Chapter 2707: The Storm Is About to Break

Even if General Hong and He Lingchuan died in battle, their deeds could still be passed down as a legend for the ages — glorious even in defeat.

But if Zhong Shengguang lost, he would only bear the infamy of causing the death of all the people. Because the survival or destruction of Panlong, the life and death of the Li Min, ultimately fell on Zhong Shengguang to shoulder — just as the Nine Nether Great Emperor in reality had to bear all the pressure, had to carry all the karma.

That was why General Hong asked them: could the two of you bear it?

Things have come to this; even if we can't bear it, we have to.

General Hong was also about to end the meeting when He Lingchuan suddenly remembered something and asked her again:

"Right, can you still find Miti's memories regarding the Tianluo Star?"

"Not completely. After the battle with the Black Dragon God Venerable, a lot was lost. What do you want to ask?" General Hong was Miti's successor, but the inheritance she obtained was not complete.

"Did Miti ever accuse the Lingxu Saint Venerable, saying that before the ancient Immortal-Demon War, he abused his authority to steal fragments of the World Heart Core?"

General Hong fell silent for a while, presumably searching through Miti's past memories.

The Death Ancient God's memories were truly vast as a sea of smoke; she searched for a long time before speaking:

"There's a tiny bit of content. Back then, the Lingxu Saint Venerable summoned several Great Heavenly Gods including her, saying he wanted to continue refining the World Heart Core. Once successful, the Heavenly Demons would no longer need to remain in this realm; the Tianluo Star would absorb the nightmare qi of the mortal world for them."

"All the gods agreed, but when Miti saw the World Heart Core, she knew something was wrong. Her previous incarnation was the Death Ancient God, who had once spent two thousand years refining the World Heart Core with the other two Ancient Gods, so she knew it exceptionally well. The World Heart Core the Lingxu Saint Venerable produced was slightly smaller than the one they had once refined."

"She raised doubts about the missing portion of the Heart Core, but……"

He Lingchuan waited a moment: "But?"

"Forgot." General Hong frowned. "Miti's later memories are lost."

"…… Never mind. In short, she believed the Lingxu Saint Venerable secretly kept fragments of the World Heart Core, right?"

"Yes." General Hong asked curiously, "Why do you ask this?"

"Is there a possibility that the Lingxu Saint Venerable used the hidden World Heart Core fragments to also secretly refine a divine artifact similar to the Great Square Pot?"

The moment this question came out, General Hong fell silent.

To make a judgment required calling upon a great deal of Miti's past knowledge and experience.

A full quarter-hour-plus passed before she said: "Although the difficulty is extremely high, this possibility cannot be ruled out. And the Lingxu Saint Venerable has been in seclusion at the Eternal Ancient Volcano all these years, claiming only to have gained some insights; no matter what major events occurred in the Heavenly Court, he never emerged. Hmph, who would specially go into seclusion in a volcano? Many True Gods are also speculating that he is secretly refining something."

He Lingchuan's heart skipped a beat: "When did this seclusion of his begin?"

"Over three hundred years ago…… hmm, calculating, roughly three hundred and seventy years ago."

He Lingchuan asked again: "During the Lingxu Saint Venerable's seclusion, can he communicate with the outside world?"

Counting it up, the Lingxu Saint Venerable received news of the Great Square Pot being in Panlongcheng only ten-odd months ago.

"Of course he can. He's just in seclusion, not cut off from the world." The Lingxu Saint Venerable has plenty of divine abilities; he wouldn't be deaf to affairs outside his window.

"Good, many thanks. I was just asking casually." He Lingchuan's fists clenched tight.

Frostleaf National Preceptor had told him that over the past three thousand years, the Lingxu Saint Venerable had entered seclusion at the Eternal Ancient Volcano three times, lasting two hundred years, three hundred years, and five hundred years respectively.

In this period of the Panlong World, if the Lingxu Saint Venerable had already been in seclusion for three hundred and seventy years, then he would continue secluding for another one hundred and thirty years.

In other words, in the current Panlong World, the Lingxu Saint Venerable should not have finished refining that divine artifact yet!

He Lingchuan let out a long breath.

No wonder the Lingxu faction cares so much about the Great Square Pot, insisting on getting their hands on it.

For the mortal world right now, this is good news.

……

The spies Panlong had stationed in Lingxu City soon sent back intelligence:

In the various vassal demon states of Beijia and within Lingxu City, a piece of news had already spread without legs —

Panlong State presented the recipe for the "Qinchang" secret medicine to General Fushan, eleven ingredients in total, and asked him to pass it on to the Beijia Emperor!

Just these few dozen plain and unadorned characters stirred up a storm at terrifying speed in Beijia's upper circles.

Those qualified to have heard the name "Qinchang" secret medicine are all pillars of the various vassal demon states; naturally they can deduce what the leak of the recipe means for the Emperor, for the Heavenly Gods, and even for Beijia.

Many people's first reaction was: impossible. Even the Beijia Emperor couldn't obtain this Heavenly Court top secret — how could Panlong State get it?

A rumor, definitely a clumsy rumor the enemy used to sow discord within Beijia!

But soon a new rumor said that Panlong State got the "Qinchang" recipe from Miti.

Miti is also a famous Great Heavenly God; the probability of him obtaining a top-secret recipe is indeed not small. That would be a leak from the Heavenly Court, nothing to do with the Heavenly Palace, so it's not strange Panlongcheng could get it.

But Miti perished five years ago; why would Panlong State only produce the recipe now?

No one could answer this question.

But it doesn't matter; rumors are inherently half-true half-false, hard to verify.

But soon an informed person said the Demon Emperor was summoned by the Saint Venerable and went to the Heavenly Palace.

Half a month later, the southern front of the Panlong Wasteland.

Several more Panlong armies arrived at the front one after another, all placed under Grand Marshal He Lingchuan's command, and were completely reorganized within an extremely limited time before being dispatched again.

But the fighting at the front was sporadic, not at all like the sky-full-of-warfire Panlong and Beijia had originally imagined.

He Lingchuan was holding his troops stationary; while integrating the grand army, he did not take the initiative to attack.

Anyway, the advantageous terrain is all on his side; this war has only just begun — what's the rush?

And the opponent Fushan Lie only organized two probing attacks, both beaten back by the Panlong army, so he no longer advanced on a large scale.

Everyone thought Fushan Lie needed time to observe and formulate battle plans; only He Lingchuan understood this fellow was a bit absent-minded.

He must have reported the conversation between the two to the Demon Emperor, and also knows he fell into He Lingchuan's trap; he probably won't stay at the front much longer.

However, Fushan Lie's actual situation was even more vexing than He Lingchuan's expectation.

Ever since he got the "Qinchang" recipe, the news boiled over under deliberate hype; Fushan Lie at the front couldn't even fight properly. Heavenly Gods have many believers in the Beijia army; starting from the fourth day after Tiger Wing and Fushan Lie met, Heavenly Gods found the main tent and, through the mouths of believers, repeatedly interrogated Fushan Lie about this matter, such as:

"Since he's the enemy, why did you meet with General Tiger Wing?"

"Why didn't you set an ambush during the meeting, seize the chance to capture him in one encounter — wouldn't the war south of the Panlong Wasteland have accelerated then?"

"You didn't move against him — is it because you two have a good private relationship?"