Li Wu

Hundreds of human heads hung from the city gate tower like wind chimes. The sight was a little too much to take in.

Pan Long figured that, in the civilized society of his previous life, a scene like this would probably be enough to push a film or TV show into the "not suitable for children" category. In an animated show, it would certainly be buried under countless patches of pixelation. Han Feng was young, after all, and had little experience of the world. It was only natural that he was a little frightened.

Pan Long himself wasn't afraid. Not long ago, he had witnessed rivers of blood and corpses strewn everywhere—and he had killed nearly all of them himself. Compared with that, this scene was nowhere close.

Seeing Han Feng looking rather shaky, Pan Long hurried to distract him. He dragged Han Feng over to a middle-aged Warrior who looked fairly kind and asked where the heads had come from.

"Where did they come from? Where else? They're all horse bandits," the Warrior said carelessly. "No matter how skilled they were or how many major crimes they committed, all it comes down to is whether they hang on this tower a few days more or a few days less. They're all the same. Nothing worth mentioning."

"Then... are there any experts worth telling us about?" Pan Long asked.

The Warrior casually pointed toward a small tower beside the city gate tower, where a drum stood. "The experts' heads are hanging over there. Every last one was in the Innate Realm."

Pan Long and Han Feng looked where he pointed. Beneath the eaves of the small tower hung twenty or thirty heads, scattered here and there.

"That... that many?!" Han Feng jumped.

Innate Masters were hardly common. The Northlands had a martial spirit and produced experts in droves, yet even Dingfeng Town had only two Innate Masters. And this little drum tower alone held twenty or thirty of their heads. Wasn't that... wasn't that more than ten times Dingfeng Town's number?!

Pan Long, however, grew curious. The heads had been preserved and were somewhat distorted, making their former faces hard to discern. But no matter how he looked at it, they had all been Innate Masters!

He dragged Han Feng, who was putting on a brave face, over to the drum tower. Just as they were about to take a closer look, they stopped dead.

Not far away, a general in heavy golden armor sat in the shadows with his eyes closed. Whether he was asleep or merely resting, they couldn't tell.

He had chosen his spot well; they would never have seen him without coming close. Only when they drew near did they realize he was sitting there.

At the sight of him, both stopped at once, afraid to go any farther.

They weren't green recruits ignorant of military rules. They knew civilians were forbidden from entering the city gate tower without permission. At best, they would be scolded and fined; at worst, they would get a whipping. Granted, as long as there was no war, nobody usually cared about the rule—the tower in Dingfeng Town had always been open to anyone. But if they ran into a strict Officer, especially one of high rank, they could get beaten with nowhere to plead their case.

And they recognized the armor he wore.

It was Fish-Dragon Armor, the armor of a Great Xia Commandant.

Great Xia's military officers were divided into three broad ranks: generals and marshals, Commandants, and junior officers. Commandants ranged from the fourth to the sixth grade, depending on their specific posts and titles. Even the lowest-ranked among them held the sixth grade. Most were highly skilled, seasoned fighters, often appointed to military strongholds such as the Golden City Defense Line as commanders-in-chief. When necessary, they could even mobilize troops from every surrounding town and assemble an army for an emergency battle.

The most distinctive feature of a Commandant's armor was its half-fish, half-dragon ornamentation, though the details varied with the wearer's status. Neither of them knew much about those distinctions, but the reliefs of fish tails and dragon heads on the Commandant's shoulders were plain as day. Anyone who wasn't blind could see them.

Han Feng turned to Pan Long in shock, his eyes asking, What's going on? Why is a Commandant sitting here?

Pan Long answered with a look of his own: Who am I supposed to ask? How would I know the commander-in-chief of Jade Gate City would be sitting in the tower's shadows like a ghost?

Han Feng: Weren't you the one who wanted to come over?

Pan Long: I didn't see him just now!

Han Feng: That Warrior set us up!

Pan Long: Never mind that. He still seems to be asleep—let's go!

The two hurriedly turned, about to slip away on tiptoe, when an amused voice came from behind them.

"You two little rascals, why leave as soon as you get here? Didn't you say you wanted to see those 'experts worth telling you about'?"

They turned back stiffly. The Commandant in golden armor had risen and lifted his visor, revealing a handsome face whose age was impossible to guess.

"I'm Valiant Colonel Li Wu. By imperial command, I've come to defend Jade Gate City. I traveled day and night from the Imperial Capital for seven days and seven nights. When I arrived, I figured I could finally rest, so I sat down for a nap. And now you've caught me at it."

He smiled. "Did you bring anything to eat? Give me a good meal, and I'll tell you where the heads on this drum tower came from."

"I even cut a few of them off myself when I served here years ago!"

After that, what choice did Pan Long and Han Feng have?

None, of course.

Their only consolation was that they had plenty of rations and wine with them.

Li Wu was handsome, but there was nothing handsome about the way he ate. It was downright savage.

The wolf jerky had been hardened by sun and wind until it could have cracked an enemy's skull. He bit through it in a single mouthful and crunched away as though sawing through wood.

The strong wine could have felled an ordinary burly man from outside the Northlands with one mouthful. He drank it like water, glugging down two or three pounds in one go. Far from getting drunk, he didn't even show the faintest flush.

He sat beneath the pile of heads, eating and drinking his fill. In less than a quarter of an hour, all the rations and wine Pan Long and Han Feng had brought were in his stomach.

When it became clear they had no more food, Li Wu gave a satisfied belch and stood again. "Ah, what a pity. I'm only six-tenths full."

Pan Long and Han Feng's eyes nearly popped out. That much food would have fed the two of them for at least five or six days. This Commandant had finished it in a quarter of an hour and was still only six-tenths full. His belly hadn't even swelled. Where had all that jerky and wine gone?

Pan Long had seen more of the world and thought of an explanation. He couldn't help asking, "Colonel Li, is that... the Innate Food Mystery?"

Innate Masters had four great mysteries, and the Food Mystery was one of them. Those who mastered it could eat enormous quantities in one meal and digest them quickly, storing the energy in their bodies. They could also go for days without eating or drinking, living on that stored energy.

Commandant Li had eaten so much in one sitting without his belly swelling in the slightest. Wasn't that exactly what the Innate Food Mystery looked like?

Most Innate Masters were like Pan Long's grandfather: they had not mastered a single mystery. Their foundations were too shallow; barely reaching the Innate Realm was their limit, and advancing farther was difficult. His father had gone one step further, mastering the Breath Mystery, one of the Four Innate Mysteries. Also known as Innate Fetal Breathing, it allowed him to breathe without using his mouth or nose and made him immune to ordinary airborne poisons.

Pan Long wondered how many mysteries Colonel Li had mastered...

Hearing Pan Long's question, Li Wu smiled faintly. "I'm nothing special. After a little over eighty years of cultivation, I've barely shed the four mysteries, returned to my original self, and glimpsed the principles of heaven and earth. Just now, I wasn't using the Food Mystery. I was simply ravenous."

Pan Long was struck speechless.

Shed the Four Transformations?! Returned to his original self?! Glimpsed the principles of heaven and earth?!

Wasn't that damn well Return to the Natural State and Unity of Heaven and Man?!

This handsome Commandant had actually entered the True Person Realm?!

In the world of the Nine Provinces, whether one possessed the Four Innate Mysteries, an ancestral bloodline, or the powers of demons and ghosts, anyone whose strange abilities showed outward signs of the extraordinary was considered to be in the Transcendent Realm. Strength varied greatly within that realm, but so long as someone could not conceal those extraordinary signs, they had not fully mastered their power.

If someone could control their power completely and show no extraordinary signs unless they wished to, they had achieved Returning to the Origin and entered a new realm. Such a person could be called a True Person.

The True Person Realm had no "mysteries" to speak of. It was simply a progression from controlling one's own power to sensing heaven and earth, then drawing upon their power. Those were the two stages known as Return to the Natural State and Unity of Heaven and Man.

In more common terms, the former was respectfully called a Grandmaster, and the latter a Great Grandmaster.

As for how a True Person became an Immortal, Pan Long had no idea.

Nor did anyone else in the Pan Lineage—or, for that matter, anyone in all of Dingfeng Town. Across the whole world, very, very few people probably knew.

Li Wu looked like nothing more than a handsome, strapping man. Who would have thought he was already a Great Grandmaster who had achieved Unity of Heaven and Man?!

He didn't look the part... not in the slightest...

Seeing Pan Long's shock, Li Wu smiled. "That's all there is to it, really. We still eat, drink, piss, and shit. We still fight for fame and fortune. When we're hungry or thirsty, or there's something to gain, even a True Person acts that way. Even an Immortal who never ages or dies is no different."

He spoke lightly, but what he implied was astonishing.

Han Feng finally caught on and cried out, "You're a True Person? And you know an Immortal?"

He studied Li Wu in bewilderment and muttered, "You don't look like one..."

Pan Long silently agreed, but unlike Han Feng, he wasn't about to say whatever came into his head.

Li Wu laughed. "Then what do you think someone in the True Person Realm should look like?"

Han Feng thought for a moment. "Well... he should wear a loose, old robe and pin up his hair with a dead branch. At first glance, he'd look old and thin, but if you came closer, you'd see his skin was as smooth and delicate as a baby's. There wouldn't be a speck of dirt on him, and his eyes would shine with love for life and a longing to understand the deepest truths of all things..."

Li Wu burst out laughing. "You've listened to too many storytellers in teahouses! A True Person is just someone who has truly mastered his own power, so it no longer leaks out and causes strange phenomena. True Persons are people too. We feel joy, anger, sorrow, and delight like anyone else. Who would go out of his way to put on an unfathomable act all day? The man you described is a complete charlatan!"

"Huh?"

"All right, all right. You two aren't even as old as my son put together. It's too early to talk about this with you. Let me tell you about the heads hanging on this drum tower instead."