Chapter 848: Meeting Each Other Halfway

The first time He Lingchuan entered the Panlong Illusion Realm, he had been here. Later, when he entered the realm through his dreams at night, he would occasionally linger in this ocean as well. But it was not until his previous return to the Panlong Desert that he truly experienced just how vast it was.

Yet this boundless ocean inspired no fear in him whatsoever. Even without holding a turtle pearl in his mouth, he could still breathe freely underwater.

Then he noticed a streak of red light rushing straight toward him from nearby.

By all logic, the one fleeing from the giant red figure through this ocean should have been Naluotian’s avatar.

But it was not.

The feeling this red light gave him was both familiar and strangely intimate.

This isn’t Naluotian.

Something that could appear in the Generous Pot’s ocean and give him this kind of feeling...

Uh, is it the Red General?

More than a dozen chains suddenly shot out from the darkness in the distance, snaking toward the red light like serpents.

The red light darted left and right, always maneuvering such that it narrowly slipped past each attempt to seize it.

That alone showed how much more formidable it was than the Hundred-Faced Nightmare. The latter was captured by the chains in an instant, showing it was wholly incapable of even putting up a fight.

These ten-odd chains seemed to be especially capable of breaking divine techniques.

He Lingchuan naturally knew exactly where they came from—

The giant red figure.

The sight before him left him thoroughly confused.

If the giant red figure represented the will of the Generous Pot, and the red light came from the Red General or was released by the Red General, then why was the giant red figure chasing it and trying to capture it?

Internal conflict? Are my goals and those of the Generous Pot, the Red General not aligned?

The Generous Pot unquestionably wanted to digest and assimilate its lid. He Lingchuan wanted to eliminate the divine seal mark Naluotian had left in his mind. Then what did the Red General want?

Why had it appeared in this ocean?

He Lingchuan tried to recall every occasion on which he had encountered the Red General. It seemed to have appeared only within the Panlong World, never in the secret realm he was currently experiencing.

Thinking further, this ruined and desolate secret realm contained only que beasts and human parties from outside. There was no Red General, no Gale Army, and none of the comrades or citizens he knew so well. A suspicion began forming in his mind.

But even as his thoughts raced, his body did not remain idle. He swam with all his strength toward the red light.

By now, he was certain beyond doubt. Through Fleeting Life, through the battle armor, the one summoning him was the Red General!

For this red light to break through layer after layer of obstruction to reach him, it had to have something important to do.

And He Lingchuan had not forgotten that Naluotian was still nowhere to be found. In other words, the danger facing him had not yet been eliminated.

Hence, it would probably be greatly to his benefit to join up with the Red General as quickly as possible.

More and more chains appeared, moving with increasing agility. They wove a massive net at varying distances around the red light, then began tightening rapidly.

The Red General burst through one opening only to find another layer waiting beyond it. The net closed faster and faster. The space available for the red light to maneuver grew smaller and smaller.

The giant red figure was in no hurry. It proceeded methodically.

Dense clusters of Three Corpses Worms covered every chain, while treacherous whirlpools churned around them. The red light did not dare so much as brush against one.

If it so much as touched any of those chains, it would be like a fish caught on one of Zhu Erniang’s spider threads. Once that happens, there would be no escape.

This stretch of ocean was the giant red figure’s home ground. Once something entered this place, nothing could avoid eventually being caught in its net—

Not even the Red General.

As the saying goes, the Dharma ocean is boundless.

He Lingchuan swam desperately forward and plunged straight into the array of chains.

All around him, enormous chains continuously surged upward from the depths like pillars holding up the heavens. In just this brief span of time, several hundred must have appeared.

It was as though the Generous Pot had become genuinely serious about this.

The dull clang of metal carried through the seawater as He Lingchuan lowered his head and swam toward the enormous cage.

Directly beneath him, a vast shadow drew closer.

The giant red figure was coming.

The scene beneath the vast ocean was both bizarre and absurd.

The openings in the chain net grew denser, and the space within shrank.

Fortunately, He Lingchuan was also closing the distance to the red light.

Sixty-six meters...

Sixty meters...

Fifty meters...

Another chain suddenly surged upward, landing directly between him and the red light.

It was too late.

He Lingchuan drew Fleeting Life and slashed without hesitation.

The unstoppable blade struck the chain with a deafening clang, but only left a shallow mark. It did, however, cut down more than a dozen Three Corpses Worms clinging to its surface. The remaining worms immediately roared furiously at He Lingchuan.

That strike had been nothing more than an ant trying to shake a tree.

In the same instant, several more chains rose, trying to separate him from the red light forcibly.

This damned pot really is no damned good! He Lingchuan nearly injured himself from sheer frustration.

Who exactly had he been working himself to the bone for all this time?

Seeing that the chain cage was about to fully close, inspiration suddenly struck him.

He yanked the divine bone necklace from around his neck, wrapped it around his fist, and shouted angrily: “Move!”

Then he punched straight at the chain.

Judging by appearances, the divine bone amulet could not possibly compare with the chain in strength, while He Lingchuan’s punch carried enough force to shatter the amulet itself.

However, He Lingchuan knew that the divine bone amulet also represented the Generous Pot. It was one of the most important channels through which the damned pot communicated with him and with the outside world.

The pot wants to stop the Red General, doesn’t it? Fine, let it fight itself first.

At a moment like this, even if the divine bone shattered, He Lingchuan would not regret it.

Just before his fist struck the chain, a red light suddenly flashed from the divine bone.

The enormous, seemingly immovable chain shifted outward along with his punch, like a spiderweb disturbed by the wind.

It moved only a small amount, but that small gap was enough for a full-grown man to slip through.

The red light immediately rushed toward him.

At last, after both sides had been trying to reach each other, they finally met.

He Lingchuan opened his fist.

Without the slightest hesitation, the red light plunged directly into his palm.

At the same time, the Three Corpses Worms clinging to the chains also burrowed into He Lingchuan’s body.

Grief, agony, helplessness, fear, and every other kind of negative emotion erupted at once, accompanied by countless voices laughing at him.

They mocked him for overestimating himself, mocked him for asking for trouble, mocked him for being like a mantis trying to stop a chariot, and mocked him for being like a mere ant daring to defy heaven and change his fate.

Buzz—

He Lingchuan’s head nearly exploded.

Anyone else subjected to this would probably have lost their mind instantly.

Fortunately, a burning pain suddenly flared in his palm, as though he had grabbed a red-hot iron.

Hiss!

That hurts!

The violent pain instantly dragged him back to reality.

He Lingchuan opened his hand. His palm was completely unharmed.

The pain had come suddenly and vanished just as quickly.

He lowered his gaze and discovered that a glowing blood-red mark had appeared at the Taiyuan acupoint[1] near the base of his right wrist, as though freshly branded there.

The intertwined pattern resembled both a whirlwind and a lotus blossom. He Lingchuan knew it all too well.

The mark of the Gale Army!

The clamor of the Three Corpses Worms inside his mind had also disappeared.

Only one cold, clear voice remained, leaving him with two lines:

Naluotian’s avatar still exists. It will come for you again.

At the most opportune moment, activate my armor.

As He Lingchuan watched, the final trace of red light sank into the mark. The light and voice vanished together; only the mark on his wrist remained.

At the same moment, the enormous chains all began withdrawing, and the cage collapsed in an instant.

Just as he had expected, they had never been targeting him.

Now that he had taken in the red light, this ocean no longer seemed busy with anything. It became vast and tranquil once more.

The shadow directly beneath him, however, continued growing larger.

The giant red figure had arrived, and it showed no sign of slowing down.

At some unknown point, it had become even larger. Compared with it, He Lingchuan was like an ant before a gigantic whale.

The giant red figure swam straight upward and opened its abyssal mouth toward him.

There were no teeth inside that enormous maw, only a nightmarishly deep black hole!

That black hole could easily swallow even two hundred He Lingchuans.

And its mouth was packed densely with Three Corpses Worms.

A chill ran down the back of He Lingchuan’s neck. No matter how many times he saw this scene, it was equally terrifying. However, he did not resist. For a reason he could not explain, he firmly believed the Generous Pot would not harm him.

At least, not yet.

Then endless darkness swallowed him.

Only the Gale Army mark on his wrist continued emitting a faint red light.

He Lingchuan pressed a hand over it.

The mark felt as though a mass of boiling magma had been sealed inside it, or perhaps a savage beast. Either way, the power within was constantly stirring, unwilling to remain dormant.

He could clearly sense its refusal to stay suppressed.

Remembering the Red General’s warning, a thought surfaced in He Lingchuan’s mind.

Did the Red General break the Generous Pot’s rules by leaving the Panlong World without permission to find me?

Was that why the giant red figure had relentlessly pursued that point of red light?

Everything inside the secret realm had been proceeding according to its own rules.

Why did the Red General suddenly come searching for me?

He Lingchuan could think of only one reason: Naluotian.

The god of fate’s avatar was still hiding somewhere, waiting for the perfect opportunity to deliver a fatal strike.

The Red General had not come merely to warn him.

He Lingchuan’s heart stirred.

Then what about the promise made to me the previous time I entered the Panlong Ruins, the promise that I wouldn’t be harmed here? Did that promise actually come from the Generous Pot? Or from Zhong Shengguang?

Judging from the Red General’s actions, it was clearly the latter.

The Red General had inherited Zhong Shengguang’s final wishes, and it had also taken upon itself Zhong Shengguang’s promise to He Lingchuan.

* * *

He Chunhua looked up at the sky.

The sky had darkened again. The green light, the red light, and the giant red figure were all gone, while the clouds had returned to normal.

Everything that had chased and struggled across the sky moments earlier now seemed like nothing more than an illusion.

He Chunhua lowered his gaze to the idol in his hand.

The green light on its surface had vanished as well.

His attempt to invoke a divine descent had actually failed!

He Chunhua simply stared at the idol in a daze, not blinking for a long time. No matter how Zhao Qinghe called to him, he did not respond. It was as if he had turned into a statue himself.

When he finally spoke, his voice was hollow, “The avatar... the heavenly venerable’s avatar... was it swallowed?”

Judging from what they had just witnessed, that certainly seemed possible.

Naluotian is known as the “god of fate.” Could even the avatar of “fate” be devoured by the Generous Pot?

Unbelievable!

Was this trap arranged in advance by the evil ghost occupying Chuan’er’s body?

Earlier, He Chunhua had only blurted out the name “Zhong Shengguang.” After all, countless evil ghosts lived inside the Generous Pot. Who could know which one had actually taken over his eldest son’s body?

But would the Generous Pot go this far in helping an ordinary evil ghost?

At this moment, he genuinely began to suspect that his eldest son had been possessed by Zhong Shengguang!

Zhao Qinghe grabbed him and bounded away twice in succession, carrying him farther from the Red General’s cenotaph.

They had realized something was wrong the moment they arrived. Powerful experts from the Heavenly Palace had appeared, while the beast herd actually contained an even more terrifying leader!

The aberrant creatures were hunting humans. The king of the que beasts was battling the Heavenly Palace. Neither He Chunhua nor Zhao Qinghe wanted to be innocent bystanders caught in the crossfire.

The undertaking of snatching the Generous Pot was simply too dangerous. They probably could not take advantage of this situation after all.

1. This acupuncture point is located on the thumb side of the inner wrist crease, right where you feel your radial pulse. ☜