The divine artifact in Zhaixing Tower was the primary objective of He Lingchuan's operation. Juju could not be defeated too quickly.
Talk about Monday-morning quarterbacking! Just looking at him annoyed Juju now. "The past was the past; the present is the present!"
"You have no idea what really happened!" it declared, brimming with confidence. "Last time, Tongming Zhenjun descended, but couldn't beat me, so that old scoundrel Lingxu had no choice but to step in himself! Heh heh, otherwise, how many of those so-called righteous gods under him could match me once they descended?"
Dong Rui was taken aback. "So last time there were actually two consecutive divine descents?"
Outsiders like them had only heard hearsay, knowing only that a celestial god had intervened to suppress the culprit behind the great earthquake in Lingxu City, never knowing the twists and turns behind it.
So even the legendary Holy Venerable Lingxu had intervened personally?
Lingxu City was named after his holy title, which showed how exalted his status was in the divine realm.
Then again, looking back, Juju was a behemoth raised by Dahuan Sect and Lingxu City at immense cost, fed handfuls of profound crystals with his left hand and rare minerals with his right. How could his combat power compare to the many demon immortals merely scraping by today?
More fundamentally, Juju was the spirit of Mount Xu, able to draw power directly from the boundless subterranean fire. If it came down to attrition and endurance, he was naturally invincible.
A truly blessed existence.
On his home turf, very few things could best him.
Most demon immortals surviving from antiquity were probably like Zhu Erniang, merely eking out an existence in the mortal world. Only the one before them was one of a kind.
So when the Heavenly Palace dropped a rock on their own feet, it must have hurt especially badly, right?
Come to think of it, he had heard from Sun Fuping in the past that there were only five recorded divine descents in history. It seemed the true count was far higher—at least ten-odd years ago, during the suppression of Juju, two divine descents had occurred in rapid succession.
Indeed, the truth was hard to come by.
"Precisely!" Juju chuckled maliciously. "As far as I know, that old bastard Lingxu overexerted himself last time and ruined his mortal vessel. After all these years, he still hasn't found a replacement."
"Oh?" He Lingchuan was surprised. "Is it that hard to find?"
With the vast resources of an empire like Beijia, could they really not find an incarnation desired by a celestial god in over a decade?
"Nonsense!" Juju scoffed. "Ordinary humans can't withstand a divine descent. Some collapse the instant the god arrives. The more powerful the celestial god, the higher the requirements for the vessel, and some even have specific demands... Hmph, I've heard the finest vessels must be reserved far in advance; you can't just slap something together in a hurry!"
Was that so? The best vessels had to be custom-ordered in advance?
The very first thought that crossed He Lingchuan's mind was Zhong Shengguang's beloved daughter.
The more secrets he uncovered, the more doubts grew in his heart. General Red had been able to perfectly bear Mitian's power—did that prove Zhong Shengguang's deity blood sacrifice was never an impulsive whim, but planned long beforehand?
He Lingchuan even thought of himself. When his sea of consciousness was invaded by gods, they had mentioned that the glowing imprint belonged to another celestial god, "Nailuotian."
When had this mark been planted? If it was long ago, did that prove his original self was also...?
His train of thought was interrupted by Juju. The rock-fire behemoth was growing impatient. "Everything that needed saying has been said. Why aren't you leaving yet?" Chatting idly at the bottom of a dark ravine—did they think this was a nighttime tour of Mount Xu?
"Oh, right." He Lingchuan retrieved the Shaoling ore from his storage ring and poured it all into Juju's palm. "Your midnight snack."
He had bought three hundred jin of Shaoling ore from Fang Canran, and using the puppet to lure out Juju last time had used less than one hundred jin. Since they were to cooperate smoothly, he gave the rest to it as well.
"Why, thank you so much." Stingy bastard! Of all the shadowy factions that contacted him, this brat was by far the cheapest! Juju scooped up the ore and swallowed it in one gulp.
"See you in two days." He Lingchuan waved to him and strode out of Mount Xu's territory. Nothing went awry this time.
While the subterranean moisture lingered, he and Dong Rui made their way out of the mountains and rode the snail-toad back to Pianxiang Villa.
He Lingchuan had been cautious; Juju had never seen the snail-toad from beginning to end.
***
The next day, lightning flashed and thunder rumbled.
The whole world seemed quiet, with only the downpour splashing between heaven and earth.
Even the little squirrel that came to deliver a message to He Lingchuan had droplets of water beading all over its forehead.
He Lingchuan quickly brought it over to warm up by the fire. The little creature chattered and squeaked, demanding overtime pay for running errands in the rain.
It wasn't delivering messages alone; there was an entire team behind it.
He Lingchuan had no choice but to dig deep into his purse, shelling out an extra ten taels of silver and five jin of golden pine nuts.
These were harvested from the golden pines unique to the northern coast—low yield, exceptionally fragrant, popular in Lingxu City not only with humans but adored by rodent demons. Their only drawback was the price: the cost of five bags of normal pine nuts was only enough for half a jin of golden pine nuts.
The little squirrel darted over to the fire, shook out its fur, and began nibbling while toasting itself.
"Where's the message?" This little critter was acting more and more like a pampered lord.
"Oh, he said everything has been arranged."
He Lingchuan confirmed again: "The quantity is correct?"
"Quantity is correct, with an extra three hundred jin to boot."
Only then did He Lingchuan show a satisfied smile. "Excellent. Manager Fang truly delivers as promised."
To accomplish this in such a short timeframe showed that the chief manager of Dun Garden was indeed a figure of considerable influence.
***
Two shichen later, the heavy downpour that blanketed Lingxu City finally stopped.
Merchants in the markets emerged one after another to drum up business, eager to close a few more deals before dark. Lingxu City's land was worth its weight in gold, and shop rents were terrifyingly steep; having lost more than half the day to the torrential rain, they couldn't afford to waste what little time remained.
In Nanxinzhuang, Wu's Stuffed Pancake Shop was run by a husband and wife. Water had seeped inside; the wife bent down to scoop it out, while the husband busied himself arranging freshly baked pancakes at the front counter.
Their shop was a roadside residence converted into a storefront, where a wooden window folded flat outward to create a counter suspended off the ground. Nanxinzhuang had strict rules forbidding street encroachment, with severe fines for violators! A suspended, protruding stall like this didn't count as encroaching on the street, so house after house followed suit, becoming quite a local feature.
"Freshly baked stuffed pancakes! Custard filling, winter melon candy with salted meat, rose malt syrup—"
Three bamboo trays of steaming-hot stuffed pancakes were lined up on the counter, neat and tidy, their aroma wafting two li away.
Without real skill and neighborhood acclaim, how could Wu's Stuffed Pancake Shop survive the fierce competition of Lingxu City?
Pedestrians gradually filled the street, but for some reason, no one seemed interested in buying pancakes. Many people walked back and forth past the shop, but not a single one stopped.
Old Wu had no choice but to send his wife out to hawk their wares on the street.
His wife cradled a platter laid out with sliced pancakes for passersby to sample.
Four or five children came running across the street, chattering away.
The wife invited them to have a couple of bites. The children didn't hold back, eating while arguing incessantly.
One chubby boy among them said, "Such a huge snail, super huge!"
"What snail? That's a slug!"
The chubby boy protested, "Its shell is as big as a house, can't you see? My dad says anything with a shell is a snail!"
The wife was surprised: "What are you kids talking about?"
"Over there, there's a giant snail, bigger than a small hut!" The child pointed toward the Baisong Freight Depot across the way, gesturing with his hands. "We saw it through the crack in the gate!"
"A slug!"
The chubby boy rolled his eyes, looking earnestly at the woman. "Sister Liu, I'll buy three malt pancakes if you come over and take a look with us to judge who's right!"
A snail bigger than a house? Sister Liu agreed without much thought—it was just a few steps away, after all.
She called back to inform her husband and followed the children.
Wu's Stuffed Pancake Shop had operated in Nanxinzhuang for eighteen years, watching the freight depot across the street change hands four times. Warehouses and depots were just places to store goods, housing only a few watchmen, so nobody bothered with meticulous upkeep. In the courtyard bordering the alley entrance, a wooden fence plank had broken four or five days ago and hadn't been repaired. Only half was left, allowing passersby to glance inside and see what was happening.
As the children approached, their voices quieted down, repeatedly shushing one another for fear of startling whatever was inside.
Reaching the plank, the chubby boy whispered, "Sister Liu, look!"
Sister Liu leaned in for a look. At first glance, she didn't see any snail and was feeling perplexed when she suddenly noticed the house move.
Huh?
Wait!!
That wasn't a house—that was a snail shell!
Brown, like wood with peeling paint.
And the owner of this shell seemed to be a colossal mollusk. No hind legs were visible, but two thick, muscular forelegs extended out, prostrating inside a warehouse!
An endless rustling sound filled the air. Was it eating something?
Sister Liu wasn't ignorant and fearless like the little kids. She immediately recalled several legends circulating through Lingxu City recently: Baishaqu of Chiyan Kingdom, the elixir of immortality, the Azure Palace...
Nervous, she leaned on the wooden board with an involuntary bit of force. With a loud clatter, the board suddenly fell inward.
The alley entrance wasn't quiet, but the wooden plank crashing onto the flagstones sounded deafening.
The monster's movements froze. It suddenly turned its head.
It seemed to have no neck, yet also seemed to have a neck so long it could twist around one hundred and eighty degrees.
From Sister Liu to the children, not one could describe that bizarre sight.
But most bizarre of all was the monster's face—
Terrifyingly massive, with two antennae like aerial masts, and a mouth that split grin-wide past its ear roots. It looked neither like a toad nor a snail. The thought that flashed through Sister Liu's mind in that instant was actually:
None of the kids were right.
This was neither a snail nor a slug!
What the hell was... was... what was it called again?!
She had been arguing about it with Old Wu just the night before last!
Of course, her body's instincts moved faster than her mind. She stumbled back two steps and let out a bloodcurdling scream—
"Monster!"
The children had first been startled by the monster turning its head, and then startled by Sister Liu. Stunned for a second, they began screaming along with her and ran backward together.
By now, foot traffic on the street had grown thick. An adult woman and several children screaming and fleeing immediately drew widespread attention.
Those who walked over out of curiosity to take a look also covered their mouths, stepped back, and quickly sprinted away.
And so, the crowd grew larger and larger.
The monster, on the other hand, remained calm and composed, as though knowing the passersby were just ordinary humans and demons. Paying them no mind, it turned back to resume what it had been doing.
Chapter 672