Reincarnation Girl Becomes Immortal

"But in this icy and snowy place, it will be very slow to travel without using light-body skills," the senior sister reminded her.

"But using light-footed skills all the time is too tiring," Xi Heng asked. "How about we go back to Jinshi and buy a horse?"

"Jinshi is now occupied by Tianliang, and I don't know if there's any order left, or if the shops will even open... Besides, I don't have any money left to buy horses," the senior sister said.

"Besides, it wasn't easy for us to sneak into the city after causing such a big commotion at the Tianliang Army camp that day."

“Then we’ll bypass Jinshi City and buy horses at post stations or similar places along the way. As for the money…” Xi Heng glanced at the small jade pendant still hanging at his waist, then looked up at the towering Yaowang Mountain, which was completely covered in snow.

"Getting the money is easy. Senior sister, would you like to climb the mountain with me?"

"Mountain climbing?"

"Just treat it as a trip, to see the snow and stuff," Xi Heng said casually. "Would you like that?"

"Of course I do."

……

Three more days later.

Xi Heng and his senior sister rode two dark brown horses, traveling slowly on the road to Jianchang.

The horse's hooves sank deep into the thick snow, leaving a long hoofprint on the ground. White breath occasionally escaped from its nose, and the mane on its neck fluttered in the cold wind.

These two fine horses were not what Xi Heng originally intended; they were purchased from a post station or a stable in a small town.

While they were walking on the official road, four or five cavalrymen suddenly came after them, questioned them, and then pulled out a wanted poster depicting their faces and displayed it. They then called on the soldiers traveling with them to surround them.

Xi Heng and Senior Sister Hong Miao were both martial artists with internal strength, so they were naturally unafraid. They easily killed several cavalrymen and stole several fine horses to escape with them. They left the infantry behind for a long time before the panting horses slowed down.

"I never expected to be chased even outside the city... There's even a wanted poster." Xi Heng recalled the days when he was on his way to the capital, worrying every day about being chased by government soldiers and constables, and felt somewhat distressed and helpless.

"It seems that the assassination attempt back then greatly angered the commander of Tianliang." Hong Miao remained as natural as ever.

"If I had known, I would have silenced them all back then," Xi Heng sighed.

Hongmiao took it as a joke and looked around at the surrounding snowy scenery, saying, "It's still four or five days' journey to Jianchang. If we take the main road, we might encounter attacks from the Tianliang people along the way. Why don't we take a side road instead?"

"There are also some scattered villages along the way, most of which have inns where you can stay overnight."

“Okay.” Xi Heng followed his senior sister’s suggestion and left the main road, turning onto a narrow path to the side.

The heavy snow was drifting by, and there were very few pedestrians on the road.

As for the Ganoderma lucidum, since they couldn't find many pharmacies along the way, and even if there were one or two small pharmacies in the village that hadn't been looted, no one could afford to buy this hundreds-of-years-old Ganoderma lucidum. In the end, they ended up cooking it as a big mushroom in soup on the road.

……

Five days later.

The city gate of Jianchang stands before us, connected to the thick city wall that stretches outwards.

Even the thick snow could not completely cover the many arrows and broken javelins on the city walls and the ground, and some faded blood could be faintly seen on the surface.

Scattered pieces of flesh and limbs lay on the ground, but in the biting cold, there was no odor or flies.

An arm emerged from beneath the snow, its menacing five fingers appearing stiff and unnatural.

Two warriors riding brown horses, wearing straw hats and black robes stopped at the far end of the city wall. After pausing for a while, they circled the towering city wall and secretly moved to a deserted area on the side.

Jianchang City is not far from Jinshi City, which Tianliang has just captured, and the wanted notice should have been sent here by now, so Xi Heng did not go directly to the city gate.

In the past few days, they bought straw hats and black robes in the surrounding villages to cover their bodies and faces—many wandering knights in the martial arts world would dress like this, so that they would not be recognized as the two people on the wanted poster at first glance.

Xi Heng and his senior sister stopped their horses in a grove of trees outside the city wall, made some markings, and prepared to return here immediately after obtaining the martial arts manual of Hua Jin from the city, so they could ride away on their horses.

"Try not to cause too much trouble this time. We need to finish this quickly. There are still Tianliang soldiers left in Jianchang City. We don't know how many there are. If they surround us all at once, it will be quite troublesome to deal with them," the senior sister reminded her.

"Okay." Xi Heng nodded obediently.

However, the actual outcome depends on the situation.

Once the horses were tied up, they galloped together toward the city wall.

However, with just a few light steps, they trampled the less than six-meter-high city wall under their feet.

Xi Heng scanned his surroundings and, seeing no guards on any side, continued walking forward.

Looking down from the city wall, the roads were deserted, with no patrols or guards, and the entire city seemed completely undefended.

A moment later, Senior Sister Hongmiao also approached:

"It seems there aren't many soldiers left..."

"Go down."

Xi Heng stepped onto the city wall railing, then stepped into the open space in front of him, and fell like a free fall.

My feet landed on the snow with only a soft thud.

Whether above or below, the scene was desolate and deserted.

Apart from the mere dozen or so soldiers guarding the city gate, Jianchang seemed to be a dead city.

The shops on the street were either closed, or their doors were smashed and broken, with bloodstains splattered on the walls and doors, and the houses were dark and deserted.

"..." Xi Heng walked over slowly.

She leaned against the side of the empty tiled house, quietly looking at the faded blood and a stab mark on the wall, imagining how this person had probably died.

"Was his entire body nailed to the wall?" Xi Heng muttered to himself. "It seems quite a few people do this... Just how many people have been killed in this city?"

As she walked, she stepped on something hard in the snow.

With a low head and a kick, half of his head, which had been frozen stiff, was kicked out of the snow.

"Aren't they going to burn the bodies? Or did they just forget to?"

Xi Heng kicked the half-head back in and covered it with snow, making a small grave.

"So many people have died here. I wonder if Jinshi City is in the same state right now."

Beside her, Senior Sister Hongmiao's expression gradually grew more somber.

"Probably..." Senior Sister Hongmiao said as she walked, "If Junior Sister could sit on the dragon throne in the future, would things get better?"

"Me?" Xi Heng thought for a moment:

"It would be difficult. Even the emperor's power isn't that great. Even if the emperor holds the entire court and wields a great deal of power, it would be difficult to immediately suppress the chaos in the Great Zhao Kingdom..."

"That's true, the emperor isn't some kind of god."

Hong Miao shook her head: "Perhaps no one can truly save us from the suffering in this world."

"Immortals..." Xi Heng murmured these two words and stopped in his tracks.

"Junior sister?" Hong Miao saw her junior sister standing there in a daze, so she reached out and poked her cheek with her finger.

As for why I didn't poke her shoulder, it's naturally because my junior sister's shoulder was injured.

Xi Heng snapped out of his daze and shook his head. "It's okay, let's keep going. Where is that so-called family?"

"I don't know." The senior sister spread her hands, looking completely innocent.

"..."

……

Chapter 58, Grass-like Birds and Hunting

Fifteen minutes after entering the city, Xi Heng walked from the outer perimeter of Jianchang City to the city center. He passed through a former commercial street and saw many high platforms and pavilions that had been burned to ashes or collapsed into ruins. He did not see many people on the street.

At this time of year, when the weather is freezing cold, people naturally prefer to stay indoors, leaving the city desolate and quiet.

The figures that Xi Heng saw leaning against the wall were mostly covered by thick snow.

After brushing aside the snowdrifts covering the bodies, all that could be seen were corpses with skin frozen to a bluish-gray, bodies stiff and their blood frozen solid.

Finding this kind of corpse, you obviously can't ask for directions.

The senior sister only knew that the family that hid the Huajin martial arts was the Liang family of Jianchang City, but she had no idea exactly where in the city it was located.

“The patriarch of the Liang family was General Tianliang before his death… They must have lived in those grand mansions in the center of the city, right?” Xi Heng muttered to himself.

As they were guessing, the senior sister beside them knocked on the door that was lit by a fire.

But after knocking on the door several times, there was no response from inside.

Xi Heng also approached the wooden door and kicked it.

The damp wooden door and the iron lock on the back could not withstand the blow; it cracked open with a bang and then swung open with a crash.

The snow, piled up more than ten centimeters thick outside the city, poured in as the wooden gate was opened wide, causing the iron chain that secured the gate to fall to the ground. Suddenly, a series of hurried footsteps echoed from inside.

Wearing a straw hat and black clothes, Xi Heng stepped inside. He pinched the brim of his hat and looked up. In the messy tile-roofed house, an old man dressed in faded coarse clothes was huddled in the corner of the room, holding a kitchen knife in his hand. His eyes were filled with panic and tension, but also with a hint of madness.

"Where is the Liang family in Jianchang City?" Xi Heng ignored the weak man's knife-wielding display and asked coldly.

Dressed in a black robe and straw raincoat, he did have a somewhat imposing presence.

"Liang, the Liang family?" The old man's heart, which had been hanging in suspense, slowly settled down when he saw that it was not a Tianliang soldier but a martial artist with a sword at his waist.

“The clan of Liang Mang, the Left Wing Grand Commandant of the Tianliang Army,” Xi Heng added.

"Left...what, General?" The old man's gaze shifted from panic to blankness: "I don't know, I don't know..."

Upon hearing the words "Tianliang Army," the man trembled all over, his knees buckling as if he were about to kneel, as if the people in the Tianliang Army were terrifying demons.

Seeing that the other person looked like he had gone mad, Xi Heng didn't say anything more and turned to leave the dilapidated little tile-roofed house.

How could these poor people know anything about General Tianliang's family...? She planned to continue searching for people in the inner city.

The girl led her senior sister along the road, knocking on the doors of any houses with lights on and greeting them. If no one answered, she would force the door open, just like before.

Upon entering, one sees people who are either covered in wounds or have broken arms and legs, lying in bed waiting to die, being slowly cared for by family members whose injuries are less severe.

Upon seeing the two martial artists enter, almost everyone in the room was initially surprised and flustered. Upon hearing the name Tianliang, their flustered state turned into fear, and they shook their heads repeatedly, not daring to say anything more to the Tianliang Army. Even if they knew, they would say they did not.

It wasn't until Xi Heng drew his long sword as a threat that he finally got the answer from a young patient who had lost an arm and was trembling with pain all over his body.

"The Liang family built a pavilion in the city... Go south along this road and you'll see tenant farmers wearing thin clothes building tall buildings, making adobe bricks, laying tiles, doing odd jobs in iron and woodworking, and transporting materials. That huge courtyard is the Liang family's."

The man gritted his teeth and said, “My father was conscripted by the Liang family to do unpaid labor, laying bricks and tiles outdoors in the dead of winter. He was only given one meal of thin porridge and half a coarse cornbread a day. If he didn’t bring his own food, he would freeze to death in a few days. There were also vicious servants supervising the work with whips. If he stopped for even a moment, he would be whipped and beaten. My father said yesterday that dozens of people freeze to death or starve to death in that place every day. If it weren’t for the grain and pickled vegetables that my family had hidden beforehand to fill their stomachs, my father would probably have frozen to death or died from exhaustion long ago…”

As he spoke, tears streamed down his red-rimmed eyes, his heart filled with uncontrollable grief and anger.

“After the Tianliang bandits plundered the city, anyone who could still move was conscripted into hard labor by these powerful families. I escaped this calamity only because the bandits cut off my arm… The Tianliang people claim to be rising up for the people, but now they won’t let the people live.” He slammed his severed arm against the sickbed, tears streaming down his face.

"..."

After listening, Xi Heng calmly said after a moment, "I will help you kill those people."

The other person was stunned upon hearing this, wiped away the tears from their eyes, and said without hope: "Kill? How can we kill? There are soldiers in the city."

"Take the sword and kill." With that, Xi Heng turned and left.

No wonder there are hardly any people in the houses on the street; they've all been requisitioned.

After listening to the child's words, the senior sister pondered for a moment. Gazing at the empty, snowy street, she said softly, "In this world, the imperial court can't be trusted, nor can the rebels. What can ordinary people rely on?"

Xi Heng didn't answer. He took a deep breath, placed his right hand on the hilt of his sword at his waist, and walked south.

The longsword at her waist was no longer the broken Qingfeng Longsword, but a broadsword made of fine steel that she had seized from the Tianliang cavalry.

A cold wind, carrying a few snowflakes swirling from the ground, lashed against his clothes. Xi Heng's footsteps compacted the snow, and he walked step by step into the distance, his killing intent palpable.

Before long, a chaotic construction site gradually appeared in the snowy landscape.

Many men, dressed in layers of thick clothing, worked in groups of four, using their hands and shoulders to lift a square roof beam, while dozens of others nearby were whittling wood, digging soil, or pushing wooden carts for transport.

Bamboo poles were used to erect scaffolding that didn't look very sturdy, and people did their best to transport the processed timber onto the erected roof beams.

The wind and snow were biting, freezing most of the laborers' cheeks and hands stiff. One man's legs gave way while climbing the ladder, and he fell directly from a height of seven or eight meters, lying on the ground, but no one paid him any attention, as if they had all become numb and used to it.

Nearby, several young men dressed in cotton-padded brocade coats, looking like wealthy young masters, led a few playmates. Despite the biting winter wind, they held folding fans in their hands, showing disdain for the deaths and injuries of the common people before them. They simply pointed to the thirty or forty pavilions under construction ahead and said:

“Brother Cao, Brother Gao, as the saying goes, ‘High buildings soar into the clouds, jade pavilions brave the wind, observing the myriad phenomena of heaven and earth, displaying grandeur and magnificence.’ My Liang family’s twenty-eight tall pavilions and towers, connected to eight small pagodas in the eight directions, correspond to the thirty-six celestial constellations, driving away calamities for my Liang family. Can this not be called a blessing in full bloom?”

As he spoke, he laughed and said, "Even the garden built by Brother Gao and the burial mound dug by Brother Cao are no match for the thirty-six-story building of our Liang family."

“Hey, Young Master Liang, that’s a bit of an exaggeration. My family’s courtyard garden used tens of thousands of workers and hundreds of oxen and horses. We even hired a master craftsman from the south to design and divide it. It took a lot of time, effort, and money. Even if it doesn’t far surpass Brother Liang’s family’s buildings, it still looks very elegant,” another young man retorted.

"Since Brother Gao is so confident, why don't we make a small bet and then decide which one is more beautiful?"

"A little gambling is harmless fun, Brother Liang. How do you plan to gamble? And who would like to offer their opinion?"

“We are all sons of military families, so naturally the matter of judgment should be left to our lord, a son of the royal family.”