Chapter 3073: Racing Against Time

The invading Dragon God Army clearly numbered fewer than two thousand, yet the Heavenly Palace troops felt as if they were being surrounded by tens of thousands, beaten into utter helplessness.

The Heavenly Palace troops could neither approach nor retreat from the cave housing the divine bodies, their numbers dwindling rapidly; only their unwavering faith allowed them to grit their teeth and hold on despite the disadvantage—any other army, such as the Qi army, would likely have collapsed entirely by now.

But just then, Pu Hua's deputy suddenly pointed at the sky and shouted: "The Heavenly Demons have come!"

Someone had always been assigned to watch the stars, closely monitoring celestial movements; upon any anomaly, they would immediately sound the alarm.

As everyone looked up, they saw several meteors streaking across the vault of heaven, heading straight for this place.

At first there were only a few, but who didn't know what would come next?

"Du Xiang's divine calculation was correct—they really did arrive early!" Pu Hua turned and bellowed, "Find the divine bodies' husks—quickly!"

Coincidentally, the Dragon God Army and the Xuan Yi Army had already reached the vicinity of the cave, ready to strike.

As his words fell, two giants suddenly rose from the ground within the Dragon God Army.

Giant Spirit Gods!

These are the sect-protecting treasures of the Qi Xia Sect—normally just a few small statues with faint spirits attached, but in battle they can expand in a single breath, their strength and defense astonishingly formidable, even fiercer than the Golden Armor Divine Generals.

Once unleashed, they swung their massive hammers, smashing fiercely at the mountain where the cave lay.

One blow, two—each impact sent shockwaves that made nearby soldiers unable to stand firm.

Without a third strike, the mountain collapsed.

Before, the Qi Xia Sect had intended to use the Giant Spirit Gods to attack Cang Yan's great city; even thick walls protected by formation barriers and elemental power could not withstand their monstrous strength, and back then the sect's Xuan crystal reserves were exhausted, so the Giant Spirit Gods could not operate at full power—yet they still achieved such effects.

But now the Giant Spirit Gods had been fully charged with energy before being released, and with the added power of the Dragon God Army's elemental force, they were truly unstoppable, shaking heaven and earth.

Of course, there were still multiple mechanisms and formations inside the cave, along with Heavenly Palace guards; if Pu Hua had sent people in conventionally, it would have taken who knows how long—better to simply blast through with the Giant Spirit Gods.

Those inside didn't even have time to cry out before being blown to pieces along with the formations.

After the Giant Spirit Gods shattered the mountain's interior, a Lu Shan bird flew down to point the way:

"Dig here, yes, dig hard!"

"See the corridor? That's where ten divine bodies are buried! Hurry, hurry and dig!"

The Dragon God Army dared to attack this place only on the night of the Heavenly Demons' descent because they had previously sent spies to infiltrate the camp and gather extensive intelligence. Outsiders could not enter, but the confusion worms lodged in human bodies could.

Even the confusion worms hand-modified by Dong Rui could steal memories from their hosts' minds, thus obtaining the cave's terrain map.

This place is deep in the old mountains and forests, with bugs crawling everywhere; if the Heavenly Palace garrison's barrier truly tried to repel insects, it would trigger thousands of alarms a day.

Although the cave had collapsed, the Lu Shan bird possesses X-ray vision, able to see conditions within ten zhang beneath the surface, especially adept at scanning living beings.

The life force of divine bodies and ferocious beasts is immensely strong; in the Lu Shan bird's eyes, they appear like flames in darkness—utterly clear.

Under the Lu Shan bird's guidance, the Giant Spirit Gods successively unearthed many spoils. They dug and dug in the soil, pulling out over a dozen divine bodies as easily as harvesting potatoes. Those divine bodies were humanoid, eyes tightly shut, breathing evenly, but devoid of consciousness.

Pu Hua looked up at the sky and urged urgently: "Hurry, faster!"

The meteors in the sky were no longer just a few scattered stars—they had formed a meteor shower of varied brilliance; judging by the number, there were at least forty or fifty.

"We've got it! We've got it!" the Lu Shan bird exclaimed, unable to contain its joy, "This time we've really caught a big fish!"

"Don't idle." Pu Hua slapped its back, "Hurry up and search!"

Before the meteor shower struck the ground, the Dragon God Army had already pulled over sixty divine bodies from the collapsed cave.

This is racing against time.

Ling Xu Sheng Zun knew that Yong Shan's garrison had come under attack; to preserve the divine bodies and ensure smooth operations, he demanded this batch of Heavenly Demons descend early.

And the Dragon God Army's task was to dig up as many divine bodies as possible before their arrival.

Seeing this, the Heavenly Palace troops also rushed forward to seize the opportunity. But the disparity in strength between the two sides was too great—no amount of faith could bridge the gap.

The Xuan Yi Army also fought desperately to block them.

"They're coming down, they're coming down."

In the blink of an eye, the meteors were about to hit the ground—that is, to plunge into these divine bodies.

Once they obtain the bodies, they gain combat capability.

How could Pu Hua just stand by? He waved his hand: "Gather them all, quickly, quickly, quickly!"

They had brought containers capable of storing living things; now they snatched up the divine bodies and stuffed them inside, like packing cabbage into a sack.

These divine bodies were made from the corpses of the Yin Hidden God Lord, extraordinarily hard. To destroy them one by one would be time-consuming and laborious.

However, ferocious beasts still remained in the collapsed cave. These creatures were not under seal; having just broken free from formation control, they attacked all living things indiscriminately.

"Never mind them." Pu Hua made a swift decision, "First destroy the divine bodies—the more, the better, the faster, the better."

Time was pressing. On one side were divine bodies utterly helpless; on the other, frenzied, enraged ferocious beasts. Everyone would naturally go for the soft persimmons.

And then, the meteor shower arrived.

Most of these meteors—that is, the souls of the Heavenly Demons—upon nearing the ground, discovered the pre-made markers were gone, and were terrified to the point of nearly losing their souls and spirits.

Originally, each divine body corresponded to a heavenly god's seal, allowing them to match and take their seats; but now the markers were gone, so naturally the seats were gone too. What to do?

Only over twenty fortunate ones found their own designated divine bodies.

In such a great battle, the Dragon God Army's cave search was bound to miss some.

Moreover, those few ferocious beasts were also the husks of Heavenly Demons, which the Dragon God Army had not yet had time to clean up.

But just as they had climbed up from the ground and opened their eyes, what greeted them was the Dragon God Army's arrow storm covering heaven and earth, divine powers, and several great powers lunging forward simultaneously.

Such oversights had long been anticipated by the Dragon God Army, and countermeasures had been prepared—able to deliver swift follow-up strikes.

As for those Heavenly Demon souls that landed with nowhere to go, they turned around and sought to return to the heavenly realm.

But how could the Dragon God Army let them leave so easily? Countless nets flew into the sky like fireflies, one net after another scooping them down.

These nets were the special soul-catching nets crafted by Zhu Xiuer, designed specifically to capture souls.

During this period, the Heavenly Palace troops also launched frenzied attacks, hoping to grant the heavenly gods more chances to escape. However, the disparity in numbers and strength between the two sides was too great; their assaults had no effect as imagined.

In less than half a moment, the Heavenly Demon souls were basically all captured. Only six or seven points of light managed to slip through the gaps in the nets, fleeing luckily to return to the heavenly summit.