Chapter 135 (Patreon)

The only thing worse than someone who doesn’t make plans for traveling is someone who makes plans to travel at the very last minute. Thanks to the bomb that was Xie Jin’s last-minute announcement, they were forced to scramble to the carriage and rush out of the city. Naturally, Chen Haoran and Bao Si weren’t too pleased with being suddenly placed on a tight schedule. Fortunately, the checks to leave the city weren’t nearly so stringent. In fact, they were nonexistent. The guards didn’t even take that fancy permission slip he’d been handed when he’d entered the city previously. Just one glance and they were waved on through. Chen Haoran didn’t even need to bribe anyone. It was a little disappointing, really. Using money to control people’s minds and actions was more intoxicating than he’d expected.

It wasn’t as good a feeling as finally getting out of Reservoir Town was, however. As soon as they crossed the gates, Chen Haoran felt like a huge weight had fallen of his shoulders. By the way Bao Si and Xie Jin relaxed it seemed they shared the feeling. The further away they got from Reservoir Town, the lighter he felt. It wasn’t even the Empire that had pressured them. Even if it was their city, it was Xi Wangmu’s presence in it that they truly dreaded now. The more distance they put between themselves and her, the better.

They didn’t travel along the crippled Peachwine this time and instead headed in the opposite direction. For whatever natural or unnatural reason the Peachwine was the closest river to the Tenth Green Hell. Perhaps that closeness influenced the river’s toxic properties. Reservoir Town was thus the closest inhabited point to the Green Hell, which was the only reason they even had a chance to get to the trial ground before it closed itself. Even then, however, they were still looking at a week’s journey through the Deep Jungle. Unexpectedly for Chen Haoran, however they didn’t immediately hit jungle after leaving the vicinity of the Peachwine and were instead greeted with flat land.

Chen Haoran peered out the window of the carriage, and instead of jungle, he saw endless fields of grass and golden wheat. Large cows, Aurochs as he had now learned, the same ones he saw the caravan driving as he and Xie Jin left White Ridge City, grazed while cultivators riding horses steered them away from the farms. More cultivators, Peachbloods, and other bone-decked southerners tended to the wheat fields, the planting season in full swing as they scattered seeds that glowed with five-color light.

Channeling qi to his eyes, he saw beyond the fields to where the plantations met the jungle. People were chopping down the trees and vegetation before another group summoned a stream of fire from their hands and set the cuttings alight.

“The Pacification Committee’s policy,” Bao Si explained. Where before she might have pressed up against him, she now sat across from him. Her legs were crossed, and she propped her head on her hand as she observed the passing farms. “King Meng said it was to help bolster Zumulu’s economy, but in reality, the closest the locals get to these plantations is as workers. All the produce you see is shipped to Reservoir Town before being shipped upriver and taken out of Zumulu through the Imperial road.” She pointed to the smoke drifting up over the trees. “They cut down the trees to make room and burn them to enrich the soil. The nutrients don’t last long, however, and so they’re constantly clear-cutting more and more jungle to expand.”

A man-sized praying mantis suddenly emerged from the fire, burning much the like the wood it had been hiding in. Unlike the plants, however, it could fight back and bisected an unfortunate man who hadn’t been quick enough to avoid its manic charge. It was quickly put down, but unfortunately for the unlucky workers, they had hardly finished it off before a butterfly escaped the flames and dropped six inches of iridescent power atop them. The workers screamed as their skin boiled over and sloughed off, and Chen Haoran turned his gaze away.

Bao Si’s smile was grim. “The jungles of Zumulu are not so easily exploited. A fact the Empire learned the hard way. Unfortunately, they were quick to push the price of that onto us instead.”

“Doesn’t the Empire recruit shamans?” Chen Haoran asked. “It’d be much easier to have one on hand to help deal with the insects, wouldn’t it?”

“Most of the Gu Department is deployed elsewhere in the Empire. Their numbers aren’t actually that large compared to how many places want them. The ones left in Zumulu are here to assist the Pacification Committee and the Garrison in their duties. For those people, the human cost is a much cheaper price compared to letting shamans sit here.”

“But wouldn’t at least some shamans want to help? It’s what they’re for, isn’t it?”

Bao chuckled. “You met a shaman of the Gu Department. Do you think he would do that?”

Chen Haoran recalled that shaman and grimaced. The man had been very clear with Jiang Lei about what his priorities were. “Are they all like that?”

“The shamans who join the Gu Department are those who were already partial to serving the Empire. They’re only interested in more resources to feed their Gu and grow their own power. Not every shaman in Zumulu is as conscientious about serving their tribes as the Black Bones are. For some, their tribes are merely a means for them to extract as much wealth as possible before leaving in search of more resources.” Bao Si leaned back against the seat. “Fortunately for Zumulu, while rogue shamans have been a constant cancer, they’re a rather self-correcting problem. A selfish shaman raises a selfish Gu, and a selfish Gu is not a very patient spirit. Wouldn’t you agree, Xie Jin?”

“Wouldn’t know,” Xie Jin grunted from his position at the head of the carriage. He cracked the reins and spurred the horses to move faster.

Chen Haoran sighed. Forget his relationship with Bao Si cooling. Whatever tether of respect there had been between Xie Jin and Bao Si seemed to have well and truly snapped.  Granted, it wasn’t like there was much of it, given the way they normally argued and insulted each other, but there was still a smidgen of it, thanks to their long friendship and understanding. Now even that was gone.

Was this what Song Yuelin felt like watching Lan Fen and him? Chen Haoran had the thought and promptly discarded it. Unlike Song Yuelin, he wasn’t an asshole, probably. Still, this was incredibly awkward. Drama was only fun when it happened to people he didn’t care about. There wasn’t much he could do to try and alleviate it, however. He bounced his leg as the carriage fell into silence, occasionally broken by the thunderous grunts of Aurochs or the vicious sounds of Man against Nature.

“So….” Chen Haoran said, pausing to find his words when Bao Si turned her attention to him. “You said you heard of the Southern Dragon King before. Will you tell me what you know about him?”

Bao Si frowned. “So now you don’t even know your own father?”

Well, yes, but he wasn’t going to just say that.

Chen Haoran drummed his fingers along his leg. “I never said I didn’t know him, but I did tell you I was sent away as a hostage. It’s been a long time since I’ve seen that man’s face. The closest I’ve gotten to him these past years was when his personal assassin came to pay me a visit. Make of that what you will.”

Bao Si frowned—no doubt parsing the implications of his last sentence. It was a bit of a fib on his part. He wasn’t lying per se, but he was deliberately leading her to the answer he wanted her to think.

“Plus,” Chen Haoran continued. “I’m curious what an outside perspective of my father is like.”

Bao Si gave him a calculating stare that made him feel as if she would peel away layers of his skin to study what made him tick if she could. Fortunately, she decided to answer him. “I don’t know much. I only went to the Splintered Lands a few times myself to meet my Master, and she didn’t mention much. For a Star Core like herself, a Ninth-Layer Crystal Transformation wasn’t worthy of her complete attention. At least among the warlords squabbling over those broken islands, she regards him as the most talented. It takes a certain kind of man to wear the title of Dragon so openly, after all. His advancement to the Star Core Realm is greatly anticipated.”

He’s fucking what?

Chen Haoran kept his face neutral, but inside, he was full of surprise and confusion. Peak Crystal Transformation? It was a realm of power so far above Chen Haoran he couldn’t even conceive it, and yet…. that was it? Compared to what he knew about Chen Qitao and the Chen Family, it felt…. weak, at least when compared to the Empire. In Zumulu alone, they had three Star Core Realms. Who knew how many they had elsewhere? Yet the Chen Family was enough of a thorn to them that Song Yuelin instantly thought the appearance of Prince Shen Jianyu in Clearsprings City was specifically targeting the Chen Family. Could a Crystal Transformation do that? He recalled Lan Fen’s warning. Baghmar Republic. Chen Family. Empire. Rebellion in Zumulu. Someone was playing politics, it seemed.

Even so, Chen Haoran couldn’t help but feel something was wrong. He’d seen the reactions other cultivators had toward Chen Qitao’s name before. The Clearsprings City Lord could be discounted. The man was weak. Could a mere Ninth-Layer Crystal Transformation force powerful cultivators like Gold-Eater and Xi Wangmu to pay their respects the way they did? Xi Wangmu was the egregious case here. A 4 thousand-year-old living legend, she had enough pull to make Bao Si’s Star Core Realm Master fall into line, yet even Xi Wangmu had to bow her head when Chen Haoran bludgeoned her with Chen Qitao’s name with all the grace of a bull in a china shop. He didn’t think Bao Si was lying to him, but her words just weren’t adding up.

Chen Haoran wasn’t given much longer to think about it when the carriage abruptly stopped. The fields outside had long disappeared. Xie Jin poked his head in through the window. “We have to go on foot from here if we want to make it to the ruins in time.”

Right. More jungle traveling. His favorite.

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After abandoning the carriage, they actually made faster time—each of them alone worth a team of horses with regards to speed and hauling ability. With two shamans using their Gu to lead the way, they easily penetrated into the Deep Jungle. Like all the different regions of Zumulu, the Deep Jungle bordering the Tenth Green Hell had its own characteristics—namely, the Hell Bugs. The concentration of them was higher here than anywhere else in Zumulu he’d traveled through. Stronger too. Liquid Meridian monsters abounded, and those that couldn’t be scared off with the combination of his liquid qi and the Gu’s deterrent had to be put down by him.

Not that Xie Jin and Bao Si didn’t pull their own weight. Once again, they proved invaluable in navigating the jungle, and despite their lower realm, they were not completely useless fighting Liquid Meridian Realms as Chen Haoran would have been. A strong poison was a great equalizer even in the hands of the weak, and Gu poison was stronger than most. What couldn’t be killed instantly by the Gu poison due to the difference in realm was at least debilitated to make it an easy mop-up for Chen Haoran. Yet again, he had underestimated just how powerful Gu were when they played to their strengths.

Thankfully there weren’t that many Liquid Meridians to fight and slow them down with after the first day of traveling. Common sense dictated that when you go to a dangerous area, it would gradually become more dangerous until you actually got there. Traveling to the Tenth Green Hell was a study in the opposite. The closer you came to it, the less dangerous the surrounding forest was because all, the stronger beasts wanted nothing to do with living so close to the Green Hells borders. It made for smooth traveling on the third and fourth days traveling as the dangerous monsters effectively disappeared around what Chen Hoaoran was calling the middle ring surrounding the Tenth-Green Hell. It meant that with the aid of the shamans and some strategic carrying by Chen Haoran, they actually made it to the trial ground ruins with time to spare.

Neither he nor Bao Si appreciated the rush, however, and so when Xie Jin took one look at the ruins and nearly fainted in joy, they didn’t make any move to stop him from falling to the ground.