Chapter 2623: The Work of the Earth Mother

"Yes." The gate guard bent his waist and lowered his head, receiving the crystal with both hands, then stepped backward several paces toward the Hao Yuan Golden Mirror before stepping inside.

This crystal is the crystallization of the Hao Yuan Golden Mirror; He Lingchuan brought it to transmit orders, and it is single-use, disappearing after one round-trip transmission.

Some lively Ju Cheng residents had already gone westward.

He Lingchuan glanced downward twice, then also entered the Hao Yuan Golden Mirror.

He was faster than anyone else, stepping into the western suburbs of Ju Cheng's water marsh in a single step.

In recent years, the Hao Yuan Golden Mirror has become deeply integrated with the entire Ju Cheng, allowing He Lingchuan to use the mirror to instantly teleport to any corner of Ju Cheng, as well as to villages and towns within a thirty-li radius surrounding Ju Cheng.

Western Ju Cheng is well-connected with roads that are flat and straight, yet large tracts of original wetlands remain undeveloped.

The water marsh lake is filled with swaying reeds, white sand dikes, and gulls and egrets, presenting different scenery in each season.

However, on the plain at the end of the water marsh, the originally flat landscape was suddenly replaced by a city that appeared out of nowhere.

The mottled walls were covered by the verdant green of climbing plants, and even beneath the flying eaves of the gate tower, a swallow's nest had appeared.

Vicissitude and vitality, heaviness and liveliness, blended together silently.

This is the present-day Panlong Ancient City.

He Lingchuan looked up again; the mirage city was positioned directly above Panlong Ancient City.

One in midair, one on the ground, as if responding to each other from afar.

His expression was extremely grave, for this so-called "mirage" was none other than Panlongcheng within the Panlong World!

He recognized several of the patrol soldiers on the city gate!

Panlongcheng lies within the Great Fang Hu space, separated from reality by a Secret Realm—so why has it suddenly become a visible mirage in midair, observable by all?

Such a cross-temporal gaze makes it hard not to let the imagination run wild.

It even triggered a commotion throughout Ju Cheng.

He Lingchuan knew it could not truly be in the sky. Since when has it been able to come this close to reality?

He Lingchuan walked leisurely toward the ground-level Panlong Ancient City; before reaching the gate, a small stone fell from above, landing on his shoulder and transforming into a little stone figure.

"You've worked hard." He Lingchuan said to it, "After this victorious return, you can rest for a long time."

The little stone figure yawned anthropomorphically: "I don't like fighting at sea—sea salt is about to pickle my city and land!"

It complained: "Do you know how troublesome it is to expel salt and alkali?"

Sea wind and salt alkali cause especially severe erosion to land and buildings; the Earth Mother does not like going to sea, saying, "Even while fighting, I must divide my attention to protect the spiritual fields and mines on the plain from salt invasion! Too troublesome!"

During the last Ling Yun Palace battle, it set an ambush in the Bai Zhu Archipelago, and that body of sea salt took two months to flush out.

"I understand, I understand." He Lingchuan laughed, "Shall I arrange more Xuan crystals for you?"

In fact, after long-term cultivation, land more or less develops salinization and alkalization issues; the Earth Mother long ago had a solution—it can highly concentrate excess salt and expel it through earth pores, and the concentration of this brine can far exceed that of seawater.

"Hmm, that's about right." The Earth Mother also learned human tones, becoming quite tsundere, "Besides, I captured seven or eight sea clan prisoners this time, all held in the Secret Realm. I pre-interrogated them—Yada Island indeed followed the Sea Emperor Xuan Du's orders to stir up trouble on Cang Yan's route. This time, we've wiped them out entirely; at least the western sea circuit can enjoy peace for a while."

Who doesn't know that the Nine Abysses Great Emperor began his career in maritime transport? The Cang Yan Empire's maritime business is the most developed, currently having opened over a hundred routes, connecting countless regions.

Although Cang Yan is vast and rich in resources, its recent high-speed development fundamentally depends on the prosperity of maritime transport.

But in the past three years, sea clans have begun specifically attacking Cang Yan's shipping lanes and vessels, causing losses to Cang Yan and making merchants wary. For example, this time's weapons and parts sent to support Shen Guo—if intercepted at sea, they could even affect Shen Guo's war progress.

Therefore, these sea troubles must be eliminated.

Cracking down on sea pirates, He Lingchuan and the Yang Shan people are very experienced, knowing the most efficient method is to lure law enforcement, then strike the lair directly!

After several such crackdowns, Cang Yan discovered that most bandits were acting under the Sea Emperor Xuan Du's orders to seek misfortune for Cang Yan, but quickly found this costless venture highly profitable—Cang Yan's goods are quite valuable.

The Sea Emperor Xuan Du was summoned by the Heavenly Demon to guard the Ling Yun Palace's Liuli Sea, yet He Lingchuan stole the body of the Yin Shen Jun right under his nose, causing him to lose all face.

Naturally, the Sea Emperor could not swallow this insult; fortunately, Nine Abysses is no longer the lone He Lingchuan of old—he now commands a vast empire. The Sea Emperor cannot kill Nine Abysses, but can use his prestige and influence among the sea clans to strike at Nine Abysses' imperial industries.

The Heavenly Demon also wishes he would do this.

As long as it can strike Nine Abysses, nothing is impossible.

For this reason, Cang Yan swiftly dispatched its own armed military vessels to patrol the shipping lanes under the pretext of cracking down on sea pirates and protecting international shipping lanes, simultaneously equipping them with Cang Yan's own aquatic forces; many immortals and great powers also willingly embarked, eager to accumulate merit.

Naturally, many countries lie along this route—whether or not they have diplomatic relations with Cang Yan, they are now willing to provide sea pirate intelligence, both to ingratiate themselves with the great power Cang Yan and to conveniently clear out bandits in their own waters.

After being repeatedly struck down over a dozen nests, the sea clans quickly changed tactics, beginning to unite and act in clusters.

Banding together increases their own security against Cang Yan's armed forces.

Yada Island is a typical example—its island and surrounding waters have gathered over ten thousand sea clans.

Here, the island's waterways are complex, and the sea clans' above-water and underwater fortifications are strong, making naval fleets difficult to penetrate—just as the Mou Guo naval fleet could not enter the Yang Shan Archipelago back then.

Seeing Yada Island about to become a force, He Lingchuan requested the Earth Mother to act, loading troops from Cang Yan and rushing to Yada Island for battle.

The Earth Mother herself is a powerful mobile fortress—let alone thirty thousand troops, even a hundred thousand could fit inside.

Its landing point is also terrifying: originally always subterranean, it suddenly erupted from the center of the Yada Archipelago, toppling several islands and their above- and below-ground defenses.

This battle was like divine soldiers descending from heaven—victory was certain, and no one would blame Cang Yan's long-arm jurisdiction.

After the battle, the Earth Mother returned victorious—on one hand, to release the Cang Yan troops; on the other, to settle travel expenses and costs.

The Nine Abysses Great Emperor had promised that whenever it was used for large-scale operations, Cang Yan would subsidize all its expenses.

The Earth Mother also quite likes Cang Yan and doesn't mind coming here to wander around.

Cang Yan's shipping lanes have several major bandit lairs; He Lingchuan chose Yada Island as the Earth Mother's strike target, naturally based on his considerations.

(Chapter Complete)