City of the Dead

"This is what Coiling Dragon City looked like before it was destroyed, right?" All three men outranked him, so Mao Tao spoke softly. "The First Young Master and I haven't encountered a single person along the way."

"There's no one in the city either. We walked around the nearby area and didn't find anyone," Sun Fuping said slowly. "I was sent into a well, while Commandant Nian landed directly in the moat."

The four of them passed through the city gate, and a vast square lay beyond it. It seemed that, back then, Coiling Dragon City had not yet built its three layers of walls.

"Looks like the year we're in was even earlier than the fall of Coiling Dragon City." He Lingchuan looked around. "There aren't so many fortifications yet."

The Coiling Dragon City they had seen in the desert had been armed to the teeth, flexing its muscles at the outside world every moment. This Coiling Dragon City, by contrast, seemed quite peaceful.

The same city could look different in different times and spaces.

They crossed the square. There was no pool here like in the desert city, but at least the Black Flood Dragon Totem was still there.

A row of houses stood nearby, with an inn at the front and various residences behind it.

"The layout of the buildings is different too." Nian Songyu led the way into a wine shop. "The stove was still warm when I came in."

The wine shop's doors stood open, with two curtains hanging in the entrance. Inside were six or seven tables, and the chairs were scattered untidily. He Lingchuan saw wine jars on three of the tables. There was still wine in the cups, and a dozen or so peanuts in the dishes.

Behind the counter lay a ledger. The character for "wine" had only been half-written, reduced to "spill," and the brush had been tossed aside. The ink had just dried.

Nian Songyu walked to a table and rapped his knuckles against it. The sound came back solidly.

"These are all real objects. This is incredibly lifelike." He picked up a wine cup and shoved it into Mao Tao's hand. "Drink it."

Mao Tao jumped. "Huh? Drink it?" Who would dare eat or drink something when they had no idea what it was?

Nian Songyu didn't look like he was joking.

Mao Tao had no choice but to tip his head back and take a tiny sip, smacking his lips cautiously.

"It's wine. The taste is really weak. In Blackwater City, this much would be worth at most three copper coins."

"Drink it." He wasn't just supposed to taste it.

He Lingchuan said nothing, so Mao Tao had no choice but to drink the wine down under the three men's gaze.

"Finished. So what do we do now... Ah! My stomach hurts!" Before he could finish, Mao Tao let out a strange cry, dropped the cup, and ran to the back.

The latrines were all at the back.

After waiting for quite a while, Nian Songyu jerked his chin at He Lingchuan. "Go see if he's dead." His manner was utterly arrogant.

With He Chunhua and the Blackwater City army nowhere around, he didn't need to show He Lingchuan the slightest courtesy.

If the boy dared to put on airs, Nian Songyu even planned to beat him until he was crawling on the ground, finally venting all the anger he'd built up over the last few days.

But He Lingchuan neither got angry nor made excuses. He turned and headed around the back of the shop, not giving Nian Songyu the chance to fly off the handle.

Nian Songyu was the one who froze. The boy knew how to read the room after all.

He Lingchuan had only gone halfway when a breeze swept past and leaves rustled.

He also sensed a faint gust behind him. Instinctively, he dodged and drew his blade.

Huh. It was only a tree branch swaying in the wind, nearly brushing his back.

He Lingchuan didn't hurry to sheath his blade.

Ever since entering this city, he'd felt that something was off, as if someone were always keeping a close eye on him.

That feeling of being followed like a shadow was infuriating.

Mao Tao came toward him just then, still holding up his trousers. Seeing He Lingchuan with his blade drawn, he couldn't help but pause. "Young Master, is something wrong?"

"Nothing." He Lingchuan sheathed his blade and took half a step back. The boy didn't just look unlucky; he reeked too, proof of what a world-shaking scene he'd just left behind. "What about you?"

"I'm not dead. My stomach just feels really weak." Mao Tao rubbed his belly as they walked back together.

When they returned to the wine shop, Sun Fuping carefully examined Mao Tao's complexion, then checked his eyelids and tongue before saying, "You've been poisoned."

Mao Tao nearly jumped out of his skin. Fortunately, the State Preceptor continued, "The poison is weak. You won't die, though you'll probably have to make a few more trips to the latrine."

All because that Nian had forced him to drink the wine. Mao Tao politely greeted every last one of their ancestors in his mind, but on his face he forced a smile. "That's good, that's good."

"You ate something meant for the dead." Sun Fuping picked up a peanut, crushed it, and rubbed the pieces between his fingers, leaving a handful of dust. "These weren't prepared for the living. No wonder the city is empty."

Nian Songyu understood too. "You mean the city's residents are the vengeful spirits that emerged from the pool?"

"Very likely. After they left, this place became a ghost town."

"Those vengeful spirits were the city's residents?" He Lingchuan asked in surprise. "That can't be right. They all looked completely deranged. What, did they become law-abiding citizens once they came here?"

The Coiling Dragon City before them was empty, but everything was orderly; the only thing missing was its people. The vengeful spirits he'd encountered outside had all been full of bitter hatred, as if they wanted to tear the world apart. If they'd lived here for long, how could the city be so neat?

"The Great Square Pot must be behind this," Nian Songyu said. "Coiling Dragon City was destroyed long ago. This place is what's truly abnormal."

Mao Tao asked quietly, "How are we supposed to find the Great Square Pot?" He'd thought jumping into the pool well would give them some leads, but it had turned out to be a city in the pool. What were they supposed to do now?

He Lingchuan suggested, "Let's go to Mitian Temple. We found an entrance there earlier. Maybe we can find another clue now."

"We already went. There's no temple." Nian Songyu rejected the idea outright.

He Lingchuan was taken aback. "What do you mean, there's no temple?"

"There's no temple there. Don't understand?" Nian Songyu said indifferently. "At that spot, there are two restaurants, a theater troupe, and two big shops. One sells jewelry, the other silk."

Right. If the clues were so easy to find, these two wouldn't have waited for him. He Lingchuan thought for a moment. "The Red General's Mansion?"

"We looked there too. It's not there either."

"No mansion, or no clues?" He Lingchuan was growing ever more patient.

"Neither," Sun Fuping interjected. "The Red General was given a demigod's body by the Mitian Deity. Without a temple, there would naturally be no Red General."

Without the Red General, there could be no Red General's Mansion.

"So there's only one place left?" He Lingchuan scratched his head. "Zhong Shengguang's residence?"

Sun Fuping stood up. "Let's go."

The illusion had restored every aspect of Coiling Dragon City. He Lingchuan had never imagined that one day he would tour this legendary city in such a way. Judging by the streets, buildings, lakes, rivers, and all the utensils and equipment used in the markets and along the river, Coiling Dragon City had been exceptionally prosperous before war had burned it down. It had been densely populated, with bustling trade.

He'd even seen waterwheels beside the river. They weren't used to irrigate fields; they supplied water to nearby shops, sparing people the labor of carrying it by hand. To make this possible, special bamboo pipes ran from the river to water troughs inside the shops.