It was a mystery as to how much time had passed before He Lingchuan suddenly sensed something and opened his eyes.

The nightmare had indeed returned without a sound and was drifting back and forth at his side. Who knew whether it had been staring at him all this time?

He Lingchuan had never once been willing to lower his guard around this thing. Keeping his expression neutral, he asked, “Did you find a lead?”

“See for yourself.”

With that, the nightmare dissolved into a cloud of smoke. As the mist slowly spread apart, an image actually began to ripple into view at its center.

First came blue sky, then distant mountains, sharp and clear like a magic lantern projection[1].

Then the image changed again. It was now a broad road, with several carriages ahead.

At that moment, a woman’s voice entered the scene, “Kang’er, don’t stick your head out! Someone might hit you!”

Then the point of view was drawn into one of the carriages, where a young woman in plain clothes sat opposite.

He Lingchuan knew at once that what the nightmare was showing him were fragments from the memories of Wu Kai’s grandson, most likely things that the child had seen during the day.

After all, what one sees by day becomes what one dreams by night.

The woman said again, “No making noise! Once we get there, Grandpa will buy you something tasty.”

Get where?

The mountain in the background of that earlier scene seemed to be north of the city, though from the angle, it was not due north.

The scene shifted again, and everyone was already out of the carriage.

By then, it was evening. The sun had set, but night had not fully fallen. All around them was wasteland. The weeds by the road grew thick, and the reeds stood taller than a man. Yet He Lingchuan could hear the sound of water.

The driver walked in front carrying a lantern, while the mother and son followed behind.

After a dozen or so steps, an old man came toward them from ahead, his hair half black and half white, the corners of his eyes drooping downward.

Wu Kai!

This was the very target that half the city’s troops had been hunting. After Zhongsun Mou’s death, he had ordered people to send his grandson out of the city at once, slipping successively through the nets cast by both Fushan Yue and Cen Boqing.

He himself had also taken advantage of the chaos when Commander Lu surrounded the Cen Residence and escaped. Now the whole family was reunited at a lonely ferry in the wilderness.

Wu Kai lifted his grandson into his arms and soothed him with a few words.

The four of them had, in fact, come to a ferry landing.

Baishajue was rich in waterways, with lakes, marshes, and rivers alike. This was the middle stretch of a river bend, sheltered from the wind. Twenty or thirty fishing boats lay moored there, with light showing from within their cabins.

The fishermen lived and ate aboard their boats.

The sturdy young man went over to ask around at the boats. He only asked two before he found a boatman willing to take passengers.

Silver was a wonderful thing.

At that point, the image dissolved back into gray mist.

“That’s all. I only managed to find out this much.” The nightmare sounded helpless. “A child’s head is empty. There isn’t much inside to hold.”

Even the cleverest wife could not cook without rice.

He Lingchuan pointed at the juluo tree branch. “Alright, get back inside.”

The gray smoke circled the room twice, full of resentment.

But skinny arms could not twist a thick thigh. In the end, it had no choice but to go back in, sulking.

Strictly speaking, the juluo tree branch was not its real residence, but rather a quick passageway between Panlong Ancient City and the real world.

“Either let me go, or find me a proper place to stay. Quickly! Otherwise, I won’t be able to come back to the real world later, and then I won’t be able to help you.” After tossing out that complaint, the nightmare vanished.

He Lingchuan immediately went to knock on Fushan Yue’s door.

He had only knocked once when a guard outside raised a hand to stop him. “Wait while we go in and announce—”

“What is it?” A breeze stirred at his side, and Fushan Yue himself sprang out. He was still in the same casual clothes as that afternoon, his hair perfectly arranged without a single strand out of place.

So this fellow had not rested either.

“I’ve found Wu Kai’s whereabouts.” He Lingchuan did not beat around the bush. “After dark, he’s taking a boat from a river bend outside the northern gate.”

“How did you—” Fushan Yue started, startled, but then asked at once, “Is it reliable?”

“As good as if I saw it myself.”

“Then what are we waiting for? Move!”

“Wait!” He Lingchuan stretched out an arm to stop him. “You can’t go. What if Cen Boqing uses the chance to escape again?”

If Fushan Yue left the city, and Cen Boqing tried another forceful breakout like before, who would dare truly step forward to stop him?

Commander Lu? County Magistrate Tian?

Until he was formally convicted, Cen Boqing was still their superior from Lingxu City.

With that reminder, Fushan Yue immediately calmed down. “Fine. I’ll keep him locked down. The task of bringing back Wu Kai is yours.” He then enunciated every following word, “You must bring him back alive.”

He Lingchuan nodded.

At this point, he and Fushan Yue were tied to the same reed on the same rope. If Wu Kai could not be brought back and used to convict Cen Boqing, then Cen Boqing—and perhaps even the Minister of Finance—would strike back.

There was no time to lose. He Lingchuan set out at midnight. Fushan Yue assigned him several dozen soldiers to accompany him, and a man surnamed Lu came along as well as a guide.

This so-called guide was really closer to a professional companion and local fixer. Baishajue was full of scenic sites, and wealthy visitors were plentiful, so an entire trade had sprung up to guide and arrange things for them. Food, lodging, horses, sightseeing, whatever the guest wanted, the guide could find a way to make it happen.

This Guide Lu had been found by County Magistrate Tian during the day for the Crown Prince. It was said he knew the entire county city like the back of his hand.

And since he knew where the river bend was, Fushan Yue ordered him to accompany He Lingchuan.

Dozens of fine horses thundered through the empty streets, their hooves pounding hard enough to disturb people’s dreams in the middle of the night.

There was only one large river north of the city, winding along the mountain with gentle terrain on either bank.

And if one was talking about a ferry crossing extremely close to the old landing yard, then there was only one place it could be, and that was the lower river bend.

“Now that the target is already aboard the ship, where would they be heading?”

Guide Lu grinned. “Naturally downstream. Less effort that way, and the boat moves faster too.”

“Could they be going upstream instead?”

“Upstream is all wilderness forest. You have to go at least fifty kilometers before you reach any habitation. That’s exhausting.” Guide Lu shook his head. “Anyone taking passage there is basically going with the current. There hasn’t been any wind these past few nights, so they can’t be moving that fast.”

He Lingchuan was still concerned. “Could they go ashore halfway down?”

“That’s possible. But going with the current is the safest and easiest way, and it’s also harder to intercept.” Guide Lu flashed another broad smile. “Usually, people move smuggled goods that way too...”

Then he froze.

He had the habit of bragging in front of clients, and the words had flown out before his brain caught up. Only after speaking did he remember that the man before him was no ordinary customer!

What kind of nonsense was he saying about smuggling in front of the Crown Prince’s special envoy?

He Lingchuan did not even have an eyebrow twitch, and he could not be bothered to hold it against him. Guide Lu quickly added, “Does Your Excellency need to charter a boat? I can get the fastest, best one available!”

“No need.”

Fortunately, the man knew the terrain well, so as soon as they left the city, he led them by a shortcut. The wild paths were rougher than official roads, and night riding over them ought to have meant unavoidable jostling and delays, but Guide Lu remembered every ditch and every rise ahead. Thanks to that, everyone could maintain a hard gallop even in darkness.

He knew his trade so well that even He Lingchuan praised him once, “You guide well.”

Guide Lu instantly beamed.

A single word of praise from the Crown Prince’s special envoy, and the rest of his life was secure.

When the wild road through the desolate grass finally ended, they had reached the lower river bend.

In earlier years, Baishajue’s river transport, whether for fish cargo or passengers, had all gone through here. But once the upper river bend was improved, most of the traffic shifted there, and the lower river bend’s ferry landing grew quiet. Only passenger traffic still used it.

By the time He Lingchuan and his men arrived, the night was already deep, and only two fishing lights still burned.

A guard asked him for instructions. “My lord, how many boats should we divide into?”

He Lingchuan ignored the question and instead asked Guide Lu, “What river is this?”

“The Liu River.” Guide Lu replied cheerfully. “Years ago, somebody panned gold out of it, so that’s what everyone started calling it.”[2]

In the deep night, the opposite bank could not be seen. And since this river bend was a backwater stretch, the only sounds were the occasional slap of waves against the shore.

Wu Kai’s family had boarded the boat around sunset and gone downstream, which meant they were already far ahead of them now. Was there still time to catch up?

More than one person was clearly wondering the same thing.

But He Lingchuan plainly had no intention of patiently explaining. Instead, he pulled a token that resembled a black cloud from his robes and handed it to the attending official following behind. “You. Do it.”

The moment the token entered the official’s hands, it began to glow. Red was shot through with gold, and the token became dazzling and resplendent.

Other than when he had been marching through Panlong City, this was the first time He Lingchuan had seen origin energy this abundant. There was no question that this was one of the symbols of Fushan Yue’s identity as the future ruler.

Then the official crouched down, plunged the token into the river water, and stirred it around hard, while calling in a low voice, “Water Spirit of the Liu River, come at once!”

The others suddenly understood. So this was the plan He Lingchuan had had in mind. But using Fushan Yue’s token to summon the water spirit was nowhere near as cumbersome as when State Preceptor Sun Fuping of Yuān, or the magistrate of Kuzhu County, summoned the local guardian spirits. There was no need for elaborate rites or casting at all.

Perhaps because this was a monster state, the guardian spirits here were more diligent and far less daring to be negligent.

After the official stood back up, the water he had churned did not calm. On the contrary, it grew increasingly turbulent. The waves struck the shore over and over, each one more urgent than the last.

The lower river bend, which had been tranquil a moment before, now displayed the strange spectacle of waves surging up from a windless river.

The fishing boats resting in the bend could not help but be affected as well. The sleeping fishermen were jolted awake, clambering up to see what was happening.

Very soon, one of the boatmen cried out, “The water spirit! The water spirit has come!”

Fishing lights flared up, and by their glow, He Lingchuan saw thirteen or fourteen figures racing toward the bank beneath the surface. The longest was under seven meters, the shortest only about two meters. In terms of size, none of them ranked particularly high among the water spirits he had seen before.

But they moved like torpedoes.

And their shapes were also rather similar to them.

Before he had time to think any further, there came a splash, and several of those figures burst out of the water at the ferry landing. They spun once in midair and slipped back in.

And they had barely disturbed the water at all.

At that point, everyone finally saw what the water spirits truly were. They had rounded heads, blunt bottle-like snouts, and sleek silver-gray bodies.

Aren’t these river porpoises[3]?

The leader was over double the size of the others, and its hide was gray with a hint of azure. The moment it lifted its head from the water, a gentle female voice sounded in everyone’s minds, “The aquatic races of the Liu River stand ready to serve the Crown Prince!”

“I’m the Crown Prince’s special envoy.” He Lingchuan could not help reaching out to stroke its long snout. Slick and smooth. “A major criminal escaped by boat from here and went downstream. Help me find them.”

“Please instruct us, Special Envoy of the Crown Prince. How many are there? What are their characteristics? What kind of boat are they using?”

He Lingchuan pointed toward the boats in the lower river bend. “Two men, one woman, and a seven-year-old boy. The boat was hired from here. The lamp on board is yellow, and there’s a Liu character painted on it. There’s a large notch in the port side of the hull, and the top of the awning was patched with mixed blue-and-white cloth.”

All of that had come from the images in Wu Kai’s grandson’s memory. The child had curiously stared at the boat a little too long, and He Lingchuan had taken note of it.

He had already made the key identifying features of the boat perfectly clear. The water spirit nodded and said, “We’ll handle it immediately. There are many of my kin in the river, so I expect it won’t be difficult to locate them.”

1. This is referring to the real-world magic lanterns, by the way. They were basically just early image projectors. These were developed in the 17th century and commonly used for entertainment purposes. It was increasingly used for education during the 19th century. ☜

2. The Liu (鎏) in Liu River can be translated as fine gold. ☜

3. These are also known as finless porpoises, and the one the author should be most familiar with is almost definitely the Yangtze finless porpoise. ☜