Chapter 1796: 加码与破解

Now, only Granny Zhu was bold enough to speak aloud: "Using bees to scout and track, the Heavenly Palace is quite clever, isn't it?"

Orb bees are counted by the nest, and who knows how many are in one, making them perfect for the Heavenly Palace's extensive searches. If they were ordinary bird demons, they probably wouldn't fly for long before being shot down.

It's important to remember that this is Qianhuan's territory. Even if bird demons flew directly over the Illusion Sect, they might not be able to spot them.

However, unfortunately, ever since the Illusion Sect entered this realm—or more accurately, ever since Qianhuan emerged from seclusion—Qianhuan's calculations have consistently been one step ahead of Miaozhantian's.

He Lingchuan now had a better understanding of why Xiao Wencheng had proudly stated that Miaozhantian nearly lost to Qianhuan in ancient times.

That old fellow was just too cunning. If it hadn't been for the War God Mitian, who unexpectedly appeared back then, Qianhuan wouldn't have to worry about Miaozhantian anymore.

They proceeded for several dozen more paces. Ahead, a sheer cliff face soared directly into the sky, its rocks appearing hewn, straight and steep.

Elder Liu's expression finally relaxed as he turned back and made a common gesture to the group:

"We're almost there!"

He was leading the Illusion Sect to seek refuge with True Person Qianhuan.

Even He Lingchuan's heart rate quickened slightly. Would Qianhuan be waiting for them up ahead?

They walked along the winding, 'hui'-shaped mountain path. The front and back of their group faced each other, their positions staggered at different heights, but there was no tree cover overhead.

Turning a bend at the end of the mountain path, an orb bee was conspicuously perched on a branch of a dwarf tree ahead!

It was meticulously tidying its antennae, likely tired from flying and resting here.

The group remained composed, about to pass by it.

However, after only a few steps, a purple magpie suddenly descended from the sky, landing on a large rock beside Elder Liu, and excitedly reported aloud: "Heavenly Palace..."

It had its back to the orb bee and hadn't noticed it at all.

Elder Liu was startled, his expression changing drastically, and the others silently cursed.

The other Illusion Sect disciples were all wearing masks, but these few bird demons flying around were too small to wear masks. Elder Liu had specifically instructed them beforehand not to land, to avoid revealing the presence of living people.

As a result, this little bird demon, upon receiving news from the Heavenly Palace, was so intent on returning to report it that it completely forgot his warning!

The orb bee seemed to freeze for a moment too, lowering its grooming front legs and tilting its head. If it realized the magpie demon was speaking to the 'ghost citizens,' it would very likely see through their disguise.

Elder Liu waved his sleeve, about to suppress the rest of the magpie demon's words, when a figure on the slope suddenly pounced towards the purple magpie with a low growl and a gust of wind.

No sooner had Granny Zhu mentioned Luo Xie than he appeared.

The purple magpie, startled, took off vertically, and its remaining words were naturally cut short.

Luo Xie growled twice more at it, and even raised the knife in his hand, brandishing it a couple of times.

Startled by this, the purple magpie probably remembered Elder Liu's instructions and flew off without looking back. It truly looked like nothing more than a frightened magpie.

Its earlier words had come out too quickly, the first two words merging into one sound, which somewhat resembled a magpie's chirp.

Luo Xie watched it fly away, then turned and returned to the group.

Granny Zhu praised him, saying: "Good lad, you reacted even faster than old man Liu."

In the eyes of any outsiders, Luo Xie's recent action would likely appear as a ghost citizen chasing away a magpie.

The Heavenly Palace team had only been in this realm for less than an hour, so who could say for sure how ghost citizens were supposed to behave?

Even Elder Liu cast an approving glance at Luo Xie.

Of all the Illusion Sect disciples, none had reacted as quickly as this outer disciple.

Only He Lingchuan noticed that Luo Xie's eyes were slightly bulging and bloodshot. He was already fierce by nature, but now he seemed even more like a wounded lone wolf.

What had this young man encountered?

He Lingchuan recalled the series of battles in the Illusion Realm's Companion Hills, as well as the temporal rift Miaozhantian had unleashed at the end. That divine power was so immense that civilians as far as Silver Pearl City had perished.

Alas, could it be...?

The orb bee watched the purple magpie fly away into the distance, then looked at Elder Liu and the others, and resumed grooming itself with its front paws.

The group, still unperturbed, one by one descended the slope in front of it.

After a few more turns, the orb bee behind them was out of sight.

The further north the Heavenly Palace team advanced, the more frenzied the ghost citizens' attacks became.

Bai Ziqi reasonably suspected that the dead souls from the big cities were also being summoned and heading south en masse; otherwise, how could they be so numerous and seemingly inexhaustible?

The words had barely left his lips when two Heavenly Palace soldiers standing just outside the light barrier were suddenly grabbed by several charging vengeful spirits and flung backward out of the light barrier!

Although these few vengeful spirits would also be dissolved, two living people had, after all, been thrown out.

No one else had time to rescue them. Outside, there was a vast, surging army of vengeful spirits, and the two men only managed two screams before falling silent.

A chill went through the hearts of the living.

How could the vengeful spirits act so violently inside the True Eye's light barrier?

Soon, they realized this was not an isolated incident, because the charging vengeful spirits began to last longer and longer within the light barrier.

Since the battle began, barely fifteen minutes had passed, yet two large vengeful spirits were already able to exchange blows with the White Guards for two rounds before being dissolved by the golden light!

Bai Shiqi gritted his teeth: "These things are adapting to the True Eye's rules."

Simply put, the vengeful spirit army's resistance to the light barrier's damage was rapidly increasing.

In the entire Upside-Down Sea, only one person could achieve this in such a short time!

Miaozhantian remained silent, but the light barrier's coverage expanded slightly.

This naturally consumed more energy, but he could no longer afford to be concerned about that.

The True Eye blinked twice in quick succession, and the emitted light barrier turned a deeper, crimson red. Clearly, Miaozhantian had upgraded and reinforced his barrier, making its penetrating power even fiercer.

This time, the light barrier became faster at dealing with the vengeful spirits, dissolving them instantly upon contact.

However, this favorable situation only lasted for about fifteen minutes, after which the vengeful spirits began to become resilient again.

After several such cycles, the True Eye's light itself turned purple, indicating its extreme power.

Ever since the Heavenly Palace team entered the Upside-Down Sea, the combat situation had grown increasingly surreal.

In the previous Illusion Realm, Miaozhantian had continuously deciphered the Upside-Down Sea's laws using his lighthouse barrier, eliminating the Illusion Sect's geographical advantage. But in this world, the situation was completely reversed: Qianhuan was using the army of vengeful spirits to constantly negate Miaozhantian's 'truth,' aiming to dissolve his power to the greatest extent within a given timeframe.

Both sides were constantly breaking down the other's laws, and both were continuously intensifying their own methods.

This was a contest between illusion and reality, testing each side's mastery over their fundamental powers.

However, as of now, while Miaozhantian's defense had been successful and he hadn't fallen behind, his divine power consumption was far greater than his opponent's. Qianhuan, with the home advantage, only needed to command and modify the army of vengeful spirits, requiring little effort from himself to achieve twice the result with half the effort.

Advantages accumulate bit by bit. If this continued, the scales of victory would naturally tip in his favor.