Chapter 862: He Is Not Alone

He Lingchuan couldn't figure out how it communicated with the pot's lid.

"The Seal-Spirit Treasure Lid is an independent ancient artifact, while the Great Square Pot originally had no lid. They weren't meant to fit together; they were forcibly united. Heh, even the gods of Lingxu don't know this secret." True Immortal Sanshui's longsword began to glow. "The Treasure Lid provides me protection and allows me to merge with True Immortal Sanshui, so together we can deal with the Great Square Pot."

As for the young man before them, neither the Seal-Spirit Treasure Lid nor True Immortal Sanshui would pay him any mind.

He Lingchuan finally understood the full story.

So the Qie Beast King had been guarding General Hong's tomb, waiting for its archenemy to emerge from the pot!

The Great Square Pot had been grinding them down for a long time, relying on slow, persistent effort to gradually erode the lid's resistance. The nature of this contest between divine artifacts was truly peculiar.

And these Qie Beasts, born from the will of the Treasure Lid and ancient remnant souls, were hostile to anything that moved within the pot.

They were not true flesh-and-blood beings. The Naraka Heaven avatar merely merged with the Qie Beast King, borrowing True Immortal Sanshui's power; it wasn't considered a true divine descent.

However, this ability to flexibly adapt and instantly bring divine objects and remnant immortals onto the same battle line was likely not something every deity possessed.

No wonder Naraka Heaven had ascended from a mere wild god to one of the leading figures in the divine realm in just over a hundred years.

As for the Qie Beast King, it was no surprise that it could employ so many intricate and unique divine abilities, with exceptionally precise control over battle timing, as it originally contained a part of True Immortal Sanshui, a Grand Immortal from ancient times!

He Lingchuan looked at him and shook his head: "You pride yourself on being the God of Destiny, but your luck is truly terrible; you only arrived after the ground battle was over. This is the Great Square Pot's secret realm—it's my territory!"

Otherwise, if the Naraka Heaven avatar had descended upon the Qie Beast King earlier, no matter which team it had chosen to ally with, the remaining forces would have been no match.

He grabbed Fusheng with a backhand, the blade slightly angled, radiating killing intent.

Pulsations emanated from the blade, an irrepressible excitement. Since the Naraka Heaven avatar appeared, the sword's battle intent had grown sharper, and it had even manifested itself from the void.

No matter if his opponent was the Qie Beast King, True Immortal Sanshui, or the Naraka Heaven avatar.

To cut him down was to sever a tedious and ridiculous destiny!

"It's useless," the Naraka Heaven avatar chuckled lightly. "Hasn't anyone told you? Since my mark is planted in your sea of consciousness, you cannot strike at me. A mere vessel cannot resist its master, just as a magical artifact cannot betray or slay its owner!"

This was the confidence that allowed him to stand alone in the Coiling Dragon Secret Realm, appearing calm and unconcerned.

So what if this young man had turned Lingxu City upside down? So what if he was intimately involved with the Great Square Pot?

A mere vessel, before its true master, still had to prostrate itself and worship, didn't it?

And didn't it have to submit to the arrangements of fate?

Indeed, the moment He Lingchuan aimed his blade at True Immortal Sanshui, his body felt heavy and his limbs felt like lead. It was the divine mark in his mind taking effect, preventing him from attacking his "master."

He tried to raise his wrist by force, but his hand trembled like a leaf in the wind.

Facing such a formidable enemy, yet his body wouldn't obey—how was that different from being sentenced to death?

Just as the Naraka Heaven avatar was about to step forward, a third voice suddenly echoed through the scene:

"Who says?"

A cold, disdainful female voice.

The Great Wind Army mark on He Lingchuan's wrist glowed and warmed, and the faint sound of armor plates rubbing together came from beside him. The motionless General Hong's battle armor suddenly turned halfway and firmly pressed down on He Lingchuan's wrist!

In that instant, it seemed to come alive.

Immediately after, the entire suit of armor transformed into a stream of light and flowed onto him.

It happened in the blink of an eye.

He Lingchuan straightened his back, finding his entire body now completely covered in crimson scale armor—

He had never dreamed that one day he would wear General Hong's battle armor!

He Lingchuan was taller and more robust than General Hong, so the style of this armor was quite different from when General Hong wore it, yet it fit him perfectly, as if tailor-made for him.

No, it was more like it had grown directly from his body.

The armor simultaneously shed its weathered marks and became majestic and splendid, as if newly forged, standing out incongruously against the desolate and dilapidated battlefield.

The ghost-face mask formed last, and he finally gained General Hong's vision.

So that was how she usually saw people.

Suddenly, an endless surge of power coursed through his body, filling every meridian, every bone, every muscle, and even every strand of hair!

It was a boundless, overwhelming, and invincible power he had never experienced, as if he could shatter stars with a single punch or crush the earth with one stomp.

Was this the power General Hong had lent him?

Could a human truly possess such power?

Most importantly, through the Great Wind Army mark on his wrist, he was in perfect sync with this battle armor.

With just a thought, the armor would perfectly cooperate, acting entirely according to his will!

A willing mind was all that was needed.

The divine mark Naraka Heaven had left on him could only restrict his body, but it could not bind his thoughts.

As long as he willed it, he could attack!

He Lingchuan's heart swelled with emotion, and he couldn't help but let out a long howl, instantly closing the distance to the Naraka Heaven avatar, his crimson flame blade energy like a long rainbow—

This single strike could cleave not only raging waves but also a thousand armies!

His speed was more than ten times faster than in his usual battles. This sudden flash was entirely without warning, not even leaving an afterimage.

Even with True Immortal Sanshui's agility, he couldn't dodge. Before he could unleash his prepared sword spell, He Lingchuan was upon him, slashing his neck at close range!

Of course, he wasn't so easily killed; no blood splattered from the severed neck, and his entire body dissolved into flowing water with a splash, only to re-condense into human form a few yards away.

This truly lived up to his epithet, True Immortal Sanshui.

However, his expression finally turned solemn. At his feet, a small puddle of clear water wriggled as if alive, yet it couldn't re-coalesce.

After being cut by the Fusheng blade, even clear water was unable to stabilize its form.

What astonished the Naraka Heaven avatar even more was that the vessel had attacked him so decisively, completely unaffected by the mark. How was this possible?

"How did you manage that..." As the words left his mouth, the Naraka Heaven avatar let out a drawn-out "Oh," then continued, "Mitian, you really aren't dead!"

Both he and He Lingchuan had heard the female voice.

To He Lingchuan, it was General Hong, but to the Naraka Heaven avatar, it was Mitian!

It was Mitian at work, preventing him from reclaiming his vessel.

In his view, all the attacks were carried out by General Hong's battle armor. The armor completely protected his prey, leaving no gap from head to toe, giving the Naraka Heaven avatar not a single opportunity to exploit.

As for He Lingchuan, Zhong Shengguang's promise to him had been taken over by General Hong.

Was he restricted in facing Naraka Heaven's attacks? It didn't matter; General Hong's power would suppress the divine mark for him.

If he couldn't fight, it would help him fight.

If he couldn't resist, it would help him resist.

Even for He Lingchuan, challenging destiny alone was too difficult. But with General Hong's strong assistance, he was no longer fighting alone.

"Surrender, and you will not suffer," a red light bloomed from the Fusheng blade. Though it was General Hong's battle armor, He Lingchuan's voice came from beneath the ghost-face mask. "Struggle in vain, and your fate will be worse than True Immortal Sanshui's!"

He wasn't exaggerating.

This was the Coiling Dragon Secret Realm, within the Great Square Pot. It was General Hong's home ground, and it should also be his.

"I truly don't understand, what's so bad about being my vessel? You won't die, and I can fulfill your and your father's wishes!" The Naraka Heaven avatar said, snapping his fingers.

Since their last encounter, rain and snow had been swirling and falling in the air.

With that snap of his fingers, the water droplets floating around He Lingchuan exploded one by one.

Each water droplet was a miniature bomb, yet its effect was a hundred times more powerful than ordinary explosives!

In comparison, the explosive arrows Tao Ran had shot earlier were barely one percent as powerful.

The extreme counter-force erupting from the most gentle water was precisely True Immortal Sanshui's specialty.

He Lingchuan raised his arm, and the Soul-Capturing Mirror transformed into a round shield, blocking directly in front of him. Dense true power flowed over the battle armor, solidifying into thick qi, deflecting most of the explosion damage.

Even so, the Soul-Capturing Mirror wailed, "Ow, ow, ow, it hurts so much!"

An immortal... No, the mirror judged that this True Immortal Sanshui was merely a remnant soul, and the Qie Beast King he had transformed into had been ground down by the Great Square Pot for a long time, so his strength should be far from his peak.

But! Was using it to block attacks from a demigod giving it too much credit?

The mirror then belatedly realized, "Wait, are you even my master?"

The armor's power felt too unfamiliar to it.

He Lingchuan couldn't be bothered with the chatterbox, retorting to Naraka Heaven, "I don't understand either, what's so bad about staying inside the Great Square Pot? You won't die, at most you'll just swallow a few mouthfuls of seawater!"

With a thought, he transformed into a red light and once again closed in on the Naraka Heaven avatar. Amidst the swirling mist, three water pythons appeared out of thin air, swiftly coiling around him.

One was crimson-gold, one dark-black, and one light-blue, each thicker than a water bucket.

These were refined by an immortal from the water spirits of three great rivers; at their peak, these colossal serpents were like hills, capable of crushing enemies with the might of three rivers.

Among them, the most terrifying was the black snake Xiliu. In the legends of foreign tribes, the Xiliu River pierced through both the real and illusory worlds, leading to the underworld. No living being or soul that fell into its waters could ever resurface; they would be eternally suppressed at the riverbed, turning into river stones. The giant python refined from Xiliu River stones could not only unleash vengeful spirits to devour hearts but also penetrate armor and directly strangle divine souls.

The three massive pythons coiling around him almost completely engulfed He Lingchuan.

The vengeful spirits released by the Xiliu black snake sought every opening, but the red armor on He Lingchuan glowed with an ethereal light. The moment the vengeful spirits collided with it, they were incinerated, leaving not a trace of ash.

The fierce aura emanating from the armor was terrifying to such an extent.

The Naraka Heaven avatar leaped up, bringing his sword down with unreasonable speed.

Two entwining python bodies instantly revealed a sliver of an opening at the back of He Lingchuan's neck, allowing him to attack.

This precious sword, forged with Xiliu stone, could switch between real and illusory states. If the Naraka Heaven avatar were to stab He Lingchuan's back neck with it, it would only harm his divine soul without damaging his physical body.

He still needed this body, so it couldn't be overly damaged.