Where Immortals Once Walked

Chapter 789: A Father’s True Feelings

“There are only a handful of recorded cases. You, mortals, understand almost nothing about divine power!” Naluotian chuckled deeply. “The force of a divine descent can be controlled. It does not necessarily produce overwhelming destruction. And different skin-sacks possess different tolerances. Do you think I painstakingly selected a skin-sack and had you raise him to eighteen merely so I could destroy him after using him once?”

“Chuan’er, he...”

“I have other skin-sacks that have undergone divine descent and are still alive and perfectly well. They are not mindless, insensible living corpses either.” Naluotian asked him, “You spent more than a decade on the frontier. You should know Panlong City’s history by heart, shouldn’t you?”

“Yes.” A tragic, heroic past lay buried beneath the yellow sands. He Chunhua did not approve of Zhong Shengguang’s methods, but he admired the man himself.

“Then you should know that the Red General was Mitian’s skin-sack. During those decades, the Red General campaigned across the north and south. Did her body collapse?”

“Can Chuan’er truly be compared to the Red General?”

“We have still not completely unraveled the Red General’s secrets. But He Lingchuan’s natural aptitude is more than sufficient to bear my divine descent.” Naluotian was already growing impatient. “I will only send a wisp of my avatar into his body. It will not harm him greatly. Afterward, he will retain his mind and still call you Father. What are you afraid of?”

No matter what Naluotian said, He Chunhua would never fully believe it. Every reassurance from a god served some purpose. Naluotian merely wanted his cooperation in performing the ritual of divine descent.

Yet, He Chunhua knew better than to argue with a god. “Why did you specifically choose Chuan’er to be your skin-sack? Surely you can finally tell me now.”

“Have I not told you already? Mortal bodies are worthless. The moment we descend into them, they collapse!” Naluotian sighed. “Only a tiny number of skin-sacks can withstand even a limited portion of our power. He Lingchuan’s body is one of them.”

He Chunhua refused to let the matter drop. “Why is Chuan’er so special? Couldn’t I do it?”

Until the age of sixteen, Chuan’er had always been a carefree troublemaker without a thought in his head. He Chunhua had not been disappointed by that. On the contrary, he believed a child’s finest years should be spent enjoying life to the fullest.

Let him remain happy and free of worry until...

Alas. As his father, this was the only limited compensation He Chunhua could give him.

But after Chuan’er returned from the Panlong Ruins, it was as if he became an entirely different person.

He became capable.

And unfamiliar.

What if—

What if the hope of bringing glory to the family actually rests with him rather than He Yue?

“You?” Naluotian burst into loud laughter. “You’re willing to sacrifice yourself for him? You would take his place and offer up your own body? Hahahaha! How extraordinary.”

He Chunhua opened his mouth, but the words would not come.

In that instant, countless thoughts raced through his mind. In the end, however, he still could not say the words, “I am willing.”

Naluotian laughed for a long time before sneering contemptuously. “As expected, you are still the He Chunhua I know! The He Chunhua who can sacrifice his own flesh and blood, his dearest eldest son!”

He Chunhua secretly clenched his teeth. “Why is Chuan’er special?” Judging by Naluotian’s attitude, the reason has nothing to do with me as the father. “Could it be because of Chuan’er’s birth mother?”

“That involves the secrets of body and soul. A summer insect cannot comprehend ice. Even if I explained matters this profound, you would not understand,” said Naluotian. “When you begged me for help, you just happened to be near the Panlong Desert, and you just happened to have a son capable of becoming a perfect skin-sack. What do you humans call that kind of coincidence again? Ah, an extraordinary convergence of circumstances. Otherwise, why would I ever have answered you?”

These lowly humans never understand that we heavenly gods can hardly be bothered with them.

We, heavenly gods, do not hear their daily prayers or their earnest pleas at all!

He Chunhua seized the opportunity to ask another question. “You said Chuan’er’s fate has become murky and unclear. I had always assumed that a god of fate would possess nearly absolute command over fate.”

“Mortals are the easiest creatures to manipulate. Their entire lives revolve around eating, sleeping, reproducing, growing ill, and dying. When things go well, they become smug and forget themselves. When things go badly, they blame Heaven and everyone around them. They cannot escape the crudest desires. How different are they from a flock of sheep? Their actions are all much the same. There is no need for difficult calculations to know how they will end.” Naluotian chuckled. “But the higher one rises, the more complicated it becomes. The stronger a person is, the more connections they possess and the more points at which they intersect with the world. Their fate consequently becomes increasingly difficult to unravel. Take you, for example. Transferring fortune to you requires a hundred times more divine energy than altering the fate of an ordinary person.”

Someone skilled at understanding another’s words had to pay attention not only to what was said, but also to what was left unsaid.

They had to grasp the implication behind the words.

He Chunhua immediately understood what Naluotian had implied:

It believed that He Lingchuan was no longer a “mortal” in the ordinary sense.

He was no longer the spoiled young master his father could control completely.

Perhaps he was no longer even someone whose path could be easily governed by “fate.”

That was deeply frightening.

Could a chess piece truly attempt to turn itself over?

Could it actually succeed?

“Then...” He Chunhua thought for a moment. “Can you control your own fate?”

The god of fate governed the fates of mortals.

Then who governed the fate of the god of fate?

Naluotian undoubtedly possessed boundless magical power, yet He Chunhua had always felt that it was not entirely free to do as it pleased.

Naluotian paused briefly before answering, “That is not a question you should ask.”

He Chunhua knew he had overstepped and quickly changed the subject. “But Chuan’er has now returned as Rongshan’s special envoy, supervising and approving the enormous loans Rongshan is extending to Yuan. If anything happens to him, those sums from Rongshan...”

“That has nothing to do with me.” Naluotian cut him off impatiently. “You and your revenge are both unbearably tedious. Prepare the ritual as soon as possible. Do not make me remind you a third time!”

The human face formed from smoke then dispersed, just as all seven sticks of incense burned out.

The room was thick with choking smoke, yet He Chunhua remained seated, unmoving.

The divine seal mark had been placed on his eldest son long ago.

During the past dozen years, Naluotian has hardly mentioned the matter. Why is it suddenly in such a hurry now? Is it afraid of losing Chuan’er as a skin-sack? No, there must be more to it.

Any divine descent was no easy matter even for the god itself. It consumed an enormous amount of divine energy.

Divine energy was exceedingly difficult to obtain. What god would dare squander it carelessly?

Naluotian must have other, more important secrets it had not revealed.

It said that something had changed on its side, and that certain unseen developments had appeared which it disliked. Are those changes connected to Chuan’er? Or is it something to do with the divine realm instead?

Mortals naturally knew nothing about the environment of the divine realm or what might be occurring there.

Naluotian had also mentioned the Panlong Desert just now. It had sounded casual, but He Chunhua’s instincts told him that the god actually cared a great deal.

What was inside the Panlong Desert?

The first thing He Chunhua thought of was the ruins of ancient Panlong City. They were unquestionably the heart of the Panlong Desert and the source of the season of mad sand that erupted every year.

Sun Fuping and the others had even entered the Panlong Ruins to search for treasures in the hope of reversing their fortunes and winning the war.

Searching for treasures...

Hm... Could the Generous Pot be one of the things that Naluotian is after?