After the Immortal Disappeared

A few snowflakes rested on Hee Chunhua’s shoulders, and a small, dry twig was caught in Hee Yue’s cloak. They had clearly walked for quite some time. Hee Lingchuan waited for them to draw near before asking, "Dad, Second Brother, why didn’t you two take a carriage back? It’s freezing out here."

"Just taking a walk. Think of it as a break," Hee Chunhua said, breathing out a puff of white vapor. "And to clear our heads."

For a cultivating official, his face was far too haggard. Hee Lingchuan then noticed that Hee Yue had dark circles under his eyes, which were also bloodshot.

"What’s wrong with you, kid? Were you up all night trying to steal chickens?" he asked as he walked with them toward home.

He wasn’t sure if it was just his imagination, but his father and brother seemed to share an unspoken rapport that shattered the moment he stood between them.

"I’ve been up all night for the past few days, auditing the ledgers." Hee Yue yawned. "I still have to audit the military farms tonight, and the situation doesn’t look good at all."

The father-son duo looked as dejected as eggplants after a frost. In contrast, Hee Lingchuan was so full of life that he felt a little awkward.

"Not good in what way?"

"Xiazhou’s military farms are spread across five counties, and the number I received is a total of eight farms." Hee Yue frowned. "That’s far too few. Father found me the original registers from forty-five years ago, which clearly state that Xiazhou had a total of twenty military farms!"

His gaze toward his father was filled with admiration. ’He can even find original documents that have been hidden away for so long.’

Hee Chunhua coughed lightly. "I had someone get them for me."

He never fought a battle he wasn’t prepared for.

Seeing Hee Lingchuan counting on his fingers, Hee Yue kindly clarified, "Each farm is fifty qing. That means six hundred qing have been lost over the past forty-five years!"

Military farms were a type of public land, originally ownerless wasteland controlled by the state. Later, they were cultivated by soldiers or commoners organized by the local government, with the harvest used to supply the army.

The Hee Family all had experience with warfare and knew the principle that an army marches on its stomach. Transporting grain a thousand miles meant seventy percent would be consumed along the way. Now that Xiazhou had become the front line, the grain supply from military farms was bound to be highly valued by the officials. Producing and delivering grain from here could greatly shorten the time and reduce losses during transportation.

But Xiazhou had less than half of its military farms left. What was the deal with that?

Hee Lingchuan said, "Oh. Don’t tell me they’ve been encroached upon?"

"Mhm. After so many years of collusion between officials and gentry, they’ve sold off the military farms as private land." Hee Yue rubbed his eyes. "It’s another messy account. I have to work fast to uncover the details in the next day or two."

"They even dared to sell military farms?" Hee Lingchuan gave a thumbs-up. "That’s bold."

"Previous State Governments borrowed money from powerful gentry and prominent clans. During bad harvest years, they used the military farms to pay off the parts of the debt they couldn’t repay." Hee Yue had been auditing accounts for days, and the initial shock had faded into numbness. "Of course, that’s just one of the reasons."

Seeing the two of them looking exhausted but with a fire in their eyes, Hee Lingchuan couldn’t help but ask, "Dad, is there anything I can do to help?"

"I was just about to ask you." Hee Chunhua looked him up and down. "You broke through again?"

"Yeah."

Hee Yue’s eyes were filled with envy. "Brother, that’s just unfair. You just had a breakthrough during the last descent of the Emperor’s Liquid, and now again..."

"When has this world ever had a shred of fairness?" Hee Lingchuan laughed. "My greatsword is thirsting for action. I’m definitely getting in on the next big battle!"

"You’ll have plenty of chances." Hee Chunhua smiled too. "After we sort out this tangled mess in Dunyu, I plan to tour Xiazhou, paying special attention to the northern front. You can come with me."

As the Governor of Xiazhou, he had to inspect and understand the local customs, the people, the governance, and public sentiment throughout the state. Especially with the clouds of war looming, the new governor needed to travel around to reassure the populace.

Hee Lingchuan clenched his fist, his knuckles letting out a loud CRACK. "Alright."

Hee Chunhua said with a smile, "In a few days, I’ll have a mission for you."

***

「Dreaming, he returned to Panlong City.」

In the small courtyard of the wooden cabin, the snow was calf-deep. Hee Lingchuan felt resistance as he pushed the door open.

He picked up a broom, piled the thick snow into a corner, and began his martial arts practice.

Eighty percent of the mountain of gifts had disappeared. The remainder was neatly arranged in the kitchen, with the last two jars placed by the water vat.

This must have been Sunx Fuling’s doing. She had promised to help him donate the mountain of thank-you gifts—if not her, then it was the little ghost who stole his fish and firewood who had cleared them out.

Hee Lingchuan called out twice, but there was no response from next door. It seemed she was out again.

But whenever the wind blew, there was always a delicate, tinkling sound. Hee Lingchuan peered over the wall and saw that Sunx Fuling’s courtyard was even simpler and emptier than his. There was nothing but a chair and a ladder, but under the eaves hung a Wind Chime made of Colored Shells.

The Colored Shells had been picked up from somewhere unknown. Each piece was polished smooth and round, and when the wind blew, they knocked together, creating a particularly pleasant sound.

Hee Lingchuan recognized it as one of the thank-you gifts the people of Panlong City had given him. It seemed Sunx Fuling had kept it for herself.

However, the snow in her yard was even thicker. It looked like she hadn’t been home for at least the past three or four days.

’Maybe she has another place to live?’

Hee Lingchuan shrugged, refocused his mind, and began to practice diligently. Today’s focus was the Hooked Rope. He had bought a set in Panlong City, but of course, it wasn’t a Magical Artifact and wasn’t as good as the one made by Li Fubo.

His initial goal was simple: knock branches off the big jujube tree and, more importantly, be precise enough to hit any branch he targeted.

He had a feeling this thing would be very useful in the future, so he needed to master it as quickly as possible.

The list of skills he needed to practice kept growing. He trained day and night and still felt like there wasn’t enough time.

The feel of the rope was completely different from a sword or a bow; it was limp and hard to control. After just a few tries, Hee Lingchuan got the hook stuck on a branch, and he couldn’t pull it down.

Just then, footsteps sounded from outside.

The footsteps stopped at his gate, and then a letter was slipped under the courtyard door.

Then, the person left.

Hee Lingchuan picked it up and saw that it was, surprisingly, a wax-sealed official dispatch.

It turned out the Pengcheng Bureau was urging him to take possession of his shop.

Last time, he had traded all his rewards for a shop on Panlong Main Street and then forgotten about it. The shop was still full of junk that he needed to clear out before he could rent it.

Hee Lingchuan had been busy, but the Pengcheng Bureau wasn’t going to let him delay any longer. The shops on Panlong Main Street were all Golden Chickens, so they were strictly managed.

The shops were all owned by Panlong City; he only had leasing rights. The officials were pushing him to open for business, so he had to get to it.

He had no choice but to find the shop key, hire a donkey cart, and head for the main street.

In fact, Panlong City’s main street was a standard cross shape. The southern artery was Wanglin Street, which was where Hee Lingchuan’s shop was located.

To his surprise, it wasn’t at the far end of the street. Although the storefront was small and its wooden doors were shut tight, the street in front was bustling with pedestrians. The foot traffic was considerable.

’If you open a shop in a place like this, you could sell anything, couldn’t you?’

There was even a Patrol Guard standing by the door. Seeing him take out the key, the guard stepped back and made a "please" gesture.

Hee Lingchuan also saw a yellow paper seal on the door.

He had to ask the Patrol Guard, "Excuse me, what’s this all about?"

"People kept trying to break in." The Patrol Guard watched him tear off the seal and immediately said, "From now on, this shop is yours to manage."

His task complete, he spun on his heel and was gone.

Hee Lingchuan watched his retreating back, shook his head, then unlocked and pushed open the doors.

CREAK. The two large doors opened, and a cloud of dust and mildew rushed out to meet him.

Hee Lingchuan couldn’t help but cough twice, then formed a hand seal for the Wind-Summoning Technique to blow away the dusty haze.

He had heard this place was originally a combination antique and general store. Walking inside, he saw it was strewn with junk that hadn’t been cleared out, with furniture toppled over and a thick layer of dust covering everything.

There were a few footprints on the floor. Someone had clearly visited not long ago. No wonder they had posted a Patrol Guard at the door.

Hee Lingchuan covered his nose and mouth with a handkerchief and rummaged around a bit. As expected, he didn’t find a single valuable item.

The most expensive things in the whole place were probably the mahogany Eight-Treasure Cabinet and chairs in the back room, which the owner likely forgot in their haste to move.

’These things probably aren’t important at all. The key is the storefront itself.’

Just as he was thinking this, two rats SQUEAKED and jumped down from the Eight-Treasure Cabinet, scurrying along the wall and fleeing the shop in a panic.

The place had been closed for so long that even rats had made a nest here.

They fled so quickly that they knocked over a basket. A few things inside fell to the floor with a THUD.

Hee Lingchuan looked and saw they were a few books.

Most were storybooks, and two were collections of myths and monsters. The other five, however, were works of erotic literature. Their prose was bold and unrestrained, complete with illustrations. Even someone as thick-skinned as Hee Lingchuan found them deeply scandalous.

’This sort of corrupting material can’t be left here. I’d better take it back with me.’

Food and sex are part of human nature. It wasn’t strange at all for a general store to sell this kind of thing. They might have even been the bestsellers before.

Besides those, there was also a map and a thin booklet.

The map depicted the eastern part of the Panlong Wasteland. The draftsmanship was crude, only marking out a few main roads in the east and several important landmarks, like the Ghost Needle Stone Forest. This was also the first time Hee Lingchuan had seen the entirety of the Chipa Plateau.

This was probably something a merchant traveler in the Wilderness would need.

As for the last thin booklet, Hee Lingchuan picked it up and saw the title on the cover: *Collection of Hundred Fragrances*.

He had assumed it was some pretentious drivel or sentimental whining from a scholar. But when he opened it, he found he was wrong. It was actually an encyclopedia for the introduction and preparation of edible spices.

However, the booklet was full of wormholes and released a large puff of dust when he turned the pages, accompanied by a musty, aged smell. The author’s signature at the end was so blurred it was illegible, so Hee Lingchuan had no idea who wrote it.

But it was filled with both text and illustrations.

For example, spices like cardamom and angelica, which Hee Lingchuan knew well from his other world, were not only clearly described in the booklet but also had drawings to help with identification. Hee Lingchuan could only describe the art as "abstract," but the author’s heart was clearly in the right place.

The most valuable part was the second half, which detailed various combinations and preparations of spices, along with their effects and applications.

’Isn’t this... isn’t this...?’ Hee Lingchuan’s eyes lit up, and he put it away without hesitation.

Frankly, this booklet would be useless to an ordinary resident. Their cooking and seasoning were very simple; having salt was good enough, and using soy sauce was a bit of a luxury. They would never bother with such complex flavorings.

But was he, Eldest Young Master Hee, an ordinary person?

It seemed the general store wasn’t all junk, after all. At least he had dug up one treasure.

Just then, the light at the doorway dimmed as someone entered.