Chapter 840: Outside Panlong City

He Chunhua immediately replied, “You’re nothing but a resentful ghost from inside the pot! Why should I feel guilty about sacrificing you?”

That’s right! Chuan’er’s been gone for a long time. The one I’m sacrificing now is merely an evil ghost wearing human skin. My conscience is clear!

He Lingchuan laughed in disbelief. “Naluotian’s divine seal mark was planted many years ago, long before we entered the Panlong Ruins the last time. How are you going to explain that?—Father!”

He squeezed the final word through clenched teeth, laden with bitter hatred.

He Chunhua was struck speechless.

That was his fatal weakness. One stab hit home, and there was no answer.

Qiu Hu spat on the ground. “You’re just lying to yourself!”

He had more or less understood everything now. This General He had personally admitted to carrying out a rite of divine recompense, sacrificing his own child, and was now accusing his eldest son of being an evil ghost...

Has he gone mad?

He Lingchuan suddenly let out a long laugh. “Fine, fine. We were father and son once, after all. Today, I’ll grant you your wish! Wherever Naluotian’s avatar is, I’ll let it descend!”

Qiu Hu was badly startled. “No! Absolutely not!”

His young master had always been shrewd, decisive, and capable, with all the makings of a wise leader. Surely he was not about to lose his head at such a crucial moment?

He Chunhua was startled as well.

The incantation on He Lingchuan’s wrist was still glowing. By all logic, it should already have taken effect. Yet after he had spent so long talking to him, why had the god Naluotian still not descended?

Several bolts of lightning suddenly flashed across the sky.

Lightning was normally blazing white, perhaps tinged with red or violet. These bolts, however, were bizarrely different, shining with a ghastly green light.

For a moment, everything in Panlong City—buildings, streets, and sculptures alike—was stained green, making the atmosphere especially eerie.

He Chunhua knew this light and aura well. They belonged to Naluotian.

At the same time, the idol in his palm began to tremble, its entire body emitting a dim green glow as if answering the lightning.

The god was finally about to descend.

He Chunhua secretly breathed a sigh of relief. Then he looked again at the eldest son before him, and a jumble of emotions rose in his heart.

The absurdity that had begun more than a decade ago would end today.

At last, he would no longer have to struggle with it.

* * *

In the Panlong Desert.

The Jianyang Sect had left Panlong City long ago and was now camping in the desert. One disciple suddenly pointed behind them and shouted, “Martial Uncle, look!”

Ling Jinbao turned around just in time to see a pillar of red light shoot from Panlong City straight into the sky!

Sure enough, the red light originated from the ruins.

The disciples could barely contain themselves. “Should we go back?”

If they returned now, even if they could not get the first taste of whatever treasure had appeared, surely they could at least watch the excitement?

Ling Jinbao, however, stared at the pillar of light in thoughtful silence.

The disciples had to ask twice before he finally came back to himself. “We’re staying right here!”

Didn’t we come all this way to seize treasure and enjoy a good, hot-blooded fight? Everyone found this terribly disappointing, but an order was an order. They could only spread a few pieces of white canvas over the sand and gravel and sit down on the ground.

Ling Jinbao simply lay back and folded his hands behind his head.

This damned place was scorching hot by day and freezing cold at night, but the nighttime scenery really was magnificent. Stars hung low over the vast open desert.

A long time passed. As he let out his fourth yawn, the disciples finally could not help but ask, “Martial Uncle, what are you looking at?” And looking so leisurely at that.

“Looking for the pattern.” Ling Jinbao took out his waterskin and drank. “The red light appeared earlier tonight than on any of the previous occasions. Why?”

The previous few times, the red light had always appeared close to the latter half of the night. Tonight, however, it had appeared during the hour of the dog[1]. Why?

What was different tonight compared with the previous few days? Was it simply because adventurers had arrived?

What did the Generous Pot intend to do to the adventurers who entered the Panlong Ruins?

Ling Jinbao could not figure that out, which was precisely why he had not dared to remain inside the city recklessly.

Naturally, his disciples could not answer a question like that, and Ling Jinbao did not expect them to.

As he watched and pondered, the red light suddenly changed. Instead of remaining a single straight pillar, it abruptly expanded to cover the entirety of the Panlong Ruins!

“Whoa!” the Jianyang Sect disciples exclaimed in unison.

Before their eyes, the whole of the Panlong Ruins was enveloped in red light!

But the expansion lasted only two or three breaths. Immediately afterward, the red light vanished!

“What happened?” The Jianyang Sect party was only a little over six hundred meters from Panlong City’s southern gate, giving them a perfect view of the entire transformation.

Suddenly, someone sprang to his feet. “Look at the gate! The Baling men on top are gone!”

The Jianyang Sect disciples were not the only ones who had thought to climb somewhere high and survey the whole situation. The Baling party had done the same long before them. Bao Guanjie had arranged for three or four men to climb the southern gate and keep watch over the city.

From where Ling Jinbao and the others sat on the dune, they could clearly see the magnificent southern gate, as well as the Baling men pacing back and forth atop it.

Yet after the red light disappeared, the gate was completely empty.

Where had those Baling men gone?

Even these bold and highly skilled cultivators felt their scalps prickle at that moment.

Did the red light swallow everyone inside the city?

One disciple gulped and said, “Martial Uncle Ling really is wise!”

If it were not for their martial uncle, they might have suffered the same fate as the people inside!

Ling Jinbao said nothing, his expression grave.

The red light inside the city looked more and more like a trap.

But even if people knew that, they would still fly toward it like moths into a flame.

Just then, Ling Jinbao unexpectedly noticed people on the neighboring dune.

The group numbered about sixteen. No one knew when they had arrived, but just like the Jianyang Sect, they were gazing toward the red light coming from Panlong City.

There had been plenty of adventurers in the Panlong Desert recently, so Ling Jinbao did not think much of it.

Unexpectedly, however, the other group sent someone over. The man climbed across the uneven dunes and asked the Jianyang Sect party, “Judging by the direction you came from, did you just leave Panlong City?”

A Jianyang Sect disciple frowned at him and said, “Who are you?” He didn’t even bother greeting us before questioning us with such an overbearing tone. How rude.

“We’re from the Heavenly Palace and have come to the Panlong Desert on official business.” The man did not speak offensively, exactly, but his manner carried an unmistakable air of, I can’t be bothered explaining myself to you.

“Oh.” Ling Jinbao nodded. “Yes.”

Then he clamped his mouth shut.

The other man paused, then realized Ling Jinbao had only answered his previous question. He immediately followed up, “What happened inside the city?”

Ling Jinbao turned his head toward his disciples. “Let’s go.”

They got to their feet and started walking away, paying the man no attention.

The man hurried after them, his tone considerably more polite this time. “Please wait... If you’re willing to share what you experienced inside the city, we’ll reward you generously!”

Ling Jinbao ignored him and continued walking.

After saying a few more things and getting no response from anyone, the man’s expression hardened. “You people—”

Ling Jinbao cut him off, “Tell your superior to come speak to me. You’re not qualified.”

Whatever else could be said about him, he was still the Grand Elder of the Jianyang Sect. So what if the other side was from the Heavenly Palace? Did they think they could send any random nobody over to question him?

The man opened his mouth. Seeing that Ling Jinbao was about to leave again, he had no choice but to turn around and run back.

No one knew exactly what was said over there, but the man gestured repeatedly toward the Jianyang Sect as he spoke, and judging from his expression, he was probably not saying anything pleasant.

Soon afterward, the other group’s leader walked over.

He appeared to be in his fifties, with a lean build and an immaculately trimmed beard along his jaw. He looked particularly vigorous and alert.

“My apologies. I only recently accepted that attendant as a disciple, and he has yet to learn proper manners.” The moment he arrived, he cupped his fists. “May I ask how I should address you, sir?”

“Ling Jinbao of the Jianyang Sect.”

“Mr. Ling.” The man smiled. “I am Hé Jing[2], a cloud envoy of Star-Plucking Tower. I came to the Panlong Desert under orders from the Heavenly Palace.”

Ling Jinbao’s expression shifted.

A cloud envoy? This smiling fellow who doesn’t actually seem to be smiling is actually a cloud envoy?

The Heavenly Palace of Lingxu City was renowned throughout the world. Directly beneath the chief cloud envoy were the four deputy cloud envoys, figures of exalted status and extraordinary standing whom even Beijia’s Monster Emperor treated with courtesy.

Why would someone of such rank suddenly appear here in Panlong City, more than ten thousand kilometers from Mount Xu?

Did he come for the Generous Pot? If so, hasn’t he arrived far too quickly?

Beijia’s territory was vast. News of the strange events in the Panlong Desert would take time to travel from the far west of Yuan to Lingxu City. Even after this cloud envoy received word and departed from Lingxu City, reaching this place would still require a great deal of time.

How had he arrived so conveniently, just in time for the Generous Pot to appear?

“So it’s Cloud Envoy Hé.” Faced with someone of such stature, Ling Jinbao decided not to push things too far. “We made a few circuits through the city. Everything was ruined and dilapidated, and there didn’t seem to be any fresh changes, so we came back out.”

In just a few sentences, he described what they had seen earlier inside the city.

Hé Jing pressed him further. “The red light suddenly appeared just now. It may signal the emergence of an extraordinary treasure. Why didn’t Mr. Ling return to the city?”

Ling Jinbao looked back toward where the pillar of red light had been and shook his head. “It felt ominous. I didn’t want to go back.”

Just then, one of Hé Jing’s subordinates came running over with a mirror in his arms. “Lord Cloud Envoy, there are images in the Haofang Mirror!”

Images?

Curious, Ling Jinbao stopped to watch. The mirror did not reflect Hé Jing’s face. Instead, scene after scene flashed rapidly across its surface.

Collapsed buildings, orderly streets, and then the image of a flood dragon on half an earthen wall flashed past...

Huh?

Ling Jinbao had seen that design earlier inside Panlong City.

The mirror’s showing scenes from within Panlong City?

And the manner in which it displayed them made it seem as though the mirror was borrowing someone else’s point of view. Whatever that person saw, Hé Jing could see as well.

Ling Jinbao craned his neck from the side for a better look. Hé Jing frowned inwardly, but then pointed at the image and asked him, “Mr. Ling, which faction is this?”

“These people?” Ling Jinbao had a fairly good understanding of the forces currently inside Panlong City. “They look like Andong troops.”

“Andong?”

Ling Jinbao pointed north. “They split control of the Panlong Desert with Yuan. I heard they attacked Heishui City a few days ago and suffered a crushing defeat.”

“I see,” Hé Jing said.

Ling Jinbao then simply identified each faction that appeared in the mirror for him.

When Hé Jing heard that Yuan’s mortal enemy, the Minister of War, had also sent men here, his brow furrowed. “Was this merely coincidence? So many different forces have gathered in Panlong City tonight, and several of them already have grudges against one another.”

“The strange phenomena around Panlong City intensified a few days ago, and a phantom city even appeared in the sky above it. Who wouldn’t want to come investigate?” Ling Jinbao glanced at Hé Jing. “I assume Cloud Envoy Hé came for the same reason. Why didn’t you enter earlier?”

The Heavenly Palace had clearly sent two separate parties.

Why had Zhang Lianhai entered Panlong City while this high-ranking official surnamed Hé remained outside?

Ling Jinbao had a feeling that Hé Jing had arrived long ago. He had simply chosen not to go in.

As for the major news that had shaken Beijia recently, Ling Jinbao had only heard that the guardian spirit of Mount Xu had rebelled, throwing Star-Plucking Tower and Lingxu City into chaos. He did not know that Star-Plucking Tower had also lost a divine artifact, much less that it was connected to the Generous Pot.

1. 7–9 P.M. ☜

2. Just a reminder that this is the same person mentioned back in Chapter 767, but not the same as the one mentioned in 791. The one mentioned in 791 is the third son of Yuan’s Imperial Censor, and the one mentioned here is a cloud envoy of Star-Plucking Tower. Actually, I don’t think the former is ever mentioned again, so just forget about him, I guess? ☜