Naturally Born Spirit

Inside the Portable Abode, Li Banfeng quietly watched the peep show operator. The peep show operator was smeared with snot and drool, his body covered in blisters from burns. Using methods unknown, the wife had calmed him down. "What is your name?" The peep show operator replied, "Mei Laokan." "Is that your real name or a nickname?" "That's just my name." "What is your status in the Heishipo branch?" "I don't have any status." Li Banfeng drew his sickle, making the peep show operator shudder in terror. "I'm not from the Heishipo branch! I was originally a wind patrol for the Yuemajian branch, sent here to Heishipo on the Branch Master's orders." "Why did he send you to Heishipo?" "Our Branch Master said it was on the Gang Master's orders. The Gang Master wanted to build up the Heishipo branch and needed a few men who knew how to get work done." "You count as someone who knows how to get work done?" "I've been running peep shows for over thirty years. Never botched a job once." Li Banfeng fell silent for a moment, then asked, "How many children have you abducted?" "Lost count." "Have any children died at your hands?" "I'm running a business, so I usually don't kill anyone. Occasionally I'd get an unruly one and end up finishing off one or two, but there was no helping that." "Do you have any idea that these children are their parents' flesh and blood?" "Well, I've got a living to make too! A business is a business. Can't they just have another one?..." *Crack!* Li Banfeng kicked the peep show operator square in the face, shattering his nasal bridge and knocking out teeth. The peep show operator writhed on the floor, weeping and shrieking for ages in sounds scarcely human. The gramophone coaxed, "Darling husband, don't stoop to his level. Let's get the important matters out of him first. Your humble servant will take her sweet time dealing with him later." Li Banfeng asked, "Is this Branch Master of Heishipo really from the Garrison Office?" Weeping, the peep show operator shook his head. "I really don't know that. All I know is that a new Branch Master arrived in Heishipo, and the old one got reassigned to another branch. This Branch Master knew I was an expert and told me to do a few runs in Heishipo first. I didn't dare—the folk in Heishipo have guts, and if I got caught, I'd lose my life! But the Branch Master said all the money earned would be mine, and he'd even give me extra rewards. He just wanted me to make up the quota and deliver the goods quickly." "Deliver the goods to whom?" "To the Sage on the Peak of the Sages." "You have connections?" "After doing this for so many years, of course I've got connections. Aside from the Sage himself, whom I haven't seen, I've met everyone on the Peak of the Sages." At this point, the peep show operator's voice rose slightly. *What does that mean? Showing off in front of me?* Li Banfeng felt the urge to beat him again, but held back, worried he might accidentally kill the man. "How many children have you abducted in Heishipo?" "Counting today's, eighteen in all." "Why gather so many? Why not offload them sooner?" "Travel permits cost money too. Taking out just one or two doesn't cover the overhead. Besides, delivering one or two brats to the Peak of the Sages won't get you an audience with any big figures at all. Bring three to five kids, and you might get to see an outer-mountain disciple. Ten or more, and you can see an inner-mountain disciple. If you have over twenty, you can meet the Sage's confidant and even pass along a few words to the Sage! This time, the Branch Master ordered that he'd come along to deliver the goods. He insisted on meeting an important figure, or at the very least the Sage's confidant." This new Branch Master was not looking to make money off kidnapping children; he wanted to establish a connection with the Sage. And what was his purpose in doing that? Asking this peep show operator would be futile; that was beyond someone of his rank to know. Most likely, once this task was completed and the Branch Master had made contact with the Sage, this peep show operator would have been silenced anyway. Li Banfeng pointed at several mangled corpses and asked, "Do you recognize those toughs who were flanking the Branch Master?" The peep show operator shook his head. "Not a single one. They weren't from our gang originally. They came along with the Branch Master." *Could these people all be from the Outer States?* "Have you always been sending the kidnapped children to Jianrengang?" "Not at all. In the early years when I was in this business, I didn't even know the Peak of the Sages existed. Back then, there were no travel permits either, so we could only operate locally. Whenever I snatched a brat, I had to offload him that very day, finding capable people in the gang to smuggle him out. After working in the gang for several years, the branch took notice of us experts and arranged travel permits for us so we could transport the brats out. Back then, we offloaded them to wealthy households. When the money came in, the branch took the lion's share, leaving us just a bit of grease. Then a few years later, the rules changed: any brat snatched could only be sent to the Peak of the Sages. There were a lot more rules involved, but the Sage truly paid a fortune." "Who is the highest-ranking person you've met on the Peak of the Sages?" "I've met Emissary Zhong." "You mean Zhong Huai'en?" "I don't know his name, only that he always wore white clothes." "Besides money, did he give you anything else?" "He also gave me medicinal pills—all fine medicine not found on the open market. The more brats I brought, the more pills he gave." "You could walk out after entering Jianrengang?" "Sure could. The way in and out isn't hard to navigate." Li Banfeng had been unable to walk out, and neither could many people in Jianrengang. Now it was certain: the Sage's methods were at play there. Having asked most of what there was to know about the Peak of the Sages, Li Banfeng moved on to the Jiangxiang Gang: "How did you know I had my eyes on you?" The peep show operator shook his head. "I don't know. A diviner from the Gold-Picking Gate in the gang told me my den was being watched. I reported it to the Branch Master, and he said he'd handle the rest." Credit where it was due: the Branch Master was fairly clever and had arranged things quite thoroughly. Li Banfeng said, "When were you planning to deliver the goods?" "Tonight. The Branch Master said he'd have other brothers grab a few more brats to make it an even twenty, and deliver them all together to the grand warehouse south of the train station—Warehouse Six, Depot Five. We were to set out tonight to prevent any complications from dragging things out." "How were you planning to ship them out?" "I was supposed to take the brats back first, settle them somewhere, and then head to the branch. Someone from the branch would see me onto the train, and the Branch Master would come along too." If this peep show operator did not go to the branch, those Jiangxiang Gang scoundrels probably would not come out, forcing Li Banfeng to storm the branch by force. Yet taking the peep show operator to the branch ran the risk that the punk might leak word, which would make things even harder for Li Banfeng to handle. What should he do? Use the projector to create an illusion? The imagery was certainly lifelike, but the branch was heavily guarded, making it difficult to set up arrangements in advance. Was there a better way? Weighing his options again and again, Li Banfeng thought of a technique: "Which of you is good at flaying skin?" At the mention of skin flaying, the peep show operator was scared out of his wits. He scrambled up to flee, yelling as he ran: "I only took a few brats! As long as they behaved, I never killed them! I found good homes for every one of them! I've never done anything wicked! What right do you have to kill someone? Let's find a place and talk this out reasonably!" Hong Ying stepped forward and pinned him to the floor. "Seventh Brother, I can flay skin, but my flaying isn't very pretty." "What do you mean by not very pretty?" Before Hong Ying could reply, the gramophone sneered, "Slut, you just want to slice him to ribbons alive, don't you?" Stepping on the peep show operator, Hong Ying replied indifferently, "Doesn't he deserve to be sliced alive? Human traffickers deserve nothing less!" "Stop causing trouble. My husband has a use for the human skin. If you chop it into mincemeat, how is he supposed to use it?" Pendulum Hanxue chimed in, "I can give it a try." The gramophone said, "Little sister, be careful with your hands. Don't make the cuts too large; try to keep the skin as whole as possible." The pendulum set to work, and the peep show operator howled unceasingly. Excusing himself from the noise, Li Banfeng took the projector to the Fifth Room and replayed the battle that had just taken place. Because he had fallen into an ambush, Li Banfeng had fought with all his might without a thorough plan, making split-second decisions on the fly. Many details of the battle had flaws. Of course, it was also best not to let his wife see these combat details, since Li Banfeng had made heavy use of journey cultivator methods. Some things, having not been spoken aloud, were best left unmentioned on one's own initiative. Perhaps because his mind had settled, as Li Banfeng scrutinized the earlier footage, he couldn't help feeling that the four high-tier cultivators looked somewhat familiar. In particular, the mole cricket body cultivator run through by the Tang dao—Li Banfeng felt like he had seen him somewhere before. "Aiya, darling husband, your humble servant has seen this man!" Li Banfeng shuddered in fright, quickly shut off the projector, and returned to the main room with a warm smile. "Precious wife, where did you say you saw him?" The wife pointed to the relatively intact corpse. "This very man. Your humble servant is certain she has seen him." This was indeed the mole cricket killed by the Tang dao. Wasn't he from the Outer States? Could his wife have been to the Outer States too? "When did you see this person, Wife?" The gramophone extended its stylus, flipping through old newspapers on the bookshelf. Before long, a newspaper was lifted onto the turntable by the stylus. In the dancing firelight, a photograph was projected onto the wall. "My husband is usually away from home, so your humble servant often reads the papers to relieve boredom. Your humble servant has indeed seen this man—he should be someone from the Chu family." What the wife had pulled out was a fifteen-year-old newspaper that Li Banfeng had paid a handsome sum for at the Lu Family Bookshop. Back then, Chu Shaoqiang, head of the Chu family, and Lu Dongliang, head of the Lu family, had joined forces in Kudaikan to open a major enterprise called Huazhi Street. Huazhi Street was still around today, operating as a Lu family business. The entire street was filled with flower sellers; men and women alike could go buy flowers, and every variety was available. Huazhi Street was certainly a place to visit in the future, but that was not the focus right now. The focus was the photograph taken when both parties signed their covenant deed. In this photograph, Li Banfeng saw this very mole cricket. Although his appearance back then differed greatly from now, Li Banfeng still recognized his face. While the man's name had not appeared in the news article, his position in the frame indicated he was likely a guard of the Chu family. He was a man of Puluo Province! Then why was he acting as an escort for someone from the Outer States? There might be another story behind this. While he was pondering, the pendulum finished flaying the skin. The peep show operator was still alive; skinless, the body still twitched. Disgusted by the man, the wife asked the room, "Does anyone want to eat a soul?" No one spoke. The wife first asked Hong Ying, "Won't you eat it? It won't harm you." Hong Ying shook her spearhead. "I don't care to fight you for a bite. Better save it for yourself." The gramophone then asked the Judge's Brush, "Lazy bum, are you eating or not?" "Hmph!" The Judge's Brush ignored the wife. "Thief Glove, are you eating?" The glove wagged its index finger. "Mistress, you shouldn't throw words around like that. Catching a thief requires evidence. Without proof, how can you call me a thief?" The gramophone sneered, then turned to the Tang dao. "Looks like you're the only one getting a treat." Aside from these few, the wife asked no one else. A secret lay behind this. These artifacts were different from the others. Li Banfeng did not know the reason, but there was one thing he needed to verify. He took out the sickle and asked, "Can you eat souls?" The gramophone was startled. "Aiya, darling husband, you're talking to *it*?" Seeing this, the sickle hid no longer. She glided openly before the gramophone and said in a clear, crisp voice, "What, is it wrong for him to talk to me? I've been with Brother Li for so long—longer than you have!" "What an impudent wench!" The gramophone was taken aback. "What is your name?" "My name is Sickle!" The gramophone asked again, "Did you know me before?" "Why wouldn't I know you? We came from the very same place!" The gramophone was stunned. "You're a naturally born spirit?!"