Li Banfeng held the remote control, turning it over and examining it several times.
It wasn't that he lacked the courage to test it; he simply couldn't tell what modifications the Portable Abode had actually made.
More importantly, did the modified function match what Li Banfeng wanted?
"Do you know what this is used for?"
The Portable Abode replied, "For passing through roads."
"Do you know what road I need to cross?"
"How could I not? Wherever you go, I follow."
"Can this thing open the border line?"
"Half a minute at a time, once a day."
Li Banfeng pondered for a moment. "You're talking about this lever mechanism, right?"
"What else could it be? The craftsmanship in this thing is quite ingenious. With the materials on hand, this was as far as it could be modified. Go try it out—whether it works or not is another matter."
Li Banfeng took out a paper figure, sprinkled a few drops of blood on it, left the Portable Abode, stood near the border line, and pulled the lever.
He controlled the paper figure to cross the border line. The paper figure was completely unharmed.
It worked!
The Portable Abode was truly capable!
For a train, it possessed remarkably advanced crafting techniques!
There were only thirty seconds. The paper figure had already used up twenty. Li Banfeng hesitated no longer and immediately sprinted across the border line. Ten seconds later, the mechanism clicked with a snap, and the lever snapped back into its original position. When Li Banfeng tried to pull it again, it wouldn't budge.
Puluo Province's impassable border had been breached just like that. Li Banfeng could hardly believe it.
As long as this remote control remained undamaged, Li Banfeng could travel freely through most of Puluo Province from now on without ever having to worry about travel permits.
Behind him lay Heishipo.
Ahead lay Qishuiyao, which bordered Heishipo directly.
Li Banfeng carefully put away the remote control, pulled his hat down low, and vanished into the night.
***
Qishuiyao was a town roughly the same size as Yaowanggou.
The place had a rather peculiar name. Back at the newspaper office, Li Banfeng had once asked about the origin of Qishuiyao, and Xiaochuanzi's explanation was that the soda here was exceptionally delicious.
At daybreak, Li Banfeng arrived in town. A rich, sweet fragrance greeted his nose.
It was the aroma of soda. Early in the morning, quite a few soda stalls had already opened for business.
Li Banfeng found a stall and sat down. The proprietress asked what flavor of soda he wanted.
Orange, grape, cantaloupe—the soda here was blended entirely from artificial flavorings, completely free of any natural fruit juice.
Yet whatever technique they used to concoct it, the resulting soda tasted surprisingly good.
Li Banfeng ordered two bottles of grape soda and the stall's signature combo: two authentic Ingrid sausages, a plate of authentic Lüshui City pig's head meat, a saucer of traditional Qishuiyao spicy pickled cabbage, and a bowl of the stall's secret-recipe plain congee.
Was it an odd way to eat?
Li Banfeng found it perfectly fine: generous portions that filled the stomach, plenty of flavor, and not greasy in the least.
While eating, Li Banfeng chatted with the proprietress and brought up the origin of Qishuiyao.
Originally, the name had nothing to do with soft drinks.
"Back in the day, our Qishuiyao manufactured the very first batch of boilers in Puluo Province. Inside a boiler, water turns into steam, and steam turns back into water—that steam-water circulation is the core principle of the steam engine.
"Every household in Qishuiyao had steam piped in earlier than in Heishipo. If not for those folks in Heishipo knowing how to do business, we in Qishuiyao would be living far better than them!
"Later, once Qishuiyao made a bit of a name for itself, someone started selling soda drinks here and insisted on claiming the ancestral line of soda originated in Qishuiyao.
"As a result, Qishuiyao's steam engines didn't see much progress, but the soda got better and better. Locals love drinking it, outsiders love drinking it, soda stalls popped up all over town, and everyone started claiming the town's name came from the drink. Don't you think that's spreading rumors?"
The proprietress didn't look very old, perhaps twenty-five or twenty-six, but once she started on the history of Qishuiyao, she couldn't stop. Seeing that Li Banfeng was nearly finished eating, she gave him an extra bottle of soda just to chat a little longer with him.
After finishing his meal, Li Banfeng returned to the Portable Abode for a nap. Toward dusk, he bought a map and wandered the streets.
At this hour, there were even more soda stalls. Just as Li Banfeng was wondering where to grab dinner, he spotted the stall where he had eaten breakfast.
Seeing Li Banfeng, the proprietress hurried to wave him over. Suddenly, a voice called out nearby, "Friend, don't rush off. Allow me a word."
Li Banfeng turned his head. By the roadside stood a man in a black cloth gown and a round skullcap, sporting a goatee and holding a redwood folding fan.
A square table sat before him, beside which hung a banner with two lines of bold characters: *Knowing past and future through endless transformations; foreseeing fortune and misfortune before they unfold.*
He was a fortune teller.
The proprietress coughed a few times, signaling Li Banfeng not to engage.
Li Banfeng walked up to the fortune teller and asked, "Were you looking for me?"
The fortune teller nodded. "First time in Qishuiyao, isn't it?"
Li Banfeng answered honestly, "It really is my first time."
The fortune teller pinched his fingers, calculated for a moment, and his brow suddenly knitted tight. "You shouldn't have come."
Li Banfeng looked alarmed. "Why shouldn't I have come?"
"You are fated to encounter a malevolent calamity, and that calamity lies right here in Qishuiyao. By arriving here, you've already collided with it. A disaster of bloodshed is inevitable."
"What's a malevolent calamity? That sounds terrifying." Li Banfeng tucked his hands into his sleeves and squatted down on the ground like an honest bumpkin.
The fortune teller said, "Did you come this time to visit relatives or see a friend?"
"To visit a friend."
"Is your friendship with this person deep?"
"Very deep! A life-and-death friendship—we've crossed paths with death several times over!"
The fortune teller snapped his fan shut and asked sharply, "Are you here to collect a debt?"
Li Banfeng looked astonished. "Collect a debt? Not at all. I'm here to repay a kindness."
"That's not right! You are here to collect a debt!" The fortune teller pulled out paper and brush, saying to Li Banfeng, "Write a character first."
This was character disassembly divination.
Li Banfeng asked timidly, "How much does the divination cost?"
"Not a single copper!" The fortune teller waved his hand. "I'm not doing this for your money. I see that you're a man of loyalty and sentiment, and I want to help you avert this disaster."
"If it doesn't cost money, that's fine." Li Banfeng nodded repeatedly and wrote the character *Xiang* (相) on the paper.
After looking at it, the fortune teller's expression grew even graver. "This is an omen of extreme misfortune. Even through the paper, I can smell the stench of blood."
"What smell? How come I can't smell it?" Li Banfeng grew nervous.
"Look closely. In this *Xiang* character, a piece of wood (木) stands next to an eye (目)—bloodshed right before your eyes."
Li Banfeng looked puzzled. "How does a piece of wood mean bloodshed?"
"Wood has splinters and thorns. If it pricks your hand, does it bleed?"
"Of course it bleeds."
"And if a wooden stake were shoved right into an eye, would that be fatal?"
"That would definitely be fatal!"
The fortune teller nodded. "That is why I said you came to collect a debt. The moment you set foot in Qishuiyao, your friend's life was forfeit."
Li Banfeng looked terrified, wiped the sweat from his face, and stood up. "Then I'll just leave."
"Too late!" the fortune teller sighed repeatedly. "Now that you're here, the calamity has already collided with you. Your friend cannot escape this disaster."
"That won't do!" Li Banfeng tucked his hands into his sleeves and squatted back down, his voice trembling as though on the verge of tears. "I came to repay a kindness! How could I cause my friend's death?"
"What a sincere fellow. In this day and age, an honorable man who values loyalty like you is hard to come by," the fortune teller nodded. "Crossing paths with you today is a stroke of fate. I'll risk half a lifetime of my cultivation to devise a way to break this curse for you. First, tell me: what is your friend's name, and where does he live?"
"I don't know his name."
The fortune teller froze. "What do you mean? Didn't you say you shared a life-and-death friendship?"
"We do share a life-and-death friendship! Back then, to fulfill a wish of mine, he gave his life over to me."
For Incontrovertible Words to work, one had to weave in a couple of true statements. What Li Banfeng had just said was the absolute truth.
The fortune teller grew even more bewildered. "If your bond is that deep, how could you not know his name?"
Li Banfeng wiped his eyes and said, "He refused to tell me. He only said he was a Prime Minister of the Rivers and Lakes, and that he lived in Qishuiyao. That's why I wrote the character *Xiang*."
Hearing this, the fortune teller fell silent for a moment.
*Prime Minister of the Rivers and Lakes* was how disciples of the Jiangxiang Gang referred to themselves.
The fortune teller asked, "How old is this friend of yours, and what does he look like?"
Li Banfeng said, "In his fifties, quite thin, a bit dark-skinned, and speaks and acts very gently."
The fortune teller sank into thought.
Based on that description, there really seemed to be people like that in the lodge, but it was impossible to pin down which one.
It was natural to be uncertain, because Li Banfeng hadn't mentioned a single distinct feature. With that description, you could find a whole crowd of them by taking a stroll down the street.
The fortune teller was torn. Was this person really a fellow sect member?
After agonizing for a while, seeing Li Banfeng's simple, honest demeanor, the fortune teller decided to go through with the mark.
"I will cast a hexagram to see if I can help you find that friend. Once you see him, how do you plan to repay him?"
Li Banfeng continued to tell the truth: "I brought lots of good things, but I can't tell you what they are. Once I see my friend, I'll give them all to him, and I'll share a bit with you then too."
"A good-hearted man whom Heaven surely pities! I will definitely help you with this." The fortune teller brought out his divination sticks and first asked for Li Banfeng's birth chart.
Li Banfeng had no idea when he was born, so he fabricated one down to every detail.
After calculating, the fortune teller packed up his stall on the spot. "Follow me. Your friend's whereabouts have been divined. Whether he can be saved depends on the fortune of you two."
Seeing Li Banfeng about to follow the fortune teller, the proprietress at the soda stall grew frantic. She wanted to stop him, but didn't dare make a sound.
The fortune teller led Li Banfeng through streets and alleys, chatting with him constantly along the way and repeatedly praising his loyalty.
These were the Kun tactics of the Jiangxiang Gang, which hinged on probe, sound, strike, deceive, flatter, and pitch.
*Probe* meant observing speech and mannerisms; seeing Li Banfeng looking around as he walked, the man determined he was an outsider.
*Sound* meant sounding him out indirectly to extract information. Though total strangers, the fortune teller had pried plenty of details out of Li Banfeng.
*Strike* meant intimidation, stressing that disaster was imminent. Once those three steps were done, the preliminary work was in place.
Only after the preliminaries did the real game begin. *Deceive* meant trickery, tying unrelated matters together; having Li Banfeng divine through a written character was the method of deception.
*Flatter* meant winning Li Banfeng's trust through praise.
*Pitch* meant selling oneself. Reaching this stage meant the deal was essentially struck.
All along the way, Li Banfeng nodded repeatedly, appearing completely convinced of every word out of the fortune teller's mouth. In the fortune teller's eyes, this mark was already in the bag.
The only thing the fortune teller needed to confirm was whether this man was truly a friend of a fellow disciple in the lodge.
If he really was a friend of a lodge brother, he would hand him over to that brother to handle; one couldn't sour relations over a fat sheep.
If no one in the lodge knew him, there would be no need for courtesy. Leaving a single copper coin on this mark would mean the fortune teller hadn't learned his craft properly.
Reaching a small alley, the fortune teller pinched his fingers, calculated, and said to Li Banfeng, "Wait here for now. The calamity lies just ahead. Let me check first whether your friend is caught in it."
Li Banfeng tucked his hands into his sleeves and obediently waited in the alley.
The fortune teller walked out of the alley, turned into another lane, and entered a private residence.
This residence was their sub-lodge. The lodge master was currently disciplining two female disciples. The Jiangxiang Gang had a business known as "flying the white pigeon"—using women to swindle money from men. Zhou Yujuan, the proprietress of the Xianle Dance Hall who had been the previous form of the Thread-Hook Earring, had originally come from this line of work.
These two female disciples were clumsy in their methods and hadn't landed a mark in half a month. Consequently, they had run afoul of the gang's rules and were lying prone across a bench, taking lashes.
The fortune teller stepped forward to report, "Lodge Master, someone came to our lodge to visit a friend. He claims to have a life-and-death friendship with someone from our gang."
"Visiting a friend at our place? And a life-and-death friendship at that?" The lodge master found it novel. "Are you talking out of your fucking ass?"
Just as the fortune teller was about to explain, he heard Li Banfeng speaking from nearby: "Lodge Master, I didn't lie to you. It really is a life-and-death friendship—they all handed their lives over to me!
"I came this time and brought you plenty of good things. No need to rush; we're all friends here, and there's enough for everyone."
Li Banfeng drew his sickle.
The Tang dao took flight alongside it.
The gourd floated on the left, the clock pendulum on the right.
The glove went to the entrance and shut the doors.
***
Ten minutes later, Li Banfeng walked out, supporting the fortune teller by the arm.
"Don't cry. Everything I told you was the truth. We really share a life-and-death friendship.
"All I wanted was to wipe out your gang, and to fulfill that wish of mine, they gave up their lives. If that isn't deep friendship, what is?"
Passing by the soda stall, Li Banfeng even waved a greeting to the proprietress.
The proprietress had no idea what was going on, surprised to see the two of them chatting so warmly.
Li Banfeng continued comforting the fortune teller: "You, your fortune-telling is genuinely accurate. I'm not flattering you; I truly admire your skill. Those folks back in the sub-lodge were all good friends of mine, and they handed their lives over to me too.
"Your main hall must have plenty more good friends. Take me to meet them. You saw it yourself just now—I brought a lot of good things, all prepared for you folks, and I even saved a share especially for you.
"Didn't I tell you not to cry? Crying like this looks awful; people might think I did something to you.
"Hurry and wipe your tears. Wipe the blood off your face too."
***
After clearing out two sub-lodges, Li Banfeng arrived at the Jiangxiang Gang's main branch hall.
He didn't barge straight into this hall; instead, he waited until deep in the night before approaching.
The fortune teller had told Li Banfeng that inside this hall resided a high-tier Craft Cultivator who specialized in mechanisms and traps. The fortune teller had drawn a map for Li Banfeng marking out a safe route, though Li Banfeng had no way of knowing whether he spoke the truth.
He certainly wouldn't risk himself. After knocking out a few guards and lookouts with the music box, Li Banfeng took two paper figures from the Portable Abode and sent them along the route.
The fortune teller had told the truth; the route was indeed safe.
Li Banfeng slipped into the courtyard of the branch hall. Late autumn was turning to early winter, and the weather was biting cold. Li Banfeng worried the hall master and the others might catch a chill, so he planned to start a fire in the hall first.
While searching for a good spot to light the fire, he suddenly heard the Thread-Hook Earring whisper, "Master, there's movement."
*Clang! Clang!*
The sound of metal colliding.
It seemed to be coming from underground.
Down in the dungeon, He Yuxiu, covered in bruises and wounds, was bound tightly by chains.
The chains were made of a peculiar material that He Yuxiu couldn't break free from, so she hurled her body repeatedly against the iron door.
"Dog-bred bastards!" He Yuxiu ground her teeth. "As long as I have a breath left, I'll fight you to the bitter end!"
***
P.S.: Earlier, Shen Jingye said he would use the Jiangxiang Gang to kill He Yuxiu, and he had indeed made his move.
Chapter 368