He Lingchuan thought to himself, *You clearly want to go to the Panlong Ruins anyway, so why make a hypocritical show of asking me?* Keeping an entirely solemn face, he said, "We've been to the Panlong Ruins before. It's a dragon's pool and a tiger's den—not a place to approach lightly. Dad, as soon as the sun rises, we'll be able to get our bearings. We should head back to the city."
Seeing his son answer so decisively caught He Chunhua off guard.
A nearby officer spoke up immediately. "Look at the sky, General. It's covered in heavy clouds; there's no telling when the sun will break through. Lingering out in the desert like this is no solution either. Our top priority is finding a water source."
They had pursued the enemy in great haste without bringing much food or water. Now that a full night had passed, both men and horses were severely parched.
Going without rations was manageable, but men could not survive without water.
Zhao Qinghe offered a reminder. "Travelers who passed through the desert recently mentioned that there is an oasis near the Panlong Ruins. Let's head there first to get some water to drink."
He Chunhua nodded. "Straight to the water source, then."
With that order given, the Blackwater City troops set off in the direction of the red light. Most raised no objection beyond a few grumbles.
Since no one could find their bearings in the desert anyway, making a beeline for a place with water was the best option available.
Once again, the Heavenly Palace and the other factions traveled alongside the Blackwater City army.
Zhang Lianhai and his companions were not particularly pleased with the arrangement. They wanted to scout the Panlong Ruins to see what was really there. If a treasure truly appeared, their own numbers were few, whereas the Blackwater City army—even after detaching squads along the way—still had three hundred men. They would almost certainly use their sheer numbers to seize whatever they could.
Yet the desert was vast, and they had no right to bar others from passing.
Though that crimson beam appeared vivid, there was no telling how far away it actually was. He Chunhua roughly estimated it to be at least several dozen li off.
Two double-hours later, the crimson light contracted and once again dispersed into nothingness between heaven and earth.
By then, daylight had fully broken, but the sun remained hidden behind the overcast sky. The drawback was that the army still could not determine its direction; the silver lining was that the weather was far less scorching, allowing men and mounts to press forward with effort.
Marching on like this until the end of the Wei hour, nearly three in the afternoon, both men and beasts were utterly exhausted. The soldiers' lips were cracked dry, leaving them without even the energy to complain.
Discontent simmered in every heart, but no one dared leave the ranks on their own.
Wandering solo through an unpredictable desert was nothing short of a death wish.
Even the Heavenly Palace and the Balingers had no desire to venture out and scout ahead alone.
Just then, the hunting falcon swooped down, delivering monumental news:
The oasis lay a mere three li ahead!
Reinvigorated by this uplifting news, everyone suddenly found a second wind and rushed forward in high spirits.
Three li proved to be exactly three li.
Cresting a low ridge, the scent of moisture washed over them. Clumps of green grass appeared one after another ahead, and even low shrubs were beginning to sprout fresh shoots.
Vegetation had returned, sparse though it was.
Then, the oasis came into view—an oasis cradled amid the boundless yellow sands.
It sat in a low depression, tucked directly behind two massive, crescent-shaped dunes. Even on clear, sunny days, direct sunlight would only reach it around midday.
It covered a vast area, formed by three interconnected small lakes. The water was remarkably clear, the shores lush with green, and water birds drifted leisurely across the surface.
This was a marvelous sight that most people of Blackwater City had never witnessed!
This was the Panlong Desert, a cursed land of divine wrath where rain had once never fallen.
As soon as they walked over, the temperature plummeted by at least ten degrees, enveloping them in a long-lost coolness.
Before the soldiers even had time to marvel, they let out a cheer, leading their mounts as they charged toward the oasis.
Yet He Chunhua barked an order to halt them. "What's the rush? Test it first!"
Even when an oasis existed in the desert, its water was not necessarily safe for humans to drink.
A personal guard behind He Chunhua darted ahead to the water's edge, pulled out a small bowl to scoop some up, and dropped a lotus seed into it.
He Lingchuan recognized this guard; his name seemed to be Hu Xuan. A year and a half ago in Xinhuang Town, Xiazhou, he had decisively sacrificed five years of his lifespan to draw the Ghost Eye Bow for He Chunhua, wounding Dong Rui's ghost ape. On the spot, He Chunhua had taken him on as a personal guard.
Evidently, he had now become one of General He's trusted confidants.
It made sense. When you did the things a leader was unwilling, unable, or afraid to do, your path to rapid advancement opened wide.
Hu Xuan had seized that opportunity.
Under the watchful eyes of the crowd, the seed sprouted, grew leaves, and blossomed into a tiny bowl lotus with twelve inner and outer petals.
The flower that bloomed was a fresh, delicate watery pink.
Only then did the guard turn to He Chunhua. "My Lord, it is safe to drink."
This plant was called the drought-heart lotus. Its seeds could remain viable through severe droughts for twenty years, sprouting instantly upon contact with water. The color of its petals changed according to the water quality: a watery pink meant it was safe for both humans and beasts; blue or purple meant it was best avoided; and if it turned black—well, that proved the water was poisonous.
Drought-heart lotus seeds were the handiest tool for testing water quality during long marches and travels; He Lingchuan carried some on him as well.
Without waiting for He Chunhua to give the command, the Blackwater City soldiers surged to the lakeshore, both men and horses drinking their fill without restraint. There was no joy or relief quite like rain after a prolonged drought, was there?
Qiu Hu and his men, however, only headed down to drink after He Lingchuan gave them a nod.
Which side possessed strict military discipline was obvious at a glance.
The rock sheep took a few gulps of water before starting to graze on the lakeside grasses. He Lingchuan cupped water in his hands to wash his face, exhaling a long breath, a dazed feeling washing over him for a moment.
This oasis also existed in the Panlong World, where it covered an even broader expanse—a classic lake wetland with surrounding woods, a post station, and a small shrine.
He Lingchuan had cupped water and watered his mount here many times. Once, he had even caught a five-jin fish and roasted it together with Door Plank to eat.
Times had changed, yet after a gap of a hundred and sixty or seventy years, the small lake had returned.
If so, what about Panlong City?
He looked off into the distance.
Zhang Lianhai was also gazing far ahead, for at the very edge of vision, along the horizon, a vast expanse of high plateau had emerged.
A towering terrace rising hundreds of zhang above the desert floor exuded a solemn, desolate grandeur even from such a great distance.
He murmured, "That is the Chipa Plateau."
Atop the Chipa Plateau lay the destination of their journey:
The ruins of Panlong City!
The Heavenly Palace had sent two urgent flying messages demanding that they uncover the reason behind the changes in the Panlong Desert as quickly as possible, even dispatching new reinforcements to assist.
Ever since the shocking upheaval at Mount Xu nearly a year ago, the Heavenly Palace and the gods had paid vastly increased attention to the Panlong Desert.
During his previous entries into the desert, Zhang Lianhai had circled endlessly without ever finding it. This time, following the Blackwater City army, they had been guided straight toward it by the crimson light.
Why?
Was it because the mirage's light had turned red only a few days ago, foreshadowing the imminent emergence of a treasure?
Having drunk their fill, the horses began grazing on the green grass by the shore, but the men's bellies were rumbling with hunger. Most soldiers had exhausted their dry rations, and watching the few people who still had food stuff flatbread into their mouths made the rest swallow hard on empty saliva.
As pleasant as the oasis was, the fish in the water were not even as long as a little finger. They darted away at the sight of humans, entirely unfit to fill an empty stomach.
The Blackwater City army had captured quite a few horses along the way while pursuing the Andongese. Zhao Qinghe came over to ask He Chunhua whether they should slaughter a horse for meat.
A single horse weighed over six hundred jin; butchering just one would be enough for all these men to have a proper meal.
He Chunhua waved a hand. "Why kill a horse?"
He turned to He Lingchuan. "You still have the scent buns, don't you?"
How did his old man know he had them? He Lingchuan had no choice but to offer up a bit of the raw liquid.
He Chunhua then ordered an Andongese captive executed. His men stuffed a black jar into the corpse's garments, poured the foul liquid over the body, dug a large pit in the sand, and buried it halfway.
Having led troops and managed logistics, he knew that a warhorse was far more valuable than a captive at a time like this.
Soon enough, movement stirred beneath the sand.
Everyone heard a rustling sound beneath their feet, and sections of the sandy ground began to cave in.
Then, the captive's corpse was violently yanked into the sand by something below.
The cord tied around the prisoner snapped taut.
Whatever was under the sand gave another powerful tug, and the finger-thick cord snapped.
*Boom!* A thunderous blast rang out.
Something detonated beneath the yellow sand, throwing sand half a zhang into the air and shaking the ground hard enough to numb the feet of those standing nearby.
He Chunhua waited a few breaths. Seeing no further movement from underground, he pointed at the sand and ordered, "Dig it out!"
The soldiers sprang into action, quickly unearthing a massive creature from beneath the sand:
Roughly four zhang in length—about thirteen meters—it was round, plump, and fleshy, resembling an eel or an earthworm, with segmented rings along its torso.
It was simply too huge for the men to hoist up, so they could only shovel away the surrounding sand.
Zhang Lianhai and the other outsiders came over to watch. "What is this?"
They seemed to recall catching glimpses of such behemoths when entering and leaving the desert before.
"An earth dragon, a specialty of the sand sea," He Lingchuan explained to them. "A few months ago, these things would attack travelers on sight. Nowadays, they usually stay tucked away underground and rarely come out."
Other deserts had earth dragons too, but they were rarely this large. The bizarre variants in the Panlong Desert had all been influenced by the Dafang Pot. Now that the Dafang Pot was undergoing changes, their aggression had vanished along with the baleful aura, and they had reverted to being subterranean scavengers.
A gaping hole was blasted through this earth dragon's belly, clearly the handiwork of that jar of gunpowder.
Unable to drag it, the men simply carved large chunks of flesh from its body, pulled out the slimy, pungent sinew, skinned and washed the meat, rubbed it with salt, and roasted it over fires.
The meat of an earth dragon was rich, fatty, and tender, much like eel, and had always been a delicacy on the dining tables of Blackwater City. Zhang Lianhai and his companions were initially put off by its appearance, but after eating a few pieces of the roast meat, they cast their reservations aside.
A colossal creature like this was enough to feed the entire army for several meals.
After resting at the oasis for another two quarters of an hour, the expedition squads parted ways with the army, impatient to set off for the Chipa Plateau.
They walked away without looking back, knowing full well that once inside the Panlong Ruins, everyone would be a competitor. Any camaraderie forged while fighting side by side to slaughter the enemy had already dissolved into thin air.
He Chunhua filled his waterskin, pointed toward the Chipa Plateau, and said to He Lingchuan, "Let's head over as well."
"Huh?" He Lingchuan looked entirely reluctant. "We still have to go?"
"Did you forget why Sun Fuping and Nian Songyu came here last time?"
He Lingchuan muttered sullenly, "Didn't that black dragon say that the Dafang Pot is fused into one with Panlong City and can't be removed at all?"
"Things have changed now; otherwise, why would so many people be rushing toward it?" He Chunhua said gravely. "Actually, Sun Fuping was right about one thing: the Dafang Pot can turn the tide of war. Dong Haoming's rebellion drags on endlessly. If we can secure the Dafang Pot, it will be a blessing for Great Yuan!"
If he could release the Three Corpse Worms to aid him in battle, putting down Dong Haoming's rebel forces would be child's play!
"Then you go ahead, Dad." Pressuring people with righteous duty—how was this tactic any different from what Sun Fuping had pulled back then? He Lingchuan picked at his ear. "I'll hold the fort for you right here."
Chapter 820