Chapter 2019: Catch and Escape

The woman raised her right hand and made a gesture as if scattering rice grains. The bat demon-puppet suddenly slowed, transforming from a streaking meteor to a decrepit ox-cart. Stagnation Art!

This divine art shared a similar principle with the immortals' slowing spell. However, it didn't slow the enemy's movements directly but rather altered the density of the surrounding space. No matter how fast the bat demon-puppet flew through the air, its speed would inevitably decrease upon entering water or mire.

"This demon-puppet is interesting," she murmured, beckoning with a finger. As if drawn by an invisible force, the bat demon-puppet glided unwillingly towards her.

Just then, the western annex burst open, or rather, was torn apart. Something pushed aside the pillars, revealing a reddish-brown shell—

The sheer size of the colossal creature was too much for the annex to contain.

"Snail Toad!" The corners of the woman's mouth curved slightly. She had indeed found the right person.

The fellow inside was Dong Rui, the demon-puppet master and companion to Emperor Jiuyou!

The monster within was the Snail Toad demon-puppet he had stitched together.

It was a pity he had remained inconspicuous during his time in Begar. Otherwise, capturing him then would have saved so much trouble later on!

With the annex collapsed, the Snail Toad could clearly be seen banging its head against the ground. It bounced a few times but couldn't burrow.

The ground was as hard as rock; the Snail Toad could burrow through earth, but not stone.

Since the woman had come to capture Dong Rui, she had to prevent his escape. This petrification spell was perfectly timed.

However, she suddenly withdrew her hand and glided about two zhang to her right.

The next instant, a cloud of fiery mist erupted from the spot where she had been crouching. Two sharp claws flashed with cold light, and then a hideous head emerged from the mist, baring its fangs at her.

Had she moved even a second slower, she would have been disemboweled.

But she was highly sensitive to spatial disturbances and had anticipated the attack.

This newly appeared monster was, of course, Number 66.

The Snail Toad tried again, but it was no use; it couldn't burrow, and the ground remained rock-hard.

The divine art was still in effect.

Without wasting time, it turned and leapt outwards.

The petrification spell must have a limited range, right? All it needed to do was get out of the affected area.

However, just as the Snail Toad lifted its leg, it suddenly slammed back down. It was as if an invisible giant hand had forcefully pressed it to the ground.

The harder it tried to get up, the greater the force became.

The Snail Toad's four limbs, braced against the ground, trembled violently. After a few breaths, it couldn't hold on, collapsing heavily onto the ground.

In contrast, although the bat demon-puppet and Number 66 also felt several times heavier, they could still move freely, albeit at a slower pace than before.

This was the concurrent pressure effect of the large-scale petrification spell: an immense weight. Within the petrification spell's effective range, the heavier a creature's own weight, the greater the pressure it endured. Given the Snail Toad's massive size, it was truly crushed motionless. Fortunately, it had undergone continuous enhancement and modification by Dong Rui. If it were still the initial, primitive version from the time of demon-capture in Begar, its internal organs and blood would have been squeezed out of its mouth instantly.

Since the Snail Toad couldn't carry Dong Rui to escape, he had to emerge from its mouth and flee on his own.

Compared to his demon-puppets, Dong Rui's individual combat strength was negligible.

The woman was waiting for this to happen. Otherwise, after dealing with the two demon-puppets, she would have had to extract him herself.

However, the skin on her face and hands began to crack, like fissures appearing on ice, and started to seep blood. But she remained completely unconcerned, as if the injuries belonged to someone else.

Although the Emperor's Dew had just fallen, temporarily enriching the world's spiritual energy, this physical vessel was not ideal; it could only bear a limited amount of divine power. She had to carefully control her strength to avoid accidentally tearing it apart.

Tsk, still too fragile.

But just then, the Snail Toad suddenly retracted into its shell.

This was a unique maneuver. Its back shell, harder and thicker than steel, rumbled towards the woman like a giant, upright wheel.

The Snail Toad could not shrink in size while carrying someone, so Dong Rui ordered it to retract into its shell.

The Snail Toad's shell was originally a treasure from the Azure Palace, named the "Mud Palace," with an attached internal space. As soon as the Snail Toad retracted, it entered the "Mud Palace's" inner space, becoming unaffected by external forces.

Number 66 had already launched a fierce attack on the woman. Now the giant shell came rolling directly towards her.

If this attack were aimed at her true form, she could shatter it with a wave of her hand. But now, constrained by the weakness of her possessed body, she could only transform into a grey rainbow and flash to one side, avoiding it.

The snail shell continued to roll towards the center of the street, intending to burrow away once it was out of the petrification spell's range. As long as Dong Rui hid safely underground, he could leisurely command a few demon-puppets to toy with this heavenly deity.

He saw at a glance that this heavenly deity had not descended into an immortal's body. Therefore, her time and power in this existence were bound to be limited.

The problem, however, was that the Emperor's Dew had arrived tonight!

When the spiritual dew descended, the concentration of spiritual energy in the world would become extremely dense within a short period. This was highly beneficial for powerful immortals and demons. Elder Xutuo himself had confirmed that when the Emperor's Dew erupted for seventeen consecutive nights recently, the spiritual energy concentration on the latter nights had almost rivaled that of the Inverted Sea before the war.

Of course, the spiritual energy concentration would recede after dawn.

Although tonight's spiritual dew couldn't compare to that time, it certainly made powerful beings feel much more at ease.

Otherwise, if the woman had used such a wide-ranging petrification spell, her physical vessel would have sustained more than just these injuries.

As the snail shell rolled past her, she suddenly extended her hand. A rune on her palm glowed with a grey light.

It was the character "Seal" etched in ancient Celestial Demon script, deeply carved to the bone.

Since the "Mud Palace" was an old treasure of the Azure Palace, Qingyang had naturally emphasized its properties and usage to the heavenly deity. The moment the Snail Toad retracted into the Mud Palace to evade the immense weight, the woman would seize the opportunity to seal it, preventing it from extending once it had shrunk.

However, the next instant, Number 66 flickered into existence directly in front of her palm, striking her wrist with a claw.

This tiger-shaped monster was formidable. If the blow had landed, the wrist of her physical vessel would have fractured, so the woman quickly withdrew her hand.

After this lunge, Number 66 stopped moving. A faint grey light pulsed across its body.

It had intercepted this sudden disaster for the Snail Toad but had been sealed itself.

This divine art could seal its power and also functioned as a binding spell.

The woman was furious, as the rune on her palm had dimmed and no longer glowed.

Although the sealing spell was powerful, it was pre-engraved, and this physical vessel could only use it once.

Just as she was about to strike Number 66 on the top of its head, a flicker of light appeared before her eyes, and the bat demon-puppet lunged forward.

It hadn't grown larger, maintaining its small size for the attack, precisely to avoid being stagnated by the heavenly deity again. If the woman ignored it, it could punch through her head.

The Snail Toad rolled like lightning towards the gate. It knocked down the courtyard wall without pausing, heading directly for the center of the street.

The woman dodged a lunge from the bat demon-puppet and was about to flash after the Snail Toad. Suddenly, a shadow flickered nearby, and then a large net shot out from behind the broken wall!