Chapter 832: No One Gets In
One of the Jianyang Sect disciples found the story far too interesting to end there and hurriedly pressed, “What happened after that?”
“After that, I left the post station and thought I’d wander around a bit. Then, out of nowhere, another torrential downpour came down.” Ling Jinbao sounded thoroughly dispirited. “I only raised a hand to wipe the rain off my face. But the moment I lowered it, I found myself back among the ruins of Panlong City. The post station, the ancient road, the forest—everything was gone.”
“What was that all about?”
“I can’t say for sure.” Ling Jinbao shook his head. “All I can infer is that I accidentally stumbled into one of the Generous Pot’s illusions, and that those illusions... may be reenactments of events from the past. Things like that are actually quite common in major ancient ruins.”
𝓯𝙧𝙚𝒆𝙬𝙚𝒃𝙣𝙤𝒗𝓮𝓵.𝙘𝙤𝙢
One of the disciples laughed and said, “We’d like to accidentally stumble into one too.”
“You shouldn’t say things like that in a place like this.” Ling Jinbao’s expression turned grave. “Remember those people who accidentally wandered into the night market of a ghost city, ate the food there, and died? This is Panlong Ancient City. Even an illusion here could be filled with deadly danger. Now you understand why I didn’t want to spend the night in the ancient city, right?” He sighed. “You can never tell what ghosts or spirits might be lurking in a place like that.”
* * *
The Jianyang Sect party departed without once looking back, while the Heishui City troops raised their guard even higher.
These ruins really are attracting plenty of attention. Even the Minister of War sent men to stick their hands into this?
But when the He father and son thought back, the entire chain of events two years ago had begun when Sun Fuping and Nian Songyu slaughtered a whole den of sand leopards. Men under the Minister of War had then entered Heishui City to investigate the leopard that escaped, only for He Lingchuan to catch them.
Clearly, Dong Haoming had coveted the Generous Pot for a long time.
Now, with the war in the northwest bogged down in a quagmire, Yuan’s army was not the only side having a hard time. If the Minister of War could obtain the Generous Pot, then he could perhaps reverse the course of the war and march his army all the way into the Yuan capital.
Suddenly, a pillar of red light shot into the sky ahead, piercing straight into the clouds!
Panlong City’s strange phenomenon played out yet again.
They had seen this red light several times before, but witnessing it up close was still tremendously shocking.
“Move! The light is coming from the temple!”
He Chunhua gave the brief order, and everyone immediately picked up the pace.
Faster than the Heishui City troops were the lamp spirits. Streaks of golden light swept past the men one after another, racing toward the source of the red light.
The other teams were not blind either. At that moment, all of them turned and rushed toward the temple.
The members of the Jianyang Sect standing out in the desert also saw the red light and stopped to gaze at it. Meanwhile, Ling Jinbao murmured, “So it really is the temple after all.”
Every party had searched that location before. However, when the Generous Pot was not acting up, searching there was completely pointless.
“Martial Uncle, should we hurry back now?” one disciple asked. Aren’t the others going to beat us to it if we just stay here?
“No need.” Ling Jinbao shook his head. “There’s no reason to fight over a few moments. From what I can see, it’s not going to be easy to take that treasure.”
Inside the city, the mirror tucked against He Lingchuan’s chest shrieked, “This is it! This is the critical moment!”
It sounded even more nervous than he was.
He Lingchuan lightly patted his chest twice, reminding it to show some restraint. This lousy mirror was with me the entire time during that ordeal at the Heavenly Palace, all the way until we managed to escape. How is it still so easily distressed?
The group from Heishui City had entered the city last, so by the time they reached the temple, they found that the towering red light did indeed originate from the pool.
The group from the Heavenly Palace appeared to have arrived first. Zhang Lianhai and his people stood guard around the pool, weapons in hand and lamp spirits circling overhead, refusing to allow anyone near.
The young attendant beside Zhang Lianhai was clutching his left eye tightly, his face twisted in pain.
He Lingchuan initially assumed the fellow had been injured in a fight, but the Soul-Stealing Mirror suddenly cried, “What a powerful energy fluctuation!”
Fluctuation?
The young attendant lowered his hand. His left eye had changed.
What had been an ordinary human eye had somehow transformed into a bulging vertical pupil like a crocodile’s, with green markings and blood vessels webbing its edges.
The pupil shifted slightly and fixed itself upon the pool. Then, it suddenly widened!
That strange sensation felt oddly familiar to He Lingchuan.
When he underwent divine judgment on Mount Xu, when the Dharma Eye stared directly at him, he felt exactly this kind of discomfort!
Damn it. Is that attendant one of Miaozhantian’s skin-sacks, or perhaps one of its believers?
Fortunately, the attendant was focused entirely on the pool and did not spare He Lingchuan even a glance.
Almost everyone present could see the red light of the pool reflected in the attendant’s vertical pupil, staining the entire eye a brilliant scarlet.
This went on for two to three breaths, then the attendant clutched his eye again and staggered backward, nearly collapsing outright.
One of his companions caught him. Cold sweat poured down the young man’s face. He was deathly pale and looked close to complete exhaustion.
It looked like using that divine technique took a tremendous toll.
Zhang Lianhai immediately asked, “Well?”
“It... it’s here,” the attendant said weakly. “The Dharma Eye sees it. This is the entrance!”
When he opened his eye again, it had already returned to normal.
The people around them immediately stirred.
An envoy of the Heavenly Palace had personally confirmed it with the Dharma Eye! This was the entrance between illusion and reality. Anyone who wanted to seize the Generous Pot had to pass through here.
Zhang Lianhai immediately pointed at three people and said, “You three, go in.”
Each of the three swallowed a pill. Soon, three dim flames appeared over their shoulders and the tops of their heads.
He Lingchuan found this scene familiar too. He had not expected the Heavenly Palace to use methods similar to those Sun Fuping had once employed, forcibly manifesting the life fires of its subordinates.
Each of the three men left one wisp of life fire behind with Zhang Lianhai, then jumped into the pool and vanished into the red light.
“It looks like they’ve entered the inner world of the Panlong Ruins.” Bao Guanjie, deputy general of the Qilin Army from the State of Baling, and the others had been watching the life fires in Zhang Lianhai’s hand the entire time.
All three wisps continued burning steadily, which meant the scouts who had entered that small world were still alive.
After waiting a dozen breaths or so, Bao Guanjie jerked his chin toward his own men. “You go in too!”
The Baling men had barely stepped forward when Zhang Lianhai’s brow shifted. The lamp spirits immediately swept in front of them, blocking their path. “Stop!”
The rest of those from the Heavenly Palace spread out as well, surrounding the pool completely.
Bao Guanjie’s expression darkened, but he still tried to reason with them. “Mr. Zhang, even if your people go inside, you may not immediately obtain the treasure. Instead, who knows what strange dangers they’ll encounter there? With more people, we’d have more strength to work together!”
If any other party had dared monopolize the pool, no one would have bothered arguing. Gentlemen might settle disputes with words, but the people who came adventuring in Panlong City were not exactly gentlemen. They would have simply attacked and killed the bastards.
How many good people came to a place like Panlong City in the first place?
But the thing here was that the other party was from the Heavenly Palace.
Everyone was wary of a force sent directly from there. If an argument could settle matters, then they would argue. Unless absolutely unavoidable, no one wanted to be the first to exchange blows with them, even if this was nowhere near Beijia territory.
Such was the might of a powerful state.
“No one gets in,” Zhang Lianhai said coldly. “This is for your own good. What lies inside is far too dangerous. It isn’t something ordinary mortals can involve themselves in!”
Bao Guanjie’s brow furrowed. “Does the Heavenly Palace know what’s inside?”
While the two sides argued, Zhao Qinghe led men into the temple and thoroughly searched both its interior and surroundings.
Zhang Lianhai offered no further explanation. He merely pointed. Then, the lamp spirits immediately transformed into several fierce beasts that glared hungrily at everyone nearby.
Anyone who dared step forward would be pounced on and torn apart.
Bao Guanjie argued a few more times, but Zhang Lianhai remained completely unmoved. Worse, the Heavenly Palace attendants behind him had begun laying out an array on the ground. They were clearly preparing to erect some sort of barrier.
The Baling people’s expressions immediately turned ugly.
Outside Heishui City, when they were fighting the Andong forces, everyone had still been working together as comrades. Not even two days had passed, and already they had turned on one another.
He Chunhua did not step forward. He merely watched from the side.
Bao Guanjie’s gaze shifted and landed on him. Suddenly, he said, “General He is the host here. No matter how overbearing the Heavenly Palace may be, surely there’s no justification for blocking the local master of the territory from entering?”
The vast Panlong Desert and the Hongya Route were both Yuan territory. As Heishui City’s highest-ranking commander, He Chunhua could certainly call himself the local master. Of course, no one had cared about that title earlier. Bao Guanjie was only bringing it up now because he wanted to pull He Chunhua to his side against the Heavenly Palace.
After all, He Chunhua had brought the most men. Zhang Lianhai and his companions could not draw much origin energy here. If fighting truly broke out and they had to face the combined forces of Heishui City and Baling, which would be over three hundred men in total, they might not have much of an advantage, if any.
Zhang Lianhai glanced at He Chunhua and said flatly, “But what’s inside belongs to the Heavenly Palace.”
He was telling everyone plainly that the Generous Pot belonged to the Heavenly Palace.
At that moment, Zhao Qinghe emerged from the temple and shook his head toward He Chunhua.
He Chunhua was just about to speak when the red cord around his wrist suddenly grew faintly warm.
This was a treasure that Naluotian had given him. Whenever He Chunhua faced danger, it would automatically warn him.
With the aid of this red cord, he had once evaded a hidden arrow and an ambush in Longchuan.
Back then, however, the cord had grown hot enough to burn.
This time, it merely warmed for an instant. In fact, it had warmed so faintly and so briefly that he almost thought he had imagined it.
He Chunhua shifted his wrist. The red cord gave no further warning.
What did that mean?
Is it warning me of danger inside the red light? Or is some powerful enemy approaching?
Or is it that it can’t determine where the danger is really coming from or how serious it is?
Since Naluotian had bestowed the red cord upon him, this was the first time it had behaved in such a half-responsive, uncertain manner.
Is the Panlong Ruins so strange that even the artifact can’t properly judge the danger?
He Chunhua’s expression shifted repeatedly.
Bao Guanjie waited for him to speak, but when no answer came, he had no choice but to ask again, “General He?”
Meanwhile, the Soul-Stealing Mirror whispered to He Lingchuan, “A magical artifact on your father just activated!”
What magical artifact?
He Lingchuan could not conveniently speak aloud to ask. Fortunately, after following him for so long, the Soul-Stealing Mirror had learned to understand his thoughts to some extent. It continued, “I sensed traces of a deific technique or spell being activated, but I can’t tell what kind!”
A deific technique? Is what I feared most really coming to pass? He Lingchuan immediately pointed toward a nearby alley. “Old man, look over there!”
He needed to divert He Chunhua’s attention as quickly as possible.
The alley was pitch-black, but after He Lingchuan pointed it out, everyone spotted more than ten figures emerging from the darkness and heading straight toward the temple.
None of the faces were familiar. They clearly had not come from Heishui City.
The man leading them was a huge, powerfully built fellow with a fierce, blood-soaked aura. He held a saber inlaid with gold.
He Chunhua’s eyes landed on the gold-inlaid saber. He immediately recalled Ling Jinbao’s warning, and his heart tightened.
Are these the Minister of War’s men?
One of the Heavenly Palace attendants called out in time, “The Heavenly Palace is conducting official business! Stop where you are, or you will be killed without mercy!”
The Minister of War’s party stopped. Their eyes swept across every faction present, lingering longest on the Heavenly Palace’s group and on He Chunhua.
The Heavenly Palace had the most intimidating reputation, and its lamp spirits were impossible to overlook. On the other hand, He Chunhua had the largest number of men.
The pillar of red light over the Panlong Desert had not appeared long ago, yet this man had already arrived with such a sizable force.
What did that imply? Proximity.
In other words, He Chunhua’s faction was very likely a local power.
The burly man’s gaze toward He Chunhua immediately gained a trace of caution. They had never gone to Heishui City, so they knew nothing about the Andong army’s sudden assault on the city, nor that Commandery Administrator Hu had been killed and He Chunhua had temporarily assumed authority. Even so, the man instinctively felt He Chunhua was no ordinary person.