The journey back went very smoothly, with only a slight delay inside the cavern.
This time he didn't encounter any millipedes; Li Banfeng walked out step by step on his own.
Sitting at the base of the cliff, Li Banfeng felt as if both his legs were about to detach from his hips. But his cultivation had indeed increased considerably—equivalent to over three months' worth of time.
Taking advantage of the rest, Li Banfeng washed down another Golden Origin Pill with a Blue Leaf Pill. Once he was mostly recovered, he hurried on his way.
When passing Mount Xueya, Li Banfeng followed the same path Linli had taken before. He didn't encounter any bloodfang monsters along the way. Once he exited the Sanpan River area, Li Banfeng was no longer constrained; he sprinted at full speed and returned to Ligou.
He initially intended to head to Feng's Grocery Store first to see if Shopkeeper Feng could procure a travel permit to Lüshuiwan, as traveling through the newlands was simply too dangerous.
Just as he arrived outside the Yu Family Cloth Shop, Yu Nan was standing by the door. With a delighted look, she said, "Seventh Master, you really came."
Li Banfeng stopped at the shop entrance and looked at Yu Nan in surprise. "How did you know I was coming?"
Yu Nan didn't answer. Taking Li Banfeng by the hand, she led him inside the shop and into the rear courtyard, unlocking a separate room. Inside sat a grizzled old man in disheveled clothes with graying hair and beard.
Old Mr. Yao!
He was actually waiting for Li Banfeng at the Yu Family Cloth Shop.
He had known Li Banfeng had reached Yaowanggou and had instructed Yu Nan to wait at the shop entrance.
Having brought him in, Yu Nan quickly left the room. Old Mr. Yao produced a wine jar, poured two bowls of liquor, and motioned for Li Banfeng to sit.
"Young man, this business was hard on you."
Li Banfeng shook his head slightly. "The business wasn't hard. Delivering medicine wasn't difficult to begin with; the hardships were all of my own making."
Old Yao smiled. "You can't say that. If you hadn't risked your life to suppress the plague, that old dog Pan Dehai would definitely have kept badgering us. If he had actually unleashed those bugs, who knows how many people across Puluo Province would have died.
"I asked you here today for two reasons. First, to settle matters regarding the liquor gourd. Since I didn't know back then whether you could pull it off, I kept its covenant deed in my hands.
"Second, I want to give you an extra reward. Tell me, what would you like?"
Li Banfeng shook his head. "You've already given everything you owed. There's nothing I want."
"If I say I'm giving you something, I will. Think it over carefully while I handle things with the gourd first."
The gourd rubbed against Li Banfeng, waiting for his permission.
Li Banfeng set the gourd on the table.
"Do I need to step out?" Li Banfeng moved to stand, but Old Yao waved his hand.
"Young man, just sit right there. I only want to hear her describe how the bugs were eradicated; I won't pry into anything else."
Pan Dehai had already told Old Yao about how the bugs had been eradicated, but fearing Pan Dehai hadn't told the whole truth, Old Yao verified it with the liquor gourd.
The liquor gourd gave a detailed account of the events. She spoke only of eradicating the bugs, without uttering a single word about the Portable Abode or anything within it.
Once the matter was clear, Old Yao sighed softly. "I knew it. The poisons of this world cannot drive an entire species of creature to extinction. In the end, it still took Lü Huazi's disciple."
With that, Old Yao took out a sheet of paper—the covenant deed—and burned it to ashes right before Li Banfeng's eyes.
Li Banfeng was somewhat curious about covenant deeds. "Do masters and magical artifacts always have to establish covenant deeds?"
Old Yao shook his head. "Low-tier artifacts don't need them. For high-tier artifacts, if you can control them, you don't need a deed either. The gourd followed me for all those years, but as for controlling her, I truly didn't have full confidence. And as for sentiment, I'm simply not a man to trust sentiment."
With the deed destroyed, the gourd returned to Li Banfeng's side.
As for whether Li Banfeng would sign a covenant with the liquor gourd, Old Yao did not inquire, nor was it his place to interfere.
"Have you thought about your reward? Don't you dare say you don't want anything. There's nothing I hate more than owing favors."
Li Banfeng actually thought of something. "I obtained a Hungry Gut Silkworm and want to give it to a friend, but I don't know what preparations to make."
"A Hungry Gut Silkworm?" Old Yao's brow furrowed. "Pan Dehai gave that to you, didn't he?"
Li Banfeng nodded.
Old Yao gave a wry laugh. "That old bastard never does anything decent. You're not even a Food Cultivator. Giving you that thing is obviously just making trouble for you."
"I want to give it to a Food Cultivator."
"You mean that fatty? His cultivation is still at the first layer, isn't it?"
Li Banfeng nodded.
Old Yao produced a packet of medicinal powder and another flagon. He poured the powder into the flagon and filled it to the brim with liquor. "Have the fatty drink this flagon of wine first, and then have him swallow the Hungry Gut Silkworm.
"Tell that fatty that if a day comes when he can't endure it anymore, he can come find me. I can extract the Hungry Gut Silkworm for him, but as for what to do afterward, he'll have to figure that out himself."
Can't endure it?
"Is it because he won't be able to endure the hunger?"
Old Yao shook his head. "For a Food Cultivator, going a little hungry is a good thing. Eating more is what makes their cultivation grow fast. I'm worried his wallet won't be able to endure it. That fat boy's head isn't very sharp, and he doesn't look like someone good at making money. In less than a year or half a year, he could eat himself into poverty."
Eat himself into poverty?
Li Banfeng stowed the medicinal wine, shared a few cups of liquor with Old Yao, and chatted idly.
Hearing the ring of a bell outside the door, Old Yao stood up, wiped his mouth, and said, "I should get going. A carriage has come for me. Go spend time with that Yu family girl—have a meal, drink some wine, sleep together. She's missed you quite a bit."
Li Banfeng replied in all seriousness, "Having a meal and drinks is easy enough, but wouldn't sleeping together be a bit inappropriate?"
Old Yao replied with absolute self-righteousness, "How is it inappropriate? Don't you sleep at night? Just sleep under the same quilt with her! In this freezing weather, huddling together keeps you warm. Nobody asked you to do anything else!"
"That works too," Li Banfeng agreed.
Old Yao walked outside the cloth shop and climbed onto a rickshaw.
The coachman didn't ask for a destination or mention the fare; he took up the shafts and began pulling immediately.
Old Yao brought out a flagon, took a heavy gulp, and asked, "Do you know where I'm going?"
The coachman smiled. "You've been out for so long, you ought to be heading home."
Old Yao took another deep gulp. "Do you know where my home is?"
The coachman chuckled again. "I do. Whenever I have some free time, I take a stroll by your front door."
Gulp, gulp!
Old Yao drained the flagon dry, wiped his mouth, and asked, "How about we discuss something? Could you pull your rickshaw somewhere else?"
The coachman shook his head. "No. I happen to think your area is quite nice."
Old Yao pulled out yet another flagon, took a sip, and said, "I have a tough life. You won't outlast me!"
The coachman was quite optimistic about this. "I'm in no rush. I can wait slowly. The way you drink every day, who knows—one of these days, you might just drop dead."
***
Yuezhou Third Hospital.
He Jiaqing lay motionless in his hospital bed.
Zou Guoming, a security detective from the Dark Star Bureau, stood at the doorway watching him for a few moments, inquired about his condition, and left the hospital.
In the security squad, he was the most outstanding and senior detective. Because of his oversized head and rather narrow shoulders, his body had an odd proportion, earning him the squad nickname "Big Head."
Back when He Jiaqing first had his incident, Zou Guoming and two other team members had been tasked with monitoring his condition around the clock.
No one expected He Jiaqing to remain comatose for over half a year. Big Head couldn't keep watch here indefinitely, but every two or three days, he would still drop by the hospital for a look.
This wasn't an order from the bureau; it was Big Head's intuition. He always sensed there was more to He Jiaqing's situation than met the eye.
Coming here this time wasn't entirely because of He Jiaqing, either. Next to Yuezhou Third Hospital lay Flower Lake Park, one of the most famous parks in Yuezhou.
Recently, a disappearance had occurred in this park. The missing person was a female college student named Hu Lishan, who had entered the park alone at eleven at night.
The park's surveillance captured footage of her entering, wandering through the woods, and smashing her phone, but there was no footage of her leaving the park.
She had vanished inside the park. No sign of her was found, only the phone she had discarded.
From the data on her phone, they learned that Hu Lishan had suffered emotional heartbreak, which was likely why she had visited the park late at night.
An investigation was subsequently conducted into her boyfriend, sorting out the petty emotional squabbles in great detail, but none of it bore any direct link to her disappearance.
Unsolved cases with no leads were handed over to the Dark Star Bureau. The Dark Star Bureau didn't focus on cracking the cases themselves; they only needed to confirm one thing: whether the case was related to ability users.
Big Head actually had little interest in the case; he suspected Hu Lishan had taken things too hard and thrown herself directly into Flower Lake.
Yet as he circled the park along the clues provided by the surveillance footage, he sensed that something was amiss.
He could hear faint sounds, like a woman weeping.
He could catch a faint scent, reminiscent of fresh blood.
Big Head was a fifth-layer Combatant, which was what Puluo Province commonly referred to as a Martial Cultivator.
Although a martial artist's sensory perception was not top-tier, it was still vastly superior to an ordinary person's.
Following the sound and scent, he tracked it all the way to the vicinity of a Western-style villa in the park.
The weeping came from behind the villa. Just as Big Head was about to round the back of the building, a piercing whistle abruptly cut the crying short.
"Everyone, please look over here. This Western-style villa is an iconic landmark of Flower Lake Park..."
A tour guide was leading a tour group through the area.
Big Head glanced at the guide, then walked behind the villa.
Behind the building, it was empty. He heard no more weeping, nor did he smell the scent of blood.
This was the awkward predicament of the Dark Star Bureau: they could not operate with fanfare, and during investigations, their leads were often disrupted by human interference.
However, Big Head was now certain that there was something wrong with this park.
He found a nearby hotel, booked a room by the hour, and rested for half a day. At ten o'clock that night, he entered the park once more.
Sniffle! Sniffle!
Before long, he heard sniffling, like someone sniffling from the cold—or, of course, someone weeping.
Following the sniffling sounds forward, Big Head saw the villa again. Here, the pungent smell of blood hit his nostrils, far more intense than during the day.
Both the sound and the scent came from behind the building. Big Head skirted around to the rear of the villa and saw a woman standing with her back to him.
Each time she drew in a breath, her shoulders twitched and her body trembled. She was indeed weeping.
She wore a denim jacket and jeans, matching the silhouette Hu Lishan had left on the surveillance cameras down to the finest detail.
Big Head didn't approach rashly. As an experienced detective, he knew that having seen this much, his mission was already accomplished.
He took out his cell phone and called the bureau to request backup, but after dialing several times in succession, all he heard was a rapid busy tone.
The failure to connect wasn't an issue on the bureau's end; his phone had lost its signal.
Faced with this unexpected development, Big Head remained calm.
He pulled another phone from his pocket, bit down on the antenna to pull it out, oriented the antenna, and dialed the bureau.
This was a satellite phone issued to detectives by the Dark Star Bureau. It was cumbersome to use, but relatively reliable.
Yet long after the number dialed, there was still no response.
Even a satellite phone couldn't connect?
Big Head grew a little tense.
He saw Hu Lishan walking forward.
Where was she going?
What condition was she in?
Was she still alive?
While Big Head was still hesitating over whether to follow, he suddenly realized he was already following her.
His legs hadn't moved, yet the distance between him and Hu Lishan hadn't changed; he was advancing along with her.
The surrounding scenery, including the ground beneath his feet and the villa beside him, was slowly receding.
The ground beneath Hu Lishan's feet suddenly began to warp. Ripples seemed to spread across the hard gravel path like water.
It truly was ripples! Before her, the original perimeter wall had vanished, replaced by a densely fog-shrouded lake surface.
Hu Lishan walked into the lake water, dragging Big Head into the water along with her.
Icy lake water rushed into his trousers. Big Head struggled with all his might, yet his legs refused to budge.
Not just his feet—his arms quickly stiffened as well, immobilizing his entire body.
Hu Lishan gradually submerged beneath the surface.
With his body completely rigid, Big Head held the satellite phone and vanished along with Hu Lishan beneath the lake's surface.
The ripples gradually faded, and the ground hardened once more, as if nothing had ever happened.
Lake water continuously poured into his mouth and nose. On the verge of losing consciousness, Big Head looked out toward the pitch-black lake surface and fell completely into darkness.
Dying just like that?
Dying in a missing persons case?
Big Head was unwilling to accept it.
Yet it was futile. He couldn't move his hands or feet and could only be drowned alive.
Whoosh—
A hand reached down into the ground and pulled Big Head out from the earth.
Covered in lake water and silt, Big Head lay sprawled on the ground, vomiting repeatedly. Someone stood beside him, watching in silence.
Big Head lifted his head and looked at the person next to him.
He Jiaqing!
The same He Jiaqing who had been lying in a hospital bed just that afternoon?
"H-How is this possible... It's... it's you..."
"You should say thank you first." He Jiaqing smiled faintly. "You just entered a newland.
"Never expected that, did you? The Outer States have newlands too.
"Despite your fifth-layer cultivation, if I hadn't saved you, you would certainly have died.
"Do you still want to go in and take a look?
"You're a man of courage. I can take you in once more."
Chapter 171