Chapter 2817

"Coordinated assault from above and below ground — the walls of Mingsha Forest stockade won't hold much longer." This time, Gao Huaiyuan finally saw a glimmer of hope.

On the Chen'en Cliff, Zhong Shengguang donned his battle armor while saying to Wen Daolun:

"Be ready. Once Mingsha Forest can't hold, we withdraw to Panlongcheng."

"Yes."

Seeing Wen Daolun's expression, Zhong Shengguang patted his shoulder, his tone heavy but firm: "Rest assured, before Hu Yi and the others return, I absolutely won't let Panlong fall!"

Having said that, he strode off toward Mingsha Forest in great strides.

This was also the first time in over a decade that he took up the vanguard and personally went onto the battlefield.

$$$$$

By the time He Lingchuan bolted upright, he had returned to reality; directly ahead lay the gray stone walls of the Lingxu Cave.

He punched the stone wall — crack! This wall, tempered a thousand times, that even refined gold couldn't split, shattered in a spiderweb pattern.

He rarely forced himself out of the Panlong World like this.

The war there was at a critical juncture; what would the subsequent course of the war be like after General Hu Yi suddenly vanished?

Even He Lingchuan couldn't imagine it.

But he also had no way to return immediately; the crisis in reality was equally pressing.

If the Panlong Secret Realm ran into trouble and was seized by the enemy, everything in the Panlong World would come to nothing.

The crisis in the Panlong World and the crisis in reality erupted simultaneously, hitting him with a double blow — misfortunes never come singly.

Being angry now served no purpose. He Lingchuan rose swiftly, threw open the cave dwelling's main door, and stepped out in a single stride:

"Liu Qingdao!"

Liu Qingdao was waiting outside the door, accompanied at his side by Du Shan.

Just as Immortal Mingke had predicted, even the head of the Bingyuan Bureau found it no easy matter to see the secluded Emperor at once, so he brought Du Shan along. With two great ministers weighing in, the clout was sufficient.

The two hurried forward. Liu Qingdao looked up and saw He Lingchuan's face, and couldn't help exclaiming:

"Your Majesty, your eye!"

He Lingchuan's right eye was actually blood-red across the whole thing!

He hastily looked again at the Emperor's complexion — green tinged with gray, two degrees more stagnant than mere haggardness.

Having assisted the Nine Nether Great Emperor for over a decade, when had the Emperor ever not been full of vigor? When had He Ceng ever seen such an appearance?

He Lingchuan casually took out the Soul-Capturing Mirror and examined his own face.

【25】 Indeed the right eye was congested, red in a particularly eerie way, especially when looking at people.

As expected, his right eye was bloodshot, red in a particularly eerie way, especially when looking at people.

Liu Qingdao was speechless; he felt a mass of blackness at the Emperor's Yintang point.

Over these years his physiognomy had advanced; now however he looked at the Emperor's facial features, he always felt, uh, deathly still!

Those four words truly made his heart palpitate with fear.

But could such words be spoken aloud?

Du Shan, for his part, asked with concern: "Was the seclusion not going smoothly? We disturbed Your Majesty, the guilt is ours..."

He Lingchuan raised a hand to cut them off: "Enough, I know it all. I must rush to the Earth Mother Plains; time is precious now. I have several matters to entrust to you."

His countenance was stern, his whole bearing pressing down on the two until they could barely breathe; they hurriedly assented.

These affairs He Lingchuan had long since drafted in his mind, so he rattled them off rapidly with hardly a pause. The more Du Shan listened, the more astonished he became — the Great Emperor's words sounded like...

"Your Majesty?"

"Did you both remember?"

The two could only say they had remembered.

"Carry it out." He Lingchuan said in a deep voice, "No need for more words — go."

"You—" Even with Du Shan's silver tongue, his heart was pounding wildly; he actually stammered, "You must take care! Cangyan cannot do without..."

Cangyan cannot do without the Nine Nether Great Emperor.

But speaking those words would be inauspicious, so he swallowed the rest.

He Lingchuan rarely smiled, turning his wrist to glance at the Fate Deity.

Sure enough, the little snake's snake-eyes flashed with red light.

He had originally thought the Panlong World's war was the final battle; he never expected this damn fate thought he hadn't suffered enough and had to screw him over to the death once more! Otherwise how could there be such a coincidence in the world, with the crisis in reality and the crisis in the Panlong World arriving in sync?

He Lingchuan retreated back into the Lingxu Cave; the wooden door slammed shut with a clang right before the two men.

The two high ministers exchanged a glance, each seeing the heavy and solemn gravity and unease in the other's eyes.

If the Emperor truly met with mishap, who in the future could truly helm this great vessel of the Cangyan Empire?

"Minister Du?"

"Carry out the Emperor's decree." Du Shan was also deeply worried, but turned and walked out, "Come, staying here helps nothing."

Inside the cave, He Lingchuan sat cross-legged again.

The Soul-Capturing Mirror in his arms also cried out: "You were in secluded meditation all along, how could you suffer such severe soul injury... ah!"

Only when it shouted here did it realize: "Was it the injury sustained in the City of the Dead?!"

What exactly happened in the City of the Dead? The Emperor had been frequently in seclusion lately; most likely his soul roamed to the City of the Dead. This would explain why his person was sitting here perfectly fine, yet when he opened his eyes and climbed up he carried a soul injury.

The Blood Demon was baffled: "What situation?"

Just now He Lingchuan opened the door in haste, not noticing his own state. As soon as he spoke with Du Shan and the other, he felt dizzy and his limbs leaden, as if a huge stone pressed on his whole body.

Since he began cultivation, almost every day had been full of vitality; he rarely felt this exhausted.

Especially a splitting headache, as if someone were constantly hammering his head; the blue veins at his temples throbbed violently in time.

He knew this signified severe damage to his divine soul.

Injuries sustained in the Panlong World convert to soul injuries in reality; if he dies in the Panlong World, in the real world it is soul annihilation.

This was absolutely the most severely injured he had been since the Great Square Gourd took away his death-exemption medallion.

He Lingchuan took out a Ju Luo wood treasure box from his bosom and opened it.

Inside the box grew a Ju Luo tree — a pocket-sized bonsai, verdant and dewy, with ten-odd small flowers blooming and three or five fruits hanging.

The fruits were all red, somewhat pear-shaped, not plump in size; one could tell they were unripe, but they grew human faces, eyes closed, mouths open.

He Lingchuan plucked off all the flowers and fruits, threw them into his mouth, and swallowed without even chewing.

The Ju Luo flowers and fruits turned to water upon entering his throat, a stretch of sweetness; the parched heat in his five viscera and six bowels was all extinguished. Before long, a thread of coolness seeped up to his forehead, and the previous dizziness and urge to vomit lessened greatly.

This was a treasure He Lingchuan obtained from the Ghost King's underground palace; the box originally contained the "Ghost King's" true body, and after he beheaded it he replanted Ju Luo wood, using the souls of evil men as nutrients — the flowers that bloomed and the still-unripe fruits could repair soul injuries.

Afterwards He Lingchuan dispelled distracting thoughts, entered meditation to regulate his breath, and his body surface also radiated a reddish-purple light.

This was the Great Cang Yan Empire's Yuan Li, the Yuan Li exclusive to the Nine Nether Great Emperor, not stretched tight like in Panlongcheng.

On his own national soil, his Yuan Li became incomparably abundant again, able to substitute for True Qi to help him recuperate.

He Lingchuan naturally knew the Panlong Secret Realm's crisis was also burning urgent, but he could not go to its aid while heavily injured; otherwise he could not even protect himself, and likewise could not save the Secret Realm.

The two places he was most concerned about both faced calamity crashing down on their heads; he was clearly frantic with anxiety, yet had to set aside so much pained wailing, bleeding and sacrifice, and first calm his mind and concentrate on healing.

Who under heaven could withstand this kind of pressure, who could bear this kind of heavy burden?

Thanks to reader Reader20260406162204420 for the reward,

Thanks to reader Apollo Yangyang, Spirited Owl for the reward.

(End of chapter)