After the Immortal Disappeared

Chapter 393: Chapter 392: Far Up White Cloud Mountain

Wu Jingsong was startled. ”You...” But seeing Hee Lingchuan sitting there perfectly fine, he figured nothing was wrong. ”You’re not hurt, are you?”

”The Officials were alerted, so they fled.”

”I have to go back and report,” Wu Jingsong said, getting to his feet. ”The Government Office is drafting a Wanted Command to be posted soon. Why don’t you come with me? You can describe the Envoy’s murderers to our sketch artist.”

”How much is the bounty?”

”For an urgent diplomatic incident like this, capturing the culprits would earn a bounty of at least a hundred taels.” Wu Jingsong could only give a rough estimate. ”For just providing information, it would probably be around twenty taels.”

’Twenty taels of gold would be two hundred taels of silver. As expected of Fufeng City, even tipping off the authorities pays so well. They’re loaded.’

Hee Lingchuan extended his chopsticks toward him. ”Twenty gold coins, please.”

”You...” A look of delight crossed Wu Jingsong’s face. ”You know their whereabouts?”

”They don’t know for sure that I was a witness at the scene. At best, they can only guess.”

Killing someone based on a mere guess—they’d rather kill the wrong person than let a potential threat go. That boy in black was truly vicious.

”Since they’re so concerned about me, how could I possibly disappoint them?” Hee Lingchuan chuckled. ”So, I secretly followed them all the way to the West Lodge Inn, right behind the South City Temple.”

Of course, his so-called ”tracking” was done by the Eye Spider.

Wu Jingsong slapped his palm. ”Well done!”

He fumbled around in his clothes. ”I’ll put those twenty taels of gold on a tab for now and get them for you later! Let’s go, let’s go! Quickly, come with me.”

Hee Lingchuan smiled, drained his cup, and followed him out the door.

’Why get my own hands dirty when I can use a borrowed blade? This is Fufeng City, right under the King of Treasure Tree’s nose. The authorities are the strongest power here.’

He tapped into the Eye Spider’s vision again and saw that the man the little spider was clinging to had returned to Fushan’s side. The group was now deliberating behind closed doors.

Unfortunately, this man’s rank was probably too low, as he was only posted to guard the door outside. The Eye Spider tried to slip into the room to eavesdrop, but the doors and windows were protected by a Barrier. It was flung back the moment it got close.

Luckily, it was small and light, otherwise the Barrier would have sounded an alarm.

Hee Lingchuan shook his head. ’He wasn’t Second Madam Zhu, after all. Not being able to remotely control this Eye Spider is a real drawback.’

In the night, an undercurrent seemed to stir within Fufeng City.

***

The boy in black and his subordinates were finishing their discussion.

They had no choice. The target was still alive and well, and with time running short, they had to come up with a new plan on the fly.

The two men patrolling the corridor were bored out of their minds. One of them yawned, and the other, as if by contagion, subconsciously opened his mouth wide as well.

An instant later, an arrowhead shot into his mouth and pierced through his skull!

The other man, startled, opened his mouth to scream. But before any sound could escape, a creature that was part bat, part bird leaped from the eaves. It spread its wings and enveloped the man’s head and face.

His scream was muffled into a few ”MMMPH”s that almost no one heard.

The creature seemed to have some kind of anesthetic effect. In his panic, the man failed to hold his breath and immediately felt dizzy. He passed out before he could even try to rip the thing off his face.

The creature hopped off, revealing its true form:

A giant flying squirrel.

It could stretch the flaps of skin under its ribs to glide. It was four times the size of a normal flying squirrel and looked far from harmless.

Dozens of Fufeng Soldiers rushed in, surrounding the guest rooms. They showed no mercy, hacking through the doors and windows with their blades and spears. The innkeeper had already informed them that this was the only group of over a dozen people to check in, and they occupied a row of three rooms.

The soldiers braced for a fight, but the rooms were completely silent. No one yelled curses, and no one leaped out to attack.

The rooms were empty.

”There’s an Array on the wall!”

A soldier looked up and saw an Array drawn on the gray wall. Its lines were complex, with a peculiar symbol at its center.

”This is...?”

A Vice General hurried in from behind. Seeing the Array on the wall, he didn’t waste time pondering it and immediately gave an order: ”Search! Search the surrounding area, now!”

Before the words were even out of his mouth, he felt the ground beneath his feet give way, as if he’d stepped on something.

With a deafening BOOM, the room was blown to smithereens. Rafters flew over fifty feet, CRASHING down and demolishing the gate of the neighboring shop.

Plumes of black smoke rose into the air.

The sudden explosion in the middle of the bustling market sent the surrounding crowd into a panic, their screams echoing through the streets.

...

The boy in black and his men watched the black smoke rise from a residential building a few hundred feet away.

Behind him stood a large man, once brimming with vitality, now pale and unsteady on his feet. Even several strands of his hair had turned white.

The man had just sacrificed five years of his life to barely activate the Great Mountain Moving Formation, which had teleported them all here.

Confronting the Fufeng Soldiers head-on in Fufeng City was not a wise move. Their numbers were too great, their reinforcements endless. They could wear a person down until they were dead.

Seeing the young man staring intently at the black smoke as if in a Trance, a subordinate couldn’t help but remind him, ”Young Master, we should go. We cannot linger here.”

The Fufeng Soldiers would find this place soon enough.

A vicious gleam flickered in the boy in black’s eyes.

’Luckily, I’m cautious and always leave a fallback plan at any new lodging. And luckily my Spiritual Sense is sharp enough to have detected the anomaly. Otherwise, fighting our way out of the soldiers’ encirclement would have been a real hassle.’

From their vantage point, they could see that their former inn had been surrounded, layer after layer.

The Government Office had dispatched at least three or four hundred men. A sign of respect, judging by the numbers alone.

”Young Master?”

”Fufeng City must have received news of the Yin Mountain Python’s death. But the authorities wouldn’t have found us if that person hadn’t snitched.” He narrowed his eyes. ”Good. Excellent!”

’That brat really is two-faced.’

He turned to face his men. They all felt a sudden chill, as if being scrutinized, but the feeling vanished in an instant.

In reality, the boy in black had expanded his Divine Thought to scan each and every one of them.

”Take off your clothes. Change into a fresh set, right now.”

’Here?’

Fortunately, his subordinates were well-trained. They carried out the order without question, quickly shedding their old clothes for new ones.

”Someone must have put some kind of Tracking Magic or Medicinal Powder on us. Otherwise, the soldiers couldn’t have pinpointed our location so precisely.” The boy’s Divine Thought hadn’t found anything unusual, which he found remarkable.

’Hee Lingchuan has this talent for showing up just after the fact. The first time was when we killed the Yin Mountain Python. The second was the night raid at the inn. And now this is the third time.’

’As the saying goes, things happen in threes. That guy must have done something to us.’

What he didn’t know was that the Eye Spider had been attached to the lackey guarding the door and hadn’t teleported with the rest of them.

”We’re moving up the retreat plan. Split into groups and disperse,” the boy in black said quickly. ”We’re too conspicuous as a large group.”

”So we’re retreating? Leaving the city?”

The boy in black looked as if he’d just heard the funniest joke in the world. He nonchalantly cleaned his ear. ”Say that again?”

The subordinate fell silent.

He grinned, but there was no mirth in his eyes. ”The objective hasn’t changed. We’re still taking the item, and the person... is still to be killed!”

...

The next morning, the sun rose from the east as it always did.

Hee Lingchuan stretched, feeling refreshed as he got out of bed.

After opening his second Dantian, not only did his True Power circulate faster, but he also had more energy. Now, he could feel completely invigorated after sleeping for just one double-hour.

Before, he would have worried about getting dark circles if he didn’t sleep for at least two double-hours.

The black cat leaped in from the windowsill, stretched out in a perfect downward dog, then started scratching at the wooden window frame, leaving behind a series of white marks.

”Hey, stop that! I’ll have to pay for any damages to the doors and windows.” He paid the black cat on a per-job basis. There was no work for it today, but the cat had shown up anyway.

The kitten was off playing somewhere, but the big cat came over and rubbed against Hee Lingchuan before asking, ”Can you give me a ride when you go to White Cloud Mountain? I want to see the ceremony too, but it’s too far for me to walk.”

Its legs were short.

Hee Lingchuan didn’t see why not.

Just then, there was a knock on the door. It was Shi the Second.

He had changed into a fresh set of clothes and announced cheerfully, ”It’s time for us to head up the mountain for the ceremony!”

”Not busy with business today?” The birthday celebration for the King of Treasure Tree was a festival for merchants as well. Traveling merchants from both within and outside Beiga had seized the opportunity to bring all sorts of Exotic Treasures, rare flowers, and strange herbs to Fufeng City. Auctions large and small were being held nonstop. According to official statistics, there were nearly a hundred auctions every day. This wave of business had certainly drawn a lot of attention for the treasure merchants.

”Everything that needed to be sold has been sold.” They were primarily in the wholesale business. ”I heard the Official Road to Lingxu City has been cleared, and the authorities have even strengthened their patrols. So, we’ll hit the road right after the ceremony today! It’s safer to travel in a large group.”

The sudden eruption of the Emperor’s Liquid had disrupted their travel plans, delaying them in Fufeng City for quite some time. They needed to get on their way as soon as the celebration was over.

”Oh, right. This is the book you wanted.” Shi the Second handed a booklet to Hee Lingchuan. ”I knew Fufeng City would have it. My assistant found it after checking just two bookshops. He said it was even displayed in a very prominent spot.”

”A deluxe edition?” Hee Lingchuan took it and flipped through the pages, sending dust flying everywhere. ”COUGH, COUGH, COUGH! So much dust!”

Shi the Second looked a little bewildered. ”Brother Hee, what do you need this for? I doubt anyone ever buys it. That bookshop only stocked two copies, and both were just collecting dust on a high shelf. I heard they re-scribe it every twenty or thirty years just so the text isn’t lost to time. But as for anyone actually reading it? I highly doubt it.”

”That’s a secret. Let’s just say a humble hermit like myself has his uses for it.” Hee Lingchuan patted the cover, shaking loose another cloud of dust. ”This book was never meant to be read. And it’s this thin? Perfect!”

”Hmph.” Shi the Second rolled his eyes and urged him to hurry up.

Hee Lingchuan didn’t have much to pack. The two led their mounts out. The black cat immediately leaped onto Hee Lingchuan’s mount, a Rock Sheep, ready to hitch a free ride.

This was the same Rock Sheep that had carried him back from Three-Heart Lake. It ran with a steady, fast gait and had surprisingly good stamina. No wonder people used them as mounts.

Compared to horses and Bo Beasts, the Rock Sheep’s jumping ability was incredible. It could easily leap more than ten feet in the air. Agile and swift, it was especially suited for mountain terrain, so Hee Lingchuan decided to keep it as his ride.

Of course, its carrying capacity was only average. Its legs would buckle under any weight exceeding five hundred pounds.

The sky had just begun to lighten, but the streets were already bustling, with crowds of people packed shoulder to shoulder, almost all of them heading north.

In these conditions, riding was impossible. They could only lead their mounts and move with the flow of the crowd.

As for horse-drawn or donkey-drawn carriages, they were completely stuck, unable to move an inch.

As they passed two Divine Temples, Hee Lingchuan saw that the performances on the stages erected out front had already begun. The music of string and bamboo instruments filled the air, while the audience below beamed with delight. Children chased after vendors selling skewers of candied fruit. It was even more lively than the New Year’s festival.