Where Immortals Once Walked

He Lingchuan did not dare waste time. He took out his grappling hook, fixed it to a massive boulder, then gripped the spider-silk rope and swung down into the fissure.

The crack was narrow, but he was agile enough.

“Please let there be some, please let there be some!” the Soul-Stealing Mirror kept muttering nervously. “What do you think? Will there be any?”

“Can you shut up for a bit?” He Lingchuan reached into his chest and switched to a fresh rinsing bead.

Only three were left. The fight and the escape just now had burned through them far too quickly.

If he could not replenish them, then he had only about forty-five minutes left to live.

Forty-five minutes were not nearly enough for him to escape the mountains and get clear of the sandstorm’s affected range.

Thankfully, the spider-silk rope was long enough to let He Lingchuan lower himself all the way to the bottom of the fissure.

The deeper he went, the narrower the crack became. The rock walls were uneven, with some places forcing him to climb down using both hands and feet.

But the steeper and tighter the terrain became, the greater He Lingchuan’s hope grew.

He brushed his hand over a protruding piece of rock. “Only a few grains of sand.”

After the sandstorm swept through, which place was not buried beneath thick layers of sand and soil? Yet down here, there were only a few grains.

The mirror’s voice trembled with excitement as it said, “There’s hope. There’s a lot of hope!”

If its master died in the Fu Realm, where there was no spirit qi at all, then that would be a death sentence for it too. The execution would merely be delayed.

Its desire for He Lingchuan to escape alive was even stronger than his own.

He Lingchuan reached the bottom of the fissure and began feeling around everywhere.

It was pitch-black down here, so he took out a glowspore for light.

Something squelched underfoot. He Lingchuan brought the glowspore close to the ground and looked. “Water?”

At the bottom of the fissure, there was actually a shallow little channel of water.

This was probably groundwater formed over many years.

The mirror said at once, “Good, good. Water makes it even better.”

However, He Lingchuan’s luck seemed to have run out. He felt his way through the fissure for more than a quarter of an hour and found nothing.

There were only rocks here. Rocks everywhere.

A deadly monotonous spread of rocks.

No, that was not quite right. There seemed to be a few small creatures in the water channel too, panicking because of his arrival.

None of those were He Lingchuan’s target.

He continued forward with one hand against the mountain wall.

“Slow your breathing. Don’t get worked up!” the mirror kept reminding him. “There’s still time!”

He Lingchuan searched along the rock wall with his hand. Suddenly, he stopped moving.

“Mm?”

He withdrew his hand and slowly opened his palm.

Two round little things sat there, shining with a pearly glow under the glowspore’s light.

The mirror whistled like a person and cheered loudly. “Finally! We can live, we can live!”

They had finally found rinsing beads in this lightless place!

The sandstorm had swept across the plains and mountains, nearly leaving no trace of life behind. Only in a deep trench like this, a place the sandstorm could not easily ravage, could there still be hidden hope for He Lingchuan to survive and walk out of the Fu Realm!

He Lingchuan carefully put away those two lifesaving treasures and continued feeling his way forward.

After that, things went much more smoothly.

Half an hour later, he had successfully collected more than thirty rinsing beads, enough to last him eight hours.

With these little things, he would have plenty of time to head south and reach a place untouched by the sandstorm, where he could pick more rinsing beads.

He Lingchuan sat down in the pitch-black fissure, not caring that he was soaked.

At last, he could relax. He no longer had to worry about survival.

He was alive.

Only then did he faintly feel his exhaustion.

The mirror finally had the leisure to ask him, “How did Hu Bin know your real name?”

It had heard Hu Bin shout “He Lingchuan” loud and clear just now.

“In all of Lingxu City, no more than three people know my real name.” He Lingchuan rubbed his eyes. “No, wait, Second Boss Shi from Stone Gate Merchant Guild has already left, so that leaves two.”

One’s Li Qingge. The other is... The mirror was shocked. “Hong Chenglue? You’re saying he’s Hong Chenglue?!”

It had seen Hong Chenglue before. He clearly had not looked like that!

“When we first saw him, I asked you whether he was wearing a mask or using a disguise.” He Lingchuan closed his eyes to rest. “You said you didn’t find anything.”

This mirror could reveal a person’s true appearance, at least theoretically, anyway.

“Uh.” The mirror faltered. “But, but...” There are always exceptions to everything.

“The way he looked at me really was like he bore a blood feud.” He Lingchuan spoke slowly. “Who would go deep into a mountain region after a sandstorm to hunt me down for no reason? That’s a place where nine out of ten die.”

A mercenary working for money would not do that.

The mirror considered something and asked, “Did he disguise his face, or change it?”

“Do you remember Xi Yunhe?” While He Lingchuan had been searching everywhere for rinsing beads, his mind had not been idle either. “He was originally clearly a Spring Palace disciple, yet later he managed to change his face and identity, infiltrating Cen Boqing’s side and working under him without anyone recognizing him.” He paused, then continued, “Hong Chenglue and Xi Yunhe are both connected to State Preceptor Shuang Ye.”

The mirror understood. “You mean State Preceptor Shuang Ye has a way to help people change their faces?”

“Ordinary disguise techniques have nowhere to hide in front of origin energy, but if this is State Preceptor Shuang Ye’s secret technique or spell, I wouldn’t find it strange at all.” He Lingchuan nodded. “Of course, visitors from the mortal realm can’t use origin energy in the Fu Realm. It’s possible Hong Chenglue only used ordinary disguise techniques, since no one here could see through them anyway.”

“If it really is him, how are you going to...” The mirror stopped halfway and suddenly realized. “Oh, he’s probably dead by now.”

Either he had been bitten to death by the nothing beasts, or his rinsing beads had run out, and he had died.

Hunting He Lingchuan was no easy task. One careless misstep, and the hunter would lose his own life first.

He Lingchuan did not reply. He stood and moved his wrists. “I’ve rested enough. Time to go back.”

This place was too narrow. He could not even stretch properly.

Using the spider-silk rope, he climbed back to the surface and sat down cross-legged. Then he took the two nothing beast heads out of his storage ring and split them open on the spot.

The beloved blind-box opening time had arrived!

Inside each beast head was a fist-sized pale-red floating stone, as well as several round, opaque spheres the size of longan fruits.

Some were black, some were white, and some were transparent like glass.

He Lingchuan picked up one of the white spheres and wiped away the brain matter clinging to it. He discovered that it was icy cold to the touch, too cold to hold for long. When placed on the ground, it quickly condensed a layer of white frost.

He had originally come for the frost pellets from frost-silver beasts. But now—

“Maybe this can work too?”

Hopefully, this trip into the Fu Realm had not been for nothing.

* * *

Twenty hours later, He Lingchuan was sitting inside the big wooden tub at Fleeting Thoughts Manor, enjoying a long, comfortable hot bath.

It felt like a lifetime had passed.

Only after returning from the Fu Realm did he truly understand the value of breathing freely.

So every breath of air could be this sweet.

The Chiyan team had already returned from the Fu Realm.

This year’s hunt had been far too difficult. After careful consideration, the Chiyan team’s leader had decided to withdraw early.

This time, Chiyan had participated in the event for eleven days from start to finish. Including the substitutes who had entered midway, they had sent in a total of thirty-one people, and twenty-three had come out alive.

Fushan Yue was reasonably satisfied with that casualty rate. After all, according to his subordinates’ reports, a large-scale beast tide of a kind rarely seen in a century had actually broken out inside the Fu Realm.

He himself had entered the Fu Realm three times, so he knew how terrifying beast tides were.

And after that came the sandstorm, sweeping through, followed by a duel between duonao beast lords.

To tell the truth, after this upheaval, many teams withdrew directly. Because the Giant Thunderclap Beast had gone berserk, all the duonao beasts within its territory had become restless and violently aggressive.

After He Lingchuan changed clothes, he went out.

The Tongxin Guard at Fleeting Thoughts Manor glanced at him. He smiled and waved at the man, and the guard could not be bothered to follow.

After descending the mountain, He Lingchuan neither rode a goat nor hired a carriage. He walked for over a hundred meters, then turned into an alley.

After confirming that no one was watching him from behind, he ducked into a silk shop.

This place also had a shop in front and a courtyard behind. The front displayed fabric and hosted business talks, while the rear courtyard handled measurements and tailoring. The upper loft served as housing for the shop assistants and tailors.

It was afternoon now, and there were no customers in the shop. One assistant was propping himself up against a wall, nearly asleep.

He Lingchuan walked up to him and coughed lightly. “I’m buying pearl-sheen satin, about two and a half meters of it. I also want half a bolt of cloud brocade.”

The assistant rubbed his eyes. “Oh?”

But he quickly came back to himself. “Oh!” He remembered. That was the code phrase!

Thus, a few dozen breaths later, He Lingchuan had climbed into the loft of the silk shop.

The three little rooms were empty, yet full of signs of daily life, with clutter everywhere. One room in particular was covered in oiled paper, suggesting the tenant must have loved eating buns.

The loft had windows at both the front and back. Looking out the front window, one could see whoever entered the front hall. Looking out the rear window, one could overlook the entire back courtyard.

Whoever had chosen this meeting spot was very cautious.

He Lingchuan waited for more than half an hour before he finally saw someone enter the front hall.

Soon, the stairs creaked.

The newcomer wore plain, unremarkable clothes and a veiled hat over her head, concealing her face.

When she saw that only He Lingchuan was in the loft, she removed the veil, revealing a beauty that could make fish sink and geese fall.

“Young Master.” The moment Li Qingge saw him, she gave him a graceful bow.

“Marquis.” With a sweep of his hand, He Lingchuan sent out an invisible force that supported both her arms, not letting her bow any further. “You helped me first. There’s no need for so much ceremony.”

On the surface, Li Qingge had merely sent someone to Wan’ge Swamp to activate a magical artifact.

For her, it had been a simple lift of the hand. For He Lingchuan, however, it had been an enormous favor. If the attention of the Heavenly Palace and the Monster Emperor had not been drawn away, his later plans would have been tangled with difficulties at every step.

“A favor is still a favor, whether given sooner or later, large or small. Without your full help, Young Master, how could I have regained my freedom?” Li Qingge’s eyes shimmered, filled with gratitude. “From now on, Qingge will brave boiling water and tread through fire for you without refusal.”

“You’re too polite. There’s no need for that, truly.” This woman had only just regained her freedom. Was it really for the sake of braving boiling water and fire for him? He Lingchuan heard such words and let them pass. He would not take them entirely to heart.

Li Qingge immediately continued, “Songyang Mansion repays every kindness. How about this, then? I shall invite you, Young Master, to serve as a guest elder of Songyang Mansion. You’ll receive a share of the profits.”

“Uh...” He Lingchuan had not expected a Daoist sect like Songyang Mansion to have shares.

In fact, merchant guilds and trade associations of this era had long since developed the concept of shareholders and dividends. Songyang Mansion’s business was thriving. Taking a stake would not be a loss, and he happened to be short on ready cash.

But last time, he had only been spinning nonsense with Fang Canran, saying Li Qingge wanted to recruit him as an elder. Had his words come true this time?

“Don’t rush to refuse.” Li Qingge anxiously cut in. “There are many benefits to becoming Songyang Mansion’s guest elder. At any Songyang Mansion branch, your magical artifacts can be repaired and maintained free of charge, and you can be among the first to test all our new products.”