The Pure Observance Society

Blood Gun Detective was released on schedule, drawing out nearly the entire populace of Lüshui City. Whether in story, visuals, subject matter, or visceral impact, this film was unprecedented in Puluo Province. The male lead, Song Chunjie, first parted the heavy veils of mystery within the city, then fought his way into the newland, embarking on a life-and-death struggle. To Li Banfeng's eyes, even if this film were screened in the Outer States, as long as it had a smooth release, it would undoubtedly cause a sensation—perhaps even sparking a groundbreaking shift in cinematic concepts. At the very least, when it came to species, the film had already achieved a breakthrough. With the movie achieving immense success, it was time for Li Banfeng to fulfill his promise to Qiu Luoye. During filming, Qiu Luoye had provided immense help to the crew, and Li Banfeng had promised to open up three parcels of newland within Qiu Luoye's domain. This too was a major breakthrough. In Puluo Province, reclaiming newland generally offered only two options: First, brute force—defeating every strange anomaly that came to administer the trial. Second, attrition—avoiding direct confrontation with the anomalies, using every conceivable means to drag out the time until the required duration was met. Qiu Luoye did not wish to make things difficult for Li Banfeng over this land reclamation, indicating that going through the motions would suffice. Li Banfeng was completely confident, but Qiu Luoye feared something might go wrong, even going out of his way to consult Shui Yongquan about it. "Which methods do Li the Seventh and Ma the Fifth use? Do they fight through with force, or do they play for attrition? I'll tell my subordinates not to give them a hard time." Shui Yongquan pondered for a long time. This question truly was not easy to answer. "Ma the Fifth could be considered hard force, while Li the Seventh counts as attrition." After weighing it over, Shui Yongquan could only offer this reply. Qiu Luoye made meticulous preparations. Since Li the Seventh was skilled at attrition, he made sure not to send anomalies with overly keen perception to test him, and also avoided sending any with excessive combat strength. Once the trial concluded, Qiu Luoye realized all his prior preparations had been utterly redundant. For three whole days, Li Banfeng never showed his face at all. This left Qiu Luoye extremely displeased. No matter how good you were at hiding, you ought to at least come out for a token skirmish! He went to ask Shui Yongquan, "Old Shui, is Li the Seventh really such a shameless person?" Shui Yongquan thought for a moment and asked, "Who's next to reclaim land?" "Ma the Fifth." Shui Yongquan answered with absolute certainty, "Li the Seventh is a man who values his dignity. Very much so." Ma the Fifth began his reclamation. On the first day, Qiu Luoye watched closely. On the second day, Qiu Luoye did not want to watch anymore; he wanted to stomp Ma the Fifth to death. On the third day, he abandoned the thought of stomping him to death—he simply did not want to go anywhere near that parcel of land ever again. He warned all female anomalies in his territory that none were permitted near that land, and none were allowed to mention this matter to anyone. Yet even though Qiu Luoye refused to speak of it, plenty of worthless female anomalies still threw themselves at Ma the Fifth of their own accord. Unable to endure it any longer, Qiu Luoye dispatched an ancient crone in her twilight years to Ma the Fifth's plot. Ma the Fifth was right in the middle of being busy, cradling a hedgehog in his arms, while a pangolin waited behind him. Seeing the crone's grizzled white hair and stooped posture, she had to be well over seventy. "Venerable elder, are you here for me too?" For the sake of land reclamation, Ma the Fifth was willing to make some sacrifices, but he had to get things straight first. "Ptui!" The crone spat and launched into a shrill tirade. "Men under heaven all carry handles between their legs, but I've never seen a lowbred mongrel who uses his handle to earn his meals! An eight-foot brute with bones supposedly forged of iron, yet they can't even prop up that nine-foot-thick hide on your face! "And you, female hedgehog under him, get out here right now! You've dragged the dignity of womanhood straight through the mud! As for you, pangolin over there, roll on out! You've burrowed through mountains half your life, and now you give away your hole for free? Have you no shame?!" This old woman was truly a master of vitriol! The pangolin and hedgehog recognized her and lowered their voices to warn him, "Fifth Master, don't let her human form fool you. She's actually a breed born of the newland known as the Street-Scolding Crone. "She's not someone you want to provoke. Fifth Master, don't fight her—you can only listen to her curse. Her tongue is foul, so Fifth Master, please don't take it to heart." The pangolin and hedgehog both scurried off in fright, leaving the crone to berate Ma the Fifth for a full day and night. The crone's insults were indeed vile, and woven within them were techniques designed to provoke uncontrollable fury. Yet Ma the Fifth possessed an excellent temperament. Having grown up being cursed at, he had heard every filthy insult imaginable. At first, he had indeed been quite angry, but Ma the Fifth knew how to exercise restraint. That was the quirk of the Street-Scolding Crone: so long as the target endured the first half, the latter half posed no problem. The danger lay in those with hot tempers who couldn't last three sentences, growing angrier with every word—in which case they would suffer terribly. Ma the Fifth successfully held out to the end. The other female anomalies on the newland dared not show up anymore, and thus the parcel of land was successfully claimed. The third to arrive for reclamation was Xiao Genzi. Qiu Luoye breathed a long sigh of relief—finally, an honest, decent fellow had arrived. Unlike Li the Seventh and Ma the Fifth, Xiao Genzi did not resort to shady tricks; he had always been upright and straightforward. Qiu Luoye reiterated his promise: so long as the land was reclaimed openly and honorably, the trial would merely be going through the motions, with no difficulties posed. After settling the covenant deed, Xiao Genzi prepared to break ground. Drawing on the auspicious meaning of double sixes bringing smooth fortune, he piled up thirty-six "golden mountains" upon the plot. Qiu Luoye gazed from a distance, then turned back to look at his gathered anomalies. "Which of you will go through the motions?" All lowered their heads in silence. Qiu Luoye turned to the Treeman. "You go. That's all good fertilizer." The Treeman pondered for a moment and said, "It's too pungent. I can't stomach it." ... All three new plots were successfully reclaimed. Ma the Fifth gathered workers to build houses and erect sets on the land, preparing for the next film. Li Banfeng told Ma the Fifth, "Don't just prepare one movie. Prepare several at the same time." Ma the Fifth asked in surprise, "You mean film the subsequent installments of Blood Gun Detective all at once? "I'm afraid that won't work. The actors can't juggle their schedules, and if we recast the lead, it'll ruin it." "I'm not telling you to prepare Blood Gun Detective. I'm telling you to prepare new movies. We've mastered the ins and outs of the movie business; it's time to plan for the next step." Only then did Ma the Fifth come to his senses. He had been pushed so hard by the recent film matters that he had forgotten about long-term planning. This was their livelihood now; they couldn't rely on Blood Gun Detective to feed them forever. Ma the Fifth immediately returned to Lüshui City and invited several familiar writers to Xiaoyaowu. Once fine food, fine drinks, and fine women were all arranged, he sat down to discuss scripts with them. These writers had always been known for their earthly, popular flavor. Unlike the great literary figures of Puluo Province, their works resonated far more easily with the general public, though they were also branded as vulgar. Ma the Fifth did not fear vulgarity; the more vulgar something was, the more narrative punch it carried. None of the writers put on airs. They laid out their best works for Ma the Fifth to pick from, and quoted reasonable prices. Just as Ma the Fifth was on the verge of finalizing the new scripts, he suddenly received troubling news. The matter could be big or small, but he immediately reported it to Li Banfeng nonetheless. "Old Seven, two cinemas in Heishipo were smashed up." Normally, cinemas being vandalized had nothing to do with them—it wasn't as if they owned the theaters. Yet the theaters had been smashed while screening Blood Gun Detective, which made it very much their business. If they ignored this, no one would dare take their movies in the future. Li Banfeng asked, "Who pulled this dirty trick?" "It wasn't under the table. They wrecked the places out in the broad open." "They smashed the cinemas right out in the open? Does Puluo Province have no rules anymore?" Internal affairs looked to the banners; external affairs answered to the Garrison. Puluo Province had order. Ma the Fifth said, "The ones who did it belong to the Pure Observance Society. They're a very particular bunch. They put out word that if any cinema dares screen Blood Gun Detective again, they will impose severe punishment." "'Severe punishment'? Quite the arrogant mouth! What does this Pure Observance Society do?" "'Pure of character, steadfast in observance'—that is where 'Pure Observance' comes from. They're an organization founded by a group of highly respected, venerable figures." "Do they count as a gang sect?" "No!" Ma the Fifth answered without hesitation. "The Pure Observance Society operates on a far higher level than gang sects, and commands far greater prestige. "They claim our film corrupts public morals and is an extraordinary disgrace the likes of which Puluo Province hasn't seen in a century. "This will be very difficult to handle. I need to make a trip to Heishipo and find a connection to get a word with them." Li Banfeng's brow twitched. "Just to speak with them requires finding connections?" Ma the Fifth sighed. "Without connections, I'm afraid we won't even get to see their faces. In truth, I should have prepared for this long ago. It was only a matter of time before the Pure Observance Society came looking for trouble." Li Banfeng knew little of the Pure Observance Society, but another detail caught his attention. "Is the Pure Observance Society exclusive to Heishipo?" Ma the Fifth shook his head. "Not at all. The Pure Observance Society has branches throughout the forward, middle, and rear regions of Puluo Province." "Then why haven't they made a fuss in Lüshui City? Lüshui City is the largest city in Puluo Province." "It's likely because they don't want to offend the Lu family. They probably don't know that the Lus have already pulled out of our company." At this, Ma the Fifth rubbed his temples vigorously. "With the incident happening in Heishipo, there's still room to smooth things over. If it had happened in Lüshui City, we'd be in enormous trouble. "With the Lüshui City branch of the Pure Observance Society, we wouldn't even be able to get an audience. Back when Zhang Xiuling first became head of the Baihua Sect, the Pure Observance Society deemed her conduct unbefitting of womanhood, and dismissed the Baihua Sect as a low-class rabble. "Zhang Xiuling had to lead over a dozen subordinates, going door to door to apologize, running herself ragged for half a year just to calm things down. The Baihua Sect, once regarded as a first-rate sect, was reduced to second-rate from that point on." Li Banfeng frowned. "Whether a sect is first-rate is up to the Pure Observance Society to decide? Are their cultivations exceptionally high? Are they formidable fighters?" Ma the Fifth shook his head. "It's not about fighting; it's about status. Many elders in the Pure Observance Society possess no cultivation at all, but they are the moral elite of Puluo Province, the paragons of virtue and integrity. "The Baihua Sect couldn't lift a finger against the Pure Observance Society. Anyone who strikes against the Pure Observance Society makes an enemy of all Puluo Province. "Lu Maoxian is one of the elders in the Pure Observance Society. Monkey Qiu and the two young masters of the Lu family have constantly been scolded and pointed at by him, yet to this day Monkey Qiu doesn't dare touch him, precisely out of fear of the Pure Observance Society backing him." Lu Maoxian. Li Banfeng remembered this person. "Back then, Monkey Qiu had us go do business in Heishipo specifically to keep Lu Maoxian in check, didn't he? "In the end, I was ambushed by Ling Miaoying at the train station, never made it to Heishipo, and the business was delayed." Ma the Fifth nodded. "Heishipo is Lu Maoxian's territory. I suspect this might have something to do with him. I'll head to Heishipo first to look for an in. If I can't find a proper channel there, I'll return to Lüshui City and plead with Lu Maoxian. "Old Seven, I'm afraid we won't be able to keep filming Blood Gun Detective. Now that the Pure Observance Society in Heishipo has made a move, other branches across the province will follow suit. I can only do my best to see that the third film finishes its run. As for whether we can make other movies, that'll depend entirely on the Pure Observance Society's mood." Hearing this, Li Banfeng suddenly sniffed. "There's a smell." Ma the Fifth was taken aback. "What smell?" "This Pure Observance Society you're talking about has a smell." "What kind of smell?" Ma the Fifth still didn't understand. "You pay a visit to their door, and they won't even see you. "Even if they see you, things won't necessarily get done. "Even if things get done, you'll still have to watch their faces and bow to their whims forever after. "This smell—I've smelled it before. It reeks of contemptible wretches!" Ma the Fifth urged, "Old Seven, this isn't the time for anger. That's just the rule with the Pure Observance Society. With the kind of movie we made, getting targeted by them was bound to happen sooner or later. We've earned enough money anyway; it wouldn't hurt to stop here. "You don't need to do the humiliating legwork. I'll go." Li Banfeng shook his head. "You can't handle this alone, and it's not as simple as losing a bit of face. If we don't handle this right, we'll lose both our dignity and our substance. "We go together. Call up every hand we can trust, and invite a few helpers along as well. Everyone who comes with us must have a backbone. Under no circumstances can they be spineless wretches." Ma the Fifth was startled. "Old Seven, you don't understand the Pure Observance Society. We're not going there to brawl; we have to find a way to talk things out." Li Banfeng chuckled. "I think I understand the Pure Observance Society just fine. I just lost to a pack of contemptible wretches once; I'm not about to lose again!" ... On the train, Li Banfeng, Ma the Fifth, and their party of over thirty people were headed for Heishipo. Ma the Fifth had booked an entire train car and paid handsome hush money to the Garrison Commissioner, conductor, stationmaster, attendants, station staff, and all related personnel, ensuring this journey remained entirely discreet. Inside the carriage, several writers sat together, discussing strategies. One writer, named Yuwen Qi, spoke up first. "Heishipo has plenty of newspapers. I used to publish many articles in their papers, though they were all obscure little rags." Another writer, named Bai Qiusheng, chimed in, "Heishipo doesn't just have lots of newspapers; it has plenty of magazines too. I've worked as a magazine writer as well. I even brought two copies with me, though I'm a bit embarrassed to take them out..." Li Banfeng found this puzzling. "What's there to be embarrassed about?" Bai Qiusheng hesitated for a moment before producing the magazines. Everyone crowded around to look. It turned out this magazine's selling point wasn't articles at all—it was photographs. Bai Qiusheng said, "Seventh Master, look at this. The exposure in these photos is quite good, wouldn't you say?" Li Banfeng nodded. "Yes, plenty of exposure—every single one of them is completely exposed." Why were there so many newspapers and magazines in Heishipo? Ma the Fifth said, "Heishipo is a unique place. Its publishing industry is even more developed than Lüshui City's. The reason is..." Before he could finish, the crone caught sight of the magazine and couldn't resist screeching, "Shameless hussy, sticking her peaches out for people to photograph!" Ah Qin sneered, "What? Did that upset you? The girl's peaches look lovely—who can blame her when she's in the prime of her youth!" "Ptui! You're a shameless slut too! Why don't you stick yours out for everyone to see..." Seeing the Street-Scolding Crone and Ah Qin on the verge of war, Ma the Fifth rushed in to mediate. To bring these two along, Li Banfeng had expended considerable effort. They were Qiu Luoye's subordinates, so first they had to obtain Qiu Luoye's consent. Qiu Luoye had been in a rather foul mood over the land reclamation affair, and it took a lengthy persuasion before he finally agreed. Moreover, both of them were anomalies. By right, they could under no circumstances leave the newland; otherwise, it would be seen as a direct provocation to the local spirits of the proper lands. This was thanks to Shui Yongquan, who found an expert to disguise the pair, masking all their anomaly aura so that they looked just like ordinary mortals. Only then could they be brought out of the newland. In exchange, Li Banfeng had even signed a covenant deed with Shui Yongquan, agreeing to build a cinema in Zhengjing Village two months later. The Street-Scolding Crone and Ah Qin argued more and more fiercely. Just as they seemed about to tear into each other, both fell silent in an instant. Xiao Genzi, holding his ladle and carrying his bucket under his arm, walked right between the two of them. Covering their noses, the two women retreated to their respective seats one after the other. Xiao Genzi stepped up to Li Banfeng. "Seventh Master, this train place is just too bizarre. The toilets dump straight onto the tracks—how am I supposed to cultivate like this?!" Li Banfeng nodded with approval. "Genzi, put the bucket down first. "Brothers and sisters, once we reach Heishipo, our first order of business is to win our very first battle."