Chapter 905: Dust returns to dust, tree returns to tree

"Of course!" the Naluotian avatar replied quite readily. "You are a one-in-a-million fine skin; I can think of no reason to refuse."

The original consciousness had already dissipated, and He Lingchuan felt neither waves nor ripples in his heart.

He changed to another question, one that had troubled him for a long time:

"Why are the Heavenly Gods of Lingxu City so obsessed with the Great Fang Hu?"

The Great Fang Hu would certainly not give him the answer, and he had also tried asking General Hong of the Panlong world, but every time he was about to open his mouth, this or that would happen, interrupting his question.

The Naluotian avatar, however, began to play coy: "This is a secret, a secret known only to a few True Gods! You keep me alive first, and I will tell you."

It had answered enough questions and shown sincerity in cooperating; it was He Lingchuan's turn now.

He Lingchuan smiled: "Truly worthy of being Bilu, able to bend and stretch."

He had met Mitian and Miaozhantian; both Heavenly Gods were very aloof and cold, unlike the Naluotian avatar, whose attitude was so good.

This showed how much it longed to survive.

Having one's consciousness erased was equivalent to losing one's life.

Come to think of it, more than a hundred years ago, Naluotian was just like Shinan, both minor gods. Their attitudes toward humans were all very... flexible.

The red silk net moved again, this time tightening more than before. The Naluotian avatar endured the pain and cried out:

"If you keep me, all the secrets of the Heavenly Gods will be open to you!"

He Lingchuan showed hesitation.

Seeing this, the Naluotian avatar hurriedly threw out another bait: "In more than forty days, the Emperor Flowing Pulp will descend, and it will be two consecutive showers! As long as I am alive, you can grasp the intelligence and always be one step ahead of others!"

Forty days later? He Lingchuan's gaze flickered slightly: "But you are already trapped in the Great Fang Hu; even if more gods fall from the sky, you won't know."

"I cannot get out, but I can teach you how to obtain intelligence! You alone cannot oppose the multitude of gods; spare my life, and I can lend you a helping hand!"

He Lingchuan's expression stirred: "You also want to oppose the multitude of gods?"

"The multitude of gods in Lingxu are enemies to both you and me, and time is running out..." The silk net tightened abruptly, and the Naluotian avatar could no longer maintain its human form, turning back into a green light shadow. "Save me!"

"Sorry, I shouldn't have let you hold onto fantasies." He Lingchuan spread his hands toward it, looking helpless. "You were right after all; no one can control the Great Fang Hu."

As he spoke, he deliberately snapped his fingers twice: "Hey, let it go."

The silk net ignored him completely, further squeezing the green light shadow into the size of a goose egg.

"See? It doesn't listen to me at all."

The Heavenly God avatar let out a roar.

From within the silk net came its final curse, desperate and vicious: "You will be backlashed by fate, backlashed by the Great Fang Hu! Your end will surely be even more miserable than mine!"

After that, there was no more movement.

When it shrank to the size of a chestnut, its form became fixed and no longer changed.

At this moment, the sky grew slightly bright.

He Lingchuan did not find where the light source was, but this bit of light had dispelled the darkness, enough for him to see the scene around him:

He was actually in the middle of a wasteland, his feet covered in sand and gravel; looking around, he saw only the Gobi, and between heaven and earth, only vast silence remained.

He Lingchuan listened intently; there was no sound of insects or ants crawling underground, nor any trace of birds in the sky, only the wind blowing from distant mountains, moving freely through the empty woodland.

The woods were not large, but every tree was flourishing, with lush branches and leaves, forming a sharp contrast with the harsh natural environment around them.

He Lingchuan lowered his head and found that the pond at his feet was even smaller than it looked in the darkness, the water clear and shallow.

The glowing green mass was gone; He Lingchuan looked closely and realized that lying at the bottom of the pond was a solitary, green acorn.

This was... the Naluotian avatar? Right under his gaze, the acorn turned from green to brown and suddenly moved.

He Lingchuan was slightly startled, thinking the Naluotian avatar was up to some new trick, but then he saw something arching up from beneath the acorn, slowly extending above the water.

A tiny seedling.

What was going on? He Lingchuan couldn't help but step back twice.

The flow of time seemed to have accelerated dozens of times; right before his eyes, this seedling grew larger and thicker, and then the main trunk branched out, leaves expanding on the branches...

In less than a quarter of an hour, it had grown into an oak tree more than a zhang tall, and He Lingchuan had to look up to gaze at the canopy.

Hidden among the branches and leaves were actually many newly grown acorns.

Plop, another acorn fell to the ground.

He Lingchuan didn't dare to touch it.

A Heavenly God's avatar, turned into a tree in the blink of an eye. Even though he had witnessed the whole process with his own eyes, he still found it hard to believe.

How on earth did this happen? He drew his blade and tapped the tree trunk; it was indeed the texture of wood.

And the oak tree had no reaction at all... it was no different from any other tree.

He casually carved an equilateral triangle on the tree trunk.

Wood shavings fell with a rustle.

"So, you're a tree from now on?"

Counting from the moment the red giant shadow chaos captured the Naluotian avatar, more than three months had passed. This should be the final step of the Great Fang Hu digesting its spoils. What a coincidence? He had just happened to arrive to send the Naluotian avatar on its final journey, and could even ask a question along the way.

As the wind blew, the leaves rustled. Listening to it, He Lingchuan always felt like the Naluotian avatar was cursing him.

He suddenly remembered True Person Sanshui.

After the True Person Sanshui passed away, the Lingbao Cover absorbed his lingering soul and transformed him into the leader of the Que beasts.

After the Great Fang Hu merged with the Qianling Treasure Cover, did it also acquire/inherit this ability? In other words, it forcibly crushed the consciousness of the Heavenly God avatar and then transformed it into a tree?

Existing, but without consciousness.

Not extinguished, and full of vitality.

Only this form of a tree met He Lingchuan's requirements while ensuring that the Naluotian avatar would not escape the control of the Great Fang Hu.

Otherwise, a Heavenly God avatar with consciousness, who knew how to scheme and wanted to escape every moment, would also consume the power of the Great Fang Hu to suppress, right? Who knew what other strange tricks the Naluotian avatar could pull? The means of Heavenly Gods were unpredictable.

Even the Great Fang Hu would spontaneously look for the most effortless way.

He Lingchuan chuckled and muttered to himself:

"Who dares to say that having a spirit is better than not having one? You were much smarter than humans."

What a pity, though; the Naluotian avatar still hid so many secrets in its belly, all crushed along with its consciousness.

He Lingchuan just sighed, not truly feeling it was a pity.

Naluotian was the deity with the greatest malice toward him; who knew how much of the secrets spoken from its mouth were true and how much were false? Who knew if it would dig a pit for him to jump into—

Most likely it would.

He Lingchuan wanted to extract its secrets, and it wanted to earn He Lingchuan's skin. Keeping such a source of information that was hard to distinguish between true and false was meaningless.

The acorn that had fallen to the ground seemed to be about to take root and sprout again.

Where on earth was this place? Was it the second secret realm after the Panlong Secret Realm? He had intended to sheath his blade and leave, but looking at the sparse woods before him, his heart suddenly stirred: could these trees all be...

As the thought arose, his back felt slightly cold.

(End of chapter)