Chapter 00025: A Cup of Clear Water for Twenty Coins
# A Cup of Clear Water for Twenty Coins
Chapter 25
Novel: After the Immortals Disappeared
Chapter 25: A Cup of Clear Water for Twenty Coins
The scene just now had scared the white dog so much that it barked and ran away.
The monster chased after it, and both soon disappeared behind the sand dunes.
The caravan leader in the back cursed loudly.
With one less guest to escort, his payment would also be reduced.
This was the Panlong Desert's way of greeting everyone.
The relaxed atmosphere among all the groups who witnessed this vanished instantly.
Zeng Feixiong retracted his gaze and muttered, "It's his fault. On the Red Cliff Road, even children and dogs need to be tied up."
"This is the first time I've seen such a big yellow flounder," He Lingchuan exclaimed.
His original body often went hunting and knew that the yellow flounder wasn't a fish but a monster that lurked in the desert and the Gobi, ambushing small animals.
It could dive and surface freely in the desert, moving faster than any four-legged creature.
But this thing was usually only slightly larger than a dog.
Even if it became a demon, it shouldn't have been that big!
"This is the Panlong Desert," Zeng Feixiong said, having escorted caravans through here many times and was no longer surprised.
"The resentful spirits affect everything here. Even intelligent demons, if they stay in the desert too long, will become corrupted."
That made sense.
That's why sand leopards, though they hunt in the Panlong Desert, usually live and breed in the Western Mountains.
...
The majestic desert, after a while, became monotonous.
The journey was calm and boring.
As long as you didn't step off the Red Cliff Road, you only had to deal with the hot wind, the blazing sun, and sandstorms.
For prepared and experienced groups, these were bearable.
After three days, the group finally arrived at Baiyuan Station.
This was a relay station on the Red Cliff Road, a resting place for traveling merchants.
Its predecessor was an ancient city.
There were over a dozen ancient cities on the Panlong Wasteland, but only a few remained after a hundred years.
Baiyuan City had long been swallowed by the yellow sand.
Later, people excavated its old foundation and built a few rows of houses along the Red Cliff Road.
Like the Red Cliff Road, the ancient city's area was safe from attacks by resentful spirits and monsters, making it a good resting spot for merchants.
As the group entered Baiyuan Station, He Chunhua hurried to negotiate with the stationmaster.
Yes, Blackwater City had a station here, managed by a dedicated official.
However, the regulations here were much looser than in the Great Falcon Kingdom.
In such times and places, the power of money became evident.
Baiyuan Station allowed passing merchants to pitch tents.
It also sold food and water.
If people wanted to indulge, they could rent small huts.
Of course, the Panlong Desert itself had no water source.
All food, water, and building materials had to be transported from Blackwater City.
Where there's demand, there's business.
To do business here, one had to establish connections with the stationmaster and go through the trouble of transporting goods to this barren land.
With all the costs added up, a basic meal of a bun and a bottle of water selling for thirty coins wasn't expensive, right?
A bowl of lamb soup with bread, the kind with only oil and no meat, selling for two silver coins, wasn't expensive, right?
A small hut for the night, renting for five taels of silver, made you feel like you were getting a bargain, right?
If you wanted to take a hot bath in the desert to wash away the dust and fatigue of the journey—
Grand Tutor Sun, Commandant Nian, and the eldest son of the He family all wanted this, so Prefect He had to splurge.
Just this one expense could buy five acres of prime farmland near Blackwater City, a permanent asset.
After the bath and a few luxurious meals to fill half his stomach, He Lingchuan finally felt better.
With his strong physique, these three days of travel had been exhausting.
He didn't know how many more hardships lay ahead.
In contrast, He Chunhua still seemed at ease, clearly not as weak as he appeared.
He Lingchuan also bought a few meals for Zeng Feixiong.
Otherwise, this man, being short on money, would have had to eat cold buns with the soldiers.
Zeng Feixiong felt embarrassed and tried to refuse several times, but he couldn't match He Lingchuan's determination.
In the end, he could only accept with gratitude.
He Lingchuan knew this man was straightforward but not reckless.
Since he was leading the troops into the desert this time, He Lingchuan patted his shoulder and said, "Eat and drink well, so you have the strength to work. The safety of my father and me is in your hands."
"Prefect He and you have treated me with great kindness and solved my worries. I will repay you with my life!"
"Repaying with your life is too much," He Lingchuan laughed.
"By the way, I heard your father was the only survivor who returned from the Panlong Ruins?"
Zeng Feixiong's expression darkened.
"Yes, twenty years ago, someone paid a hefty sum to hire him as a guide. He was the only one who came back alive. But he lost his mind, and even the great shaman couldn't cure him. No one knows what happened. All he does is mutter one word—water."
"Water?" The desert was indeed short of water.
What kind of suffering had Zeng Feixiong's father endured to make him obsess over water even after going mad?
At this moment, Sun Fuping called for them, gathering a few leaders to his hut for a meeting.
The guards brought in a lot of yellow sand from outside and poured it onto the table.
A simple sand table was set up.
"We're almost done with the Red Cliff Road," Zeng Feixiong gestured on the sand table.
"The day after tomorrow, we'll leave the main road and enter the desert. The real test begins then."
"The Red Cliff Road originally connected to Panlong City," he continued.
As a military road, it had to at least transport troops and supplies to the city's edge.
"Not long after the Panlong Wasteland turned into a desert, nearby mountains collapsed and destroyed this road."
He drew a circle on the sand table.
"To reach Panlong City, we'll have to take a detour, entering through the gap at Mount Ying."
This detour wasn't on the Red Cliff Road, and the dangers they would face would increase significantly.
In comparison, the past three days of travel had been as easy as a vacation.
Next, they discussed various strategies.
Although the He father and son had some issues with Sun and Nian, when it came to their own lives, they discussed things with great focus.
He Lingchuan had been silently listening until the discussion was almost over.
Then he asked a question that had been on his mind for a long time:
"As an isolated city surrounded by enemies, Panlong City held out for thirty-two years, which is almost miraculous. So, what finally caused it to fall?" This was one of the mysteries of the Panlong Desert.
Neither history books nor local legends provided a definitive answer.
Only storytellers offered some far-fetched explanations.
"Could it be, as the locals of Blackwater City say, that Zhong Shengguang's death from illness caused Panlong City to lose its backbone?"
People tend to seek reasonable explanations for unsolved mysteries.
Zhong Shengguang had defended Panlong City for over thirty years, aging from a young man to an old man.
Years of warfare would take a toll on both body and mind.
This explanation was one of the more plausible ones He Lingchuan had heard.
He was curious about the truth.
"From the clues I've gathered, this legend does have some merit. Panlong City did lose its backbone," Sun Fuping said, pouring himself a cup of water—a cup of clear water that cost twenty coins.
"But it wasn't Zhong Shengguang. It was General Red!"
(End of Chapter)