Chapter 00058: Out of Place
# Out of Place?
Chapter 58
Novel: After the Immortals Disappeared
Chapter 58: Out of Place?
But no one had expected that the undead Great Wind Army could still employ such tactics.
It was clear they had calculated that no matter how powerful the Heavenly Thunder Formation was, it had its limits.
By using ordinary vengeful spirits to deplete the formation's power, once the formation failed, wouldn't these living people become easy prey?
The sandstorm season had just begun, and as undead, they had almost infinite time.
The living, however, could not afford to wait.
After enduring hundreds of vengeful spirits crashing into the formation, the electric light of the talisman array was noticeably less active.
Clearly, even borrowing power from the heavens had its limits.
And the Great Wind Army was testing just how much of that limit remained.
After this batch of vengeful spirits was exhausted, the Great Wind Army pushed out another thousand vengeful spirits.
In the current Panlong Desert, these were in no short supply.
The living people felt their vision darken, and their composure wavered.
A trusted aide whispered hoarsely, "Governor, we... we..."
If this happened again, would the formation be directly breached?
"Stay calm! The more panicked we are, the faster the formation will break!" He Chunhua shouted.
"As long as the State Preceptor retrieves the Great Square Pot, our predicament will resolve itself!"
Amid the chaos, someone muttered softly, "How much longer will that take?"
He Chunhua suddenly turned and with a swing of his sword, sliced off half of the man's ear.
"Do you want to kill your comrades? Anyone who disrupts morale will be executed without mercy!"
The sight of blood actually calmed everyone down a bit.
Another few hundred vengeful spirits, driven by the Great Wind Army, crashed into the Heavenly Thunder Formation and were obliterated.
At this point, even He Chunhua felt a bit dizzy.
Looking back at the formation's staff, the color of the Sheji Token held in the beast's mouth had faded, and the cyan light was weakening.
This was due to the continuous depletion of morale.
But the blood in the well only rippled slightly, with no other movement.
The Great Wind Army itself hadn't suffered any losses, only sending cannon fodder into the fray.
How much longer could they hold out?
He Chunhua sighed inwardly.
In the end, they had fallen into the State Preceptor's trap.
The heroic spirits of Panlong City had spent their lives defending against invasions and were especially sensitive to the aura of foreign armies.
Moreover, with the use of the Sheji Token, these hundred or so living people were like a beacon in the dark night.
It was impossible for the Great Wind Army not to notice them.
Hmm? Speaking of auras...
He Chunhua suddenly remembered something and felt a surge of energy.
￥￥￥￥￥
The south gate was right there.
Whether they walked fast or slow, they would eventually reach it.
Now, the south city wall was becoming clearer in their vision.
After walking another two or three miles, they would arrive at the south gate.
The buildings in the southern part of the city were intact.
Nian Songyu hadn't made his move yet.
Panlong City's geographical location was special, with its defensive focus on the south.
During this period, apart from the south gate, the walls on the east and west sides were rudimentary, with no military equipment installed, and there was no gate at all on the north side.
The only place where fire could be quickly and extensively launched into the city was the south gate.
Coincidentally, the residential focus of Panlong City was also in the south, with over sixty percent of the city's dwellings concentrated here.
He Lingchuan looked at the south gate and thought that Nian and Sun probably also felt that setting fires in the other three directions wasn't the priority, so they left the southern buildings untouched, waiting for the four of them to regroup.
Waiting to regroup?
He Lingchuan felt that something was off.
At that moment, the two of them were about to pass by a large mansion by the stream.
After passing through a theater building, they would reach the main street, and then it was a straight shot to the south gate.
Mao Tao was already drenched in sweat.
He crouched down and scooped up a handful of water to wash his face.
The water in the illusion couldn't be drunk, but it felt real enough to cool down and soothe the nerves.
"Let's go," he said, standing up and striding forward.
But He Lingchuan grabbed him by the collar.
"Wait."
"What?"
He Lingchuan didn't say anything.
He jumped onto the mansion's outer wall and quickly climbed up to the watchtower.
Within a radius of several miles, this was the tallest building, offering an unobstructed view.
Mao Tao didn't bother with the effort.
He walked through the mansion gate into the courtyard and then climbed the stairs.
By the time he found He Lingchuan, the young master was staring intently to the south, muttering, "Out of place, out of place!"
Mao Tao quickly asked, "What's wrong? What's out of place?"
His attitude toward He Lingchuan had become increasingly humble, unlike the initial flattery of a spoiled young master.
This change had happened without him even realizing it.
He Lingchuan kept his eyes fixed on the south gate and pointed.
"Do you see the totem?"
"Yeah, I see it."
The relief on the city wall was a huge black dragon totem.
It was hard to miss.
"When we saw the triple walls in the desert ruins, the innermost wall also had this black dragon totem, exactly the same."
Mao Tao thought hard and nodded.
"Right, I remember that."
"Don't you think there's a problem?"
Mao Tao was even more confused.
"What problem? Young master, please explain. Don't be like State Preceptor Sun."
He Lingchuan slowly turned to look at him.
"The best performance by the Blackwater City opera troupe, the one everyone loves to hear, is called 'Panlong Breaks the Army Formation.' You've heard it, right?" Who hasn't? "It mentions the guardian beast of the Xiluo Kingdom."
Mao Tao: "It says the guardian beast of Xiluo, the Golden Ox, is invincible—"
Wait, why was he singing?
"The guardian beast of Xiluo is the Golden Ox, right?" He Lingchuan gestured toward the south gate with his chin.
"But the gate has a black dragon! Look, there's an altar in front of the relief, and a large bronze incense burner with a phoenix holding a ring. This kind of treatment isn't something a local deity would receive. Panlong City is treating it as a national or city guardian beast!"
"But the ruins outside also have a black dragon. This—" Suddenly, a light bulb went off in Mao Tao's head, and his eyes widened.
"That's strange! This is Panlong City during peacetime. Even if they were to worship a guardian beast, it should be the Golden Ox!"
"The worship of guardian beasts follows strict protocols in every country, and border towns can't violate them. Otherwise, it's a serious offense, and if discovered, there would be big trouble."
He Lingchuan said, "Panlong City should have originally worshipped the Golden Ox like the rest of the country. Perhaps after years of war and isolation, they became increasingly disillusioned with their homeland and turned to worshiping the Heavenly God Mi Tian, changing the relief to a black dragon."
"Logically, the illusion of Panlong City shouldn't have this flaw. But as a treasure of the Heavenly God Mi Tian, the Great Square Pot wouldn't allow anything its master didn't approve of to appear here. So, the flaw has been preserved."
He Lingchuan shook his head.
"But it's just too obvious, standing there in plain sight. Even if the living who enter see it, they wouldn't think much of it."
After all, the Xiluo Kingdom had fallen over a hundred years ago.
People today can only learn about it from records and aren't as sensitive to it as they are to their own country.
Mao Tao exclaimed, "No wonder Tao Bo mentioned in his notes that there's something here that's out of place with reality! Young master, you have a sharp eye. Let's report this to the State Preceptor!"
He grabbed the window ledge to jump down, but his collar tightened again as He Lingchuan grabbed him.
"What's the rush?"
"Shouldn't we report it?" Mao Tao was momentarily confused.
(End of Chapter)