The moment she fell, the Thunder-Wielding Behemoth trampled right over her. All He Lingchuan saw was a burst of crimson mist.
At a moment like this, the beast had actually done her a mercy.
"Humans. Hah, fools!" Zhu Erniang sneered after watching the whole thing. "I could never understand why anyone would willingly become a vessel for a celestial god."
One of her eyes noticed He Lingchuan's grim expression. "What's the matter with you?"
He scratched the back of his head, an edge of irritation fraying his temper. "Do all vessels of celestial gods end up like this?"
"What else?" Zhu Erniang scoffed. "The power of a celestial god is far beyond what a mortal frame can bear. No matter how well matched their affinities are, once a god wears the body down through constant use, it is bound to break. It's only a matter of time!"
"Can no celestial god remain in the mortal realm for long?" Celestial God Baizhan's attitude toward its vessel had been callous and brutal, treating her as nothing more than a disposable tool. But He Lingchuan now knew there were countless celestial gods, each with their own disposition. Surely they couldn't all be like this?
"Virtually none," Zhu Erniang explained. "Even outside of combat, an avatar of a celestial god cramming into a mortal body is like squeezing into shoes several sizes too small—it pinches terribly. Besides, using the vessel causes wear and tear, no matter how cautious they might be." Zhu Erniang gave a dry chuckle. "And why would they ever be cautious?"
"I thought they might enjoy life in the mortal realm," He Lingchuan said with self-deprecating irony. "I heard conditions in the divine realm aren't all that great."
"One man's honey is another's poison." Zhu Erniang eyed him askance. "They are sovereign rulers of their own little domains. Those worlds take shape according to their will—could they be worse than the mortal realm?"
"Oh?" He Lingchuan asked, intrigued. "They can create their own domains?"
"Of course. Can't you furnish your own manor however you please?" Humans, creatures who lived only for the fleeting day, were so narrow-minded. "They simply shape the space they inhabit at will."
Dong Rui suddenly broke in, "Hey, look at that Thunder-Wielding Behemoth! Where are those behemoths going now?"
Down below, now that the Thunder-Wielding Behemoth had avenged itself by killing Lu Shishi, He Lingchuan had assumed it would turn back and return to the Fu Realm through the Eye of the Storm.
After all, Donao beasts despised the mortal world.
Yet the herd showed no intention of turning back. After grinding Lu Shishi into paste, the lead Thunder-Wielding Behemoth paused briefly to sniff the air, then abruptly bolted south!
South was Lingxu City.
With their lord charging ahead, the rest of the herd naturally followed in close pursuit.
This made no sense at all—unless—
Understanding dawned on He Lingchuan. "Someone wants to expand tonight's spoils and throw Lingxu City into even greater chaos."
That someone, of course, was Fang Canran.
Having already committed murder, arson, and bombings, he wouldn't mind making the disturbance bigger and louder, would he?
"He's too greedy."
Dong Rui let out an indignant yelp. "Doesn't that leave us taking the blame for him?"
From Lingxu City's perspective, every debt had a debtor, and this entire catastrophe was triggered by the intruders on Mount Xu. He Lingchuan and Dong Rui had no way to argue that they had only handled the first half—smashing and burning Mount Xu—and that setting the beasts loose on Lingxu City was someone else's doing.
Fang Canran had woven a scheme within a scheme.
He Lingchuan let out a cold laugh. "Who takes the blame for whom isn't settled yet."
The Grass Sea defenders, previously scattered by the rampaging behemoths, had barely managed to regroup when reinforcements from Lingxu City arrived in the nick of time. On that count, Celestial God Baizhan hadn't been boasting. Although the Mount Xu intruders and the spider immortal were nowhere to be found, they couldn't simply turn a blind eye to this stampeding, out-of-control herd of Donao beasts, could they?
They tried to force the herd back, but once the Donao beasts built up momentum, halting them was no easy task.
Several great demons attempted to slay the Thunder-Wielding Behemoth, assuming that if the herd lost its leader, it would cease its charge.
Yet how could it be so simple? The Thunder-Wielding Behemoth was an overlord of the Fu Realm, possessing skin and hide so thick it defied belief. The crimson flames and crackling lightning encasing it neutralized most magical arts, and even origin power failed to breach its defenses. It had just smashed through an outpost checkpoint, obliterating a solid gate-wall a zhang and a half thick upon impact as though it were made of paper.
The harassment from the powerful experts only stoked the beast's fury. Its sharp, booming roars could now be heard even within the walls of Lingxu City.
The herd was barreling straight toward the city, closing the distance with every breath.
By now, Lingxu City had likely deduced the truth: the reason this Thunder-Wielding Behemoth could pass through the Eye of the Storm was that it had laid its eggs first, then fought through the beast tide, the sandstorm, and a duel against the Wu beast leader. The succession of grievous injuries had drastically reduced its strength.
A drop in power was precisely what allowed it to cross the spatiotemporal barrier.
Even so, a downgraded lord was still a force to be reckoned with. Driven by incandescent rage and spending the last embers of its life force, the Thunder-Wielding Behemoth proved utterly unstoppable.
Over twenty spellcasters rushed to the scene, joining forces to erect a tactical formation.
Their mobilization was remarkably swift. Before the Thunder-Wielding herd could reach them, they pooled their power along the beasts' path to cast a wide-scale mud mire spell.
Creatures of this build were heavy, lumbering, and poor jumpers; once trapped in a mire, they would lose their momentum.
Without speed, their impact and destructive potential would plummet by at least eighty percent.
This displayed the authorities' formidable capability in handling sudden crises. Even with Lingxu City already plunged into pandemonium, they could still organize an effective response to the stampeding Donao beasts outside the gates.
Events unfolded just as they anticipated. Unaware of the vast swamp laid out before them, the herd charged headlong into the mire behind the lead behemoth.
By the time they realized their mistake, the soft, sodden mud had already swallowed their legs up to their bellies.
With nothing firm to push off of, the Thunder-Wielding beasts were trapped, roaring in futile fury.
The defenders of Lingxu City let out a collective breath of relief.
Watching the spectacle from Mount Xing, Dong Rui murmured with regret, "Ah, is that it?"
The moment the words left his mouth, the Thunder-Wielding Behemoth abruptly turned its gaze toward a small copse of trees, as if sensing the spellcasters hiding within.
With a low roar from the beast, several thick bolts of violet lightning fell from the sky, crashing into the woods with deafening cracks.
From so far away, He Lingchuan couldn't see what was happening inside the trees, but it certainly wasn't pretty.
Even so, the vast mire remained intact, and the herd was still stuck fast.
The Lingxu City troops advanced, moving in for swift kills while the beasts were immobilized.
In no time, purple blood gushed, nearly dyeing the muddy morass red.
Seeing its kin slaughtered, the Thunder-Wielding Behemoth's small eyes burned blood red. It let out several horn-like shrieks, piercing and clarion enough to reach the ears of residents in the northern district of Lingxu City.
The herd bellowed in unison.
He Lingchuan recalled that back in the Fu Realm, when facing the beast tide and the colossal sandstorm, the behemoth had issued that very same cry—a battle declaration.
Immediately, lightning erupted from the body of every single Thunder-Wielding beast.
Packed tightly together, serpentine arcs of lightning crackled and surged between them, seemingly knitting the entire herd into a single entity.
Then, leading the charge, the Thunder-Wielding Behemoth lunged forward, and the others followed close behind.
At first, they were mired deep, each step a grinding struggle. But as the lightning blazing across their hides grew ever more blinding, these living siege engines began to shift.
Creeping forward inch by inch at first, they accelerated faster and faster!
Dong Rui rubbed his eyes in disbelief, while Zhu Erniang took a sharper look. "Those things are floating!"
The lead behemoth had already hauled itself out of the mire. Squinting against the dazzling glare, He Lingchuan saw that its four limbs weren't actually touching the ground; it hovered a tiny fraction of an inch above the surface.
Good grief—levitation?!
Because gravity in the Fu Realm was immense, a Thunder-Wielding beast weighed far less than a mortal creature of comparable size. Furthermore, their bodies contained a unique substance: floatstone.
That mineral had evolved precisely to counter gravity, and the behemoths were born masters of lightning manipulation.
Under its lead, several hundred Thunder-Wielding beasts levitated just off the ground, surging straight across the mire!
The other species of Donao beasts weren't so fortunate, left behind in the mud.
From Mount Xing, He Lingchuan muttered, "That works too?!" Having mastery over lightning was truly convenient.
Dong Rui let out an excited whoop, his eyes gleaming. "Incredible, absolutely incredible! Definitely worth studying!"
He Lingchuan had personally entered the Fu Realm and read intelligence reports on Thunder-Wielding beasts, but he had never heard of them possessing such a trick.
The troops of Lingxu City clearly hadn't either. They stared at the resumed charge, paralyzed by shock and confusion.
Hunters from Lingxu City had likely never dared provoke a Thunder-Wielding Behemoth Lord before and knew far too little about it, never dreaming this battering ram of a locomotive could haul its entire kin out of the mud.
This was the true might of a lord-level behemoth—even a downgraded one.
The herd thundered onward toward Lingxu City once more.
Grand Commander Fan Long of the Tongxin Guard arrived from somewhere, mounted atop his swift black bo beast. With a few bursts of speed, he overtook the Thunder-Wielding Behemoth and rode out ahead, determined to see who was setting the pace for this stampede.
He knew with certainty that someone had deliberately lured the behemoth out through the Eye of the Storm to sow chaos for Lingxu City.
Scanning ahead, he found over a hundred Grass Sea guards fleeing for their lives on horseback, with twenty or thirty scattered soldiers riding straight toward Lingxu City.
"Veer!" he bellowed, issuing the order. "All of you, veer west!"
With his arrival, the soldiers found their backbone and wheeled their mounts to the west.
Yet the behemoth did not turn. It remained locked on course, charging straight at Lingxu City.
Fan Long's heart clenched. The saboteur muddying the waters wasn't among these scattered troops?
But there was no one left leading the charge up front.
What on earth was drawing the Thunder-Wielding Behemoth toward the city?
He searched the ground ahead for a long while before his gaze shifted toward the sky, and his heart sank like stone into ice.
Could the bait be held by an avian demon? That would be disastrous.
The stampeding Donao herd shook the earth harder than an earthquake, frightening the flocks of birds in nearby mountain woods into the air. Crows and raptors wheeled and squawked wildly in midair, making the sky no calmer than the ground.
In the pitch-black night, picking out the single culprit from tens of thousands of birds would be an impossible task!
Perched on Mount Xing, He Lingchuan and his companions watched the herd advance like a bulldozer, flattening houses, snapping trees, and crushing anyone in their path...
Carving a wide, brutal highway straight ahead.
Chapter 705