Chapter 861: Mad Battle

Logically speaking, the hand seals he had formed should have been able to forcibly summon the Ghoul Beast. He Chun was so angry he gritted his teeth.

Among the four Ghoul Beasts, this one was the most powerful. If it came out to assist, the pressure on the Tiangong team would be greatly reduced.

Yet it was actually cowering and refusing to come out! He had no idea what exactly had gone wrong.

He Chun was not an expert in raising Ghoul Beasts, but when they set out with these four creatures, the professionals had sworn that they would definitely respond to the summons!

If he could leave the Secret Realm alive, He Chun would definitely beat that fellow until even his own mother wouldn't recognize him upon returning! Wait, cowering...? His heart skipped a beat. Seeing the attendant's lips were a bit dark, he suddenly barked, "Did you secretly take medicine?"

"I..." The attendant shrank back in fear, covered in cold sweat. "I heard that the descent of the Child-Devouring Ghoul would cause us extreme pain, so just now, I... I took some Hemp Vine."

Hemp Vine is poisonous, but its most powerful effect lies in calming and relieving pain.

Although this attendant had the resolve to sacrifice himself to the Heavenly God, and knew that after he sacrificed himself, his family far away in Beijia could live a life of luxury and his brothers would have better prospects... facing such agonizing pain, he still harbored instinctive fear in his heart.

"Fool!" He Chun's face twitched with anger, then he added, "Forget it, I will give you a hand."

That kind of pain was indeed enough to make others shrink back, but there was a reason why the Tiangong required the Child-Devouring Ghoul host to remain conscious and not use medicine when the Ghoul Beast was born.

Ghoul Beasts were not originally suited to inhabit human bodies, and once they fell into a deep sleep, they were not easily awakened. Using attendants was a last resort for long-distance transport.

As a result, this kid had used the potent sedative Hemp Vine! The Ghoul Beast inside him would also inhale the effects of the Hemp Vine. Now it was fine, it couldn't be woken up.

He Chun slapped the attendant on the back of his neck, knocking him unconscious, and then took a pale gold candle from his bosom.

A small wisp of pale white flame ignited on the candle tip. He pinched this wisp of flame out and pressed it onto the attendant's eyelids with his palm.

Although He Lingchuan could not hear their conversation, seeing He Chun's actions, he knew that the summoning of the last Ghoul Beast had run into a major problem, and he was trying hard to remedy it.

Unfortunately, He Chun's most handy lamp spirit had already been wiped out by the Shadow-Piercing Lamp, and this wisp of flame, once driven into the attendant's body, had no effect for a long time.

He Chun had to give up while fighting.

What a waste of such good combat power! Fortunately, the Scaled Armored Red Tiger still obeyed orders and went directly to attract the attention of the King of the Que Beasts. It was thick-skinned and fleshy, almost unaffected by the cold ice. The King of the Que Beasts swatted it away twice, but instead damaged its own palm, roaring in pain repeatedly. A few glimmers of light drifted from the wounds and entered the Great Great Great Fanghu in the tomb.

He Lingchuan narrowed his eyes.

Was he seeing things, or did the King of the Que Beasts' body seem to have shrunk a little?

Was it because the ghostly light inside its body had flown away?

Conversely, how big was this King of the Que Beasts originally, and how powerful was it?

At the very beginning, who had severely wounded it? The Tiangong guards themselves had considerable combat power, and with the help of these three Child-Devouring Ghouls, they actually managed to build a battle formation while resisting the Que Beasts' attack.

This formation was called the Northern Imperial Kui Star Formation, composed of sixteen Kui Star Stones. As long as the enemy was wounded, the formation could extract their essence, Qi, and spirit to replenish the side's fighters, achieving the goal of mutual attrition and fighting with increasing vigor.

At the same time, the formation would occasionally release "Kui Spirits," which were humanoid battle puppets hidden in the Kui Star Stones, capable of attacking the enemy on their own. They knew no pain or fear and were a good means of auxiliary attack.

With the battle formation and Child-Devouring Ghouls in place, the pressure on the Tiangong team was greatly reduced.

However, immediately afterward, the distant tide of Que Beasts also heard the sound and arrived, joining the fray.

The General Red Tomb was originally spacious, but now it was crowded with people and beasts, and all kinds of divine abilities were flying everywhere.

He Lingchuan was glad he had slipped away early; otherwise, with the high density of divine abilities there, even if he were wearing the skin of Lord Boshan, he would inevitably be accidentally injured.

The King of the Que Beasts ignored him entirely, probably because the Tiangong team was trying every possible way to retrieve the Great Great Great Fanghu, drawing away all the King of the Que Beasts' attention.

He observed the two sides of the battle from afar, and had some guesses in his heart.

This fellow He Chun had an impressive cultivation base and seemed to have a military background; he had a method for both individual and group combat, and commanded the entire team with clear movements.

He had been ambushed by He Lingchuan first and then suffered the backlash of the lamp spirit. If it were anyone else, they might have collapsed on the ground after vomiting three liters of blood, but He Chun was still fighting on the front line, taking a lot of pressure off the entire team.

At a life-or-death moment, he, as the leader, could not afford not to take action.

He Lingchuan watched as he killed more than a dozen Que Beasts before leaning on his mace and swallowing medicine to regulate his breathing.

With this physique and this stamina, if he weren't injured, He Lingchuan wouldn't want to face him head-on.

Let's talk about the Que Beasts. After these things were severely wounded or died, the ghostly light on their bodies would be sucked away by the Great Great Great Fanghu. In He Lingchuan's view, this looked more like "refining."

In the past, there were no such monsters in the Great Great Great Fanghu, but now they were running rampant everywhere in the Panlong Secret Realm. What He Lingchuan could think of was that these monsters actually came from the lid of the Great Great Great Fanghu.

Since the Great Great Great Fanghu could collect the heroic spirits of Panlong City, it seemed reasonable that its matching lid could collect some monsters? While the pot lid was hidden in the Star-Plucking Tower of Xushan, it was said to be worshipped, but it was also a seal; the monsters probably didn't have a chance to run out.

Thinking of the red light shooting into the sky, then looking at the chaotic battle before him, and the monsters' hatred for all humans, He Lingchuan could only speculate that the other end of the Mitian Temple well actually connected to the lid of the Great Great Great Fanghu, so that the monsters inside the lid could rush into the Panlong Secret Realm.

For every Que Beast killed by the teams entering the Secret Realm to adventure, it was equivalent to reducing the resistance of the pot lid for the Great Great Great Fanghu; the more they killed, the faster the Great Great Great Fanghu would refine and assimilate the lid.

In short, the Great Great Great Fanghu was thoroughly utilizing the outside teams to work for it.

How sinister, how devious! He Lingchuan secretly slandered. Originally, his purpose for entering the Panlong Secret Realm was simply to lure the Naluotian avatar to the lower realm and resolve the hidden danger of the divine seal in his mind, but in the end, he had to help this pot complete its ulterior motives.

Its utilization of him and everyone else was truly undisguised and without any guilt.

But so far, he and the Great Great Great Fanghu were a community of destiny; the more powerful the Great Great Great Fanghu was, the more beneficial it was to him; and he didn't want the Tiangong team to leave alive anyway.

Sigh, he pressed his temples.

How could he kill all the people and beasts in front of him? Would it work just by letting them kill each other?...

The battle for the General Red Tomb was becoming increasingly white-hot.

Que Beasts of all sizes were rushing here from every corner of the Panlong Secret Realm, their numbers gradually rising from two hundred to four hundred, five hundred, eight hundred...

And there was no end in sight.

The onlookers wandering around had to move away from the battle circle bit by bit, lest the flames of war burn them.

Everyone also admired the Tiangong team.

If it were the Black Water City army, they would have been crushed long ago. But in such a terrifying tide of beasts, the Tiangong team not only held their ground but even managed to withstand the pressure of the beast herd and advance step by step toward the tomb.

Their goal was one and only one: to seize the Great Great Great Fanghu in the tomb.

However, the Tiangong team also knew their own suffering, because there were too many opponents, and everyone in the battle formation was under immense pressure.

Why didn't the agile Child-Devouring Ghouls take the opportunity to retrieve the Great Great Great Fanghu during the chaos?

The King of the Que Beasts' protection of it was truly meticulous. Besides sending a few ghost-faced monkeys to specifically watch the pot, it also specifically threw a few fist-sized ice seeds into the tomb.

These ice seeds grew on their own after landing, following the path of ice tree-ice stone-ice wall.

In just over ten breaths, the General Red armor and the Great Great Great Fanghu were all frozen in a large ice lump more than a zhang high and a zhang wide!

This move was truly lacking in martial virtue.

That Heart-Piercing Mantis had tried several times; the ice was not only thick and solid, but the holes beaten into it would also recover to their original state within a few breaths. Once it burrowed in, it might be frozen itself.

Relying solely on the Child-Devouring Ghouls to drag the ice lump back was beyond their strength.

Fu Liang fired a few explosive arrows and shouted: "Lord Du Yun, the battle formation cannot absorb essence, it cannot replenish us!"

Those arrows flew out, and three turned into more than twenty. If they added the Running Thunder Talisman, one could see chain lightning jumping back and forth in the beast herd, with outstanding lethality.

However, the battle had lasted for more than a quarter of an hour, and everyone in the formation was panting, with several so tired that their hands were shaking.

The bow in Fu Liang's hand was getting heavier and heavier.

The Northern Imperial Kui Star Formation was a genius creation, integrating offense, defense, and replenishment. Besides being able to attack and defend, it could also absorb the essence, Qi, and blood of opponents to replenish the Tiangong guards, achieving the goal of mutual attrition and sustained combat. However, this special effect hadn't been triggered at all, and no one enjoyed the replenishment of energy.

Was the formation set up poorly?

The Tiangong crowd hurriedly checked.

No, there was nothing wrong with the Kui Star Stones.

Then, was the problem with these Que Beasts?

Ghostly light drifted from the dead Que Beasts again, flying toward the Great Great Great Fanghu, even passing through the thick ice lump.

He Chun's mouth was full of the taste of rust, and he suppressed the urge to vomit blood several times when his throat felt sweet. He was the backbone of the entire team; if he vomited blood and collapsed at this time, the morale of the Tiangong team would crumble.

"These Que Beasts were never living things to begin with, so how can they have essence, Qi, and blood?"

Fu Liang was startled: "You, what did you say?"

"How can any creature survive for years inside the lid of the Great Great Great Fanghu?" He Chun smiled bitterly. "These Que Beasts are probably all things manifested by the lid of the Great Great Great Fanghu! They are so lifelike, sigh!" Everyone had been deceived.

"Break the formation and move forward!" he ordered decisively. "Move to the edge of the tomb, I will take the Great Great Great Fanghu myself!"

The battle formation was only ten zhang away from the tomb, but in the fierce battle, this distance was like a chasm. If He Chun wanted the entire team to walk over, he had to force the Que Beast herd to retreat, and he had to withstand the pressure of the King of the Que Beasts to advance! Everyone tried their best, and only then maintained the current situation.

Wanting to advance further was too difficult.

But the Tiangong attendants replied in unison, "Yes." Several who were exhausted from long fighting took a black pill from their bosoms and swallowed it. A few breaths later, they were full of vigor again; their legs didn't shake, and they had the strength to wield their magic tools again, even more fierce than when they first entered the Secret Realm.

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 862 =====