Where Immortals Once Walked

Chapter 471: The Cipher Hidden in Records on Worshipping the Gods

He Lingchuan glanced out the door first. It was only after confirming that there was no one nearby that he drew his head back in and set up a barrier.

He was taking it so seriously that even Jiao Yu tensed.

He Lingchuan opened Records on Worshipping the Gods and began flipping through it page by page.

Back then, just to prepare a gift for Sun Fuling, he had memorized the entire Records on Worshipping the Gods, every single word of it, without missing a character. That copy, however, had been found for him by Second Boss Shi. The content was the same, but the layout and typeface were completely different from this one.

He Lingchuan skimmed quickly, confirmed that the book itself contained no hidden mechanisms, and then took out Mr. Mai’s booklet.

Wait, that’s the booklet with those coded numbers!

“What?!” Jiao Yu’s eyes widened until they were perfectly round. “That code is paired with Records on Worshipping the Gods?”

He Lingchuan smiled, calm and confident as he said, “Why not try?”

In fact, Zhongsun Mou had received this book first. He Lingchuan had seen it through the spider’s eyes and had already been mulling it over for quite a while. Then a lame beggar delivered another copy of Records on Worshipping the Gods to him, too. At that point, if he still did not understand, he would have to be an idiot.

If the book were useless, why would that tall man bother sending it to both sides?

Jiao Yu was fully intrigued now. Its massive tiger head leaned in so close it blocked the light completely.

“How do you decode it?”

He Lingchuan had to push its big head away. “Stop blocking the light!”

He had to admit, though, that its fur felt incredible. He could not resist giving it a couple of extra strokes as he shoved it back.

General Ling also leaned in, curious.

He Lingchuan simply took out some glowgrass to provide better light.

“When it comes to decoding something like these numbers, the hard part is finding the right book. Once you’ve got the right key text, you’re more than halfway there.” He Lingchuan pointed at the first line of numbers. “Each group has three numbers. They probably correspond to page number, vertical column, and horizontal row[1]. So this would be page 35, column 6, row 9. Let me see...”

He scanned the page, his finger tracing across the paper.

“This character is five.”

Using that method, he decoded all the entries on the first page: “On the seventh day of the first month at noon, Baishajue, South Teahouse of Apricot King Manor?”

The place name “Baishajue” was really jumping out at them now.

Jiao Yu carefully flipped the second page with the tip of its claw, as if afraid it might tear. “Next.”

“Morning of the twenty-third day of the fourth month, Lingqu, Hundred Lions Courtyard.”

Jiao Yu supplied the context at once. “Lingqu is a small town in northern Chiyan.”

“In Qi Province?”

“Yes.”

“How far from Baishajue?”

“Hm...” Jiao Yu calculated quickly. “About twenty-five kilometers?” Then it looked up. “Do you think these are meeting times and locations?”

“Of course,” said He Lingchuan with a smile. “However, the handwriting in this booklet isn’t Mr. Mai’s. In other words, the meeting schedule was assigned to Mr. Mai by someone else.”

Jiao Yu understood immediately. “An upper-level contact?”

“Very likely.” He Lingchuan spoke while thinking. “When Mr. Mai collected jiang beads from Wan Song and the others, he didn’t have to be this cautious. He certainly wouldn’t need to change the transaction location every time. So this other person’s status is higher, or at least special. They hate risk. They need much stricter precautions.”

He decoded another line.

“The twenty-ninth day of the seventh month, at the second quarter hour of the hour of sheep[2], Baishajue, fourth floor of Lake Chao Tower!”

Jiao Yu’s eyes lit up the moment it saw the date. “Today is the nineteenth of the seventh month. They haven’t met yet!”

He Lingchuan asked, “How long would it take to get to Qi Province from here?”

“At a normal traveling pace, five or six days,” Jiao Yu said, mentally counting. “If we travel hard day and night with our legs, two and a half days at most!”

“Which means that if Mr. Mai sticks to his usual rhythm and stays in Shuanglu Town for ten days before heading to Qi Province, the timing fits perfectly.” He Lingchuan smiled. “He’s going to deliver the jiang beads.”

If Mr. Mai has a handler, then he would have to submit the pearls he collected from Wan Song on a schedule, handing them over in full, at set intervals.

General Ling rose and shook its coat, barely able to contain itself. “Then we leave immediately. We must get there before Mr. Mai!”

Seeing He Lingchuan’s brows knit slightly, General Ling immediately put on a pleading look. “My deadline to march east is coming up. If I’m late, I’ll be punished. I want to wrap this up as fast as possible. That kid surnamed Zhongsun is watching me.”

It had to reach the battlefield within ten days. If it also had to detour to Baishajue first, there was no room for wasted time.

“Baishajue?” He Lingchuan smiled faintly. “We’re not going.”

General Ling froze, eyes bulging. “What?”

Jiao Yu also said, “The transaction date isn’t until the twenty-ninth. What’s the point of arriving early?”

“I’ve got an old friend in Baishajue, and he might be able to help us with the investigation,” General Ling tried again, pushing hard. “If we can prepare ahead of time and catch them red-handed, wouldn’t that be perfect?”

“You’re forgetting that Mr. Mai is on the run,” Jiao Yu said bluntly. “His base has been turned inside out. He might warn his handler or contact. This transaction could very well be canceled.”

“Uh...” General Ling choked, then immediately got irritable again. “Then what do you propose we do?”

The two monsters stared at each other, then turned in perfect unison to He Lingchuan.

He Lingchuan had one hand pressed on Records on Worshipping the Gods, appearing to be deep in thought.

“Why don’t you take a guess who sent this book?”

Both monsters shook their heads without hesitation and answered, “No idea.”

Jiao Yu frowned. “Besides Zhongsun Mou and us, could there be someone else watching Mr. Mai too?”

“Maybe, but whoever it is, they desperately want us to reach Qi Province in time,” as He Lingchuan said that, his mind was working hard to answer his very question.

The person behind the scenes doesn’t know whose hands the codes had ended up in, so they sent the book to both Zhongsun Mou and me, hedging their bets.

This likely happened because when I took those scrolls from Mr. Mai’s study, the caretaker, who had an eye mite, had not returned yet.

In other words, the person who planted the parasite in the caretaker’s eyes and the person who sent the book to both teams is one and the same.

So who is it?

He Lingchuan could not simply assume this person bore him no ill will.

“They know exactly what Mr. Mai is doing, and exactly how he contacts his handler.” He Lingchuan said gravely, “And they’re in a hurry to shove the clues right into our hands.”

Jiao Yu tried to interpret. “Could they have a deep blood feud with the mastermind?”

He Lingchuan said, “Or it could be another trap.”

“A trap?”

“You’ve already forgotten?” He Lingchuan himself had not forgotten. “When we went to Mount Yulun to examine the porcupine nest, Mr. Mai took the chance to send Wan Song to intercept us because he knew our movements. If he does the same thing again... From Shuanglu Town to Baishajue, how many routes are there?”

Jiao Yu thought. “Two? Three?”

“Two, only two!” General Ling rapped the floor irritably with its hoof several times, not caring whether the guests downstairs were asleep. “Just tell me, what do we do now?!”

“I already told you, we’re not going to Baishajue.”

“Then what are we doing?”

“We leave Baishajue to Zhongsun Mou. If he solves the case, we’ll happily enjoy the results for free.” The only thing that Fushan Yue cares about is finding out the truth. He doesn’t care about the process or who solves the mystery. He just wants a definite answer. “We stay here and trace Wan Song’s whereabouts. That way, our earlier division of labor flips.”

Before, Zhongsun Mou chased the killer, and He Lingchuan chased Mr. Mai. Now, it would reverse.

General Ling let out a sound of realization. “Right, Wan Song! We’re supposed to be tracking Wan Song!”

The one who directly killed the members of the drillwind beast clan was Wan Song. General Ling’s priority had to be repaying blood with blood.

The situation had been so murky that it had nearly dragged it into the wrong ditch.

“So where do we start?”

“I want to go back to Youtian Town,” He Lingchuan said. “We left in too much of a rush during the day. There are things we didn’t ask clearly.”

Yesterday, the moment Wan Xianneng gave up Mr. Mai’s address, they had hurried straight here.

“By the way, what was the clue with that ivory sphere?” General Ling suddenly recalled the sphere. “I saw you holding it for a long time.”

“That was just an ivory sphere. What clue could it possibly have?” He Lingchuan smiled faintly. “I like ivory. Is it a crime to roll it in my hand a little?”

“Uh...” General Ling started to turn to leave.

He Lingchuan motioned for the goshawk perched outside to come down, then instructed it, “Watch Zhongsun Mou. Don’t let that team leave your sight.”

The goshawk nodded its head in agreement.

Before it beat its wings and soared away, it gave He Lingchuan a tail feather as a way to find it later.

Flying creatures really are the best at surveillance and tracking. He Lingchuan could not help but think again. Then, with the monsters at his side, he set out along the road back to Youtian Town.

“This time, we shall let a touring commissioner from Lingxu City scout the road for us,” He Lingchuan said with a small grin. “After receiving Records on Worshipping the Gods, if we don’t go to Baishajue but instead leave Shuanglu Town for Youtian Town, the one behind the scenes will probably assume the scroll with the code went to Zhongsun Mou, and their attention will stay fixed on him.”

Jiao Yu nodded. “No matter what, we can’t let the mastermind lead us by the nose.”

“They put in so much effort guiding us toward Baishajue They’ve probably already set a trap there. If we go, we step into it. If we don’t go, it feels like a waste,” He Lingchuan said, voice unhurried. “So let’s let the Lord Touring Commissioner test the path for us. Best case, nothing happens. But if there is a trap...”

Jiao Yu gave a low, satisfied chuckle. “The Touring Commissioner is highly skilled and fearless. He doesn’t need us worrying about him.”

“Exactly.”

The road between the two towns was relatively flat, and traveling at night was not much trouble.

He Lingchuan rode on the back of a cliff ram, flanked by a drillwind beast to his left and a tiger to his right. Along the way, pedestrians kept turning their heads, unable to figure out what kind of human this was, and why he was traveling with such a terrifying, imposing escort.

He Lingchuan ignored their looks. Instead, he said to the monsters, “As for Zhongsun Mou, I suspect he knows more than he’s letting on.”

Both monsters stiffened. “Why?”

He Lingchuan said, “Back in Mr. Mai’s courtyard, I told him we’d discovered the mastermind was killing monsters and extracting beads.”

“Right.”

“And Zhongsun Mou casually said, ‘Extract beads, what beads?’” He Lingchuan repeated. “Then he never asked about it again.”

General Ling tilted its head, not hearing the problem.

“He came to investigate a case. He shouldn’t let any thread go.” He Lingchuan’s voice was slow, deliberate. “We revealed an extremely important motive. Why didn’t he press? Why didn’t he follow up?”

He didn’t ask because... Jiao Yu blinked once, eyes narrowing. “Because he already knows what it is?”

“I was vague. I didn’t specify what kind of bead or pearl[3], and not every monster can condense a monster core, yet Zhongsun Mou didn’t ask.” He Lingchuan continued slowly, “That’s instinct. He didn’t need to ask because he already knew what it was. Sure, he could just be careless, but I don’t think that’s likely. Anyone appointed by Lingxu City to serve as a touring commissioner should have at least a bit of meticulousness, shouldn’t they?”

1. Note that Chinese is typically written monospaced, or—for those of you who haven’t really seen it in standard written format—it might be better to say that each character fits into a square, taking up the same amount of space, similar to a grid, allowing for tidy, dense text. Old texts are also typically written from top to bottom, right to left, starting from the top-right corner. ☜

2. The hour of the sheep is 1–3 P.M., but the time being referred to here should be 1:30 P.M. ☜

3. Note that there’s only a single word for bead and pearl in Chinese. ☜