Chapter 26: Positioned Low, Be Cautious

Ahead, a half-peak rose, its slopes barren and bald, with only a few sparse clumps of bushes clinging to its nooks and crannies. Yet, any newcomer to the area would undoubtedly be drawn to it by its utterly unique shape:

The upper half of the peak was gone, yet it didn't appear to have broken off due to weathering. The fracture was exceptionally flat, as if it had been cleanly sliced in two by a diagonal swing of a blade!

The fracture was stark and resolute.

One had to remember that this was an entire sharp peak, millions of tons of rock and earth, not a mere bamboo grove that could be easily cut down.

A local legend claimed that in ancient times, immortals battled here, and one of them cleaved the mountain with a single sword stroke. Thus, this fractured peak became known as "Immortal's Cleave."

Such legends were common throughout this realm and difficult to verify. However, He Lingchuan's original self had actually climbed "Immortal's Cleave" several years ago and personally witnessed how remarkably smooth and even the fracture was, with not a single bump or indentation over such a vast area—a level of precision that even skilled artisans could not achieve with careful polishing.

Whether man-made or not, it was unfathomable.

Sun Fuping gazed at the half-peak, as if feeling the fierce and sharp residual energy of that ancient sword strike. After a long silence, he slowly exhaled. "The Dao is boundless," he murmured.

Further ahead, after turning past a mountain hollow, an old populus euphratica tree stood alone by the roadside. And strikingly, two people were hanging from its dry, rigid branches.

The wind blew, and the bodies swayed.

Many passersby had gathered beneath the tree, pointing and whispering amongst themselves.

When Grand Tutor Sun's contingent approached for a closer look, they saw two white boards hanging from the bodies, inscribed with "Courtesy" and "Reciprocity."

Nian Songyu and Sun Fuping's expressions instantly changed. Their keen eyes immediately spotted transparent tags pinned to the lapels of both corpses, each bearing the characters "Donglai."

Two Donglai Prefecture guards, who had been dispatched to track the West Mountain Sand Leopards, had gone missing on their way to Heishui City. Sun and Nian were aware of this, as they were the ones who had assigned the personnel. However, with clues about the sand leopard's whereabouts emerging at the time, they hadn't pursued an investigation.

Now, these two had become corpses, lying across their inevitable path.

Nian Songyu instantly determined that both men had died from broken necks and had been tortured before their deaths.

Grand Tutor Sun saw Nian's face flush red and veins bulge on his neck. He quickly grabbed Nian's shoulder. "Don't be impulsive! Isn't this what we expected?" he said. These two guards had been missing for a long time; their side had already deduced the possibility of their deaths.

"The Donglai Prefecture personnel were assigned by us; this little scoundrel is retaliating against us!" Nian Songyu gnashed his teeth. He had killed one hawk demon, and the other side had harmed two of their own in retaliation.

Donglai Prefecture was, after all, too far from the border, so the Grand Marshal had assigned his own guards for the two of them to deploy.

Grand Tutor Sun's expression darkened. "The big picture is more important!" he said. "No infighting now."

"Once we get the Great Square Flask..." Nian Songyu gritted his teeth, knowing that He Lingchuan had correctly anticipated their continued reliance on the Heishui City army, and thus they couldn't fall out just yet. He turned and angrily called out, "He Lingchuan!"

He Chunhua was also greatly startled to suddenly see the corpses. Weren't these two supposed to be held in the Red-White Dao farm?

He then recalled that his eldest son had always acted recklessly.

Though he had been slightly more restrained in the past two months, that didn't mean his nature had changed.

Nian Songyu called out twice before He Lingchuan slowly rode forward, facing Nian Songyu's barely contained fury. "Commander Nian, what's the matter?" he asked.

"Do you recognize these two?"

He Lingchuan scrutinized the bodies for a few moments, secretly alarmed. Had Uncle Hao truly vented all his anger?

"Of course not," He Lingchuan replied. "With so many people coming and going in Heishui City, how could I possibly remember every single name?" He paused. "Oh, they even have Donglai Prefecture tags. How could important figures like these end up hanging in such a desolate place?"

"Very well," Nian Songyu said, smiling instead of showing anger. He suddenly changed the subject. "When companions die on the Red Cliff Road, how do you all handle the bodies?"

He instantly guessed that He Lingchuan must have killed the two guards. This brat was trying to rub it in, and the more he asked, the more he would be ridiculed.

There was no point in further conversation; no need to delve deeper.

"If they can't be brought back, then sky burial," He Lingchuan said with a shrug. "Anyway, they didn't have a good end, so let the creatures of the desert thank nature for its bounty."

He Chunhua quickly interjected, "Most are earth-buried."

"Then earth burial it is." After all, they were from Donglai Prefecture; it wouldn't be good to leave their bodies exposed in the wilderness.

He Lingchuan chuckled. "A trivial matter. Commander Nian should focus on the present and not delay the troop's progress."

He finally had the satisfaction of throwing that line back.

A flash of malice crossed Nian Songyu's eyes. He then instructed Zeng Feixiong to have men take down the two bodies and bury them on the spot.

The contingent, of course, couldn't wait and continued forward.

The feeling of being watched by Nian Songyu was like having a venomous snake on his back, chilling him to the bone. He Lingchuan pulled his father to slow down, walking in the middle of the contingent.

Commander Nian, being such a proud man, naturally led the way; he couldn't possibly keep looking back at He Lingchuan, could he?

"What are you doing?" He Chunhua whispered, rebuking his son. "Killing those two achieves nothing but further enmity with Nian Songyu."

He didn't know that Uncle Hao had killed the men.

"It lets off steam!" He Lingchuan said, seeing his father's composed rebuke and unable to help but sneer. "Those two schemed against us without limits, so I'm not allowed to retaliate? Besides, he needs our help; this is precisely not the time for him to turn against us."

"If we return alive, in the future..."

"If we return with the treasure, the Grand Marshal will be overjoyed; why would he bother with such a minor matter?" He Lingchuan said listlessly. "Father, you're not old yet, but your courage has shrunk."

He Chunhua pondered for a moment, his face slightly shadowed. "You're right," he admitted. "I was too cautious."

He always thought about serving as an official in the same court in the future, especially since his family had just returned to the capital and their foundations were unstable, making it best to make fewer enemies.

His thinking might not be wrong, but with such a hesitant and overly cautious mindset in front of the powerful, how could he ever achieve great things?

As he inwardly admonished himself, he then said to He Lingchuan, "Chuan'er, you're still blaming me for dragging you along, aren't you?"

Given the question, should he readily answer "yes," or falsely say "no"? He Lingchuan could only chuckle faintly, "How could your son dare?"

"Which father doesn't wish for his son to be safe and successful?" He Chunhua said, patting his shoulder. "But in this world, it's impossible. Chuan'er, you're not a child anymore; it's time you had some proper experience."

He Lingchuan couldn't help but say, "When others gain experience, the difficulty progresses from low to high." Only his father threw him straight into the deep end.

His eldest son was indeed full of resentment. He Chunhua chuckled. "Don't blame your old man for being cruel," he said. "With you here, our chances of returning home safely increase by at least twenty percent. The Grand Shaman's words were no joke."

He Lingchuan rolled his eyes. If the original body was truly a lucky general, why had he died so silently, and why was his body now occupied by an outsider like him?

But this rhetorical question could only be kept to himself.

Arguing now would be useless. Moreover, as a local official and his father, He Chunhua didn't actually need to explain anything further to him.