Ancestor of the Oil Cultivators

Lian Buda insisted that Li Bufeng was trying to steal his oil. Li Banfeng grew irritated. "This oil stuck to me on its own! I can't wait to get rid of it!" Lian Buda fumed, "If you're so capable, don't take it with you!" "Who said I wanted to take it? If you're so capable, take it back!" "Take off your clothes first!" "The clothes are mine! Why should I take them off?" "If you don't take them off, you're trying to steal my oil!" There was no reasoning with him, so Li Banfeng resumed his escape. In the forest, wild winds roared, hurling grit and gravel into his face from time to time. Li Banfeng charged forward against the gale. Lian Buda caught up from behind, grabbed him, and cried, "There's no time! Follow me!" "No time for what?" "Just come!" Lian Buda dragged Li Banfeng sprinting through the forest. Nearing a colossal tree, they came upon the entrance of a subterranean burrow. Lian Buda told Li Banfeng, "Crawl in!" Li Banfeng frowned. "Why do we have to crawl into this?" "If you don't, you're a dead man!" Lian Buda dove inside first. Li Banfeng sensed danger closing in, and diving into this subterranean burrow indeed felt like a place of refuge. He followed Lian Buda inside. The cavern's internal structure was extremely intricate. Roots of giant trees hung down, and grottoes of various sizes pocked the rock walls. Lian Buda found an elevated cave to hide in and waved Li Banfeng in with him. Before long, standing water appeared in the cavern. The water level rose rapidly, submerging all the lower caves. Even the cave where Li Banfeng was perched saw the water nearly reaching its entrance. Where had this water come from? Li Banfeng reached outside the cave entrance, scooped up some liquid, and inspected it. Though crystal clear, it was somewhat viscous. Little Lian Buda rubbed his nose. "I just had a bit of a runny nose." Taking the opportunity, Li Banfeng wiped the "water" on his hand right onto Lian Buda's clothes, saying earnestly, "I really didn't come here to steal your oil." "Then how do you say you ended up here?" "I was hunting in a newland. For reasons unknown, I fell into the oil lake." Li Banfeng fabricated an excuse. "A newland? Which newland?" Lian Buda remained skeptical. Li Banfeng couldn't offer a better explanation, so he just kept spinning his yarn: "The newland in Lüshuiwan." "Lüshuiwan? Is there such a place? Oh, I remember now. It used to be called Huaziwan. Later, the territory was seized by Lü Huazi and became Lüshuiwan. So Lü Huazi sent you to steal my oil?" Li Banfeng frowned. "I don't even know Lü Huazi!" "Then who sent you to steal oil?" "Why are you so dead set on thinking I came to steal oil?" "What else could you have come here for?" Li Banfeng couldn't explain. He hit upon a good idea. "How about this: you take away all the oil on my body—not a single drop left behind. That'll ease your mind, and I'll clear my name. But the clothes are mine; under no circumstances am I leaving them with you." Lian Buda pondered for a moment. "Fine. This place isn't suitable. Let's go outside first and take care of it." Li Banfeng glanced at the clear liquid outside the cave, then turned his gaze back to Lian Buda. "How about we wait a bit before going out? Your tide hasn't ebbed yet." "Ebbing is easy!" Lian Buda took a deep breath. *Slurp—* *Gulp!* He swallowed his snot. Li Banfeng looked out again. The tide had receded, leaving only damp ground. Following Lian Buda out of the burrow, Li Banfeng figured out the rough layout. This forest was Lian Buda's nostril; the dense trees were his nasal hair. The burrow just now had been Lian Buda's pore. Lian Buda led Li Banfeng out of the nostril. In the blink of an eye, the two arrived in another forest. This forest was even denser; not only was there no end in sight, one couldn't even see the tops of the trees. This must be his beard, right? Lian Buda had quite a long beard! Standing before Li Banfeng, Little Lian Buda coughed once, and all the grease on Li Banfeng's body vanished completely. "Alright, the oil is gone. You can leave!" Little Lian Buda waved a hand at Li Banfeng. "Farewell!" Li Banfeng turned and walked away. He had barely taken two steps when Little Lian Buda shouted in rage, "You've got my oil on the soles of your feet! And you still claim you didn't come to steal oil?!" Li Banfeng didn't know how to explain. "Can we be reasonable? There's oil everywhere here! How could I possibly not get any on me?" Little Lian Buda thought for a moment. "I want to be reasonable with you, but none of this makes sense. If you were wandering around the Huaziwan newland, you shouldn't have ended up here!" Li Banfeng said, "Plenty of things make no sense! I'm standing on your face, and yet you're standing right in front of me—do you think that makes sense?" Little Lian Buda thought it over. It really didn't make sense. When he looked up again, Li Bufeng was already gone without a trace. "Where do you think you're going? Stop right there!" Li Banfeng didn't look back, sprinting onward. Since this couldn't be explained, he wouldn't bother trying. Since he had been to the nostrils before, he would dive right back into a nostril. If he burrowed far enough, a sneeze might blast him right out! Little Lian Buda seemed to discern his intentions and yelled, "Just you try! I'll drown you straight up—drown you in thick yellow snot!" ... Lüshui City, East City, Lu Chunying's residence. Lu Chunying tilted her face upward, letting Xiao Yeci pull back her eyelids. "Mom, look closely. Are there bloodshot veins in my eyes or not?" "Nannan, Mom has been pulling your eyelids open for half an hour. Your eyes are completely red and bloodshot all over!" Lu Chunying rubbed her eyes. "Brother Qiu told me that after seeing Madam Duan, I had to keep an eye on my eyes. If extra bloodshot veins appear, something terrible will happen." Xiao Yeci was worried as well. After checking Lu Chunying for a while, she shook her head. "Nannan, close your eyes and rest a bit first. Once the redness fades, I'll take a good look." ... Lu family mansion. Qiu Zhiheng was reading a newspaper in the small building when Zhang Huaiyi knocked and entered. Qiu Zhiheng wore a look of surprise. "Young Master Zhang, when did you arrive?" Before this, Qiu Zhiheng had called him Huaiyi, but now he referred to him exclusively as Young Master Zhang. Zhang Huaiyi smiled. "My mother cooked a few dishes herself and asked you to come over for dinner." "Madam Shaohong is here?" Qiu Zhiheng deliberately brought up Duan Shaohong. "I meant..." Zhang Huaiyi looked embarrassed. Looking at Qiu Zhiheng, he said, "Uncle Qiu, I actually..." Qiu Zhiheng waited quietly for him to finish. Zhang Huaiyi did not know where to begin. ... Three days later, Li Banfeng and Little Lian Buda sat side by side in a ravine, each clutching a roast chicken and slowly gnawing on it. This ravine was a forehead wrinkle of Lian Buda's. Li Banfeng had inspected the roast chicken repeatedly and still felt uneasy. "This chicken didn't grow out of your face, did it?" Little Lian Buda snapped, "Have you ever seen chickens grow on someone's face? I hunted it outside!" Truth be told, the roast chicken tasted quite good, if a bit too greasy. "Got any greens? Something to cut the grease." "Cut the grease?" Little Lian Buda was displeased. "When I was a kid, getting to eat something rich and fatty just once would make me happy for days! And here you are complaining about grease!" Nibbling on a chicken wing, Li Banfeng asked, "Just because you couldn't eat fat as a kid, you conjured up this much oil?" Gnawing on a drumstick, Little Lian Buda sighed. "What's wrong with oil? It's fragrant and slick. All the world's delicacies depend on oil. A dish without grease can't grace a banquet; a person without substance can't take the stage. As long as there's fat on the table, life isn't so bitter. Don't you think oil is the finest thing in this world?" Li Banfeng nodded. "I never said oil was bad, but I really didn't come to steal it." Little Lian Buda nodded. "I believe you. Spending these three days with you, I can tell you're a decent person at heart. But there is one thing you did wrong: you shouldn't have pissed on my face." Li Banfeng said, "I had no choice! It's been three whole days! Where else was I supposed to piss?" Little Lian Buda still felt aggrieved. "You could have pissed on my cheeks, but you shouldn't have pissed next to my mouth!" "All I saw was a bunch of trees! How was I supposed to know that was your mouth?" "Those weren't trees, that was my beard!" Little Lian Buda said resentfully. "I truly want to let you go, but I just can't put my mind at ease." Li Banfeng urged him, "You'd better relax. If you still don't let me go, pissing on your face won't be the half of it." Little Lian Buda looked at Li Banfeng. "Bufeng, you know where I am. I'm afraid you'll leak the secret, and those people from the Inner States will track me down again. It's not that I don't trust your character, but what if they capture you and torture you? Can you guarantee you won't give up my whereabouts?" Li Banfeng replied, "Don't worry about that—I definitely can't guarantee it. But you could just make sure I don't know where you are. After sending me away, you can move somewhere else!" "I can't move. I can't budge." Li Banfeng was taken aback. "Why can't you move?" "I just... can't..." Little Lian Buda's expression turned somber. The two ate roast chicken in silence. When they had finished nearly half, Little Lian Buda said to Li Banfeng, "You said you ended up here in a muddle, and I believe you. I'll find a way to send you out in a muddle too, so you won't even know how you left. We'll pretend we never met." "Deal! Once I'm out, I'll pretend I never laid eyes on you, and I won't tell a soul about this!" Li Banfeng put down the half-eaten chicken and patted his chest in promise. Little Lian Buda sighed. "In this world, are there still disciples of my pathway?" "You mean Oil Cultivators?" Little Lian Buda nodded. "Yes! I've run into two." Little Lian Buda blinked his small eyes, a hint of excitement showing on his face. "Are they doing well?" How should he put this? One was Lightbulb, out in the Outer States; I struck him with a chili stick, but he should be mostly fine. He belonged to the Dark Star Bureau, so his life was probably decent enough. The other was named Rong Jin'an, a guard at the Geng Family Medicine Shop, who had nearly tortured Little Fatty to death. I fed him to my wife—did that count as doing well? "Well! They're both doing quite well!" Li Banfeng gave his answer according to his own interpretation. "As long as they're doing well, as long as disciples remain!" Little Lian Buda rose to his feet. "In the future, when you see the peddler, remember to tell him to come rescue me." "Alright, I promise." Little Lian Buda raged, "Didn't you just say you wouldn't tell a soul? Now you're going to tell the peddler?!" "You're the one who asked me—" Before Li Banfeng could explain, Little Lian Buda lunged forward, and Li Banfeng took off running again. Lian Buda chased Li Banfeng all the way through a vast forest stretching dozens of li. Among the forest were numerous oil lakes, which Li Banfeng skirted one by one along their shores. Little Lian Buda shouted, "These are my eyebrows!" From the forehead to the eyebrows—the place where they had eaten chicken really had been a forehead wrinkle. Li Banfeng was in no mood to appreciate the scenery and kept running. Before long, a wasteland appeared ahead. No grass, no trees, nothing at all—only an expanse of barren land, generally flat with gentle undulations. "This is my eye!" Little Lian Buda caught up from behind. Li Banfeng kept running. A single blemish on Lian Buda's face could form an entire lake. By Li Banfeng's estimation, the area of an eye ought to be close to an ocean. Yet he saw no ocean, only wasteland—an endless expanse of barren terrain. He ran for who knew how long until the wasteland finally ended. The terrain sloped upward toward a towering mountain ahead—a place Li Banfeng had been before. Lian Buda yelled, "This is my nose!" Li Banfeng shouted back over his shoulder, "I didn't see your eye!" "It's covered!" Li Banfeng didn't understand. Little Lian Buda repeated, "My eyes were covered." The eye-coverer. He had said someone in the Inner States covered eyes. Had his eyes been covered by the people from the Inner States? After running for a long while more, Little Lian Buda shouted, "Stop!" Li Banfeng paused, hands braced on his knees, panting heavily. In truth, he was used to it by now. Over the past three days, he had pushed his pathway techniques to their limits, doing everything he could to deal with Lian Buda. Standing a dozen meters away, Little Lian Buda asked Li Banfeng, "You know Old Train's footwork, and you know how to sing the 'Ballad of the Train.' You're a friend of Old Train, aren't you?" "I'm his brother!" "Good, I believe you!" Lian Buda gave a slight nod. "You said you didn't steal my oil, but then why is my oil missing some?" How would I know that? Could that wretched glove have stolen the oil? He couldn't say that recklessly. Li Banfeng said, "Maybe it leaked away. Or maybe the wind and sun baked it dry." "Baked dry?" Lian Buda chuckled. "Do you really not know what kind of place this is?" "I really don't know!" Lian Buda looked around and sighed. "This place is bitter, truly bitter. My life here is pure suffering. I want to tell someone how hard it is, but there's no one to talk to!" Li Banfeng was silent for a moment before saying, "I've talked to you quite a bit these past few days." "Yes, you did talk plenty. I'll let you go and send you to the Huaziwan newland, but you cannot take any oil with you! Keep running forward!" Li Banfeng ran forward another few dozen li. A sudden gust of wild wind swept up, lifting Li Banfeng's body into midair. Lian Buda shouted, "You can't take the oil! I've taken it all back!" Every bit of grease and oil on Li Banfeng vanished cleanly. "If you run into Old Train, tell him that burning oil is better than burning coal!" The updraft surged violently. Li Banfeng flew out through a crevice into pitch darkness, followed by a thick cloud of smoke and dust that kept his eyes squeezed shut for a long time. When the smoke and dust cleared, Li Banfeng tumbled onto the ground. Opening his eyes, he saw a rotting giant tree wound with thick vines. This was a common sight in a newland. It felt as though Li Banfeng had been here before. The newlands of Lüshuiwan were not unfamiliar to Li Banfeng. Once he oriented himself, he would easily find his way back to Zhengjing Village. Sitting on the ground to rest for a moment, Li Banfeng pulled out the glove. "Speak up. Did you steal the oil?" Using its index finger as a head, the glove shook it frantically. "Why would I steal that stuff?" "You really didn't?" "I didn't!" The glove sounded aggrieved. "I only stole half a roast chicken, and it was your leftovers at that!" With that, the glove spat out the roast chicken. Li Banfeng chuckled. "Look at how petty you are. What did you steal chicken for?" Truth be told, Lian Buda's roast chicken was delicious. What had he actually been through? Was he the progenitor of the Oil Cultivators? Where was he, really? He knew Grandpa Train and the peddler. Grandpa Train was hard to find, but if he ran into the peddler another day, he had to make sure to ask. Actually, he didn't necessarily have to ask the peddler; he could visit Lian Buda himself. Later on, when he had more tricks up his sleeve to handle the man, there would be no harm in going back to the oil lake to see him. Li Banfeng picked up the roast chicken, intending to take another couple of bites, when suddenly the roast chicken vanished. "Who's there?!" Li Banfeng started! A woman's voice drifted into his ear: "Fine, I agree." Li Banfeng froze. "What did you agree to?" The woman answered, "Let the trial begin!" A halo of light flared around the parcel of land.