Everything went smoothly, except for a little trouble when the salted meat chunks He and his son tossed out were twice intercepted by other Earth Dragons beneath the sand.
The three Walnut Boats roamed the sea of sand at about half the speed of a galloping horse, but they made up for it with their steadiness, endurance, and relative safety—
Whenever the Walnut Boats encountered some strange creature, it would initially seem eager to make a move. But the stench of the salted meat was overpowering; after following for a while, the creatures would flee in terror, wishing they had two more legs to run faster. Who had time to bother with the humans on the Walnut Boats?
Though most people here had grown up on the edge of the desert, they had never seen the sea of sand from this angle. They stared, spellbound.
He Lingchuan murmured, "You can do this?"
Sailing across a sea of sand was a first in both his lives. He'd certainly learned something new.
The only fly in the ointment was the stench drifting from up ahead. It lingered without fading, making it hard to breathe.
The helmsmen of the three Walnut Boats were all extremely cautious, doing their best to steer clear of the tall dunes.
The more imposing the dune, the larger its shadow.
And everyone from Blackwater City knew that the shadows in the Coiling Dragon Desert were places to be avoided at all costs. The blazing sun, hot winds, thirst, bandits, and attacks by strange beasts—all of them together were less frightening than the shadows in the Coiling Dragon Desert.
However skillful the helmsmen were, a little over an hour later, buildings began to appear one by one on the distant horizon.
As they drew closer, they could make out a ruined wall and a city gate.
This was unmistakably the satellite city southwest of Coiling Dragon City, which had once stood as its outer bulwark.
Of course, it had been abandoned for a century. The only regular visitors now were the wind and sand.
But its walls still stood high, and the city gate lay beneath a dense shadow.
Looking in through the gate, one would see a number of ruined buildings inside, still fighting not to be swallowed up by the yellow sand.
They stood against the light, surrounded by shadows.
By now there was no way around. Their only option was to pass through the city gate and cross the ruined city.
Nian Songyu stood on the lead Walnut Boat. He turned and gave three long whistles toward the boats behind him.
It was the signal they had agreed on at the desert waystation.
It was time to begin the next part of their plan.
He Chunhua and his son stood at the bow. They shouted to their subordinates, "Light your Life Fires!"
They called it "lighting" them, but in truth, everyone took a small red pill from their clothes and swallowed it.
A sour, spicy sensation surged up from their bellies, turning them upside down.
But they had to hold back the belch. They couldn't let it out.
Everyone's eyes and noses felt swollen, and sour saliva flooded their mouths, yet their bodies shivered with cold. Though the sunlight overhead was scorching, quite a few soldiers began to tremble.
Thankfully, these symptoms subsided after only a dozen or so breaths.
Everyone looked at one another and saw that three ghostly flames had appeared above each person's head and shoulders.
Most of the flames were a pale green. Some were darker, some brighter, some tinged with yellow, and others with blue. But they were all tiny, pinky-high flames, quivering in midair as if a gust of wind could snuff them out.
Yet the desert wind was strong enough to sting their faces, and still it could not extinguish these three ghostly flames.
Once the flames had appeared, everyone felt the temperature around them drop several degrees. The waves of heat blowing against them no longer felt quite so scorching.
These were Life Fires, also known as Life Lamps. They were normally hidden within the human spiritual hearth, and were commonly called the fires of life. As long as the fire burned, the person lived; once it went out, the person died.
That was where the saying "when a person dies, their lamp goes out" came from.
After the Life Fires were lit, the squad leaders all turned their backs to face their troops and shouted, "Don't look back!"
From all three Walnut Boats, the soldiers' voices rang out in perfect unison:
"Don't look back!"
They repeated it three times.
It was a warning to others, and a repeated reminder to themselves.
Remember this. Remember this. Remember this!
He Chunhua stood just ahead and to He Lingchuan's right. The younger man asked him, "Dad, did you know your Life Fire is yellow?"
Governor He was about to shake his head when he suddenly remembered how dangerous that movement was. He quickly held still, then shot his eldest son a glare. "You little rascal!"
He Lingchuan grinned. "Better to practice now than run into trouble later."
Actually, he had a point.
"Your Life Fire is yellow with a tinge of red," He Chunhua said with a smile. "Youth really is a fine thing."
A Life Fire directly reflected its owner's health. The stronger the body and the more vigorous the blood and qi, the deeper the color of the flame.
Young people, after all, burned hot.
By now, they couldn't turn their heads to either side. Otherwise, He Lingchuan would really have liked to see the colors of Nian Songyu's and State Preceptor Sun's Life Fires.
As the boats reached the city, He Chunhua took a deep breath and shouted, "Don't move. Nobody move!"
The other two boats issued the same warning.
The three helmsmen cast their lines one last time, sending the Earth Dragons swimming toward the city gate.
The smoke and fire of past battles, followed by years of erosion from wind and sand, had made the once-vertical city walls lean farther and farther forward. They looked ready to collapse.
Yet they had stood here for a hundred years, steadfast and silent, never yielding.
They drew closer and closer. The enormous gateway gaped like a monster's silent, blood-red maw. He Lingchuan could even make out faint stains on either side of the gate.
Perhaps they were layer upon layer of blood, sprayed there again and again. At first it had been bright red, then it had darkened to black and purple. After years of wind and sand scouring it, even its hideous color had faded, leaving only the last flicker of its former horror.
All the clamor and fury of life eventually came to rest in stillness.
The world darkened before their eyes as the Walnut Boats finally sailed into the shadow beneath the gate.
A chill swept over them.
The soldiers had already lit their Life Fires. Only now could they see wisps of smoke emerging from the darkness, one after another, swarming toward the Walnut Boats.
Up close, the wisps looked like human silhouettes. They had torsos and limbs, but no faces.
They paid no attention to the Earth Dragons towing the boats, but they were curious about everything aboard the Walnut Boats, including every human and every piece of wood.
In the blink of an eye, four or five wisps had gathered around each person. They drifted before and behind the humans, watching them with ill intent. Though they had no eyes, everyone felt as if they were being stared at. Goosebumps rose across their skin.
These things were the Three-Corpse Insects!
According to the legends of the Coiling Dragon Desert, they were resentful spirits lurking beneath every shadow. Even travelers who managed to avoid the desert's creatures would be attacked by them if they stepped into the shadow of a dune.
In fact, humans without a bright Life Fire couldn't see these things with the naked eye, let alone defend themselves against them.
After Coiling Dragon City vanished, the humans they had loved most left as well. The Three-Corpse Insects could only turn to invading other creatures instead. It wasn't quite the same, but they had to make do. Every living thing in the desert was affected by them and gradually underwent strange mutations, like the Earth Dragons towing the boats up ahead.
Sun Fuping and Nian Songyu were delighted rather than worried. The presence of these creatures indirectly confirmed that the Great Square Pot existed. Their journey had not been in vain.
A fine, incessant whisper sounded beside every soldier's ear, as though someone were speaking directly to them.
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