Chapter 720: The End of a Divine Descent

The several small eyes of the Thunder-Shattering Giant Beast were all fixed on God Baizhantian, each one flushed deep red. The crimson lightning on its body became even more dazzling, and its speed surged instantly, as if it were making a final sprint.

Anyone with eyes could see that it had transformed from a locomotive into an extremely enraged locomotive.

Zhu Yao Erniang flashed past it, but its eyeballs didn't even twitch; it ignored her as if she weren't there.

The Spider Immortal lengthened her legs and fled toward the rear of the Danube Beast herd, disappearing from sight in a few breaths.

Even if God Baizhantian were slow-witted, it understood that Zhu Yao Erniang must have done something to it, which was why the Thunder-Shattering Giant Beast viewed it as a mortal enemy, unwilling to rest until it was destroyed.

It tilted its head and sniffed. Aside from the scent of blood and the spider demon's venom, there seemed to be another faint, fishy odor. It had originally assumed it was sap from broken trees, but now, smelling it—

Could it be?

Without a word, God Baizhantian stripped off its outer garment and threw it far away.

No wonder the spider demon had hidden in the sand pile to ambush it earlier; it turned out it wanted to play tricks on it.

After throwing the clothes, God Baizhantian ran to the side, yet the Thunder-Shattering Giant Beast's attention was entirely on it, showing no interest in the clothes at all.

The real target was here, the egg thief was here, and it had even thrown the scented clothes away right in front of it—was this an insult to its intelligence? The Thunder-Shattering Giant Beast grew even more furious, let out a long howl, and accelerated again.

Thanks to the thunder on its body, it possessed the ability to sprint for short bursts. Furthermore, the gravity conditions in the human world were far inferior to the Fu Realm; for these Fu Realm creatures carrying floating stones, entering the human world made them feel as light as swallows, and taking a step of seven or eight zhang was a trivial matter! The distance between the two sides shrank abruptly. The Thunder-Shattering Giant Beast lowered its head and charged.

God Baizhantian pulled out another long spear and struck back, bracing it against the beast's shield-shaped bone plate.

There was no point in holding back anymore; it would give the beast one final blow.

Even with its skill, it could not withstand the beast's primordial brute force and was instantly thrown into the sky, like a kite with a broken string.

The Thunder-Shattering Giant Beast, however, took a tumble on the spot.

This heavy-duty locomotive flipped sideways, rolling three or four times on the ground before barely coming to a stop.

Dust and haze filled the air.

The monster, weighing over ten tons, had actually been knocked down by a single strike from God Baizhantian! It was dazed from the fall, nearly ending up belly-up.

But the Thunder-Shattering Giant Beast quickly shook its head and stood up again.

Struck by God Baizhantian, a large gap had cracked open in the bone plate on its forehead, but it did not shatter into pieces because the crimson flame lightning automatically protected its master, actually canceling out the power of annihilation.

Even so, the Thunder-Shattering Giant Beast roared in pain. This bone plate was actually covered in nerves and was extremely sensitive; the pain caused by God Baizhantian's strike was no less than having a tooth pulled out by force.

Coupled with the disorienting fall, the giant beast's hatred grew even deeper.

The massive herd of beasts followed their leader in a sharp turn, continuing to chase that damned fugitive!

￥￥￥￥￥

After shaking off God Baizhantian's entanglement, Zhu Yao Erniang also shed the pursuit of the Lingxu City Imperial Guards before heading deep into the jungle.

It knew exactly where it was going.

After winding through many turns, Zhu Yao Erniang saw He He Lingchuan waving at it from within the dense shrubbery.

The kid was grinning heartlessly.

Dong Rui stood behind him with a straight face.

That monster, which looked like neither a snail nor a toad, carried a huge shell on its back, chewing unhurriedly on the alfalfa flowers its master handed it.

Aside from them, there was no one else here, not even a single bird.

He He Lingchuan came up to meet it and laughed, "Yao Erniang, you managed to escape too?"

Having successfully escaped the pursuit of the Qingyang State Preceptor, he was quite proud, but he couldn't high-five Zhu Yao Erniang.

The giant spider's claws were covered in needles; one prick would leave him full of bloody holes.

"A piece of cake." Zhu Yao Erniang snorted. "I smeared all the egg fluid from the gourd onto the wound on God Baizhantian's back. Now the Thunder-Shattering Giant Beast is chasing it with great enthusiasm."

When it burst out of the sand dune, it had smashed both the gourd and the mucus onto God Baizhantian's back; the latter hadn't noticed, thinking it was just the sound of a tree branch snapping.

During their escape, He He Lingchuan had explained to it that the gourd contained the stolen eggs of the Thunder-Shattering Giant Beast.

Of course, by now, they were just egg fluid.

The Thunder-Shattering Giant Beast's eyesight was average, but its sense of smell was heaven-defyingly sharp.

Not long ago, the leader of the Wu beasts had raided its nest; two eggs were smashed on the spot, and one was stolen—this was the Thunder-Shattering Giant Beast's greatest pain. Now that it suddenly smelled the scent of its lost child, it was instantly consumed by rage.

To distance itself from the situation, Zhu Yao Erniang had shed its front chelicerae that had been stained with the mucus before the Thunder-Shattering Giant Beast caught up. This way, God Baizhantian was the only scapegoat.

"God Baizhantian's skin-suit is failing," Zhu Yao Erniang asserted. "It was already consuming too much energy earlier, and I saw it trade blows with the Thunder-Shattering Giant Beast, which will only accelerate its collapse."

Dong Rui was a bit impatient, and even more anxious: "Are we not leaving yet?"

He had waited outside Tianji Shanfeng earlier and seen with his own eyes how "lively" Xushan was tonight.

Originally, he had played a supporting role and held no hope for the success of He He Lingchuan's operation, guessing that a forty or fifty percent chance was already heaven-defying. If the guy surnamed He died at Xushan, he would immediately drive the Snail-Toad away, and it wouldn't seem like much of a loss.

Who would have thought that the guy surnamed He was truly a plague god, capable of wreaking havoc wherever he went, to the point that even the Heavenly Palace couldn't withstand his meddling! But this mess was truly too big; now he just wanted to leave Lingxu City and the Between Beijia Kingdom as soon as possible! "Let's go." He He Lingchuan pointed west.

Zhu Yao Erniang, however, said, "I want to see how God Baizhantian ends up."

He He Lingchuan understood: "You two really have a deep-seated hatred?"

Just a moment ago, when the man and the spider jumped into the lake, they had a chance to escape, but after the Thunder-Shattering Giant Beast appeared, Zhu Yao Erniang had said to He He Lingchuan, "Let's split up; you lead the Qingyang State Preceptor away," and then it had charged back.

That stance was clearly one of returning for a fight and revenge.

Zhu Yao Erniang snorted: "We've fought before, twice."

He He Lingchuan thought for a moment: "Go to Xingshan."

Xingshan was only two hundred zhang north of Lingxu City, and its highest peak was shaped like the character "ji"; the Thunder-Shattering beast herd happened to be running in that direction.

Dong Rui drove the Snail-Toad into the ground.

It is worth mentioning that Zhu Yao Erniang's demon-immortal body could barely shrink to the size of a horse, just enough to enter the mud palace on the Snail-Toad's back with He He Lingchuan.

Even though it was an ancient demon-immortal with vast experience, it still clicked its tongue in praise at this mud palace magic treasure.

Riding inside without leaving the shell, one could directly see the surrounding landscape, and in full high-definition at that.

The Snail-Toad traveled underground, quietly flipping over to Xingshan and hiding in the bushes. The terrain here was higher, with no obstructions in front, allowing for a full view of the northwest corner of Lingxu City.

Further ahead was Lingxu City; there was no more suitable hiding spot.

They were here to watch the show; it would be counterproductive to cause extra trouble now.

Just as Dong Rui jumped out of the Snail-Toad's giant shell, he suddenly pointed at Lingxu City and gasped: "Look, you guys!"

Looking down at Lingxu City from Xingshan, flames were shooting into the sky everywhere, and thick smoke was billowing; not only in the lower city, but even on the floating islands, explosions were ringing out in succession.

How did that quiet, peaceful, and prosperous imperial capital turn into this? Was it caused by the earthquake at Xushan? He He Lingchuan watched without blinking, equally horrified.

After a long while, he took a deep breath and muttered: "Fang Fang Canran."

Of course it was Fang Fang Canran!

When Fang Fang Canran had discussed the plan with him earlier, he only proposed the backup strategy of luring the Thunder-Shattering Giant Beast to help He He Lingchuan escape, but he never mentioned the chaos in Lingxu City.

Because that had nothing to do with He He Lingchuan anymore.

His feat of invading Xushan was the key that unlocked this series of cataclysms in Lingxu City.

But it was only the key.

Fang Fang Canran and the organization behind him, however, were seizing every opportunity to expand their victory! They had plotted for too long; only by creating a hearty, unrestrained chaos in the imperial capital could they do justice to their long wait.

Zhu Yao Erniang moved to the other side of the peak: "God Baizhantian's skin-suit is failing."

The two hurried over to look at the battle below.

Just as Zhu Yao Erniang said, God Baizhantian's skin-suit was severely damaged, and fearing it would be surrounded by the herd, it had to retreat after trading blows with the Thunder-Shattering Giant Beast twice.

The Danube Beast herd pursued relentlessly from behind.

Gravity in the human world was much smaller than in the Fu Realm; even the clumsy Danube Beasts could move as fast as flying here, running with the speed of the wind. And although the Lingxu City army was desperately trying to intercept them, under the leader's call, more and more Danube Beasts were following, their charge becoming increasingly grand.

He He Lingchuan roughly estimated there were over five hundred of them.

A few dozen breaths later, Lu Lu Shishi's body began to collapse, right at the foot of Xingshan. It was the first time He He Lingchuan had witnessed with his own eyes what "flesh and bone separating" meant.

Muscles burst, tendons snapped, nerves were destroyed, and they rolled off the bones on their own, like rotten meat losing its stickiness.

The fourteen or fifteen-year-old girl was reduced to half a skeleton in the blink of an eye.

The most terrifying thing was that she could still perceive the pain and was screaming miserably.

Clearly, God Baizhantian's strand of divine soul had already returned to the Divine Realm and was no longer attached to her body.

He He Lingchuan stood on the hillside, barely able to hear her calling for "help" and "mother."

But she soon couldn't make a sound, as her vocal cords had also dissolved.

Her facial skin had long since peeled away, and her features were just writhing masses of blood. The red was the face, the white was the teeth and the whites of her eyes.

Her eyeballs had no upper or lower eyelids, and they looked particularly frightening as they rolled around.

She seemed to have seen He He Lingchuan standing on the hillside as well.

Even though He He Lingchuan had experienced cruel battles and seen tragic deaths, he couldn't help but feel a chill down his spine when he saw her eyes.

That kind of pain, that kind of hatred, that kind of madness...

And regret.

Endless, infinite regret.

He He Lingchuan remembered the scene when he first saw Lu Lu Shishi on Tianzhu Shanfeng; she was as fresh as a lily of the valley covered in dew.

How devout and longing this young girl was toward the gods, and how firm she was in her belief, willing to give everything for them.

Now, she had indeed given everything.

But after God Baizhantian finished using her, it discarded her like a broken bag.

It turned and returned to the Divine Realm, not bothering to take another look, leaving her alone to endure the agony of her body falling apart.

Lu Lu Shishi, who had volunteered to become a skin-suit, surely did not know of this tragic and agonizing fate at the beginning.

Only now was it too late to regret.

(End of chapter)