Where Immortals Once Walked

“Ah, I think I was swept away by the current back then. When I finally came to, I found myself right by a farmer’s house.” He Lingchuan could only give a vague reply. “In the mountains, there’s no sense of sun or moon. How long has it been?”

“Since the battle? Close to a month.” The Panlong Wasteland was vast. If He Lingchuan had been carried downstream and lingered somewhere for ten or twenty days, it was hardly unusual for him to have only gotten to the city now. Hence, Hu Min did not think too much of it, and what did it really even matter? “We all thought you were dead. We even burned paper money for you twice. If you hadn’t shown up, we would’ve burned more on the fifteenth of next month.”

He Lingchuan clapped him on the shoulder. “Thanks!”

“Then you didn’t hear it?”

“Hear what?”

“When I burned the paper money, I also told you the reason why Commandery Administrator Sun ran off with those beast traps. Don’t you remember our agreement?” Hu Min crunched on another piece of pork crackling. “You didn’t hear me?”

“So that’s why I kept feeling like someone was whispering in my ear.” He Lingchuan suddenly realized. “That was you! But I honestly couldn’t make it out.”

Back when reinforcements from Baling arrived and their final wagon barricade was about to be breached, He Lingchuan and Hu Min had made a pact: whoever survived would find out why Commandery Administrator Sun had dragged those beast traps with him, then burn paper money to deliver the answer to the other.

He Lingchuan had said it half in jest, but Hu Min had taken it seriously.

He Lingchuan did not even know what to feel now. It was unlike anything he had experienced among the Coordinating Army. He grabbed his cup and downed it in one gulp. “So, why did Commandery Administrator Sun do it?”

Those beast traps were not light. They were forged from solid iron, and each of them weighed several hundred kilograms. With Wei City having fallen, why waste precious men and horses to haul two hulking lumps of iron? What was so important about them?

“It’s laughable, really.” The marinated goose leg arrived. Hu Min tore off a piece and gnawed it slowly as he spoke of the matter further, “After Commandery Administrator Sun got to Panlong City, he took inventory of his belongings. The moment he realized those two beast traps were missing, he threw a fit, and he even demanded that we go back to the gorge and retrieve them!”

“Heh, Wei City is already no more, and yet he still thought he could strut around here like he owns the place! Officer Xiao ignored him outright. I don’t even know if Commandery Administrator Sun later sent his men back to search for those two lumps of iron.”

“But I asked around among his people, and I learned that Commandery Administrator Sun’s family turns out to have once been a family of hunters. His grandfather had once used those very iron traps to catch two beasts, one was a wolf monster, and the other was something far more absurd. He had managed to catch the White Demon King that haunted the western region of the Panlong Wasteland for years!”

“The White Demon King?” He Lingchuan had never heard of it.

“Sixty years ago, the White Demon King terrorized the western region of the Panlong Wasteland. It was a bear king, and it was said to have cultivated to the level of a greater monster. It was known to eat humans and wipe out entire villages. Wei City had sent out three or four monster-hunting squads, and each time only a handful came back alive. Commandery Administrator Sun’s grandfather stumbled upon the beast already on its last legs, covered in wounds. The beast trap delivered the final blow.”

“The White Demon King’s hide, gallbladder, paws, and teeth all fetched sky-high prices. With that windfall, the Sun Family bought land and established itself. Some fortune-teller told them their family’s rise was thanks to those two traps, so they enshrined them in their ancestral hall. Later, Commandery Administrator Sun’s father purchased a decommissioned government mine only to discover that the ore there was exceptionally pure. You know how it is: weapons and grain are the hard currency of the Panlong Wasteland. Naturally, the family struck it rich again. By the time it came down to Commandery Administrator Sun, he was already climbing high. Look at him now, a commandery administrator himself. Tell me, aren’t those traps lucky?”

Hu Min’s eyes gleamed with mischief as he said it, clearly waiting to see if He Lingchuan would bite.

However, He Lingchuan only smiled and said, “They’re two fine treasures, indeed, and they saved our lives as well.”

If not for those traps crippling Meng Shan, blocking that fierce man would have cost them dearly.

“Exactly. That’s why Commandery Administrator Sun carried those traps with him when he fled. He hoped that his family’s good fortune would never run dry.” Hu Min slapped his thigh. “Ha! Maybe losing them is why his luck’s been rotten ever since.”

“How so?”

“He bought himself a grand mansion in the southern area of Panlong City. Only after moving in did he discover that the previous owner had mortgaged it heavily before fleeing. Now the creditors have come knocking, notes in hand, demanding repayment. If he won’t pay, they’ll haul him into court.” Hu Min took a long sip of wine. “And another thing, he brought three or four hundred city guards with him. But Panlong City doesn’t allow private households to maintain so many armed men. The authorities let the Sun Family keep just ten bodyguards. The rest had to be broken up and enrolled into the city garrison.”

He Lingchuan shook his head. “I bet Commandery Administrator Sun has people scouring every valley, stream, and gorge for those two iron traps now.”

“He keeps shouting that he’ll appeal to Lord Zhong for justice. But this isn’t Wei City, where he could throw his weight around.” Hu Min gave a lazy chuckle. “Plenty of nobles and grandees have moved to Panlong City over the years, seeking a safe haven. Lots of them thought they could lord it over others, too. Heh, nothing but wishful thinking.”

“Property here must be expensive then, right?”

The server came over with the pig’s head meat that had been smoked, marinated, and garnished with fresh cilantro. Hearing their discussion, he could not resist butting in proudly, “Of course! Nowhere else in the Panlong Wasteland is safer. Every year, droves of outsiders move here!”

That was only sensible. After all, who did not yearn for a life of peace and stability?

Panlong City was the safest place of all, and so it naturally drew the largest number of people.

He Lingchuan asked curiously, “And can the city really house so many people?”

“For now, yes. The city proper’s already packed, but the Chipa Plateau is vast. More people mean more hands to farm and mine. Lord Zhong himself has said that with too few people, Panlong City would be in danger.”

The first element of war was always manpower.

Hu Min went on, “Housing here is divided into fifteen classes. The grand estates and mansions are divided into five of those fifteen classes, but even the grandest, first-class estates can’t exceed seven thousand square meters in size. As for common residences, those are split into nine classes. These are generally allocated to officials, soldiers, and civilians. Oh, and only estates up to the fifth or fourth class can be bought or sold.”

“What about the fifteenth and lowest class?” He Lingchuan realized that Hu Min had only mentioned fourteen of the supposed fifteen classes.

“Those are called snail huts. Those are where slaves and war captives live.”

He Lingchuan nodded in understanding. Panlong City was always under wartime conditions. Unlike ordinary regions, there was no free flow of people, money, or goods. Its laws had to be rigid and compulsory.

He sighed. Just surviving here was hard enough, yet Panlong City had no choice but to play on the highest difficulty.

Hearing that sigh, Hu Min glanced over. “I heard you’re from Tusu?”

He Lingchuan had indeed told Officer Xiao as much, so he nodded.

“Then you’ll settle in Panlong City, won’t you?” From Hu Min’s point of view, there was no reason for him to say no.

With a mouthful of wine and meat, He Lingchuan mumbled, “Well, that’s the plan.”

Does dreaming my way in count as settling down?

“That’s good. Back when you helped escort Wei City’s refugees to safety, Officer Xiao himself promised you would be granted a higher rank, extra rations, and farmland! Panlong City always rewards merit and punishes faults, so your reward is guaranteed. I’ll take you to claim it later!”

The drink had loosened their tongues. Hu Min thumped his chest and pledged it himself.

He Lingchuan blinked in disbelief. “I can really have rank and land here, too?”

Status, wage, and land all at once? This is too good to be true. It’s almost like I’m dreaming. Well, I guess I am.

Hu Min patted him on the shoulder. “In Panlong City, military merit gets you everything.”

And a life risked for honor and merit deserved no less.

“Is going to war the easiest way to make a name for yourself here?”

“Of course!”

The two clinked cups again. As Lingchuan drained his wine, another person suddenly came to mind.

By the way, what became of Meng Shan?” That brute had caused the Gale Army no end of trouble, but once the beast trap had crushed his leg, he could no longer move. The Gale Army soldiers had stripped him of his weapons and left him there, too busy to deal with him further. “Did they just finish him off?”

“Eh, nothing that drastic.” Hu Min chuckled. “The Red General saw him, decided he had potential, and ordered him kept alive to recover. His leg had been clamped for so long that they nearly had to saw it off. Anyway, it’s going to take a while before he fully recovers.”

“Did he really surrender?”

Hu Min answered, “Well, not exactly. He hasn’t really surrendered, even until now, but who knows down the road? Panlong City has taken in quite a few enemy generals. We have our own ways of handling them.”

“No one’s ever defected again afterward?” He Lingchuan asked in surprise. “People’s loyalties shift easily. One traitor, and you’ve got yourself a turncoat mercenary.”

Hu Min grinned. “So far, no.”

At that, He Lingchuan voiced another question he had been holding back. “When I entered the city, the gate guards seemed lax. People and goods passed through easily. Doesn’t Panlong City fear spies slipping in?”

The tightest fortresses, after all, were often undone from within. Woling Pass alone had proven that twice over. Yet Panlong City had stood unbroken for thirty-two years, with no such breaches. It was a puzzle that baffled not just He Lingchuan but later generations as well.

“There’s nothing to fear at all.” Hu Min picked up a slice of pig’s head meat, chewing it slowly. “Anyone with ill intent toward Panlong City reveals their true colors the moment they cross the gate. What method they use, no one knows. Just remember this: no spy can walk in through the main gate.”

He Lingchuan gave a long “oh,” looking half-enlightened, half-puzzled.

But in his heart, only three words came to mind:

Three Corpses Worms.

By now, Zhong Shengguang had already completed the rite of divine recompense, receiving God Mitian’s gift of the Generous Pot. That made the Three Corpses Worms a powerful tool, versatile and valuable in countless ways. Used properly, they made Panlong City as fierce as a tiger with wings.

He Lingchuan’s gaze shifted. “Right, when did Red General first appear?”

“Hm... about three years ago.”

That means that Panlong Wasteland had only become an enclave again about three or four years earlier. Counting from when Zhong Shengguang first took control of Panlong City and began defending it, this would be around the fifteenth or sixteenth year of the Panlong calendar.

He Lingchuan shook his head inwardly. The weakness of the motherland had become unbearable torment for the frontier’s soldiers and commoners alike.

Hu Min went on, “Come to think of it, many of the city’s new regulations only started three or four years ago. Like the housing classes I told you about. Before that, there were only three or four classes or levels of houses. It was only after that that it increased to fifteen. And there are plenty of other rules, detailed and precise. Well, you’ll learn them in time.”

“I’ve always been curious about something. Just what sort of person is the Red General, really?” asked He Lingchuan, pouring Hu Min another cup with a show of eager humility.

Hu Min lifted his cup and drank. “That’s hard to put into words. Anyway, once you meet him, you’ll know.”