Moxiangdian

Chu Shaoqiang finished writing a letter and slipped it into an envelope. Before sealing it, he drew the paper back out and carefully scrutinized every single word and phrase. Five days had passed, and it was about time he gave the Inner States an account regarding Guo Jinshi and Tian Dasong. Chu Shaoqiang had brought those two into Qiu Luoye's territory, hoping they would win merit and ascend above the clouds. Neither of them had expected to throw away their lives instead. Over the past few days, Chu Shaoqiang had racked his brains trying to absolve himself of blame, but even today he had failed to come up with a suitable excuse. It was better to report the truth, after all—though he ought to polish the wording. He shouldn't casually use the word "defeat"; changing it to "gradual advance" was much better. As Chu Shaoqiang was revising his letter, a man with wide eyes, a long face, wings on his back, and the appearance of a bat materialized before him. Chu Shaoqiang knew who had arrived. This bat-like man was named Wang Fuqi, his dedicated messenger for liaising with the Inner States. "Go rest first. Once the letter is ready, I'll call for you." Wang Fuqi bowed and said, "Lord Chu, I came to bring you urgent news. Something happened to the three lords guarding the covenant deeds." Chu Shaoqiang did not care much about that. Although the keepers of the deeds were Inner States folk with lofty standing, the matter had nothing to do with him. Yet if it had nothing to do with him, why would Wang Fuqi make a special trip to deliver the news? Could there be a connection after all? "Was Qiu Luoye's covenant deed stolen?" To Chu Shaoqiang, that was his most critical leverage over Qiu Luoye. If the deed was stolen… Then for Chu Shaoqiang, that would be a tremendous stroke of luck. That way, he would have an airtight excuse for his earlier failure. Wang Fuqi shook his head. "The deed wasn't stolen. It was destroyed." "Who did it?" Chu Shaoqiang could hardly believe it. "If the deed was destroyed, the curse would naturally trigger, and Qiu Luoye would certainly lose his life. He wouldn't seek his own death, would he?" Wang Fuqi replied, "We don't know Qiu Luoye's current state. Last night, Lord Fan was the first to notice something wrong with his deed. The moment he touched it with his hand, fire suddenly erupted across his body, spreading over him in an instant. "Lord Lü stepped forward to rescue Lord Fan, but the flames engulfed him as well. Both were burned to ashes together. "The remaining lords fled outside. Lord Zhong ran a bit too slowly, caught a single spark on his body, and was also turned to ashes." Chu Shaoqiang found this hard to accept. Deducing cause and effect, he asked, "Did someone tamper with things inside the Inner States? Or did someone meddle with the other deed back in Puluo Province and channel the technique into the Inner States' deed?" Wang Fuqi said, "Lord Chu, you've seen the archives in the Inner States. Usually, not even a fly could slip inside. How could anyone tamper with anything there?" Chu Shaoqiang gave a soft chuckle. "Fuqi, that's only because there are things you don't know enough about. Something has already gone wrong in that archive before, and not long ago at that. "I think an investigation must start from the Inner States. I don't believe someone from Puluo Province did this. "If someone could transmit such a formidable technique from Puluo Province straight into the Inner States through a covenant deed, just how capable would that person have to be?" Wang Fuqi lowered his voice. "Lord Chu, never mind how capable that person is for now. I came to bring you word because the Censorate has pinned this entire disaster on you." "Pinned it on me?" Chu Shaoqiang cried in shock. "On what grounds!" "The Censorate claims that your incompetence drove Qiu Luoye to take desperate measures. The charge has already been pinned to your name. You'd better figure out how you're going to explain yourself when you return." "Return? Explain?" Chu Shaoqiang shook his head. "I can't go back, nor can I explain this away." Wang Fuqi was startled. "Lord Chu, I'm just delivering a message. If you have other ideas, I know nothing about them." As he spoke, Wang Fuqi turned to leave, but Chu Shaoqiang called him back. "You understand nothing, boy. If I go back now, nothing I say will clear my name. I would only be waiting for punishment—or lose my life at worst." "Then what does Lord Chu intend to do?" "What do the higher-ups want? Land! Proper land! We have to take that land back!" Wang Fuqi nodded. "I'll go check Qiu Luoye's territory and see what the situation really is." "Look for Qiu Luoye again?" Chu Shaoqiang sighed. "He has three thousand three-headed beasts there. How many men would we need to bring to hold that place down? Better to look elsewhere." Wang Fuqi said, "But if Qiu Luoye is dead, we might be able to pick up an easy bargain." Chu Shaoqiang shook his head. "Is Qiu Luoye truly dead? Even I can't see through this matter anymore." *** Wrapped in bandages from head to toe, Qiu Luoye was munching on a pumpkin. Having devoured one, he picked up another and kept gnawing away. Ma the Fifth did not quite understand. "Brother Qiu, since when did you take a liking to vegetarian food?" Before Qiu Luoye could answer, Shitou spoke up from the side: "Our Master Qiu usually loves eating vegetarian. Eating meat outside with you all was just keeping up appearances. He's an elephant! Eating greens gives him vigor—" *Thud!* Laohu kicked Shitou hard. Not over the matter of eating vegetables, but over the mention of an elephant. Laohu snapped in anger, "Seventh Master said no one is allowed to call Master Qiu an elephant ever again! How did you manage to forget that in the blink of an eye?" Even though the covenant deed had been destroyed, Li Banfeng did not want Qiu Luoye associated with the name Qiu Daxiang in the slightest, so he forbade anyone from bringing up that nickname. Qiu Luoye had regained his status and stabilized his cultivation, but as for how much of his combat strength had been restored, it was still impossible to say. Qiu Luoye had no certainty in his own heart either. All he could do was eat like a beast. "Pumpkin skin is good stuff. Eat skin to grow skin!" Qiu Luoye finished off another pumpkin, wiped his mouth, and asked, "Where did Old Seven go? I haven't seen him all day." Ma the Fifth said, "Old Seven is exhausted. He said he needed two days of sound sleep." Cradling the pumpkin, Qiu Luoye said, "I owe Old Seven far too much. I don't even know how I'll ever repay him." Ma the Fifth smiled. "Brother Qiu, don't think that far ahead just yet. Once you're full, get some sleep too. Nurse your body back to health first, then we can talk about what comes next." *** Inside the companion dwelling, Li Banfeng was not sleeping; he was taking an art lesson. The one teaching him today was not the Hanxue pendulum, but Hong Ying. Hong Ying hailed from a prominent family and had received a refined education from a young age. She dabbled in the zither, chess, calligraphy, and painting, possessing particularly exquisite brushwork. Unlike the pendulum's Western oil-painting techniques, Hong Ying practiced traditional ink-and-wash painting. Sizing up the paper with her hands, she quickly rendered a portrait of a beauty. The woman leaned forward to pluck a flower, graceful and lovely of face, her figure slender and shapely, though her attire was rather indecorous. The gramophone glanced at it and asked, "Wench, don't you feel any shame painting something like this?" "Bah!" Hong Ying spat. "You know what shame is? Why don't you think about how you carried on last night?" Beating a slow tempo, the gramophone sang softly in reply, "What about last night? What is wrong with being close to one's own man?" Paying no heed to the gramophone, Hong Ying hung the painting on the wall and asked Li Banfeng, "Seventh Brother, what do you think of this painting?" Li Banfeng sneered. "I wouldn't even deign to glance at such an improper painting." "Then do me the favor of taking a look!" Hong Ying pointed at the painting. "This is the door! And this is the portal! With just these two places, how could you possibly fail to tell them apart?" Li Banfeng explained, "I had a few cups too many last night and truly didn't realize it was you. I thought you were my wife, and my wife isn't divided like this." "You madman! You take your fill and then refuse to own up to it, is that it? So I suffered all that for nothing!" While continuing to bicker with Hong Ying on the surface, Li Banfeng's mind was on other matters. He was reviewing the entire sequence of rescuing Qiu Luoye. Clearing the first hurdle had relied on Fool Cultivator arts. Clearing the second hurdle had relied on the Red Lotus's pills. Clearing the third hurdle had relied on Zhang Wanlong's seeds. These people seemed to have no connection to one another whatsoever, yet by employing their methods, Li Banfeng had dismantled an ostensibly inescapable trap—a trap laid by the Inner States. Could there be some hidden thread linking them all? Taking advantage of Hong Ying's brief lull, the gramophone extended its horn right by Li Banfeng's ear and asked in a low whisper, "Husband, where did you learn that Technique of Flesh Laying?" Li Banfeng did not deceive his wife: "I learned it in the City of Fools." "The City of Fools?" The wife sensed something odd. "Husband, that technique doesn't seem to originate from Fool Cultivators." "Which pathway do you think it belongs to, Madam?" "This servant doesn't know the core essentials of the art, so I dare not make wild guesses." As she spoke, the gramophone's voice grew softer and softer. "Husband, would you be willing to pass this technique on to this servant?" Li Banfeng smiled. "If my own wife wants to learn, of course I'll teach you." The gramophone drove the others out, leaving just the two of them in the main room. Li Banfeng then taught her the essentials of the technique. "When I first began learning the Technique of Flesh Laying, I mistook it for a means of possessing a body with a soul. Only after I truly grasped its inner workings did I realize I had conceived of it entirely backward. "This technique does not attach a soul to a body; it glues a body onto a soul. There are two essential principles: one is stacking, and the other is splicing. "Stacking proceeds from the inside out, while splicing patches together all four sides. The key requirement is realism—where blood and flesh meet, the seams must fit together without a crack." After listening, the gramophone found it even more puzzling: "Husband, this sounds like a Glue Cultivator technique." "A Glue Cultivator technique?" Li Banfeng had heard Qiu Luoye mention Glue Cultivators before, but he knew very little about that pathway's arts. The gramophone asked again, "Husband hasn't entered the Glue Cultivator pathway, so how could you master a Glue Cultivator technique?" "By my own skill alone, I naturally couldn't." He produced a small box of paste from his robes. "I got this from the City of Fools. Sticking flesh and blood together relies entirely on this." The gramophone picked up the paste with its stylus, brought it before its horn, and took a whiff. It let out a cold snort: "It carries the scent of rouge and powder. Who knows which vixen gave it to you!" Li Banfeng praised, "Your nose is sharp, Madam. That woman was indeed wearing quite a heavy layer of powder!" The gramophone blasted a puff of steam into his face. "Shameless madman! You go out seducing women, and you dare flaunt it so brazenly?" Li Banfeng smiled without making excuses and taught his wife how to use the paste. Leaving the companion dwelling, Li Banfeng checked on Qiu Luoye's condition and then spoke with Ma the Fifth about business matters. Ma the Fifth sighed. "This is the Rear Three-Tenths. Business isn't easy to conduct in any of the surrounding territories. If we want to get Qiqiu City up and running, we'll need to invest a lot of thought." Li Banfeng glanced toward the east. "That way is Moxiangdian, right? Is business good there?" Ma the Fifth hesitated. "Moxiangdian is a realm of scholars. Shen Rongqing came from there. If you grasp their temperament, you can barely manage to do business; if you don't, you won't accomplish a thing." "What kind of temperament do scholars have?" Ma the Fifth shook his head. "I can't grasp it, and I can't explain it clearly. I visited Moxiangdian twice when I was young, and I didn't want to stay there for another moment. "Old Seven, let's focus our efforts elsewhere. It's best to have as little to do with the people of Moxiangdian as possible." "In the future, Qiqiu City must become a premier landmark of Puluo Province. How can we not interact with our neighbors?" Lu Chunying chimed in, "Brother Seven, my mother wanted to take me on a trip to Moxiangdian too. Why don't we all go take a stroll together?" Li Banfeng looked at Xiao Yeci. "Then let's go have a look!" Xiao Yeci looked toward He Yuxiu. "Is Elder Sister coming along?" He Yuxiu shook her head repeatedly. "What would I do there—go looking for misery?" Early the next morning, Li Banfeng boarded a train bound for Moxiangdian, accompanied by Xiao Yeci, Lu Chunying, Lu Yuanxin, Tan Fucheng, and the others. Stepping off the train onto the platform, Li Banfeng found the place exceedingly strange. This was nothing like a normal train station. The floors and veranda pillars were made of wood, coated in red lacquer. The platform roof had a pronounced ridged eaves design adorned with glazed tiles. Had the locomotive not been resting right behind him, Li Banfeng would have thought he had stepped into the covered walkway of some wealthy family's grand estate. *Chug, chug, chug...* The train pulled away, and Li Banfeng felt the entire platform shudder. Near the exit of the platform, a man dressed in a greenish-blue long gown, his hair slicked back with brilliant pomade, bowed politely and asked, "Pray halt, honored guests. May I inquire where your proof lies?" Li Banfeng blinked in confusion. "Proof of what?" After a moment's thought, Xiao Yeci took out their train tickets and presented them with both hands. The man received them with both hands, inspected them thoroughly, extended his right hand toward the exit, and said, "Take care on your way, honored guests!" He was a ticket inspector. Tan Fucheng snorted softly. "Just checking a ticket, yet he has to call it 'proof.'" Lu Yuanxin reminded him in a low voice, "Brother Tan, mind your station." Once out of the station, Xiao Yeci repeatedly instructed Lu Chunying, "Nannan, show some refined and courteous manners. We cannot let people laugh at us." Tan Fucheng hailed a rickshaw puller. The puller looked at the group and asked, "Many paths lie ahead. Pray, which way do the honored guests wish to travel?" Tan Fucheng replied, "To an inn." "Moxiangdian has dozens of inns. Pray, to which one are the honored guests bound?" "Well..." Tan Fucheng did not know how to respond. He had pulled rickshaws himself before; by rights, hailing a cart should never be this convoluted. Just then, Li Banfeng faintly heard a soft sigh: "Home." Home? Whose home?