want He Chunhua to go ask for his explanation, merely seeking to corroborate my own observations."

After repeated contemplation over these days, He Lingchuan gained some insight. If Naraku Tian also thought this way, it would indicate that He Lingchuan's judgment direction has some reliability.

"The destructive power of this divine form is simply too great." The Blood Demon recalled, also with lingering fear, "Jia Lou Tian, when the decree-divine-form erupted in the Void Realm, had not yet exerted his full strength, yet it was already that terrifying. If he were to use his true self to unleash the divine form..."

"He could rank second among the Lingxu multitude, second only to the Lingxu Holy Venerable, and must therefore stand out exceptionally, capable of commanding obedience." He Lingchuan muttered to himself, "How should we respond?"

Jia Lou Tian and the world's strong ones—there must be a battle between them.

"Unfortunately, I was born three thousand years too late to personally witness the earth-shattering battle between Jia Lou Tian and the Shou'an Immortal."

Jia Lou Tian once fought the Shou'an Immortal face to face, both sides sustaining injuries. It is also unknown how the Shou'an Immortal back then dealt with the decree-divine-form; that should have been the first time this divine artifact shone brilliantly in the human world.

"The Great Return Sect has long since vanished into smoke and clouds; I fear those materials cannot be retrieved."

The Great Return Sect's base was even seized by Between Between Between Beijia, turning it into the Heavenly Palace's territory; how much of the three-thousand-year-old historical records could possibly remain?

Moreover, the battle level between Shou'an Immortal and Jia Lou Tian was too high, with only a few able to comprehend it, let alone record it.

He Lingchuan thought for a moment, then suddenly said:

"Naraku Tian once mentioned that when he himself encountered the eruption of the decree-divine-form, it was the fate-divine-form that protected him. But he refused to elaborate."

The Soul-Capturing Mirror resentfully said: "This old fogey, when helping people, won't help to the end."

"This is not helping." He Lingchuan inwardly understood clearly, "This is information exchange, and this is also mutual utilization."

At this moment, he suddenly sensed something and withdrew from Mist Valley.

Indeed, upon returning to Panlong Ancient City, the Earth Mother's voice sounded in his ear:

"After another thirty-five li, we will reach Yanxia Bay!"

That is their destination on this journey—the hiding place of the Hidden God Lord!

Song State lies south of Between Between Between Beijia, adjacent to the ocean, with winters not cold, summers not hot, a pleasant climate, and abundant products.

But the state is small and weak, still far from the realm of 'good governance and harmony among the people'; its army is also not particularly skilled in warfare. Moreover, places rich in products often have many demons or sects, making it difficult for a small state to firmly hold them. Were it not for Between Between Between Beijia's long-term administrative oversight, Song State would likely have already been overthrown.

The reason the Earth Mother no longer advances is that it senses a landmark directly ahead; once breached, it would likely trigger an alarm for foreign intrusion.

Their journey is extremely covert, and they do not wish to easily alarm the enemy.

Therefore, the Earth Mother halted in place, and He Lingchuan dispatched several bird demons—among them a forest owl and a crow—to scout the situation near the destination.

After over ten hours of reconnaissance, the bird demons returned and reported:

Fifteen li ahead is a large city named after the nearby white pines. Beyond Bai Song City, heading north leads to Yanxia Bay.

Bai Song City and Yanxia Bay are remote places, not appearing on any major world maps—let alone the outside world, let alone Between Between Between Beijia; even Yan State, which is a hundred li away from Song State, has never heard of these two places.

Such obscure rural cities number in the tens of thousands worldwide; whoever could glance at each one more than once would be bored to distraction.

After Mei Wuniang discovered this place, the emissaries He Lingchuan sent out still spent considerable effort before finally confirming the exact location of Yanxia Bay.

Its remoteness is precisely its best camouflage.

Thus, everything about this place needs to be remapped.

According to what the bird demons saw, the city's buildings were densely packed, the population dense, commerce flourishing, and it was very lively. Outside the city lay a large lake, with only two human settlements along its banks, appearing neither like a village nor a town due to their large scale, and certainly inhabited.

Thanks to my partner Gu Su for the reward~