When he first entered the Panlong illusion, he had come here. Later, dreaming at night, he would occasionally linger in this ocean as well. But it wasn't until his last return to the Panlong Desert that he truly experienced its vastness firsthand.
Yet this vast sea inspired no fear in him at all. Even without holding a turtle pearl in his mouth, he could still breathe freely underwater.
Then he noticed a streak of red light surging directly toward him from not far away.
By all rights, whatever was fleeing the colossal red silhouette's pursuit across this ocean should have been Nailuotian's avatar.
Yet it wasn't.
The impression this red light gave him felt both familiar and intimate.
This was not Nailuotian.
To appear within the ocean of the Dafang Pot and give him such a feeling...
Uh... General Red?
From the murky distance, over a dozen chains suddenly shot out, striking like agile serpents to seize the red light.
The red light darted left and flashed right, shifting within inches to narrowly evade them time and again.
One could already tell it was far more adept than the Hundred Faces Nightmare; the latter had been chained down in an instant, left with virtually no room to resist.
These dozen-odd chains seemed specialized in shattering supernatural abilities.
He Lingchuan naturally knew very well where they came from—
The colossal red silhouette.
The scene before him left him thoroughly baffled.
If the colossal red silhouette represented the will of the Dafang Pot, and the red light was General Red or something sent out by General Red, why was the colossal red silhouette chasing and trying to capture it?
Wasn't this internal strife?
Weren't the Dafang Pot's goals aligned with his and General Red's?
The Dafang Pot surely wanted to digest the lid, and He Lingchuan wanted to resolve the divine imprint mark Nailuotian had left in his mind—so what was General Red's goal?
Why had it appeared in this ocean?
He Lingchuan strained to recall every occasion he had encountered General Red. It seemed to appear only in the Panlong World, not in the ruined realm he was currently navigating.
Considering further that this dilapidated, desolate realm contained only Que beasts and outside human parties—with no sign of General Red, the Gale Army, or the comrades and townsfolk he knew—a suspicion took shape in his mind.
Even as his thoughts raced, he did not remain idle, swimming with all his might toward the red light.
By now he was certain beyond doubt: the one summoning him through Fusheng and the suit of armor was General Red!
For this red light to break through countless obstacles to reach him, it had to serve an urgent purpose.
He hadn't forgotten that Nailuotian's whereabouts were still unknown; the danger looming over him had not been eradicated.
Meeting up with General Red without delay could only benefit him.
The chains grew more numerous and agile, weaving into a vast net around the red light before tightening swiftly.
Whenever General Red burst through the gaps of one mesh, another layer awaited it. The net contracted faster and faster, leaving less and less room to maneuver.
The colossal red silhouette was in no rush, proceeding step by step.
Every chain was crawling with dense clusters of Three Corpse Worms, surrounded by treacherous whirlpools; the red light dared not brush against them in the slightest.
Once caught, it would be like a fish snagged by Zhu Erniang's spider silk, unable to escape.
This sea was the colossal red silhouette's home domain. Anyone who entered would find it nearly impossible to escape being netted—
Not even General Red.
As the saying went: boundless is the sea of Dharma.
He Lingchuan swam forward desperately, plunging headlong into the chain array.
Before and behind him, massive chains continually erupted from the deep sea like pillars holding up the heavens. In just these few moments, hundreds had appeared.
It was as though the Dafang Pot had truly gotten serious.
Muffled metallic clangs reached his ears through the water as he plunged forward toward the colossal cage.
Directly below, a massive shadow was steadily rising.
The colossal red silhouette was almost upon them.
This underwater spectacle was both eerie and absurd.
The mesh formed by the chain array grew tighter and tighter, shrinking the space within.
Fortunately, the distance between He Lingchuan and the red light was closing: twenty zhang...
Eighteen zhang...
Fifteen zhang...
Another chain suddenly surged upward, right between him and the red light.
There was no time.
He Lingchuan drew Fusheng and slashed without hesitation.
The blade's unstoppable edge struck the chain with a ringing clang, leaving only a shallow nick. It did, however, cleave away a dozen Three Corpse Worms clinging to it, and the remainder snarled in fury at He Lingchuan.
The strike was nothing more than an ant trying to shake a tree.
Seizing that opening, several more chains rose up to forcibly pry him and the red light apart.
*This damn pot truly never does anything humane!* He Lingchuan was nearly frustrated to the point of coughing up blood.
All these past years, whom had he been sweating and slaving for?
Seeing the chain cage on the verge of closing, inspiration struck him. He yanked the divine bone necklace from his neck, wrapped it around his fist, and roared:
"Get out of the way!"
Then he threw a punch straight at the chain.
The divine bone necklace's durability clearly couldn't compare to the chains, and he threw his fist with full power, as if bent on smashing it to pieces.
Yet He Lingchuan knew the divine bone necklace also represented the Dafang Pot; it was an essential channel for this wretched pot to communicate with him and the outside world.
Didn't the pot want to stop General Red? Let it have a brawl with itself first!
At a juncture like this, even if the divine bone shattered, He Lingchuan wouldn't regret it for a second.
Just before impact, a burst of red light flashed from the divine bone.
The massive, seemingly immovable chain deflected outward along the trajectory of his fist, like a spiderweb disturbed by the wind.
A slight deflection at a single corner was all a living person needed to slip through.
The red light lunged toward him instantly.
Their mutual rush had finally succeeded.
He Lingchuan opened his fist, and the red light dived into his palm without hesitation.
At the same time, the Three Corpse Worms clinging to the chains invaded He Lingchuan's body. Sorrow, agony, helplessness, fear, and a host of other negative emotions erupted at once, accompanied by countless voices mocking him in unison.
They mocked his overestimation of his strength, mocked him for courting suffering, mocked him for trying to halt a chariot with mantis arms, mocked a mere ant for attempting to defy heaven and rewrite fate.
With a buzzing roar, He Lingchuan's head nearly exploded.
Anyone else subjected to such an onslaught would likely have lost their sanity on the spot.
Fortunately, a scorching burn flared in his palm, as if he had seized a red-hot iron through the water.
*Hiss—so painful!*
The sharp agony yanked him back to reality in an instant.
He Lingchuan opened his hand, finding his palm entirely unscathed.
The pain had arrived swiftly and departed just as cleanly.
Looking down, he saw a glowing, blood-red mark at the Taiyuan acupoint at the base of his right wrist, looking as though it had just been branded on.
The swirling pattern resembled both a whirlwind and a lotus, intimately familiar to He Lingchuan:
This was the insignia of the Gale Army!
In his mind, the clamor of the Three Corpse Worms had also vanished, replaced by a cool, detached voice leaving him two sentences:
"Nailuotian's avatar remains. It will come for you again."
"At the right moment, activate my armor."
Before his eyes, the final wisp of red light sank into the insignia.
The glow and voice vanished together, leaving only the mark upon his wrist.
At that very instant, the massive chains around him retreated, and the iron cage dissolved immediately.
Sure enough, they had never been aimed at He Lingchuan.
Now that he had absorbed the red light, this ocean seemed to cease its bustling, turning expansive and tranquil once more.
Yet the shadow directly below grew ever larger.
The colossal red silhouette had arrived, and it wasn't slowing down.
Without him realizing when, it had grown even vaster. Compared to it, He Lingchuan was like an ant before a great whale.
The colossal red silhouette swam straight upward and opened its abyssal maw toward him.
There were no teeth within that gaping mouth, only a deep, nightmarish black hole!
The black hole could easily swallow one or two hundred He Lingchuans.
Inside the mouth was another dense swarm of Three Corpse Worms.
The back of He Lingchuan's neck prickled with cold. No matter how many times he witnessed this sight, it remained just as terrifying.
Yet he offered no resistance, because for reasons beyond explanation, he was convinced that the Dafang Pot would not harm him.
At least, not yet.
Then endless darkness engulfed him.
Only the Gale Army insignia on his wrist emitted a faint red glow. He Lingchuan pressed a hand over it:
Inside the mark seemed sealed a pool of boiling magma, or perhaps a savage beast constantly stirring and ready to burst forth.
He could sense a power unwilling to stay dormant.
Recalling General Red's instructions just now, a thought sprouted in He Lingchuan's mind:
Was it because General Red had ventured out of the Panlong World without authorization to find him, defying the Dafang Pot's rules, that the colossal red silhouette had chased that speck of red light so relentlessly?
Everything in the realm was proceeding in orderly fashion; why had General Red sought him out so abruptly?
He Lingchuan could think of only one reason: Nailuotian.
The God of Fate's avatar still lurked somewhere, waiting to deliver a lethal blow.
General Red aimed to do more than merely warn him.
He Lingchuan's heart stirred. Then, when he entered the Panlong Ruins last time, who had promised him that he "would come to no harm here"—was it the Dafang Pot, or Zhong Shengguang?
Judging by General Red's actions, it was clearly the latter.
It had inherited Zhong Shengguang's dying wishes, and it had honored Zhong Shengguang's promise to He Lingchuan.
***
He Chunhua looked up at the sky.
The sky had dimmed. The green light, the red light, and the colossal red silhouette were all gone; the clouds had returned to normal.
The pursuits across the heavens moments ago seemed to have been nothing more than an illusion.
He Chunhua looked down at the statue in his hands once more:
The green light on its surface had also vanished.
This divine descent summoning had actually failed!
He Chunhua stared at it, dazed and disoriented, his eyes unblinking for the longest time. No matter how Zhao Qinghe called to him, he did not reply, as if he too had solidified into a statue.
His voice was hollow and shaken. "The avatar... The Venerable God's avatar... was it devoured?"
From what they had witnessed, it certainly seemed so.
Nailuotian was known as the God of Fate, yet could even an avatar of "Fate" be eaten by the Dafang Pot?
Unbelievable!
Was this trap arranged in advance by the vengeful ghost possessing Chuan'er's body?
Moments ago, he had only blurted out "Zhong Shengguang" off the top of his head. After all, the Dafang Pot harbored countless evil ghosts; who could say which one was possessing his eldest son's body?
Yet would the Dafang Pot assist an ordinary evil ghost?
At this moment, he genuinely suspected his eldest son was possessed by Zhong Shengguang!
Zhao Qinghe grabbed him and bounded twice through the air, pulling them away from General Red's Cenotaph.
Upon arriving, they had realized the situation was disastrous: Heavenly Palace powerhouses had descended, while the monster pack contained an even more terrifying leader!
With beasts hunting humans and the Que Beast King battling the Heavenly Palace, they had no desire to be caught in the crossfire.
The Dafang Pot was too heavy a windfall to pick up; they probably wouldn't be able to claim it after all.
Chapter 840