Where Immortals Once Walked-Chapter 230: On-Site Lesson

“Hmm. He said the token was a turtle shell command talisman. Do you have it?”

“I do.” He Lingchuan produced a small, turtle-shaped talisman he had pried from the late Perfected Dongli’s ring.

“As thanks, you may take anything you wish from within the Guihua Pagoda.”

Finally, something that sounds reasonable. Asking for help without offering payment just doesn’t make any sense. “What kind of things are we talking about?”

“He didn’t say.”

The Grand Return Sect had been abandoned for who knew how many years. Even Perfected Dongli himself might not know what was left inside. But Sun Fuling went on, “Perfected Dongli studied divination under the Venerable Muling, and that was always the Grand Return Sect’s specialty.”

He Lingchuan’s heart stirred. He recalled the prophecy made by the turtle monster. “Didn’t they say that ever since the great calamity, all divinations have gone awry?”

“The Grand Return Sect was renowned for its skill in the art, and Perfected Dongli was almost surely not their only disciple.” Sun Fuling smiled. “The sect once teemed with talent. If he could correct the failures in the art, why couldn’t another?”

Her words struck him like lightning.

The turtle monster’s divination had come from that same lineage. If he wanted to unravel its prophecy, then in this age where information and techniques were scarce, was the best approach not to visit the old sect itself and look for clues?

Besides, Perfected Dongli had promised that whoever returned his relics to his ancestral sect would be rewarded.

After all these centuries, he could only hope that “reward” still existed.

“Where exactly is Mount Shou’an? I’ve never heard of it.”

“Have you heard of the Six Sects of Kaiyuan?”

He Lingchuan shook his head honestly.

“The Grand Return Sect was one of them. It sat atop Mount Shou’an—what we now call Mount Xu[1].”

“Mount Xu?” The name did ring a bell. “Wait, isn’t that inside the northern monster state?”

Right, I’d heard the name in one of those plays back in Heishui City. This now meant that he would have to find a way into the monster state someday.

“That’s all there is. The writing ends there.”

He Lingchuan rolled up the rubbing he had made. “Thank you. Without you, I’d have no clue where to start looking.”

“The spells and divine techniques we know today were first refined and passed down by immortals,” Sun Fuling said softly. “Occasionally, when relics of the immortals are discovered, we find new divine techniques, internal techniques, heart methods, or incantations among them. That’s why knowing their language is so important. If you want, I can teach you.”

He Lingchuan brightened. “That would be great! That would be an immense help, Ms. Sun!”

“It’s better to teach a man to fish than to give him one. Once you learn, you won’t have to bother me anymore, and you’ll even be able to do your own research in the archives.” She rested her arms on the top of the courtyard wall and peered down at him. “So, when do you want to start?”

“How about now?” He Lingchuan thought for a moment. “There’s no time like the present, that’s if you’re free, of course.”

Sun Fuling withdrew from sight, and only then did he realize that the two of them had been chatting across a wall all this time.

He heard her descend a wooden ladder back to the ground. The sparrowhawk did not fly off; it just remained standing on the tiles atop the wall, preening its feathers.

He Lingchuan asked, “Don’t you have another mission? Do you have nowhere else to be?”

The sparrowhawk gave a loud burp before answering, “I just finished a high-intensity mission. I need some sleep.”

Apparently, devouring three fat magpies in one day counted as high intensity.

He Lingchuan discovered today that the sparrowhawk could roll its eyes, too.

Didn’t it basically just take a stroll through Guizhen Stone Forest with the Red General? It calls that an exhausting mission?

A few breaths later, he heard knocking and the creak of a gate.

He Lingchuan opened the door and invited Sun Fuling inside, out of habit, he offered, “Would you like some water? I’ve even got some West Luo tea leaves—a gift from the other patrols.”

Tea leaves from West Luo were a rare luxury in these parts, served only in the grand restaurants to their finest guests.

Sun Fuling had already removed her veil. Her smile was open and easy. “Sure.”

When she entered, her eyes immediately landed on the half-full courtyard piled high with gifts like a small mountain. “People certainly like you.”

He Lingchuan scratched his head awkwardly. “Sorry about that.”

Sun Fuling’s own brother, Sun Jiayuan, had fallen in the battle of Guizhen Stone Forest and been honored as a hero, yet her doorstep remained cold and quiet, not a single gift in sight.

“Sorry for what?” asked Sun Fuling, giving him a puzzled look.

“...Nothing.”

“Oh, are you thinking of my brother?” Realization dawned on her. She shrugged. “He didn’t live here. People aren’t going to deliver offerings to this house. I’ve gone to his place twice already. I’ve already collected what was there and donated it.”

“Donated?” He Lingchuan’s mind sparked. “I’ve got far too many things here. Selling them would feel wrong. Is there somewhere I could donate them?”

“Of course. In a place like Panlong City, there’s no shortage of widows, orphans, and lonely souls. The families of fallen soldiers need special care, too.” Sun Fuling picked up a wind chime made of polished shells. She gave it a light shake; its crisp tinkling filled the air. “If you’d like, I can handle the donation for you.”

“Perfect.” He Lingchuan beamed. “It looks like I’ll have to trouble you to pass on everyone’s goodwill then, Ms. Sun.”

Sun Fuling nodded.

He poured the tea and handed her a cup. For a while, neither of them spoke.

A gust of cold wind swept through the courtyard, stirring the fallen leaves.

Right, why did I call her over again?

He Lingchuan rubbed his hands together and broke the awkward silence. “So, what do we do first?”

Sun Fuling dropped a hefty book onto the bench with a thud. “This is a comparative manual of the ancient and modern scripts. Memorize it all.”

“...”

The book was thick, nearly as wide as his palm.

After years free from study, was he really about to go back to memorizing lessons like a schoolboy?

Am, am I in a nightmare?

“You look just like my students when I say that.” Sun Fuling could not help laughing, her almond-shaped eyes curling into crescents. “Don’t worry. It’s not as bad as it looks. Modern script evolved from the old, so there’s a logic to it. I’ll guide you. If you put in the effort, you’ll master it in two or three months.”

I guess it’s a bit like the differences between semi-cursive and seal script[2]?

“Sit down, take out that rubbing. We’ll start by annotating it.”

They moved into the kitchen.

The house was too small, the courtyard too cold; only the kitchen had a proper table.

He tossed fresh charcoal into the brazier and dutifully fetched the rubbing.

As he closed the door, the sparrowhawk darted in through the gap, shook the frost from its wings, and perched by the fire to warm itself.

Given the choice between warming by the coals or freezing outside, who would not come in?

“Don’t mess with my stuff!” He Lingchuan warned. Two roasted chickens sat on the stove in a bamboo basket—each a two-kilo bird he had bought as snacks for his wine.

The hawk ignored him and continued preening.

Sun Fuling breathed into her palms for warmth. “Paper, ink, brush?”

“Uh...” He did not have any. He used the room only for training and bathing; what need had he for stationery?

Without a word, Sun Fuling conjured all three from somewhere unseen. As she prepared to grind the ink, He Lingchuan quickly offered, “Allow me.”

He poured a splash of clean water onto the inkstone and began grinding gently.

As she spread out the rubbing, he asked, “When I entered the city earlier, I saw the former commandery administrator from Wei City leading his people out the southern gate and heading home. There must’ve been over thirty thousand of them.”

“I know. I ran into them, too. It’s the talk of Panlong City right now.” Sun Fuling dipped her brush and began marking the page. “That was only the first group. More from Wei City will follow.”

“I asked an acquaintance from Wei City why they’d go back. He just said that they can’t get used to life here.”

“People are shaped by their land. Even that immortal, Dongli, asked you to return his relics to his old sect. That’s simply human nature—an attachment to one’s roots, the wish to return to the soil where one was born.” She paused, then asked, “How about you? Are you getting used to life in Panlong City?”

“Of course.” He Lingchuan did not even have to think. “It’s easy living.”

In his dreams, he could finally live as himself—training, fighting, chatting with friends. It was simpler and freer than the real world. He did not have to deal with He Chunhua or anyone else.

“That’s because you chose the fastest route to advancement: battle and merit.” Sun Fuling’s voice was quiet. “In Panlong City, military merit is everything. If you have it, you have almost anything you could want. But those who can’t earn it, or earn it too slowly, don’t fare so well.”

He Lingchuan thought of Liu Sanjiu and his wife, and their weary, bitter smiles.

They were not fighters, just ordinary folk. Their lives depended on hard work and meager rewards. To earn enough to exchange for merit points, how could that be anything but difficult?

But Panlong City was not a place where one could say, to each their own path. If you could not provide what the city valued most, you were pushed to the back of the line.

Life here was harsh, and its rules were no kinder.

“I heard some residents even tried to sneak out with the departing refugees, but when they went to register at the yamen, they were turned away.”

“A bit foolish,” He Lingchuan said with a shake of his head. “For the poor and low-born, life’s hard anywhere. At least Panlong City offers safety.”

“They’ll learn soon enough.” Sun Fuling added, “By the way, wasn’t Wei City’s commandery administrator also surnamed Sun?”

“Yes. When Captain Xiao went to retrieve them, Commandery Administrator Sun dragged along thirty or forty chests of his family’s wealth. He even blocked the road with them, trapping the refugees behind.”

Sun Fuling did not even look up from her annotations, though her lips curved faintly. “Wealthy he may be, but under Panlong law, the most he could buy here was a gold house. Any of the upper three tiers of luxury estates requires military merit, which he doesn’t have. If I recall correctly, his private army was disbanded, too.”

In Panlong City, there were four tiers of luxury estates. The lowest was the gold residence, and it was the only one that civilians could purchase with money alone. Many rich merchants already lived in that district. Commandery Administrator Sun must have found himself among the nouveau riche and profiteers, almost surely a crowd he would hardly enjoy.

Worse still, Panlong City law forbade private troops or armed retainers. At best, he could keep a few house guards. Even servants required merit to be employed.

That was right, even the right to hire help had to be earned through military contributions. For men like Commandery Administrator Sun, Panlong City was more inconvenience than privilege.

He Lingchuan nodded slowly. “Better to be the head of a chicken than the tail of a phoenix.”

Rather than live in Panlong City as a lesser man, it made sense that Commandery Administrator Sun would return to Wei City to rule as he pleased.

1. The name of the mountain can also be translated literally to ruins. ☜

2. Chinese actually has a lot of different scripts, you can search these up for a look at what they look like. You could probably think of it as modern cursive vs Gothic calligraphy, though I know it isn’t exactly the best comparison. ☜