There Was No City Here at All

San Shier waved his hands frantically. "How would I dare play tricks on you, General? There really isn't any city here."

Cheng Xu flew into a rage, pointing ahead and roaring, "A city this big! Take a good look! This bloody big! Keep spouting bullshit and I'll cut you down!"

San Shier felt a little shaky. This man was a military officer, a rough brute. When he said he would cut someone down, he really would. San Shier was terrified that he might suddenly strike.

But every word he was saying now came from the Heavenly Venerable. He dared not disobey the Heavenly Venerable's orders.

The Heavenly Venerable is watching from above, anyway. He probably won't let him actually cut me down. I'll just have to grit my teeth and keep acting. "General Cheng, did you oversleep and get up too fast? There really isn't any city here."

"Fuck!" Cheng Xu drew his steel saber.

Seeing this, Li Daoxuan knew it was time to act.

He lowered his phone into the box, suspended it in midair behind the soldiers, and switched on the horror-film soundtrack he had prepared beforehand...

"Waaah... hahahahaha... ooooh... ohohoho..."

An eerie woman's laughter rang out behind the soldiers.

It was loud! Loud enough to blanket heaven and earth!

The laughter of a female ghost in a horror movie was unsettling enough already. With the volume amplified, that terrifying, uncanny laughter filled the world.

Cheng Xu had just drawn his saber when the thunderous, eerie laughter rang out behind him. Startled badly, he dropped his steel saber with a clang and spun around.

Every one of his subordinates also performed an about-face.

Li Daoxuan swiftly withdrew his hand, taking the phone out.

When the soldiers turned around, they saw nothing but an expanse of yellow sand, dust billowing and sandy winds swirling. Beyond that, there was nothing to see.

"What just happened?"

"What was that?"

"Who was laughing?"

"Oh, dear mother! That sound just now... could it have been a ghost?"

The soldiers clamored among themselves, eyes wide as they searched desperately.

Li Daoxuan chuckled inwardly. While their attention was turned the other way, he reached in, picked up the Lego bricks forming the city wall, and set them outside the Scenery Box. Then he reached in again and took out the water-filled Lock & Lock Container. Right, there was also a Pepsi-Cola can resting halfway over the ground. He grabbed that out too.

There were now more than a hundred villagers in Gao Family Village. All they saw were the things in their village rising into the air one after another and disappearing into the clouds. The sight...

It was breathtaking beyond all measure.

Having finished removing everything, Li Daoxuan brushed the sand off his hands and continued watching the show.

The soldiers stared behind them for ages but saw nothing. Unable to find where that terrifying woman's sobs had come from, they could only give up and turn back toward San Shier, their hearts pounding with unease.

The instant they turned around, every one of them froze, as though struck by an immobilizing spell.

They remained frozen for more than ten seconds before Cheng Xu finally stammered, "Where's the wall? A wall thaaat big-it was right here just now."

San Shier now understood the Heavenly Venerable's plan, and his confidence surged. Sure enough, listening to the Heavenly Venerable was the right move. He told me to pretend I couldn't see the wall because this was how he wanted to play it! Hahahaha! Now it's my turn to perform.

He roared with laughter inside, but his face remained utterly bewildered. "General Cheng, what on earth are you talking about? There's no wall here at all. There never has been. That's what you call [the same as ever]."

Cheng Xu bellowed at the top of his lungs, "Damn it! Fuck! I swear there really was a wall here just now! A wall thaaat big, two zhang high! A full two zhang high! Did you all see it? There was a huge wall just now... a wall... then a woman laughed strangely, and the wall vanished!"

His speech was becoming incoherent.

San Shier shook his head and sighed. "General, I didn't hear any strange woman's laughter at all, and there's no wall here either..."

Cheng Xu turned and roared at his men, gesturing ahead as he spoke. "You all heard it just now, didn't you? You all saw it, didn't you? A wall thaaat big-it was right here!"

Cold sweat covered his men's foreheads. They really had seen a wall just now, but now they really couldn't see one. Should we believe our past selves or our present selves?

Their wits scattered in the wind!

Their wits scattered in the wind!

San Shier spread his lips into a sinister grin, much like an old ghost in the wilderness smiling when its prey finally arrived. "You must have been under too much pressure pursuing Wang Er, General. Why not come into the village and get a good night's rest... then continue searching for Wang Er and his gang tomorrow, all bright-eyed and full of vigor? Hehehe... hehehe... sss..."

At the end, he even licked his lips, as though he had spotted something delicious.

Cheng Xu's gaze swept over San Shier's strange expression, then slid toward the village. Dust filled Gao Family Village, and a great crowd of villagers knelt on the ground with feverish eyes, worshipping who knew what.

Piles of scattered stones, timber, mud bricks, and clods of earth lay beside them, lending the whole village an inexplicably eerie atmosphere.

Then he thought again of the terrifying woman's laughter he had just heard.

Cheng Xu felt his skin crawl. "What kind of haunted village is this? I think I can see my great-grandmother waving to me in there... I'm not going in. I wouldn't go in even if it killed me... let's go, find Wang Er. I'm going to find Wang Er... I want to get far, far away from here... I came to find Wang Er. Yes, yes, let's go find Wang Er... Great-grandmother, I have to go. I'm still young. I can't come into the village to see you yet..."

He turned and ran. After a few steps, he ran back, picked up the steel saber he had dropped, shoved it into its sheath, then turned and ran away again.

After another few steps, he ran back, swung onto his warhorse, and turned to flee once more.

He went back and forth three times.

The deputy patrol inspector, the archer Xiaoqi, and the others all watched, dumbfounded.

After several stunned seconds, San Shier spread his lips again and said eerily, "General Cheng has run off. Aren't you going after him? Good, good. Why don't you stay as guests in Gao Family Village? Hehe... sss... [utterly delicious]."

The deputy patrol inspector let out a strange cry and sprinted after Cheng Xu. Behind him, more than a hundred soldiers followed in utter disarray, dusty and bedraggled.

In the blink of an eye, the whole group had vanished without a trace.

Only when they were far away did San Shier plant his hands on his hips and burst out laughing. "Fun! That was too much fun! Hahahaha! You used to look down on me, Cheng. Now you know how formidable this Secretary is, don't you? Hahahaha! Hahahaha! I'll scare you to death, you fool!"

Li Daoxuan said, "The soldiers are far away now. One Leaf, tell everyone to move farther away from where the wall used to be. I'm going to put it back down."

Gao Yiye hurried to relay his words.

The villagers were filled with reverence, awe, and astonishment. The newcomers in particular, witnessing Heavenly Venerable Daoxuan display his divine might for the first time, were overwhelmed beyond words. They hastily scrambled and crawled away from the wall's location, lest they interfere with the Immortal Venerable's spellcasting.

Soon, they saw the wall descend slowly from the sky once more and settle into its former position. The sight of that colossal structure sinking slowly through the air was truly breathtaking. Next, Blacksmith Li's cylindrical house descended and was set back in its original spot. The enormous pond also came down from the heavens and settled back into its old pit...