On the spot, the Magistrate of Kuzhu County enfeoffed it as the Water Spirit of the Hongchuan River on behalf of the Yuan Royal Court. Fetching the official document, he drafted it with a flourish of his brush, had the giant fish stamp it with its thick, fleshy lips, and then drew out a Yuan coin and his official seal to stamp it himself.
Once the stamp was pressed, a flash of azure light flared across the giant blackfish's body, marking the completion of the procedure and the birth of a new Water Spirit.
Only then did the soldiers shove the last fattened pig into the water.
The blackfish clamped down on it and sank into the center of the deep pool, disappearing from view.
Looking rather weary as well, the Magistrate of Kuzhu County came over to thank He Chunhua. Without the Auxiliary Army backing him up, he could never have pulled off such an impressive display.
With the new Water Spirit in place, the Hongchuan River would be far more peaceful. Fengling Ferry was thus able to reopen, and the merchants and travelers waiting along the banks joyfully boarded the boats.
Taking advantage of a bit of free time, He Lingchuan strolled around Fengling Ferry and spotted a remarkably conspicuous old locust tree growing on a sandbar over three hundred zhang away.
Locust trees were plentiful here, yet He Lingchuan's gaze had been drawn to it at once simply because the tree was truly unique:
It was lightning-struck wood.
The old locust had originally been massive, its trunk broad enough to take four people to encircle, having grown for who knew how many years. Yet the celestial thunder had apparently taken issue with it, striking it several times until its upper branches were completely shorn away and the entire tree was nearly reduced to charcoal.
Yet life was just that tenacious. From the old locust's blackened, seemingly lifeless trunk, new buds had miraculously sprouted and grown into fresh branches...
The new boughs and trunk were far smaller than the mother tree, but from tip to base, they flourished with vibrant vigor.
He Lingchuan finally understood what the old turtle demon had meant by the "Revived Old Locust Tree"—it was indeed recognizable at a single glance.
Moreover, it grew upon a sandbar, far from idle passersby.
He walked over and circled the tree several times. He found no tree hollow, but he was not discouraged.
If a hollow were that easy for him to spot, other birds and beasts would have sniffed it out just as easily.
He Lingchuan ran his hands over the charred trunk, found a depression at the base of the roots, drew out his broken saber, and began digging into the sand.
The sand and soil were moderately loose, and He Lingchuan dug deeper and deeper.
Before long, he discovered that there was indeed a large cavity beneath the roots, ordinarily buried under sand, where a few crabs were dozing inside.
He plucked the crabs out and tossed them aside, took out the turtle egg, and placed it inside. After a thought, he gathered some aquatic weeds to cover the egg, then placed a small vial of medicinal pills beside it.
Might as well see a good deed through to the end.
After that, he backfilled the sand, completely concealing the hollow. The water currents would wash away any traces he left behind.
Having done this much, he had fulfilled the turtle demon's entrustment.
"Farewell, then." He dusted the sand from his hands, now understanding why the turtle egg had to hatch here:
For this old locust tree to bring forth spring from withered wood, its vitality had to be remarkably resilient—the very power the turtle demon needed to borrow for its second emergence from the shell.
Perhaps the turtle demon had grown up here originally. After all, the locust tree was far older than it was.
Just then, He Yue called out to his elder brother from the distance: "Brother, the boat is setting off!"
"May we meet again if fate allows. I hope that by then, you have found the grand road of cultivation." He Lingchuan patted the charred wood, stood up, and departed.
The Auxiliary Army also boarded the ships at Fengling Ferry, riding the surging river waters toward Shihuan City.
***
He Lingchuan stretched lazily and sat up from the bed.
While his mind was still groggy, someone outside shouted at the top of their lungs: "An—nounce—ment—at—the—street—cor—ner—!"
Such a familiar tune.
His outstretched hand almost forgot to pull back. He glanced out the window—dusk was falling, and the water vat was full.
A vat?
He remembered falling asleep aboard the boat, and the last sound he had heard was waves gently lapping against the hull, not a noisy street.
Which meant he had entered Panlong City once again, and—
He Lingchuan bounded to the doorway in a few quick strides and stepped out into the middle of the street. Sure enough, the shouting proclaimed the very same message: the Emperor's Flowing Dew was coming, and Panlong City would be under curfew for three days starting tonight.
In other words, he had picked up where the previous dream left off?
Incredible. Four whole days had passed in reality, yet less than an hour had elapsed here in the Panlong City of his dream!
The difference in the flow of time between both sides was truly capricious.
The sun had already set, so he could not wander anywhere. Luckily, there was a tavern nearby. He rushed in, bought several jars of wine, dumped the liquor out once he got home, washed them clean, and prepared them to collect the Emperor's Flowing Dew.
Next, he emptied the water vat completely, brought out pots, bowls, ladles, spoons, and every container he could find, arranging them in the courtyard.
Remembering Hu Min's instructions, he also sawed off two large branches from the tree in the courtyard to keep its long limbs from extending into the neighbor's territory.
No sooner had he finished these preparations than an uproar arose outside, sounding like countless people cheering.
He Lingchuan stepped out of the house to look. It was raining—an azure rain.
Raw the first time, seasoned the second; he knew this was the Emperor's Flowing Dew.
Panlong City's forecast was astonishingly accurate, capable of pinpointing even such an extraordinary celestial phenomenon.
What surprised He Lingchuan even more was that although this shower of Emperor's Flowing Dew remained clear and fragrant, it was far more viscous and darker in color than in reality—truly living up to the name of a thick dew.
In reality, the Emperor's Flowing Dew had been a drizzling mist where anyone hit by a droplet had struck gold; here, however, the Emperor's Flowing Dew had actually reached the volume of a light to moderate rain. He Lingchuan held out his palm, and before long caught several drops of azure dew.
He could not resist giving it a taste. Truly fragrant!
The greed buried deep within his heart erupted instantly. Yet with both prior experience and preparation, He Lingchuan forcefully suppressed the urge and leapt onto the roof.
He had inverted the tiles on the roof, turning them into several temporary gutters. As the Emperor's Flowing Dew accumulated, it slowly trickled down along the grooves and was caught in his wine jars below.
Though it was only a trickle, when gathered in abundance, it was worth a fortune!
His neighbor had also hauled up two jars and climbed onto his own roof to collect the Emperor's Flowing Dew. Greatly inspired upon seeing He Lingchuan's handiwork, the neighbor hastily copied him and began rearranging his own roof tiles.
He Lingchuan, in turn, noticed that the neighbor had covered his mouth and nose with a cloth. Inhaling less of the Emperor's Flowing Dew's peculiar fragrance proved very helpful in suppressing the lurking beast within, so he promptly followed suit.
Everyone was red-faced and swollen-necked, yet they bitterly resisted the urge to hoard and gorge themselves. The Emperor's Flowing Dew had arrived several times over the past three years, so most people had experience dealing with it, knowing that as long as they endured for a moment, a rich reward awaited them afterward. He Lingchuan also heard children wailing loudly; looking down from above, he saw two households had long since tied their children to table legs, forbidding them from running about and ruining the big picture.
At that moment, heavy footsteps passed outside He Lingchuan's doorway, accompanied by a low growl.
He looked down and saw a clockwork beast ambling down the street at an unhurried pace. In shape and size, the creature resembled a tiger or leopard, its two eyes glowing green, quite eerie at first glance.
It seemed to be walking with its head down, but whenever a fight or quarrel seemed to break out in any household, the clockwork beast would approach, rest its forepaws on the wall, scratch at the door, and let out a couple of roars to intimidate the residents.
About an incense stick's time after this clockwork beast left, another one patrolled past.
And so they alternated.
Had he not been locked in a fierce struggle against his own greed, He Lingchuan would have loved to give a thumbs-up and praise how thorough they were.
These clockwork beasts were surely security patrols deployed by Panlong City's authorities. To them, human nature was the least trustworthy thing, while brute force was the most reliable.
At this hour, living creatures could not withstand the temptation of the Emperor's Flowing Dew; only inanimate objects like clockwork beasts remained unmoved, carrying out their original tasks.
He wondered which grand master had crafted clockwork beasts capable of patrolling, navigating, and intimidating on their own.
Sure enough, He Lingchuan soon heard the shattering of jars and pots not far away, accompanied by people shouting and weeping. Someone had evidently succumbed to their overwhelming craving for the Emperor's Flowing Dew and come to blows with others.
Human nature truly could not be left unchecked.
With a roar from a clockwork beast, He Lingchuan heard its heavy footsteps rapidly move away.
A few shrill screams soon rang out from that direction, only to fall silent immediately afterward—presumably, whoever resorted to violence had been punished.
This served as an effective warning to the surrounding residents.
Amid the repeated torment of the entire city's populace, time crept by.
This descent of Emperor's Flowing Dew lasted longer than the last time He Lingchuan had experienced it, stopping completely only when the eastern sky began to pale.
He Lingchuan scraped off all the Emperor's Flowing Dew from the tree, gathered all the pots, bottles, and jars storing the rain together, poured them into one another, and finally filled a whole wine flagon with Emperor's Flowing Dew.
Once the stopper was tightly sealed, the fragrance vanished, and its hold over people disappeared with it. Only then did He Lingchuan let out a long breath and wipe the sheen of sweat from his forehead.
The grueling night had passed, and everyone began to enjoy the fruits of victory.
Looking at the flagon in his hand, He Lingchuan felt somewhat conflicted.
The Emperor's Flowing Dew obtained in a dream shouldn't enhance his true body in reality; after all, this was all an illusion.
Thus, the most sensible course of action was to hand in what he had gathered overnight to the Ministry of Merits in exchange for merit points. Hu Min had said that merit points were hard to come by, but they could be exchanged for the most precious things.
This shower of Emperor's Flowing Dew was an unexpected windfall for him.
Of course, all of this required verification. After some thought, He Lingchuan pocketed the flagon and stepped outside.
The curfew ended at daybreak, but few residents were out and about; most were still holed up at home taking inventory of their spoils. He found an industrious donkey cart driver to take him to Hu Min's residence.
Along the way, he saw several houses charred or smashed down, as well as city guards carrying out bodies or clearing the sites.
It seemed that even with clockwork beasts on patrol, even with Panlong City's repeated injunctions, even with harsh and rigorous laws, and even though the residents of Panlong City were well-trained to obey orders implicitly after years of war, human greed would still find a crack to burst through.
Hu Min lived in a tin-grade house. Though also a residential home, it was four ranks higher than He Lingchuan's. The roads here were wide, the alleys clean and tidy, with green trees and red blossoms everywhere. Every household had a small detached courtyard at least four times the size of He Lingchuan's wood-grade house, with an environment that put his to shame. Yet their specifications were strictly uniform—all black gates, black tiles, and red walls, with dimensions so nearly identical they looked stamped from the same mold.
Evidently, unauthorized construction was forbidden here.
With every street looking identical, it took He Lingchuan quite a while to find Hu Min's house.
The man had just finished concocting his Emperor's Flowing Powder. Opening the door and seeing He Lingchuan, he asked in surprise, "So early? Aren't you refining medicine?"
"How about I trade you some Emperor's Flowing Dew for a bit of your finished medicine? Just a small taste."
Chapter 162