Where Immortals Once Walked

It was not exactly refined fare, but it was more than enough to fill his stomach.

Peng Fang remained uneasy. His treatment was far better than that of an ordinary prisoner, but he had no idea whether he could successfully draw his heavenly god’s gaze.

Not long after finishing the meal, his eyelids grew heavier and heavier.

Before he could yawn a third time, his head tilted to one side, and he fell asleep leaning against the wall.

Only after his snores grew loud did He Lingchuan enter the cell. He lightly rapped his knuckles against the wall.

“God Bilu, are you there?”

Peng Fang could only meet Bilu in dreams, which meant Bilu acted more cautiously than other gods. However, He Lingchuan had no way to enter a dream and meet a god, because in the Panlong World, he did not dream at all.

With that being the case, he could only call the other party out for a chat. At this point in time, Bilu was still a minor god who had yet to amount to much. It was not yet Naluotian, so he believed that inviting it out should not be too difficult.

Peng Fang continued sleeping.

He Lingchuan took out the Dragon Punishment Pillar and knocked it against the wall several more times.

“If you still don’t come out, I’ll give this thing to another god.”

He waited in place for a while, but Peng Fang still showed no reaction.

He Lingchuan turned and started to leave.

Only then did a voice come from behind him. “Who are you, whelp?”

He Lingchuan’s heart tightened. Slowly, he turned around.

Peng Fang had opened his eyes and propped himself upright against the wall.

The face was still the same face, but his expression and bearing were entirely different. He was clearly sitting on the ground, yet when he faced He Lingchuan, he still looked down on him with condescension.

It was the standard expression of a god looking down upon mortals. He Lingchuan had seen plenty of it by now.

The Red General, Baizhantian, Shinan—without exception, all of them were the same.

They did not even bother hiding their disdain for humans.

“I’m the one who tied up your attendant and took this thing.” He Lingchuan stepped closer and waved the Dragon Punishment Pillar in his hand. “I have something to ask.”

Peng Fang—no, perhaps he should now be called Bilu—pointed at his own wounds. “This is your attitude when asking for help?”

Peng Fang must have cried to it in his dream and explained the whole sequence of events.

He Lingchuan smiled and said, “No offense is taken when one acts in ignorance.”

Peng Fang’s face revealed nothing, but He Lingchuan kept his gaze fixed firmly on him.

Among the gods, this was the one most closely tied to his fate. More closely even than Mitian.

This Bilu was not real—or rather, the Bilu of over a hundred years ago should never have had any intersection with He Lingchuan.

He had always assumed by default that the Panlong World was a piece of past history. If so, his decision to question Bilu was clearly creating something out of nothing. Could it actually be created?

Would the Bilu here think and act the same as Naluotian over a century later?

Could asking the Bilu here help him find the answers he wanted?

Two people from different times and spaces appearing in the same scene and speaking to each other—this had been happening ever since he barged into the Panlong World. He had once taken it for granted, but only now did he begin to feel that this sort of development was rather extraordinary.

Hm? Wait, development?

The moment that word popped into his mind, He Lingchuan froze slightly.

Why had he thought of that word? It seemed to match the impression the Generous Pot had given him all this time.

Bilu was also seeing someone stare blankly in front of it for the first time, but it did not urge him on. Instead, it grew thoughtful as well.

There seems to be something strange about this young man.

He Lingchuan quickly came back to himself and said seriously, “Peng Fang says you can change fate against Heaven’s will.”

Bilu lifted its eyelids. “You want to change your fate?”

“Can you read my fate?” Facing Bilu, He Lingchuan wore no mask. There was no need to wear one.

“Looking only at facial features is inaccurate. I would also need your name and birth date.”

He Lingchuan was enlightened. “So the information you need is the same as a fortune teller’s.”

Bilu’s tone turned cold. “Your facial features are unusual. That is why I need more information. For others, a single glance is enough.”

He Lingchuan touched his own face. “How so?”

“The most obvious sign is a short-lived appearance paired with a long-lived destiny. There seem to be other entanglements as well, and it is difficult to say which one will ultimately take effect.”

He Lingchuan thought for a moment, then gave his name and Four Pillars of Destiny[1].

The name was one thing, but the moment he recited the details of his birth, Bilu’s eyebrows drew tightly together.

In the end, it even closed its eyes, as if silently calculating.

He Lingchuan did not disturb it. He waited quietly for the time it took to drink a cup of tea.

Just as he was about to yawn, Bilu finally opened its eyes and cast him a wary glance. “These eight characters don’t match your age!”

Calculated from those birth details, He Lingchuan should already be over fifty. Even if he had some art to preserve his appearance, the vitality and spirit of a youth were still different from those of a middle-aged or elderly man. Bilu could see through that at a glance.

“True, but they are indeed mine.” He Lingchuan folded his arms. “You calculated for so long, and that’s all you got?”

He wanted to see how Bilu differed from an ordinary fortune teller.

Bilu shook its head. “It cannot be changed. Your fate is too little entangled with this world.”

He Lingchuan’s heart gave a slight jolt. “What does that mean?”

“Your fate does not belong to this world!” Bilu said, one word at a time. “You are not a person of this world!”

Its gaze upon He Lingchuan grew exceptionally sharp.

The cell fell silent.

Fortunately, there was no one else here. He Lingchuan put on a face full of shock. “How could that be possible? I’m clearly standing right here!” It looks like this god does have some ability after all.

Bilu said coolly, “How is it impossible? Am I not here as well?”

Gods dwelled in the divine realm, but they could descend to the mortal realm.

In a certain sense, a god entering the mortal realm and He Lingchuan entering the Panlong World were both forms of “intrusion.”

He Lingchuan let out a long breath, then asked, “If I want to change my fate against Heaven’s will in my own world, what guidance can you give me?”

“I can do nothing for you,” Bilu replied. “You have intersections with both worlds. I cannot sort out the path of your fate, so I cannot offer guidance.”

So it’s “fate” again?

However, He Lingchuan felt that Bilu must have gained more than that from its long calculation.

After all, the look Bilu gave him was strange, carrying both surprise and wariness.

So it’s lying. What exactly did this so-called god of fate foresee?

He did not know that, in Bilu’s eyes, He Lingchuan himself had instead become a blur. Behind him, thousands of dark threads twisted and intertwined, rolling like living things as they stretched toward the distant void. Even at the very limit of Bilu’s sight, there was no end to them.

How could a mere mortal possess such complex and tangled threads of fate? And they’re even changing every moment.

Just who is this young man?

Even more terrifying was that Bilu could faintly sense that this young man had some connection to itself.

Not now, but in...

In the vague and illusory future.

What’s going on? The future? Regardless, he’s clearly not a person of this world!

It had a premonition that its deeper intersection with He Lingchuan would also seem not to take place in this world.

He Lingchuan’s voice interrupted its thoughts. “Can you see the fate of anyone in this world?”

“Of course.” Bilu pointed at the straw mat in the corner. “To you, fate is tangled, complex, and impossible to grasp. But to me, your fates are like the reeds woven into that mat. There are patterns to follow.”

1. Just a reminder that this refers to the eight characters of one’s horoscope. ☜

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