Chapter 706

Fortunately, Zhu Xiuer's demon immortal body firmly protected him, and fortunately, he was wearing a lightning-repelling plaque; otherwise, he would have been ground to dust long ago. He Lingchuan only today had a small glimpse of how ancient immortals could resist heaven and earth with their own strength.

Bearing the power of thunder and lightning, the Spider Immortal's huge body forcibly squeezed into the restriction.

And then, forced its way through!

When Zhu Xiuer jumped into the array eye, He Lingchuan also breathed a long sigh of relief.

If she hadn't made it through, he would have had to be buried with her.

This array eye also had a fully transparent glazed surface, with a holy object lying in the center.

In the old array eye, the holy object was the star map on Zhu Xiuer's abdomen; but here, it was actually a turtle shell! This turtle shell was even larger than the old turtle shell he had seen at the bottom of County Magistrate Lake, with a diameter of about three zhang, but it was not a leatherback turtle; its surface was brownish and exceptionally smooth, and it actually also had a star map! "Hey!" He Lingchuan praised secretly, "The Tiangong really used this thing as a substitute; they have great divine powers!"

This kind of star map was innate; Zhu Xiuer could have one, why couldn't other monsters? But this rarity, tsk tsk, showed that Beijia had truly spent a lot of effort.

"It's just a useless fake!" Zhu Xiuer sneered. "Even if it's used as an array eye, this array won't last two months."

The star map on this turtle shell was blurry, without primary or secondary, color, or brightness; it was far worse than her abdominal map! A thing that couldn't be brought to the table, phew, no wonder it could only be a backup.

And this turtle shell didn't have a transparent glazed ball for protection, just lit by a perpetual lamp. It was clear that the grade of the backup was indeed inferior to the original.

The star map flew out from the shell, slowly circling in the air.

Clearly, it was looking for an angle.

Once it found it and aligned, the Spirit-Gathering Array might restart.

The time left for He Lingchuan and Zhu Xiuer was not much.

At this time, bird demons flew in from all sides; their reaction was not slow, but unfortunately, hindered by the turbulence outside the array eye, they couldn't descend here.

Qu Ju ignored the enemies on all sides and continued to swing large fireballs to bombard the array eye.

Now it also felt that its rash return was a bit reckless. But since it was here, it might as well concentrate fire with its teammate.

It had to take down either the array eye or the Star-Plucking Tower.

As a backup, this new array eye in the sky had limited strength after all. Every time it was hit by a fireball, He Lingchuan felt like he was at the epicenter. After Qu Ju's uninterrupted, high-intensity continuous bombardment, the bottom of its star ring was smashed, and a crack split open from the gap.

The Spider Immortal didn't care what Qu Ju was doing; she took a few steps forward, about to wave her claws to knock the "fake" away, when unexpectedly, something lunged out from in front of the turtle shell, moving so fast it left a blur.

This thing had originally blended into the glazed ground, and Zhu Xiuer's twelve eyes hadn't discovered it at all.

When it lay on the ground, it was just a flat puddle, less than a foot thick. The ground of this array eye was uneven, not as flat as the previous one, and Zhu Xiuer hadn't paid much attention, only to have this thing bite her left leg claw tip and chew incessantly.

It was only about a zhang tall, far smaller than Zhu Xiuer, but its movements were astonishingly agile, with an attack frequency that could rival a woodpecker.

Zhu Xiuer was held by the leg and hissed in pain.

The Spider Immortal's legs were covered in thorns harder than steel needles, and the monster was covered in blood from being pricked, but a pit had also been gouged out of Zhu Xiuer's leg, and she couldn't help but shake it off forcefully.

The demon immortal body was naturally indestructible; the monster's two attacks were not simple.

He Lingchuan also saw its appearance clearly. When this thing lay on the ground, it looked like a crocodile, its flat body convenient for ambushes, but after standing up, it looked like it had been inflated, its shape changing immediately, looking somewhat like a human, but it could lie down and squat, far more flexible than a human.

It had four front limbs and two tails behind it, one long and one short, its whole body covered in pustules like a toad, but the sharp claws on its feet were a foot long and hooked.

Such an uncoordinated appearance reminded He Lingchuan of Dong Rui's demon puppets.

But immediately after, a word popped into his mind:

Zhi Beast.

In the past, in the Hanshui military camp, Elder Liang of the Chuanyun Pavilion had mentioned that many demons and monsters appeared in the medieval period, devouring commoners and ambushing immortal disciples at will, causing the Immortal Sect to fight with the demon race. But later, someone discovered that those monsters were all demons modified by the Heavenly God, called Zhi Beasts.

Later, under the joint pursuit of the immortal and demon races, Zhi Beasts became fewer and fewer until they disappeared.

Dong Rui himself admitted that his inspiration for modifying demon puppets came from Zhi Beasts.

This monster's appearance was discordant and its strength powerful, but it could only act on instinct, not at all like a natural creation.

Now it seemed that the so-called Zhi Beasts had not completely disappeared from the world; at least this one had been hidden by Lingxu; and Dong Rui was also wrong—this Zhi Beast could act according to the Tiangong's instructions, not the confused, friend-or-foe-blind creature he described.

Perhaps over these years, the Heavenly God's research on Zhi Beasts had also improved?

The Zhi Beast was astonishingly agile, and Zhu Xiuer, with her big belly, found it hard to keep up with its rhythm; after all, her size was there. But she was a long-famous demon immortal and had her own set of tactics, which was: you fight your fight, I fight mine.

Although this monster moved fast, it wasn't very proficient in divine abilities, which was a common problem for monsters. Zhu Xiuer's demon immortal body was too tough, and it was hard for the opponent to break her defense, and Zhu Xiuer's self-healing ability was astonishing; often, when the opponent opened a wound on her, it would recover as before after twenty breaths.

Zhu Xiuer used the old method she used against King Siwen in the Demon Nest Swamp, releasing spider silk while fighting.

The spider silk danced with the wind, either falling to the ground or wrapping around the opponent.

As a result, the Zhi Beast soon stumbled; the more spider silk that stuck to its body, the harder it was for it to move.

It was so angry its eyes turned red, spitting saliva onto the spider silk binding its body. Its thick saliva was highly corrosive, and where it dripped, even the glazed ground was etched with small pits.

Only Zhu Xiuer's spider silk was fine.

The spider silk of her current body already had the characteristics of being impervious to swords and spears, water and fire, and acid, let alone her ancient demon immortal body?

He Lingchuan, however, stared fixedly at the turtle shell in the array.

Just seeing the rotation speed of the turtle shell star map getting slower and slower, he knew it was about to finish calibration.

Once the array eye took effect, Qu Ju would be suppressed again.

This fire monster was the key to He Lingchuan's success or failure on this trip; they absolutely could not sit idly by.

"Erniang, take down that fake!"

"I know." Didn't she just not have a chance to free her hands? Taking advantage of the Zhi Beast's slowed speed, Zhu Xiuer turned around and shot a handful of spider silk at the array eye, intending to drag it out forcibly.

If the turtle shell had other restrictions, she would deal with them as they came.

As a result, the spider silk actually passed through the turtle shell and stuck to the ground without any obstruction.

"Damn!" He Lingchuan's feet faltered, and he cursed.

It was actually an illusion? A vivid illusion! Even a Mirage Demon would have to bow down.

What the hell was that Zhi Beast protecting it for just now?

At this time, Qu Ju's roaring sound was also earth-shattering: "Hurry up and smash the array eye, hurry!"

The star map was about to finish calibration; could the freedom it had worked so hard to get be lost just like that? He Lingchuan's face was as cold as water, his thoughts turning rapidly.

The turtle shell's true body was not on the ground at all; could it be submerged under the star ring? Given the Heavenly God's habit of setting up arrays, this was highly likely. And they could also conveniently cast an invisibility spell on it to ensure the intruder couldn't see it.

This could delay time as much as possible, allowing the Tiangong to wait for more reinforcements.

What to do now, what to do! The outcome of falling short of success, Qu Ju wouldn't be the most miserable. It would at most be imprisoned, but He Lingchuan and Zhu Xiuer would be ground to dust! What other way was there to make the array eye fail?

Zhu Xiuer asked He Lingchuan: "Are we leaving?"

She had already retrieved her spider shell and should have left Xushan quickly, but out of consideration for He Lingchuan, she stayed to help him.

Of course, this was also an agreement reached beforehand between He Lingchuan and the Eyeball Spider.

I help you once, you have to repay me once, right?

But now it seemed this favor couldn't be done, so she started to retreat.

But He Lingchuan wanted to try one more time, so he pointed to the star ring and said: "See the crack? Help me widen it! Qu Ju—you help too!"

The array eye had been bombed by Qu Ju earlier, creating a crack two feet wide. He Lingchuan already had a plan in mind, but he couldn't do it with his own strength.

The fire giant monster didn't say a word and threw several more large fireballs, roasting the bottom of the array eye until it was fiery red, and the stones even melted and dripped down.

Zhu Xiuer pressed her eight legs against the edge of the crack, black light flashing all over her body, and pushed outward fiercely.

The Zhi Beast took the opportunity to attack, and Zhu Xiuer gritted her teeth and held on.

Among demon immortals, she was not known for her strength, especially compared to Qu Ju, the gap was obvious. But after all, the magnitude was there, and only muffled cracking sounds could be heard incessantly; the crack on the star ring was still being widened.

However, just at this moment, the star map on the turtle shell suddenly stopped.

A sorrowful and angry howl came from Qu Ju below: "No—"

The array eye took effect, and the Spirit-Gathering Array started.

Shackles reappeared on the fire giant monster's neck.

This time, the Xushan mountain-swamp creature was suppressed again.

He Lingchuan struck his right fist into his left palm with a sigh: "I told you, you shouldn't have come back here!"

If Qu Ju had attacked the Star-Plucking Tower from beginning to end, it might have been conquered by now, and then it wouldn't matter whether the array eye existed or not.

The little fire person on his shoulder roared: "I shouldn't have trusted you!"

It had seen this guy's confident and meticulous planning, thinking this rebellion would surely succeed, alas!

It, Qu Ju, had been shrewd for over six hundred years, but who would have thought it would have a time when it misjudged a person and stood on the wrong side.

It clearly looked a bit reliable, but in the end……

……

Seeing the light of the Painting of Mountains and Rivers rise again, everyone in the Star-Plucking Tower breathed a long sigh of relief.

The Spirit-Gathering Array restarted smoothly; thank goodness, thank goodness!

Even if the turtle shell star map was just a substitute, it could at least hold out for a while, allowing them to catch the Spider Immortal and deal with her again.

Everyone knew that the Zhi Beast Xia Ri, who was put into the array eye, couldn't beat the Spider Immortal, but it had successfully delayed some time.

We'll deal with the trouble when it comes.

"A great threat removed, good!" The battle inside the array eye was still continuing, and Chief Du Yun said sternly, "Xia Ri can't drag the Spider Immortal for too long; we can't let her run away. I ask the Hundred-Battle Heavenly God to solve it!"

(End of this chapter)