Chapter 2274: Secrets Hidden in Intelligence

“The Shen Kingdom war... the blue-skinned divine descender...” The Soul-Snatching Mirror in his arms mumbled, “It’s here, don’t flip, it’s right here!”

He Lingchuan remembered correctly; Fang Canran’s intelligence report clearly stated:

The Great Battle of Xilongpo between the Fu Kingdom and the Shen Kingdom involved divine descent!

The Shen Kingdom had been established for many years, and He Chunhua understood the principle of balancing expansion with consolidation. Its large-scale expansion had long since slowed, with full focus on developing the domestic economy. It must be noted that Shen Kingdom’s luck was exceptionally good; its national strength significantly increased during the Beimou War. This indirectly fueled He Chunhua’s ambition, making the Shen Kingdom restless once more.

Border conflicts between the Shen Kingdom and the Fu Kingdom intensified. The Fu Kingdom, with inferior military strength, suffered significantly.

Xilongpo was a strategic location; if the Shen Kingdom captured it, the central region of the Fu Kingdom would be in peril.

The Shen Kingdom initially held the upper hand, but during the Battle of Xilongpo, two divine descenders suddenly appeared, completely nullifying the Shen army’s advantage. The Fu Kingdom seized the opportunity to counterattack, inflicting heavy casualties on the Shen army, which then retreated directly back into its own territory.

The invasion failed.

Fang Canran’s secret report also mentioned the appearance of these two heavenly gods: one was a merman, and the other resembled a dough figurine crafted by an artisan. Shen Kingdom soldiers present at the time described them as “stepping through the void,” descending divine magic from the air, which froze the entire battlefield for ten li.

Caught off guard, many Shen Kingdom soldiers were frozen solid.

The Fu army seized the chance, raising their weapons and shattering the frozen soldiers, dismembering them.

He Lingchuan soon received a military report from the west regarding this incident, though it wasn’t detailed, only stating that the Fu Kingdom had invited a deity to defeat the Shen Kingdom army at Xilongpo.

After all, in the current world, this was no longer rare; even small nations could summon heavenly gods.

He Lingchuan was busy at the time, and Fang Canran’s brief report contained numerous and varied pieces of information. So, He Lingchuan had only glanced at these two pieces of intelligence without thinking much of them. However, when combined with what Sun Hongye said today, a terrifying implication emerged upon closer thought!

From a temporal perspective, the heavenly gods who descended upon Pulou Island appeared on the Fu-Shen battlefield not long after, demonstrating immense divine power.

This “not long after” actually meant at least several days. Did those two “divine beings” return to the Demon Realm during these days, or did they remain within their human forms, staying in the mortal world?

No deity had ever been able to do the latter; even Mitian, in his time, only remained in the mortal world for a few hours during each divine descent.

Even if these two Heavenly Demons returned to the Demon Realm and then descended again, it was remarkable that their two human forms could sustain multiple divine descents.

Where did the Fu Kingdom acquire such resilient human forms?

Sun Hongye’s intelligence directly helped He Lingchuan uncover the mystery:

Pulou Island was the Heavenly Demons’ demon-puppet testing ground!

He Lingchuan deduced that the Fu Kingdom had sought aid from Beijia. However, the resurgence of spiritual energy had thrown the world into chaos, and Beijia was currently in a state of retrenchment. Furthermore, the Beimou War had not officially ended, with sporadic battles between the two nations; half a year prior, General Ji Yingsong of Mou Kingdom had even achieved a major victory. Therefore, Lingxu City did not send direct military aid but instead sent two Heavenly Demons.

At the time, this secret report, buried among over two hundred other intelligence items, did not stand out. But once He Lingchuan noticed it, isolated it, and pondered it in conjunction with Sun Hongye’s information, he realized there were many more details worth investigating about the divine descent during the Battle of Xilongpo.

The people of Shen Kingdom said the two heavenly gods “stepped through the void.”

This description was somewhat unusual. Previously, witnesses to divine descents typically reported points of light descending from the sky and entering a person, who then gained divine power.

However, the Shen Kingdom’s account stated that these two heavenly gods flew directly over, without the usual prelude.

Did they simply not see the points of light descend?

Now, He Lingchuan felt the answer might be no. Because Sun Hongye had also said that when those two Heavenly Demons arrived at Fuxian county government, they had also flown directly.

Even though the spiritual energy concentration in the world was no longer what it used to be, their display seemed far too relaxed.

This led to a terrifying inference:

Was it possible that these two Heavenly Demons had remained in their human forms the entire time?

Not just for a few quarter-hours, or a few hours, but permanently residing in the mortal world after their descent, never returning to the Demon Realm?

This idea was so terrifying that it sent chills down He Lingchuan’s spine.

If it could come true, wouldn’t this be one of the Heavenly Demons’ ultimate goals—

Permanent descent?!

By now, the Spirit Void Sage’s plan to return to the mortal world was no secret. For this plan to succeed, two goals needed to be accomplished:

First, the divine soul’s true form had to descend completely.

Second, it had to be able to remain in the mortal world for an extended period, preferably permanently.

The achievement of these two goals depended on both the strength of the Heavenly Demon’s divine soul and the strength of the human form’s divine body. There was also a final condition, which now seemed less challenging: a significant increase in spiritual energy concentration, allowing True Immortals and Great Heavenly Demons to move about freely.

Given that these Heavenly Demons came from a demon-puppet testing ground, He Lingchuan could assume that the descent experiment might have achieved groundbreaking success, as the old boatman of Pulou Island had never witnessed the phenomenon of the sea freezing before.

Furthermore, the divine souls of these two Heavenly Demons might not have been exceptionally powerful, so as not to complicate the experiment.

“It seems the Battle of Xilongpo was also an experiment, testing the Heavenly Demons’ power in actual combat,” He Lingchuan murmured. “How much of their divine power did those two Heavenly Demons unleash upon the mortal world, and how much power did they actually use on the battlefield?”

On the eve of Mitian’s decisive battle with General Hong, General Hong, as an exceptionally high-quality divine body, could already withstand six or seven tenths of Mitian’s power upon descent. This implied that once Mitian’s true form descended, he could essentially unleash the power of a Great Heavenly Demon to devastate everything.

How much power did those two Heavenly Demons allocate for their descent into the mortal world? Thirty percent, fifty percent, seventy percent, or...?

The Soul-Snatching Mirror couldn’t help but say, “The power of an ordinary divine descent could not possibly freeze ten li of sea for an entire hour, especially in the middle of summer.”

This divine art had to constantly contend with the power of the sea and the forces of nature.

“Don’t forget, they also froze many Shen Kingdom soldiers on the battlefield,” He Lingchuan mused intently. “Shen Kingdom’s elemental power has also been steadily growing in recent years; it’s incomparable to that of the weak and chaotic smaller nations around them. To cast a spell to freeze them, these two Heavenly Demons’ divine power must forcefully suppress the Shen Kingdom’s elemental power, even if only for a brief dozen breaths!”

“Could two obscure Heavenly Demons, using only the power of their avatars, contend with the elemental power of the Shen Kingdom army?” He Lingchuan shook his head. “That doesn’t seem reasonable.”

It wasn’t that the Heavenly Demons had grown weaker, but that elemental power had grown stronger.

However, the relationship between elemental power and divine power was never static. Just as water can extinguish fire, fire can also boil water.

It depended on both quantity and momentum.

“Then there’s only one possibility, isn’t there?” The Soul-Snatching Mirror grew increasingly fearful as it thought. “Hey, hey, you’re not trying to say they... they descended in their true forms, are you?!”