Chapter 846: The Trap

“I’ve done everything I promised you,” he silently told the lingering remnant of the original He Lingchuan deep within his heart. “Now it’s your turn.”

Somewhere in the depths of his mind, he sensed the faintest sigh.

He Lingchuan sensed a rare serenity.

At last, he was free.

Then those tangled emotions melted away like tiny flakes of snow beneath the blazing sun, evaporating completely and leaving nothing behind.

He Lingchuan suddenly felt lighter than he ever had before.

It was the lightness of finally setting down a burden in his heart, the lightness of having complete control over his own body, and the lightness of severing the source of so many distracting thoughts and impulses.

So all this time, he had been moving forward while carrying the interference of the original owner’s inner demon.

Now, the original He Lingchuan had found release and departed, finally surrendering all control.

The consciousness of the body’s original owner vanished completely. Only now did this body and this sea of consciousness belong wholly and entirely to the new He Lingchuan.

An invisible boulder had been removed from his cultivation path.

In that instant, He Lingchuan’s six senses sharpened, and his spiritual sense became crystal clear. It was as though a storm had erupted inside his mind.

Qiu Hu sensed the change immediately. He turned his head and was startled by what he saw. Brilliant light surged in He Lingchuan’s eyes, while his aura gathered rapidly around him. The small stones nearby trembled incessantly, and several grains of sand even rose into the air on their own.

“Young Master!” The moment Qiu Hu placed a hand on He Lingchuan’s shoulder, a tremendous force rebounded against him.

Is he advancing? A breakthrough in cultivation is an enormous blessing, but... here? Qiu Hu hurriedly withdrew his hand and lowered his voice. “Absolutely not!” This is the worst possible time.

He Lingchuan knew that too and waved slightly to show that he understood.

Surging true qi erupted from his sea of consciousness. It rose like a dragon, not even bothering to ask permission before charging straight toward the Yintang acupoint[1]!

The cultivation method he practiced required the opening of three dantians: the upper dantian at Yintang, the middle dantian at Shanzhong, and the lower dantian at Qihai. He had already opened the Shanzhong and Qihai dantians, and his true qi had successfully liquefied, nearly filling both.

Only the upper dantian at the Yintang acupoint remained untouched.

He Lingchuan had never dared meddle with that place.

If he opened it incorrectly, he could damage his brain.

After the upheaval at the Heavenly Palace, both his temperament and cultivation had advanced greatly, but He Lingchuan had always known instinctively that he had not yet reached that step.

He had remained just one final push short of the next realm.

Forcing growth before its time did more harm than good, so he had never dared act rashly.

Unexpectedly, once the original owner’s consciousness faded away, that faint but persistent mental barrier dissolved with it.

In ancient times, cultivators formally setting foot upon the supreme immortal path had faced an important threshold known as “Severing the Three Corpses.” It meant wielding the sword of wisdom to cut away greed, anger, ignorance, resentment, and all other evil or deluded thoughts, along with every unresolved attachment and every thought that clouded one’s true nature.

Stripped of all the grand wording, it really came down to two words: let go.

If the Three Corpse Worms were not eliminated, they would eventually sink into the depths of one’s consciousness and transform into inner demons that obstructed cultivation. Countless people with exceptional foundations and brilliant talent ultimately fell to the backlash of their own inner demons.

The only person who could truly enlighten you was yourself.

The only person who could truly console you was yourself.

That was why it was as difficult as ascending to the heavens.

By peacefully sending away the final fragment of the original owner’s consciousness and resolving the last entanglements of this mortal bond, He Lingchuan had inadvertently aligned himself with the true meaning of wielding the sword of wisdom to sever one’s inner demons.

The obstacle that had blocked him for so long vanished without a trace!

However, the timing was wrong. He Lingchuan absolutely did not dare break through here!

The last time he opened his middle dantian in the forests of the State of Baoshu, it had taken two to three days of complete oblivion to his surroundings. He had only succeeded by sheer luck, and at the cost of blowing apart the guardian spirit.

The Panlong Secret Realm was riddled with danger. Could he really close his eyes, seal his ears, and attempt a breakthrough here?

Besides, after seeing the abnormalities in the sky, he no longer had quite as much faith in the Generous Pot’s promises.

His own life was something he preferred to watch over personally.

Hence, no matter how eager his true energy was to surge forward, He Lingchuan had to use every bit of patience he possessed, gently coaxing and persuading it to return to the middle and lower dantians and wait for another day before attempting the upper gate.

The opportunity’s clearly close at hand anyway. There’s no rush, no rush.

The true energy was extremely unwilling.

After all, its nature was to expand and open new territory, while the opportunity to break through was something that could only be encountered, never demanded.

Fortunately, He Lingchuan’s control over his body and true energy was far greater now than before. No matter how violently the energy resisted, he eventually guided it bit by bit back onto the proper course and forced it down into his dantians.

The process was long and tortuous. He Lingchuan had to concentrate completely, yet did not even dare break out in a sweat. It was miserable.

And all the while, the surrounding situation had already begun to change.

A faint disturbance came from the front-left. If Qiu Hu’s hearing and spiritual sense were not both extraordinary, he might not have even sensed someone there.

He Chunhua? No.

A speck of golden light suddenly flew out from behind a low wall. Without haste, it circled the Red General’s cenotaph twice.

A lamp spirit?

He Lingchuan and Qiu Hu exchanged a look.

Has Zhang Lianhai arrived?

Lamp spirits were extraordinarily useful. Whether scouting ahead or probing the enemy, sending them out first was standard practice for those from the Heavenly Palace.

After completing its reconnaissance and finding nothing unusual, the lamp spirit stopped in place.

Only a short while later, as He Lingchuan continued suppressing his surging true energy, ten people finally emerged from behind the low wall directly opposite him and hurried toward the Red General’s cenotaph.

Huh? Who are these?

Every one of them was unfamiliar. They were not Zhang Lianhai and his men. However, judging by their steps and bearing, they were far more capable than Zhang Lianhai’s subordinates.

He Lingchuan froze for a moment, then understood.

This should be some of the others from the Heavenly Palace who remained hidden. No wonder Zhang Lianhai entered with only a dozen or so men. So his group was merely the vanguard sent ahead to test the situation.

When news of strange events in the Panlong Desert spread, the other factions had all come hoping to hunt for treasure and pick up some easy gains. However, the Heavenly Palace had suffered heavily at He Lingchuan’s hands. They not only wanted to uncover the secrets of the Generous Pot, but they also intended to settle accounts properly with the person who had stolen their treasure.

Rather than place all their strength openly on the table, using one portion as bait while keeping another hidden to seize an opportunity was a perfectly sensible strategy.

But who’s leading these people? He Lingchuan could not tell at a glance.

If even a lamp guardian like Zhang Lianhai had merely been bait, then the expert the Heavenly Palace truly sent would have to outrank Zhang Lianhai in both status and ability.

The group hurried toward the tomb. Suddenly, one of them pointed at the ground. “Our candle!”

Half of a white candle flecked with gold lay amid the excavated earth, visible only from close range. The man picked it up and examined the base. “This is Lamp Guardian Zhang’s candle!”

“There’s blood here too!”

Zhang Lianhai’s candle fell inside the Red General’s tomb? He Lingchuan’s thoughts stirred. A lamp guardian who could not even protect his own lamp spirit hardly deserved the title.

A broken candle plus blood means that Zhang Lianhai met with disaster. That confirms it.

Oh, so the unlucky people who died here earlier were them!

The Heavenly Palace newcomers ahead were equally excited and uneasy. “Look at the Red General’s armor! Is that the Generous Pot?”

“Quickly, take it! We need to rendezvous with Cloud Envoy Hé at once!”

He Lingchuan and Qiu Hu exchanged another glance, both seeing surprise in the other’s eyes.

From where they lay, they could not see inside the tomb itself.

Is the Generous Pot really inside the Red General’s cenotaph?

Also, these people were clearly separated from their leader after entering the Panlong Ruins.

Their leader’s surname is Hé, and he’s a cloud envoy?

Hm, a cloud envoy surnamed Hé?

The names of the Star-Plucking Tower’s leading figures had long since spread throughout Lingxu City. He Lingchuan had not even needed to ask around. The day the gibbon Old Ge guided them up Mount Xu, he had already explained this basic information to them.

There are four deputy cloud envoys, but only one’s surnamed Hé. It’s Hé Jing!

In terms of seniority, Hé Jing actually ranked above Bai Ziqi. But He Lingchuan had also heard students from the Imperial Academy gossip that Bai Ziqi had been rising in recent years, overshadowing the other cloud envoys. Supposedly, even the chief cloud envoy was considering him as a successor.

For the Heavenly Palace to send one of its four deputy cloud envoys to oversee the situation in the Panlong Desert showed just how seriously they took the Generous Pot and the thief who had stolen their treasure.

Yet inwardly, He Lingchuan actually relaxed slightly.

He had seen what Bai Ziqi was capable of. The other cloud envoys were probably not far behind.

If this Cloud Envoy Hé had refused to enter Panlong City at all and instead remained out in the desert remotely directing or monitoring everything, He Lingchuan would have found that far more chilling, as well as much harder to deal with.

But judging from what these people had said, Hé Jing had entered as well.

In that case... Well, this is the Generous Pot’s territory, and it’s my home field as well.

If He Lingchuan eventually had to face Cloud Envoy Hé, his greatest advantage would be that Hé Jing knew far too little about the Generous Pot’s mysteries.

Even He Lingchuan himself did not know what the damned pot was doing half the time, much less Hé Jing.

The Heavenly Palace party was just about to retrieve the Generous Pot from the tomb when the buildings behind the stele suddenly moved!

Originally, a tall tower stood there, with an entire row of buildings behind it. All of them looked ruined and dilapidated, no different from any other structures in Panlong City.

But the instant they moved, their colors and forms began changing. In less than two breaths, they had completely transformed!

The “tower” was actually an enormous white-furred que beast. Even while seated, it was over sixteen meters tall!

If it rose to its feet, it would probably tower over most of the buildings in the Panlong Ruins.

One of the guards behind Hé Jing exclaimed softly, “A snowman?”

Such an enormous creature actually held its torso upright like a human and stood like a human! Aberrant creatures such as the ghost-faced monkeys were almost always hunched and stooped, rarely standing fully erect.

But this aberrant creature’s proportions between torso and legs were remarkably close to a human’s. It was just that it was horrifyingly oversized in every dimension.

Anything became frightening once enlarged enough. The ghost-faced monkeys were ugly enough already. The face of this white-furred giant was ten times worse simply because of its scale.

Its cheeks were even streaked with red, blue, and black, resembling camouflage painted on before battle.

However, it also bore seven or eight wounds across its body. Blood streamed down from the base of its neck, soaking its snow-white fur. Worst of all, a massive gash had been torn open across its waist, and the organs inside were faintly visible.

No one had time to wonder how it had been injured. The moment the colossal creature appeared, it swatted the lamp spirit hovering in the air aside with one enormous palm, as though it were merely batting away a firefly.

No one knew how it had managed it. Lamp spirits were said to possess neither true substance nor physical form, yet after being struck away, this one’s radiance dimmed considerably and even its movements slowed. Clearly, that single blow had badly injured it.

The expressions of those from the Heavenly Palace changed drastically.

They all possessed their own divine techniques, but lamp spirits remained their greatest reliance. Yet this aberrant creature had actually injured one with a casual swipe?

Then the giant reached out again and seized the man who had been attempting to take the Generous Pot.

Its speed and agility were completely at odds with its massive bulk. The man could not evade it at all.

Splat!

He was crushed outright in its grasp!

At the same time, the buildings beside the giant also transformed into more than a dozen aberrant creatures of similar appearance. They were merely several sizes smaller.

1. This acupoint is located at the midpoint between the medial ends of the eyebrows ☜