After the Immortal Disappeared

Hee Lingchuan glanced outside the door. Seeing no one around, he pulled his head back in and set up a Barrier.

Seeing him go to such lengths, even Jiao Yu grew tense.

Hee Lingchuan opened the *Record of God Worship* and flipped through it page by page.

Back when he was trying to get a gift for Sunx Fuling, he had memorized the entire *Record of God Worship* without missing a single word. However, that booklet had been found for him by Shi the Second. Though the content was identical, its layout and font were vastly different from this copy.

Hee Lingchuan quickly flipped through the pages, confirming the book itself held no hidden mechanisms, and then took out Mr. Mai’s notebook.

Yes, the very one filled with secret code.

“What!” Jiao Yu’s tiger eyes went wide. “This secret code is meant to be used with the *Record of God Worship*?”

Hee Lingchuan smiled, the picture of confidence. “What’s the harm in trying?”

In fact, Zhongsun Mou’s group had received the book first. Hee Lingchuan had seen it happen and had been pondering it for some time. When the limping beggar also showed up to deliver a *Record of God Worship*, he’d have been a fool not to put two and two together.

‘If the book was useless, why would the tall man bother delivering one to both sides?’

Jiao Yu’s interest was piqued. His massive tiger head leaned in, completely blocking the light. “How do you decipher it?”

Hee Lingchuan had no choice but to push his large head away. “You’re blocking the light!”

It had to be said, the fur felt incredible. He couldn’t resist giving it a couple more pats.

General Antelope also leaned in.

Hee Lingchuan simply took out a stalk of Fluorescent Grass.

“When cracking this kind of secret code, the difficulty is all in finding the key. Find the right book, and you’re more than halfway there.” Hee Lingchuan pointed to the first row of the code. “Each set has three numbers, which should correspond to the page, column, and row, respectively. So this is page thirty-five, column six, row nine. Let me see—”

“The character is ‘five’.”

Using this method, he deciphered all the secret code on the first piece of paper:

“High noon on the seventh day of the first month, at the Baisha Jue Xingwang Village South Tea House?”

‘The name “Baisha Jue” certainly stands out now.’

Jiao Yu carefully used the tip of his claw to turn to the second page so as not to tear it. “Again.”

“Early morning, twenty-third of the fourth month, Lingqu Hundred Lions Courtyard.”

Jiao Yu explained to Hee Lingchuan, “Lingqu is a small town in Northern Chiyan.”

“Located in Qii State?”

“Yes.”

“How far is it from Baisha Jue?”

“Hmm, about fifty li?” Jiao Yu asked him. “Do you think these are the times and places for a rendezvous?”

“Of course,” Hee Lingchuan laughed. “But the handwriting in this notebook isn’t Mr. Mai’s. Which means the times and places for the rendezvous were designated for Mr. Mai by someone else.”

Jiao Yu understood. “His superior?”

“Very likely,” Hee Lingchuan said thoughtfully. “Mr. Mai wasn’t this cautious when collecting Pulp Pearls from Wan Song and the others, nor did he need to change the meeting spot every time. This person must have a high or otherwise special status. They’re risk-averse and require more stringent precautions.”

He deciphered another line of the code.

“The twenty-ninth of the seventh month, at 1:30 PM, on the fourth floor of the Baisha Jue Tide Lake Tower!”

Upon seeing this, Jiao Yu’s eyes lit up. “Today is the nineteenth of the seventh month. They haven’t met yet!”

“How long does it take to get to Qii State from here?”

“Traveling at a normal pace, about five or six days,” Jiao Yu calculated. “If we travel day and night, with our speed, it’ll take two and a half days at most!”

“In other words, according to Mr. Mai’s normal schedule, if he stayed in Frost and Dew Town for the full ten days before heading to Qii State, the timing would be perfect,” Hee Lingchuan smiled. “He’s going to hand over the Pulp Pearls.”

If Mr. Mai had a superior, he would have to periodically hand over the full amount of Pulp Pearls he obtained from Wan Song.

General Antelope stood up and shook his fur, his impatience showing. “Let’s hit the road now! We have to get there before Mr. Mai!”

‘Travel at night?’

Seeing Hee Lingchuan frown, General Antelope put on a wheedling expression. “My deadline to head east is fast approaching, and I’ll be punished if I’m late. I want to get this over with as soon as possible. That Zhongsun Kid is keeping a close eye on me.”

He had to reach the battlefield within ten days, but now he had to make a trip to Baisha Jue first. His schedule was too tight to afford any waste.

“Baisha Jue?” Hee Lingchuan smiled. “We’re not going.”

General Antelope stared. “What?”

Jiao Yu chimed in, “The deal isn’t until the twenty-ninth of the seventh month. What’s the point of going early?”

“I have an old friend in Baisha Jue. He might be able to help us investigate,” General Antelope urged. “If we can prepare in advance, wouldn’t it be perfect to catch them red-handed?”

“You’ve forgotten Mr. Mai is a fugitive,” Jiao Yu pointed out. “His hideout was raided. He might warn his superior, which means this deal will likely be called off.”

“Uh…” Mr. Antelope was speechless, then grew agitated. “Then what do *you* suggest we do?”

The two Demons stared blankly at each other, then turned in unison to look at Hee Lingchuan. He had one hand resting on the *Record of God Worship*, his face deep in thought.

“Who do you guess sent this book?”

The two Demons shook their heads decisively. “No idea.”

Jiao Yu added, “Besides us and Zhongsun Mou, is there someone else watching Mr. Mai?”

“Hard to say, but that person definitely wants us to get to Qii State on time,” Hee Lingchuan said. He thought, ‘The person pulling the strings wasn’t sure who ended up with the coded pages, so they sent a book to both me and Zhongsun Mou, hedging their bets. This is probably because the old gatekeeper, the one implanted with Eye Mites, hadn’t returned yet when I took the Scroll from Mr. Mai’s study. In other words, the one who planted the mites on the old gatekeeper and sent the book to both our teams is the same person. Who could this person be? I can’t just assume this person means me no harm.’

“He knows exactly what Mr. Mai is up to and how he contacts his superior,” Hee Lingchuan said, his expression turning serious. “He even seems desperate to push all the clues right into our laps.”

Jiao Yu mused, “Could this person have a deep-seated grudge against the mastermind?”

Hee Lingchuan, however, said, “Or maybe this is another trap.”

“A trap?”

“Have you forgotten?” Hee Lingchuan asked. He certainly hadn’t. “When we went to Yulun Mountain to check the Porcupine Den, Mr. Mai seized the opportunity to send Wan Song to intercept us. He did that because he was tracking our movements. What if he tries to pull the same trick again? How many routes are there from Frost and Dew Town to Baisha Jue?”

Jiao Yu thought for a moment. “Two? Three?”

“Two! Two!” General Antelope impatiently tapped the floor a few times, heedless of the guests who might be sleeping downstairs. “Just tell us, what should we do now!”

“I’ve already said, we’re not going to Baisha Jue.”

“Then what are we gonna do?”

“Let’s leave Baisha Jue to Zhongsun Mou. If he can crack the case, we’ll gladly reap the benefits without lifting a finger.” ‘After all, Fushan Yue just wants the truth. The process doesn’t matter, nor does who solves the puzzle, so long as he gets a conclusive result.’ “We’ll stay behind to track down Wan Song. It’s the exact opposite of our previous arrangement.”

‘Before, Zhongsun Mou was chasing the killer while I investigated Mr. Mai. Now, it looks like we’re switching roles.’

General Antelope exclaimed, “That’s right! We need to track down Wan Song!”

Wan Song was the one who’d directly murdered his kin from the Wind-Drilling Beast Race. Of course he should be the one hunting Wan Song down to demand blood for blood! The whole situation was so confusing, it had almost led him astray.

“So where do we start?”

“I want to go back to Youtian Town,” Hee Lingchuan said. “We left in too much of a hurry earlier. There are some things I didn’t get to ask about.”

Yesterday, after getting Mr. Mai’s address from Wan the Wealthy, they had rushed straight over.

“Right, what’s the clue with that Ivory Ball?” General Antelope suddenly remembered. “I saw you holding it for a long time.”

“It’s just an Ivory Ball, what kind of clue could there be?” Hee Lingchuan gave a slight smile. “I like ivory. Is there anything wrong with me admiring it?”

“Uh…” General Antelope grunted and turned to leave. Hee Lingchuan beckoned the Cangying down from a tree and ordered, “Keep an eye on Zhongsun Mou. Don’t let that team out of your sight.”

The Cangying nodded.

Before it spread its wings and soared into the sky, it gave him a tail feather to use for guidance later.

‘Flying Birds really are the experts at surveillance and tracking,’ Hee Lingchuan mused, then set off on the road back to Youtian Town with his demonic companions.

“This time, we’ll let the Lingxu City Inspection Envoy scout the path for us,” Hee Lingchuan laughed. “We received the *Record of God Worship* but didn’t go to Baisha Jue, leaving Frost and Dew Town for Youtian Town instead. The person behind the scenes will probably think Zhongsun Mou took the Scroll, and all their attention will be focused on him from now on.”

Jiao Yu nodded. “Whatever happens, we can’t let the mastermind lead us by the nose!”

“He went to such great lengths to guide us to Baisha Jue; he’s probably set a trap. If we go, we’ll fall into it, but it feels like a waste not to go,” Hee Lingchuan said leisurely. “So let’s have the Lord Inspector scout the path for us. It would be best if nothing happens, but if he runs into a trap…”

Jiao Yu chuckled. “The Inspector is highly skilled and daring. He doesn’t need us worrying about him.”

“Exactly.”

The road between the two towns was relatively flat, so traveling at night didn’t take much effort.

Hee Lingchuan rode on the Rock Sheep’s back, flanked by a Wind-Drilling Beast on his left and a fierce tiger on his right. Passersby turned to stare, wondering what this human’s story was and what gave him the right to look so imposing.

Hee Lingchuan had long since stopped caring about the stares of others. He said to the Demons, “As for Zhongsun Mou, I suspect he knows more than he’s letting on.”

Both Demons were startled. “How so?”

“Remember in Mr. Mai’s courtyard, when I said we’d discovered the mastermind was in the business of killing Demons for their pearls?”

“We remember.”

“At the time, Zhongsun Mou casually asked, ‘Pearls? What pearls?’” Hee Lingchuan repeated. “And then he didn’t follow up.”

General Antelope tilted his head, not seeing what the issue was.

“He’s here to investigate. He shouldn’t let a single clue slip past him. We revealed such a critical motive, so why didn’t he press for more details?”

“He didn’t ask because…?” Jiao Yu blinked. “Could it be he already knows what they are?”

“I was deliberately vague and didn’t specify what kind of pearls. Plus, not every Demon can form a Demon Pearl, yet Zhongsun Mou didn’t ask a thing,” Hee Lingchuan said slowly. “It was subconscious. He didn’t need to ask because, deep down, he already knew what they were.”

“Of course, we can’t rule out the possibility that the guy is just careless, but I doubt it. Someone appointed as an Inspector by Lingxu City has to be at least a little observant, right?”