Chapter 2586: Each Calculates Their Own Scheme

She then said: "I heard that Cangyan has already destroyed several Heavenly Palace experimental sites before this."

Otherwise, how could the Spirit Void Holy Venerable have requested Helo Tian to act, to protect the Hidden God Lord and the Spirit Essence Palace?

"Could it be Dong Rui?" Wang Mao Shi pondered, "Yunxia Bay is quite far from Cangyan; would he really come all this way?"

"All this way?" Xiao Ping spoke quickly, "Shen State is even farther from Cangyan, yet they didn't delay their surprise attack on the Jade Capital of the Earth Mother!"

"With Dong Rui's strength alone, it's insufficient to abduct Master Duan."

"Then Cangyan must have sent an elite team—perhaps even the Nine Abysses Great Emperor himself came."

Upon saying this, the room suddenly fell silent.

Xiao Ping merely mentioned it casually, but the remark even startled herself.

All three present intuitively thought: Impossible, right?

But who can say for sure about this matter?

Whether it was the past uproar in the Heavenly Palace or the later Dragon God War, it's clear that the Nine Abysses doesn't mind risking personal danger. If Cangyan obtained accurate intelligence about Yunxia Bay, perhaps this place is indeed worth his personal appearance!

Seizing the Hidden God Lord's body and disrupting the Heavenly Demon's descent plan—this would be too tempting for the Lord of Cangyan, wouldn't it?

Moreover, this is the Heavenly Palace's highest-standard experimental site, with the Great Heavenly God personally presiding—who else could possibly handle it?

But if the Nine Abysses Great Emperor were to come in person, it seems we could finally put it to the test.

Thinking of this, Wang Mao Shi shook his head repeatedly: "Master Xiao, we still don't know the means by which the other side abducted Master Duan. In this world, divine powers and strange treasures are countless; relying solely on the words of a few ordinary witnesses, how can we conclude it's the Snail Toad? Even that might not be the work of demonic puppets. Earlier, Helo Tian Venerable also said this secret should have been stolen by Ling Mountain or Mou State."

Xiao Ping was about to respond when Wang Mao Shi interrupted her: "Are you certain it's the Snail Toad? Do you have more evidence?"

Being blocked like this, Xiao Ping couldn't continue and could only sigh.

If Master Duan He Yun were here, he would surely agree with her words and insist it's the Snail Toad. And these two fellows would likely believe it too.

Could Master Duan's judgment possibly be wrong?

At this moment, Xiao Ping's subordinate demon puppet master rushed quickly into the Quan Yin Pavilion:

"Master Xiao, the earth rampart is ready, ready!"

A bit faster than expected, after all the difficulty.

Just then, Helo Tian suddenly said again: "The divine gaze has snapped two more lines—Hu Xin and the guard's. Now only Duan He Yun and A Lian remain."

Xiao Ping's hand clenched tightly all at once.

Helo Tian continued: "For now, send out a few teams to go out and probe the enemy's identity."

The follow-up plan will depend on the probing results.

"Looks like Duan He Yun can only suffer a bit first." Xiao Ping curled the corner of her mouth, "Also good—this is all his own doing."

￥￥￥￥￥

Idle and bored, Zhu Xiuer took out the seal imprint she had seized from Duan He Yun's hand and pressed it a few times on her thigh:

"No light emitted, it's failed!"

As He Lingchuan had predicted, once Helo Tian received the news of Duan He Yun's abduction, he withdrew the seal's effect, lest the enemy take advantage.

He reached out his hand to Zhu Xiuer: "Give it to me."

This seal imprint looks no different from before—it just won't press out a glowing mark. He casually put it away.

He Lingchuan and the others waited in ambush with the Earth Mother, but the "rabbit" never appeared.

Zhu Xiuer's dozen-odd eyes gazed up at the sky until she was longing to see, yet still hadn't caught sight of the Heavenly God's incarnation flashing across the firmament.

"Did Helo Tian not expect that A Lian's mortal vessel could undergo divine descent?"

He Lingchuan had already held two brief meetings with his subordinates to discuss the current situation.

"We are infiltrators; the process of abducting Duan He Yun didn't reveal our true forms. Logically, the Spirit Essence Palace should know very little about us—this is our advantage." Mingke Xianren said, "But our means of abducting Duan He Yun were too formidable, or perhaps the Spirit Essence Palace has grown worried."

"If we abducted Duan He Yun, the Spirit Essence Palace would surely infer we're targeting the divine descent plan and the Hidden God Lord." He Lingchuan mused, "The Hidden God Lord's hiding place is an absolute secret of the Heavenly Palace; only top-tier powers could obtain this information, so they would act more cautiously and conservatively. Perhaps the Spirit Essence Palace made a decision to preserve the major and abandon the minor, or to conduct preliminary probing."

Weighing the two, Duan He Yun is precisely this "minor."

"Just give up on Duan He Yun like that?" Ling Jinbao scratched his head, "That doesn't sound like the Heavenly Palace's style."

"When facing the mortal realm, most Heavenly Gods have an arrogant flaw, especially the Great Heavenly God. That's why I hope, in the state of not knowing our details, Helo Tian might rush to perform divine descent to retrieve Duan He Yun after the divine gaze fails." The Great Heavenly God usually doesn't take human opponents seriously, unless a true immortal acts, "but Helo Tian restrained himself—either the opposing side had someone dissuade him, or his temperament is indeed more steady than other Great Heavenly Gods, which also matches the intelligence I've gathered."

In gathering intelligence on the opposing side's forces, humans and the heavenly realm are naturally unequal.

The Heavenly Demons have infiltrated the human realm for thousands of years, with their spies and eyes everywhere; yet for humans to obtain heavenly realm information, the difficulty is tenfold or even a hundredfold greater than for them. Even the clues He Lingchuan and the various immortals hold are obtained indirectly from the Heavenly Demons, inevitably involving bias, error, delay, and often requiring on-site verification.

"From the fall of Miao Zhantian to the setback of Jia Lou Tian, the Heavenly Demons have suffered so many losses; they should have learned their lesson." Mingke Xianren said, "Helo Tian refuses to be deceived—should we change our plan?"

"If the mountain won't come to me, I will go to the mountain." He Lingchuan pressed his finger joints, "Now it's our turn to reverse the guest-host roles."

He summoned several avian demons to inquire: "After abducting Duan He Yun, how many pursuers are following us from behind?"

"Ground troops number over a thousand, but they're slow; flying immortals, demons, and cultivators—over a hundred, perhaps."

"What we observed in the Spirit Essence Palace is far more than this number; it seems most are still stationed in the palace. The Spirit Essence Palace still maintains its composure." He Lingchuan then said to Dong Rui, "Bring Duan He Yun and A Lian into the Snail Toad; we'll go for a walk on the ground."

Afterwards, he summoned other immortals and demons on the Earth Mother Plain and assigned them another key task.

The Earth Mother itself is a mobile fortress, capable of carrying too many beings, so He Lingchuan lacks no manpower.

At this moment, this colossal entity still lies deep underground, tens of zhang from the surface; for people to return to the surface, the most convenient transport is the Snail Toad and the Earth Mother's stone man incarnations.

By now, the sky had long brightened, the sun vast and expansive. Having stayed in the dark environment all night, upon seeing daylight again, everyone couldn't help but take a deep breath.

He Lingchuan stretched lazily, walked into the sunlight, raised the Floating Life Blade, and lightly severed the divine gaze upon himself.

From now on, the Heavenly Gods can no longer find his whereabouts; they can only track the other two companions traveling with him.