Chapter 159: Life Among Ruins

However, that only applied to those without soul artifacts or vessels.

Take Panlong City’s wrathful souls and heroic spirits, for example. They had the Generous Pot as their anchor, which even allowed them to wander freely about the Panlong Desert. Such divine artifacts were rare beyond measure. He simply assumed that Hong Xiangqian had no such powerful soul vessel, which meant Lu Yao must have hurried to find him a new host after the blade dissolution to provide his original soul with a new home.

Ugh, all this thinking is giving me a headache. Screw it, I should just let Father worry about all that complicated stuff.

Back in his own quarters, with He Yue absent, He Lingchuan shut the door and finally pulled out over a dozen items from his robe, laying them one by one across the bed.

These were Lu Yao’s valuables, stolen right under Commandant Zhao’s nose. Since he was the son of a high official, the commandant of the local militia garrison had not openly rebuked him for the scavenging, though his discontent had been plain enough.

The items he had taken for himself were made up of a few silver and gold ingots, some pills, two storage rings, and various odds and ends.

Most importantly, there was also the Ghost-Eye Bow that had occupied his thoughts ever since it had been used against him.

No one had told him that when dormant, the formidable bow shrank down to the size of a man’s palm. Lu Yao had kept it wrapped in gray cloth, hidden close to his body. Had it appeared in its full, menacing form, Commandant Zhao surely would not have let him take it away.

He Lingchuan seized the bow. With just a trickle of spiritual energy, it grew to its true size in his hands. The grip was icy cold, and the air around him instantly dropped by four or five degrees, as if urging its wielder into a state of calm.

However, He Lingchuan instead felt a chill creep up his back as all this took place. Whispers of the dead swirled in his ears, enticing him, coaxing him to sacrifice his lifespan in exchange for the terrifying threefold pursuit arrow divine technique.

He snorted.

Hmph, as if I’m going to fall for your temptations.

Still, he wondered how it would perform if he were to use it without sacrificing any lifespan. He drew the bow experimentally. Even without the divine technique, it was still an excellent weapon. The special effect could remain dormant; he was not about to let the bow drain his life.

He toyed with the Ghost-Eye Bow for quite some time, until the divine bone amulet upon his chest began to burn with heat. Only then did he recall that he had yet to feed it.

The amulet seemed almost impatient.

So, he picked up the remaining trinkets, holding each one close to the divine bone.

The first few items evoked no reaction from the divine bone, but when he brought the two black talismans before it, it finally reacted.

He Lingchuan instantly recalled how, after Pei Xinyong had shattered Lu Yao’s ribcage with a hammer blow, the man had immediately chewed and swallowed a black talisman. He had witnessed it himself. Clearly, Lu Yao had pinned his hopes on these talismans, believing them to be a sure way to preserve his life and escape the battlefield.

Unfortunately for him, things had not gone his way.

Aside from their strange black color, the talismans looked utterly unremarkable. He Lingchuan turned them over and over in his hands, feeling no special surge or fluctuation of spiritual energy coming from them. The scarlet talismanic runes etched upon them were unlike any he had seen, but in what way they were different, he could not say. He was hardly an expert in this field.

When he brought one right next to the divine bone amulet, something finally happened.

The black talisman he had brought next to the amulet instantly crumbled to dust, sucked into one of the amulet’s hollow openings. Now, it was as if a tiny whirlwind resided within the hole.

Yet when He Lingchuan reached out with his own hand, he felt no breeze.

Interesting. I’ll call that hole the eye of the wind.

In several blinks of an eye, the black talisman was absorbed entirely, not even a speck of powder left behind. The divine bone amulet itself was unchanged, save for its pulsing red glow, seemingly blinking like an impatient eye, hungering for the second talisman.

“I won’t be feeding you this for the time being,” He Lingchuan muttered. “I’d better keep it as a backup.”

What exactly are these black talismans? Why can they enter the eye of the divine bone?

Lu Yao had been a rough, unrefined brute. He Lingchuan could hardly imagine him hunched over a table, brush in hand, painstakingly writing talismanic runes. He thus believed that the black talismans must have been made by someone else.

And only one name came to his mind: “Divine Master” Hong Xiangqian.

After all, the Ghost-Eye Bow in Lu Yao’s possession had also come from Hong Xiangqian. Another one or two treasures from the same source would be no surprise.

Yet from the royal court’s perspective, Hong Xiangqian was nothing more than a rebel leader leading a rabble of outlaws. So why did the divine bone desire two unsightly black talismans instead of the Ghost-Eye Bow?

Yes, he had tested it. He Lingchuan had held up the bow right next to the divine bone, but it showed no interest in the bow whatsoever.

It was incredibly picky, and He Lingchuan still did not have a proper grasp of its tastes.

* * *

The next morning, the Coordinating Army set out and continued its march north.

Before they departed, the county magistrate of Wuliu County came in person to see He Chunhua off, bringing with him a piece of news:

A massive manhunt had begun for the remnants of Lu Yao and Pei Xinyong’s forces. Painters had worked through the night to produce wanted posters bearing their likenesses, which had already been sent to towns and villages across the county, with heralds dispatched to each town and village to announce the rewards publicly.

𝓯𝓻𝒆𝙚𝒘𝓮𝙗𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝒍.𝙘𝓸𝙢

The rewards were staggering. Whoever was able to provide helpful information on Pei Xinyong’s whereabouts would receive a hundred taels of silver, while whoever managed to capture him alive would earn a thousand taels.

After all, Lu Yao was already dead. On the other hand, Pei Xinyong, who was a general under the notorious rebel leader Hong Xiangqian, was still at large with over a thousand men. For local officials, how could that not be a source of sleepless nights?

A hundred taels of silver amounted to a hundred thousand copper coins. In current times, such an amount was sufficient to feed and clothe an ordinary family of four for at least five to six years, and decently so.

It would not take long before the news was the talk of every town and village.

At the entrance to the market, He Lingchuan himself saw one of the wanted posters. They portrayed Lu Yao as a vicious, bloodthirsty butcher, and though he had already been slain, the posters claimed that his men were no better than he was. His men were said to be addicted to human flesh, and they were the type to raid villages and towns to seize women and children as meat for their feasts. As for Pei Xinyong, he was portrayed as a merciless killer with a mountain of crimes to his name.

The label of man-eating demon was a double-edged sword. In the days of victory, it could terrify enemies into fleeing without flight. But in defeat, it made them objects of universal hatred, turning them into targets for both the state and the commoners, both of whom wished nothing more than to see them exterminated.

Soon enough, the rebels would find themselves drowning in the resistance of a sea of people.

Furthermore, the county magistrate had already sent urgent dispatches to the prefectural and provincial capitals. Should the brigands escape beyond the borders of Wuliu County, the pursuit would hardly grow weaker.

After leaving Wuliu, He Chunhua ordered the group to quicken their pace. Five days later, they arrived at Woling Pass.

This was where mountains met plains. After so many days spent trudging through steep ranges, He Lingchuan now found the view before him opening wide. The horizon stretched endlessly, with a mighty river rolling eastward beneath autumn skies. And in that moment, he finally understood why Hong Xiangqian and the royal court had fought so bitterly over Woling Pass.

Beyond Woling, the plains stretched unguarded, with no natural defenses to hold.

Woling Pass was a fortified pass, consisting of the checkpoint together with an auxiliary town behind it. The solid and stoutly built walls rose ten meters high and were a meter thick. Yet after having beheld the solemn grandeur of the Panlong Ancient City, Woling Pass struck He Lingchuan as puny by comparison, like a dwarf beside a giant.

As the Coordinating Army marched through the gate, He Yue’s eyes darted everywhere. He noticed the arrow marks along the battlements, the blood-darkened stones, and the gaping pockmarks that marred the walls. He could not help but draw in a sharp breath as he muttered, “How many lives were lost here?”

“That pit there was made by a catapult stone,” He Lingchuan explained, pointing at a hollow in the wall. “It missed. If they hadn’t missed, that boulder would’ve crashed down on the gatehouse instead.”

He Lingchuan then pointed next at a dark yellow stain that had clearly streamed down from above, now long since dried and hardened. “That one must’ve hit its mark. Do you know what it is?”

The young scholar was brimming with curiosity, staring intently, but he had no idea what he was looking at. Catching Zeng Feixiong struggling to hold back laughter, he snapped, “You know what it is, don’t you?”

Zeng Feixiong gave a loud cough or two. “Second Young Master, that’s golden broth.”

“What golden broth?” He Yue still did not understand. “As in the golden broth in impregnable[1]?”

The nearby soldiers all burst out laughing.

“The characters are right, the meaning isn’t. Well, there goes me seeing you as someone who’s genuinely knowledgeable.” He Lingchuan kept his face taut. “Don’t you know that reading ten thousand books cannot compare to traveling ten thousand miles?”

Mao Tao raised his voice, grinning, “Second Young Master, golden broth is just boiled sewage. The best kind comes from people. When the enemy scales the ladders, defenders pour it down from above. It stinks, but it sure as hell is effective!”

He Yue’s expression froze. For a moment, he could almost smell the reek lingering in the air.

No matter how fierce a warrior, morale was everything in an attack. Even the fiercest warriors could hardly endure the humiliation of a wave of filth pouring over their heads. And worse, any wounds scalded by the boiling filth quickly festered. Light cases would merely need some flesh to be carved away, but serious cases meant amputation or even death. It was a blow to both body and spirit, and it was a weapon that was far more dreadful than blades alone.

He Yue kept looking about, then suddenly pointed to the left and asked, “Are those battering rams?”

On the left side of the pass, half the wall had collapsed into a gaping hole. At its base crouched two strange-looking wagons whose roofs had been partially smashed by falling stones and rubble.[2]

Each was nearly seven meters long, with thick armored walls of alternating wood and iron. The front panel of one had been blasted away entirely, but the top remained sturdy enough to shield those inside from whatever rained down from above, whether it be stones, arrows, or even the foul “golden broth.”

These siege engines were not horse-drawn. They had to be pushed entirely by men.

He Yue recalled reading about them. These siege engines had two main uses: they could either be fitted with a massive ram to smash against a gate or simply be wheeled up to the enemy wall, where sappers inside would dig at the foundations.

If the digging was done right, no wall could withstand it.

Clearly, Woling Pass had suffered such a fate. Its defenders had lost the wall when the enemy dug out its base and caused it to topple.

He Lingchuan gazed at the ruined siege wagons in surprise. “Did the rebels not use divine techniques to reinforce the walls?”

“We did.” The answer came from Wu Shaoyi. His face was expressionless as he calmly continued explaining, “But later, a squad defected and sabotaged us from within. They tore out the Divine Master’s talismanic array, causing the reinforcement divine technique to dissipate. It was only then that state troops could even seize a chance to break through.”

The words silenced everyone. Since the man himself had been there, no one knew how to respond.

He Yue murmured, “So it’s true, the strongest of fortresses are always undone from within.”

But He Lingchuan’s gaze remained fixed on the gaping breach in the wall. “Now that Woling Pass has been retaken, why hasn’t the local administration repaired it? Surely they should have restored the defenses long ago. If another uprising sweeps through, the capital will be in danger again.”

The neglect was plain to see. It was obvious that ever since the fall of the pass, the place had been abandoned to ruin.

The importance of Woling Pass had been proven beyond doubt in the past months of war. If he were a local official, he would restore these defenses without delay. Otherwise, should another uprising take place, the capital itself would be at risk.

No one replied.

After some time, He Chunhua said lightly, “The war dragged on for quite some time. Perhaps they simply couldn’t afford to repair this place.”

Afterward, he ordered men to investigate the hidden chamber at the southeastern corner of the pass, which was where Hong Xiangqian had supposedly died.

As they walked through Woling Pass, the scars of war were visible everywhere. This place had changed hands many times, ravaged by fire again and again. Abandoned wagons, ruined houses, and deserted supply stations lay uncleared. And now, though it was already late autumn, tender shoots of withered-green grass were still pushing up through cracked wagon wheels and the cracks in the walls.

1. Golden broth is a literal translation of 金汤, which can actually also just be translated as golden soup. Impregnable, on the other hand, is the meaning of the idiom 固若金汤, which basically describes a structure so strong that it cannot be penetrated. ☜

2. Note that the Chinese battering ram (冲车) was a covered siege engine, not just a bare log. ☜