Chapter 863: Attack on the Heart

Even during battle, Narakuten's avatar remained clear-headed: merging with True Master Sanshui was merely a temporary solution. To escape and truly seize the Great Flask, it needed a suitable body to fully unleash its divine power.

However, this was inside the Great Flask, enemy territory. Therefore, the battle had to be swift, as every second dragged out would work against it.

The three giant pythons failed to crush the Red General's armor. Instead, they pinned He Lingchuan firmly in place, making it impossible for him to move an inch.

The Slender Willow Black Snake opened its mouth to bite. He Lingchuan felt a bone-chilling cold spread from the depths of his soul, completely exposed before its fangs.

Not to mention, Narakuten's avatar was also attacking. With his hands bound, He Lingchuan was fighting four opponents, greatly increasing the pressure.

Two beast-head ornaments perched on the armor's shoulder pauldrons flashed red and suddenly sprang to life. One, shaped like a golden toad, actually leaped directly into the Slender Willow Black Snake's wide-open mouth.

With a gulp, it slid down the snake's throat, leaving the great serpent momentarily stunned.

However, countless red threads immediately emerged within its translucent body, as if parasitic worms were hatching. The black snake writhed as if thrown into boiling oil, its belly turning pale from agony, with no energy left to attack He Lingchuan's spirit.

In less than two or three breaths, the black snake turned red, its eyes bloodshot.

The other shoulder-perched beast charged towards Narakuten's avatar, growing in size against the wind. It had bulging eyes, a large mouth, prominent ears, a lion's body with a long tail, and wings on its back. He Lingchuan immediately recognized it as the monster from the top of the Dragon Punishment Pillar, though he didn't know its exact species; it looked like a mix of Qiongqi and Chaofeng. In a flash, it grew to two zhang long, its gaping maw opening at a bizarre angle, moving straight for Narakuten's avatar as if it could swallow him, sword and all.

True Master Sanshui, controlled by Narakuten's avatar, hovered in mid-air. He managed to push back with force, pressing the tip of his sword against the monster's lower jaw, propelling himself five zhang away.

He Lingchuan had seen Madam Zhu use this mid-air maneuver before. It seemed to be a common technique for immortals.

At the same time, he hurled his treasured sword, which transformed into a streaking light, still aiming directly for He Lingchuan's back of the neck.

In that instant, the red snake suddenly sprang up, blocking He Lingchuan, and the sword pierced through it instead.

This sword had the power to slay gods. The vengeful spirits within the Slender Willow Black Snake's body were annihilated, a situation akin to a flood invading the Dragon King's temple. Consequently, the giant python was severed in two at the point of impact; the latter half vanished, but the front half turned around and continued to harass True Master Sanshui.

Freed from the Slender Willow Snake's coils, He Lingchuan flipped his wrist and cleanly sliced off the head of the Crimson Gold Water Python with a single strike.

Water is inherently formless, but the Floating Life Blade was specifically designed to counter such beings, preventing the Crimson Gold Python's head from regenerating for a long time.

The last blue python coiled around the Red General's helmet once more, but He Lingchuan raised his mirror shield and smashed it onto its head, shouting, "Absorb!"

The blue python was indeed absorbed.

The mirror shrieked in alarm, "Ahhh, don't mess around!"

Its interior was also a small secret realm, but it had only been repaired less than half a year ago, and it certainly didn't want the blue python to go in and cause chaos again.

Nevertheless, all threats from the three pythons coiling around He Lingchuan were now neutralized.

With the armor's assistance, he calmly and skillfully deflected the attacks, returning all the trouble back to True Master Sanshui.

This was, in essence, a confrontation between natural power and human power.

Outside, the former might have had the upper hand, but this was inside the Great Flask, the Dragon Coiling Secret Realm! Narakuten's avatar, apart from its initial sneak attack, found it difficult to gain any advantage.

However, while fighting, it also tried to persuade He Lingchuan:

"You are too young," it said, "to understand what a heavy burden the Great Flask is. True Master Sanshui forged it with his own hands, yet he wished to destroy it. Such a divine artifact, feared even by gods and immortals, is absolutely beyond your control!"

He Lingchuan scoffed, "And you can?"

Narakuten's avatar didn't get angry, merely asking him, "You can't wield the Great Flask, can you?"

He Lingchuan replied with a mirthless smile, "But some can still use it, like Zhong Shengguang, for instance—"

"Mitian? Heh, look at what became of them? What happened to the Kingdom of Yuan?" Narakuten's avatar continued, "Not to mention those before them, none met a good end. This is the power of destiny."

He Lingchuan scoffed, "Were their tragic fates and heroic ends due to the Great Flask itself? Or was it not because you Heavenly Gods massacred, destroyed nations, and slaughtered cities at will? Was it not because you Heavenly Gods extracted the blood and flesh of common people to nourish yourselves, shamelessly calling it 'Heavenly Grace'?"

Narakuten's avatar paused before saying, "You trust the Great Flask so much, but do you truly know what it wants you to do?"

"Do you know what it wants to do to *you*?"

He Lingchuan remained silent, knowing that Narakuten's avatar was deliberately dodging the main point. However, with both sides engaged in fierce combat, he couldn't be bothered to formulate a rebuttal.

He didn't know, and no one knew, because the Great Flask rarely communicated with people.

"Then how can you be certain you won't follow in the footsteps of your predecessors?" Narakuten's avatar seized the opportunity to persuade him. "You know nothing about the power of the Great Flask. I repeat, such a divine artifact is absolutely beyond your control."

"If you cannot control a divine artifact, you will be burdened by it. It was true for King Yuan, true for Zhong Shengguang, and you will be no exception."

"Furthermore, how much do you truly know about Mitian? Is it lending you power and helping you fight me purely out of kindness? Naive!" Narakuten's avatar spoke rapidly. "Mitian has long since failed! But its hatred and madness will still lead you to eternal damnation!"

He Lingchuan, seizing the opening, asked, "Why exactly does Mitian do this?"

He didn't ask a specific question or give a clear direction, merely asking "this way." What "this way" referred to was left for Narakuten's avatar to consider.

As expected, it replied, "The animosity between Mitian and Lingxu is as deep as the sea. Everything it does is not merely for revenge, but also to force the other's submission. Whether instigating Dragon Coiling City or instigating you, it's all for its own selfish gain. You are merely innocent sacrifices."

He Lingchuan asked it, "And you? Do you also have a grudge against Lingxu?"

"Never."

"Then why are you secretly opposing the gods of Lingxu, if not for your own selfish gain?"

Narakuten's avatar laughed in exasperation.

Its conversation with He Lingchuan during their fight wasn't out of kindness or to clarify doubts, but rather to sow discord.

It had already discerned that He Lingchuan's excellent performance in the armor was due to his high compatibility with it, a deep spiritual connection.

This was the opponent's home ground, and the opponent had the armor's augmentation, seemingly holding every advantage. However, Narakuten's divine mark still persisted, not yet erased. This indicated that He Lingchuan was not as powerful as he appeared!

The true form of Mitian, whom it feared most, had also not appeared.

Based on its understanding of Mitian, it usually wouldn't show up after the dust had settled. So, was it unwilling to appear, or unable to?

After merging with True Master Sanshui, it knew that the Dragon Coiling Secret Realm was also a place with rules.

Hmm, so Mitian's true form had no chance to appear, and could only lend its power to the young man before it?

At this thought, Narakuten's avatar felt greatly reassured. This body was less than twenty years old, an age prone to impetuousness and wavering resolve. If it could convince He Lingchuan and sow a seed of doubt and suspicion about Mitian in his mind, then He Lingchuan and Mitian's armor would no longer be in sync, and the vast divine power could not be wielded so effectively.

No matter how powerful Mitian's armor was, it still needed someone to wear it to unleash its strength.

But unexpectedly, despite all its efforts to persuade, the opponent remained unmoved.

This young man's will was either as solid as bedrock, or he had been completely swayed by Mitian, stubbornly unyielding and beyond persuasion.

There were indeed such individuals among the devout followers of Heavenly Gods.

What it didn't know was that it wasn't Mitian who lent the armor to He Lingchuan, but the Red General.

He Lingchuan only trusted the Red General, not Mitian.

Narakuten's avatar was essentially digging at the wrong foundation; no matter how hard it tried, it wouldn't succeed.

During their conversation, the two continued to fight relentlessly.

His opponent was the avatar of an ancient immortal and Heavenly God, and this was He Lingchuan's first time challenging such a high-level adversary. He did not lack battlefield experience, but he lacked the refinement gained from such high-stakes encounters.

For instance, True Master Sanshui's combat methods were beyond ordinary comprehension. He possessed a 'Severing Art,' where a mere flick of his Slender Willow Sword in the air could simultaneously tear open two rifts: one beside him, and another at any location within three zhang.

True Master Sanshui would dart into the opened spatial rift, and the next instant, he might reappear behind He Lingchuan, thrusting his long sword directly at his back!

In the post-immortal era, where divine powers waned, only the Minor Mountain Shifting Art could achieve a similar effect, but it couldn't be opened and closed at will and came at a considerable cost.

Fortunately, the peculiar-looking shoulder-perched beast, shifting from offense to defense, stayed by He Lingchuan's side, helping him avert danger multiple times.

After overcoming the initial chaos, He Lingchuan quickly found his rhythm. He hadn't yet mastered the advanced uses of the armor, but wielding such potent power felt not much different from fighting on a battlefield. Only, his speed of movement was shockingly fast; True Master Sanshui would have struggled to cope without the aid of his Severing Art.

Moreover, the destructive power unleashed by both sides was… astonishing. The ground in that area was riddled with craters, as if it had been subjected to concentrated bombing.

True Master Sanshui, furthermore, applied the Severing Art with extreme flexibility. On one occasion, when the shoulder-perched beast pursued him through a spatial rift, True Master Sanshui simply swiped the rift shut. As a result, the invulnerable shoulder-perched beast had half a hind leg and half its tail severed by the closing space.

This was the true intent of "severing," not merely a teleportation channel. It was fortunate that He Lingchuan himself had never pursued through the rifts, otherwise, he might have been the one sliced.

Against such power of rules, how much could the Red General's armor protect him?

The shoulder-perched beast, feeling no pain, turned to bite True Master Sanshui. However, its three-legged attack was not agile enough, and it was stabbed in the eyes twice by Sanshui's swords, finally dissipating into a wisp of red light and returning to perch on the Red General's armor's shoulder.

He Lingchuan, seizing the opportunity, drew his longbow and aimed at True Master Sanshui.

He fired two arrows simultaneously, but only a whoosh was heard.

He retreated into a spatial rift, and the arrows followed closely; when he turned, the arrowheads also turned.