Where Immortals Once Walked

He saw that Dong Rui was being especially generous, tossing out two taels of broken silver without the slightest heartache.

Dong Rui chuckled. “I don’t have money, but you do.”

Ever since he put on the mask State Preceptor Shuang Ye had given him, he no longer had to cover his face when going out into the marketplace. When drinking tea or eating, he no longer had to find some deserted corner and face the wall.

This was the life he wanted.

He Lingchuan’s hand slowed. “Mm, I do have money, but what does that have to do with you?”

“How many favors do you owe me?” Dong Rui said leisurely. “Do you want me to count them out for you one by one?”

He Lingchuan was left speechless.

True. From Dong Rui, he had taken divine bone, divine blood, and during the execution of the Mount Xu Plan, he had even borrowed two of the man’s monster puppets. It could be said that without Dong Rui’s help, he could never have retrieved the divine artifact.

This debt of favor was truly enormous.

It was rare to see him stifled like this, and Dong Rui became even happier. “Give me money. I don’t have enough to spend at the moment. For now, just give me a thousand taels.”

At that, He Lingchuan actually handed him a silver note worth one thousand taels.

Dong Rui immediately summoned an attendant and tossed out an ingot of silver. “I’m in a good mood today. Tea is on me for everyone here, and each person gets another plate of dried fruit! You there, storyteller, add a few more good sections!”

Hearing that such a fine thing had happened, the customers in the teahouse stood one after another and thanked him.

Dong Rui laughed loudly, lacking only the four words “beside oneself with joy” written across his face.

Only after he had finished laughing and the surrounding noise had calmed did He Lingchuan say with a smile that was not quite a smile, “Play as much as you like. That’s fine. But I have to remind you, owing too great a favor is not necessarily a good thing. Once it can’t be repaid, one might as well—”

He raised his palm and made a throat-cutting gesture.

Dong Rui’s smile instantly vanished.

If the creditor was gone, then the debts and favors owed no longer needed to be repaid.

The ghost ape heard that He Lingchuan was threatening its master and immediately bared its teeth at him, hissing coldly, but it did not dare move.

Putting aside the fact that it had lost to this fellow twice in succession, it felt that He Lingchuan had grown stronger, strong enough to make it wary, leaving it afraid to posture lightly.

Dong Rui patted its head before saying, “What do you want now?”

“Have you figured out anything about those aberrant cicadas?”

“How could it be that fast?” Dong Rui picked up a piece of mung bean cake and chewed it slowly. “We only arrived at Rongshan yesterday, and you expect results today? Do you think I’m an immortal?”

He had only slept once. He had not yet eaten enough or played enough.

“How strange.” He Lingchuan propped his chin on his hand and looked at him. “Back when you were researching monster puppets in Demon Nest, you worked day and night and weren’t even willing to flee for your life. Where has that fanatical drive gone now?”

Was Dong Rui the sort of person who would toss research aside just to eat, drink, and amuse himself?

Especially when the mutation of the seventy-year cicadas was so interesting, and he even had several living samples in hand.

“Times are different now. After going through life-and-death danger with you over there—” Dong Rui pointed east, “and crossing through layer after layer of pursuit before finally escaping, I came to understand how precious time is. People must seize joy while they can! What’s wrong with that?”

He Lingchuan knew that “over there” referred to the Beijia Empire, and also knew this fellow was spouting nonsense. He waved over an attendant.

“Give us a private room.”

“Honored guests, upstairs, please.”

The private room in this small-town teahouse was not especially elegant. There was even something in the corner that looked suspiciously like spit that had not yet dried. Calling it a partitioned room would have been more accurate. Well, at the very least, it had a door.

He Lingchuan closed the door and casually set up a soundproofing barrier before asking him, “Alright, what’s going on?”

Dong Rui looked baffled. “What do you mean, what’s going on?”

“The aberrant seventy-year cicadas came from the northeast, so did your ghost ape, and your home is also in Wan’ge Swamp.” He Lingchuan said, “Tell me. What connection is there?”

“Uh...”

He Lingchuan simply laid it out clearly. “The seventy-year cicadas mutating like this have something to do with divine blood, don’t they?”

He had experimented with divine blood himself and had also used divine blood to frame Nian Zanli. His understanding of the stuff far exceeded most people’s.

This fellow really is hard to fool. His secret had failed to last even one night. Dong Rui said with a bitter face, “Let me state this first. Rongshan’s cicada disaster this time was purely an accident. It has nothing to do with me.”

He Lingchuan said affirmatively, “Mm, over these past few months, we were either in Beijia or on the road west.”

“Exactly, exactly.” Dong Rui nodded like he was pounding garlic. “Seventeen couldn’t wait for me in Xia Province, so it returned to Wan’ge Swamp on its own. But I’d been away too long. During that time, a den of thieves had appeared in Wan’ge Forest, robbing everywhere, and in the end, they found my home.”

Seventeen was the ghost ape.

The moment He Lingchuan heard this, he felt things were not good. “And then?”

“By coincidence, in those days, Seventeen had stolen wine from town and was drunk outside all day!” The more Dong Rui thought about it, the angrier he became. He slapped the monkey’s head hard. The ghost ape held its head in both claws and did not dare make a sound. “That group of thieves was halfway through stealing things when Seventeen came back, so the two sides started fighting. During the scuffle, a little less than half a bottle of divine blood was accidentally smashed and splashed into the forest.”

“At that time, it just so happened to be the active period for Wan’ge Forest’s seventy-year cicadas. They were all busy breaking through the soil and coming to the surface. Once the divine blood splashed on them, they, well...”

So that’s what happened. He Lingchuan rubbed his temples. “So the fuse that triggered the cicada disaster truly was your divine blood?”

“Hey, hey, this has nothing to do with me!” Dong Rui shifted responsibility with impressive speed. “If those damned thieves hadn’t come to steal my things, the divine blood would still be sitting perfectly well in my house!”

“Couldn’t you have hidden something that important properly?”

“I did hide it. How could I not?” Dong Rui smiled bitterly. “But tell me, as the victim here, how could I have as much experience as a thief? I hid it so well, and they still found it.”

He Lingchuan sighed. “Go on.”

“The ground splashed by divine blood had some plants mutate too. Seventeen was busy killing the thieves and didn’t pay much attention. About ten days later, some animals and monsters in Wan’ge Forest suddenly went mad and began destroying fields and eating people. The local government office started organizing extermination efforts. Right then, the cicada disaster erupted as well. Two or three months ago, the seventy-year cicadas still weren’t as large as they are now, but wherever they went, they still formed a black mass and left not a blade of grass behind.”

He Lingchuan looked at him. “For you, this cicada transformation should be all too simple, shouldn’t it?”

Since he had already decided to tell everything, Dong Rui simply straightened in his seat.

“No, no. It’s very inspiring!”

“Inspiring?”

“I’ve already finished tinkering with the two cicadas Zhu Daniang tied up and brought back for me. I originally lived in Wan’ge Forest, and I experimented on the original version of seventy-year cicadas long ago. At the time, I thought they were useless. But this time, this time is different.”

The moment he began talking about experiments, Dong Rui’s eyes lit up. “I’m certain that ninety-nine percent of those seventy-year cicadas died on the spot after consuming divine blood, but there must have been a few that survived. Do you know why? Hm?”

Seeing him so excited, He Lingchuan had no choice but to play along. “Why?”

“They were about to give birth!”

“At that time, the seventy-year cicadas were coming out of the soil to seek mates and reproduce. Maybe a few had already mated, and under the stimulation of the divine blood, they laid eggs early!”