Where Immortals Once Walked

“Yeah.” He Lingchuan crouched down and examined the dead man’s neck. Once the head had been set back in place, they could see four small holes on the victim’s throat, along with rows of teeth marks. “This killer isn’t simple.”

“What kind of wound is that?”

“A blood-draining wound.” Humanoid, fond of drinking blood—this kind of aberrant creature was more than familiar to He Lingchuan. He had dealt with one nearly every day not long ago.

The expressions of the personal guards behind him changed at once.

Humans had an instinctive fear of blood-drinking aberrant creatures.

Who would have thought that a ba would appear among the Longchuan bandits?

He Lingchuan could not bring himself to tell Chao Qian that ba did not like drinking blood from corpses, which meant that when it drank his blood, Miao Mingming should not yet have been dead.

“The other attacked patrols don’t have wounds like this. So that blood-drinking thing likely fed its fill in the first battle.”

Yes. Aside from Miao Mingming’s patrol being massacred, three other patrol squads on the southern trade route had also been attacked over the past twenty-four hours. Thirty-nine had died, and fourteen were injured.

The dead outnumbered the wounded, which showed how brutal the fighting had been and how vicious the enemy was.

In terms of timing, Miao Mingming’s patrol squad had been the first to be attacked.

“This is the water bandits’ counterattack.” He Lingchuan stood and walked out of the courtyard. Everyone hurried after him, secretly letting out breaths of relief.

The stench of corpses inside was overpowering. Anyone with weaker composure would have vomited on the spot.

“Our recent efforts clearing the southern trade route have been quite effective, so the other side intends to switch methods and fight us another way.”

Yuheng City’s great defensive victory had struck a blow against the arrogance of the Longchuan water bandits. After that, Yuheng City pressed on, organizing all its newly trained troops into patrol squads and deploying them along the southern trade route and in nearby villages. On one hand, this gave the soldiers practical combat training. On the other, it cleared out some bandits and trouble.

This was also the first and most basic step of He Lingchuan’s plan: strictly secure the southern trade route and shrink the water bandits’ living space.

There were more than fifty bandit gangs in Longchuan. Once they could no longer rob enough wealth, internal problems would inevitably arise among the water bandits.

However, the Longchuan water bandits were indeed a bit more cunning than their counterparts on the Panlong Wasteland. They had actually come up with a countermeasure and dared to attack Yuheng City patrol guards in broad daylight.

This was an open challenge.

Doorboard said bitterly, “Let’s charge into this bandit gang’s stronghold and slaughter them all!”

He Lingchuan asked Chao Qian, “Do we know which gang it was?”

Chao Qian shook his head. “There were no markings on their clothes or weapons. They took away the bodies of their own dead.”

“In whose territory did these attacks take place?”

“All I know is that Man Family Village and this area were marked by the Qiuhua Gang[1] as their raiding grounds. I’m not clear about the others,” answered Chao Qian. “These gangs fight among themselves often too, and the division of territory changes all the time. We’ll have to ask our informants stationed in Longchuan to know for certain.”

He Lingchuan’s brow furrowed slightly.

Ever since Panlong City had conquered West Ji, Yuheng City had been suppressing bandits for several consecutive months. Yet they still had not fully clarified the internal power structure and territorial divisions of the bandit gangs. Was this not also a kind of arrogance?

Official troops naturally looked down on bandits. An army from Panlong City naturally looked down on a mob hiding in Longchuan’s waters.

But this bandit suppression campaign would probably not be so simple, nor so easy.

“There are outside forces interfering in Longchuan.”

Chao Qian immediately said, “The State of Jintao.”

While Jintao may not have personally entered the field, they have been secretly funding the Longchuan water bandits and rebels. Yuheng City was already aware of this matter.

He Lingchuan glanced at him. “More than that, the northern monster state is involved too.”

“Beijia?” Only then did everyone’s expressions shift. “Beijia is interfering in Longchuan?”

“The wound on Miao Mingming’s neck was caused by a ba.” He Lingchuan turned to look at them. “In the world today, I’ve only heard of one ba, and it belongs to the northern monster state!”

Counting the time, this was exactly when Fushan Yue’s father first began to make his name in Beijia. Without astounding military merit, how could he later qualify to found the thirteenth vassal monster state?

Seeing the shock on everyone’s faces, He Lingchuan said slowly, “All of you have fought countless battles and look down on the Longchuan water bandits. But now that Beijia may also have stepped in, do you still dare keep treating them lightly?”

His gaze burned like a torch as it swept across everyone’s faces. One after another, they lowered their heads and said they would not dare.

“Listen carefully. I also want to storm into Longchuan and slaughter them until not a scrap of armor remains, but now is not the time. Commander Xiao already tried that, and unfortunately, the results were limited,” said He Lingchuan in a deep voice. “The struggle ahead will be deadlocked and long. The water bandits’ counterattacks will only grow fiercer, but our pressure on Longchuan will also become harder. This is a contest of endurance. We’ll see who breaks first!”

Chao Qian, Willow, Doorboard, and the others all thumped their chests hard and shouted, “Panlong shall prevail!”

In keeping with the faith of Panlong City’s army, they never spoke of defeat, no matter what kind of contest it was.

“Transport our brothers’ bodies back to Yuheng City and bury them with full honors. Add ten more patrol teams to the southern trade route, and increase each team to thirty men. We’ll no longer be sending small squads into this route. In the near future, sweep the water bandits on Longchuan’s outskirts two more times. Put a heavy bounty on the murderers who killed our brothers.” He Lingchuan ordered, “Anyone who can report anything of importance will also be rewarded with fifty taels of gold. With great rewards, brave men are sure to appear.”

Everyone acknowledged the orders and went off to their tasks.

Chao Qian hesitated, wanting to speak but holding back.

The identities of the water bandits who had killed Miao Mingming and the others were unknown, and they did not know which gang was responsible. With that being the case, he could not help but wonder why the commander had directly ordered a sweep of Longchuan’s outskirts.

He Lingchuan saw his doubt and explained.

“Longchuan is not a solid block. If we intensify the sweeps, the Longchuan gangs will only think the killers angered the authorities and brought mad retaliation down on them. They will also resent the killers.”

They had not done it, yet they had to bear the consequences. Who could avoid resentment?

The internal situation in Longchuan was complicated. They should never have treated all the bandit gangs as one united whole. The proper approach was to divide and transform them.

He Lingchuan had also read the materials and records Commander Xiao had left behind. After taking over the Red General’s work and clearing the rebels within West Ji, Xiao Maoliang had set about rectifying the bandit problem in Longchuan.

At first, he had intended to cut through the tangled mess quickly. He surrounded and suppressed them, but that ultimately failed.

He had also tried a decapitation strike, personally leading troops into Longchuan to attack the largest local bandit gang. In that battle, he had exterminated over six hundred bandits.

The result had still been poor. Longchuan had over fifty bandit gangs. If he destroyed one, its territory and strength would naturally be divided among the rest. In the end, nothing changed. Instead, he had helped the other gangs remove an obstacle to growing bigger and stronger.

When Wen Daolun said Xiao Maoliang had done well at suppressing bandits, it was actually excessive praise.

Xiao Maoliang had done well in every other respect. Only in bandit suppression... Or to put it another way, if his efforts against the bandits had been effective, why would Panlong City have replaced him with He Lingchuan?

This was the new task Panlong City had arranged for He Lingchuan. It had to be completed, but the Longchuan bandit problem was simply not that easy to settle.

He Lingchuan believed that he would have to attack it from several directions at once.

Still, why has the northern monster state set its sights on Longchuan and Yuheng City?

Is it following its usual troublemaking style, creating localized warfare and conflict here? Well, the gods worshiped by Beijia still do need nightmare qi.

Or could it be that they’re still suspicious of Mitian and of Panlong City?

1. Previously mentioned as Qiuhua Bandits in Chapter 738. ☜