Dong Rui was fraught with anxiety. "Mai went and caused massive trouble. Even the Heavenly Palace is investigating him. Looks like I need to slip out of the city and lie low until the storm blows over."
"Lie low, my ass! Nobody even knows someone like you exists," He Lingchuan cursed with a laugh. "Mai is lying low just fine too. In a city as huge as Lingxu, who the hell could find him?"
The expedition to Mount Xu would require careful planning and a helper; he couldn't let Dong Rui be scared off.
"Besides, the Heavenly Palace only has leads on the elixir of immortality case. If they investigate anything, that comes first. They have no time to bother with Mai for now." He Lingchuan looked at Dong Rui. "Have you tracked down where Zhu Erniang's shed husk is hidden on Mount Xu?"
Xiang Yan, the retired official from Chiyan Kingdom, had once said that only by placing an ancient oddity into the eye of the formation could one induce resonance between heaven and earth.
Back then, He Lingchuan had felt that sounded very much like Zhu Erniang's shed husk; after all, the star chart on its abdomen was one of a kind. Still, he had to verify it beyond doubt before making his next move.
Dong Rui shook his head and sipped his wine. "Mount Xu has nine main peaks, seven of which have buildings constructed on them, not counting the lesser hills and minor peaks. I've strolled across all of them and visited every scenic spot from the mountainside to the peaks. Found nothing."
Both of them knew that Lingxu City opened the immortal sect ruins on Mount Xu to travelers free of charge, as a display of magnanimity and openness.
"Could it be inside a cave?" Immortal mountains were known for caverns.
"I've walked through all the immortal herb gardens and inspected every immortal grotto. Nothing."
He Lingchuan asked, "Didn't Zhu Erniang give you a magic artifact to locate the husk?"
"She did, but the sensation is far too faint." Dong Rui pointed to his own eye. "You have one too, don't you?"
From the gesture, He Lingchuan knew he was referring to the eyeball spider.
Sure enough, Zhu Erniang had equipped Dong Rui with one of these little spies as well. No wonder when he had counted Zhu Erniang's eyes back then, the number always seemed off by one.
The eyeball spider had reacted upon entering Lingxu City, confirming that Zhu Erniang's shed husk was in the direction of Mount Xu. However, pinpointing the exact location was difficult; they would likely need to get closer.
"You even went to the Heavenly Palace?"
"I even visited Zhaixing Tower and paid homage to the celestial gods," Dong Rui chuckled. "The eyeball spider told me something was blocking its senses—likely a barrier."
When He Lingchuan took on this task, he knew little about Lingxu City and even less about what kind of place Mount Xu was. But now he knew that the Floating Isles were where Lingxu City's nobility and dignitaries resided. Hiding the husk on Mount Xu sounded rather unreasonable.
Yet the eyeball spider had indeed confirmed that the spider husk was there.
"Can you pinpoint the exact location of that barrier on Mount Xu?"
"Of course... not!" Dong Rui said testily. "You think that place is just a tourist resort? For all we know, the celestial gods' eyes are watching us. I didn't dare strut around either. You know my ghost ape's original vessel was obtained right here in Lingxu City."
He Lingchuan gave an "oh." Dong Rui's most powerful enforcer, the ghost ape, had originally been the offspring of some general in Lingxu City. That was also why he had been wanted. Although the warrant had been rescinded, if the aggrieved party learned the demon puppet master had entered Lingxu City, they might very well make a move against him...
"So you didn't bring the ghost ape with you?"
"No!"
"Then what other models—er, demon puppets—did you bring along?"
Dong Rui glared at him. "Didn't you smash them all?"
"You're a demon puppet master. Having no demon puppets around is like a tiger without claws and fangs—how can you manage like that?"
Were demon puppets that easy to make? Dong Rui sneered.
"Stop holding out on me. We're on the same side now, and we might need them in a few days."
Dong Rui remained impassive. "How could it be so convenient that whatever you need just happens to be there?"
"So you really do have something?" He Lingchuan pondered. "What did you make? Another flying demon puppet?"
"No!" Dong Rui flatly denied it.
Tch, that meant he did. The guy had said the exact same thing back in Demon Nest Swamp, only to ride out on two spider puppets moments later. He Lingchuan changed the subject: "As for where the barrier on Mount Xu is, or rather where the husk is hidden, have you tried asking Mai Xuewen?"
Dong Rui looked at him as if he were insane. "Mai Xuewen is a wanted fugitive—how could he possibly know?"
"Before finding out today that he was a fugitive too, didn't you think he was a man of extraordinary powers?"
Dong Rui said nothing, tacitly conceding the point.
Someone who could acquire treasures from the Azure Palace's collection, help him smuggle himself out of Beijia years ago, push powerful figures like the Minister of Agriculture to their wit's end today, and almost single-handedly pierce the shroud over the elixir of immortality truly deserved the label of possessing extraordinary abilities.
"A person like that didn't just spring from a rock. He must have his own network and intelligence sources," He Lingchuan said calmly. "To guide the leads about hunting demons for pearls toward Baishaqu day in and day out for years—someone with that kind of patience is either driven by bitter enmity or doing it because it's his assigned job. Only then could he persevere like that."
He paused. "Mai Xuewen very likely belongs to some organization, or at the very least isn't acting alone. Don't the two guards in your courtyard prove that?"
From Wan Song to Wu Kai, from Wu Kai to Cen Boqing, and onward to the forces behind Qingfu Temple—it was layer upon layer reaching ever higher. What a monumental task it would be to bring down the mastermind behind the elixir of immortality case!
If it was faction against faction, it made far more sense.
He Lingchuan had to encourage him: "How do you know it won't work if you don't try?"
Dong Rui hesitated for a moment before saying, "Actually, I did ask around, and I got two pieces of news."
His time in Lingxu City hadn't been entirely fruitless.
"First, the fellow who stole Zhu Erniang's shed husk back then committed a grave crime. He only escaped death by presenting the spider husk to the Demon Emperor, though his entire clan was banished from Lingxu City." He paused. "That happened a hundred and sixty or seventy years ago. Nobody knows where they went now, and I couldn't be bothered to dig into it."
Residency on the Floating Isles wasn't permanent either; being forced out symbolized a fall in social class.
"I also asked about the husk's location." Dong Rui scratched his head. "The person told me: if you value your life, stop poking your nose around! The words 'burrow spider husk' shouldn't even be uttered in Lingxu City!"
He Lingchuan eyed him suspiciously. "Who did you ask?"
Dong Rui grinned. "Can't tell you!"
"Then..."
Dong Rui cut in again, "Anyway, this person holds high status and reliable intelligence. What he says is guaranteed to be accurate."
He Lingchuan said calmly, "You say he holds high status. Can he get close to the husk?"
"Well..." Dong Rui pondered. "I'm not entirely sure. Maybe?"
"Then tell him that your next demon puppet requires materials taken from that burrow spider husk."
"What the hell does my next demon puppet have to do with him? Why would he help me?" Dong Rui sneered contemptuously. "Aren't you supposed to be a genius? And this is the rotten idea you come up with?"
"I only just arrived in Lingxu; I need time to get my bearings first," He Lingchuan looked at him. "What's the second piece of news?"
"A little over a decade ago, a violent earthquake struck Mount Xu and all of Lingxu City. Huge swathes of old buildings collapsed, causing heavy civilian casualties. They say the rescue and cleanup after the quake lasted over half a month, while post-disaster reconstruction took several years."
"That severe?" He Lingchuan frowned. "Lingxu City commands such immense origin power—how could it fail to mitigate an earthquake?"
Wasn't one of the key functions of origin power to ensure favorable weather and ward off disasters?
Between ten and thirty years after the founding of the Yuan Kingdom, when national strength was at its peak, its origin power also reached its height. Even if floods, fires, droughts, waterlogging, or earth tremors broke out across the land, they were suppressed in an instant or drastically weakened, never persisting beyond control.
Lingxu City was hailed as the greatest city under heaven, a world-renowned land favored by the gods. How could a natural disaster of such magnitude have occurred here?
"One of the two lads guarding my door used to live in the northern outskirts of Lingxu City, right at the foot of Mount Xu's Tianshu Peak. He remembers that Lingxu City experienced occasional tremors when he was young, but they were nothing more than brief ground shakes—no big deal. Not until that massive earthquake a dozen or so years ago did true catastrophe strike. That night, thunder and lightning racked Mount Xu to the north, Tianshu Peak erupted with tens of thousands of blazing beams of light, dark clouds roiled across the sky, and gray ash and white steam blotted out the sun."
"Tens of thousands of blazing beams?" Such a description was unusual. "A volcanic eruption?"
"Yes." Dong Rui took a bite of food. "Tianshu Peak erupted at dusk. His family didn't even pack their bedding and fled immediately into the city. Fortunately, they left in time. When they returned to the town a few days later, they found that all the townsfolk who stayed behind, along with the chickens, cattle, dogs, and sheep, were dead."
The toxic smoke, noxious gases, and volcanic haze from an eruption were lethal to living beings.
"After that, no one dared live beneath Tianshu Peak anymore. It seems to have been converted into military barracks," Dong Rui added. "I asked around, and no one remembers when Mount Xu had erupted before that."
Which meant Mount Xu was usually very stable. "The Heavenly Palace is the earthly dwelling of the gods—how could a volcano erupt there?"
Dong Rui took a sip of wine. "Rumor among the common folk says the celestial gods keep a great demon inside Mount Xu. The eruption was just the monster throwing a tantrum. Personally, I think there's some truth to that."
"How so?"
"Ah, take a trip to Mount Xu and see for yourself." Dong Rui kept him in suspense. "You're going anyway, aren't you?"
"I am." That was one of He Lingchuan's main objectives for this trip to Lingxu. He shifted the topic: "Right, I recall you've been pardoned by Lingxu and are no longer a wanted criminal."
"Yeah, that's right."
"Then why stay cooped up indoors all day, afraid to show your face?"
Who didn't want to walk out in the open? Dong Rui grumbled, "I have plenty of enemies. Lingxu City pardoned me, but my enemies won't necessarily let me off."
He Lingchuan stretched his arms. "Time for you to head back, isn't it?"
Dong Rui grunted in assent and stood up, only to see He Lingchuan holding out a hand toward him.
"What now?"
"Where's the turtle pearl?" When this rascal left Demon Nest Swamp, he had taken He Lingchuan's turtle pearl with him, whether intentionally or not. "Isn't it time to return it to me?"
Dong Rui rolled his eyes and moved to pull out the turtle pearl to return it to its rightful owner. Suddenly, He Lingchuan spoke again: "Right, I nearly forgot an important matter: do you happen to have any..."
He lowered his voice even further: "...divine bone?"
Dong Rui's heart skipped a violent beat. Fortunately, his distorted face was incapable of showing much expression: "What is divine bone?"
Chapter 554