Where Immortals Once Walked

Besides, after several battles tonight, this outer shell was already on the verge of collapse. Baizhantian had no reason to waste more strength on these brainless aberrant creatures.

The Giant Thunderclap Beast’s small eyes were all fixed on Baizhantian, each one red with rage. The crimson lightning around its body grew even more dazzling, and its speed suddenly increased, almost as though it had entered its final charge.

Anyone with eyes could see that it had gone from a locomotive to an extremely furious locomotive.

Zhu Erniang passed right in front of it, yet its eyes did not move at all. It acted as though she did not exist.

The spider immortal stretched her long legs and fled toward the rear of the duonao beast herd, vanishing from sight within a few breaths.

No matter how slow Baizhantian was, it now understood that Zhu Erniang must have done something to it, causing the Giant Thunderclap Beast to regard it as a mortal enemy that had to be destroyed.

It tilted its head and sniffed. Aside from the smell of blood and the spider monster’s venom, there seemed to be another faint fishy odor. It had originally thought this was sap leaking from broken trees, but now that it smelled it again—

Could it be?

Without another word, Baizhantian stripped off its outer robe and flung it far away.

No wonder the spider monster had hidden in the sand pile and ambushed it earlier. So she had been planning to do something to its body.

After throwing away the robe, Baizhantian ran sideways. However, the Giant Thunderclap Beast’s attention was fixed entirely on Baizhantian, and it showed no interest in the robe at all.

The real culprit was here. The egg thief was here. And now it had thrown the scented robe away right in front of it. Was this an insult to its intelligence?

The Giant Thunderclap Beast grew even more furious. With a long howl, it accelerated again.

Thanks to the lightning around its body, it possessed the ability to sprint for short bursts. Moreover, the mortal realm’s gravity was far weaker than that of the Fu Realm. For Fu Realm creatures carrying floating stones in their bodies, entering the mortal realm made them feel as light as swallows. Covering twenty meters in a single step was nothing to them!

The distance between the two sides shortened abruptly. The Giant Thunderclap Beast lowered its head and rammed forward.

Baizhantian pulled out another spear, turned back, and struck, bracing the spear against the shield-shaped bone plate on its forehead.

There was no point in holding back now. It might as well give this beast the final blow.

Yet even with Baizhantian’s abilities, it could not withstand the other party’s brute force. It was instantly thrown into the air like a kite with its string cut.

The Giant Thunderclap Beast, however, tumbled on the spot.

The beast, equivalent to a heavy locomotive, was flipped sideways, rolling three or four times across the ground before barely coming to a stop, sending dust everywhere.

A single strike from Baizhantian had actually knocked down an aberrant creature weighing more than ten tons!

It had been dazed by the fall and nearly ended up with all four legs in the air.

But the Giant Thunderclap Beast soon shook its head and stood back up.

After taking Baizhantian’s strike, a huge chunk had broken out of the bone plate on its forehead. Still, it had not shattered into pieces, because the crimson lightning had automatically protected its master, actually canceling out the power of annihilation.

Even so, the Giant Thunderclap Beast roared in pain. That bone plate was actually full of nerves and extremely sensitive. Baizhantian’s blow had caused pain no less intense than having a tooth ripped out raw.

On top of that, the fall had left it dizzy and disoriented, making the giant beast hate Baizhantian even more.

The massive beast herd followed its leader in a sharp turn, continuing to chase the figure they believed to be the egg thief!

* * *

After shaking off Baizhantian’s pursuit, Zhu Erniang also threw off the tracking of Lingxu City’s imperial guards before heading deep into the jungle.

She knew very clearly where she needed to go.

After several twists and turns, Zhu Erniang saw He Lingchuan waving to her from within a dense thicket.

The boy was smiling as though he had not a care in the world.

Dong Rui stood behind him with a stern face.

That aberrant creature, which looked neither like a snail nor a toad, carried an enormous shell on its back and leisurely chewed the alfalfa flowers its master had given it.

Other than them, there was no one here. There was not even a single bird.

He Lingchuan came up to meet her and laughed loudly. “Lady Two, you managed to get away too?”

Having successfully escaped State Preceptor Qing Yang’s pursuit, he was also quite pleased with himself, though he could not give Zhu Erniang a high-five.

The giant spider’s claws were covered in needlelike spikes. One tap from her would leave him full of bloody holes.

“A trivial matter.” Zhu Erniang snorted. “I smeared all the egg liquid from the gourd over Baizhantian’s back wound. Right now, the Giant Thunderclap Beast is chasing it with great enthusiasm.”

When she had burst out of the dune, she had smashed the gourd and the sticky liquid onto Baizhantian’s back together. The latter had noticed nothing and thought it was merely the sound of branches breaking.

During their escape, He Lingchuan had explained to her that the gourd contained the Giant Thunderclap Beast’s stolen eggs.

Of course, by now, it was egg liquid.

The Giant Thunderclap Beast’s eyesight was ordinary, but its sense of smell was impossibly sharp.

Not long ago, when the nothing beast leader had ambushed its nest, two eggs had been smashed on the spot, and one egg had been stolen. This was the Giant Thunderclap Beast’s deepest pain. Now that it had suddenly smelled its lost child again, it was instantly consumed by fury.

To clear herself of suspicion, Zhu Erniang had shed the front claw stained with the sticky liquid before the Giant Thunderclap Beast caught up. That way, the only scapegoat left was Baizhantian.

“Baizhantian’s skin-sack is done for,” Zhu Erniang declared. “It had already consumed too much energy earlier. From what I saw, it exchanged blows with the Giant Thunderclap Beast again, and that will only accelerate the collapse.”

Dong Rui was a little impatient, and even more uneasy. “Are we still not leaving?”

He had been waiting outside Tianji Peak earlier and had personally seen just how “lively” Mount Xu had become tonight.

Originally, he had been mainly providing support and had not held much hope for He Lingchuan’s success in this operation. He had guessed that a forty or fifty percent chance would already be heaven-defying. If He Lingchuan died on Mount Xu, then he would immediately get into the snail toad and make his escape. It would not have been much of a loss.

Who would have thought that He Lingchuan really was a plague god? Wherever he went, disaster followed. Even the Heavenly Palace could not withstand his havoc!

But this disaster had become far too enormous. Now, Dong Rui only wanted to leave Lingxu City as quickly as possible, and Beijia as quickly as possible!

“Let’s go.” He Lingchuan pointed west.

But Zhu Erniang said, “I want to see how Baizhantian ends up.”

He Lingchuan understood. “So the hatred between you two really is as deep as the sea, eh?”

Earlier, when the man and spider had jumped into the lake, they had had the chance to escape. But after the Giant Thunderclap Beast appeared, Zhu Erniang had said to He Lingchuan, “We should split up. You lure away State Preceptor Qing Yang,” and then charged back.

That posture clearly meant she was going back to fight and take revenge.

Zhu Erniang snorted. “We fought before. Twice.”

He Lingchuan thought for a moment. “Go to Mount Xing[1].”

Mount Xing was only about a kilometer north of Lingxu City. Its highest peak was shaped like the character “几,” and the Thunderclap Beast herd happened to be running in that direction.

Dong Rui drove the snail toad underground.

It was worth mentioning that Zhu Erniang’s monster immortal body could barely shrink to the size of a horse, allowing her to enter the mud palace on the snail toad’s back along with He Lingchuan.

Even though she was an ancient monster immortal with vast experience, she still clicked her tongue in praise at this mud palace magical artifact.

Sitting inside, one did not need to step out of the shell at all to see the surrounding scenery, and it was in high definition at that.

The snail toad traveled underground and quietly crossed over to Mount Xing, hiding in the trees. This place was relatively high, and there were no obstructions ahead, allowing them to take in the northwest corner of Lingxu City at a glance.

Lingxu City lay just before them. There was no better place to hide and watch the excitement. If complications arose at a time like this, the loss would outweigh the gain.

The moment Dong Rui jumped out of the snail toad’s giant shell, he suddenly pointed at Lingxu City and cried out, “Look, quickly!”

From Mount Xing, they looked down at Lingxu City. Flames shot into the sky everywhere, and thick smoke rolled in every direction. It was not only the Lower City. Even the floating islands had explosions ringing out one after another.

How did the peaceful, tranquil, wealthy imperial capital turn into this?

Is this caused by the earthquake on Mount Xu?

He Lingchuan stared without blinking, just as shocked.

Only after a long while did he draw in a deep breath and murmur, “Fang Canran.” Of course, it must be Fang Canran!

Earlier, when Fang Canran had discussed the plan with him, he had only proposed the backup strategy of provoking the Giant Thunderclap Beast to help He Lingchuan escape. He had not said a single word about chaos in Lingxu City.

Because that no longer had anything to do with He Lingchuan.

His magnificent feat of invading Mount Xu was the key that opened this chain of disasters in Lingxu City.

But it was only the key.

Fang Canran and the organization behind him intended to seize every opportunity to expand their results!

They had been planning for far too long. Only a great, thorough chaos in the imperial capital would be worthy of their long wait.

Zhu Erniang shifted to the other side of the peak. “Baizhantian’s skin-sack is failing.”

The two men hurried over and looked down at the battle below.

Just as Zhu Erniang had said, Baizhantian’s skin-sack was badly damaged. Fearing that the beast herd would surround it, it was forced to retreat after exchanging blows twice with the Giant Thunderclap Beast.

The duonao beast herd continued pursuing from behind.

Compared to the Fu Realm, the mortal realm’s gravity was far weaker. Even clumsy duonao beasts could move like the wind here, swift and nimble. And although Lingxu City’s army desperately tried to intercept them, under their lord’s summons, more and more duonao beasts continued to follow. The longer they ran, the more tremendous their momentum became.

He Lingchuan estimated roughly that there were more than five hundred of them.

Dozens of breaths later, Lu Shishi’s body began to collapse, right at the foot of Mount Xing. For the first time, He Lingchuan personally witnessed what it meant for flesh and bone to separate.

Muscles burst open, tendons snapped, nerves were destroyed, and the flesh sloughed from the bones on its own, like rotten meat that had lost all adhesion.

The young girl of fourteen or fifteen revealed half a skeleton in the blink of an eye.

Most terrifying of all, she could still feel pain. Her screams were incomparably miserable.

Clearly, Baizhantian’s thread of soul and spirit had already returned to the divine realm and was no longer attached to her body.

Standing on the slope, He Lingchuan could barely hear her crying for help and for her mother.

But soon, she could not make a sound, because her vocal cords dissolved as well.

The skin of her face had peeled away long ago. Her features were only writhing lumps of blood. Red was her face; white were her teeth and the whites of her eyes.

Without upper or lower eyelids, her eyes rolled in a particularly frightening way.

She seemed to see He Lingchuan standing on the slope as well.

Even though He Lingchuan had experienced cruel battles and witnessed miserable deaths, the look in her eyes still made a chill run down his back.

That pain, that hatred, that madness...

And regret.

That endless regret.

He Lingchuan remembered the scene when he had first met Lu Shishi on Tianshu Peak. She had been as fresh and clear as a lily of the valley covered in dew.

How devoutly this little girl had worshiped the gods, how deeply she had yearned for them. How firmly she had believed in them, willing to give everything for them.

Now, she had truly given everything.

But after Baizhantian used her up, it discarded her like a torn sack.

It turned and returned to the divine realm, too lazy to spare another glance, leaving her alone to endure the agony of her body falling apart.

This misery and pain, so tragic it defied humanity—Lu Shishi, who had volunteered to become the shell of a god in their descent to the mortal realm, surely had not known about it at first.

And by now, regret had come far too late.

1. This mountain was first mentioned in Chapter 429. ☜