What was meant to come would come eventually; what had to be faced must ultimately be faced.
The curling smoke hung frozen in midair without dispersing, coalescing into the shape of a human face.
Nailuotian's stern voice rang out at the same time. "He Chunhua, do you know your guilt?"
"I await Your Venerable Divinity's punishment." He Chunhua was fully prepared. Lowering his eyes and head, he offered no defense.
After dealing with each other for so long, he had developed a fair understanding of this celestial god's temperament.
Seeing him confess so readily without deflecting blame, Nailuotian let out a snort, its fury waning slightly. "What happened in the Panlong Realm? Explain it clearly—every single detail!"
Because its avatar had failed to return, it had no idea what had unfolded in the mortal realm below.
He Chunhua therefore recounted his experiences in the city piece by piece, without embellishment or subjective conjecture.
He knew that whenever this celestial god had no desire to hear outside opinions, it was best to keep one's mouth shut.
As for his various deductions regarding He Lingchuan's behavior, He Chunhua did not mention them to Nailuotian either.
Nailuotian listened closely, interrupting now and then to question him.
This detailed narration lasted for more than an hour; He Chunhua himself drank two cups of water.
As for the injuries on his body, he merely said he had been wounded by a Que beast. Nailuotian cared nothing for that and asked no further questions.
"Do you believe He Lingchuan knew from the very beginning that you had entered the Panlong Realm?"
Anyone seeing the soaring pillar of light inside the Panlong Ruins would assume that was the entrance to the realm. Furthermore, although the wild sand season occurred every year, quite a few factions had ventured into the Panlong Ruins in the past. If nothing else, He Chunhua himself had brought over a hundred men into the ruins last time, and those soldiers had been completely incapable of holding their tongues after returning to the city, spreading the news far and wide.
Those who caught wind of the rumors later would naturally jump to the preconceived conclusion that the pool in Mitian Temple was the true entrance.
If He Lingchuan had known from the very beginning that the realm began at Panlong's South Gate, then the upheaval within the Panlong Realm was inextricably linked to him.
He Chunhua said earnestly, "Chuan'er seemed aware that he bore the divine imprint mark, and he stopped me multiple times from invoking Your Divinity within the realm. In my view, he may not have realized he was in the realm either."
Nailuotian's volume abruptly spiked. "Are you saying my avatar being trapped in the Dafang Pot has nothing to do with He Lingchuan?!"
He Chunhua had endured a harrowing night, followed by more than an hour of reporting while injured. Thoroughly exhausted, he nonetheless forced himself to rally his spirits and said, "From what we can see, the Dafang Pot lured the various groups into the realm with its own agenda, but that doesn't prove it has anything to do with Chuan'er."
Nailuotian countered immediately, "The Dafang Pot sought to use your hands to eradicate the Que beasts bursting from the red pillar of light. Several months ago, turmoil struck Lingxu City, and a supreme treasure was stolen from Zhaixing Tower. I only just learned that it was connected to the Dafang Pot."
*No wonder bizarre things kept happening in the Panlong Desert these past few months.* He Chunhua felt a silent contempt. *Only just learned? Who would believe that! Why didn't Nailuotian share such vital intelligence beforehand?*
If He Lingchuan was still He Lingchuan—neither Zhong Shengguang nor possessed by a heroic spirit of Panlong City—then he could not possibly be the mastermind behind the scenes.
Because his eldest son had had no connection whatsoever to the world-shaking incident at the Heavenly Palace.
"If that is so, then the party behind the scenes must be targeting the Heavenly Palace, correct?" He Chunhua pondered as he spoke. "He Jing, the Heavenly Palace's Duyun Emissary, certainly died an inexplicable death at General Red's Cenotaph."
"Mortgaging the Red Cliff Trade Route, coming to the Panlong Desert to seize the Dafang Pot—these were all plans proposed by us. Chuan'er came along most reluctantly." He hesitated for a moment before continuing, "I believe it wasn't him."
Nailuotian scoffed. "He escaped the divine descent purely out of good luck?"
He Chunhua murmured, "He is blessed with good fortune. His luck has always been extraordinary, as Your Divinity well knows."
"How do you know he didn't see through your tricks and simply play along?" Nailuotian asked coldly. "Didn't you say he had already discovered the divine imprint mark in his mind?"
"I do not know," He Chunhua replied honestly. "There are too many things about this that make no sense."
The events that had occurred in the Panlong Realm were far too numerous and tangled; in a short time, practically no one could sort them out clearly, including Nailuotian.
And through this unexpected mishap, He Chunhua also realized something:
It seemed this God of Fate could not accurately predict its own fate either—otherwise, how could it have allowed its avatar to fall into the Dafang Pot?
He asked tentatively, "Venerable Divinity, didn't you make... er, make preparations beforehand?" *How did it still fail?*
Nailuotian fell silent for a moment before speaking. "Nearly a year ago, an upheaval occurred at Mount Xu, and that divine artifact lost from Zhaixing Tower was extraordinary. I presumed that if the Dafang Pot wished to refine it, doing so would not be easy."
"You believed...?" He Chunhua thought about it. "There was an opportunity to exploit?"
"Correct. The Que beasts you encountered in the Panlong Realm were the divine artifact's resistance against the Dafang Pot. Such a struggle must have been going on for a long time," Nailuotian said slowly. "That divine artifact was enshrined in Zhaixing Tower for nearly two hundred years and had long grown familiar with the aura of the Everlasting Lamp spirits. Therefore, when I had my avatar enter the realm carrying an Everlasting Lamp spirit as an intermediary, it should have been accepted by the artifact, thereby bypassing the Dafang Pot's traps."
"No wonder," He Chunhua said in sudden realization. "No wonder Your Divinity's avatar vanished after entering the Panlong Realm." So Nailuotian's avatar had been guided in by the divine artifact, rather than swallowed whole by the Dafang Pot.
"Then... did the Heavenly Palace's contingent receive no divine guidance beforehand?" Why hadn't they been guided in? From what he had seen, the Heavenly Palace's lamp wardens and Duyun Emissary had instead borne the brunt of the combat within the realm.
Nailuotian chuckled contemptuously. "Even the gods of Lingxu do not know the true origins of that divine artifact. They believed the artifact and the Dafang Pot were originally one and the same, and that the Dafang Pot would easily refine it in short order. How could they imagine there were so many variables inside the pot!"
In short: gaps and miscalculations in intelligence had led the Heavenly Palace contingent to misjudge the complexity of the realm inside the pot.
"Furthermore, just like you, the Heavenly Palace group entered the city straight away from the beginning and was never barred outside the realm. Why would they need guidance?"
The Dafang Pot had blocked its avatar, which was why the latter had required the Qianling Treasure Lid's special reception.
"Even if He Jing and the others possessed lamp spirits, attacking the Que beasts would immediately provoke retaliation. What is more, the Qianling Treasure Lid has never communicated with mortals. In the two hundred years it was enshrined, even the leaders of Zhaixing Tower could not elicit the slightest feedback from the artifact."
*So that divine artifact is called the Qianling Treasure Lid?* He Chunhua noted the name in his mind.
That raised a question: how had Nailuotian obtained secrets of the divine artifact that even the mighty, omnipotent gods of Lingxu knew nothing about?
What was the story behind this?
The relationships among celestial gods seemed tangled and complex as well. Though He Chunhua was curious, he did not pry.
He could sense that Nailuotian had no wish to elaborate.
Besides, even if Nailuotian knew the secret of the divine artifact, and even if it could communicate with it, hadn't that avatar still been lost in the end?
That proved Nailuotian had failed just like the Heavenly Palace's contingent, and just like the gods of Lingxu.
Judging by the outcome, everyone was a loser. None was any more brilliant than the rest, so there was no need for the pot to call the kettle black.
Of course, he didn't have the gall to say this aloud.
It was Nailuotian's turn to interrogate him. "In whose hands did the Heavenly Palace's Duyun Emissary He Jing actually die? Did you truly not see clearly?"
He Chunhua shook his head. "Baling's Bao Guanjie was closest to him, and later Le Zhengqing rushed over as well. I don't know which of them took the Dafang Pot."
"Bao Guanjie was capable of killing He Jing?" Was there any Duyun Emissary who wasn't a formidable figure capable of holding his own ground?
"By that time, the Heavenly Palace contingent was reduced to only four survivors. He Jing had fought a fierce battle against the king of the Que beasts and was at his wit's end, barely able to stand and constantly coughing up blood."
Even a dragon in shallow water could be toyed with by shrimp, not to mention that Bao Guanjie was a renowned general of Baling who could hardly be called mere "shrimp."
"I am very doubtful whether the pot you saw was the Dafang Pot itself," Nailuotian said contemplatively. "The Heavenly Palace lost its treasure and became a laughingstock; they must have harbored fury for months. In exploring the Panlong Realm this time, He Jing wasn't just after the treasure—he was likely also searching for the whereabouts of the thief who threw Mount Xu into chaos months ago. Conversely, whoever killed He Jing is likely that very thief. Looking at it this way, Bao Guanjie doesn't fit the profile."
How much nerve would a military general of Baling have to dare assassinate a Duyun Emissary of the Heavenly Palace?
He Chunhua's eyes flickered slightly. Did Nailuotian suspect something fishy was afoot, that Bao Guanjie had become someone else's scapegoat?
"Can you still catch up to the people of Baling?"
"I can try, but the chances are slim."
"This matter involves the death of Duyun Emissary He Jing; the Heavenly Palace will not let it rest. If you do not wish Beijia's wrath to fall upon you, you must push this onto that man named Bao."
He Chunhua answered, "Yes." That had been his intention all along.
Yet strangely enough, Nailuotian, who had originally been seething with rage, was now actually strategizing on his behalf. Were celestial gods ever this easy to deal with?
He had thought that even if he escaped death, he would at least have a layer of skin flayed off.
Something wasn't right here; there had to be some special, hidden reason.
"Your bungling caused my avatar to fall into entrapment and cost me an extraordinarily important ability! By all rights, ten thousand deaths could not expiate your crime," Nailuotian's voice sounded through gritted teeth. "However, while you were in the Panlong Realm, I performed a divination and found that your life line has actually grown clearer. It seems you still have some use."
Those two sentences made He Chunhua's heart tighten, then ease.
Nailuotian had once said that the worst possible outcome of this venture was merely the loss of an avatar. Over the years, He Chunhua had secretly gathered intelligence and knew that for a celestial god to dispatch an avatar to the mortal realm required an enormous expenditure of divine power; if that avatar perished in the mortal world, the loss was even more severe.
Competition in the realm of gods was fierce, and no celestial god was willing to suffer such a loss for nothing.
Yet at the end of the day, an avatar was only an avatar; even if it perished, it shouldn't harm the celestial god's origin essence.
That had been the source of Nailuotian's confidence in taking the risk.
Yet now it claimed to have lost an extremely important "ability."
What kind of ability could it be to make Nailuotian place such immense value on it?
He Chunhua could sense its surging, towering fury. Had it not deemed him still useful, it certainly would have vented that wrath upon his head.
He also noticed that Nailuotian had said its avatar had "fallen into entrapment" rather than perished.
Which meant this avatar still existed in the mortal realm.
In a flash, he understood:
*This was He Lingchuan's true objective all along!*
A celestial god could only trace a mark to dispatch a single avatar to the mortal world. As long as this avatar remained trapped, no matter the reason, Nailuotian would never be able to send down a second.
Chapter 854