Chapter 2668

"Yes!"

Several people hid in the woods behind the army; Xu Zhiyu casually grabbed a branch from the side and drew a diagram on the ground, quickly recounting the battle process of the past dozen or so hours.

Simply put, both sides have exhausted all their tricks.

Whether it was solidification technique, earth-piling technique, wood-inducing technique, or ambush technique, or any deceptive tricks to lure the enemy, each side had taken turns using them.

"We even set several traps for Huoye Chan to fall into, but he truly lives up to his name—cunning as a ghost." So the battle returned to square one, with both sides honestly engaging in offense and defense.

The solidification technique is a divine ability that has only been reactivated in the past ten years.

After the recovery of heavenly and earthly spiritual energy, many high-energy-consuming but powerful techniques became usable, such as earth and stone transformation technique. When civilians encounter collapsed official roads, they request military assistance; previously requiring manual excavation, now army spellcasters simply cast a transformation technique, turning fallen rocks and soil into stone giants that crawl away on their own—saving time and effort, though it consumes high energy.

Likewise, the terrain of Fululu Gou is so narrow that the Bei Jia army, as the attacking force, could completely use earth and stone transformation technique to move or smooth the large stones on both sides, allowing the Panlong army no defensible position—wouldn't this battle be easy to fight then?

Therefore, another divine ability emerged in response, called solidification technique.

It was specifically developed in actual combat to counter earth and stone transformation technique, mostly existing in the form of talisman arrays or talisman scrolls, capable of maintaining the terrain within a certain range unchanged and unaffected by earth and stone transformation technique.

This technique consumes even more energy, but in the midst of great war, this is no longer considered.

The Panlong army arrived at Fululu Gou first, and the first divine ability they deployed was solidification technique—this is why there has been such a prolonged offensive and defensive battle afterward.

Xu Zhiyu gave a wry smile: "We even considered water warfare, wanting to flood Huoye Chan. But after surveying upstream, we found the water too scarce to borrow."

"It's the dry season now." He Lingchuan had also surveyed the surroundings: "Even the main river, Womi River, is not as abundant as in summer. By the time it reaches here, the tributaries can't even fill the flowing water plaza."

"Yeah, we..."

Xu Zhiyu had just begun speaking when He Lingchuan's attention was drawn by an anomaly in the sky.

A great wind from somewhere blew past, parting the thick clouds in the sky; He Lingchuan looked up and saw a huge purple figure touring the celestial canopy—

Chaos.

Has the sky opened again?

But Chaos swam swiftly, and the sky was no longer a monotonous azure; instead, it was hazy gray, with floating light and broken gold at the center.

He Lingchuan furrowed his brows.

Such light is rarely seen; it usually occurs when a person underwater looks toward the surface and sees sunlight projected.

What does this mean? Is the Panlong world underwater?

Immediately after, the celestial canopy displayed undulating mountain ranges, jagged strange rocks, also hazy gray in color, with distant ones indistinct.

Then, large black shadows swept across the celestial canopy, shaped like giant kun, still shaking their heads and swaying their tails.

"That is..." He Lingchuan couldn't help but exclaim.

Straining his eyes to see clearly, each black shadow was a single fish, small in size, but when tens of thousands or hundreds of thousands gathered together, they formed a massive group as huge as a beast.

Now, He Lingchuan could finally confirm: the Panlong world is indeed underwater.

This is likely because the earth mother plain attached to the Great Square Vessel is touring underwater; He Lingchuan gazed upward at this celestial canopy, which connects to the water body of the Panlong Secret Realm, and the Secret Realm directly faces the real world.

Therefore, the real world, the Secret Realm, and the Panlong world are three layers interpenetrating each other.

This is absolutely not a good omen, indicating that the friction between the Panlong world and the Secret Realm is increasing.

Xu Zhiyu and the others followed He Lingchuan's gaze upward, but saw only blue sky, with no anomaly whatsoever.

"General?"

"Nothing..." He Lingchuan was about to shake his head when the Chaos in the celestial canopy suddenly flicked its tail and vanished.

Just a few breaths later, the people felt a violent shock beneath their feet.

Although all the soldiers had some foundation, this shock nearly threw them all flat on their backs.

"General, be careful!"

Without needing a personal guard's reminder, He Lingchuan swiftly moved several zhang away, only to see the large stone above shatter on the spot, rumbling and rolling over the position they had previously stood.

The ground more than five zhang away directly cracked open into a deep trench.

"The earth dragon is turning over!"

The trembling continued; the ground sometimes swayed left and right, sometimes jerked up and down—truly a standard earthquake.

Xu Zhiyu gritted his teeth: "Damn it, the earth dragon is causing trouble again!"

This battle is truly hard to fight, with a strong enemy invading from the front and earthquakes disturbing from the side.

He Lingchuan's heart stirred: "Has the earth dragon been turning over frequently lately?"

"Ten months ago, it occurred every three or four months; now it's about every half month, but none of those previous events had as great a commotion as just now." The entire mountain forest emitted terrifying long groans, with trees directly collapsing in many places.

He Lingchuan knew what was happening, but redirected his focus back to the war: "Dispatch the avian monster scouts to investigate the surroundings immediately."

Each time the terrain changes, it affects both sides of the battle.

"Yes."

He Lingchuan glanced at the sky again; the celestial canopy remained open, Chaos had returned, continuing its tour.

But its speed was now much faster, more violent than before.

This indicates that the friction between the Great Square Vessel and the Panlong Secret Realm has intensified further—not only is the Secret Realm affected, but the world within the vessel also frequently experiences sudden disturbances.

The Great Square Vessel once protected the Panlong world from real-world influence, but now it can no longer do so.

Its steps toward returning from the virtual to the real have become increasingly firm, and its power ever greater. Yet the Panlong Secret Realm, painstakingly crafted by He Lingchuan himself, is too solid—how can it not obstruct the Great Square Vessel's progress?

He Lingchuan knows this matter must be urgently placed on the agenda.

Hmm, but not now.

Not long after, the avian monster scouts returned to report: multiple mountain stone dams around Fululu Gou had collapsed, and forest trees were broken.

Such intelligence, in total, amounted to forty or fifty items.

Only one of them caught He Lingchuan's attention:

It was the tributary of the Womi River passing through this area with the greatest water volume upstream of Fululu Gou—the Tiao River.

The earlier strong shock overturned the mountains bending the Tiao River's meanders; the originally wide riverbed was buried under more than half by earth and stone.

He Lingchuan compared Xu Zhiyu's terrain map drawn on the ground: "Is this the river? This location?"

"Yes."

"Good, excellent!" He Lingchuan clapped his hands, "Heaven helps me too!"

Xu Zhiyu and the others had not yet come to their senses: "What do you mean?"

"Water attack!"

Ah? Xu Zhiyu was stunned, then looked more closely at the map with both eyes, and exclaimed delightedly: "General, you're formidable!"

As expected of the Tiger Wing General, his reaction speed is too fast. The earthquake had just ended, and he was the first to realize the terrain change could be utilized.

"You still go guard Fululu Gou, I will go upstream to figure something out." He Lingchuan gave the order swiftly, "Soldiers value divine speed. Before Huoye Chan reacts, this battle must be decided!"

"Yes!"

Xu Zhiyu bowed to him, turned and returned to the front line to fight, but this time he was spirited.

He Lingchuan said to the people behind him: "All follow me."