Chapter 4: Leopard King
If someone came looking for them here one day, there’d be no one left to tell the tale—
The first thought that sprang into Hee Lingchuan’s mind startled even him.
’This seems like something my predecessor would do without a second thought,’ he reflected, ’but for me, the pressure is immense.’
He mulled it over for a moment. "Have the Red and White Dao find a place to lock him up. I’ll go back and report this to my father."
The biggest backer he had was his old man—they were in this together, right? He was still just a minor; he couldn’t shoulder such a heavy burden alone.
￥￥￥￥￥
As it turned out, less than a few hundred feet from his home, Hee Lingchuan saw a Hee Mansion servant running toward him. The man was in a hurry, and his eyes lit up upon seeing him. He rushed forward and bowed.
"Eldest Young Master, the Master wants you back at the residence at once!"
This "Master" was, of course, the Lord Governor of Qiansong County, Hee Chunhua.
Hee Lingchuan quickened his pace, hurrying to see his father.
The Hee Family lived in a grand residence on a twenty-five-mu plot of land, which, in units Hee Lingchuan was familiar with, was over sixteen thousand square meters. For a wealthy family, it was neither massive nor modest, but its architecture was distinctive—black tiles, white walls, and exquisite, delicate pavilions dotted throughout its gardens, a stark contrast to the rugged local style of Black Water City.
For instance, the garden gate Hee Lingchuan had just walked through was shaped like a Treasure Bottle. Behind it grew a fifteen-year-old wintersweet bush that would burst into bloom in the dead of winter. From the garden’s Treasure-Viewing Pavilion, one could see the specks of yellow blossoms flowering right in the mouth of the "bottle," a graceful and elegant sight, as if they were truly growing out of the vase itself!
This sort of aesthetic refinement was said to be something only the great noble houses of the heartlands paid much attention to, yet Hee Chunhua was exceedingly fond of it.
Last year, a new craftsman, unaware of its significance, had pruned the wintersweet. With just two cuts, he had ruined this prized vista. The Lord Governor, a man known for his good temper, had flown into a rare and thunderous rage.
Furthermore, the materials for the Hee Residence’s white walls were difficult to source. The Hee Family had them specially transported from the heartlands of the Yuan Kingdom, and the labor ended up costing more than the materials themselves. Moreover, Black Water City was "graced" by sandstorms for seven or eight months out of the year. The exteriors of all the other buildings were a dusty yellow. Why would anyone paint a wall stark white, just to attract more dust?
But Hee Chunhua insisted. To keep his white walls from turning yellow, he even had a protective Array placed around the residence’s perimeter to ward off the corrosive wind and sand.
’Just looking at how the Hee Residence stands out,’ Hee Lingchuan mused, ’I see where my predecessor got his stubborn streak.’
He crossed the courtyard and, to his surprise, saw the Lord Governor standing at the entrance to a storage shed. Behind him stood the ever-loyal butler, Old Mo.
The shed was mainly for storing tools and sundries; only servants ever went in or out. The masters of the Hee Mansion normally never went near it. But now, Hee Chunhua was beckoning to his son. "Come quickly!"
Hee Chunhua had become the Prefect seven years ago and was still only thirty-four, a man in his prime. Just by standing there, he cut a tall, elegant, and handsome figure.
When walking the streets of Black Water City, the Prefect often turned the heads of many a young woman and new bride.
Only when one got up close, as Hee Lingchuan did, could they spot the one or two silver strands woven into his father’s thick, black hair.
He had clearly exhausted himself with worry over the years.
"Father, I have something to—"
Hee Chunhua cut him off with a wave. "Come in. There’s something I need you to see."
His expression was grim. He led his son and Uncle Hao into the storage shed. The butler, Old Mo, closed the door behind them and stood guard just inside.
The daylight was bright enough for Hee Lingchuan to see that the long workbench, usually piled with craftsmen’s odds and ends, had been cleared. On it lay a behemoth.
It was...
"The Leopard King!" the young man exclaimed. ’Father actually had someone bring it back?’
Lying on the table was indeed a dead leopard. But it was enormous, the size of a rhinoceros, and even in death, its still form radiated an oppressive aura.
The Leopard Demon that had fallen from the cliff with him was a mere kitten compared to this beast.
’How powerful must this monster have been when it was alive?’
The leopard’s corpse had a beautiful coat of yellow fur with black spots, but it was ruined by several large gashes and matted with blood.
𝒻𝘳𝘦𝘦𝘸ℯ𝒷𝘯𝘰𝑣ℯ𝑙.𝘤𝑜𝘮
The leopard’s hind leg was broken. A thick, metallic scent of blood hung in the air, yet there were no flies or insects buzzing nearby.
Hee Lingchuan noticed the corpse showed no signs of decay. Reaching out, he pressed its fur; it was still soft.
It is said that a centipede never falls over, even in death. The Leopard King had been dead for days, yet its body hadn’t begun to rot. This was a sign of its immense Cultivation in life; its body had achieved a state of incorruptibility.
’Which begs the question,’ he thought, ’just how powerful was the opponent who managed to kill it?’
"How long has it been dead?"
"Almost forty days." Hee Chunhua lifted one of the leopard’s forelegs, revealing to Hee Lingchuan and Uncle Hao that its underbelly had been sliced open. It had clearly been autopsied.
"Forty days ago?" Hee Lingchuan did the math. "Right. That would be just before I was attacked."
’That Leopard Demon wasn’t lying. The leopard den in the West Mountains was really wiped out.’
"I’ve already sent men to confirm. The West Mountain Leopard Demon lair was wiped out completely, from the Leopard King down to cubs less than two months old." Hee Chunhua paused before continuing, "Lately, traveling merchants have repeatedly spotted Fire Foxes in the West Mountains. On several occasions, they were seen lounging in Sand Pits, sunbathing as if they owned the place."
Hee Lingchuan grunted in understanding. "West Mountain is Sand Leopard territory. They would never tolerate Fire Foxes encroaching on it... unless something happened to them."
"Exactly. That’s why I sent men to scout the West Mountains. Near the den, they found thirty-four leopard corpses and more than ten human bodies. The signs of battle stretched across two entire hills. Most of the dead humans were unarmed and physically unremarkable. Judging from their wounds, they were killed in a single blow—they were likely the Sand Leopards’ servants. It then took my men another five days to bring this corpse back to the city for autopsy."
It wasn’t unusual to find humans in the lairs of the Demon Race. They were either food or servants, typically abducted commoners. Sentient Demons also enjoyed the finer things in life, and humanity’s meticulous dexterity was something other races could never hope to replicate.
Such a clean sweep. Hee Lingchuan could only think of two words:
Silencing witnesses.
"Father, why is the news of the West Mountain massacre only reaching us now? That’s incredibly slow!"
Hee Chunhua was accustomed to his son’s complaints. "Dust devils have been raging west of the Panlong Desert for the past ten days. No one could get near."
The Panlong Desert was a deathtrap on a normal day; during a sandstorm, it was even worse. No matter how powerful you were, you had no choice but to wait for it to pass.
Hee Lingchuan stroked his chin. ’So, the West Mountain Leopard Demons really were in bed with my old man,’ he thought.
This wasn’t surprising. Black Water City guarded the Red Cliff Trade Road, making dealings with the local Sand Bandits unavoidable. These raiding bandits weren’t just human; many were of the Demon Race. The West Mountain Leopard Demons were simply one such faction.
The authorities in Qiansong County knew the Red Cliff Trade Road was a juicy prize. Driven by profit, new nests of Sand Bandits would spring up faster than you could stamp them out, growing like weeds. Therefore, Hee Chunhua’s policy toward the major Sand Bandit groups within a hundred-mile radius was to employ both carrot and stick—threatening them one moment, negotiating and recruiting them the next. Over the years, this approach had fostered a surprisingly stable, unspoken understanding between them.
As for whether there was a more complex arrangement between them, Hee Chunhua never said, and the old Hee Lingchuan had never asked.