Where Immortals Once Walked

He Chunhua instinctively glanced at He Lingchuan. Luckily, his eldest son had warned him in time.

He pointed toward the city gate. “Reinforce it immediately!”

Men rushed off at once to haul over sandbags and pile them against the inside of the gate.

As He Chunhua climbed the gate tower, he asked, “Where did the attackers come from?”

“We still don’t know,” Zhao Qinghe replied. “After we stopped the men at the gate, we came up here to investigate. We fired several flaming arrows out, and by their light, we spotted enemy troops about four hundred meters away!”

That made the entire sequence of events clear.

The enemy had approached under cover of darkness, sending a small team ahead to infiltrate the city and seize the gate from within. Once the fire arrows exposed them and their attempt to steal the city failed, they stopped bothering with concealment and simply launched a full-scale assault.

In theory, they had executed their plan beautifully. They set fire to the government office, assassinated the commandery administrator, threw the city into chaos, then struck while everyone was reeling. By this point, they should already have stormed into the city.

Unfortunately for them, He Chunhua had arrived in Heishui City at precisely this critical moment.

When it came to luck, the raiders had lost to Governor-General He.

He Chunhua reached the top of the gate tower and looked down. A sea of enemy troops stretched below, their torches making it seem as though there were a starry sky on the ground. Arrows poured up toward the walls in dense volleys, making for an intimidating sight.

He ducked back behind the battlements and turned to his eldest son. “Chuan’er, what do you make of it?”

He Lingchuan had already finished surveying the enemy. “A little over a thousand troops. They came in light armor and only brought two battering rams, no heavy siege weapons. It looks like they came through Hongya Route. Every outpost along the way must be blind. An entire army slipped through, and not one of them noticed.”

North of Heishui City, there was an outpost every ten to fifteen kilometers. Yet these enemies had managed to march all the way to the city walls without a single warning reaching Heishui City. It was negligence of the highest order.

“There are more reinforcements coming.” He Chunhua pointed toward a winding line of torches in the distance. “Looks like they broke themselves into smaller groups earlier and came over in separate batches.” Then he added, “These are Andong troops, old enemies of mine. They’ve been quiet for years, so you wouldn’t recognize their armor.”

“Hm?” He Lingchuan blinked. “These are Andong people?”

“They want Heishui City back, and they want to avenge their old defeat while they’re at it.”

Twenty years ago, Heishui City had still been under Andong rule. It was He Chunhua who had fought several campaigns and eventually incorporated the city into Yuan’s territory.

That achievement had also earned him his promotion to commandery administrator.

Now, those from Andong had returned for revenge.

“Why choose now?”

“This is an excellent time for them.” He Chunhua’s expression was grim. “Great Yuan is on shaky ground, and strange incidents have been occurring repeatedly along the Hongya Route.”

He Lingchuan caught the word “repeatedly.” That meant his father had known for some time that something was changing in the Panlong Desert.

“The Hongya Route?” He feigned surprise. “The Andong people are interested in the Hongya Route and the Panlong Desert too?”

“They’re interested in what’s inside the Panlong Desert,” He Chunhua replied casually. “Have you forgotten why Sun Fuping and Nian Songyu came to Heishui City in the first place?”

Of course not. They came for the Generous Pot.

“Forget everything else. If they could simply release the Three Corpses Worms from the pot, an enemy army would fall into chaos on its own. To a military commander, that’s practically the secret to winning every battle—a magical treasure for defeating any foe.” He Chunhua then said seriously, “Now that something has changed in the Panlong Desert, those people have probably grown restless again. They’ve come to try their luck.”

“Oh, so that’s what this is about!” And you probably came here with exactly the same thoughts, right?

Below the walls, Andong troops drove a battering ram against the gate. The defenders immediately brought out crude homemade explosives and tossed them down. These explosives were also known as melon bombs. They looked somewhat like watermelons and packed a respectable blast once lit. Their only problem was that they were not particularly stable. Sometimes, merely stepping on one by accident could...

Anyway, four or five were hurled down from the walls at once. No one among the attackers dared rush over and extinguish the fuses. They scattered with their heads down. Soon enough, there were several deafening blasts, and the battering ram’s wheels were blown apart.

The thing was already enormously heavy, and arrows were raining down from above. For the moment, the Andong troops could not even drag it back.

Seeing that, He Chunhua descended from the wall.

By then, Qiu Hu and the other three had returned as well, escorting two prisoners. One prisoner’s hands had been dislocated, while the other had a long gash torn across his abdomen and was soaked in blood.

He Lingchuan recognized one of them.

It was the burly man who had quarreled with the cook at the Wei City post station a few days earlier.

Now, however, his face was smeared with blood, and his head hung in utter defeat.

“What about the others?”

“Dead.”

He Lingchuan had asked them to leave one alive, but Qiu Hu had thoughtfully brought back two.

“The one with his belly cut open is their leader. This bald fellow is his younger brother.”

Time was precious, so Qiu Hu immediately relayed what he had extracted under interrogation. “The force outside the gate comes from Nie City in Andong. Some are city troops, while the rest are directly subordinate to the state. There are more than three thousand men in total, all under the command of Liao Shan, Grand Administrator of Nie City. Liao Shan sent two groups into Heishui City. One was ordered to assassinate Commandery Administrator Hu, while the other was to secretly open Heishui City’s gates and let the Andong forces in. So far, only one of the groups has succeeded.”

“Mm, the other group is still on the run,” He Lingchuan said with a nod. “What else?”

“Last night, Liao Shan detached a hundred men and sent them toward the center of the Panlong Desert.”

The center of the Panlong Desert?

The He father and son exchanged a glance.

That most likely means they’re heading for the Panlong Ruins.

He Chunhua had guessed correctly. The Andong people also had their eyes on the Generous Pot.

Liao Shan was attacking Heishui City while simultaneously dispatching men to seize the pot. If he obtained the pot first, taking Heishui City would become easy. If he took Heishui City first, then the Hongya Route would fall entirely under Andong control, giving them a tremendous home-field advantage over everyone else and allowing them to explore the Panlong Desert at their leisure.

“What a fine little scheme.” He Chunhua sneered. “Unfortunately, a man shouldn’t be too greedy. Trying to grab both at once can easily leave you with nothing.”

Qiu Hu had also extracted information about the men who assassinated Commandery Administrator Hu. Beyond that, however, the brothers knew nothing.

The bald man suddenly dropped to his knees before He Chunhua. “My lord, save my brother’s life, and the two of us will serve you however you command!”

His elder brother was still bleeding heavily. At this rate, the people of Heishui City would not even need to execute him. He would bleed out on his own.

He Chunhua asked indifferently, “And what use are you to me?”

The bald man stared blankly.

He had already given them every piece of information he knew. For a moment, he could not think of anything else he had to offer.

Damn it, I should have held something back!

Qiu Hu pressed a small knife against his neck and slowly drew the blade across his skin, all the while looking toward He Lingchuan.

Blood trickled down to the base of the prisoner’s neck before He Lingchuan finally waved a hand.

“Wait, let him live for now. Let them both live for now.”

A Rongshan disciple immediately stepped forward to treat the other prisoner.

The pill was excellent, and so was the medicine applied to the wound. The bald man could tell at a glance. His brother’s bleeding stopped almost immediately.

He Chunhua looked at his eldest son but said nothing.

The bald man, however, bowed gratefully. “Thank you, Young Master!”

“What’s your name?”

“My name is Zhou, Zhou Peng!” The bald man pointed to his unconscious brother. “That’s my elder brother, Zhou Yao!”

He Lingchuan immediately ordered, “Find Zhou Yao a clean cell. As for the men who murdered Commandery Administrator Hu, you’ll help us locate and identify them. If you can redeem yourself through meritorious service, both you and your brother will live.”

Zhou Peng agreed without a moment’s hesitation.

Qiu Hu stepped forward.

Crack! Crack!

With two sharp movements, he reset both of Zhou Peng’s dislocated wrists.

Zhao Qinghe then detached another thirty men and took Zhou Peng back into the city to hunt down the assassins.

A thought suddenly stirred in He Lingchuan’s mind.

He Chunhua’s objective on this western journey was enormously important, no less significant than suppressing the rebellion in the south.

And yet, among his usual trusted men, he had brought only Zhao Qinghe.

Wu Shaoyi, Zeng Feixiong, Uncle Hao, and the others had all been left behind. That alone made one thing abundantly clear. Of all his subordinates, Zhao Qinghe was the confidant he trusted most.