Where Immortals Once Walked

This private room was obviously clean. After searching it, the three men left, treating He Lingchuan—a living, breathing person—as if he did not even exist. The owl followed them out.

He Lingchuan could not be bothered to argue with them. He just leaned against the doorframe and watched the spectacle.

Those men went door to door, room to room, turning the entire place upside down and sending everyone into a panic.

They were disrupting legitimate business, so the enforcers who managed the establishment arrived quickly.

The two sides exchanged only a few words before they came to blows.

For a while, it was pure chaos.

He Lingchuan suddenly pulled his door half-shut, folded his arms, and looked into the room.

“Come out.”

No one made a sound.

He then spoke again to the empty air, “If you don’t come out now, I’ll call those guys back.”

Only then did a figure stroll out from behind the screen. He leaned against the wall and asked him, “How did you know someone came in?”

He Lingchuan, of course, was not going to tell the other party that the eyeball spider had crawled out for some air and happened to be perched on the beam, thereby allowing it to witness everything clearly. Instead, he simply asked, “Why are you in such a sorry state?”

Yes, he recognized the man who had climbed in through the window. It was the very same person he had come to exchange blows with just a few days ago: Fushan Yue!

Just that this time, the other party was covered in blood, and his left arm was twisted at a strange angle. None of the heroic swagger that he had previously displayed was anywhere to be seen.

Fushan Yue shuffled to a chair and took two strained breaths. He looked like he had drained every last bit of strength and energy in his body. “Revenge isn’t easy.”

“Have you already killed the one who schemed against you?”

“No, but I’m very close.” Fushan Yue looked at him and said, “Close the door.”

He Lingchuan did not move. “Why should I help you?”

“They’ll silence anyone who is seen with me.” Fushan Yue added faintly, “In the last three days, they’ve already killed two restaurant clerks, one woman, and a mother and daughter who rode in the same carriage as me. I’m guessing that their orders were to kill anyone who shows up alongside me on sight. As I believe that you might know, killing me can be quite the troublesome ordeal. Anyway, I hear you’ve got a merchant caravan?”

He Lingchuan’s brow furrowed. “So if I report this to the authorities, I get killed too?”

Fushan Yue bared his blood-stained teeth at him and said, “You can try.”

Meanwhile, the situation had already resolved. It seemed that the enforcers who appeared were not on the same level as the intruders.

The three men finished searching every private room and headed out, apparently toward the red-light establishment across the street.

Hm, that kind of behavior’s really dangerous. Sooner or later, they’ll provoke some proper local power.

He Lingchuan did not call out to stop them. He simply reached back and shut the door.

He did so not because he wanted to help Fushan Yue, but because those men were far too arrogant and overbearing for his taste.

He glanced at the blood-smeared prince. “That’s a pretty serious injury. Will ordinary medicine even work?” Even by He Lingchuan’s standards, Fushan Yue was badly hurt. Some wounds did not look like much at first glance, but a proper look told him that they came from an explosion, and explosions tended to damage internal organs.

“Do you heal faster by eating people?”

This guy’s a ba, after all. He probably has his own diet and methods of recovery.

“Medicine works too. I’m basically human. As for eating people, mortals have too much dross. I’d have to eat three or five at least.” As he spoke, he licked his lips without thinking, eyes lingering on He Lingchuan. The man before him looked like a strong tonic, but he could not afford to exchange blows with him right now. He lifted his broken arm slightly and asked, “Mind helping me out?”

Ignoring the hungry look that the other party was giving him, He Lingchuan walked over, grabbed his forearm, and pressed along it. “Hm? Part of it has already knitted back together. When did you get hurt?”

“This morning.”

Hm, his recovery speed’s pretty quick. “Too bad it healed crooked. I’ll have to break it again and set it properly. Bear with me.”

“Can you—Aagh!”

With a sharp crack, He Lingchuan snapped the arm again, and then he looked up with innocent sincerity as he asked, “What were you saying?”

Fushan Yue used every ounce of strength he had to keep from screaming. His face went white with pain, and he could not even form the words. “N—”

“Anesthetic?” He Lingchuan said regretfully. “You should’ve said so earlier. I would’ve helped you numb it first.”

Then he worked quickly and efficiently to set the bones to their proper place.

He tore a board off the folding screen to use as a splint.

Fushan Yue sucked in a long breath. He knew He Lingchuan was taking the opportunity to get petty revenge, and there was nothing he could do but swallow it. “Do you have medicine? I’ll take it.”

He Lingchuan found him several kinds, both internal and external.

All of them were top-grade spirit medicines Ling Guang had made for him in the past. Every time he used them, he could not help but recall the medicine ape.

“This is expensive stuff. Use it sparingly. I can’t make medicine like this myself.”

“Tsk, stingy.” For someone so skilled, this brat’s absurdly tightfisted. Fushan Yue gnashed his teeth and said, “I’ll pay you back tenfold later.”

“Why later?” He Lingchuan held out a hand. “Pay me now. I’ll give you a twenty percent friendship discount, thirty taels of silver!”

“I don’t have that,” Fushan Yue said through clenched teeth. “Didn’t I already give you all my money?”

He had already given the other party silver notes and even a deed. He had been left with nothing. When he commissioned the modifications to the wooden statue a few days ago, he had even used his black jade thumb ring as collateral.

“You’re a prince. How did you end up this broke?” He Lingchuan nearly added something far nastier, Does your father not give you anything?

“I don’t usually carry money on me,” Fushan Yue shot back. “Besides, when I activated the Great Mountain-Moving Array in Fufeng City a few days ago, I burned up my most valuable profound crystals. You can thank yourself for that!”

They had agreed to reconcile in Fufeng City, but the fellow surnamed He had turned around and reported him. The authorities raided the inn, and he had paid in both blood and coin to escape.

And now he was still shameless enough to demand payment.

“You’re welcome. “Fine, let’s just put it on credit for now. Remember, you owe me ten times.” He Lingchuan stood up and stretched his body. “I’m ordering food. What do you want?”

“I’ll just have whatever you have.”

He Lingchuan stepped out, asked the attendant for food, and casually inquired, “Uh, some people broke in while I was bathing, is anything going to be done about that?”

The commotion from the search of Golden Spring Elegant Baths had only just died down. Customers were still cursing. He Lingchuan’s tone was actually among the most polite, and he had even just ordered plenty of dishes, so the attendant quickly put on a flattering smile and said, “Then we’ll halve your bathing fee, and we’ll give you two extra pastries, how about that?”

“Fine, and those guys?”

“Rest assured, Sir, someone will settle accounts with them.”

Not long after, the food arrived: two huge bowls of chicken noodle soup, six baskets of pan-fried buns, and two refreshing side dishes. The attendant kept his word, providing an extra plate of mung bean cakes and a serving of drunken pear[1].

The chicken soup was rich, the noodles springy. Best of all, the pan-fried buns were filled with wild onions[2]. They were in season, fragrant, crisp-tender, and faintly sweet. He Lingchuan could not stop once he started. He downed six buns in a row, then took a big bite of the drunken pear and finally let out a long breath. “Ahh, refreshing!”

The drunken pear was a pear poached in sweet rice wine, brown sugar, and preserved plums, perfect for cutting the grease.

Fushan Yue had changed into clean clothes. Now he ate noodles with bamboo chopsticks, just as uninhibited as He Lingchuan.

He had been running and fighting for two or three days. He had not had a proper meal once.

He Lingchuan asked, “So, who’s chasing you?”

“Uncle Da, the head of my father’s shadow guards,” Fushan Yue said. “I didn’t expect my royal father to send him to my second brother, along with a guard team of seven or eight men.”

He Lingchuan immediately caught on. “So is the one scheming against you your father or your second brother?”

“Maybe both, but the one actually making the moves was my second brother, so I naturally wasn’t polite with him.”

So he’d gone to settle accounts with his younger brother, then. “He’s not dead?”

“Not yet.” Fushan Yue gave a low laugh. “I wanted to take my time with him, but Uncle Da showed up. Still, in the last few days, I’ve killed several of their guards.”

So he’s been in a running hunt, and both sides have been trying to catch and kill the other. He Lingchuan asked, “What about your men?”

“All dead. Uncle Da isn’t easy to deal with, but I did prick Fushan Ji twice with that lignifying poison.” The price for that is the battered state I’m in now. “He shouldn’t live past tomorrow morning.”

No wonder he looks oddly relaxed; he’s already cleared his biggest obstacle to inheriting the throne. He Lingchuan asked, “What did you brothers fall out over, exactly?”

“My father likes my younger brother more, but the gods like me more,” Fushan Yue said with a shrug. “Brothers, aren’t they basically enemies? Oh, do you have brothers?”

He Lingchuan did not answer directly. “The gods like you more?”

“Yeah,” Fushan Yue said with a smile. “The heir the gods favor has a better chance of taking the throne. You’re an outsider, so you don’t know that that’s an iron rule in the monster states.”

“So the monster king doesn’t actually have full say over their successor?”

“It can’t quite be put like that. It’s complicated. You can’t explain it in a few words.” Fushan Yue slurped his noodles, then he asked, “You’re heading to Lingxu City, right?”

He Lingchuan nodded.

“Once you get past the Twilight Plains and keep going north, you’ll reach the State of Chiyan. Give me a ride.”

“I’d rather not get dragged down with you,” He Lingchuan said bluntly. The Chiyan King wants him dead. Does he seriously expect the little merchant caravan I’m with to take on the local powers?

“They won’t do anything,” Fushan Yue said with calm confidence. “They only dare act outside the state. No matter what, I’m the eldest son. Inside Chiyan and in the royal court, I have supporters. They can’t make a public move against me.”

“Why does your father care so much who his heir is? Greater monsters live long lives, far longer than human rulers. A crown prince is often just a formality. Some don’t even name one to avoid trouble, take the Baoshu King, for example. Hm, for the Chiyan King to even be bothering with who will inherit the throne, could it be that...” his lifespan is nearly at its end?

Fushan Yue chuckled. “It’s not something to be spoken.”

It was not something to be spoken, yet he had refrained from outright denying what was left unsaid.

Fushan Yue went on, “Whether or not I win isn’t guaranteed, but I’m at least seventy or eighty percent confident in my victory. If you’re a merchant with foresight, you should know this investment is worthwhile.”

He Lingchuan smiled and said, “I’ll have to talk to Second Boss Shi. This caravan is his, and he’s the one responsible for dozens of lives.”

Fushan Yue shrugged, not objecting.

Even though He Lingchuan had already closed the door and window, the sound insulation of the private room was still incredibly poor, so they had been chatting quite softly. At that moment, light footsteps suddenly came from outside, followed by a rustling sound from the window. Someone then knocked lightly outside three times in a series of one long and two short knocks.

He Lingchuan had just set down his chopsticks when Fushan Yue said, “It’s fine. Open it.”

When the window opened, a small head poked in.

It was a little girl of six or seven. She had dark skin and very large eyes. Her hair was filthy, and so was her body. She was so thin that she was little more than skin stretched over bone.

He Lingchuan did not have time to notice much else because her mouth was impossible to ignore.

Her upper and lower lips had been sewn together with ordinary thread, like a cloth doll someone had played a cruel prank on.

Her mouth had been sewn shut with ten stitches. The work was ugly, like a centipede crawling across her lips. The blood had already turned dark, showing that the operation had taken place at least three days ago.

With her mouth sewn shut, she obviously could not eat. Even drinking water would be painfully difficult. Her lips were cracked and bleeding, and she looked severely dehydrated.

1. These are typically crisp Asian pears poached or simmered in a mixture of Chinese rice wine (such as Shaoxing wine), water, rock sugar, and spices. ☜

2. The author specifically stated Allium mongolicum here. This is an Asian species of wild onion native to Mongolia, Inner Mongolia, Tuva, Kazakhstan, and parts of China. ☜