Chapter 1847: Just a Little Bit More

He Xiao seemed to be alive; Qianhuan's desperate strike had not succeeded!

She could not turn the tide or change her fate.

This time, it was Miaozhantian's turn to persuade True Lord Qianhuan:

"If you surrender honestly and enter my divine prison, I can make a soul vow to ensure your soul fire never extinguishes, and even erect a shrine for you in the human world to receive incense offerings!"

With victory in sight, she also didn't want True Lord Qianhuan to resort to a mutually destructive act.

Miaozhantian was determined to claim the Mirage Immortal's body and foundation. However, beyond that, leaving a wisp of Qianhuan's soul was not a difficult matter.

At their age and with their experience, they all knew that a bad life was better than a good death.

Only by living was anything possible.

Qianhuan acted as if she hadn't heard, turning to grapple with the Shadow Dragon once more.

But she was perhaps exhausted, no longer as nimble as before. The loose rubble and tiles beneath her feet suddenly shifted, causing Jiaotu to slip and her body to tilt.

The Shadow Dragon seized the opportunity, opening its massive maw, and finally bit into Jiaotu's torso!

Qianhuan had been fighting it for so long, always carefully avoiding the Shadow Dragon's huge mouth. Who would have thought that a single misstep would lead to her being caught firmly.

Dozens of conical teeth simultaneously sank into Jiaotu's body, piercing through flesh and blood.

The Shadow Dragon shook its prey violently.

Amidst a mournful cry, golden blood splattered!

However, Jiaotu made a move that even Miaozhantian had not anticipated:

With the latter half of her body still trapped in the Shadow Dragon's mouth, she raised her front claws and slammed them onto the wound at the back of the Shadow Dragon's head!

The angle was perfect.

The gash at the back of the Shadow Dragon's head was wide and deep. If Jiaotu exerted all her strength to twist it, she might actually rip off its head.

That would be turning defeat into victory.

This move, using herself as bait, was undeniably decisive and cunning, filled with the tragic grandeur of a desperate last stand.

Miaozhantian had always been cautious, and originally didn't want to step forward at this moment. But seeing this move, she secretly cried out "Not good" in her heart.

The Shadow Dragon was also on the verge of collapsing. If it were twisted like that again, it might not survive. Having come this far, she absolutely could not let Qianhuan kill the Shadow Dragon!

Miaozhantian had no retreat either.

Left with no choice, her figure flickered, rushing to Jiaotu's side, and she delivered a full-force strike.

This strike was incredibly powerful, like a bolt of lightning striking the air. It also concentrated all her vital energy, spirit, and essence, vowing to achieve success in one blow.

Jiaotu's eyes were fixed intently on her.

But as Miaozhantian rushed closer, Jiaotu's gaze was still fixed on the distance, piercing through the void, through the mountains and forests, and even through the Haoyuan Golden Mirror, staring directly at He Lingchuan!

In her last look, she wanted to clearly see the face of her enemy.

A brilliant light erupted, as if several small suns had suddenly detonated within Panlong Solitary City.

In He Lingchuan's impression, no explosion could match such resplendent brilliance.

Even through the Haoyuan Golden Mirror, everyone instinctively turned their heads, afraid of being blinded.

The self-detonation of an ancient True Immortal's soul; its power was incomparable to that of an ordinary immortal.

He Lingchuan immediately looked at the city in the mirror.

On the South City Gate Plaza, centered around Qianhuan's self-detonation point, an area of over a hundred zhang in radius was completely empty; not even shattered tiles or ruins remained.

The Solitary City was a recreation of Panlong City's destruction, originally consisting only of ruins. Now it was merely more extensively damaged by the explosion. But the Solitary City itself still existed, though its formerly indestructible city walls were now marred by huge cracks, with some sections having collapsed by half, and others following suit.

Crash, crash – outside the mirror, the sound of collapsing walls could often be heard.

He Lingchuan magnified the view of the South Plaza. Everyone then saw the Shadow Dragon's shattered remains scattered on the ground, broken into four or five sections. Only half of its massive head remained, its fractured surface melted like wax, with molten stone dripping, and the red light in its eyes had, of course, extinguished.

The Shadow Dragon was now nothing more than a damaged stone sculpture.

Qianhuan's self-detonation site had become a giant crater, engulfing the entire South Gate Plaza. Near its center, it was five zhang deep, with wisps of green smoke rising.

He Lingchuan was very relieved that Qianhuan's soul had self-detonated within Panlong Solitary City rather than within the Sea of Consciousness. After all, it was a contained environment not belonging to her. Otherwise, he wondered what kind of destruction the entire Upside-Down Sea would have suffered.

The explosion's shockwave was mostly blocked by Panlong Solitary City, not propagating into the Sea of Consciousness. However, as the master of the Upside-Down Sea, Qianhuan's demise would inevitably turn the Sea of Consciousness upside down.

Such a massive change had not yet occurred, nor had it spread to the Upside-Down Sea. All living beings in both the upper and lower realms only heard a dull, ominous click from deep within the earth's core.

But those in the know understood that Qianhuan's death and the changes in the realm of laws would definitely affect reality, sooner or later.

Old Lady Zhu looked at He Lingchuan with both eyes, still in disbelief. "True Lord Qianhuan was actually forced to her death by you!"

Young He didn't even leave her a glimmer of hope.

He Lingchuan's gaze was calm. "All her paths to survival were cut off. This was the only thing she could do."

He knew, of course, that the one Qianhuan hated most, and most wished to blow up, was definitely him, He Lingchuan.

But she couldn't achieve it.

He Lingchuan had just urged her to wield the spear for the world and kill Miaozhantian, but He Lingchuan knew in his heart that Qianhuan absolutely did not self-detonate for that reason.

What did the world matter to the Mirage Immortal? She merely knew she was doomed to die, so she transformed her immense hatred into self-detonation, intending to drag Miaozhantian into hell with her.

Since death was inevitable anyway, if she died humiliated at Miaozhantian's hands, her body and foundation would be seized by Miaozhantian, just like True Lord Shenxi, who was disgraced for thousands of years after death.

The path He Lingchuan showed her, she had no choice but to take it.

She simply decided, before her soul perished, to personally bring an end to this three-thousand-year-old grievance.

"Qianhuan lived ignominiously for three thousand years, but in death, she acted like a hero."

Whether forced or not, Qianhuan indeed chose such a heroic manner to achieve life's final crescendo.

The Black Armored Army looked at He Lingchuan with a mixture of fear and respect, with fear outweighing respect.

They had followed the Great Emperor of the Nine Underworlds for a long time, always feeling he was omnipotent. But seeing He Lingchuan slowly force a True Immortal to her death, they still felt an unspeakable shock.

This was the Upside-Down Sea!

Their lord had actually, in the ancient Mirage Immortal's territory, forced the master of Spirit Mountain to her death, making her perish alongside Miaozhantian!

Such an absurd event, even if written as a script and made into a play, no one would believe it.

Yet, right before their eyes, it unfolded scene by scene, frame by frame!

They had clearly seen the entire process, but they couldn't understand how it had truly happened.

Just then, a subtle disturbance suddenly came from within Panlong Solitary City. He Lingchuan immediately sensed it, and promptly magnified the Haoyuan Golden Mirror's view:

In the very center of the crater created by Qianhuan's self-detonation, the Shadow Dragon's head suddenly moved.

This movement sent shivers down everyone's spines.

The Ghost Ape chattered twice. Dong Rui simultaneously translated: "It's not dead?"

He Lingchuan watched intently: "Look closer!"

Only half of the Shadow Dragon's stone head remained, and its fractured surface had melted. How could it still be alive?

An explosion of this magnitude had damaged even Panlong Solitary City itself. There should be no living creature remaining at the epicenter, except for—

Old Lady Zhu also murmured, "Oh dear, this is troublesome!"

As everyone watched, the Shadow Dragon's massive head moved again, then was pushed aside. A figure slowly rose from the bottom of the crater.

It was Miaozhantian!

Although she was charred black all over, her left arm was severed at the shoulder, and her right leg was gone from the ankle down, everyone could still recognize at a glance that this was the Great Heavenly Demon who had previously observed from the sidelines.

However, Miaozhantian's current state bore no resemblance to "leisurely." She dropped the shield in her hand and took a few steps.

The shield was oval-shaped, adorned with a glittering golden single-eye motif—Miaozhantian's favorite color. The eyeball part had originally been a blood-red gem, but now only a hollow indentation remained.

The shield fell to the ground, splitting into two with a clang.

Anything Miaozhantian could bring into the Sea of Consciousness must have been at least a life-bound divine weapon, yet it was ruined here.

Old Lady Zhu suddenly said, "Miaozhantian's third eye on her forehead is gone."

She observed carefully. Others looked intently, and indeed, Miaozhantian only had two eyes left.

"The eyeball on her forehead was the shield she manifested!"

"You've got it backward!" He Lingchuan corrected her. "That shield was her third eye, and it was the Eye of Truth obtained from the Great Demon Mulian!"

The Great Demon Mulian's Eye of Truth had been refined by Miaozhantian, becoming an integral part of her. Only then could it follow her soul into the enemy's Sea of Consciousness. When Qianhuan self-detonated her soul just now, Miaozhantian was shielded by the Shadow Dragon, and the Eye of Truth had materialized as a shield, absorbing most of the damage for her.

Otherwise, positioned essentially at the very center of the explosion, how could she have survived?

As Qianhuan's final resort, the soul self-detonation was aimed at mutual destruction. Qianhuan didn't necessarily need to deal with the Shadow Dragon, but she definitely wanted to take Miaozhantian with her.

"A last-minute failure!" Dong Rui slammed his fist, in utter frustration. "Qianhuan is truly unreliable; if only the explosion had been a tiny bit more powerful, it would have killed that old hag!"

But everyone knew that "almost" was not enough. Qianhuan had little of her final power left while alive, and though she fought with her very life, she still failed to drag her enemy into hell.

Qianhuan was dead, the Shadow Dragon was gone, and Miaozhantian had survived to the end.

According to the winner-takes-all rule, all of the Heavenly Palace's adversaries within the Upside-Down Sea were now in trouble—

Including He Lingchuan and his group.

Old Lady Zhu also uneasily raised a paw, "Panlong Solitary City is collapsing."

The Shadow Dragon and Panlong Solitary City had directly absorbed the full force of Qianhuan's soul self-detonation. The Shadow Dragon was destroyed, and Panlong Solitary City could no longer hold on, disintegrating step by step.

Once this Solitary City vanished, Miaozhantian would be able to return to Qianhuan's Sea of Consciousness, thus seizing the Mirage Immortal's body and taking control of the entire Upside-Down Sea!

Everyone looked at Miaozhantian's figure in the mirror, their hearts exceedingly heavy.

Old Lady Zhu immediately stepped forward, asking He Lingchuan, "Can your mirror allow me to directly jump into the Mirage Immortal's Sea of Consciousness?"

Everyone was moved.

Among everyone present, only Old Lady Zhu possessed the cultivation of a Demon Immortal. At this moment, she felt a strong sense of responsibility.

"No living beings can enter the Sea of Consciousness; only souls can." He Lingchuan reached out and pressed the sharp spikes on her foot. "Old Lady, you are not known for your proficiency in soul arts. Even if Miaozhantian is injured, I fear you might not be able to defeat her."

He slowly said, "I'll go."

Everyone was greatly shocked: "Lord!"

That's the Great Heavenly Demon! Miaozhantian directly endured a True Immortal's soul self-detonation and wasn't killed.