Where Immortals Once Walked

The main problem was that the army’s morale and discipline were both poor. After pushing themselves in their march to Longchuan, the formation was practically falling apart.

He Chunhua had also been lucky. The unit assigned to ambush the rebel army’s main force made a small mistake, yet somehow failed to alert the enemy. On top of that, He Chunhua had prepared in advance and mobilized a large amount of military equipment.

He knew perfectly well what kind of troops he had under him.

If their combat strength was lacking, then weapons would have to make up the difference.

The moment the ambush began, arrows fell like rain and cannon fire thundered without pause. Two full rounds of concentrated fire hammered the rebels so badly that they threw away helmets and armor in their panic.

Half of the Rongshan Sect’s first installment of military aid had been burned up right there.

He Chunhua had gone all in.

Still, when two armies met, the bravest triumphs.[1]

Once his own troops saw just how badly the enemy had been battered, they suddenly realized the rebels were hardly anything to fear.

What were they waiting for?

Charge in and grab the credit! Grab the enemy’s heads!

Their morale surged instantly, and with wild shouts, they rushed forward and scattered the rebel force completely.

By the time Commandery Administrator Hu heard this part, he was already leading his subordinates in a frenzy of flattery, praising He Chunhua as a reborn god of war whose calculations were unparalleled.

Even Qiu Hu, who rarely praised anyone, gave a quiet, “Impressive.”

He was not praising He Chunhua for training an elite army, nor was he especially impressed by the tactics themselves. What Qiu Hu admired was how thoroughly He Chunhua understood the men under his command, and how well he knew to exploit their strengths while avoiding their weaknesses.

A strong army had to be used one way. A weak one had to be used another. The two could never be treated the same.

Adapting one’s methods to the people at hand was not something a man who merely memorized military texts could accomplish.

After several rounds of wine, Commandery Administrator Hu had just raised his cup again when a brilliant red light suddenly flared outside the window, bathing half his face crimson.

“Hm?” Everyone turned in surprise and hurried outside. Threads of red light had suddenly appeared across the northern night sky, fine and densely interwoven. Before long, they traced out hills, fields, city walls, buildings...

There was just one strange thing. The enormous scene was upside down.

At least, that was how it appeared from where they stood.

Commandery Administrator Hu stared upward. “Why is it so clear tonight?”

He Chunhua glanced at him. “Tonight?”

“Yes. There have been strange phenomena in the night sky quite often lately. This cityscape has appeared several times already, but never this clearly.”

It seemed to be a mighty city on a plain—

No, on a highland.

Though the image hung inverted in the sky, He Chunhua immediately recognized the distinctive triple-layered gate walls. His expression changed. “Panlong City?”

He had personally visited the Panlong Ruins before and remembered the southern gate standing on the highland extremely well. One glance was enough.

“There are explosions inside the city,” He Lingchuan said, his eyes narrowing. “It looks like fighting is happening.”

They could even make out tiny figures flickering through the streets and alleys inside the city, though each was smaller than a bean from this distance and impossible to see clearly.

There were also other things. Things that did not look human. However, they moved very quickly.

What are those things? Why are they inside Panlong City?

The strange creatures within the city seemed to be pursuing the humans relentlessly.

Whenever one caught up, the human figure disappeared.

The red-light phenomenon lasted for roughly half an hour before suddenly contracting into a single beam.

The city vanished. The figures inside vanished. All that remained was a pillar of red light shooting straight into the heavens, its lower end seemingly rooted deep within the desert.

Though the beam itself was narrow, it cast a crimson glow across every face below. Even the dark gray outer walls of Heishui City were coated in a layer of gold-red.

He Lingchuan murmured, “Damn. That’s way too conspicuous.”

What a spectacle.

Anyone living around Panlong Desert who was not blind could see it.

He Chunhua patted him on the shoulder. “Want to go exploring again?” The place where the red beam converged. It should be deep within the Panlong Desert, right where the ruins lay, right?

“No!” He Lingchuan refused immediately. “Old man, that’s not a place humans should go.”

He Chunhua chuckled several times.

He Lingchuan understood perfectly well what that laugh meant.

He did not have a choice.

Under everyone’s gaze, the red beam abruptly vanished.

Just as suddenly as it had appeared.

Commandery Administrator Hu sighed, his expression troubled. “When strange omens descend from Heaven, monsters and calamities often follow.”

He Chunhua suddenly asked, “What does Grand Shaman Zhaomandu say about this?”

Commandery Administrator Hu replied, “The grand shaman left about a month ago. He said he was going to travel the world. He still hasn’t returned.”

And when someone like him said he was “traveling,” it basically meant: don’t ask where I’m going, because even I don’t know.

“Is that so?” He Chunhua sounded disappointed.

He happened to have many questions he wanted to ask the Grand Shaman. Unfortunately, it seemed that he had missed the other party entirely.

He Lingchuan’s gaze shifted slightly.

He Lingchuan himself had wanted to pay the grand shaman a visit shortly after arriving in Heishui City, only to find the residence empty.

Commandery Administrator Hu had given him exactly the same answer.

Now that the spectacle was over and everyone had drunk their fill, Commandery Administrator Hu personally escorted them back to their inn before finally taking his leave.

On the way back, He Lingchuan spotted three or four people seated beneath a snakeskin awning at an intersection. His footsteps slowed for a fraction of a second.

Qiu Hu followed his gaze. His expression tightened as well.

The men were noisily slurping noodles from steaming bowls almost as large as washbasins.

The odd reaction from He Lingchuan and Qiu Hu lasted only an instant before both returned to normal.

Once they reached the inn, He Lingchuan finally said to He Chunhua, “Old man, those men eating noodles at the intersection, we saw them on Hongya Route. They’re not good people.”

“What makes you say that?”

“They’re either soldiers or bandits.” He Lingchuan borrowed Qiu Hu’s judgment. “We originally thought they were planning to rob travelers on the Hongya Route, but they’ve come into the city instead.”

“Those few men can’t stir up much trouble.” He Chunhua did not seem concerned. “Heishui City isn’t under my administration anymore. I’m not going to worry about someone else’s jurisdiction.”

If he started interfering in local affairs without invitation, where would that leave Commandery Administrator Hu?

With that, everyone returned to their rooms to rest.

Before He Chunhua went back to his own room, however, he suddenly doubled back and handed He Lingchuan a cloth bundle. “Wu Shaoyi asked me to give this to you. After the rebellion was put down, he retired to Ya Province. He said that the mountains and rivers there were beautiful enough to serve as his burial place.”

He Lingchuan sighed.

Wu Shaoyi did not have much time left. After their parting in the capital, they would probably never meet again.

That old brother had lived a difficult life, rising and falling again and again.

In many ways, his life was a miniature reflection of Yuan’s past twenty years. It was a witness to the decline of ordinary livelihoods and the rot within officialdom.

Medicine could no longer save Wu Shaoyi, but could Yuan still be saved?

He Chunhua was curious as well. “What do you need all this for?”

“I made a bet with someone that I could get my hands on Tu County’s annals!”

He Chunhua clicked his tongue, knowing perfectly well that his son was spouting nonsense. Still, it was only a bundle of old books, so he could not be bothered asking further.

After entering his guest room, He Lingchuan opened the cloth bundle. Several books were wrapped inside. Apart from the Tu County’s annals he had specifically requested, there were also three clan histories belonging to prominent local families.

A note had been tucked among the pages. Wu Shaoyi had marked every page related to Longchuan.

He had also included a letter, a rather weighty one.

He Lingchuan had only asked on the off chance that something might turn up. He had not expected Wu Shaoyi to genuinely find the county annals, much less material related to Longchuan.

Longchuan fell under Tu County, but over the past two hundred years, the region had changed hands four times. Besides Panlong City at the beginning and Yuan at the end, it had belonged to two other states in between.

Of course, what He Lingchuan truly cared about was how Longchuan had been described more than 160 years ago, back when it was still under Panlong City’s rule.

1. This is a play on words by the author. The original text here is 两军相逢勇者胜, which is a reference to 狭路相逢勇者胜, which I’ve translated as either “On a narrow path, the bravest triumphs“ or “When two warriors meet on a narrow path, victory belongs to the one with the courage to step forward.“ ☜