Where Immortals Once Walked

He could actually breathe freely within the mad sand that would suffocate anyone else, strolling at ease through the Panlong Desert, a place that made merchants and travelers turn pale at the very mention of it.

Only before him was this desert of death restrained, cautious, even somewhat gentle.

Very soon, he left the Hongya Route and stepped directly onto the desert sand.

This was the domain of the Three Corpses Worms and the souls of the dead. Whether or not it was the season of mad sand, anyone who dared do this usually came to a terrible end.

Yet He Lingchuan walked more than thirty meters, and nothing happened.

Enormous tornadoes circled him. Countless tons of yellow sand were sucked into the sky, then swept across the desert at a speed faster than flying arrows.

But a faint red glow shone from He Lingchuan’s body, rendering him immune to all of it.

This was the Gale Army’s origin energy, which also functioned as his pass during this season of mad sand.

At this moment, this desert of death was his world alone.

He could treat it like his own back garden, roaming wherever he pleased, traveling freely without obstruction.

Under all heaven, this was a unique privilege.

Unfortunately, there was no one else here to appreciate such a wondrous sight.

Just then, a massive thing suddenly burst out from among the sand dunes. It looked like an eel, yet also like an earthworm, only enlarged by several hundred times.

It was a sand wyrm.

This was a species He Lingchuan knew quite well. The last time he had entered the Panlong Desert, Heishui City’s army had lured sand wyrms in to pull their sand boats.

The one before him was larger than any he had seen before, nearly thirty meters long.

With such a huge creature suddenly blocking his path, even He Lingchuan was startled.

However, the sand wyrm did not open its mouth and pounce. Instead, it slowly swam up to him, most of its body sinking beneath the sand so that only a length of its back remained exposed. Then it stopped moving.

Its meaning was perfectly clear.

As for who sent it, He Lingchuan actually had a good idea about that.

Confident in his skill and courage, he felt no fear. He leaped onto the sand wyrm’s back in a single step, then sat down on one of its arched ring segments.

Only then did the sand wyrm start moving. At first, it was somewhat slow, but soon it swam faster and faster, skimming past one mountain-like dune after another.

Sitting on its back and looking out over the vast, boundless sea of sand, He Lingchuan felt as if he were riding a whale through stormy waves.

The sky was empty and endless; the mortal realm was vast beyond measure.

After admiring the view like this for half an hour, He Lingchuan closed his eyes to rest. It seemed there was no need for him to worry about the sand wyrm. It would automatically carry him to the destination of this trip—

The Panlong Ruins.

* * *

During the season of mad sand, there was no sun or moon.

It was unknown how much time had passed before the sand wyrm slowed down. At last, it swept its tail once, then came to an abrupt stop.

Before him stretched the endless Chipa Highland.

The sand wyrm had stopped in front of the land bridge. He Lingchuan jumped down from his mount and strode forward quickly, coming face-to-face once more with the vast Panlong Ruins.

The southern gate tower remained majestic and desolate, ruined and crumbling, exactly as it had been when he last left. It had also remained like this for the past century and a half.

The mighty frontier city of old had long since become the tomb of heroes.

The sand wyrm did not leave. Instead, it followed behind him through the southern gate.

Within the city, there was no longer any wind or sand, like the calmest point at the eye of a storm.

He walked through the empty ruins. Since this was his second time entering the city, he knew the way well. After winding through several turns, he soon found the original entrance to the Panlong Secret Realm—

The pool, which was also somewhat of a well, before Mitian’s temple.

After the He father and son had fought their decisive battle here against Sun Fuping, Nian Songyu, and the others, the pool could no longer be used to enter the secret realm.

He Lingchuan walked over and looked inside. The pool was still dry, but its bottom now glowed faintly red.

If he wanted to open a passage between the real and illusory worlds, he would have to pour water into this pool.

He had come prepared. The storage spaces on his person were all filled with clean water. It should barely be enough to fill the bottom with a shallow layer of water.

But before he could act, the sand wyrm behind him suddenly reared up and lifted its enormous tail into the pool.

Hm? This posture...

He Lingchuan tried calling out Fleeting Life. In front of the sand wyrm, he twirled the saber in a flourish.

Cold light flashed, but it did not frighten the aberrant creature away.

I see.

He jumped onto the pool rim and made a vertical cut along the sand wyrm’s tail to bleed it.

This aberrant creature was nearly thirty meters long. Pale-red blood gushed out like a faucet had been opened, filling the air with a fishy stink.

It bled like this for a long time.

By the time the wound finally stopped on its own, the bottom of the pool had filled with a layer of liquid one finger deep.

To be honest, it was not a pleasant sight.

Only then did the sand wyrm shudder. Without looking back, it fled toward the outside.

The mysterious force that had been controlling it from the shadows had finally vanished.

He Lingchuan stood beside the pool and faced the temple, then called out in a clear voice, “Generous Pot, I have tried several times to communicate with you through the divine bone amulet, but it was to no avail. I had no choice but to come here in person.”

Perhaps because the surroundings were too open, his words echoed in layers.

“I risked life and death for you. My contribution could not be greater. Now, I demand an equivalent reward!”

He Lingchuan paused for a few breaths. Around him, the last trailing echoes drifted back. “Reward... reward... reward...”

“Our fates are bound together. I have traveled a thousand li to return here, and I ask you for only one definite answer—” Each word rang out hard against the ground. “Can you help me deal with Naluotian?”

The echoes continued without end, bouncing from every direction, until the only words reaching his ears were “deal with Naluotian.”

The Fleeting Life saber suddenly trembled twice, then gave a long ringing clang.

Following the motion, he thrust the blade into the pool water.

The water was clearly only one finger deep, yet the blade sank all the way to the hilt without hitting the bottom.

Sure enough, the passage between illusion and reality had opened once more.

He Lingchuan placed a turtle pearl in his mouth, pinched his nose, and leaped into the crimson blood pool!

Splash.

The water inside was indeed very deep.

He Lingchuan found himself once again in that red ocean. No matter whether he swam upward or dived downward, it was boundless in every direction.

This time, his physical body had descended, rather than only his soul entering as it usually did.

Perhaps because he was holding the turtle pearl in his mouth, he could breathe freely underwater.

For him, this ocean was usually only a transitional scene. It would flash past in an instant, and then he would enter the Panlong World.

Today, however, was an exception.

He Lingchuan had thought that this time, he might enter the Panlong World in his real body. Who would have expected him to remain there in the vast ocean, with no idea where he was supposed to swim?

But he did not panic, because the divine bone amulet had also begun to glow.

This should be the Generous Pot’s response to him.

Before long, a shadowy figure emerged faintly from the depths of the sea. At first, it was small, but the closer it came, the more enormous it appeared.

He Lingchuan, of course, knew what it was.

Aside from He Lingchuan, no second living thing had ever appeared in this ocean so far.

The ruler of this vast sea had one name, and one name only.

The giant red figure.

This time, the giant red figure swam straight toward him, neither pausing nor turning along the way.

He Lingchuan finally experienced the pressure the Hundred-Faced Nightmare must have felt back then. The closer this thing came, the more incomparably massive it appeared.

How long is that giant shadow? He Lingchuan estimated it should be over three hundred meters.

Ever since he reclaimed the pot lid, the giant red figure seemed to have grown larger again.

After dealing with it so many times, he still had never seen its true face.

Now, this colossal thing was swimming toward him, closer and closer, nearer and nearer...

Then it opened its abyssal maw and swallowed He Lingchuan whole!