Chapter 1687: The Gift from Heaven

However, Qingyang still personally handed him the note, which in itself was a sign of weakness.

She would rather lose a bit of face than not specifically remind Bai Ziqi:

Well, everyone knew this was true, but it was also an excuse.

This series of moves was like beckoning Bai Ziqi, saying:

"Outsiders viewing the Yanyao Palace coup saw Qingyang achieve great things and He Xiao flee at the first sign of trouble, believing the victor was clear. As someone close to me, don't be so superficial." Bai Ziqi waved the note in his hand. "I've only been in Tianshui City for a few days in total. For the past few months, only Regent Qingyang has truly clashed with He Xiao. She knows best what He Xiao is capable of. This is her setting aside her reservations and giving me a specific warning!"

He had handled the immortal elixir case back then and had personally sent Qingyang to the Heavenly Palace prison. How could their relationship possibly be harmonious?

Moreover, He Xiao used a formation to indicate the location of True Immortal Qianhuan's cave, while also moving the strange fish's corpse into the secret room of Yongquan Villa, planting a trap for Bai Ziqi. He then lured Ashmona, whom he himself couldn't capture, to attack the Heavenly Palace personnel, effectively using this great demonic puppet to weaken his opponents' strength.

Using the Tiangang formation changes and the demonic puppet left by Cao Wendao, He Xiao and he had already engaged in a battle from afar!

This hidden back-and-forth seemed less intense than the Yanyao Palace incident, where many powerful figures fought to overturn the heavens. But for Bai Ziqi, this was the kind of battle he yearned for!

So far, He Xiao had the upper hand, and Bai Ziqi had suffered a slight disadvantage.

But he was not afraid.

There would be plenty of time in the future; he would definitely win his next battle against He Xiao!

"Such an opponent!" Bai Ziqi secretly clenched his fist. Only such an opponent was worthy of his full effort.

Two days later, He Lingchuan and his group left the northwestern border of Yanyao Kingdom and arrived at Duo City.

If he had left three to five days earlier, he would likely have been hunted down and pursued before even leaving Tianshui City, facing numerous checkpoints along the way.

However, Yanyao Kingdom itself was now in chaos, and capable individuals were sharpening their blades, eager to make their mark. Who had time to bother with a foreign merchant?

Meanwhile, the border garrisons had not yet received news of the capital's turmoil, and there wasn't enough time to implement a blockade. Thus, He Lingchuan's departure process was surprisingly smooth.

Duo City, under the jurisdiction of the allied forces, was dozens of miles from the Yanyao Kingdom border. Its population was no more than forty thousand. The land was not fertile, and crops were not abundant; people primarily relied on two mines to make a living.

To put it nicely, the atmosphere here was peaceful. To put it bluntly, it was stagnant.

He Lingchuan chose this place for three reasons. First, the Emperor's Dew was arriving soon, and they needed to find a place to prepare.

Second, the Yangshan Merchant Guild had a shell company in Duo City called the Ziwu Guild. It primarily acquired local minerals and timber, occasionally dealing in herbs, and thus had its own premises, which were larger than Yongquan Villa.

The Ziwu Guild had leased a large area of suburban land from Duo City to serve as a transit point for storing goods.

Leasing out a few barren suburban plots, they could earn money without any oversight. Duo City officials were more than happy to have more such lucrative deals.

Of course, to protect their vast enterprise in the Glimmering Gold Plains, they first needed strong fists. Thus, the Ziwu Guild stationed only burly, tough-looking men here, who clearly seemed difficult to provoke.

The first essential for receiving the Emperor's Dew was a large area!

For the next ten hours, He Lingchuan led his subordinates in setting up the Spirit Wind Great Formation at the Ziwu Guild.

This formation could indeed collect the Emperor's Dew.

Time was short, and everyone was so busy their feet barely touched the ground. They didn't even have time to drink water.

Fortunately, the heavens were favorable, granting them an extra day to debug the formation.

That night, the Emperor's Dew arrived!

After leaving Yanyao territory, there weren't as many complications. He Lingchuan and the Black Armored Army's process of collecting the Emperor's Dew went smoothly. Occasionally, one or two small demons would sneak in to steal some, but they were all caught on the spot.

He Lingchuan knew that this Emperor's Dew flow would be abundant, but he never expected it to be so intense and so prolonged!

On the first night, the spiritual dew was only the volume of moderate rain. However, Wanqiliang and others all picked up spiritual paste, some as large as goose eggs, others as small as lychees. Everyone was overjoyed.

The next night, they realized they had been too naive and had rejoiced too soon, because—

From that day on, the Emperor's Dew was torrential!

The heavens and earth were drenched, but what fell was not rainwater, but glistening green spiritual dew!

The dye vats and water tanks prepared in the dock were all extra-large, each capable of holding hundreds of loads of water. However, a single small whirlwind from the Spirit Wind Great Formation could fill a large water tank with spiritual dew in just one hour!

He Lingchuan simply removed one water tank and placed the Soul-Snatching Mirror directly under the whirlwind as a container.

No sooner had it been set up, a lump of Emperor's Dew paste, the size of a coconut, fell from the sky, splattering directly onto the mirror surface.

The mirror immediately let out a booming laugh:

"Ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, I'm full!"

It immediately activated its internal space. There was nothing inside the space except for an immensely vast empty pool!

Forget about filling bowls and basins; it wanted to fill the entire pool. It wanted to turn this pool directly into a deep pond.

The mirror collected and secretly consumed at the same time, because it couldn't possibly finish it all; there was simply too much!

Under the other large and small whirlwinds, containers were also ready. These were all accumulated by He Lingchuan in Tianshui City, brought into the mirror world when he left Yongquan Villa, and now put to use here.

He couldn't help but sigh with emotion.

He recalled that back then, when he set up a large net in the outskirts of Baoshu Kingdom to receive the Emperor's Dew, he only collected a little over a bucketful all night. He barely managed to get a fist-sized piece of paste, and numerous monsters came to snatch it, with Fu Shanyue chasing him for dozens of miles!

Times had changed. Tonight, watching countless paste lumps fall, no one even bothered to bend down to pick them up!

Too lazy to pick them up, since there was plenty in the sky anyway.

At this moment, He Lingchuan also felt a throbbing sensation from his chest.

The next second, the Qianglong Battle Armor manifested spontaneously, covering its master's entire body. He Lingchuan instantly transformed into the Great Emperor of Nine Serenities.

When Granny Zhu saw this from the side, she originally wanted to ask a few questions, but Lingguang happened to call for its help. So she quietly shut her mouth and walked away—she was swamped! No time to be nosy.

He Lingchuan looked around, and surprisingly chose the largest vat, most full of Emperor's Dew, and jumped right in!

*Plop*, spiritual dew splashed everywhere.

This vat was over seven feet tall. It was originally used by commoners for pickling vegetables or as a dye vat, and had a history of people drowning in it. Now it was exactly eighty percent full of spiritual dew, and was about to be replaced.

However, as soon as He Lingchuan jumped in, the spiritual dew in the vat began to churn automatically; in less than seven and a half minutes, the water level dropped by one-third.

It should be known that the Spirit Wind Great Formation continuously collected Emperor's Dew into the vats, with high efficiency and a large flow. Yet the spiritual dew in He Lingchuan's vat disappeared faster than the Spirit Wind Great Formation could collect it.

These Emperor's Dew drops were naturally not consumed by He Lingchuan himself, but were greedily absorbed by the Qianglong Armor on his body!

This battle armor was originally covered with countless fine scales. Now, each scale expanded, ensuring it was fully immersed in the Emperor's Dew.

At this moment, the Qianglong Armor seemed to come back to life, emitting black mist outward to a distance of two zhang, and everyone avoided it as if their lives depended on it.

The black dragon heart scale on his chest continuously throbbed. He Lingchuan could even feel the armor's greed and joy as it ravenously consumed.

Even the shoulder beast White Flame, acquired from Xue Zongwu, also leaped from the armor into the vat, continuously devouring the spiritual dew without pause.

After the Rakshasa Armor was taken by the Grand Square Flask and re-forged, its original malevolent aura had been wiped away along with its past. The reborn Qianglong Battle Armor held nothing back from He Lingchuan, and did not conceal its craving and urgency.

Even the original Rakshasa Armor, in an era of dwindling spiritual energy, never had the chance to feast like this.

Divine artifacts required far more spiritual energy than ordinary magic tools. It had truly been starved for too long.

After more than half an hour, the entire vat of Emperor's Dew had been completely absorbed by it.

He Lingchuan had no choice but to jump into another vat.

"He Xiao is difficult to read, but if he truly is the instigator of the Heavenly Palace turmoil, then it's not hard to understand," Bai Ziqi said. "Those associated with the Grand Square Flask tend to meet a bad end. Some hide cautiously, others fight back. He Xiao is the latter kind of person."

"He even gave me hints about True Immortal Qianhuan's location, worried I couldn't keep up." Besides feeling a mixture of amusement and exasperation, he also felt some admiration and regret. "He Xiao's path to ruin is not due to arrogance or ignorance, but because he is too talented."

Such a person is too destructive. Since he opposes the Heavenly Palace, he shouldn't be allowed to live.

On the other hand, this was also a show of weakness towards He Xiao. After months of overt and covert struggles, whether she was satisfied or exhausted, she simply had no more drive and was unwilling to face He Xiao's challenge again.

A small flame appeared at Bai Ziqi's fingertip, burning the note to ashes:

"She's afraid to fight. She truly doesn't want to contend with He Xiao anymore, so she can only place her hopes in me! Ha, maybe she doesn't have much confidence in me either."

Others lacking confidence in him was a novel experience for him.

Bai Shiqi couldn't help but say, "Lord Commissioner, this He Xiao doesn't seem mad or deranged. His actions are meticulous and his schemes are deep. Why must he provoke Lingxu City and the Heavenly Palace?"

"I'm not going; you go. But be careful of He Xiao! This person is difficult to deal with!"

Qingyang could have hidden this note and not given it to him. After all, He Xiao had actually sent two challenges, one to Qingyang and one to Bai Ziqi. Both of them had received one.

The Great Emperor of Nine Serenities is a menace. He must be eradicated before he becomes a true malignant tumor!

"The journey to the Upside-Down Sea will certainly be perilous; you must prepare thoroughly."

Bai Shi reached out for the bottle, muttering bitterly, "He Xiao is arrogant and ignorant. Provoking the Heavenly Palace like this is akin to an ant trying to shake a tree. He will surely die a miserable death!"

He and the servant boy had a good relationship. Seeing the latter's tragic death, the rage in his heart was hard to subside.

"Come on, come here!"

Tianshui City was in chaos. He Xiao retreated, but did not flee. He first sent Bai Ziqi a challenge and dug a trap for him, then calmly proceeded to the true battleground!

"Why just provoke the Heavenly Palace? He also provoked Lingxu City!" Bai Ziqi glanced at him and took out the note He Xiao had left. "Do you think He Xiao lacks self-awareness? Then tell me, why didn't Regent Qingyang go herself and instead push this onto me? Is Qingyang's insight and vision inferior to yours?"

"..." "Didn't Regent Qingyang say she had to remain in Tianshui City and couldn't spare a hand?"

After the Immortals Vanished