After the Immortal Disappeared

Chapter 448 -447: The Secret in the City Wall

‘Was there anyone he knew in Lingxu City? Hong Chenglu?’

But Lil Qingge didn’t elaborate, just winking at him. “Good night.”

Hee Lingchuan opened his eyes to see the sun already past its zenith. It would sink below the horizon in another two double-hours, and he couldn’t help but feel a little stunned.

He had returned to the Soul Village, finding himself on horseback. Ahead and to his left stood a magnificent city wall, but this was not Panlong City.

He looked around. The entire Broken Blade Squad was present, along with over thirty Great Wind Soldiers.

Directly ahead of him was a fiery red cloak.

‘The Red General?’

‘Were they following the Red General?’

As his head cleared, Hee Lingchuan realized that the city wall his group was passing looked incredibly familiar:

This was the Xiji Palace!

The Panlong Army had previously taken the Xiji Capital in just half a day, but seizing the Palace City had taken over ten. They had to trap the Monarch and his troops inside until they ran out of supplies, forcing them to surrender without a fight.

That was why Hee Lingchuan had such a vivid impression of the Palace City’s exterior, though he knew nothing beyond its appearance.

This was his first time seeing the inside.

During the siege, more than ten thousand grunts had been crammed inside the Palace City, filling the air with a rank stench. Fortunately, the filth had since been cleaned away. As far as Hee Lingchuan could see, the palaces formed an interconnected, well-planned, and exquisitely designed complex.

Behind him, Door Panel looked around as they walked. “Looks like when we had the city surrounded, those ten thousand-plus troops and Huyan Zhao were all squeezed in here. Seems it wasn’t crowded in the slightest; everyone had a place to stay.”

Willow spat. “The common folk outside were destitute while it was all carved beams and painted rafters in here. Xiji deserved to fall!”

Hee Lingchuan whispered, “Are we still going to return east?”

Willow shrugged. Aluo, however, looked from side to side. “Word from Panlong City hasn’t arrived yet, so the Red General brought us here to take care of some business first.”

The group followed the Red General toward the inner western section of the Palace City.

The farther west they walked, the scarcer the buildings became, yet the crowds grew larger.

These were all civilian artisans. They had erected scaffolding against the inner wall of the Palace City, and more than two hundred of them were chiseling away at it with their tools, creating a cacophony of bangs and clangs.

A large section of the wall had already been chiseled away, creating what looked like a massive opening from the outside.

The men were completely baffled when they arrived.

‘The Xiji Palace remained perfectly intact during the siege, suffering almost no attacks. So why destroy it now?’

General Nanke seemed to be serving as the foreman. He spotted the Red General and came over to greet her. “The artisans are complaining. The wall is exceptionally hard. It took them the better part of a day just to make an opening this size, and they’ve broken who knows how many chisels and stone hammers.”

Hee Lingchuan and the others exchanged bewildered glances.

‘The walls of Xiji looked tall and thick, but how could they possibly be this hard?’

It had taken dedicated artisans the better part of a day to do this much. In wartime, soldiers would never have such a perfect environment to slowly tunnel through a wall. Breaching this one would probably have cost a mountain of bodies.

The Red General was also scrutinizing the wall. “Are you sure this is the place to excavate?”

“The historical records say that when Beicheng fell long ago, this was the only spot they managed to breach.” General Nanke waved over an old palace attendant. “This fellow here took part in the construction of the Xiji Royal Palace. He’s a living map.”

The palace attendant bowed deeply to the Red General, nearly scraping the ground. “Th-this humble one’s surname is Chang! I’ve served in the palace for over a decade. Please, just give your orders, General!”

The Red General pointed, and Eunuch Chang nodded repeatedly. “That’s it, that’s the spot! The Xiji Palace was built right on the old site of Beicheng. The palace walls were constructed using Beicheng’s original walls—they were just widened, thickened, and built higher to look like they do today.”

‘Beicheng?’ Hee Lingchuan had never heard of it. Aluo, on the other hand, whispered, “So this is the original Beicheng?”

Hee Lingchuan glanced over and saw that Door Panel and Willow looked equally clueless.

‘Thank goodness,’ he thought. ‘I’m not the only dunce in the group.’

Aluo saw their expressions and knew it was time for a lecture. He explained in a low voice, “More than a thousand years ago, a city was built here called Beicheng. It was later invaded by foreign tribes and fell. I’ve heard the legends, but I never expected the Xiji Royal Palace to be built on its ruins.”

Door Panel chuckled. “Doesn’t seem like the feng shui here is very good, does it?”

Beicheng was invaded by foreign tribes and fell.

Xiji built its Royal Palace on the same site, was invaded by Panlong City, and fell.

Over a thousand years apart, and history repeated itself.

Meanwhile, Eunuch Chang continued, “And we’re chiseling from the inside. The outer wall of the Palace City fears neither cannon fire nor bombardments from Divine Techniques, and it’s impervious to Siege Hammers and Earth-Sinking Vehicles.”

Door Panel said in his rumbling voice, “Sounds like a formidable Defensive Array.”

Eunuch Chang picked up right on cue. “The most incredible part is, the wall achieves this effect without needing a Defensive Array at all.”

The Great Wind Soldiers were all somewhat astonished.

No array meant no energy consumption. War was a battle of attrition; if the wall itself was this tough, it would be a nightmare for any attacker.

“I heard the foreign invaders back then attacked for more than four months and sacrificed twenty to thirty thousand lives just to open that one breach,” said Eunuch Chang. “The Monarch—uh, the Huyan Family—chose this site for that very advantage when building the Palace City. Although they plugged the gap later, it’s not as hard as the other sections of the old wall.”

‘And this is the weakest section?’ Hee Lingchuan inwardly drew a sharp breath.

‘No wonder the Red General had the Panlong Army surround the city but not attack, opting instead to spend precious time fighting a war of attrition. She must have known this history.’

‘Otherwise, the Great Wind Army would have had to test the hardness of the old Beicheng walls with the lives of its soldiers.’

The Red General snorted with contempt. “So what if the walls are sturdy? I still took the Xiji Royal Palace without losing a single soldier, didn’t I?”

The walls were strong and the cannons formidable, but alas, the master of the Royal Palace was a weakling who ended up opening the gates to surrender himself.

The outcome of a war is never decided by external factors alone.

Eunuch Chang smiled obsequiously. “Yes, yes! The Red General is brilliant and mighty!”

As he spoke, several artisans on the scaffolding shouted, “There’s something in here! There’s something inside the wall!”

In a blur, the Red General was already standing on the scaffolding twenty feet off the ground, right beside the artisan.

The artisan jumped, startled, and leaned back.

The Red General grabbed his shoulder with one hand and plunged the other directly into the wall, starting to dig.

Dust and bits of mortar trickled down.

‘Her hand seems more effective than a chisel.’

General Nanke and the others also gathered below to watch, seeing something emerge from within the wall. It was thick and hard, but it didn’t look like stone.

At least, its shape wasn’t right.

The Red General stopped and blew out a breath. WHOOSH.

An uncanny wind swept past, blowing all the loose dust from the wall and revealing the object beneath.

General Nanke cried out, “Th-these… Are these bones?”

Only half of the object within the wall was exposed. It was the color of jade but glinted with a faint metallic sheen in the sunlight. When struck with an iron tool, it rang out with a clear CLANG, like hitting a bell and chime, the note lingering in the air.

But no one could mistake its shape.

It was a bone. At least three feet of it were exposed, and there was no telling how much longer it extended into the wall.

Door Panel muttered, “That’s not a human bone.”

No bone in the human body grew that long.

Another artisan pointed higher up the palace wall. “There’s another one up there!”

Everyone looked up. Sure enough, about four feet higher, they discovered another bone gleaming with a jade-white luster.

The newer, outer wall added by Xiji had long since been opened. The artisans were now digging into the original wall of Beicheng.

‘In other words, the ancient walls of Beicheng were built with skeletons?’

Willow shuddered. Hee Lingchuan, however, was reminded of a legend from his homeland.

The Red General wore a mask, so no one could see her expression, but her voice was completely unruffled. “This is the secret to the hardness of Beicheng’s ancient walls.”

‘So, the wall’s hardness comes from these bones?’

She casually drew a dagger and struck the bone twice.

As expected, she couldn’t make a dent.

The Red General then produced a small vial and poured the liquid inside onto the bone.

With a few soft SIZZLES, white smoke rose from the bone. Those with sharp noses, like Willow and Hee Lingchuan, could also smell a strange, sour odor.

The Red General continued to pour the acid. Soon, foam began to trickle down the bone, but when it fell on the mud wall, nothing happened.

Soon, a small hole had been etched into the bone.

The Red General took a pickaxe, stuck its point into the small hole, and scraped around inside.

The tip of the pickaxe came out seemingly stained with some black substance.

The Red General observed it closely, and Hee Lingchuan suspected she even smelled it.

Then, she leaped down from the scaffolding and said with regret, “The activity is lost. It’s all useless now. No need to dig any further.”

General Nanke was still staring at the bones in the wall. “What on earth is this?”

“Divine Remains,” the Red General said, clapping the dust from her hands. “During the Ancient Times, many Deities fell into the Mortal World. These are their remains.”

Everyone who heard was stunned.

‘Ancient Beicheng actually used the bones of Deities to build its walls?’

Of course. War always leaves corpses behind. The world-ending war of that era had been so brutal, it wasn’t strange for the remains of Deities to have fallen into the Mortal World.

Most of the artisans here were Xiji locals. Hearing her words, they immediately backed away, no longer daring to chisel the wall.

Some even prostrated themselves on the ground, whispering prayers and begging the Deities to forgive their great disrespect.

“Their burial ground is likely nearby; the people of Beicheng were just using local materials.” Who wouldn’t want a sturdy city wall? “The people of Beicheng must have been able to obtain their remains easily. This means either the Deities died violently on this spot and were never buried, or the seal on their tomb was destroyed or has failed.”

The Red General turned to Eunuch Chang. “Do you know where the Divine Tomb is?”

Eunuch Chang, who had also been staring dumbfounded moments earlier, quickly shook his head. “No, the ancient records never mention a burial ground for Deities, General.”

“A pity. The activity in these bones is gone. Apart from being a bit harder, they’re no different from rock.” The Red General then asked him, “Think carefully. Is there any place in the Palace City where the flowers and plants stay green all year round, fearing neither harsh winters nor brutal summers?”

“Plants and flowers that stay green?” Eunuch Chang replied without a second thought. “Why, yes, there is such a place! When the entire Capital City is covered in white snow, that spot is still filled with red flowers and green grass! The former Queen’s favorite orchids would bloom there all year without fail, and they didn’t even need much tending. Oh, it’s in the West Garden of the Royal Palace, no more than four hundred paces from here.”

“Lead the way.”

Eunuch Chang’s measurement was accurate. When he said four hundred paces, it was almost exactly four hundred paces.

The group had walked into an Imperial Garden. It was filled with all manner of strange flowers and exotic plants, arranged in an artful, scattered pattern, with hardly a withered stalk or yellow leaf in sight.