Chapter 2780

And these demons clung to him tightly, having learned their lesson from suffering a loss at He Yue's place, and now they resolutely refused to let Yang Sheng have a chance to escape underground—when entangled with an enemy's weapon or limbs, it is very difficult to perform earth-escape techniques.

Several other demons arrived in the blink of an eye.

As Yang Sheng was about to meet his doom in the Yellow Springs, a colossal figure suddenly rumbled over from the side, circling him once and then mercilessly rolling toward the assembled immortals and demons.

Not to mention the demons, Yang Sheng himself was startled.

It resembled a giant earthworm covered head to toe in spikes, fifteen or sixteen zhang in length, armored from head to foot, but upon closer inspection, each spike bore a wooden grain. The demon nearest to it had no time to defend, was instantly pierced, rolled beneath it, and in an instant was riddled with thousands of holes, howling in pain.

The wooden spikes carried a toxin that corroded flesh and dissolved bone; his skin instantly turned green, began to ooze green pus, and yet he started to swell.

This round, rolling thing came crushing forward like a steamroller, and no immortal or demon wished to touch it, all instinctively leaping aside.

Thus, Yang Sheng was temporarily surrounded by it, breaking free from combat.

This thing urged him: "Hurry up and go—I can't hold them off for long!"

It was the voice of the Qing Shu Di Jun.

Afterward, it turned its head and lunged at the demons.

This was the "Fire Thorn Insect" it had manifested using its wood affinity.

Yang Sheng had no time to thank it, then dove downward like a plunge into water, burrowing into the earth.

As the commander of the plain garrison, he possessed the ability to come and go without a trace here; if not entangled by the enemy, he could escape.

Just as he vanished underground, dozens of attacks struck the fire thorn insect—precisely the demons striking back in fury.

The fire thorn insect manifested by Qing Shu Dao Jun had each wooden spike as strong as thousand-year ironwood, capable of both offense and defense, like a rolling mobile fortress; even placed on a large ancient battlefield, it could sweep all before it. But here, even with the aid of Cang Yan's primordial power, it could not endure more than a few breaths before being torn open, its flesh split, and pale purple blood spilled across the ground.

After Yang Sheng left, it also wanted to flee, but just as its large head was about to burrow into the ground, two flashes of cold light swept past from behind, and the massive body of the fire thorn insect was torn apart!

The power of a single blow was actually this great.

"Celestial Venerable!" Geng Yue Shen and the others also arrived from behind, reporting to the newcomer: "There is still one immortal we wounded, seemingly named Ming Ke Xianren, but—but two stone beasts burst from the ground to block his attacks, allowing him to escape underground."

"Trash!" The Celestial Venerable glanced at them; Geng Yue Shen, leading the demons, felt the superior's wrath and quickly bowed their heads.

Here, over ten celestial gods failed to detain even a single immortal!

As for the black-armored troops and the Shen Guo army outside, originally eager to protect their lord, they all rushed here, but the ground suddenly collapsed into a huge pit, like a gaping maw, swallowing them all.

Several immortals and demons flashed away, only managing to kill seven or eight before the hole vanished and the ground restored itself.

Naturally, this was the Earth Mother's power forcibly taking them away.

"Although the Earth Mother's true form is not present, the Cang Yan people's degree of control over her power still exceeds our expectations." The Celestial Venerable also spoke a fair word.

The Earth Mother Plain has always been mysterious—coming and going without trace, strangers should not approach. Before today's great battle, the Heavenly Palace exhausted all means yet could not gather further information about the plain, unaware how many immortals and troops were stationed here, unaware of the terrain, landforms, and city layout, and how could they know how much control authority the Earth Mother's true form had granted to the Cang Yan people before sinking into slumber?

Many core secrets remain unknown to the celestial gods and the Heavenly Palace, so Endu Heng's key to victory lies in using the celestial gods' hard power to wage a crushing battle.

One force reduces ten meetings; no matter how many hidden mechanisms the Earth Mother Plain possesses, the celestial gods will utterly crush it with strength!

The splendor of today's divine descent formation is unmatched in three thousand years.

If this battle still fails to take the Earth Mother Plain and the Nine Abysses Great Emperor, then we can only say it is heaven's will.

After the Celestial Venerable finished speaking and prepared to leave, he suddenly stopped, as if listening intently.

Then, a cold gleam flashed in his hand, shattering a piece of fire thorn insect debris on the roof more than three zhang away.

This fire thorn insect fragment was truly enormous; after he shattered it, the debris scattered everywhere—ground, treetops, roofs, corners.

The movement and sound of this strike differed from before; all the demons heard a crisp "la la" sound, like eggshells crushed and amplified ten or more times.

Geng Yue Shen leapt onto the roof, picked up the debris, examined it, then reached in and pulled out several pieces of dark red flesh.

Pinched, it felt somewhat soft and somewhat elastic, and even the fluid that oozed out was dark red, smelling like blood.

But the texture distribution on the flesh resembled wood grain.

"Tai Sui!" Geng Yue Shen exclaimed in surprise, "This seems to be the true form of that mountain sprite from earlier. I never expected it to be this kind of thing."

He assembled these flesh pieces, and the resulting shape resembled both a person and a monkey.

The true form of Qing Shu Di Jun, even the companions of the Earth Mother Plain thought it was a great mountain sprite, but in fact that mountain sprite was merely its outer shell disguise.

After the Celestial Venerable shattered the fire thorn insect, it had bad luck, falling onto the roof tiles—had it landed on the ground, it could have directly escaped underground.

"This thing has been playing dead, waiting for us to leave before going back underground." The Celestial Venerable said lightly, "A mere trick of carving insects."

All the demons chorused: "We cannot escape the Celestial Venerable's discerning eye!"

"What about the Shen Guo Crown Prince—can we still track him?"

Geng Yue hastily replied: "Not for now; our target has likely already been dealt with."

They had followed He Yue here; the Cang Yan people had suffered a loss once, and similarly, they should not fall for the same trick twice.

"Let's go, continue searching for the Pan Long ruins."

……

The wooden hut suddenly exploded, demons attacking. He Yue's four limbs were bound, originally thinking he could hardly escape, but before his eyes flashed, the surrounding scenery changed.

This place seemed to be a cave—no, a tree hollow, because the surroundings were thick-grained wood, plus a faint damp smell.

He Yue recalled that he seemed to have been dragged in by someone.

He turned his head and indeed saw a stranger standing beside him, his figure somewhat illusory.

"Who are you?"

"Shh!" "This person's voice was like a mosquito's buzz: 'Night-wandering god dispatched by the Nine Abysses Great Emperor!'"

Bao Chi Hai was also a shrewd person; as soon as he spoke, he raised his own identity—anyone hearing the four words 'Nine Abysses Great Emperor' would likely dispel the Shen Guo Crown Prince's doubts.

There were still several fissures on the tree trunk, with light shining in from outside.

He Yue's gaze swept over and then fixed:

Outside the fissure was actually the scene inside the wooden hut! Three of the four walls had collapsed, and from somewhere dozens of powerful figures had emerged, now lunging at Ming Ke Xianren and Yang Sheng and the others.

But everything was magnified, these people appeared to be about ten or more zhang tall.

Were these the people who had just tried to capture him? He Yue broke out in cold sweat on his back.