Chapter 699: Second Sister, You Finally Woke Up

## Chapter 693: Second Mother, You're Finally Awake!

He Lingchuan watched as a wisp of white smoke flew out of the ocarina and circled Zhu Erniang's demon-immortal remains twice.

It was a phantom image, resembling a small spider about half a finger long. It surprisingly had wings on its back that vibrated like a bee's, and all eight of its legs clutched a small, round, flat white ball.

Earlier, during their planning, the Eyeball Spider had explained that this was a 'soul cocoon'.

Zhu Erniang's remains were not merely an outer shell; they contained soft internal tissues, even retaining muscles and some organs, along with dozens of egg sacs.

The spider eggs were still active. He Lingchuan had seen Zhu Erniang's army of burrowing spiders and knew that her eggs could produce a wide variety of offspring.

But this alone was far from enough to unleash the power of a demon-immortal's body.

The soul cocoon, sealed within the ocarina, retained a portion of Zhu Erniang's primary consciousness. Upon entering the remains, it immediately stimulated the spider eggs, causing them not to produce offspring, but to grow into the additional organs, muscles, glands, and soft tissues required by the remains.

Simply put, the spider eggs would transform into the flesh and blood filling the remains, allowing Zhu Erniang to control them more effectively.

He Lingchuan understood the concept of this mysterious immortal technique, but couldn't fully grasp it. "To put it simply," he asked, "is this like an external avatar?"

"You could say that," came the reply.

At this moment, the remains were as stable as a mountain, with several golden lights occasionally sweeping across their surface. Runes were engraved on the eight crystal pillars, glowing with the same golden light.

He Lingchuan knew at a glance that there were still at least a few restrictions on the remains, preventing outsiders from approaching or moving them.

If he were to touch them rashly, the outcome might not be much better than when he had just collided with the glass shield.

He had no idea how these restrictions worked or how they could be broken.

The Sky God's protection of this formation core was truly layered, even tampering with the remains themselves.

He Lingchuan had done everything he could; the rest was beyond his control and depended on Zhu Erniang herself.

Just as He Lingchuan worried that the small spider couldn't get close to the remains, the demon-immortal remains' chelicerae suddenly opened outward on their own.

Compared to its body size, a spider's mouthparts could truly be called tiny.

But for the winged spider, it was a giant opening.

It accelerated and flew over, and the remains suddenly lunged forward, directly swallowing the small spider.

He Lingchuan broke out in a cold sweat watching this. The remains had been vacant for many years, yet could now move autonomously, which could only be explained by the incredibly strong bond between them and Zhu Erniang.

In just a few breaths, the stone man could no longer withstand the storm-like siege and was forced to crumble into a pile of rubble.

With the stone man gone, He Lingchuan had to step in himself.

He used his heavy shield to block the hole, pressing against it firmly with his shoulder, and exerted force from his waist and legs to perform a 'thousand-jin drop' technique.

The attacks from outside immediately landed on the shield.

The forces inside and outside countered each other, and a stalemate ensued for a while.

Fortunately, the hole was small, limiting the number of enemies who could attack the shield, and they also had to avoid accidentally touching the lightning pool.

After enduring for only a few breaths, Juju's clone suddenly shouted a warning to him: "Get away from the glass shield, quickly, quickly, quickly!"

The ice covering the glass shield quickly receded, and the white frost grew thinner, indicating that the Ice Talisman's effect was wearing off.

The formation core had a continuous and stable energy supply; even the Ice Talisman, rumored to be able to freeze half a mountain, could only freeze it temporarily.

He Lingchuan dared not delay and leaped back with large strides.

Without the mirror shield's obstruction, enemies immediately squeezed through the broken hole.

First, the Lamp Spirit squeezed through the gap and lunged directly at He Lingchuan's head and face.

Two more Glazed Beasts jumped over, their backs hit by two arrows from their own side.

A guard followed closely behind.

But the Ice Talisman's effect vanished at this very moment; the ice completely melted, and molten glass flowed down, completely sealing the opening.

The original formation on the glass shield also activated simultaneously!

The guard was only halfway through climbing the hole, his head inside and legs outside, when the molten glass flowed down. He screamed in agony, then was cut in half at the waist by the formation!

This was more painful than a 'waist-cutting' execution; he didn't die immediately, writhing and wailing on the ground.

The other guards who witnessed this were struck with fear.

The glass shield returned to its original state, isolating them outside. This meant those inside couldn't get out, and those outside couldn't get in.

Unless Chief Doyun himself arrived, no one else could open this dome.

Furthermore, the powerful lightning pool had ironically become an obstacle for them.

The enemies He Lingchuan had to deal with were temporarily reduced to three: two Glazed Beasts immediately pounced, while the Lamp Spirit slyly circled around to his back, preparing to coordinate with its companions in front.

He Lingchuan did not fear the Glazed Beasts. These creatures could instantly recover if struck by ordinary blades, but unfortunately for them, they encountered Fusheng. This blade excelled at slaying formless and insubstantial foes, making it a perfect killer for amorphous monsters like the Glazed Beasts.

But he was wary of the Lamp Spirit.

The Lamp Spirit controlled by Bai Ziqi had left a deep impression on him previously.

"Behind you!" Juju also warned him.

As long as the formation core was not broken, it could not act, serving only as a small radar for He Lingchuan.

However, at this moment, a strange voice rang out:

"Close your eyes, and don't look back!"

Juju was greatly surprised: "What was that?"

Besides the young man and a spider smaller than a fingernail, was there a third living creature here?

He Lingchuan slashed open a Glazed Beast with one strike and, as instructed, closed his eyes.

He recognized the voice instantly:

Zhu Erniang!

She had finally responded.

At that moment, He Lingchuan felt her voice was more beautiful than that of a celestial maiden from the Ninth Heaven!

He exposed his back to the Lamp Spirit, which, of course, didn't hesitate, making a sharp turn and pouncing.

Just as it was about to pounce on He Lingchuan, a powerful beam of light suddenly shot out from behind!

This light was so intense, as if the scorching sun had been gathered into a narrow beam. The guards outside the glass shield who faced this light directly found their vision completely whited out; they could see nothing.

The entire formation core felt as if it had been placed directly under the sun.

Even with He Lingchuan's back to the light source and his eyes tightly shut, he could still feel the intense brightness through his eyelids.

In this intense light, the Lamp Spirit silently disintegrated, like ice and snow thrown onto a charcoal stove.

Fortunately, the intense light only flashed for a brief moment.

When He Lingchuan opened his eyes, the inside of the glass shield had returned to normal, but the guards outside were rolling on the ground, covering their eyes and screaming in pain.

The intense light didn't kill them, but it had blinded them.

He Lingchuan turned his head and just happened to see Zhu Erniang's remains move.

One of the glass pillars had been dislodged by it at some point and was still hanging from its leg. Cracking sounds emanated from its entire body, like stretching joints.

After all, these remains hadn't moved for a very, very long time.

"Second Mother, you're finally awake!" He Lingchuan felt like shedding tears of joy.

He saw golden light still flashing on the giant spider's body. The restrictions laid by the Sky God had not yet failed.

"Pick up the lamp on the ground," Zhu Erniang's voice, delivered by the Eyeball Spider, whispered right into He Lingchuan's ear, "Powerful enemies are approaching!"

He Lingchuan dared not delay, and seeing a small glass lamp indeed lying by its foot, he quickly picked it up.

This appeared to be the precious lamp that originally illuminated the demon remains' abdominal pattern. Its penetrating power was beyond doubt, as it could shine through the demon spider's thick abdomen and project the pattern.

A valuable item; he quickly put it away.

At this moment, the other seven glass pillars flared with golden light, as if trying to forcibly fix the Spider Immortal in place.

Zhu Erniang exerted herself to retract her body, shrinking into an enormous ball, then powerfully thrust her eight legs outward!

With several crisp cracking sounds, five of the seven glass pillars snapped instantly!

Although their binding power was astonishing, Zhu Erniang's remains were the body of an ancient demon-immortal; how could they be easily restrained?

Moreover, when the Sky God designed these glass pillars, how could he have anticipated that quiet remains could suddenly jump, move, and exert force?

These eight pillars were originally meant only for fixation, to prevent the star map on the spider remains' abdomen from shifting.

Now that Zhu Erniang had regained her demon-immortal body, a mere few pillars were insignificant; of course, they would break.

The golden light restrictions around Zhu Erniang's body finally vanished.

Adhering to the principle of frugality and non-waste, He Lingchuan picked up a broken glass pillar and threw it into his storage ring.

How could something used by the Sky God in the core of the Spirit Gathering Array be an ordinary object? The reason he didn't grab more was that these items were too large and heavy for his storage ring.

Sigh, after escaping Lingxu, he would have to find a way to get a large-capacity storage ring; otherwise, returning empty-handed from a treasure mountain would be a disappointment to the heavens themselves.

As he took the small lamp, Zhu Erniang seemed to take a breath, and the star map on her abdomen quickly dimmed, vanishing in the blink of an eye.

As a result, the most crucial bridge the Spirit Gathering Array used to communicate with heaven and earth was gone.

The glass shield suddenly vanished, and the monsters swimming back and forth on the star ring instantly froze.

These formations and restrictions relied entirely on the spiritual energy gathered by the Spirit Gathering Array to operate.

Now that the core of the Spirit Gathering Array was lost, they suddenly lost their energy source.

Even the formation core itself lost its concealing effect, appearing above Kaiyang Peak.

Then, He Lingchuan heard Juju's earth-shattering laughter coming from all directions:

"I'm free, I'm free again!"

The sound shook the four wildernesses and echoed through the mountains.

The light of the Mountains and Rivers Splendor Map suddenly dimmed, and everyone in the Star-Picking Tower was dumbfounded.

How long had it been? And the formation core was already broken? Even having witnessed it firsthand from beside the Mountains and Rivers Map, observing the entire process, they still found it hard to believe.

How could such a thing happen?

There was only one visible external enemy, and they hadn't used any earth-shattering divine abilities, so how could they continuously break formations personally designed by the Sky God?

The most outrageous thing was that the Spider Immortal remains, which served as the sacred object of the formation core, suddenly came to life!

At this moment, anyone standing in the Star-Picking Tower, with their status and discernment, could see at a glance that the spider remains had been activated by the intruder, though they didn't know what method the other party had used.

These ancient demon-immortal spider remains had been stiff for over a decade and had undergone multiple inspections before being placed in the formation.

Bai Ziqi said anxiously, "The intruder must be connected to the immortal remains' original owner."

But the family who had offered the spider remains had been banished from the capital long ago, so where could they find someone in such a short time to clarify the situation?

"If the immortal remains are considered a clone, it's not strange for an ancient great demon to activate its own clone," Chief Doyun said, his face ashen. "Release Chenyuan immediately; we cannot let Juju destroy the Star-Picking Tower! Where is Sakurabi?"

A subordinate immediately replied, "It will take half an incense stick's time, especially since Chenyuan hasn't been properly appeased yet..."

From the change in the formation core array until now, less than forty-five breaths had passed; it was truly too rushed!

"Release it immediately!"

***

The climax at the end of this volume will be substantial. "Demon's Ideal Kingdom," comprising hundreds of thousands of characters across its two volumes and spanning over three months, has all been a long buildup for this final explosion.

Some suggested that I didn't need to write such a complex process, advising me to speed it up, speed it up, and fast-forward directly to the end. That way, my mind wouldn't be tired, and their eyes wouldn't be strained.

Let me put it this way: if I believe it's necessary to engrave on a sesame seed, then I will do so without hesitation. Rushing things at the last moment is disrespectful to the readers.

For readers who find daily updates unbearable, I suggest hoarding chapters; the experience of reading it all in one go is better.

Some also say I deliberately tease readers.

I say you're overthinking it. For this damn ending, I have to revise the daily updates five or six times before publishing them. When I crawl away from my computer desk every morning, my eyes are red like a rabbit's, and I'm as tired as a ghost; how could I possibly have other intentions?

End of Chapter