Where Immortals Once Walked

He Chunhua and the others were visibly moved. “Truly?”

“Truly.” He Lingchuan flexed his fist with pride. “What can I say? I’m just naturally gifted.”

No one could object. When the imperial nectar rained down last night, everyone shared in its blessing. But aside from a handful of the truly lucky, most living beings barely received enough essence to wet their lips. The luckiest among them had only gained a few dozen days’ worth of cultivation. Yet with nothing more than that paltry share, He Lingchuan had managed to lay a solid foundation in one stroke. If that was not innate talent, what was?

He Chunhua stroked his chin and chuckled. “You’re young, your body hasn’t accumulated as much filth, so it’s easier to cleanse it thoroughly. At my age, or Deputy General Wu’s, even with three or four times as much imperial nectar, we wouldn’t be able to cleanse our marrow and wash away impurities.”

Wu Shaoyi sighed heavily. “Such is fate! The last appearance of imperial nectar was sixty years ago. I count myself fortunate enough to have caught it this time, but I’m already over fifty. How could I compare to the He brothers, still in their prime? Youth itself is opportunity. Youth is everything.”

Envy was plain on He Yue’s face. “Brother, how much did your cultivation grow?”

“About three to five years’ worth, at least,” He Lingchuan answered, before turning quickly to prod He Chunhua. “Father, you promised me a proper cultivation technique, remember?”

His foundation had grown sturdier and sturdier, but without a fitting cultivation technique, he was wasting precious time. Now that he had seen hope in Panlong City, he was determined to try persuading his father again.

He Chunhua only laughed. “None of what I have suits you. We’ll gather more when we reach Xia Province! Who could have predicted you’d advance so suddenly?”

He Yue offered a suggestion, “I’ve heard that Cloud-Piercing Pavilion, based in Xia Province, has a great reputation. They encourage disciples to train in both the martial arts and spellcraft. In recent years, they’ve produced one outstanding talent after another. Big Brother, why not try there?”

He Lingchuan’s interest was piqued. “You mean... actually join a Daoist sect?”

“Why not?” He Yue’s eyes shone. “Wu Di, the great general who swept clean Woling Pass, was a disciple of Jianyang Sect, under Master Qianyun. Every royal court has Daoist sect members serving within. Their numbers are nothing to scoff at.”

The Daoist path is broadly divided into two branches: martial and arcane. In troubled times, martial strength was valued most, and many renowned generals had taken the Dao through martial cultivation. As for spellcasters, needless to say, even the sons of nobility dabbled, if only to pick up a few divine techniques for the sake of longevity. In this world, cultivating divine techniques properly meant living to a hundred and thirty or forty without a problem at all.

Naturally, the poor had no share in such chances.

The He Family adviser, Mozhe Jingxuan, clapped his hands in approval. “Second Young Master speaks true! A sect like Cloud-Piercing Pavilion has been rooted in Xia Province for generations, with immense influence. If Eldest Young Master were to enter its ranks, it would surely bring great support to His Lordship!”

He Lingchuan thought privately: This fellow eats at my family’s table, yet always looks at things from my father’s perspective.

But it was true, He Chunhua was about to assume office in Xia Province, where he had no foundation and would have to rebuild every connection from scratch. If he could win the backing of a local sect, his footing would be far more secure.

Mozhe Jingxuan pressed on, “And in the future, my lord may well recruit talent from Cloud-Piercing Pavilion and other Daoist sects into his own ranks.”

He Chunhua’s eyelids lowered, giving nothing away.

He Yue and the others had no idea what he was thinking, but He Lingchuan raised his brows. “So if I enter a sect, that counts as support for Father? Then, when it comes time for me to marry, I suppose I should also make sure to choose carefully, so long as the bride has power and connections, even if she’s a hundred-kilo sow, that would be acceptable?”

Mozhe Jingxuan’s face froze. “Young Master, such a sacrifice is hardly necessary.”

The corners of He Lingchuan’s lip twitched, while He Yue burst out laughing.

Mozhe Jingxuan quickly added, “Xia Province is blessed with fine mountains and waters. Among the local nobility, the young ladies are raised like flowers. They’re gentle, graceful, and as lovely as jade. There are plenty to choose from!”

“No hundred-kilo sows, then?”

He Yue could not help but interject, “Sir, you may not know this, but my older brother has no taste for frail, delicate women.”

He Lingchuan shot him a sidelong glance. “Oh? I don’t?”

Heh, since when? He was not aware of that himself. He had been here this long and had not even so much as held a young lady’s hand more than a handful of times! What a miserable excuse for a transmigration.

“N-no, of course not.” Mozhe Jingxuan realized the young master was displeased and quickly apologized. “That was a slip of the tongue, Eldest Young Master. Please don’t take offense!”

Their banter wound down, and only then did He Chunhua finally speak, slow and measured, “Even if Chuan’er were to enter a Daoist sect, it must be chosen with the utmost care. The Cloud-Piercing Pavilion has barely two thousand disciples, and its reputation doesn’t extend as far as Southern Yuan. If Chuan’er’s future truly proves limitless, confining him to Cloud-Piercing Pavilion would be a waste of his talent.”

“Now that’s what I call vision!” He Lingchuan’s eyes lit up. “The capital’s where all the real immortals clash!”

“Indeed. Our He Family will one day return to the capital; we won’t remain bound within Xia Province.” He Chunhua gazed at the distant mountains. “This is not something to be rushed. It must be chosen with care.”

Wu Shaoyi added, “The martial path and the spellcraft path differ greatly. Internal techniques, combat forms, and martial techniques are only the foundation. What matters most is proper combat experience. Divine techniques may nourish and preserve, but martial cultivation must be tempered in the clash of armies, to prove the Dao through killing! Take me, or Lu Yao, neither of us came from military academies, yet we cut down seven generals of Yuan. Do you believe our foundations were any more solid than theirs?”

No one else dared respond. After all, those generals had been their own countrymen.

Wu Shaoyi chuckled. “The so-called Great Dao is simple. Victory is what counts—victory and the ability to kill. With origin energy guarding our bodies, we’re the natural nemesis of most divine techniques. If the opponent’s origin energy isn’t strong, then in front of us, spellcasters are nothing but weaklings. Why bother with all the rest?”

He Chunhua agreed. “It’s the same with military texts or treatises on governance. There are only a handful that are read and reread countless times. If mastery came from memorization alone, how would anyone rise above the rest? In the end, it comes down to personal insight. Chuan’er, there’s no need to rush. We’ll make our plans.”

At that, no one had anything more to add. He Lingchuan, however, smiled inwardly.

Then He Chunhua turned to Zeng Feixiong and the others. “If any imperial nectar lingers come morning, its potency will already have faded. With fewer beasts drawn to the river, our journey upstream should be smoother. At daybreak, we depart for Fengling Port to board a boat.” He sighed deeply and then added, “Imperial nectar only comes once in several decades, and it had to appear at such a time.”

“What do you mean?” He Lingchuan did not understand. “Imperial nectar is a heavenly treasure. There’s never a wrong time for it to fall, is there?”

He gestured at Wu Shaoyi. “Look, even Old Wu has gained a few more years of life.”

When they walked in earlier, he had already noticed the flush in Wu Shaoyi’s cheeks and how the dark pallor at his brow had faded. This man had used a secret spell to stave off his mortal wounds, but all he had managed was to delay his fate by three, maybe five years at most. Yet now that imperial nectar had come, even the tiniest taste had poured fresh vitality into his exhausted core.

Wu Shaoyi nodded. “Heaven has shown mercy. I might have another two years in me.”

Once, he had faced battle and death without a thought. But now, with his lifespan dwindling by the day, every breath of air seemed sweet as nectar.

“Of the five kinds of creatures, only humans follow rites and order. Yet even so, many perished last night in Shuanghe Town. With imperial nectar suddenly appearing, every bird, beast, insect, and fish will fight to fill themselves. It won’t be long before this land swarms with monsters. Just like at Immortal Spirit Lake, where the former water spirit was slain and a new monster took its place. Such things will keep happening.”

Just then, a cook came over with a tray. “My lord, the kitchen had little left over. We managed only a few flatbreads.”

There were a dozen flatbreads and a dish of bean paste.

He Lingchuan did not stand on ceremony. He grabbed one broad, palm-sized cake, tore it in half, dipped it into the paste, and stuffed it in his mouth.

The cook stared at him, eyes glued.

“What are you looking at?” He Lingchuan snapped. “You enjoy watching people eat?”

The fellow only chuckled and scurried off.

The cook had claimed earlier that supplies were running low, but he had still kneaded the dough several times, worked in a generous splash of oil, and griddled the cakes until they came out fragrant and crisp, four or five layers thick, with minced meat and pickled mustard stems tucked inside.

He Lingchuan took two hearty bites. It was delicious, but something felt missing.

He rose and wandered into the kitchen to rummage around.

The smile on his face faded the moment he turned his back.

He had made up his mind upon waking this morning. He would learn an internal technique from Panlong City. Just now, when he brought it up again, it was only to test the waters. And sure enough, his father had brushed him off once more.

This was not the first time. Why was He Chunhua so reluctant to let his son step into the inner hall and properly cultivate the martial path?

Meanwhile, He Chunhua continued, “The effects of imperial nectar on beasts and monsters are even more immediate than on humans. A dull-witted beast may gain intelligence overnight, and a monster with a cultivation base may see its cultivation soar. Imagine what trouble that will cause the locals.”

Wu Shaoyi thought back. “When birds and beasts first turn into monsters, they’re reckless and arrogant, ignorant of human laws, and sometimes take people as prey. When I was a boy in Uttarakuru[1], the region wasn’t particularly peaceful, but the guardian spirit kept order, so humans and monsters lived side by side for decades. Then one day, several villagers turned up dead, their remains gnawed. The county sent men to investigate and concluded the culprits were sharp-toothed beasts. They organized wolf-hunting parties and wiped out dozens of wolves in the hills. But before long, more people were killed.”

By then, He Lingchuan had returned, casually munching on a long, fresh scallion he had found in the kitchen.

Scallions were the missing flavor he had been looking for.

He bit down with a loud crunch, speaking around his mouthful as if nothing were amiss, “So the wolves were innocent?”

“There were four incidents in all. At first, the killings only happened at night in remote places. But as the deaths piled up, the culprit grew bolder, attacking villages even in broad daylight. Survivors reported back, and only then did people realize it was not wild beasts at all but a giant salamander from a nearby swamp that had just formed a monster body! No wonder hunting in the hills did nothing. The monster lived in the water.”

“Imperial nectar is indeed a blessing, but the records are clear: within half a year of its appearance, chaos always follows, whether it be in the form of human or monster. Fortune and misfortune are bound together,” Mozhe Jingxuan said gravely. “Back when Great Yuan was at its height, sheer state fate was enough to suppress such things, to keep them from causing trouble. But now...”

He trailed off. No one needed him to finish the thought.

He Yue murmured, “When a state falters, monsters will rise.”

Only He Lingchuan continued to eat and drink as if nothing had happened. “Enough sighing. What does any of that have to do with us? Tomorrow the sun will still rise in the east. If the sky falls, there’ll be taller men to hold it up.”

That kind of careless irreverence was very much like He Lingchuan. No one batted an eye, except He Chunhua, who gave him a look. “This time, I fear we’re the ones who’ll have to hold it up.”

1. The original 云婆洲 seems to be the Chinese name for Uttarakuru, one of the Four Great Continents in Buddhist cosmology surrounding Mount Sumeru. In literature, it signifies a remote, otherworldly land of abundance and long life. I’ve decided to translate it as such rather than the transliteration since Yunpozhou doesn’t sound as smooth. ☜