If the Panlong Desert were to become unremarkable, could the Yuan Kingdom’s border remain so peaceful? That was a huge question, as their neighbors were certainly no pushovers.

It was a double-edged sword. If not for the generous terms offered by the Grand Commandant, Hee Chunhua would not have wanted the Panlong Desert to disappear.

He fell silent for a moment, then asked in a low voice, "Chuan’Er, what do you think? Was Commander Zhong Shengguang’s thirty-two-year stand ultimately worth it?"

’Since you’re asking me,’ Hee Lingchuan thought, ’you must feel it wasn’t worth it yourself.’

"It wasn’t," he said, feigning bluntness. "Panlong City still fell, and the Xiluo Kingdom was still destroyed. After thirty-two extra years, he didn’t change a thing."

"For the first twelve years, the Xiluo Kingdom was too weak to march west and retake their lost lands. They didn’t even know that millions of soldiers and civilians were still holding out in the Panlong Wasteland. In the next twenty years, the Xiluo Kingdom tried several times to cede the Panlong Wasteland to the Xianyou Kingdom in exchange for a moment’s respite. If I were Zhong Shengguang, I would have died from sheer anger, having to deal with such an unsupportive homeland that did nothing but hold me back!"

"The Xiluo Kingdom was once glorious and mighty, its dynasty lasting two hundred and seventeen years—a rare feat of longevity on this continent." This continent was rarely peaceful. The shortest-lived regimes lasted only a few dozen days, and most small kingdoms went through the entire cycle of rise and fall within twenty or thirty years, so the Xiluo Kingdom had already endured for a long time. "But when Zhong Shengguang was defending Panlong City, the Xiluo Kingdom was plagued by internal strife and external threats. The powerful and noble indulged in revelry while the starving were displaced and homeless. Foreign enemies attacked relentlessly. The kingdom’s death knell had already sounded." Hee Chunhua said no more, sighing as he stroked Zhong Shengguang’s gravestone.

’My old man is thinking about his own situation,’ Hee Lingchuan thought, but didn’t say it out loud. The Da Yuan Kingdom of today was indeed a little too similar to the Xiluo of the past.

Just then, the clouds parted, and the moon emerged, illuminating the desolation that filled the city.

"Commander Zhong, it must be boring guarding this place all alone, right? Let me have another couple of drinks with you." Hee Lingchuan couldn’t help but pour out two more cups of wine as an offering to Zhong Shengguang. "It’s a pity I couldn’t pay my respects to the Red General, or witness his heroic presence!"

Both Zhong Shengguang and the Red General were legends. Personally, Hee Lingchuan was more curious about the mysterious Red General.

He asked Hee Chunhua, "There’s a shrine to the Red General in the city, but there’s no sign of his tomb, not even a cenotaph. Is it possible... that he didn’t actually die in the final battle?"

"The Red General was struck by Celestial Thunder summoned by the Xianyou National Preceptor at the cost of his own life. There were seven strikes in total, and he was reduced to ash on the spot. Soldiers from both sides witnessed it with their own eyes, so there shouldn’t be any mistake. Otherwise, the morale in Panlong City wouldn’t have suddenly collapsed." Hee Chunhua shook his head. "You are still young. You don’t yet understand that human power has its limits."

Just as Hee Lingchuan was about to speak, two sounds came from the northeast. SWOOSH! SWOOSH!

Two fireworks shot into the sky and burst into bloom.

That was the prearranged signal. Hee Chunhua saw it and said, "They’ve found it. Let’s go!"

* * *

Within half an hour, the group had gathered at the Mitian Temple.

It was situated in the heart of Panlong City, covering a sprawling ten mu and featuring numerous courtyards, pavilions, and halls.

In its prime, when incense smoke filled the air, this place must have been a bustling scene, shaded by ancient trees and thronged with visitors. Now, however, over a hundred years after being smashed, looted, and burned, it was a vast, desolate ruin. The clear springs and lotus ponds had long since dried up, and the once-lush ancient trees were now withered skeletons that had not sprouted a single green shoot.

At least half of the exquisite architecture had been destroyed. The magnificent main hall, dedicated to Mitian, was a complete wreck—first toppled, then put to the torch. As the group approached the site, they saw only a few blackened wooden posts scattered about haphazardly.

He reached out and snapped one. It crumbled.

The Mitian Divine Statue was carved from stone. The length of just one of its forearms was comparable to Hee Lingchuan’s height. Unfortunately, the group couldn’t see its original form, because after being toppled, the entire statue had been cut into seven or eight pieces. Each piece had then been hacked at with swords and axes and smeared with ink.

The Alliance Army had hated Panlong City and the Great Wind Army to the bone, and that hatred extended even to their faith.

Once everyone was present, Nian Songyu held up the Glazed Jar and announced solemnly, "This is the place!"

He walked a circle around the pool directly in front of the main hall, and the Three Corpses Insect inside the Glazed Jar changed direction with him. No matter where he stood, they always pressed against the side of the jar facing away from the pool!

"The pool?" Situ Han asked in surprise. "Are you sure it’s this one? If we get it wrong, we won’t be able to get any more fresh water."

The Chipa Plateau was abundant in water, and the waterscapes within the Mitian Temple were exquisitely designed, with springs, small streams, and as many as six different pools.

The pool Nian Songyu had singled out was just outside the main hall. It had an irregular shape, much like a Wishing Pool for people to toss coins into. It covered an area of about twenty-six or twenty-seven square meters.

Of course, it was completely empty now, with neither koi fish nor coins.

Sunx Fuping walked around the pool, pressing on its rim in a few places. "The masonry on the edge of the pool... there are a few spots with different colors. It looks like they were patched up later."

The others looked and saw that it was true. There were several patches along the pool’s edge, the workmanship crude and uneven—a far cry from the pool’s original craftsmanship. Clearly, the later repairs were just that: repairs, and rather careless ones at that.

"There’s a significant age difference between the old and new sections. And the patch job is so crude, it doesn’t look like the work of the people of Panlong City who worshipped the Mitian God, and even less like something the Immortal Ba Alliance Army would do." Hee Chunhua mused, "Could this have been done by the last team sent by the Baling Kingdom?"

Surely the favored grand-disciple sent by Ancestor Master Zhugen hadn’t traveled thousands of miles just to work as a mason.

If they were the ones who patched this pool, they must have had a specific purpose.

What Hee Lingchuan was more concerned about was why this pool had been dug open in the first place.

Sunx Fuping said gravely, "More importantly, why was the pool dug open, and by whom?"

Zeng Feixiong pointed to the large and small stone fragments scattered on the ground. "Maybe it was accidentally damaged by falling stones when the main hall was destroyed."

The Divine Temple was brutally sacked. With the magnificent building and statue collapsing with a great crash, even gouging huge craters in the ground, what would be so strange about a small pool being smashed through?

"Or perhaps that’s the effect the person in charge wanted to create?" Hee Chunhua mused. "When Panlong City fell, the Alliance Army’s soldiers would have undoubtedly gone on a looting spree inside the city, and their officers would have been powerless to stop them. No matter what these soldiers destroyed, it would have been considered perfectly normal. If this pool looked like it was damaged during the looting, the Alliance Army wouldn’t have investigated it closely, thus concealing its hidden secret."

"But in a time of such panic, on the verge of Panlong City’s fall, who could have made such arrangements so calmly?"

The answer was practically on the tip of their tongues. Nian Songyu murmured, "Zhong Shengguang, or one of his trusted subordinates. He must have opened the pool and drained it before the city fell."

If they weren’t mistaken, the deeper meaning behind this action was worth investigating.

Decades later, the expedition team from the Baling Kingdom likely came to a similar conclusion and patched the pool back up.

Situ Han came up to take a look, a troubled expression on his face. "Are you all suggesting we fill this pool with water? Even if all two hundred of us poured in our reserve water, I’m afraid it wouldn’t even be enough to cover the bottom."