Tiemenbao

Li Banfeng waited a full sixteen hours inside the Portable Abode before coming out. Staying in there for so long was the result of deliberate calculation. First, he wasn't sure if Ling Miaoying had planted a hook on him; he had to let his wife clean him thoroughly. Fortunately, his wife found no hooks on his person. Second, he wasn't sure if Ling Miaoying would pursue the train, nor did he know when the train would stop. If Ling Miaoying caught up to the train, or if the train pulled right into Lüshui City, and Li Banfeng showed himself too quickly, his situation would be no different from having failed to escape—he would still be under Ling Miaoying's control. In cultivation, Li Banfeng lagged far behind Ling Miaoying; their experience was worlds apart; even comparing magical treasures, Li Banfeng held no advantage. Under Ling Miaoying's thumb, Li Banfeng's death was a certainty. The only thing he could rely on was the Portable Abode. Hiding inside a bit longer was the wisest choice. Yet what if Ling Miaoying had boarded the train and picked up the key? Wasn't Li Banfeng afraid of that? He was afraid, but fear was useless. If Ling Miaoying truly discovered the key and wanted to take it, Li Banfeng couldn't stop him anyway. So Li Banfeng prepared for the worst. If Ling Miaoying took the key, he would likely bring it back to study. After examining it for a dozen or so hours, he was bound to grow tired and store it somewhere. It was now two in the morning, and Ling Miaoying would most likely be asleep. This was the best opportunity to escape that Li Banfeng could conceive. Stepping out of the Portable Abode, Li Banfeng found that he was still on the train. This meant Ling Miaoying hadn't taken the key. For Li Banfeng, this was a relatively ideal scenario. All he needed to do now was wait quietly in the car until the train arrived at a station, then get off and find a way back to Lüshui City. The last time he took a train, Li Banfeng hadn't opened the curtains to look outside once. With such a rare opportunity this time, Li Banfeng stood near the edge of the open car, taking in the scenery outside. In truth, there wasn't much scenery to admire. The night was deep and the sky pitch-black; all he could make out were the silhouettes of trees rushing backward along both sides of the tracks. After watching for a while, a train conductor beside him warned, "Train's entering a tunnel. Get down first." Li Banfeng hastily flattened himself into the pile of coal alongside the conductor. When had this conductor arrived? Li Banfeng hadn't noticed him at all. Once the train emerged from the tunnel, the conductor stood before Li Banfeng and asked, "Why are you on this train?" Li Banfeng pondered for a moment and offered an entirely reasonable explanation: "I have a ticket!" He handed the ticket to the conductor. The conductor checked the ticket and handed it back to Li Banfeng. "It's not for this train." "Is it?" Li Banfeng inspected the ticket closely, then scrutinized the train, asking with a face full of shock, "What's this train's number? Did I board the wrong one?" Li Banfeng felt his acting was quite convincing, but it failed to move the conductor. The conductor said blankly, "This is Train 1151. You are supposed to take Train 1173. Furthermore, this is a freight train, while yours is a passenger train." Hearing this, Li Banfeng hastily pocketed the ticket and apologized repeatedly. "It's my first time taking a train, so I accidentally boarded the wrong one. As soon as we reach the next station, I'll get off immediately." The conductor did not share Li Banfeng's line of thought. "Allowing you to reach the next station would be a severe dereliction of my duty." Li Banfeng thought for a moment and said, "Then wait for an unscheduled stop, and I'll hop off right away." "This train has no planned unscheduled stops." "Then could I trouble you to arrange an unscheduled stop?" The conductor shook his head again. "Arranging an unscheduled stop at will would also count as a dereliction of my duty." Li Banfeng furrowed his brow slightly. "Then what do you propose to do?" "I suggest you disembark immediately." "If you don't stop the train, how am I supposed to get off?!" *Whoooo—* A whistle blew, and an iron rod extended from the car. With a hard shove of the rod, the conductor prodded Li Banfeng off the train, sending him tumbling into the woods beside the tracks. Before being shoved off, Li Banfeng tried to resist, but failed. In Puluo Province, never offend the train crew—Li Banfeng had now truly experienced this iron rule firsthand. Where was this? Li Banfeng brushed the dust off himself and tried to get his bearings. He could tell the cardinal directions, but Li Banfeng had no idea where he was. Walk back along the railway? He had only taken a few steps when an inexplicable chill suddenly washed over him. Danger. The source of the danger wasn't hard to deduce. Ling Miaoying definitely suspects I'm on this train. He might be pursuing me along the route right now. Ling Miaoying doesn't know where I got off. The safest move right now is to get as far from the railway as possible. Guided by his technique of seeking good fortune and avoiding calamity, Li Banfeng trekked through the forest. He traveled a great distance, walking through the entire night. The paths through the forest were rough and filled with constant perils. A newcomer to these parts, Li Banfeng proceeded with extreme caution all the way. At daybreak, Li Banfeng emerged from the forest, passed through a canyon, and finally caught sight of human habitation. At the mouth of the canyon stood eight massive gates—exaggeratedly large gates. Each gate was five meters wide and eight meters tall, opening in pairs from left and right. Lined up in a row under four huge door frames, they completely sealed off the canyon. Though he was not particularly close, Li Banfeng could tell the gates were extraordinarily heavy and built from sturdy materials. How much manpower would it take to push these gates open? What lay behind them? A secret realm? A tomb? Or perhaps... *Chuff... chuff...* What was that sound? Had a train caught up? Had Ling Miaoying caught up? Li Banfeng heard the unmistakable chuffing puff of a steam engine and shivered from head to toe in fright. Looking around, he saw no train, but at the canyon's entrance, the leftmost gate was swinging open. *Chuff... chuff...* He saw no gatekeeper, only black smoke and white steam spewing from the gate panels. A steam-powered gate? There was such a contraption? *Toot-toot!* After two blasts of a steam whistle, the gate opened completely. Li Banfeng took a few steps toward the gate; he sensed no danger. He needed to ask for directions, and it was also a good chance to see who was operating this steam gate. Yet when he walked behind the gate, he saw no one, only an enormous grandfather clock. The clock stood two meters tall, its massive pendulum swinging back and forth, clearly reflecting Li Banfeng's entire body. Behind the clock face extended a multitude of gears that drove hefty connecting rods, which controlled valves along the piping. Li Banfeng had studied basic mechanical engineering in college, and after studying it for a good while, he began to make sense of the mechanism. The clock served both as a timepiece and as a timer. It was seven in the morning. When the time arrived, the clock's mechanism automatically opened the valve, and the steam engine drove the gate open. High tech! Li Banfeng had stayed in Lüshui City for so long, yet he had never seen such an automatic steam-powered gate. The steam gate was constructed with great precision; opening and closing required no human operator. Limit switches were installed on the gate pivots, so once a gate reached its position, the steam valve would naturally shut. Still, someone had to stoke the boilers, right? Please don't tell me there are steam robots here. Following the smoke, Li Banfeng located the chimney, which led him to the boiler room. There were indeed people tending the boilers inside. Five men in all: two shoveling coal, two adding water, and one taking readings, logging temperature and pressure. Li Banfeng walked up to the entrance and called out, "Excuse me, gentlemen, could you tell me where this is?" The boiler room was deafeningly noisy. The men looked at Li Banfeng, seemingly unable to hear what he said. Li Banfeng shouted again, "Gentlemen, I'm just asking for directions!" The men still couldn't hear clearly. They simply pointed at a sign by the door that read: *No Admittance.* Li Banfeng turned and walked away. He didn't have to ask these specific men for directions. In a settlement this large, anyone could be asked. They were busy with work; there was no need to make a nuisance of himself. Houses filled the village in dense clusters, and their styles were remarkably uniform—all two-story flat-roofed houses, each fitted with a pitch-black iron door. Judging by the footprint, each floor was roughly seventy to eighty square meters, totaling a hundred and fifty or sixty across both floors, and the gaps between houses were all around five meters. Why was this village built so uniformly? Perhaps because Li Banfeng had arrived too early, there wasn't a single pedestrian on the street. With no pedestrians around, whom was he supposed to ask? Li Banfeng walked up to one house and knocked on the pitch-black iron door. After waiting for a while, no one responded from inside. If this one didn't answer, he went to knock on the next. The next didn't answer either. After knocking on more than a dozen doors, one finally made a sound. *Clatter, clatter...* On the iron door, the cover over the peephole slid open. *Clatter, clatter...* The person inside peered through the peephole for a long while before opening a small window hatch in the iron door. "Who are you looking for?" Behind the door stood a young man. Through the small window, Li Banfeng could see most of his face. His skin was pale, as though he hadn't seen sunlight in a long time. His hair was slightly long but kept relatively neat. The skin above his upper lip held a faint bluish stubble; he clearly shaved, just not very often. This man's appearance gave Li Banfeng an odd sense of familiarity. The young man, however, did not find Li Banfeng familiar or welcoming. His eyes darted about, doing his best to avoid Li Banfeng's gaze. Evidently, he disliked strangers. "I'm here to ask for directions," Li Banfeng said. "Could you tell me what place this is?" The young man answered, "This is Tiemenbao." Tiemenbao? The Rear Three-Tenths? I actually rode the train all the way to this place. How am I supposed to get back now? Go to a station and buy a ticket? Li Banfeng had a travel permit in hand—a round-trip permit between Heishipo and Lüshui City. But would it work in Tiemenbao? Even if it worked, Li Banfeng wasn't eager to visit a train station. Ever since arriving in Puluo Province, his experiences at stations had never been pleasant. Better to head back through the newland. Old Yao's map had marked Tiemenbao's location. "Excuse me, how do I get to the newland?" "Which newland are you asking about?" Li Banfeng recalled the markings on the map. "I want to go to the Peach Blossom Lake newland." The man thought for a moment and said, "First, leave the fort. Then turn right at the main gate and go straight. "Walk for ten-odd minutes, and there's a fork in the road. At the intersection, you'll see a big willow tree. It's exceptionally large, very easy to recognize. "Face the willow tree, take the fork to the left, and keep walking. Don't make any turns along the way—just head straight. After walking for half a day, you'll see Peach Blossom Lake. "Face Peach Blossom Lake, turn halfway around from left to right, walk up to a large boulder, and jump into the lake. At the bottom of the lake, you'll find the newland." Giving directions using front, back, left, and right, never compass directions like north, south, east, or west. Measuring distance in time, never in li or meters. Li Banfeng felt an even stronger sense of kinship with this man. "Thank you." Li Banfeng took out a banknote and held it out to the man. The man lowered his head. "I don't want money!" Easily embarrassed, easily awkward—Li Banfeng felt as though he were looking at an old friend. He would have loved to chat with him a bit more, but the man on the other side seemed disinclined to speak any further. Li Banfeng slipped the banknote into the crack of the door, turned, and began to walk away. The man called out from behind, "Wait a moment." Li Banfeng didn't wait. The man unlocked the door and chased after him. "I don't want your money! I forgot to tell you just now: if you can't swim, don't go to Peach Blossom Lake. You'll drown." Li Banfeng nodded. "Thank you. As for the money..." "I said I don't want it!" The man was rather stubborn—a stubbornness unique to shut-ins. He turned and was about to go back inside when he saw an old man driving a donkey cart into the fort. The cart was loaded with burlap sacks. The young man walked over to the donkey cart and asked, "How much for a jin of white rice?" The old man was a grain vendor. "Two yuan fifty!" The old man halted the donkey cart. The young man found it expensive, but said nothing. He rarely bargained when buying things. "Give me one sack." The old man handed a sack of rice to the young man. "Fifty jin a sack. That's one hundred twenty-five yuan." The young man nodded, counted out the money, and handed it to the old man. When buying things, he paid first. The old man handed the sack of rice to the young man. The young man opened the sack and looked inside. "There's quite a bit of grit in this rice. Could I swap it for another sack...?" "They're all the same! Swap what?!" The old man drove his donkey cart away. He wasn't good at negotiating when buying things. Especially after the money had already changed hands. This series of traits was all too familiar. They were hallmarks of practically every shut-in. Looking at the man, Li Banfeng couldn't help asking, "Are you a Dwelling Cultivator?" The man looked at Li Banfeng, said nothing, picked up his rice, and headed back indoors. The old man driving the donkey cart chuckled. "First time in Tiemenbao, eh? Everyone living in Tiemenbao is a Dwelling Cultivator!" All Dwelling Cultivators? Then I ought to stay a couple more days in such a fine place. In any case, Ling Miaoying has no way of knowing I'm here. This is a prime opportunity to learn about Dwelling Cultivators.