After the fairy disappeared

Chapter 2562 Everyone has their own plans
She continued, "I heard that Cang Yan had previously destroyed several Heavenly Palace experimental sites."

Otherwise, why would the Holy Venerable Lingxu ask Helutian to protect the Hidden God and the Spiritual Palace?

"Could it be Dong Rui?" Wang Maoshi pondered. "Yanxia Bay is quite far from Cangyan. Would he travel all that way here?"

"A thousand miles away?" Xiao Ping said quickly, "Shen Kingdom is even farther from Cang Yan, but that didn't stop them from launching a sneak attack on the Earth Mother's Jade Capital!"

"Dong Rui's strength alone is not enough to kidnap Master Duan."

"That means Cang Yan has sent out an elite team; perhaps the Nine Nether Emperor himself has come."

Upon hearing this, the room suddenly fell silent.

Xiao Ping mentioned it casually, but her words startled her.

The three people present all instinctively felt: Impossible.

But who can say for sure about this?
Whether it was the havoc in the Heavenly Palace in the past or the later Dragon God War, it's clear that Jiu You doesn't mind taking risks personally. If Cang Yan obtains accurate intelligence about Yanxia Bay, perhaps it really is worth his personal involvement!
To seize the body of the Hidden God and disrupt the Heavenly Demon's plan to descend to the heavens, this must be incredibly attractive to the Lord of Cangyan.
Moreover, this is the highest-level experimental field in the Heavenly Palace, with the Great God personally in charge. Who else has the ability to deal with it?

But if the Nine Netherworlds were to personally arrive, it might be worth a try.

Thinking of this, Wang Maoshi shook his head repeatedly: "Master Xiao, we still don't know how the other party kidnapped Master Duan. There are countless supernatural treasures in this world. How can we be sure it was Snail Toad based on the words of a few eyewitnesses? It might not even be the work of a demon puppet. Just now, Heavenly Venerable Helu also said that this secret should have been stolen by Mount Ling or the Mu Kingdom."

Before Xiao Ping could reply, Wang Maoshi preemptively asked her, "Are you sure that's a snail-toad? Do you have more evidence?"

Caught off guard, Xiao Ping had no reply and could only sigh.

If Duan Heyun were here, he would definitely agree with her and insist that it was indeed the snail toad. And these two would most likely believe it too.

Could Master Duan's judgment be wrong?

At this moment, Xiao Ping's demon puppeteers rushed into Quanyin Pavilion:
"Master Xiao, Jun Tsuchigaki is ready!"

It was a little faster than expected, thank goodness.

Just then, Helu Tian suddenly said, "Two more of the Divine Watch have been severed, one by Hu Xin and the other by the guard. Now only Duan Heyun and Alian remain."

Xiao Ping's hand clenched tightly immediately.

Helu Tian continued, "Now, let's send out a few groups of people to test their identities."

Subsequent plans will depend on the results of the trial.

"It seems Duan Heyun will have to suffer a bit first." Xiao Ping curled her lips. "Well, that's fine, he brought it on himself."

￥￥￥￥￥

With nothing else to do, Aunt Zhu took out the talisman she had taken from Duan Heyun and pressed it on her leg a few times:
"It's stopped emitting light; it's malfunctioning!"

Just as He Lingchuan had predicted, He Lutian withdrew the talisman's power as soon as he received news of Duan Heyun's abduction, to prevent the enemy from taking advantage of the situation.

He held out his hand to Aunt Zhu: "Give it to me."

The talisman looked no different from the previous one, except that it wouldn't glow when pressed. He casually put it away.

He Lingchuan and the others waited with the Earth Mother for the rabbit to appear, but the "rabbit" never showed up.

Aunt Zhu looked up at the sky with more than a dozen eyes, until her eyes were about to burst, but she still couldn't see the light of the celestial being streaking across the sky.

"Did Helu Tian not expect that Alian's appearance could be divinely bestowed?"

He Lingchuan had already held two short meetings with his subordinates to discuss the current situation.

“We are infiltrators, and we didn’t reveal our true identities while abducting Duan Heyun. Logically speaking, Lingyun Palace should know very little about us, which is our advantage,” said Immortal Mingke. “However, the methods we used to capture Duan Heyun were too sophisticated, which may cause Lingyun Palace to worry.”

“If we kidnap Duan Heyun, Lingyun Palace will definitely deduce that we are after the Divine Descent Plan and the Hidden God Lord.” He Lingchuan pondered, “The location of the Hidden God Lord is a top secret of the Heavenly Palace. Only top-tier forces can obtain this information, so they are more cautious and conservative in their actions. Perhaps Lingyun Palace has made a decision to protect the greater good and abandon the lesser, or to test the waters first.”

Weighing the two options, Duan Heyun is the "small" one.

"So you're just giving up on Duan Heyun like that?" Ling Jinbao scratched his head. "That's not like the way Heavenly Palace operates."

"Most gods are arrogant when facing mortals, especially the Great Gods. That's why I hoped that, without knowing our true strength, Helu Tian might be eager to descend and take back Duan Heyun after his divine gaze failed." Great Gods have never taken mortal opponents seriously unless a True Immortal intervenes. "But Helu Tian held back. Either someone in the opposing camp persuaded him, or his temperament is indeed more composed than other Great Gods, which matches the intelligence I've gathered."

In terms of gathering intelligence on the opposing faction, the human realm and the celestial realm are naturally unequal.

The Heavenly Demons have infiltrated the mortal realm for thousands of years, with spies and informants everywhere; however, it is ten or even a hundred times more difficult for humans to obtain intelligence from the Heavenly Realm than for them. Even the clues held by He Lingchuan and the immortals were obtained indirectly from the Heavenly Demons, inevitably containing deviations, errors, and delays, and often requiring on-site verification.

"From the fall of Miaozhantian to the defeat of Jialoutian, the Heavenly Demons have suffered so many losses; they should learn their lesson," said Immortal Mingke. "Since Helutian refuses to fall for our tricks, shouldn't we change our plan?"

“If the mountain won’t come to me, I’ll go to the mountain myself.” He Lingchuan cracked his knuckles. “It’s our turn to take the lead.”

He summoned several bird demons and asked, "After we kidnapped Duan Heyun, how many pursuers were following us?"

"There are over a thousand ground troops, but they are slow; there are about a hundred flying immortals, demons, and cultivators."

“What we observed at Lingyun Palace was far more than this number; it seems most of them are still stationed there. Lingyun Palace is maintaining its composure.” He Lingchuan then said to Dong Rui, “Take Duan Heyun and Alian into the Snail Toad, and let’s go for a walk on the ground.”

Then, he summoned the other immortals and demons on the Earth Mother Plain and assigned them another crucial task.

The Earth Mother itself is a mobile fortress, capable of carrying a vast number of creatures, so He Lingchuan has no shortage of manpower.

At this moment, this enormous creature is still buried underground, dozens of feet above the surface. The most convenient means of transportation for everyone to return to the surface is the snail toad and the stone man clone of the Earth Mother.

It was already bright daylight, the sun shining brightly. After spending the night in darkness, everyone couldn't help but take a deep breath when they saw the light of day again.

He Lingchuan stretched, walked into the sunlight, raised the Floating Life Blade, and gently severed the Divine Gaze on his body.

From now on, even the gods could not find his whereabouts and could only track the other two who were traveling with him.