[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"origin-after-the-immortals-disappeared":3,"chapter-after-the-immortals-disappeared-after-the-immortals-disappeared-chapter-62":6},{"origin":4,"title":5},"chinese","After the Immortals Disappeared",{"chapter":7,"nextChapterSlug":19,"prevChapterSlug":20,"totalChapters":21,"novelImage":22},{"id":8,"novel_id":9,"title":10,"slug":11,"index":12,"content":13,"wordcount":14,"created_at":15,"updated_at":15,"volume":16,"translator":17,"content_hash":18},2283946,4468,"Chapter 62: Shapeshifter","after-the-immortals-disappeared-chapter-62",62,"\u003Cp>Before this sentence was even finished, hundreds of large fireballs suddenly descended from the sky, smashing into the patch of land where the two were standing.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>These fireballs still glowed white amidst their golden-red hue, showing that their temperature had reached a terrifying level; each one encased a piece of obsidian meteorite over ten feet in diameter, and the force of the impact and the intensity of the sound seemed as if they would pierce through the earth's surface.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Every impact triggered a massive explosion, gouging deep craters into the ground and melting the surface of the soil into a glass-like state.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Yet, all these collisions were concentrated within a radius of ten zhang; even the golden-armored soldiers were blasted into molten copper.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Could those two still be alive? Not far away, He Lingchuan tightly plugged his ears to avoid having his eardrums shattered.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The more powerful a divine ability, the longer the preparation time required. This Black Flood Dragon could summon a meteor shower just by flicking its tail, which looked easy and simple; besides the fact that this world was its home turf, it was likely that its previous chatting with the two was also to provide cover for secretly channeling its divine ability.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>What made it even more troublesome than a divine artifact's spirit was that this spirit was as cunning as a human.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The Black Flood Dragon was likely well aware of the situation below, and with a low moan, one figure after another emerged from the black smoke permeating the ground.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The demonic apes had climbed back up, and thanks to the replenishment from the heavenly fire, they looked larger, stronger, and faster. Magma even flowed down from their bodies, each drop hissing as it hit the ground.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>As soon as they took shape, they charged toward another direction.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>That was a pile of ruins, and the large amount of earth and stone that had fallen from the south city wall earlier served as the best cover.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Unfortunately, this trick was useless against the Black Flood Dragon. It could accurately judge the positions of the two enemies without needing to use its eyes.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>They were not at the location of the meteorite bombardment at all; Sun Fuping had likely used an escape technique, dragging the two to twenty zhang away at the very last hair-breadth moment.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But the two had just emerged when ten pieces of ordnance on the city wall suddenly turned on their own, aiming at this spot. The Black Flood Dragon said with composure, \"You blew up my house just now; did that feel good?\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Crossbow bolts, fire stones, and nail shells fired all at once, all greeting the two.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Nian Songyu had been as pleasantly surprised by the nail shells earlier as he was wretched now; the turtle shield was stuck full of tiny nail shards, and he even had two embedded in his leg.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>His whole body radiated a dim cyan light, and he had already hard-carried two rounds of flying crossbows and one round of fire stones. Unfortunately, Sun Fuping was not wrong at all; not only was the effect of the State Order greatly reduced here, but the true qi he consumed in battle was calculated exponentially.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Fortunately, he still managed to buy a little time for Sun Fuping, and the earth-escape technique was used again, shifting the two ten zhang away.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The Black Flood Dragon rubbed its head against the city gate tower: \"Don't be in a hurry, this is just a warm-up; there are even more fun things to come.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>As soon as the words fell, one bat after another flew out from the air vents on the city wall, circling the sky above the south city wall in a scale that blotted out the sun.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>There must have been tens of thousands of them.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Immediately after, half of the bats dove to the ground, turning into five agile sand leopards; the rest split into groups in the air, transforming into strange birds with sharp beaks and bat wings.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The demonic apes had great strength but were slow in movement, giving Nian Songyu room to maneuver; the Black Flood Dragon saw this, so it summoned agile sand leopards to make up for the offensive shortcoming, and had the demon birds launch air raids—with such integrated strikes from above and below, it wanted to see if these two could still fly to the heavens.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>However, it was also clear at this moment that Nian Songyu did indeed have some skills. After the sand leopards joined the fray, it was no longer convenient for him to hold the shield in one hand, so he simply put the turtle shield away and drew a long saber. Standing in the distance, He Lingchuan only saw two streaks of cyan light flying up and down, agile as a swimming dragon, combining speed, precision, and ruthlessness; neither the sand leopards nor the demonic apes could get close.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But in the Black Flood Dragon's world, how could he not pay a price? In just this short while, Nian Songyu had at least a dozen external wounds of varying sizes, and the blood flowing out had soaked his clothes; the heaviest blow was caused by a diving demon bird. Although he had also sliced the demon bird in two, its sharp beak had also disfigured him, with a wound running from his temple to his chin, nearly gouging out his eyeball.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Seeing this scene, He Lingchuan muttered, \"Are you kidding me? Can demonic beasts transform like this?\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Although the original body hadn't read many books, he still knew an ironclad rule of this world: neither humans nor demonic beasts could completely turn into other creatures, unless they originally possessed the ability to mimic or transform.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Simply put, humans cannot turn into monsters, and monsters cannot turn into humans; a bat is a bat and cannot turn into a leopard or a bird, though a toad monster can still grow from a tadpole because that is its original cycle.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Humans can use certain divine abilities or means to partially alienate themselves, but it is not permanent, and the consumption and side effects are also great.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The so-called ironclad rule is a law that holds true everywhere; isn't it too unsportsmanlike for these bats to transform at will?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Mao Tao gave a wry smile: \"In this place, nothing is strange no matter what happens, right?\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He Lingchuan suddenly heard the sound of something breaking through the air above and hurriedly gestured for him to be quiet, but it was too late.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>A demon bird landed on the ruins, less than a zhang away from them, and both sides stared at each other.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Once it landed, it became clear how large this thing was; its standing height alone was almost as tall as He Lingchuan.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>This thing had wings like a bat, thin and membranous, with a keel-like protruding sternum; when the wings were folded, the front ends had claw hooks, and the black sharp nails alone were longer than a human finger.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Its beak was sickle-shaped, long and sharp; one peck could chisel a prey's skull to pieces.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Mao Tao was so scared he drew his waist saber, but He Lingchuan moved his fingers slightly, his voice as thin as a mosquito's: \"Don't move!\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Being stared at by those earthy-yellow eyes, he also felt his scalp tingle. This thing itself was an aggregate of monsters; besides sand leopards and demon birds, who knows what else it could turn into? Besides, these things couldn't be killed, so no matter how hard he fought, it would be useless.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>While He Lingchuan was thinking of a countermeasure, the demon bird also tilted its head, as if it were also thinking.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Of course, the two didn't dare to move a muscle.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>After about a few breaths, the demon bird lost interest in them, turned around, flapped its wings, and flew away.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Mao Tao's forehead was covered in sweat, and he couldn't help but let out a long sigh: \"If I can get out of here, I will definitely burn more incense and tell the missus to offer more meat dishes. It really is the ancestors' blessing!\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>That was a monster that even the Imperial Preceptor and Commandant Nian couldn't handle.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"It has nothing to do with your ancestors; it had no hostility toward us. Why?\" He Lingchuan looked at the Black Flood Dragon on the city gate. These monsters were all summoned by the Black Flood Dragon, serving as both eyes and enforcers, and their actions were controlled by it. The fact that this demon bird had no reaction when it saw He Lingchuan could only mean that the Black Flood Dragon had no desire to attack.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>They, like Nian Songyu, were also setting fires everywhere in the illusion; why was the Black Flood Dragon willing to let them go?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>(End of chapter)\u003C\u002Fp>",1483,"2026-06-20T02:23:30.219Z",1,"Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite","99183b023a3902ad5ffc3372d41143357b93aa64a146a38529c313421233a9a8","after-the-immortals-disappeared-chapter-63","after-the-immortals-disappeared-chapter-61",1000,"https:\u002F\u002Fnovelzhen.com\u002Fimages\u002Fcovers\u002Fafter-the-immortals-disappeared-cover.jpg"]