Where Immortals Once Walked

“Staying is for your own good!” He Lingchuan’s thoughts raced. “How did Xi Yunhe arrange your route?”

“I’ll ride the snail toad out of the city with them.” Dong Rui found the question baffling. “What other arrangement could there be?”

“Are you sure they’ll let you leave?” He Lingchuan said coldly. “Wouldn’t killing you to silence you be the safest choice?”

Dong Rui’s heart jolted.

“You ride the snail toad out of Lingxu City, and they turn around, kill you, and dump your body.” He Lingchuan gave a dark chuckle. “They don’t even have to transport your corpse out of the city. You walked yourself out. Perfect.”

“You...” Dong Rui wanted to say he was just being alarmist, but his mind was already in chaos.

“Do you seriously think that neither Xi Yunhe nor State Preceptor Shuang Ye would be easily willing to go through with something like that?” He Lingchuan continued whispering like a devil in his ear. “Let me tell you this, since State Preceptor Qing Yang accused you, that means she has already seen that you and State Preceptor Shuang Ye are in the same camp. In front of the gods, that is an extremely serious accusation. So to protect himself, State Preceptor Shuang Ye absolutely cannot afford to stumble over you!”

Otherwise, how could someone like State Preceptor Qing Yang even spare a thought for someone like Dong Rui?

At such a critical moment, she would never say useless things or make useless moves. State Preceptor Qing Yang’s counterattack from the brink would certainly be highly targeted.

A chill swept through Dong Rui’s heart.

This was not his first time cooperating with State Preceptor Shuang Ye.

He had more or less felt out what kind of person that state preceptor was and what temperament Xi Yunhe had.

His sense for danger had always been sharp. It was just that this time, he had been frightened senseless by State Preceptor Qing Yang’s accusation and had lost his bearings. Now that He Lingchuan had pointed it out, he immediately reacted.

“What do we do now?” Dong Rui asked in a low, urgent voice. “Can you help me escape?”

“If you run now, you’ll be facing pursuit from two great state preceptors, plus the Heavenly Palace guards, and you’ll be relying only on your own two legs.” He Lingchuan calmly analyzed it for him. “Don’t forget that ruined face of yours. Who wouldn’t remember it after seeing you?”

The key to fleeing inside a city was blending into the streets and making yourself impossible to trace.

But with Dong Rui’s face? Impossible!

“Then what do you say we do?” Dong Rui was practically grinding his teeth. “Aren’t you usually full of tricks? Think of one for me. Hurry!”

They’re called strategies, thank you. He Lingchuan thought for a moment. “Who does the snail toad obey? You, or Xi Yunhe?”

“Of course...” Before Dong Rui could finish, a guard walked in, his face full of suspicion.

“Is everything alright? I thought I heard something in here.”

This fellow had only recently been transferred in. He was unlike the original guards, who were already used to being scolded by Dong Rui and would take a detour whenever they saw him. Dong Rui gave him a cold smile. “If I fart or burp, do you want to watch that too?”

The guard choked, then snapped, “Speak properly!”

Dong Rui’s voice turned sinister. “Do you know who I am?” In the past, people who dared speak to him like that would have long since been fed to his monster puppets. Mm, except for that fellow surnamed He.

Just as the guard was about to speak, his companion hurried in from outside and pulled him back. “Don’t stir up trouble at a time like this!” Then he turned to Dong Rui and said, “Sorry. He’s new.”

The two men withdrew. Dong Rui shut the door, took some materials from his bundle, spread them over the table, and then casually set up a barrier. Only then did he continue speaking to the eyeball spider.

“Come on, continue.”

Helpless, He Lingchuan repeated, “Who does the snail toad obey?”

“Oh, right. Me, of course!” Dong Rui’s voice was full of pride. “I am their creator!”

“If you and Xi Yunhe give orders at the same time, will it obey you?”

“Yes.”

“Without hesitation?” He Lingchuan confirmed again. “This concerns your life. Don’t boast.”

“Without hesitation!” Dong Rui clicked his tongue. “I have my ways.”

“Then this is easy.” Since Dong Rui was so confident, He Lingchuan could only trust his ability to control monster puppets. “When Xi Yunhe brings the snail toad over, get on it and run. Or shake off Xi Yunhe and his men on the way. Whichever method you choose, you must not let them stay close behind you!”

“Mm, that won’t be hard.” Dong Rui’s eyes shifted. “And then?”

“After that, I’ll arrange some smokescreens for you, so Xi Yunhe and Lingxu City won’t be able to figure out where you’ve gone, and won’t have the time to care.” He Lingchuan’s voice tightened. “But after you seize the snail toad, you need to come to me. I have an excellent hiding place for you... and the snail toad.”

Dong Rui muttered, “Why shouldn’t I just leave altogether?”

“Because being wanted by Lingxu City doesn’t feel good, and you already know that, don’t you?” He Lingchuan lowered his voice. “Let’s discuss properly how to get rid of this warrant.”

Dong Rui paused. “You have a way?”

“We just need to make Lingxu City think you aren’t important,” He Lingchuan said. “After last night, Lingxu City has a mountain of its own troubles. If it doesn’t think you’re worth the effort, it won’t even bother with you.”

“How do we do that?”

“I’m still thinking!” He Lingchuan snapped. “Don’t tell me you think a heaven-sized problem like this can be solved the moment I casually turn my mind to it? But if you run now, Lingxu City will chase you to the ends of the earth. Divine blood is a major concern for the heavenly gods, far more serious than the reason you were wanted last time. They won’t stop until they achieve their goal.”

Dong Rui had long since had enough of hiding like a rat.

He Lingchuan continued, “Putting everything else aside, if there’s no dedicated organization to supply that snail toad with large amounts of self-heal herbs, then its unique trait will be very easy to trace.”

Xi Yunhe had been able to ride the snail toad across the city and commit crimes wherever he pleased because he had State Preceptor Shuang Ye’s powerful manpower and resources backing him.

Dong Rui alone could not manage it.

Based on He Lingchuan’s understanding of Dong Rui’s finicky temperament, these reasons were probably not enough to move him, so he spoke while racking his brain.

Unexpectedly, Dong Rui did not hesitate much before nodding. “Fine. I’ll stay.”

Huh? That’s surprisingly decisive of him. Why is he so willing to adjust this time?

After that, the two exchanged their eyeball spiders back under the guards’ noses. He Lingchuan left his own little spider nearby, then quietly slipped out of the carriage station and ordered a bowl of soup noodles at a rice noodle shop about a hundred meters away.

The weather had turned cold. Sitting in a restaurant shielded from the wind, slurping down a steaming bowl of braised pig’s trotter rice noodles while watching pedestrians on the road shrink their necks against the chill instantly lifted one’s sense of happiness.

This was just a place he had found at random, but unexpectedly, the broth was stewed until fragrant and rich, and the pig’s trotter had been braised to perfection. The skin and meat were tender enough to fall apart, while the tendons still had a pleasant chew.

The rice noodles here were as fine as strands of hair, just like the kind He Lingchuan had eaten in Baishajue. They even brought a small plate of salted, crispy peanuts.

Of course, in Lingxu City, a good bowl of soup and noodles like this costs at least three times as much as it does in Baishajue.

One bowl of noodles was definitely not enough to satisfy him. After slurping down the noodles, there was still plenty of broth left in the bowl, so he copied the regulars around him and added several golden-thread flatbreads to dip into the beef soup.

The flatbread was so crisp that it shed flakes, and once soaked in broth, it had an entirely different flavor.

Not bad. This shop really is good. He wondered whether Dong Rui had ever tried it.

As he was happily eating, movement came through the eyeball spider.

The low shrubbery where it was hiding faced the empty rear courtyard of the carriage station. At this moment, in He Lingchuan’s field of vision, the muddy ground where there had been nothing suddenly sank slightly. Immediately afterward, a massive figure surfaced!

A snail’s feelers, a tadpole’s body, a toad’s limbs...

And of course, that iconic huge shell that was like a little house.

The snail toad had arrived.

After so long apart, He Lingchuan actually felt a faint sense of familiarity toward it.

Once the snail toad stretched itself out, someone jumped out from beneath its shell. It was Xi Yunhe!

He leaped over the wall with ease and asked the guards who came forward to greet him, “Any issues?”

“Everything is normal.” Since Dong Rui was still there, the guards did not mention that earlier tiny unpleasantness. Besides, it would not be strange for such a bizarre person to talk to himself when he had nothing better to do. One look at him and you could tell he was the sad sort with no friends.

Xi Yunhe pushed the door open and went in. Seeing the table covered with things, while Dong Rui was still busy tinkering, he said, “Mr. Dong is still fiddling with these?”

“Nothing else to do while waiting.” Dong Rui glanced at him, then began gathering up the objects on the table. “Where is State Preceptor Shuang Ye?”

“The state preceptor has business outside. I have full authority here.” He reminded Dong Rui, “It’s time to go. The snail toad is outside.”

State Preceptor Shuang Ye is out? Hearing those words, He Lingchuan’s heart thumped.

The two great state preceptors had been fighting for over a century. Now, just as State Preceptor Qing Yang was about to be brought down, how could State Preceptor Shuang Ye bear to be absent?

Dong Rui glanced at Xi Yunhe, then suddenly extended a hand. “My payment? The snail toad has been cured, and my work in Lingxu City is complete.”

State Preceptor Shuang Ye had said that this man’s payment could not be withheld. Otherwise, he would trip you up in other ways. Xi Yunhe smiled, took a box from his robe, and handed it over. “Mr. Dong is straightforward. We’ll have to ask for your help again next time.”

“We’ll talk about it.” Dong Rui opened the box and inspected the goods. He even reached inside and kneaded them for a while to confirm they were correct. Only then did he reply in his usual perfunctory, infuriating tone, “I need to lie low for a while first. Don’t look for me during that time.”

Xi Yunhe smiled without bearing the slightest trace of a grudge. “Of course.”

That smile is far too much like He Lingchuan’s, like a shark baring its teeth. Dong Rui shivered unconsciously.

He had not noticed anything before, but after He Lingchuan pointed it out, the more he looked at Xi Yunhe now, the more he seemed ill-intentioned, as if he were already preparing to dump Dong Rui’s corpse.

Right, no matter how rude I’d been before, Xi Yunhe had always greeted me with a smile. He had thought the man had a good temper, but now that he considered it, that was not it at all.

Who would bother arguing with a man who was about to die?

“Let’s go!” Dong Rui strode outside.

Xi Yunhe naturally followed closely. According to the original plan, the four of them were supposed to escort Dong Rui and ensure that he rode the snail toad out of Lingxu City.

However, just as Xi Yunhe followed him to the wall, Dong Rui suddenly turned and said, “Oh, I nearly forgot. Help me bring the box over to the head of the bed. Be careful. If the bottles inside knock against each other, they might explode!”

Xi Yunhe nodded backward, and a guard immediately ran inside.

Dong Rui hopped over the wall and saw his beloved puppet.

“Oh, after a few days apart, your feelers have finally grown back!” Last time, that bastard He had bombed it recklessly with explosives, blasting off one of your eyes.

I really must have been possessed to agree to keep cooperating with that plague god!

Seeing him, the snail toad also seemed very happy. Its feelers swayed, and it lowered its big head toward him in a docile manner.