Chapter 2872: All Retreat, I'll Take It

Ah, it really wants to escape, but it can't! Bound by the contract, it can only share life and death with its master.

The Earth Mother also sent a voice transmission to He Lingchuan:

"The Order Seal Divinity is about to erupt—get behind me."

It resolved to shield He Lingchuan from disaster, even if it couldn't let him escape unharmed, at least to lessen his injuries.

It knew full well the wounds and exhaustion of the Nine Abysses.

The Earth Mother didn't know where the dawn of victory lay, nor how long they could still hold out, but it simply didn't bother thinking about these problems.

In its mind were only two words:

Hold on!

Fight to the bitter end, rest only in death!

He Lingchuan urgently asked it: "How many more avatars can you still summon?"

He knew the Earth Mother's power had already been exhausted.

The attacks of the Jia Lou Heaven were too violent; it kept sending avatars into the Secret Realm to delay He Lingchuan, each time draining its own reserves further.

He Lingchuan was intertwined with pain—how much better could it fare?

Even it gave the last of its remaining vitality to He Lingchuan.

The Earth Mother truthfully replied: "Two."

After that, it would be like utterly parched land, unable to wring out even a trace of moisture.

When human strength reaches its limit, so does the Earth Mother's.

He Lingchuan resolutely said: "Good, this time I'll bear it!"

After defeating Tong Ming Zhenjun, he had been constantly thinking of ways to defeat the Jia Lou Heaven.

But there was no way.

The Nine Abysses Grand Emperor, usually so resourceful, finally found himself helpless this time.

This absolute disparity in strength—even if he and the Earth Mother were combined, plus all the Cangyan people in the Secret Realm—could not fill the gap.

Moreover, in the Panlong World, Panlongcheng was deteriorating further, perhaps also awaiting his rescue.

In both reality and the Panlong World, he could not afford to lose on either front.

Either side could leave him harried and overwhelmed.

This seemed like two dead knots, two!

But if he changed his perspective—what if he didn't need to defeat the Jia Lou Heaven?

His ultimate goal was to keep the Great Fang Vessel from falling into the hands of the heavenly demons, not necessarily to defeat the Jia Lou Heaven himself.

He Lingchuan had never forgotten the deduction he made in the Sea of Chaos using the Fate Divinity.

Countless deductions all led to dead ends.

Only once did he foresee that Panlongcheng still had a sliver of hope;

and he himself had one last chance—to safeguard the Great Fang Vessel, to preserve the fire seed left to humanity by the Black Dragon God Sovereign.

But he needed to make a difficult choice.

He quickly told the Earth Mother: "Save your strength—it'll be useful later!"

"You coming?" the Earth Mother wanted to ask, "Can you do it?"

But trusting the Nine Abysses, it immediately shrank back behind He Lingchuan.

He Lingchuan drew a sharp breath, seized the Shoulder-Crouching Beast, and hurled it straight at the Order Seal Divinity.

The divinity floated above Jia Lou Tian's shoulder, more than a foot away from him.

Normally, Jia Lou Tian wouldn't bother with such behavior, since the divinity was merely a virtual image—though its efficacy was real, enemies couldn't affect it unless they killed its owner.

But just now, the Nine Abysses had struck, destroying the channel through which Jia Lou Tian drew energy from other heavenly demons; now Jia Lou Tian wasn't sure if it could destroy the Order Seal Divinity, so it dared not be careless and smashed a hammer toward the Shoulder-Crouching Beast.

The Shoulder-Crouching Beast couldn't withstand the force and exploded on the spot.

Yet it also burst forth a mass of black smoke, instantly enveloping Jia Lou Tian entirely, like a cocoon!

"Celestial Venerable!" Seeing Jia Lou Tian fall to a sneak attack, all the heavenly demons rushed to rescue it, but were desperately entangled by the Black Dragon stone carvings and the Earth Mother's stone giants.

This wasn't the Dark Heaven Canopy. He Lingchuan's own control over karma was insufficient to support a third use of the Dark Heaven Canopy in a short time.

Yet the karma he had accumulated over the years was far from exhausted—it was endless. Now he merely exerted all his strength to compress the vast karma clinging to the Qi Long Battle Armor into the Shoulder-Crouching Beast—compress as much as possible—then launched it as a hidden weapon.

The Shoulder-Crouching Beast was naturally part of the Qi Long Battle Armor, so it could certainly hold karma.

The smoke cocoon, like a silkworm cocoon, thickened on its own; the surface black smoke grew dense as if substantial, transforming into one ferocious human face after another.

In both reality and the Panlong World, He Lingchuan could only slay the Bai Zhan Tian by deploying the Dark Heaven Canopy—not only could karma erode heavenly demons, but the Dark Heaven Canopy could also form an independent entity, completely isolating them from reality. But this black cocoon could not, like the Dark Heaven Canopy, spontaneously sustain a small world of its own.

All it possessed was the power to bind and isolate.

If the Dark Heaven Canopy were a prison, this karma black cocoon was merely a single chain binding the opponent. In terms of how hard it is for prey to escape, the former obviously overwhelms the latter.

But what He Lingchuan needed most right now was precisely its "isolation" ability.

As his own true power and vital energy dwindled further, He Lingchuan had no choice but to turn again to karma.

Time seemed to freeze, everyone staring intently at the black cocoon.

The divine arts and techniques the heavenly demons shot at it were all devoured by this great black ball.

Not to mention these heavenly demons—even if, on the Mingsha Lin battlefield with tens of thousands of troops, the Bei Jia army launched a full-scale assault, combined with Bai Zhan Tian's most powerful move, the "Annihilation Slash," they still couldn't break the Dark Heaven Canopy. The karma black cocoon's endurance was somewhat weaker, and under the heavenly demons' attacks it also produced ripples.

At this moment, He Lingchuan waved his hand backward and shouted urgently: "Retreat, everyone retreat!"

The Earth Mother, the two immortals, and the remaining troops heard the command and swiftly retreated behind him.

Just a few breaths later, the surface smoke flow of the karma black cocoon suddenly accelerated, as if disturbed, and then light began to seep from within.

First came a point of hazy green light, as if trying to pierce the darkness.

Then, it exploded.

At that moment, blue light filled the entire Secret Realm.

The karmic black cocoon was released by He Lingchuan, who knew the situation inside best. Before the karmic black cocoon exploded, he did several things in one fluid motion:

The Soul-Capturing Mirror transformed into a four-foot-tall giant shield, slammed into the ground with a bang, and stood directly in front of He Lingchuan; the shield's surface received special blessing from the Earth Mother, forming a thick layer of earthen armor;

He flicked his cloak, wrapping it around himself in front;

A bright lamp lit up behind the giant shield, hovering beside He Lingchuan's shoulder.

Worth mentioning is that the lamp's light perfectly enveloped everyone behind He Lingchuan.

With his other hand, he grabbed the latest spoil of war—the Immortal-Smiting Halberd of Tong Ming Zhenjun—and inserted it into the groove directly in front of the giant shield, forcing the artifact to emit a brilliant yellow light.

These actions were completed in one breath, taking less than a single breath, and then he crouched down, shrinking behind the shield.

"Ah ah ah ah it's going to explode!" the Soul-Capturing Mirror trembled and screamed.

Who wouldn't fear facing the full-force strike of the Great Heavenly Demon? Is this its destiny as a shield guardian? The mirror feels so miserable.

It still wants to live; it doesn't want to die!

Then, the karmic black cocoon exploded.