The Martial Elder

The thug led the way, bringing Li Banfeng into the lodge. The so-called lodge was actually nothing more than a factory floor. The chief of the Green Fire Gang was drinking inside while a photographer took pictures. Three young women—pretty of face, slender of figure, and wearing not a stitch of clothing—were posing as models. So the Green Fire Gang was in this line of work too. Li Banfeng pulled down the brim of his hat and walked toward the gang chief. By the time the chief reacted, Li Banfeng was already standing right beside him. The chief's cultivation was lacking—at most the third layer—making him virtually unable to perceive a fifth-layer Dwelling Cultivator. Not only was he oblivious, but the photographer and models hadn't noticed either, still completely engrossed in their photo shoot. The chief didn't dare breathe too loudly. Lowering his voice, he asked, "Friend, what business brings you here?" Li Banfeng brushed his sickle lightly against the chief's cheek. "You're the chief, right? How should I address you?" "My name is Han Xianrong." "Chief Han, I came here hoping you could publish a few news articles." "That's easy enough. Just give me a brief summary, and I'll find someone to write the drafts." "Don't trouble yourself about the drafts. I've already written them, and the photos are already taken." "I'll have my men print them in tomorrow's morning edition right away." "Publishing in just your paper isn't enough. Call over all the print shops on your turf and have them publish together." "No problem." "Also, invite the chiefs of the other gangs over. I have matters to discuss with them." "Th-that would be difficult for me to ask. Our gang isn't very large, and we don't carry much weight in Heishipo." "I'm telling you to invite them. If you ask with sincere goodwill, they surely won't refuse." "You're truly putting me in a tight spot. If I do this, I won't be able to keep a foothold in Heishipo anymore..." "Did I not make myself clear, or did you fail to understand?" Li Banfeng cut a slit across Han Xianrong's cheek. No foothold? The Green Fire Gang stopped at no evil; an organization like this had no business having a foothold in the first place. The sickle bore deadly venom. A wave of dizziness washed over Han Xianrong. "All right, I'll send men to call them..." Han Xianrong flicked his sleeve, slipping a talisman paper out into his grip. Li Banfeng smiled. His movement was far too slow; Li Banfeng felt anxious just watching him fumble through it. The talisman paper shattered, and over a dozen ghost servants swarmed toward Li Banfeng in a rush. The master's hands were slow, and the ghost servants weren't swift either. Drawing Prince Chun's horsewhip from inside his coat, Li Banfeng cracked it twice at the ghost servants. Nearly half of them had their souls shattered on the spot. The rest hadn't been touched, but they stood frozen in place, too terrified to budge. For low-level ghost servants like these, just hearing the whip crack was enough to rob them of any ability to move. Only at this moment did the photographer and models notice Li Banfeng, finally realizing their chief was locked in a fight. Li Banfeng made another cut on Han Xianrong's cheek. "Can you understand me this time?" Trembling all over, Han Xianrong stammered, "G-good hero, sir, how may I address you?" "My surname is Ye, as in the night." Han Xianrong hurriedly instructed the photographer, "Quick, call the brothers over! Boss Ye, don't worry, I'm calling them to get to work. I'll obey your every command." Li Banfeng nodded. "I'm not worried. Tell them to hurry up." Sure enough, Han Xianrong's subordinates didn't drag their feet. In just a short while, over a hundred men arrived one after another. Li Banfeng sat beside Han Xianrong, looking for all the world like an old friend he hadn't seen in years. Han Xianrong didn't dare do anything rash, relaying Li Banfeng's demands to his men. His underlings split into three groups to carry out their tasks. The first group, following Li Banfeng's instructions, gathered workers to typeset the newspaper and begin printing immediately. The second group notified all the newspapers under their control to reprint tomorrow's front pages. The third group set off to inform the leaders of the various Heishipo gangs to come to their turf to discuss business. The factory floor was left empty, everyone having dispersed to their duties. Would any gangs actually show up? Han Xianrong's standing wasn't quite as miserable as he had claimed. In Heishipo, the major gangs wouldn't pay him any mind, but the smaller outfits would still give him some face. Han Xianrong was confident in his calculations. As long as the heads of those gangs came, they would surely bring guards with them. When the time came, he would give them a signal, and by joining forces, he refused to believe they couldn't butcher this madman. The urgent priority was to neutralize the poison as soon as possible, lest this lunatic lose his patience and strike first. "Hero, my head is spinning terribly. I don't think I can hold out much longer." Li Banfeng nodded. "It's fine. Dizziness is completely normal." "Hero, please rest assured, I harbor no ill intentions. I'll stay right here and keep you company honestly. Just give me a little bit of..." Li Banfeng looked at Han Xianrong. "It's so late. Don't bother keeping me company. Go get some rest." "That works too," Han Xianrong said, nodding. "I'll take my leave first." "Don't go alone. Look at you—you can't even stand steady. Let me see you off." Li Banfeng actually stood up and supported Han Xianrong. Han Xianrong realized something was wrong and reached his hand into his trousers pocket. He still had one last talisman paper hidden in his pocket. As the talisman broke, a ghost servant crouching in the factory's backyard charged inside. This was Han Xianrong's strongest ghost servant and his final trump card. Spurred on by this ghost servant, the ones that had previously been cowed found the nerve to attack, lunging toward Li Banfeng together. "Bamboo shadows sway red, drifting and lost; upon the concubine's couch, the dream of my love will not break..." Li Banfeng softly sang a rendition of "Drunken Chimes." All the ghost servants stopped dead beside Li Banfeng, frozen still. Li Banfeng looked at Han Xianrong. "You've heard the song. Time to rest." He opened the door, seized Han Xianrong, and brought him along with the horde of ghost servants into the Portable Abode. "Oh, Husband! You haven't bought any greens for days, and now you bring back these few withered cabbage stalks to make do for your humble servant?" "Make do with these to stave off hunger for now, wife. I'll go back out and scavenge some more." Li Banfeng departed. Hong Ying's figure shuddered. She skewered a soul upon the tip of her spear and sucked it clean. The gramophone fumed, "Oh, you wretched woman! How dare you steal food!" Hong Ying savored the aftertaste. "What use is consuming such ordinary souls? I can't taste anything special. Why do you never tire of them?" The gramophone scoffed. "My man bought them, so I love eating them!" "Vicious hag, just what did you experience after your death? How much fighting strength do you have left?" The gramophone couldn't be bothered to answer. She set the ghost servants to the side, then skewered Han Xianrong with her stylus, drizzled some machine oil over him, and savored him slowly. Hong Ying caught the scent and sneered, "Vicious hag, why eat so much grease? Is it to make things easier for your man?" "None of your business!" The gramophone snorted coldly and continued eating. *** Li Banfeng let out a whistle, and Zuo Wugang walked in. The Nightmare Cultivator had been dealt with, so no one in the Green Fire Gang posed a threat to Zuo Wugang. "The major gangs will be sending people over shortly. Speak with them first." Zuo Wugang agreed. Having tumbled through the martial underworld for years, dealing with such characters posed no difficulty for him. A total of six gang leaders arrived that night. When Zuo Wugang told them to publish the news across their respective turfs, everyone kept silent. None of them wanted to offend the Pure Observance Society. Wei Jiangpeng, the head of the White River Gang, asked, "Chief Han called us here. Where is he?" Zuo Wugang said, "Chief Han grew tired and went to rest. If any of you are worried, I can take you to see him." Wei Jiangpeng froze for a moment and looked away from Zuo Wugang's gaze. The others exchanged glances, then lowered their heads in silence. Underworld figures understood underworld talk: Chief Han was gone. At that moment, Li Banfeng quietly stepped into the factory floor. Not a single person present noticed him. Li Banfeng signaled to Zuo Wugang that he could be rougher with them. Zuo Wugang turned and effortlessly twisted off a chunk of iron from a machine tool. The gang chiefs' hearts shot straight to their throats, realizing this man's cultivation layer was far beyond theirs. Wei Jiangpeng was the first to speak. "Brother, please bestow your name so we know who we're working for." Zuo Wugang shook his head. "I won't give my name, nor do you need to remember me. Our boss is surnamed Ye—not Ye as in green leaves, but Ye as in the night. Make sure you remember that." Wei Jiangpeng nodded. "Understood. We'll do as you ask." "Saying you'll do it means you truly have to do it!" Zuo Wugang waved his hand, and Cao Zhida brought over a stack of covenant deeds. "You all know the rules of Puluo Province. If anyone signs a covenant deed and fails to honor their word, don't blame me for being ruthless." A covenant deed was an existence of special significance in Puluo Province, and no one knew whether Zuo Wugang was using covenant paper. These men truly did not want to sign, but Zuo Wugang's imposing presence terrified them. Having signed the covenant deeds, everyone returned to their duties. By the next day, the fierce battle outside the cinema had spread across Heishipo. These small gangs controlled more than thirty percent of the newspapers in Heishipo, all low-grade tabloids. Yet this event was exceptional. First, the news was completely real, backed by photographs—and more than one. The picture of Ai Chixiang clutching the old woman's hair and the photo of Tang Peigong having just pulled off the bucket were especially conspicuous. Second, there were eyewitnesses. Everyone who had gone to the cinema to watch the movie the previous day had seen the scene unfold. When gossiping over tea and meals, they all brought it up, becoming living witnesses. Since the news was real, the commentary on page two had to be real as well! And could the stories on pages three and four possibly be fake? They were all true! "The fellow playing Song Chunjie snuck into Tang Peigong's estate?" "Isn't that obvious? I heard from my neighbor that the actor playing Song Chunjie disguised himself as a day laborer to get into their manor, and of the twenty-six concubines, he slept with at least half!" "How does your neighbor know about this?" "My neighbor's nephew has a sworn brother who does odd jobs at Tang Peigong's manor. It's exactly as the papers say!" "No wonder Tang Peigong got so furious and insisted on wrecking the cinema. Turns out he suffered such a massive loss." "Truth be told, getting all worked up was totally pointless. Didn't you read the paper? He can't get it up at all! Marrying so many concubines was just for show." "That's why I say the man's rotten! Just because he fucking can't perform, he won't let us watch movies? We can perform just fine!" Someone beside them chimed in, "Where did you read all this? How come mine doesn't have it?" "I'm reading Night Fragrance! It has the most complete coverage!" *** That day, Night Fragrance sold out yet again. Even after Ma the Fifth raised the price to five mao per copy, it still ran out of stock. By the following morning, two more cinemas began screening Bloodgun Detective. Li Banfeng sent men to keep watch over the theaters; if anyone from the Pure Observance Society dared show up looking for trouble, they would teach them another lesson! *** Tang Peigong didn't come looking for trouble; he had fallen ill. Drenched from head to toe in night soil, with the stench impossible to wash off, Tang Peigong had fallen sick that very night. When he saw the newspapers, Tang Peigong collapsed in a heap beneath the veranda and had been confined to bed for several days. "Slander and vilification! Pure fabrications! The villain runs rampant! If this can be tolerated, what cannot?!" Tang Peigong roared hoarsely, while the servant beside him trembled uncontrollably. It wasn't out of fear, but from the stench. Reasonably speaking, with so many days having passed, the servants should have grown used to it; when Tang Peigong kept his mouth shut, they could barely endure it. Yet the moment Tang Peigong spoke, it smelled as though a ladle of night soil had been boiled inside his mouth. Just catching a whiff was enough to make someone vomit on the spot. Even in this state, his principal wife and twenty-six concubines still had to gather around his bed to listen to his lectures and study the sages' supreme wisdom. Today's morning lecture had just concluded when dozens of his disciples escorted an elderly man into Tang Peigong's manor. At the sight of the old man, Tang Peigong wept. Grasping the elder's hand, he said in a trembling voice, "Elder Wu, you've finally arrived! Tang has been humiliated by wicked villains and no longer has the face to live on in this world. Had you arrived one step later, I fear you would never have seen me again!" Elder Wu consoled him, "Peigong, do not weep. I already know what happened." "A gentleman can be killed, but not disgraced! Tang is no craven coward. Having suffered such monstrous humiliation, I am willing to die to make my resolve clear!" The disciples knelt beside the bed one after another, weeping aloud, "We are willing to accompany Master in death!" Upon hearing this, Elder Wu's tears welled up as well. "Stop crying, all of you... This stench, it's truly lethal..." Tang Peigong picked up the newspaper from the table and waved it frantically in the air. "It is this villain! I cannot share the same sky with him!" Elder Wu grabbed the newspaper. "Stop fanning! The more you wave it, the worse it smells. The light in this room is dim; I'll take it outside to read." Stepping out the door, Elder Wu took a deep breath, lifted the paper, and looked at it. The masthead read Night Fragrance. "Is this the newspaper causing trouble?" Tang Peigong wailed, "I and this villain—" Elder Wu cut him off impatiently. "I asked you if this is the one." "Yes." Holding the newspaper, Elder Wu said, "I'll go pay them a visit."