After the Immortal Disappeared

Chapter 472: Chapter 471: Transfer Granary

After inspecting Wan Song’s residence, the group withdrew.

They didn’t ransack the place, so if Wan Song happened to return, he wouldn’t become suspicious.

The next location was Wan Song’s warehouse.

The White Stone County Magistrate had also sent two Officials, ordering them to follow the Special Envoy’s commands at all times. These two men had been working in the area for nearly twenty years. They knew every crook and character for miles around and had seen their fair share of strange things—they were textbook Local Bullies.

This showed the extent of the White Stone County Magistrate’s cooperation.

Hee Lingchuan asked the two Officials directly, ”Do you know Wan Song?”

”Know him? Of course,” said one of the Officials, Xu Dayou. ”When he was chosen by the Baiqi Sect, Wan Xianneng threw a celebratory banquet for his nephew. I even went for a drink. It’s a shame he turned out to be such a good-for-nothing and got kicked out. If I’d known that bastard was secretly killing Demons, I’d have cut him down myself!”

”You couldn’t beat him,” the other Official, Wue Huang, said bluntly. ”He’s a real piece of work. We should have known that kid was trouble from the start. He never followed the village rules growing up, and now he’s a desperate outlaw.”

Youtian Town wasn’t large; you could cross it from east to west in less than half an hour.

Wan Song’s warehouse was located at the edge of his medicinal fields, right next to a small path, making transportation very convenient.

Wan Song’s fields were planted with many cash-crop medicinal herbs, such as gamboge vine and dwarf elder. Surprisingly, he had even hired a pack of beady-eyed weasels as guards.

But there was no Prunella in his fields. General Antelope grinned at Hee Lingchuan. ”He doesn’t even grow it himself. See? Even you can be wrong sometimes.”

”Is that so?” Hee Lingchuan said nonchalantly. ”We’ll see.”

The two Officials stepped forward and said a few words, and the weasels no longer dared to stop the group from opening the warehouse.

An official on the scene is more powerful than a distant superior.

The warehouse was already half-full, stacked with bagged herbs of all kinds.

There were countless warehouses like this in Zhitian Village.

Hee Lingchuan drew his saber and randomly sliced open the sacks.

Polygonum multiflorum.

Prunella.

Tianqi.

Prunella.

Prunella.

He stabbed open more than ten bags. Only two contained other herbs; the rest were all filled with Prunella!

Jiao Yu shot a glance at General Antelope. ”What do you think now?”

General Antelope simply snatched a few stalks with his mouth to satisfy his craving. ”Tastes pretty good,” he mumbled while chewing. ”And quite fresh. Hmm, what on earth does this fellow want with all this Prunella?”

Hee Lingchuan had already figured out the puzzle on his way over. He grabbed a handful of Prunella and said:

”This is fodder. Fodder for that monster. And I suspect it’s the reason Wan Song is based in Zhitian Village.”

The others were astonished. ”Doesn’t that monster feed on Demons?”

”I’m afraid its diet isn’t that simple.” Hee Lingchuan gazed at the leaves in his hand. ”This thing is no ordinary creature. I think I may have met its creator.”

Yes, he remembered.

The last person who had mentioned Prunella to him was Dong Rui.

While developing medicine for Second Madam Zhu in the Demon Nest Swamp, Dong Rui had casually mentioned that he once created a Demon Puppet for someone in the Beiga Kingdom, designated Number Thirty-One.

Because it was made in a hurry, the Demon Puppet had a flaw: it had to consume Prunella regularly.

”’Otherwise, it can’t maintain itself.’ Those were Dong Rui’s exact words.”

”Who was it?”

”Have you ever heard the name Dong Rui?”

General Antelope shook his head, but Jiao Yu said, ”I’ve heard he’s a notorious Demon Puppet Master, wanted throughout our entire Beiga Kingdom.”

He looked surprised. ”What does he have to do with this? Oh—are you saying this monster is the Demon Puppet he created?”

”It’s very likely.”

Dong Rui’s creations were bizarre, but they all shared one characteristic:

They were practical.

When used properly, their power was not to be underestimated.

”A mere Demon Puppet Master can create a Demon Puppet that can swallow over a hundred Porcupine Demons in one go?” General Antelope was skeptical. ”If he had that kind of ability, would he still need to flee like a stray dog?”

”You’re right,” Hee Lingchuan didn’t rush to refute him. ”Dong Rui’s Demon Puppets aren’t this absurdly powerful.”

He had fought Dong Rui’s Ghost Ape, Strange Bird, and Werewolf. Their combat strength was impressive, but they were a far cry from being able to silently kill over a hundred Demons.

Besides, Dong Rui himself had admitted that he was rushed when creating Number Thirty-One, so its level of refinement certainly couldn’t compare to the models he kept with him, like the Ghost Ape and the Werewolf.

’So where did things go wrong?’

Jiao Yu sniffed around the warehouse floor. ”The monster’s scent is everywhere.”

Hee Lingchuan wiped a hand on the warehouse wall. ”There are traces of dried slime, too.”

He went outside and beckoned the pack of weasels over for questioning. ”How often does the owner of this warehouse come here?”

The weasels looked at the group with their small, beady eyes and chirped, ”We can’t remember.”

Jiao Yu said coldly, ”The Crown Prince Envoy is investigating a murder case. If you dare to withhold information, you’ll be treated as accomplices!”

Under his menacing glare, the weasels shrank back, looking like they wanted to burrow into the ground.

Hee Lingchuan interjected just in time, ”The owner of this warehouse specializes in hunting and killing Mountain Demons and Wild Beasts, skinning them and rendering their bones. His crimes are utterly heinous. If you have any clues, you must help us bring him to justice!”

The Beiga Kingdom was, after all, a Demon Kingdom. Anyone who dared to make a living by Demon Hunting here could indeed be considered monstrously evil.

The weasels glanced at each other, their resolve wavering. Although they weren’t ”Mountain Demons and Wild Beasts,” they were also weak creatures and couldn’t help but feel afraid.

Most importantly, Hee Lingchuan took out a small packet of dried meat and offered it to them. ”Something to chew on?”

A weasel immediately snatched it with its paw, weighed it, and said, ”Sometimes he comes every seven or eight days, sometimes every half a month.”

”When was the last time?”

”Six days ago, I think.”

”No, it was five days ago!” another weasel corrected. ”The moon was full that night.”

General Antelope couldn’t help but remark, ”Then he’ll be back again soon.”

Hee Lingchuan noted that the Prunella in the warehouse was about half-full, which matched the timeline the weasels had given.

”Who delivers the herbs to this warehouse?”

”A few of the nearby Medicinal Farmers,” said a weasel. ”They live within a ten-li radius.” It then rattled off a few names.

Official Xu Dayou immediately said, ”I know where those men live.”

Hee Lingchuan nodded at him, then continued questioning the weasels, ”While you’ve been guarding the fields, have you ever felt anything... off... about the warehouse?”

”Yes,” another weasel replied. ”Every time Wan Song comes, we feel a bone-chilling cold from the warehouse. It’s like something strange and terrifying appears inside, and no one wants to go near it.”

Their Demon Power was not strong, but their Spiritual Sense was sharp; they were born with the unique alertness of small animals.

Having gotten the information he needed, Hee Lingchuan thanked them and stood up.

Back in the warehouse, Jiao Yu asked in a low voice, ”What does that mean? That Wan Song can summon the monster at will?”

”Most likely,” Hee Lingchuan said. ”I’ve seen several of Dong Rui’s Demon Puppets. They can change their size and even have their own Spiritual Sense.”

”If it has its own Spiritual Sense, can it still be called a Puppet?” The very reason for the name ”Puppet” is that it can only move when controlled by someone else, just like a marionette.

General Antelope looked at the Prunella that took up more than half the warehouse. ”As long as we don’t alert him, it’s very likely Wan Song will bring his Demon Puppet back here to feed.”

”No.” Hee Lingchuan shook his head. ”Wan the Wealthy didn’t know how Wan Song and the Demon Puppet operated, which means they were clearly under Mr. Mai’s direct control. Since Mr. Mai fled ahead of time, it means he knew Wan the Wealthy had been captured. Wan Song probably knows too.”

”With Wan the Wealthy arrested, the businesses Wan Song entrusted to him are no longer safe, and that includes this warehouse. If he’s smart, he won’t risk coming back for the Prunella.” Hee Lingchuan continued, ”But we should still take the gamble. What if he’s just that stupid? Chief Wue, I’ll trouble you to have your men move this Prunella and set a trap.”

After all he’d been through, he was well aware of the old saying: it takes all kinds to make a world.

’Never underestimate the stupidity of others.’

Wue Huang acknowledged the order and left.

Hee Lingchuan then asked Xu Dayou, ”Where else in Zhitian Village are large quantities of Prunella regularly stockpiled?”

”Large stockpiles?” Xu Dayou thought for a moment. ”Luocang might have some.”

He elaborated, ”It’s the outbound transfer hub for five towns. The warehouses there are numerous and huge, and they stock all kinds of herbs. Prunella isn’t anything precious in Zhitian Village, so if it’s being consolidated anywhere, it would be there.”

General Antelope asked Hee Lingchuan, ”Are we going to Luocang now?”

”First, we need to make some arrangements.”

Next, Hee Lingchuan had Xu Dayou collect all the Prunella from the nearby Medicinal Farmers—a little less than eight hundred catties—and gather it in an open field along with all the herbs from Wan Song’s warehouse. Then he burned it all to ashes.

The good news was that none of the Medicinal Farmers had seen Wan Song recently.

Hee Lingchuan also consulted the White Stone County Magistrate about another matter, and the latter readily agreed.

Meanwhile, the Government Office had also located Wan Song’s favorite courtesan at the Red Hall, Qinggu, and brought her in for questioning.

According to Qinggu, Wan Song was a generous spender and always had a few friends with him.

But only those few.

A few days ago, Wan Song had come for drinks, but he was sullen the entire time. When Qinggu asked, she learned that two of his friends had met with disaster while away.

She also revealed that Wan Song only had two companions left.

Once, when the three of them were drinking heavily, a stout, dark-skinned man with the surname Lai mentioned he had already set up a business on Baiying Mountain and was preparing to buy a carriage house—he’d even settled on the price. Wan Song, for his part, lamented that he already had three sweethearts in Zhitian Village, but not one of them had laid an egg for him yet.

The stout man said it was probably because those women were too old and past their prime.

Wan Song said he was planning to go to Wan’an Town in the autumn to buy a few pretty young maids, hoping to ”bear fruit” by the next year.

Only after hearing all this did Hee Lingchuan take a few Demons and twenty to thirty plainclothes Officials and set off for Luocang.

...

Zhitian Village was responsible for a third of Chiyan’s medicinal herb revenue. The larger the industry’s scale, the more complete its facilities, procedures, and workflows became, and the more specialized its division of labor.

Specialized Transfer Granaries had even appeared here, and there was a town that did nothing but warehousing.

That town was called Luocang.

When Hee Lingchuan arrived, he saw that the roads were wide and straight, and warehouses and storage depots were everywhere. The turnover of goods was incredibly busy.

The streets bustled with traffic and pedestrians.

Everyone hurried along as if they had endless things to do.

’If only a scene like this could happen in the Yuan Kingdom.’ Hee Lingchuan sighed softly, thinking of the guards and cart drivers outside Dunyu’s great granaries, who were so idle they were practically catching fleas.