Chapter 2597: Both Sides Are Utterly Bewildered

The disciples of the Spirit Essence Palace were all in utter confusion.

The Immortal Wu Yu was about to speak again, but saw the stone giant crouching by the high wall; as soon as its shattered limbs touched the ground, they rapidly regrew.

This was an indestructible monster, able to draw endless power from the earth.

At that moment, countless torches suddenly lit up on the city wall, and figures clad in armor and weapons appeared from nowhere, standing on the battlements, silently gazing down at the immortals and demons below.

A strange ancient city, a peculiar army.

The immortals and demons exclaimed in surprise:

Those sent by the Spirit Mountain Sect—how could they be an army?

Immortal Wu Yu stepped forward and declared loudly: "Don't play mysterious—state your name, newcomer!"

As her words fell, a person stepped forward from the gate tower, firelight reddening his face.

Immortal Ming Ke!

He smiled faintly: "Immortal, we meet again."

"You're not the one in charge," Immortal Wu Yu said bluntly. "Where is the mastermind? Come out—I want to see what kind of expert this is!"

Immortal Ming Ke possessed great magic power, but today's layout in this Secret Realm was interlocking and unpredictable, each step almost landing on the most painful point for the Spirit Essence Palace immortals and demons.

Such battlefield control was not something the Ming Ke she knew could possess.

Immortal Ming Ke coughed: "Don't underestimate people—three thousand years east, three thousand years west."

"You?" Immortal Wu Yu shook her head. "I don't believe it!"

"Whether you believe it or not, what's there to argue?" Ling Jinbao beside her couldn't help but say: "The point is, everyone's here—just stay and be good guests!"

The difficulty of this operation lies in luring the enemy into the urn.

Now that Hulu Tian Du has already entered the urn, the Nine Abysses Great Emperor must swiftly launch the next step of his plan—who has leisure to waste time with these immortals and demons?

Having said this, he lowered his voice and asked Immortal Ming Ke:

"Was that the Great Emperor's move? What does it mean—could it be…?"

The strike that scattered the Rui Lin was violent and fierce; not only did the opposing immortals and demons stare dumbfounded, but even the heroes of the Cang Yan clan were left stunned.

Immortal Ming Ke replied irritably: "How would I know? Ask the Earth Mother!"

That was the combined power of the nineteen immortals and demons; though they first suffered a powerful sneak attack from the Earth Mother and took a great shock, the immortals, asking themselves, admitted they could not have done it!

Could the Great Emperor already possess true immortal power? Truly hiding his strength!

In recent years, the Nine Abysses Great Emperor has rarely acted in public; no one knows his true level. Even the Earth Mother believes that in his battle with the Lei Ting Tian Yuan of Jia Lou Tian, neither side actually went all out.

The Earth Mother's stone puppet clone also stood on the battlements:

"Eh..."

It had seen a true immortal and was highly sensitive to power, but it could not gauge it accurately.

Nine Abysses should probably, roughly, not yet be a true immortal. For the attainment of a true immortal is not merely a simple accumulation of power, nor does it rely solely on years and seniority; it also requires a supreme and profound understanding of the laws—otherwise, true immortals would not be so rare in this world.

Cultivators become immortals through a hundred refinements, yet can also rely on innate talent, comprehension, and natural gifts; and even among immortals, there are still differences of rank. But for an immortal to seek to advance a step beyond the hundred-foot pole into true immortality—that process is truly profound and mysterious, with few able to comprehend it.

Therefore, the Earth Mother's statement was very cautious:

"This strike indeed bears the aspect of a true immortal."

This strike does, but the Nine Abysses Great Emperor himself may not necessarily possess it.

Immortal Ming Ke, hearing this, rolled his eyes—wasn't this the same as saying nothing?

Still, they could not question the main party, for the old man had already left the Earth Mother Plains!

During their conversation, Immortal Ling Yun walked to the base of the city wall and flicked his horsetail whisk; the fine threads of the whisk, like tree roots and fungal threads, instantly adhered to the wall and rapidly spread upward.

The speed was so great that the city wall seemed to be covered in a layer of Bai Shuang.

Once it touched a living being, the fine threads on the spirit whisk would firmly bind it.

Other immortals and demons also simultaneously attacked the top of the city gate.

The Rui Lin had dispersed; they had lost their protection, but gained greater freedom. Only to see rainbow light burst forth beneath the city gate, and the immortals and demons were about to charge onto the wall in the blink of an eye!

They could fly—what use was the city wall as a barrier to them?

Immortal Ling Yun's whisk threads had not yet spread to the top of the wall when the ghost-head carving on the gate tower suddenly moved.

It looked left and right, opened its blood-filled maw, and spat out one stream after another of green fire, setting the whisk threads ablaze. Immediately afterward, it detached from the wall and let out a fierce, long howl at the crowd.

Only then did it reveal its true form: originally, it was a azure-colored great demon five zhang tall, with a single horn on its forehead, muscles knotted like dragons, and countless runes carved all over its body.

When it stood on the city gate, passersby thought it was merely a statue—no one expected the city's gate beast to actually have two.

As rainbow light flickered, the Qing Tu Great Demon, no longer polite, raised its iron fist and lunged forward.

When Guan Biao previously controlled Yujing City, subduing the Qing Tu Great Demon had cost immense effort—proof that this creature fights with extraordinary ferocity.

It casually wiped the wall, producing a thick stone shield and a three-zhang-long giant hammer, the hammer's tip still a long spike, usable for smashing or piercing. The Qing Tu Great Demon first raised the shield to block Immortal Wu Yu's overhead strike, then swung the hammer, smashing toward another heavenly demon flying at the wall.

Its shield bore a pale green corpse demon oil, foul-smelling but with various miraculous effects. Immortal Wu Yu's ice-flying blade struck the shield, was blocked by the corpse demon oil, and yet failed to freeze it.

Seeing many attackers, the Qing Tu Great Demon let out a low roar, reversed the hammer's tip, and actually split open its own belly.

This caused no blood to splash—in fact, its belly contained only a piece of darkness.

Immediately, several pairs of sharp claws protruded from its belly.

Before everyone's eyes, it leapt out more than a dozen azure- or brown-skinned evil demons from its belly—either sturdy and terrifying, or withered yet lively—and as soon as they emerged, they plunged into the battlefield.

The Qing Tu Great Demon itself can summon a legion of evil demons; these, having endured the fires of purgatory, are not as fragile as ordinary ghosts.

Merely in terms of summoning numbers, the Jin Du Ghost Mother is utterly weak compared to it.

On the city wall, more than ten sets of military equipment immediately activated, turning to aim at the immortals and demons, each siege crossbow emitting an ominous red light.

The soldiers operating them wore red armor, their expressions cold and indifferent.

Moreover, the stone giant still stood nearby. Its injuries had healed, and it was as strong as before battle.

Who could overlook it?

Who dares to overlook it?

Its most terrifying aspect is not even its brutal strength, but the near-infinite vitality it possesses within this Secret Realm.

When the colossal dragon head rose once more from the city walls, Wuyu Xianzi's mind flashed with insight, and she blurted out:

"Panlong City!"

The towering, heavily fortified walls, the crimson-armored troops, the iconic flood dragons—formidable enough to shatter the stone giants of Rui Lin...

These keywords piled together make it hard not to think of the nemesis the Heavenly Demon despises most—

The ancient Panlong City of old, the present-day Nine Abysses Great Emperor!