"Good, good, very good. The young ought to possess the spirit to punch a hole through the heavens." Since He Lingchuan made light of the matter, Wang Xingyi pressed no further.
The three shifted topics and chatted about the war between Beijia and the Mou Kingdom for a while before Wang Xingyi said, "Your female subordinate has come looking for you. Go attend to your duties."
With the hurricane bearing down, He Lingchuan, as the island master, had far too much to oversee and manage; he could not stay here entertaining them indefinitely.
He Lingchuan had also heard Lei Ni's footsteps outside the lodge. Just as he rose to his feet, Wang Xingyi suddenly remembered something. "By the way, the Emperor's Flowing Dew may soon descend. You would do well to make preparations."
He Lingchuan's gaze narrowed slightly. "Thank you for the warning, National Preceptor!"
He excused himself from the two, instructed the attendants to serve dinner to the distinguished guests, and departed composedly.
It turned out Lei Ni had come to report a sudden landslide at the western end of the island, requiring an evacuation of the locals.
As the wind and rain mounted, the hurricane began to unleash its immense destructive power.
On the way from the Hot Spring Retreat to the harbor, He Lingchuan issued seven or eight orders in quick succession.
Only when the immediate crises had been addressed did the soul-snatching mirror finally ask him:
"Hey, since the National Preceptor came in person to invite you, why didn't you just seize the chance and join the Mou Kingdom? Once you make a move against Bailie later on, they could shield you."
He Lingchuan sighed. "It's not that simple."
"Why?" The man had extended an invitation, and all He Lingchuan had to do was nod in agreement—wouldn't that be that? The mirror saw nothing complicated about it. "You're resisting Lingxu, and they're hostile to Beijia."
Wind howled around them. He Lingchuan muttered three words in a low voice:
"The Dafang Pot."
"Ah?" The soul-snatching mirror caught on. "Ah, right!"
"In short, I can't join at this stage, but I can maintain good relations." He Lingchuan offered no further explanation.
Who wouldn't want a backer so they wouldn't have to fight alone? But systems had their rules, and free agents had their perks. Once he joined Lingshan, many things would no longer be under his control.
Most importantly, would an organization as elusive and mysterious as Lingshan induct a newcomer without vetting their background or interrogating their past?
Wouldn't they investigate eight generations of his ancestors and scrutinize even the color of his socks?
Yet his past was inextricably entangled with the Dafang Pot; there was simply no way to explain it cleanly.
He couldn't even pass the first stage of Lingshan's vetting!
Even if he somehow fluked his way past induction, what if Lingshan later uncovered the secret of the Dafang Pot and came interrogating him or meddling in his affairs?
They would be superiors, and he a subordinate—could he just refuse them at will?
As he stepped from behind the scenes into the spotlight, the secret of the Dafang Pot would inevitably become impossible to hide sooner or later.
He did not yet know Lingshan's attitude toward the Dafang Pot, but could Lingshan truly care nothing for something the celestial gods coveted so desperately?
Because of the Dafang Pot's existence, he was destined never to join an organization like Lu Qinglin, racking up merits and steadily climbing the ranks.
The road ahead was long and distant; all the tempests and lightning strikes had to be faced alone.
Not to mention that the moment Wang Xingyi extended his invitation, what came to He Lingchuan's mind was the counterfeit Thunder-Echo Spear auctioned at the Platinum Island ghost market.
Panlong City had once actively sought ties with Lingshan as well. And what came of it?
The result was that General Red's beloved spear had somehow ended up as the personal weapon of the founding emperor of the Mou Kingdom!
Chronologically, the fall of Panlong City and the rise of the Mou Kingdom had followed one another closely. Was there really no connection between them?
This matter filled him not just with curiosity and yearning regarding Lingshan, but with deep vigilance and suspicion.
He could not join Lingshan, yet he still wanted to find out what kind of organization it truly was.
In the days ahead, how should he navigate his relationship with Lingshan?
***
Not long after He Lingchuan left, dinner was served to Wang Xingyi and Fang Canran at the Hot Spring Retreat.
Distinguished guests were served individual portions. When the red-lacquered food boxes were brought forth, each received a bowl of freshly simmered scallop and crab congee—clear, fresh, and thick, cooked until the rice grains bloomed—along with a portion of shrimp shaomai, crispy fried seaweed meat rolls, two steamed pumpkin aphid-sugar cakes, an entire golden-roasted squab, and four seasonal side dishes.
To enjoy such a feast in the midst of a hurricane was pure luxury, made all the more exceptional by the fact that dinner had been prepared by three master chefs He Lingchuan had poached from grand restaurants in Blade Harbor.
As he ate, Wang Xingyi remarked, "You don't seem to know this new friend of yours very well."
Fang Canran took a sip of the congee. Simmered from freshly picked crabmeat and sliced fish, it captured that burst of fresh sweetness perfectly.
"Brother He is exceedingly guarded toward others; otherwise, he could never have pulled off such an extraordinary feat." Plotting against the Heavenly Palace right in Lingxu City meant that a single misstep would have cost him his life. "A man like He Xiao is bound to be a master at keeping secrets."
Wang Xingyi let out a breath. "Word arrived two months ago that He Jing, Duyun Emissary of the Heavenly Palace, died in the line of duty."
Fang Canran was stunned. "He Jing is dead? What happened?"
He Jing was the senior-most Duyun Emissary of the Heavenly Palace, a figure of great rank and influence. Lingshan had clashed with him many times and knew he was by no means an easy opponent.
Fang Canran had even heard inside information that He Jing was contending for the post of Chief Emissary.
How could such a heavyweight simply perish without warning?
"The Panlong Desert," Wang Xingyi said slowly. "During the crisis at the Heavenly Palace, He Jing wasn't in Lingxu City. I heard that on his way rushing back to the Heavenly Palace, he was directly reassigned to the Panlong Desert by the celestial gods."
He then asked Fang Canran, "Did you know that after the upheaval in Lingxu, anomalies appeared in the Panlong Desert?"
Fang Canran shook his head blankly.
After wreaking havoc in Lingxu City, he had fled east immediately, not daring to linger for a moment. Following a brief rest upon returning to his sect, he had journeyed straight to Platinum Island. All the intelligence he had gathered subsequently concerned Beijia.
As for the Yuan Kingdom and the Panlong Desert farther west... what did they have to do with him? Why would he pay attention to them?
"Over a hundred years ago, when Panlong City fell, the entire wasteland turned into a desert where not a blade of grass could grow. Every autumn and winter brought the wild sand season, making human passage completely impossible." Lingshan had naturally received such news. "That state persisted until seven or eight months ago, when rain suddenly fell over the Panlong Desert, giving rise to lakes and vegetation on the surface.
"Hidden within the Panlong Ancient City is a supreme treasure: the Dafang Pot. It was for this very object that Panlong City perished back then. Beijia knows this, and so does Lingshan."
Fang Canran frowned. If both sides knew a treasure lay inside the Panlong Ancient City, why was the Dafang Pot still there?
Yet he did not ask; there had to be a reason.
Sure enough, Wang Xingyi continued, "Even after Beijia slaughtered Panlong City, they still couldn't take the Dafang Pot away. Over the past century and more, people who refused to give up would periodically attempt to claim it, but none ever succeeded."
Fang Canran nodded, understanding now. "He Jing went to try again?"
Wang Xingyi waved a hand dismissively. "On the night disaster struck the Heavenly Palace, Zhaixing Tower might have lost another treasure."
Turning the topic back to the Heavenly Palace piqued Fang Canran's interest even further. "What treasure?"
"The treasures enshrined in Zhaixing Tower's altar alcoves were all snatched away by Juju that night. Later, when that great fire spirit made peace with the Heavenly Palace, the shrines in Zhaixing Tower were never restored—which is to say, they no longer enshrine any treasure."
Chapter 1008