Ch. 100 – Western Qiang

T/N: Posting two chapters because they’re super short!

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Before Fang Yang could figure anything out, Wang Wu changed the subject: “Do you know which country the ruins we’re heading toward belonged to?”

There was a brief silence. Feng Ye thought about it, and found that he really couldn’t remember. He had come here to find the Living Soil, and hadn’t paid attention to the history of the city buried beneath Longqiu.

When nobody answered, Cao Zirui replied: “Western Qiang.”

His purpose in coming here mirrored Feng Ye’s: both were searching for the Living Soil. Along the way, Cao Zirui had gradually realized that Feng Ye coming here was no coincidence, and that the Living Soil was his goal as well.

But Feng Ye didn’t have Jianmu in his possession, so what use did he have for the Living Soil?

Cao Zirui refrained from asking him directly, because he remembered his master’s instructions. The search for the Living Soil must be carried out in secret, and the fact that the small jar he carried on his back contained the Jianmu sprout could not be revealed to others.

Regardless of Feng Ye’s true motives for seeking out the Living Soil, his coming here provided a convenient shield for Cao Zirui, so he never asked.

He had done his own research before departing, carefully studying historical files and receiving guidance from Ji Chengyue. In some ways, his understanding of Longqiu was even deeper than Feng Ye’s.

Therefore, he was able to immediately answer which country the ruins belonged to. And he was even able to explain it to the history novice Fang Yang, who looked completely stumped: “It was an ancient kingdom that existed over a thousand years ago. It only lasted for a little over a hundred years before being destroyed by the rising Southern Chu.”

“All of the former cities of Western Qiang have changed hands, except for this royal city. Because the King of Southern Chu disliked Longqiu’s climate, he returned to his old capital in the south and abandoned the city. Later, a massive earthquake struck and caused the landscape to crumble, destroying the royal city completely. Now, only a few ruins still stand above ground, and the rest are buried deep under the soil.”

“Haha, you know a lot, young man!” Wang Wu praised him. Then he said: “Let me give you another test. Western Qiang was originally just a tribe in Longqiu, yet within a few short years, it grew powerful enough to conquer the central plains and become a unified dynasty. Do you know why?”

Cao Zirui honestly shook his head. He wasn’t here to be an archeologist, so how could he possess comprehensive knowledge about the history of Western Qiang?

“Because of their priest,” answered Wang Wu.

But he might as well have not answered at all, because Feng Ye and the others were still completely baffled.

“Can a priest influence the fate of a nation?” Fang Yang raised his hand as he asked this question. He didn’t feel that it was possible. How could one person’s power determine the prosperity of an entire country?

“Hehe.” Wang Wu chuckled meaningfully and shook his head: “This priest was no ordinary person.”

“The people of Western Qiang valued martial prowess, and although the King of Western Qiang was brave and skilled in battle, the world at that time was filled with warlords. Each was a powerful ruler who held dominion over their own regions, yet it was Western Qiang who achieved the final victory, thanks to their priest.”

“Western Qiang firmly believed in the power of the supernatural. The priest in charge of sacrifices held a high position, and the sacrificial methods were passed down from generation to generation. And the priest who assisted the King of Western Qiang in his unification efforts was known as the Ghost Mask Priest. He was an unprecedented genius, with eight ghost generals under his command.”

Eight ghost generals…..the others were puzzled by these three words, because they had never heard the history of Western Qiang, let alone anything about ghost generals.

Feng Ye alone was stunned when he heard this. Although he quickly masked his brief lapse in composure, Hao Chen still caught a faint trace of it. 

What’s so strange about these eight ghost generals? Hao Chen wondered.

Just then, Fang Yang asked: “What are those eight ghost generals? Were they very powerful?”

“They were indeed very capable generals, but they were different from ordinary ones. They…..” Wang Wu drew out the suspense before saying: “As ghost generals, they were naturally ghosts.”

“Malicious ghosts,” Wang Wu added.

Malicious ghosts…..Feng Ye was stunned once again.

Hao Chen was the only one who noticed Feng Ye’s unusual behavior, while Wang Wu and the others continued their discussion.

“Malicous ghosts?!” Fang Yang exclaimed in shock. “You mean the priest of Western Qiang could control ghosts?”

“That’s right,” Wang Wu affirmed with a nod. “He not only knew how to control ghosts, but how to refine them. This technique was passed down through generations of Western Qiang priests. Back then, it was considered remarkable for a priest to create even one ghost general. The Ghost Mask Priest, however, was exceptionally talented, and created eight.”

“They felt no pain, and had no emotions. When they fought, they killed anyone who got in their way, massacring a hundred people at once. They were invincible. In every battle, large or small, whenever one of these legendary generals was dispatched, Western Qiang was sure to emerge victorious. It was precisely for this reason that Western Qiang prevailed over all of the other powers and unified the land.”

Fang Yang and Cao Zirui exchanged a brief glance, the same thought flickering through their eyes: since the priests of Western Qiang could control ghosts and had passed the technique down through generations, it must be considered a method of cultivation.

Such cultivation methods were actually quite common, and many tribes hidden deep in the mountains had their own specializations. Outsiders called it witchcraft, but to cultivators, it was nothing more than a kind of technique.

Just as their Lingxiao Sword Sect specialized in swordsmanship, the ghost path and the sword path were simply two different inclinations, and could not be judged as good or evil.

But the ghost path inevitably involved spirits, and spirits were originally living people. The method they used to refine these ghosts was what would ultimately determine whether the priests of Western Qiang were righteous or demonic.

However, this was not something that should be discussed in front of Wang Wu and Zhao Yi, so the two communicated with their eyes rather than speaking.

And while Hao Chen appeared to be listening to Wang Wu, he was actually observing Feng Ye.

Feng Ye seemed to be in a prolonged daze, his mind wandering farther the longer Wang Wu spoke.

Despite receiving no response from the others, Wang Wu continued talking on his own.

He rubbed his hands together, and after such a long build-up, finally got to what he’d wanted to say in the first place: “When the Southern Chu army captured the royal city, they returned to their capital after only a few days, leaving many of the treasures in the city untouched. They planned to move it all away later, but then a massive earthquake struck and buried the entire royal city of Western Qiang underground. The Southern Chu army tried to search for it, but to no avail.”

“Over the past thousand years, many people have come to search for the treasure of Western Qiang, but none have ever found it. I’ve heard that besides gold, silver, and jade, this royal city also contains many magic artifacts that are rarely seen in the human world, which can also communicate with spirits and gods. These items originally belonged to the priests, but now, they’ve been left to gather dust deep under the earth. Who knows when – or if – anyone will discover them and bring these treasures back into the light of day?” Wang Wu let out a performative sigh.

When he was done speaking, he observed the expressions of Feng Ye and the other three. He certainly wasn’t wasting so much breath just to educate these four people; how could a bandit have such good intentions?

He just wanted to tell them that there was treasure buried beneath these ruins that could tempt even cultivators, so that they would be lured underground to fight that man-eating monster.

Although he already believed that Feng Ye and his crew had come here for the treasure, what if they hadn’t? If they just so happened to be unaware of the treasure’s existence and had no intention of searching for it underground, then his and Zhao Yi’s hopes would be dashed.

So he deliberately put on this show, regardless of whether Feng Ye and the others knew about it or not. He explained it all frankly and openly, both to lower their guard and to increase their chances of this plan succeeding.

He had cooked up quite the elaborate scheme. But unfortunately, three of these four people showed absolutely no signs of being tempted.

The two older ones were completely distracted, and didn’t appear to have heard a word he said. And as for the two younger ones…..Cao Zirui was completely indifferent to the idea of treasure, as he clearly wasn’t short of money.

Only Fang Yang looked somewhat eager.

This made Wang Wu a little uneasy. In the end, he wondered if Feng Ye and his party would actually follow his plan and descend into the underground city in search of the treasure.

“We’re here,” Zhao Yi said abruptly, having been leading the way.

Lost in his own thoughts, Feng Ye looked up when he heard this. He spied a stone platform hidden amongst the trees, seemingly part of some kind of structure. It sat tilted in the soil, with only a small corner of it showing.

This small section was part of a larger building, but to the people on the surface, it had the appearance of a three-meter-high rock formation.

The stone platform was wreathed in vines, and the land around it was densely covered in green grass, making it blend in seamlessly with the environment. If Zhao Yi hadn’t pointed it out, Fang Yang and the others wouldn’t have noticed that this stone platform was any different from the other stones on the mountain.

Fang Yang exclaimed in amazement. Although he could only see a small part of it, he could still faintly glimpse the grandeur of Western Qiang.

He pulled Cao Zirui along and ran ahead to get a closer look at the ruins.

Feng Ye, on the other hand, went no closer. Standing at a distance, he was able to clearly see the patterns peeking through the vines on the stone platform.

There were two parallel, spiralling curves, with fine lines drawn between them like scales.

Snake scales.

This stone platform was only a collapsed corner piece, and the others didn’t know what it had looked like when it was intact.

But Feng Ye did.

It had been a stone pillar approximately twenty meters high, with a carving of a colossal serpent curled around the top.

The people of Western Qiang firmly believed in the power of the supernatural, worshipping and offering sacrifices to the snake god pictured in the engravings.

This stone pillar with a snake curled around it was the idol of the Western Qiang people. These idols, varying in size, could be seen everywhere in the royal city.

The tallest stone pillar in the center of the city was twenty meters high, so tall that wherever one fled to within the imperial city, they could still see the giant snake on that stone pillar.

Back then, this was the scene Feng Ye saw every time he opened his eyes: the giant stone snake flicking its tongue as its cold eyes gazed down at the subjects below.

As it gazed at Feng Ye.

This stone statue was everywhere, and so were its eyes. Under its gaze, there was nowhere to escape.

Feng Ye hadn’t recognized the name of Western Qiang when he first heard it, because similar names were not uncommon throughout the world.

But then he heard about the eight ghost generals…..and now, looking at the stone pillar before him bearing the broken form of a snake, he could finally be certain.

He had been here before when he…..was not yet Yinglong.

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Chapter 99 << Table of Contents >> Chapter 101