Chapter 420: Not Enemies, Yet We Meet

They were also busy settling their horses, shaking off water, and starting a fire. In such heavy wind and rain, even wearing rain capes and oilskins, they couldn't avoid getting soaked. Eventually, they had to go by the fire to dry off and warm up.

Seeing that they made no unusual moves, the Stonegate merchant team then put down their weapons and sat back.

He Lingchuan looked at the people, horses, and campfire opposite them, then turned his head to ask Fu Shanyue, "Did they chase you all the way to this wilderness?"

He was surprised to see a familiar face, but the other party didn't seem to recognize him.

Yes, the man who violently searched the Golden Spring private room last night was right across from them. However, He Lingchuan remembered there were two men and one demon then; now there was only one man and one demon, and the other man was nowhere to be seen.

Considering they had a fight with local thugs last night, it wasn't surprising that one person was missing. They might not be dead, but could have been arrested or detained.

"Probably not," Fu Shanyue said, wrapping himself tightly so only his eyes were visible, lurking in the shadows behind He Lingchuan, careful not to be noticed. "Traveling north to Chiyan Country, you definitely have to pass through these mountains. They were probably also driven in by the storm. Heh heh, this is what they call 'enemies always meet'."

His attire was perfectly normal for a traveler, and the Chian people opposite seemed relaxed, as if they truly hadn't noticed him.

"What are you going to do?"

Fu Shanyue leaned forward, almost whispering into He Lingchuan's ear, "That fierce tiger is Uncle Da."

There were only two demons opposite them: an owl, which He Lingchuan had encountered last night, and a fierce tiger. He Lingchuan had not expected Fu Shanyue to call a tiger "Uncle."

This fierce tiger was slightly smaller than typical tigers but appeared more well-proportioned, with fur a darker, more burnt color. It had a large face with slanted eyes and a white forehead, and its jowls were puffy. Moments ago, as it slowly padded out of the darkness, it exuded the intimidating aura of a boss patrolling his territory, causing the Stonegate merchant team's cattle and horses to become restless. Several crossbow horses reared up in fright, about to bolt into the mountains.

The stablehands desperately tried to calm them, and combined with the fierce tiger crouching motionlessly by the fire without any other movements, the horses grudgingly stood still. However, they frequently pawed the ground and snorted, their emotions still agitated and uneasy.

He Lingchuan noticed that when the fierce tiger crouched down, even the flames seemed to falter.

He recalled the pair of fierce tigers that ambushed him by Three-Heart Lake; although larger than Uncle Da, they had nowhere near the same oppressive presence.

A guard who had been by the Chian King's side for over a hundred years was not someone to be trifled with. When He Lingchuan helped Fu Shanyue treat his wound last night, he saw a conical blood hole in his arm, pierced through and through. Now, comparing that to the long fangs the fierce tiger revealed when it yawned, He Lingchuan felt he had found the weapon.

Uncle Da's tiger teeth seemed a bit longer than those of ordinary tigers.

Fu Shanyue used a talisman to mask his scent, and with the pouring rain, otherwise the bloody smell on him would surely have alerted the fierce tiger's sense of smell long ago.

Their conversation was extremely quiet, further muffled by the drumming rain. Although the fierce tiger didn't look their way, its ears twitched in their direction, and its tail moved slightly.

Fu Shanyue immediately fell silent.

He Lingchuan subtly observed the carriage opposite them. A thin, small man jumped down from the carriage, carrying a golden basin. He was going to fetch hot water by the campfire, but just as he reached out, a guard nearby, in a bad mood, kicked him and snapped, "Worthless slave, don't you know to wash the basin first?"

"Yes, yes, alright." The man didn't get angry; he got up, forced a smile, and ran with the basin towards a nearby stream, disregarding the pouring rain outside.

The guard by the campfire watched his retreating back and spat on the ground, "Swine!"

The sound of the basin hitting the ground was also heard by the Stonegate merchant team members, but they only glanced in that direction.

This servant was undoubtedly one of the 'worthless slaves' from Twilight Plain. He meticulously washed the golden basin three times before bringing it back to fill with hot water. The other guards sat casually, but he huddled up, moving cautiously. This time, he had learned his lesson; before climbing into the carriage, he first removed the clumps of mud and grass stalks from his clothes to avoid dirtying the interior.

Therefore, the passenger inside the carriage was quite distinguished.

Just by observing how all the guards, including Uncle Da, protected it in the center like stars surrounding the moon, there was no need to ask who was inside.

He Lingchuan smiled and asked Fu Shanyue, "How can the difference in your treatment be so vast?"

One was surrounded by attendants and a throng of guards, while the other, Fu Shanyue, was wounded and down on his luck, hiding his identity and cowering within a small country's merchant team.

The difference between having a doting father and not was like heaven and earth.

Fu Shanyue rolled his eyes, speechless, but was secretly alarmed:

Dead people don't need hot water, so why was Fu Shanji still alive?

He had clearly been pricked by the petrification poison... Fu Shanyue was confident in his methods and had experimented with this poison. The Son of God's poison was almost incurable; with Fu Shanji's cultivation level, he shouldn't have survived more than ten hours.

Just then, Taozi brought him a cup of hot water, which Fu Shanyue refused. He Lingchuan observed the little girl; the stitched wound on her lip had already healed.

From her appearance alone, no one would now associate her with being a witch child.

He Lingchuan suddenly said, "Is Taozi sick?"

The little girl's lips were pale, but her cheeks were flushed. Fine beads of sweat glistened on her forehead, and her face showed signs of pain.

He Lingchuan pressed her forehead: "She has a fever."

It was unclear when she had caught a cold, but she was long accustomed to pain and endured it with gritted teeth, without a word.

Fu Shanyue scrutinized her for a moment, then suddenly leaned in and sniffed twice.

The gesture was dog-like, and Taozi squirmed uncomfortably.

"Common folk don't get sick that easily," Fu Shanyue said faintly. "She has inhaled too much malevolent energy."

The poor are tough-lived. Actually, he should have said the opposite: common folk who easily got sick would have long turned into bones; only the sturdy ones remained.

"Malevolent energy?" He Lingchuan was slightly surprised, then realized. Spirit Void City had sent people here to purify and disperse the malevolent energy at least a dozen times, but judging by the current state of Twilight Plain, the results were not good.

After all, that world-shaking massacre had occurred in every corner of Twilight Plain. It was like weeds, pulled out only to grow back.

Fu Shanyue had an innate ability to absorb malevolent energy and felt right at home on Twilight Plain. But upon arriving at the ruins of Ganxing City, one of the densest concentrations and sources of malevolent energy, the energy didn't flock to him; instead, the little girl beside him seemed more appealing.

"So Taozi really is a witch child."

"Hmm, she should learn how to control malevolent energy," Fu Shanyue mused. "Otherwise, the malevolent energy here will likely kill her. Even if she doesn't die, absorbing too much of it will turn her into a true ill omen."

Taozi timidly asked, "Will I harm other people?"

"That's their business if they're meant to die, what does it have to do with you?" Fu Shanyue patted her head. "At most, you'll become a 'Malevolent Child of the Earth'. If you stay in one place for too long, people around you will get sick, and crops in the fields will wilt – just like this Twilight Plain."

Taozi's logic was clear, however: "Sick people die easily. So if they die, isn't it my fault?"

"I told you, they're meant to die," Fu Shanyue said cheerfully. "Who told them to be so frail?"

He looked up and saw He Lingchuan's appraising gaze. "What?"

"You two are quite alike," He Lingchuan said, stroking his chin. "Both can absorb malevolent energy."

Speaking of which, weren't the first 'mei' (mischievous spirits/demons) formed when resentful corpses encountered malevolent energy from the earth?

Fu Shanyue scoffed, "Well, we both eat rice, so how come you don't think we're alike?"

As if the heavens had pressed a button, the wild wind and rain suddenly subsided. After about the time it takes to steep a cup of tea, the gloom completely dispersed. The night sky miraculously cleared to reveal the moon, which shone exceptionally bright, its light like mercury, even casting a hazy glow across the ground, allowing travelers to see their surroundings without a campfire.

Only the scent of mud and grass remained, a reminder of the recent storm.

The weather in the mountains was truly unpredictable.

The little witch child, Taozi, suddenly pointed forward. "It's changing!"

The ground's moisture, mixed with moonlight, suddenly rose from the earth, beginning to change shape.

This wasn't just in the direction she pointed, but throughout the ruins where everyone stood.

People who had come here for the first time drew their weapons with a clang, as if facing a great enemy. Second Boss Shi, however, waved his hand. "Calm down, this is just an illusion that appears occasionally. It's completely harmless!"

The moisture began to rise from the foundation of the Ganxing City ruins, quickly forming the shapes of city walls, high platforms, and buildings.

Enormous structures, seemingly a palace, "grew" from the stone house where they were staying. He Lingchuan lifted his hand and passed it through the palace wall as expected, feeling nothing but a slight coolness.

Under the moonlight, everything was rapidly restoring itself.

In just about half an hour, the phantom of a complete ancient city rose from the ground. Not only was it grand and intact, but even the people running within the city, though also phantoms, had remarkably clear facial features.

A full-scale restoration.

The Ganxing City of old thus traversed time and space, reappearing before the world.

He Lingchuan then realized that the Stonegate merchant team was actually located in the armory, just behind the city gate.

Inside and outside the city, battle cries shook the heavens. Armored giant elephants, carrying battering rams, relentlessly struck the city gate, again and again.

These colossal elephants were over two *zhang* (more than six meters) tall, with long, sharp, curved tusks exceeding one *zhang*. Their mountain-like bodies were equipped with formidable armor, rendering the arrows shot from above the city utterly useless.

The battering rams had dragon heads holding fire seeds, and with each impact, a layer of red light shattered on the city gate's surface.

That was a barrier formed by elemental energy, and it was about to break.

In front of the city gate, a surging tide of enemies, densely packed with all sorts of bizarre demons, roared to shake the heavens.

Even though they knew these were mere illusions, the living people standing there still felt their scalps tingle.

The Chian people opposite were positioned right among the demon army, and Uncle Da, lying down amidst the phantom demons, didn't look out of place at all.

Ladder after ladder was propped against the city walls, and with heavy casualties among the defenders on the ramparts, the defense grew weaker and weaker.

Since these were just illusions and posed no danger, the living members of the merchant team simply grouped up in twos and threes to explore this ancient city lost to history.

Fu Shanyue pointed at Second Boss Shi, signaling the witch child, "Stay close to him." Then he said to He Lingchuan, "Shall we go for a walk?"