After the Immortal Disappeared

Chapter 434: Chapter 433: Time and Again

’The Beacon Tower must be heavily guarded!’ After much thought, he decided to find a Mage to install a Barrier.

Dragon Throat Ridge was already protected by a Talisman Array, though it was usually inactive. The army had several resident Mages, so wasn’t this an easy job for them?

But to pay for adding a Barrier to the Beacon Tower, the Garrison Commander didn’t have time to file a report—and even if he did, it wouldn’t be approved quickly. He’d have to wait at least ten to fifteen days. Thus, he had no choice but to pay for it out of his own pocket for the time being.

The second night, all was peaceful.

The Barrier consumed energy every minute it was active. No matter how efficient the Defense Barrier created by the Mage was, keeping it active for ten double-hours a day would consume at least half a Profound Crystal.

That was a whole one every two days!

He had been sent to guard the pass at Dragon Throat Ridge, deep in the mountains, precisely because he had no money or connections. Everyone knew that guard duty at the pass was a heavy responsibility with low pay. After just two days of this, he could no longer afford it.

He requested aid from his superiors, but his immediate commander just chewed him out. ’Profound Crystals are precious strategic resources, and you want to use them against an unseen threat?’

’More importantly, there’s no end in sight to this defense. Are you planning to guard against this for a day or two, ten days, half a month, or a year or two?’

’Thousands upon thousands of silver spent without so much as a splash. If I dared to approve this, my own superior would probably think I was embezzling funds!’

So, the Barrier didn’t last long.

On the third night, the Beacon Tower was lit again. This time, three braziers were ablaze.

But there was no fighting on the Western Front. The mountain forest was quiet.

He looked up and saw the beacon at Dragon Ridge Pass quickly light up in response. The Garrison Commander’s vision went dark, and he wanted to howl at the sky.

’My brothers on that high platform over there, couldn’t you have waited a moment?’

This time, however, the soldiers guarding the Beacon Tower finally caught the real culprit:

Wild monkeys from the mountains.

These monkeys would steal torches from the camp or use branches to catch fire from the campfires, then toss them into the Beacon Tower.

The Garrison Commander was furious. ”This is absurd! Why would monkeys light the beacon for no reason?”

The soldiers were all speechless, of course. No one dared to say a word.

Later that night, a confidant quietly told the Garrison Commander that the mountains were full of wild monkeys. A few days ago, they had come to steal the soldiers’ rations and had been caught. The soldiers had burned several of them to death and divided the meat among themselves. The confidant suggested that perhaps the monkey troop held a grudge and was retaliating.

’How could this be?’ The Garrison Commander immediately sent men into the mountains to catch the monkeys.

But the mountains were the monkeys’ home turf. How could the soldiers be as agile as them here? Despite putting in every ounce of their strength, they only managed to catch three or four. As a result, the monkey troop grew even more furious, starting to throw rocks directly at the pass and the camp. Careless guards would end up with bloodied faces.

Worst of all, the Capital City had suffered another false alarm. The Crown Prince was enraged and, without another word, replaced the Garrison Commander.

...

「That same night, in Panlong City.」

Skinny was just about to leave home when the sound of gongs suddenly rang out, and someone shouted, ”Public—announcement—at—the—street—corner!”

The large-scale, pre-war mobilization announcements in Panlong City had finally begun.

Crowds gathered, listening as the man on the street corner, with a voice like a broken gong, read the contents of the proclamation.

First, the valiant and righteous King of Xiluo had issued the Relocation Command, ordering the citizens of the Panlong Wasteland to immediately return east to their homeland.

Second, the Jinxi Corridor was controlled by the Baling People, and its terrain was perilous and difficult to traverse, making it unsuitable for civilians. Panlong City had decided to open an alternate route back to Xiluo via Nantong Pass, Hebi, and the Chang River.

Third, Panlong City was declaring all-out war on the Xiji Kingdom:

Xiji has harassed our borders, killed our people, and seized our goods. These acts are intolerable.

Today, those who block our path home shall die!

The announcer’s first reading of the proclamation sparked an immediate commotion.

Through his door, Skinny could hear the sounds of running, gasps of surprise, and the opening of his neighbors’ doors to the left and right.

”We’re fighting Xiji! We’re going to war with Xiji!” Countless people were cheering.

The waves of clamor grew louder and louder.

In his memory, no street corner announcement had ever caused such a massive reaction.

By the announcer’s sixth reading, a sea of people had gathered outside. More and more residents began to chant along with him, until their voices merged into a single, heroic declaration that soared to the heavens:

”Those who block our path home shall die!”

The crowd’s passions were thus inflamed.

Skinny stood at his door, watching the teeming crowd. His young nephew stood beside him, fists clenched, and shouted in his high-pitched, childish voice, ”Those who block our path home shall die!”

Skinny found this amusing and flicked the boy’s forehead. ”Life and death... what the hell do you know about any of that?”

His nephew tilted his head and looked at him, eyes sparkling. ”Of course I know! We’re going to war, and then we can go home!”

Skinny took a deep breath.

”That’s right! We’re going to crush Xiji and carve a path home right over them!”

Like all the others who were cheering, his heart was filled with longing and heroic spirit.

Just as the Broken Blade Squad had predicted, there was no need for further war mobilization or morale-boosting. A single proclamation was enough to send the fervent, warlike spirit of the city’s soldiers and civilians soaring to its peak.

If someone were observing Panlong City from a distance at that moment, they would have seen a massive, illusory dragon figure faintly appear above the city. It resembled both a trick of light and a flowing cloud, but was in fact the physical manifestation of the city’s destiny and Primordial Power, both at their zenith.

Only now did the name ”Panlong” truly live up to its meaning.

...

With his predecessor’s fate unknown, the newly appointed Garrison Commander of Dragon Throat Pass was on edge. He first inspected the Beacon Tower, then looked at the monkeys hiding on the mountain peaks, pulling faces at him. He decided to use poison.

They hid the poison in food and threw it to the monkeys, and indeed, over a dozen of them were poisoned to death.

However, the remaining monkeys became even more enraged. Monkeys from other mountains even came to join them. They perched high above, urinating and throwing stones down at the soldiers. They chose the dead of night to make noise and disturb the officers’ sleep. They even resorted to their old tricks, repeatedly trying to throw burning branches into the Beacon Tower.

Fortunately, the sentries were on high alert and prevented the monkeys from succeeding again.

But this left everyone on edge, unable to sleep well at night and listless during the day. In this human-monkey war, casualties aside, the monkeys had the upper hand. After all, as the saying goes, a thief can try for a thousand days, but you can’t guard against them for a thousand days.

Moreover, the Crown Prince had declared that if the beacon were falsely lit again, every officer and soldier at the pass would lose their heads.

Leaders just issue orders, saying this is forbidden and that is required. The subordinates have to get it done even if it’s impossible. Those at the top only care about results.

So what could be done?

This Garrison Commander, pushed to his limit, made a decision that would have disastrous future consequences—

He would cover the Beacon Tower!

The specific method was to get large pieces of canvas from passing merchants, sew them together, and cover the braziers of the Beacon Tower. Then, they would paint it with a layer of mud and plaster, and finally sprinkle a thick layer of sand and dirt on top.

Of course, they tested it on level ground first. The Garrison Commander even personally threw a few torches onto it.

Good. It didn’t catch fire.

There was plenty of time for them to leisurely extinguish the torches.

Most importantly, it saved money. It was a hundred times—a hundred times!—cheaper than activating the Barrier.

According to regulations, this was definitely not allowed. But with the threat of execution hanging over their heads, who could care about normal rules?

This was what they called, ”the higher-ups have their threats, the people below have their countermeasures.”

In any case, they had to get past the scrutiny from above first.

And so, the large canvas cover was placed over the Beacon Tower.

A Palace Envoy sent from the Royal Palace to supervise suddenly arrived. Seeing what they were doing, he flew into a rage. ”How can you do this? Take it down, take it down!”

The Garrison Commander begged him to stay and watch for half the night.

Sure enough, at midnight, the monkeys arrived in troops to set fires.

The burning branches landed on the sand-covered lid and were extinguished. They wouldn’t light.

The monkeys shrieked in anger, while the soldiers below roared with laughter, finally getting their revenge.

”If an enemy appears beyond the pass, we’ll have time to remove the cover,” the Garrison Commander pleaded with the Palace Envoy. ”Otherwise, if we take this cover off now and the beacon is lit again, our lives will be forfeit.”

The Palace Envoy nodded repeatedly. ”You make a very good point. Take the cover off.”

”Envoy!”

”His Majesty the King ordered me to supervise the Beacon Tower, and I must ensure everything here is normal!” the Palace Envoy snorted. ”You have a cover blocking the brazier. Do you dare call that normal? If I let you pass today, and His Majesty the King reprimands me later, I won’t be able to escape responsibility. Enough nonsense. Take it down now.”

The Garrison Commander pleaded and argued to no avail. He could only order his men to remove the sand cover, mentally cursing this damn eunuch a hundred, a thousand times over.

No one noticed a figure hidden in the darkness on the mountain peak, taking in the entire scene. The figure then handed a large handful of dates to the monkeys that came rushing over.

The dates were large and sweet, and the monkeys grinned with delight as they ate.

This person was Old Yu, a temporary new member of Hee Lingchuan’s squad. He gestured and made ”ooh, ooh” sounds, somehow able to communicate with the monkey troop.

Even if the Guards below heard it, they would only assume it was the monkeys chattering.

Two more days passed.

Dragon Throat Ridge was peaceful. The monkeys, seemingly frustrated, didn’t show up. And so the Palace Envoy’s supervision ended, and he hurried back to the palace to report.

As soon as he was gone, the Garrison Commander of Dragon Throat Pass breathed a sigh of relief and quickly ordered his subordinates, ”Cover the braziers!”

”Sir?” ’Didn’t the Palace Envoy forbid it?’

”His mission is over, so he gets to go back to the palace. We have to stay here and keep guard. If something happens again, it has nothing to do with him, but we’ll be the ones losing our heads.” The Garrison Commander sneered. ”If it were you, what would you choose?”

So everyone worked together to cover the braziers. They all knew that the new king’s coronation ceremony was the day after tomorrow. They absolutely couldn’t afford another incident at such a critical time.

...

「Panlong City South Gate.」

A large contingent of troops was gathering, their countless torches illuminating the area as if it were day.

Zhong Shengguang stepped forward, drew his sword with a SHING, pointed it to the sky, and began a passionate, stirring speech.

Without a doubt, Zhong Shengguang was far more charismatic and inspiring than General Nanke.

His mobilization speech was interrupted several times by cheers from the crowd below.

The entire scene was frenzied. Listening from below, everyone felt their blood boil with excitement, eager to charge out and slay a thousand enemies.

”Spirit Rain, come forth!”

A light rain began to drizzle from the sky.

Sun Fuping had shown this same skill when mobilizing the Black Water City Army for their desert campaign, but the rain had not covered such a wide area.

This time, every one of the more than 30,000 soldiers of the Panlong City Army setting out on the expedition was anointed by the Spirit Rain. They felt lighter, stronger, their breathing became easier, and their fighting spirit soared even higher.

This was the Red General drawing upon Panlong City’s Primordial Power, ensuring that every officer and soldier was evenly blessed by the rain.

”In half a month, you will be in the capital of the Xiji Kingdom, feasting on whole roasted lamb and drinking Fengquan wine to celebrate our great victory!” Zhong Shengguang’s voice thundered across the field. ”Now, march out!”

Fengquan wine was a specialty of Xiji. The price it fetched in Panlong City was not low, and not everyone could afford it.

With a great roar, the soldiers turned as one and marched out of the city gates.

The onlooking civilians cheered wildly, throwing flowers to the soldiers.