Ghost Fight

Fan Domain. Chen Fan stood inside the warehouse cavern, looking over more than a dozen warehouses packed full to bursting. He checked them one by one. He was not worried that anything had gone missing. He was only looking. A long while later, he stopped at the door of one warehouse's Mustard Seed Chamber and stood there in silence, saying nothing for a long time. Mining on the New Continent was going smoothly. The ghost stone reserves in Fan Domain's warehouses had now reached 189 million. One hundred and eighty-nine million ghost stones. Enough to forge tens of millions of basic ghost fires. It was an enormous sum. These ghost stones should never have appeared in Jiangbei. Even if one turned all four regions of Jiangbei inside out, it would still be hard to dig up so many. Otherwise Jiangbei would not have been so remote and barren. If not for the New Continent, possessing this many ghost stones would have been a very, very difficult thing. Nearly ten million ghost stones were mined every day. And with the last tail of the rainy season, he had gone to the New Continent again, built several more strongholds, extended part of the high-speed rail, and... after those hoes forged of Earth Gold had been handed out, the pace of mining had risen once more. Three years remained until the seabed ghost tide made landfall. It was enough. So long as the seabed ghost tide did not suddenly come ashore ahead of time, and so long as that Thunderstorm Sea, which had lasted for thousands of years, did not suddenly vanish, Fan Domain would surge high enough within these three years. Accumulate 300 million ghost stones. Then he could first lay down a basic version of the Jiangbei Defense Line, and afterward, according to the ghost stones still to come, add to it bit by bit. "Domain Lord." Just then, the voice transmission talisman in his robes grew faintly warm, and Shao Qiu's voice came through. "I have reached the Guanxi Plain. I am about to leave the effective range of the signal towers. According to plan, I will return before the rainy season descends at the end of the year. Are there any further orders?" "No." Chen Fan drew the voice transmission talisman from his robes and said quietly, "Be careful. Safe journey." He had sent the Dark Pavilion out. Once the rainy season ended, Shao Qiu had at once taken part of the Dark Pavilion south toward the Guanxi Plain, planning to cross it and go all the way to the Guandong Plain. To see what the Guandong Plain was like. To see whether there was a defense line along that coast, and if there was, of what level. He knew far too little of the world outside. The Dark Pavilion was the feeler by which he learned of it. When the map of the Heaven-Piercing Pillar told him that the Guandong Plain was also a region bordering the sea, he had to understand the state of that region's defenses clearly. His Jiangbei Defense Line guarded only against the sea. That assumed a situation in which only the seabed ghost tide came ashore, and the interior of the continent was safe. But if the defense line of the Guandong Plain fell, then great ghost tides would come ashore from the seabed there, travel north through Jiangnan, and reach Jiangbei. Between Jiangnan and Jiangbei, there was no defense line to speak of. This was something he had no choice but to consider. In silence, he looked at the calendar hanging at the door of the warehouse's Mustard Seed Chamber. Year 380 of the Eternal Night Calendar, the third day of the first month. A new year had come. Come to think of it, his birthday was almost here as well. His birthday was the eighteenth day of the fourth month. In his previous life he had never had the habit of marking birthdays, but now that he had come to this world, he suddenly remembered it. No one in this world celebrated birthdays. A large part of the reason was that many people did not know what day they had been born. Ask Que Hou what day he was born. Que Hou would only stand there with a completely blank face. Who the hell knew what day he was born. He did not even know whether his age was accurate. A long while later, Chen Fan let out a soft sigh, walked out of the warehouse, and returned to the city wall. He sat in the rocking chair atop the wall, his expression dazed, his thoughts nowhere in particular. He did not know why. He felt the sky today seemed a little dark. Not very beautiful. "You—you really do have a pig's brain." Da Yu stood in the Fan Domain cafeteria, eating lunch alone. The auntie bustling about the cafeteria could not help coming out of the back kitchen. She wiped her hands, sat down beside Da Yu, and said, exasperated that good promise was going to waste. "I'm telling you, Da Yu. You're a girl. Do you really mean to stay Vice Pavilion Master of the War Pavilion forever?" "I heard that during the first rainy season, before Fan Domain had even been founded..." "There were ten of you, and you were the only girl?" "You really missed your chance!" "Tell me, if you had won the Domain Lord's favor back then, wouldn't your prospects be bright and wide now? A man and a woman alone, trapped in one place—feelings come easiest then." "Think about it." "To this day the Domain Lord has no woman he fancies. Don't you think it's possible he already fancies you, and is only waiting for you to speak first? You can't very well make someone of the Domain Lord's standing speak to you first, can you? If you ask me, you'd be better off speaking fi—" The voice cut off. A member of Fan Domain's War Pavilion was standing beside her, no one knew since when, staring at her with an ugly look. "Uh—" "You all carry on. I'll go to the back and sort the vegetables." The auntie hurriedly rose, gave up her seat, and shuffled awkwardly off toward the back kitchen. After she had gone, the War Pavilion member's face turned respectful, and he said in a low voice, "Vice Pavilion Master. The War Pavilion has escorted back a man who came from the Guanxi Plain. He is waiting for you to interrogate him." "Understood." Only after Da Yu had slowly put the last mouthful of rice into her mouth did she rise and walk toward the interrogation room. The War Pavilion member who remained glanced at Da Yu's back, then at the auntie's, and his expression darkened faintly. The Vice Pavilion Master was too soft. A kitchen auntie, an auxiliary member of Fan Domain—how did she dare speak to Fan Domain's Vice Pavilion Master like that? The gap between them was far more than a single rank. Only because the Vice Pavilion Master never turned her anger on anyone did this middle-aged woman dare gossip to her face. He had never understood why the Domain Lord had placed a woman in the post of Vice Pavilion Master of the War Pavilion. And one so soft. It was easy for others to think the people of their War Pavilion were easy to bully. He of course knew the Vice Pavilion Master was one of the original founding elders. But the elders who had fought their way out of the first rainy season beside the Domain Lord now all sat high, and all of them truly had ability. Wang Mazi of the Commerce Pavilion, Wang Kui of the Heavenly Granary Pavilion, Stationmaster Qi of the Hundred Grains Pavilion—each had made real achievements in his own post. Only Da Yu was stuck in between, neither up nor down. He knew Da Yu was a Nightwatcher. But— Did Fan Domain, as it was now, lack a Nightwatcher like this? However great a Nightwatcher's blast, could it surpass hundreds of God-Slaying Cannons firing together? Nightwatchers could not even cultivate. The War Pavilion of Fan Domain today had no small number of Martial Kings. Even the lowest cultivators were level eight or nine. Before long they would reach a day when every one of them was a Martial King. Because of that, more and more people were somewhat unconvinced by a Vice Pavilion Master like Da Yu. If Zhou Mo had not kept pressing the talk down, the gossip would only have been louder. His face unpleasant, he strode toward the back kitchen. He had to teach a certain loose tongue a lesson. However soft Da Yu was, she was still Vice Pavilion Master of their War Pavilion. An auxiliary member of Fan Domain, daring to wag her tongue in front of Fan Domain's Vice Pavilion Master. If she was not taught a lesson, she would truly think their War Pavilion was easy to bully. Da Yu walked into the interrogation room and looked at Hu Zi, seated opposite. "Name." "Hu Zi." Hu Zi looked up at Da Yu, a flicker of doubt in his eyes. He could tell the woman before him had no cultivation at all. But from the reactions of the people beside her, her status was clearly not low. Along the whole way here, his impression of Fan Domain in Jiangbei had changed completely. Before this, he had always thought Fan Domain of Jiangbei was a faction that made rather good luzhu. In truth, Fan Domain of Jiangbei was nothing less than a colossus crouched in Jiangbei. Its reach nearly covered all four regions of Jiangbei, and it had been deliberately holding itself back all the while. Otherwise so many factions on the Guanxi Plain would not have failed to notice that a colossus had already grown up right next door to them. Especially those... Level 5 walls, every one of them the same, spanning a range so vast it was absurd. He had never seen any faction with walls this absurd. Was this really just protecting one's own faction? It already looked rather like a defense line. Anyone who did not know better would think they meant to hold all of Jiangbei. Fan Domain was who knew how many times stronger than his Sun Moon Workshop. The two were not even on the same level. So he no longer held much hope of leaving Fan Domain alive. The Sun Moon Workshop behind him could not possibly save him either. The interrogation ended quickly. They asked only a few simple questions. Name, faction, and what he had come to Jiangnan to do. Hu Zi concealed nothing. He answered every point in full. There had been nothing worth hiding in the first place. He had not done anything especially outrageous. He had only wanted to take away the person who made luzhu. If Jiangbei knew nothing but luzhu, then that would be cutting into a man's business lifeline, a deep grudge. But at Fan Domain's scale, that so-called luzhu was probably something they made for fun. Maybe the people above did not even know Fan Domain had luzhu as a specialty. Then it would not count as any great enmity. Only after Da Yu had written the record down in full did she rise and look at Hu Zi. "We contacted the Sun Moon Workshop behind you. Your Workshop Master refused to pay your ransom, so you may leave now." "Take that batch of subordinates of yours and go together." With that, Da Yu turned and left the interrogation room. "Go?" Hu Zi froze where he stood, his face faintly ashen. Did this mean he was being sent on his way to die? He had of course known the Workshop Master would not pay his ransom. He simply had not expected Fan Domain to reach his master so quickly. "'Go' means you can go wherever you want." A War Pavilion member standing to one side stepped forward, undid the restraints on him, patted his shoulder, and said with a smile, "It means leaving alive. It doesn't mean being sent off to die." "You're really letting me leave alive?" Somewhat dazed, Hu Zi stood up without thinking and looked at the War Pavilion member beside him—the one he had failed to ambush, who had turned and knocked him flat with a single punch. "You don't want my life?" "What's your life worth?" "I can really go?" "Really." Not until he reached Fan City, and stood with his brothers amid the bustle of the streets, did Hu Zi finally believe he had truly left Fan Domain alive. He was only a little lost. Fan Domain had hauled him all this way—what, in the end, had it been for? "Uh, brother, then we'll be going?" He looked tentatively at the War Pavilion member who had escorted him here. "Go on." "There's one more thing." "You've still got business, have you?" The War Pavilion member standing there could not help a laugh born of irritation. "Come on, tell me what else. You want Fan Domain to compensate you for the carriage?" "No, not that." Hu Zi said, a little sheepish, "Actually, when I ambushed you back then, I held back. I was afraid of beating you to death. If I had truly gone after you... even if you were a Martial King, you couldn't have beaten me." The War Pavilion member patted Hu Zi's shoulder, helpless. "I know. Get going." "I'm serious." "The high-speed rail is that way. It runs straight to Fuyao City in Jiangnan. From Fuyao City you can go directly back to the Guanxi Plain. Go back to your Sun Moon Workshop." "I'm not going back to the Sun Moon Workshop." "Then where are you going?" "I've thought it through." The weather had turned a little cold. Hu Zi sniffed and said, rather seriously, "Back then you told me to think carefully about the first half of my life. I really did. I found the first half of my life a complete failure." "There was nothing in it worth remembering." "The first half of my life, I was a dog." "Before my master, a good dog." "Before outsiders, a vicious dog." "So I'm not going back to the Sun Moon Workshop. From now on I won't be a dog. I'll be a great roc. Just like the plaque I saw on the gate of Fuyao City—one day the great roc rises with the wind, and on the Fuyao whirlwind soars straight up ninety thousand li!" "I want to do one thing that, before I die, will be worth remembering." "I want to do one earthshaking thing." "I used to be very afraid of death." "But now what I fear most is dying without a single thing worth remembering. A life like that would be too much of a failure, and too dull." The War Pavilion member looked at Hu Zi with a somewhat odd expression. The first time he had watched Hu Zi from the city wall, the man had been a thug who spat wherever he pleased and swore with every breath, just like the mad dogs kept by some rich wastrel. After taking that punch from him... Had the punch knocked him into a new man? After all, watching Hu Zi's face, it did not seem as if he were lying. "What do you think counts as worth remembering?" "I haven't figured that out yet. I need to think it over properly." "Go on." The War Pavilion member watched Hu Zi and his brothers disappear into the crowds of Fan City, then shook his head, helpless. At first he had thought the Domain Lord meant to collect a ransom. But once the ransom was not paid, the Domain Lord had simply ordered the man released. He could not quite grasp what the Domain Lord was thinking either. Then again, if he knew what the Domain Lord was thinking, it would be his turn to be Domain Lord. Still, his escort task was done. He had to hurry back to Fuyao City. "One day the great roc rises with the wind, and on the Fuyao whirlwind soars straight up ninety thousand li..." He quietly recited the line once. How had he never noticed before that the name of Fuyao City carried this meaning? But he soon grinned. It really did fit the moment. Once Fan Domain set out south from Fuyao City, that would be where the ninety thousand li began! Da Yu, finished with her work, did not return to the cafeteria. She went to a teahouse in Fan City. On the second floor, by the window, sat an old man. Seeing Da Yu approach, he did not react. He only called the waiter and had another pot of hot tea brought. Though she looked to be in the flower of her youth, her actual age was only a few years. In Fan Domain she could find no one who shared a common topic with her. There was only one person. That was Gongyang Yiyue of the Gongyang clan. This Nightwatcher of the Gongyang clan, known to everyone in Jiangnan. These days, the Gongyang clan and Fan Domain had been in fairly close contact. After the rainy season ended, Gongyang Yue had come to Fan City at the first opportunity to wait for Qi Yue. She had not seen Qi Yue in a long time. She only knew the Domain Lord had sent Qi Yue on an important task, so Gongyang Yue had waited in Fan City all this while for Qi Yue's return. Gongyang Yiyue was there to accompany her. Da Yu and Gongyang Yiyue were both Nightwatchers, and there was a magnetic pull between them. Over time, the two came to know each other. "What is it?" Gongyang Yiyue looked at Da Yu, who had sat down and fallen silent, gazing out the window, and said with a light smile, "Lost again?" Today Da Yu was not wearing Fan Domain robes. She had changed into an ordinary robe, and nothing about her showed that she was Vice Pavilion Master of Fan Domain. She looked like just another member of one of Fan City's many merchant guilds. Da Yu did not answer, and she did not drink the tea. She only sat there, looking toward the window. Gongyang Yiyue took a sip of tea, then looked out the window and said softly, "I am the Grand Elder of the Gongyang clan." "I have only activated once." "Everyone calls me Grand Elder. They respect me and treat me as an old man, but in truth I'm not even as old as their children. But look—don't I carry the part well enough now? Slowly learning the habits of those elders, improving bit by bit, so I can sit properly in this seat. A Nightwatcher's fate is sorrowful from birth." "Don't dwell on your own worth." "If Fan Domain lost any one person, it would not be affected in the slightest." "To put it unkindly—" "Wang Kui now sits high, and already carries himself like Fan Domain's second-in-command. But even if Wang Kui died suddenly today, within three days Fan Domain would return to what it was. His death would not affect it in the slightest." He knew why Da Yu was grieved. Da Yu's only worth was to activate. Fan Domain no longer lacked a Nightwatcher who could activate, so her worth was greatly reduced. Those below were unconvinced by her, and those above had no tasks to give her. Da Yu now sat where no one paid her any mind. Though it was the post of Vice Pavilion Master, and everyone respected her on the surface, heaven only knew what they said behind her back. But this was not Da Yu's fault. When Fan Domain was still small and obscure, there had been no chance to use Da Yu. After it grew powerful, it no longer needed her. "You have already given Fan Domain your worth." Gongyang Yiyue went on, unhurried. "Just as I have not activated in a long time, and I am still of worth to the Gongyang clan. I believe that even if Fan Domain never activated you, in its humble days you were still Fan Domain's greatest hidden card. Many times you gave its actions no small store of confidence, and deterred outsiders. That is already enough." "You've walked into a bit of a dead end." "You want too much to prove your worth." "In truth, a person does not need to have worth." "It is enough to be alive." Da Yu did not have long left. She could live only another fourteen or fifteen years. Da Yu said nothing. She only sat there quietly. After a long while, she rose, sat beside Gongyang Yiyue, rested her head on his shoulder, and closed her eyes, as if this way things might be a little easier. She murmured, "During the rainy season, I asked the Domain Lord to let me resign as Vice Pavilion Master. He refused." "Of course he refused. You are one of his founding elders. He promised all of you that when Fan Domain one day rose, he would give every one of you a future." "But I can't sit steady in this seat." "Then change seats." "For example?" "For example... Vice Pavilion Master of the Hundred Grains Pavilion. I imagine it wouldn't matter if the Hundred Grains Pavilion had one more vice master. Don't you like flowers? You could still do what you love. Go to Sunset City and tend flowers. Plant those flower-type ghost plants." "Could I?" "Don't keep asking me. I'm only offering a suggestion as a friend. If I say too much, it'll seem as if I'm interfering in Fan Domain's internal affairs. That sounds rather dangerous." "You feel like my grandfather. Talking with you puts me at ease." Gongyang Yiyue's face darkened at once. He said hoarsely, "Have you forgotten we're both Nightwatchers? You've activated twice. I've activated once. My actual age is only a few years more than yours." "But you look just like a grandfather." "Then I'll activate once more tomorrow." "Don't. You'd live many fewer years." Da Yu leaned against Gongyang Yiyue's shoulder and said softly, "During the rainy season, the Domain Lord asked everyone what their dream was. Do you have a dream?" "Uh... I do, but... it's a little hard to say." "Aren't we friends?" "Uh." Gongyang Yiyue rubbed his nose and said, a little embarrassed, "It's rather shameful to speak of. As my age keeps getting smaller, I feel that in a few years I'll finally be able to get it up. Once I can get it up, I want to do the things only adults can do." "So I want to live a few more years. Otherwise, if all my life I only ever activated and never once got it up, that sounds a bit like a failure." "Get it up? What does that mean?" "You're still little. You wouldn't understand. I'll tell you later." After the rainy season ended, the factions that came to Jiangnan were not only the Sun Moon Workshop. Before this rainy season, quite a few factions had already vaguely felt that something was off about the faction called Fan Domain in Jiangbei, though they had received no concrete news. But they were on the Guanxi Plain. For the name of a faction in Jiangbei to reach their ears was already an extremely strange thing. The rainy season was about to descend, though, and it was no time to go out. Once the rainy season ended, they sent people one after another to probe Jiangbei. Almost as soon as this batch entered Fuyao City in Jiangnan, the War Pavilion stopped them. Then came the same process as with Hu Zi: escort them back to Fan Domain, demand a ransom, and if it was not paid, release them. Some returned to their own factions. Some, after leaving Fan Domain, became free persons and cut themselves off from their original factions entirely. And as those who went back told everything they had seen and heard in Fan Domain, the name of Fan Domain of Jiangbei began to circulate among the factions of the Guanxi Plain. Quite a few of those factions knew that a power had risen in Jiangbei, named Jiangbei Fan Domain, and that its strength was extremely great. Among them, the one that knew the most about Fan Domain of Jiangbei was the Immortal Slaughter Holy Land. Of all the people sent to Jiangnan, those sent by the Immortal Slaughter Holy Land made up half. Quite a few were not stopped, but slipped into Jiangnan on the sly. Not because the Immortal Slaughter Holy Land was so strong it could send so many. Simply because they had invested more. They valued information on Fan Domain more highly. The Holy Lord of the Immortal Slaughter Holy Land sat in silence at the tea table, looking over the reports his subordinates handed up one after another, the corner of his mouth twitching madly without stop. More than ten years ago, he had learned that that person had left Nameless Mountain and was trapped somewhere, and had left within Nameless Mountain a great array that could nurture a Snow Lotus to maturity. On the principle that an ownerless thing belongs to whoever is fated for it, and that if Heaven offers and one does not take, one will suffer for it instead, he had sent people. He had personally dispatched Yu Ning'er to lead the team, to lie low in the Jiangbei Chen family, in Jiangbei City, the city nearest Nameless Mountain, and to pluck it the instant Nameless Mountain reached maturity. A perfect plan. He had even sent Shao Qiu, that fellow who had once founded the God-Slaying Hall on the Guanxi Plain, along with the rest of the party. However, during the last rainy season, Yu Ning'er had kept sending word back that several things had gone wrong. First the rainy season had come early to Jiangbei City. Then the bastard son expelled by the Jiangbei Chen family seemed to have risen. And so on, a whole string of messy news. After that, Yu Ning'er's life tablet shattered, and the life tablets of the rest of the party shattered completely as well. As for Shao Qiu, he was probably dead too. The Immortal Slaughter Holy Land had no life tablet for Shao Qiu. He knew their chances were grim. But he had not concerned himself. The Immortal Slaughter Holy Land sent out many people. There were always failures. If they died, they died. Nor did he send anyone else to Nameless Mountain. After all, the task of collecting the Snow Lotus of Nameless Mountain was not rated especially high within the Holy Land. It was not worth sending more people. What if the next group died as well? Even if a third wave succeeded, trading the lives of three waves for a single Snow Lotus was a losing bargain. He had nearly forgotten the whole matter. Until, recently, he suddenly heard of Fan Domain's rise. Fan Domain of Jiangbei. Its Domain Lord, Chen Fan, was the bastard son expelled by the Jiangbei Chen family back then. The chief one behind that was Chen Quan. Chen Quan was Yu Ning'er's child, and Yu Ning'er was one of his people from the Immortal Slaughter Holy Land. The Holy Lord of the Immortal Slaughter Holy Land sat at the tea table and began sorting through the logic. He had to judge whether Fan Domain and the Immortal Slaughter Holy Land actually had a grudge. Chen Fan's expulsion from the Jiangbei Chen family was not something he had authorized. He had not known of it at all. That was Chen Quan's private act. Chen Quan was not even a member of the Immortal Slaughter Holy Land. How did he connect to the Holy Land at all? There shouldn't be a grudge, should there? He was a little afraid of Fan Domain. The Immortal Slaughter Holy Land was one of the very highest factions on the Guanxi Plain, but he truly was somewhat afraid of Fan Domain. If Fan Domain were a long-established faction, he would have had nothing to fear. At worst they would clash a little. But Fan Domain had grown to this scale in a single year, and in a place like Jiangbei. What it had gone through in that time, only heaven truly knew. A Fan Domain like that, he was a little afraid of. Who the hell knew what the fuck was buried in Fan Domain's foundation! The bastard son expelled by the Jiangbei Chen family... The rainy season came early. Chen Fan survived on the wasteland, and at the tail of the rainy season slew a Ghost King and founded Fan Domain. First he slew the Dan Sect's young master, then slaughtered the entire Dan Sect. He personally fought his way to the Jiangbei Chen family and cleaned out the remnants. He opened the Silk Road and created Fan Domain's high-speed rail. How did deed after deed sound so damn much like the hero of a folk storybook? As if he had been born to do great things! A long while later... "Hah." The Holy Lord of the Immortal Slaughter Holy Land let out a long breath and smiled. With the logic straightened out, there should be no grudge. The people he had sent had not gone to target Chen Fan at all. Even if this matter had led to a few accidents, it should not be laid at the Immortal Slaughter Holy Land's door. As the saying went, heaven is high and the land is vast—they were simply too far apart. Even if there was a grudge, it did not matter. At such a distance, however high the grade of Fan Domain's walls, could they haul those walls to the gates of his Immortal Slaughter Holy Land? But no grudge was best. Enemies—the fewer, the better. Just then, the door of the tea room was pushed open, and another message was set on the tea table. "The Pavilion Master of Fan Domain's Dark Pavilion is named Shao Qiu." The smile on his face slowly froze where it was. Shao Qiu was not dead, and had joined Fan Domain? Did this mean there was a grudge this time? No! This still could not be counted as a grudge, could it? True, he had imprisoned Shao Qiu. But Shao Qiu had infiltrated his Immortal Slaughter Holy Land. Locking him up for a while was not going too far, was it? If there was a grudge at all, it was between Shao Qiu and the Immortal Slaughter Holy Land. They could not drag Fan Domain into it, could they? "This doesn't count. It can't count. It absolutely can't count." He muttered under his breath. The Great Elder sitting beside him, expressionless the whole time, was long used to this. This was the Holy Lord's way of handling things. He was accustomed to it. Another three days passed. After the rainy season ended, a cold wind swept from Jiangbei toward the Guanxi Plain, and riding with that wind came Fan Domain. Almost overnight, many people on the Guanxi Plain already knew that a mysterious faction had risen in Jiangbei. Its name was Fan Domain. In an ordinary city beside the Immortal Slaughter Holy Land, Shao Qiu sat with members of the Dark Pavilion in the top-floor private room of the tallest teahouse in the city. Through the window he looked at a peak not far away, his eyes full of the itch to try. On that peak was the Immortal Slaughter Holy Land. The peak was not high, only seventy or eighty meters. Even so, it was rare. To find a peak like this on the great flat of Guanxi was truly hard to come by. Eight years ago, he had tried to infiltrate the Immortal Slaughter Holy Land, and ended in failure. Now his cultivation had long since broken through to Martial King and reached level 14, and in his hands were an exclusive weapon and a night-travel suit forged of Earth Gold. He very much wanted to try once more, to see whether he could slip in. Unfortunately, this time he carried a mission and needed to go to the Guandong Plain. He could not try as he pleased. "Pavilion Master." A Dark Pavilion member beside him said rather quietly, "Is this the Immortal Slaughter Holy Land that once imprisoned you?" "Mm." Shao Qiu gave a slight nod. The other Dark Pavilion members also looked toward the peak, faces full of curiosity. Over this past year the Pavilion Master had told them a great deal about his former glory on the Guanxi Plain, so of course they were curious. Just then, the storyteller in the teahouse suddenly struck his bamboo clappers. "Today—" "Let us tell of a legendary figure from the Guanxi Plain's past, named Shao Qiu. This name may be unfamiliar to you, but mention the God-Slaying Hall and you will certainly not find it so. An assassin organization that rose all of a sudden eight years ago." "Shao Qiu, who single-handedly founded the God-Slaying Hall." "That year—" "This youth was only seventeen." "Ever since—" The storyteller in the teahouse began to pour out words in a torrent. Shao Qiu, seated in the top-floor private room, gave a light cough and went on looking out the window as if nothing were the matter. He truly had not expected that after so long, someone would still remember him. Had he been this famous before? The Dark Pavilion members beside him excitedly crowded to the door of the private room and listened with ears cocked. "...Ever since eight years ago, when Shao Qiu overestimated himself and tried to break into the Immortal Slaughter Holy Land, the God-Slaying Hall disbanded on the spot. From then on, the Guanxi Plain had no such person as Shao Qiu." "Hard to say whether his ambition outflew the heavens, or he simply overreached." "But eight years later—" "Shao Qiu has returned once more. This time he returns not under the name of a genius assassin, but as Shao Qiu, Pavilion Master of the Dark Pavilion of Jiangbei's Fan Domain." "Speaking of Jiangbei's Fan Domain, you may be puzzled. Listen, and I shall tell it in full." "From ancient times, Jiangbei has been barren land..." From there on, it had almost nothing to do with him. The whole of it was about Fan Domain. Shao Qiu curled his lip. He had thought the tale was specially about him. Turned out he was only the opening hook, a way to bring Fan Domain on. Once Fan Domain was brought out, he had nothing more to do with it. It seemed that on the Domain Lord's side the restrictions had been loosened, and they were preparing to move south. They had already begun to build momentum. Otherwise the Guanxi Plain would not have had so very much news. Slaying a Ghost King in the rainy season, the Nine-Five Dragon Carriage destroying the Dan Sect—the information they knew was quite complete. He needed to move a little faster himself. "Let's go." He set down his teacup, left the private room, and headed downstairs. His task was to investigate the coastal defense line of the Guandong Plain. He needed to travel south the whole way. To learn as much related information as he could. Then, before this year's rainy season, return to Fan Domain and report. As time passed, the Guanxi Plain gathered more and more information about Fan Domain. Among it was Zhao Shengping, Pavilion Master of Fan Domain's Artifact Pavilion, the fellow once nicknamed the Luzhu Master of Guanxi. The Divine Artifact Sect Master looked at the report his disciple presented. Once he confirmed that this Zhao Shengping was the outer elder the Divine Artifact Sect had expelled, he could not help a scornful laugh. "So the luzhu now sweeping the Guanxi Plain was braised by that fellow?" "Sure enough." "Wherever he goes, he still won't attend to his proper work." "Expelling a blight on the herd like that from the sect back then was not wrong in the slightest." But between the words a thread of regret slipped in, despite himself. Back then he had expelled Zhao Shengping mainly because an artifact refiner spent every day making luzhu, neglecting his proper trade and damaging the sect's name, so that the reputation of the sect's artifact refiners was dragged down with it. Mainly... Mainly he had not known that the luzhu sold so dear, and that people would still buy it! Those people were as if they had gone mad. One serving of luzhu sold for over a thousand ghost stones, and still there were buyers. Supply could not even meet demand. If he had known it could sell this hot, he would have sold luzhu himself back then. That pittance of a cost was worth only a few ghost stones. Another month passed. After days of hard travel, Shao Qiu and his party finally reached the Ghost-Suppressing Pass, the boundary between the Guanxi Plain and the Guandong Plain, ruins of a defense line left from the ancient battlefield. Unlike the Jiangbei Defense Line of the ancient era, it had not been destroyed down to nothing. "My ass is about to split in half." Shao Qiu muttered as he jumped down from the Skeleton Horse and looked toward the Ghost-Suppressing Pass ahead. Past here was the Guandong Plain. He rather missed Fan Domain's high-speed rail. If Fan Domain's high-speed rail ran all the way here, however vast the Guanxi Plain, he would not have had to rush about for a month. The Ghost-Suppressing Pass was the ruin of a defense line. No one knew how many meters high the walls had once been. At a glance now they were basically only two or three meters, already ruined past use, and most stretches had taken heavy damage and been razed flat. On both sides of the ruins sat quite a few small stalls and peddlers. These peddlers traded the specialties of the two regions here and carried them back to sell, and along the way offered passing travelers rest, food, and the like. There were outposts here as well. He saw many ghost fires. "Come on. Let's find a place to rest." Leading the Skeleton Horse, he strode toward an outpost beneath the ruins. The Dark Pavilion members behind him hurried to follow. On this journey they had not raised Fan Domain's banner, and their clothes were ordinary. No one could tell which faction they came from. A secret journey. Otherwise they would not have needed to ride Skeleton Horses. A flying boat would have been faster and more comfortable—only far too conspicuous. "Come, come, gentlemen, this way please. As the saying goes, pass the Ghost-Suppressing Pass and you're in Guandong, but it's still some distance from here to the nearest city in Guandong. This way, gentlemen—" The waiter receiving them was quite warm. He had to say it. Outposts on the Guanxi Plain were generally warmer than those in Jiangbei. Competition here was simply too fierce. The outposts sat almost door against door. If you did not go into this one, you went into the one beside it. Under those conditions, the people in the outposts were generally enthusiastic. The services the outposts offered were more or less the same. At a time like this, one had to set oneself apart in the manner of service. "Three orders of beef, three orders of plain braise—right away!" The waiter led Shao Qiu and the others into the inn, then winked and said, "Well then, gentlemen, care for a bit of fun? Looking for some entertainment?" Shao Qiu sighed, helpless. The service here really was different. A place for a brief rest was even competing with the brothels for business. "You want to play? I'll find you two. See whether you like them young, or older." "Er, sir, you've misunderstood. We don't have those here. It's not that sort of play." "Then what sort is it?" "Gentlemen, come with me to the rear courtyard." "Let's go have a look." Soon the group, led by the waiter, reached the rear courtyard. A clamor rose at once. This rear courtyard was very large, joined to the rear courtyards of the other inns. The rear courtyards of these inns were actually all connected. On the platform was an octagonal cage. Nearly a hundred people crowded below it, cheering them on. Inside the cage, two ghost creatures bared their teeth and snarled threats at each other without pause. Both were covered in blood, wound upon wound, clearly already at the edge of death. "Gentlemen, this is called a ghost fight." "You may place your bets before it begins, on which ghost creature you think will win."