Li Banfeng sat upright in the main room.
Lin Dexing's corpse lay on the floor.
The main room was dead silent. After a long wait, the gramophone spoke: "Brothers and sisters, now that my husband has brought the dish home, pick up your chopsticks."
The gramophone's voice was exceedingly muffled, as though she were holding her nose.
No one in the room replied. The gramophone said to the pendulum, "Sister Hanxue, hurry and have a bite."
Hanxue bowed politely. "Madam hasn't eaten yet. We cannot disrupt the household rules."
"We are all family here; what need is there for so many rules? Hong Ying, why don't you have a taste first?"
Hong Ying, who was preening before the mirror, answered hurriedly when the gramophone called on her: "I believe Hanxue is right. The household rules must not be broken. Please, Elder Sister, eat first."
"I already said our home doesn't have so many rules. Eat up, quickly."
"That won't do. Even setting aside household rules, military discipline cannot be compromised. You are the Commander-in-Chief, and I am an officer under your command. Only after you have eaten can I pick up my chopsticks."
The gramophone sighed. "Why bring that up? This isn't an army camp."
"I spent my whole life fighting; it's a habit. If you ask me, the glove should eat first. He earned top credit in this battle." Hong Ying's voice trembled slightly, and so did the comb in her hand.
The gramophone agreed: "That makes sense. Where is the glove?"
The glove lay sprawled beside the Tang saber, pretending to be a ragged scrap of cloth.
The Tang saber was propped in the corner, pretending to be asleep.
"Sister Gourd, aren't you hungry?"
The liquor gourd let out a burp. "I had a few too many drinks just now. The wine is getting to my head; I'll sleep for a bit first."
The gramophone said to the projector, "You missed out on the last meal. You should eat first this time."
The projector was an honest soul. "Madam, if I eat this thing, art will wither away completely."
Li Banfeng's face turned ashen. "Eat! Why isn't anyone eating? This man has a cultivation beyond the clouds! Usually, you wouldn't get to eat something like this even if you wanted to!"
The gramophone pinned all her hopes on the Red Lotus: "Sister Red Lotus, this is my husband's kind thought. Hurry and eat him."
The Red Lotus said to the gramophone, "I don't eat raw food. This man is still alive."
The gramophone gave a long sigh and, tapping a slow tempo, sang dolefully, "Whatever shall we do~?"
Li Banfeng didn't think the smell was that bad—perhaps because he had smelled it too much at Old Yao's residence. "Wife, you consume souls, which isn't the same as what they eat. What smell could a soul have?"
The gramophone sobbed, "Oh, Husband, whose technique was cast on him? This man stinks right down to his soul!"
Whose technique had been cast?
That really was something worth asking about.
Li Banfeng stepped out of the Portable Abode, leaving a room full of figures groaning and sighing.
Eat it? They truly couldn't stomach it.
Don't eat it? The thing was lying right there in the house.
***
Back at Old Yao's courtyard, Pan Dehai was already gone, having left a sugar figurine beside Old Yao's bed.
The elderly Gold Cultivator hadn't left yet, and Xiao Genzi stood beside him.
"Seventh Master, this is the founding master of our pathway," Xiao Genzi stepped forward hurriedly to introduce him.
Li Banfeng adjusted his fedora and bowed to the old man.
The old man waved a hand. "Don't bother with 'founding master.' My family name is Xu, and I'm called Xu Han. I've merely spent a couple more years in the pathway and have a few years on you. Just call me Brother Xu."
This founding master of the pathway was truly approachable.
Li Banfeng cupped his fists. "Brother Xu, what brings you to Yaowanggou?"
The old man looked at Old Yao. "Came to watch his house."
At these words, Li Banfeng fell silent for a long moment.
Xiao Genzi said with a nervous look, "Seventh Master, the founding master wouldn't deceive you..."
It wasn't that he distrusted this senior, nor did he distrust Genzi.
With this senior's strength, if he truly wanted to take Old Yao's territory by force, he had no need to deceive Li Banfeng. Li Banfeng was nowhere near his match.
Yet Old Yao's life and territory were at stake; handing them over to a stranger was something Li Banfeng could not do with an easy mind.
"Are you Old Yao's friend?"
Xu Han shook his head. "Yao Xin doesn't make friends."
"Then are you a relative?"
Xu Han shook his head again.
That made it hard to explain. Neither friend nor kin—why had he come to help Old Yao?
Xu Han rummaged in his bamboo back-basket for a moment and produced a feather duster. "Do you recognize this?"
Li Banfeng recognized it. He recognized it all too well.
It was the peddler's feather duster. In Tiemenbao, Li Banfeng had suffered a brutal beating at the hands of that very feather duster.
Xu Han said, "I hadn't intended to get involved in this. Plenty of people are bound to fight over Yaowanggou, and I fear endless trouble will follow. But I owe the peddler a favor. Since he asked, I couldn't refuse."
Using the feather duster as a token was a tacit understanding unique to Li Banfeng and the peddler. He could now rest eighty percent assured, while the remaining twenty percent still needed verification.
Yet there was a question whose answer Li Banfeng sorely wished to know: "The Star of Mourning came to Yaowanggou in connection with the Inner States. Were Lüshui Beggar, Pan Dehai, and Lin Dexing also sent on errands for the Inner States?"
"Why Pan Dehai came, I cannot say for sure. Lü Huazi and Lin Dexing were likely dispatched by the Inner States. Yao Xin isn't a local spirit who emerged from the Inner States, and the Inner States have long wanted to be rid of him. Furthermore, Yaowanggou is a special place, one the Inner States have always wanted to keep in their grasp."
"What makes Yaowanggou so special?" Li Banfeng did not understand.
Under the peculiar conditions of Puluo Province, compared to everywhere else, Yaowanggou was as normal as could be.
"What makes it special is Bitter Mist Mountain," Old Xu smiled. "Little brother, don't pry into this, and under no circumstances should you look into it. Knowing too much will bring you only harm and no benefit. I promised the peddler I would stay here for three years, and while I'm at it, discipline that worthless disciple of mine. Whether Yao Xin wakes within three years depends on his own fortune."
Three years... What if Old Yao didn't wake up?
Even Lüshui Beggar had entered the fray in person; Li Banfeng had no idea how to handle a situation like this.
He looked at Genzi and asked Old Xu, "The worthless disciple you mentioned—is it my brother here?"
Xu Han shook his head with a chuckle. "Genzi is a good boy; he's bound to make something of himself in the future. The disciple I spoke of is not in the Gold Cultivator pathway, but the Farm Cultivator pathway."
Farm Cultivator?
A Farm Cultivator was under his tutelage as well?
Just what was this old man's identity?
Xu Han did not wish to elaborate on his identity. He sighed and said, "A Farm Cultivator toils hard to come into his own; at the fifth tier he reigns as a warlord. Over the years, that disciple's cultivation grew, and it seems he got it into his head to act like a warlord. Every day he plants all sorts of bizarre things. A couple of years ago, he grew some watermelons and sold them all over, and they've already become a menace."
Li Banfeng said, "Were they the kind of watermelons that fight wars? I ran into them once."
Xu Han gave a small smile. "His talent is by no means shallow. If I can persuade him to turn back, he might achieve something in the future. If I can't persuade him, I won't be able to spare him either. Genzi, go back with Brother Li Qi."
Xiao Genzi looked at Li Qi. He still wanted to continue cultivating under the founding master, but feared Li Qi wouldn't agree.
With such a fine opportunity, Li Banfeng naturally wouldn't stand in his way. "Brother Xu, why not let Xiao Genzi continue cultivating with you?"
Old Xu shook his head, looking at Genzi. "Cultivation cannot simply be taught. What guidance I could give, I have given. You have ambition and perseverance; you are bound to achieve great things in the future. Listen to me: go make your own way in the world."
With things said so plainly, he naturally couldn't press Old Xu further. Li Banfeng led Genzi down the mountain, first finding an inn to settle Genzi in; the nature of his cultivation was ill-suited for staying at Qiu's Medicine Shop.
Li Banfeng took a room for himself as well and entered the Portable Abode.
His wife had just finished consuming Lin Dexing's soul and was forcing the others to the table.
"What are you all looking at! If this old lady could eat, what makes you so special? Every last one of you eat! Nobody gets out of it!"
Hong Ying gritted her teeth. "Even if I resign myself to being beaten to death by you today, I still won't eat this!"
"Then I'll beat you to death, you cheap wench!"
Just as the two were about to come to blows, Li Banfeng mediated, "If you truly don't want to eat, give it all to the Red Lotus."
His wife's voice trembled.
She had eaten it, yet the others wouldn't—what kind of sense did that make?
"Oh, Husband, you cannot show such favoritism toward them! How can there be any family discipline if this goes on?"
"Wife, have you ever heard of a man named Xu Han?"
"Never heard of him."
Li Banfeng's heart tightened.
"Then do you know who the founding ancestor of the Gold Cultivators is?"
"That I do know. His name is Xu Jinkui."
Xu Jinkui?
Though both shared the surname Xu, they weren't the same person.
There was deceit at play!
Just as Li Banfeng was about to leave, he heard Hong Ying shout, "Seventh Brother, I have something urgent to tell you! Just tell that vicious hag to stop forcing me to eat this!"
"What is it?"
"Xu Han is Xu Jinkui. They are the same person."
"Truly?"
"I know Xu Han. The Gold Cultivator pathway was created by him. He is a senior among seniors of cultivators. The name Xu Jinkui is a popular misconception. There is absolutely no mistake about this. Seventh Brother, don't make things difficult for me anymore."
Even Hong Ying referred to him as a senior, so his standing was truly immense.
Li Banfeng was still somewhat concerned: "What connection does he have with Farm Cultivators?"
"He is a Grandmaster of Farm Cultivators. Although the Farm Cultivator pathway was not created by him, his achievements in it are extraordinarily high."
Hong Ying's description matched Old Xu's words completely, and Li Banfeng could finally put his mind at ease. Looking at Lin Dexing's corpse, he said to Hong Ying, "This person also embodies that senior's good intentions. You mustn't let it go to waste!"
Hong Ying sobbed, "I cannot bear such good intentions! Seventh Brother, spare me this once, and I'll listen to you in everything from now on."
Li Banfeng smiled profoundly.
First push hard, then cut her some slack; when he wanted a tier-seven technique later on, it would naturally fall into place.
***
Jiangxiang Gang, Medicine King Hall. Luo Zhengnan sat on the rooftop terrace, heavy with worry.
Mo Jiansheng hadn't returned for ten days. His son, following his father's instructions, had passed the news to Luo Zhengnan.
Something had happened to the local spirit.
Such a monumental development had, by a twist of fate, come to Mo Jiansheng's knowledge.
Now that he had gone to Yuezhou with Han Jinwei, could he return alive?
Luo Zhengnan believed he would not.
Could Yaowanggou still be inhabited?
While he was pondering this, Stick Brother Sun Xingbing came to report: "Hall Master Pei of Qingyancheng has arrived."
"You mean Pei Yikou is here?" Luo Zhengnan froze for a second, a look of pleasant surprise surfacing on his face. "Quickly, invite him to the main hall."
Sun Xingbing headed downstairs to greet Hall Master Pei. The smile on Luo Zhengnan's face vanished, and he muttered to himself, "Pei Yikou—one mouth leaves no ash. A tier-five Fire Cultivator who leaves no corpses when he kills. What has he come here for?"
Luo Zhengnan did not head straight to the main hall; he returned to his bedroom.
A few minutes later, Luo Zhengnan emerged from the bedroom with a smile filled with astonishment on his face.
Chapter 349