After the Immortal Disappeared

Chapter 112: Chapter 113: The Worst Lot x2

”They’re at the foot of the mountain. They want to come up tomorrow morning.”

”Send someone down with a message or to guide them, and tell them to come tonight! Say that we had a massive catch from Immortal Spirit Lake tonight, thousands of pounds, and we’re preparing an all-fish feast. Invite them to come get a fresh taste.” Lui Yao chuckled. ”Those bastards are probably stuck eating coarse grains at the foot of the mountain. When they hear this, won’t they be drooling?”

In fact, after fleeing from Woling Pass, these men hadn’t dared to plunder freely along the way, lest they attract local attention and trigger a joint, cross-prefecture pursuit.

As a result, their rations had been poor, and coupled with low morale, every man was dejected.

”When you deliver the message, be loud. Make sure as many people hear it as possible. That way, Wu and Pei’s men will get restless, and they won’t be able to delay coming up the mountain even if they want to.”

The Rebel Army had suffered an unprecedented rout, and their Commander-in-Chief’s prestige had plummeted to rock bottom. This created a situation of weak leaders and strong soldiers. Discipline was in shambles, making it difficult for the commanders to control their men. If the soldiers grew discontent, felt they were being treated unfairly, or started to doubt their leaders’ competence, they were liable to mutiny.

At times like these, the Generals had to be mindful of their subordinates’ needs and feelings. Otherwise, everyone would just go their separate ways and the men would scatter. The worst-case scenario would be assassination and a power grab.

His confidant assented and was about to leave when Lui Yao suddenly added, ”Do not mention the government troops on the mountain. Remember that. You must remember that!”

In these extraordinary times, the routed army was psychologically scarred by the government soldiers. If they knew government soldiers were here, Wu and Pei might not come up the mountain.

* * *

The room was crowded, so Hee Lingchuan went out for some fresh air. He also took the opportunity to scout the nearby terrain again to get a clear picture in his mind.

Tonight would not be peaceful. This village was very likely to become the next battlefield.

The earlier commotion had given way to tranquility. Xianling Village was immersed in the evening breeze. If not for the Guards patrolling back and forth, no one would have guessed that something major was about to happen in this small mountain village.

He walked past the Water Spirit Temple. The best building in the entire village looked unremarkable in the thick darkness. The temple wasn’t large, but it was built squarely and symmetrically. Its location was also excellent, with its back to the mountain and facing the vast lake.

Then, he heard a CLATTER, as if something had been knocked over, shattering on the ground and rolling a couple of times.

Hee Lingchuan stopped and called out:

”Who’s there?”

The Water Spirit Temple was silent, its main gates wide open like a gaping mouth.

’Could there be fierce bandits hiding inside?’

Hee Lingchuan glanced around, asked a patrolling Guard for a torch, and walked in, his hand on the hilt of his sword.

’What’s there to be afraid of? The Water Spirit Temple is in the eastern part of the village, and this is government soldiers’ territory now.’

The temple was quite spacious. In the front was the offering hall, behind it a meeting area, and the low buildings on the sides were the living quarters for the Temple Watcher and for storage.

Previously, the bandits had hidden weapons under the Spirit Shrine, but they had taken them all back after drawing a clear line between themselves and the government soldiers.

Hee Lingchuan walked a full circle inside the temple with the torch. There was no one, not even another living creature.

The ground was covered in footprints, likely left by the bandits from before.

Then, he saw a fortune stick container on the ground in front of the shrine, its contents scattered all over.

’That must have been the sound I heard earlier, this thing falling. Did a cat do it?’

Hee Lingchuan recalled what Mrs. Zhu had said. The fortunes from the Water Spirit Temple’s sticks used to be very accurate. But as more and more people came to ask, the Water Spirit grew tired of it and forbade people from asking about fortune and misfortune anymore.

He subconsciously started to pick up the container. Halfway through bending down, he suddenly felt something was wrong:

’What am I doing?’

’The Water Spirit is gone, so what’s the point of picking this crap up?’

’Besides, the old turtle stopped telling fortunes even when it was alive.’

Just as Hee Lingchuan was about to straighten up, he suddenly saw a fortune stick stuck in the crevice of the altar table’s carvings. It was right under his nose, practically pointing at him.

It was almost touching his face.

The stick was blood-red. Even in the poor light, it was hard for him not to notice it.

He casually pulled the stick out and found that it wasn’t stained with blood, but painted red all over.

Looking at the small characters on it, Hee Lingchuan cursed his bad luck under his breath.

At the very top of the stick were two words:

Utter Misfortune.

Then he saw a verse below it:

The cuckoo occupies the magpie’s nest; toiling for another’s benefit.

When Hee Lingchuan read this line clearly, his hand trembled.

He ignored the latter phrase for a moment, but the phrase ’the cuckoo occupies the magpie’s nest’ struck him like a bolt of lightning, piercing the deepest part of his soul.

He was a soul from another world who had occupied the body of ’Hee Lingchuan’. Wasn’t that exactly ’a cuckoo occupying the magpie’s nest’?

Hee Lingchuan looked up at the Spirit Shrine. ’Was the Water Spirit really dead? It doesn’t seem like it. Or was it just a coincidence that this stick fell out?’

Suddenly, footsteps sounded from behind him, and Hee Yue’s voice followed, ”Brother, what are you doing?”

Hee Lingchuan turned around and saw Madam Ying, Hee Yue, and Mrs. Zhu walking over, with Fuzzy Peach trailing behind them.

”Why did you all come out?”

”The prisoner you captured is being tortured in the back kitchen right now. I couldn’t stand it.” Madam Ying looked at the fortune stick container on the ground. ”Are you getting your fortune told?”

”This container has been sealed for a long time.” Mrs. Zhu then noticed the stick in Hee Lingchuan’s hand and was startled. ”Eldest Young Master, how did you get that ’utter misfortune’ stick!”

The ’utter misfortune’ stick from the Water Spirit Temple in Xianling Village was blood-red; she could recognize it at a glance.

”’Utter misfortune’?” Madam Ying and Hee Yue were both startled. Madam Ying snatched the stick from his hand so quickly that Hee Lingchuan didn’t even have time to react.

”What does this mean?”

Madam Ying couldn’t understand it.

Hee Yue leaned in to read it, thought about it for a long time, and then also shook his head.

Fuzzy Peach picked up the scattered sticks on the ground and returned them to the container. Hee Lingchuan held out his hand to him. ”Give it to me.”

Mrs. Zhu immediately said, ”Eldest Young Master, the Water Spirit is dead. The fortunes are no longer accurate.”

’I know,’ he thought. But he still wanted to try one more time. Hee Lingchuan held the container, muttered a few words, and then shook it hard a few times.

CLACK. A stick flew out.

Before it even hit the ground, everyone saw its color—

Blood-red.

Hee Yue snatched it up first, and in the light of the torch, read it aloud:

”A body like a cage, this hatred will only end with death!”

Another ’utter misfortune’ stick!

Everyone looked at each other in dismay. Hee Lingchuan’s expression was grim. ’Wasn’t drawing one of these damn things enough?’

’What does ’a body like a cage’ mean?’

Zhu Xiu’er, watching from the side, felt that this fortune stick truly described her current situation perfectly. ’But why did Eldest Young Master Hee draw it?’

’A man like him, so free and domineering, what did he have to do with a ’cage’? Let alone a hatred that would only end with death.’

”I’ve never heard of anyone being this unlucky,” Fuzzy Peach couldn’t help but say. ”Eldest Young Master, is there something wrong with this container?”

Hee Lingchuan clenched his fists. ’The local Water Spirit met its own demise; how could asking for a fortune still be useful?’

’Is someone secretly messing with me?’

Hee Yue snatched the container. ”Let me try.”

Madam Ying was scared and grabbed her precious son’s arm. ”Don’t! This thing is seriously weird.”

”The art of divination is meant to be mysterious and profound,” Hee Yue said with a laugh. ”Don’t worry, Mother. My luck has never been bad.” With that, he gave it a few shakes.

A stick fell to the ground. It was a plain bamboo stick.

Hee Lingchuan picked it up and looked. A mid-to-high fortune.

”Huh, yours is pretty good.”