They were likewise busy tending to their horses, shaking off the water, and lighting a fire. In such heavy wind and rain, even wearing coir raincoats or oilskins couldn't keep a person from getting soaked through; in the end, they still had to crowd by the fire to dry off and warm up.
Seeing no strange moves from them, the Shimen caravan members finally lowered their weapons and sat back down.
He Lingchuan watched the people, horses, and campfire across the way, turning his head to ask Fu Shanyue, "Did they hunt you down all the way out into this barren wilderness?"
He actually spotted a familiar face, though the other party seemed not to recognize him.
Indeed, the fellow who had violently searched the private room in the Golden Spring Elegant Baths last night was right across from them. But He Lingchuan remembered there had been two men and one monster back then; now there was only one man and one monster. Who knew where the other person had gone.
Considering they had fought with the local bosses last night, being down one person wasn't all that strange. Not necessarily dead—he could have been arrested and locked up.
"Probably not." Fu Shanyue had wrapped himself tightly, showing only his eyes, and kept submerged in the shadows behind He Lingchuan without fear of being discovered. "Heading north to Chiyan Kingdom means passing through these mountains. They were likely driven in here by the storm as well. Heh, as the saying goes, foes are bound to cross paths."
His attire was utterly ordinary among travelers, and the Chiyan people across the way were quite relaxed, truly seeming not to have noticed him.
"What do you plan to do?"
Fu Shanyue leaned forward, whispering almost right into He Lingchuan's ear, "That tiger is Uncle Da."
There were only two monsters across the way. Aside from the owl He Lingchuan had crossed paths with last night, there was a ferocious tiger. He Lingchuan hadn't expected Fu Shanyue to call a tiger "Uncle."
This tiger was a size smaller than ordinary tigers, but its build appeared more well-proportioned, its coat a deeper, darker hue. It had a broad, white-browed face with slanted, piercing eyes, and thick whiskers flaring from its jowls. Just now, as it strolled out of the dark step by step, its presence had radiated the supreme aura of a boss patrolling his turf, throwing the Shimen caravan's oxen and horses into an agitated frenzy. Several draft horses had reared up in terror, about to bolt into the mountains.
Only through the grooms' desperate soothing, combined with the tiger crouching motionless by the fire without any further action, did the horses barely manage to stand their ground. Yet they still pawed at the dirt and snorted constantly, their mood remaining frantic and uneasy.
He Lingchuan noticed that when the tiger crouched down, even the fire's flames seemed to stifle for a moment.
He recalled the pair of tigers that had ambushed him by Three Hearts Lake. Though larger than Uncle Da, the sense of oppression they gave off fell far short of Uncle Da's.
A personal guard who had stayed by the Ruler of Chiyan's side for over a century was no easy character to deal with. Last night, when He Lingchuan tended to Fu Shanyue's wounds, he had seen a conical puncture wound straight through Fu Shanyue's arm, piercing front to back. Now, comparing it to the long fangs the tiger bared while yawning, He Lingchuan felt he had found the murder weapon.
Uncle Da's canine teeth seemed somewhat longer than those of a normal tiger.
Fu Shanyue had used a talisman to mask his scent, which, combined with the pouring rain, had kept the scent of blood on him from reaching the tiger's keen nose.
The two spoke in hushed voices drowned out by the drumming rain, and though the tiger didn't look over, its ears twitched in their direction and its tail gave a flick.
Fu Shanyue fell silent at once.
He Lingchuan idly scrutinized the carriage across from them. A thin, frail man leaped down from the vehicle holding a golden basin, intending to fetch hot water by the campfire. But just as he reached out, a guard nearby, in a foul mood, kicked him. "Vile slave, don't you know to wash the basin first?"
"Yes, yes, right away." The man didn't take offense. Scrambling to his feet, he offered fawning smiles while clutching the basin and running toward the nearby stream, paying no heed to the torrential rain outside.
Watching his retreating back, the guard by the campfire spat on the ground. "Filthy pig!"
The clang of the basin hitting the ground had been heard by the Shimen caravan members as well; they merely cast a sidelong glance in that direction.
This servant was undoubtedly an outcaste slave of the Twilight Plains. He washed the golden basin meticulously three times before bringing it back to collect hot water. The other guards sat about carelessly, but he shrank into himself, moving with utmost caution. Having learned his lesson, before climbing onto the carriage, he picked every clump of mud and blade of straw from his clothes to avoid dirtying the cabin.
Evidently, the passenger inside the carriage was of noble status.
Judging from how the guards, including Uncle Da, surrounded and shielded it like stars orbiting the moon, was there any need to ask who was inside?
He Lingchuan smiled and asked Fu Shanyue, "How is the difference in treatment between the two of you so vast?"
The other was flanked by throngs of attendants and entourages of guards, while Fu Shanyue was battered and destitute, hiding his name and huddling inside a caravan from a minor country.
Having a father who doted on you versus having one who didn't made all the difference in the world.
Fu Shanyue rolled his eyes, lost for words, but inwardly he was alarmed:
A dead person has no need for hot water. So why is Fu Shanji still alive?
He had clearly been struck by the woodification poison... Fu Shanyue had faith in his methods, and he had tested this poison before. The divine scion's poison was virtually incurable; with Fu Shanji's cultivation level, he shouldn't have lasted past ten double-hours.
Just then, Taozi brought him a cup of hot water, which Fu Shanyue waved away. He Lingchuan observed the little girl; the thread holes on her lips had already healed over.
Judging by appearance alone, no one would associate her with a witch child anymore.
He Lingchuan suddenly said, "Is Taozi sick?"
The little girl's lips were pale, yet a flush had risen on her cheeks. Fine beads of sweat dotted her forehead, and pain showed on her face.
He Lingchuan pressed a hand to her forehead. "She has a fever."
Who knew when she had caught a chill, but she had long grown accustomed to suffering; without uttering a word, she gritted her teeth and bore it.
Fu Shanyue eyed her for a moment, then leaned close and sniffed her twice.
The gesture was just like a dog's, and Taozi squirmed uncomfortably.
"Outcastes don't fall ill so easily," Fu Shanyue said indifferently. "She has inhaled too much fiend qi."
The poor were tough. In truth, his words were better put in reverse: outcastes who fell sick easily had long turned to white bones; those who survived were tough as leather.
"Fiend qi?" He Lingchuan was slightly surprised, then came to a realization. Lingxu City had hired people to come here to perform deliverance and dispel the fiends at least a dozen times, but judging by the current state of the Twilight Plains, the results had been poor.
After all, that world-shaking massacre from back then had taken place in every corner of the Twilight Plains. Like wild weeds, it sprouted anew as soon as it was pulled.
Fu Shanyue had an instinct for drawing in fiend qi; arriving in the Twilight Plains, he had felt like a fish in water. Yet coming to the ruins of Thousand Stars City—where the concentration was highest, one of the very cradles of fiend qi—the fiend qi wasn't heading toward him, almost as if the little girl beside him were far more appealing.
"So Taozi really is a witch child."
"Mm. She needs to learn the techniques to control fiend qi," Fu Shanyue said thoughtfully. "Otherwise, she'll probably be killed by the earth fiends here. Even if she doesn't die, absorbing too much fiend qi will turn her into a true harbinger of doom."
Taozi asked timidly, "Will I bring death to others?"
"That's because those people deserve to die. What does it have to do with you?" Fu Shanyue patted her head. "At most, you'll become an earth fiend child. If you stay in one place too long, people around you will fall sick easily, and crops in the fields will wither—just like this Twilight Plains."
Taozi's logic was remarkably clear. "Sick people die easily. If they die, isn't that my fault?"
"I already said, they deserve it," Fu Shanyue said with a cheerful chuckle. "Who told them to be so frail?"
He looked up to meet He Lingchuan's scrutinizing gaze. "What?"
"You two are rather alike," He Lingchuan stroked his chin and said. "Both able to absorb fiend qi."
Speaking of which, hadn't the very first ba formed when a resentful corpse encountered an earth fiend?
Fu Shanyue clicked his tongue. "You and I both eat cooked rice. How come I don't see you and me being all that alike?"
As if the heavens had pressed a button, the wanton wind and rain suddenly subsided. Within the time it took to drink a cup of tea, the gloom dispersed completely, and clouds parted to reveal the moon in the night sky. It shone remarkably bright, the moonlight pouring down like liquid mercury, casting a hazy halo over the ground so that travelers could see their surroundings clearly even without campfires.
Only the scent of mud and grass lingered, a reminder that a fierce storm had raged here.
Mountain weather truly defied all rhyme and reason.
The little witch child, Taozi, suddenly pointed ahead. "It changed!"
The vapor on the ground and the moonlight mingled, suddenly rearing up from the earth and shifting into new shapes.
Not just where she pointed, but across the entire ruins surrounding them.
Those arriving here for the first time drew their weapons with a loud clatter, as if confronting a formidable foe. Second Master Shi, however, waved his hand. "Stay calm. This is merely an illusion that appears on occasion, completely harmless!"
The vapor began to rise and grow from the foundation of the Thousand Stars City ruins, soon taking the form of city walls, high terraces, and multi-storied buildings.
Atop the stone house where the party sheltered, a colossal structure "sprouted," resembling a palace. He Lingchuan raised a hand to brush against the palace wall; as expected, his hand passed right through, feeling no solid substance, only a cool touch.
Under the moonlight, everything was rapidly restoring itself.
In scarcely two quarters of an hour, the phantom silhouette of an intact ancient city rose straight from the ground. Not only was it majestic and complete, but even though every person running within the city was an apparition, their facial features were remarkably distinct.
A full-scale reconstruction.
In this manner, the Thousand Stars City of yesteryear bridged time and space, appearing before the world once again.
Only now did He Lingchuan see clearly that the Shimen caravan was actually positioned inside an armory, right behind the city gates.
Inside and outside the city, battle cries shook the heavens. Giant elephants clad in heavy armor carried battering rams and slammed violently into the city gate, again and again.
These giant elephants stood two zhang tall (over six meters), their sharp, curved tusks exceeding one zhang in length. With bodies like small mountains outfitted in formidable barding, arrows fired from atop the city walls were utterly useless against them.
The battering ram bore the head of a dragon clutching tinder in its jaws; each strike shattered a layer of red radiance across the gate's surface.
That was a barrier woven of origin power, already on the verge of shattering.
Before the city gate, a tide of enemies surged, densely packed with all manner of monsters in every bizarre shape and form, their roars shaking the earth.
Though knowing they were mere illusions, the living people standing there still felt their scalps tingle with dread.
Across the way, the Chiyan party happened to be positioned right in the midst of the monster army. When Uncle Da crouched among the phantoms of the monsters, he did not look out of place in the slightest.
Siege ladders were hoisted onto the walls one after another. At this rate, with the defenders suffering grievous casualties, the defense grew weaker by the second.
Since it was all an illusion and posed no danger, the living members of the caravan simply formed groups of two or three to explore this ancient city lost to history.
Fu Shanyue pointed at Second Master Shi and signaled to the witch child, "Stay close to him." Then he turned to He Lingchuan. "Shall we take a walk?"
Chapter 414