Where Immortals Once Walked

Ninth Arc: Naraka

Rosy clouds filled the sky, while white blanketed the earth. The mountain forests and open wilderness were silent, with only the cold wind howling.

In this particularly picturesque place, a caravan appeared from afar and drew near, traveling southeast along the official road.

Cart wheels rumbled, people called out, and horses neighed, breaking the silence between heaven and earth.

Willow urged her horse over to a large carriage and knocked on the compartment. “Boss, wake up. We’re almost there!”

A few breaths later, the carriage curtain was lifted, revealing a drowsy face.

It was He Lingchuan.

“Huh, where’s Ms. Sun?” All he remembered was that he had been playing chess with Sun Fuling, and then—

Then Willow had woken him.

“She rode ahead on horseback and gave you the carriage to sleep in.” Willow looked at him with eyes full of pity. “Boss, you’re really something.”

It was not easy to get a chance to travel with a beauty, and he had gone and fallen asleep. Heh, it serves him right if he spends his whole life alone and miserable.

He Lingchuan jumped down from the carriage and stretched his body, still reluctant to leave his nap behind.

After experiencing the battle of Mount Xu, entering Panlong City again gave him the strange feeling of returning after an entire lifetime.

Perhaps because the great battle in reality had truly exhausted his mind, he had actually fallen asleep again inside the dream.

He had promised Sun Fuling that he would accompany her on a trip to Yuheng City. But he also could not leave his post without permission, so he had gone to the Red General to request a mission heading east, making it easier to fulfill his promise.

Seeing him so proactive, Zhong Shengguang and the Red General discussed it and assigned him a big job.

It was so big that He Lingchuan felt a little regretful.

But military orders were as heavy as mountains, and there was no medicine for regret. Thus, he could only happily set out on the road with Ms. Sun.

Of course, they were all traveling in plain clothes. He and his squad were disguised as caravan guards.

This caravan numbered more than three hundred people in total. It had set out from Panlong City’s merchant station, traveling south along a newly opened trade route. Its destination was the free port in the south, White Sand Bay.

The snowfield beneath everyone’s feet had originally been West Ji territory. After Panlong City defeated West Ji, they finally had an open route to the sea, thereby allowing them to trade freely with the outside world.

From this moment on, Panlong City was no longer isolated. It now had the possibility of exploring a new path forward. This was the goal Zhong Shengguang had pursued tirelessly for many years.

Therefore, the significance of this West Ji Trade Route to Panlong City was beyond question.

White snow lay piled on both sides of the official road. He Lingchuan had looked at this scenery on the first day of departure, and again on the second day... By the fourth day, what he saw was still snowy scenery, and he had already grown tired of it.

The world after snow was beautiful, but after looking at it for too long, it also felt monotonous.

The children in the group, however, were very happy. They chased one another, ran, rolled around, and had snowball fights, playing with endless delight.

The wind came from ahead, carrying the light, lively sound of a flute.

Amid the unchanging ice and snow, that flute melody was like a squirrel leaping through the forest, like a snow marten hopping and darting across the snow, leaving not a shadow—nimble, swift, and graceful to the mind.

He Lingchuan asked for a horse and rode in the direction of the flute.

After thirty-odd meters, he saw the one playing it.

Ms. Sun was also riding a horse, wrapped in a white cloak. Hearing hoofbeats approach, she turned her head and looked at him with those bright, luminous eyes that seemed able to speak. “You’re finally awake? Did you sleep well?”

He Lingchuan looked embarrassed, like an elementary school student caught sleeping in class. “Pretty well. Pretty well.”

All that talk about covering her face so no one would recognize her, what a joke! With her eyes, even if she put on night-roaming clothes, there’s no way she’d be able to hide from me.

His gaze lowered and naturally shifted to the flute in her hand.

He did not know whether the heavenly centipede bone flute was whiter than Teacher Sun’s hand.

This flute...

He remembered State Preceptor Qing Yang’s cold smile on the sandbar.

She had said that the flute’s owner died miserably.

When the listener cared, a sentence could contain a great deal of information. To He Lingchuan, those words carried enormous weight.

Now, facing the person before him, he became filled with certain extremely subtle feelings.

Speaking of which, the moment he had entered Panlong City again and seen Sun Fuling, he had been overwhelmed with emotion and had very much wanted to reach out and hug her. Unfortunately, there had been too many people around.

“What are you thinking about?” Ms. Sun took a large red apple from the basket on her back. “One of my students gave it to me. It’s already been washed.”

Her face was slightly red from the cold. From He Lingchuan’s angle, the apple looked like a rosy cheek.

“Hah, just how many students do you have? I’m pretty sure that’s one of Panlong City’s three great unsolved mysteries.” He took the apple and, with a crack, split it in two. “I’ll take half.”

Sun Fuling smiled and reached out to take the other half.

The apple’s so sweet! He Lingchuan had just woken up and was thirsty too, so he finished it in a few bites and tossed away the core. Only when he turned his head did he realize that Ms. Sun was eating with grace and had only taken two bites.

“If you eat that slowly, the apple will freeze solid in a moment.” The temperature was at least seven or eight degrees below zero.

Sun Fuling said unhurriedly, “I can chew ice too.”

He Lingchuan gave a little chuckle. He did not believe her.

“You don’t believe me?”

“I do. Of course, I believe you.” He threw all those messy thoughts to the back of his mind.

Heaven and earth were vast, and all matters were passing clouds. He only needed to properly enjoy this moment.

With a beauty traveling beside him, this freezing journey suddenly did not seem bitterly cold at all.

Just then, a peregrine falcon descended from the sky and landed on top of a carriage. “Hey, two waxwings have been following you the entire time. I drove them off twice, but after I chased them away, they just circled around and came back.”

He Lingchuan reached out and stroked its head. “Looks like we’re being watched.”

At that moment, a sharp whistle sounded from ahead—three short, urgent blasts.

Marching whistles had fixed uses, and these blasts meant there had been an unexpected discovery up ahead.

He Lingchuan put away his idle thoughts and hurried forward with Sun Fuling.

About 230 meters ahead, there was a large expanse of ruins beside the road. Some of the buildings were still smoking.

He Lingchuan recognized them. They had originally been guest rooms, stables, fodder sheds... but now, barely any structures remained intact.

Broken Blade Squad’s new scout, Nail, had just come out of the ruins. Seeing He Lingchuan, he immediately reported, “This was supposed to be Azure Wolf Post Station, where we were going to spend the night. Now it’s turned into this.”

“Any casualties?”

“Two station workers are dead. I heard the others hid in the mountains. We’ve already sent people to look for them.”

“Heard?” Heard from whom?

Nail pointed to the side. It just so happened that two wounded people were being helped out and carried onto a carriage. “We treated two. They should survive.”

The two injured people seemed fairly clear-headed. He Lingchuan jerked his chin in that direction. “Go ask them for some information.”

“Yes.”

A merchant from the rear came over. At the sight, he was shocked. “Oh no! When I came to Panlong City, this post station was still perfectly fine! It’s only been half a month at most. How did it...”

After the West Ji Trade Route opened, many merchants made short trips, bringing goods from White Sand Bay to Panlong City, then buying Panlong City specialties to take back to White Sand Bay or elsewhere, earning some quick money.

This merchant had rested at Azure Wolf Post Station when he came. On the return journey, it had become a ruin.

Others in the caravan came over to look, and everyone began discussing it anxiously.

The sky was almost dark. Logically, Azure Wolf Post Station was where they were supposed to stay tonight. Everyone would eat and drink a little, then soak their feet in hot water to ease their fatigue. Just thinking about it was comforting.

But now the post station was gone, and so was the hot water. Everyone stood at a loss in the freezing wilderness.

Seeing this, the caravan leader immediately said to the crowd, “Don’t panic, don’t panic. We’ll go rest at the next post station! It’s only another fifteen kilometers!”