Chapter 837: The Red Generals Cenotaph

Chapter 837: The Red General's Cenotaph

The young attendant shouted, “It’s in your shadow!”

He could see it clearly: two little monkeys—or rather, creatures resembling monkeys or apes—were somehow standing inside the guard’s shadow.

At the shout, one of them turned its head and grinned at the young attendant.

Only then did everyone get a clear look at it. The monkey’s head resembled a ghostly face, with two triangular irises that were almost entirely white, and in those white irises were pupils that were no larger than grains of rice. Its nose was huge and hooked like an eagle’s beak, its face covered in wrinkles, yet its mouth could split all the way back to its ears, revealing rows of gleaming steel teeth.

Sticky blood still clung to those teeth.

Caught red-handed, the creatures showed not the slightest panic. One leaped onto the guard and opened its mouth wide enough to swallow his entire head, while the other grabbed hold of the guard’s shadow and shot away, dragging the man himself along with it!

Their mouths looked large enough normally, but when opened, they became absurdly huge. The folds along their cheeks stretched flat, and the opening was wide enough to swallow an entire watermelon, or a human head.

No wonder the earlier victims had been unable to cry for help. Their voices had been swallowed along with them.

As for dragging someone away by hauling on their shadow, none of those who were from the Heavenly Palace had ever seen such a technique before. Zhang Lianhai vaguely remembered hearing of a similar deific technique.

But that was a mystical technique that only gods or immortals should have been capable of using. How is some ghost-faced monkey in this damned place able to do the same?

A deeply ominous feeling rose in his heart.

The lamp spirit, which had enjoyed divine grace on Mount Xu for many years, naturally would not stand by and watch the guard be dragged away. It swooped down, transformed into a ferocious tiger, tore the ghost-faced monkey away, and began mauling it savagely.

Unfortunately, the guard whose head had been swallowed was already in terrible shape. The skin of his face had been peeled outward, and blood spurted from four huge holes in his neck, and his arteries had been torn open.

His companions hurried forward to seal his acupoints and save him.

The other ghost-faced monkey immediately sprang onto a rooftop and began screeching, “Ooh! Ooh!”

The bitter wind carried its cries far into the distance.

Zhang Lianhai pointed at it. “Shut up!”

Two divine techniques shot toward the creature. The violent wind blew one technique off course, while the other technique struck the ghost-faced monkey squarely in the chest and sent it flipping backward.

Unfortunately, it was already too late. Several aberrant creatures roared nearby in rapid succession, seemingly answering the monkey’s call.

Zhang Lianhai drew a deep breath and decided immediately. “Move! Quickly!”

Since they had already been exposed, there was no point hiding anymore.

He formed a hand seal, and another lamp spirit spun around and flew off to cover their retreat. It possessed no emotions, so no matter how many enemies it faced, it knew neither respect nor fear.

Everyone broke into a run. The other lamp spirit flew ahead, lighting the way and clearing the wind and snow from their path.

Otherwise, the farther west they went, the stronger the wind became. By now, it was already approaching category nine on the Beaufort scale[1], and their speed would inevitably have suffered.

A lone aberrant creature was not particularly frightening. They could deal with one. But once the creatures gathered into a pack, no one even dared harbor any false bravado.

Their only way out was probably to take advantage of the lamp spirit holding off the monsters and rush to the Red General’s cenotaph as quickly as possible!

The young attendant looked back as they ran and saw dozens of aberrant creatures surging out behind them. The lamp spirit darted ceaselessly around the pack, doing everything it could to obstruct them.

The creatures were not particularly intelligent either. Their attention was completely captured by the lamp spirit, and they forgot all about continuing to pursue the Heavenly Palace party.

At the sight, everyone breathed a long sigh of relief.

Using the time the lamp spirit had bought them, the group pushed forward at full speed. They were surrounded by aberrant creatures several more times along the way, but each time, they used every means at their disposal to break free.

Unfortunately, Panlong City was enormous, and the Heavenly Palace party was unfamiliar with its maze of branching streets, costing them a great deal of time. Zhang Lianhai sent all the lamp spirits out to fight, yet loyal guards still died one after another.

Fortunately, the Red General’s cenotaph was finally close.

Zhang Lianhai ran another two steps when he suddenly coughed and spat out a mouthful of blood.

Everyone paled in shock.

They had just broken through the encirclement, and Zhang Lianhai had not been injured, so why was he coughing up blood?

“The lamp spirit!” Zhang Lianhai said in disbelief. “One of my lamp spirits was actually destroyed!”

He was a lamp guardian. The divine techniques into which he had poured his life’s effort were all tied to his lamp spirits, and he had long since become inseparable from them.

For one of the lamp spirits to be destroyed dealt an extremely heavy blow to both his body and spirit.

What kind of aberrant creature could destroy a lamp spirit of the Heavenly Palace?

Most frightening of all, whatever had done it was bound to come after them.

The young attendant caught hold of him and cried, “My lord!”

“Hurry! Go to the ceno... ceno...” Zhang Lianhai’s face had turned the color of gold paper, and even his words came out broken. He barely managed to lift a finger and point east.

At this point, there was nothing else to say.

Their only chance of survival was to reach it.

We’re almost there! The Red General’s cenotaph is only a little over a hundred meters away!

The young attendant hoisted Zhang Lianhai onto his back and burst into a full sprint.

A deafening howl suddenly erupted behind them.

For a split second, everyone in the fleeing Heavenly Palace party went rigid.

Zhang Lianhai’s heart sank.

It’s here.

Everyone looked back, but saw nothing. But then, the snowflakes swirling around them suddenly froze in place before assembling instantly into more than a dozen beasts of snow that looked somewhere between leopards and wolves.

Agile and vicious, they lunged straight at the group.

The guards threw themselves forward without regard for their own lives, barely carving out a path of survival for the young attendant.

Two splashes of hot blood even struck his face, forcing him to squeeze his eyes shut for an instant.

Just a bit over fifty meters left.

The howling wind shoved him backward.

A short cry of “Ah!” came from very close behind, then was immediately swallowed by the wind and snow.

The young attendant knew the final two guards were gone as well.

However, he had finally reached the Red General’s cenotaph!

When the Red General died in battle all those years ago, Zhong Shengguang had taken his own life less than half a day later, and Panlong City had fallen soon after. The ones who buried this generation’s god of war therefore had not been the people of Panlong City, but their mortal enemies.

Out of respect for their formidable foe, the coalition armies of Baling and Xianyou erected a cenotaph for the Red General. It covered less than a thirtieth of a hectare[2], and the stone sculptures standing on either side had been taken from finished works already within Panlong City. The stele itself, however, was imposing, standing more than three meters tall and bearing five simple words: Tomb of the Red General.

The red paint had long since peeled away, and even the carved characters had become blurred and difficult to make out. Just then, two more ghostly lights happened to arrive. Before the young attendant’s eyes, they flew directly into the Red General’s tomb.

Zhang Lianhai jumped down and, summoning the last of his strength, raised his staff and slammed it hard into the burial ground.

He spent every remaining ounce of power he had. True energy plunged deep underground, and all the stone slabs covering the tomb exploded apart at once.

Earth and sand sprayed outward, revealing the burial chamber below!

Sitting amid the sand was a suit of pale red armor.

Despite more than a century of erosion, it had not rusted. However, the armor was covered in scars and punctures. Several areas had clearly been scorched by lightning.

If Zhang Lianhai had been in a calmer state of mind, he might have found something strange about the armor’s posture.

Why was the Red General’s armor sitting upright?

When Panlong City’s enemies buried this empty suit of armor all those years ago, surely they would not have deliberately arranged it this way,

especially with the helmet still sitting perfectly atop the armor.

Seen from behind, it looked as though the Red General herself were sitting there with her head lowered and arms folded across her body.

But how could Zhang Lianhai spare any attention for that now?

His eyes saw only the object protected between the armor’s arms: a small lidless pot no larger than a palm.

It was a twin-handled vessel, antique bronze in color, made from some unknown material.

Dragon-shaped rings were carved into the two handles, while profound talismanic inscriptions covered the body of the pot.

Aside from that, it had no unnecessary ornamentation whatsoever. It was remarkably plain.

But as a learned and knowledgeable lamp guardian, Zhang Lianhai recognized at a glance that the inscriptions on the pot were actually written in two different languages: the language of the gods and the language of ancient immortals.

Both expressed the same meaning: “Through Heaven and Earth, manifesting illusion and muddling reality.”

Another ghostly light drifted over and, right before Zhang Lianhai’s eyes, disappeared into the mouth of the pot.

This was the supreme treasure coveted by the gods.

This was the divine artifact stained with the blood of countless people, the source of so much bloodshed and turmoil.

Is this the true body of the Generous Pot?

Zhang Lianhai forgot all about his injuries and lunged forward.

Every strange change in the Panlong Ruins had originated from the Generous Pot. If he could seize the Generous Pot, perhaps all the chaos before him would finally end!

But before he came within two meters of it, a vast shadow suddenly appeared overhead and completely engulfed him.

* * *

At the southern gate of the Panlong Ruins.

Several more groups of aberrant creatures passed by below. Everyone atop the walls remained deathly silent, not daring even to breathe loudly until the creatures had gone far away.

Time crept past second by second, unbearably slowly.

After an unknown length of time, another group of visitors finally arrived beneath the southern gate.

Yuezheng Qing appeared with four or five men, all of them battered and disheveled, their terror only just beginning to subside.

He had entered Panlong City with more than a dozen subordinates.

Now, this handful was all he had left.

When he discovered that the southern gate was shut tight, he also intended to climb the wall.

He Chunhua instinctively rested a hand on the saber at his waist. The Minister of War’s troops were mortal enemies of Yuan’s army.

Should he allow them up?

Of course he should!

He immediately ordered his men, “Move the barricade aside!”

If they blocked Yuezheng Qing below and started making a commotion, they would only attract more aberrant creatures. It was better to let these few men under the Minister of War climb up; then, when the opportunity presented itself, killing them with a few quick cuts would be easy enough.

He Chunhua had the overwhelming advantage in numbers. What were five or six enemies to them?

But when Yuezheng Qing saw the troops stationed atop the wall, his expression changed. He no longer asked to come up. Instead, he turned and hurried away with his men.

The city was riddled with danger, and there were almost no suitable places to hide. Yet he would rather abandon the seemingly safe city wall. He had probably sensed the Yuan troops’ ill intentions.

He Chunhua could only lament the missed opportunity.

Then everyone heard a loud and terrifying roar.

The sound reverberated across Panlong Ancient City as though it might tear the sky apart.

With a single roar, every single creature fell silent.

Even from such a distance, many people felt their hearts tremble uncontrollably as primal terror welled up within them.

Clang!

Someone dropped the weapon in his hand.

He Chunhua’s voice had gone hoarse. “What was that?”

So the giant beast that passed beneath the city wall earlier wasn’t even the leader?

This roar signaled the arrival of the true king of the aberrant creatures!

He Lingchuan licked his lips and said sincerely, “I hope it doesn’t notice us.”

He had heard a roar of this caliber before in the foreign Fu Realm. Back then, it had come from the Giant Thunderclap Beast Lord, whose voice had carried for dozens of kilometers.

That had also been He Lingchuan’s first time seeing such a majestic aberrant creature.

No, the roar that reverberated throughout the ruins just now was even more soul-shaking than that of the Giant Thunderclap Beast Lord.

Just how many secrets are hidden inside the Generous Pot?

How did these creatures end up here?ℯ𝕝.

Immediately afterward, a blizzard swept across the city without warning.

The thick city walls were covered in white frost in the blink of an eye. The lightly dressed soldiers hurriedly ducked into the hollow spaces inside the walls before they could be frozen stiff.

He Chunhua opened his mouth, and a cloud of white vapor immediately emerged. “Two tornadoes are moving east.”

“The ghostly lights that emerged from the aberrant creatures after they died were heading that way too,” He Lingchuan said. “They’re all going to the same place.”

“Where?”

He Lingchuan shook his head. He did not know either.

But soon, the creature’s roar sounded again from the east, even more powerful than before.

“So fast!” He Chunhua’s expression changed. “It crossed more than half of Panlong City in such a short time?”

1. This is 41–47 kts = 74–88 kph = 20.8–24.4 m/s. ☜

2. ~333.33 square meters. ☜