"Was that really necessary? This outpost is part of the White Elephant kingdom. Killing someone here won't end well."
Lạc Trần shook his head, trying to dissuade them.
He hoped these thugs had at least a shred of sense - not to kill or rob anyone. Otherwise...
By tomorrow, another dozen would "go missing."
Unfortunately...
Some people are hell-bent on dying. No amount of reason will change that.
When the gang heard his warning, they thought Lạc Trần was afraid - just tossing around the name of the White Elephant kingdom to scare them. The group burst into laughter.
The ringleader, a man with a shaved melon-like head, smirked.
"This is Outpost No. 3. Killing? Burning? Ha! No one here dares lay a finger on me, Lý Ngạo Thiên."
His cronies chimed in:
"Hey dumb kid, do you even know who you're talking to?"
"Trying to scare us with some royal troops? Don't you know our big bro here is the nephew of the commander of this whole outpost?"
…
Lý Ngạo Thiên let out a theatrical sigh, shaking his head.
"Some people, even if they try to stay humble, they just can't. Being that strong... is a kind of loneliness. A privilege not reserved for the like of... you."
"So profound."
"Us lowlifes can't understand, but hey, he does look handsome."
"Truly blessed to serve under Big Bro."
…
By now, Lạc Trần had figured them out. These guys weren't the sort to kill indiscriminately. They were just clowns using Lý Ngạo Thiên's name to bully the weak.
Seeing them practically drop their weapons to kiss his boots, Lạc Trần thought: letting them live might not be a bad idea.
So...
Little Tathāgata and Tô Mạc Tà stepped in.
Both were Awakened realm cultivators. Dealing with a gang like this? As easy as flicking dust off a sleeve.
In mere moments, Lý Ngạo Thiên and his gang were in shambles, groaning in a pile of bruises and torn clothes.
Lạc Trần clapped the dust off his hands and was about to head back to the inn, when Tô Mạc Tà asked coldly:
"Talk. Who sent you to block our path?"
Lý Ngạo Thiên looked down, eyes darting nervously.
"N-No one. We just… followed you from the auction house. Didn't expect you folks to be tough nuts..."
"You think I'm as gullible as my brother here?" Tô Mạc Tà snapped. "Four of us, in ragged robes, and didn't place a single bid. In short, we look like paupers through and through. You're telling me you thought we had money? Who the hell robs four beggars for fun?"
Her voice turned razor-sharp. There was something disturbingly piercing about the way she stared.
Lạc Trần suddenly remembered that time in the temple, when she'd stared him down. He shuddered.
Lý Ngạo Thiên stammered:
"I… I… I just have a good eye, that's all…"
But he couldn't continue. Fear gnawed at his throat.
Tô Mạc Tà said nothing, just kept staring.
At last, Lý Ngạo Thiên flinched violently and shouted:
"I'll talk! I'll talk! It was some girl. last name Khổng! Told me to tail you four, and if possible, force this one..." he pointed at Lạc Trần "...to make a move!"
Lạc Trần frowned.
Back when he fought for the celestial meridian at Godfell Ridge, he had indeed crossed paths with a girl with the last name: Khổng.
Their relationship was... anything but friendly. She nearly ended his life more than once. In fact, the only reason he fell in with Tô Mạc Tà and the Little Tathāgata at all was because she had relentlessly hunted him.
The Little Tathāgata muttered:
"Across the four continents, there's only one clan with that surname. Could she be a monstrosity-bloodline prodigy from Uttarakurudvīpa?"
Tô Mạc Tà added:
"If that's true... then Lạc Trần, you're basically a magnet for trouble."
Lạc Trần sighed and shrugged.
"I'd love to know what's going on too. Why are all of you suddenly chasing me into the Dry Sea?"
They let Lý Ngạo Thiên go.
Back at the inn, no one spoke, but Lạc Trần felt it clearly. This journey to the White Elephant kingdom... was not going to be simple.
Two sacred kingdoms at war, one of the Four Great Sects involved, and now a prodigy from the infamous Khổng clan in the Northern Continent.
Everything was spiraling out of control.
---the separator line went back to work---
The next morning...
The four boarded the Nimbus Cloud, bound for the capital of the White Elephant kingdom.
The railship streaked forward beneath the blistering sun of the Khô Hải. It gained speed quickly, rushing headlong into the jagged obsidian cliffs of Vạn Trọng Sơn.
But there was no crash. No screams, no fire, no twisted wreckage.
Ship, track, passengers, everything vanished into the mountain's heart. Outside the window, only ink-black darkness remained. Reaching out, the air felt thick, like plunging a hand into warm honey.
Last time Lạc Trần passed through, he'd been half-dead, his heart torn out, drifting in and out of consciousness. He hadn't truly seen Walled Mountain. But now… he could tell: they were inside a Mountain Path.
Some said Walled Mountain straddled the line between illusion and reality: solid in some parts, phantom in others.
The mountain path weren't tunnels in any normal sense. They were void passages, hollow veins inside the stone, first discovered by the ancestors of the people of four continents. Through these shadowy paths, they'd fled the dead center and resettled the world.
The Nimbus Cloud shot out of the void and burst beyond the far side of Walled .
Light flooded the cabin.
They had crossed into the lands of Jambudvīpa .
A servant gestured toward a wall map, droning in a rehearsed monotone:
"Jambudvīpa is currently divided into three powers: the White Elephant kingdom to the north, the Crimson Tide kingdom in the southwest, and the Spider Lilies empire in the southeast. Of these, the White Elephant kingdom commands the strongest military."
The deaf blacksmith ignored her. Lạc Trần and the others tuned her out too, unimpressed by the kingdom's self-congratulatory tone.
If the White Elephant kingdom were truly so mighty, it wouldn't have been humiliated by Lam Vân Hoa back then.
Lạc Trần figured Tô Mạc Tà and the little Tathāgata were thinking the same.
Once past the Dry Sea, the Nimbus Cloud seemed to fly even faster. In half an hour, it pulled into a massive mountain city.
Upon disembarking, soldiers halted them for inspection.
The procedure was routine, same as the move from Outpost 712 to No. 3. A simple check. Two seals from the outpost commander? That was enough. They were waved through.
Lạc Trần and Tô Mạc Tà wandered over to a railing overlooking the main square.
Only then did they realize: the city had been carved into a mountain itself.
The rail line hugged the summit. Terraced rooftops cascaded down the slope in stacked tiers. Walls separated each level, with armed patrols constantly circling overhead.
Far below, an old man was leading a group of students through the city. Tô Mạc Tà approached him with a respectful bow.
"Good day, sir. My companion and I are new arrivals, would you mind if we joined your tour?"
The elder stroked his beard, smiling.
"Not at all. Nothing I say is secret. You're much too polite, young lady."
He explained the city was called Vĩnh An - largest grain depot in the White Elephant kingdom.
Built directly into the mountain, each terrace was a fortified district. Nobles lived near the summit, craftsmen and soldiers in the center, peasants and slaves at the base.
At the foot of the mountain lay two vast valleys: Nation's Peace and People's Prosperity. Together, they accounted for a third of the kingdom's annual harvest.
During a lull in the conversation, the old man revealed he was a teacher from Lệ Hải Academy, leading his students on a field trip.
Lạc Trần and Tô Mạc Tà kept their identities hidden, claiming to be drifters drawn by rumors of war with the Crimson Tide kingdom.
Then...
A red flash burst from the shadows.
Tô Mạc Tà and Lạc Trần vanished.
...
Lạc Trần blinked.
A storm of blood-red light surrounded him, churning like a violent tide. Above, clouds ignited in flame. Blood surged at his feet, already pooling around his ankles.
It felt like the end of the world.
Floating ahead of him - motionless in midair...
A figure.
If not for the whole heart-ripping, meridian-stripping ordeal, this would still be the one person who haunted him most.
A girl stood in the crimson haze, draped in a dark teal gown. The cuffs, shoulders, and hem trimmed in gold. In one hand, she held a strange mirror: two panes fused at the center, forming a cross-shaped design. Her white hair hung loose around her shoulders, and at her temple, a gemstone gleamed, shaped like a divine eye.
"Lạc Trần. Who would've thought you'd fall this far."
"And I didn't expect you to cling to a grudge this long, Khổng Tú."
"You've got your Heart of Saint ripped out. Your celestial meridians flayed. What could you possibly use to stand against me now?"
Her voice was calm, soft, and barely hold any emotions behind them.
Then a ray of red light surged from behind her, piercing straight through Lạc Trần's knee.
A clean hole tore open.
Blood erupted in torrents.
She was Khổng Tú: the proud prodigy of the Chaos Peacock clan.
The same one who hunted him for three days and nights over the celestial meridian.
Lạc Trần howled...
And collapsed into the rising sea of blood.