Chapter 418: Land of Divine Retribution

Second Master Shi patted his shoulder, "Play as you like once we reach Tongluo County; I'll cover your expenses." He had to slowly repay the debt of having his life saved on Mount Fengmo Mountain.

Walking on the plains, He He Lingchuan finally understood why this place was called "Twilight"—it was merely a euphemism.

It was already mid-May; from the Yuan Kingdom to Between Beijia, where was there not lush grass, singing orioles, dancing bees, and fluttering butterflies? Even at Mount Fengmo Rock, which was windy all year round, there was a patch of land at the foot of the mountain left for blooming flowers.

Yet the Twilight Plains were truly gloomy; the vegetation grew listlessly, neither yellow nor green. There was clearly water here, but reeds that could grow a zhang tall elsewhere were at most four or five feet here. The caravan walked for three miles, and the trees they encountered could be counted on two hands. It couldn't even compare to the high-altitude Gale Plains—which were beautiful flower and grass meadows in this season.

The farmland by the roadside was even more pathetic; the crops looked as if they had been struck by autumn frost, equally half-dead.

He He Lingchuan saw no figures working; there wasn't even a shadow of a yellow ox on the ridges or cooking smoke from the farmhouses.

"What's wrong with this place? Why don't crops grow?"

"This is the Land of Divine Retribution." Second Master Shi put a piece of chewing tobacco into his mouth. "Nearly two hundred years ago, didn't a war of national annihilation happen here? That's what that battle did. It's said the Demon Emperor issued an order to massacre the city; not even a chicken survived in the Yuan Kingdom's capital, Thousand Star City. Afterwards, this place became a land abandoned by the gods, where crops won't grow and livestock won't thrive. Some also say it's because too many people died back then, causing the entire plain to be filled with resentment, ruining the feng shui and the earth's energy."

"What does it have to do with the heavens? I think this place should be called the Land of God's Condemnation. Between Beijia Kingdom has so many capable people, can't they resolve the resentment here?" Just the Imperial Preceptors alone numbered four, not counting other great powers.

By the way, the prisoner he captured at Zhao Pan's camp was carrying a Dragon-Punishing Pillar and claimed the Imperial Preceptor wanted to collect the resentment and hatred on the battlefield to perform a deliverance; why hadn't they succeeded in purifying this place?

"How would I know? It's just a legend. It's old news from nearly two hundred years ago; who would take it seriously?" Second Master Shi gave a dry, hollow laugh. "But it seems this situation has happened elsewhere too."

"Where?"

"The Panlong Desert in the Yuan Kingdom. I heard there used to be cities and people there, but later they angered the gods and it turned into a desert where the living can barely enter, even worse than this." Second Master Shi suddenly remembered, "Hey, aren't you from the Yuan Kingdom? Do you know about it?"

He He Lingchuan nodded: "I know it all too well."

But the main reason the Panlong Wasteland was shrouded in wild sand was simple: it was the ravaging of the Three-Corpse Insects released by the Great Square Pot. Yet as He He Lingchuan walked on this plain, the sun was clearly bright, but it brought no warmth to his body; if he walked on the ground, he could even feel waves of ghostly cold beneath his feet.

This kind of place had another name: Abandoned by Gods and Loathed by Ghosts.

"Over the past five or six hundred years, many demon kings have rebelled. Do their territories all receive this treatment afterwards?"

Second Master Shi chuckled: "How would I know?"

"It's truly strange that Tongluo County was built here."

"Not strange at all. The Twilight Plains are so big, there ought to be a place for merchants to rest." Second Master Shi didn't care; after all, no matter how frequently they came, they were just passersby. "Besides, these lowly people can't leave the Twilight Plains, so they have to build a place to live."

He He Lingchuan frowned slightly.

Second Master Shi had the natural keenness of a merchant; as soon as he saw He He Lingchuan's expression, he hurriedly waved his hand: "This term 'lowly people' isn't me insulting them; it's officially designated."

"Officially designated?" He He Lingchuan asked curiously, "Is this a place for exile and banishment?"

There were lowly people in the places where Young Master He had lived, too. Black Water City was a frontier region, and the Yuan Kingdom had always liked to send exiled criminals to the border. Because they were criminal subjects, they were not entered into the local household registers but recorded in a separate list; they were the lowest class of people locally and could only make a living by selling their labor or their bodies.

"Ah, you could say that." Second Master Shi said, "These unlucky souls are all descendants of the Yuan Kingdom people. More than one hundred and ninety years ago, Thousand Star City was massacred, the Yuan Kingdom was destroyed, and the survivors became slaves of a fallen nation. Because the King of Yuan angered the gods, the Demon Emperor punished their descendants, requiring the men to be slaves for generations and the women to be prostitutes for generations; they cannot rise up and are not allowed to make donations. Later, when Lingxu City had criminals to banish, they would also be exiled here."

He He Lingchuan gasped: "It's been nearly two hundred years; hasn't this punishment been cleared yet?"

"The Demon Emperor has a long life. To us, it's the time of a dozen generations, but to His Old Highness, it's only half a lifetime." The previous Demon Emperor had the longest reign, a full three hundred and eighty years; who knew if the current one could break the record? "Perhaps His Old Highness hasn't let go of his anger yet?"

"This punishment is too heavy. It seems it's meant to kill the chicken to scare the monkeys, letting others watch and remember, so they all give up that idea." The Demon Emperor allowed the various demon kingdoms to compete for kingship themselves, but did not allow them to defy the heavenly gods; otherwise, it would casually send a gift package of national annihilation plus descendants as slaves for eternity.

It shows the strength of the gods' control over this country.

Soon, the caravan entered the den of iniquity that Second Master Shi had mentioned.

Tongluo County was built on the river bend for easy access to water. The scenery on the bank was plain, but the water was very clear, so many pleasure boats were docked at the pier; the tallest had three stories, looking like houses on the water when they moved.

The county had inns, restaurants, opera houses, casinos, bathhouses, red-light districts, maze arrays... any entertainment found elsewhere was not missing here, and they were all made bigger and stronger.

Because there were no other industries here at all.

Of course, enjoyment was divided into different ranks. Like the main street He He Lingchuan had just walked down, the signs on both sides of the road were larger and more imposing than the next, all brightly lit until dawn, with wine and food being exchanged and music playing incessantly.

The men and women in the shops were all smiling with great effort.

As long as you had money, you could eat the most ferocious live seafood, drink the most mellow wine, and of course, find a flower of the red-light district to talk about ideals with under the covers; if you only had two copper coins clinking in your pocket, you were only fit to find a back-alley brothel outside a small eatery.

He He Lingchuan saw a man standing by the side of the road, haggling with a back-alley prostitute.

The flesh trade of these back-alley prostitutes was usually conducted directly in their homes; their husbands were all lowly slaves, also responsible for serving tea and pouring wine for guests, and holding towels and spittoons.

As soon as the caravan settled in the county, the workers scattered, and even the coachman disappeared—He He Lingchuan had just wanted to tell him to feed the rock sheep more bean cakes and old wine.

After the danger at Mount Fengmo Mountain, Second Master Shi had given them some compensation for the shock. Before it was even warm in their pockets, they were eager to spend it.

Second Master Shi reminded He He Lingchuan: "You can play anywhere on the main street, and the two rows of streets behind it are fine too, but don't go any further; it's dangerous."

"There's danger here?"

"The ones in front are all businesses of the high officials and gentry of Lingxu City, with people specifically guarding them. As long as you go in and spend money, your safety is guaranteed." The two were on the second floor of the inn, and Second Master Shi pointed down at it from above. "Look at the pitch-black places behind with no lights; those are mostly the dwellings of the lowly people, filled with all sorts of riffraff and ghosts. Two years ago, a worker in my caravan got drunk and walked in there, and I haven't found him to this day."

He watched He He Lingchuan walk back: "Decided where to go play?"

"No, Second Master, you go ahead."

"Hey, you're only seventeen or eighteen, at an age full of vigor, why aren't you interested in this?" Second Master Shi stroked his chin, looking him up and down, and realized belatedly that He He Lingchuan didn't seem to have looked for women along the way.

Could it be he had some hidden ailment? Oh, what a pity, to have such a handsome face for nothing.

He He Lingchuan saw the look in his eyes and knew he had misunderstood: "Family cultivation technique; this is forbidden before eighteen."

"Oh, oh." Second Master Shi pretended to believe him and didn't force it. "Whenever you change your mind, just come down. Also, the Golden Spring Elegant Bath across the street is a proper place; you can bathe and soak. No girl will throw herself at you unless you nod."

Having said that, he sauntered downstairs.

He He Lingchuan shook his head. Looking at the bright lights of the main street, he didn't want to go to a pleasure house, but people are iron and food is steel; he couldn't go without eating.

He had been eating dust in the wasteland for two days, and now that he saw the sign for the Golden Spring Elegant Bath, his body suddenly felt itchy.

So, a quarter of an hour later, he was soaking in a large wooden barrel at Golden Spring.

Tongluo County had everything for eating, drinking, and playing, except for real hot springs. If guests wanted to soak, they were just soaking in hot water, at most with some medicinal powder sprinkled in to play the part of a medicinal bath.

But here, except for the fake hot springs, everything else was real. The service was very attentive; one could get a haircut, a shave, a manicure, or a massage. Wine, tea, and tobacco were plentiful, and the kitchen staff was on call twenty-four hours a day; you could have a bowl of steaming hot pork liver porridge or two or three baskets of pan-fried buns at any time.

This place was divided into elegant baths and mixed baths; the elegant bath was a private single room with a table, chairs, a bed, and a wooden barrel; as for the mixed bath, that was for everyone to enjoy together.

He He Lingchuan, of course, wanted an elegant bath. However, even the soundproofing of the private room was very average, not to mention the large wooden barrel was placed by the window, and he could see the back-stage performance of the Red Pavilion across the way.

The room opposite had its lights on; those who closed the windows were performing intense shadow puppetry, and those who didn't were performing action scenes, with the women's exaggerated, distorted cries drifting in through the misty steam, making it seem very unreal.

It's not easy to earn a full meal, and the acting has to be very strenuous.

After soaking for half an hour, He He Lingchuan was hungry. He put on his clothes and was just about to go to the front hall to order something to eat when the door of the private room was suddenly smashed open with a "bang," and three men rushed in, looking fierce and malicious as they asked him: "Where is the person hidden?"

There was also an owl that flew in with a flutter and landed on the beam, looking around.

He He Lingchuan looked blank: "Who?"

The three of them seemed to be panting from running; they looked behind the screen, on the beams, and under the bed, and even wanted to lift the toilet lid to take a look, fearing someone was hiding inside.

One of them went to look out the window but was hooked by the action scene across the way, staring intently.

He He Lingchuan leaned over to take a look; it was indeed high-difficulty.

The other two walked over and slapped their companion's head hard: "Look at what? Keep searching!"

(End of chapter)