Chapter 2038: Being Ended Ahead of Time

With a clatter, the sword rain was deflected, and the Blood Fiend transformed back into a cloak, returning to He Lingchuan’s back.

It needed a moment to recover.

It wasn’t that it was too weak; it was that the opponent’s strategy was clearly designed to counter it!

The surroundings instantly became clear. He Lingchuan looked around and couldn’t help but feel a secret alarm.

What was this place?

They were in an unknown space, roughly the size of two training grounds combined. The ground was entirely soil, and the walls and floor were covered in massive root-like structures.

The walls themselves were an amalgamation of wood and earth.

Looking further up, they saw a patch of sky no larger than a palm.

Were they… trapped inside a wooden barrel?

On the stoutest root ahead stood a person, who smiled at He Lingchuan and said:

"He Xiao, we meet again."

She deliberately took a few extra glances at He Lingchuan's cloak. Was it a magic artifact? It didn't seem so. It looked more like something attached to it, not inanimate, but not exactly alive either.

No wonder this fellow He Xiao calls himself the Great Emperor of Nine Hells; he certainly has a lot of strange things about him.

How could an ordinary magic artifact withstand an immortal's sword array and the Scorching Sun True Fire?

He Lingchuan took a shallow breath, summoned his long halberd into his right hand, and lightly tapped its tip on the ground:

"Protector Qingyang," he said, "life is short. I gave you more time, so why didn't you cherish it?"

Qingyang, of course, understood:

The Dragon God Army would soon begin its war against Yao Kingdom. If they were to meet again then, she might have lived a few more days longer.

"Back in Lingxu City," she said, "I should have crushed you with a single finger." Every time she thought of it, Qingyang was filled with regret. "It's never too late to mend, and I can't let you continue to harm Beijia."

Five years ago, He Xiao had come to Lingxu City alone, acting with borrowed prestige under a nominal title from Chiyan Kingdom. If she had been willing to exert a little more effort and face a bit more trouble to eliminate him then, she wouldn't have left such a root of disaster for the Emperor!

While they conversed, He Lingchuan glanced at the ground and immediately understood the trap he had fallen into:

An incredibly complex array was carved beneath their feet, every line composed of pure red gold, and in its eight corners were embedded bronze talismans.

Before he could think further, Elder Xutuo blurted out, "The Great Mountain Moving Array!"

The Great Mountain Moving Array could instantly transport anyone within it up to ten *li* away, but not into a confined space. Beijia's mastery of this divine art was certainly highly refined; the journey from Lingxu City's lower city to the Floating Island, for instance, relied on this very array.

However, since the Floating Island itself was a magic artifact, and the Great Mountain Moving Array was nested within it, "teleportation" was an inherent property of the divine artifact, consuming only one-tenth of the energy an ordinary Great Mountain Moving Array would require.

But deploying the Great Mountain Moving Array in the wilderness was far from easy. The superior profound crystals it consumed were measured by the basketful, and it also required an offering—namely, that Jindun Ghostling.

Qingyang had truly gone to great lengths to capture them.

He Lingchuan also roughly figured out where the other array diagram for this Mountain Moving Array was located:

The flat boulder at the mouth of the karst cave… its underside!

No one would idly flip over such a massive boulder to inspect its underside. So, Qingyang and her group had painted the Great Mountain Moving Array's diagram there. The Jindun Ghostling, captured by the "Mountain-Fixing Shield," was placed atop the boulder, and He Lingchuan would certainly have to stand on it as well.

Once the array was activated, anyone standing on the boulder would be teleported here.

This was an extremely clever move, directly isolating He Lingchuan from his thousand-plus elites and casting him into this unknown location.

Furthermore, this place wasn't entirely enclosed; daylight could still be seen above—at least for now.

He Lingchuan turned to Nanrong He, who had immediately distanced himself upon arrival and now stood two *zhang* away, a cold sneer on his face.

There was no need to pretend anymore.

"What's going on?" He Lingchuan stared at him. "Who are you?"

As he spoke, he channeled true energy into his eyes, carefully scrutinizing the other person.

If this were an illusion, it should have been revealed by now. With the blessing of the Great Evolution Heavenly Pearl and primordial energy protecting him, it was difficult for any disguise to deceive him.

Yet, no matter how he looked, the person before him remained Nanrong He; he didn't appear to be an impostor.

Could it be that Nanrong He truly harbored malicious intent and had been feigning surrender from the very beginning?

"Nanrong He, the genuine article," Nanrong He said, baring his teeth in a chilling smile. "You seized my territory; surely you didn't think there would be no price to pay?"

He Lingchuan frowned.

If Nanrong He had intended to harm him, he had had several good opportunities in the past few days. Why wait until today?

Furthermore, Nanrong He had already lost one son, and his remaining children weren't with him.

To set a trap for He Lingchuan, would he truly need to sacrifice his most beloved youngest son?

He Lingchuan ignored him, instead pointing his halberd tip at Qingyang. "Is this all the manpower you have?" he scoffed. "I thought you would be more thoroughly prepared."

Several people stood around Qingyang, each with a different appearance.

Qingyang smiled. "It's enough," she said. "Your so-called 'Dragon God' will be refined into a Dragon Pearl right here in the Wood King Cauldron!"

A cauldron? He Lingchuan's expression flickered, and a gust of wind swept past him.

Elder Xutuo had already charged forward.

What was the point of more talk? Act! Don't give the enemy time to trigger their next trap.

One of Qingyang's companions raised a hand and formed a sword-incantation seal. The hundreds of small swords instantly converged into the shape of a long spear, thrusting fiercely towards Elder Xutuo, intending to pierce his skull.

This entire set of small swords was known as the "Azure Mist Sword Array."

Manipulating objects from a distance to attack enemies like this was already a technique of the immortals!

The spiritual energy of heaven and earth had recently become increasingly abundant; its concentration was now about three times what it had been before He Lingchuan's great uproar in the Heavenly Palace, leading to a constant emergence of new divine arts and techniques.

It was the same principle as large fish appearing in deep water: the difficulty of performing such immortal magic had decreased slightly—

Even a slight decrease was enough to shift the tide of battle.

Elder Xutuo showed no fear whatsoever, lowering his head and charging straight into it.

Just as the azure spear was about to strike his back, he performed a sudden upward leap, his massive ox horns colliding directly with the spearhead.

This agility was in stark contrast to his bulky physique.

With a resounding clang, the azure spear shattered into countless small swords. Elder Xutuo, too, was momentarily stunned by the impact, his momentum faltering.

A faint light flashed beside him, and though launched later, it arrived first: He Lingchuan had directly hurled the Fusheng Blade straight at Qingyang!

The strike was faster than lightning; the myriad azure swords in the sky didn't even have time to react before the cold gleam of the blade reflected on Qingyang's face.

If she dared to parry, the Fusheng Blade held many subsequent variations.

However, Qingyang was not impulsive; she made a strange move instead:

She leaned backward.

She then sank into the wall, as smoothly as if submerging into water.

The Fusheng Blade struck the wall, severing a wooden root with a "clang," but failing to hit its target.

The reverberation sounded like the clang of metal.

Evidently, this place was not as simple as it appeared on the surface.

He Lingchuan made a diagonal cutting gesture, and the Fusheng Blade swept along the wall in a lightning-fast series of diagonal cuts.

Qingyang's companions also plunged into the wall, but one or two were always a half-beat too slow. The Fusheng Blade swept past, severing two scraps of cloth and half a shin!

Immediately, the light dimmed.

He Lingchuan looked up to find the sky gone.