Relying on the technique of Hundred Flavors Exquisite, Li Banfeng followed the faint wisp of incense smoke in the air and tracked down Liu Liangyi.
It was through this very thread of incense smoke that Liu Liangyi manipulated his ghost servants.
He had been right—a sneak attack yielded the highest return.
Taking advantage of how easily a Dwelling Cultivator went unnoticed, and using the Portable Abode to carry him across a short distance, Li Banfeng crept up behind Liu Liangyi and drove a dagger straight into the back of his skull.
By all rights, against an ordinary adversary, that single blow would have brought the fight to an end.
Nightmare Cultivators, however, were different. As long as Liu Liangyi drew a single breath, he could still counterattack through his ghost servants.
Ten ghost servants stood guard at his side, and all of them lunged at Li Banfeng at once.
This was an ugly predicament. Li Banfeng could see ghosts, but he had no way to harm them.
Seizing the chance to tear away from Li Banfeng, Liu Liangyi reached back and wrenched the blade from his own skull.
He knew he might not survive this, but even in death, he would drag Li Banfeng down with him.
A ghost servant slashed a blade toward the back of Li Banfeng's head. Suddenly, the Hanxue pendulum sprang forth, hacking into the spirit several times in rapid succession until it scattered into nothingness on the spot.
After drinking Lu Dongliang's blood, the pendulum had evolved. She could harm departed spirits now.
On the verge of losing consciousness, Liu Liangyi chose to throw everything on one desperate gamble. Expending every last shred of his strength, he summoned the nearby wandering souls and sent them swarming alongside his ghost servants.
Lanyang Village, a place celebrated for its "simple and honest folk customs," saw bloodshed every day, and departed souls littered the ground.
Just as the pendulum was about to be overwhelmed, Li Banfeng pulled open the door to the Portable Abode. From inside the room came his wife's singing:
"Red lanterns glow and green wine flows this night,
Around the hearth, we melt the winter chill,
To speak of love brings joy beyond all measure,
Faint melodies drift soft, rapturous dances sway,
Such bliss, such bliss, outmatching the immortals..."
Having suffered bitter, desolate days out in the bleak wilderness, the departed souls marched in neat order toward that seductive song, filing straight into the Portable Abode to whisper words of love with the gramophone.
Liu Liangyi's ghost servants held out for only a few seconds before following the crowd of wronged souls inside.
What kind of artifact was this?
Where were his ghost servants going?
Liu Liangyi lit candles and burned talisman papers, exhausting every trick he possessed, but he could not halt the departure of his ghost servants in the slightest.
Li Banfeng looked at Liu Liangyi with a faint smile. Now things were simple.
Brandishing his dagger, Liu Liangyi charged at Li Banfeng to fight for his life.
Even uninjured, a fourth-tier Nightmare Cultivator stripped of his ghost servants was no match for a third-tier Dwelling Cultivator combined with a second-tier Journey Cultivator, let alone wounded as he was.
Dodging the dagger, Li Banfeng seized Liu Liangyi by the hair and threw him into the Portable Abode with the momentum.
*Whoosh—*
The gramophone chuckled. "My, another one? This course isn't quite tender and fresh enough, but your humble servant has starved for so long, so I won't be picky."
The bronze lotus showed some discontent, coating itself in dew.
In that entire room, Liu Liangyi was the only one fit to eat.
Liu Liangyi's son, Liu Changyu, had had his face flayed by Chu the Second, and in his rage had sought revenge. Not daring to go after Chu the Second, he had turned to venting his wrath on Ma the Fifth.
Who would have guessed that Liu Changyu, flayed of his face, had actually been the lucky one?
Now, while Liu Liangyi's consciousness still lingered, his soul was being sliced away strand by strand by the gramophone. Amid the agonizing pain, a thought surfaced in his mind:
*It was this man.*
*Song Jiasen died at this man's hands.*
*I misjudged completely.*
*The one we needed to watch out for wasn't Ma the Fifth...*
***
Once Liu Liangyi entered the Portable Abode, he lost control over all his ghost servants.
Inside the Mengchun Garden dance hall, the ghost servants were left utterly bewildered, and the paper figures froze rigid in their tracks.
Seizing the moment, Ma the Fifth led the crowd after Xiao Genzi and broke out of the dance hall.
Gritting his teeth, Xiao Chuanzi said, "Young Master, what about the dance hall? We just opened today! Are we just giving it up?"
"If we must, then we must! The days ahead are long, and opportunities are plenty. First, come with me to hide in the warehouse!" Ma the Fifth owned no artifacts, but the warehouse held plenty of spiritual objects that might buy them some time.
The group entered the warehouse and searched around for useful supplies. After about a dozen minutes, Xiao Genzi suddenly poked his head outside.
"Young Master, listen! There's noise coming from the dance hall!"
"What noise?" Ma the Fifth was worried that the paper figures were setting fire to the building. Burning down the dance hall alone was bad enough, but the nearby taverns, inns, and the Jiqing Troupe would all be dragged into the disaster as well.
Leaning against the window and listening for a good while, Ma the Fifth caught the sound of music.
"Last night in a dream,
Peach blossoms still welcomed the spring breeze,
Sweetheart and maiden joined in tender accord,
Awakening brought only emptiness."
The song was titled *Last Night in a Dream*, Ma the Fifth's personal favorite.
Who would be playing music in the dance hall at a time like this?
It was Li Banfeng.
Li Banfeng had placed the record carved by his wife onto the windmill gramophone.
One after another, the ghost servants broke free from the paper figures, gathering around the gramophone to listen quietly to the exquisite song.
Harmonious though the scene looked, the situation was perilously dangerous.
When a fourth-tier Nightmare Cultivator died, his ghost servants would slip out of control, very likely degenerating into evil spirits.
With a hall full of unchecked ghost servants, the slightest slip could cost Li Banfeng his life.
A single song lasted only a little over three minutes. Just as the melody drew to a close, Li Banfeng quietly pulled open the door to the Portable Abode.
The singing on the dance floor ceased, and every ghost servant turned toward Li Banfeng, their expressions brimming with fury.
Wiping the sweat from his brow, Li Banfeng only hoped his wife would take over without missing a beat.
Right on cue, her singing rang out from within the room:
"Could it be you are dull and foolish?
Could it be you know not romance?
Do you love me or do you not?
Why must you leave me to wait in vain..."
Enthralled by the wife's voice, the ghost servants scrambled over one another to pour into the Portable Abode.
Li Banfeng let out a long breath, only to hear his wife bark, "Aiya, Husband, shut the door this instant! This place stinks to high heaven!"
***
Pushing open the dance hall doors, Li Banfeng donned his fedora, walked over to the warehouse, and said to Ma the Fifth at the window, "Call your people to clean up."
A whole room of ghost servants, all dealt with?
Ma the Fifth could hardly believe it.
He wanted to ask more, but Li Banfeng had already pulled down his brim and vanished swiftly into the night.
Xiao Chuanzi came up beside Ma the Fifth and asked in a low whisper, "What's that gentleman's name, really? I wanted to ask, but I didn't dare."
"Just call him Seventh Master. Don't ask anything else."
"Seventh Master? Is he your brother?"
"Didn't I just tell you? Don't ask anything!"
Ma the Fifth ordered the men to head over and clean up the dance hall. Carrying his bucket on his back and ladle in hand, Xiao Genzi led the way at the front of the pack.
"Genzi!" Ma the Fifth took two swift strides to catch up. "You don't need to do any cleaning. Go to the accounting office and collect five hundred silver dollars. You earned the highest merit tonight."
Xiao Genzi collected the five hundred silver dollars and stuffed them into his breast pocket.
He patted the bucket behind him, then felt the ladle in his hand, walking with a distinctly swaggering stride.
He decided that from now on, he would keep that bucket on his back at all times—even when he went to sleep!
Xiao Chuanzi, who shared a room with him, immediately resolved to find somewhere else to sleep.
***
Back in the Portable Abode, Li Banfeng sorted through Liu Liangyi's belongings.
Liu Liangyi had started out as a bandit and made quite a name for himself in the greenwood, yet on his person he carried less than two thousand in cash and barely over a dozen silver dollars, earning him Li Banfeng's deep contempt.
Aside from the money, Liu Liangyi also carried a good number of incense candles. The wife let out a huff and said, "Aiya, Husband, those are tools for a Nightmare Cultivator to control ghost servants.
"If you knew the methods of a Nightmare Cultivator, they'd be of great use. Even if you don't know the arts, they can still summon stray souls and wild ghosts, saving you the trouble of buying ingredients, my lord."
Since his wife said they were useful, Li Banfeng naturally kept them.
There was also a stack of yellow papers inscribed with strange talismans.
The gramophone explained, "Husband, those are covenant deeds between a Nightmare Cultivator and his ghost servants. Nightmare Cultivators usually keep them on hand, but they're of no use to you."
"Covenant deeds?"
Li Banfeng paused. "When we took in Du Hongxi before, why didn't he have any of these?"
"He did! That wench Red Lotus ate them all!"
Li Banfeng turned to look at the red lotus. "What did you eat those for?"
The red lotus gave no answer; even if she had, Li Banfeng wouldn't have understood.
*Hiss—*
The wife answered for her: "Covenant deeds have spirituality, yet they don't count as cargo. That wench likes this sort of thing best.
"It doesn't hurt if she eats them; she can refine things out of them. It's just that she ate too few covenant deeds last time, so it wasn't enough to piece together a single lotus seed."
Du Hongxi had only fifteen ghost servants, so he had carried only fifteen covenant deeds.
Liu Liangyi had sixty ghost servants. If all sixty covenant deeds were fed to Red Lotus, who knew what she could refine?
Just as Li Banfeng was about to hand the covenant deeds over to the bronze lotus, its petals had already unfurled.
The wife gasped, "Aiya! That wench is stealing bites!"
A gust of wild wind swept up from the lotus heart, devouring every bit of the incense and candles Li Banfeng had gathered!
Before Li Banfeng could even react, the covenant deeds in his hand were swallowed by the bronze lotus as well.
Li Banfeng said angrily, "This is out of line! Picking up chopsticks without so much as a greeting!"
The gramophone was equally furious. "That hussy deserves a beating! Husband, if you don't enforce house rules, there'll be no order left in our family!"
Just as the gramophone was about to vent its fury, spewing out steam, the bronze lotus opened once more.
Upon the lotus heart sat two lotus seeds. One held Liu Liangyi's corpse, still being refined; the other had already fully ripened. Li Banfeng peeled the ripe seed open.
The lotus seed burst, producing ten sheets of white paper.
Li Banfeng frowned. "What are these for?"
The bronze lotus closed its petals, remaining silent as before.
After observing them for a moment, the wife said in genuine surprise, "Aiya, Husband, this is covenant paper!"
"What's covenant paper?"
*Clack-clack-clack—ha!*
The gramophone beat a slow cadence, venting steam as she sang, "Such a treasure has been lost for decades! Who would have thought that wretched Red Lotus could still refine it?"
Li Banfeng remained puzzled. "What use does it have?"
"Immense use! For an agreement established on covenant paper, anyone who breaches the contract must suffer severe punishment."
Li Banfeng grew interested. "What sort of punishment?"
"That depends on what auxiliary materials you use, Husband. Take poison, for instance. When you write the contract, place poison on the covenant paper, and the paper will absorb it. Once the other party presses their thumbprint, should they breach the contract, the poison will flare up and kill them."
Li Banfeng pondered for a moment, then said to the gramophone, "I'll write a covenant deed in a bit. The two of us will live in harmony as husband and wife from now on, but if you ever plot to murder your husband, let this deed..."
*Whoosh!*
Before Li Banfeng could finish, a cloud of hot steam scalded his face crimson.
*Hiss! Puff!*
"Husband uses such things to guard against your humble servant! Husband treats me poorly! Your humble servant won't sign this covenant, I won't!"
"If you won't sign, you won't sign. What's the need for all this?" Li Banfeng rubbed his cheek and put the covenant paper away.
***
Three days later, Ma the Fifth brought back several newspapers and handed them to Li Banfeng. "Liu Liangyi, the old shopkeeper of the Liu family, has gone missing. The one who ambushed us that night must have been him."
Offering no comment on the matter, Li Banfeng asked instead, "Above the Liu family is the Si family. What sort of figure is their head?"
"The head of the Si family is named Si Wennian. He's said to have fifth-tier cultivation. I don't know what pathway he walks, but he has plenty of ruthless men under his command."
"Ruthless men..." Li Banfeng rubbed his forehead. "Did you take the pill I gave you?"
Ma the Fifth shook his head. "Not yet. I'm a bit scared of the pill poison."
Li Banfeng gave a wry smile. "Hurry up and take it. Once you're done, go find some girls and get down to cultivating.
"Brother Ma, you're good at making money, but with your current cultivation, how do you expect to guard your home?"
With that, Li Banfeng walked away.
This was a practical problem. Ma the Fifth was too weak, and Li Banfeng couldn't stand guard over his threshold forever.
Ma the Fifth sat in the wooden shack, not moving for a long while.
Li the Seventh was right. Things couldn't go on like this.
He pulled out the Golden Origin Pill from under the bed and swallowed it down with a mouthful of water.
***
Si Wennian arrived at Lu Dongjun's residence and sat in the gatehouse for over an hour.
The guard at the gate advised him, "Shopkeeper Si, take my advice and don't wait around today. Second Master has his hands full."
Si Wennian sighed. "A major incident occurred with the Liu family. No matter how busy Second Master is, I must see him."
The guard didn't bother speaking further. After another hour of waiting, the counselor Wan Jinxian stepped into the gatehouse.
"Shopkeeper Si, Second Master will see you."
Overjoyed, Si Wennian quickly followed Wan Jinxian into the main hall. He bowed to Lu Dongjun, but before he could say a word, Lu Dongjun spoke first:
"Old Si, you came just in time. In a little while, I'm heading to the grand mansion to check on my sister-in-law. You're coming with me."
Si Wennian was stunned.
He had come to seek Lu Dongjun's backing, only to be drafted as an errand-running attendant.
"Second Master, I came to discuss matters regarding Lanyang Village..."
"What is there to talk about with Lanyang Village? How much is that damned broken village even worth? If you can help me get things done today, I'll let you open two more businesses in Lüshui City!"
Lu Dongjun snapped in anger. Si Wennian didn't dare utter another word and accompanied Lu Dongjun to the Lu family mansion.
Why insist on bringing Si Wennian along?
In truth, Lu Dongjun had never held much impression of Si Wennian; if Wan Jinxian hadn't reminded him, Lu Dongjun wouldn't even have remembered such a man existed.
Si Wennian was an Ascetic Cultivator, and Ascetic Cultivators and Joy Cultivators countered each other.
Lu Dongjun's target on this trip was Monkey Qiu, and Wan Jinxian had suggested bringing Si Wennian along as an extra layer of insurance.
Over these past few days, no matter what Lu Dongjun tried to do within the family, Monkey Qiu kept him tightly reined in.
The family's attitude was strange as well; high and low, everyone still listened to Monkey Qiu, to the point where one couldn't tell who the real outsider was.
Today, he would settle things with Monkey Qiu once and for all.
Arriving in the main hall, Lu Dongjun first chatted for a moment with Lu Dongliang's principal wife, Duan Shaoxia.
Madame Duan spent her days washing her face in tears, and her entire frame had grown noticeably gaunt.
"Dongjun, do you have any news of Dongliang? If you do, you must tell me. You can't keep it from me."
"Sister-in-law, I've been searching for Eldest Brother as well. Don't worry, nothing will happen to him."
Seeing Duan Shaoxia weep until her face was drenched in tears, Lu Dongjun felt a twinge of pity.
Even Lu Dongjun himself found it strange.
Why pity her? She was just a middle-aged woman.
After a few words of idle chatter, Lu Dongjun turned to the main subject: "I came today to discuss some business matters with Steward Qiu. With Eldest Brother absent these days, the He family, the Ma family, and the Chu family are all eyeing us like tigers watching their prey. We have to be on our guard!"
Hearing this, Duan Shaoxia immediately instructed the servants, "Go fetch Steward Qiu. Don't delay proper business."
Qiu Zhiheng entered the main hall and bowed to Lu Dongjun first.
Lu Dongjun nodded. Without inviting Qiu Zhiheng to sit, he asked bluntly, "Yesterday, I checked the accounts at the Paramount. There's a sum missing, and it isn't small. Monkey, do you know anything about this?"
Monkey Qiu froze, then shook his head slightly. "I haven't heard of this."
"You haven't heard?" Lu Dongjun smiled faintly. "Ever since trouble struck the family, you've been running the businesses. Where this money went, you ought to have a clear idea, wouldn't you say?"
Qiu Zhiheng's brow furrowed slightly. "Second Master, are you suspecting that I touched the Paramount's money?"
Lu Dongjun looked Monkey Qiu up and down, his expression darkening. "Can't I even ask a question? Who calls the shots in this family? Where do you get off showing such temper?"
Qiu Zhiheng said nothing, his eyes fixed on Lu Dongjun's wrist.
Duan Shaoxia interjected from the side, "Dongjun, what's gotten into you? Steward Qiu didn't say anything out of line."
Lu Dongjun waved a hand at Duan Shaoxia. "Sister-in-law, stay out of this. Today, things must be made clear between him and me!"
Lu Dongjun had claimed he was visiting Duan Shaoxia, only to turn on Monkey Qiu without warning, aiming to catch him off balance.
Duan Shaoxia assumed Lu Dongjun was merely losing his temper and didn't intervene, completely unaware that Lu Dongjun had come this time to claim Monkey Qiu's life.
What would be the consequences of killing Monkey Qiu?
Severe ones. The entire family would believe Lu Dongjun harbored treacherous ambitions, and might even ostracize him.
Yet Wan Jinxian had laid out the analysis for Lu Dongjun: if he didn't kill Monkey Qiu, the consequences would be even direr.
Monkey Qiu thwarted Lu Dongjun at every turn. As long as this man stood in his way, Lu Dongjun would never hold real authority over the family.
Furthermore, Monkey Qiu was secretly searching for Lu Dongliang, Zhuo Yuling, and Lu Xiaolan. If he found even one of those three, the fallout would be catastrophic.
Monkey Qiu had never expected Lu Dongjun to resort to murder. He didn't mind a few sarcastic jibes from Lu Dongjun; his focus remained on Lu Dongjun's wrist.
Near the cuff of the sleeve, a scar seemed visible.
Was this the price Lu Dongjun had paid for using the necklace?
Had the Lu Dongliang from before truly been Lu Dongjun in disguise?
Monkey Qiu wanted to verify it one more time when he heard Lu Dongjun ask, "What are you staring at? Did you hear me speaking to you?"
Qiu Zhiheng's eyelid twitched. This time, he saw it clearly—there was indeed a scar on Lu Dongjun's wrist.
Monkey Qiu betrayed no reaction, intending to see Lu Dongjun off first before conferring with the family's key figures on a plan.
Lu Dongjun, however, had no intention of leaving. He suddenly threw a punch at Monkey Qiu. "I see you've truly forgotten your place!"
Monkey Qiu was a seventh-tier Joy Cultivator. Though close-quarters brawling was not his forte, his tier was exceptionally high.
Moreover, against Lu Dongjun, Qiu Zhiheng was guarded the moment he laid eyes on him.
The punch missed. Duan Shaoxia caught Lu Dongjun by the arm and said, "Dongjun, this isn't right of you."
Seizing the opening, Qiu Zhiheng retreated swiftly, putting more than five meters of distance between himself and Lu Dongjun.
Shoving Duan Shaoxia aside, Lu Dongjun pointed at Monkey Qiu and barked, "Today, I'll teach you some rules!"
With just that single point of his finger from more than five meters away, aimed directly at Monkey Qiu's chest, a sharp pain tore through Monkey Qiu's torso. His breath caught, and his face turned purple.
Standing where he was, Lu Dongjun delivered a kick through empty air. Monkey Qiu dodged with great difficulty, his chin grazed by the strike, leaving him staggering and on the verge of collapsing.
Lu Dongjun lunged forward two steps, preparing to swing another fist. Monkey Qiu swept his gaze across Lu Dongjun, sending Lu Dongjun's blood churning and causing his strike to falter slightly.
Qiu Zhiheng immediately whistled sharply. Inside and outside the hall, over a dozen guards rushed in.
Wan Jinxian produced a stone lion from his breast pocket, and Lu Dongjun wrenched a false tooth from his mouth, shoving it into the stone lion's jaws.
The lion's eyes lit up. Inside and outside the hall, over a dozen guards crashed as if into an iron wall; not a single one could break into the main hall.
Monkey Qiu was shocked. He had never seen this artifact before.
Duan Shaoxia's eyes twitched, a glint of chilling frost showing in her gaze.
Chapter 134