Chapter 427: Unlocking the Hidden Version

“Can you handle it?” He Lingchuan asked.

“I can.” Fushan Yue immediately took away a portion of the baleful qi inside her, then carried her over to Fushan Ji’s carriage.

Inside the carriage was a long chest, though it looked more like a coffin, with an array embedded in it. With a slight adjustment, it could almost completely isolate the girl from the outside world.

The pariah slave saw that his master had changed, and he eagerly poured tea, brought water, and waited hand and foot on Fushan Yue and Peach with exaggerated diligence.

He Lingchuan watched him eat in a corner far from the firelight. It looked like a bowl of gruel. Everyone else sat. He, however, could only squat or kneel.

“Hey.” He Lingchuan called to him and tossed him an apple.

The pariah did not bite into it right away. He first checked the Chiyan men’s faces; when he saw that they did not care, he bowed to He Lingchuan three times, then scuttled into the shadows and began chewing with quick, chattering bites.

The sound was oddly like a rat.

One of the Chiyan men saw it and chuckled at He Lingchuan. “Don’t let the pitiful look fool you. This bastard beat his wife and one of his daughters to death with his own hands.”

Once the caravan was settled, the moon had already begun descending west. Everyone seized what rest they could as tomorrow’s road was still long.

They naturally still had some people keep watch.

He Lingchuan did not plan to sleep. He shut his eyes and began regulating his breath.

He did not know how much time passed before he heard the faint yet clear note of his treasured saber humming inside its scabbard.

Then came a startled murmur from a nearby sentry.

He Lingchuan opened his eyes at once.

The phantom actually returned!

The moonlight was just as abundant as it had been two hours earlier. Right in front of He Lingchuan, that ancient city from more than two centuries ago took shape again.

But unlike last time, it emerged without sound, without warning, quiet as a dream.

Shadows moved atop the city gate. Soldiers with long spears paced back and forth, scanning the surroundings, but there was no need for desperate valor. Because beneath the gate, everything was calm. There was no massive army of Lingxu troops blanketing the mountains.

There was no smoke, no wailing, no storms of arrows, and no sky-high flames.

The Qianxing City of the past lay peaceful under the same moon as the living.

What’s going on?

Across the way, a carriage curtain lifted. Fushan Yue slipped down, tiptoed his way to He Lingchuan, and whispered, “Hey, wanna go take another look?”

With everything that had happened tonight, there was no way he would let himself sleep deeply. His new subordinates had all belonged to Fushan Ji. Who knew whether one of them, loyal unto death, might decide to assassinate him in the dark?

“Sure.” He Lingchuan agreed readily. The eyeball spider he had left watching the camp still had not been recalled, so he might as well keep it on duty.

Second Boss Shi, roused by the sentry, sat up and rubbed his eyes. The moment he saw the sight before him, his jaw dropped.

“T-this... what is this? Why is the illusion different from before?”

“You’ve never seen this version?”

Second Boss Shi scratched the back of his head. “I always heard there was only one, the one with all the fighting and slaughter, but this... a quiet Qianxing City? I don’t think I’ve ever heard anyone mention it.”

So did we unlock a new scene?

He Lingchuan was instantly even more intrigued.

Second Boss Shi, however, was dead tired and refused to go exploring again. He just wanted to collapse and sleep.

So the two men who were somehow still full of energy gave the sentries a quick word and slipped lightly into the depths of the phantom city.

This illusory city was eerily tranquil, as if it were also deep night. Only a couple of cats prowled the empty streets. He Lingchuan even heard the chirping of crickets, though whether from the illusion or the real world, he could not quite tell.

Illusion and reality blurred together.

Ever since He Lingchuan obtained that fragment of the Baoshu King’s branch, the Soul-Stealing Mirror had been “in seclusion.” After centuries of starving, it had suddenly gorged itself within half a month. First, it had enjoyed imperial nectar, then it had enjoyed the branch of a juluo tree, all of it rich nourishment. It was stuffed and needed time to digest.

If it was not for that, He Lingchuan would have been forced to listen to it gasping in awe all night.

The city was enormous, and it was peaceful and quiet. Now, the question was where they should start exploring.

Fushan Yue considered it for a few moments before saying, “Natural illusion realms like this depend on the occasional alignment of time, place, and conditions. There may not be any grand karma or cause-and-effect at all. This could just be an ordinary day in Qianxing City.” He then pointed at the damp ground. “Look, it rained in the city too. There’s a bright moon overhead. It matches the weather we just had tonight.”

But He Lingchuan made a small sound. “With the moonlight this strong, why are the stars in the east still bright?”

Normally, when the moon shone brightly, the stars dimmed. Tonight, the moon washed the mountains and rivers so brightly that the mortal realm looked almost like it was bathed in daylight, so the constellations should have been drowned out.

Yet in the east, one star burned clearly, shining with a purple light.

It was not competing with the moon, exactly, but the moon could not hide it either.

He Lingchuan did not study astronomy, but that star was unusually bright. Honestly, it felt too bright.

Prompted by his words, Fushan Yue looked up too. “Why is the Tianluo Star[1] shining?”

“It’s called the Tianluo Star?”

“You didn’t know?” Fushan Yue sounded genuinely surprised by He Lingchuan’s ignorance. “The Tianluo Star is the tenth star of the Big Dipper[2]. It’s usually so dim that you can’t see it with the naked eye. It only lights up on rare occasions.”

“Rare occasions?”

“It seems to appear after autumn each year until early spring the next year.” Fushan Yue kept staring upward. “But it’s not even the eighth month yet, so why is it bright already? Also, was it even shining earlier tonight?”

He Lingchuan shrugged. “No idea.”

With so much else worth watching, why would he spend his time staring at the sky?

Like the thing right in front of him—“Huh?”

He Lingchuan quickened his pace toward a high wall and ran his hand over a pattern carved into it.

He knew that pattern far too well. He had seen it countless times in the dreamscape on the southern gate of Panlong City.

A black flood dragon!

In Panlong City, the southern gate had a massive relief behind it. Here, it was only an array-like design, and even the dragon’s head was drawn slightly cutesy or chibi. However, He Lingchuan was certain that this was a black flood dragon.

The sudden appearance of this design was more shocking than the illusion itself, because it meant that there was a connection between Qianxing City and Panlong City.

One city lay in Beijia, the other in West Luo, tens of thousands of kilometers apart. Why would both bear the black flood dragon as a totem?

Normally, on prominent roads and official walls, the images displayed were those of a state’s guardian spirit beast.

For example, West Luo’s guardian beast was the golden bull. Panlong City’s southern gate had originally displayed that as well until Zhong Shengguang later ordered it replaced with the black flood dragon.

But the problem was that the State of West Luo’s golden bull was real. You could see it and even touch it. In peacetime, it guarded the capital, and in wartime, it could be unleashed against enemies.

But the black flood dragon?

He Lingchuan had entered and exited the Panlong dreamscape countless times. He had never once seen the flood dragon itself appear.

The flood dragon in the ruins’ illusion realm did not count, as that had been Zhong Shengguang’s lingering soul borrowing its image.

He had even asked many people, including Hu Min, Xiao Maoliang, and many others, and no one had ever claimed to have seen the black flood dragon with their own eyes.

So why create a relief of it at Panlong City?

And even stranger, why would Qianxing City, far across the world, do the same?

The State of Yuān had once been one of the twelve great monster states. It was not like human states that designated a “guardian spirit beast.”

Monsters ran everywhere here, and the truly powerful ones became high officials. Who would lower themselves to being a state mascot? Even if you slapped the words “guardian of the realm” or “state guardian” in front of it, it would not matter.

So for Qianxing City to have the black flood dragon on its walls at all was bizarre.

He Lingchuan turned to Fushan Yue, but he just looked equally lost.

Clearly, even for a Chiyan prince, his knowledge of the State of Yuān from two centuries ago was not any deeper than that of He Lingchuan.

They continued searching, and sure enough, they found more black flood dragon designs, but this time outside official residences. Here, it was a brick relief. The flood dragon head protruded outward, exquisitely carved.

Beneath the relief sat a brick platform, and on it an incense burner, with two half-burned sticks still stuck inside.

The common people had been offering incense to it.

Last time they had entered the Qianxing City illusion, everything had been flames and scorched earth. Who would have paid attention to wall designs then? Or perhaps those had already been destroyed in the fires.

This time, He Lingchuan could see everything clearly.

Fushan Yue stared as well, eyes fixed as he muttered, “I, I’ve seen this somewhere.”

“You’ve seen it?” He Lingchuan pressed immediately. “Where?”

“In my father’s study, when I was little. Maybe in a few books?” Fushan Yue sucked in a breath. “It was a long time ago. I can’t remember.”

“Tch, useless.” He Lingchuan scowled.

“It was in forbidden books—no, wait, it was in secret archives.”

“Oh?” Now, He Lingchuan’s interest was piqued. “How old were you?”

“Seven? Eight?”

“How did you know they were forbidden?”

That’s a bit early to understand such things.

“My father’s study has an outer room and an inner room. The outer room is nothing special, but the inner room holds things that aren’t shown to anyone—books, dossiers, letters, and all kinds of strange objects.” Fushan Yue’s voice drifted into memory. “I remember a palace attendant was cleaning and knocked two books down. When they picked them up, they accidentally flipped through a couple of pages, and then they lost their head.”

The ruler of Chiyan lived long and had seen a great many things, so having secrets in his study was nothing surprising.

He Lingchuan looked at the flood dragon head on the wall. “So it’s taboo in your father’s hands, but here it’s visible on every street? The King of Yuān’s attitude was ruthless. He didn’t leave himself any retreat.”

Another mystery added to the pile.

“Up ahead is the royal palace.” He straightened, eyes on the towering palace wall and the pointed roofs visible beyond. He murmured, almost to himself, “In the end, we’re still walking toward the palace.”

He could not explain it. It felt like some invisible force was guiding them.

“We’re here anyway. Let’s go and take a look.”

They walked another hundred meters or so. They were about to enter the palace gate guarded by soldiers when a carriage turned the corner, from which a lantern cast a pale yellow halo in the night.

The carriage itself was understated. The horses, however, were excellent.

It stopped at the dismounting stele before the palace gate. A young scholar in a long robe stepped down. He looked to be barely past boyhood, with delicate features and a small mole between his brows.

He was not wearing the attire of an official, yet the guards recognized him. “His Majesty has given orders. Lord Shao, please go up to the corner tower at the second western gate.” After a pause, the guard added, “You are specially permitted to ride there by carriage.”

At this hour, with only one carriage moving through the night, there was no way He Lingchuan and Fushan Yue were going to let it go unobserved.

The carriage did not dare move fast inside the palace, keeping close to the wall as it traveled west. About seven or eight minutes later, it stopped.

They had reached the far corner of the palace walls. Under the moonlight, He Lingchuan and Fushan Yue could clearly see a corner tower three levels high rising above the battlements.

The man called Lord Shao got down from the carriage, climbed up onto the wall, and ascended the steps.

He Lingchuan, meanwhile, scanned their surroundings. On the inner side of the high wall stood a tree about thirteen meters tall.

1. This is a fictional star and would literally translate to Heavenly Net Star. ☜

2. Note that the actual Big Dipper only has seven stars. ☜