Chu Yunlong's Gift

Looking down at Chu Yunlong lying on the ground, Li Banfeng felt an uncomfortable pang in his heart. *He was a pretty decent guy. He even offered to buy me a ticket...* The surrounding area was so desolate that wild beasts were bound to prowl about. Li Banfeng couldn't bear the thought of leaving Chu Yunlong's corpse exposed in the wilderness, so he decided to take him back into the Portable Abode to refine him into pills with the bronze lotus. Once inside the Portable Abode, Li Banfeng lit the candlestick and placed Chu Yunlong's corpse next to the bronze lotus. He was intensely curious: what kind of process actually turned a corpse into pills? *Hiss—* Sensing Chu Yunlong's presence, the bronze lotus slowly unfurled its petals, one by one. Why did it sense Chu Yunlong? Was it because Chu Yunlong had cultivation? *I have cultivation too, so why didn't the bronze lotus turn me into pills?* *Because it recognizes me as its master?* *Or because it only takes the dead, not the living?* *Pfft—* What was that sound? Li Banfeng glanced back at the gramophone. Just now, it seemed to have puffed out a wisp of steam. *I didn't light a fire, did I?* As he was wondering, the candlelight flickered wildly, and a whirlwind whipped up inside the Portable Abode. The grey suit and white dress shirt on Chu Yunlong shredded to pieces, and even the flat cap on his head tore into ribbons of cloth. The stark naked corpse twisted and deformed ceaselessly, ultimately turning into a blob of paste-like congealed fat before flowing into the core of the bronze lotus. The petals of the bronze lotus then closed up, covered in an ethereal halo. It was refining the pills. Scraps of shredded cloth were scattered all over the floor. Among them, Li Banfeng found a dagger—an exquisitely crafted dagger nestled in a sheath. He drew the dagger from its sheath. A chilling gleam washed over him, proving it was a rare and fine weapon. *Quite a haul!* Just as Li Banfeng was about to examine the dagger closely, another whirlwind swept through the Portable Abode. The whirlwind originated once more from the lotus core, and a powerful force ripped the dagger right out of Li Banfeng's hand. Li Banfeng tried to snatch it back, but his hands were a step too slow. The dagger dissolved into paste and was swallowed into the lotus core along with the rest. *Was Gold-Rimmed Glasses' folding fan swallowed like this too?* *The fan was refined into a rust-red pill. What will this dagger be refined into?* Li Banfeng reflexively clutched his sickle and shovel tighter. But on second thought, those two tools had been near the bronze lotus many times before, and the lotus had never shown the slightest interest in them. *What on earth is the bronze lotus's criteria for choosing ingredients?* Unable to keep the dagger, Li Banfeng felt a twinge of regret, but continued searching Chu Yunlong's belongings. He found Chu Yunlong's wallet. He opened the wallet with utmost care, terrified that the banknotes inside would be swallowed by the bronze lotus. *Wait, I almost forgot. Yesterday I brought back over two hundred thousand from Shopkeeper Feng, and the bronze lotus didn't touch a cent.* *It's a lotus that doesn't care for money.* Inside Chu Yunlong's wallet were 1,226 dollars, 8 jiao, and 2 fen in paper currency, along with six silver dollars. Li Banfeng pocketed the banknotes and tossed the silver dollars onto the bed. While the bronze lotus was still refining the pills, Li Banfeng pondered his current predicament and plans for the future. First question: how could he return to Yuezhou? Li Banfeng had no idea what a travel permit was, so buying a ticket through regular channels would be extremely difficult. Second question: once he did return to Yuezhou, how should he deal with the Dark Star Bureau? Even if he acquired a travel permit, bought a train ticket, and made it back to Yuezhou, would he be able to shake off the Dark Star Bureau's pursuit? Obviously not. As long as the bronze lotus remained in Li Banfeng's hands, he would never escape Xiao Zhenggong's manhunt. Third question: should he hand over the bronze lotus to buy his own safety? Li Banfeng dismissed the thought almost immediately. Because handing over the lotus wouldn't guarantee his safety in the slightest. Besides, who would he give it to? He Jiaqing? He Jiaqing was lying in a hospital bed, most likely still unconscious. Even if he woke up, could he protect this bronze lotus? Hand it to his third uncle? Or hand it directly to Xiao Zhenggong? Both of them certainly wanted the bronze lotus, but neither would ever want anyone else to know it was in their hands. Which meant that the moment Li Banfeng handed the bronze lotus over to them, they would silence him immediately. Xiao Zhenggong had already proven Li Banfeng's deduction through his actions: the orders he had given Big Eyes were to shoot Li Banfeng dead on sight, and the orders he had given the Jiangxiang Gang were to kill Li Banfeng and retrieve the treasure. From start to finish, Xiao Zhenggong had never intended to leave Li Banfeng alive. The bronze lotus could under no circumstances be surrendered, but returning to Yuezhou was still necessary. In Yuezhou, Xiao Zhenggong did have reservations and constraints, whereas Yaowanggou was far more lawless and wild. Yet to get back to Yuezhou, he had to obtain a travel permit first. Where could he get his hands on one? Did Qin Xiaopang have connections? Did Shopkeeper Feng have a way? Li Banfeng plucked off two teal lotus seeds. The first quickly popped open to reveal a rust-red iron bead, identical to the rust pill he had seen before. Seeing the rust pill, Li Banfeng's scalp tingled with dread, and he hurriedly tossed the pill onto the ground. Prompt as he was, Li Banfeng's palm still felt a faint prickling pain. The toxicity and corrosive nature of this thing were far too potent; Li Banfeng still harbored the urge to test it out for himself. The previous rust pill had been refined from the fan; this rust pill had likely been forged from that dagger. Li Banfeng carefully tucked the rust pill into the glasses case. The two rust pills sat quietly inside, showing no reaction to one another. After a short while, the second lotus seed popped open. After Li Banfeng peeled it off, the burst seed yielded two pills of solid crimson. Two? Back when he refined Gold-Rimmed Glasses and Hu Gaozi, each person had only produced a single pill. This time, refining Chu Yunlong alone had produced two? Gold-Rimmed Glasses and Hu Gaozi had entered their pathways, but were unranked cultivators with no tier to their name. Did Chu Yunlong yield more pills because his cultivation was higher than theirs? Which meant Chu Yunlong was likely a first-tier cultivator. *Though this first-tier cultivator's strength wasn't anything to write home about!* *Could it be because I gave him no room to show what he could do?* "Brother Yunlong, my apologies. Next time—next time, I'll definitely let you show off your stuff." Li Banfeng swept the shredded cloth scattered across the floor into a corner of the room, lay down on the bed, and continued thinking of a plan. Since returning to Yuezhou wasn't possible in the short term, he had to find a way to survive in Yaowanggou for a while. He wasn't short on money, so food and drink wouldn't be an issue. His living conditions needed improvement, and he ought to furnish the place with more furniture. For the next couple of days, he should avoid going out as much as possible. With Chu Yunlong dead, the Anzheng Sect people would definitely be scouring the area for him. Yet staying inside wasn't an option either. *What am I going to do about my cultivation?* Walking fifty li every day was the requisite condition for a first-tier journey cultivator. *Should I just walk inside this little room?* Li Banfeng stood up and paced back and forth across the room. Pacing inside such a cramped space was exceedingly difficult for Li Banfeng; the slightest lapse in controlling his momentum would send him crashing headfirst into the wall at over twenty miles per hour. By Li Banfeng's estimate, he paced back and forth in the Portable Abode for at least five hours, bruising himself black and blue from all the collisions. He had mostly gotten control over his legs and feet, but Li Banfeng could sense that his cultivation hadn't grown in the slightest. Pacing around inside a small room clearly couldn't gain the acknowledgement of his inner self. No matter how many steps he took, it didn't count as a traveler's cultivation. *Yet it's really not safe to go out right now!* *If only I could've just been a pure Dwelling Cultivator!* Unfortunately, this house couldn't birth a dwelling spirit, so his cultivation as a Dwelling Cultivator was destined never to advance in tier. Moving forward, the journey cultivator pathway had to remain dominant. Of course, Li Banfeng also remembered the peddler's advice: the gap between Dwelling Cultivator and journey cultivator couldn't exceed three tiers. Once he got back to Yuezhou, he had to buy a house as soon as possible—even a small one would do—to nurture a dwelling spirit. That was all for later; for now, he had to get through the fundamental daily practice of a journey cultivator. Li Banfeng exited the Portable Abode and retrieved the key from the rubble of the abandoned farmhouse. Dressed in a beige suit and wearing a black fedora, Li Banfeng pulled the brim low and sped across the wilderness. Dusk had fallen, and the deserted village was empty. At first, Li Banfeng reined in his pace as much as possible, but once he cleared the derelict village and reached the open plains, he cast all restraint aside, his feet flying as he ran with reckless abandon. Running, to a journey cultivator, was an immensely delightful experience. There were no roads in the wilderness, but to Li Banfeng, paths lay in every direction. Running wildly without care brought a deep sense of satisfaction and release from the inside out. After running for over an hour and passing village after village, Li Banfeng felt a stir in his cultivation. Today's fundamental practice was fulfilled. He didn't slow his pace, continuing to sprint ahead. Not because he hadn't run his fill, but because he was hungry and needed to find food. This was no difficult task for him, because he remembered the routes; he remembered every place he had passed. Arriving at the entrance of a village, Li Banfeng looked at the stone stele by the village entrance. Carved into it were three characters: Changliu Village. In the village, one household still had a light on. Li Banfeng walked up to the door, intending to ask the homeowner for a bite to eat. To be precise, it couldn't be called asking; it should be called buying. This was the method Qin Xiaopang had taught him. Calming his mind, Li Banfeng sensed carefully. Detecting no danger, he knocked on the door.