Chapter 2045: 集火

Blood Fiend's cultivation was above He Lingchuan's. Logically, He Lingchuan should have been protecting the sapling while Blood Fiend fought. However, after staying with He Lingchuan for a long time, Blood Fiend surprisingly had no objections to this arrangement.

The Juram tree was growing rapidly, as if aware of the critical situation, not pausing for a second.

When it grew a bit more, He Lingchuan, busy as he was, glanced at it a few times and suddenly noticed that its leaves were different from those of the Juram trees in Dragoncoil City. They were rounder, thicker, and had tiny bifurcations at the tips.

Yet, they looked very familiar; he must have seen them before.

At that moment, the air behind him was suddenly disturbed. He Lingchuan, sensing danger, lunged forward.

This was quite difficult because the cauldron was filled with raging fire, causing the air to constantly warp and effectively interfering with human senses.

Without turning his head, He Lingchuan extended his divine sense and saw that the attacker reached only his waist. At first glance, it looked human, slender and short, but it was covered in fur, and its tail was as short as a rabbit's.

Its face had small eyes, a long face, white cheeks, a red nose, a protruding mouth, pointed ears, and a neatly trimmed white long beard under its jaw.

He Lingchuan recognized the "Xiangyang True Immortal" immediately upon seeing its unique appearance, without needing anyone to explain.

This was a Shanmao, also known as a "Mountain Ghost." It resembled a Shanxiao but was much more agile.

He Lingchuan recognized it at once because this creature had appeared in the Dragoncoil World before!

After Dragoncoil City captured Xianyou's capital, Beijia was enraged and dispatched a large army westward to teach Dragoncoil City a harsh lesson.

General Hong led the resistance, and among the masters sent by Beijia was this very Xiangyang True Immortal!

This creature had killed countless people on the battlefield and was eventually driven back by General Hong/Mitian.

But He Lingchuan was also on the battlefield at the time, so he had a deep impression of it and felt a headache upon seeing it.

Xiangyang True Immortal achieved immortality through martial arts, not relying on many divine abilities or spells. Such a specialized demon-immortal was very difficult to deal with.

This Shanmao's characteristic was its speed and unpredictability. He Lingchuan had once seen it kill ten people in a single breath on the battlefield; its speed was beyond mere "swiftness." Moreover, these ten people were scattered, the farthest being fifteen zhang away, not lined up for it to slaughter.

Even Dong Rui's bat demon puppets couldn't match such skill.

As soon as He Lingchuan saw it, his precious halberd shifted slightly, its length sharply reducing from one zhang to three chi, transforming directly from a halberd into a double-bladed axe.

"An inch shorter, an inch deadlier." Long weapons were not ideal against such exceptionally agile opponents.

Such a divine weapon naturally allowed its length to be adjusted at will.

The Clanging Dragon Armor was also enveloped in a layer of blood-red light.

"Origin Power!" All the powerful beings observing from outside the cauldron recognized this power without mistake, and all of them, except Qingyang, were somewhat astonished.

He Xiao had been teleported to a desolate wilderness by their Grand Mountain-Moving Array, more than ten li away from his own army. More importantly, without national fortune to rely on, where did he get Origin Power?

Not to mention the blood-red light, which indicated an incredibly dense Origin Power.

This was illogical and defied all known principles!

Qingyang's face was grim. "When he caused chaos in the Celestial Palace years ago, he also displayed Origin Power upon escaping, misleading our investigation at one point!"

At that time, she and Baizhantian were pursuing He Xiao and the Cave Spider Queen. The Origin Power He Xiao displayed led them to mistakenly believe he was an official or military general from Beijia!

Subsequent investigations also focused on this direction. Coupled with the agitation caused by the Elixir of Immortality case that shook the court and public, opportunists seized the chance to stir up trouble with false accusations, slander, and framing, resulting in a large number of unjust, false, and wrongly decided cases.

Five years had passed, and the aftershocks of those chaotic cases still lingered; no one dared to mention them much.

And the result? The result was that this He Xiao somehow exploited a loophole in the rules and obtained such dense Origin Power from who-knew-where!

A few years ago, Qingyang would have considered the secret of the Origin Power he possessed to be of immense value, far surpassing Dong Rui's demon puppet techniques. Such a person should have been captured and brought back to Beijia to fully disclose these secrets.

Unfortunately, times had changed. Qingyang's demand at this moment was singular:

Kill him!

With Origin Power empowering him, He Lingchuan's five senses instantly became sharper, and his reactions were a step faster than usual.

He originally had two supreme defensive treasures, Blood Fiend and Soul-Capturing Mirror, but neither was currently with him, so he had to be extra cautious.

At that moment, a shadowy figure flickered before his eyes, like a mosquito flitting past a mortal. He Lingchuan, without thinking, swung his short halberd, and with a clang, deflected a slender sword.

The sword, shaped like an oversized nail, suddenly emerged from thin air and thrust straight at He Lingchuan's eyes, without any warning whatsoever.

Logically, He Lingchuan had just dodged an attack from the Xiangyang True Immortal, and his focus was still on his rear. This new attack was coming straight at him, so he shouldn't have been able to dodge it.

Yet, his short halberd precisely struck aside the nail-like spike, and his left hand raised the Fusheng Saber, immediately following with a diagonal slash!

It was swift, firm, and ruthless, no less potent than the Xiangyang True Immortal's own attack.

The attacker holding the nail-spike failed to dodge and had its right neck severed by the saber.

The faces of those watching from outside the cauldron changed. With Origin Power empowering him, He Xiao's abilities had greatly increased; he could even directly block an immortal's thrust!

His Origin Power was not only dense but also powerful.

He Lingchuan also heard the Soul-Capturing Mirror's startled exclamation: "Cloning technique!"

Yes, this attacker was also a Xiangyang True Immortal.

He Lingchuan himself had a clone, so he wasn't surprised to see two Xiangyang True Immortals appear one after another. Moreover, he knew that this powerful opponent's skills went beyond that.

Sure enough, just as he severed the second Xiangyang True Immortal and before his saber was fully retracted, whooshing sounds of wind came from his side-rear, front-left, and even below.

The enemy from behind was pursuing, and short blades arrived again from the front-left and below.

The third, and fourth Xiangyang True Immortals!

Then came whooshing sounds as hundreds of small swords, like shadows, attacked He Lingchuan from three directions!

The Azure Veil Sword Array, which had appeared at the very beginning, suddenly reappeared.

Sutra, who was grappling with the giant snake, looked back and saw two more figures inside the cauldron, identical in height, build, and face. Both were forming sword incantations with their hands, their movements perfectly synchronized.

These were a pair of twins, also the controllers of the Azure Veil Sword Array.

They were both attendants of the Xiangyang True Immortal, skilled in numerous sword array secret arts. Several small swords also hovered around them, flying to protect their bodies.

Sutra broke into a cold sweat. So many immortal clones ambushing/ganging up on He Lingchuan alone effectively blocked all avenues of escape. Could he withstand it?

From its perspective, He Lingchuan had no way out unless he could teleport.

While planting the mutated Juram seed was a way to break the deadlock, it also limited his range of movement, preventing him from being as flexible and versatile as before.

The still-growing sapling had become his weakness. Qingyang immediately seized upon this contradiction, allocating most of her power to ensure He Lingchuan was crushed on the spot!