More than two thousand!
Upon hearing this, everyone's expressions froze slightly. Xie Lian glanced at Hua Cheng and said, "It seems that choosing the west was indeed the right choice."
The skull said with chattering teeth, "Alas! Choosing either side is wrong. There is no way out!"
Indeed, for ordinary little ghosts like them, choosing either side would be a disaster. East or west, they could easily be crushed; no matter which path they took, they would end up reduced to ashes, used as food. After a few dry howls, the ghostly light in the skull's eyes gradually died down.
Xie Lian gently placed it on the side of the road and said, "Sanlang, do you know what that thing is to the east?"
Hua Chengdao: "I can't be sure yet, but it's heading this way. Given the current situation, a head-on confrontation isn't recommended. The one to the west is a bit easier to deal with."
Xie Lian nodded and said, "Alright. Let's continue our journey westward."
The group hurried forward, making their way through the corpse-strewn ground. After walking all night, they hadn't encountered the black-clad man the skull had mentioned, nor had they seen any sign of the Rain Master. Xie Lian couldn't help but worry.
As they walked along, they saw more and more houses and buildings on both sides of the road, forming a group. They could even make out that this was the residence of the poor, this was a theater for leisure and entertainment, this was a shop selling groceries, and this was the courtyard of the rich... The road they were walking on was also a man-made road, and they could vaguely see the patterns of the paving tiles. It looked like a wealthy town, but it was empty and extremely desolate and bleak.
They saw an ancient well by the roadside and drew water from it. The water was quite clear, so they rested there for a while. Xie Lian and Pei Su drank some water and washed their faces. When they looked up, they saw Ban Yue approaching.
Ban Yue had been holding the black pottery jar and had been waiting for a long time. She said, "General Hua, Brother Pei Su, please have something to eat."
Pei Su said: "Okay. Thank you for your hard work."
Xie Lian also said, "Everyone has worked hard, let's all give it a try."
So, everyone gathered around. However, the moment Ban Yue opened the jar, many people's expressions froze.
Although "smell" is colorless and invisible, the moment Banyue opened the lid of the jar, it seemed as if some mysterious substance distorted the air at the mouth of the jar.
Everyone stared at the scene in the jar for a long moment, their pupils reflecting a boundless darkness that seemed to pull them into the abyss. No words could express the emotion contained in those eyes. After a moment, Xie Lian patted Ban Yue's shoulder and gave her a thumbs-up. "Not bad. A first time, okay."
Pei Ming stared at them in disbelief and said, "It was her first time. Your Highness, it was your first time too? If I remember correctly, you made her do everything you taught her, and you did more of the work than she did. I was wondering why I always felt like something was wrong with what you were doing, but it turns out it wasn't just my imagination."
Hua Cheng said, "Really? Since it was my brother who did it, I really want to give it a try."
Upon hearing this, Pei Ming and Pei Su looked up at him, their gazes filled with a mixture of wonder, horror, admiration, and so on. Hua Cheng asked, "Brother, what is this called?"
Xie Lian coughed lightly and said, “…’Indecent Love’.”
Hua Cheng said sincerely, "What a nice name."
With that, he reached into the bottomless jar. Pei Ming and Pei Su looked nervous, as if they were worried he was about to be swallowed by the jar. Hua Cheng, however, calmly took out a small piece of what looked like a charred corpse and calmly put it into his mouth.
Pei Ming asked, "How?"
Hua Chengdao: "The taste is as good as the name."
Pei Ming said to Pei Su, who had a complicated expression, "I made this for you. You decide what to do with it."
Pei Su: “…”
He took the jar from Ban Yue and put his hand into it expressionlessly.
Xie Lian wiped his face with cold water again, smoothed his hair, and turned away from them. He surveyed his surroundings as he asked, "Why are there so many signs of human habitation in this isolated place? Could it be that people can still live in Tonglu Mountain?"
He had asked this question yesterday, but no one could answer him then. Now there is one. Hua Cheng said, "Yes, but it was a long time ago. Tonglu Mountain is as vast as seven cities, covering a vast area. It was once an ancient kingdom, and these houses are all the remains of towns from that ancient kingdom. The closer you get to the central 'Tonglu', the more relics there are, and the more prosperous it becomes."
Xie Lian didn't question it and said, "I see."
At this moment, Pei Ming's voice came from behind: "Xiao Pei, what are you doing? A man's knees are made of gold, stand up!"
Xie Lian didn't turn around and asked, "What's the name of this ancient country, Sanlang? Does he know?"
Hua Cheng didn't even turn around, and said with his hands behind his back, "Wuyong Country."
Pei Ming scolded, "Your Highness? Your Highness, do you have an antidote or something? You can't just kill him and not bury him. And you, how did you cook for him? What's wrong with your snake? It's been cooked for so long and it's still moving? Has it become a spirit?!"
Ban Yue seemed to be kowtowing and apologizing, saying, "I'm sorry... I'm sorry... I'm sorry, it really has become a spirit. I don't know how long it will take to boil it... I'm sorry..."
Xie Lian rested his chin on his hand, pondered for a moment, and said, "I'm so ignorant that I don't think I've ever heard of this country. How old is it?"
However, as soon as he finished speaking, he felt unsure. Wu Yong, Wu Yong. At first, it sounded unfamiliar. But upon closer inspection, it seemed like someone I had heard it from long, long ago.
Hua Chengdao: "I don't know the exact details, but it must be older than Xianle Country. It must be at least two thousand years old."
Xie Lian looked around and said, "But looking at these buildings, they don't look like they've been around for a thousand years."
Hua Chengdao said, "That's natural. Most of the time, Tonglu Mountain is completely closed to the public. It's like it's sealed in a giant mausoleum, isolated from the outside world and naturally well-preserved."
Xie Lian lowered his head, lost in thought. Over there, Pei Ming finally left Pei Su behind and came over, saying, "Your Excellency the Ghost King truly knows everything. However, your information is rather bizarre. Could you please tell me where it came from? I, Pei, have never heard a single word of it spread outside."
Hua Cheng didn't look at him and said, "May I ask, General Pei, what kind of person is able to gather this kind of intelligence in Tonglu Mountain?"
Pei Ming said, "In theory, any ghost would do. However, given the rules of Tonglu Mountain, which force countless ghosts to fight each other, gathering such valuable intelligence would require a long stay. Therefore, the ghost must be very powerful."
Hua Chengdao: "After gathering this information, what kind of person can come out of Tonglu Mountain?"
Pei Ming said, "Then it must be someone like you who is in a desperate situation."
Hua Chengdao: "So, I collected this information myself. As long as I don't tell anyone, it won't spread outside."
He finally turned around and said with a hint of sarcasm, "Keeping a secret may be harder for a priest in heaven than overcoming a heavenly tribulation, but for me, it's not."
“…”
That's true. If a similar level of intelligence were known to a Heavenly Court priest, within an hour, you'd hear it excitedly discussed in every spiritual communication formation. Hua Cheng had been able to withhold such weighty information for so many years, never selling it to anyone, and never bragging about it. He was truly patient. Pei Ming said, "I understand. It seems that when it comes to His Royal Highness the Crown Prince, City Lord Hua not only knows everything, but also speaks his mind freely and without reservation."
Xie Lian suddenly said, “That’s not right.”
Everyone turned around and asked, "What's wrong?"
Xie Lian had been racking his brains. Finally, he formed his right fist and gently pounded it against his left palm. He said, "I just said I'd never heard of the name 'Wuyong Country'. That's not true. I have heard of it!"
Hua Cheng's expression was slightly tense. He asked, "Where have you heard of this, brother?"
Xie Lian turned around and said, “When I was young, I practiced Taoism at the Imperial Temple, the royal temple of Xianle Kingdom. My teacher was the Xianle Imperial Master. When he first accepted me as his disciple, he told me a story.”
It wasn't really a story, so much as it imbued Xie Lian with a lofty, glorious, and legendary image: Once upon a time, there was an ancient kingdom, and there lived a crown prince. He was exceptionally gifted, brilliant at a young age, and a master of both civil and military skills, a truly remarkable figure, unparalleled in the world. He loved his people, and they loved him back. Even long after his death, people remembered him.
The Imperial Master spoke to Xie Lian in a serious and kind voice, "My child, I hope you can become that kind of person."
The young Xie Lian sat upright and said without hesitation, "I don't want to be that kind of person. I want to become a god."
“…”
Xie Lian asked, “If the Crown Prince you speak of is truly so unrivaled, why hasn’t he become a god?”
“…………”
Xie Lian continued, "If people truly haven't forgotten him, why have I never heard anyone mention this Crown Prince?"
“………………”
Xie Lian swore that when he asked these questions, he had no intention of provocation or rebellion; he was genuinely curious and seeking advice. But the Imperial Master's expression after hearing this was still quite interesting.
Why could Xie Lian recite the Tao Te Ching by heart? Because, that very night, the Imperial Master had him copy the Tao Te Ching a hundred times, euphemistically claiming it was a way to "cultivate one's character." Xie Lian doubted that if it weren't for his status as the Crown Prince, the Imperial Master would have made him kneel on a nail board and copy.
In short, from then on, every word of the Tao Te Ching was deeply engraved in Xie Lian's mind. Incidentally, this also left a small impression on him of this "Crown Prince of Wuyong Kingdom."
Xie Lian, a devoted reader, had never encountered any reference to the "Wuyong Kingdom" in ancient texts, so he assumed the story was likely fabricated by the Imperial Master to teach him a lesson, or perhaps simply lost in thought after playing too many cards. However, he saw no point in exposing the truth, and didn't want to re-read the Tao Te Ching a hundred times, so he let it slide and didn't take it to heart.
Pei Ming asked, "Your Highness, it sounds like your Imperial Preceptor Xianle is quite influential and knows a lot. Could you please tell me what happened to him later?"
After hesitating for a moment, Xie Lian said, "I don't know. After Xianle Kingdom was destroyed, I never saw what happened to many people."
At this moment, he suddenly felt his ankle tighten, his expression frightened, and he said, "What is that?"
Just as he was about to stomp on him and break his bones, he looked down, breathed a sigh of relief, and said, "General Pei, why did you come out like this? It was so close, I almost broke your hand."
That hand belonged to Pei Su. He was lying on the ground, his face buried in the dirt, one hand grasping Pei Ming, the other Xie Lian. The two men squatted down and asked, "What do you want to say?"
Ban Yue held the jar and said, "I don't know. Brother Pei Su was crawling around on the ground just now. He seemed to have found something very important."
Pei Ming asked, "Oh? You can discover something like this? You're really Little Pei. So what did you discover?"
Pei Su released his grip and pointed to the side. Xie Lian followed his lead and said, "This is..."
Everyone gathered around, studied it for a while, and asked, "A cow hoof print?"
Pei Su finally lifted his head from the dirt and said in a hoarse voice, "This is... the mark left by Master Yu's guardian mount."
Ban Yue said, "Brother Pei Su, your punctuation seems to be wrong."
Pei Su said: "I'm fine. Master Yu Shi, people, people..."
He was stuck on the "human" part and couldn't move on. Xie Lian asked suspiciously, "Could this... be scorpion tail snake venom?"
Ban Yue said, "The venom of the scorpion tail snake is not like this..."
Hua Chengdao: "The Rain Master has already met the black-clothed man in the west and fought him."
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