Killing Qiao Shaofen was only half the battle.
Shui Yongquan said, "Going by my deductions, this Qiao Shaofen must have been a covenant guardian—a confidant entrusted with protecting Lady Wuqin's covenant deed."
Both Li Banfeng and Qiu Luoye understood the concept of a covenant guardian; they had heard Xiao Yeci explain it before.
However, Li Banfeng didn't think Qiao Shaofen was a covenant guardian.
"Brothers, Qiao Shaofen's cultivation wasn't low. She was probably above the clouds, wasn't she?"
Qiu Luoye nodded. "Definitely above the clouds. Manipulating mud that skillfully and taking so long to beat to death—no ground-crust cultivator could manage that."
Li Banfeng said, "Would someone who has reached above the clouds act as another person's covenant guardian?"
Cautious by nature, Shui Yongquan pondered for a moment before saying, "Whenever Wuqin Township was mentioned in the past, everyone said its local spirit was Lady Wuqin. I've never heard anyone mention the name Qiao Shaofen."
Qiu Luoye waved his hand. "Qiao Shaofen is a fake name used to disguise her identity. What is there to overthink?"
"Don't jump to conclusions," Shui Yongquan replied with a faint shake of his head. "She could be a trusted subordinate of Lady Wuqin. Even if her cultivation advanced, she might still remain unswervingly loyal to Lady Wuqin."
Qiu Luoye snorted. "No kith, no kin—what kind of loyalty can you talk about in a godforsaken hole like this?"
Shui Yongquan was momentarily at a loss for words. Qiu Luoye made a lot of sense; talking about loyalty in Wuqin Township did seem utterly ridiculous.
Qiu Luoye continued, "The three of us fought her for quite a while just now. That woman was probably at the second tier above the clouds. There's no way I'm believing she's just a flunky. Besides, if Qiao Shaofen really were a lackey, when she was getting beaten to that state, why didn't she call for Lady Wuqin to help?"
Shui Yongquan said, "Perhaps Lady Wuqin isn't here."
Li Banfeng said, "If she was Lady Wuqin, it saves us trouble. If she was a covenant guardian, it means she was guarding the deed, and once we find the deed, things will be easy to settle either way."
Qiu Luoye nodded. "Seventh is right. What the hell are we babbling here for? Let's hurry up and find the deed!"
The three arrived in front of the manor. Qiu Luoye went to walk straight inside, but Shui Yongquan pulled him back again.
"Don't be in such a rush. We still need to be cautious."
Qiu Luoye said impatiently, "Caution, caution, always with the damn caution! What do you want to do? Out with it!"
"I'll find a way to scout the path first." Shui Yongquan shook his water gourd; there wasn't much water left inside.
Li Banfeng said, "I'm a journey cultivator. I have the technique for seeking good fortune and avoiding calamity, and I'm fast on my feet. Let me scout ahead."
With that, Li Banfeng leaped into the courtyard.
Qiu Luoye looked at Shui Yongquan. "How embarrassing, Old Shui! At our age, making our younger brother scout ahead for us—doing business with you is truly fucking shameful!"
Shui Yongquan said, "I don't have enough water left. It's not like I want Seventh to take risks either."
In truth, Li Banfeng was somewhat worried as well. Whether this was where the deed was kept or the local god's residence, traps were bound to be everywhere. If Lady Wuqin were still alive, running into her could cost him his life.
To play it safe, Li Banfeng made a quick trip back to the Portable Abode and brought out two cabbage Li Banfengs, intending to let them do a sweep around the courtyard first.
As it turned out, before they could even cover half a lap, both cabbage people sank into mud bogs and vanished without a trace.
Li Banfeng grew tense. He brought out more than a dozen more cabbage people from the Portable Abode. Working together, they laboriously made their way to the main hall, blazing a safe path for Li Banfeng.
Li Banfeng marked the route, recalled the cabbage people, and beckoned Shui Yongquan and Qiu Luoye inside.
The three entered the main hall together. Li Banfeng studied the surroundings for a long time, unable to tell where the deed might be hidden.
At a time like this, they had to rely on Shui Yongquan.
Not much water remained in the gourd, but it was just barely enough to scout an indoor area. Shui Yongquan poured a few drops onto the floor.
Elephant Qiu smacked his lips. "Old Shui, is that night soil? Why are you being so stingy? At least pour out a bit more!"
Shui Yongquan frowned. "This is spiritual water I refined! Stop comparing it to night soil!"
The few drops dispersed, forming an invisible film of water that blanketed the entire room.
This was the Water Cultivator Tier 2 technique, Pervading Every Crevice.
Under this technique, the water film could seep into every crevice throughout the room, acting as Shui Yongquan's eyes to seek out hidden compartments.
After searching for quite a while, Shui Yongquan went into the inner room and crawled under the bed. Before long, he brought out a jar.
Qiu Luoye frowned. "The deed is inside this?"
Shui Yongquan opened the jar, and a foul stench wafted out.
"What the hell is this?" Qiu Luoye pinched his nose.
Shui Yongquan said, "This is a jar specially made to hold sludge. It can turn sludge into puppets. It's a top-tier magic artifact."
Using his technique of Perceiving Spiritual Voices, Li Banfeng listened closely. The jar was murmuring: "Too dry... too dry... give me some water..."
Shui Yongquan said to Li Banfeng, "Seventh, it's good stuff. You take it."
Magic artifacts capable of creating puppets were indeed rare. Li Banfeng was inclined to take it, but the wife loved cleanliness, so this thing would probably be unwelcome. "It's inconvenient for a journey cultivator to carry such a bulky artifact. Better give it to Brother Qiu."
Qiu Luoye shook his head. "Don't want it! I have plenty of artifacts, and this thing reeks too much."
"If you don't want it, forget it!" Shui Yongquan put the jar away himself and spent another good while groping around under the bed.
Clattering and banging echoed from beneath the bed. Shui Yongquan triggered quite a few traps, but fortunately his cultivation was high enough that he dodged some and withstood the rest.
After prodding and probing for over an hour, Shui Yongquan pulled something out.
It wasn't a deed, but a yellow box inscribed with silvery-white circles.
Qiu Luoye grinned. "That's the local seal!"
Finding the local seal was as good as finding the covenant deed. Just as Li Banfeng was about to crawl under the bed to dig the deed out, Shui Yongquan advised:
"Seventh, now that we have the local seal, there's no need to dig out the deed. The human presence inside is all ours. With that presence, we gain cultivation. After all, this is the covenant deed of a proper land's local spirit. If we actually dig it up, I'm afraid..."
Clang!
Qiu Luoye flipped the entire bed over.
"Listening to your endless nagging pisses me off! We already found the deed, why shouldn't we dig it up? Lady Wuqin is dead. If we don't dig it out, are we supposed to wait for someone else to take it?"
Whoosh! Whoosh!
Dozens of crossbow bolts shot out from beneath where the bed had been. Qiu Luoye didn't even bother dodging, letting the bolts strike into him, then plucking them out and tossing them aside.
Whoosh!
A blast of flames surged out, engulfing Qiu Luoye from head to toe.
Qiu Luoye wiped the soot from his face and kept digging.
A swarm of mud loaches flew out, latching onto Qiu Luoye's body and trying to bore into his flesh.
Qiu Luoye yanked the loaches off, dropped them to the ground to stomp them dead, and kept right on digging.
Through dozens of traps in succession, Qiu Luoye didn't dodge a single one, braving every last one of them until he finally dug out the deed.
At the sight of the deed, Qiu Luoye was left speechless for a good while, and Shui Yongquan was taken aback as well.
The deed was arched, matching the style of their own covenant deeds. But there wasn't just one piece—there were two.
Reasonably speaking, every local spirit's covenant deed consisted of two pieces: one in the local spirit's hands, and the other in the Inner States.
Yet why were both pieces of this deed here?
Qiu Luoye didn't know the reason, and Shui Yongquan couldn't figure it out either.
On the front of both deed pieces were eight characters: *A hundred li of land, verified by this pledge.*
Like other covenant deeds, these eight characters were stained with blood.
Flipping them over to the back, Qiu Luoye blinked, lapsing into silence once again.
Shui Yongquan chuckled. "What's wrong? Too many words for you to read?"
Qiu Luoye shook his head. "No words at all."
Shui Yongquan frowned. "If you can't read them, just say so. Don't you think I know you by now? You think I'd mock you?"
Qiu Luoye handed the two deed pieces to Shui Yongquan and Li Banfeng respectively. When they looked, there truly wasn't a single word on the back.
That made no sense!
According to Shui Yongquan's reasoning, the covenant deed of a proper land should record many things, including how the territory was formed, who the successive local spirits were, what events occurred—especially wars, victories and defeats, lands gained and lost—all of which should be set down in full detail.
Yet after examining it repeatedly, there truly wasn't a single word on it.
Qiu Luoye said, "Could this deed be a fake?"
Li Banfeng said nothing; he couldn't tell real deeds from fakes.
Shui Yongquan stared at the deeds, carefully inspecting the craftsmanship and materials. "These deeds should be genuine. Back when I was in the Inner States, I watched them forge covenant deeds. There are certain techniques only they can execute. But as for where these deeds came from, that's hard to say."
Qiu Luoye laughed aloud. "Does that even need asking? It was buried in Wuqin Township, so naturally it's the deed to Wuqin Township!"
Li Banfeng handed the deeds back to Qiu Luoye. "Brothers, once you spill your blood onto the deed, this territory will belong to you both. As we agreed beforehand, you two split it down the middle."
Qiu Luoye felt a bit guilty. "Seventh, the three of us fought together to take this down, and in the end the two of us end up dividing it. It doesn't sit right with my conscience."
Li Banfeng smiled. "My cultivation is still at the ground-crust level, so taking it wouldn't do me any good. With the two of you ruling here as local spirits and letting me run the business, I'm hardly coming out on the losing end."
Qiu Luoye sighed. "Seventh, you're just too good-hearted. I don't even know what to say."
Li Banfeng smiled. "Brother, we're all good-hearted people; otherwise, we wouldn't hit it off so well."
Shui Yongquan nodded. "We just finished killing someone. When we're dividing the loot, let's leave talk of good hearts out of it. Elephant Qiu, this territory is yours. I won't take a share."
Qiu Luoye frowned. "What's gotten into you now? Why do you have so many damn quirks?"
"Nothing. Having that mud jar is enough for me." Shui Yongquan felt uneasy. A piece of proper land suddenly placed right in front of him—he didn't quite dare reach out for it.
Besides, these deeds were rather sinister.
"Take your mud jar and get lost then!" Qiu Luoye grew angry. Drawing a knife, he sliced his palm and prepared to splash his blood.
Shui Yongquan said, "Wait!"
"What? Having second thoughts?"
Shui Yongquan shook his head, poured a little water from his gourd, and let it drip onto the two deed pieces.
The water droplets moved across the deeds, quickly wiping away the original bloodstains completely.
His water was truly formidable!
Shui Yongquan said, "We still don't know whether Lady Wuqin is dead or alive. If your blood ends up mingled with hers, you might end up having to live as partners down the line. Once her blood is wiped clean and we supplement it with a paper deed, this territory will belong to you alone."
Qiu Luoye frowned. "We still need to write up a paper deed?"
"Better do it. When the Inner States enfeoff territories, there's always a paper deed. When local spirits win or lose battles in ordinary times, there are paper deeds as well. Having such a document makes things safer."
A paper deed was simply a covenant deed written on paper.
When Qiu Luoye had lost a battle to Shui Yongquan and ceded thirty li of land to him, both sides had drawn up a paper deed back then and spilled blood over the ceded territory for the transfer to take effect.
Judging from what Shui Yongquan just said, local spirits also needed paper deeds when granted land. It seemed there was a special resonance between a paper deed and an iron certificate.
Shui Yongquan found paper and brush in the room. Qiu Luoye held up the brush and thought for a long while before asking, "What should I write?"
This wasn't an enfeoffment; it counted as warfare.
If it was war, it should state that Lady Wuqin was defeated by Qiu Luoye and agreed to cede the entire territory of Wuqin Township.
But had the person defeated just now really been Lady Wuqin?
Even if it was her, did she actually agree to this?
She had already been beaten to dust, so there was no asking her about it now.
Li Banfeng suggested, "Since the original owner's blood has already been wiped from the iron certificate anyway, just write that Qiu Luoye seized Wuqin Township. There's no need to specify whose hands it was seized from."
Shui Yongquan remained cautious: "The word 'seized' isn't good. Just write: 'Qiu Luoye obtained Wuqin Township.'"
Qiu Luoye was very pleased. Seven characters—aside from the character for "obtained," none of the others posed much difficulty.
Shui Yongquan demonstrated several times until Qiu Luoye learned the character "obtained." Lifting his brush, Qiu Luoye wrote the paper deed, spilt blood onto the deed, and then spilt blood onto the soil of the territory.
Qiu Luoye said to Shui Yongquan, "You contributed the most in this fight, and I can't take advantage of you for nothing. The territory is mine, but we split the human presence fifty-fifty. Whenever you want human presence, come get it from me. As for my own territory plus Wuqin Township, Seventh is the landlord of both! He can do whatever he pleases. From now on, Seventh can run wild across both territories however he likes, and I won't be cross in the slightest!"
Shui Yongquan smiled. "Elephant Qiu, I didn't misjudge you!"
Li Banfeng said, "Brother Qiu, I'm a good person."
Qiu Luoye spilt his blood onto the two deed pieces once more.
On the backs of both deed pieces, two lines of text appeared simultaneously:
The first line: *Qiu Luoye obtained Wuqin Township.*
The second line: *Territory: Three thousand one hundred and eighty-eight fang.*
Qiu Luoye gasped in surprise. "So words can appear on this deed after all? Why weren't there any words before?"
Shui Yongquan shook his head. "I can't figure out the reason behind it either."
There truly was a resonance between the paper deed and the iron certificate, and that resonance stemmed from Qiu Luoye's blood.
Yet a hundred li of land normally comprised ten thousand fang—why were there only a little over three thousand fang here?
And who had erased the deed's previous text?
There was no making sense of this for the moment. Li Banfeng said to Qiu Luoye, "Brother Qiu, find a good spot and bury the deeds first. I'll go dispose of Qiao Shaofen's remains so we don't arouse suspicion."
Qiu Luoye praised him repeatedly, "Seventh, you really think of everything."
Chapter 429