Where Immortals Once Walked

Through the puppet’s eyes, He Lingchuan took in his surroundings and understood that the Grand Return Sect had not opened this cave abode here on a whim.

So-called blessed grotto-heavens did not always refer to places overflowing with spirit qi, warm winds, and spring scenery. Ancient immortals had opened cave abodes on snowy mountaintops and within worlds of magma precisely so they could feel the raw might of heaven and earth and contemplate the natural workings of creation.

Ancient immortals might have been able to jump straight into magma for a hot mud bath, but people of the present era would never dare.

It was too hot ahead, so the puppet did not continue forward. Instead, it reached into the sack, took out pieces of spirit-surging ore, and threw them one by one into the magma pool.

Every time it threw a piece, it shouted, “Guardian Spirit of Mount Xu, show yourself at once!”

The cavern was spacious, and the shout echoed as it rolled out over the magma, lingering for a long time.

Spirit-surging ore was loose and crumbly by nature, and He Lingchuan had already smashed it with a hammer beforehand. Even the largest piece weighed no more than two to three kilograms, making it just the right weight for an ordinary person to throw.

Once the pieces fell into the magma, a few bubbles soon rose.

The puppet kept a steady rhythm, tossing in one piece every dozen breaths or so. Rather than feeding—no, rather than making offerings—it was more like harassment.

A few decades ago, the guardian spirit would not have deigned to notice offerings of this frequency at all. If it were in a bad mood, it might even have hurled magma at the offender.

What are you doing? Are you feeding fish? Get lost!

But ever since the Grand Spirit-Gathering Array had taken effect, the offerings the rock-fire aberrant creature received had dwindled year by year. It was always hungry now.

Even a fly, however small, was still meat.

So when the sack of spirit-surging ore was nearly empty, the magma in the pool suddenly began to churn. Something bulged upward from the center, and crimson light flared brilliantly.

A heat wave struck his face. The puppet immediately shut its eyes and retreated several steps.

Thick magma streamed downward, and the aberrant creature rising from within finally revealed its true appearance.

It looked like a giant bear, with a thick, squat body and short, heavy limbs, but its tail was very long. As it swam across the magma, it caused the pool to bubble and pop as molten rock was pushed around.

The instant it appeared, the entire cavern brightened severalfold. The creature itself shone with such dazzling radiance that it was difficult to look straight at it.

He Lingchuan had attended public lectures in Panlong City, so he knew that rock-fire aberrant creatures, like the Wind Demon, did not actually have fixed forms. They could change shape as they pleased. The form it had taken now was that of a fire armadillo, a kind of fire-rat creature that could survive in the world of magma. Next time it appeared, it might well take on a different form.

Its whole body was formed from blazing red molten rock and solid black rock. The moment its front claws touched the edge of the magma pool, the ground hissed, and blue smoke rose.

“A mortal?” It looked down its nose at the puppet, its booming voice echoing through the mountain’s belly. “A mortal dares summon me? Hand over more ore, and I may spare your life!”

Those few pieces of spirit-surging ore were barely enough to wedge between its teeth. If this frail mortal could not produce more ore, then his little life would have to extinguish Lord Juju’s anger at being woken.

Following He Lingchuan’s will, the puppet spoke. “Guardian Spirit Juju, I meet you on my master’s behalf.”

“Your master? And what sort of scallion is that?” Juju seemed to glare at the puppet, then sneered. “A puppet? Hah, a coward who hides his head and shows his tail thinks himself worthy of negotiating with me?”

It saw through the situation at once, so He Lingchuan did not bother going in circles. “If you kill the puppet, there will be no further offerings. Aren’t you hungry after being mistreated by the Heavenly Palace for so long?” He continued, “And take a good look at where we are. How long has it been since anyone last entered this cave abode?”

“Several hundred years. What, did you get hold of some old Grand Return Sect relic?” Juju shook its neck, sending magma sliding down in sheets. “Or are you a disciple of the Grand Return Sect?”

The mountain guardian clearly understood the opening procedure of this cave abode. It had not been broken open by force, which meant someone had found the right key and the right lock.

A disciple of the Grand Return Sect? He Lingchuan caught that phrase, and his heart stirred.

Is Juju saying that the Grand Return Sect’s legacy isn’t extinct, and that its disciples still walk the mortal realm?

Thinking back, when the northern monster state destroyed the Grand Return Sect, it had not yet reached its peak, so perhaps its methods had not been as ruthless as those of later generations. The Grand Return Sect, as a Daoist sect, had perished, but some of its disciples might have simply retreated rather than been wiped out.

Juju had participated in that battle from beginning to end. It should know better than anyone.

“Before Venerable Muling passed away, he specifically left me a prophecy and invited me to come down and see you.”

He Lingchuan did not say that Venerable Muling had “guided” him. He said the man had “invited” him down, deliberately raising his own standing. With a naturally born spirit like Juju, excessive courtesy and humility were useless. It would only think you weak and easy to bully.

Creatures like this recognize only strength.

The mortal puppet he had sent out was, of course, nowhere near enough. So he had the puppet take out a section of a branch and toss it toward Juju.

Juju did not catch it. The branch landed in the magma on its body and gave off a wisp of blue smoke, but did not instantly vaporize.

“Oh?” Juju seemed a little surprised. It lifted a claw, fished the branch out, and brought it before its eyes.

To a mortal, it was a large branch, but before the mountain guardian, it was just a tiny toothpick.

The branch slowly blackened, and its tip began to burn, but judging by the pace, it would continue burning for quite some time.

“This is a branch from the Baoshu King?” Juju seemed to be slowly savoring it. “No, not quite. Why does it have a little of the Dao-Seeking Tree’s bitterness?”

“How’s the taste?” As expected of a gourmand, it identified the flavor immediately.

“Barely passable.”

“Then savor it slowly.” He Lingchuan knew this creature’s mouth was picky beyond belief. If it said “barely passable,” that meant the quality was excellent. If it truly found something unpalatable, it would have rejected it outright.

So the puppet tossed over several more juluo tree branches.

As the Generous Pot’s inner tree, the juluo tree possessed some of the Baoshu King’s qualities. Recently, it had also consumed the Hundred-Faced Nightmare and the Dao-Seeking Tree’s golden leaf, so its nature had changed considerably. Even Juju, who had tasted delicacies from across the four seas, was now tasting a freshness it had never encountered before. Its mood immediately improved, and it looked at He Lingchuan with a little more regard.

“This spirit wood—” The aftertaste was long and quite pleasant, but it did not want to praise the other party. “Where did you get it?”

“A completely new breed. I cultivated it myself.” He Lingchuan calmly took Generous Pot’s credit for himself. The pot had no mouth anyway and could not protest. “But the yield is low.”

Juju put the branch into its mouth and held it like a toothpick. “What do you want? Speak.”

“I heard you guard Star-Plucking Tower for the gods.” He Lingchuan went straight to the point. “I want the treasure inside Star-Plucking Tower. Please make an exception.”

“Which treasure?”

“The one enshrined in its shrine.” He had hidden a trap in his words.

“The Splendid Mountains and Rivers Diagram or the Generous Pot’s lid?” Juju tilted its head. He Lingchuan felt as though it had rolled its eyes at him. “You are not the first. The ones before you all failed.”

So the Generous Pot’s lid really is enshrined in Star-Plucking Tower.

He Lingchuan inhaled silently. He had no interest in the Splendid Mountains and Rivers Painting. So long as he could confirm the location of Generous Pot’s lid, this one piece of intelligence was enough to fix the direction of all later action.

Juju did not know how important its casual remark was. He Lingchuan had extracted a crucial piece of information for free.

“Others tried to steal it too? Why?”

“How would I know? Ask them.”

He Lingchuan’s heart thumped. “Was the greater monster Chifeng also here to steal those two treasures?”

Juju chuckled. “Who can say? Star-Plucking Tower has many secrets. Foreign enemies do not always come only for treasures.”

“Lingxu City says it was defeated by Fan Long.”

Juju was disdainful. “If I hadn’t acted, Fan Long couldn’t have defeated shit!”

He Lingchuan asked, “I heard that before the Grand Spirit-Gathering Array was rebuilt, the Heavenly Palace treated you with the utmost respect?”

“You need not try to provoke me. Many have come asking me to make exceptions. My answer is always the same: as long as this Grand Spirit-Gathering Array remains, I cannot make any exception!”

“How exactly does the Grand Spirit-Gathering Array suppress you?” Some questions could only be answered accurately by the victim himself.

“This Grand Spirit-Gathering Array built by Lingxu directly suppresses Mount Xu’s earth veins, which means it suppresses my source!” Juju grew furious as it spoke. The entire magma pool began to boil. “They deceived me!”

To build this grand array, it had expended boundless strength moving peaks and reshaping mountains, only to receive this outcome in return. “Humans, hah. Silver tongues, all of them!”

It pointed at its own neck. Only then did He Lingchuan notice that there was actually a collar fastened there—wide, thick, and carved with intricate patterns.

The Heavenly Palace really is something. They’re completely treating the mountain guardian as their own watchdog.

The puppet had no choice but to retreat a few more steps to avoid the splashing magma. If even one drop landed on it, the man would be finished.

“If the Grand Spirit-Gathering Array can be broken,” He Lingchuan asked, “will you be able to escape?”

“Broken? That’s easier said than done!” Juju snorted out a stream of white smoke, which He Lingchuan took as a sigh. “This array resonates with the stars above. It can be called the combined force of heaven and earth. Even I cannot break it from the inside. Especially those peaks, as long as the mountains remain, the array remains. What can outsiders like you possibly do?”

“What about the array eye?” He Lingchuan said. “I heard the core of the Grand Spirit-Gathering Array corresponds to Tianluo Star. The strange treasure placed inside it is the bridge that communicates with the combined force of heaven and earth. If it is removed, won’t the array collapse on its own?”

“You mean the spider molt carrying the star map?” Juju gave a low hum. “Very possible, but there are two places in the entire Grand Spirit-Gathering Array that are the most heavily guarded, and the array eye is one of them. A lightning pool has been set up there as well. How do you plan to take out the star map?”

“I dare mention the array eye because I naturally have something to rely on. Otherwise, would I have come to you for this useless effort?” He Lingchuan memorized the words “lightning pool” while keeping his own trump cards hidden. “Venerable Muling also foresaw today’s situation, which is why he guided me here to find you.”

Venerable Muling had lived eight hundred years. In his lifetime, he had been the Grand Return Sect’s highly respected second-most-important figure. Naturally, Juju knew him well, and of course, it knew that the old man was skilled at divination and deduction.

“Which line of prophecy did he give you?”

“The line that helped me enter this cave abode was: ‘Dongli enters Kan water.’”

Juju lowered itself onto the surface of the magma lake and fell silent.

The very first thing it had said when they met had been a leading question.