Chapter 688: Intense Preparation

The divine object in the Star-Plucking Tower was the key target of He Lingchuan's operation. Zuoju couldn't be defeated too quickly. Hindsight! Zuoju was angry just looking at him: "The past is the past, now is now!"

"You don't know the situation at all!" It was full of confidence, "Last time, True Monarch Tongming descended, but couldn't beat me, so the old thief Lingxu had to take action! Hehe, otherwise, among the so-called righteous gods under his command, how many could beat me after descending?"

Dong Rui was moved: "So last time it was two consecutive divine descents?"

These outsiders heard rumors and only knew that the Heavenly God took action to suppress the culprit of the Lingxu City earthquake, but didn't know the twists and turns.

It turned out that even the legendary Lingxu Saint Venerable took action personally?

Lingxu City was named after his title, showing his high status in the divine world.

But thinking about it now, Zuoju was a giant monster raised by the Great Return Sect and Lingxu City with a lot of money, left hand holding Profound Crystals, right hand holding Secret Ores; how could its combat power be the same as many big demons struggling on their last legs now?

More fundamentally, Zuoju was the spirit of Xushan and could directly grab power from the endless earth fire. If it came to consumption and endurance, it was naturally invincible.

It could be said to be uniquely endowed by nature.

On its own turf, very few things could beat it.

Most of the demon immortals who had survived from ancient times to the present should be living like Zhu Xiuer. Only this one in front of him was unique.

So the Heavenly Palace lifting a stone to smash its own feet was also particularly painful, right?

Speaking of which, he heard from Sun Fuping before that there were only five recorded divine descents in history. It seemed that the real situation was far more than that; at least when suppressing Zuoju more than ten years ago, two consecutive divine descents occurred.

Sure enough, the truth is hard to find.

"Exactly!" Zuoju chuckled, "As far as I know, the old thief Lingxu used too much force last time and damaged his skin bag. After so many years, he still hasn't found a new substitute."

"Oh?" He Lingchuan was startled, "Is it hard to find?"

With the ability of a great empire like Beijia, they couldn't find a skin bag that the Heavenly God wanted for more than ten years? "Nonsense!" Zuoju snorted, "Ordinary humans can't carry divine descent, and some will collapse the moment they descend. The more powerful the Heavenly God, the higher the requirements for the skin bag, and some even have special requirements... Hmm, I heard that the best skin bags are booked long in advance, not something that can be cobbled together in a hurry!"

It was like this? Did the best skin bags need to be customized in advance?

He Lingchuan thought of Zhong Shengquan's beloved daughter for the first time.

As he learned more secrets, he actually had more doubts in his heart. Could the Red General perfectly carry Mitian's power, which proved that Zhong Shengquan's offering to the gods was not a momentary impulse, but a long-planned scheme?

He Lingchuan even thought of himself. When his sea of consciousness was invaded by the gods, they mentioned that the glowing mark belonged to another Heavenly God, "Naluotian."

When was this mark planted? If it was a long time ago, did it prove that the original body also...? His train of thought was interrupted by Zuoju. This rock fire giant monster was already impatient. "Everything that should be said has been said, why don't you leave yet?" Standing in the dark valley chatting, really thinking this was Xushan night tour? "Oh right." He Lingchuan took out the Shaoling ore from his storage ring and poured it all into Zuoju's palm, "Your midnight snack."

He bought a total of three hundred jin of Shaoling ore from Fang Canran, and the last time the puppet fished out Zuoju, it used less than one hundred jin. Even to cooperate happily, he would give the rest to it.

"I thank you." Really stingy, among all the dark forces that contacted it, this kid was the stingiest! Zuoju grabbed the ore and swallowed it in one bite.

"See you in two days." He Lingchuan waved to it and walked out of Xushan territory. This time there were no more tricks.

Taking advantage of the humid ground, he and Dong Rui walked out of the mountains and returned to Pianxiang Villa by Snail Toad again.

He Lingchuan kept a heart, Zuoju had never seen the Snail Toad from beginning to end.

￥￥￥￥￥

The next day, during the day, there was thunder and lightning.

The whole world seemed to be quiet, with only the heavy rain splashing between heaven and earth.

Even the little squirrel that came to deliver a letter to He Lingchuan was covered in water droplets.

He Lingchuan hurriedly took it to roast by the fire. The little thing chattered, demanding overtime pay for running errands on a rainy day.

It wasn't just itself that delivered the message; there was a whole team behind it.

He Lingchuan had to be generous, taking out an extra ten taels of silver and five jin of golden pine nuts.

This was taken from the golden pine unique to the northern coast, with low yield and a particularly fragrant taste; in Lingxu City, it was not only popular with humans but also loved by rodent monsters. The only feature was that it was expensive; the money for five bags of ordinary pine nuts was only enough to buy half a jin of golden pine nuts.

The little squirrel ran to the fire to shake its fur and started gnawing while roasting by the fire.

"The news?" This little thing was becoming more and more of a master.

"Oh, he said, everything is settled."

He Lingchuan confirmed again: "Quantity is correct?"

"Quantity is correct, and there are three hundred jin more."

He Lingchuan then showed a satisfied smile: "Great, Manager Fang handles things reliably indeed."

Being able to get it done with such a short time limit, the energy of the General Manager of Dunyuan was indeed not small.

Two hours later, the heavy rain that had fallen on Lingxu City finally stopped.

Merchants in the market came out one after another to solicit business, wanting to grab a few more orders before dark. Lingxu City was an inch of land and an inch of gold, and the shop rent was terrifyingly expensive; having been delayed by the heavy rain for most of the day, the remaining time could not be wasted.

The Wu's Pie House opened in Nanxinzhuang was a husband-and-wife shop; the shop was flooded, the wife bent over to scoop water, and the husband was busy arranging the freshly baked pies in front of the stall.

Their house was a residential house along the street converted into a shop, with wooden windows facing outward, becoming a table that didn't touch the ground. Nanxinzhuang had a rule that occupying the road for business was not allowed, and violators would be heavily punished! Stalls extending outward like this didn't count as occupying the road, so every shop along the street did this, becoming a local feature.

"Freshly baked pies, milk custard filling, winter melon sugar salty meat filling, rose malt sugar filling—"

The steaming three-layer pies were placed on the stall, neat and tidy, with fragrance drifting for two miles.

If there wasn't a bit of real skill, if there wasn't the recognition of the neighbors, how could Wu's Pie survive in the fiercely competitive Lingxu City?

Pedestrians on the street gradually increased, but for some reason, everyone seemed not to want to buy pies. There were so many people coming and going in front of the shop, but not a single one stopped.

Old Wu had to let his wife go to the street to shout.

The wife held a plate with cut pies on it for guests to taste.

Four or five children ran over from the opposite side, chattering.

The wife invited them to eat two pieces of pie, and the children didn't refuse, arguing endlessly while eating.

Among them, a little fatty said: "Such a big snail, so big, so big!"

"What snail, that's a slug!"

The little fatty was unconvinced: "Obviously its back shell is as big as a house, can't you see it? My dad said, if it has a shell, it's a snail!"

The wife was surprised: "What are you talking about?"

"There's a big snail over there, bigger than a small house!" The child pointed to the White Pine Cargo Station opposite, and gestured, "We saw it through the door crack!"

"Slug!"

The little fatty's eyes turned, looked at the woman sincerely: "Auntie Liu, I'll buy three malt pies, you come over with us to take a look and judge, to see if I'm right!"

A snail bigger than a house? Auntie Liu agreed without much thought; wasn't it just a matter of walking two steps? She turned back to explain to her husband and followed the children.

Wu's Pie had been open in Nanxinzhuang for eighteen years, watching the cargo station opposite change four owners. Cargo warehouses and cargo stations were places to put goods, only living with a few warehouse guards, and usually didn't need careful maintenance. The courtyard of the cargo station facing the alley had a wooden board that had been broken for four or five days and hadn't been repaired; now only half remained. People coming and going could see the movement inside the cargo station with a glance.

The children walked here, but the sound was smaller, often reminding each other to hush, for fear of startling the things inside.

Walking to the wooden board, the little fatty whispered: "Auntie Liu, look!"

Auntie Liu leaned over to look, didn't see any snail at first, and was just feeling surprised when she suddenly found the house moved.

Huh? Huh!!

That wasn't a house; that was a snail shell! Brown, like wood that had lost its paint.

And the owner of this snail shell seemed to be a super-large mollusk, not seeing hind limbs, but stretching out two strong and powerful, muscular front legs, lying in a cargo warehouse!

The rustling sound was endless; was it eating something? Auntie Liu wasn't as ignorant and fearless as the little ghosts, and immediately remembered several legends circulating in Lingxu City recently, what White Sand Qu of Chi Yan Nation, immortality medicine, Green Palace...

She was very nervous, pressing on the wooden board and subconsciously using more force, only to hear a bang, and the wooden board suddenly fell inward.

This alley entrance wasn't quiet, but the wooden board hitting the stone was still very loud.

The monster's movement stopped, and it suddenly turned its head.

It seemed to have no neck, or its neck was very long, and it could turn 180 degrees.

From Auntie Liu to the children, none could describe that strange feeling.

But the most strange thing was the monster's face—

The face was frighteningly large, two antennae like antennas, and a mouth that split to the earlobes. It looked like a toad but not a toad, a snail but not a snail. The thought that flashed through Auntie Liu's mind in an instant was:

None of the children were right.

This was neither a snail nor a slug!

This damn thing was, was... what was it called!

The night before last, she was still arguing with Old Wu about it!

Of course, the body's instinctive reaction was faster than her reason; she took two steps back and screamed—

"Monster!"

The children were first startled by the monster turning its head, and then startled by Auntie Liu, all stunned for a moment, and then ran away with her.

At this moment, the flow of people on the street had increased, and this group of big and small people screaming and running immediately attracted the attention of many people.

People who went over to watch with curiosity also covered their mouths and retreated, running away quickly.

In this way, there were more and more people.

The monster was calm, as if it knew that the people coming and going were ordinary people and monsters, and didn't take it to heart, turning its head to do its original thing.

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 689 =====