Where Immortals Once Walked

A series of booming impacts rang out around them. The giant rock-fire creature was locked in battle with something.

Of course, Juju was no pushover either. It seized its chance, and with two bounding leaps, broke out of the ground less than 170 meters from Zhu Erniang.

At that moment, Zhu Erniang had just dodged a thrust. Baizhantian’s spear stabbed into the earth, and with the spear tip as the center, the ground within a radius of seventeen meters completely collapsed and disintegrated.

This was a stone mountain weathered and tempered by countless years of wind and frost, yet it was silently devoured to a depth of three meters!

It did not burst apart. It was not blasted to pieces. It was annihilated.

Sand, soil, gravel, grass roots, and shrubs all turned into black smoke on the spot; nothing was left behind.

He Lingchuan felt his scalp prickle at the sight. What would happen if that spear struck a body of flesh and blood?

At the very least, he knew that he would never survive against it.

And he could also tell that Baizhantian had held back with that thrust. The god had not widened the range, limiting it only to the ground beneath Zhu Erniang’s feet.

In other words, this god had not used its full strength at all.

With a hurried glance, He Lingchuan noticed that aside from an obvious bloody hole on its back, Baizhantian also had several cracks on its face and hands.

Those wounds were small, unlike the injuries Zhu Erniang had left. The skin around them had curled outward instead, as though the body had split from being stretched too far.

Every bloody gash looked like a grinning mouth.

Poor Lu Shishi had originally been a delicate, pretty young woman. Now, with her facial skin split open, her wounds dripping blood, and her gaze cold and razor-sharp, she looked no different from a yaksha[1]

At that moment, another giant creature followed close behind and broke through to the surface.

Sure enough, Chenyuan had arrived.

“Come!” Without another word, Juju reached out to scoop up Zhu Erniang.

Fortunately, it was tall and long-armed. At a distance of fifty meters, it did not even need to bend down.

God Baizhantian, who was fighting Zhu Erniang, stabbed out with its spear.

A little golden light condensed at the spearhead. Compared to Juju’s size, the weapon did not even count as a toy, but if it struck, the power of collapse[2] would give Juju a lesson it would not forget for a long time.

The rock-fire giant sensed the danger and casually hurled several volcanic rocks with faint red veining at it. Each of these rocks weighed several dozen tons.

God Baizhantian dodged two of them, then raised the spear and pierced through the last.

The magma contained within immediately exploded, yet the direction of the spray was strangely unified, flying straight toward Zhu Erniang.

The spider immortal was no slouch either. She spat a web over the magma, then sprang with all eight legs and shot straight into Juju’s palm.

Her chelicerae and legs looked thick and powerful, but in truth, she possessed all the abilities of the burrow spiders. Despite that round, heavy body, there was a surprising lightness to her leap.

Juju flew forward, caught her, and sank downward like a great fish diving into water.

The movement flowed in one smooth sequence, and Baizhantian was actually unable to interrupt it.

The rock-fire aberrant creature’s massive form vanished from the ground, leaving only the ravaged forest around them.

Chenyuan opened its mouth toward Baizhantian. The latter frowned, not yet understanding what it meant, only to see State Preceptor Qing Yang standing inside the giant beast’s mouth. She then called, “Come in. We pursue!”

Baizhantian immediately leaped into Chenyuan’s enormous mouth. The monster likewise plunged headfirst into the earth.

The two passenger slots were filled.

But its movements were obviously not as fluid as Juju’s. A guardian spirit appointed by the Monster Emperor was, after all, not comparable to one born and nurtured by heaven and earth.

As Juju traveled through the ground, He Lingchuan said directly to Zhu Erniang, “Tell him to hurry to Thousand-Heart Rock. Now!”

The “him” he was referring to was, of course, Dong Rui.

Dong Rui had said that he would only wait for half an hour. Once that time passed, he would flee on his own.

Yet less than a quarter of an hour had passed since the operation began.

All those narrow escapes, sudden reversals, and earth-shaking shocks had been compressed into that single quarter of an hour.

He Lingchuan had never felt time pass so slowly.

Dong Rui also had an eyeball spider in his possession, and as long as it was within fifteen kilometers of Zhu Erniang, the two could communicate in real time.

In other words, Zhu Erniang now possessed both He Lingchuan’s and Dong Rui’s fields of vision and could speak to both of them at the same time.

Zhu Erniang did as told.

Thousand-Heart Rock lay outside Mount Xu’s territory. As long as they reached Thousand-Heart Rock, then in theory, they would have left Mount Xu’s bounds.

He Lingchuan asked Zhu Erniang again, “Do you and Baizhantian have some kind of grudge?”

Zhu Erniang snorted and refused to answer.

So they do.

A few breaths later, He Lingchuan’s vision brightened slightly as Juju returned to the surface.

Mount Xu was like Juju’s own back garden. No matter how remote or awkward a corner was, it would never take the wrong path.

“Mount Xu’s territory ends here. I’ll send you off onto the last stretch!” Juju flung hard, throwing the spider immortal more than three kilometers away!

He Lingchuan lay flat against Zhu Erniang’s forehead, soaring through the clouds and mist with her. Juju’s delighted laughter still rang in his ears.

“Ahahaha! The contract is complete. We owe each other nothing now!”

He Lingchuan looked down and saw the silver shackle on his wrist crack into several pieces.

His agreement with Juju had been very detailed. It required Juju to safely send them out through northern Tianji Peak and beyond Mount Xu’s territory before the task would count as complete.

It was not that he did not want to push for more, but contracts of this sort often required both parties to take a step back before they could be established.

This had already been the limit of Juju’s patience.

Clearly, the key terms—safely, northern Tianji Peak, and out of Mount Xu’s territory—had all been fulfilled. The contract was judged complete, and the Chains of Oath immediately came undone.

The last shackle on Juju’s body was now gone.

How could it not feel delighted?

From this moment on, it could act however it pleased.

Only seven or eight breaths later, Chenyuan emerged from the ground behind it, baring its claws and fangs as it pounced.

As far as the Chief Cloud Envoy was concerned, this slave of three masters did not deserve any courtesy.

“No more fighting, no more fighting!” Juju dodged while speaking. “They’re already gone! Stop now, and I’ll tell you where they went!”

Chenyuan ignored it and continued attacking.

Everyone knew this fellow was cunning. It might just be trying to buy time.

Juju blocked two attacks and cursed loudly, “Chief Cloud Envoy, are you senile? What’s the point of wrestling with me? Keep fighting, and they’ll really get away!”

Chenyuan opened its beastly mouth, and two figures leaped out, landing atop a nearby hill.

“Where did they go?”

Juju pointed. “They’re heading to Thousand-Heart Rock. I threw them toward the south of the ridge. If you go now, you can still intercept them!”

The two figures turned into streaks of light and shot south.

“How about making peace?” Juju said to Chenyuan. “This ghost beast isn’t easy to control, is it? How much longer can you last?”

It had fought ghost beasts more than once in the past and knew that these aberrant creatures always relied on instinct in battle. Now that this one fought with such order and coordination, and could even carry living people in pursuit, it was most likely being controlled.

Trying to control such a giant beast consumed immense mental effort every single moment, and a human could not possibly control it for long.

The Chief Cloud Envoy sneered and said, “You simply don’t want to fight Venerable Baizhantian, do you?”

Against Chenyuan alone, Juju’s chances of victory were not small.

But what if a descended Baizhantian were added to the fight?

And State Preceptor Qing Yang too.

With three against one, Juju’s best response would be to avoid battle and burrow into the earth’s core.

“We’ve been neighbors for so many years. Why fight at all?” Juju cackled twice. “I’ll return the Splendid Mountains and Rivers Diagram to show my sincerity. How about that?”

The moment it regained its freedom, it elevated its own status from Lingxu City’s mountain-guarding beast to the heavenly gods’ neighbor.

The Chief Cloud Envoy was thinking rapidly as well.

The ghost beast’s resistance was becoming increasingly intense. If he kept pushing, it would be easy for him to suffer backlash. Once his soul and spirit were exhausted and could not return to his true body, he would become a walking corpse.

He did not want to end up like that.

Besides, if their side did not make peace with Juju and the rock-fire giant continued causing trouble, what good would that do for the Heavenly Palace, Mount Xu, or Lingxu City?

Star-Plucking Tower had been destroyed, and the divine object had been stolen. Juju was an important accomplice, and of course, the gods and the Heavenly Palace would not be willing to let it go just like that. But the deed was already done. What mattered most now was handling the aftermath.

This loss was one the Heavenly Palace might have to swallow through gritted teeth.

Thinking this, Chenyuan stopped attacking. Its voice was low and muffled as thunder. “Come back with me to Star-Plucking Tower and receive the holy will!”

In the end, the gods had to make the decision.

There would be plenty of time to settle the crime of being an accomplice later!

Juju chuckled twice and raised no objection.

If it wanted to bargain, it needed to find someone who could actually make decisions. Besides, the Chief Cloud Envoy could not control Chenyuan for much longer. All the leverage in these negotiations was in Juju’s hands.

* * *

After soaring through the air for several kilometers, He Lingchuan suddenly said, “Wait, this is the wrong direction. We’re going the opposite way!”

They were clearly supposed to head north toward Thousand-Heart Rock, yet Juju had thrown them south. This was the very definition of going in the opposite direction!

Still airborne, Zhu Erniang rapidly shot spider silk downward to stick to the treetops, forcefully braking.

After snapping four or five trees in succession, she finally landed back on the ground.

He Lingchuan asked the little fire man, “What are you doing?”

Juju chuckled. “Ah, my mistake! Well, just run a few extra steps.”

He Lingchuan answered with a very calm “Oh.” Then he suddenly grabbed the little fire man on his shoulder and, before it could react, fed it straight to the divine bone amulet!

“Juju has turned on us and wants to hurt us!” He Lingchuan reacted with incredible speed. “Tell Dong Rui to come receive us!”

Since Juju had betrayed them, he could not keep the little fire man around to eavesdrop on their intelligence and plans.

Zhu Erniang moved her eight legs and hurried north, falling silent for a few breaths as she communicated with Dong Rui.

Only then did she say, “He’s unable to come here. This land is saline-alkali[3] He says the mount can’t get through.”

“Damn it! Then we’ll run.”

No wonder the trees here were sparse, and even the thickest were less than two arm-spans around. So the soil here was bad. Some frogs could live in saltwater, but the ghost toad was probably not one of them. Besides, Dong Rui had created that monster puppet by combining two creatures, one of which had been a giant snail...

There was no need to say how afraid snails were of salt.

Whether Juju had done it deliberately or not, it had caused enormous trouble for He Lingchuan’s escape.

Damn it, that thing really is no good.

The moment the Chains of Oath were undone, the two parties to the contract had nothing to do with each other anymore. Juju turned on them at the first opportunity, and He Lingchuan retaliated without hesitation.

The divine bone had coveted the little fire man avatar for days, and only now did it finally get to swallow it.

The good partners who had been fighting side by side just moments ago split up and started sabotaging one another the instant the Chains of Oath came undone.

Zhu Erniang had lived for thousands of years. What strange thing had she not seen? She immediately asked He Lingchuan, “It betrayed us?”

“Definitely.” He Lingchuan understood the stakes in the blink of an eye.

Juju wholeheartedly wanted to escape its shackles, but it had never intended to completely fall out with the Heavenly Palace. What it wanted was to show off its might, teach these ungrateful Beijia people a lesson, and then mend relations afterward.

1. In these types of novels, yakshas typically shift from their roots as nature spirits to fierce, supernatural martial arts entities, and they’re typically depicted as wrathful protectors or demonic martial artists with incredible power. ☜

2. Just note that personally, I’d see this level of power as something bordering the laws that make up the world. ☜

3. This occurs when soils or water accumulate high levels of soluble salts alongside a high pH (> 7.3, often reaching 9.5 or higher). This environment is notoriously hostile to most agriculture because it triggers a combination of osmotic stress, ion toxicity (like sodium), and high pH stress, which severely limits plant growth. And since the mount is part snail and part toad, this environment is highly toxic—probably even deadly—to it. ☜