Where Immortals Once Walked

“Over and over?” He Lingchuan was especially wary of those words. “You didn’t draw the Heavenly Palace’s attention, did you?”

“Do you think they had the attention to spare?” Juju laughed. “Both major suspects in the elixir of youth case are on Tianshu Peak right now.”

He Lingchuan smiled faintly. “State Preceptor Qing Yang and Nian Zanli?”

“Exactly.” Juju said, “Ever since she was escorted in, State Preceptor Qing Yang hasn’t said a word. That Nian fellow, though, shouted himself hoarse.”

He Lingchuan was curious. “Didn’t you say you couldn’t hear the interrogation?”

“Not inside the Molten Palace or Star-Plucking Tower. But several times, when they escorted him out, he roared that he’d been wronged and framed by others. One time, even the tourists outside Star-Plucking Tower heard him. After that, whenever they brought him out again, they stuffed his mouth until he couldn’t say anything.”

He Lingchuan smiled. “Framed by others? The Heavenly Palace won’t like hearing that.”

Nian Zanli still had not figured out who had framed him, which was why he remained so vigorous, still dreaming that his name might be cleared of injustice. State Preceptor Qing Yang, on the other hand, understood the whole chain of cause and effect perfectly. Now, she did not bother with useless protest.

Before long, they climbed to their destination.

This wild peak stood more than three hundred meters from Kaiyang Peak. The forest at its summit was even denser than Dong Rui’s hair. Tonight, the moon was dark, and the wind was high. As long as Juju did not light a fire, the human sentries on Kaiyang Peak basically would not see anything happening here.

“A group of bat monsters flew past about seven minutes ago. You had better finish the mission before they fly back.” Juju handed him two stone eggs. “These are the earthfire seeds you wanted.”

They were two pieces of dark, solid rock, as round and as large as chicken eggs, but their surfaces were cracked like tree bark, with red light flowing through the fissures.

Juju could not follow him into the sky, so it had given him a pair of trump cards, claiming that if he used them at a critical moment, they could save his life.

The mountain forest after the rain was especially fresh. He Lingchuan drew in a deep breath, clearing his mind, before placing the bat monster puppet on the ground and softly ordering, “Grow.”

The bat monster puppet obeyed, shaking once and growing in size.

He Lingchuan did not dare waste time. He leaped onto the monster puppet’s back, tapped his toes lightly beneath its ribs, and the giant bat spread its wings, leaping down from the mountain peak and gliding into flight.

Over the past few days, he had dragged Dong Rui out to the outskirts and practiced flying the bat and jumping on it over and over. By now, he could not exactly command the monster puppet as naturally as his own arm, but at the very least, it understood his instructions and could perform the required movements on time.

Of course, before taking action, he had carefully calculated everything. Right now, the array eye of the Grand Spirit-Gathering Array should be in the night sky directly above Juju’s head, with an error margin of no more than ten meters.

He Lingchuan first piloted the monster puppet in a circle, using the turbulence to verify the array eye’s true position.

After being swept aside twice, he could basically confirm that his estimate was correct.

As for why Juju had never discovered such an enormous array eye drifting over Mount Xu every autumn and winter, there were two reasons. First, it was wrapped in turbulence, and there was already a great deal of chaotic airflow above. Second, its position constantly shifted. Today, it might be above Kaiyang Peak; tomorrow, it might go to Tianshu Peak. Without knowing its movement pattern, there was no way to determine its exact location.

At that moment, the Juju avatar perched on his shoulder also reminded him, “If you keep wandering around and flying randomly, you’re going to attract attention.”

Dong Rui’s monster puppet could carry people, so it was quite large. Besides, the sky over Mount Xu was not actually as empty as it appeared. Bird monsters passed by from time to time.

“I know.” He Lingchuan signaled the monster puppet to climb, flying about fifteen meters above the array eye.

At this point, the turbulence array was about seven meters below him.

He took something from his storage ring, exerted force through his wrist, and hurled it straight down.

The instant the object appeared, the monster puppet’s body suddenly sank, falling out of control.

Fortunately, the object descended quickly. In the next second, the monster puppet left its area of influence and flapped its wings to fly again. Of course, this whole sequence had been practiced many times beforehand. It could now handle it calmly and did not cry out in panic.

What He Lingchuan had thrown down were ghost-shadow cicada shells.

More precisely, they were ghost-shadow cicada shells wrapped around wind-stilling pearl powder, with two grains of volcanic rock dust stuffed inside. He had completed this bit of handiwork long before setting out.

Ghost-shadow cicada shells were light and airy, almost weightless. A single gust could send them flying. But once wrapped in wind-stilling pearl powder, they would not be affected by wind for at least two hours. That meant their descent would be perfectly straight.

Even the wild currents and violent winds wrapped around the array eye could not affect them.

After throwing them, He Lingchuan pulled the monster puppet upward while asking Juju, “How is it? Did it go in?”

“Wait, wait. That thing of yours is too light. It’s still floating...” Juju was nervous as well. “Good, it landed!”

Its slightly excited voice reached He Lingchuan’s ears through the avatar. “It stopped in midair and isn’t moving. I think it fell into the array eye!”

Juju could sense the state of the volcanic rock dust. They had stopped in midair without moving at all, which clearly meant they had successfully passed through the defensive array and entered the array eye.

As expected, the defensive array would not block something so tiny and light.

Of course, cicada shells and other drifting objects would normally be blown away by the turbulence, making it very difficult for them to enter the array eye.

The first step of the invasion plan had succeeded.

“Hurry up.” The guardian spirit could not help but urge him. “I think I see a bird of prey flying over from the southeast.”

It was an eagle-owl[1]. Its body was not as large as the monster puppet’s, but its wingspan was still six meters.

Clearly, it had sensed something unusual and was coming over to take a look.

“Juju, light up the airflow!” He Lingchuan took a deep breath and shook the silver bracelet on his wrist. “Whether I live or die is all up to you!”

From this moment on, the Mount Xu operation had officially begun. There was no going back.

“On it!” The rock-fire aberrant creature vanished from the mountaintop in a single step. When it reappeared, it was already on a small hill forty-five meters away.

At that moment, it should have been standing below and to the side of the array eye.

Immediately afterward, Juju grabbed one fireball after another and hurled them toward the array eye in rapid succession!

The Grand Spirit-Gathering Array was still suppressing it, so it could not attack the buildings, arrays, or guards on the mountain. But what Juju was doing now was not an attack, because the fireballs suddenly exploded into a sky full of sparks as soon as they drew near the array eye.

To put it plainly, they were countless motes of fire. They were not even hot enough to scorch a person, so what offensive power could they possibly have against an array? At most, they would eventually turn into a few black specks of grit.

But they drifted with the fierce wind, and the fire was even fanned brighter and redder by the current, as if a great burst of fireworks had exploded in midair.

Juju was not launching firebombs into the sky. It was setting off ceremonial cannons!

With such brightness, there was no way to hide it from the guards on the peaks, or even from the sentries far away at Star-Plucking Tower.

All those days of long preparation, all that silent stalking through the darkness in the first half of the journey, had all been for this one strike.

Even Dong Rui, waiting outside Mount Xu, could not help but hold his breath as he looked up at the night sky.

Everything around them was lit. There was no hiding it from anyone now. At this point, He Lingchuan had no path of retreat.

He drove the monster puppet into a headfirst plunge, flying vertically toward the array eye!

The turbulence was usually invisible, but now its width and shape had been marked out by Juju’s bursting sparks. By watching the way the embers danced through the air, He Lingchuan could determine the outline and thickness of the turbulent layer.

Mount Xu’s night sky had not seen such a magnificent sight in a long, long time. It was no different from openly declaring to the Heavenly Palace:

Something is wrong here!

He Lingchuan drew in a deep breath. Only when the sparks were right before him, as if they were about to burn his eyes, did he rise half a step from his flying mount and leap forward!

Beneath him lay a brilliant blaze, almost bright enough to blind the eye.

The arc of his leap was perfect, as if he meant to throw himself into a sea of crimson stars. It was wild, dangerous, and dazzling.

However, reality was nowhere near so romantic. The distance and speed of this leap had been carefully calculated and rehearsed countless times.

The monster puppet turned and flew away.

In the next instant, He Lingchuan grabbed the wind-stilling pearl.

With this pearl out, the turbulence array could no longer affect him.

He Lingchuan dropped toward the array eye like a plumb bob.

The bursting firelight illuminated the night sky and lit the eyes beneath his mask, revealing a look as steady as bedrock.

In this instant, he returned once more to that state without sorrow or joy, his mind clear and empty.

All fear, anxiety, and hesitation were stumbling blocks. What he needed was the precision of an atomic clock.

Naturally, such an act could not go unnoticed by any bystanders.

Juju had not been this nervous in years. The light leaking from its joints had turned blazing white. Dong Rui, watching from a distance, stared with eyes wide open, not daring to breathe.

Beneath the turbulence array was the defensive array. According to Juju’s prior measurements, this array was extraordinarily powerful. If a living person like He Lingchuan slammed headfirst into it, he would likely be blasted into a lump of charcoal in an instant!

An array personally laid down by a heavenly god could not be doubted in its power.

For He Lingchuan to jump down using the wind-stilling pearl, he had to calculate his speed perfectly. If he were even one second too late, the array would reduce his soul and body to nothing. If he were even one second too early, he would not yet be within the effective range of the substitution technique and would fail to swap places, and would likewise be blasted into a burnt lump by the array!

Too fast meant death. Too slow meant death. He had to be accurate to the smallest fraction.

For this one leap, He Lingchuan had already practiced dozens of times. But if Dong Rui asked himself honestly, if he were made to do this now, in this moment, his hands and feet would probably still go weak with terror, and cold sweat would pour down his back.

The distance between life and death lay within a hair’s breadth.

Under the watchful eyes of countless people, He Lingchuan’s figure abruptly vanished.

A whole living man disappeared just like that.

Dong Rui did not even blink, though he was still afraid he might just watch the other party explode into a cloud of blood mist.

But red sparks were streaking wildly through the sky. No one could say for certain whether such a tragic sight had appeared.

He Lingchuan had simply disappeared. Juju also withdrew its fireworks, and the night sky returned to stillness.

Of course, every witness understood that this stillness existed only on the surface.

Immediately afterward, urgent bell tolls came from the distance.

Dong, dong, dong, dong—

The sound rang through the air above Mount Xu.

That was Star-Plucking Tower sounding the great bell. On one hand, it warned all guards to resist the intruder. On the other, it suppressed Juju and summoned it over for questioning.

After all, the dozen or so massive fireballs that had appeared one after another were far too conspicuous. More importantly, Juju’s actions had clearly and unmistakably revealed that it had completely seen through the location of the Grand Spirit-Gathering Array’s array eye!

That was what worried the Heavenly Palace most.

The moment Juju heard the bell, it clutched its neck and screamed in pain. Chunks of rock fell from its body, setting all the surrounding grass and trees aflame.

At a time like this, it had no attention to spare for protecting the forest.

The Grand Spirit-Gathering Array still remained, and once the bell tolled, the collar around its neck exerted enormous suppression upon it. As for the Heavenly Palace’s summons, it had no choice but to obey.

The guardian spirit burrowed into the ground, crossed a great distance, and appeared before Star-Plucking Tower in the blink of an eye!

1. See Eurasian eagle-owl. ☜