Where Immortals Once Walked

Of course, there was still one minor issue on their return journey: no mounts.

Wherever the heroic spirits of the Gale Army passed, all mutated creatures would provide them a wide passageway. The Heishui City troops had no chance of luring any sand creatures to use as mounts like before. In other words, they had to walk the whole way, step by step.

And so they trudged for over ten days. By the time their water and rations were nearly depleted, the group finally reached the end of the Hongya Route.

There, the Gale Army had stopped abruptly. Without a word of farewell or even a backward glance, they turned and marched away, utterly indifferent to the half-month of shared hardship.

From beginning to end, the Gale Army had been silent companions. From the officers to the lowest of soldiers, He Lingchuan never heard a single word from any of them.

After bathing, He Lingchuan changed into fresh clothes and headed straight for the dining hall.

His family was already seated. He Chunhua was in the middle of recounting their journey through the Panlong Desert, while Madame Ying listened with a radiant smile, enjoying both the tale and her meal.

He Lingchuan sat down and immediately grabbed a fluffy white steamed bun. “Father, did you make sure to tell them I saved everyone’s lives?”

Madame Ying could not hold back a chuckle. “Such a thick-skinned boy!”

However, her joy was written all over her face. With her husband and son home safe, she was in such high spirits that she personally handed He Lingchuan a chunk of braised pork belly so tender it practically fell apart. She tucked it into his steamed bun, then added two slices of perfectly pickled radish.

He Lingchuan bit in with oil dripping down his chin, mumbling, “I’ve been dreaming about this bite every day and night in the desert...”

The rest of the He Family was long used to his gluttonous eating. He Yue said, “Where’s that broken saber? Let me have a look.”

He Lingchuan casually drew the saber and laid it across the table. “Careful. It’s still sharp.”

He Yue ran his fingers gently over the blade. A chill leapt into his skin, followed by a sting. “Ow!” He stuck his finger in his mouth and sucked on the wound.

He Lingchuan glared. “Tsk! Clumsy!”

He Yue protested, “I didn’t even touch the edge! It cut me anyway.”

He Lingchuan rubbed the flat of the blade with his fingers, flicking it to send out a ringing note. Unlike his younger brother, his hand remained perfectly fine. “You’re more delicate than a concubine.”

He Yue, long immune to his older brother’s teasing, changed the subject. “Big Brother, Panlong City’s enormous. How did you know that saber was the black dragon’s lifeline?”

He Lingchuan lit up, instantly launching into a vivid tale, boasting about his flawless memory and hawk-like attention to detail, while waving the saber around so much that it sent streaks of cold light flashing across the room.

Crash!

A ceramic jar four feet away exploded into shards. Water spread across the floor.

And He Lingchuan hadn’t even used a trace of true energy.

Madame Ying’s face blanched. “Enough! This is the dining hall, not a place for you to be swinging around a blade!”

This saber is far too vicious!

He Lingchuan awkwardly stored the saber and changed the subject, “Right, you said the rebels at Woling Pass were already defeated?”

“That’s right,” He Yue nodded, unbothered by having to retell what he had already reported to their father. “It turns out that Nian Songyu and Sun Fuping were spouting nonsense. By the time they arrived at Heishui City, Generals Wu Di and Ke Jihai had already crushed the rebels at Woling Pass. They never had the chance to build ships or march east by river.”

He Lingchuan froze. “Then what about the Iron Bucket General, Zhao Ronglue?”

It was precisely because of Sun Fuping claiming that rebels were on the verge of breaching Woling Pass that He Chunhua had agreed to follow them into the Panlong Desert to seek out the legendary Generous Pot, a divine artifact that could supposedly turn the tide of battle and protect the capital.

But now He Yue was actually saying that the rebels never even made it out of Woling Pass?

Then what was the Provincial Governor of Xun Province, and Sun Fuping for that matter, really after? Why were they scheming so hard for the Generous Pot?

“The Iron Bucket General did indeed die in battle. When Generals Wu Di and Ke Jihai arrived with a hundred thousand elite troops, the rebels were already caught in internal strife and had weakened themselves. Even so, several brutal battles followed, and both sides suffered heavy losses. We barely scraped a win.” He Yue gave a bitter smile. “Sun Fuping only told half the truth. He mixed truth and lies, and that’s what made his story so convincing, so much so that even Father got tricked.”

“No wonder!” He Lingchuan hissed softly. “No wonder Sun Fuping and Nian Songyu were in such a rush to drag us out of Heishui City. They were afraid the eastward route would clear and the real news would make it here.”

“The situation was becoming unfavorable to the Minister of War,” He Yue agreed. “To use us effectively, they had to create a time buffer. If word from the capital had arrived earlier, they would’ve gone from honored guests to fugitives.”

“So what’s the real deal with the Minister of War?” He Lingchuan asked, instinctively sensing this was the crux of everything.

He Yue’s face turned serious as he answered, “Most of our best troops had been sent south, so the capital was exposed. The Minister of War, Dong Haoming, saw an opportunity and seized it. He sent assassins into the palace in an attempt to seize power! It turns out that he’d been plotting this for a long time. He hid a thousand and six hundred elite troops across several estates on the outskirts of the capital. As some of those estates weren’t even registered under Donglai Mansion, no one paid attention. On the day of the attack, at dawn, the southern city gate guards opened the way for Donglai’s men. There were traitors among the royal guard, too. Two of Dong Haoming’s generals led a strike force directly into the palace to assassinate the King.”

Just like that? Dong Haoming didn’t even bother with poison or trickery? He just sent people in with their blades and nothing else?

Damn, bold wouldn’t even begin to describe it. He Lingchuan almost gave a thumbs-up but restrained himself. This is not the time for that.

He Chunhua nodded thoughtfully. “The Minister of War held immense power, while the King’s health was failing. If he had succeeded in killing him, he could have declared the King died of illness and forged a death edict with help from the Court Historians. He could pose as regent to a new monarch and take command of the court. With the crown prince under his thumb, none of the military governors would dare move against him.”

Power struggles often come down to two key factors: timing and momentum. When the tide turns against you, even the most well-planned strategies can collapse.

He Lingchuan frowned. “Why not just poison the King then? A bloody palace assassination wouldn’t look like a natural death at all.”

“The King is always surrounded by apothecaries, all of whom have high attainments in cultivation and medicine so that poison wouldn’t work.”

“But he’s the King’s father-in-law. Wouldn’t the throne still be passed on to Dong Haoming’s grandson? Why the rush? Why seize power directly?”

He Chunhua fell silent for a moment, then said, “Word is, the King and his father-in-law were not on good terms. Their relationship was strained. However, the trigger for the fallout appears to be recent. Actually, it seems to be due to the repeated invasions from the northern monster state. The King wanted a hard military response, while the Minister of War insisted the state was exhausted and needed peace, not another war. Apparently, they argued four times in open court. After one of those arguments, the King was so furious he skipped meals. He even went so far as to summon Queen Dong and chewed her out, making her kneel in the royal garden for half the night.”

Scolding the wife because he could not win an argument with the father-in-law—real man-of-the-house behavior, He Lingchuan thought, scratching his head. “Still, that’s not enough reason for open rebellion.”

He Yue shook his head. “The Minister of War had long been dissatisfied with the current royal court. He thought the King’s misrule was dragging the kingdom down and decided to take matters into his own hands.”

“Ah, so he just got tired of waiting.” He Lingchuan sighed. “I guess that when you’re ready to rebel, any excuse will do. Did he succeed?”

“No. As it happens, the King wasn’t in the palace that night. He had secretly left to stay at Lord Puwen’s estate and hadn’t told anyone. The palace traitors didn’t know, so they followed the plan and helped people break in to kill the King, but he was nowhere to be found. Once the King got word of this, he fled... Er, withdrew from the capital and retreated to the Western Mountains, calling on loyal troops to rally to the throne. After the rebellion was exposed, the Provincial Governor of Xuan Province, Wei Ao, was the first to respond, holding off the Minister of War’s forces in two engagements in the Western Mountains, buying time until General Ke Jihai arrived with reinforcements. When the Minister of War saw that the coup had failed, he pulled back from the west and fortified himself in Wu Province.”