Where Immortals Once Walked

At that moment, the beast tide also noticed the sandstorm closing in from behind and grew even more restless.

There was nowhere to hide on this plain. Only the stone formation or the mountains could serve as shelter from the wind, but both lay beyond the thunderclap beasts.

The Fu Realm’s environment was brutally harsh, and this kind of sandstorm was friendly to no living thing. If the duonao beasts wanted to survive, they had to reach shelter as quickly as possible.

Driven by the endless wall of sand behind them, the beast tide charged straight toward the thunderclap beasts’ den. At this point, they no longer needed the “encouragement” of those aberrant beasts.

No matter how powerful the thunderclap beast clan was, it could not hold back an ocean of enemies. They were forced to retreat step by step.

But behind them was their den, so they had nowhere left to fall back.

The Giant Thunderclap Beast let out a long cry and nearly reared upright.

Its two pillar-like front legs slammed heavily into the ground.

Another wave of lightning burst outward. This time, it rushed in every direction, but its range did not spread far, covering only the entire nest.

The dazzling blue barrier was especially striking in this dim world.

The other thunderclap beasts turned and slipped into the barrier, heads facing outward and tails inward, using their thick bodies to form a defensive ring.

At a glance, He Lingchuan understood they were protecting something.

However, the barrier’s range was limited. Of the two hundred thunderclap beasts, only a little over one hundred could stand inside it. The rest had to remain outside.

They had no choice but to turn and face the surging beast tide, letting out their final roars.

They, too, were one of the clan’s defensive lines.

By the time those roars reached the highland, they sounded all the more tragic and heroic. But the hunters no longer had the leisure to watch the spectacle. One after another, they ran toward the stone mountain behind them.

The battle ahead was thrilling, yes, but their own lives mattered more.

This great mountain had been carved by wind and sand over countless years, eroded into countless holes like a honeycomb. Though there were no deep caves, it was already the best shelter they could find.

What they had to do now was quickly circle to the leeward side of the mountain and find a suitable hollow.

Several teams, however, looked grave and deeply worried.

They had not gathered enough rinsing beads. Some of them might not make it through this sandstorm.

Just then, a hunter stepped out, lifting a small pouch. “Fifty rinsing beads here. Three beads for one grade of floating stone. Anyone want them?”

No matter how scarce supplies were, there would always be someone with plenty to spare.

The others shouted angrily, “Three for one? You’re truly black-hearted!”

Rinsing beads were found throughout the Fu Realm and were originally items one could pick up almost anywhere.

This fellow actually dares trade three beads for one grade of floating stone?

How did he even open his mouth to ask that price?

“Three for one, three for one. First come, first served.” The hunter ignored them. “Who wants them? The next batch will be more expensive!”

Before he had finished speaking, He Lingchuan took out a small pouch. “I’ll take them all!”

The Chiyan men also felt it was expensive, but He Lingchuan had a special status, and they truly lacked rinsing beads. One by one, they opened their pouches. Within a few breaths, they gathered the floating stones needed for the exchange.

The floating stones varied in shade, and their total value came to roughly 150 grades. He Lingchuan could not be bothered with anyone else’s survival. Naturally, ensuring his own team’s safety came first. Besides, with two great powers fighting below, there would be plenty of floating stones to pick up after the sandstorm. Trading some now for life-saving supplies was more than worth it.

To gain, one first had to be willing to give. Unfortunately, most people could not turn their thoughts around in such a short time.

A hundred and fifty grades of floating stones, if sold to Lingxu’s authorities in normal times, would make one rich on the spot.

In the blink of an eye, goods and payment changed hands. The hunter smiled so widely his mouth could hardly close, and then he took out another pouch. “I’ve got another thirty rinsing beads here. Two beads for one grade of floating stone. Who wants them?”

This time, it was two for one.

He Lingchuan shook his head and said to his teammates, “Let’s go. We need to find a good place to hunker down.”

The hollows on the leeward side ranged from deep to shallow. The earlier they went to look for a spot, the earlier they could choose.

The good spots had almost all been taken, and latecomers were still arriving one after another. The Chiyan men did not have much chance to be picky. They ducked into a nearby stone hollow about three meters deep and six meters wide, shaped like a gaping mouth.

It was not quite deep enough, but no one complained. Once inside, they immediately began setting up an array.

The Grass Sea event had been held for centuries, and contestants had long since bought one emergency plan after another with blood. Right now, the best way to deal with the sandstorm was a wind-stabilizing array.

The Chiyan men had brought a set of nine copper talismans. Once they were properly set up and activated, they could greatly weaken the wind attacking the cave.

Of course, that required profound crystals. The stronger the gale, the greater the array’s consumption.

Speaking of profound crystals, He Lingchuan thought of the miniature greenhouse the Ke Family had given him, the one where one reaped melons after planting melons. Unfortunately, that treasure could not be placed inside a storage ring while it was nurturing plants. Otherwise, bringing it to the Fu Realm to stimulate rinsing bead growth would have been perfect.

While helping set up the array, He Lingchuan still spared some attention for the highland.

Most teams had already found places to take shelter from the storm. Some agile duonao beasts had also darted up and were squeezing into hollows alongside the hunters.

As for the hunter selling rinsing beads, his second pouch had also sold out.

If He Lingchuan had been him, he would have stopped while ahead. Unfortunately, the man turned around and took out another pouch of rinsing beads. This time, there were ten, and he demanded a one-to-one exchange for floating stones.

The remaining teams had no patience left. Seeing that Captain Zhou and the others had already hidden in their hollows and would not interfere with their trade, they simply moved to rob him.

Two teams, twelve people in all, immediately fought until they were locked in a chaotic melee.

A third team saw this, exchanged glances, and joined in as well.

At the edge of life and death, no one held back.

In just a few dozen breaths, three people died and seven were wounded.

That hunter became the target of everyone’s arrows. At least three or four people attacked him at the same time, and he did not last even ten breaths before he died. Two of his teammates died as well. The rest, under siege, admitted defeat and handed over everything on the dead.

That included rinsing beads, floating stones, and all survival supplies.

He Lingchuan watched silently from inside the stone hollow. In the dim light, his expression was hard to read.

The other participating teams reacted exactly the same way.

There were simply too many monks and too little porridge. In the end, this was how things turned out.

Someone had to become the price so that others could live.

This fight ended quickly, because the sandstorm was already right before them. Every living person raced against time to squeeze into a stone hollow, leaving only three corpses outside.

Then the sandstorm arrived.

He Lingchuan had experienced sandstorms in the mortal realm, but compared to the one in the Fu Realm, those had been dogs beside an elephant.

Wildly flying sand covered heaven and earth.

There was no foreground, middle distance, or far distance anymore. Before He Lingchuan’s eyes, there was only spinning sand. In his ears, there was only the resounding roars of wind and thunder.

Is this what people mean by “the sky is dark and the earth yellow[1]”?

He also saw violet-red balls of lightning twisting into arbitrary shapes within the storm.

Inside the hollow, all nine copper talismans that stabilized the wind were emitting a faint white glow.

The barrier divided the inside and outside into two worlds. Although the Chiyan men hiding within the cave still had their hair and beards blown around messily, it was nothing like the world outside. He Lingchuan personally watched as the three bodies on the ground were scoured and polished by several rounds of wind and sand. First, their clothes were torn apart, then their skin and muscles...

In only fifteen minutes, the corpses were ground down by wind blades and sand until only bits of white bone remained. Then the wind blew, the bones scattered, and no one knew where they went.

He Lingchuan silently cursed. Isn’t this damn sandstorm a bit too fierce? Its power almost matches Mount Fengmo’s North-South Divine Wind!

One teammate stood and said, “I’ll keep watch. You all regulate your breathing!”

No one wasted time on courtesy. After checking their rinsing beads, they began meditating and regulating their breath.

During the storm, there was nothing else to do.

Making use of the time to regulate their breath would first relieve the fatigue of the long trek and restore their strength. After all, tracking the beast tide under more than triple gravity was already strenuous physical labor.

Once the storm passed, they would head down to clean up the battlefield, and another hard fight might be waiting.

Second, entering meditation slowed their breathing and conserved rinsing beads. They originally needed eight beads per hour, but now perhaps six, or even five, would be enough. Every bead saved was life itself.

The group took turns on watch, changing shifts every fifteen minutes.

Although the wind was wreaking havoc and the area outside the hollow was a forbidden zone, who knew whether someone might still manage to crawl over and steal supplies? The sentry had to remain vigilant.

The Chiyan team now had 352 rinsing beads. At full stretch, it would last them ten hours.

At least they could hold out until after the sandstorm ended.

* * *

Outside the hollow, there was only boundless yellow sand, and time passed unbearably slowly.

He Lingchuan finally experienced how unfriendly the Fu Realm was to visitors from the mortal realm. Here, even meditation had to be interrupted every fifteen minutes. He was unwilling to use profound crystals, so he only swallowed a small pill refined from imperial nectar.

Two hours passed.

Four hours passed.

The wind and sand showed no sign of weakening.

Everyone’s hearts sank.

Who could easily predict the Fu Realm’s weather?

By the time the wind clearly began to weaken, this sandstorm had already lasted seven full hours.

The wind speed outside the hollow dropped, and visibility improved.

The group wrapped scarves around their faces to cover their mouths and noses, then rushed out without waiting for the wind and sand to stop completely.

Time was life. Those who dared enter the Fu Realm were not so delicate.

He Lingchuan ran past several hollows and saw blood inside them. He also saw dead bodies.

Some teams had not stockpiled enough rinsing beads to begin with, and this sandstorm had lasted longer than expected. In that case, self-elimination inside the hollows was almost inevitable.

Each person needed thirty or forty rinsing beads. But if one person died, those beads could be divided among their teammates, giving everyone else a greater chance of survival.

It might have been a difficult choice, but one dead was still better than an entire group dead, was it not?

The Chiyan men felt a chill at the sight of it, and at the same time, they secretly felt grateful to He Lingchuan.

Fortunately, he had acted decisively and bought up the rinsing beads earlier, allowing them to avoid being forced to make such a choice.

Compared with their lives, what did a few floating stones matter? There were plenty below!

At this moment, the wind still scraped at their faces, but it was nowhere near as fierce as before. Everyone raised their protective true qi and could just about withstand it.

When they saw the scene across the wilderness, someone could not help but draw out a long whistle.

“Good heavens!”

Having endured those grueling seven hours, the survivors deserved a reward, but none of them had expected the reward to be this rich.

The fierce wind had basically passed, and before the stone formation, corpses covered the wilds.

Duonao beast bodies had piled up into mountains, layer upon layer, almost filling the entire stone formation. Most of them had been buried by wind and sand, leaving only vague outlines, looking very much like donkey rolls dusted with soybean flour.

Even Lingxu City’s hunters, well-traveled and experienced as they were, stood dumbstruck before the grand sight of death piled upon death.

1. The original line here is actually 天地玄黄, which is the famous opening line of the Thousand Character Classic. I translated it literally here, but in a broader context, it symbolizes the creation of the universe—the separation of heaven and earth and their fundamental colors. ☜