Chapter 1869: Five Four Three Two One

Even as its demonic power was being depleted, its broken left hind leg had already swollen into a lump, appearing as if it would heal in just half a day.

Seeing He Lingchuan and the others approach, it flicked its tongue and instinctively recoiled slightly.

With the battle of the Upside-Down Sea concluded, He Lingchuan now looked at the creature with increasing approval.

Dong Rui exhaled a puff of white mist as he spoke, and rubbing his arms, he played along with He Lingchuan: "Miaozhantian is dead; what should we do with this thing?"

The Great Elder Jieshui was so shocked by the news that it stopped flicking its tongue and exclaimed, "Is that true?"

He Lingchuan pulled a golden scale from his embrace, flashed it before the creature, and asked, "What do you think?"

This was one of Miaozhantian's important magical artifacts, often paired with the Eye of Truth. However, it couldn't be brought into the Sea of Consciousness, so it had been left with Bai Ziqi.

And now, it was in He Lingchuan's hands.

Jieshui clearly recognized the scale, its large eyes remaining unblinking for a long time.

Madam Zhu chuckled sinisterly from the side, saying ominously, "Give it to me. I have an old score to settle with it!"

The spider demon sisters were hard to distinguish by appearance alone; as soon as it spoke, Jieshui mistook it for Second Madam Zhu.

The two sides had an old grudge; Second Madam Zhu had once been injured by it, and Jieshui never expected her to be in such a dominant position now. Jieshui immediately pleaded, "I'm not from the Celestial Palace! I was perfectly well, cultivating in my own cave, and I didn't want to come! But Zhaoyou God obtained a vow I made previously and forced me to enter the Upside-Down Sea!"

Dong Rui asked, surprised, "They could force you to come in here to deal with Qianhuan?"

"It's true!" The lizard's face was not very expressive, appearing rigid, but its voice was anxious. "Before I became an immortal, I received help from the Immortal Spirit Urn, so I swore an oath using the sharp scales beneath my jaw to repay it. Who knew that Zhaoyou God would obtain the Immortal Spirit Urn's body, along with my oath-scales, and then come to coerce me!"

The others recalled that when it cooperated with Zhaoyou God to inspect the mine shafts, it indeed seemed somewhat reluctant and unwilling.

"After all, it's a demon immortal; killing it for its flesh to refine artifacts would be a waste," He Lingchuan said immediately. "So, make a scale-oath and follow me from now on."

Jieshui rolled its eyes, wanting to say, "Why should I?"

It was a demon immortal of some standing and had even chased Second Madam Zhu away before. Why should it lower itself to serve this mere youngster?

It could accept surrendering to Qianhuan, or even any elder of the Illusion Sect, but this mere cultivator...

He Lingchuan seemed to read its thoughts and immediately added, "Miaozhantian ultimately died by my hand. I'll count down from five. If you don't agree, you can go join Miaozhantian."

"Huh? What? Did it hear that right?"

"Five, three..."

Jieshui's eyes widened. "Where's four? Did you eat it?"

He Lingchuan smiled at it and continued counting down: "Two..."

"Wait, who did you say you were again?"

"My surname is He, and the Celestial Palace calls me He Xiao."

"It's you!" Jieshui exclaimed in surprise. "You're He Xiao! The one both the Sky Devils and the Celestial Palace's Cloud Emissaries always talk about!"

It had heard that name countless times, always thinking that a mere cultivator, who hadn't even reached the threshold of an immortal, couldn't be that formidable. Bai Wei had told it about He Xiao's past deeds, and apart from burning down the Celestial Palace, nothing else seemed particularly impressive.

But if this person named He really did kill Miaozhantian with his own hands, that was something else.

"One!"

Madam Zhu had already walked to the side of the fire giant lizard, her sharp claws, like steel spikes, poised to pierce its forehead.

"Stop! Stop!" Jieshui yielded. "If you're He Xiao, alright, I'm willing!"

Only a wise person knows when to yield; it certainly didn't want to be sucked dry by the Spider Queen in this icy cellar!

It immediately swore a venomous oath and then tore open a scale from beneath its jaw to give to He Lingchuan.

This was its pledge of allegiance.

In fact, Jieshui also had good judgment. When the group had just walked in, even though the Cave Spider Queen was clearly a demon immortal, it was He Lingchuan who walked in the center, immediately highlighting his status.

So Madam Zhu personally lifted it out of the icy dungeon, then handed it two large chunks of profound crystal. Lingguang hopped over and gave it several healing elixirs.

Madam Zhu later learned by asking that this creature had its cave dwelling in the active volcano north of Flashgold Plain, just like Zujia, barely surviving by relying on the true fire of the earth's core and mostly staying in hibernation. However, with the recent resurgence of spiritual energy in the world, it had awakened from its long slumber, mostly dry-steaming by the lava pool and only occasionally coming to the surface for fresh air.

It was unknown which damned bird demon leaked the news of its emergence from seclusion; the Sky Devils discovered it was here and came to coerce it with the scale-oath.

Seeing it was still listless, Madam Zhu was displeased. "If you surrender, surrender properly! What kind of attitude is that?"

"Miaozhantian is dead; the Sky Devils must be furious," Jieshui said resentfully. "Venerable Lingxu is even more powerful than Miaozhantian, and it lost a true immortal's body in the Upside-Down Sea. How can it not seek revenge? It's too dangerous to be around you all."

Madam Zhu retorted, "Were you safe with Miaozhantian?"

Jieshui raised a paw and scratched its chin in annoyance. "Who knew it would fail so unexpectedly? Ah, I shouldn't have emerged from seclusion!"

Miaozhantian's death in battle—such an extremely low-probability event had actually happened to it! If it had known this, it shouldn't have shown itself. How much better it would have been to continue surviving comfortably and warmly in its happy little nest.

Madam Zhu said coolly, "My sister originally also hid in the Demonic Nest Marsh, thinking she could live a peaceful life, free from conflict. But later she was forced to hide here and there; Beijia still hunted her down to the ends of the earth. Heh heh, the great changes in the world have arrived; what's the use of hiding? If you don't look for trouble, trouble will find you anyway. You might as well be proactive!"

So, she actively came out to fight.

"Yes, trouble finds me anyway..." Jieshui asked, surprised, "Huh, wait, your sister? Which one is your sister? Don't tell me..."

As the two demons chatted amongst themselves, Dong Rui listened, cracking melon seeds, while He Lingchuan went to see Elder Xutuo.

This green ox had already had an in-depth conversation with Elder Liu and had understood seven or eight tenths of what had happened in the lower realm.

Of course, Elder Liu omitted any mention of the past grievances between Qianhuan and He Lingchuan.

Since the Illusion Sect was now under He Lingchuan's command, it was better not to let the stubborn green ox demon know about these old feuds.

Elder Xutuo usually followed Xiao Wencheng's lead and was not resistant to his dying wish. In fact, he was quite happy because He Lingchuan said that they would be fighting frequently once they left.

"I want to go too!"

Elder Liu explained that the ox was originally a rebellious demon ox that had harmed countless humans and demons. Later, it was subdued by True Immortal Qianhuan and taken as a disciple. Over the years, whenever Spirit Mountain sent people to battle in the mortal world, Elder Xutuo had gone at least seven or eight times.

A typical example of actively engaging with the world.