The Portable Abode selected the site for the station inside a forest on Qiu Luoye's territory.
The station was built underground. The Portable Abode was confident it could evade the notice of Qiu Luoye and the crowd of anomalies, but it needed Li Banfeng's cover.
Qiu Luoye had no time to pay attention to anything else anyway. He had to handle the land reclamation and the trials while also guarding against people coming from the Inner States. He was swamped from morning till night.
Li Banfeng provided cover for the Portable Abode as it built the station, while simultaneously contacting Luo Zhengnan to have him notify Ma the Fifth to keep recruiting people for reclamation.
Ma the Fifth was rather curious what it looked like when over a thousand people were reclaiming land in the newland.
Old Seven wanted to recruit even more?
Ma the Fifth glanced over the ledger. Lately, money was being spent faster than flowing water.
Just how big of an operation was he trying to pull off?
***
A beggar covered in festering sores stood before the gates of Xiaoyaowu, quietly watching the crowd signing up for land reclamation.
Li the Seventh offered generous pay. Anyone in Lüshui City enduring a hard life wanted to come and give it a try.
Those who had been to the newland went without saying—they dared to set out that very day.
Some had never even set foot in the newland, yet they plucked up their courage and dared to tag along.
Lü Huazi rattled the alms bowl in his hand, pondering Li the Seventh's motives.
Did he want to turn Qiu Daxiang's territory into proper land?
If he truly pulled it off, he could become the earliest landlord of that proper land. If the entire territory became his, the benefits would be staggering.
Yet reclaiming land alone wouldn't cut it. Where would he get ten thousand people to reside there permanently?
In a godforsaken place like Qiu Daxiang's, no matter how much money was offered, who would be willing to live there?
And how would he manage it?
With the meager foundation he and Ma the Fifth possessed, how difficult would it be to manage a piece of proper land?
Even the Four Great Families couldn't pull off such a feat.
Unless Li the Seventh was a madman, he shouldn't be attempting something like this.
Yet he was doing it right now, which proved someone was backing him.
Who on earth was helping him?
Why recruit people in Lüshui City with such great fanfare?
The Lüshui Beggar carried his begging bowl and departed Xiaoyaowu.
Li the Seventh... an interesting fellow.
Interesting people were all dangerous.
Whom is the person behind you targeting?
If they're coming after me, I should kill you as soon as possible.
If they aren't coming after me...
Killing you doesn't seem to have any downsides either.
***
The station was completed, built right in the center of the forest.
Normally, the entrance was invisible, indistinguishable from the surrounding ground.
Around it stood seven old trees, all hollowed by insects, but to differing depths. When struck, each tree produced sounds of different pitch.
Only by striking these seven old trees to play a rendition of "Pretending to Be Decent" could the entrance be opened.
With security adequately assured, Li Banfeng prepared to make a trip back to Lüshui City to personally oversee the continued recruitment for the reclamation effort.
He had walked this path countless times; Li Banfeng could have walked it with his eyes closed. Passing through Gourd Ravine, just as he was about to reach Lanyang Village, a man sitting on the ground held up an alms bowl and cried out, "Kind master passing by, have pity on me! I haven't eaten all day."
Being close to Lüshuiwan, Li Banfeng was extraordinarily careful whenever he encountered a beggar.
This beggar's face was fairly smooth, free of things like festering sores. His clothes were ragged, patched together from cloth scraps of various colors.
Judging by his appearance, he was at least seventy years old, with sunken lips and seemingly few teeth left. Li Banfeng produced a piece of dry rations and asked, "Can you eat this?"
"Yes!" The old beggar nodded vigorously.
Li Banfeng extended his hand with the rations, and the old beggar held out his bowl to receive them.
Just as Li Banfeng let go and the food was about to drop into the bowl, he suddenly heard the old beggar say at lightning speed, "Since you've already given it, then—"
The words were spoken too quickly and far too abruptly; Li Banfeng didn't react in time.
The Tang dao suddenly unsheathed itself, stabbing out and overturning the beggar's bowl.
The dry rations didn't land in the bowl; they dropped to the ground.
The beggar reached out to pick them up, but the Tang dao stabbed right into the food and flicked its blade, tossing the rations aside.
"My lord, watch out! He's a Beggar Cultivator!"
A Beggar Cultivator?
Li Banfeng had never dealt with this pathway before.
He had only heard that Yuan Shoulu was a cultivator of this pathway and used to be the local spirit of Huaziwan.
Yuan Shoulu was later defeated by Lü Huazi, his territory seized, and Huaziwan became today's Lüshuiwan.
Could this beggar be Yuan Shoulu?
Li Banfeng activated Golden Eyes Discerning the Minutest Detail and took a look; ghost fire flickered around the man.
He truly was a local spirit—it really might be Yuan Shoulu!
To think he had been living right beside Lü Huazi's territory all this time!
The Tang dao thrust straight toward the beggar's brow.
The beggar didn't dodge; he reached out directly with his bare hand to intercept it, rapidly chanting under his breath, "Have pity on me! Have pity!"
The Tang dao suddenly pulled back, not daring to strike forward.
This was not the Tang dao shrinking from battle; there was a technique at play.
The liquor gourd shouted, "Pleading for Pity! Little Brother, you can't give him anything, or you'll lose combat power!"
If the beggar caught the Tang dao, it would count as Li Banfeng bestowing a blade upon him as alms. Li Banfeng would lose some combat power—not much, but it would trigger other techniques.
Failing to catch the Tang dao, the beggar lunged toward Li Banfeng.
Li Banfeng didn't dare to parry and dodged with all his might.
He was far too unfamiliar with Beggar Cultivators. He feared parrying this strike might cause complications.
As it turned out, his choice was right. Had he chosen to parry or counterattack, the beggar would very likely have taken something from him.
Perhaps snatching a trinket from his person, or tearing a scrap of cloth from his clothes.
Once an item was seized, the beggar's technique would succeed.
Seeing Li Banfeng dodge, the beggar reached for his collar instead. But Li Banfeng was fast, always managing to slip away a step ahead.
Unable to grab Li Banfeng, the beggar suddenly pulled a length of bamboo from his robes.
Li Banfeng thought it was a weapon or a magical artifact, only to see the beggar raise the bamboo to his mouth and begin playing a tune.
It was a musical instrument called a chi.
Truth be told, the beggar played beautifully; Li Banfeng genuinely thought it sounded lovely.
The gourd yelled, "Little Brother, don't listen! That's Playing the Chi and Begging for Food!"
Even as it spoke, the Tang dao had already lunged toward the bamboo pipe.
What would happen if he listened?
If he heard the tune to the end, Li Banfeng would be compelled to give the beggar something; if he didn't, his own conscience wouldn't let him off.
Food, money—anything would do. But as long as he gave something, he would fall under the technique and likewise lose a portion of his combat power.
Li Banfeng didn't understand the exact reasoning, only knowing that the bamboo pipe was dangerous.
With the Tang dao feeling constrained and hesitant to engage the beggar in direct combat, Li Banfeng picked up a stone from the ground and hurled it at the bamboo pipe.
Within five meters, he never missed.
The stone struck the bamboo pipe with pinpoint accuracy, snapping it in two.
A Beggar Cultivator's bamboo pipe was specially crafted and required specific pathway methods to maintain; normally, a Beggar Cultivator could carry only one. Now that it was broken, there was nowhere to replace it on short notice, rendering the technique Playing the Chi and Begging for Food unusable.
Yet unexpectedly, the beggar tossed aside the broken pipe, bent down to pick up the stone that had landed near his feet, and chanted, "Given, already given..."
The Tang dao slashed its blade toward the beggar's hand. The beggar swiped at the blade, forcing the Tang dao to hastily pull back, and then reached for the stone again.
The liquor gourd cried out, "Give an Inch and Take a Foot! Don't let him pick up that stone!"
Li Banfeng had truly never imagined that a stone could count as alms.
With an ordinary Beggar Cultivator, one had to give something useful for it to count as alms, but this Beggar Cultivator's cultivation was so profound that even spitting at him could be accepted as an offering.
Pleading for Pity and Playing the Chi and Begging for Food were both techniques that stripped combat power—not by much, so the immediate disadvantage wasn't catastrophic.
What was truly terrifying was that once someone fell under these techniques, it would trigger the subsequent technique: Give an Inch and Take a Foot.
This was a ninth-tier technique of the Beggar Cultivator pathway. Once alms were received, the Beggar Cultivator would demand more: it could be a limb, an internal organ, or a magical artifact. If the difference in cultivation was large enough, he might even demand your life—and at that point, you would have to surrender it whether you wanted to or not.
As the beggar looked down to search for the stone, Li Banfeng's opportunity arrived.
His figure suddenly vanished.
The beggar raised his eyebrows. "Viewing Flowers on a Galloping Horse?"
He made no haste to search for Li Banfeng's whereabouts, merely standing where he was and waiting quietly.
The technique hit home. Fearing the man might not be dead, Li Banfeng prepared to follow up with Treading Ten Thousand Rivers, but the Tang dao blocked him.
Why is it stopping me...?
Li Banfeng was startled, only to see the beggar still standing there without much change.
*Slash!*
A fissure split open across the beggar's face.
How big was it?
Just over an inch long, oozing a trickle of blood, clearly shallow.
Li Banfeng was stunned. He knew cultivators above the clouds could survive Viewing Flowers on a Galloping Horse, and he hadn't expected to slay him in a single blow, but he had never imagined the technique would inflict so little harm.
"Heheh~" The beggar chuckled, rubbing his face. "Stings quite a bit."
The gourd whispered, "Thick Face and Thick Skin."
The Beggar Cultivator technique Thick Face and Thick Skin could convert fatal damage across the body into a single scar on the face. Because the facial skin was exceedingly thick, the damage caused by this scar was extremely limited.
Its defensive power was comparable to Benevolent Dwelling Heart, yet unlike Benevolent Dwelling Heart, which had a limit on uses, as long as his physical stamina held out, a Beggar Cultivator could use Thick Face and Thick Skin indefinitely. The sole drawback was that the technique took a bit longer to prepare.
The beggar had far more combat experience than Li Banfeng. When he looked down to pick up the stone, he had been baiting Li Banfeng to attack; he had already prepared the Thick Face and Thick Skin technique.
He had gambled that Li Banfeng, relying on the vicious power of Viewing Flowers on a Galloping Horse, would press his advantage and strike again, but he hadn't anticipated the Tang dao stepping in to hold him back.
The gourd seized the moment to whisper into Li Banfeng's ear, "Little Brother, whatever you do, don't run! That stone is still on the ground."
A few seconds had passed since he threw that stone. Was the beggar's technique still in effect?
Logically, it should have expired, but the gourd didn't dare gamble.
"I'm not too familiar with Beggar Cultivators either. His cultivation is so high that it's hard to tell how long the technique lasts. Little Brother, stall a bit longer—try to drag it past a full minute."
Stall for a minute?
Against an expert of this caliber, stalling for even a single second could prove fatal.
Even as he weighed his options, the Tang dao snapped back into Li Banfeng's pocket, and Li Banfeng bolted, running as fast as his legs could carry him.
The beggar didn't go to pick up the stone; he took off in hot pursuit behind him.
Li Banfeng had gambled correctly.
Why had he dared to take such a risk?
The answer came from the moment he threw the dry rations.
Before the rations had even dropped into the bowl, the beggar had cried out, "Since you're already here..."
He only needed to wait a tiny bit longer, until the food fell into the bowl before shouting, and Li Banfeng would have fallen into the trap.
Why had he cried out in such a hurry?
And later, when the rations were knocked away by the Tang dao, why hadn't the beggar picked them up?
From this, Li Banfeng deduced that the Beggar Cultivator's techniques were subject to strict time limits. From the moment alms were given to the activation of the technique, it had to be completed within an extremely brief window. If a thrown stone wasn't picked up within a few seconds, its effective window had likely passed.
It had been a razor-thin margin. What if he had guessed wrong?
If he had guessed wrong, the beggar would certainly have picked up the stone. Before he could pick it up, Li Banfeng would have doubled back to fight him to the death; after all, Li Banfeng was faster than him, so he would still have a fighting chance.
After running for less than a minute, the beggar gave up the chase. He couldn't catch him.
"Not bad, kid. To still run this fast after using Viewing Flowers on a Galloping Horse."
The beggar glanced around. Letting Li Banfeng get away left him feeling rather uneasy.
*Never mind. As long as I don't tell him, he won't know.*
The beggar returned to his original spot, preparing to resume his stakeout, when he suddenly saw another beggar, covered in facial sores, walking over from the distance.
Lü Huazi!
The beggar quickly scrambled up and offered Lü Huazi an ingratiating smile.
Lü Huazi looked at the beggar's face. "You're hurt?"
The beggar shook his head. "No, my face was itchy, so I scratched it open myself."
The corner of Lü Huazi's eye twitched. "Thick Face and Thick Skin. You used your technique. He was here, wasn't he?" Lü Huazi smiled.
The beggar pursed his lips. "There was someone... seemed like him, but I couldn't say for sure..."
Lü Huazi stroked the beggar's cheek, and a patch of pimples and boils sprouted across the beggar's face.
The beggar trembled. "I really didn't know if that was him!"
Lü Huazi chuckled. "Let him get away one more time, and I'll take your life!"
Chapter 410