Over two thousand!
Hearing this, everyone's expressions stiffened. Xie Lian glimpsed at Hua Cheng and said, "It seems it was the right choice to pick the west road."
That skull's teeth chattered. "Sigh! Either road is a mistake, there's no path to take!"
Indeed, for normal little minions, either direction was obliteration. No matter east or west, either could easily crush them; no matter which road they choose, the end result was to be blown to smoke and become fertilizer for others. After dry-howling a few more times, the ghost fires in that skull's empty sockets gradually went out.
Xie Lian gently placed it down on the side of the road. "San Lang, do you know what the creature in the east is?"
"Can't be sure right now," Hua Cheng replied. "But it's still coming this way. Under the current circumstances, I don't recommend we face it head-on. This one in the west is a little easier to deal with."
Xie Lian nodded. "Very well. Then we'll continue westward."
The group of them traversed through that field of corpses and hurried on their way. They walked all night but never ran into that black-clad man the skull spoke of, nor did they see any trace of the Rain Master, and Xie Lian couldn't help but start to worry.
As they journeyed, the houses and buildings alongside the roads increased in number, and soon, they could even recognize that these were the impoverished slums, this was the theatre house for leisure, this was a general store, this was the backyard of a wealthy household…the road they walked beneath their feet was also paved by people; the patterns of the bricks could still faintly be seen. This was obviously a prosperous little town, only it was empty of the living, and strangely desolate and quiet.
There was an old well on the roadside, and when water was pulled up, the water was still relatively clean, and so the group decided to rest there for a bit. Xie Lian and Pei Su both drank a bit of water and washed their faces. When they looked up, Banyue had walked over.
Banyue had been holding onto that black clay pot this whole time, and had been waiting for a long time. "General Hua, Pei Su-gege, eat something."
"Alright. Thank you for your effort," Pei Su said.
"Thanks for everyone's hard work, let's all give this a try," Xie Lian said.
Thus the group all gathered. However, the moment Banyue opened the pot, many faces stiffened.
Although "smell" was something colourless and formless, the instant Banyue removed the pot cover, it was as if some mysterious physical object had twisted all the air around the mouth of that pot.
The group stared at the sight within the pot for a long time. Their pupils reflected an endless, bottomless darkness; like it could pull them into the abyss. No words could describe the sentiment expressed within their eyes. A moment later, Xie Lian patted Banyue's shoulder and gave a thumbs-up.
"Not bad. It's good for a first time."
Pei Ming looked at them in disbelief. "It's her first time, but is it Your Highness' first time? If I recall, you made her follow your every step, and you've done more than she did. I knew there was something not right with what you two were doing, it wasn't just my imagination."
However, Hua Cheng spoke up. "Is that right? Well, since gege made this, I gotta try."
Hearing this, Pei Ming and Pei Su's faces both whipped over to look at him, their eyes full of awe, terror, respect, and other such emotions.
"Gege, what's this dish called?" Hua Cheng asked.
Xie Lian cleared his throat lightly. "…'Toppled Phoenixes'¹."
"Good name," Hua Cheng complimented earnestly.
Then, he reached into that infinitely dark pot. The way Pei Ming and Pei Su watched him, it was like they were anxious he was going to be swallowed whole by the pot. However, Hua Cheng calmly and easily took out a small, burnt piece of something that resembled a broken corpse, and serenely placed it in his mouth.
"How is it?" Pei Ming asked.
"Tastes like its name," Hua Cheng said.
Pei Ming turned to Pei Su, whose expression was unreadably complicated.
"It's made for you. Enjoy."
Pei Su: "…"
He took the pot from Banyue's hands, and expressionlessly reached a hand in.
Xie Lian used the cold water to wipe his face again, fixed his hair, and turned around, no longer looking at the others. He scanned the surroundings and asked, "How come this land, isolated from the rest of the world, has so many traces of settlement? Is Mount Tong'lu really inhabitable?"
He had already asked this question the day before, only there was no one who could answer him at the time. Now there was.
Hua Cheng replied, "It's inhabitable, but that was a long time ago. Mount Tong'lu is the size of seven fortress cities, its territory spread far and wide. It used to be an ancient kingdom; these houses are all historical remains of cities and townships. The closer we are to the heart of the 'Kiln', the more relics there will be, and the more prosperous they'll appear."
Xie Lian didn't question this answer at all. "I see."
Just then, Pei Ming's voice came from behind them. "Little Pei, what are you doing? Men don't kneel so easily, get up!"
Xie Lian didn't turn around. "What's the name of this ancient kingdom? San Lang, do you know?"
Hua Cheng didn't turn around either, and his fists hung easily at his sides. "The Kingdom of Wuyong."
Pei Ming admonished, "Your Highness? Your Highness, do you have an antidote or something?
You can't just leave him like this. And you. What are you feeding him? What's with this snake?
It's still moving after it's been cooked for so long? Did it become a spirit?!"
Banyue seemed to be unceasingly kowtowing to apologize. "I'm sorry…I'm sorry…I'm sorry…it's indeed turned into a spirit, I didn't know how long it'd cook for it to become a spirit…I'm sorry…"
Xie Lian supported his cheek with a hand and pondered. "I'm ignorant and ill-informed, I don't seem to recall ever hearing the name of this kingdom. How ancient is it?"
However, just as the words left his lips, he wasn't so sure anymore. Wuyong, Wuyong. Hearing it from out of the blue, it did sound foreign. But if he thought about it deeply, it seemed a long, long time ago, someone, somewhere, had uttered it before.
"The details aren't clear," Hua Cheng said. "But it must be older than the Kingdom of Xianle. At least by two thousand years."
Xie Lian looked around their surroundings. "But looking at these buildings, they don't look like they've lived through two thousand years."
"Naturally," Hua Cheng replied. "Because most of the time, Mount Tong'lu isn't open to the outside. Sealed within a massive mausoleum and completely shut out from the outside world, they would of course be kept in a good state."
Xie Lian bowed his head and became pensive. On the other side, Pei Ming finally left Pei Su to his own devices and came over.
"Lord Ghost King sure knows everything. But, isn't this information rather too out of this world? Might I ask what your source is? I've never heard a single word of any of this going around on the outside."
Hua Cheng didn't look at him. "And might I ask General Pei, what kind of individual has the ability to gather this kind of information in Mount Tong'lu?"
"Logically, any ghost can," Pei Ming said. "But by Mount Tong'lu's slaughtering rules, the more valuable information one wishes to obtain, the longer one must remain, so it must be a powerful individual."
"And what kind of individual can come out of Mount Tong'lu after gathering all this information?" Hua Cheng asked.
"It must be a Supreme Ghost King, like My Lord," Pei Ming said.
"So," Hua Cheng said. "I gathered this information myself. As long as I don't speak of it, of course there wouldn't be any word of it going around on the outside."
He finally turned his head back and mocked slightly: "To the heavenly officials of the Upper Court, keeping secrets might be more difficult than passing a heavenly calamity, but not so for me."
"…"
He wasn't wrong. If information of such magnitude was to be learned by some heavenly officials in the Upper Court, it wouldn't take two hours before it could be heard being excitedly discussed in every spiritual communication array. That Hua Cheng was able to keep this in for so many years without selling it to anyone and didn't speak of it to boast, it showed just how mature and resolved he was.
"I get it," Pei Ming said. "It appears that when it comes to His Highness, not only is Hua Chengzhu knowledgeable of all, but would also you tell all that he knows."
"No," Xie Lian suddenly said.
Everyone turned to look. "What, no?"
Xie Lian had been deep in thought earlier, and now, finally, his right hand folded into a fist and lightly tapped his left palm. "I said earlier that I don't think I've heard of the name Wuyong before, but that's wrong. I've heard of that name before!"
Hua Cheng stiffened lightly. "Gege, where did you hear of it?"
Xie Lian turned his head. "In my youth, when I was training at the Royal Holy Pavilion in Xianle, my master was the Guoshi of Xianle. When he first took me in as a disciple, he once told me a story."
It actually couldn't be considered a story; more like instilling some grand, glorious imagery of legends in young Xie Lian's mind. Once upon a time, there was an ancient kingdom. In that kingdom, there was a crown prince who was ingeniously talented, intelligent and clever, skilled in both martial and literary arts; he was a scintillating character that only appeared once in history. He loved his people, and his people loved him. Long after he died, his people never forgot him.
The Guoshi spoke solemnly and tenderly, "My child, I hope you will become a person like him."
At the time, young Xie Lian sat poised and proper, and said without thinking, "I don't want to become a person like him. I want to become a god."
"…"
Xie Lian said, "If that crown prince was really as amazing as you say, how come he didn't become a god?"
"…"
Xie Lian continued, "If the people really never forgot him, then how come I've never heard anyone speak of this crown prince before?"
"....."
Xie Lian swore that when he first raised those questions, he had never intended to provoke or rebel, and really was just curious, looking for answers to his queries. However, after the Guoshi heard him, his face turned quite the shade.
Why could Xie Lian recite the Ethics Sutra backwards and forwards like it was nothing? Because that night, the Guoshi made him copy the Ethics Sutra a hundred times to do good by its name and "cultivate both the body and mind". Xie Lian deeply suspected that had it not been for his honorable status of crown prince, the Guoshi might've had him kneel on nails to copy the scriptures.
In any case, after that, every word of the Ethics Sutra was deeply burned into Xie Lian's brain.
At the same time, a tiny impression of this "Crown Prince of Wuyong" remained.
Xie Lian had always enjoyed reading, but had never come across any records relating to the Kingdom of Wuyong in any old scrolls. So he figured the story was something the Guoshi made up to educate him, or perhaps the Guoshi had played cards too much and remembered wrong. However, he didn't feel the need to blow his cover, nor the need to copy the Ethics Sutra for another hundred times, so he didn't bother to fight for the truth and didn't take it to heart.
"Your Highness, it sounds like this Guoshi of your Xianle has quite the background, and knows a lot," Pei Ming said. "Might I ask what's happened to him?"
After some hesitation, Xie Lian replied, "I don't know. After Xianle fell, many people I never saw again."
Just then, he suddenly felt something tighten on his ankle, and he froze.
"WHAT'S THERE?!"
He was about to stomp and break the bones of whatever it was, but when he looked down, he breathed a sigh of relief.
"General Pei Junior, what are you doing appearing like this? That was close, I almost ruined your hand."
That hand indeed belonged to Pei Su. His entire person was sprawled on the ground, his face in the mud, his two arms outstretched, one hand gripping Pei Ming and the other gripping Xie Lian. The two crouched down.
"What is it you want to say?"
Banyue was holding her pot. "I don't know. Earlier, Pei Su-gege kept crawling all over the ground, and seemed to have discovered something important."
"Oh?" Pei Ming was amazed. "You can find something even in such a state? As expected of Little Pei. So what did you discover?"
Pei Su loosened the hand gripping him and pointed in a direction. Xie Lian looked in the direction he pointed at.
He said, "This is…"
The group all gathered to examine.
"Oxen hoof marks?"
Pei Su finally raised his head from the mud and croaked, "This, is…m, arks left behind by L, ord Rain Master's Protection St, eed."
"Pei Su-gege, your commas are all over the place," Banyue remarked.
Pei Su replied, "I'm al, right. Lord Rain Master, lord, lord…"
He was stuck on the word "lord", and couldn't continue anymore.
Xie Lian wondered, "Could…he be poisoned by the scorpion-snake?"
"Their poison doesn't work like this…" Banyue said.
Hua Cheng said, "The Rain Master already ran into the black-clad man in the west, and fought a battle."
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Translator Notes:
¹Toppled Phoenixes: an idiom that means "to mess up" or "to mess around (sexually)"