Mutual Schemes

"Outside the wild sand season, quite a few creatures roam the Panlong Desert." "I've heard gods once descended there." Dong Rui seemed convinced. "Could the Holy Mother of the Ferry have sent her whelps to investigate?" "Who knows?" He Lingchuan replied vaguely. He thought Dong Rui's choice of the word "investigate" was apt—those ghost whelps were prying everywhere, as though trying to unearth some hidden secret. "Even Sun Fuping and Nian Songyu rushed to the Panlong Desert with such eagerness. Dare you say there isn't something behind it all?" Speaking of which, something suddenly occurred to him. The god possessing Nian Songyu had once accused the black dragon, claiming it had laid a trap to deliberately lure them into sending down avatars. It had also demanded an answer from the black dragon, saying verbatim: *You must know what I want to ask. Since I'm about to die, where is my answer?* The black dragon had replied that there was no answer. Back then, He Lingchuan had been completely in the dark. With so little information, he hadn't dwelled on it. Only now, having encountered more and more divine affairs, did he realize that exchange held deep significance. Deep within the Panlong Ruins, there must be a secret that even the gods wanted to explore. That was why they had hit it off with humans like Sun Fuping. So, was the Dafang Pot what they truly wanted, or did they have another objective? That divine avatar had said they wanted an answer. What kind of question was it that even gods were ignorant of, driving them to search within the ruins? He lost himself in thought for quite a while. Dong Rui stared at him for just as long, then suddenly waved a hand in front of his face. He Lingchuan moved his eyes. "What?" "I thought you fell asleep with your eyes open." Dong Rui looked at him and said, "By the way, where did the rock wolves hide my Twenty-Nine? It wasn't their native tundra, was it?" Twenty-Nine? He Lingchuan froze for a moment before realizing he meant the werewolf. He shrugged. "If my rock wolf were here, I'd let it answer this question." A flicker of anger crossed Dong Rui's eyes. Both the werewolf and the ghost ape were formidable, their combat styles complementing each other. Losing this prime enforcer wasn't just a simple subtraction of one from four—it was a devastating blow to his strength. He Lingchuan asked, "Why are you working for the Beijia Kingdom? Did they revoke your wanted poster?" "More than that." Dong Rui answered quickly this time. "Beijia came to their senses and decided not to dwell on past debts... and every material I need, they can provide." This fellow was obsessed with research; who knew how many bizarre materials he required. "Just to get you to assist Hong Chenglüe?" "You people really think quite highly of yourselves, don't you?" Dong Rui couldn't help laughing. "Is a booger-sized place like the Yuan Kingdom worthy of Beijia making a huge fuss?" Both his expression and tone conveyed utmost disdain. "If you ever have the chance to visit Beijia, that is what you call a grand, magnificent empire, receiving homage from all corners of the world." He Lingchuan raised an eyebrow. "So in your view, the prolonged stalemate between the Governor of Xunzhou and General Zhao Pan is because Beijia looks down on this war with indifference?" "Of course." He Lingchuan chuckled coldly. Absolute nonsense. How could the outcome of a war be decided merely by superficial strength? He believed that Beijia's reluctance to throw its full weight behind Xunzhou was rooted in far more pragmatic considerations. It could only be said that this Dong Rui had a baffling faith in Beijia, viewing everything about it through rose-tinted glasses. "Hearing about it a hundred times is nowhere as good as seeing it once," Dong Rui drawled lazily. "You frogs at the bottom of a well won't believe whatever I say anyway. It's best you go witness it with your own eyes. Heh, though whether you can make it to Beijia alive, I have my doubts." "Rest assured, my chances of surviving are definitely higher than yours." He Lingchuan flashed him a smile. "You don't even have a single demon puppet by your side. What do you have to protect yourself?" Dong Rui's cheek twitched, whether from the pain of his wound or from the words striking right where it hurt. Ever since he became a renowned demon puppet master, he had never been so completely alone. Out of his four demon puppets, the loss of three was tied to this very He Lingchuan before him! The mere thought of it made his teeth itch with rage. Yet trapped inside the jellyfish, neither of them could do anything. He Lingchuan was still anxious about the frontlines, but this wasn't something he could discuss with Dong Rui. They stood on opposing sides; Dong Rui would only gloat. Nian Zanli had deployed some god-defying sorcery to flood Zhao Pan's encampment. Hong Chenglüe's threatening words still rang in his ears; could it have been his doing? But it was too late for regrets now. The Yuan Kingdom was doomed to suffer this defeat. Had He Chunhua escaped the battlefield? He Lingchuan thought of his subordinates. Shan Youjun and the medicine ape were both sharp as tacks; they should be able to get away, right? With Zhao Pan failing to hold the natural barrier of the Han River, the front line would continue to push south into Xiazhou territory. As Chief Administrator of Xiazhou, He Chunhua would surely face immense pressure. Who knew how he would deal with it? Naturally, it wasn't He Lingchuan's place to worry about such matters. All he had to do was keep his own skin intact. Seeing that the surrounding torrent showed no sign of slowing, Dong Rui let out a long yawn. As if infected, He Lingchuan yawned as well. Neither spoke, and with nothing to do, drowsiness surged in like a tide. Dong Rui half-lidded his eyes, quietly studying He Lingchuan across from him. The moment this brat fell asleep, he would strike! He had at least thirty or forty kinds of drugs capable of killing him. He Lingchuan was unwilling to stay near a corpse for long, but Dong Rui had no problem with it—he did it all the time. *Hurry up and fall asleep.* Just as Dong Rui wished, He Lingchuan yawned twice more, looking thoroughly exhausted, and his eyes slowly closed. In Dong Rui's eager anticipation, the brat suddenly let out an "Ah!" and opened his eyes. "Oops, almost forgot." Forgot what? In the next second, He Lingchuan struck like lightning—*crack, crack!*—dislocating both of Dong Rui's wrists! The two men who had appeared to be chatting amicably a moment ago were back to violence in the blink of an eye. He moved so fast that Dong Rui only had time to let out a miserable shriek. "What are you doing? What are you doing!" At close quarters, a mystic could hardly rival a martial artist. What was more, without his demon puppets, this demon puppet master was like a frail woman facing a thug... Only then did He Lingchuan say sluggishly, "I almost forgot—you're walking poison from head to toe." Dong Rui's eyes had been half-shut just now, but his eyelids were constantly fluttering, clearly plotting something dirty. How could He Lingchuan just leave him to it? Now that the bastard couldn't use his hands, dealing with He Lingchuan would be much harder. Only then could He Lingchuan sleep in peace. Dong Rui wanted to weep, but no tears came. How was he one step too late again? How did he lose again to this false-smiling, treacherous brat! He Lingchuan said with a beaming smile, "Try any more tricks, and I'll chop off both your hands." This made it abundantly clear to Dong Rui that his petty schemes had been seen through completely. Thanks to the jellyfish's powerful shock absorption, drifting through the rushing torrent felt like resting in a cradle. Swaying back and forth, He Lingchuan soon fell asleep. Before closing his eyes, he took one last look at Dong Rui, seeing him pale from pain, looking as miserable as if his parents had died. *Bang! Bang! Bang!* He Lingchuan was jolted awake by urgent knocking on the door. Opening his eyes, he saw the ceiling beams above. He was lying flat and steady, no longer drifting with the waves. Ah, he had entered the dream again. From outside came the voice of his teammate Door Plank: "Broken Saber, urgent mission." "Coming right away!" He Lingchuan rolled out of bed, donned his light armor, pulled on his boots, grabbed the Fusheng saber, and opened the door. The entire process took less than fifteen breaths, and he even had time to splash cold water on his face. Outside the door, the squad members were mostly gathered, missing only Squad Leader Liu Tong. "Urgent dispatch: an avalanche hit the Chifeng Pit in the northwestern Chipa Plateau, and monsters may be lurking about," Door Plank said urgently. "Squad Leader Liu has had terrible diarrhea these past few days, vomiting and purging from both ends. He said you're to act as squad leader in his stead." A squad originally consisted of ten men, but theirs was understrength, having only been replenished to seven so far. Without Liu Tong, only six remained. He Lingchuan wasn't surprised by Liu Tong's delegation. Having carried out missions together for so long, they all knew each other's capabilities. He was universally recognized within the squad as having the most leadership potential; when they split into smaller groups, he was usually the one leading. Thus, none of the other squad members objected to Liu Tong's arrangement. "Let's move." He Lingchuan pulled the door shut behind him and glanced to the side. Sun Fuling's courtyard door was tightly shut as usual; he didn't know whether she was home or not. The group hurried to fetch their horses and collect five days' worth of dry rations. Panlong City's logistical support system had always run smoothly. The scouts' horses were kept in dedicated stables, and the supply depot was right next door. Supplies could be collected with tokens, saving outgoing squads precious time. Although riding horses was not banned inside Panlong City, they were normally required to move slowly, and exceeding the designated speed limit would result in a penalty. However, squads with assigned missions could gallop swiftly through the streets; Panlong City's residents were long accustomed to soldiers coming and going and would consciously keep to the right to clear the center path. Before long, the squad left the city. He Lingchuan looked back; the towering city gate seemed somewhat softer under the sunlight. They galloped northwest along the official road, flanked by pristine white snow on both sides. "Any further intel?" He Lingchuan asked Door Plank. "How many squads are going?" "From what I heard, three squads are assigned to this mission together," Door Plank replied. "Someone was sent from the site into the city to report that a monster appeared inside the mine pit." "A demon?" "Unclear. The mine tunnel was too dark, and the monster moved too fast. Out of the fourteen or fifteen men inside the mine, only two made it out alive. Right after they returned to town, an avalanche hit the mountain the next morning, completely blocking the path to the mine." The biting cold wind was sharp as a knife. He Lingchuan rubbed his face and found a thick cloth to wrap around his face, exposing only his two eyes to feel a bit more comfortable. Thinking back for quite a while, he finally remembered that before falling asleep, he had been trapped inside a giant jellyfish, drifting along with the current—facing an uncertain fate, and wandering together with his mortal enemy Dong Rui, no less. Why did the Dafang Pot have to drag him into a dream at a juncture like this? To be honest, after the harrowing ordeal along the banks of the Han River, he felt mentally exhausted and could have used a dreamless, deep slumber. Yet this divine artifact was thoroughly willful, and to this day he hadn't figured out its quirks. "There's one more thing," Skinny suddenly piped up. "About six days ago, a woman sneaked into the courier station outside Xikou Village to steal a pot of stewed meat soup. She accidentally made a noise and got caught. Seeing her in tattered clothes, heavily pregnant, with shifty eyes that shrank from looking at anyone, the station master remembered the city bulletin and prepared to hand her over to the authorities."