Chapter 860: Extraordinarily Jealous

He He Chunhua asked him, "Did you see Chuan'er?" Zhao Qinghe shook his head.

"What do we do next?"

Before Zhao Qinghe could finish his sentence, a series of explosions erupted behind them, their power unmatched.

The two were horrified, looking at each other in silence.

He He Chunhua steadied himself and pointed toward the ruins to the west: "Go there, quickly!"

There was a dried-up riverbed there, a hiding place where the massive monsters could not enter.

Most importantly, it was less than three hundred zhang from the center of the battle.

The two had just reached the riverbed and hidden themselves when a rumbling sound came from above; countless monsters were stampeding across the street over their heads, shaking down a great deal of dust.

They had all been drawn by the sound of the explosions and the roar of the King of the Que Beasts.

The two held their breath, not even daring to sneeze.

With immortals fighting at the General Red Tomb, He He Chunhua could no longer involve himself.

But a fight must have an outcome; with the snipe and the clam locked in struggle, He He Chunhua still wanted to stay and see if he had a chance to be the fisherman.

With his invisibility technique broken, He Jing knew that things would not end well today.

Fortunately, he had prepared two contingencies; he pointed at the King of the Que Beasts and shouted, "Go!"

The Lamp Spirit hovering above the four of them lunged forward, transforming before it could be swatted away by the Que Beast, once again taking the form of the classic multi-headed giant snake.

Each section of the snake's body was as thick as three or four people could embrace; six or seven snake bodies coiled tight together, binding the giant beast firmly.

The giant beast pulled at it with all its might, but the snake's body had excellent elasticity, stretching like rubber, yet it refused to loosen its grip.

The Everbright Lamp Spirit raised by He Jing was more than a grade higher than the one Zhang Zhang Lianhai had.

He shouted again: "Open!"

The two snake heads near the giant beast's ears seized the moment it opened its mouth, suddenly biting down on either side and prying outward with force.

Without waiting for He Jing's order, Fu Liang flicked his wrist and threw three black spheres the size of goose eggs, accurately tossing them into the giant beast's mouth.

The giant beast leaned forward, wanting to spit them out, but these three things exploded prematurely.

Following several loud bangs, Fu Liang and the others even saw flames erupting from its throat.

If not for their protective true qi, the group would have been knocked over by the blast wave.

The giant beast was blasted backward, crashing to the ground like a collapsing mountain of gold and jade.

The strongest fortresses are often breached from within. Seeing this creature with its thick skin and high armor, He Jing had wanted to try a trick, not expecting it to succeed on the first attempt.

But as everyone saw the direction in which it fell, they all cursed their bad luck.

Directly behind the giant beast was the General Red Tomb; its fall happened to cover the grave mound completely! Afterward, a faint, ghostly light emerged from its body, heading straight beneath it.

He Jing formed a seal, and the giant snake transformed from the Lamp Spirit burrowed beneath the giant beast, trying to retrieve the Great Great Great Fanghu.

It had a physical form as a snake, but no matter how it pushed, it could not budge the giant beast.

Only a small gap remained near the giant beast's neck.

He Jing felt helpless and whispered; under his control, the giant snake returned to a single point of golden light and flew toward the giant beast's neck.

Just as it was about to drill into the gap, the giant beast, mere inches away, suddenly opened its eyes.

This scene made everyone's hair stand on end:

The King of the Que Beasts was not dead!

Before anyone could react, it spat a breath of cold air toward the golden light.

Tiny ice crystals mixed with purple-red flesh instantly condensed into sixteen mirrors, surrounding the giant ape and the Lamp Spirit from all directions—above, below, left, and right.

Not only the Tiangong team, but everyone lurking nearby felt a chill down their spines:

This thing could actually use divine abilities, and so skillfully! Monsters from other realms were not lacking in innate talents, but the divine abilities spawned by those talents were always straightforward, never this refined. For example, the Heaven-Supporting Giant Beast was born with the ability to command thunder; its means of attack were nothing more than summoning lightning and thunderbolts—simple and crude.

Currently, it was known that only demons and cultivators could pull off a wide variety of tricks with their techniques.

Yet the Que Beast leader proved with its actions that it could too.

This was simply unreasonable.

Once the figure of the Everbright Lamp Spirit appeared in the ice mirrors, a bit of its golden light would be sucked away.

It charged left and right, trying to break out, but no matter where it rushed, a mirror would appear before it; once it crashed into one, it would be stuck. It could only cautiously dodge, avoiding being reflected by them.

But the mirror formation rapidly contracted inward, leaving less and less room for the Lamp Spirit to maneuver.

Yet it could not break through the encirclement of the mirror formation.

The Lamp Spirit struggled desperately, changing into countless forms in an instant, only to be pulled and tugged by the mirrors, losing a bit here and a bit there.

It was foreseeable that eventually, the sixteen mirrors would come together, and every mirror surface would be able to reflect the Lamp Spirit.

By then, the Lamp Spirit would likely be sliced to pieces.

No one had expected that a monster with such a powerful body and such a crude appearance would know how to play dead and cast spells? He Jing watched, horrified.

Even he had been tricked; the difficulty of defeating this monster was higher than he had originally anticipated! "Break the mirrors!"

"Release the Soul-Eater, now!"

He adjusted his tactics and decisively issued two orders.

"Yes!"

Immediately, four attendants sat cross-legged on the ground, closing their eyes to chant.

The attendant behind He Jing drew his bow, and three arrows were shot out in a triangular formation.

The King of the Que Beasts blocked them casually, but the three arrows split prematurely; three became six, six became twelve, and they even changed trajectories, leaving the opponent with no way to defend.

All twelve arrows hit their target; most were endured by the King of the Que Beasts, and three struck the ice mirrors.

Immediately following were chain explosions, each with a small range but considerable power—

Before He Jing entered Panlong City, he knew these monsters were known for their ice talent, so using fire attacks would cause them greater damage. Therefore, the attendants' arrows had been pre-imbued with Flame Burst techniques.

Amidst the billowing smoke, the King of the Que Beasts was knocked back a step; it shook its head and arms, the areas hit by the Flame Burst were unscathed, with only a faint gray mark on its fur.

But three ice mirrors shattered with the sound, and the Lamp Spirit seized the opportunity to drill out from the gap, charging straight toward the General Red Tomb.

The Great Great Great Fanghu! Its target had always been this supreme treasure.

As long as the Great Great Great Fanghu was in hand, the crisis would be resolved, and He Jing would have achieved a monumental merit.

Who would have thought that at this moment, a person would appear out of thin air in front of the General Red armor and the Great Great Great Fanghu, blocking the path of the golden light.

It was truly a sudden appearance, appearing with a 'whoosh' without any prior warning.

The Lamp Spirit paused.

Fortunately, it had no emotions and could not be startled; it simply instinctively wanted to go around.

Who knew this person would suddenly take out an object that looked like both a lamp and a mirror and shine it at it—

A beam of bright, intense light suddenly shot out, enveloping the Lamp Spirit.

The Lamp Spirit lunged and dodged, but it was trapped in the intense light, its form gradually fading like melting butter.

It was more powerful than Zhang Zhang Lianhai's Lamp Spirit, so it lasted longer in the intense light.

The smoke from the arrows of the Tiangong attendants had caused dust to billow for ten zhang; but once this intense light shone out, it pierced through all obstacles, extending for over a hundred zhang like a laser, concentrated and unscattered! He Jing's eyes widened, and he cried out involuntarily:

"Shadow-Piercing Lamp!"

As soon as the iconic intense light appeared, He Jing, as a high-ranking official of the Tiangong, immediately recognized it as one of the treasures of Xushan, used to project star charts within the Spirit-Gathering Great Array! The remains of the Spider Immortal were important, but without this Shadow-Piercing Lamp, the star chart could not be projected.

Several months ago, a great upheaval occurred at Xushan; the spider remains and the lid of the Great Great Great Fanghu were stolen, and the Shadow-Piercing Lamp in the array eye did not escape either.

Conversely, the appearance of the Shadow-Piercing Lamp meant that the treasure thief was also here! The mastermind who had directed the destruction of the Star-Plucking Tower, the chaos in Lingxu City, and the loss of the Tiangong's dignity was right before his eyes! If He Jing had originally been determined to obtain the Great Great Great Fanghu, the appearance of the Shadow-Piercing Lamp made his blood boil.

Watching his Lamp Spirit struggling endlessly in the intense light, He Jing grabbed a large piece of a ruined wall and smashed it toward the light source, while shouting: "Soul-Eater, come quickly!"

He tapped his toes and chased toward the light source as well.

A giant palm descended from the sky; the King of the Que Beasts had noticed him and intended to swat him dead on the spot like a fly.

At the most critical moment, He Jing suddenly twisted his body, brushing past the edge of the King of the Que Beasts' palm, gliding forward like a paper kite riding the palm wind it created.

This movement was elegant and beautiful; in terms of agility and nimbleness, it was not inferior to He He Lingchuan's Swallow-Return movement technique.

With a bang, the ruined wall was smashed to pieces. Piercing through the billowing smoke, He Jing saw someone standing ahead holding the lamp, wearing a mask on their face.

The intense light was being projected from the mirror in their arms, trapping the Lamp Spirit.

The King of the Que Beasts seemed to know that this intense light was helping it greatly, so it did not attack this person.

"How dare you, you rat!" He Jing threw a purple copper mace at him.

The object flew over, spinning, containing the sound of wind and thunder. It was imbued with the force of a thousand jun; if struck, one's tendons would snap and bones would break.

He Jing did not believe this strike could injure his opponent; as long as it forced him to change his posture, he could save the Lamp Spirit from the intense light.

He He Lingchuan had no intention of moving; he simply threw his mirror shield as well.

With a loud clang, the shield and mace collided.

At the same time, He Jing himself rushed over, intending to block the light with his body.

Just one breath, if the intense light was interrupted for just one breath, the Lamp Spirit could escape!

The King of the Que Beasts on the side seemed to have a grudge against him; as soon as it opened its mouth, it spat a breath of cold air at him.

Without the protection of the Lamp Spirit, He Jing had to dodge to the side.

He had just retreated two steps when the ground where he had been standing was filled with shards of ice arrows.

One second later, and he would have been turned into a hedgehog.

Immediately following, the King of the Que Beasts' palm, larger than a door panel, slapped over.

He Jing was so angry he shouted: "Where is the Soul-Eater?"

At this moment, the purple copper mace automatically returned to its master; He Jing was leaping in mid-air, and seeing he was about to be grabbed by the King of the Que Beasts and repeat Zhang Zhang Lianhai's mistake, he grabbed the heavy mace and swiped backward, actually paddling like an oar in water, accelerating and passing through the gaps in the Que Beast King's fingers.

During this process, he did not forget to swing his mace, smashing it heavily onto the middle finger of the King of the Rift Beasts.

With a crisp cracking sound, even with the thick and rough hide of this monster, it could not help but let out a roar of pain.

He He Lingchuan was somewhat surprised to see this; he had not expected that He Jing, who manipulated the lamp spirit, was actually a martial artist, possessing not only profound cultivation but also the ability to control the wind.

In the past, the Cloud Envoys he had met relied entirely on their lamp spirits for their skills, and Bai Bai Ziqi was no exception.

He Jing performed a mid-air turn and rushed in front of He He Lingchuan. His movements were extremely fast, and he could accelerate midway, as if someone had given him a hard shove from behind.

This was the practical application of the Wind Dance Art, known as "Pushing the Waves and Aiding the Billows."

(End of chapter)