After the Immortal Disappeared

”That isn’t logical. Shouldn’t this world have the ability to heal itself? Since the cataclysm?”

”It did, for a time. I heard that during the Early Middle Ages, Spiritual Qi recovered very quickly. Yes, rising from the ashes, that’s how it should have been. But then, for some unknown reason, the recovery stopped.”

Hee Lingchuan recalled the theory of Tianshengzi from the Celestial Derivation Sect.

”Within the Celestial Derivation Sect, there was once an Immortal named Tianshengzi. He proposed a hypothesis: the appearance of the Emperor’s Liquid corresponds perfectly with the fall of a Deity from the heavens.”

Sunx Fuling’s eyes lit up. ”Interesting. That’s a rather obscure theory. I’ve never read it in any books, nor have I heard the Great Powers of Panlong City mention it at Wenxian Hall. How did this Tianshengzi make his argument?”

Hee Lingchuan recounted the memory he had seen through the Soul-Catching Mirror.

Sunx Fuling sighed. ”It’s a compelling theory, but without evidence, it’s just a beautiful illusion. No wonder the doctrine didn’t survive.”

”In other words, if we knew when the Deities died, we could predict when the Emperor’s Liquid would erupt,” Hee Lingchuan said, staring at her. ”I remember Panlong City always gives everyone an advance warning before an eruption.”

Sunx Fuling chuckled. ”The power of a Deity is unfathomable. You should go ask Lady Mitian. She is a Deity. She’ll have the answer.”

”I doubt she’d give me the time of day if I asked.” Hee Lingchuan sighed, his spirits low.

”Why are you forcing a smile today?” Sunx Fuling studied him. ”By the way, I ran into Commander Xiao the day before yesterday. He said you received a special promotion into the Great Wind Army?”

”Yes. I carried out my first mission today.”

”It didn’t go well?”

”It went perfectly smoothly. A simple task.” ’It really was a simple task. Just lopping off a head.’

”Then why are you so glum?” Sunx Fuling was clearly somewhat familiar with the process. ”The first mission for a new member of the Great Wind Army is usually very difficult. I’ve heard that those who can’t complete it have to go back and continue to work on themselves.”

”It seems the higher-ups are quite fond of me, then.” Hee Lingchuan lifted the curtain and glanced out. ”Ah, we’re here.”

They had arrived at the Pill Bureau.

Hee Lingchuan usually acquired his Pills from the Pengcheng Bureau, or he would buy them directly from Aluo or a medicine shop to save on service merits. This was his first time visiting the Pill Bureau.

Before he could get out of the carriage, Sunx Fuling suddenly grabbed his arm.

”You need to learn to focus and to let go. You’re one of Panlong City’s people now.” She jutted her chin toward the plaza ahead. ”No one here has it easy, but every single person is trying their hardest.”

Hee Lingchuan was taken aback. He nodded, but before he could squeeze her hand in return, she had already let go and hopped out of the carriage.

As one of Panlong City’s key institutions, the Pill Bureau wasn’t grand or ostentatious, but it was incredibly aromatic. Color-changing lotuses grew in the small river to its side, some half-white and half-pink, others half-purple and half-red. Countless flowers and herbs were planted in front of the bureau, but Hee Lingchuan could only recognize a few, like the pale blue-and-white balloon flowers and the wild, beautiful dendrobiums.

While other institutions like the Pengcheng Bureau decorated their entrances and corridors with ornamental greenery, the Pill Bureau was naturally filled with medicinal herbs. There were also tall racks holding layer upon layer of round, flat baskets used for sifting and drying ingredients.

There were countless small rooms, their doors always closed, giving no hint as to their purpose.

As Hee Lingchuan passed one of the small doors, he thought he heard a faint roar, like... the cry of a beast? And it was filled with terror.

’These Pharmacists really know how to have a good time.’

He paused, trying to listen more closely, but the sound was indistinct. Sunx Fuling poked his arm. ”Hey, what did you come here for?”

”I thought I heard some kind of small monster,” Hee Lingchuan said, rubbing his nose. ”Isn’t this the Pill Bureau?” ’Why does it feel like some kind of bio-research facility?’

”Those are raccoon dogs.” Aluo appeared out of nowhere to join the conversation. ”A while back, a litter of raccoon dogs outside the city ate some Emperor’s Liquid, turned into Demons, and started wreaking havoc. The Patrol Guards managed to capture over twenty of them alive. It would have been a shame to just kill them, so the Pill Bureau requested them for experiments.”

’Wouldn’t that be a fate worse than death?’ Hee Lingchuan asked him, ”Did you finish modifying the recipe for me?”

”I was going to do it myself, but my master is at the Bureau this afternoon, so I asked for his help.”

Hee Lingchuan was overjoyed. ”Mr. Helian agreed?”

Aluo’s master, Helian Chen, was a famous Great Pharmacist in Panlong City. When Wen Xing was wounded by the Jindu Cub, Wen Daolun had immediately gone to request Helian Chen’s assistance.

”He agreed. Follow me.”

The two of them followed Aluo toward the rear of the complex. The farther they went, the fewer people and buildings they saw, but the medicinal herbs became more and more abundant.

Finally, Aluo walked into a square hall.

It was much like a room, except it had no walls or windows—only six large, bare pillars. Fabric curtains were hung on all four sides to control the amount of light.

Several long tables were arranged end-to-end in the vast space, with a series of Glazed Covers sitting on top of them.

A few Pill Masters were placing plants inside the covers—millet stalks, wheat stalks, and even sweet potato vines. Hee Lingchuan glanced over and discovered the Glazed Covers were all filled with tiny insects, some with wings and some without.

Clearly, this was another laboratory, one specializing in insects.

Not far away, someone was bent over the edge of a table, their rear end pointed toward the group.

Aluo walked over and said respectfully, ”Master, Broken Blade is here.”

The man quickly straightened up and turned around. It was Helian Chen.

Aluo helped him tidy his robes, brushing off some wheat stalks. Helian Chen’s gaze swept over the two of them before landing on Hee Lingchuan. ”You’re Broken Blade? I feel like... I’ve seen you somewhere before.”

”At Mr. Wen Daolun’s home.”

”Right, right!” Helian Chen slapped his forehead. ”You were standing right beside Wen Xing’s sickbed! Ah, such a pity, such a pity.”

Aluo clarified, ”Master means it’s a great pity that Young Master Wen passed away.” After a pause, he added, ”My master and Mr. Wen have been close friends for many years.”

Hee Lingchuan’s expression grew solemn. ”If I had arrived a moment sooner, perhaps I could have saved Young Master Wen.”

Helian Chen waved his hands dismissively. ”It had nothing to do with you. Our enemies have always been utterly ruthless!”

”I heard from Aluo that you’re a good kid, and that you just received a special promotion into the Great Wind Army.” He sized up Hee Lingchuan. ”Tell me about your Cultivation progress, especially from the last eruption of the Emperor’s Liquid until now.”

Hee Lingchuan explained in detail.

While he spoke, Helian Chen took his pulse and used True Power to investigate the overall condition of his body.

”Not bad... hmm, not bad. Let me think.” With that, he took out a brush and paper and sank into deep concentration.

He thought for quite a long time, and Hee Lingchuan didn’t dare disturb him.

Sunx Fuling, meanwhile, walked over to the Glazed Covers and inspected them one by one, occasionally offering a vegetable leaf to the insects.

Hee Lingchuan asked Aluo in a low voice, ”What are these for?”

”These are pests collected from farmland all over the Chipa Plateau. Didn’t you ever get missions like this when you were a Patrol Guard?”

He had, actually. Hee Lingchuan remembered now.

One time, Liu Tong had accepted a mission for their whole Patrol Squad to go to Baimian Lake and other areas to collect hornet nests. The task itself wasn’t hard, but it required a large number of nests from four or five different designated locations, making the travel and collection process difficult. Door Panel’s protective suit had torn, and he’d gotten stung twice, his face swelling up like a pig’s.

It was a classic example of a tedious, low-reward mission. Everyone always grumbled whenever Liu Tong accepted a job like that.

Panlong City posted all sorts of strange missions every day. Hee Lingchuan later learned that these were indispensable requests from the various departments and bureaus.

’It really isn’t easy to keep this city running smoothly.’

Aluo walked to one of the Glazed Covers and beckoned them over. ”Look at this.”

Hee Lingchuan drew closer and saw the label on the front of the Glazed Cover. It read: ”Variant: Cyan Silkworm Moth.”

Inside the Glazed Cover were two types of creatures:

One was a worm as thick and long as an earthworm, but with a bluish-green body, faint cyan segments, and more than ten pairs of prolegs.

The other was a small, pale-yellow moth, less than half the size of a person’s pinky finger.

Sunx Fuling flicked the Glazed Cover with her finger. With a light DING, the green worms inside were startled, suddenly arching their bodies and leaping a surprising distance, smacking right into the glass.

A dozen green worms slammed into the cover at once, creating a chaotic scene. Even the moths were frightened into fluttering wildly around the enclosure.

Both men looked at Sunx Fuling. She sheepishly drew her finger back. ”Sorry, couldn’t help myself. I used to scare them like this all the time as a kid. But these ones are having a bit of an extreme reaction.”

Aluo pointed to the Glazed Cover. ”A while ago, you reported the warning from the Thousand Ridge Marsh Warden, and the city took it very seriously. The foreign Demons who infiltrated Thousand Peaks have mostly been captured, the majority of them Bird Demons. According to their confessions, they came from the Northern Demon Kingdom.”

Hee Lingchuan frowned. ”What’s the Beiga Kingdom getting involved for?”

The Thousand Ridge Marsh Warden? He had to think for a long moment before he recalled the day General Nanke temporarily conscripted the Patrol Guards. They had been on a mission on the plateau and encountered a huge sika deer. That Deer Demon had been the one to relay the intelligence from the Thousand Ridge Marsh Warden.

Liu Tong had reported it as soon as he returned to Panlong City. Following that lead, Panlong City had been taking action ever since.

Sunx Fuling wasn’t surprised. She explained, ”The Beiga Kingdom has been pressuring Baling and Xianyou to expand into the Panlong Wasteland. Beiga is largely to blame for the current state of affairs between the nations.” She snorted. ”That Demon Kingdom loves to fan the flames and incite war. They’re a bad lot.”

Aluo continued, ”The mission for several of the Bird Demons was to spread these moths into the rice paddies of the Chipa Plateau as quickly as possible.”

”To what end?”

”Unlike the native species on the Chipa Plateau, a female Cyan Silkworm Moth can lay over a thousand eggs at once. The hatched larvae have enormous appetites, are excellent jumpers, and can destroy rice seedlings three to four times faster than other species. They’re also toxic, so birds won’t eat them. If this pest were to spread, it could cause a massive reduction in the Chipa Plateau’s grain production.”

”Damn!” Hee Lingchuan couldn’t help but curse. ”How insidious!”

The fertile Chipa Plateau was the foundation of Panlong City’s ability to resist foreign aggression. If its food production were to plummet, the consequences would be unthinkable.

”At that point, if we wanted to counteract the damage, Panlong City would have to divert more Primordial Power to the region.”

One of the wondrous uses of Primordial Power was to adjust the climate and ensure bountiful harvests.

The effect was, of course, excellent. But a city’s supply of Primordial Power is finite; if more was consumed for agriculture, the amount allocated for combat would naturally decrease.

In any case, Panlong City’s overall strength would be weakened.

The enemy was insidious, having escalated from open sieges to biological warfare. Hee Lingchuan murmured, ”It’s hard to guard against a stab in the back.”