Otherwise, Ling Jinbao would have deduced it immediately.
As it stood, he could only guess that this man surnamed He was exceptionally cautious and unwilling to risk his own skin, sending Zhang Lianhai and the others in as the vanguard instead.
To tell the truth, in the eyes of ordinary Daoist sects, the Heavenly Palace was an aloof, unfathomable entity possessed of awe-inspiring divine might. To see an esteemed Duyun Emissary acting so timidly struck Ling Jinbao as rather unbelievable.
Or had He Jing obtained more intelligence regarding Panlong City and the Dafang Pot—intelligence that made him dread letting down his guard?
He Jing looked at him with a faint smile. "These are the Heavenly Palace's arrangements. Well, is Mr. Ling about to take his leave?"
*Milking me for news and then showing me the door?* Ling Jinbao spat inwardly. Stroking his chin, he said, "Could I stay and watch? Pure curiosity, of course."
He Jing had not expected him to be quite this brazen. Frowning, he replied, "Apologies, but this is a supreme treasure of our Palace."
Which was to say: the scenes inside the city would not be shared.
Ling Jinbao gave a dry chuckle and waved to his disciples. "Let's go, boys!"
If he had harbored any lingering illusions about the Dafang Pot before, seeing He Jing and his entourage had caused those vain thoughts to vanish like smoke.
Even a Duyun Emissary had come; whatever scraps were left, they would never fall to the Jianyang Sect.
Forget it, forget it. Time to go home.
Ling Jinbao led his disciples away into the distance without looking back.
The Heavenly Palace acolytes tailed them for three li before returning to report: "The Jianyang Sect has departed..."
He Jing cut them off with a wave of his hand, his expression grave. "They were smart to leave. This city, this crimson light—it's all a trap!"
Having been modified, this Haofang Mirror actually shared its visual field with the young attendant beside Zhang Lianhai. Whatever the youth saw, He Jing would not miss.
This was because he knew full well that this expedition to Panlong City was likely fraught with hidden peril!
After an unknown figure ran amok in the Heavenly Palace and plundered the sacred relic, it stood to reason that the Dafang Pot had been restored to wholeness and strange anomalies had erupted in Panlong City.
It would be stranger if the reunification of two supreme treasures failed to stir up a commotion.
Yet a critical question remained:
Where was the person who had seized the Dafang Pot's lid?
That person had braved extraordinary dangers and endured untold hardship to make the Dafang Pot whole again. Would they really abandon the pot and walk away? What would have been the point of all that trouble?
Therefore, that thief was eight or nine parts out of ten still nearby, secretly guarding the Dafang Pot.
The Dafang Pot was a deeply mysterious treasure. Even after pondering it for so long, the celestial gods still regularly argued over how to use it. But He Jing understood at least one thing: the object was fundamentally impossible to control. Its current myriad anomalies might not even align with the thief's wishes.
This was also why the Heavenly Palace had urged He Jing to rush here posthaste.
However, the treasure thief was entirely capable of turning the situation to their advantage and laying a trap.
It was just that their true intentions remained unknown.
That was why He Jing would not foolishly take the lead in charging into Panlong City. By utilizing the power of the Haofang Mirror, he could sit comfortably in the safety of the desert, observing the shifts within Panlong City.
And indeed, this look immediately revealed a problem.
Earlier, when the crimson light had washed over the entire city, fleeting though it was, he had witnessed with his own eyes the people atop the South Gate suddenly vanish.
Yet later, looking through the Haofang Mirror from the young attendant's vantage point, the factions inside the city were going about their business as if they had not been surprised by the crimson light's expansion in the slightest. Zhang Lianhai and his group had not even mentioned it.
Why?
Watching the expressions of the people in the city, a thought crossed He Jing's mind:
*Could it be that they don't even know?*
Just then, the acolyte staring into the Haofang Mirror gasped involuntarily. He saw with absolute clarity a gigantic palm erupt from the crimson light rising out of the Mitian Temple's pool-well, snatching someone standing at the rim straight inside!
He Jing stopped in his tracks as well.
Evidently, the crimson pillar of light represented the entrance to the Dafang Pot's secret realm. Were things now bursting out from inside it?
Next, the crowd watched as one bizarre, white-furred beast after another leaped from the pool-well. They noticed that wherever these beasts passed, frost coated the ground and tiny ice crystals condensed in the air.
Evidently, the native environment of these monsters was a land of ice and snow.
"Let's go. Move closer and have a look."
Observing the images in the Haofang Mirror, he led his subordinates forward toward Panlong City.
By the time Zhang Lianhai and his group took refuge inside a tall tower to evade the monsters, He Jing had also approached the wide land bridge before the Chipa Plateau.
Crossing this land bridge over the moat would bring them to the foot of the South Gate.
Yet He Jing did not cross the bridge. Instead, he ordered everyone to wait in place for quite some time.
Under their watchful gaze, the Panlong Ruins remained deathly quiet. Aside from the crimson light soaring into the heavens, there was not a single strange sound.
Only the night wind of the desert whistled through the open archway of the South Gate, howling with a low, mournful roar.
Just as it always had.
This was far too abnormal. Panlong City inside the Haofang Mirror was clearly so bustling, with human shouts and beastly roars resounding loudly. Standing just outside the city, how could He Jing and his men hear nothing at all?
The Panlong Ruins before them was simply a deserted city of the dead.
Where were the people? Where were the monsters? Where had they gone?
An acolyte at his side asked for instructions: "Lord Emissary, are we going in?"
He Jing waved his hand, lost in deep thought. "These monsters... I seem to have heard of them before."
The acolytes dared not press further. Only his most favored disciple, Fu Liang, said deferentially, "Your knowledge and erudition are unmatched in the Palace, My Lord. That is why you are burdened with such toil, having to travel to Wange Marsh and now here to the Panlong Desert."
Within the Heavenly Palace, He Jing was indeed renowned for his vast learning. Other Duyun Emissaries, such as Bai Ziqi, possessed reputations for sharp intellect, yet had to concede inferiority when it came to erudition.
He Jing sighed. "I went to Wange Marsh, never expecting that chaos would erupt back in the Heavenly Palace and nearly topple Zhaixing Tower."
Fu Liang said at once, "Had you been presiding over Zhaixing Tower at the time, I doubt things on Mount Xu would have turned so tragic."
He Jing glared at him. "Nonsense! The Chief Emissary was present as well. How dare you utter such reckless words?"
Fu Liang gave a fawning smile. "The monsters—you were speaking of the monsters in the city."
"The Grass Sea campaign in the northern outskirts of Lingxu City... you took part in that, didn't you?"
"Yes!" Fu Liang chuckled. "This disciple went with the Heavenly Palace Guards and brought back two Donao beasts."
"The Fu Realm connected to the Grass Sea is a minor realm," He Jing said slowly. "And it is far from the only minor realm connected to our grand universe."
He pointed toward the mirror's image. "These beasts likely hail from another minor realm, and they are also known as Que beasts."
The disciple was surprised. "Que beasts?"
"Their white fur is exceptionally dense, and some possess divine abilities to command ice and summon snow. Look at the one Zhang Lianhai just killed: it can harden its exterior like rock, impervious to blades and spears. That serves as both camouflage and armor. Also, their blood... their blood is deep purple. Once it spills and meets the air, it congeals into amethyst crystals.
"Five or six years ago at the Dun Garden auction, an amethyst nearly four feet tall was sold, bearing three graduating shades of color. That was formed from the congealed blood of a Que beast. If you shatter that amethyst—" He pointed at the mirror. "Just like that man is doing, it releases an immense wave of freezing cold before turning back into liquid."
Inside Panlong City, a Heavenly Palace acolyte had curiously struck a piece of purple blood, only to be nearly frozen into a block of ice.
He Jing scoffed disdainfully. "Ignorant of priorities. Has Zhang Lianhai trained such useless subordinates?"
His expression soon turned solemn, however, for a colossal beast was striding past the tower where Zhang Lianhai and his group were hiding.
Zhang Lianhai was vigilant as well, ordering everyone to remain silent, motionless, and safely hidden.
Thus, the giant beast was soon lured away by other groups of humans.
"The beasts emerging from the crimson light are growing increasingly formidable. This is the very reason they were named Que beasts. When they first invaded the mortal world, ordinary folk saw bodies as enormous as palace gate towers and began calling them 'Que.'" He Jing knitted his brows. "Frantic with rage and bearing wounds... who injured them earlier?"
Fu Liang consulted him again: "Lord Emissary, how could beasts from another minor realm appear in Panlong City? Could this place be an intersection between two realms, just like the Grass Sea?"
He Jing waved his hand. "That is not for you to know."
For this involved the treasure stolen from Zhaixing Tower—the Dafang Pot lid.
On the night of the catastrophe on Mount Xu, the Heavenly Palace had issued a gag order, commanding everyone in Zhaixing Tower who knew of the incident to remain silent about everything that had occurred, especially forbidding any leak that a sacred relic had been stolen.
Naturally, such news could not be completely suppressed; the higher-ups and well-connected figures of Lingxu City were bound to find out.
So long as it did not spread widely among the common populace to become idle gossip over tea, that was enough.
There was a distinction between insiders and outsiders, and the Heavenly Palace would not hide such information from He Jing.
Upon seeing these monsters, he recalled a certain legend concerning the pot lid:
It was said that after the Dafang Pot was forged through the joint efforts of several exalted immortals, it began to display extraordinary properties. All the immortals were amazed, save for one named Master Sanshui. He believed its emergence would bring nothing but harm, fearing that future generations would lack the strength to keep it in check, and so he adamantly demanded its destruction.
No matter how earnestly he pleaded, the other immortals refused. In a fit of fury, Master Sanshui stole the pot lid, rendering the Dafang Pot incomplete.
Yet the components of this divine artifact resonated with one another. Despite trying countless methods, he could never fully sever the connection. The other immortals were hardly willing to let the matter rest, pursuing him relentlessly.
Master Sanshui evaded capture countless times and fought numerous battles. Just as he was on the verge of being cornered by the other exalted immortals, he vanished.
Man and pot lid alike vanished without a trace.
The exalted immortals searched in vain for a hundred years, ultimately forced to drop the matter.
Two thousand years later, the world's immortals had long since disappeared, and the Dafang Pot lid resurfaced in the mortal realm. Somehow, it was acquired by the Ke family, who presented it to the Heavenly Palace as a supreme treasure to be enshrined upon the altar.
Why did the Heavenly Palace merely enshrine it, rather than claiming it for their own use as they did with other divine artifacts?
The reason was exceedingly simple: the object would not recognize any master!
No one could truly make it their own.
The assembly of ancient immortals could not, nor could the latter-day Heavenly Palace.
He Jing had previously only skimmed the anecdotes regarding Que beasts. After all, at his station, he was exposed to countless bizarre tales and obscure histories every day.
Yet now, Que beasts had appeared in the Panlong Ruins!
He Jing could only deduce that when Master Sanshui had been hunted with nowhere left to hide back then, that minor realm had happened to open, and he had simply fled into it with the pot lid. Once that minor realm closed and the connection between the two realms was severed, the world's immortals could no longer locate the lid's whereabouts.
Chapter 833