Chapter 168: The Spiritual Rain of the Panlong Wasteland Arrives

With a stamp, a green light flashed on the large black fish, marking the completion of the process, and a new water spirit was born.

The soldiers then pushed the last fat pig into the water.

The black fish bit it and sank into the center of the pool, disappearing.

The Kuzhu County Magistrate was also a bit exhausted, coming over to thank He Chunhua. Without the support of the Support Army, he wouldn't have been able to pull off such a beautiful scene.

With the new water spirit in place, the Hongchuan River was much more peaceful. Thus, Fengling Ferry could reopen, and the merchants waiting on the side happily boarded the boats.

Taking advantage of a little free time, He Lingchuan wandered around Fengling Ferry and found an exceptionally conspicuous old locust tree on a sandbar three hundred zhang away from the ferry.

There were many locust trees here, but He Lingchuan's eyes were attracted to it for the first time, only because this tree was truly special: it was a lightning-struck tree.

This old locust was originally very sturdy, with a trunk that four people could encircle, and no one knew how many years it had grown, but it was struck by lightning several times because the sky didn't like it, and all the top branches fell off, and the whole tree almost became charcoal.

However, life is so tenacious that the old locust's charred, lifeless main trunk actually sprouted new buds and grew new branches...

The new branches and trunks were much smaller than the mother tree, but they were all thriving and full of vitality from beginning to end.

He Lingchuan finally knew what the old turtle demon meant by "the resurrected old locust tree"; it could indeed be seen at a glance.

And it grew on a sandbar, far away from idlers.

He walked around the tree several times but didn't find a tree hole, but he wasn't discouraged.

If the tree hole were so easily discovered by him, it would also be explored by other birds and beasts.

He Lingchuan touched the charred trunk several times, found the depression at the root of the tree, took the Broken Blade, and started digging the sand.

The sand was soft and moderate, and He Lingchuan dug deeper and deeper.

Soon, he discovered that there was indeed a large hole under the tree root, but it was usually covered by sand, and only a few crabs were napping inside.

He threw the crabs out and discarded them, put the turtle egg in, thought for a while, and covered the turtle egg with some water grass, and then put a small bottle of pills beside it.

Do a good deed to the end.

Then, he backfilled the sand completely, covering the tree hole completely. The water flow would take over the work below, smoothing it out completely, leaving no trace of the tree hole's existence as before.

Doing this step, he completed the turtle demon's entrustment.

"Farewell here." He brushed the sand off his hands, also understanding why the turtle egg had to be hatched here: this old locust tree could bring back the dead, and its vitality must be very tenacious, which was also the power the turtle demon needed to borrow to hatch for the second time.

Perhaps, the turtle demon grew up

At this time, He Yue called out to his brother from afar: "Brother, the ship is departing!"

"We'll meet again if fate allows. I hope by then you have already found the broad road to cultivation." He Lingchuan patted the charred wood, stood up, and left.

The support army also boarded the ship at Fengling Ferry, riding the rolling river water toward Shi Huan City.

￥￥￥￥￥

He Lingchuan stretched and sat up from the bed.

He was still feeling dazed when someone outside shouted: "Street—corner—announcement—"

Such a familiar tune.

His outstretched hand almost forgot to retract. He looked out the window; it was almost dark, and the water in the vat was full.

Vat? He remembered falling asleep on the boat, and the last sound he heard was the water gently lapping against the hull, not the noisy street.

That is to say, he had entered Panlongcheng again, and—

He Lingchuan took two steps in one and dashed to the door. Standing in the middle of the street, he indeed heard the same content: the Imperial Flowing Nectar was coming, and Panlongcheng would be under curfew for three days starting tonight.

This means he received the sequel to the previous dream? Unbelievable; four days had already passed in reality, yet only less than an hour had passed in the Panlongcheng of the dream! The difference in time flow between the two sides is truly arbitrary.

The sun had already set, and he couldn't go anywhere, but there was a tavern nearby. He rushed in, bought several jars of wine, and upon returning home, poured out the wine and cleaned them, preparing to store the Imperial Flowing Nectar.

He also emptied the water vat and took out all containers like pots, bowls, ladles, and spoons, placing them in the courtyard.

He still remembered Hu Min's instructions and sawed off two large branches from the tree in the courtyard to prevent the long arms from reaching into the neighbor's territory.

Just as these were settled, noisy sounds rose outside, as if countless people were cheering.

He Lingchuan walked out of the house and saw it was raining, a green rain.

Once bitten, twice shy; he knew this was the Imperial Flowing Nectar.

Panlongcheng's forecast was so precise; it had actually managed to grasp the pulse of such a strange celestial phenomenon.

What surprised He Lingchuan even more was that the Imperial Flowing Nectar falling this time was still fragrant, but far more viscous than in reality, and the color was deeper, which is why it deserved the name "Nectar."

The Imperial Flowing Nectar in reality was a drizzle; whoever it drifted onto was lucky. But here, it reached the level of a light-to-moderate rain. He Lingchuan stretched out his palm and soon caught several drops of green rain dew.

He couldn't help but taste it; it was truly fragrant!

The greed buried deep in his heart erupted all at once. But He Lingchuan had both experience and preparation, so he forcibly suppressed the impulse and jumped onto the roof.

The tiles on the roof were flipped over by him, temporarily connecting into several grooves. The Imperial Flowing Nectar accumulated more and more, slowly flowing down the grooves and being caught by his wine jars.

Although it was just a trickle, it would be worth a fortune if accumulated! The neighbor also moved two jars and climbed onto his own roof to collect the Imperial Flowing Nectar. Seeing his operation, he was greatly inspired and hurriedly copied the homework, also fiddling with the tiles.

He Lingchuan discovered that covering his mouth and nose with a face towel to smell less of the Imperial Flowing Nectar's peculiar fragrance was very helpful in suppressing the hidden beastly heart, so he hurriedly followed suit.

Everyone was flushed red, but they forcibly suppressed the impulse to be greedy and take more. The Imperial Flowing Nectar had come several times within three years, and most people already had experience in dealing with it, knowing that as long as they endured for a moment, there would be rich rewards later. He Lingchuan also heard children crying loudly. Looking down from above, he saw two households had already tied their children to the table, not allowing them to run around and ruin the bigger picture.

At this time, heavy footsteps passed by He Lingchuan's door, accompanied by a low roar.

He looked down and saw it was actually a mechanical beast moving unhurriedly along the street. This thing looked like a tiger or leopard in shape and size, with two eyes glowing green, which looked somewhat creepy at first glance.

It seemed to be walking with its head down, but whenever any household was suspected of fighting or arguing, the mechanical beast would approach, claw at the wall with its front limbs, scratch the door, and let out two roars to intimidate the residents.

About the time it takes to burn a stick of incense after this mechanical beast left, another mechanical beast patrolled here.

They alternated like this.

If he weren't struggling to fight his own greed, He Lingchuan would really want to give a thumbs up and praise it as "thoughtful."

This mechanical beast must be the security guard sent out by the Panlongcheng authorities to patrol. To them, the least trustworthy thing is human nature, and the most reliable is force.

At this time, all living creatures could not resist the temptation of the Imperial Flowing Nectar; only dead things like the mechanical beasts remained unmoved and continued to execute their original tasks.

It is unknown which great master created the mechanical beasts capable of patrolling, positioning, and intimidating on their own.

Sure enough, He Lingchuan soon heard the sound of jars and pots being smashed not far away, with people shouting and crying. It was unknown who couldn't resist the extreme desire for the Imperial Flowing Nectar and got into a fight with others.

Human nature really cannot be left unchecked.

With a roar from the mechanical beast, He Lingchuan heard its heavy footsteps quickly moving away.

Several screams soon came from that direction, but then there was silence; it seemed the people who acted out were punished.

This scene also served as a good warning to the surrounding residents.

Amidst the repeated torment of the whole city, time slowly passed.

This time, the Imperial Flowing Nectar fell for a longer time than He Lingchuan had experienced last time, and it didn't stop completely until the east turned white.

He Lingchuan scraped all the Imperial Flowing Nectar off the trees, gathered all the bottles and jars used for storage into one place, poured them into each other, and finally filled a wine goblet with Imperial Flowing Nectar.

He sealed the lid tightly; the fragrance disappeared, and the attraction to people also vanished. Only then did He Lingchuan let out a long sigh and wipe the light sweat from his forehead.

The difficult night had passed, and everyone began to enjoy the fruits of victory.

Looking at the wine goblet in his hand, He Lingchuan was a bit troubled.

The Imperial Flowing Nectar obtained from the dream should not have an enhancing effect on his real body, as everything is illusory.

Then the most rational approach is to hand over what was obtained tonight and exchange it for merit at the Merit Department. Hu Min said that merit is not easy to obtain, but it can be exchanged for the most precious things.

This falling of Imperial Flowing Nectar was his unexpected gain.

Of course, this all needs to be verified. He Lingchuan thought for a moment, tucked the wine goblet into his clothes, and went out.

After dawn, the curfew ended, but few residents were out walking; most were still holed up at home counting their spoils. He found a diligent donkey cart to take him to Hu Min's residence.

Along the way, he saw several houses that had been scorched or smashed, and the city guard troops were carrying people out or cleaning up the scene.

It seems that even with mechanical beasts patrolling, even with Panlongcheng's repeated orders, even with strict laws here, and even if the residents of Panlongcheng can achieve obedience through years of war, human greed will still find a breakthrough.

Hu Min lived in a Tin House. Although it was also a civilian residence, it was four grades higher than He Lingchuan's. The roads here were wide, the streets and alleys were clean and tidy, green trees and red flowers could be seen everywhere, and every household had a small courtyard. The area was at least four times that of He Lingchuan's wooden house, and the environment could leave him several streets behind, but the specifications were very uniform: all black doors, black tiles, and red walls, and even the dimensions were almost the same, as if carved from the same mold.

It seems that unauthorized construction is not allowed here.

Every street looked the same, and it took He Lingchuan a long time to find Hu Min's house.

This person had just finished refining the Imperial Flowing Powder. Seeing He Lingchuan upon opening the door, he asked strangely: "So early, aren't you refining medicine?"

"I'll trade some Imperial Flowing Nectar with you for some refined medicine, how about it? Just a small taste."

(End of chapter)