Where Immortals Once Walked

Humans were simply too weak and far too unsteady of heart. Most would immediately lose all sense of themselves after a bit of a scare.

He Lingchuan recalled the fear he had once felt when facing the sand leopard and could not help but shake his head. “That’s deception!”

“You’re free to call it whatever you like.” The old temple attendant wheezed a few breaths. “Second, the more outstanding the skin-sack, the stronger its soul and spirit tends to be, and the stronger its resistance to a heavenly god. It’s already very difficult for a heavenly god’s avatar to descend into the mortal realm. To spend ten parts of strength and gain only one part in return, then have to spend even more energy suppressing the skin-sack’s original owner, suppressing an unwilling soul and spirit, is very troublesome.” It coughed once more before continuing, “That is why there must be a mark... With a divine seal mark, suppressing a mortal’s soul becomes easy!”

He Lingchuan smiled faintly. “After all that talk, it turns out that even for gods, forcibly suppressing a mortal’s soul isn’t so easy.”

So in this respect, heavenly gods were not quite so powerful, and humans were not quite so weak.

Shinan gave a scoffing laugh. “That is because we are blocked by the barrier between the two realms and cannot display our true power at all! Otherwise—” Otherwise, why would creatures no better than ants be worth our attention?

He Lingchuan immediately asked, “Then how can a divine seal mark be removed?”

Shinan cackled. “You want to remove the mark?”

“Of course.” He Lingchuan noticed that the fellow’s smile was full of ill intent.

“What you’ve offered isn’t enough anymore.”

This wild god was exceedingly greedy. Even for something that took nothing more than moving its lips, it still schemed to charge a fee. He Lingchuan said without hesitation, “Then forget it. Until next time.”

“You really aren’t asking?”

He Lingchuan nodded to Dong Rui, and the two of them turned to leave.

“Hey, wait!” Shinan had probably not had any business in ages, and He Lingchuan was the only big sucker to come knocking recently. Now, it suddenly became especially easy to talk to. “How about this? Take my token with you. When I pick something I’m satisfied with, or find valuable information, I will naturally tell you.”

This time, He Lingchuan refused even more decisively. “Forget it.”

Taking Shinan’s token was equivalent to wearing a tracking device. There might even be surveillance and eavesdropping functions attached.

He Lingchuan had far too many secrets. How could he let such a thing stay by his side?

Shinan looked at He Lingchuan a couple more times, then suddenly said, “How about this? I’ll let you ask three more questions on credit.”

“Why are you suddenly being so kind?”

“Consider it an investment. My eye for people has always been accurate.” Shinan chuckled. “In return, within one year, you must bring me another Dragon Punishment Pillar that has already been used.”

He Lingchuan smiled back at him. “Five questions.”

“Four.”

“Five. Take it or leave it.”

The old temple attendant raised five fingers. “Fine. Five questions. Think carefully.”

He Lingchuan considered it seriously. “Then I’ll ask the same question as before. How can a divine seal mark be removed or concealed?”

Shinan laughed dryly. “I knew you still wanted to ask that... Give up. Unless the god who planted the mark takes it back, it can neither be removed nor concealed.”

He Lingchuan’s expression finally changed.

Is there really no way?

Shinan could not see his face, but it seemed able to savor his panic. “Wait obediently for Naluotian’s descent. This is your fate! In the end, it is but according to the workings of the world that mortals are to accept their own fate.”

Dong Rui, who was by the side, suddenly opened his mouth, “Hey—”

But before the next word could even leave his mouth, He Lingchuan suddenly raised a hand, cutting him off.

The room fell perfectly quiet. One man and one god watched as He Lingchuan’s face grew solemn and he sank into deep thought.

Shinan soon grew impatient. Of the fingers he had raised, only four remained. “Four questions remain.”

He Lingchuan drew in a long breath. “How many avatars can a heavenly god send down?”

“To the mortal realm?” Shinan answered without hesitation. “Only one at the same time. That is an iron law!”

“You...” He Lingchuan quickly swallowed the question back; otherwise, it would count as one. “I’ve seen some gods manifest miracles in many places.”

“You think divine descent is child’s play, something we do whenever we’re bored?” Shinan glared. “Manifesting miracles does not necessarily require the use of an avatar.”

Three questions remained.

“Can a marked skin-sack be lent to, or transferred for use by, another god?”

“What kind of question is that?” Shinan shook his head. “No!”

Only two questions left. He Lingchuan thought for a good while. “Have there ever been cases where a skin-sack successfully resisted, causing the divine descent to fail?”

The old temple attendant’s eyelids drooped. Only after two breaths did Shinan answer, “Not that I know of.”

The answers to these two questions were both far too brief. Even Dong Rui, listening from the side, felt that He Lingchuan had taken a loss.

Only He Lingchuan himself understood their weight.

They might very well serve as the basis for his future actions. Of course, the simpler and clearer they were, the better!

Shinan urged him, “And the final question?”

This temple attendant was old and frail. Even without divine descent, using him merely to communicate and relay words was already somewhat taxing.

“I want all information you have on God Bilu, meaning Naluotian!”

“...” Hoh, so this brat was saving a big move for last?

“How can that count as one question?”

“Strictly speaking, all the questions I asked earlier about divine descent should count as one.” He Lingchuan patted the offering table. Even under the dim lamplight, the glazed gold remained translucent and lustrous. “You’re already making a killing.”

The old temple attendant heaved a long sigh. “Fine.”

“Naluotian was originally only a minor god named Bilu, with a divine rank around the same as mine. In the divine realm, minor gods like us are innumerable.”

He Lingchuan listened in silence. Innumerable? This fellow’s exaggerating.

The Red General had said that there were only around a hundred thousand gods in the divine realm, and they were divided into several upper and lower ranks.

“That fellow also lived through the ancient war, but it always kept to itself. Most inhabitants of the divine realm had never even heard its name. Only later did we learn that it was quite active. However, it was not that it was active in the divine realm; rather, it was active in the mortal realm!”

He Lingchuan’s expression shifted slightly. “What do you mean?”

“You’ve used up your questions. You can only listen to me speak.” Shinan took his time. “It quietly built quite a number of temples in the mortal realm and developed many believers, sending them everywhere to collect nightmare qi for it!”

Nightmare qi! He Lingchuan was stunned. Could it be—

“Yes, collected with Dragon Punishment Pillars.” Shinan sighed. “A hundred and sixty or seventy years ago, Dragon Punishment Pillars suddenly appeared in the mortal realm. At first, not many gods knew how to use them, but Bilu had already secretly obtained many Dragon Punishment Pillars and sent its believers wandering through the mortal realm, collecting nightmare qi for it everywhere. In this way, it seized the first advantage. Relying on an enormous amount of nightmare qi, it advanced rapidly to a true god in just over a hundred years!” Shinan smiled bitterly. “By the time the other gods reacted, Lingxu City and the heavenly gods above it had already begun strict investigations and searches for Dragon Punishment Pillars. Many wars even broke out over them.”

The first movers got to eat meat. Those who came later could not even lick the ashes and were beaten instead.

It sighed, then continued, “In short, Bilu rose too quickly. In the end, all the heavenly gods could only acknowledge its promotion to true god. Luck like that truly makes other gods green with envy.”