Where Immortals Once Walked

The crowd answered in unison, “We heard it clearly!”

The crowd’s roar of anger boomed like thunder, surging straight toward the clouds from the ground and startling who knew how many night herons into flight.

The envoy gulped hard. He then watched as the Red General tossed the decree back at him. “Men, take the envoy down and see that he rests properly. Tomorrow, he still has to carry this decree on to Panlong City.”

Two soldiers stepped forward and escorted the envoy away.

The Red General stood there with one hand resting on her waist saber, facing the Panlong army.

Today, she was wearing an oni mask. Under the flickering firelight, it looked especially savage, almost demonic.

A night wind swept through the square.

She did not move. Several thousand men also stood rigidly unmoving.

Only after a long while did the Red General finally give her order in a low voice, “Wait for Commander Zhong’s final decision. For now, you are dismissed. Return and rest!”

No one moved.

The Red General turned and strode away.

Only when her back disappeared into the darkness did the west city square erupt with a boom, as though the sheer volume of furious shouting might flip the entire place over.

The Panlong army’s rage burned almost hotter than the torches in their hands.

Spittle flew, curses rang out, and He Lingchuan even heard someone nearby already “greeting” the ruler’s nineteenth-generation ancestors.

They had absolutely no reverence left for their supposed ruler.

Doorboard had not brought his shield, so he could only stomp the ground twice with savage force. “Motherf—... Those cowards in the capital! Bastards so worthless they’d be born without assholes!”

Hu Min spat into the crater that Doorboard had made. “Screw it, why don’t we just slaughter our way back into West Luo and take the capital ourselves? Then we won’t have to swallow this misery here!”

A’Luo hissed at him. “Don’t talk nonsense.”

Willow turned to He Lingchuan and asked, “Broken Blade, what’s so bad about fighting our way back? We don’t need the motherland to send a single soldier to protect us, so why would the ruler, why would he...” She could not finish her words. She took a hard breath, forcing herself to calm down.

“Why would he fear us returning?” He Lingchuan said blandly. “Because we’re too strong, and the motherland is too weak.”

They exchanged glances, recalling the decree the Red General had read out loud. It sounded lofty and majestic, filled with imposing rhetoric, yet beneath every line, you could hear barely concealed panic and fury.

“They guard against the border people of the northwest more than they guard against the enemy.”

“Exactly!” Soldiers from other squads heard him and shouted in agreement. “They guard against the border people more than the enemy. The motherland is guarding against us! Us!”

They had defended their isolated enclave for over ten years, only to be treated with suspicion, fear, and exclusion. Anyone would feel their heart go cold.

“Yes! The motherland would rather borrow troops from Beijia than let us come home!”

“A motherland like that, you might as well not have it!”

The clamor rose in waves.

He did not know how much time passed, but at last, He Lingchuan heard the sentence that mattered most, the one that cut to the bone:

“A motherland like that, it would be outright better not go back!”

Someone responded at once:

“Yeah! If we go back, we’ll just be pushed aside and stared down. It’s better to stay in the Chipa Highland.”

“Get it straight, the ones who’ll be pushed aside are the lords and officers. What does that have to do with us? We’re soldiers. How could they not need us?”

“Are you seriously happy about going back just to become cannon fodder?” someone snapped. “Last time the motherland pulled forty thousand elite troops away from here, every one of them was a hero. Then they were broken up and scattered to different places—some died, some deserted, and some vanished. Look how many are left now. They call us elite troops! If you and I go back, we’ll end up the same way. Every last one of us!”

“Do you think the ruler will love his soldiers as Lord Zhong does? Command as the Red General does? Look at how they ‘pacify’ rebellions at home! Every time they pacify, things get worse!”

“Exactly. Cowardly soldiers and cowardly generals! They’re all cowards! If we go back like this, we’ll be nothing but bandits in an age of chaos. How can that compare to living well on the Chipa Highland?”

He Lingchuan listened to the din, then exhaled softly.

So the West Luo ruler’s reaction really had been entirely within Panlong City’s expectations.

Everything Panlong City did hit the ruler’s “fear points” dead-on.

The ruler still had not issued a resettlement decree, yet Panlong City had moved first, appearing too impatient and eager.

The Panlong army did not take the Jinxi Corridor offered by the State of Baling. Instead, they carved a new path, fighting all the way through the State of West Ji, disrespecting authority and doing whatever they pleased.

And they conquered an entire state in just a few days, something that West Luo was nowhere near capable of. That made them terrifying, a hard-fisted army with arrogant confidence.

With all those traits, what ruler would not be wary?

If Zhong Shengguang returned to West Luo with an army like this, who in the state could stand against him?

Would such an army not take West Luo’s capital with ease?

So even if the ruler had hesitated before, after hearing the great victory Zhong Shengguang sent back from West Ji, he finally made his decision: Panlong could not be allowed to return.

A resettlement decree? He would not issue it.

There had always been court officials opposed to resettlement, arguing that the Panlong Wasteland was West Luo territory, constituting ancestral inheritance and therefore land that could not be casually ceded away.

So instead, under the banner of righteous duty, the ruler would order the Panlong Army to hold the borderlands and “secure the realm forever.”

He Lingchuan even began to suspect the timing of the Red General’s victory report.

If they waited until after taking the West Ji Royal Palace to send a message home, the round trip of the information would have taken at least ten-plus days. There was no way West Luo’s envoy could have arrived at Yuheng City so quickly.

In other words, the Red General must have sent the victory report to West Luo first, then, only afterward, led the army at a leisurely pace to surround and attack the West Ji Royal Palace.

The Red General—or rather, the heavenly god Mitian—truly did not put either West Ji or West Luo in her eyes at all.

Tonight, in the western part of Yuheng City, the Panlong army was destined for a sleepless night.

He Lingchuan stared in the direction where the Red General had vanished.

This had to be Zhong Shengguang and the Red General’s strategy.

They understood that public sentiment could not be violated or blocked, but it could be guided, so they redirected the soldiers’ and civilians’ fury and questioning toward West Luo.

This was called advancing in order to retreat.

In truth, West Luo really was the root cause of the problem, so it was not as though they were blaming the wrong party.

If West Luo had not been so weak and cowardly, the Panlong army and people might never have suffered so much.

And Zhong Shengguang and the others had not known then what price they would one day pay for choosing to remain in the Panlong Wasteland!

If they insisted on returning to the motherland now, could they avoid the tragedy ten years later? Could everyone live peacefully and safely?

Because of the ruler’s reprimand, the Panlong army temporarily slowed its eastward march and remained stationed at Yuheng City, continuing its standoff with Jintao’s troops.

The West Luo envoy rode at full speed to Panlong City to find Zhong Shengguang.

Clearly, the Red General and the army under her command had to wait for Panlong City’s final decision.

* * *

At dawn, when the sky was only just turning pale, He Lingchuan carried a bucket to fetch water and saw several figures by the river.

One stood at the water’s edge. The others were farther back.

Just from the silhouette, he could tell the one right by the river was the Red General.

Her presence was simply too overwhelming.

“Who goes there?” The personal guards behind her sensed movement and shot a sharp look over.

The Red General’s voice was calm. “It’s fine. Fetch your water.”

She did not even turn her head, yet she already knew what he was here to do.

He Lingchuan approached, rinsed the bucket in the river, and asked, “General, why aren’t you resting?”

The Red General stood facing east, gazing at the pale mist drifting across the water.

“I don’t need to.”

Only then did He Lingchuan remember that after she had gone through the experience of having her body modified by Mitian’s divine energy into a demigod body, she no longer needed to eat, drink, or sleep the way ordinary beings did.

There were people around her and behind her, yet she still felt utterly alone, like someone severed from the world.

“General.”

The Red General did not answer. Her mask merely tilted slightly.

“Even if the ruler opposes it, the army can still fight its way back, can’t it?”

“If we fight back, do you know what we’ll be facing?”

He Lingchuan shook his head. “I only know what we won’t be facing.”

“Oh?”

“After returning, at the very least, we won’t have to face Baling and Xianyou’s joint assaults anymore. We won’t be isolated and unsupported.”

The Red General nodded. “And then?”

And then...

“Even if we can return, do you think the Panlong army and these millions of civilians will live peaceful, wealthy lives from then on, far from war?” The Red General said coolly, “That’s simply impossible. There is no such pure land under heaven.”

But they can avoid annihilation. Panlong Wasteland’s story wouldn’t end in the most heroic, heartbreaking finale.

Of course, He Lingchuan couldn’t say that out loud. So he only said, firmly, “It’s worth trying! At least in West Luo, there are two things worth fighting for with everything we have!”

“And what are they?”

“The future and hope!” And the chance to break free of destiny.

The Red General raised her chin slightly, as if something in him had stirred her.

“You think the future and hope are in West Luo?” Her voice was flat, but if you listened closely, you could hear the hidden edge of mockery.

“And are they in a Panlong Wasteland surrounded by enemies?” He Lingchuan shot back. “Even if Lord Zhong returns and seizes power, the foundation he builds in West Luo will be stronger than anything in the wasteland!”

The Red General laughed. “Daring to speak so wildly? He Lingchuan, you have guts.” Back in the homeland, words like that would cost you your head, if not half your life.

“I’m only saying what the Panlong army is thinking.” He Lingchuan took a deep breath and made his request with solemn weight. “General, please take us home!”

The Red General did not answer. She turned her masked face back toward the east.

Cross the river and walk a few more kilometers, and they would reach the border where Jintao’s heavy troops stood guard.

He Lingchuan could not help but wonder if she was also locked in a struggle, torn between choices?

“Fetch your water, then go back.”

And so, He Lingchuan saluted her, filled his bucket with clear river water, and walked away without looking back.

No matter what, he had tried.

But even though he had joined the Gale Army, he was still a nobody with little weight. The Red General would not take his opinion.

This chance, and this opportunity to change Panlong City’s final fate, might simply slip away.

He Lingchuan sighed helplessly, then remembered the conversation he had overheard in the ruins of Qianxing City between the King of Yuān and his nephew Shao Jian.

The King of Yuān had firmly believed the three items he was sending to Zhong Shengguang through his nephew were more important than himself, more important even than the entire State of Yuān.

But what about Zhong Shengguang?

Does he think the same?

Back inside, He Lingchuan lay down again in the broken house, staring through the hole in the roof at the stars.

The deeper he sank into this soul land—this dreamscape—the more he cared, and the less he wanted it to march toward its preordained end.

But history here was stubborn, and changing the ending felt painfully hard.

When morning came, everything seemed normal.

Hu Min said to everyone, “Let’s open a betting pool. Who bets we march east, who bets we return west?”

“Did Skinny infect you with his gambling habit?” Willow snorted. “One tael of silver. I’m betting the Red General will keep marching east. We’ve already fought all the way here. Why would we turn back now and ruin the momentum?”

Hu Min jerked his chin toward He Lingchuan. “Captain, what about you?”

“I’m betting we return west.”