Chapter 2581: Why Are You Helping Me?

After everyone had finished stamping their seals in turn, the stone avatar of the Earth Mother brought A Lian inside.

The prisoners sent to the Earth Mother Plains had already been separated and detained.

A Lian did not resist; upon entering, she looked left and right, her face full of curiosity.

This city seems even larger than Bai Song City, and its gates are especially magnificent and beautiful, yet why is there no one here?

Earlier, they were still watching fireworks in the lively Bai Song City, and then everything went dark—next thing they knew, they were here.

A Lian did not erupt in resistance.

Though she had never seen a stone person before, this humanoid, walking giant stone beside her exuded an aura of not to be provoked from head to toe—far beyond those weak and tasty humans.

She had a premonition that even if she dared to resist, it would be futile and unrewarding.

A Lian decided to observe and wait.

Especially upon seeing the black dragon statue on the city wall of the Secret Realm, she was even more astonished: "What is this?"

"A totem."

After saying those two words, "Hu Xin" transformed into another person right before her eyes.

Taller, with handsome and striking features, his eyes deep and spirited.

"You……" A Lian paused before speaking, "You are indeed not Hu Xin!"

Now she remembered—the real Hu Xin did not like her.

"I am not."

A Lian's eyes showed no fear; she only asked, "Where is my father?"

"There." He Lingchuan pointed casually, and A Lian only then noticed a small hut beneath the city wall, also built of stone and seamlessly integrated with it—only when He Lingchuan pointed did its door slide open automatically.

A Lian hurried inside and found Duan He Yun trapped in a stone chair.

The chair's four legs were fused with the ground, as if grown from beneath the earth.

His hands were cuffed to the armrests, the stone chains similarly fused with the armrests, leaving no trace of joints.

"A Lian!" He then saw A Lian behind him and asked, "Who are you—Mu Guo or Cang Yan?"

"Your master calls me 'Jiu You'."

"Jiu You Great Emperor!" Duan He Yun's face changed dramatically, "Cang Yan, the Lord of Cang Yan—how could he possibly come to Yunxia Bay himself?"

The Jiu You Great Emperor, whom even heavenly gods and true immortals dread, should not be dwelling in the imperial courts to command the world?

Why would he sneak into Bai Song City secretly, leading the plot against him?

For the sake of the Hidden God and the Divine Descent Plan, I don't mind making the trip myself. He Lingchuan smiled at A Lian beside him, "There's nothing much to see here—would you like me to show you around this city?"

"He……" A Lian blinked, looking at Duan He Yun then at He Lingchuan, "Will you kill me?"

"No." He Lingchuan looked at Duan He Yun, "But his master might."

Duan He Yun's jaw tightened.

A Lian asked, "What does 'master' mean?"

"It means owner." He Lingchuan smiled, "You are his experimental subject, and he regards himself as your master; likewise, he too has a master above him."

A Lian blurted out, "Hé Lú Tian Shen!"

"Correct." This little yao puppet's intelligence is clearly far above its peers. "By tricking you into saying just one word—'agree'—he has already offered you to his master. From now on, your life and death are decided by Hé Lú Tian."

A Lian turned toward Duan He Yun upon hearing this: "Really?"

Gazing at her bright, lively eyes, Duan He Yun several times wanted to speak but held back.

Though she clearly stood between He Lingchuan and Dong Rui, she leaned toward He Lingchuan, although this man radiates dignity without anger.

"Why did you capture us?"

Another person, strange and odd, she doesn't need to judge his emotions, for his gaze at her is both greedy and excited, utterly undisguised, making her feel creepy inside.

She instinctively does not want to get close.

"Once Hé Lú Tian descends, he can dominate your life and death—want you to live, you live; want you to die, you must die." He Lingchuan casually stroked her head, utterly unafraid she might lash out and hurt someone, "So, do you want to free yourself from its control?"

"Yes!" A Lian, still young, had her thoughts instantly swayed by him, "Really possible? Father……uh!"

She pointed at Duan He Yun, then corrected herself: "He said the heavenly god is very powerful and does not allow us to resist."

"I was once like you—also a vessel of the heavenly god." He Lingchuan smiled, "But I am already free."

A Lian's eyes lit up instantly: "How did you do that?"

"By drawing the heavenly god down." He Lingchuan's smile contrasted sharply with the killing intent in his words, "Then deal with him. I have already slain many heavenly gods—it's not as hard to resist as you imagine."

"Can you defeat Him?"

He Lingchuan raised his eyebrows: "If not, would I still be standing here?"

A Lian fell silent for a few breaths, then asked, "Why are you helping me?"

"You've got it backwards." He Lingchuan said, "This matter is you helping me—we each take what we need. I hate the heavenly god, just as you hate……"

He glanced at Duan He Yun, and A Lian's gaze followed, making Duan He Yun feel creepy inside.

"How about it—want to cooperate?"

A Lian asked again, "What do I need to do?"

He Lingchuan smiled: "Wait a moment."

He walked up to Duan He Yun, speaking sincerely: "Master Duan possesses peerless talent, yet you waste it on serving tigers. If you could turn from darkness to light and lend us your aid, Jiu You will treat you with the honors due to a distinguished guest."

Duan He Yun looked at him, then slowly shook his head: "The true might of the heavenly god is beyond your reckoning. The deeper my research into yao puppets, the clearer it becomes—whether it's Lingshan or your Cang Yan, in the future war, neither side has a chance to win. Which is dark, which is light—you don't get to say; only the final victor does."

Dong Rui spoke from the side: "You are human—why do you help the heavenly god rule over humanity?"

"Only here do I have a place to be useful." Duan He Yun spoke softly, "You should go ask the hundreds of thousands of people in Bei Jia—they'll tell you what answer they'd give."

Dong Rui tilted his head: "What do you use to fuse human embryos with the fragments of the Hidden God? Divine blood?"

"You also guessed that?" Duan He Yun chuckled, "Not surprising."

He also knew that the enemy had always been investigating the secret of the god-descended body.

"But ordinary god's blood couldn't do this." Dong Rui's eyes were full of inquiry, "When you created Alian, the god's blood you used was very special, and no one else in Lian Valley knew about it, right?"

Duan He Yun's smile slowly faded, and for the first time he looked directly at him: "How do you know?"

"Ordinary god's blood basically cannot directly take effect on the body of the Hidden God Lord, nor can it directly change its shape. And no matter how small the fragments of the Hidden God Lord are divided, for the human embryo sac, they are overwhelmingly powerful." Dong Rui spoke at length, "If we change our perspective, the role of god's blood in this process is twofold: first, to counteract and neutralize the power of the Hidden God Lord's fragments, and second, to act as a catalyst to promote the fusion of the human embryo sac with the Hidden God Lord's fragments."