Chapter 407: The Goal of He He Lingchuan

Those who were more pious knelt down on the spot. Without needing anyone else to explain, the residents of Fufeng City all had a sudden realization:

The Treasure Tree King was angry.

This supreme ruler of the Treasure Tree Kingdom had always had a decent temper and spent eleven months of the year in closed-door meditation; for most residents, this was the first time they had felt its fury.

The Tang State Minister had only left Bai Yun Mountain two quarter-hours ago, but at this moment, he ordered the carriage to turn around and immediately rushed back to seek an audience.

"My King, what has happened?"

"The Spirit Seed!" The lake on Bai Yun Mountain was no longer calm; the wind was high and the waves were rough, crashing against the shore in waves. The Treasure Tree King's magnificent canopy also swayed in the gale. "The connection between me and the Spirit Seed has suddenly been severed! How can this be?"

The Tang State Minister said cautiously, "Could the escort team have met with an accident?"

"At this time, they should have reached the Gale Tundra." The Treasure Tree King's voice was still full of rage. "Even if the Spirit Seed were snatched away, I should still be able to sense its general location!"

The Spirit Seed, nurtured with thirty-six years of energy, had vanished; how could it remain calm and composed?

"Could the Spirit Seed have already..." Already been destroyed? The Tang State Minister found it difficult to say those words.

"No, it is still alive." The Treasure Tree King was somewhat puzzled. "But I simply cannot perceive its location."

How could this be?

It could perceive the status of every single Tree Guard within the borders of the kingdom.

"Send people immediately; I want to know what has happened!"

In the belly of Mount Fengmo Mountain.

With all the miscellaneous tasks finished, He He Lingchuan jumped down into the ground fissure to interrogate the captive: "Where is the item that the dim-witted monarch of the Shanyu Kingdom used to bribe the Chiyan Kingdom?"

The envoy from the Chiyan Kingdom gritted his teeth and remained silent.

He He Lingchuan had no patience to wait for a reply. Only after gathering all the fragments in the mountain belly did he realize the Spirit Seed was lost and that he had been played by the kid riding the goat.

Feeling disgruntled, he vented his frustration on the envoy, snapping off the man's ring finger and stripping the ring from the severed digit amidst the screams.

Hmm? Not this one; this was just an ordinary ruby ring.

He He Lingchuan pulled off another finger and tried again.

This time, it was the right one.

He dumped out the blood-stained storage ring; the miscellaneous items inside were like a small mountain, especially the bottles and jars, of which there were quite a few.

The Chiyan Kingdom envoy had already fainted from the pain, but He He Lingchuan slapped him awake a few times: "Which one is it?"

Before the Chiyan Kingdom envoy could catch his breath, he cursed, "My King treated you with generosity, why would you... ah!"

He He Lingchuan broke another of his fingers and sneered, "I don't want to hear nonsense. Next time, it will be your neck. As for the medicine, I can find it slowly."

Unable to endure the pain, the Chiyan Kingdom envoy could only point to a small wooden bottle and say, "This one, it's this one!"

The bottle was only the length of a middle finger, purely hand-carved from wood, with a plum blossom carved on it; it still looked rather unremarkable.

But it had a gold lacquer seal.

Was the packaging really this crude? He He Lingchuan was skeptical: "Truly?"

"It's true, it's true!" The Chiyan Kingdom envoy gasped for air repeatedly. "This is what the Shanyu Kingdom envoy gave me at the Liushe Post Station!"

He He Lingchuan's eyes rolled: "Since the gift was delivered, there should have been a letter, right?"

"Yes, yes." The Chiyan Kingdom envoy struggled to pull a gold-leaf letter from a pile of documents; the wax seal on the letterhead was intact. "It is the letter the Shanyu Kingdom monarch wrote to my King."

He He Lingchuan snatched it over and tore it open, took out the letter paper, confirmed the signature and seal first, then read the content for a few moments and muttered, "It really is..."

He turned the small bottle in his hand, pulled out the stopper, and sniffed it.

Inside was a pale red liquid, and a strange fragrance rushed out, making He He Lingchuan feel an urge to drink it all in one gulp.

This feeling was very intense, not much worse than Imperial Flowing Nectar.

It seemed this really was the thing. After so much effort, the plan had not gone smoothly since starting at Sanxin Plain, but fortunately, everything was finally back on track, and the item was in his hands.

He He Lingchuan felt relieved and asked the Chiyan envoy, "Do you know what is inside this?"

The Chiyan envoy shook his head blankly: "I don't know, I only received the order to bring it back."

"Then you are of no use."

With a snap, He He Lingchuan twisted the envoy's neck.

Almost at the same time, his left hand felt lighter; the bottle had actually been snatched away by someone!

He He Lingchuan was shocked beyond measure; his left hand curled into a claw and he swung backward in one motion.

The movement was so fast that a sound like tearing silk rang out in the air, though it was not very loud in the depths of the wind-howling Mount Fengmo Rock.

But the thief retreated even faster; a phantom image moved backward, and with a *swoosh*, he stood at the outermost edge of the stone cave, one more step and he could jump into the mountain belly.

"It's you." It was that guy riding the goat from before.

He He Lingchuan was furious: "You already snatched the Spirit Seed, and you still want to come and snatch my things?"

This was intolerable!

"This is yours? Not the Chiyan Kingdom's?" He He Lingchuan mimicked his previous action, putting the wooden bottle under his nose and sniffing it.

He He Lingchuan had gone to such great lengths, from killing the Eling Kingdom envoy at Sanxin Plain to releasing the Mount Fengmo at the Gale Tundra to attack the Treasure Tree Kingdom's escort team—every move was a ruthless act—all just to seize this little bottle? Courtesy demands reciprocity, and He He Lingchuan was also a person who would never let an opportunity slip by once he grasped it.

Just now, he had used Boshan Jun's snakeskin to remain hidden at his side, and had also employed the divine ability "Stubbornness" to conceal his aura, which, combined with the interference of the howling wind outside, allowed him to deceive He He Lingchuan's eyes, ears, and nose.

But this scent in the bottle, this unique and sweet scent, He He Lingchuan actually found it two-parts familiar; where had he smelled it before?

He frowned.

However, he did not have the urge to drink it all in one gulp like He He Lingchuan did.

He He Lingchuan stood up abruptly, pointing at the Chiyan Kingdom envoy and saying word by word, "Give the bottle back, otherwise your end will definitely be more miserable than his."

He paced over step by step, like a leopard ready to pounce. Anyone who had seen him strike would not doubt the weight of those words.

But He He Lingchuan waved his hand: "Wait a moment!"

A strange expression appeared on his face because he finally remembered where this scent came from.

"What does a *Ba* like you want with this thing?"

Yes, over the past few days, he had entered dreams to check books at the Wenxuan Pavilion and had gone to the Asking Immortal Hall to find experts to clear up his confusion, wanting to know what kind of monster He He Lingchuan was.

His appearance was exactly the same as a human's, yet his demonic power was immense, and he liked to absorb the essence and blood of monsters or humans.

There really was such a monster that met the above requirements, but strictly speaking, it did not belong to the category of demons, but rather *Guai* (strange monsters).

This was the *Ba*.

After a person dies, through a stroke of luck, they transform into a fierce corpse, walking the world without fear of sunlight.

The conditions for a *Ba* to form were harsh; even in ancient times, they were rare. Placed in the present world, well, he could probably go into a museum.

He He Lingchuan had not expected himself to be so lucky that any random enemy he made would be a rare *Ba*.

Seeing He He Lingchuan still coming forward, He He Lingchuan tilted the bottle outward: "One more step forward, and I'll pour it out."

Below was the ground fissure; no matter how capable He He Lingchuan was, he could not save the liquid in the bottle.

He had no choice but to stop his steps: "This thing is useless to you, but it is the key to my breakthrough."

"The key to your breakthrough?" He He Lingchuan found it even stranger. "You are a *Ba*; even if you use external force, shouldn't the key to a breakthrough be absorbing blood?"

"Of course."

He He Lingchuan frowned: "Do you know what this thing is?"

He He Lingchuan did not answer.

He He Lingchuan immediately tilted the bottle.

He He Lingchuan had no choice but to say: "Legend has it that there are still a few dragon eggs of true dragons left in the world; this is the fetal blood and bone marrow extracted from those eggs."

"You mean, this is dragon marrow?" He He Lingchuan's tone became very strange. "The dragon marrow from 'dragon marrow and phoenix liver'?"

"Yes."

"You want to drink this thing to increase your cultivation base?"

"Is there a problem?"

He He Lingchuan rubbed his nose, finding it hard to refrain from laughing.

He He Lingchuan's sword-like brows arched, secretly thinking about how to kill this fellow later. Unexpectedly, He He Lingchuan suddenly asked him again: "I heard the Chiyan Kingdom monarch is also a *Ba*; what is your relationship with it?"

The Chiyan Kingdom was the vassal demon kingdom with the shortest history in Between Beijia; it seemed it had only been established for a little over 150 years, which also fixed the number of Between Beijia's vassal demon kingdoms at thirteen.

Historically there had been more or fewer, but for the last two hundred years, there had been thirteen.

He He Lingchuan did not answer.

The next second, He He Lingchuan took back the bottle, even took the time to plug the stopper back in, and threw it back to He He Lingchuan.

This action left He He Lingchuan dumbfounded: "What are you doing?"

Was there a fool in the world who would throw dragon marrow to someone else?

"Good luck." He He Lingchuan leaped backward and fell into the mountain belly.

He He Lingchuan rushed over to look; that fellow used a grappling hook to swing to the edge of a high cliff, intending to ride the goat and fly down the mountain quickly.

But before He He Lingchuan could reach the goat, a shadow rose from the terraced fields and charged directly at him.

A very powerful wind force.

He He Lingchuan happened to be passing outside a stone cave and was actually blown directly into the stone cave by the strong gale, almost hitting the wall with his face.

But his reaction was extremely fast; he immediately took a stone carving of a Wind Lion from his storage ring and pressed it firmly onto the ground.

The surrounding wind suddenly weakened.

At this time, he looked back and was shocked to see the Mount Fengmo.

This guy's size had actually shrunk again, only a little over a person tall. It looked at the Wind Lion and then at He He Lingchuan, roaring twice, clearly very unhappy with him.

It possessed intelligence and knew that He He Lingchuan had coerced He He Lingchuan just now and that the item was in his hands. Therefore, it only came to seek revenge after He He Lingchuan returned the wooden bottle.

He He Lingchuan patted the Wind Lion twice: "Want to break the rules? You better think it over carefully; I am not one of those rookies from the escort team. It is best if we mind our own business."

Now the Mount Fengmo was hesitating again, circling the Wind Lion twice; its apprehension was practically visible to the naked eye.

This was nothing like the murderous aura of the previous two times.

But He He Lingchuan did not lower his guard; facing the Mount Fengmo's true form, would this stone carving still be effective? The Mount Fengmo circled twice more, as if having made up its mind.

How could it be stopped by a mere stone pedestal?

These pedestals had long since left the places they were meant to guard. Adhering to old rules... adhering to broken rules from thousands of years ago, what benefit was there in that! It suddenly let out a heaven-shaking roar and charged forward.

This Wind Lion suddenly began to shake and rattle incessantly, as if someone were beating it with a club.

Then, with a "crack," the Wind Lion split open.

Watching the battle from not far away, Fushan Yue shook his head upon seeing this.

The Wind Lion indeed had the function of warding off wind and suppressing evil, yet the efficacy of any divine ability had its limits and boundaries. It had no problem suppressing ordinary gale winds, but against the Mount Fengmo—

(End of chapter)