Chapter 724: Echo 1: Who is it?

Next stop: Qingshi Town, southern suburbs of Lingxu City. They had set out from here tonight, and He Lingchuan hadn't checked out yet.

During their passage underground, He Lingchuan took a mirror from his bosom and shone it on the three of them.

"What are you doing?"

"Checking if any tracking supernatural powers have been planted on us." He Lingchuan checked very carefully, "Tonight's opponents are no ordinary people, and their methods are diverse; it's better to be cautious."

After checking three times in total, the two people, one spider, and the bat demon puppet were all fine.

Only then did He Lingchuan breathe a sigh of relief, sit down, and take out the xun, saying to Zhu Erniang: "How can you persist for so long?"

Zhu Erniang tucked its eight legs underneath, squatting comfortably: "What do you mean?"

"Last time in the Demon Nest Swamp, you wore a small-sized molt to fight Siwen Wang and Boshan Jun for three hours. After returning to the spider nest, you immediately shed the shell. It's evident that the molt cannot be worn for long." He Lingchuan kept sizing up its body, "This Immortal Molt should be an even greater burden for you, right? You've been wearing it for so long; why aren't you in a hurry to take it off?"

Last time, Zhu Erniang had been in a rush to shed the molt, which gave He Lingchuan an opportunity. Why was it fine now? "Take it off in front of you?" Zhu Erniang turned several eyeballs toward him at once, saying gloomily, "Do you think I can make the same mistake twice?"

Molting is its weakest moment. Last time He Lingchuan had tricked it, but this time it wouldn't make a mistake again.

It wasn't targeting He Lingchuan; it didn't want to give anyone a chance! He Lingchuan couldn't help but touch his nose and swear to the heavens: "I have no such intention, Erniang, you've wronged me! Now we are teammates in the same trench; if I harm you, wouldn't I be harming myself?"

Zhu Erniang chuckled, not believing a word.

"Look, didn't I execute your instructions seriously and achieve them perfectly?"

Zhu Erniang looked at him sideways: "What exactly do you want to say?" It didn't look like this kid was about to turn hostile immediately.

"I'm just curious—" He Lingchuan stroked his chin and looked at it, "Are you really Zhu Erniang?"

Dong Rui immediately turned his head: "What did you say? She isn't Zhu Erniang?"

Is there a second spider demon in the world as fierce as this? Not to mention it could put on an Immortal Molt to fight... besides Zhu Erniang, who could wear this thing? He Lingchuan shook the xun in his hand: "Even if Zhu Erniang hid part of its divine soul here. But to control the Spider Immortal Molt with ease, is this something an incomplete divine soul can do?"

Compatibility between body and soul is a basic principle of human cultivation.

One of the most important reasons why Heavenly Gods cannot stay in the human world for long is that the human skin is too fragile to match such a powerful divine soul.

But conversely, a weak divine soul cannot drive an Immortal's body.

Moreover, Zhu Erniang had made one thing very clear when giving instructions in the Demon Nest Swamp: if He Lingchuan could find its Immortal Molt, he would likely face a life-and-death battle next. If it couldn't exert the power of the Immortal Molt, even if only a part of it, then this trip might as well not have happened.

So this matter looked very strange no matter how you looked at it.

Zhu Erniang yawned: "You're quite sharp. Alright, I am not Zhu Erniang."

It admitted it so lightly, but Dong Rui couldn't help but shiver, patting the Snail-Toad to signal it to be alert: "Who are you?"

As long as the answer was unusual, the Snail-Toad would throw it out.

"Isn't the answer obvious?" Zhu Erniang raised its front claws and pointed at He Lingchuan's hand.

He Lingchuan didn't seem very surprised: "Are you Zhu Daniang?"

The name of this xun was "Zhu Daniang's Eye Socket."

Zhu Erniang had even named his venomous fang dagger "Zhu Erniang's Kiss"; according to its naming convention, this xun should be Zhu Daniang's relic.

"Yes." Zhu Erniang—no, it should be called Zhu Daniang now—said gloomily, "I fell in ancient times, so the second one let me borrow its body, getting nourishment from flesh and blood so I wouldn't perish. But I usually sleep and only wake up when summoned by it."

Borrowing? Two souls in one body? He Lingchuan gave a thumbs-up: "You guys play so fancy, this is allowed?"

"After I fell, the second one ate my shell so as not to waste it." Zhu Daniang said this as if it were a matter of course, "I paid the price, and it let me borrow its body. And we were born from the same egg, so we had a connection in our hearts after cultivating to the later stages, becoming one."

It paused: "But it has gone through several molts, becoming increasingly weak, and can no longer supply my divine soul. So, I have to come out and take risks with you guys."

Zhu Erniang still had the strength to support its sister's divine soul; but once it couldn't even protect itself, Zhu Daniang would either have to find its own way or be devoured by its sister.

The world of spider demons is just that realistic.

"How long can you wear this Immortal Molt?" This was He Lingchuan's main point, "Don't tell me you have to take it off tomorrow morning; the Snail-Toad can't transport something this big!"

Once the Immortal Molt is ownerless, it will automatically return to its original size, which is the giant spider form four zhang (13 meters) tall.

This kind of integrated monster cannot be put into the Mud Palace.

He Lingchuan's storage ring didn't have that much space either.

If they were within Beijia territory, transporting the Immortal Molt would be a big problem.

Zhu Daniang smiled: "Don't worry, we have already considered it. If I enter hibernation, I can persist in the Immortal Molt for at least half a month."

He Lingchuan was relieved: "That's good."

He didn't ask how Zhu Daniang persisted; it concerned core secrets, and the other party definitely wouldn't reveal it.

Although he had retrieved the Immortal Molt for the spider demon and completed the mission beautifully, after all, both sides had confronted each other a few months ago, and their relationship wasn't good enough to say everything.

Of course, now they had a common goal, which was to successfully escape the Beijia Nation.

Before long, the Snail-Toad arrived at Qingshi Town and surfaced in a remote, uninhabited area.

They had just returned to the inn when the large parrot Ling Bo flew in from outside the window, flapping its wings and saying: "Well done, I flew two circles in the sky just now and saw the fireworks in the north!"

The so-called fireworks were the volcanic eruption of Tian-Shu Peak.

Its voice was full of joy.

"The master said, since you have accomplished this, you will be our reliable comrade from now on." The parrot handed over a note and an iron thumb ring, "Many people can be used by you; the address and password are written on the note, and the thumb ring is the token."

He Lingchuan took it and said: "What if I hadn't accomplished it?"

The parrot cackled twice: "If you hadn't, you hadn't. Look at who has accomplished it in these hundreds of years?"

"Old Fang is truly considerate, knowing what I lack most right now." He Lingchuan read the note several times, memorized it, and then ignited a wisp of true fire to burn it.

He knew in his heart that if the Xushan plan hadn't succeeded, what the parrot brought out might not have been a note and a thumb ring.

"Lingxu City is in a mess, is Old Fang okay?"

The parrot shook its head: "Don't worry, he was well-prepared."

He Lingchuan had already witnessed Fang Canran's ability to hide in the city. Since he was confident, he didn't need to worry.

After this incident, He Lingchuan could feel Fang Canran's ruthlessness, and his hatred.

The gnashing hatred for Lingxu City.

"Does he still want to stay in Lingxu City?"

The parrot didn't answer, but simply said "See you again" and flew away flapping its wings.

Meeting He Lingchuan now was likely the most dangerous mission in all of Lingxu City; of course, it didn't want to stay long.

The chaos in Lingxu City hadn't had time to spread here yet. He Lingchuan and Dong Rui checked out normally, led the rock sheep, brought the squirrel Xiao Qiao, and went to a remote place to release the Snail-Toad, diving into the ground.

This little thing knew too many of his secrets. He Lingchuan had "consulted" Xiao Qiao's opinion, and the squirrel expressed its willingness to work a long-term, stable job for him, with excellent pay, of course.

They didn't even plan to spend the night in Qingshi Town; the top priority now was to get as far away from Lingxu City as possible.

After traveling dozens of li west, the Snail-Toad fed back to Dong Rui that it was tired.

For He Lingchuan's Xushan plan, it had been busy for the past two days.

This big guy could be elusive on rainy days, but it didn't like long-distance travel.

Dong Rui immediately felt sorry for it and requested a mid-way rest. Even when riding a horse, one has to replenish water and eat grass every so often, right?

Only then did everyone return to the surface, seeing that the surroundings were all wasteland and wilderness, dark and without any signs of human activity, only the mountain wind blowing over the ridge and the cawing of crows.

It happened to be their ideal resting point for now.

They found a mountain cave, with several large trees outside, blocking the cave tightly. This way, even if birds flew over in the sky, they might not be able to see the movement inside the cave.

The two lit a campfire, simply boiled some water, and ate some dry rations.

After a thrilling night, a few mouthfuls of hot water and a few pieces of beef jerky made people feel like they had come back to life.

Dong Rui let out a long sigh, leaning against the mountain wall and wiping his forehead: "I never knew hot water tasted so good before!"

"Virtue!" Zhu Daniang sneered, "You only walked a trip outside Xushan and didn't even go in."

Killing, arson, inciting fights—these were all done by it and He Lingchuan.

This kid was at best a driver, driving a non-mainstream mount.

"Going against Lingxu City, not everyone can enjoy this blessing." Dong Rui knew his mission wasn't heavy, but the psychological pressure brought by this job was huge.

The most outrageous thing he had done before was capturing the child of a high-ranking Lingxu City official to be a Demon Puppet.

And this person and spider before him? They directly dug up the roots of the Heavenly Gods in the human world and offended Lingxu City to death.

In terms of the ability to cause trouble, he really wasn't even worthy of carrying the shoes of the one surnamed He.

He glared at He Lingchuan: "What treasure did you steal from the Tiangong!"

"Taking back one's own things, how can that be called stealing?" He Lingchuan looked at Zhu Daniang, "Just like them taking back their own Immortal Molt."

"How old are you, can the Tiangong steal your things?"

He Lingchuan smiled without answering.

Dong Rui knew that when he put on this deadpan look, he didn't intend to explain, so he snorted, found a dry corner, spread out his bedding, and lay down.

He urgently needed to catch up on sleep.

He Lingchuan took out three oval stone eggs and handed them to him: "This is for you."

(End of Chapter) ===== CHAPTER 725 =====