Where Immortals Once Walked

General You already had his bow in hand. The zheng leaped to a great height, seeming to pause for the briefest instant, its body suspended in midair. At that very moment, its master drew the bowstring to its full arc and loosed an arrow!

Purple light flickered at the arrowhead, light formed from the gathering of origin energy. The shot streaked forth like a falling star chasing the moon. With how massive the crimson bird was, how could the shot possibly miss?

Yet in the instant of peril, the bird suddenly surged upward, dragging the bronze mirrors along with it. The arrow meant for its heart instead struck the base of its wing.

The crimson bird appeared to be in extreme agony. With a mournful cry, it plunged downward from the sky.

At the same time, the zheng descended from its leap. From this commanding height, General You’s gaze shifted and locked directly onto He Lingchuan, vicious intent flashing within his eyes.

This is bad. The young man sucked in a sharp breath, turned, and bolted.

Even if he stayed and won, so what? What was the point of fighting paper figures?

But with the crimson bird’s fate as a warning, he ducked low and leaped straight into the crown of a large tree, lest General You greet him with another arrow.

General You pointed in the direction of He Lingchuan’s escape. “Capture that enemy general, dead or alive!”

The guards behind him responded in unison and spurred their horses in pursuit.

Enemy general, my ass! He Lingchuan was guessing that the spirit medium was stirring things up behind the scenes.

As he fled, he still heard General You say, “Many thanks to Senior Brother Qing Xu for your assistance!”

“I’m just doing what I can,” the spellcaster in midair snorted. “These monster immortals have grown far too arrogant. If they aren’t taught a lesson, they’ll just keep coming back!”

Senior Brother Qing Xu? Monster immortals?

He Lingchuan silently committed those two terms to memory.

General You and that Qing Xu guy are fellow disciples?

Moreover, the language they speak is different from the language of the present age.

If He Lingchuan had not truly put in the effort to study it, practicing daily with Sun Fuling and enduring her quizzes, he would not have understood a word.

Indeed, they were speaking the ancient language of immortals!

In the current day and age, almost no living person still uses it.

These evil ghosts really are throwing themselves into their roles. I guess if you fake something long enough, it can kind of become real.

The cavalry behind him was astonishingly fast. Several times, he was nearly caught.

If not for the dense network of streets and buildings here, He Lingchuan truly would not have been able to shake them. In the end, he simply jumped into a blazing mansion. The cavalry could not follow him inside and had no choice but to rein in their horses, circle the perimeter once, and then head back to report when they found no trace of him.

Only after they left did He Lingchuan emerge from the inferno.

Wearing the divine bone amulet, he feared neither scorching flames nor even the crimson bird’s true fire.

Getting his face blackened by smoke, however, was unavoidable.

The building burned through and collapsed in the blink of an eye. No one nearby dared to linger, and he quickly left the scene as well.

After that intense chase, He Lingchuan finally had the space to consider his situation.

He had clearly been about to reach the Gan Residence and stop Third Master Gan, so how had he been flung into this battlefield with just a wave of the spirit medium’s hand?

Obviously, even in this bizarre place, the spirit medium could not kill him outright. Otherwise, why go through all this unnecessary trouble?

The last image he had received through the eyeball spider showed Third Master Gan signing the contract with the spirit medium, and her turning to ash on the spot.

Truly, kind words could not save a ghost bent on dying.

Third Master Gan had known full well that the spirit medium was suspicious and sinister, yet in the end, he still went through with it.

Ultimately, he lost to his own fear.

Recalling the battle in the city just now, He Lingchuan found the crimson bird’s destructive power staggering. It could effortlessly summon numerous fire-tornadoes, and it truly seemed as if it alone could take on an entire city. He wondered whether the greater monsters of the northern monster state possessed such capabilities as well.

As for Qing Xu and the other five spellcasters who could all fly through the air, that was clearly beyond the capabilities of present-day spellcasters. In an age so starved of spirit qi, how could any spellcaster still fly?

They also called that crimson bird a “monster immortal.” Could it be?

A bold conjecture formed in He Lingchuan’s mind.

Right, that paper figure I killed back in Purple Bamboo Garden claimed to be a hundred-man commander under General You.

Does that mean that the evil ghosts on both sides come from the same source?

That just means I have to get out of here, and fast!

Just then, he spotted another disturbance ahead. Several riders were fleeing, with the Xiaolin Army in hot pursuit.

Eh? Familiar faces, in this bizarre place?

He Lingchuan recognized at a glance that the ones fleeing were Wu Jinsong and his group.

They had originally numbered seven or eight, but now only three remained.

“Over here!” He called out to Wu Jinsong.

Hearing him, the three spurred their horses toward him, the pursuers close behind.

Relying on the divine bone amulet to ignore the flames, He Lingchuan leaped twice into a building engulfed in fire. Then, channeling true energy into his legs, he stomped down hard on two massive beams.

Wu Jinsong had just ridden beneath He Lingchuan when a thunderous crack rang out. He glanced back in time to see a huge, blazing timber crash down from above, smashing squarely into the pursuers’ heads!

The soldiers in the rear urgently reined in their horses, no longer daring to advance.

The giant beam exploded twice more as it burned, scattering sparks everywhere.

And yet one figure strode out through the fire, as casually as if strolling through a garden, utterly unfazed by the raging inferno behind him.

Wu Jinsong and the others were dumbstruck.

Even with their dulled senses, they could not help but think, Damn, this guy looks cool.

Unfortunately, He Lingchuan’s coolness lasted less than three seconds, because another massive beam burned through and came crashing down.

He took a single bounding step and landed behind Wu Jinsong on the saddle. “Go, now!” What are these idiots staring at? I bought them precious time, and they just stayed in place!

The four of them galloped away like mad.

After weaving through twists and turns for over half a kilometer, the sounds of battle faded, and there were no pursuers behind them. Only then did Wu Jinsong and the others slow their horses.

He Lingchuan asked, “How did you end up in here?” They had been saved by the skin of their teeth, truly a case of ignoring the road to heaven.

“We searched around the lake several times and found no clues. We were exhausted, so we thought we’d head into the county to rest,” they replied. They had been trapped for days, barely eating or drinking. It was only normal for them to be tired and thirsty. “As soon as we came down from the mountain, we ended up here and lost four brothers.”

There had been seven of them. Outnumbered, four had been killed.

“You didn’t enter Wuze County first?”

“No.”

He Lingchuan more or less understood now. What he had entered earlier probably had not been the real Wuze County either, but another strange space like this battlefield.

The question now was, how were they supposed to get out?

“No matter whether it’s an illusion array or a labyrinthine space, there will always be flaws, always a single path of escape.” The reason why they were in their current situation was not that the spellcaster was merciful, but because it was the rule. Without leaving a way out, the space itself could not be formed. He asked the riders, “Along the way, did you notice anything that didn’t quite fit? Anything out of sync with the outside world?”

Wu Jinsong gave a bitter smile. “Everything here is out of sync with the outside world. Nothing fits.”

Is the outside world really a hellscape of war like this?

“When I first entered, I was in Wuze County. It was only when I tried to stop Third Master Gan from signing the contract with the spirit medium that I was sent here,” He Lingchuan mused. “Why not throw me here from the very beginning?”

Wu Jinsong asked, “Because it was easier to kill you in Wuze County?”

“In other words, this battlefield wasn’t its first choice. Could it be because it’s harder to control?” He Lingchuan looked at the burning city. “The evil ghosts here are all deeply immersed in their roles, each acting their own part. Maybe they don’t listen to it very well?”

Wu Jinsong was even more confused. “What evil ghosts?” He had lost his souls, not his brain, so why could he not understand any of what the other party was saying?

Seeing their expressions only confirmed He Lingchuan’s suspicion. The evil ghosts and paper figures rampaging everywhere were visible only to him. Everyone else was completely deceived.

He was about to explain when he suddenly let out a soft “huh.”

The eyeball spider had suddenly moved away!

He had been too busy dealing with the battlefield to switch perspectives, but he had always vaguely sensed the spider’s direction and distance.

The direction had been especially erratic—sometimes east, sometimes west. He Lingchuan had been unable to track it, as though he himself stood at the center of a circle while Third Master Gan walked along an outer ring.

But now, the distance between him and the eyeball spider abruptly stretched, growing so vast that their connection became faint and intermittent.

Bad signal? Where did it go?

He Lingchuan immediately switched perspectives.

The eyeball spider was still on Third Master Gan. But from its viewpoint, the scenery was no longer the Gan Residence.

There were bamboo groves, wild grass, a half-collapsed small building, and behind it, a pool of clear water.

It looked like Third Master Gan had actually returned to the edge of Mochou Lake!

He strolled back to the small bamboo house, straightened a chair, sat down at the table, and placed a mirror on it.

A mirror?

The eyeball spider crept up onto Third Master Gan’s shoulder. From that angle, it could see the bronze mirror clearly.

The mirror’s surface was no longer a dull yellow sheen. Instead, flames and black smoke roiled within it, while monsters and beasts clashed with armies.

It looked less like a mirror and more like a screen.

The scene was unmistakably familiar. It was the very battlefield He Lingchuan was in! Only now, Third Master Gan had a bird’s-eye, panoramic view.

Understanding dawned on He Lingchuan.

So I’m inside the mirror?

Two details suddenly resurfaced in his mind.

When he had rushed into the Gan Residence courtyard, the massive white marble screen wall had been painted with a romantic scene of flowers and moonlight, but one side was blank.

That made no sense.

A screen wall’s purpose was not just to block the view behind and create a winding, secluded atmosphere. Most also bore inscriptions to add interest. The He Family had moved twice, and Madame Ying had always paid particular attention to their screen walls.[1]

There had been a painting, but where was the inscription?

A painting without words was like a beauty going out without makeup. Who would recognize her?

He had not had time to look closely when he vaulted over the wall earlier. But when he had paused at the round moon gate and glanced down, he had caught sight of a line of crooked, clumsy words: Mo’er was here.

It was written near the base of the wall, partly hidden by greenery. It was probably scrawled with charcoal, who knew how long ago. If He Lingchuan had not been looking down from above, he might have missed it entirely.

Most importantly, the words were reversed.

Just like writing words on your hand and then looking at them in a mirror, the reflected words were backward.

Following that line of thought, once he had returned to Wuze County, it really did seem that he had not seen a single plaque, signboard, or couplet. Even the Purple Bamboo Garden’s sign had been completely obscured by swaying bamboo branches.

Thinking back now, that must have been because the mirror’s owner did not want him to discover the secret.

Yet no matter how careful, there was always a slip. The small writing on the round moon gate had escaped notice, even by whoever or whatever it was responsible for all this, and so it had never been erased.

However, that had been in Wuze County.

“Head that way!” He Lingchuan scanned the surroundings, then gestured for Wu Jinsong to ride toward a nearby five-story tower.

1. A screen wall, also called a spirit screen, spirit wall, yingbi, or zhaobi, is used to shield an entrance gate in traditional Chinese architecture. Spirit screens can be positioned either on the outside or the inside of the gate they are protecting. ☜