Chapter 2056: Mu Su Zhenjun

Everyone heard Qinyang's last word, which was beside the point.

Liu Qingdao, standing nearby, whispered, "She's gone."

He Lingchuan stared at the flute in his hand for a long time, lost in thought. No one knew what he was thinking.

Then he put away the flute and bowed respectfully to Qinyang's remains as a farewell.

She was a formidable enemy, yet also a respectable one.

After Miao Zhantian's fall, she single-handedly held off He Lingchuan and the Dragon God Army for over half a year, despite having a terrible hand.

Unfortunately, fortune was not on her side.

She was truly worthy of being Imperial Advisor Qinyang—the Nine Underworld Emperor's assessment, those few words were enough.

He jumped down from the large tree and told Luo Xie, "Treat her with respect and give her a grand burial."

Imperial Advisor Qinyang was an exceptional talent; she deserved a dignified departure.

Luo Xie immediately assented and personally climbed the tree.

Xutuo and the others also jumped down from the tree, looking around.

"Where's True Lord Wood Constellation?" Xutuo fumed. "That fellow got away!"

After the fight, it was limping slightly, so it transformed back into a small calf shape to reduce the strain on its legs.

He Lingchuan extended his Floating Life Blade, picked up a broken vine from the ground, and watched it gradually turn to ash.

Liu Qingdao tapped his toe on the ground: "Look, this cauldron is still alive."

Innumerable tendrils stretched out from the fragments of the Wood King Cauldron, intertwining with each other, piece by piece, one after another. Though slow, it seemed intent on reassembling itself.

Although heavily damaged, the cauldron immediately sought to repair itself.

He Lingchuan took a couple of steps when the divine bone necklace inside his tunic suddenly heated up, becoming incredibly hot in an instant.

It wanted to eat, very much so!

He immediately looked down, searching.

Before long, he kicked aside a large rock and discovered something unusual:

A fragment of the Wood King Cauldron was deforming.

It was an inconspicuous piece. The original surface of the Wood King Cauldron was brass-colored, looking more like metal than wood. Its deformation was also peculiar; it seemed to be kneading itself back into a small wooden cauldron, no larger than a palm.

Moreover, as it deformed, it sank into the ground, with yellow mud already covering its "waist." If He Lingchuan had arrived a few breaths later, it likely would have vanished underground.

"Why run?" He swung his halberd like an axe and fiercely cleaved the fragment.

Clang! It shattered cleanly once more.

After the Wood King Cauldron had been broken, it wasn't so hard to smash anymore.

He Lingchuan immediately dug out a small cyan sphere from it, about the size of a quail egg. It had the transparency of amber but was still quite elastic when squeezed.

As soon as it was dug out, the sphere trembled incessantly, even becoming slippery, trying to roll away from He Lingchuan's hand.

He Lingchuan wouldn't let it escape; he firmly gripped it and fed it to the divine bone necklace.

The necklace swallowed it in one gulp and stopped heating up.

The fragments of the Wood King Cauldron on the ground also ceased their activity, no longer trying to complete or repair themselves.

This showed the importance of that cyan amber.

At this point, the Dragon God Army brought over a captive.

This unfortunate soul had previously had a foot severed by the Floating Life Blade, rendering him unable to walk or run quickly. When the Green Guards retreated, he was left behind.

However, he had remained outside the Wood King Cauldron, witnessing the entire process.

He Lingchuan questioned him. Upon hearing that True Lord Wood Constellation had thrown himself onto the Wood King Cauldron and then merged with it, he couldn't help but feel surprised:

"You mean he never separated from the cauldron again?"

The captive's answer was also very firm: "Not from what we saw!"

Xutuo asked in surprise, "Then what's going on? Did True Lord Wood Constellation sacrifice himself for the cauldron?"

He had only seen magical artifacts shattering to protect their masters, never a master dying to protect an artifact.

Liu Qingdao, listening nearby, pondered for a moment and then said, "Perhaps it's a trick?"

"Ah, what do you mean?" Xutuo asked his senior brother. "You're saying he escaped? But if he escaped, there's no need to put on a show for these captives, is there?"

"No, what I mean is, perhaps 'True Lord Wood Constellation' itself was just a decoy."

Upon hearing this, He Lingchuan understood Liu Qingdao's meaning: "Elder Liu believes that 'True Lord Wood Constellation' was merely an external avatar, and its true form was the Wood King Cauldron?"

Some immortals could refine external avatars, also known as external Dharma forms; but could a cauldron refine a human-shaped Dharma form?

Tsk tsk, that's quite an inversion.

He Lingchuan could entertain this thought because True Person Qianhuan had done something quite similar. Its true form was a large clam shell, yet it had refined several human-shaped Dharma forms.

"Precisely. Perhaps it deliberately created this illusion, leading others to mistakenly believe that the human form was True Lord Wood Constellation's true body. After all, the Dharma form always carries the true form; what does it matter which is primary? One must remember that many ancient immortals achieved fame not because their own strength was incredibly formidable, but because their natal artifacts were exceptionally powerful. So, it was able to keep up the deception."

He Lingchuan nodded.

He had read many ancient texts in the Coiling Dragon World, including ancient books sent by Spirit Mountain, which mentioned that ancient immortals often had two paths: either cultivate their own strength vigorously or specialize in refining artifacts.

Vigorously cultivating oneself was the most fundamental path, but it was also difficult, arduous, and dangerous, with countless people dying from a single misstep.

Specializing in artifacts was relatively safer. The key was to possess a few exceptionally powerful artifacts and then continuously polish, strengthen, and nourish them... In any case, they were natal artifacts and wouldn't fall into others' hands. The stronger they became, didn't that mean the master also became stronger?

Naturally, those with abundant resources could pursue both paths simultaneously.

Liu Qingdao pointed at the fragments on the ground: "By breaking the Wood King Cauldron, you essentially shattered its true form in one go. The external avatar rushed back to reinforce the true form, but it was already beyond saving."

He Lingchuan immediately recalled the cyan amber that the divine bone necklace had consumed. The Great Square Flask's discernment was as sharp as ever.

Xutuo, the last of the Illusion Sect immortals to join the sect, whose knowledge was not as extensive as his senior brothers', also clicked his tongue: "An artifact can even cultivate into a demon immortal. But what kind of tree seed did you throw out, Great Emperor? It's truly impressive."

At this moment, the Dragon God Army soldiers also stood at the foot of the giant tree, looking up in awe.

Everyone had heard about the immortal battle that just occurred here and held even greater reverence for the Dragon God.

Growing such a tall divine tree from nothing in just fifteen minutes, directly bursting an immortal's precious cauldron—that certainly sounded like a miracle only the Dragon God could accomplish!

He Lingchuan smiled, not hiding anything from them: "Qinyang was right; this was the work of the Great Square Flask, possessing the characteristics of both the Inquiry Tree and the Jurou Wood."

Before, he would never have revealed such a secret.

But now, he no longer needed to deliberately hide his connection with the Great Square Flask.

Moreover, these two elders of the Illusion Sect had always known that He Lingchuan could wield the power of the Great Square Flask. Any further concealment would be treating them as outsiders.

Sure enough, Xutuo simply uttered an "Oh" and didn't press further, clearly finding the answer reasonable.

He Lingchuan dispatched two teams to pursue Yuan Xuan and the other Green Guards, while he himself, along with the two immortals, began to withdraw.

On the way, Xutuo recounted the details of the recent battle to his senior brother.

Liu Qingdao was also surprised to hear how much He Lingchuan's cultivation had advanced.