Watching Pan Dehai, Gao Shuxia, and the Hundred-Eyed Fish all rush off in pursuit of Bei Wushuang, Li Banfeng found himself in a dilemma.
Was the covenant deed on Bei Wushuang's person, or was it still back at his dwelling?
Could Bei Wushuang have dug up his own deed?
It was entirely possible. Doing so would cost him cultivation, but if he stayed at home stubbornly guarding it while Pan Dehai was around, that would be certain death. It made far more sense to grab the deed and flee.
If the deed truly was on him, should Li Banfeng chase after them as well?
Yet what could he accomplish if he did?
He definitely couldn't beat Pan Dehai.
Gao Shuxia was an Injured Demon Fiend; he couldn't beat her either.
The Hundred-Eyed Fish was a roaming anomaly. According to the cook, her cultivation far exceeded his own, and Li Banfeng's chances of defeating her were slim. Going after them now wouldn't gain him any advantage, let alone a prize as crucial as the deed.
Yet if he didn't pursue, he wouldn't even know whose hands the deed would end up in.
Just as Li Banfeng was about to make a move, he sensed someone approaching.
Turning around, he saw He Yuxiu running toward him, completely out of breath.
"Brother Seven, don't chase after him! That isn't the person you're looking for—it's a cucumber!"
*A cucumber?*
"Zhang Wanlong grew it!"
He Yuxiu nodded and pointed at the sand pit. "The one you're looking for should still be down here."
Zhang Wanlong was truly a ruthless piece of work, growing a cucumber person that could fool even Pan Dehai!
Li Banfeng looked down into the sand pit.
He Yuxiu said, "Brother Seven, we need to strike fast. That cucumber won't last long."
Li Banfeng and He Yuxiu jumped into the pit, looking around for the entrance.
Suddenly, the sand beneath their feet surged and roiled, and Bei Wushuang emerged from the pit, carrying a knapsack on his back.
This was no mere coincidence; Bei Wushuang had simply seized the moment to flee his lair.
He had no idea why Pan Dehai, Gao Shuxia, and the Hundred-Eyed Fish had suddenly left, but he knew one thing: this was his last chance to escape.
Two people stood before him. One he recognized—Meng Yuchun's lover.
The other he did not.
Having blown up his own hump, Bei Wushuang had nearly spent his life. After the bitter clash against Gao Shuxia and the Hundred-Eyed Fish, the last embers of his strength were all but exhausted.
Could he defeat the two standing in front of him?
Even if he couldn't, he had to fight. If he delayed any longer and Pan Dehai returned, all would be lost.
With no time to parry or test the waters, Bei Wushuang stamped his forehooves and let out a low, muffled roar.
*“Hulululu—”*
He chose the optimal tactic, directly using a Sound Cultivator technique to activate the quicksand mechanism and trap both intruders.
The sand began to swirl, and Li Banfeng and He Yuxiu sank into it at the same moment.
Just as Bei Wushuang moved to make his escape, Li Banfeng's legs gave a shudder, and the churning sand split to both sides, opening up a dry trench.
A journey cultivator technique: Severing Paths to Open Roads.
Tearing himself free of the quicksand, Li Banfeng kicked back once more, clearing a path for He Yuxiu.
He Yuxiu broke free as well. Seeing Bei Wushuang leap into the air to flee, she scooped up a handful of sand and hurled it straight at him.
That handful of sand hit Bei Wushuang's body like a burst of buckshot, piercing directly into his flesh.
With a crash, Bei Wushuang tumbled back down into the pit, struggling to rise.
*What kind of unreasonable Martial Cultivator is this?!*
*“Hulululu—”* Bei Wushuang prepared to trigger the quicksand again. For him, it took only a single roar; he refused to believe Li Banfeng could keep resolving it with Severing Paths to Open Roads indefinitely.
*“Hu-ya-ya-ya—”* Li Banfeng didn't bother using Severing Paths to Open Roads this time. Instead, he roared right back at Bei Wushuang.
This roar threw Bei Wushuang's timing and cadence into utter disarray, preventing the quicksand from activating at all.
Bei Wushuang was stunned.
*Isn't he a journey cultivator?*
*He just howled at random and broke a Sound Cultivator technique?*
*Could it be that he wasn't howling at random?*
*Has he cultivated Sound as well?*
Bei Wushuang had no time to ponder it. He Yuxiu was already scooping up more sand and showering him with it.
Smoke billowed from Bei Wushuang's wounds, and seeing that he could barely keep his balance, he threw open his throat and let out another muffled bellow.
*“Huhu—”*
*“Hu-ya-ya-ya—”* No matter what Bei Wushuang cried, Li Banfeng countered with the exact same call.
This was a method he had borrowed from his wife using the technique Sprawling Compound. Because he didn't know which pathway his wife belonged to, he had no idea whether it could truly counter Bei Wushuang, but he used it regardless.
Li Banfeng was far from the house, so the technique's might was extremely limited. If Bei Wushuang hadn't been wounded, those two calls wouldn't have scratched him in the slightest.
Yet Bei Wushuang had only half a breath of life left in him; how could he afford such attrition against Li Banfeng?
After trading several roars, Bei Wushuang suddenly fell silent.
The instant the sound ceased, his figure vanished into thin air.
*What technique is this now?*
A Sound Cultivator technique: Vanishing Without a Sound.
By suddenly silencing oneself during combat fueled by sound, the practitioner's trace disappeared entirely. It was an advanced concealment art.
Earlier, when Bei Wushuang had prepared to ambush Pan Dehai, he had used this very technique, rendering himself invisible even to Pan Dehai.
Back then, Li Banfeng had spotted him and splashed a ladle of night soil over him.
At the time, Bei Wushuang assumed he had inadvertently given away his position. Now he sought to escape using the same trick, never anticipating that he still couldn't elude Li Banfeng's eyes.
Pushing Golden Eyes Discerning the Minutest Detail to its limit once more, Li Banfeng caught sight of Bei Wushuang's blurry outline.
It was a silhouette far too easy to recognize: a camel without a hump.
Li Banfeng unleashed a kick with Treading Ten Thousand Rivers, sending Bei Wushuang crashing to the ground.
Bei Wushuang couldn't comprehend it. Meng Yuchun's lover seemed to be his natural bane.
Whatever Sound Cultivator skills Bei Wushuang possessed, Li Banfeng matched. Every time Bei Wushuang concealed himself, Li Banfeng struck him dead-on.
Could he have underestimated this man from the start? Was his cultivation actually fathomless?
Amidst his bewilderment, He Yuxiu threw another handful of sand straight into Bei Wushuang's eyes.
This was fatal.
Not only did it bring searing pain, but it also completely blinded him.
He Yuxiu might be reckless in everyday matters, but in a fight, she possessed genuine knack; she knew precisely what tactic to employ and when.
His vision gone, Bei Wushuang realized that Li Banfeng had vanished.
*Bang!*
A muffled crack sounded, and one of Bei Wushuang's forehooves exploded.
The technique Bei Wushuang dreaded most had arrived—Li Banfeng was using Viewing Flowers on a Galloping Horse.
Thanks to his Beyond the Clouds physique, the strike didn't blast him entirely apart.
Yet while he had endured this hit, the next was another matter.
He widened his stinging eyes as far as they would go, trying desperately to lock onto Li Banfeng's form, but He Yuxiu kept pelting sand at his face from the side.
*This pair of bastards...*
Bei Wushuang had fought local spirits his whole life. What kind of warfare hadn't he seen?
He never imagined that in his final, exhausted moments, he would fall to such crude, simple tactics.
*“Wuwu-aooo—”* Bei Wushuang tried to fight back, but another blast of sand struck his eyes, blinding him once more.
In the instant he lost his sight, Bei Wushuang lost everything.
His body completely shattered.
Amidst the scattered flesh and blood on the ground, only a single knapsack remained relatively intact.
Li Banfeng wasted no time thinking. He grabbed the bag, seized He Yuxiu by the arm, and bolted.
Pan Dehai could return at any moment. If they lingered, they wouldn't make it out.
Halfway into their escape, He Yuxiu suddenly chuckled.
Li Banfeng looked at her in surprise. "What are you laughing at?"
Had the camel's technique affected her mind?
He Yuxiu said, "You once told me that plenty of great heroes end up capsizing in a shallow gutter. I was just wondering—does that camel count as having capsized in a gutter, too?"
Logically speaking, he really did.
Bei Wushuang was among the strongest of the newland's local spirits. In a one-on-one duel, Meng Yuchun certainly had been no match for him.
Pincered by Meng Yuchun and Pan Dehai, he had been gravely injured, and after fighting a bloody battle against Gao Shuxia and the Hundred-Eyed Fish, he had exhausted what little combat strength remained. In the end, he perished at the hands of Li Banfeng and He Yuxiu.
That final battle hadn't even lasted a minute. It was a textbook case of capsizing in a gutter.
"You can't put it like that! If he's a hero, we're heroes too."
He Yuxiu asked in all seriousness, "Then which one of us is the gutter?"
Li Banfeng glared at her, and the two kept running at full speed.
***
Pan Dehai, Gao Shuxia, and the Hundred-Eyed Fish were on the verge of overtaking "Bei Wushuang" when they suddenly realized that the figure had vanished into the barren desert.
Where could he have hidden?
Vanishing Without a Sound?
Pan Dehai barked harshly, "Bei Wushuang, when you spread your insect plague across Haichiling, did you ever imagine this day would come? Death is upon you—how long do you think you can hide? Yield without resistance!"
As his words fell, Pan Dehai's form swelled dramatically as he looked down upon the four quarters, intending to flush Bei Wushuang out with his technique Virtuous and Eminent.
After waiting for a long time, Bei Wushuang failed to appear. Pan Dehai turned back and grabbed Gao Shuxia and the Hundred-Eyed Fish.
Gao Shuxia was startled. "What are you grabbing us for?"
Pan Dehai gave a sinister grin. "Didn't I tell you two young ladies earlier? I'd like you to lead the way so we can take another trip to Bei Wushuang's dwelling. While we're at it, there are a few things I'd like to ask the two of you."
***
On the one-li plot, Zhang Wanlong was holding a cucumber and took a bite. The crunch sounded delightfully crisp.
"Good thing it came back fast," Zhang Wanlong said to Xiao Genzi, glancing down at the cucumber. "If they had caught on, the two of us wouldn't have been able to clear our names."
***
After seeing He Yuxiu back to her plot, Li Banfeng ran back to the dwelling of Lord Mountain-Uprooter and entered the tunnel where the platform was being constructed.
The tunnel looked no different than usual, showing no visible sign of change. Following his memory, Li Banfeng walked to the location of the Portable Abode and paused for a brief moment. Beneath his feet, the crushed gravel suddenly turned into smooth, level earth.
"The soil isn't dry yet, don't keep trampling on it!" Li Banfeng heard the voice of the Portable Abode, and a pair of grand doors slowly materialized before him.
It was a process of verification. Once the Portable Abode confirmed Li Banfeng's identity, the station and the doors appeared together.
Li Banfeng passed through the entrance, opened Bei Wushuang's knapsack, and found inside a wooden casket and an arched iron tally.
The covenant deed!
Bei Wushuang really had dug up his deed; he had intended to escape with it.
Overjoyed, Li Banfeng checked the tally's inscription first.
On the front of the iron tally, eight large red characters were carved vertically:
*One hundred li of land, verified by this pledge.*
Faint specks of blood still clung to the lettering.
The back of the tally contained far more text, spanning over a dozen lines.
The first line of fine script read: *Bei Wushuang enfeoffed of this land.*
The second line read: *Bei Wushuang defeated Tiebilang, gaining fifteen li of land.*
The third line read: *Bei Wushuang defeated Fuqigong, gaining ten li of land.*
...
Reading down to the ninth line, it said: *Bei Wushuang defeated Lord Mountain-Uprooter, gaining ten li of land.*
Several more lines followed, all recording Bei Wushuang's battle record.
Bei Wushuang had truly been formidable. Since becoming a local spirit, he had fought fifteen battles without a single defeat.
Li Banfeng first handed the deed over to his wife. "Help me change Lord Mountain-Uprooter's name."
The wife was delighted as well. "Dearest husband, this worry has finally been put to rest."
The stylus altered the characters stroke by stroke, quickly replacing Lord Mountain-Uprooter's name with Li Furong.
In high spirits, Li Banfeng moved to grab the oil can to celebrate, but the gramophone called out, "Hold, husband! Your humble servant is not in a suitable state today. That little slut Hong Ying, however, is available at just the right time."
Hearing this, Hong Ying turned on her heel and dashed straight into the fifth bedroom.
Li Banfeng paid no attention to Hong Ying, heading straight for the gramophone with the oil can in hand.
The gramophone shouted, "Husband, no need to rush! What do you intend to do with this iron tally?"
Li Banfeng paused, and set the oil can down.
Chapter 386