Where Immortals Once Walked

Chapter 16: State Preceptor Sun’s Goal

State Preceptor Sun lowered his voice and said, “When the Panlong Wasteland became a place of utter desolation and when the Gale Army had reached the end of the road, Zhong Shengguang performed a blood sacrifice in divine recompense!”

He Lingchuan blurted out in shock, “A blood sacrifice in divine recompense?”

Nian Songyu quickly raised a finger to his lips. “Shh. Keep your voice down. Speaking recklessly of such things can lead to you getting your head chopped off.”

He Chunhua’s expression turned grave, and he, too, lowered his voice as he said, “If they were giving thanks to the gods, then it’s understandable why it must be kept a secret.”

The rite of divine recompense was, at its core, the act of offering living beings to a god.

Yuan had explicitly outlawed such rites. It was enshrined in the state’s fundamental laws and carried the harshest penalties. If one were discovered carrying out such a rite, the lightest punishment was execution; in more severe cases, it meant the extermination of one’s entire lineage, regardless of rank or title.

And this was not unique to Yuan. All states treated the matter the same way. The only differences lay in the degree of punishment.

He Lingchuan would never forget that his own family had once been accused of this exact crime. His grandfather had been slandered, and the King had ordered the execution of the entire He Family. The charge was precisely divine recompense. Those two words were a permanent thorn in the hearts of every descendant of the He Family.

Of course, the so-called ban on the rite of divine recompense did not include offerings to guardian or folkloric spirits, such as mountain gods, door gods, kitchen gods, or gods of fortune. After all, people had natural desires for fortune and health, and those could not be easily suppressed.

What was strictly forbidden across all nations was the secret worship of specific, named deities, those officially branded as evil gods.

The god that had doomed He Lingchuan’s clansmen had been of the name “True Monarch Tongming.”

What specifically constituted a rite of divine recompense in the eyes of the state was whether or not live offerings, especially human sacrifices, were made. If you just muttered a few prayers in private or laid out a plate of roast chicken and dried fish, no one cared who you were praying to or worshipping.

He Chunhua asked quietly, “To whom did Zhong Shengguang offer sacrifices?”

“Mitian.” Sun Fuping then went on to explain, “No honorifics or divine titles were used because the text was very sparse. It simply read, ‘He prostrated himself in worship and prayed for deliverance to Mitian.’ West Luo had laws against the rite of divine recompense too, so Zhong Shengguang must have had no other choice. I doubt He Jian would have dared record the ritual in detail.”

The name was utterly unfamiliar. He Chunhua frowned, deep in thought. “Have you ever heard of this god?”

“Never,” Sun Fuping said, shaking his head. “But Zhong Shengguang offered his own daughter as the sacrifice.”

He Chunhua’s face changed. “What?”

Zhong Shengguang truly was a ruthless man. He had actually sacrificed his own flesh and blood to a god.

He Lingchuan secretly clicked his tongue. No wonder they’re regarded as an evil god... That’s such a grave sacrifice.

“So what did the god give in return?”

“The god was pleased and rewarded him generously, something to counter the enemy and restore morale.” Sun Fuping spread his hands. “That’s all the legible text says. The rest of the record is so damaged that it’s unreadable.”

“That’s hardly better than saying nothing. If that god was so generous, what exactly was bestowed to repel the enemy? Was it some divine artifact?” He Lingchuan was dissatisfied. “You two came all this way, so you surely have a lead, right?”

This was not the time for secrecy.

Privately, he felt a faint sense of sorrow. No matter how brave or mighty Zhong Shengguang had been, when he reached the limits of human strength and realized there was no way out, even he had turned to divine aid.

Just what kind of god was Mitian to have delivered such a miraculous turn of fate? What exactly allowed the Gale Army, which was surrounded, outmatched, and on the brink of extinction, to claw its way back and hold fast for another twenty years?

What an ignorant boy. He actually shows me, a state preceptor, no respect. Sun Fuping cast He Lingchuan a sidelong glance. “He Jian’s record alone could not reveal the whole truth. But just recently, the Minister of War came upon an ancient letter, written by one of Zhong Shengguang’s personal guards. The letter was a farewell before death. It was only by comparing the two texts that the truth at last came to light.”

As the He father and son held their breath, the mystery was finally unveiled. “The reward bestowed by Mitian was named generous. Zhong Shengguang referred to it as the Generous Pot, but in truth, it was a nest of mind-bewitching worms.”

Mind-bewitching worms? He Lingchuan had to admit that whoever named them deserved credit. The name was straightforward and to the point. One glance at the name and you knew exactly what they did.

But his father, ever the one to complicate things, immediately chimed in, “Aren’t those the same as Three Corpses Worms[1]?”

“Exactly, they are those very Three Corpses Worms,” Nian Songyu said with a grin. “Those worms are formless and incorporeal by nature. They lodge themselves in the head, the belly, and the feet of a human host, stirring up delusions, agitation, and chaos. For warriors and mystic masters alike, the very first step in seeking enlightenment is to slay these Three Corpses and purge false attachments. However, common soldiers are unable to deal with them at all, making them a devastating weapon of mass destruction on the battlefield.”

“But aren’t military troops supposed to possess intense bloodlust and be protected by national fate? Isn’t that supposed to be able to repel all manner of spells and evil forces?”

This much, He Lingchuan knew about.

Military camps were never haunted. And large-scale spells rarely worked on the battlefield unless the caster was themselves a spellcaster or martial general that was a vessel of state fortune or fate.

Typically, only a state preceptor could manage something like that, such as the one standing before him.

Sun Fuping said, clapping his hands together, “But these are Three Corpses Worms, and they are practically natives to any human body. They’re not rejected by blood qi or origin energy. They can easily attach themselves to the enemy, bend their minds, and force them to turn their own weapons against them. That’s why it’s a divine weapon!”

He Chunhua finally grasped the full picture and took a deep breath. “So you’ve come for the Generous Pot?”

“Precisely,” Sun Fuping said at last, laying all cards on the table. “If it could help Zhong Shengguang hold the line back then, it can help us repel the rebels now. And if you’re worried that those worms have died by now, then I can tell you now that the Three Corpses Worms in that pot do not need to eat or breathe, so they’re definitely still alive.”

He Lingchuan suddenly asked, “Could I know who you were referring to by Minister of War earlier?”

When that title was spoken, both father and son felt a jolt in their hearts.

“Who else?” Nian Songyu arched a brow. “Naturally, it’s His Excellency Dong Haoming, the Pillar of the State, the Grand General, and the Minister of War.”

There it is! He Lingchuan met his father’s eyes. They both thought the same thing: Just as we suspected.

In barely two months, guards from Dong Haoming’s mansion, the son of the Provincial Governor of Xun Province, and a spiritual leader of Great Yuan had all appeared in Heishui City. This was clearly no coincidence, and it was only now that the threads were beginning to untangle.

He Chunhua’s face showed genuine surprise. “So it was the Minister of War himself who discovered the clue. Then your presence here is...?”

“The King and the Minister of War deliberated and came to the decision to dispatch me to the Panlong Desert. We must retrieve the Generous Pot before the rebels at Woling Pass launch their fleet. On my way, I passed through Xun Province, and Commandant Nian here sent some of his best men to assist me. He himself leads the team. But in Heishui City, we need a guide, manpower, and other forms of support.”

“You’re going to retrieve the Generous Pot?” He Lingchuan glanced at his father, then widened his eyes in disbelief. “Wait a minute, you don’t actually mean to enter the Panlong Desert, do you? The Hongya Route is about to close! Even the three-year-olds in Heishui City know that entering the desert now is barely any different from suicide!”

The more he spoke, the louder his voice grew. It was not just for show, either; he was genuinely flustered.

Over fifty days of smooth sailing, and now this?

He hated nothing more than earth-shaking crises and world-saving missions. He just wanted to coast through life as a good-for-nothing second-generation official.

He Chunhua, too, sank into thoughtful silence. “Entering the Panlong Desert now would indeed be no different from courting death. You two aren’t from around here, so you’ve never seen how vicious that place can be. Even divine arts become unreliable there.”

1. This is a reference to the Daoist concept of