Where Immortals Once Walked

Chapter 697: The Heavenly Palace’s Backup Plan

Clearly, Juju had thought this through as well. Since it had reached an agreement with He Lingchuan and had no choice but to attack the Heavenly Palace, it might as well go all the way and fully display its might, so the other side would learn awe!

In this world, whoever had the bigger fist had the stronger claim.

When the Heavenly Palace finally tried to make peace, its attitude toward Juju would be more respectful, and its offerings would be more sincere.

While it was at it, Juju glanced into Star-Plucking Tower, and it suddenly sensed something wrong.

Hm? Why’s the Splendid Mountains and Rivers Diagram on the shrine still glowing?

The array eye had already been broken, and the Grand Spirit-Gathering Array had failed. With that being the case, this Mountains and Rivers Diagram should have turned blank again.

This was one of the supreme treasures of the old Grand Return Sect, and Juju knew a little about it.

With this magical artifact, the chief cloud envoy could no longer punish Juju, but he was still moving things around on the Mountains and Rivers Diagram.

What trick is he trying to pull?

The rock-fire aberrant creature had an ominous feeling and intensified its hammering against Tianshu Peak.

It had to seize every second!

As long as it pressed Star-Plucking Tower into the lava pool, even if the heavenly gods had a hundred backup plans, none of them would matter.

However, Tianshu Peak had been reshaped back then with Juju’s help, and Juju had even personally reinforced it. Its quality was excellent and trustworthy. Now that Juju wanted to break it apart again, how could it be so easy?

Anything made by Juju had to be a fine product. Even Juju itself found it exhausting to destroy.

Just then, the chief cloud envoy seemed to hook something out of the Mountains and Rivers Diagram.

That’s—

Juju’s eyes immediately focused.

Another glass dome, another star ring, and it’s also above Kaiyang Peak. Th-that-that’s...

Another array eye!

Motherfucker! The gods and humans really do have more twists in their guts than there are holes on Mount Fengchao!

They even prepared a spare array eye?

“Go!” With a wave of its claw, countless fire creatures rushed out of the lava pool, each one like a miniature version of Juju, standing only about three meters tall.

They charged straight at the guards from the Defense Palace.

Juju itself dove headfirst to the bottom of the lava pool and vanished.

It left its underlings to continue attacking Star-Plucking Tower, while it rushed to Kaiyang Peak itself.

Bai Ziqi let out a long breath, then hurried back to the shrine. Suddenly, he pointed at the Mountains and Rivers Diagram and said, “The intruder and the spider monster still haven’t left the old array eye!”

* * *

To the north, Mount Xu blazed with fire that reached the sky, while Lingxu City shook with tremors.

Even the slowest people had been awakened.

Tu Yangzhi and the others were standing inside Chunhe Cloth Shop, gazing toward Tianshu Peak as the volcano erupted.

The sky to the north had been dyed blood-red.

“There’s the signal.” Excitement could not be hidden in Tu Yangzhi’s eyes. “Today, we fear no death in pursuit of righteousness!”

The others answered in unison, “To die for righteousness is our wish!”

“Everyone, begin the operation!”

Only seven minutes later, the public office, prison, warehouses, and other buildings beside Chunhe Cloth Shop were blasted halfway into the sky amid thunderous explosions!

The residence of the southern city’s magistrate was only a little over three hundred meters from Chunhe Cloth Shop. The magistrate and his wife sat up in shock at the commotion, only to see their door kicked open as three or four masked guests burst inside.

“Who are you? What are you trying to—” Before the magistrate could finish asking, they swarmed him and chopped him into mincemeat.

The upheaval in the southern city was only the beginning. Immediately afterward, violent explosions like these rapidly spread across the Main City District of Lower Lingxu City. Everywhere, important facilities erupted in raging flames. Everywhere, important grassroots officials disappeared or were assassinated.

Then, waves of loud booms also came from the floating islands. In the homes of seven or eight high officials and greater monsters who held real power, either sudden fires broke out or family members died violently.

There were explosions everywhere, and so were screaming residents. Everywhere, officials and soldiers were roused by the news.

Mount Xu to the north and Lingxu City to the south had both fallen into chaos at the same time.

For a while, countless people felt dazed and lost, not knowing what in the world was going on.

At this moment, Fang Canran had already left Lingxu City. He stood atop a mountain peak west of the city, looking down over the lower city, fierce firelight reflected in his eyes.

“Not enough. It’s still far from enough!”

The suffering the gods and Lingxu had inflicted upon the world had not yet been repaid by even one millionth!

The great parrot Uncle Ling descended from the night sky and landed on his shoulder. “The first stage of the operation has already begun smoothly. When does the second stage begin?”

“We wait,” Fang Canran said decisively. “We wait for He Xiao’s signal. Some of our people should have started withdrawing, yes? The Monster Emperor will seal the whole city very soon.”

“Yes. They will flee Lingxu along with the panicked crowds.” Uncle Ling tilted its head and preened its feathers. “Will the chaos in Lingxu City affect He Xiao’s operation? After all, we didn’t tell him.”

“It will. It will reduce the pressure on him.” Fang Canran smiled faintly. “But there was no need to tell him.”

Every single person in this Lingxu City deserves to die!

He would make the imperial capital, which had enjoyed six hundred years of peace, forever remember this sleepless night!

* * *

He Lingchuan had originally wanted to climb onto the giant spider’s back. But Zhu Erniang’s monster immortal molt was like a small mountain, and its surface was covered in thorn-like bristles that not only drew blood when they stabbed someone, but were also poisonous. Trying to climb it was practically the same as climbing a mountain of blades. Every step would have to be taken with extreme caution.

Zhu Erniang suddenly lowered her head close to the ground. At the very front of the giant spider’s forehead was a small, recessed patch, smooth and free of spines. He Lingchuan understood at once and jumped straight into it.

Fierce winds rose, and He Lingchuan sighed. “Trouble is here.”

“Hm?” Isn’t trouble exactly what I was waiting here for?

He Lingchuan smiled bitterly. He truly hoped his guess was wrong. “I’m afraid there’s more than one array eye.”

“Then we just tear it apart, right?”

“...Right.” Now that she’s back in her monster immortal body, Lady Two sure is confident. He Lingchuan raised his hand and fired two refined-iron arrows straight ahead, in the direction from which the gale was blowing.

The arrowheads had been coated with a little wind-stilling pearl powder, making them immune to the violent wind.

Thunk. The arrows seemed to strike something with a dull sound, but did not lodge in place.

Sure enough, something invisible was up ahead. It had not been He Lingchuan’s imagination.

Just then, more than a dozen large fireballs shot up from below and slammed into the invisible object, once again exploding into a fireworks display.

This time, however, the fireballs struck solidly.

He Lingchuan was startled. Looking down, he saw that Juju had actually reappeared atop Kaiyang Peak.

“What did you run back here for?” He Lingchuan shouted at Juju’s avatar on his shoulder. “Didn’t we agree that your task was to wreck Star-Plucking Tower?!”

Over the past few days, when he and Juju discussed the attack plan, they had mentioned more than once that the Heavenly Palace might have backup measures, and they had also prepared a contingency plan.

But Juju simply refused to follow the plan!

This pig of a teammate.

The Grand Spirit-Gathering Array was directly beneath the Heavenly Palace’s backside. Not only did it gather spirit qi for all of Lingxu City, but it also carried the heavy responsibility of suppressing Juju. How could it be allowed to have a flaw?

No matter how carefully protected one array eye was, absolute safety could not be guaranteed.

The most reliable method was to build a spare!

Moreover, the Heavenly Palace knew perfectly well that the array eye used for regular operation had a flaw: it could not escape into the void in winter. That meant there was a risk it could be discovered by enemies or by Juju.

How could they simply ignore that?

Although Zaifu Kua, the Deputy Director of the Public Works Department, knew of no backup plan, He Lingchuan felt that, given the Heavenly Palace’s abilities, it might not be entirely without one.

Zaifu Kua had said that the flaw in the array eye was a fundamental problem of the array and could not be repaired. In that case, this backup was probably only for emergencies and could not be used as a regular measure.

But as long as the Grand Spirit-Gathering Array could start up, it could suppress Juju again. Even if it only lasted half an hour, that would be enough time for the Heavenly Palace to react.

And that would cost He Lingchuan his life.

What they lacked most right now was time.

He Lingchuan blinked and suddenly realized that his side had once again fallen into crisis.

After all the effort he had spent destroying the array eye, it turned out that was only the beginning.

“There’s another array eye here!” Juju’s voice was deep, booming, and frantic. “I’ll help you knock it down!”

Who exactly is helping whom here?

Forget it. Since it’s already here, we might as well concentrate our firepower.

Moreover, He Lingchuan had already discovered that although the new array eye had appeared, the Grand Spirit-Gathering Array had not yet recovered for the moment.

That might be because the new array eye still needed adjustment, or because it had not yet reached the required position.

After all, the Grand Spirit-Gathering Array on the ground was the reflection of the stars in the sky. Of the ten stars of the Big Dipper, not a single position could be wrong.

They had to fight for every scrap of time.

Juju’s continuous barrage of fireballs was simply outrageous. In two breaths, it could launch more than a dozen, and every single one struck the target.

Such bombardment was not easy to withstand. With Juju’s strength, there was little chance that the turbulence could blow the fireballs off course. Besides, the array eye itself was not small. Even if the angle were slightly off-center, the attacks would still hit.

Borrowing strength from the earth, Juju barely needed any rest before launching the next round of attacks. Clearly, this aberrant creature knew very well that if the array eye resumed operation, then it would be completely defeated tonight!

He Lingchuan felt the tremors in midair and could not help but rejoice.

“Excellent bombardment. Put more into it!”

The little fire man—another one of Juju’s avatars—on his shoulder glanced sideways. “Didn’t you say I should stay at Star-Plucking Tower?”

“You should have stayed at Star-Plucking Tower.” This guardian spirit is really petty. He Lingchuan stuffed the wind-stilling pearl into Zhu Erniang’s mouth. “Hold this. We’re going up! The array eye is shaking really badly. It probably can’t take much more. It hasn’t connected to the Grand Spirit-Gathering Array yet, so it still can’t draw spirit qi from the earth to replenish itself!”

The outer array of the original array eye had been impossible to break for two reasons. First, Juju could not attack Mount Xu’s structures. Second, it was tightly connected to the grand array and could continuously draw spirit qi from within a radius of several hundred kilometers for its own use.

But the new array eye had not yet connected to the grand array, and the energy it carried was limited. How could it withstand Juju’s relentless bombardment?

But this window was extremely precious. Once it closed, Juju would be unable to touch it again.

With the wind-stilling pearl in her mouth, Zhu Erniang leaped, crossing a great distance in a single bound.

The violent winds around the array eye did not affect her. She jumped directly onto the new array eye.

In theory, the outermost restriction or defense of the array eye had killed countless people. Whether wood, stone, or living creature, anything that touched it would be blasted into dust.

But black light rippled over Zhu Erniang’s body. She drew in her eight claws, stabbing into the defensive array like needles!

He Lingchuan, crouched before her forehead, could even feel the clash between the array and her protective aura.

It was like a living fish leaping into a pot of boiling oil, with droplets snapping and bursting everywhere. Only here were electric arcs scattering wildly in every direction, carrying matchless force. Even the distant Heavenly Palace could see it all with perfect clarity.

He Lingchuan, however, let out a breath of relief. This time, the outer array was made of lightning and electric arcs, likely drawing on the power of heaven and earth to wield such might.