That Sundries Peddler

The gramophone stood beside the bed, looking first at Li Banfeng sleeping soundly on the mattress, and then at Hong Ying standing in front of the dressing table. Sitting was completely out of the question; for the next couple of days, she could only stand. After a moment of silence, Hong Ying suddenly snapped, "Vile woman, how are we going to settle this score?" "Settle? My man let you take advantage of him, and you still have the nerve to settle a score with me?" The gramophone sounded even angrier than Hong Ying. "If you were even the slightest bit useful, would I have had to suffer so much last night?" "What do you mean by not useful? That lunatic of yours couldn't even tell the front door from the back! How was I supposed to be useful?" The gramophone gave a cold sneer. "Even if he could tell them apart, could you have pulled it off?" Hong Ying sneered back. "I couldn't, but could you? Back when we were alive, both of us were virgins who knew nothing except fighting wars! What are you showing off to me for?" *Pfft—pfft—* "That's true enough. Slut, you could have become a royal consort, yet it was all ruined because of me. Do you hate me to death?" "Vile woman, I'll tell you one more time: my killing you had nothing to do with that! I killed you for the tens of thousands of lives in the whole army—lives you never gave a damn about!" "Slut, what gives you the right to say I didn't care?" "If you cared, why did you keep fighting?" "Because I could win!" "You couldn't win shit! That sundries peddler had already reached the battlefield! What did you have to fight him with?" "I wasn't afraid of him!" "That's utter bullshit!" Hong Ying snapped in fury. "Ask anyone back then if they weren't terrified of him! Even if you dragged out the fiercest figures from the Inner States, wouldn't they tremble in front of him? What did you have to fight him with?" The gramophone fell silent for a moment before gritting her teeth. "Why didn't you believe me? Why couldn't you believe that I could win?" Hong Ying replied, "I did believe you! Ever since I stepped onto the battlefield, I followed you, believing everything you said! "Of our three vanguards, two died, leaving only Yuan Shoulu. He ran off, saying he'd rather beg for food the rest of his life than ever fight again. "Even at that point, I still believed you. I believed you could win! But was winning of any use? Wouldn't it still be a dead end?!" Just as the two were about to argue further, the gramophone suddenly noticed Li Banfeng's eyes move beneath his lids. "Aiya, Husband, if you're awake, hurry up and get out of bed." Li Banfeng opened his eyes. He had wanted to listen a bit longer, but hadn't expected his wife to see right through him. "What actually happened back then?" His wife remained silent. Hong Ying angrily plopped down onto a chair, only to shoot right back up in irritation. "Have a seat," Li Banfeng said, looking at Hong Ying in bewilderment. "Sit down and take your time." "Sit on what? After the way you wrecked me last night, how am I supposed to sit?!" Li Banfeng scratched his head. He had no recollection of doing anything to Hong Ying last night. *Was that sundries peddler they were talking about the peddler?* *The peddler could make the ruthless figures of the Inner States tremble? Just how terrifying is his strength?* Li Banfeng got up and went to Room Three for a look. The room was still piled high with Heavenly Spring Joyous Soil. "You haven't used this to build the station yet?" The Portable Abode responded, "Have you picked out a location?" "I'm the one who gets to pick? Any place will do?" "An ordinary spot definitely won't work. You've ridden trains before; you know what a station looks like. The platform has to be large enough to accommodate a train and hold passengers. Moreover, you can't just let people wander onto the platform as they please. It needs a perimeter wall to keep anyone without a ticket from sneaking aboard." Such a place would not be easy to find. Fitting a train wasn't actually that troublesome. Li Banfeng made a rough calculation of the Portable Abode's length. Each room was just over three meters long, and right now there were eight carriages. Once it advanced to the Cloud Realm, theoretical calculations suggested twelve rooms in total. Room Three didn't count toward the train's length, so the remaining eleven rooms added up to a little over thirty meters. There were plenty of places that could accommodate that. As for whether it could hold passengers, that required even less consideration. The Portable Abode was Li Banfeng's home; under normal circumstances, the only passengers were members of his household. Even counting everyone under his roof, running out of standing room was impossible. The crux of the problem lay in the perimeter wall. Where could he find an enclosure of that size? Hire people to build one? A bizarre structure suddenly appearing in the middle of desolate mountains was practically advertising to everyone that this place was special. Find a natural perimeter wall? Where could such a place exist? Li Banfeng pondered for a moment, and an idea actually came to mind. Lord Mountain-Uprooter's compound. Ever since returning to the newland, Li Banfeng hadn't gone back to check on the compound. Lord Mountain-Uprooter's manor had been built deep within the mountains with no entrance, surrounded on all sides by solid rock. Such an obstacle certainly couldn't block the Portable Abode, yet it formed a perfect natural wall. Li Banfeng arrived beside the cliff. Utilizing the Sprawling Compound technique and borrowing Unimpeded Passage from Hong Ying, he slipped right into the rock face. Passing through the stone wall, Li Banfeng entered a tunnel. At the far end of the tunnel lay Lord Mountain-Uprooter's manor. The station couldn't be built directly inside the residence, as there were still quite a few blinded guards stationed within the manor. This tunnel was over a hundred meters long, making it an ideal choice. Li Banfeng hid the key, stepped into the Portable Abode, and asked, "How about this place?" The Portable Abode sighed. "Who ever builds a station platform inside a tunnel?" "Inside a tunnel is great. You don't have to build a canopy, and you never have to worry about rain." The Portable Abode agreed. "Hide the key well. Within ten days, do not let me leave this place." Li Banfeng said, "Is hiding the key really necessary? Wouldn't it be enough if you just stayed put yourself?" The Portable Abode let out a bitter chuckle. "You think I don't want to leave? If I could wander off at will, I would have left long ago. "I either follow you, or I follow the key. Those are the only two paths available to me, and I don't get to choose." "What do you mean you don't get to choose?" The Portable Abode didn't answer. Li Banfeng hid the key securely and proceeded to Lord Mountain-Uprooter's residence. Originally, there had been two guard wolves at the gate. Li Banfeng had killed one, and the other was now promoted to the manor's head steward. Guarding the gate was no longer his duty; in his place stood a blind, headless ox watching the front door. The headless ox had no head, only a neat, clean stump on its neck. Yet despite having no head, the headless ox possessed a full set of facial features. On its left flank was a slit connected to its stomach, which served as its mouth. On its back were two cavities that had once been its eyes, though Lord Mountain-Uprooter had gouged them out. On each of its two front hooves grew an ear. Hearing footsteps approach, the headless ox wagged its tail and stepped in front of Li Banfeng. "Who are you?!" Li Banfeng looked the headless ox up and down. "You don't recognize me?" "I don't!" Truly enough, the headless ox didn't recognize Li Banfeng. On the day Li Banfeng declared himself master of the manor, the ox had been sick with relentless diarrhea and had never heard Li Banfeng's voice. Li Banfeng didn't hold it against the beast and walked right around it. To his surprise, the ox was quite loyal. Knowing it couldn't stop Li Banfeng, it immediately raised its voice and bellowed, "Quick, come quick! Someone's broken into our manor!" The ox possessed an enormous set of pipes; many within the residence heard its cries. The mountain wolf was the first to charge out, barking loudly, "Who dares make trouble here?!" Li Banfeng chuckled, walked forward, and patted the mountain wolf on the head. With that touch, the mountain wolf recognized Li Banfeng. "You blind old bull! Don't you recognize our master?! Hurry up and apologize to Master!" Hearing that the master had arrived, the old ox wagged its tail and stepped forward to apologize. The mountain wolf heard a slight draft and barked at the ox, "How dare you wag your tail in front of Master?! Uncouth beast, scram out of here!" The old ox scurried off in a hurry. Li Banfeng asked the mountain wolf, "What rule did he break by wagging his tail?" "Master, you might not know, but this old ox's nose grows on his tail. Wagging it so hard just now means he definitely farted and was fanning away the stench!" Under the mountain wolf's management, the manor was kept in impeccable order, and the various monsters inside were noticeably plumper than on Li Banfeng's last visit. Li Banfeng asked the mountain wolf, "Have the monsters across this territory been sending in more food than before?" The mountain wolf shook its head. "If I may speak candidly, Master, the food they deliver is actually less than before—roughly half of what it used to be." Li Banfeng couldn't make sense of it. "If less food is coming in, why have you all gotten fatter?" "Even though it's only half, it's more than enough for us to eat. Back when Lord Mountain-Uprooter was around, we didn't even get ten percent." The mountain wolf had told Li Banfeng before that they had only been allowed to eat Lord Mountain-Uprooter's leftovers. "Could Lord Mountain-Uprooter finish ninety percent all by herself? She wasn't a Food Cultivator." "Even if she couldn't finish it, she wouldn't give it to us. In the caves surrounding the manor, piles of food were left to rot and turn sour. Even after it spoiled, she still wouldn't let us have it. "She said our lives were worthless, that starving was our destined lot in life. Ever since coming to these caves, it was only after following you that I ate my very first full meal. Master, I truly don't know how to thank you..." "You don't need to thank me. You earned it yourself." Li Banfeng descended into the cellar and retrieved the local seal from the covenant deed. He rewarded the mountain wolf with a share of merit, and bestowed rewards upon the others as well. Leaving the manor, Li Banfeng went to Meng Yuchun's residence, brought out the local seal, and said, "I'll give you half of the cultivation from this seal as compensation for your help lately." Meng Yuchun shook her head repeatedly. "I owe you my life. Doing things for you is only right." "It's right of you to help me, and once the job is done, it's only right of me to compensate you. One thing has nothing to do with the other. First, tell me what's going on between Bei Wushuang and Pan Dehai. Their territories are far apart, so how did they end up in conflict?" "According to the news the cook gathered, it seems to have something to do with the insect plague at Haichiling." *An insect plague?* The insect plague at Haichiling had been caused by the Insect Leader, whom the peddler had slain with his own hands. Why would this be tied to Bei Wushuang? Meng Yuchun continued, "I hear Pan Dehai has already put word out that he will take Bei Wushuang's life no matter what. I haven't dealt with local spirits from the proper land, but I know their cultivation tiers aren't low, and they possess far more methods than us local spirits from the newland. If this war truly breaks out, I worry we'll get dragged into it too." Li Banfeng nodded. "That's indeed something to worry about. We need to prepare early. Give the cook extra compensation and have him scout out more information." Meng Yuchun nodded. "If there's any sign of trouble, I'll light up my boundary. I don't care how they fight, but I won't let them fight their way onto my turf." Li Banfeng lowered his voice and asked, "That move of yours where you light up the boundary line—what technique is that, exactly?" Meng Yuchun frowned. "Why are you asking about my techniques again? You can't just share techniques with others." "Look at what time it is!" Li Banfeng said with a solemn expression. "War is coming, don't you understand? Know yourself and know your enemy, and you will win a hundred battles out of a hundred—don't you get that? "If I don't even know what capital we have on hand, and we're guarding against each other like this, how are we supposed to fight this battle?" Meng Yuchun thought about it for a moment and felt Li Banfeng made some sense. "It's a tier-eight Dwelling Cultivator technique: Closed Doors and Barred Gates." "What are the essentials of the technique?" P.S. Yuan Shoulu was originally the local spirit of Huaziwan. After being defeated by the Lüshui Beggar, Huaziwan became Lüshuiwan.