"Someone from the same era as Yun Da..."
Shen Tang rubbed her temples, feeling a little troubled.
"Was he also a 20th Rank Che Hou?"
She thought of that troublesome, obsessive old lunatic.
If Yun Da hadn't harbored an even grander lunatic dream, causing Tudege—who lacked the same information—to make a fatal mistake in his strategic deployment and lose all his elite troops in a single battle, suffering a devastating blow, the Battle of Northern Desert wouldn't have ended so quickly. Now another old immortal had cropped up, and he'd even built a fairly large backwater cult, with followers spread far and wide. He was even more troublesome than Yun Da.
Kang Shi nodded gravely. "Yes."
Shen Tang exhaled and spread her hands. "In that case, we'll just have to adapt to whatever comes and meet soldiers with generals, and water with earth. No matter how formidable a 20th Rank Che Hou is, he's still made of flesh and blood. Cut off his head, stab him through the heart—I refuse to believe he'll still be alive."
The muscles in Kang Shi's face seemed to grow even stiffer.
He said, "That person probably isn't made of flesh and blood."
A question mark popped up over Shen Tang's head. "What do you mean?"
"He's much like a half-stepper, caught between life and death. There are still legends of several great generals in the old lands of Wu's capital. Every year, on the anniversary of Wu's fall, children dress up as them and parade through the streets to pay tribute to their ancestors. That general takes the form of a skeleton." Kang Shi knew about this too; he just hadn't expected the skeletal general to be the leader of the Eternal Life Cult. That wasn't even the worst news. Kang Shi continued, "He