Orange Grove

Taking advantage of the gramophone's guilt, Li Banfeng bullied her thoroughly. After sleeping through the night, he headed back to the Orange Grove early the next morning. Li Banfeng wandered through the grove for half the day, but by noon he still had found nothing. His stomach began to growl, and not wanting canned food, he simply climbed a tree, picked two oranges, and ate them right beneath the branches. Fifty centimeters across, the oranges were larger than pomelos, yet their rinds were soft and thin. Peeling back the rind revealed plump, enormous segments giving off a unique fragrance. With his sharp sense of smell, Li Banfeng couldn't resist the temptation; he picked up a segment with both hands and took a bite. A sweet, lightly tart juice flooded his mouth. That ninety percent sweetness and ten percent tartness stimulated every single taste bud. The refreshing fragrance wafted up through his throat and into his nasal cavity. After that first bite, Li Banfeng could not stop. Back in the Outer States, he had been a pauper who had never tasted anything truly fine in his life. In Lanyang Village, however, he lived comfortably and had enjoyed several delicacies, yet none could compare to this orange. Why was this orange so fragrant? Fat! There was fat inside! Not the greasy fat of animals, but a semi-congealed richness blended right into the juice. The rich fat flowed through his mouth along with the juice, his tongue catching its velvety texture, yet the juice lingered only briefly before sliding smoothly with the congealed cream down his esophagus and into his stomach. No, that wasn't nearly enough. Li Banfeng picked up another segment and slurped it down. The two huge oranges disappeared into his belly in no time, stuffing him until his stomach was round as a ball. He gathered up the rinds. He didn't particularly want them—he certainly wasn't hurting for money—and the rinds were paper-thin anyway, with the peel of both oranges weighing less than a jin combined. Still, Li Banfeng remembered the old hunter's admonition: waste nothing if possible in the Orange Grove. Fruit this good truly shouldn't be wasted. Li Banfeng even buried the seeds carefully in the soil. Catching the scent of oranges from the trees, Li Banfeng felt his appetite stirred once more. Can't eat any more. Any more and my stomach will burst. In the middle of his fierce internal struggle, he suddenly caught a whiff of smoke amid the citrus fragrance. Where's that smoke coming from? *** To the east of the grove, a sexagenarian elder was tied to an orange tree. Two young men swung torches in front of him. "You old bastard, you're practically one foot in the grave already! What're you making trouble here for?" The old man ground his teeth. "Doing such things, aren't you afraid of retribution?" "What've we done? We didn't cut down trees, and we didn't waste any oranges! Which rule did we break?" Li Banfeng was curious too. Standing behind the two young men, he listened quietly. Indeed, which rule had they broken? The old man ground his teeth in fury. "You set fire to the trees! You've burned them to death!" One young man bared his teeth in a grin. "What's our burning trees got to do with you? Or would you rather we burn you instead?" The other young man chuckled, waving his torch right in front of the old man's face. Li Banfeng spoke up. "Why are you burning the trees?" The two young men jumped in surprise, only just realizing someone was behind them. One of them drew a short blade and shouted, "Who are you?" Li Banfeng frowned. "I asked first. Why are you burning the trees?" Without another word, the two young men charged at Li Banfeng with their short blades, one from the left and one from the right. Their coordination was good; clearly, they had worked together for some time. They handled their blades with exceptional skill—likely Martial Cultivators, between Tier 1 and Tier 2 cultivation. It couldn't have been easy for them to make it to the Orange Grove; they must have asked someone for a guide beforehand. Yet how did they cross Wireworm River? That made Li Banfeng somewhat curious. Li Banfeng took a step to the left, swung his scythe, and slashed open the neck of one man. Immediately slipping a step to the right, he arrived before the other young man and hooked the scythe into his chest. "Don't move. Move again and I'll gouge out your heart!" With the tip practically touching his heart, the young man froze, completely still. Li Banfeng said expressionlessly, "I'll ask you one more time. Why are you burning the trees?" The young man gasped for breath. "We... we came to catch snout beetles! The snout beetles live inside the trunks and are hard to catch. Setting fire forces them out!" Li Banfeng looked around. A dozen or so orange trees nearby were charred black all over. With tears in his eyes, the old man said, "They've ruined all these trees." The oranges were still on the branches, their sweet scent still reaching Li Banfeng's nose. Such wonderful orange trees, dead just like that. Li Banfeng looked at the young man, his brow furrowing. "Such fine oranges, and you ruin them like this?" "We're here for the snout beetles! Those bugs are too slippery—the two of us could only catch thirty or fifty a day, but burning the trees gets us over a hundred a day! We went through all kinds of hardship to get here, so we just wanted to catch as many as we could to make it worth the trip!" Li Banfeng said, "If catching them is slow, stay a few extra days. There are oranges to eat anyway. Ruining things the way you do, this grove will be wiped out in days." The young man endured the pain and gritted his teeth. "Brother, watch your step and don't paint yourself into a corner! You don't even know who I work for. I'm from Lanyang Village, and the fifth young master of the Ma family is my head boss! You dare lay a hand on me? Have you considered the consequences?" "You're from Lanyang Village?" Li Banfeng looked astonished. "No wonder! Turns out we're brothers! Come on, let's go somewhere else to chat." The one whose throat had been slashed was not quite dead yet. Li Banfeng hauled him along as well and headed into the distance. Once certain he was out of the elder's line of sight, he tossed both of them into the Portable Abode. This time, the wife didn't hold back. Before Li Banfeng even closed the door, she had already dug in. Returning to the old man, Li Banfeng untied the ropes. The old man stood up, stretched his limbs, and asked, "Where did those two youngsters go?" Li Banfeng said, "They went home. I told them to reflect on their actions, and they promised never to do it again." The old man sighed, seeming to understand what Li Banfeng meant. Walking over to the scorched orange trees, he ran his hand along the charred bark. "Those beasts... what a sin! Are you from Huaziwan too?" Huaziwan? What place was that? "I came from Lüshuiwan." Hearing this, the old man smiled. "Lüshuiwan is what you folks call it. Back when I was young, it was called Huaziwan. Beggars were everywhere." "Old sir, haven't you got the wrong place?" Li Banfeng blinked. "Lüshuiwan is full of rich people." Gently stroking the bark, the old man seemed lost in memory. "When I was young, there was a beggar in Huaziwan. No one knew where he caught a strange illness, but sores broke out all over his body. At first they oozed white pus, then red pus, and finally the fluid turned green. "Back then, Huaziwan was made up of beggars and poor wretches. Managing a full meal was considered lucky, and if you fell sick, there was no money for a cure. "That beggar's illness was terrifying. With green fluid dripping all over him, no one dared go near him, and no one would give him food. Even when he scavenged scraps from the gutters to fill his belly, people threw stones at him. "Even reduced to such a state, he refused to die, lingering on like that, neither human nor ghost." A beggar oozing green pus! Li Banfeng had seen this person. In his mind, that person's voice rang out again: "Pity me, have pity on me..." "Young man, what are you thinking about?" Startled from his thoughts, Li Banfeng replied, "He stayed alive through all that? His life was remarkably tough, then." "Tough! Tough indeed! Because his cultivation was high enough." "What pathway was he on, and what tier was his cultivation?" "His pathway was one he created himself; no one else could explain it. Nor did anyone know what tier he had reached. Unfortunately, he fell ill, unable to use any of his abilities. "One day, heavy snow was falling. He was starving and begged down the street, but not a single soul gave him anything to eat. "He starved to death. On the very day he died, many people in Huaziwan caught a strange illness. First they broke out in rashes, and when the rashes burst, they turned into sores. The sores began oozing white pus, which turned into green pus after a few days. "After dripping green pus for a few days, the sick all died, and the people around them started breaking out in rashes, soon oozing green pus as well. "People died wave after wave until nearly everyone in Huaziwan was dead. From then on, Huaziwan became Lüshuiwan." Li Banfeng felt a chill run down his spine the more he listened. Studying the old man closely, he asked carefully, "When did this happen?" The old man shook his head. "Many years ago. Exactly how many, I can't recall." "You've been to Huaziwan?" The old man smiled. "How can you call it 'been to'? I am a native of Huaziwan. I fled to the newland specifically to escape that great catastrophe." Lüshuiwan was originally named Huaziwan. Everything stemmed from a beggar oozing green pus. Yaowanggou got its name from the Medicine King. Lüshuiwan got its name from the beggar. Did that mean this beggar was the master of Lüshuiwan? Li Banfeng had never heard anyone mention this before. This old man before him was from the same era as that beggar dripping green pus. Then just how old was he? Anyone who came to the Orange Grove and damaged the trees would die. Did that have something to do with this elder? Was this elder the master of the Orange Grove? "Old sir, have you lived in this Orange Grove all this time? You've never returned to Lüshuiwan?" Li Banfeng activated Golden Eyes Discerning the Minutest Detail, wanting to know whether this old man was human or ghost. There was no ghostly fire on the elder; he should be human. The old man nodded. "I didn't dare go back. Though that beggar died, I heard his soul lingers. Every so often, he comes out, wandering around begging with an alms bowl. "If three people give him alms, the matter passes. But if fewer than three people give him alms, he brings down a calamity—the exact same calamity from before he died." Li Banfeng's scalp tingled with numbness. Back then, he had given the beggar a few steamed buns; that should count as alms. Xiao Chuanzi had given the beggar two eggs; that counted as alms too. Had anyone else given him alms? In a place like Lanyang Village, where the folk customs were so "honest and simple," would anyone give alms to a beggar? Especially one covered in green pus! Lüshuiwan was this beggar's domain, so why did he choose to beg in Lanyang Village? Did he deliberately want to bring down a calamity? Did he want to wipe out his own territory on purpose? Was an epidemic about to break out in Lanyang Village? Yet so much time had passed, and there didn't seem to have been any disturbance... While his thoughts raced, the old man suddenly asked, "Young lad, did you just bury seeds in the soil?" Li Banfeng paused, but didn't lie, answering honestly, "Yes." The old man nodded and asked again, "What did you come to the Orange Grove for? Do you want orange peels, or orange maggots? Or are you looking for something else?" Li Banfeng answered, "I came wanting to eat oranges." The old man shook his head and laughed. "Young lad, speak the truth. Before me, you must tell the truth." Li Banfeng answered honestly, "If I come here again next time, it will certainly be to eat oranges, because the oranges here are just too delicious." The old man nodded, believing Li Banfeng. "Then what did you come for this time?" "This time, I came to find the Blue Leaf Poplar." "What are you looking for the Blue Leaf Poplar for? To forge weapons?" "Not that. I want the Blue Leaf Poplar to refine medicine." Li Banfeng told the truth outright, sensing that any lie would be seen through by this elder. The old man pondered for a long while before saying, "You want to use the Blue Leaf Poplar to neutralize pill poison, don't you?" Li Banfeng nodded. The old man sighed. "Then put it out of your mind. The toxicity of the Blue Leaf Poplar can indeed counteract pill poison, but over all these years, no one has ever succeeded in refining it. Even the Medicine King of Yaowanggou couldn't brew it. "You're a good lad. Whatever you do, don't stake your life on this. The moment the Blue Leaf Poplar touches your tongue, you are as good as dead."