Pang Jian frowned, staring at the bloody writing for ages, his expression turning strange. 

Xi Ping said, “Oh, you can’t read it either.” 

“Piss off.” Pang Jian didn’t so much as raise his eyelids. “It says ‘Moon Plated Gold eats people.’” 

“Huh?” Xi Ping was surprised. “There was Moon Plated Gold back then?” 

“And here is the first Moon Plated Gold gold smelter in the mortal world. Construction began in the fourth year of Xiaozong Kangning. Please take a look, Your Highness!” 

Accompanied by the Suling prefect, the Ling County magistrate, and a group of major and minor local officials, the elegant president of Ling County’s chamber of commerce led the way while spraying spit as he explained Ling County’s glorious history, doing his best to ingratiate himself with the young third prince. 

“In that year, Great Wan had two happy events: General Zhi went to the immortal mountains, and Moon Plated Gold came down to the mortal world,” the Suling prefect cheerfully cut in. “With a stroke of the brush, Master Kangning gave the first gold smelter to us here in Ling County. Since then, this obscure little place has become the Land of the Golden Moon. It is the grace of heaven.” 

Prince Zhuang nodded courteously. Standing on a high step, he glanced down from on high. 

He saw that there was no one around the gold smelter. The body of the smelter and its base were covered in complicated arrays. Countless gears were constantly turning, propelled by the arrays, changing one smelter load after another of ordinary iron into Moon Plated Gold, which could raise mortals to the skies or take them burrowing into the earth. 

Prince Zhuang lightly covered his nose and mouth and absentmindedly asked, “Are the fireproofing and dust-settling arrays all activated? The trouble with the southern outskirts’s gold smelter happened because the arrays weren’t fully activated.” 

“How could they not be activated?! Wouldn’t that be playing with human lives?” Ling County’s magistrate spoke with a sense of righteousness. “It’s those petty, grasping law-breakers trying to get lucky, doing it for the sake of saving a few spiritual stones. Not only do they have no regard for human life, they’ve even made Your Highness have to rush around and work when the New Year is coming up. They ought to be seriously punished as an example to others!” 

“Our Ling County’s Magistrate Zheng has always been known for loving the people like his own children,” the Suling prefect said, smiling. “I heard that recently the common people even wanted to establish a longevity tablet for him and only dropped the subject when he turned it down again and again.”

The Ling County magistrate quickly said, “How could I overstep my authority like that, how could I dare…? The workers’ lodgings are up ahead. Your Highness said you wanted to see the actual situation, so we deliberately didn’t notify them in advance. Ling County’s fields are infertile. These workers used to farm at home and couldn’t even get enough to eat. When the factories were built, they all went to them, and they all said that finally they could live well! They work in the factories when they’re young, and when they get older, the factories look after them in old age and arrange for their burials. If their children and grandchildren display aptitude, the factories put up money to send them to study and take the imperial examinations… Everyone says that they’ve received the benefits of Moon Plated Gold!” 

Prince Zhuang lowered his eyes and said half-jokingly, “In the southern outskirts, everyone says that Moon Plated Gold is a man-eating demon. How is it that in Ling County, it’s become a divine being that aids the needy and relieves distress?” 

The president of the chamber of commerce quickly picked up, answering at once, “But of course. Wind and rain, thunder and lightning are all bestowed by the heavens. Whether they are punishments or blessings depends entirely on mortal virtue! This way, please, Your Highness.” 

Prince Zhuang said “good” and followed their lead, making a superficial inspection of the workers’ dwellings, appreciating the realistic performance of “lasting tranquility and well-being.” 

As he turned the corner, there was a wind. A small piece of paper flew out from the shelter of his wide sleeve and stuck to the president’s shoe. 

“Have you been to Ling County before, Miss Sixty? I hear some Ling County accent in your speech.” In the Land of Turmoil, while the leading Exonerator didn’t understand the riddles Sixty and Wuchang One had been speaking in, he knew now that this young lady had a superior position among the Indignant Cicadas and had become more polite towards her. He had voluntarily suggested that as the Shu encampment was unsafe, they should go stay the night at the Chu post. 

Wei Chengxiang had been a village girl and a female worker. Now that she had suddenly been made a “holy woman,” she had no experience to rely on. She was as cautious as a hedgehog and replied only when she had no choice. If she could respond with just one word, she wouldn’t say two. She only said, “I have relatives in Ling County. I lived there in my childhood.” 

The Exonerator said, smiling, “Ling County is a good place, the Land of the Golden Moon, the place where Moon Plated Gold came down to the mortal world. Have you seen the first gold smelter, Miss Sixty?” 

Wei Chengxiang had seen it. Because the arrays used up too many spiritual stones, the factory substituted manpower wherever it could be substituted. People were cheap, anyway. Her grandfather had worked as a smelter-turner. This work took a great deal of strength, and you breathed in smoke and dust all day and ended up sickly. When people fell ill and weakened, they would be kicked out by the factory. 

The look in her eyes turned cold, but she said, “I haven’t.” 

“Fair enough. There’s nothing worth seeing about a smelter that eats human flesh,” the Exonerator said. “Do you know what year that gold smelter arrived?” 

Wei Chengxiang didn’t answer. Next to her, Zhang Da-lang couldn’t resist cutting in: “Everyone in Great Wan knows. It was the fourth year of Kangning.” 

“Precisely. Six years after the destruction of Southern He,” the Exonerator said, sighing. “If Southern He hadn’t been destroyed, Moon Plated Gold couldn’t have come to the mortal world.” 

Zhang Da-lang asked, “Exalted, why is that?” 

Wei Chengxiang forced herself to hold back and display curiosity. When someone else asked, she pricked up her ears to listen. 

She heard the Exonerator say with a sneer, “Moon Plated Gold is awesome. The Cloud Soaring Flood Dragon can cover all of Great Wan in a few days, bring fresh fruit still bearing dewdrops from the south to the plates of the wealthy—but how many spiritual stones must be spent to make this Moon Plated Gold? If there were no southern mines, how could Xuanyin have permitted Moon Plated Gold to come to the mortal world?” 

Few of the new believers were literate. Hearing him telling a historical tale, they all gathered around to listen. 

“Know that the Gold Imitation Technique was an ancient method to begin with,” the Exonerator said. “It was eight hundred years ago that Xuanyin’s Lin Chi in his youth developed it along with another. That person was named Hui Xiangjun, originally from Chu. She was expelled from the Sanyue Sect for departing from orthodox practices, then traveled to Southern He. The people of Southern He had been skilled at wicked crafts since ancient times. Relying on her unfathomable toolmaking arts, Hui Xiangjun became a disciple of record of Lancang…until she met Lin Chi, and the two of them created the Gold Imitation Technique and came to grief.”  

A new believer asked, “Exalted, would the Gold Imitation Technique cause them to come to grief?” 

“There were no steam engines then, but the original purpose of Moon Plated Gold was to conduct spiritual energy, so mortals could also have ‘immortal tools’ to use. Eight hundred years ago was very different from the present—and even now, in the north, downgraded immortal tools are still taboo. Back then, the mighty people of the immortal sects were outraged. If mortals could use immortal tools, wouldn’t it destroy the distinction between mortal and immortal? They thought these two people were sullying cultivation, committing the worst offense. Lin Chi was a member of Xuanyin’s Lin family’s main branch. He was confined for a hundred years and then released. But Hui Xiangjun had her spiritual bones removed out and her meridians broken. She was reduced to a mortal and passed away not long after. Xuanyin Mountain and Lancang joined hands to seal away the Gold Imitation Technique, forbidding their toolmaking cultivators to mention it.

“Until a talented individual in Southern He made a strange steam engine.

“At that time, Great Wan had reaped the benefits of the canal and become rich and prosperous. Gold and silver were flowing north like water. Southern He was its neighbor, and its lifeblood was nearly sucked dry by that canal. The domestic price of silver soared. Half a string of copper coins couldn’t buy two jin of low-grade grain. Even spiritual stones were flowing outward. For the national economy and the livelihood of the people, Emperor Xiaohuai Yang Zou conspired with the Lancang Sword Sect to steal the Gold Imitation Technique—the factories you see all over Great Wan today all began in Southern He.” 

Zhang Da-lang asked, “In that case, why did Southern He invade the north back then?” 

The Exonerator gave a peculiar laugh. “Ha, that’s just what the orthodox sects won’t tell you.” 

All the believers asked him to tell them. Hearing his diction, Wei Chengxiang sensed that he was about to start pouring evil doctrine into the believers’ ears again. She became wary and simultaneously passed the information along through the reincarnation wood.

The Exonerator’s voice echoed in the wilderness of the Land of Turmoil. “It was because when Southern He had had only a few years of prosperity, and domestic businesses had just reached a favorable balance of trade, they found that within the country—especially in the area of the Lancang Mountains—the land and the fields showed signs of heaven’s order being pilfered. Within a few years, there were a number of great pestilences in succession, and there were more and more infants born with deformities. First they thought there were monsters wreaking havoc. Lancang sent a master down from the mountain to investigate thoroughly and came up with nothing. The immortal sect couldn’t understand what was happening. The sect leader personally tested the veins of the earth…and found that when the spiritual energy of the mortal world drained away, it surged towards the Lancang Mountains. It wasn’t others pilfering heaven’s order; it was the immortal mountains.” 

“Why was that?” 

“Spiritual energy mines aren’t inexhaustible. Southern He had previously lost many spiritual stones, and Moon Plated Gold consumed a great quantity as well. The immortal mountains had a deficit of spiritual stones. Past a certain critical point, a spiritual energy mountain range will draw spiritual energy from the mortal world.” Slowly, the Exonerator said, “There wasn’t enough spiritual energy in Southern He…so what could they do?

“Five great immortal sects was truly too many. What if there were only four left? The extraneous spiritual energy mines would take at least several hundred years to burn through, and perhaps by that time, Moon Plated Gold wouldn’t need so many spiritual stones.” 

Hardly had he spoken than a scream came from nearby. All the believers crowded together in fear, but the Exonerator unhurriedly tossed out a talisman. 

There was a screech, and a winged spiritual beast with a mouth full of sharp teeth was sent reeling by the talisman. It ran away, staggering. The body of a Turmoiler was left behind on the ground… This Turmoiler had sparse hair and a build that seemed to belong to a child twelve or thirteen years old, but the face was crisscrossed with wrinkles, creased as a walnut. There was no way to determine the Turmoiler’s age or sex. 

Once the spiritual beast ran off, two Turmoilers charged out, one big and one little. They cried mournfully beside the deceased. They seemed to be a family. It made the ragged figures crouching on the ground look more human. 

There were believers who couldn’t stand to see this and were about to say something, but then they watched in terror as the older Turmoiler, wailing, extended sharp teeth and claws, tore a piece of flesh off the body, and swallowed it! 

Wei Chengxiang quickly returned her gaze to the inside of the carriage. Her stomach rolled. 

The horrifying sounds of chewing echoed in the wilderness. The Exonerators’ new believers stared dumbfounded as the two Turmoilers, one big and one little, quickly divided up the corpse and picked it clean. Only bloody remains were left on the ground. 

“They…they’re not human…” 

“Not human? These are the extra humans from the feet of the extra spiritual energy mines.” The Exonerator snapped his fingers, and the jade horse began to pull the carriage, rumbling forward. “Moon Plated Gold soars to the clouds, plunges into the sea, and cuts through mountains; it creates gold, creates silver, and creates ships; and it eats people. Ha!”  

Wei Chengxiang on the surface and Xi Ping in the underground hall simultaneously broke out in gooseflesh. 

They went far away, and the bloody smell still floated into their noses on the night wind, which also brought a small, shrill, tender childish voice. They couldn’t make out the indistinct lyrics, but the tune was the Soul Calling Melody they had sung at the funeral for their companions. 

Do not linger, a lifetime’s joys and sorrows are like illusions.

Go to the West…

“Great Wan was rich and prosperous then, and the price of spiritual stones was considerably lower than in other places. Lancang’s sect leader had asked Xuanyin for aid. He was willing to share the profits from Moon Plated Gold with Great Wan in exchange for spiritual stones. Xuanyin angrily denounced Lancang for privately using a forbidden technique and betraying our trust, and refused to work together. Yang Zou was demented. The following year, he launched a large-scale invasion of the north.” Pang Jian knocked on the statue. “This must be a carving of Southern He’s Emperor Xiaohuai, Yang Zou.” 

Xi Ping had “heard” the mourning song of the Turmoilers from Wei Chengxiang. “But later, didn’t we also…” 

“Later, the Lancang Mountains became spiritual stone mines, and all the nations took up the Gold Imitation Technique they had long coveted. Once the flood has broken through the dam, it can’t be taken back. If you’re too slow, someone else will get there ahead of you, and a hundred years later, you end up the way Southern He did,” Pang Jian said. “You think that when Southern He marched north and was able to cut contact between the immortal mountains and Jinping so easily, the other three countries didn’t have a hand in it? Come on, let’s go find an exit.” 

Xi Ping didn’t move. Pang Jian thought that the naïve young master was crushed by the immortal sect’s filthy history, so he impatiently scoffed, “The cub has left the den and finally knows there are tigers and wolves outside, huh? When a country lacks resources and the state sect isn’t strong enough, you may be an aristocrat today, but your parents, brothers, and sisters will be Turmoilers tomorrow. If General Zhi hadn’t been there then, Guangyun Palace would be like these ruins at your feet. If you have time to cry for others, you’re better off going back to put in more work. Xuanyin Mountain is the foundation on which Great Wan’s people build their lives. Don’t dawdle!” 

Xi Ping suddenly asked, “Then has my shifu been to the Land of Turmoil?” 

Pang Jian paused briefly. 

On Flying Jade Peak, the snow had nearly covered the sword platform. The spirit of the sword-bearing person meditating in the center moved slightly, and the sword aura instantly dispersed. 

Zhi Xiu opened his eyes and looked south. There was a boundless field of white there. It was unclear what he saw. 

His mind only wandered for a moment. Then he averted his gaze from distracting matters and once again continued alone along the limitless way of the sword…

Making inquiries to his heaven and earth, which failed to understand so many things. 

After saying this, Xi Ping didn’t speak again. The atmosphere suddenly became oppressive. 

The two of them each thought of their own business as they picked their way through Southern He’s imperial palace. They went this way and that among the traces of the past, from time to time stepping on skeletons. 

Suddenly, Xi Ping, who had been letting his mind wander, paused; both the half-immortals’ spiritual senses moved at once—there was a wind! 

They had left the sealed off area of the collapse. 

Xi Ping quickly noticed that something was off. The air was so rich with spiritual energy, nearly as much as Xuanyin Mountain! 

He remembered the boundless spiritual energy he had encountered when he had broken through the spiritual beast pool… That must have been the dense spiritual energy that had soaked the complex underground palace for many years, sealed inside the secret passage and accumulating. So he asked, “Shixiong, have we reached Shu’s mines?” 

“Lancang had close ties with Southern He’s imperial family. Their palace was indeed built against the immortal mountains.” Pang Jian was also frowning. He muttered to himself, “But it was like the Latent Cultivation Temple, the barrier between mortal and immortal. Why would the spiritual energy underground be so thick?” 

Xi Ping said, “We’ll know if we go look.” 

“Hey, wait!” Pang Jian held him back. He took out the talisman gun and silently shot talismans at Xi Ping’s eyes, ears, and hands. 

Having the muzzle of a gun pointed at him, no one could be unmoved. Xi Ping instinctively shuddered, then resisted and didn’t dodge. He quietly grumbled, “Shixiong, why didn’t you even warn me? If I get used to you hitting me with a talisman gun and later you fire at me for real, won’t I not know to dodge…? What kind of talismans are these? Why have I never seen them before?” 

“Bone-sharing talismans. They’re uncommon. If you didn’t have spiritual bones, these talismans would be no use—for three ke, I can share half the power of my spiritual bones with you. You can walk through walls yourself. I won’t have attention to spare for you,” Pang Jian said. “In a place where there are many spiritual stones, the guard will be heavy. Remember to hold your breath when you walk through walls and suppress your heart meridian with spiritual energy. Do you know how?” 

Xi Ping nodded. 

No wonder he’d felt like he was going to stifle to death when he’d been taken through walls by Pang-shixiong before. It turned out he had been forced to hold his breath. 

“Mind your mouth, and don’t make a sound. Sound moves faster and farther through walls. If you encounter something within the walls, don’t just touch it. Follow me closely.” Pang Jian waved to him and took the lead in slipping into the stone wall. 

Xi Ping took a deep breath and followed. This time he didn’t have the feeling of being pressed flat that being taken through walls had given him before. Only now did he learn that Pang Jian could open his eyes inside the walls and under the ground. For Pang Jian, solid walls were like a half-transparent passageway. There was slightly more resistance moving through a wall than there was in water. You could vaguely see what there was outside the wall. 

The two of them walked through the walls, following the spiritual energy. Soon, they vaguely saw the white light of gas lamps. This was an underground storehouse, with a sentry every three paces and and a patrol every five, guarded strictly enough for an imperial palace. 

The corner of Pang Jian’s eye twitched: the encampments and mines had many storehouses. What was being kept in this underground storehouse?