After the Immortal Disappeared

Chapter 8: Chapter 10-11: Galloping Through the Bustling Market

’Eating, drinking, causing trouble, swaggering through the streets, disrespecting his elders... It seems none of that has changed.’

”Is that so?” Hee Chunhua glanced at her, a meaningful look in his eyes. ”I haven’t been at the estate much lately. You’ve rarely eaten with him, have you?”

Ying Hongchan’s expression changed. ”My Lord, it’s Lingchuan who refuses to stay home! In the past ten days, we’re lucky if he comes back for dinner twice.”

Hee Chunhua sighed. ”You need to be more considerate of him. After all, he’s almost sixteen.”

”Of course,” Madam Ying readily agreed, just as she always had. ”No matter what, Lingchuan is still the eldest son of the Hee Family.”

Madam Ying returned to her room. Watching her back, Hee Chunhua let out a long breath.

The housekeeper, Old Mo, appeared from somewhere and stood by his side.

With his hands clasped behind his back, Hee Chunhua said, ”The men Donglai Prefecture sent to track the Leopard Demon vanished when they reached Black Water City. If this matter is significant, they won’t let it rest. I fear there’s more to come.”

He sighed. ”But that’s not what worries me most. It’s the situation in the east. Our contact with the Royal Court has been severed for too long. I can’t shake the feeling that great chaos is upon us.”

”Even if it is a tribulation, you will see it through safely, Master,” Housekeeper Wu said in a firm tone. ”You always have.”

***

「Ten days later, all was calm.」

As the day of Red Cliff Road’s closure drew nearer, the number of merchants entering and leaving Black Water City swelled. Hee Prefect grew ever busier, but the communication blackout between Qiansong County and the eastern Yuan Kingdom showed no signs of improvement.

Young Master Hee, meanwhile, continued to throw his weight around.

Life was so dreadfully smooth he hardly knew what to do with all the peace and quiet.

Hee Chunhua had been as busy as a bee lately, with no time to come home for dinner. Madam Ying didn’t call the two children to eat together, so everyone ate on their own. Hee Lingchuan was more than happy with this arrangement.

’Compared to Madam Ying, Hee Chunhua is such a doting father.’

Contrary to popular belief, scions of officials like Hee Lingchuan rarely had to pay for their own amusements. Today, for instance, Liu Baobao was treating him to a meal at the Crane Building. The stated reason was to thank Hee Lingchuan for acquiring a Passage Command for the Liu Family, which had allowed their trade caravan to return safely.

Liu Baobao might have called it ”a casual meal,” but the table was laden with rare game, and the wine was a fine vintage from the Liu Family’s private collection, aged for twenty years.

To say nothing of the beauty serving the wine, who was Liu Baobao’s favorite concubine. With a pair of sparkling, sultry eyes, she kept glancing toward Hee Lingchuan, diligently refilling his cup.

Liu Baobao saw it all. He cursed the little vixen under his breath but put on a piteous expression. ”Eldest Young Master, are you really going to wait until you’re eighteen to indulge?”

”Mhm.” Hee Lingchuan put down a piece of red-braised venison and ordered a dish of plum-pickled peanuts. Two peanuts, one sip of wine.

After nearly two months of rich feasts and exotic game, he suddenly found himself craving simple street food—pickled noodles, scallion flatbreads, and large wontons.

’Back in his old life, he’d pay his loans at the beginning of the month, and by the end, this was all he could afford.’

But now, whenever he saw a flatbread stall by the roadside, he felt the urge to go down and buy one.

’It’d been so long. His soul missed it.’

It was like a middle-aged man who had married the perfect woman and reached the pinnacle of success, only to dream at midnight of his first love, who was as plain as simple noodle soup.

Just then, a commotion erupted outside.

Liu Baobao was treating him in a private room on the second floor of the Crane Building. They were seated by the open window, which overlooked the heart of the street below.

Hee Lingchuan leaned out the window and saw the dense crowd below suddenly part, just as two tall horses came galloping through.

He let out a soft sound of surprise. He could tell at a glance that the animals weren’t purebred horses, but a mixed breed with Bo Beast blood. The telltale signs were their large heads, sharp teeth, cyan-red coats, and bulging, crimson eyes.

These mounts were called Fierce Steeds. They inherited the Bo Beast’s incredible speed and stamina, as well as its violent, flesh-eating temperament, making them a formidable force on the battlefield. Even twenty of the finest thoroughbreds might not be worth a single Fierce Steed.

Of course, Fierce Steeds were graded as well. Hee Lingchuan’s own beloved mount was a Fierce Steed—a carefully selected, top-grade gift to the Qiansong County Governor from a small western kingdom—but it was only on par with the two beasts below.

’If the steeds are this impressive, who are the riders?’

The two riders traveled one behind the other. The one in front was a youth of seventeen or eighteen in white robes, with fine brows and bright, sharp eyes. Behind him was a figure in gray wearing a bamboo hat, their face hidden from Hee Lingchuan’s view.

A Spirit Pearl the size of a goose egg hovered in the air before the white-robed youth, spinning continuously. An invisible Qi Force radiated from it, pushing the crowd aside to clear a path.

The Qi Force was anything but gentle. Pedestrians were sent stumbling, and one portly man fell backward into a food stall, smashing a tray of hot rice cakes flat.

The vendor, naturally, was furious, and the two began to argue heatedly.

This was a world of gods and monsters, so Hee Lingchuan wasn’t particularly surprised. He just chuckled. ”Galloping through a crowded market. What an impressive display of power.”

The major cities in the Yuan Kingdom all had laws requiring one to dismount and lead their horse. Black Water City permitted riding, but only at a slow pace. Galloping was strictly forbidden—violators would be pulled from their mounts, given twenty lashes, and fined five taels of silver. Harming anyone in the process incurred even steeper penalties.

The locals were a fierce bunch; the punishments had to be equally severe to keep them in line.

Hearing this, Liu Baobao stole a glance at Hee Lingchuan. ’Aren’t you just as bad, usually?’ he thought.

The two riders were about to pass below the restaurant, approaching a T-junction. The side road beyond it had at least half the foot traffic, so the white-robed youth retrieved the sphere. Maintaining it, after all, consumed energy.

At that exact moment, a little boy was running along the roadside when a pedestrian bumped into him, knocking a rattle-drum from his hand. Of all the bad luck, it landed right in the middle of the street.

The child immediately dashed out to retrieve his toy.

He was now directly in the path of the lead Fierce Steed.

His guardian cried out in alarm and tried to rush forward, but was blocked by the crowd and couldn’t reach him in time.

The rider showed no intention of slowing. In two seconds, at most, the massive hooves would trample the child.

’Not this again!’ Hee Lingchuan sighed internally. ’Why is it that in every world, there are kids who love to dart out into traffic?’

’Fortunately, things are different now. I don’t have to get my own hands dirty.’

”Uncle Hao!” Hee Lingchuan said, propping his chin on one hand and pointing downward with the other.

Uncle Hao, who had been standing by his side like a shadow, produced two copper coins and flicked them down with a snap of his wrist.

The two copper coins landed directly in the Fierce Steed’s path, a little over three feet apart. If the rider continued forward, the steed’s legs or belly would be struck. He had thrown two to prevent the rider from simply knocking one aside without breaking stride.

Uncle Hao’s coins were not to be taken lightly. Hee Lingchuan had once seen him pierce a black bear’s skull with one. The hardness of a bear’s cranium went without saying, and it was at least as tough as the bodies of these Fierce Steeds.

The white-robed youth below assessed the situation and, as expected, yanked hard on the reins. The Fierce Steed whinnied as it reared up, braking abruptly. Its hooves stopped less than seven feet from the child on the ground.