After the fairy disappeared

Chapter 2565 Deception and Machinations
The people of Lingyun Palace wanted to give chase, but the mountains were full of mud and mire. The enemy passed through easily, but they themselves stepped into pits. It was also inconvenient to pursue by flying, as they were always dragged to the ground by some inexplicable suction force.

Not to mention, more and more human-faced tree demons were following closely behind.

As they continued chasing, the distance between them grew larger and larger.

This human-faced tree demon is the fruit of a tree grown in the Soul Extraction Box. The Nine Nether Emperor used this box to extract the souls of evil people to nourish the Soul Tree. The flowers that grow from it have the effect of nourishing the soul. If the fruit is not picked and thrown to the ground, it can turn into a highly aggressive Juluo Tree Demon.

This box followed the Nine Nether Emperor on his campaigns, consuming countless souls, and the tree demon it nurtured grew ever more powerful.

They couldn't defeat immortals or highly skilled cultivators, but they could easily entangle armies with weaker elemental power. The Heavenly Palace's army was far from Bega, and their activated elemental power was insufficient for them to easily defeat these tree demons.

When Immortal Wuyu and the others had no choice but to give up the pursuit, the tree demons also turned and ran away, scattering in all directions.

"Have you captured any prisoners?" She retracted her whip.

Someone behind them immediately responded, "We caught a white duck."

This is a bird demon that lives on the Earth Mother Plain. It went into battle with the team this time, but it was a couple of steps too slow during the retreat and its wings were damaged by the people of Lingyun Palace. They then caught it in a net.

Immortal Wuyu breathed a sigh of relief: "Thank goodness, we got through it..."

Their purpose in coming to this battle is to find out who their opponent is. As long as they capture prisoners, they can extract information about the enemy.

However, before the word "come" could be uttered, several swamp beasts suddenly sprang out of the mud pit beside them.

Immortal Wuyu unleashed two divine powers, freezing two swamp beasts, but two others still managed to bite the cultivator and snatch the white duck. They then fell back into the mire and disappeared with a flick of their tails.

Once they're in the mud, it's extremely difficult for anyone else to grab them.

"Outrageous!" The duck that was within his grasp had escaped. Enraged, Immortal Wuyu lashed out with his whip, shattering the two ice sculptures into pieces.

She examined the swamp beast's body again and found that it was made of rock and bones and could not even be considered a living thing.

"It's a summoned creature." She brushed the dirt off her hands and looked around. "Such powerful supernatural abilities!"

To be able to summon so many swamp beasts at once and make them fight so tenaciously is already quite an achievement. But she didn't overlook one point:
Swamp beasts need to adapt to their local environment to unleash their full power. Is this geographical environment naturally occurring, or has it been modified by someone behind the scenes?

It seems the other side has been lying in ambush here for quite some time.

Next, the battle in the valley led by Immortal Wuyu was quite difficult. Immortal Mingke fought guerrilla warfare with the people of Lingyun Palace in the swamp, rarely engaging in direct combat, but the efficiency was improved, and several groups of troops were quietly eliminated.

The valley was sluggish and muddy, making it impossible for the army to advance. The cultivators from Lingyun Palace tried various methods, such as hardening the ground with ice and using lightness techniques to enhance their abilities, but all to little avail. This wretched place was clearly their territory.

Yanxia Bay had no choice but to send two more groups of people here, and the barrier to prevent escape was repaired twice. However, they were unable to gain the upper hand, and the number of casualties continued to rise.

Ultimately, the escape barrier could not be maintained and broke down as Immortal Mingke personally dug out the talisman.

The people of Lingyun Palace saw all their opponents jump into the nearest mud pit and disappear in an instant.

They had never seen such a strange retreat method before, but they had to admit it was very effective because there was no way to pursue them.

Immortal Wuyu also secretly cast a tracking spell on the two enemies, but it failed before he could chase them for more than two miles.

"Damn Mingke Immortal!" That guy is known for his meticulousness. Apart from leaving behind a few dead monsters, he didn't leave Wuyu Immortal a single one to interrogate!
Subsequently, Duan Heyun's "Divine Gaze" was once again blocked, and Lingyun Palace lost track of its opponent again.

The Nine Nether Emperor outlined three key points for this ambush battle in the mountains: first, to annihilate the enemy forces as much as possible to reduce the resistance to their subsequent attack on the Spiritual Palace and make it easier for them to take advantage of the chaos; second, to achieve a swift victory while keeping the existence of the Earth Mother and the Nine Nether Emperor hidden.

The latter is the real challenge; we must not let Lingyun Palace figure out the enemy's true strength or weakness.

Therefore, iconic combat forces such as the Earth Mother's stone doppelganger, the Cave Spider Queen, and Dong Rui's Ghost Ape cannot be publicly revealed.

Furthermore, Lingyun Palace will surely deduce that this is a trap and will send experts to oversee the situation. Therefore, the third key point for our attack is safety first; we must not be reckless.

In addition, He Lingchuan also needs to control the pace of the battle, creating the impression that the enemy forces are retreating one after another, so that Lingyun Palace will send more people to this battlefield.

The more people it sends out, the weaker its own defense becomes, and the more it will suffer losses when He Lingchuan attacks Lingyun Palace.

The battle on this front is being commanded by Immortal Mingke, and so far, it has been progressing perfectly.

However, right after the barrier disappeared, a figure stealthily approached the western part of the swamp.

This is a water-eroded valley. Over the years, the stream has eroded holes of different shapes and sizes into the rock walls. Some look like honeycomb briquettes, while others resemble a person's open mouth.

There are many underground fissures here, which are often connected to water bodies, and are therefore filled with moisture.

The figure emerged from the ground and quietly slipped into a crack below.

These fissures are interconnected, like a small underground maze, but their direction is very clear; you can enter a cave in just a few breaths.

This irregularly shaped cave was actually over thirty square meters in size, and unless one was proficient in earth-遁 (earth-遁 is a type of escape technique), there was only one entrance and exit. Duan Heyun and Alian sat on the ground, quietly bowing their heads in silence.

Two people stood beside them, and three more guarded the cave entrance.

"Soon, right?" one of the guards asked his companion.

"The enemy's barrier has been broken. We've been instructed to depart in half an incense stick's time. The reinforcements are already on their way."

"That's good." The guard breathed a sigh of relief. "The sooner we take this guy back, the more successful we'll be!"

No sooner had they finished speaking than a dark shadow suddenly appeared from the ground behind them!
This creature is six feet long and looks strange. At first glance, it looks like a pangolin, and it is indeed covered in scales. Its head and tail can be curled into a ball.

In fact, it emerged curled up in a ball, silently unfolding its form behind the guard. Only then could one discover that although it had the body and tail of a pangolin, its head resembled that of a large catfish, and it even had several tentacles on its upper and lower jaws.

When it opened its mouth, it spat out four shadows.

Two of them rushed to pounce on the guards with lightning speed, while the other two went to rescue Duan Heyun and Alian, with a clear division of labor.

The monster that led them to the bottom of the cave was the demon puppet Tu Yuan of Lingyun Palace, skilled in earth-遁 (earth-遁 is a type of magical escape technique).