Chapter 2850

At this moment, He Lingchuan suddenly sensed something, glanced toward the southern gate of the city, and flicked the cloak from his shoulders forward, using it as a cloak to cover his entire body. Having led troops in battle before, this motion was nothing out of the ordinary—the cloak was originally meant for warmth.

But now, doing it at this time made it unusual.

Moreover, he deliberately stepped back two paces, letting himself sink completely into the shadow of the city wall.

Within just two breaths, more than a dozen avian demon silhouettes swept across the battlements, beginning to circle above Nancheng Square like vultures.

That was… Mingke Xianren raised his head, his face changing color.

These avian demons were mostly maimed—some even had large holes torn open in their abdomens, yet they still flew upward, as if unaware of pain.

Commander Yang Cheng, who had been holding his post, now leaned out from the city wall and shouted urgently:

"Our avian demon corpses have been taken control of by the enemy, scouting inside the city!"

Earlier, to resist the invasion of the heavenly demons, the plains garrison had fought desperately, and many avian demons had fallen in battle. Now the heavenly demons have released their corpses to perform rituals, controlling them to fly back into the sky and into the barrier of Panlongcheng.

Ling Jinbao immediately said: "Not good—Jialou Tian is beginning to suspect!"

The southern gate of Panlongcheng had nearly been breached earlier, but in the blink of an eye, its offensive and defensive capabilities had noticeably increased. If Jialou Tian didn't grow suspicious, that would be strange—so we must investigate thoroughly.

The enemy's flight-based divine abilities cannot function here—not even for avian demons, which would be blocked by Panlongcheng's barrier and unable to soar high enough to scout the interior.

What to do? Among the heavenly demons are those skilled in corpse control—they "awaken" the corpses of the plains avian demons, letting them take flight.

Panlongcheng's barrier and gate beasts do not obstruct one's own people—this point, the heavenly demons had already verified earlier.

Thus, these plains avian demons can fly through the barrier to scout the ground conditions of Nancheng.

Everyone started, turning to look at He Lingchuan, who waved his hand: "No problem—they can't see me."

He is the master of the Secret Realm; as long as he prepares in advance, he has his own method of concealment. The avian demons circling above the gate can only see Mingke Xianren and He Yue, these few leaders standing behind the gate in discussion, but cannot see He Lingchuan himself.

In fact, aside from these few capable aides present, even others within the Secret Realm cannot see him.

Ling Jinbao said through gritted teeth: "These heavenly demons truly deserve to die!"

The heavenly demons control corpses—this is nothing but desecrating the bodies of our garrison comrades. Everyone has etched this deep hatred into memory.

The Earth Mother then asked He Lingchuan: "Since you've come, would you like to seal this defensive loophole?"

Before He Lingchuan could reply, He Yue interjected: "Improper—otherwise the heavenly demons would know the elder brother has arrived. We've barely grasped a sliver of first-move advantage."

"That's the reasoning." He Lingchuan reached out and lightly stroked the city wall. This loophole itself—what is it if not a heavenly demon trap? Even if Panlong Secret Realm must expend more energy to resist attacks, he cannot seal it immediately.

To onlookers, he stood in the shadow, as if fused with this silent, solid city wall.

Without He Lingchuan issuing an order, the soldiers controlling the armaments on the gate turned their weapons and unleashed a barrage at the avian demons in midair. They had already endured a wave of corpse-tide assault; the enemy had also used their comrades' corpses to attack the wall, so they had long since passed the psychological torment—only numbness and hatred remained.

Outside the city, Jialou Tian also received a report:

The gate tower and southern square showed no abnormality; those few leaders were gathered together in discussion, having seen no trace of Jiuxu.

Hmm, so Jiuxu hasn't been lured over yet, is that it?

At this moment, the man-eating vines on Panlongcheng's wall had already taken root in the ground, and the battle line had fully advanced against the heavenly demons.

Their task is not yet to kill the enemy, but to ensure the enemy stays away from the city wall.

The burrows endlessly releasing black moth larvae have, at this time, also released a new type of insect—the giant rat woman.

This kind of insect can also be seen in the human world, commonly called watermelon bugs, able to curl their entire body into a small ball, relying on a hard outer shell to resist enemies. But the giant rat women released by the heavenly demon divine realm are, however, tens of thousands of times larger than their small counterparts in the human world.

When they curl up, they become iron-armored giant spheres, with diameters reaching up to three zhang. The burrows are again on a half-slope; these giant rat women, upon emerging, immediately gain momentum, charging toward Panlongcheng's wall with astonishing force, crushing countless man-eating vines along the way.

Boom—boom—boom, the sound of them striking the wall also resembles an earthquake.

Although the gate certainly has divine abilities and arrows on standby, these giant rat women's outer shells can block much damage, and they also possess a supreme skill: shrinking.

They can transform from giant spheres into insects no larger than a fingertip, with a pair of wing membranes under their ribs; after striking the gate, they unfurl their wings and fly back, then restart from the half-slope to ram the gate again.

This cycle of reuse and recycling has subjected Panlongcheng's wall to a severe trial—the man-eating vines, which had only just been laid across the battlefield with great effort, have also been crushed to fragments.

Every act of defense consumes the Secret Realm's own energy.

Moreover, the giant rat women bear Jialou Tian's triangular mark on their bodies, flashing with light—each impact feeds energy into the Order-Sealing Divine Form—this energy accumulation speed far surpasses other methods.

However, after the giant rat women struck three or four times, the ground before Panlongcheng suddenly softened, turning into a muddy marsh. Even a person stepping onto it would sink up to half-submerged, head nearly drowned; the giant rat women, moreover, cannot roll at all—they sink into the mud upon entry.

Unable to roll, they lose their impact force.

This response method is gentle and also labor-saving.

Jialou Tian had originally been pressing his finger joints, the divine-seal light beside him flickering uncertainly. But after repeated consideration, he still lowered his hand, and the Order-Sealing Divine Form also vanished.

Not yet the time—wait a little longer.

Meanwhile, inside Panlongcheng, Pache Hai and his own Night Wanderer God subordinates leaned in, whispering, then approached and handed He Lingchuan a transparent bag:

"Your Majesty, this is the Phantom Music Goddess relic collected by the Night Wanderer Gods from the Trapped Dragon Moat."

He Lingchuan glanced at the transparent bag and immediately thought of a snack he loved—crystal dumplings, similarly soft and tender, crystal-clear in appearance. But this bag certainly cannot be eaten raw, for it is made of sheath skin.

It is a product of the deep-sea shark people, soft and without substance. Its greatest feature is its ability to contain formless, bodiless, or ethereal things. The Night Wanderer Gods of the plains usually use it to catch ghosts.

Now this bag is stuffed full, but the vast majority are tiny points of light like fireflies, flowing back and forth inside the bag.

The only formed object is a half-transparent gem the size of a pigeon's egg.

Hmm, why does this look somewhat familiar?

Right—they are also all purple, flashing in the bag, emitting a dreamlike light of varying depths.

"What is this?" He Lingchuan lifted the sheath skin to the light and discovered that this purple gem, too, is translucent, just like the gem he saw in the Red Sea of the Great Fang Vessel—also a relic of the Phantom Music Goddess, but taken by Hundun, who forbade him from touching it.