He Lingchuan did not know how much time had passed when a sudden intuition stirred him, and he opened his eyes.
Sure enough, the nightmare had returned without a sound, drifting lazily around him. It was impossible to tell whether it was staring at him.
He Lingchuan had never let down his guard around this creature. Keeping his expression calm, he asked, "Did you find any leads?"
"See for yourself."
With that, the nightmare dissolved into a ball of smoke. As the mist slowly thinned, an image rippled into view at its center.
First came blue sky, followed by distant mountains, crisp and vivid like a slide projection.
The scene shifted: a wide road, with several horse-drawn carriages ahead.
Then a woman's voice chimed in:
"Kang'er, don't stick your head out! Watch out, someone might hit you!" Immediately afterward, the perspective was pulled inside a carriage, where a young woman in plain cloth garments sat opposite.
He Lingchuan understood that what the nightmare was showing him were fragments of memories from Wu Kai's grandson—perhaps what the boy had witnessed during the day.
As the saying went, what fills the mind by day fills the dreams by night.
The woman spoke again: "No making a fuss! Once we arrive, your grandfather will buy you delicious treats."
Arrive where? What place?
The mountain in the background of that earlier scene seemed to be north of the town, though from the viewing angle, it wasn't due north.
The scene shifted once more; everyone had disembarked.
It was dusk now. The sun had set, though night had not yet fully fallen. The surroundings were wasteland, overgrown with roadside weeds and reeds taller than an adult. Yet He Lingchuan could hear the sound of water.
The coachman walked ahead holding a lantern, while the mother and son followed behind.
After a dozen paces, an old man walked up to meet them, his hair salt-and-pepper, the corners of his eyes drooping.
Wu Kai!
This was the very man half the town's soldiers were hunting down. Immediately after Zhongsun Mou was murdered, Wu Kai had ordered his grandson taken out of the city, successfully evading capture by both Fu Shanyue and Cen Boqing.
He had slipped away amid the chaos when Commander Lu besieged the Cen Residence, and now the family was reuniting at a desolate ferry landing in the wilderness.
Wu Kai scooped his grandson into his arms and murmured a few words of comfort.
The four of them proceeded to a ferry pier.
Baishaqu was rich in waterways, full of lakes, marshes, and rivers. This was the middle section of a riverbend where the winds were light. Two or three dozen fishing boats lay moored here, light glowing from within their cabins.
The fishermen lived and ate aboard their vessels.
A burly young fellow went over to inquire. After asking at only two boats, he found a boatman willing to take passengers.
Silver truly worked wonders.
The vision ended there, reverting to gray mist.
"That's all. I could only glean this much," the nightmare said helplessly. "A child's mind is empty; it doesn't hold many things."
Even the cleverest cook could not make a meal without rice.
He Lingchuan pointed to the Juluo tree twig. "Fine, get back in."
The gray smoke circled twice around the room, thoroughly reluctant.
Yet an arm could not outwrestle a thigh, and in the end, it sulkily drifted inside.
Strictly speaking, the Juluo twig was not a home for it, but rather a rapid conduit between the Panlong Ancient City and reality.
"Either release me or find me a place to stay, make it quick! Otherwise, I won't be able to return to reality in the future to help you!" Leaving behind this parting shot, the nightmare vanished.
He Lingchuan immediately went to knock on Fu Shanyue's door.
He had barely knocked once with a thud when the guard at the entrance barred his way. "Wait for us to announce—"
"What is it?" A light breeze flickered, and Fu Shanyue himself bounded out. He still wore the ordinary clothes from that afternoon, his hair neat and immaculate.
So this fellow hadn't rested either.
"I've found Wu Kai's whereabouts," He Lingchuan said directly, cutting straight to the chase. "After dark, he boarded a boat at a riverbend outside the north of the town."
"How did you..." Fu Shanyue was taken aback, but immediately asked, "Reliable?"
"As if I saw it with my own eyes."
"Then what are we waiting for? Let's go!" He knew He Lingchuan possessed real ability.
"Hold on!" He Lingchuan extended an arm to block him. "You can't go. What if Cen Boqing takes the opportunity to escape again?"
If Fu Shanyue left town and Cen Boqing gathered his men to break out like last time, who would dare step forward to stop him?
Could they rely on Commander Lu, or Magistrate Tian?
Before any formal conviction, Cen Boqing remained a superior official from Lingxu City.
Reminded of this, Fu Shanyue quickly regained his composure. "Fine, I'll keep a close eye on him. The task of tracking down Wu Kai falls to you. You must—"
He emphasized each word: "You must bring him back!"
He Lingchuan nodded.
By now, he and Fu Shanyue were grasshoppers tied to the same string. If they could not capture Wu Kai to cement the charges, Cen Boqing and even the Minister of Agriculture would undoubtedly launch a counterattack afterward.
With no time to lose, He Lingchuan set out in the middle of the night. Fu Shanyue assigned several dozen mounted soldiers to accompany him, along with a guide surnamed Lu.
A travel escort, essentially, was a tour guide. Baishaqu was filled with scenic spots and wealthy visitors, which had fostered a specialized travel and escort industry. From food and lodging to carriages and sightseeing, an escort had ways to satisfy whatever a guest requested.
This Guide Lu had been brought to the Crown Prince by Magistrate Tian earlier that day, said to know the entire county like the back of his hand.
He also knew where the riverbend was, so Fu Shanyue ordered him to accompany He Lingchuan.
The hooves of several dozen fine steeds thundered down the deserted streets, disturbing the town's midnight slumber.
There was only one large river north of the town, winding along the mountains, flanked by gentle terrain on both banks.
Yet as far as ferry crossings within close reach of the docks went, there was only Lower Riverbend.
"The targets have already boarded a boat. Where would they be heading?"
Guide Lu said, "Downstream, of course. It takes less effort, and the boat travels faster."
"Could they head upstream against the current?"
"Upstream is all wilderness. You have to travel a hundred li upriver before seeing human settlements—why take such an exhausting route?" Guide Lu shook his head. "Boats crossing there almost always head downstream. There hasn't been any wind these past few nights, so they won't make fast progress."
He Lingchuan worried, "Could they disembark halfway?"
"That's possible, but traveling downstream is safe and easy, and not easily intercepted." Guide Lu grinned. "Usually, they also transport contraband downstream... er!"
He was accustomed to boasting before clients without thinking, but only after blurting it out did he remember that the person before him was no ordinary customer!
Why was he babbling nonsense about smuggling in front of the Crown Prince's special envoy?
He Lingchuan's brow did not even twitch, not bothering to take issue with it. Guide Lu hurriedly added, "Does the Lord Envoy need to charter a boat? I know how to find the fastest and best vessel!"
"No need."
Thanks to his familiarity with the routes, he chose a shortcut right after leaving the town. The rugged trail was far less smooth than the official road, and traveling at night naturally brought bumps and stumbles, but Guide Lu remembered every ditch and mound ahead, allowing the group to maintain a swift pace through the darkness.
His competence was so remarkable that even He Lingchuan gave him a compliment: "You lead the way well."
Guide Lu beamed with delight.
With a word of praise from the special envoy of the Crown Prince, the rest of his life was practically secured.
At the end of the desolate, weed-choked trail lay Lower Riverbend.
In earlier years, water transport in Baishaqu—both cargo and passenger traffic—passed through here. But after Upper Riverbend was constructed, transport capacity shifted there, leaving the Lower Riverbend ferry quiet, used only for occasional passenger crossings.
By the time He Lingchuan arrived at the head of the party, the night was deep, with only two fishing lanterns still burning.
A guard asked for instructions: "My Lord, how many boats should we divide into?"
Ignoring him, He Lingchuan turned to ask Guide Lu, "What river is this?"
"The Liu River." Guide Lu chuckled. "In years past, someone panned gold from the river, so everyone gave it that name."
The darkness was so thick that the opposite bank could not be seen. The bend had slow, eddying waters, and the men could only occasionally hear waves lapping against the shore.
Wu Kai's family had boarded the boat at dusk, traveling downstream. They had a massive head start—would catching up even be possible now?
More than one person harbored this doubt.
Yet He Lingchuan clearly had no intention of elaborating. He simply retrieved a black cloud-shaped medallion from his robe and handed it to the attendant following behind. "Your turn."
The moment the attendant took the token into his hands, it began to glow, a crimson sheen edged with gold, radiant and brilliant.
Except when marching with the army in Panlong City, this was the first time He Lingchuan had seen such abundant origin power. Without question, this was one of Fu Shanyue's symbols of authority as the future monarch.
Immediately after, the attendant crouched down, plunged the medallion into the river water, stirred it vigorously, and barked in a low voice:
"Water Spirit of the Liu River, present yourself at once!"
The others were enlightened; so this was what He Lingchuan had planned. Yet summoning a water spirit through Fu Shanyue's token was nowhere near as cumbersome as when Yuan Kingdom's National Preceptor Sun Fuping or the Magistrate of Kuzhu County summoned local mountain spirits and water spirits, requiring all manner of ritual practices.
Perhaps because this was a demon kingdom, the mountain and water spirits here were more diligent and dared not slacken?
After the attendant stood up, the churning waves did not subside; instead, they swelled with increasing vigor, rolling against the bank wave after wave, each surge more urgent than the last.
Upon the originally tranquil Lower Riverbend, an astonishing spectacle unfolded: surging swells arising without wind.
The fishing boats resting in the bend were inevitably jostled, shaking the sleeping fishermen awake. They scrambled up one after another to see what was happening.
Before long, a boatman cried out:
"A Water Spirit! The Water Spirit is here!"
Fishing lanterns were lit again, and under the illuminated surface of the water, He Lingchuan saw thirteen or fourteen figures rapidly approaching the bank. The longest was less than two zhang, the shortest barely six chi—none of them impressive in size compared to the water spirits he had seen before.
Yet they moved as swiftly as torpedoes.
Their bodies... looked quite similar to torpedoes as well.
Before he had time to think further, with a loud splash, water erupted over the ferry surface, and several figures leapt out, spinning in midair before plunging back into the river.
They even knew how to minimize their splash.
Naturally, everyone caught a clear view of the water spirits' true appearance:
A round head, a flagon-shaped snout, and a sleek, silvery-gray body.
Wasn't this just a finless porpoise?
The lead porpoise was half again as large as its companions, its skin gray with a bluish tint. The moment it poked its head from the water, a gentle female voice resonated in everyone's minds: "The aquatic tribe of the Liu River is ready to serve the Crown Prince!"
"I am the special envoy of the Crown Prince." He Lingchuan could not resist reaching out to stroke its long snout, which felt slick to the touch. "Important felons are fleeing by boat, heading downstream from here. Help me find them."
"Please instruct us, Lord Special Envoy: how many felons are there, what are their features, and what kind of boat are they aboard?"
He Lingchuan pointed toward the boats at Lower Riverbend. "Two men and one woman, plus a seven-year-old boy. The boat was hired from here, with a beige lantern bearing the character 'Liu.' There is a large notch on the port gunwale, and the top of the canopy is patched with mismatched blue-and-white cloth."
These were details from the memories of Wu Kai's grandson; because the boy had taken a curious second look at the hull, He Lingchuan had caught them.
He had described the vessel's most prominent features with utmost clarity. The Water Spirit nodded. "It shall be done at once. My kin in the river are numerous; finding them should not be difficult."
Chapter 518