Where Immortals Once Walked

This sheep monster had been hired to prune branches and leaves. It had always worked hard without complaint, never slacking off or playing tricks, and it was unusually honest by nature.

Who could have imagined that after one mouthful of leaves, both its temperament and physique would change so drastically, turning it so violently berserk?

Everyone was still shaken.

When the questioning reached A’Qing, the crowd answered all at once, speaking over one another but telling the truth.

In the end, the constable confirmed, “What you’re saying is that after the former owner’s old belongings fell to the ground, the oak tree mutated. Is that right?”

A’Qing looked like she was about to cry. “I don’t know if it was because of those things.” Why does it sound like it’s my fault?

“In any case, something broke, and then the oak mutated?”

“Yes... I think?”

“What were those things?”

A’Qing tried hard to remember. After all, she had only glanced at them casually. “Some bottles and jars, I suppose. There were also bits of wood, cloth dolls, and some other things... They were all old items meant to be thrown away. I-I didn’t look closely.”

“This residence changed hands recently?” The constable looked back at the fur merchant’s house. At the moment, the building, garden, and pond were all gone. Apart from the strange tree, nothing remained.

“It was only s-sold over ten days ago.”

The constable asked the key question, “Who was the previous owner?”

It seemed the previous owner’s belongings had caused this disturbance.

“It was General Nian!” A’Qing said. “His full name seems to be Nian Zanli. I heard he’s the governor of a province out west!”

* * *

Before dark, news of the bizarre incident in the Lower City had reached Fleeting Thoughts Manor.

Soon, Old Shan arrived.

Li Qingge had ordered him to bring many gifts, which he first delivered to Fushan Yue as a show of sincerity for their newly concluded cooperation. Only afterward did he go to find He Lingchuan.

With this sort of proper, formal visit, the Tongxin Guard would not find anything unusual.

He Lingchuan sat in the lakeside pavilion and frowned at Old Shan. “Wasn’t this taken a little too far?”

The moment he heard words like “madly growing strange tree” and “sheep monster with a changed temperament,” he knew divine blood was at work.

The divine blood he had gotten from Dong Rui had been handed over to Li Qingge to dispose of.

The master of Songyang Mansion had always been measured in her affairs. He Lingchuan had not expected things to blow up this spectacularly, with people dead and streets destroyed. At this rate, before tomorrow night, the news would have spread across the entire Lower City’s Main City District.

“Lingxu City is so vast, and so many things happen here every day, both great and small, that the heavenly gods don’t even spare most of them a glance. Her Lordship said that if the commotion isn’t made a little bigger, how is it supposed to reach the ears of the gods?”

He Lingchuan gave a faint snort.

What Li Qingge had said was objectively true. If they wanted to alarm the Heavenly Palace, then the matter first had to be serious, frightening, and worth discussing.

“A strange tree suddenly grows wildly in Lower Lingxu City, and a mad sheep eats people.” Ordinary people would not understand the cause, and the government office would be baffled. But once the Heavenly Palace received the news, it should have understood what had happened at once.

After all, no one understood better than the gods what divine blood did when it entered ordinary living beings.

Li Qingge had shown He Lingchuan all her softness and beauty. Earlier, when she had been threatened by Nian Zanli and looked so wronged that anyone would pity her, it was very easy to forget that she was not only a successful merchant but also the head of a sect and the master of Songyang Mansion.

Her decisiveness and ruthlessness were far beyond what ordinary women could match.

He Lingchuan thought for a moment. “How did Nian Zanli react?”

All these schemes were ultimately meant to set Nian Zanli up.

“The government office already sent people to speak with him once, but they left quickly. It may have just been ordinary questioning. After all, he holds an official rank, so the government office can’t seize him lightly.” Old Shan asked him, “Her Lordship wants to know whether another move is needed.”

“There’s no need.” He Lingchuan shook his head. “Too many incidents, and it won’t look like an accident anymore.”

The fact that Li Qingge had asked meant she was eager for revenge. Otherwise, she could have thought of this herself.

“Give it some time. Let this matter ferment. Lingxu City is too big, and the Heavenly Palace is too far removed from the common people. It takes time for news to reach the ears of the gods.” He Lingchuan calculated for a moment. “Besides, the elixir of youth case hasn’t made any new progress for now. The Heavenly Palace may not want to alert the snake in the grass either.”

“Once Bai Ziqi returns, this matter will take a turn.” He said to Old Shan, “Please ask the marquis not to be anxious or rash. She can begin preparing the next step. Ah, right, I’m going to the Fu Realm. Help me prepare a few things.”

Old Shan said in surprise, “You’re going to take part in the Grass Sea Hunt too?” At a time like this?

He Lingchuan nodded.

If he could not purchase frost pellets, he would have to make the trip himself. The Fu Realm was dangerous. Who would dare enter empty-handed?

Old Shan wrote down his requests, then took his leave.

In truth, He Lingchuan had thought it over several times and felt that something was wrong with the Qingfu Temple catching fire yet leaving behind such an important survivor as Kong Jiaxiang.

Kong Jiaxiang had managed the income and expenses for the elixir of youth. He had to be a central figure in the Qingfu Temple. If State Preceptor Qing Yang wanted to silence people, he would definitely have been one of the key targets.

Would the Spring Palace really be so careless and sloppy that they failed to confirm whether someone like him was dead or alive?

Still, He Lingchuan had sent the goshawk back to investigate, and there really was such a person in Yangshui.

So had the Spring Palace truly slipped up, or had State Preceptor Shuang Ye outmaneuvered them with another arrangement?

Either way, He Lingchuan could only pretend not to know.

He was only the messenger. Once he passed the message to Bai Ziqi, his part was complete.

* * *

Two more days passed, and Old Shan brought over everything he had requested, saying that the Marquis of Songyang had sent them and no payment was needed.

The squirrel also delivered a piece of news: Nian Zanli was being followed by unknown individuals.

Nian Zanli had discovered it himself. As a general, he had a keen spiritual sense. However, even after suddenly doubling back twice, he had failed to catch the follower. In anger and worry, he had asked people to investigate and see who might be plotting against him.

By coincidence, the person he entrusted with the inquiry eventually reached the old gibbon, Old Ge. As a result, the intelligence quickly landed in He Lingchuan’s hands.

Who’s following him?

Could it be someone sent by the Heavenly Palace?

The other party could most likely connect Nian Zanli to divine blood, or they would not be tailing him at this time.

He Lingchuan had worried that Nian Zanli might leave Lingxu in a hurry, but fortunately, that had not happened.

Nian Zanli should also know by now that the house he had sold had suffered a strange disaster and that many people had died, but he did not understand the cause. Nor did he know what kind of trouble he had been dragged into.

However, the whirlpool was about to take shape.

By the time he realized he had fallen into it, he would no longer be able to leave.

* * *

The next day, He Lingchuan and three Chiyan guards hurried to the Grass Sea.

Every few years, the rules of the Grass Sea Hunt were adjusted slightly. This year’s newest rules were as follows:

First, the first five days after the Storm Gate opened were the competitive hunting period. Each team entering the Fu Realm was limited to ten people, and they were allowed to exit but not re-enter.

Therefore, the competition to hunt duonao beasts was most intense during the first five days after the Storm Gate opened. Once the first five days had passed, the rankings would be determined by the number of floating stones each team had obtained.

After five days, the competition ended, and the Storm Gate opened to everyone.

The authorities would still purchase floating stones at the original price until the Storm Gate closed twenty-five days later.

The Fu Realm, which was on the other side of the Storm Gate, was fundamentally unsuitable for living beings from the mortal realm. If team members became exhausted or injured, they had to return to the mortal realm. After all, the authorities did not hold this event in order to harm people.

This time, the Storm Gate had already been open for ten days, and Chiyan’s team entering the Fu Realm had already changed out two batches. He Lingchuan would be counted as a part of the third batch or team.

The Grass Sea today was far less lively than it had been during the opening ceremony.

Wind swept through the reeds, stars hung low over the open plain, and everything felt bleak and desolate.

The shallow banks once packed with people were now empty and spacious. Egrets strolled about freely, disturbed by no one for half the day.

Only the soldiers guarding the Storm Gate remained here, along with the logistics personnel for the various participating teams.

Since the duonao beasts near the Storm Gate had basically been slaughtered clean, there was no need to station so many troops here. Thus, the number of guards had been greatly reduced, leaving only the minimum necessary force.

This had been the way things had been carried out for many years.

A guard handed over a pouch. “There are twenty rinsing beads inside. Lord He, please keep track of your supply at all times.”

Each rinsing bead could provide fifteen minutes of breathing, so twenty beads would last him about five hours. During that time, He Lingchuan had to gather new rinsing beads if he wanted to be able to continue breathing inside.

“I know.” He took the pouch and stored it away. After registering and passing inspection with the guards, he put on his mask and walked into the eye of the storm with his teammates.

To prevent teams from abusing public power for private revenge or stirring up trouble, participating teams usually wore masks when entering the Fu Realm. Some nobles even customized extremely exquisite masks for their own teams.

Of course, Fushan Yue was too lazy to bother with that. The Chiyan team’s masks were plain gray things, utterly without distinction.

They were ordinary but safe.

The closer he drew, the more astonishing the storm’s force felt. When He Lingchuan walked inside, the surroundings became a chaotic blur. He could see no scenery, only gray-white.

Immediately after that, his body became light, and his head spun.

He was sucked into the Fu Realm.

* * *

The Chiyan team vanished into the eye of the storm.

A few breaths later, one of the gate guards reported to his superior, “Sir, I’m going to relieve myself!”

“Go.”

The latrines in the Grass Sea were rather far from the water’s edge. The guard ran all the way behind a low hill, where the army could no longer see where he went.

Only then did he change direction halfway, turn six or seven times, and quietly run behind a tent.

He looked left and right, confirmed that no one had noticed him, then said to the guard outside the tent, “The general summoned me. My surname is Gui.”

Before the guard could answer, someone inside the tent said, “Come in.”

The soldier ducked into the tent and saw a man sitting on a low bed, as if he had just withdrawn from meditation.

“General, the person you ordered me to watch has just entered the eye of the storm!”

The man immediately stood up. “Are you sure?”

“The name he registered with us was He Xiao. He went in as a member of the Chiyan team.” The guard gestured and said, “The man was tall, handsome, and proper-looking.”

“Good, you can go back now.” The man thanked the guard.

“There’s no need for such thanks, General! I trained under you for three years, and you even saved my life. Doing such a small thing is nothing worth mentioning!” After saying that, the guard saluted him and quickly ran back to rejoin his unit.

* * *

The scene suddenly turned black. Before He Lingchuan could see the outside world clearly, he felt everything flip and tumble as though he were falling headfirst toward the ground.

Instinctively, he reached out to brace himself, drew power through his waist and legs, and rose after two forward rolls.

This sequence of movements immediately let He Lingchuan sense the difference between the two realms.

In the Fu Realm, his body felt extraordinarily heavy. Not only was it laborious to lift his hands and legs, but even his neck, chest, and abdomen carried a deep, dragging weight.

“Are you alright?” He casually caught one of his teammates as well, saving him from falling flat on his face.