Chapter 854: Mutual Pursuit

He had been here when he first entered the Coiling Dragon Illusion, and later, in his dreams, he would occasionally linger in this ocean. But it wasn't until his last return to the Coiling Dragon Desert that he truly experienced its vastness.

Yet this vast ocean brought him no fear. Even without a turtle pearl, he could still breathe freely underwater.

Then, he spotted a red light streaking towards him in the distance.

Logically, it should have been Narotian's doppelgänger fleeing the pursuit of the red giant shadow in this vast ocean.

However, it was not.

The red light felt both familiar and intimate to him.

This was not Narotian.

Something that could appear in the vast ocean of the Great Square Cauldron and evoke such a feeling...

Uh, General Hong?

From the gloomy distance, a dozen chains suddenly extended, snaking out to capture the red light.

The red light darted left and right, maneuvering within a small space and narrowly dodging the chains.

This showed it was far more cunning than the Hundred-Faced Nightmare, which had been captured in an instant with almost no chance to resist.

These dozen chains seemed designed to specifically counter divine abilities.

He Lingchuan knew perfectly well where they came from—

The red giant shadow.

This scene utterly perplexed him.

If the red giant shadow represented the will of the Great Square Cauldron, and the red light was General Hong himself or something released by him, why would the red giant shadow pursue and capture it?

Wasn't this an internal conflict?

Weren't the goals of the Great Square Cauldron, himself, and General Hong supposed to align?

The Great Square Cauldron surely intended to absorb the lid, and He Lingchuan wanted to deal with Narotian's divine mark in his mind. So what was General Hong's purpose?

Why was it appearing in this vast ocean?

He Lingchuan tried to recall every instance he had seen General Hong. It seemed to only appear in the Coiling Dragon World, not in the secret realm he was currently experiencing.

Considering that this dilapidated and desolate secret realm contained only Que beasts and foreign human teams, but no General Hong, no Great Gale Army, no comrades or villagers he knew, a new suspicion formed in his mind.

While his thoughts raced, he didn't idle; he swam vigorously towards the red light.

He had now confirmed, without a doubt, that it was General Hong who had summoned him through the Floating Life Blade and his armor!

This red light, breaking through numerous obstacles to reach him, must serve a crucial purpose.

He hadn't forgotten that Narotian's whereabouts were still unknown, and the danger he faced had not yet been eradicated.

Quickly meeting with General Hong should be greatly beneficial to him.

The chains grew more numerous and agile, weaving a vast net around the red light, near and far, then rapidly contracting.

As General Hong burst through one layer of net through a gap, another awaited it. The net closed faster and faster, leaving less and less space for it to maneuver.

The red giant shadow was in no hurry, proceeding methodically.

Each chain was covered in dense Three-Corpse Worms, and perilous eddies swirled around them. The red light dared not even touch their edges.

Once touched, escape would be impossible, like a fish caught by Madam Zhu Er's spider silk.

This sea was the red giant shadow's home ground. Anyone who entered it could not escape being ensnared by it—

Not even General Hong.

Indeed, its reach was boundless.

He Lingchuan swam forward desperately, diving headfirst into the array of chains.

All around him, massive chains constantly erupted from the deep sea, like towering pillars reaching for the sky. In just a moment, there must have been hundreds of them.

The Great Square Cauldron seemed to be getting serious.

Dull clanging sounds reached his ears through the water as he swam head down towards the massive cage.

Directly below, a vast shadow was steadily approaching.

The red giant shadow was coming.

The scene in the sea was bizarre and absurd.

The mesh of the chain array grew denser and denser, and the space within became smaller and smaller.

Fortunately, He Lingchuan was getting closer to the red light: twenty zhang...

Eighteen zhang...

Fifteen zhang...

Another chain suddenly shot up, directly blocking the path between him and the red light.

There was no time.

He Lingchuan drew the Floating Life Blade and, without hesitation, swung it.

The unstoppable blade struck the chain with a resounding clang, leaving only a shallow mark. It did, however, sever a dozen or so Three-Corpse Worms attached to it, while the remaining ones roared angrily at He Lingchuan.

This strike was but an ant trying to shake a tree.

In that moment, several more chains rose, intending to forcibly separate him from the red light.

This damned cauldron truly wasn't acting humanely! He Lingchuan was almost injured from sheer rage.

For whom had he toiled and busied himself all these years?

Seeing the chain cage about to form, he had a sudden idea. He yanked off the divine bone necklace from his neck, wrapped it around his fist, and roared:

"Move aside!"

Then, he punched the chain.

The divine bone necklace's strength certainly seemed incomparable to the chain's. His punch was also full of power, as if he intended to shatter it.

But He Lingchuan knew that the divine bone necklace also represented the Great Square Cauldron. It was a vital channel for the damned cauldron to communicate with the outside world and with him.

Didn't the cauldron want to stop General Hong? Let it fight itself first.

At this critical moment, He Lingchuan wouldn't regret it even if the divine bone shattered.

Just as he was about to strike the chain, the divine bone suddenly flashed red.

The massive, previously unshakeable chain swerved outward with his punch, like a spiderweb disturbed by the wind.

Just a small shift in one corner was enough for him, a full-sized human, to slip through.

The red light immediately surged forward.

This mutual effort finally succeeded.

He Lingchuan opened his fist, and the red light, without hesitation, darted into his palm.

At the same time, the Three-Corpse Worms attached to the chain also pierced He Lingchuan's body. Negative emotions like sorrow, pain, helplessness, and fear erupted all at once, accompanied by countless voices mocking him.

They mocked his overestimation of his own abilities, his self-inflicted suffering, his futile resistance, and laughed that a mere ant like him dared to defy fate and change his destiny.

With a buzzing sound, He Lingchuan's head nearly exploded.

Anyone else subjected to such an assault would likely lose their mind instantly.

Fortunately, his palm burned as if he had grasped a red-hot iron block through water.

Hiss, it hurt so much!

The intense pain immediately dragged him back to reality.

He Lingchuan opened his palm, which was completely unharmed.

The pain arrived swiftly and departed decisively.

He looked down and saw a blood-red glowing mark on the Taiyuan acupoint at the base of his right wrist, as if it had just been branded there.

The swirling pattern resembled both a whirlwind and a lotus. He Lingchuan was intimately familiar with it:

This was the mark of the Great Gale Army!

In his mind, the clamor of the Three-Corpse Worms had vanished. Only a clear, cold voice left him with two sentences:

Narotian's doppelgänger is still out there and will come for you.

At the most opportune moment, activate my armor.

As he watched, the last trace of red light also buried itself into the mark.

The light and voice vanished together, leaving only the mark on his wrist.

At the same moment, the surrounding massive chains retreated, and the iron cage instantly disintegrated.

Indeed, they had not been targeting He Lingchuan.

Since the red light had been absorbed by him, this vast ocean seemed to cease its activity, becoming open and tranquil once more.

However, the shadow directly below grew steadily larger.

The red giant shadow was here, and it wasn't slowing down.

He didn't know when it had grown even larger. Compared to it, He Lingchuan was like an ant before a whale.

The red giant shadow swam straight up, opening its abyssal maw towards him.

Inside that massive mouth were no teeth, only a nightmarishly deep black hole!

This black hole could easily swallow one or two hundred He Lingchuans.

The inside of the maw was also densely packed with Three-Corpse Worms.

He Lingchuan felt a chill creep up his neck at the sight. This scene was equally terrifying no matter how many times he saw it.

But he didn't resist, for he had an inexplicable conviction that the Great Square Cauldron would not harm him.

Not yet, at least.

Then, he was enveloped by endless darkness.

Only the Great Gale Army mark on his wrist emitted a faint red glow. He Lingchuan pressed it.

Inside this mark seemed to be sealed a surge of molten lava, or perhaps a ferocious beast, constantly stirring.

He could feel that power, unwilling to lie dormant.

Remembering General Hong's recent instruction, a thought sparked in He Lingchuan's mind:

Was it because General Hong had presumptuously left the Coiling Dragon World to find him, defying the rules of the Great Square Cauldron, that the red giant shadow had relentlessly pursued that red light?

Everything in the secret realm was proceeding step by step. Why had General Hong suddenly sought him out?

He Lingchuan could think of only one reason: Narotian.

The God of Fate's doppelgänger was still lurking somewhere, waiting to deliver a fatal blow.

What General Hong intended to do was more than just warn him.

A thought stirred in He Lingchuan's mind. So, the last time he entered the Coiling Dragon Ruins, who exactly had promised him "you won't be harmed here"—the Great Square Cauldron, or Zhong Shengguang?

Judging by General Hong's actions, it was clearly the latter.

It had inherited Zhong Shengguang's dying wish and taken on Zhong Shengguang's promise to He Lingchuan.

He Chunhua looked up at the sky.

The sky dimmed. Green light, red light, and the red giant shadow all vanished. The cloud formations returned to normal.

The chase scenes in the sky just now seemed to have been mere illusions.

He Chunhua looked at the statue in his hand again.

The green light on the statue's surface had also disappeared.

This divine descent summoning had actually failed!

He Chunhua stared at it in a daze, not blinking for a long time, ignoring Zhao Qinghe's calls, as if he himself had solidified into a statue.

His voice was forlorn: "The doppelgänger, His Holiness's doppelgänger... was it swallowed?"

From what he had just witnessed, it seemed so.

Narotian was known as the "God of Fate." Could even a doppelgänger of "Fate" be consumed by the Great Square Cauldron?

Unbelievable!

Was this trap pre-arranged by the vengeful spirit possessing Chuan'er's body?

He had only casually shouted "Zhong Shengguang" just now, after all, there were countless evil spirits inside the Great Square Cauldron. Who knew which one had possessed his eldest son's body?

But would the Great Square Cauldron help an ordinary evil spirit?

At this moment, he truly suspected his eldest son was possessed by Zhong Shengguang!

Zhao Qinghe grabbed him and leaped twice, moving away from General Hong's tomb.

As soon as they arrived, they realized the situation was amiss. Heavenly Palace powerhouses had descended, and there was an even more terrifying leader among the monster horde!

Monsters were hunting humans, and the King of Que Beasts was fighting the Heavenly Palace. They didn't want to suffer collateral damage.

The opportunity presented by the Great Square Cauldron was too perilous for them to seize.