Chapter 708: Heavenly God Descends

He Lingchuan immediately pointed the way for Madam Zhu Er. The giant spider glided through the mountains as if weightless, its speed barely slower than a flying bird.

It taught He Lingchuan a vivid lesson on how to utilize spider silk.

In reality, Madam Zhu Er's speed was significantly slower than her peak.

On one hand, she was only using the residual power in the spider's shed skin, far from her prime.

On the other hand, the spiritual rain summoned by State Preceptor Qingyang greatly boosted the Heavenly Palace defenders, but it had a delaying and slowing effect on other demons, even demon immortals like Madam Zhu Er.

The spiritual rain, splattering on the ground, was like birdlime—too sticky, significantly hindering her movement.

This was the marvelous application of primal energy: strengthening oneself while weakening the enemy.

State Preceptor Qingyang, anticipating their eventual retreat, had prepared a delaying tactic to buy time for his side.

He Lingchuan could hear the giant spider grumbling curses: "Damn humans," and "Infernal primal energy."

Zu Ju also liked to utter these two phrases.

At the bottom of the lava pool, the shrine's base had melted away, with only the protective barrier still safeguarding the structure.

But surrounded by endless subterranean fire, its energy was rapidly depleting.

After all, it was designed to prevent outsiders from intruding into the shrine, not to withstand the onslaught of true earth fire!

While battling at the bottom of the lava pool, Shen Yuan also had to distract itself by searching for the shrine.

If this item were lost, how would the Heavenly Palace search for the Grand Flask in the future?

But this was Zu Ju's territory; everywhere was blinding red lava, and visibility was extremely low. Further down, it was pitch black.

This distraction immediately led to Zu Ju overpowering and pummeling it.

Just as Shen Yuan finally spotted the shrine and was about to lunge, Zu Ju kicked it far away.

As the fierce battle raged at the bottom of the lava pool, Chief Steward Dou Yun in the Star-Gazing Tower trembled, his eyelids twitching incessantly, causing everyone to worry.

Shen Yuan's mind was frenzied, making it extremely difficult for Chief Steward Dou Yun to control it. The more intense the battle, the stronger Shen Yuan's instinct to resist became.

Anyone else would likely have been torn apart instantly within Shen Yuan's sea of consciousness.

Blood began to trickle from beneath Chief Steward Dou Yun's nose, which the lamp-keeper carefully wiped away.

At this moment, Bai Ziqi rushed to the scene and urgently asked, "Where are the intruders and the Spider Immortal?"

A subordinate replied, "They are currently being searched for."

Heavenly Palace guards dispersed, and avian demons circled, searching everywhere.

State Preceptor Qingyang summoned strong winds, instantly dispersing the thick fog in the valley. As Zu Ju had already submerged underground and was no longer generating new mist, the area around Mount Tian Shu quickly became clear.

Everywhere lay broken tiles and remnants, toppled forests and shattered peaks.

It was a complete mess.

The once majestic Star-Gazing Tower now only had its side hall intact; the rest had been reduced to charred rubble.

However, the surrounding mountains were silent, with no trace of the intruders.

A lamp-keeper quietly murmured, "The Landscape Map is also in the shrine. Without the Landscape Map, we... we can't track the intruders."

The Landscape Map could display the entire Xushan Mountain, and the Star-Gazing Tower could also monitor the intruders' locations.

Now that the Landscape Map was at the bottom of the lava pool, who could find the intruders' whereabouts?

Suddenly, two owls flew down from the sky, landing on a broken tree branch to report: "Traces of the Spider Immortal found seven miles to the east, heading towards either Mount Tianji or Mount Tianquan!"

This might be their last chance to apprehend the Spider Immortal.

Bai Ziqi was about to speak when a voice came from behind him:

"I'll go."

A person stepped forward behind them, stating coldly to State Preceptor Qingyang, "Allocate primal energy for me. I will meet Zu Ju and the Spider Demon."

Everyone, including Bai Ziqi, knelt down with extreme reverence, "We respectfully welcome the God of a Hundred Battles!"

One of the gods had finally descended to the mortal realm.

At the bottom of the lava pool, the barrier protecting the shrine finally shattered.

While it might have withstood full-force attacks from powerful entities within the Star-Gazing Tower, against the ceaseless assault of subterranean fire, it could only vanish miserably.

No matter how fine the wood used to construct the shrine, it couldn't withstand the intense heat of the earth fire, turning to nothing in less than a few breaths.

The two items within the shrine were now exposed in the lava:

The Landscape Map, and the divine object He Lingchuan had been longing for—

The lid of the Grand Flask.

A lava lizard, seemingly from nowhere, crawled out and snatched the divine object in its mouth.

Shen Yuan reached out to grab it, but the object was too small; with a flick of its tail, the lizard disappeared into a crevice under the rocks.

How could a lizard be in the depths of the earth fire? This was merely a clone of Zu Ju.

Even if Shen Yuan possessed fire-warding abilities and was exceedingly brave, it couldn't create countless clones like Zu Ju.

Watching the divine object vanish, Shen Yuan furiously punched the lava floor, cursing, "Damn it!"

Then, the gleam in its eyes faded.

In the side hall of the Star-Gazing Tower, Chief Steward Dou Yun suddenly opened his eyes.

This meant he had relinquished control over Shen Yuan. From now on, the monster would have to fight on its own.

Chief Steward Dou Yun took a deep breath, concealing the exhaustion on his face.

As the foremost figure of the Heavenly Palace, he could never appear incompetent in front of others.

Bai Ziqi stepped forward, asking with concern, "Chief Steward, the shrine...?"

Chief Steward Dou Yun shook his head: "The bottom of the lava pool is still Zu Ju's territory, and the divine object has been seized by it. The immediate priority is to find the intruders. Zu Ju has no use for the divine object and will likely hand it over to its accomplices."

Therefore, finding the intruders presented a high probability of recovering the divine object. This was the current priority.

While Zu Ju was detestable and the Spider Immortal's shed skin was also important, capturing the intruders was the ultimate solution to end this chaotic situation.

State Preceptor Qingyang, standing nearby, said, "The God of a Hundred Battles has already gone after the intruders."

Had the God of a Hundred Battles finally descended successfully? Chief Steward Dou Yun was overjoyed, letting out a long sigh of relief.

Controlling Shen Yuan's mind remotely to battle Zu Ju had already left him mentally and physically exhausted. The gods had always wished to control the Gui Beasts, but unable to do so themselves, they entrusted the attempts to the Beiga.

The method for "perfectly controlling" Gui Beasts had only been developed in recent decades. Undeniably, the more powerful a Gui Beast, the harder it was to control.

This Shen Yuan was a creation of the gods from over two thousand years ago, transformed from a fire-wielding demon immortal. It was later defeated by several immortals and sealed in the far northern lands.

Under the guidance of the gods, Spirit Void City expended great effort to transport it back from the far north and kept it in Zhimi Peak.

This creature was not difficult to maintain, as it mostly slept, only waking once or twice a month to feed. Chief Steward Dou Yun also had to frequently interact with it and establish a connection, finally succeeding in empathizing with it after dozens of failures.

Controlling Shen Yuan in battle was an extremely heavy burden, even for Chief Steward Dou Yun, who possessed a powerful divine soul.

Hearing news of a god's descent at a moment of such mental and physical exhaustion was truly a relief.

Bai Ziqi looked at him, his eyes flickering slightly.

Logically, Chief Steward Dou Yun's strength should have been greater than this, but his performance today was weaker than expected. Was it because his previous injuries hadn't fully healed, or because he was older and lacked the power?

At this moment, another good piece of news arrived:

"Chief Steward, His Majesty has issued a decree, declaring Shen Yuan the Mountain-Lake Guardian of Xushan!"

Chief Steward Dou Yun's spirits lifted: "Good, excellent!"

Zu Ju could move freely throughout Xushan Mountain because it was born from the mountain's subterranean fire and, in a way, represented Xushan itself. Shen Yuan, being an external monster, needed the status of a Mountain-Lake Guardian to traverse hundreds of miles as easily as Zu Ju.

This conferment came at a crucial time; otherwise, Zu Ju could have transported the intruders out of Xushan in mere steps, leaving the Heavenly Palace helpless.

Chief Steward Dou Yun immediately said, "I will command Shen Yuan to intercept them, and find one or two powerful individuals to accompany Shen Yuan."

After all, Shen Yuan was not a true native beast, and its ability to transport people underground was limited; two individuals would be its maximum.

Bai Ziqi was about to speak when State Preceptor Qingyang interjected, "I'll go."

Chief Steward Dou Yun frowned slightly: "You?"

Qingyang was still under probation.

"If I wanted to escape, I wouldn't have come to Xushan a few days ago," State Preceptor Qingyang said calmly. "This matter is critical; can you find anyone more suitable than me?"

Although there were many great demons in Spirit Void City, none were currently on Xushan Mountain.

In terms of cultivation and ability, there was indeed no one present more outstanding than her.

Not to mention, she was Spirit Void's most senior State Preceptor, unmatched in her ability to manipulate primal energy—even the gods were far inferior to her in this regard.

At such a crucial juncture, Chief Steward Dou Yun nodded without further thought: "Very well, you go."

He then turned and instructed Bai Ziqi, "Steward Bai, I'm entrusting this place to you."

Bai Ziqi sighed inwardly. Chief Steward Dou Yun preferring to use State Preceptor Qingyang over him was truly... but he still replied respectfully, "Yes! I will not fail your trust, Chief Steward."

Next, Chief Steward Dou Yun took a deep breath, calmed his mind, and tried to regain control of Shen Yuan.

After he withdrew his divine consciousness earlier, the monster had surfaced from the lava pool after fighting Zu Ju for less than a dozen breaths. Clearly, Zu Ju had escaped, and Shen Yuan, covered in wounds, was lying under the Star-Gazing Tower, gasping for air.

The fierce battle just now had greatly depleted it.

Its opponent was Zu Ju, an ancient rock-fire giant that had survived since ancient times. Even with Chief Steward Dou Yun personally controlling it and with the strong primal energy augmentation from Beiga, Shen Yuan's combat power was still significantly inferior to Zu Ju's.

But its purpose was never to defeat Zu Ju, but rather to contain and delay.

Although Chief Steward Dou Yun was very familiar with Shen Yuan, he had never controlled it twice in a row. Moreover, the monster was now angry, exhausted, and heavily wounded, with high resistance, making it very difficult for him to regain control.

Shortly after entering meditation, blood again began to trickle from beneath Chief Steward Dou Yun's nose, a sign of excessive divine soul depletion.

He was striving to suppress Shen Yuan's divine soul and seize control of the Gui Beast's body.

After a dozen breaths, the gigantic Shen Yuan suddenly moved its heavy body to stand up, then approached the side hall of the Star-Gazing Tower, opened its enormous mouth, and remained motionless.

This indicated an action performed under Chief Steward Dou Yun's control.

To humans, that was an abyssal maw. But State Preceptor Qingyang showed no fear, leaping inside.

Immediately, the monster closed its mouth and plunged headfirst into the lava pool.

In the night, the outline of Mount Tianji was dimly visible.

It was close, only a few dozen zhang away.

Just then, Madam Zhu Er said to He Lingchuan, "Pursuers are coming, strong enemies! I'll cover your retreat, you go first."