Inside the second room, Li Banfeng and the Tang dao stood leaning against opposite walls.
The Tang dao spoke first. "The day of the decisive battle has finally arrived."
Li Banfeng's expression was icy. "What must come will come in the end. This is fate."
The Tang dao swayed slightly in agreement. "A thousand pieces of gold are easily gained, but a kindred spirit is hard to find. To cross blades today with the world's foremost swordsman, this humble one would die a hundred times without regret."
Li Banfeng's eyes burned like torches, seemingly moved by its words. "Pity you are not a sword."
The Tang dao slid from its scabbard. "Yet sword qi dwells within me!"
The two stood facing each other for a long while. The Tang dao asked again, "Why have you not drawn your sword yet?"
Li Banfeng said, "Sword intent resides in my heart."
"Ah—"
The Tang dao trembled twice, let out a cry of pain, and collapsed to the floor. "Lord, I have been grievously wounded by your sword intent and have no strength left to fight. Henceforth, I pledge to follow at your stirrups, through thick and thin!"
Li Banfeng was thoroughly disappointed. "How many times have I told you? Don't be in such a hurry to surrender! You're supposed to fight my sword intent in earnest!"
The Tang dao defended itself. "Your subordinate already clashed with you in earnest, my lord, but I was utterly powerless to resist!"
Li Banfeng was not satisfied with that excuse. "You didn't even chant a single line of verse! You call that an earnest clash?"
The Tang dao hastily argued, "Chanting verse isn't what matters. So long as the mood is struck, that's enough."
Li Banfeng was about to call for another bout when he heard the gramophone shout from the other room, "Husband, on such a fine morning, don't fool around at home! Hurry up and buy some groceries!"
Li Banfeng returned to the main room and stared dumbfounded at the gramophone, feeling that his wife was truly going too far.
Just yesterday, he had brought back five Citun pearls, each harboring vengeful souls—six at the fewest, nineteen at the most.
The gramophone had devoured every last one clean, and now she was telling him to buy groceries again? Was this reasonable?
"Wife, although I do like you a bit plumper, shouldn't we watch your diet a little..."
"Husband is cruel to his little servant!" The gramophone wailed in grief, spewing steam all across the room.
Lotus promptly shut the door to the second room, and the Tang dao huddled in the corner, not daring to twitch.
Scalded bright red from head to toe, Li Banfeng left the Portable Abode.
Today, they were heading to the newland.
Ma the Fifth had found a large mass of bonding mud out there. Because he hadn't brought iron canisters the night before, he hadn't been able to carry it back. Setting out first thing this morning, they needed to harvest the treasure as quickly as possible.
***
Yaowanggou, Yitang Village.
Inside a grand mansion with three courtyards and three entrance halls, Detective Daboyins sat across from Zhuo Yuling. Across the vast estate, only the two of them were present.
"Madam, why did you summon me in such a rush? I'm currently tracking leads on Li Banfeng."
Zhuo Yuling shook her head. "Put Li Banfeng aside for now. The situation is dire—save my daughter first."
Daboyins fell silent for a moment before saying, "As far as I know, Lu Xiaolan has already been rescued by the Lu family's head steward, Qiu Zhiheng. She is currently inside the Lu family manor."
Zhuo Yuling nodded. "That is precisely why I need you to save her."
Daboyins went quiet for another breath, then suddenly laughed. "Madam, do not joke like that. Are you asking me to make an enemy of the Lu family?"
Her eyes rimmed with red, Zhuo Yuling said, "She is my only child. The only person I can rely on right now is you. As long as you can get her out, I will agree to any condition you name."
Daboyins sighed. "Do you think I'd believe you? Think back—have you ever told me the truth in your entire life?"
Zhuo Yuling seized Daboyins's hand with sudden force. "At least that night was real! I gave you everything that night! Do you still not believe me?"
Daboyins looked into her eyes.
A single tear trembled in her eye, refusing to fall, carrying a unique stubbornness and obstinacy, yet also an unmistakable helplessness and pity.
Daboyins gently pulled his hand free and smiled. "Madam, let us speak of practical matters instead. If I rescue your daughter, how much money can you give me? And don't mention that earlier figure of ten thousand silver dollars. The circumstances have changed; that amount is far from enough."
Zhuo Yuling wiped her tear away. "A hundred thousand. I'll give you a hundred thousand."
"Not enough."
"Two hundred thousand."
Daboyins considered it briefly. "Two hundred thousand silver dollars, three round-trip travel permits to the Outer States, and two round-trip travel permits to the Inner States, with no expiration dates."
Zhuo Yuling frowned. "Travel permits for the Outer States are easy enough, but Inner States permits are truly..."
Daboyins chuckled. "I only asked for two, and you can't even manage that? With that attitude, I'm afraid your daughter won't be saved."
Zhuo Yuling bit her lip. "The silver dollars can be delivered within three days. The Outer States permits will take five days at most. As for the Inner States permits, let me ask around first..."
Daboyins sighed again. "You had better ask quickly. I've already heard plenty of rumors here in Yaowanggou. Many are saying Li Banfeng is dead—that as soon as he reached Yaowanggou, he perished at Lu Xiaolan's hands. If those words reach Lu Dongliang's ears, you know what the consequences will be."
Those rumors had already reached Lu Dongliang.
Some had even made their way into the newspapers.
Zhuo Yuling had no idea where the rumors had started, but they were spreading across Puluo Province. Many people genuinely believed that Li Banfeng had long since died at Lu Xiaolan's hands.
***
In Yuezhou Third Hospital, on a hospital bed.
The supposedly comatose He Jiaqing noticed no one was around and could not help letting slip a faint smile.
***
Li Banfeng wiped cobwebs from his face and took in his surroundings.
Trekking through the wilderness came with two unbearable miseries:
First, swarms of biting insects.
Second, cobwebs clinging to your face.
Ma the Fifth had cobwebs stuck to his face as well. "Just webs is a blessing. Whatever you do, don't let a spider touch you. You never know how venomous the spiders in the newland can be."
Li Banfeng asked, "Do you remember this stretch? How far is it to the bonding mud you mentioned?"
Ma the Fifth nodded. "I remember the way. Head north another ten li or so and we should be there. Finding the mud won't be hard, but the mass is rather large. The tricky part is how to haul it back. If the Song family catches wind of it, we'll be in trouble."
The Song family was truly a peculiar entity.
They didn't know much about the newland, yet they held an iron grip over its resources. If not for the special channels Ma the Fifth possessed, every scrap of game and bounty brought out of the newland would have been squeezed dry by the Song family for a massive cut.
Li Banfeng sighed. "No matter what business one runs, there's no bypassing the Song family. Are they really such an impenetrable monolith?"
Ma the Fifth shook his head. "Brother Li, the Song family isn't just an iron plate; they're far harder than iron, because they have other powers backing them. As far as I know, the highest-tier cultivator in the Song family is their patriarch, Song Jiasen. Song Jiasen is a Tier 3 Martial Cultivator. A cultivator of that tier is certainly capable, but to hold down all of Lanyang Village, that alone is far from enough."
Li Banfeng asked, "Are his kin formidable, then?"
Ma the Fifth shook his head. "Though some can amass years through extraordinary encounters, for ordinary people, cultivation ultimately comes down to time. The entire Song family is lacking in talent. Song Jiasen stuffed himself with tonics, and by his early fifties, he barely reached Tier 3. His two sons—Song Zhigang, who's in his early thirties, and Song Zhiyi, in his twenties—are still at Tier 1 even now."
"Are his subordinates formidable?"
Ma the Fifth sneered with faint disdain. "He only has a single Tier 4 expert under him, and that person can hardly be called his subordinate—just a hired hand. Lüshui City sits right before their eyes; how many people who reach Tier 3 would be willing to make their home in a desolate backwater like this?"
"Then what does the Song family rely on?"
"The Song family has backers above them. Their backer is the Liu family. Above the Liu family is the Si family. And above the Si family is one of the Four Great Families: the Lu family. Every year, over eighty percent of the Song family's income is handed up through those successive layers of families. Relying on that chain of connections, the Song family put down deep roots, allowing them to keep an iron grip on Lanyang Village."
The Lu family—it was the Lu family again.
In Puluo Province, thoroughly breaking free from the Lu family was truly no easy task.
After resting for a moment, the two set off once more. Suddenly, a voice spoke up, "Brothers, watch your step."
Both men answered in unison, "What's wrong with our..."
Having replied, Li Banfeng and Ma the Fifth stared at each other.
Who had just spoken?
Li Banfeng looked up and saw massive cocoons slowly descending from the branches.
In an instant, Li Banfeng remembered his most terrifying experience in the Mount Jiangyue newland.
"Run!" Li Banfeng seized Ma the Fifth and bolted. Behind them, shouts rang out in succession:
"Don't go! Did I guess right?"
"If I guessed right, stay and play with me!"
"If I guessed wrong, it's your turn to guess!"
Three voices echoed one after another, and Li Banfeng ran even faster.
Ma the Fifth scrambled desperately behind him, panting, "What is that thing?"
Li Banfeng replied, "A bagworm moth!"
"A bagworm moth? Th-that's... what was that again?" Ma the Fifth had read about it in books, but couldn't recall the details in the heat of the moment.
Besides, the book's descriptions didn't seem to match what they had just seen.
Before they had sprinted far, a massive willow tree ahead shook violently. Li Banfeng knew disaster was upon them.
"Detour around it!"
A detour? With the jungle choked by vines and brambles, how could they easily detour?
While Li Banfeng was still searching for a way through, a plump, emerald-green figure had already dropped to the ground.
"I-is that Madam Bagworm Moth? The inescapable Madam Bagworm Moth?" Ma the Fifth recalled the passages from the book.
This green caterpillar matched the book's description almost down to the finest detail.
In that single breath, Li Banfeng sank into despair.
Why did they have to run into this creature?
Why did such a thing exist in the Lanyang Village newland as well?
Did every piece of newland harbor this kind of monster?
"Run! Hurry and run!" Li Banfeng and Ma the Fifth sprinted with all their might, the massive caterpillar pursuing closely behind.
"Don't run! Stay! My children like you, and I like you too!"
Li Banfeng found Madam Bagworm Moth an utterly bizarre creature. He had encountered her twice now, and both times the creature had the exact same appearance, the exact same build, the exact same manner of speaking, the exact same words—even the identical voice.
Was this thing mass-produced in some factory?
"Stop running! If you don't want to play with my children, play with me instead! I know so many games!"
After fleeing for a long while, Li Banfeng spotted a fork in the path. By his reckoning, taking the left branch would lead them back to Lanyang Village.
The instant he took a step to the left, a dense cluster of insect silk blocked the path.
It was identical to what he had experienced before. Madam Bagworm Moth was in no rush to kill; she allowed her prey to flee, but would never permit them to leave the newland.
Ma the Fifth could run no farther. A Joy Cultivator had a frail constitution, and he was hacking and wheezing uncontrollably.
Even if he couldn't run, he had to!
Li Banfeng dragged Ma the Fifth along in a desperate sprint, while Madam Bagworm Moth followed behind at an unhurried pace.
"Don't run away! Are you truly abandoning me just like that? Have you forgotten all the affection between us?"
*Who has affection with you? Bagworm moths always love acting familiar, young and old alike!*
Li Banfeng kept running, and Madam Bagworm Moth called out from behind again, "Back then, we frolicked in the woods for an entire day! You killed three of my children and I never held it against you! Have you forgotten me so quickly?"
Wait!
What did that mean?
What was going on?
Li Banfeng's head buzzed.
Madam Bagworm Moth sighed. "You truly are a heartless man. Your friend was nothing like you; he was deeply in love with me for three whole days, and I bore so many children for him."
*My friend?*
*The one who can turn into a spider?*
*The great detective Daboyins?*
*He had a bunch of children with you?!*
*Is that true?!*
There was no time to dwell on Daboyins's misfortune.
Right now, another question demanded attention.
Could this Madam Bagworm Moth actually be the exact same one from the Mount Jiangyue newland?
How was that possible?
The Mount Jiangyue newland was a thousand li away from Lanyang Village!
How in the world had this caterpillar gotten here?!
Chapter 108