Chapter 712: Escape Battle

Chapter 706: The Flight for Survival

The Sea of Reeds was about thirty *li* from Celestial Pivot Peak. At Zhu Erniang's running speed, she could reach it in an instant.

He Lingchuan turned to look back and saw the two masters in close pursuit, running as fast as galloping horses.

"Didn't you say Bai Zhantian was poisoned? It doesn't look slow at all." Was it because elemental power reduced the toxicity? The elemental power of Spirit Void City had previously made him incredibly envious. Now, hehe.

Lu Shishi's vessel was still bleeding, but Bai Zhantian seemed indifferent. It threw spears at Zhu Erniang several times and unleashed various divine abilities repeatedly, but the Spider Immortal dodged them all.

Zhu Erniang's plump body moved in a graceful S-shape several times. It was not easy to ambush a spider demon whose eyes were on its back.

Bai Zhantian's face was grim. It stretched out its palm towards the spider demon's back and twisted sharply to the right.

Divine Art: Dual-Phase Fold.

A black hole simultaneously opened in front of both Zhu Erniang and Bai Zhantian. It was pitch black inside, but had a powerful suction. If Zhu Erniang entered, she would instantly appear directly in front of Bai Zhantian, effectively being pulled back two to three hundred *zhang*. If Bai Zhantian entered, it would take a single step to appear before Zhu Erniang, allowing for close combat. If they both entered simultaneously, uh, it would be like a two-way rush. But fortunately, Qingyang the Imperial Advisor was still on this side.

This was not a combat technique, but merely a short-distance teleportation spell, which was proving remarkably effective at this moment.

Zhu Erniang nearly crashed headfirst into the black hole. Fortunately, its agility was extremely unsuited to its size. At this moment, it displayed the skill of a jumping spider, springing high off its eight claws to leap over the black hole.

He Lingchuan tightly gripped the spider spine beside him, otherwise he would have been flung off.

Bai Zhantian stepped into the black hole, emerging from beneath Zhu Erniang the next second. It casually threw a spear, then clasped its palms together and let out a low cry:

"Crush!"

While in mid-air, Zhu Erniang, using some unknown method, managed to leap even higher, causing the fine steel spear to miss. However, the spear suddenly exploded, its fragments nearly covering half of the spider demon's body.

Bai Zhantian clapped its palms together with a 'snap', and the scattered fragments instantly converged, suddenly shrinking a bit.

Divine Art: Spatial Compression.

Within the spear fragments' covered area, all objects would be compressed into a tiny dot by the divine art. Only the latter half of the Spider Immortal was covered by the fragments, meaning Zhu Erniang could very likely be torn in half by the divine art.

The immortal shell was extremely hard; a steel spear might not harm it. Bai Zhantian did this deliberately, wanting it to suffer this pain.

With a soft 'whoosh', the spear fragments were compressed into a metal ball, the size of a bayberry. Zhu Erniang, however, did not follow suit.

As the divine art took effect, it surprisingly flickered and reappeared forty *zhang* away!

Teleportation.

No matter how much the space behind it compressed, it was no longer relevant to Zhu Erniang.

Immediately after, Qingyang the Imperial Advisor also materialized through the black hole and, with a raised hand, fired three arrows.

These three arrows formed a triangular formation, covering an area of several hundred *zhang* upon landing, perfectly enclosing Zhu Erniang. With the three arrows as boundaries, the entire triangular area shimmered with green light, and every step Zhu Erniang took felt incredibly heavy—

Qingyang the Imperial Advisor's spell had suddenly increased the gravity within the area sevenfold!

Adapting to such gravity conditions was not difficult for the Spider Immortal, but the challenge lay in immediately resuming its light, swift movements in a fast-paced battle. The two ominous figures were right beside them!

Without hesitation, He Lingchuan pulled out a special lightness charm from his pocket and, with a 'thwack', stuck it onto Zhu Erniang.

This was a leftover treasure from his time in the Flooded World, capable of counteracting four times the gravity for twenty breaths.

Although it couldn't completely negate the Imperial Advisor Qingyang's spell, it greatly relieved Zhu Erniang's pressure.

"Hold on tight!" Zhu Erniang's voice simultaneously echoed in his ear.

It leaped forward with all its might, simultaneously retracting its body spikes and eight legs. The plump spider transformed into a large ball, rolling a hundred *zhang* forward!

It was a downhill slope, and its speed was surprisingly fast. If it couldn't run, rolling would surely work, right?

In such a life-or-death escape, it wouldn't bother with any Spider Immortal airs.

Qingyang the Imperial Advisor and Bai Zhantian could only watch it roll away.

In an instant, it rolled out of the green light's range.

Immediately after, the large ball sprouted eight legs again and scurried forward with peculiar strides.

Bai Zhantian's furious voice came from behind:

"Zhu Erniang, after three thousand years, you still only know how to run, with no improvement whatsoever! Don't you want to avenge your sister?"

Zhu Erniang ignored it, burying her head and continuing her long-distance escape. If it could escape, it would be the big winner; why fight? Its mind was perfectly clear.

He Lingchuan, steadying his dizzy head, glanced back. Bai Zhantian and Qingyang the Imperial Advisor had again been left two to three hundred *zhang* behind.

A brief skirmish, and it seemed nothing had changed.

No wonder Zhu Erniang had sworn in the Demon's Nest that once he found the immortal shell and blew the spider ocarina, she would handle the rest. Erniang was indeed a master at this.

Perhaps this tactic consumed too much energy, as Bai Zhantian also slowed down, gritting its teeth and focusing on the strenuous pursuit.

Qingyang the Imperial Advisor glanced at it, secretly sighing that the Heavenly God had misjudged the situation again this time. She could tell that Bai Zhantian's descent to the lower realm was primarily aimed at Jujun. This Heavenly God possessed powerful combat strength, and with Chen Yuan's cooperation, it would have been more than enough to deal with Jujun.

Unexpectedly, Jujun was so yielding, surrendering at the first sign of trouble. Bai Zhantian's targets then shifted to the Spider Immortal and the intruder.

While the Spider Immortal's combat power couldn't compare to Jujun's, its ability to flee was top-notch, with one trick after another. It truly lived up to its reputation as an ancient monster that had survived until now.

Bai Zhantian was formidable in direct combat, but chasing people was definitely not its forte.

With this chase-and-escape, both sides had already covered nine *li*, and He Lingchuan launched another firework into the sky.

This firework was called "Concentric Rings"; when it exploded, it formed a pattern of a large circle encompassing smaller ones, four or five connected rings of various colors.

"Even with the elemental power reduction, my poison isn't easy to endure. These Heavenly Gods don't value their vessels; they only use the 'Blood Boil' divine ability to suppress the toxins in their bodies." Zhu Erniang actually remembered their previous conversation. "Besides, I don't think its current vessel is very suitable. Just wait; it will erupt within half an hour."

"What happens after it erupts?"

"What else could happen? The vessel will die, and the Heavenly God's avatar will return to the divine realm. Our crisis will also be mostly resolved." Zhu Erniang leaped over a giant rock, then continued scurrying forward on her eight long legs. "That is, if we haven't escaped by then."

He Lingchuan guided it to take a shortcut. Jujun's rampage at Mount Xu, with the volcano's eruption, created too much commotion. Squads of Spirit Void City elites would likely be rushing from the Sea of Reeds to reinforce the defenses. He didn't want to encounter anyone on the main road.

He quickly pressed for another question: "What constitutes a 'suitable vessel'?"

Zhu Erniang deliberately turned an eyeball to look at him. To be asking questions about this and that at a life-or-death moment was truly unusual. "A body that allows a Heavenly God to exert greater power without quickly collapsing would be considered suitable, I suppose. I'm not clear on the specifics, but look at Bai Zhantian's current body; it's clearly inadequate."

He Lingchuan looked at Lu Shishi, but thought of General Hong. You don't know until you compare; a comparison is startling. Bai Zhantian had only descended for a short time, and Lu Shishi's body was already showing signs of collapse. What about General Hong? Mitian's descent seemed to have placed no burden on her at all.

Besides Zhong Wugan's body being particularly suitable for divine descent, could it be due to the Grand Quadrilateral Cauldron's influence?

In the blink of an eye, Zhu Erniang had covered several more *li*, and He Lingchuan continued to launch fireworks. But this time, before it could even reach high altitude, a green arrow, launched later, arrived first and struck down the signal arrow he had fired.

Qingyang the Imperial Advisor couldn't stand it any longer and made her move. He Lingchuan looked back; the two pursuers had grim, frosty expressions.

"Oh well." He shrugged. Those who were meant to receive the signal should have received it by now.

The Sea of Reeds competition's opening ceremony had been very grand, with vast crowds and nobles from various families arriving in their finest attire. Half a month later, the competition was nearing its end. With the weather turning colder, the vegetation had further withered, and even the previously magnificent reeds had largely dispersed, leaving only bare stalks. Consequently, very few idle people remained here, mostly logistics personnel from the various competing teams and the Sea of Reeds Guardian Army stationed to guard the rift.

Powerful individuals from the human world could travel to the Flooded World through the Eye of the Storm, and naturally, monsters from the Flooded World could also cross over. Therefore, during each year's competition, the Guardian Army remained on high alert to prevent them from rampaging into the human world. Since they only performed this duty once every two years, this Guardian Army was temporarily formed by drawing elites proportionally from forces like the Imperial Guards and the Concentric Guard, with training commencing three months before each opening of the Flooded World.

Both ends of the Eye of the Storm, the entrances to the human realm and the Flooded World, were guarded by elites. In the first ten days, the Guardian forces on both sides dealt with nearly a hundred Danube Beasts that forcefully tried to cross the Eye of the Storm. A few of them did manage to cross the Eye of the Storm and charge into the human world, but they were also dealt with by the local guards. As time went on, fewer Danube Beasts managed to cross over. This was primarily because most of the Danube Beasts around the spatiotemporal rift had already been killed by the competing teams. With the reduction in hunting, fewer spectators placed bets, and the Guardian Army's work became more relaxed. From time to time, they could even rest, chat, and eat.

But today was different.

The Sea of Reeds was very close to Mount Xu. Just now, everyone had witnessed the eruption of Celestial Pivot Peak, heard the tremendous roar of the eruption, and felt the earth tremble. Was that nightmare-like earthquake from over a decade ago about to repeat itself? In the blink of an eye, the direction of Spirit Void City was also ablaze with flames and booming explosions.

Everyone was bewildered, unsure what was happening on both sides. Immediately after, a series of commands swiftly reached the Sea of Reeds. Following the principle of proximity, the Emperor dispatched the local elites to Mount Xu and Spirit Void City respectively. To fight fires on two fronts.

The combined forces guarding both ends of the Eye of the Storm originally numbered around six thousand; five thousand of them were now redeployed. The Sea of Reeds hunting competition had been held for hundreds of years, and Spirit Void City had a complete understanding of Danube Beasts' habits. Experienced soldiers would not make mistakes even with their eyes closed. In any case, the hunting competition was nearing its end, and there was no real need to keep so many elites stationed at the Sea of Reeds. In comparison, the safety of Spirit Void City and the Heavenly Palace was naturally more important. Thus, the defensive strength here was quickly depleted.