Chapter 158

As long as there is no more war, vegetation will reoccupy this place, and in time, it will be as if nothing had happened. Street fighting occurred in the auxiliary city, so the houses here were riddled with holes, and entire blocks were burned to the ground.

Walking through here, the support army was silent, and He Yue felt heavy in his heart. He hadn't been to the ancient Panlong City; this was his first time truly witnessing the cruelty of war and the cheapness of human life.

Out of the auxiliary city, a newly carved stone tablet stood in the valley behind.

The soldiers who sacrificed in the Great Battle of Woling Pass were buried here. He He Chunhua ordered people to offer sacrifices and personally lit a stick of incense.

The scene was solemn.

He He Lingchuan looked left and right, seeing everyone was there, but only one person was missing, and his heart moved.

He quietly stepped out, walked more than two hundred paces, and after being pointed out by many people, he found Wu Wu Shaoyi under another big tree.

He sat cross-legged on the ground, his hands pinched in a gesture, eyes closed and motionless.

The canopy of the plane tree directly above was spreading, and every time the wind came, it fell with gold and yellow, rustling.

He He Lingchuan looked closely at the ground in front of him; a large area was new soil, the color was different from the surroundings, obviously turned over not long ago, but now green grass had grown.

Even the grass seedlings here grew more vigorously than in other places, and rarely turned yellow in late autumn.

Why did Wu Wu Shaoyi sneak here, could it be? He He Lingchuan sat down beside him, looked at a cockscomb flower that was red to the bone in front of him, sighed lightly: "How many people are buried here?"

"At least, more than twenty thousand." Wu Wu Shaoyi slowly opened his eyes, "After they died, they didn't even have a tombstone."

The government soldiers who died at Woling Pass at least had a tablet; while the people buried here had nothing.

Yes, the people buried under this were all rebels, and also Wu Wu Shaoyi's former comrades.

He He Lingchuan took out a wine bag from his bosom and handed it to him, and took out two wine cups.

Wu Wu Shaoyi didn't refuse, filled a cup, and slowly poured it on the ground as a sacrifice.

At this moment, He He Lingchuan saw a touch of loneliness and depression in his eyes.

People who were once like-minded with him were either scattered or buried here; he himself was injured at the root by a secret technique, and although he could live for a few more years, he would bid farewell to the glorious years of waving a blade on horseback from now on.

Even if it were Wu Wu Shaoyi, sitting in this place of former heartbreak, he was looking around in a daze, not knowing where to go in the future.

He He Lingchuan filled both wine cups: "Come, I'll have a drink with you all."

'All'? Wu Wu Shaoyi was silent for a long time, raised his cup to him, and drank it all in one gulp.

After drinking three cups, he exhaled a spicy breath.

Since his injury, this was the first time he had drunk wine.

"Big Brother came here, aren't you afraid of Lord He's blame?" Being with this former "rebel" and offering sacrifices to the "rebel army", this He Young Master really could do it.

"Father scolding me, isn't that a common occurrence?" He He Lingchuan smiled, "It's just that the Yin energy here is too heavy, you shouldn't sit for long."

The aftermath of the Woling Pass battlefield was done by the government soldiers; they of course buried their own companions in the sunny side of the mountain, and buried the corpses of their opponents in the shady side.

"I just came to see them. After today, there is no promise of meeting again." Wu Wu Shaoyi nodded, "Human life is as cheap as wild grass; a few months later, a few years later, who still remembers them?"

He He Lingchuan laughed: "That's what you say, a hundred years later, no one will remember us either."

Wu Wu Shaoyi stood up, his face flushed and his steps floating; He He Lingchuan even reached out to support him.

Because of the secret technique, this person's cultivation was seven or eight tenths wasted.

He He Lingchuan also understood that this might be the key reason for Wu Wu Shaoyi's surrender. Otherwise, he was no longer fierce, and it would be difficult to convince the public in the rebel army just by relying on the prestige accumulated in the past. Besides, his body was not as good as before; if he were to continue hiding, he would probably collapse in less than two years.

Surrendering to He He Chunhua, although helpless, was the best choice.

The two walked back and caught up with the main force by the river.

The river water was clear, and there was a small wooden house on the bank, with broken nets hanging in front and behind, and the wooden door was closed.

He Yue said in surprise: "The flat ground in front of the door is very clean, people come here often." Otherwise, fallen leaves and weeds would be the main theme here.

The crowd walked for a while longer, and a guard rushed over and reported to He He Chunhua: "The small house by the river just now, there is a tablet inside dedicated to the 'Sun Jiayuan Holy Master', and there are offerings on the table!"

The He He Lingchuan brothers looked at each other. Hong Hong Xiangqian's full title was "Sun Jiayuan Holy Master"! In such a remote mountain, someone was actually worshipping him.

He He Chunhua paused: "Blood food, cooked food?"

"A steamed bun, three sour fruits. There are several bundles of incense burned to the end in the stove."

He He Chunhua waved his hand: "No need to pay attention."

He didn't pay attention, so the support army naturally wouldn't care anymore.

Zeng Zeng Feixiong whispered: "My Lord, don't we need to pull out that tablet?"

"Look at the environment here, who would come here to sacrifice to him?"

Zeng Zeng Feixiong subconsciously looked around: "Village folks?"

"It's just village folks and women looking for a little sustenance, it won't become a threat, don't worry about it."

Wu Wu Shaoyi, who had been bowing his head, looked up when he heard this, but saw He He Chunhua looking at himself, couldn't help but be startled, and then lowered his head again.

Lord He is considering this for him.

Although he had already defected to He He Chunhua, the latter didn't want to make things difficult for his former master in front of him.

Until Woling Pass disappeared from view, Lady Ying let out a long breath: "It was too miserable here; when the Master took back Heishui City, it was far less tragic than this. By the way, where are we staying tonight?"

"Woling Pass has been abandoned, and passing carriages and horses will stay at Shuanghe Town. Civilians have already moved there, and I heard that a new city will be built there."

Shuanghe Town is east of Woling Pass, less than fifteen miles away. Fengling Ferry happens to be between these two places, but it was getting late, so the support army planned to rest at Shuanghe Town for the night and go to board the ship tomorrow morning.

Shuanghe Town was originally a small town of more than four hundred people, but now it has to take on the population and functions of Woling Pass. When the support army entered, they found that construction was booming everywhere, and it was bustling with noise and excitement.

Woling Pass was originally a major commercial route, and merchant teams from the south had to go to Fengling Ferry to change ships. Now that Woling Pass has been abandoned, everyone has to stay at Shuanghe Town.

The support army has expanded to six or seven hundred people, and the town can't accommodate them anyway, so they can only make do at the grain field and manor east of the town. The conditions in the town are not good, so the He family simply stayed overnight in the manor; the owner here collected two taels of silver from them and moved out temporarily, leaving a row of four rooms and a threshing floor. At this time, the grain has been put into storage, and the empty threshing floor is the big courtyard.

Supplies in the town are scarce, and purchasing around is inconvenient, so the support army still used their own dry rations for dinner. However, Zeng Zeng Feixiong was craving meat, so he called He He Lingchuan to go hunting in the mountains.

They originally also encouraged He Yue to go together, but Lady Ying didn't allow it, so He Yue could only watch this small team of twenty or thirty people disappear into the dense forest.

He He Lingchuan had good luck, hunting two roe deer and four wild rabbits in about an hour, and on the way back, he encountered a large black wild boar, weighing nearly four hundred jin.

Everyone made a trap, the wild boar was teased by Mao Tao until it was furious, chasing relentlessly, and fell into the trap and broke its leg.

The rest was simple:

The support army had meat to eat; this was a night when the cook was exhausted.

Drinking was forbidden during the march, so everyone ate meat, drank soup, and played games until the moon was in the middle of the sky.

He He Lingchuan returned to his room, took off his coat, and fell asleep.

Because he drank a little wine, he slept more soundly than others.

In the dark, it seemed someone was muttering something in his ear.

He He Lingchuan didn't care, wanting to sleep a little longer.

And then—

He was shaken awake forcefully.

The force was so great that it seemed like he wanted to shake his head off.

"Wake up!" Someone roared in his ear, it seemed to be He Yue's voice, "... Get up quickly, hurry, hurry!"

He didn't hear a few words clearly, but he heard the urgency in his voice, and he woke up immediately, reaching for his knife: "More bandits?"

He Yue rarely lost his composure like this; he subconsciously thought something big was wrong.

"No!" He Yue kept dragging him out, excited to the point of changing his voice, "Emperor Flowing Pulp, the Emperor Flowing Pulp is falling from the sky!"

Emperor Flowing Pulp! He He Lingchuan was stunned when he heard these three words, not daring to believe his ears, but his body's reaction was faster than his brain, and he jumped out of the door in two big leaps, leaving He Yue behind.

The original owner was ignorant, but he remembered the knowledge about "Emperor Flowing Pulp" very firmly, so He He Lingchuan knew what it was as soon as he heard it: a massive explosion of heaven and earth spiritual energy, so rich that it descended into the world in liquid form! For all living things, it is a priceless treasure.

The support army was restless, holding all the bottles and cans they could find—of course, basins and vats were best—standing in the open, catching rainwater while not forgetting to open their mouths and take off their shirts, getting as much as they could!

He He Lingchuan stood outside the house and looked up at the sky, only to see a full moon, silver light like water, and at the same time felt his cheeks slightly moist, fine rain like silk, but his nose smelled a fresh and sweet fragrance.

That fragrance was indescribable, like ripe melons and fruits, like the sweet-scented osmanthus in August, like the smiling flowers under the morning sun, and like the mountain forest after the rain and fog.

In short, it was refreshing and made one forget their worries.

But a strong desire arose in his heart.

That desire was like seeing delicacies after being hungry for seven days, or a desert traveler finally crawling to an oasis on the verge of death...

That was a sincere cry from his body and mind: "I want it!"

He He Lingchuan didn't dare to delay, learned from others to grab two wide leaves from the banana forest, laid them out neatly on the roof, and took out a wine jar from his storage ring, poured out the wine, and only kept the jar to catch the spiritual dew.

He clearly remembered that the Emperor Flowing Pulp is also like rootless water, entering the soil as soon as it touches it, and will continue to settle to the depths of the earth, and form Xuan crystal mineral veins through the movement of the earth's veins. But that is hard to come by, and no one can figure out its trajectory; all living things can grasp is the present.

The last time Emperor Flowing Pulp appeared was decades ago.

Fresh pulp is so precious; ancient books say that one drop can equal ten days of cultivation.

Besides cultivation, it can also nourish the origin and make living things reborn.

Of course, talking about efficacy without dosage is hooliganism. He He Lingchuan couldn't verify how many milliliters one drop equals, and the quality of Emperor Flowing Pulp should also vary, right?

(End of chapter)