Chapter 2875: Whose Side Is Time On?

The gap in strength between him and Jiuyou lay right there, and it would only change with the passage of time—

Growing larger and larger.

"Jiuyou, you're as good as dead." Jialou Tian merely stated a cold fact. "Hand over the Great Fanghu, and at least I can spare the lives of these subordinates of yours."

With his keen insight, he had already seen that Jiuyou's oil was exhausted and his lamp run dry. This fellow had come injured to begin with, and after taking a head-on hit from His Sequence Deity's grand eruption, even if He didn't step forward to deliver the finishing blow, he couldn't survive.

Thinking of this, He actually felt two parts admiration. Even in the ancient war, aside from those few top-tier powers in the mortal world, nothing had been able to injure Him.

In the past three thousand years, this was the most severely He had been wounded, and it was actually inflicted by a mortal!

But as time passed, His Sequence Deity would recharge its might once more, while Jiuyou could only deteriorate further. Even before His Sequence Deity's next "Sequence-Breaking Eruption," Jiuyou might well be dead already.

As for the other opponents here, whether it was Immortal Cangyan or the Earth Mother, none were worth worrying about.

What did Jialou Tian have to be anxious about? Time stood on His side!

"What a waste, the Fate Deity in your hands." Jialou Tian said while secretly circulating divine power to expel the karma clinging to Him. "You, a mortal, haven't truly mastered the Fate Deity at all, nor do you have the ability to truly wield it against an enemy!"

With His keen insight, after just a few exchanges with He Lingchuan, He had spotted his weakness.

Yes, He Lingchuan's use of the Fate Deity stopped at support — severing karmic threads, deducing the future, for instance. But he still couldn't, like Jialou Tian, directly wield the Deity as a weapon, throw it into battle, and use the Deity's power to directly crush a powerful foe.

"Is that so?" He Lingchuan merely smiled at him, his teeth stained red with blood. "You've made your move; now it's my, my turn."

Then he forced his finger up, pointing at the Sequence Deity hovering over Jialou Tian's shoulder:

"Go!"

The words barely fell when the snake-shaped bracelet on his hand suddenly turned into a streak of Jin Guang, lunging at the Sequence Deity.

Jialou Tian caught it from the corner of his eye and immediately sensed something was wrong; gritting his teeth against the pain, he instantly unleashed a divine ability, trying to block this streak of Jin Guang.

But it was useless — just as he himself had said, energy could not be blocked, and this Jin Guang was merely the concretization of the power of Fate.

Immediately after, the Sequence Deity underwent a change.

Everyone saw that the little golden snake had appeared inside the Sequence Deity, like a binding rope, tightly winding around several triangles, using its long body to interfere with the Sequence Deity's operation.

Originally the Sequence Deity was like an extraordinarily precise instrument, every rotation full of coordinated beauty, but once this little snake coiled around it, it was as if unyielding ropes had bound the inner and outer triangles dead tight. This intense hindering force instantly slowed the triangles' rotation speed — if before it was merely a turtle's crawl, now it was like a snail.

Everyone who witnessed this scene understood: Jiuyou had actually used the Fate Deity to obstruct and slow the Sequence Deity's operation, even sparking visible sparks.

The Fate Deity was attempting to interfere with the Sequence's karma.

Seeing this, Jialou Tian instinctively raised his hand, wanting to yank this little snake down. But his hand passed through the Deity, touching nothing.

This was a contest between Deities, a collision of the power of laws, not subject to his will.

With the breadth of Jialou Tian's experience, this was the first time he had encountered such a thing, and for a moment he actually had no countermeasure.

He Lingchuan, however, seized the opportunity to order: "Huicheng!"

The Sea Dragon Barrier separated friend from foe, able to cover the Cangyan people's retreat.

Although the battle just now had lasted only a few dozen breaths, it was the bloodiest, most cruel, and most lopsided battle the allied army had ever fought in their lives. Most were still reeling from shock; the moment the Jiuyou Emperor gave the order, they immediately turned and rushed back toward the city gates. They needed a good rest to face the next brutal showdown.

Everyone understood — this war was far from over, and the situation was fundamentally not optimistic.

But the Earth Mother's avatar and the Secret Realm's summoned creatures still remained outside the city, continuing to fight.

He Lingchuan left only the Earth Mother's avatar and the Secret Realm's summoned creatures; everyone else, including himself, turned and returned to the city.

The stone-man avatar charged forward in a single lunge, launching the first attack.

The Sequence Deity had already erupted once, and coupled with the injuries on his body, Jialou Tian himself also temporarily lowered his banners and stilled his drums, unwilling to tangle with it, leaving it to other Heavenly Demons. Even the black dragon stone carvings and the Demon-Eating Vines newly charging down from the city walls, coordinating with the Earth Mother's assault, could fight the Heavenly Demons with ease.

But everyone present understood — this was only temporary.

As long as Jialou Tian fought, the Sequence Deity would accumulate energy.

The more energy the Sequence Deity accumulated, the stronger Jialou Tian became.

He had already entered this cycle once more; unless He Lingchuan and the Earth Mother could kill Him at this stage, the aftermath held only a dead end.

But the problem was, they couldn't do it!

Even Jialou Tian at this stage was not someone the current Earth Mother could finish off. Let alone the fact that he still had quite a few Heavenly Demons at his side, and they weren't small fry either.

Someone dragged over a cushion, and the Earth Mother gently placed He Lingchuan on it, propping up his head.

Seeing this, everyone felt a pang of grief.

He Lingchuan's chest cavity had already caved in; the sunken hole was large enough to easily fit a pomelo, causing his every breath to carry a strange leaking sound, like a bellows riddled with holes on all four sides.

As soon as Immortal Mingke examined his injuries, her face grew even heavier. The shattered bone fragments were so fine and small they had rebounded into his organs, which could trigger failure at any moment.

"Your thoracic and lumbar vertebrae are all broken." This meant He Lingchuan could never stand again.

By comparison, his left arm beaten into a mass of mangled flesh didn't even seem that serious on him.

The Earth Mother immediately said: "I'll share a bit more of my life force with you."

"No." He Lingchuan stopped her. "Your powers still have use."

The allied army also crowded around, three layers deep inside and out.

Seeing the Jiuyou Emperor's state, everyone felt a sympathetic ache. Even the half-dead Blood Demon looked somewhat dejected — just how was this battle to be fought?

Until now, no one could see even a shred of hope.

He Lingchuan couldn't shake his head, but his gaze swept across everyone's faces as he said solemnly: "From now on, it's up to you to hold back the Heavenly Demons outside the city — hold out as long as you can, buy me a little more time!"

Hearing this, everyone's spirits actually lifted.

He Lingchuan designated two commanders to stay behind and ordered the rest to go rest first.

He Yue had sacrificed himself; honoring his dying wish, this army now fell under He Lingchuan's command.

Under his orders, the army immediately entered rest mode. Those who needed to heal healed, those who needed to take medicine took medicine, those who needed to meditate and regulate their breath immediately did so.

Everyone understood — this war was still far from over.