Unintended Immortality

The summer mornings on the grasslands still carried a chill.

This group of cavalrymen woke before dawn, breaking their fast with millet cakes and warming themselves with sips of liquor.

Whether it was due to their skills giving them confidence, the innate boldness of northern soldiers, or their certainty that no people of the northern frontier were nearby, after a few swigs of wine, one of them began to sing loudly.

The song echoed across the chilly morning plains.

Not far away lay the corpse of the Night Wanderer, its lingering miasma of blood and malice not yet dissipated. It was said that even the wolves of the grasslands would not touch such creatures.

Before long, the cavalrymen had finished packing. They carefully secured the body of their fallen comrade onto a horse and approached Song You one by one, cupping their fists in farewell.

“Sir, if you’re not heading to Zhaoye City, then we’ll take our leave here. The people of the northern frontier have been acting strangely in this area recently, so we need to return and report,” said Feng.

“From here, travel six hundred li east, and you’ll reach Yuanzhi City. The Liaoxin Pass you asked about last night is not far from Yuanzhi, forming a defensive pincer. If you head there, it’s just a few dozen li further east past Yuanzhi,” another cavalryman added.

“As long as you don’t head further north, you’ll remain in our territory and shouldn’t encounter any large forces of the northern frontier. At most, you might run into small patrols. Since General Chen values you so highly, we’re sure you’re a capable Daoist master. We won’t worry about you. We do hope you’ll take care and have a smooth journey.”

“Farewell!”

They mounted their horses, their silhouettes gradually fading into the horizon.

Song You also said to them, “Safe travels, everyone.”

The group mounted their horses, bidding him farewell as they departed.

The last among them was the fallen comrade’s body—a young man, it seemed—secured horizontally across the back of a horse. The body swayed gently with the horse’s trot as they rode away.

Song You withdrew his gaze and looked at the fire pit before him.

“Whoosh...”

With a single breath, the fire rekindled, its flames flickering back to life.

“...!”

Lady Calico, who had been watching the direction the cavalrymen left, immediately turned her head at the sound, fixing her eyes on him.

“...” Song You sighed helplessly and waved his hand again.

Without a sound, the flames extinguished entirely.

Lady Calico’s eyes glimmered with curiosity as she observed. After a few moments, she turned her attention back to the fire pit and blew a puff of air toward it herself.

“Whoosh...”

The flames reignited.

The man and cat sat by the fire, boiling water and eating their meal. After finishing, they packed up their belongings and resumed their journey.

The landscape underfoot began to shift gradually. The elevation subtly rose and fell.

The endless grasslands, once defined by gentle slopes and sparse vegetation—mostly shrubs—began to transform. The hills grew larger, with the occasional towering stone peak jutting out like giant rocks emerging from the earth. Trees became more abundant, signaling a transition from pure grasslands to a forested steppe.

Signs of human activity increased as well.

Song You encountered not only the Powder-Faced Lady and Horse-Stealing Imp described by the cavalryman surname Feng, but also supply convoys transporting military goods. Remarkably, he even saw merchant caravans heading northward.

He was stopped by both cavalrymen and guards at various checkpoints along the way.

A few days later…

When the Daoist, the calico cat, and the jujube-red horse ascended a small hill, the sight of Yuanzhi City finally unfolded before them.

Among the five northern strongholds, Yuanzhi City was the foremost stronghold. It was here that the main forces of the northern army were stationed, locked in a relentless standoff with the northern frontier army.

At that moment, the valley below was engulfed in battle, the deafening roar of war cries reverberating through the air.

Song You raised his gaze to the distant scene—

Before him lay an enormous fortress built of compacted yellow earth, resembling Yuan'an City but far larger. Its towering walls loomed like sheer cliffs, teeming with soldiers. Arrows rained down from the battlements like a relentless storm onto the attackers below.

To the north of the fortress stretched a seemingly endless expanse of military tents. Closer to the walls, a sea of attackers surged forward, using siege engines to launch a ferocious assault on the fortress.

Even from the hilltop where Song You stood, the deafening cries of battle were unmistakable.

Focusing his vision, Song You spotted a bear demon leading the charge at the forefront of the attacking forces.

The bear demon had revealed its true form, standing upright at a height of over one zhang. It resembled neither a black bear nor a brown bear, with coarse, earthy-yellow fur and a head resembling a horse—a species seemingly unique to these grasslands.

The beast alternated between ramming the city gate with tremendous force and leaping toward the walls, using its sharp claws to climb the compacted earthen walls in an attempt to scale them.

The troops on the city walls were well-trained and highly coordinated, with their attack and defense strategies executed flawlessly. Countless powerful bows and crossbows were aimed at it in a relentless barrage, but most of them proved ineffective. Only the foot crossbows managed to inflict some minor damage.

To seriously harm the bear demon required luring it within range of the arcuballistae mounted on the fortress's battlements.

Despite the fact that this creature had attained enlightenment and become a demon, as long as it was still made of flesh, no matter how tough or thick-skinned it was, it would still be left howling in pain facing an arcuballista capable of piercing even city walls.

Whenever the demon managed to climb partway up, it was soon brought down—either shot by an arcuballista bolt or confronted by a skilled warrior stationed above, who, alongside shield-bearers and spearmen, would repel the beast back to the ground.

The sounds of combat and the demon's enraged roars echoed across the land, painting the battle as a clash between mortals and demons.

Song You observed calmly, narrowing his eyes.

“As expected...”

Demons, deities, and ghosts hadn’t meddled in human wars for many years.

Scenes like this were more common in ancient times, an era of chaos and disorder. Back then, there were more Mortal Dao cultivators, and demons were plentiful. They frequently entangled themselves in human power struggles and national conflicts, plunging the world into chaos. For humanity, it was as if the mortal realm had become hell itself.

History was, at its core, a progression toward order. Such events had long faded into the past.

The reasons for this were multifaceted:

On one hand, demons had grown scarcer.

Times of chaos fostered demons, but in the current era of the Great Yan’s peace, many young people in the southern regions had never even seen a monster. An encounter with a ghost on a lonely night was enough to cause a stir, let alone a rampaging monster—it would become a legend retold across ten villages for years.

Most of the horrifying demon and ghost stories that people knew likely originated from the tumultuous end of the previous dynasty or the early days of this one.

With fewer demons, such events naturally became rare.

On another hand, the fundamental stance of demons differed greatly from that of humans, even more so than the differences between rival nations. Large-scale assistance from demons to a human kingdom in warfare was an exceptional rarity.

When on a smaller scale, only a few great demons posed a significant threat to organized elite troops. Most monsters and demons, despite their cunning nature, were powerless against disciplined soldiers. Many hid within human cities, fearful of detection by government officials or constables.

Lastly, the Mortal Dao now dominated the world, and the established order was no longer the same.

“...”

Yet here Song You stood, witnessing it firsthand.

Human conflicts seemed endless, but the affairs of the mortal realm were meant to remain within its bounds. How could demons, deities, and ghosts be allowed to meddle in them?

“Sigh...”

Song You let out a long sigh, raising his hand.

A streak of radiant light appeared in his palm.

With a casual wave, the light shot forward like a meteor, crossing the vast sky in an instant and landing at the base of the city walls.

“Rumble...”

The ground trembled violently.

Some were originally from the grasslands, either exposed on the surface or embedded underground. Others had been launched by both sides, scattered everywhere. At this moment, however, they all seemed to come to life, rolling about in unison. Even those embedded underground broke through the soil, bringing with them grass and dirt, gathering together in one place.

In the blink of an eye, a towering stone giant, two to three zhang high, took form on the battlefield. Even the mighty walls, towering like sheer cliffs, paled in comparison—the stone giant stood nearly half their height.

“What is that?” The defenders on the city walls were stunned.

Soon, however, they realized that the attackers—the forces of the northern frontier—were equally bewildered. The soldiers below stood frozen, staring in shock at the towering stone giant, a figure as imposing as a Mountain God.

It seemed the attackers had never encountered such a thing before either.

Even the bear demon, which had been climbing the walls and in its panic dragged several defenders down with it, turned its head to gape dumbfounded at the stone giant.

“Rumble...”

The stone giant wasted no time. It began striding forward, its massive arms swinging as it stomped toward the walls.

Its enormous size made its movements seem slow, but each step covered a great distance. With every stride, the giant accelerated, its steps causing resounding booms that shook the ground. The grassland trembled, and deep craters were left in its wake. The rumbling and commotion were so intense that the ground shook and the mountains seemed to sway. With the force of an avalanche, it surged straight toward the city walls.

The people of the northern frontier, seeing this, erupted in a cacophony of excited shouts.

The defenders on the walls, however, were gripped by anxiety.

“Fire arrows!”

Arrows and bolts from powerful bows and crossbows rained down on the stone giant, only to bounce harmlessly off its surface with a cacophony of sharp clinks.

Occasionally, an arrow would lodge briefly in the crevices between the stones, but it caused no harm to the giant. As it continued its advance, many of these arrows fell out on their own. Shots that struck sections of the giant covered in dirt and grass managed to dislodge small pieces, but they too had no significant effect.

Even the heavy arcuballista bolts could only embed themselves partway into the stone giant.

The stone giant, being lifeless, was completely unaffected.

The defenders on the city walls were stunned by the sight.

The creature’s waist circumference alone was nearly equal to its height. With such a massive figure and an unstoppable momentum, even though the city walls stood over four zhang tall and more than two zhang thick, the soldiers couldn't shake the feeling that even walls like these might not withstand the giant’s charge and could end up with a gaping breach!

No matter how much the captains shouted to steady their troops, the sight of the stone giant barreling toward them caused the defenders to scatter in all directions.

Who could blame them?

It wasn’t just the human soldiers.

Even the bear demon, usually ferocious and fearless—its body riddled with arcuballista bolts as though pain meant nothing to it—quickly shuffled aside at the sight of the giant's approach.

But to its dismay, as soon as it moved, the stone giant adjusted its course to follow. By the time the bear demon realized and widened its eyes in alarm, it was too late to escape.

“Boom!”

The stone giant collided with the bear demon, toppling it to the ground.

The giant stopped in its tracks, halting its charge. Yet the force of its momentum was so immense that it gouged up towering mounds of dirt in its wake.

“Crash!”

The stone giant, nearly double the height of the bear demon, used its enormous fist to pin the bear demon to the ground, rendering it unable to move. Without hesitation, it raised its other massive hand and delivered a crushing blow.

A thunderous boom resounded as it struck!

Even the ground itself trembled under the impact!

Blood splattered everywhere on impact, fragments of stone shattered, and scalding blood mixed with shards of bone and pieces of the bear demon’s body scattered in all directions. The force of the blast carved a breach into the city wall, and the debris sent soldiers below the wall scrambling to shield themselves from the rain of destruction.

When the stone giant finally stood up, the bear demon lay motionless on the ground. Its massive head was nowhere to be seen, replaced by a deep crater filled with mangled flesh and shattered bones.

“Crash...”

The giant abruptly disintegrated into a pile of rubble.

Witnessing this, even the fiercely raging battlefield seemed to pause momentarily.

When the defenders on the city wall regained their senses, they erupted in triumphant shouts, redoubling their attacks on the besiegers below. The siege troops below widened their eyes in terror, their hearts pounding with fear. Their momentum in attacking the city weakened considerably.

Some soldiers halfway up the wall lost their grip in terror and fell back down.

In an instant, countless lives were reduced to scorched earth.