Chapter 849: Showdown

By now, He Lingchuan knew that due to the barrier between the two realms, real-time communication between Heavenly Gods and mortals was not easy, even if the other party was their own believer. Otherwise, the Star-Plucking Tower of the Heavenly Palace wouldn't need to set up a Heavenly Book, where the Heavenly God could only write a few lines of text at a time. The conventional practice was for believers to pray devoutly with the help of artifacts, call upon the gods, relax their minds, and wait for the Heavenly God to "flip their sign"—no, wait for the Heavenly God's will to be projected over to converse with them.

It was best if the surrounding environment was quiet and sheltered from the wind, which could save the Heavenly God a lot of divine power.

He Chunhua calling upon Naluo Tian in a horse pen exposed to the wind on all sides was also a helpless move.

He felt he was at a dead end and had to rely on the power of the Heavenly God.

However, He Lingchuan was surprisingly vigilant, breaking his wishful thinking once again.

No matter how good He Chunhua's patience was, he couldn't hold on anymore. Not to mention the surrounding crises, he really had no way to delay any longer.

Forget it, forget it.

"Chuan'er, Chuan'er!" He gave a miserable laugh, "I have always been lucky, always unwilling to do this. But your, your various performances, I really am..."

Every action He Lingchuan took after returning from his disappearance was handing him a knife.

"Father, what do you mean?" He Lingchuan blinked, but secretly thought, it's here, the showdown is finally coming.

"You've known where the Great Fanghu is for a long time, haven't you?" He Chunhua put away his smile, his gaze deep, "If there is anyone in this city who knew the location of the Great Fanghu from the beginning, it could only be you."

These words were aimless, and Qiu Hu and Zhao Qinghe were very surprised.

The Soul-Sucking Mirror screamed: "He, he, he actually knows! How does he know?"

It really couldn't understand the brain circuits of this pair of father and son from beginning to end.

"Huh? Me?" He Lingchuan pointed at his own nose, looking astonished, "Father, have you been scared silly?"

That's right, it's me.

"You are no longer my son!" The kindness on He Chunhua's face had long since vanished, "Before leaving the Panlong ruins last time, you had already attached yourself to Chuan'er through that broken blade, right?"

He Lingchuan was very surprised: "What are you saying? Who possessed me?"

"The evil ghost in the Great Fanghu!" He Chunhua was almost gnashing his teeth, "After returning home from the Panlong Desert, Chuan'er changed. That kind of personality, that kind of behavior, how could it be my son!"

He Lingchuan was dumbfounded: "Father, are you complaining that I've become better, or that I've become worse?"

He Chunhua's face turned blue and white, with emotion and anger.

After leaving the Panlong Desert last time, his eldest son became more and more capable, not only diligent in martial arts but also greatly improved in dealing with people, and even saved his life several times in battle!

He could even please his stepmother; Hong Chan was all smiles when mentioning this eldest son!

He knew his own son's character best.

At that time, these changes appeared slowly, but He Chunhua had one major event after another in his hands, busy like a spinning top, with no time to think about these things in detail. It wasn't until his eldest son was washed away by the flood that he slowly recalled over the next year and a half, and the more he pondered, the more he felt something was wrong.

This time, his eldest son suddenly returned with the identity of a Rongshan special envoy, his words and deeds no longer concealed, and even confronting him head-on.

If He Chunhua couldn't see it now, he was blind!

Not to mention that this kid seemed exceptionally familiar with the ancient city of Panlong and could lead the Heishui City army through streets and alleys.

The strong wind and snow blurred people's vision, the alleys of the deserted city were surprisingly similar, and there were monsters chasing closely behind... these were serious disturbances; if not for knowing this place like the back of his hand, how could He Lingchuan have never taken the wrong path once? Being so capable, it was impossible for him to be his son, He Lingchuan!

"You have been missing for a long time, and suddenly came back to find me, isn't it because you want to enter the Panlong ruins?" He Chunhua stared at him without blinking, "Why haven't you revealed your true form yet? Or is it—"

He pointed to the east with his other hand, "—you want to rush into the Great Fanghu, don't you? Want to return to your territory?"

The Soul-Sucking Mirror exclaimed: "Wow, wow, he guessed right again!"

"Father, you've gone mad." He Lingchuan shook his head, "I didn't want to come to the Panlong Desert this time; it was you who insisted on dragging me here."

"You are retreating to advance." He Chunhua said sternly, "You are Zhong Shengquan; you vanished into thin air in front of us back then, it was just fake death! Everything you said was a lie, what Great Fanghu and Panlongcheng merging into one! It was just you wanting to trick us into leaving the Panlong ruins, wanting to return to the human world!"

"Father, this is just your self-justification." He Lingchuan looked down at him, his eyes full of insight and pity, "As long as you determine that I am an evil ghost, determine that I am not your son, then offering sacrifices to the gods becomes a matter of course, and you won't feel guilty, right?"

Since entering the Panlong ruins, although He Chunhua tried hard to conceal it, He Lingchuan could still feel his pain and struggle.

This cheap father had been wavering between the options of offering sacrifices to the gods or not.

Now his attitude had taken a sharp turn for the worse, suddenly accusing He Lingchuan loudly, which could only mean he had finally made up his mind to pray for Naluo Tian's descent!

The two words "offering sacrifices" hit the most secret corner of He Chunhua's heart without warning. He subconsciously shuddered, as if whipped: "You, what did you say?"

He Lingchuan pointed to his own temple: "In my sea of consciousness, there is a divine mark of Naluo Tian. This is the Heavenly God's means of marking a skin bag. Father—"

Cold light shone in his eyes, word by word: "Don't you dare say this has nothing to do with you!"

The showdown moment had finally arrived!

Since the mask of fatherly kindness and filial piety had been torn off, then stop pretending! Let's lay our cards on the table.

He Chunhua opened his mouth, speechless for a moment.

He Lingchuan's words were like a thunderbolt, buzzing in his brain.

His son knew, he actually knew! In this instant, countless thoughts surged up—shock, unease, guilt, regret, and of course, fear.

The fear of being seen through from inside to out, unable to hide a single secret, a single ambition!

But he immediately realized that this kind of secret... was something his eldest son should never have known! He Lingchuan being able to point out Naluo Tian's divine mark proved that he was not Chuan'er at all!

Right, this thing was not Chuan'er at all, not his son.

Since that was the case, what did he have to struggle with?

"I know why you want to return to the Panlong Desert, why you are in such a hurry to enter the Great Fanghu!" He Chunhua's spirit was greatly lifted, his eyes shining, "You want to erase the Heavenly God's mark, don't you? You don't want the skin bag you worked so hard to get to be snatched away by Naluo Tian again, do you?"

He Lingchuan raised his eyebrows and looked at him.

How did this cheap father use a wrong assumption to deduce the correct conclusion?

He Lingchuan was not Zhong Shengquan at all; He Chunhua was completely wrong on this point.

But He Lingchuan had indeed come to erase the mark!

The Soul-Sucking Mirror in his arms also trembled slightly with excitement: this drama of father and son killing each other was really too interesting. He could watch it without a ticket, worth it, worth it!

"Last time, the Panlong Illusion ate the Heavenly God's avatar summoned by Sun Fuping." The light in He Chunhua's eyes grew brighter, clearly having figured it out, "You want to do the same, to eat Naluo Tian's avatar too? No wonder, no wonder you want to rush back to the Panlong Desert!"

"What a pity—" he couldn't help but laugh out loud, "Just one step away, and you were still seen through by me!"

Once this monster entered the red light or the Great Fanghu, he wouldn't be able to do anything to it! But now, everyone was still in the Panlong ruins, still in reality.

This evil ghost could not resist the power of the Heavenly God! He Lingchuan sighed: "Father, you are truly mad! Assuming you are right—assuming—I abandon you and rush to the east of the city to find the Great Fanghu, can you stop me?"

Beside He Chunhua, there was only Zhao Qinghe.

The balance of combat power was clearly tilted heavily toward He Lingchuan.

He Chunhua, however, spread his hands and stepped back step by step, his face undisguisedly triumphant: "It's too late, you can't get in."

He Lingchuan suddenly felt something was wrong, turned his wrist to look—

On his wrist, several lines of runes had been imprinted at some point, each character as small as a fly's head; he didn't recognize a single one.

But now, these characters were shining with a faint light.

He wiped it hard several times, but it didn't work; it couldn't be wiped off.

That was it; when He Chunhua went downstairs earlier and missed a step, He Lingchuan had reached out to steady him, and He Chunhua had seemingly subconsciously grabbed his wrist, but actually quietly imprinted the spell on it.

The effect of the spell falling on paper was like a talisman, which could save casting time and get the divine ability out as soon as possible. He Chunhua imprinting the spell on He Lingchuan's wrist saved him the time of chanting word by word.

One had to know that chanting the whole passage took at least forty breaths.

This son's martial arts growth was too fast, already forming a crushing momentum against him. He Chunhua was afraid he wouldn't have the chance to finish the incantation to his face, so he took a shortcut.

Simply put, he saved the cumbersome summoning ritual.

"This is the divine language to summon Naluo Tian!" He Chunhua flipped his palm, revealing a small statue. The statue was stained with blood, which he had privately broken his palm to smear on it. "Different from what Sun Fuping used, I don't need to chant; as long as I imprint the spell on you, it will take effect on its own!"

The ritual to summon Naluo Tian's descent had long since begun!

He had been desperately delaying just now to buy time for the spell to take effect!

They were getting closer and closer to the target, but the monsters were chasing more and more fiercely, and there was a leader hiding somewhere. He had to take the first step to summon Naluo Tian down! That was his trump card to seize the Great Fanghu and leave the Panlong ruins alive.

He had long seen that the various dangers in this place were far from what human power could control. Now, only the power of the Heavenly God could help him successfully break the situation!

"Truly painstaking." He Lingchuan didn't get angry as he had expected, but looked at him with sorrowful eyes, "Using your own flesh and blood to sacrifice to the gods, don't you feel any guilt at all?"

This sentence was sincere and heartfelt.

Because this was a sentence that He Lingchuan's original body had been thinking about ever since knowing the truth!

If he didn't question him to his face, his heart would never be at peace!

Even Zhong Shengquan, who had sacrificed his own daughter for Panlongcheng in the past, had to suffer the torture of conscience day and night afterward.

What about He Chunhua? What did he really think?

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 850 =====