"The divine blood you use to make your demon puppets must have a source, right?" He Lingchuan glanced around. The nearest patrons were still eating and chatting out front, paying no heed to their corner. "I won't ask where you got it. All I need is a tiny piece of divine bone. Just a tiny bit!"
"I don't have anything like that!" Dong Rui turned to leave, but He Lingchuan grabbed him tight.
"This is an emergency—it's to save a life!"
"Whose life?"
"Mine, of course." He Lingchuan tapped his own nose. "I have a brush with the Gates of Hell coming right up. If I can't survive it, my plans in Lingxu City will go up in smoke, and you can kiss your demon puppets' life extension goodbye."
The causal chain was just that simple.
Dong Rui hesitated for a moment.
That single beat of hesitation was all He Lingchuan needed to see hope. He had only asked on a whim, never expecting to hit the jackpot on his first try.
How could he be so lucky? The divine bone necklace must truly be looking out for him!
He held out an open palm to Dong Rui. "Hand it over, hurry!"
"This is extortion!" Having lost against this man time and again, Dong Rui could only surrender meekly. He retrieved a small crystal vial from his storage pouch.
The vial was filled with clear liquid, submerging a short segment of black matter about the length of a pinky finger.
"What's this?" He Lingchuan had seen divine bone before. "Isn't it supposed to look like bone or metal?"
"The black stuff is the flesh clinging to the outside..." Dong Rui snapped crossly. "Have you ever even seen divine bone, questioning me like that!"
"I wouldn't dare, wouldn't dare." The bone actually had soft tissue attached to it—talk about fresh! He Lingchuan beamed with delight and reached out to take it.
The moment the vial appeared, the divine bone necklace flared with heat. That made it clear Dong Rui had produced the real thing; he wasn't cheating him.
What an honest man Brother Dong was!
Yet Dong Rui jerked the vial back, clutching it tight. "You can't have it for free!"
He Lingchuan was just as straightforward. "Name your price. What do you want in exchange?"
"One hundred thousand taels of silver." Dong Rui said it as casually as if asking for ten or fifteen taels, rather than a staggering hundred million coins. "I'm researching something lately and money is too tight; I can't afford the materials."
Without a second thought, He Lingchuan counted out a hundred thousand taels in silver banknotes and passed them over. "Take it."
Earning money hadn't been easy for him either, but now was no time to pinch pennies. As long as Dong Rui only wanted money, nothing could be better.
It was truly a thick stack, which Dong Rui swiftly tucked into his storage pouch. Seeing the kid part with a hundred thousand taels without even batting an eye, Dong Rui felt a twinge of regret that he hadn't named a higher price.
Before Dong Rui could react, however, He Lingchuan had already snatched the vial away, leaving Dong Rui's hand empty.
Young Master He smiled broadly. "All right, settled and square."
In truth, both men knew that exchanging a hundred thousand taels of silver for a piece of divine bone was a massive bargain in He Lingchuan's favor.
Was divine bone something money could simply buy?
More importantly, what He Lingchuan needed was divine bone that still retained its vitality.
The specimen Dong Rui produced looked even better than the one from the ancient royal city of Xiji. That alone made it well worth the price!
With a hundred thousand taels in hand, Dong Rui was in high spirits and even threw in a piece of news: "By the way, it seems an enemy of yours is in Lingxu City too."
Though divine bone was rare, he hadn't found a use for it for the time being. Turning it into cash for materials suited him far better.
"Which one?" He Lingchuan found this odd. He didn't know that many people, so why did it feel like he had enemies everywhere?
"Nian Zanli," Dong Rui said. "Seems he came back to Lingxu City on business, and to recuperate while he's at it."
He Lingchuan exhaled softly and said gravely, "Thanks for the warning." He tossed an ingot of broken silver onto the table. "This meal's on me."
In the Battle of Hanshui, Nian Zanli was a leading figure among the enemy. Back then, Hong Chenglüe had lent Nian Zanli the Verdant Flask to drown the Yuan Kingdom's army, but his own Xunzhou army hadn't been spared either, suffering catastrophic casualties.
The two parted ways at the corner of the street and headed back.
When Dong Rui returned to his lodging, the two guards were still sprawled over the low table, snoring heavily. He scooped a basin of water from the vat and splashed it over their faces with a loud whoosh.
Both jolted awake.
"Wh—what happened?"
"Did you two stay here just to drink wine and sleep?" Dong Rui's face darkened. "We're out of white xiangxie. Go buy me some!"
...
Meanwhile, He Lingchuan did not return to the Jinkui Inn until the sun tilted toward the west. When he inquired at the front counter, he was told that someone had come looking for "Li Junyi" not long ago and left a verbal message: the matter was handled.
This was the secret code agreed upon between him and Li Qingge.
In other words, Li Qingge had sent someone to inform him that word was spreading: "He Xiao," the Chiyan special envoy who had repeatedly humiliated Zhongsun Mou at Baishaqu, had arrived in Lingxu City.
The Master of Songyang Mansion was as reliable as ever when getting things done in Lingxu City.
The soul-snatching mirror in his robes said to him, "Hey, if you've come to your senses, you can leave Lingxu City right now and be out of Beijia in a month or two. Once the heat dies down, you can come back for that shed husk or whatever."
What it didn't understand was that the spider demon's shed husk wasn't He Lingchuan's primary goal at all.
Yet he chose to answer with resounding bravado: "If I wanted to back out, I would've done so back in Zhitian Township." If he were still the Eldest Young Master of Blackwater City, he would probably have greased his boots and fled long ago. But now? "I'm already here. If I don't see what there is to see, how could I justify all my hard work over the past few months?"
How much effort had he invested to make it this far? He finally had the opportunity to observe Beijia's power structure up close; backing out now would mean letting all his previous efforts go to waste.
The mirror let out a wail. "Before you go get yourself killed, can I switch masters first?"
"How about the Master of Songyang Mansion?"
"Oh? T-That works too!" Songyang Mansion treated divine artifacts very well.
He Lingchuan flicked the surface of the mirror hard.
"Ow!" The mirror hurriedly changed the subject. "What do you plan to do with that divine bone you spent a hundred thousand taels on?"
Its curiosity was stronger than a cat's.
He Lingchuan shut the doors and windows tightly and set up a barrier before pulling the small vial from inside his robes to examine that small remnant of celestial god bone.
At the same time, the divine bone necklace began to radiate heat.
"After going through so much trouble to get this piece of divine bone, we won't get a second chance at trial and error." He unclasped the necklace, set it on the table, and said word for word, "Don't you go getting greedy and eat it! Make me a Dragon-Torture Pillar! If you're missing any materials, I'll go get them!"
The heat of the divine bone necklace did not diminish.
And so He Lingchuan brought the vial close to the necklace. With a whoosh, both vial and bone vanished.
At the same time, the necklace ceased radiating heat.
He Lingchuan got up and poured himself a cup of hot water. He had only taken two sips when the mirror suddenly gasped, "Hey, hey! Look, quick!"
He turned around and saw that, alongside the divine bone necklace on the table, an extra object had appeared:
A tube the length of a middle finger.
Eh? Was the production of a Dragon-Torture Pillar really this efficient?
In truth, rather than calling it a tube, it looked more like a bare tree branch, covered in chapped, wood-grain fissures.
From the texture alone, He Lingchuan knew the moment he picked it up that it was a Juluo tree branch!
It was roughly two centimeters in diameter and not quite a standard cylinder. Crouched atop it was still a beast-head carving, though its design differed from the one He Lingchuan had seen in Panlong City, depicting an unrecognizable species.
Embedded along the middle of the branch was a pane of transparent colored glaze, revealing that the interior was hollow. Beside it sat a round button made of a material that was neither metal nor jade, bearing the familiar appearance of the divine bone He Lingchuan had seen before.
This had to be a Dragon-Torture Pillar. The simplified exterior was likely because he had provided too few materials, so the Dafang Pot had supplemented it on its own, using some old scrap leftovers.
Presumably, it also knew that now was no time to be picky about artistic craftsmanship.
A downgraded build was fine, as long as its efficacy wasn't compromised.
He Lingchuan didn't dare press the round button. Instead, he found a velvet-lined gift case and secured the object firmly inside to prevent jolts or vibrations from accidentally triggering the button.
Mitian had once told him that "certain" Dragon-Torture Pillars she crafted were tainted with the aura of the Dafang Pot, and using them for the first time would draw the attention of the celestial gods.
He could therefore deduce that at a perilous juncture like this, a Dragon-Torture Pillar he produced himself would "certainly" carry the aura of the Dafang Pot. Thus, the location of its debut had to be chosen with utmost care.
Diverting the celestial gods' attention and lessening their interest in him was key to He Lingchuan's survival.
Who should he entrust this to?
He Lingchuan sat clutching the case in a daze for a long time, only to helplessly realize that he didn't seem to have any other choice.
He simply knew too few people in Beijia.
And he was pressed for time.
...
And so, a little over a quarter of an hour later, He Lingchuan arrived once more at Songyang Mansion.
Li Qingge was draped in a heavy cloak, seemingly about to head out. Seeing He Lingchuan, he looked somewhat surprised. "Has something happened? Is someone giving you trouble?"
He Lingchuan shook his head. "No, but I have another important favor to ask."
Why did he have to say "another"? Ah, sigh!
Li Qingge, however, was good-tempered and showed not the slightest impatience. "I'm all ears."
He Lingchuan glanced to his left and right.
Understanding the hint, Li Qingge waved his attendants away.
Only then did He Lingchuan bring out the case and place it on the table. "My Lord, have you ever been to the Ju Kingdom?"
Li Qingge nodded. "I have. I originally intended to open a branch there. It lies in the northwest of Beijia, rich in iron and bauxite, and borders the Xuluo Demon Kingdom. The Xuluo Kingdom imports crude iron from it."
"In Ju Kingdom's Wange Marsh and Wange Forest, a string of bizarre incidents has cropped up recently. The local authorities investigated, but the mystery only deepened." He Lingchuan opened the case and pointed at the Dragon-Torture Pillar. "I would like to ask you, My Lord, to send someone trustworthy to take this near Wange Forest and press this button."
Li Qingge scrutinized the unfamiliar object. "And what will happen then?"
"Everything will remain calm and normal. Have him press it multiple times throughout the night. The next morning, he can leave—preferably without returning to Lingxu City."
Li Qingge blinked in surprise. "That's it?"
"Yes, that's it. It won't harm anyone or anything," He Lingchuan said solemnly. "However, one point is of paramount importance: before reaching Wange Forest, the case must not be opened, and this object must not be touched under any circumstances!"
"A simple matter, then." Li Qingge mused for a moment. "Is this matter very important to you?"
He Lingchuan's expression turned grave. "A matter of life and death."
"Very well, leave it to me. As it happens, I have several men heading to the Xuluo Kingdom. I'll have them set out tomorrow morning." Li Qingge fetched some sealing wax and applied a seal to the case right there. "However, rushing from here to Wange Marsh will take at least twenty-odd days, even at the fastest pace. Can you wait that long?"
One could only blame the Beijia Empire for being so vast; traveling across this great empire was no simple feat.
He Lingchuan gave a wry smile. "Ready or not, I have to wait."
Chapter 555