Where Immortals Once Walked

Before that giant shadow, he was no more than an ant. Swallowing a grown man was no effort at all for it.

He Lingchuan did not run. There was nowhere for him to run.

It was as if he had fallen into a deep pool, and the last trace of light vanished when the giant shadowy figure closed its mouth.

All around him was pitch-black darkness. He could not see his own fingers before his face.

Within that dark space, everything was perfectly still. He Lingchuan could only hear the sound of his own breathing.

No one knew how long passed before a beam of intense light suddenly exploded ahead of him.

He Lingchuan thought he had been caught in the beam of some darkness-piercing lamp and instinctively raised a hand to shield his eyes.

Only after he adjusted to the light and opened his eyes again did he see a scene he never would have expected.

He had returned to the Panlong Secret Realm. The majestic southern gate still stood here, along with the secret realm’s creatures like demon apes and bird monsters. Even the enormous black dragon was still coiled upon the city wall!

The black dragon? Isn’t that Zhong Shengguang?

After a moment of stunned silence, He Lingchuan suddenly realized that what he was seeing should be a fragment of something that had happened inside the Generous Pot.

In other words, this was the Panlong Secret Realm right after he and his father had defeated Sun Fuping and Nian Songyu!

The enormous black dragon let out a long, low sigh. Its dark body was swiftly plated in a layer of gray frost, and then it crashed down from the city wall with a thunderous boom, shattering into countless fragments like pottery.

Yes. This scene had been so grand that he still remembered it vividly!

But this time, he was seeing it from a different angle. He stood on some high tower within the city, looking levelly toward the gate, and his eyes were not blinded by the endless dust thrown up when the black dragon fell.

Because of that, he saw something no one had seen or discovered before.

Although the black dragon’s body had broken apart, its head that landed on the ground remained intact, and light still lingered in its eyes.

He Lingchuan looked back toward the city wall. There was no one left upon it.

He remembered that by this time, the Heishui City army had already been transported out and returned to the desert. The interior of this secret realm was also a completely sealed environment, with no outsiders—or rather, no living people—inside.

Yet the black dragon actually spoke once more. Its deep voice still resounded through the ruins, “The inheritor has appeared. You must guide him to uphold our last will. This path is difficult. At critical moments, you must also lend him your aid. If he truly reaches the end of all roads, guide him back to Panlong Ancient City. Here, under the protection of the Generous Pot, no power can harm him!”

It gave a long, lingering sigh, one filled with sorrow, release, and concern.

“Awaken, my daughter!”

The light in the black dragon’s eyes finally went out. At the same time, however, a streak of red light shot into the sky from the eastern ruins!

The radiance was so dazzling that it dyed even the sky of the Panlong Secret Realm blood-red.

On this blood-colored night, everything in the ruins was coated in a thick layer of red. It was impossible to say whether it looked festive or ominous.

Then, the world around him darkened once more and returned to pitch black.

When He Lingchuan could see again, he found himself standing in the ruined city once more, surrounded by devastation and deterioration. Before him was the temple, and the blood water in the pool had already dried completely.

What he had just seen felt like a dream.

But he knew that it was not a dream. It was the Generous Pot’s response to his demand.

He Lingchuan slowly sat down beside the pool and let out a breath, feeling as though a heavy weight had finally been lifted.

So long as he entered that illusion, no one could threaten him. Not even Naluotian. For the first time, the Generous Pot had given him such a definite promise.

The power of a heavenly god’s contract could only be opposed by an unparalleled divine object like the Generous Pot.

In that case, he now had a direction, a target, and a plan he could begin to arrange!

After suffering so many hardships and completing so many impossible tasks, he cherished his little life twice as much as before. Otherwise, he would not have traveled a thousand li all the way back to the Panlong Ruins.

He guessed that the reason the Generous Pot had refused to respond when he repeatedly called to it through the divine bone amulet before was perhaps that the Generous Pot’s promise would only take effect when his physical body entered Panlong City.

At night, He Lingchuan entered Panlong City only with his soul, but divine descent targeted the physical body. If the Generous Pot wanted to provide him complete protection, from spirit to flesh, then he had to trouble himself to come here in person.

So I have to make sure that when Naluotian descends, I happen to be inside the Panlong Secret Realm?

Would Naluotian... agree to that?

Trying to fool the “god of fate” doesn’t seem like it’ll be all that easy.

Ah, regardless, the black dragon’s final words before its death do confirm that the Red General really was Zhong Shengguang’s daughter, Zhong Wuhan.

He Lingchuan had already deduced as much, so he was not surprised at all.

As he sat there with his chin propped in his hand, lost in thought, the dense clouds in the sky parted. A beam of daylight shone down, landing squarely on the toppled divine statue.

He Lingchuan stared blankly at that beam of light for a long time before suddenly jumping to his feet.

Huh?

Isn’t it supposed to be the season of mad sand? Everything should be a dim, murky yellow. How is the sun out now?

He looked around and discovered that the wind and sand outside had stopped.

He Lingchuan hurried out beyond the southern gate. At some point, the violent wind and sand had vanished. Under the blazing sun, the sand dunes shone with golden light.

When he looked up again, there was not a cloud in sight for ten thousand li.

The Panlong Desert’s transformation had begun without the slightest warning.

And for He Lingchuan, he was about to face his next great gamble.

This time, he would deceive “fate.”

* * *

Because it bordered the Panlong Desert, Heishui City was often windy at night whenever late winter gave way to early spring.

The people of Heishui City had long grown used to falling asleep to that sound.

But on the morning of this day, Liu Baobao happened to overhear two servants talking.

“How strange. The wind hasn’t blown these past few days, has it?”

When he thought back, it was true. At some point, the banging of the strong wind against the doors and the soft rasp of fine sand hitting the window lattices had both disappeared.

The snowy nights had become nothing but stillness, a stillness the people of Heishui City were not used to.

That afternoon, the Liu Farmily Merchant Guild received a piece of news so shocking it could split stone and startle the heavens: the mad sand of the Panlong Desert had vanished!

Liu Baobao thought he had heard wrong, but when he climbed up to the northern gate and looked into the distance, he found the view excellent. He could easily see a kilometer away.

There was no windblown sand, no murky haze.

Several hours later, the scouts Heishui City had sent north returned, confirming the news: the season of mad sand had truly disappeared.

The sandstorms that had once blotted out heaven and earth were gone. Ordinary people who walked into the desert would no longer go inexplicably mad either.

Simply put, the Panlong Desert was now no different from any other desert.

Faced with this sudden change, the people of Heishui City were at a loss for a while and did not know how to react.

What exactly had happened?

But for merchants, this was wonderful news. It meant the Hongya Trade Route could now be traveled freely all year round.

That very night, the Liu Family held a feast at Hongyan Tower to celebrate.

After the meal, Liu Baobao walked back in high spirits from the wine. His residence was less than a hundred steps away, so there was no need to take a carriage.

But before he had gone even ten steps, someone suddenly turned out from the alley ahead and blocked his path.

Liu Baobao was so startled that he nearly sobered up on the spot. His young attendant stepped in front of him at once. “Who’s there?!”

The man stood in the middle of the street wrapped in a grayish-yellow cloak. He looked rather frightening.

But when he lifted the cloak and revealed a grin full of big white teeth, Liu Baobao’s fear vanished completely, replaced entirely by shock.