Chapter 2287: Perfect Fusion of Demon and Human

The man was tall, handsome, and imposing, with fine features. Though dressed in plain clothes, he commanded respect without needing to appear angry.

Where had he seen him before?

A jolt went through City Lord Zhou as he suddenly remembered. Forgetting for a moment to answer Liu Qingdao, his knees went weak, and he was about to kneel before the man.

"Your Imperi—"

The very next moment, the man flashed to City Lord Zhou's side, gently supporting his arm while saying in a clear voice, "Careful, Lord Zhou."

City Lord Zhou felt a gentle force transmit through him, and he found himself unable to kneel.

Then, he heard a faint whisper in his ear: "Shh, don't draw attention."

The Lord Emperor was right here! City Lord Zhou's heart pounded with excitement; his throat was almost too tight to speak. "Yes... yes!"

At the grand ceremony three years ago, he had also gone to Ju City, where he stood at the back of the royal procession, looking up at the Emperor from afar.

To his surprise, he would one day have the chance to see His Imperial Majesty's visage up close!

"The Qixia Sect, hidden in their cave dwelling, can still keep track of external affairs," Liu Qingdao whispered. "It's highly likely they have a divine artifact that allows them to observe their surroundings. The Emperor is traveling incognito, so City Lord Zhou, do not act unusual."

As it concerned an Immortal Sect and involved Heavenly Demon secrets, He Lingchuan had been persuaded by Dong Rui to come here.

City Lord Zhou understood, composed himself, and straightened his back. "Understood!"

As soon as he finished speaking, half a flatworm emerged from the ground.

Yes, only half.

The other half looked as if it had been torn off by something; the severed end was very jagged, and sticky insect blood oozed onto the ground.

Liu Qingdao's expression changed. "What happened? Where's Wu Chuanjia?"

Why isn't the Rhinoceros Beetle here?

The flatworm said, in a human voice, "The substance at the base of this mountain is strange. We only discovered it after digging through the bottom of the mountain. The very center of the mountain contains a massive object. It's oval-shaped, dark gold, with an uneven surface that looks like it has countless grooves. But its texture isn't hard; it's like cork, elastic and moist. Wu Chuanjia wanted to drill a hole into it and go inside to have a look."

They had been sent out by Liu Qingdao precisely to uncover the mysteries at the bottom of the mountain, so how could they report back without trying various approaches?

"Then?"

"Wu Chuanjia easily drilled a hole and went in," the flatworm continued. "I also followed the hole it made and burrowed inside. It felt softer than stone. Let alone soft earth, even solid rock, a Rhinoceros Beetle can burrow through with its special talent."

"But when I was only halfway in, this bizarre thing suddenly became as hard as metal and stone. It clamped down tightly, as if trying to push us further inside. It was as if—" The flatworm still shuddered at the memory. "—as if we were in its esophagus, and it wanted to swallow us! I couldn't resist it even with all my strength, so I had to burrow back out. If I had been a moment slower..."

...it would have been crushed into paste.

If a soft-bodied creature like itself could be severed in half, Wu Chuanjia was likely in grave danger as well.

Liu Qingdao mused, "From what you say, this thing doesn't sound like a magical artifact."

He had originally thought that a mountain capable of continuous growth would likely be based on an exotic treasure like 'Self-Renewing Soil,' but it turned out to be an unknown entity and inherently aggressive.

The flatworm wriggled, as if shaking its head. "It's definitely not an artifact; it's probably a living creature!"

"A living creature? Hmm, that's not impossible," Liu Qingdao pondered. "And the soil dug from the mountain is also somewhat unusual. An insect egg? A cocoon? A seed?"

The flatworm spat out two pieces of something. "These are fragments that Wu Chuanjia knocked off that thing while digging! I picked them up on my way out when I escaped."

"Alright, thank you for your trouble."

Liu Qingdao instructed the flatworm to withdraw first and tend to its injuries.

Dong Rui picked up the two pieces, wiped off the flatworm's saliva, and tapped them lightly twice.

*Thunk, thunk.* Both visually and audibly, they resembled wood, yet they were dark gold.

He Lingchuan glanced at the sky and said in a low voice, "Let's find a quiet place and examine these two items."

City Lord Zhou immediately replied, "Three li west along the river, there's a forest farm. It's very quiet."

The riverside forest farm was heavily guarded.

He Lingchuan stared at the soil on the table, lost in thought for a long time.

This thing always gave him a sense of déjà vu, and it was also related to Heavenly Demons, but where had he seen it before?

About an hour later, Dong Rui rushed over from the next room to find him. "Hey, progress! We've made progress!"

Liu Qingdao was just discussing strategy with He Lingchuan when he was interrupted.

A barrier had already been set up around the room to prevent prying eyes and eavesdropping, so Dong Rui spoke freely. "I've finished examining the fragments the flatworm brought back. You'll never guess what they are!"

He placed the two fragments on the table.

After wiping them clean, they could see that the items were indeed dark gold, with raised and sunken patterns. On closer inspection, they seemed to have some mottling, meaning the color wasn't entirely uniform.

They truly resembled wood.

He Lingchuan casually asked, "Are they related to ghoul puppets?"

"How did you..." Dong Rui rolled his eyes. "It's not quite right, but close enough. How did you deduce that?"

"Isn't Ashmona a ghoul puppet?"

"..." (Dong Rui rolled his eyes again.) Is he being so unreasonable? He should have known this guy just operated on pure intuition! "I detected human components in the fragments."

"So it's a humanoid ghoul puppet?" Liu Qingdao asked, surprised. "No, wait, ghoul puppets are usually made with monster divine blood, aren't they?"

As an officer of the Bingyuan Department, he had encountered many strange things, and ghoul puppets were among them.

The Heavenly Demons' original intention in creating ghoul beasts and ghoul puppets was that human bodies were too frail to withstand divine descent, so they switched to using more powerful monster bodies as the foundation.

If human bodies could be used, like True Lord Zangxi's, why would they bother researching ghoul puppets?

So, what does it mean that these fragments contain human components?

Were the Heavenly Demons experimenting with humans originally?

"What humanoid ghoul puppet?" Dong Rui rolled his eyes. "This has nothing to do with ghoul puppets! The Heavenly Demon and human components are fused together perfectly, both opposing and harmonious—it's perfect! No ghoul puppet master could ever create something like this!"

He Lingchuan asked him, "Not even you?"

"No!" Dong Rui had always been proud of his techniques, but he had to admit some facts. "They seem to have been fused together since birth... like an act of creation!"

"'Since birth,' 'creation'?" These two keywords immediately triggered He Lingchuan's associated thoughts.

Dong Rui elaborated, "What does it resemble? Do you remember that vial of blood I got from Thousand-Eye Cave? It was also a perfect example of Heavenly Demon and human blood fusion. These two are extremely similar..."

Before he finished speaking, He Lingchuan abruptly stood up and paced back and forth a few steps in the room.

Only Dong Rui dared to ask him at that moment, "What, have you thought of something?"

He Lingchuan pointed at the fragments and soil samples on the table. "Do you remember the demon lair?"

"Auntie Er's old lair? I remember," Dong Rui replied. He remembered it vividly; back then, he and He Lingchuan had nearly become the Spider Queen's dinner.

"Auntie Er wasn't the original owner," He Lingchuan said. "Before she took over, who was the demon lair's first master?"