Careful Calculations

Ma the Fifth bought over twenty railcars of coal from the various coal bosses in Huangtuqiao and quickly sold them off. Coal from Huangtuqiao was cheap, but once shipping costs were added, very little profit usually remained. However, Li the Seventh and Ma the Fifth had an agreement with the Garrison Office that halved their shipping fees, earning them a handsome sum. Ma the Fifth calculated the accounts and made a suggestion: "Old Seven, how about we just act as middlemen? It saves a lot more trouble than digging the coal ourselves." Li Banfeng replied, "We still have to dig the coal ourselves. We didn't come here just for this bit of business." Ma the Fifth was only floating the idea; the priority remained building up Huangtuqiao's human vitality. With the train repaired, buyers lined up, and enough coal dug, Ma the Fifth immediately arranged to load the cars and deliver the goods. Come nightfall, twenty railcars were loaded full. Ma the Fifth sat in the locomotive cab, while the coachman accompanied him, pulling his rickshaw alongside the train. Li the Seventh hadn't shown up, so the coachman asked, "Brother Ma, did something happen to Old Seven?" Ma the Fifth said, "Old Seven originally planned to come, but he had a couple extra drinks tonight and fell asleep. I could tell he was truly exhausted, so I didn't wake him." The coachman nodded. "Let him rest. It's just a coal delivery. The two of us are enough." Ma the Fifth looked at the coachman. "Big Brother, why do you insist on pulling your rickshaw? Wouldn't it be better to ride on the train?" The coachman chuckled. "Pulling this makes me feel grounded. Don't worry, I move faster than you!" The small train chugged steam and crossed West Bridge. The journey had been smooth enough, but once they reached town, it suddenly slowed down. Ma the Fifth asked the driver what was wrong. Sweat dripped from the driver's brow. He couldn't find the cause; the shovel stoking coal was moving so fast it nearly kicked up sparks, yet the train's speed refused to pick up. The coachman, who had been jogging alongside the train, was now down to a walk. Seeing the train acting up, he sensed danger. "Old Five, tell your men to fix the train quickly. We need to leave this place as soon as possible." Before long, the train ground to a halt. Ma the Fifth told the mechanics to inspect it, while the coachman pulled his rickshaw, using his technique of seeking fortune and avoiding calamity to divine where the danger was coming from. Chuanzi quickly located the fault: a bearing in the locomotive had lost its ball bearings, seizing the axle. It was the equivalent of driving forward with the brakes clamped down, so naturally it couldn't go fast. "Good thing we caught it early—the main axle is fine!" Chuanzi retrieved a spare part from a car, replaced the bearing, and the train set off again. After running for only a short while, the steam drum sprang a leak. The steam pressure plunged in an instant, and the train stalled once more. The coachman pulled his rickshaw and said, "Brother Ma, what did I tell you? I move faster than you. This train of yours is utterly useless." Ma the Fifth had grown used to it. Delivering coal in Huangtuqiao had never once gone smoothly. Steam locomotives had one virtue: when they broke, they could be fixed on the spot. Chuanzi climbed onto the steam drum and found the leak. Relying on his cultivation to withstand the high heat and pressure, he sealed the breach directly with adhesive. With coal stoked and water added, the train resumed its journey. It had traveled less than three hundred meters when the cars decoupled from the locomotive. The coachman set down his shafts and laughed. "I never cared for these trains anyway. They don't run fast, and they're nothing but trouble. Don't rush. Have the boys check it over thoroughly. If it really can't move, I'll haul the train there myself." The coachman wasn't bragging; he truly could pull a train. What was more, he genuinely wanted to give it a try—hauling so many railcars behind him would surely feel far more thrilling than pulling a rickshaw. As everyone checked for faults, a chill wind blew past, and a tune accompanied by singing drifted to their ears. The melody was lovely, and the singing even more so. After listening for a short while, the crew fell into a trance, and in the blink of an eye, a large swath of them collapsed asleep. Ma the Fifth forced himself to stay alert, using his joy cultivator techniques to invigorate those around him and keep them from slumber. With his fourth-layer cultivation, he counted as an intermediate cultivator. Influenced by his technique, several people around him actually managed to withstand the drowsiness. While they struggled to hold out, the coachman, pulling his rickshaw, had already located the source of the singing. The song came from a teahouse along the street that had been abandoned for years. In Puluo Province, teahouses usually had young women singing ballads. Most played the pipa, some played the sanxian, and rarely did any play the huqin, because the huqin was simply too difficult to master. This girl was singing to the strumming of a pipa, currently performing "A Crow Pairs with a Phoenix." The coachman stood at the teahouse entrance, waiting quietly until the song finished before shouting inside, "Miss, that was well sung. You've got real skill and discipline. We're pressed for business today and have no time to listen to tunes. Once our business is concluded, I'll come support your show and have you sing a hundred songs in a row, paying you one silver dollar per song. How does that sound?" The pipa abruptly fell silent. The coachman sneered. "Miss, it seems you know how to read the situation. I'll spare your life today, but don't cause me any more trouble from now on." The coachman pulled his rickshaw back to the tracks. The train had been repaired; those who hadn't fallen asleep were no longer drowsy, and those who had were waking up. Ma the Fifth asked the coachman, "Did you find the singer?" The coachman nodded. "Found her. Gave her a piece of my mind. She won't dare come back." "She won't dare come back next time..." Ma the Fifth stared into the distance. "Then what about this time?" Behind the locomotive, the tracks were bare. Twenty cars of coal, cars and all, had vanished. ... Inside the companion dwelling, Li Banfeng opened his pocket watch, calculating the time. The old master coughed and said, "No need to count. We've arrived." This was rare; when Li Banfeng was inside the companion dwelling, the old master seldom alerted him to what was happening outside. The present situation truly called for a word, for if he waited any longer, the key would be hard to find. Before the coal train departed, Li Banfeng had used drunkenness as an excuse and pretended to fall asleep. In reality, he hadn't slept at all. He had hidden the key in a pile of coal and hitched along with the train toward the railway station. Li Banfeng suspected the twenty carloads of coal would likely be stolen, so he decided to ride along with them to see who was stealing the coal and where they would take it. Now that the old master said they had arrived, Li Banfeng stepped out of the companion dwelling at once—and plunged into water with a splash. "That old bastard conned me again!" Li Banfeng poked his head above the river water. At first he thought the companion dwelling was playing another practical joke, but once he spotted the key underwater, he realized the old master hadn't lied: he really had arrived. This was the Meisha River. Having remained inside the companion dwelling all along, Li Banfeng didn't know the exact sequence of events, but one thing was certain: the culprits had stolen the coal—twenty railcars loaded with coal, every single one stolen and dumped into the Meisha River. This river, laden with mud, sand, and coal slag, had become the thieves' dumping ground to dispose of the stolen goods. Pocketing the key and wiping his face, Li Banfeng swam through the bone-chilling river to the bank. Taking off his fedora, he wrung out the muddy water, put it back on his head, patted the Tang dao, and chuckled. "Brother, now I understand the hardship you faced back then." The Tang dao felt the same sentiment deeply: "My lord, that they dare not face us head-on proves they cannot best us in a fight. But right now, we do not know whom we are supposed to fight." Li Banfeng was quite confident. "We'll find them soon. Once we do, we have to strike immediately. Their schemes are too meticulous—we can't give them time to prepare." Back inside the companion dwelling, Li Banfeng changed his clothes and asked the old master, "Who stole the coal just now?" "Ah Qi, I have my rules. What's inside the carriage is inside, and what's outside is outside. Have you ever seen a train describe the scenery outside to its passengers?" Li Banfeng said, "Doesn't the blame still lie with you?" "Why blame me?" "If you had carriage windows, I wouldn't need to ask. I could look out the window myself." "If you can get carriage windows, I'll call you capable!" There really were carriage windows? "Where would I find such a thing?" The old master snorted. "Wherever you go, I follow. Only if you encounter them can I see them." "The point is, you have to give me some clues so I know where to look." "Clues?" The old master gave a wry laugh. "If only I remembered any clues. I've even forgotten what the windows look like." Li Banfeng lay in bed for a brief rest when the projector walked over. "Director Seven, I have something to show you." "What is it?" The projector crept mysteriously toward the Eighth Room, and Li Banfeng followed. "Aren't you used to being in the Fifth Room? Why come to the Eighth Room?" The projector said, "It is best not to watch this footage in the Fifth Room." Li Banfeng smiled. "What kind of scandalous thing did you film this time?" Behind the lens, light flickered, casting an image onto the wall. It was a pile of coal. The coal pile was moving forward aboard the small train. From its perspective, the scenery on both sides of the railway receded slowly. Upon reaching town, the train began to decelerate, starting and stopping repeatedly as though malfunctioning. During one of the stops, a figure appeared by the roadside—of average build, wearing an outfit with a very long lower hem. He circled the train cars once. This person looked somewhat familiar. Li Banfeng examined the image closely for a moment before the screen suddenly plunged into darkness. After more than a minute, the picture resurfaced. A shimmer of rippling water rushed toward the lens, and the viewpoint plunged into the river. The image froze, and the playback ended. Li Banfeng looked at the projector. "Is this the scene outside the house?" "It should be." "How could you possibly record what happens outside the house?" After deliberate consideration, the projector answered, "Director Seven, you have always said that the lady was not a figment of my imagination. I believe you were right." Li Banfeng's cheek twitched. "That lady showed you the scene outside the house?" "I cannot explain exactly what occurred. At the time, she and I were shooting a beautiful love story. As I was filming a close-up of her face, I discovered these images reflected in her pupils. "I had always firmly believed that this young lady was a figure of my imagination, assuming artistic inspiration had bloomed in my mind and refracted into her eyes. "Yet this footage was so vivid, so lifelike, and bore no connection whatsoever to my thoughts. I realized it might be an actual scene in reality. "I quietly recorded it. No one knows about this, including that lady—that Fifth Room lady who might truly exist." The Fifth Room lady... Who was she, really? Why was she able to cast her gaze outside the companion dwelling? If this footage was real, the key clue lay in the man who had appeared beside the train cars—the man with the long hem. It was he who, using some artifact or spirit object, had sent the cars along with the coal into the Meisha River. Li Banfeng left the companion dwelling and followed the tracks to the scene of the incident. He searched near the tracks for a long time without finding anything amiss. Just as he was about to leave, a scratch on the rail caught his attention. Was this a scratch left by a train breakdown? No. The scratch was clean and straight; it certainly hadn't been made by a train wheel. Someone had marked this spot. This was the location the adversary had chosen in advance to strike, and they had prepared their artifact nearby beforehand. Due to inertia, a steam train took time to brake to a halt. What cultivation pathway was this person from, to calculate the stopping point with such pinpoint accuracy? ... Li Banfeng returned to the mine and found Ma the Fifth sitting in the work shed, sullenly drinking alone. Seeing Li Banfeng arrive, Ma the Fifth recounted what had happened: "We'd clearly spotted the singing woman, yet our coachman big brother went up there to reason with her! "She'd already made a move on us, yet this big brother actually had the heart to reason with her. I truly don't know what to say. "If Big Brother Qiu were here, he would've ripped every bone out of that woman's body!" Some of the coachman's actions displeased Li Banfeng as well. Referring to the singing woman, Li Banfeng asked, "Did you find out who she is?" Ma the Fifth shook his head. "Only the coachman went to negotiate outside the teahouse. He didn't even go inside, just threw his worldly street smarts around outside the doors. "But I suspect that woman is Miss Qin, the one mentioned by those coal pit bosses. She's the mastermind behind them. "Her purpose is obvious. First, to control Huangtuqiao's human vitality so the coachman cannot secure his seat as the local spirit. "Second, to control Huangtuqiao's economy. All coal business in Huangtuqiao has to pass through those coal pit bosses, or else shipments won't go out smoothly." After drinking a few cups with Ma the Fifth, Li Banfeng found an opportunity to return to the companion dwelling. Through Ma the Fifth's description, Li Banfeng reconstructed the scene from earlier. He took the projector to the Eighth Room and wrote down Ma the Fifth's account on paper. With a sweep of its lens, the sheet of paper vanished into the projector's body, and the full scene was projected onto the wall. The train stopped; Miss Qin began singing; most fell asleep, while a few strained with all their might to stay conscious. From this, Miss Qin was likely a sleep cultivator or a Dream Cultivator. The coachman went to the teahouse to negotiate with Miss Qin. This move both drew the coachman away and diverted everyone's attention. Taking advantage of the diversion, a person with a very long lower hem used a technique to transfer all the train cars into the Meisha River. The train's stopping point had to be extraordinarily precise: first, because this mysterious person was lying in ambush nearby; second, because the stopping position needed to be an exact distance from the teahouse. It couldn't be too far from the teahouse, or Miss Qin's singing wouldn't be audible. Nor could it be too close, or the coachman wouldn't walk far enough away to leave room for the mysterious person to act. His calculations were astonishingly accurate. This mysterious figure was very likely a calculation cultivator. Was he Miss Qin's subordinate? Or was he the true mastermind? Li Banfeng said to the projector, "Reconstruct the entire process once more. We need to formulate a tactic." The projector recreated the entire sequence again. This adversary was very unusual; not a single detail could be overlooked. A very long lower hem. Wait. That didn't look like a hem. It was an apron! Where had he seen that apron? ... The next morning, Ma the Fifth changed into a white suit with a black shirt and white tie, groomed impeccably and ready to set out. One look at his attire made it obvious what he intended to do. "You're going to see Miss Qin." Ma the Fifth nodded. "That woman took what's mine. She has to give it back." "Going alone definitely won't do." "I know her cultivation isn't low, but I have my methods. I refuse to swallow this humiliation." Ma the Fifth was getting worked up. Li Banfeng said, "Even if she's reluctant to kill you, she won't let you order her around. You might not get your revenge, and you could end up throwing your life away. "She has plenty of subordinates, including some ruthless sorts. If we're going to strike, we need to wipe out the whole nest." Ma the Fifth was indeed not calm, but no matter how impulsive he felt, he still listened to Li the Seventh. "Fine. We brothers will go together. I'll bring all our men along." Li Banfeng shook his head. "No need for the men to go yet. Have them guard the mine so our backyard doesn't catch fire once the fighting starts. I'll fetch the coachman and have him come with us." Ma the Fifth sighed. "I truly don't trust that coachman." Li Banfeng said, "His cultivation is above the clouds. With him around, we won't be at a disadvantage in combat strength." ... Having settled on a plan, the coachman pulled his rickshaw, setting out with Li Banfeng and Ma the Fifth. Sitting in the rickshaw, Ma the Fifth wore a helpless look. "I say, Big Brother, we have important business today. Can you not haul this rickshaw along?" The coachman laughed. "The more critical the moment, the more necessary it is to bring this rickshaw." "Is this rickshaw of yours an artifact or a weapon?" "More important than artifacts and weapons. With it by my side, your big brother has confidence." Ma the Fifth looked around. "Rickshaws aren't common in Huangtuqiao. Pulling it around like this is far too conspicuous." The coachman shook his head. "Not conspicuous in the least. Just sit back and enjoy the view. Nobody else can see you, nor can they see my rickshaw." The coachman had real abilities; he kept Li Banfeng and Ma the Fifth concealed, so ordinary people could neither see the rickshaw nor get a clear look at his figure. As they neared North Bridge, the coachman turned back to the two of them. "Brothers, even though we're prepared to fight, once we meet them, let's talk things through first. If we can avoid fighting, let's avoid it." Ma the Fifth rubbed his brow, not wanting to speak. Li Banfeng said, "Big Brother, this matter can't be talked through. Since we've come, there must be a resolution." The coachman sighed. "The people in North Bridge can't all be killed, or else the territory won't hold." Ma the Fifth said, "I've read in books that as long as a hundred people remain on proper land, it won't turn into oldland. Big Brother, we have over two hundred miners. What are you afraid of?" The coachman lowered his voice. "They're newcomers. I'm afraid that number isn't enough." Newcomers? Did it make a difference between newcomers and old residents? The coachman didn't elaborate further. Near the town, the two got off the rickshaw. Li Banfeng walked ahead, leading the coachman and Ma the Fifth to the pancake stall. The coachman ordered a jianbing guozi and casually asked where Miss Qin lived. The uncle selling jianbing guozi wiped his hands on his apron and pointed to a small courtyard along the street. "Masters, Miss Qin lives in that courtyard. Once you go in, don't say you came to hear songs—say you're here to buy wine. "The miss will warm a pot of good wine for the three of you and whip up a couple of dishes to go with it. While you eat and drink, Miss Qin will sing for you. "If you think she sings well, tip her a few extra coins. If you don't care for it, just settle the bill for the wine when you leave. It won't cost much." As they spoke, a jianbing guozi disappeared down the coachman's gullet. He said to the uncle, "Make another." The uncle thanked him repeatedly. Taking up his brush, he coated the griddle, cracked an egg, scattered chopped scallions, and asked, "Would you like a crispy cracker or a fried dough stick?" "A fried dough stick." Once the pancake was rolled up, the uncle added a gentle reminder: "Miss Qin earns her living with her voice, not by running an unlicensed brothel. Please mind your words, masters." The coachman nodded repeatedly, polishing off another pancake in two or three bites. "Make another." Li Banfeng smiled. "Didn't you have breakfast before we left?" Eating as he spoke, the coachman mumbled indistinctly, "Delicious. This pancake of his is just too good." Indeed, the pancakes were delicious. The last time Li Banfeng visited North Bridge, he had thought so too. The ingredients certainly weren't rare or expensive; it came down to the seasonings and heat control, both mastered to utter perfection. A fraction more or less, and the flavor wouldn't be the same. How could someone balance the seasonings with such pinpoint precision? How did he calculate everything so accurately? After devouring three jianbing guozi, the coachman still wanted more. Li Banfeng said to him, "We'll go ahead to Miss Qin's place to order food. Take your time eating here." The coachman nodded. "You two go on ahead!" Once the two walked away, the pancake vendor wiped his hands on his apron and asked the coachman, "Have you had your fill, sir?" The coachman wiped his mouth, looked at the vendor, and smiled. "That apron of yours is quite long. It's dragging on the ground." The vendor hitched up the apron. "It's clean. Hasn't touched the dirt." The coachman said, "Make me another." The uncle hurried to ladle batter. The coachman lowered his voice: "Friend, this territory is mine. Once you finish making this pancake, you'd best be on your way." The uncle paused. "I've had a stall here all along. It's been many years." The coachman pulled out a hand-rolled smoke, tapped it twice, stuck it in his mouth, and said, "No matter how many years you've set up shop, this territory has an owner. The covenant deed is with me. Don't you know the rules?" "The rule you speak of... I truly don't quite understand it." While the coachman and the pancake vendor were speaking, Ma the Fifth had already entered Miss Qin's courtyard. "Miss Qin, I'd like to buy some wine." Miss Qin walked out of the house. She wore a purple floral-print padded jacket and had her hair in twin braids. She was no peerless beauty, but she had the fresh, pretty charm of the girl next door. "Honored guest, how much wine would you like?" Ma the Fifth said, "Half a jin to start, and whip up two small dishes." The young woman met Ma the Fifth's gaze for a moment, offered a sweet smile, and returned to the kitchen to cook. Li Banfeng hadn't gone to Miss Qin's courtyard; he had headed to Hu Manchun's small building. Hu Manchun greeted him at the door with a face full of smiles. "Boss Li, buying coal again this time?" Li Banfeng nodded. "I want coal, and I also want to buy two cartloads of yellow clay." "Yellow clay" referred to the yellow sticky clay unique to Huangtuqiao. "Yellow clay is easy. We've got plenty. But clay has different grades—wait here while I fetch some samples." As Hu Manchun went to get the clay samples, Li Banfeng prepared to strike. The tactics had been laid out in advance, divided into three lines. The first line: Ma the Fifth would stall Miss Qin as long as possible. The second line: the coachman would deal with the pancake vendor. The third line: Li the Seventh would deal with the coal pit bosses. They wouldn't kill indiscriminately, only taking out the leaders; if their underlings surrendered, the past would be forgiven. Once the coal pit bosses were dealt with, Li Banfeng would immediately support Ma the Fifth. Ma the Fifth could certainly hold out for a while. Miss Qin's singing hadn't managed to knock him out, proving the gap in their cultivation wasn't large. Whether the coachman could handle the pancake vendor depended on his own ability. If he couldn't even manage that, it proved the coachman was beyond helping, and Li Banfeng would withdraw with Ma the Fifth at once, ending this venture right then and there. ... In Miss Qin's courtyard, the wine and dishes were served. Ma the Fifth hadn't touched his chopsticks, his eyes fixed on the girl. Blushing, Miss Qin said, "I'll fetch my pipa and sing a song for the guest." Ma the Fifth shook his head. "No rush for songs. Talk with me for a bit first." The girl bit her lip. "Guest, I don't run an unlicensed brothel." Ma the Fifth smiled. "You're a respectable girl, I can see that. I just want someone to talk to." The girl glanced up at Ma the Fifth, a thin red streak creeping into her eye. Ma the Fifth poured a cup of wine and brought it to her lips. "Have a drink with me?" ... While the wine and food were already served on Ma the Fifth's end, Hu Manchun still hadn't returned with the clay samples. Li Banfeng waited no longer. Rounding the folding screen in the parlor, he headed into the back hall and found it deserted. Following the stairs up, he found the second and third floors empty as well. The punk ran! Without bothering about where Hu Manchun had gone, Li Banfeng immediately dashed over to Song Shilong's residence and barged straight inside. Strange. There was no one in Song Shilong's house either. ... The coachman was still feeling out the pancake vendor, who dropped all pretense and laid his cards on the table. "Sir, with your abilities and this rickshaw of yours, where couldn't you earn cultivation? Why fight over this wretched plot of land?" The coachman frowned. "How can you call this fighting over it? This was my land to begin with. My covenant deed is buried right here." The pancake vendor smiled. "Dig up the covenant deed, leave a fragment on your rickshaw, and your cultivation tier won't drop. You can cultivate somewhere else just the same." The coachman paused for a moment, then chuckled. "Not bad, you know everything about me. My cultivation won't drop, but why on earth should I dig up my deed?" The pancake vendor neatly arranged his spatula on the rack, put out the fire, packed away the batter, and tidied his stove with obsessive precision. Then, smiling at the coachman, he said: "Sir, if you refuse to leave, then I'll be the one to go." The coachman said, "I'm hoping you will. The farther you go, the better. Take that Miss Qin with you too, and never let me see either of you again." The pancake vendor laughed. "If I leave, the people of North Bridge will all be gone. They're all at the railway station right now. At my word, they'll board the train and leave, and Huangtuqiao will become oldland. "Once Huangtuqiao truly becomes oldland, your divine status will collapse. "Losing your status will severely deplete your vitality. If we fight to the death then, it's hard to say who will win and who will lose." The coachman sneered. "Are you threatening me?" "I'm not threatening you; I calculated it." The pancake vendor looked at the coachman earnestly. "I've spent a long time working on this problem. If your divine status truly falls, I am confident I can beat you." The coachman ground his teeth. "There are two hundred workers at the mine. According to the rules, a territory of a hundred li only turns into oldland if there are fewer than a hundred people." The vendor laughed. "Don't try to hoodwink me with that. Newcomers open newlands; old residents hold oldlands. "A hundred homegrown Huangtuqiao natives truly could hold this proper land of Huangtuqiao, but two hundred outsiders won't be enough, will they? "They have no roots here. I've calculated it carefully on your behalf: you would need three thousand three hundred and sixty-eight newcomers to hold this territory. Are three thousand people so easy to find? If they were, you would have found them long ago, wouldn't you?" Sweat beaded on the coachman's forehead. The vendor loosened his apron. "Sir, I stand by my words: you possess real ability and can thrive wherever you go. As long as you're willing to yield this place to me, I have fine things to offer you in tribute." The coachman spat. "You think I'm that easy to push around?" ... Li Banfeng visited over a dozen coal pit bosses' houses, only to find every single home completely vacant, not a soul remaining. Realizing something was wrong, Li Banfeng rushed to Miss Qin's house to retrieve Ma the Fifth. Arriving at the door, he saw the pancake vendor uncle. The uncle cupped his hands. "Seventh Master." Li Banfeng smiled faintly. "You recognize me?" "I wouldn't dare claim to know you personally, but I've heard of your reputation. In Puluo Province, you are a true man of honor. In our hearts, you are top-notch!" The uncle gave Li Banfeng a thumbs-up. Li Banfeng frowned. "Cut the polite chatter. You were fully prepared for my arrival today. It seems there's a traitor among my men who leaked the word." The uncle shook his head. "Seventh Master, your men are clean; none of them have any dealings with me, you can rest assured of that. "The reason I took precautions in advance is that I calculated you might come during these few days." "Calculated?" Li Banfeng gave a scoffing laugh. "You tell fortunes too?" "Not fortune-telling, but mathematics," the uncle shook his head and said. "I intercepted your coal twice. Judging from Seventh Master's past conduct, you certainly wouldn't tolerate such a thing. "Based on the rumors I've heard, after several careful calculations, I determined that within three to five days, you would definitely pay North Bridge a visit, and blood would surely be drawn when you did. Thus, I prepared ahead of time and sent everyone from North Bridge to the railway station. "I just didn't expect you to arrive so quickly, nor that you would pinpoint me right away, leave me to the coachman, have Fifth Master deal with Miss Qin, and go after my lead pit bosses yourself—practically wiping us all out in one fell swoop." Li Banfeng's brow furrowed. "You calculated all of this?" The pancake vendor pulled a stack of papers from beneath the batter container. "Here are the calculation drafts. You may look for yourself. It's a pity you struck too fast while I calculated too slowly. Today, I almost fell by your hand." Li Banfeng nodded. "A calculation cultivator indeed, and one especially adept at calculating probabilities. Since we've laid everything bare, let us settle this once and for all today." The uncle shook his head. "Seventh Master, if we calculate the accounts this way, both our sides will lose out. If you insist on fighting me, I'll send word to the station immediately to tell the North Bridge folks to board the train. "Once they leave, those two hundred-odd outsiders under you won't be able to hold Huangtuqiao. Huangtuqiao will turn into oldland, and neither of us will profit from this business!" Li Banfeng chuckled. "I can go to the station right now and intercept them, stopping them from leaving." "Seventh Master, the station is the territory of Outer States people. Do you dare make a move there?" Li Banfeng's expression remained serene. "Why wouldn't I dare?" "I'm impressed! I truly admire you," the uncle said with a nod. "But I have a better idea. I wonder if Seventh Master would care to hear it?" "What idea?" "Business can be done with anyone. Now that the coachman is gone, we can pick up the business and talk it through. I don't want Huangtuqiao to turn into oldland either. I want to rise above the clouds here, and I want to build up the human vitality here too." Li Banfeng frowned. "What's the use of telling me this? I established a covenant deed with the coachman; this business can only be done with him. He is the local spirit here!" "Seventh Master, that deed of yours might be useless now. The coachman has already fled. He breached the agreement first." "Fled?" Li Banfeng didn't believe it. The coachman's cultivation was above the clouds; there was no reason for him to run. Holding up an iron certificate, the pancake vendor said, "This is the covenant deed of Huangtuqiao's territory. You should recognize this object. If you still don't believe me, I also have the paper deed the coachman left behind. "And if you still don't believe me, there are wheel ruts on the ground. These ruts lead all the way to South Bridge, and South Bridge connects to the newland. If my calculations are correct, the coachman has already traveled quite far along the newland!"