Chapter 289: Wen Daolun

Wen Daolun looked him up and down, stroked his long beard, and said, "Very well, you two may return with my carriage in a while." This was his agreement.

Afterward, the two of them stood to one side, waiting for the procedure to conclude.

Wen Daolun had to finish burning seven sticks of high-grade incense before he could leave. By then, the commoners' memorial rites would be nearly over as well.

He He Lingchuan asked his companion in a low voice, "Why does Wen Daolun owe you a favor?"

"He occasionally visits the Shumin Academy."

"…To teach the children?" He was, after all, a trusted confidant relied upon by Commander Zhong; was he bored enough to go watch a bunch of chirping little sparrows? "We teach more than just children." Shumin Academy was the best government school in Panlongcheng, Sun Sun Fuling said with a smile. "He comes to play chess with an old friend, my mentor, Xu Xu Shichu. He came again two months ago, and since my mentor wasn't there, I played a few games with him."

"Mr. Wen said that as long as I won, he would owe me a favor, and then I…" She shrugged. "Best of three."

"You used such a precious favor on me?" He He Lingchuan was moved.

"Favors are meant to be used, not hoarded," Sun Sun Fuling glanced at him. "Now it's your turn to owe me one."

"Easily done." He patted his chest. "Whatever you need, whenever you need it."

With nothing to do, He He Lingchuan strolled to the edge of the God-Descending Platform and looked down.

Good heavens, the cliff face was scorched black, with occasional wisps of electricity still flickering. There should have been plants growing on these rocks, but after three strikes of heavenly lightning, nothing remained but a bare, desolate patch.

He He Lingchuan even saw traces of lightning strikes on some of the rocks, but they were very old.

"I heard the sacrificial text earlier; the gods sent down thunder to take away the offerings." He He Lingchuan pointed beneath his feet. "Was this caused by that thunder?" Even solid rock had melted; no living thing could have survived.

"Indeed. Aside from the power of the gods, no one else has such capability," Sun Sun Fuling said leisurely. "Those bolts of lightning brought us more than just terror; they brought us precious confidence."

"Because the gods are on our side?"

"Of course." Sun Sun Fuling sighed. "You weren't in Panlongcheng at the time; you don't know how dejected and desperate everyone was… We had been discarded like worn-out shoes by our motherland once again, and even Commander Zhong was so angry he fell into a serious illness."

After Panlongcheng became an exclave, Zhong Zhong Shengguang led his troops to hold the Panlong Wasteland for twelve years. They had finally waited for the war situation to ease, and Panlongcheng had reconnected with the Western Luo Nation.

But good times did not last; in less than a year, the flames of war rose again. The weak Western Luo Nation lost contact with Panlongcheng once more, and at one point, it even considered ceding Panlongcheng to the Baling Nation.

The blow this dealt to Panlongcheng was immense. After holding out for twelve years surrounded by enemies, this was the result they received.

How many twelve-year periods does a person have in their life?

One can imagine the atmosphere of dejection that permeated Panlongcheng.

Under such circumstances, if the gods had not appeared to support them and display astonishing miracles to boost morale, Panlongcheng would likely have crumbled long ago, without even needing the enemy to strike.

He He Lingchuan looked back at the altar.

The ceremony to reward the gods three years ago was the turning point for the fate of the entire Panlong Wasteland. Since then, everything had changed.

After waiting a while longer, the last stick of incense was nearly finished. Wen Daolun walked down from the altar and came over personally to say, "Very well, let us board the carriage."

His time was precious, and he intended to use the return journey to answer He He Lingchuan's questions.

At this moment, however, He He Lingchuan pointed below the cliff and said, "Look, there are living things down there!"

The wasteland directly beneath the God-Descending Platform had originally grown plants, but after the three lightning strikes, even the ground was scorched black.

Thus, the figures running across this bare, scorched earth were particularly conspicuous.

He He Lingchuan had been training diligently, and his eyesight had improved; despite the distance of several dozen zhang, he could still see that the small black dots were sniffing around everywhere, and they had tails.

Wen Daolun also looked down and sneered, "They refuse to give up."

"Are those also Jin Du Ghost Cubs?"

"Indeed. The Great Wind Army I stationed below has already caught up to them."

Sure enough, no sooner had his voice fallen than dozens more people appeared in the bushes below, surrounding the black dot.

"Why do these monsters come down here?"

Wen Daolun said casually, "They want to sense the aura of the gods."

This was very puzzling. The aura of the gods?

And how did he know to set up an ambush here in advance?

It seemed Panlongcheng had a considerable understanding of the Jin Du Ghost Cubs.

He He Lingchuan did not ask, because Wen Daolun clapped his hands and said, "Let's go."

The two of them boarded the carriage with Wen Daolun, while their own carriage followed behind.

Wen Daolun's carriage was more spacious, padded with soft cushions for comfort, and contained a charcoal brazier and a small desk. Compared to the entourage of a wealthy family, this was already quite plain and simple.

The three sat down, and the carriage began to move. Wen Daolun immediately spoke: "I will state this in advance, lest Xu Xu Shichu find fault with me later. The premise that fate has fixed numbers is that the Heavenly Way has its constants. However, the great disaster of heaven and earth has shaken the foundations; how much can still be divined by various arts of calculation is no longer a certainty."

He spoke bluntly: after the great disaster three thousand years ago, divination methods were no longer very accurate.

He He Lingchuan nodded; this was not the first time he had heard this explanation.

Afterward, Wen Daolun asked for He He Lingchuan's birth date and time. He He Lingchuan was about to provide them when he suddenly felt something was wrong:

Disaster! The year he was born was over a hundred years after the fall of Panlongcheng! If he gave his real birth date, no matter how it was calculated, there would be a massive discrepancy.

Why hadn't he thought of this beforehand?

He could only mumble, "I… I am not sure. I was adopted."

"Birth data unclear?" Wen Daolun thought for a moment, leaned in to examine his face, then looked at his hands, took his pulse, and even pulled back his eyelids to look.

This demeanor was no different from an old physician performing a diagnosis.

Wen Daolun added a piece of charcoal to the brazier and said, "Looking at your physiognomy, you don't look like someone without parents!"

"Perhaps they are still alive?" He He Lingchuan was lying through his teeth, but he was suffering internally. This was like seeing a doctor; if one withheld information, could the doctor's diagnosis be reliable?

"Blessed with good fortune, a limitless future, at the very least the material of a general—and you call this a baleful omen? If this is a baleful omen, then the common people truly have no path to live."

It seemed He He Chunhua's constant muttering about his eldest son being a "General of Fortune" wasn't entirely without basis. He He Lingchuan and Sun Sun Fuling exchanged a glance. "The one who divined for me was a great demon with three hundred years of cultivation. It had studied the 'Heavenly River Collection' passed down by True Person Dongli for many years, and it even left me two verses."

"True Person Dongli?" Wen Daolun was startled and pondered for a long while. "True Person Dongli of the Great Return Sect?"

"Ah."

"Are you certain?"

"Yes." True Person Dongli himself had written in his cave dwelling that it was a gift for future generations; how could it be wrong? "It accidentally entered the cave where True Person Dongli passed away and obtained his legacy."

"In the post-spiritual energy era, he is also a famous figure." Wen Daolun asked for the two verses and pondered them carefully.

"'Body like a prison'… a prison…" He pondered for a long while, frowning. "Could it be 'using the body as a prison' as well?"

He He Lingchuan immediately asked, "What does this mean?" He did not miss the word "as well."

Wen Daolun sighed. "In terms of fortune alone, you have already exceeded ordinary people by too much. To have such fortune in the Panlong Wasteland is truly strange. Think for yourself: has everything been smooth sailing from childhood?"

"Yes." The original body had indeed grown up eating, drinking, and having fun in comfort.

"Since you cannot provide your birth data and your life palace cannot be divined, it is truly hard to calculate. If one says it turns from auspicious to baleful, there must be a key turning point, but I cannot see it. However, the verse emphasizes 'the dove occupies the magpie's nest' and 'body like a prison.' Why specifically single these out?"

He He Lingchuan looked at his nose and his heart. He took the old turtle demon's prophecy seriously primarily because of the four words "the dove occupies the magpie's nest."

He was an outsider; no one else in this world should have known that.

Wen Daolun pondered for a long time, then suddenly opened the carriage curtain and gave some instructions to the outside.

Soon, several personal guards brought over a large piece of tarpaulin and covered the entire carriage.

Both the doors and windows were blocked, and only a faint glimmer of light filtered in.

"There is another method; let us try it." He suddenly lit a thin stick of incense and asked Sun Sun Fuling to hold it steady.

The incense was pale green, and its scent was exceptionally pleasant.

Wen Daolun then took a small piece of wood from his bosom and blew on it lightly.

The wood was so common it could be picked up anywhere; it seemed to have traces of moss growth and had two small holes.

After he blew on it, a white shadow actually drifted out from the holes in the wood.

Once it took form, it was a small person half the size of a palm, looking like a little girl. After drifting out, it impatiently inhaled the smoke from Sun Sun Fuling's hand, a happy expression appearing on its face.

Souls emerging from wood? He He Lingchuan re-examined the piece of wood. There were not many soul-vessels that could house dead spirits; could this be Deep Sea Wood? "This is a Child-Cypress, formed from the gathered souls of young children who died unfortunately but harbored no malice in their hearts." Wen Daolun tapped his temple. "Relax your mind, do not resist. I will let it enter your consciousness to see what is going on."

Consciousness? He He Lingchuan remembered the glowing mark.

He closed his eyes, and the Child-Cypress flew around him once before entering through his ear.

To He He Lingchuan, it felt like inhaling a breath of mint; his entire brain felt cool and refreshed.

But that was all. He did not feel the pain of the Heavenly God's invasion from last time.

Ten breaths passed.

Twenty breaths passed.

He He Lingchuan opened his eyes and saw the two of them looking at him with burning gazes in the dim carriage.

Wen Daolun seemed a bit surprised. "You can open your eyes? How does it feel now?"

"My head felt cool for a moment, then nothing."

Wen Daolun seemed not to believe him and pressed further: "No pain, no visions of any kind?"

He He Lingchuan shook his head.

After another dozen breaths, a wisp of white mist drifted out from his ear, turning back into the little girl's soul in mid-air.

She did not seem to have been harmed, and He He Lingchuan breathed a sigh of relief. Was it because her method of visiting was not as brutal as the god from last time, so the backlash she suffered was smaller?

She rushed to Wen Daolun's ear and spoke incessantly. Strangely, He He Lingchuan could not hear a single sound, as if he were watching a silent film.

(End of Chapter) ===== CHAPTER 290 =====