Where Immortals Once Walked

He Lingchuan studied him for a long moment. “Your injury isn’t healed yet, is it?” Looks like my earlier judgment was right after all. This guy really is an opportunist to the bone.

“It’s fine.”

He Lingchuan did not object. He rose to his feet and said, “Let’s go.”

He really was curious about Qianxing City. After all, it had fallen thirty or forty years earlier than Panlong City, and its enemy had been just as terrifyingly powerful, powerful enough to snuff out any hope.

As he stood, he casually braced a hand against the stone wall and quietly released his eyeball spider.

With Uncle Da right across from them, he could not afford to be careless.

The eyeball spider peeked toward the owl, then immediately shrank back into a crack in the stone.

The two of them headed into the phantom city together.

Before turning away, He Lingchuan flicked one more glance at the fire opposite. Six or seven Chiyan men were getting to their feet as well, laughing and chatting as they walked toward the phantom city. But Uncle Da remained behind with a few subordinates, guarding the carriage.

He Lingchuan frowned slightly to himself.

The people from the caravan are just sightseeing, so it makes sense for them, but these Chiyan people have been playing a deadly game of cat and mouse with Fushan Yue lately, and they even have an important passenger in that carriage. How could they be so lax as to wander off?

And Uncle Da allowed it?

After they had walked a hundred meters or so, He Lingchuan finally asked, “Have you seen this phantom or illusion before?”

“No. I’ve taken this route at least three or four times, but this is my first time seeing it.” Fushan Yue had removed the splint earlier in the afternoon. With his arm tucked beneath his cloak, no one could tell it was injured. “However, I’ve heard of it. There’s even a special name for it: Qianxing City’s Afterglow[1].”

“Lingxu City didn’t like these phantoms. They set fires here a few times, did a few rites, tried to wipe them out.” Fushan Yue gave a low, amused snort. “But it didn’t work.” He continued as they walked, eyes sweeping the scene. “Later, they realized it only triggers under certain conditions, probably something like today, with violent thunder and wind first, and then a clear sky and bright moon. So Lingxu City eventually let it be. People who’ve seen other phantom cities told me the same thing: they only appeared after extreme weather. Some even came on purpose to wait for them, but they always missed.”

In He Lingchuan’s old world, he had heard stories like that too—echoes of sound and light accidentally preserved by nature, purely random, impossible to predict.

And here...

“This is what it looked like right before Qianxing City fell, isn’t it?” he murmured. People were rushing everywhere, carrying weapons and medicine, hauling the wounded, throwing themselves at fires, organizing squads to intercept enemies leaping down from the walls. Even women and the elderly had been pressed into service, yet manpower was still desperately short.

Firelight flared everywhere, explosions shook the air, and wailing rose in waves.

Countless figures formed of vapor—old and young, monster and human, sturdy and frail—passed straight through He Lingchuan and Fushan Yue as they ran headlong toward death. Even knowing it was long past and all these people were gone, He Lingchuan could not help but feel a stifling feeling in his chest.

He understood all too well that years from now, a dirge like this would also play out in Panlong City.

“Looks like it.” They headed toward the palace complex deeper within the city, and Fushan Yue spoke as if reciting history. “The State of Yuān repelled the armies that Lingxu City assembled three times in a row, which is something rare in all the records. And even after the Yuān King died and Qianxing City fell, the Twilight Plains still carried on his will. They rose in rebellion three more times, killing a lot of officials and soldiers, and stirring up massive chaos across the central region.”

He Lingchuan blinked. “They managed to launch three more rebellions?”

“Yeah, that just tells you how fierce and steadfast Yuān’s people were back then.” Fushan Yue’s voice turned faint and distant. “Otherwise, how could they have provoked such thunderous wrath that the great emperor personally ordered the army to slaughter the Twilight Plains for thirty straight days? Do you know how many people died?”

He Lingchuan shook his head.

“After Qianxing City fell, the King of Yuān, Shao Yuqing, and his entire clan of 230 people, were wiped out. Not a single one of them was spared, and even a ten-year-old child was dragged out and carved to pieces, screaming for a whole day before dying.” Fushan Yue spoke as if it were an ordinary fact. “Compared to that, the king and his father dying on the battlefield was practically merciful. And then the army swept the Twilight Plains in a vast purge. There was no distinction between guilty and innocent, male or female, no questions of cause or consequence. The State of Yuān was emptied with nine out of ten households wiped out. Rivers ran red, shallow mass graves lay everywhere, vultures and crows circled in the sky from dawn to dusk.”

He Lingchuan sucked in a quiet breath.

“After the thirty days were up, the army withdrew. But too many were dead, and plague followed right on its heels.” Fushan Yue scratched his head. “Two hundred years later, the Twilight Plains still hasn’t recovered. This is what you see now. After that, every monster king’s tribute to Lingxu City got a lot more generous.”

The death of the rabbit strikes cold fear into the fox.

“So whenever a monster king rebels, Lingxu City just butchers tens or hundreds of thousands of civilians?”

The Twilight Plains’ people were Beijia’s people too. Even if someone had led them in rebellion against the monster emperor and the gods, the “chief culprit” should have been the King of Yuān. Normally, for treason, you killed the ringleaders, and maybe their families, but you did not harvest heads indiscriminately across an entire state.

It was like Nian Zanli leading Wu Province to surrender to Beijia. Even if Yuan crushed him, they would at most wipe out his nine generations[2]. Who would slaughter every commoner in Wu Province?

What ruler would saw off the pillars holding up his own state?

If the monster emperor were erratic and hysterical, He Lingchuan could understand. A sovereign’s fury could leave a million corpses and rivers of blood. Even emperors had tempers, moments when only killing could vent rage.

However, He Lingchuan had heard that this monster emperor was calm, shrewd, and brilliant—one of the rare great minds among monsterkind.

Fushan Yue shook his head. “More than ten monster kings have rebelled before, but it was only this time that the punishment was so unprecedentedly severe. Lord Emperor probably had his reverse scale touched.”

Still, the whole Lingxu City “performance” felt eerily familiar to He Lingchuan, like a script he had seen before.

Just then, dozens of riders appeared ahead, galloping toward the city gates. Two golden-armored divine generals strode with them, each of their steps spanning six meters, their enormous feet thudding hard enough to make the ground tremble.

He Lingchuan nearly started drooling.

How much effort had it taken him to build even a single golden-armored copper man? And alone in a foreign land, he did not have the money to upgrade it further. After all, every material required was ruinously expensive.

Yet here were two upgraded versions running around as casually as if they were standard equipment.

A massive fireball that was at least two meters wide suddenly arced down from above. It was a flaming boulder hurled by enemy catapults outside the city, coated in oil to burn hotter and strike harder on impact. A huge portion of the fires raging within Qianxing City owed its existence to these projectiles.

The boulder happened to be headed straight for the oncoming group.

One golden-armored divine general launched forward in a blur. It leaped, threw a punch, and smashed the flaming boulder more than fifteen meters away.

The movement was terrifyingly smooth, as well as terrifyingly powerful. He Lingchuan felt that familiar envy flare again; compared to this, his own construct looked clumsy.

The group did not slow. In the blink of an eye, they were right before He Lingchuan and Fushan Yue.

And then, from the side, more than ten men suddenly rushed out. Judging by their attire, they were ministers. They did not care whether hooves trampled them; they dropped to their knees right in the road, shouting in unison: “My king! Qianxing cannot be held! Please withdraw at once!”

“Ridiculous!” The riders hauled their horses to a stop. One man—a dignified figure in his forties, long brows, pale face, commanding presence—pushed forward through the group. “A king dies with his state. I will live and die with Qianxing City! You may leave first. I will have men escort you out.”

Amid the roar of bombardment, the ministers cried, “If you remain, then the State of Yuān still remains!”

“Our state sits in Beijia’s belly! We are faced with enemies on all sides. Even if we retreat, even if we flee, where is the road to survival? Damn the State of Xuluo for their betrayal, turning coat at the critical moment. I overestimated the King of Xuluo and rashly raised arms!” The King of Yuān’s voice turned cold as iron. “My mistake deserves death a hundred times over, and I have driven hundreds of thousands to their deaths. What face do I have to leave Qianxing City alive?”

An elderly minister choked out, “My king, preserve a spark for our Great Yuān, so we do not lose the state and the line alike!”

“A spark?” The King of Yuān suddenly laughed. “The spark has already left Qianxing City. Someone will inherit our will!”

The ministers looked at one another, visibly relieved, as if a weight had lifted.

Another old minister asked cautiously, “Then, the young lords?” Are they safely out of the city?

Compared to monsters, humans clung even more fiercely to bloodline and heirs.

“Yunhe is on the walls, killing enemies, and his fate is already decided. But as for Yunhai, who’s only eleven...” The King of Yuān’s voice caught. He could not continue. His hand slid down to the sword at his waist and clamped around the hilt.

The phantom was too vivid. He Lingchuan could even see the veins bulging on the king’s hand, seeing how hard he was gripping.

Even Fushan Yue looked moved. “He killed his own son with his own hands? A true hero.”

He Lingchuan shot him a sidelong look. Does this guy not understand what the words “true hero” mean? But he also understood: the king was refusing to let his youngest be humiliated after his death.

To be able to do that to your own flesh and blood required a kind of ruthlessness beyond imagination.

The ministers stood frozen.

The King of Yuān’s eyes were red at the corners, yet he said harshly, “No matter where they run, they cannot escape the gods and monsters’ grasp. This world is vast, yet there is no place for them to stand. Ha! I would rather my children die awake than live in craven submission!”

“My king is wise.” The foremost old minister wept openly. “In that case, this old servant will go on ahead.” He drew his sword and calmly slit his own throat.

The others followed, one after another.

After a series of dull thuds, only a few ministers at the back remained. These ministers were trembling all over, legs shaking uncontrollably.

The city was about to fall. What other road did they have?

The riders bowed their heads in respect to the ministers who had taken their own lives. The King of Yuān closed his eyes briefly, then laughed loud and wild.

“Good. Good! Let me kill a few more enemies, then I will join you all in the underworld!”

He did not even spare the half-witted ministers a glance. With a single command, the riders galloped toward the walls.

After that came scene after scene of blood and horror.

As Qianxing City turned into a sea of flame and a living hell, even the usually careless Fushan Yue exhaled a long breath.

This was the final moment of a powerful monster state, frozen forever by history. As the eldest son of the State of Chiyan, he should have felt something complicated.

“At that time, Chiyan didn’t even exist yet.”

He Lingchuan heard him mutter that and could not help but ask, “What?”

Less than two hundred years ago, the State of Chiyan hadn’t been founded yet? “Your father was the founding ruler?”

“Yes.” Fushan Yue nodded. “Chiyan has only stood for a little over 150 years. It’s the youngest and most vigorous monster state in all of Beijia.”

Just then, a short, sharp scream rang out from the front left.

Human screams were everywhere in the phantom, but Fushan Yue’s brow snapped tight. “No, that’s wrong. I smell blood!”

1. The original term here is 回光返照, which specifically refers to the final radiance of the setting sun. While afterglow typically carries a positive connotation in English, the Chinese term does not necessarily carry the same connotation. ☜

2. This is also commonly known as the nine familial exterminations. ☜