Li Banfeng did his utmost to keep his legs from shaking as he listened to his wife explain the third-tier technique.
"Oh, my husband, first- and second-tier Dwelling Cultivators don't actually have techniques. They only possess two innate talents: first, Guarding the Hearth, meaning a Dwelling Cultivator's combat prowess goes up a tier once inside their dwelling; and second, Seen Yet Unnoticed, meaning that once outside, nobody pays them any mind."
Li Banfeng nodded. "I have those too. But aren't Hundred Flavors Exquisite, Golden Eyes Discerning the Minutest Detail, and Perceiving Spiritual Voices techniques?"
Not only were his legs shaking, but they also seemed to be stretching.
"Those are techniques, yes, but more than that, they are tokens of this humble servant's affection. Other Dwelling Cultivators might not necessarily know how to use them."
This was what made Dwelling Cultivators peculiar, and why others were so reluctant to fight them: part of a Dwelling Cultivator's techniques were bestowed by their dwelling spirit, making the patterns behind them nearly impossible to anticipate.
His wife continued, "The third-tier technique, however, is different. It is the same for Dwelling Cultivators all across the world. It is called Heart Arrowing Home.
"As long as a Dwelling Cultivator feels the longing to return home, their combat prowess will increase substantially. But just how much it rises and how long it lasts depends on my lord's own capabilities."
Li Banfeng thumped his thigh. "I can hold out for a long time. You know that."
*Tsk—*
The gramophone gave a slightly mocking laugh. "The technique of Heart Arrowing Home depends first on the depth of my lord's cultivation, and second on how urgent your longing to return is. The higher your cultivation and the more urgent your longing, the more formidable and enduring the technique will be."
"I see. I'll go outside and test it out first." Li Banfeng sprang up and bolted outward; he could hold back no longer.
He wanted to run—the urge was impossible to restrain. Even if his upper body stayed still, his legs seemed ready to run off on their own.
The gramophone called out after him, "Husband! When a Dwelling Cultivator has no tier, they cannot spend less than two hours a day at home. At the first tier, no less than three hours. At the second tier, no less than four hours. And now that you've reached the third tier, it cannot be less than five hours!
"Ordinarily, my lord is busy making a living, so whether you return early or late, this humble servant has never made a fuss. But now that you have risen to the third tier, my lord must pay closer attention to the rules.
"This humble servant is easy enough to please, but the house itself will not be so easily appeased."
Li Banfeng called back an acknowledgment and immediately left the Portable Abode.
In the outer chamber, a bead of dew formed on the bronze lotus.
She wasn't trying to spit. She was breaking out in a cold sweat.
He ran like the wind, sprinting right out of Lanyang Village and onto the open wilderness in an aimless, furious dash.
Only sprinting at full tilt could suppress the nearly uncontrollable trembling in his legs.
As he ran, Li Banfeng turned things over in his mind:
Those final reminders from the gramophone were crucial. The cultivation method of a Dwelling Cultivator lay in the balance among the cultivator, the dwelling, and the dwelling spirit.
If a Dwelling Cultivator stayed away from home for too long or spent insufficient time inside, it would cause estrangement between cultivator and dwelling, and could even lead to a backlash from the house itself.
If the Portable Abode wanted to turn on me, would it strike directly, or team up with the wife to deal with me?
That question was rather pointless.
If his wife wanted to deal with him, she wouldn't need to team up with the Portable Abode in the first place. The real crux right now was...
The real crux was when in the world he could stop!
Li Banfeng had already been running for a long time.
From Lanyang Village to the wilderness, from the wilderness to a small town, and from one town to another, Li Banfeng had covered over a hundred li. Yet even when he ran all the way back to the small wooden cabin, he felt not the slightest desire to stop.
The moment he stopped, his legs began to shake involuntarily again.
He had underestimated this so-called backlash. If he encountered an enemy right now, he would have virtually no ability to fight back.
Continuing to run didn't seem to solve the problem either. Unless he broke through to the second tier purely by running—ten years' worth of cultivation at fifty li a day—who knew how many years and months he would have to keep running?
How could he resolve this?
Controlling his shaking arms, Li Banfeng reached into his robes and pulled out the freshly refined Golden Origin Pills.
Thirty-eight pills in total, each representing a hundred days of cultivation.
Three thousand eight hundred days—more than ten years of cultivation. If he swallowed all of these pills, Li Banfeng could advance to the second tier, returning to a state where he lagged behind his dwelling cultivation by only one tier.
Could he really take so many pills all at once?
Having paused for just this brief moment, Li Banfeng felt the urge to sprint again.
He had to run. His two legs felt as if they were about to tear right off his hips.
This was no illusion of the senses; his legs really were about to fly off. Li Banfeng could hear the grinding of his joints.
Blood seeped from his thighs. Part of his skin had been torn open by the violent motion of his own legs.
It wasn't just his legs—every joint in his body wanted to tear away at top speed.
His left hand wanted to sprint east, his right hand wanted to dash west, and his neck wanted to take flight into the sky!
His legs had to run, to keep running without cease; the moment he stopped, his entire body would rip itself to pieces!
He couldn't go on like this.
*If I take fewer pills, I won't reach the second tier, and the backlash won't improve much.*
*Running blindly like this, I'm afraid I won't be able to stop until I drop dead of exhaustion.*
*And if I run into an enemy, I might just run myself right into an early grave.*
*Go back into the Portable Abode to take them?*
*That won't do.*
The fact that Li Banfeng also cultivated as a journey cultivator could not be known by the gramophone.
The gramophone harbored an intense hatred for journey cultivators, though the exact reason remained unknown.
If the gramophone found out that Li Banfeng was taking pills to advance his journey cultivation, she would very likely stop him, or perhaps even go mad on the spot and take his life.
In for a penny, in for a pound!
He might as well swallow them right now; if worst came to worst, he could return to the Portable Abode to purge the poison.
Li Banfeng sprinted all the way back into the small wooden cabin. Ma the Fifth stepped out of the bedroom holding a newspaper. "Brother Li, guess what happened? The Lu family—"
"Don't worry about that right now. I won't be able to go to the newland tonight. Guard my door, and don't let anyone in."
"Brother Li, what on earth happened? Why are you trembling so hard?"
"Trem—trembling, what of it? Is—isn't it great?" Li Banfeng's voice shook as well. Seeing that he couldn't explain clearly anyway, he said no more.
He dashed up the stairs into the bedroom, poured out all thirty-eight pills, stuffed them straight into his mouth, and washed them down with a gulp of water.
Since arriving in Puluo Province, this was Li Banfeng's first time taking pills.
The Golden Origin Pills slid down his throat one by one, extraordinarily smooth, without the slightest hitch.
Once all thirty-eight pills were in his stomach, Li Banfeng felt nothing out of the ordinary.
He only felt that the urge to shake was no longer as intense.
*Does this mean I've advanced to the second tier of journey cultivation?*
*Has the cultivation backlash vanished?*
*It took effect this fast?*
*The breakthrough went this smoothly?*
A wave of joy washed over Li Banfeng. But as he looked down at his body, he realized something was off.
He was still shaking, and just as violently as before.
The reason the urge had seemed less intense was that he could no longer feel his own body.
He tried to move his arm, but it refused to obey.
*The pill poison is this potent?*
*Hurry back to the Portable Abode to purge the poison!*
*How do I explain this to my wife?*
*Just say I went crazy out of nowhere and swallowed the pills!*
*Is that believable?*
*Sounds believable enough to me!*
*In any case, they're already eaten. Just don't mention journey cultivation, and the rest is just lying to her!*
*And really, what married man has never lied to his wife at home!*
Li Banfeng tried to pull out his key, but couldn't. He had completely lost control of both hands.
*I have to go home. I want to go home. I want to go home.*
Blue veins bulged on Li Banfeng's skin, blood vessels branching through the whites of his eyes. His fingertips twitched slowly, working their way into his trouser pocket.
Heart Arrowing Home: his longing to return home was exceedingly urgent, and this swiftly boosted his physical capabilities by a full tier, briefly overcoming the effects of the pill poison.
He turned the key, opened the door, and tossed the key beneath the bed with a flick of his wrist.
Once back inside the Portable Abode, he took a mere two steps before collapsing limply to the floor.
The moment he returned to the Portable Abode, his desire to come home was satisfied. The urgency dissipated, and the boosted combat strength vanished along with it.
*Hiss, hiss—*
Seeing Li Banfeng crumpled on the ground, the gramophone gasped, "Oh, my husband! Whatever happened to you?"
Li Banfeng could still barely speak. "I took pills... Golden Origin Pills."
"Husband, why did you eat those?"
"Thought they were tonic, so I ate them."
"How many did you take?"
"Thirty-eight. All of them!"
"Oh, heavens! You madman, have you lost your mind? Are you trying to kill yourself?"
A plume of steam buoyed Li Banfeng up and carried him onto the bed. Li Banfeng lay flat for a while, gradually calming down amid the swirling steam.
Pill poison was terrifying. Li Banfeng would need a long time to regain full sensation in his body.
Still, that was far better than cultivation backlash. Moments before taking the pills, he had genuinely feared his body was about to tear apart.
Li Banfeng's legs were still trembling, as though they still wanted to detach from his body.
Yet he could see that the violent shaking had lessened noticeably.
Upon the bronze lotus, beads of dew rolled down one after another.
...
Downstairs, Ma the Fifth flipped through the newspaper. Today's news was truly extraordinary.
The Lu family's affairs had made the press. Lu Dongjun accused He Yuxiu of plotting against Lu Dongliang, while He Yuxiu claimed that Lu Dongjun sought to murder his elder brother to usurp power.
Both sides stuck to their stories, and the matter remained without a definitive conclusion for now.
Lu Dongliang's whereabouts also remained unresolved.
Ma the Fifth couldn't be bothered to read the commentaries given by prominent pundits. Instead, he paid closer attention to some less prominent pieces of news.
The Ma family was raising funds from various sources, preparing to open up newland.
Although the Ma family had been on the decline in recent years, opening up newland was hardly something that would require them to scramble for funds from multiple avenues.
Knowing his father as he did, Ma the Fifth understood that the family's true purpose was to withdraw their money deposited in the Lu family's bank. His father wanted to stay as far away from this conflict as possible.
Turning to another report, Chu Huaiyuan, the second young miss of the Chu family, had refuted false rumors about murdering her husband and visited the Paramount to support the songstress Jiang Mengting.
Chu the Second had gone to the Paramount again.
She had harbored ambitions toward the Paramount for a long time, but as it was a Lu family property, she had never been able to get her hands in. Now, her chance had arrived.
This also represented the Chu family's stance: they wanted to take part in this dispute and reap greater gains from it.
Ma the Fifth felt an itch in his heart as he read.
The Lu family was in chaos, and the landscape of Puluo Province was about to be rewritten. In all this, he caught the scent of opportunity.
Major events were shaking Puluo Province. With so much turmoil erupting in their midst, the Lu family likely had no extra attention to spare for Li Banfeng.
At this thought, Ma the Fifth grew concerned about Li Banfeng's condition again.
Just as he thought of heading upstairs to the bedroom to check on him, he suddenly heard a knock at the door.
Opening the door, he saw a middle-aged man standing outside, around fifty years of age, dressed in a dark greenish-black changshan. He had a pale, clean-shaven face and wore round-framed sunglasses along with a wide-brimmed fedora.
"Who are you looking for?" Ma the Fifth asked politely.
The middle-aged man smiled. "The one I'm looking for is precisely you, Fifth Young Master."
Ma the Fifth's heart tightened, but he feigned composure. "And how should I address you?"
"My name is Yang Yanzheng, a steward of the Chu family."
Hearing that name, Ma the Fifth remembered what Landlord Wei had said before he died.
It was this very Yang Yanzheng, one of Miss Chu the Second's men, who had continually directed others to persecute Ma the Fifth.
"What business brings you here?" Ma the Fifth stood at the door, his expression remaining placid throughout.
Yang Yanzheng smiled. "My young mistress is celebrating her birthday this month and would like to invite you to join her. I have brought your invitation."
Ma the Fifth took the invitation, glanced at it, and gave a faint smile. "Your young mistress still wishes to invite me? I've already been expelled from my clan. Given my current standing, would it be appropriate for me to attend your young mistress's birthday?"
Yang Yanzheng replied, "Our young mistress feels that you did nothing gravely wrong and should never have suffered so much hardship. She cares nothing for what others say. So long as you are willing to grace her with your presence, the gates of the Chu family will always remain open to you."
Ma the Fifth froze for a second, then suddenly asked, "And what if I refuse to grace her with my presence?"
Yang Yanzheng fell silent for a good while before sighing. "Fifth Young Master, you have truly endured a great deal of suffering these past days. You wouldn't want to suffer it all over again, would you?"
Chapter 119