Where Immortals Once Walked

Chao Qian explained, “Which caravan is setting out, when it’s leaving, and even what goods it’s carrying—some of the bandit gangs can find out ahead of time. We’ve caught quite a few insiders, but there always seem to be more.”

He Lingchuan said, “Any bandit gang that’s grown into a real force ought to be like that.”

The sand bandits outside Heishui City, along the Hongya Route, had played the same game. Before flying thieves made a move, they first had to case the target. Murder and robbery demanded even greater care. Some sand bandits even colluded with local officials—that was what people called birds of a feather flocking together.

His old man, He Chunhua, had known these tricks inside and out. Young Master He had grown up seeing and hearing such things, so he had long stopped finding them novel. Fortunately, Yuheng City’s bandit problem had not yet developed to that extent.

“It’s useless if we’re the only ones cracking down hard. They can still get information from White Sand Bay and other places.” He Lingchuan pondered. “What about their channels for selling stolen goods? Have you figured those out?”

Stolen silver could be spent directly, but stolen goods had to be sold to buyers and converted into money. Otherwise, why rob them at all?

“Each bandit gang has its own division of labor. Some people specialize in robbery, while others specialize in cleanup and fencing stolen goods. Some gangs even share the same fencing channel. But the bandits we’ve caught were all the ones sent out to rob. They’ve never dealt with the buyers, so they don’t know the routes. They’ve only heard—” Chao Qian let out a breath before continuing, “They’ve only heard that there are fences right here in Yuheng City!”

He thought He Lingchuan would fly into a rage. Unexpectedly, the newly appointed commander looked as though this were only natural. “If you want to sell stolen goods, of course you’d find a lively, wealthy place. That makes it easier to get rid of them quickly. Have you ever seen bandits go to some poor backwater place to sell their loot? Yuheng City is the closest city to Longchuan, and it has plenty of people. It’s the most convenient location for them.”

“I heard that they also sell to the State of Jintao,” Chao Qian added. “Longchuan connects to the Yin River. When the bandits are pushed too hard, they run toward Jintao.”

“This rat hole has exits in every direction. It won’t be easy to clean it out in one sweep.” He Lingchuan asked, “Have we sent people to infiltrate Longchuan?”

Suppressing bandits was, after all, a process of both sides sending spies into each other’s ranks.

“We sent three men in a little over a month ago, but they haven’t made much progress yet. They haven’t passed back any useful intelligence.”

He Lingchuan instructed him, “First, get a clear picture of how the bandits are distributed inside Longchuan and what kind of people make up their ranks. Pay special attention to the remnants of West Ji who recently entered Longchuan and turned into outlaws.”

Chao Qian answered solemnly, “Yes.”

He Lingchuan then summoned the peregrine falcon and said to it, “Make a trip to Panlong City. Find Skinny and bring him here. I have an important task for him. Tell him the reward is generous enough to cover his youngest sister’s tuition in one go. Also, I have a list here with twenty names. Go to the Red General and ask for these people on my behalf.”

These twenty were all seasoned Gale Army soldiers. Training troops required instructors, and he needed people whose roots and character he knew.

Coming to Yuheng City meant higher pay and a promotion, so the people he had requested be sent to Yuheng would probably not refuse.

The peregrine falcon tilted its head and looked at him. In the past, whenever this boy asked it to run errands, he always coaxed and persuaded it, offering plenty of benefits. Why was he giving orders so smoothly now?[1]

He Lingchuan’s expression hardened. “That’s a military order. Why aren’t you going?”

Among the military and political officials here, there truly was no one with a higher rank than him. The peregrine falcon had no choice. It took the list, flapped its wings, and flew west.

At that moment, Willow came to report that the bandits captured yesterday had confessed.

“Oh?” He Lingchuan’s interest was piqued. “You’re saying this band of robbers nearly got driven out of Longchuan themselves? Let’s go. I’d like to hear more about it.”

* * *

The sky was growing late, but thanks to the white snow reflecting off the ground, the dense forest was not too dark.

The road ahead was especially rough. At times, there was not even a road at all, only jagged boulders and deep ravines.

This was no proper path. Fine horses could not pass through it. But for He Lingchuan and Zhu Daniang, it was not much of a problem. As a result, the cliff ram, which was good at climbing, had temporarily become Dong Rui’s mount.

Even so, he was still bounced around by the cliff ram until his backside ached.

Seeing his listless appearance, Zhu Daniang mocked him. “Didn’t you choose this road?”

Dong Rui’s little eyes could fly into the sky and scout the road ahead, so the work of guiding them had fallen to him. Who would have thought this fellow would ignore perfectly good roads and choose a narrow goat path instead? By the end, there was not even a goat path left. Every way forward was a dead end.

“I was trying to take a shortcut.” From the sky, the route had looked very clear. How was he supposed to know the ground would be so twisted?

After leaving Lingxu City, they had fled west without stopping for even a moment. Several more dangers had come up along the way, but on the twenty-third day, they had finally bid farewell to Beijia!

A victorious escape.

They had run faster than the news of Mount Xu’s upheaval, and even faster than Lingxu City’s wanted notices could spread. Because of that, the farther west they fled, the safer they became. By the time they left the State of Xuluo, the local vassal monster king had only just received word from Lingxu City, and the monster state had not yet had time to react.

Beijia was simply too vast. News traveling from east to west came with a tremendous delay.

In any case, they had already left the northwestern border of the State of Xuluo, which meant they had completely stepped out of Beijia territory. From that moment on, they were genuinely safe.

“Look, there’s a village up ahead!”

About fifty meters ahead, behind the trees, a small village lay hidden.

The three of them walked over and saw more than twenty houses, but seven or eight of them had trees growing from their roofs, their outer walls wrapped tight in vines.

Clearly, the village had long been abandoned.

But this was precisely He Lingchuan and the others’ destination.

They needed somewhere secluded.

An abandoned village deep in the mountains could not have been more suitable.

Just then, the forest ahead rustled. The two men immediately grew alert, but Zhu Daniang was overjoyed. “My sister is here!”

Sure enough, an enormous spider emerged from the woods, nearly three meters tall, with a huge body and thick claws, like a moving house.

This one was all too familiar to He Lingchuan.

Zhu Erniang!

The moment He Lingchuan blew the spider xun in the Mount Xu array eye, Zhu Erniang, far away in Demon Nest Swamp, had sensed it.

Ancient immortals had their own astonishing methods. She and Zhu Daniang had been born from the same egg and had lived together for more than three thousand years. Long ago, they had cultivated a strange sort of spiritual resonance. After learning that He Lingchuan had stolen the immortal molt from Mount Xu, she had decisively moved out of the Demon Nest and traveled along the outer edge of Beijia to come receive Zhu Daniang.

Though she had operated in the Demon Nest for many years, the Heavenly Palace knew very well where the immortal molt came from. For Zhu Erniang, the Demon Nest was no longer safe.

She had no choice but to abandon much of her property and leave decisively.

“Lady Two, you finally...” He swallowed the last two words before he could say them, because several more giant spiders walked out one after another behind Zhu Erniang!

One, two, three, four, five—five enormous spiders in total, and every one of them was larger than Zhu Erniang!

The clearing in the forest could not hold them all. Two of the spiders had climbed over huge boulders to arrive, their bodies almost vertical to the ground, yet they stood there as steadily as could be.

Including Zhu Erniang, the pressure of six huge creatures gathered together frightened even the cliff ram back several steps.

After his initial stunned silence and creeping horror, He Lingchuan suddenly realized that these five were all Zhu Erniang’s shed molts.

They all looked exactly the same. Even the star charts on their bellies were identical; only their sizes differed slightly.

1. I think the author may have forgotten that the bird was a sparrowhawk. Otherwise, this may just be an entirely different bird altogether. ☜