Secret of the Boundary

Li Banfeng stood outside the cave, while He Jiaqing stood inside. Separated by a single stone wall, neither knew who was on the other side or what kind of situation their opponent was facing. Seeing the halo of light flare across the ground, He Jiaqing recognized it at once as the Dwelling Cultivator technique, Close the Doors and Bar the Gates. Anyone capable of using Close the Doors and Bar the Gates had to be at least an eighth-tier Dwelling Cultivator. High-tier Dwelling Cultivators rarely wandered outside, and this newland lay in the Outer States, deep in a deserted, desolate place. Who could this Dwelling Cultivator be? The first possibility that sprang to He Jiaqing's mind was the local spirit of this newland. He had entered and exited this newland many times, even helping Big Head build a place to cultivate here, yet he had never paid respects to the local spirit. He hadn't expected the spirit to come looking for him today. Even so, there was nothing to fear. With He Jiaqing's level of cultivation, he truly had no need to dread the local spirit of a newland. Still, the matter required caution. If this local spirit's territory could hold onto a newland in the Outer States, he was certainly no ordinary figure. Should he fight him? He Jiaqing's leg had just been injured by the boundary, and he was afflicted with Lühuazi's ailment. His overall condition was far from ideal. If the opponent belonged to another pathway, he could have risked an exchange. But the man was a Dwelling Cultivator, and his dwelling had to be on this very land. The closer a Dwelling Cultivator was to his dwelling, the greater his combat power. That made him formidable. Furthermore, Dwelling Cultivators countered Thief Cultivators to an extent. Most of their techniques revolved around dwelling spirits and their houses; even if stolen, they were of little practical use. That put He Jiaqing at another disadvantage. Walk away without fighting? All the popular aura he had hoarded for so long had undoubtedly been stolen by this local spirit. If he didn't display some force to intimidate him, the fellow would surely push his luck further. After weighing the situation, He Jiaqing made up his mind: they would fight a round, stopping short of lethal harm so as not to ruin all goodwill while still establishing his authority. His right leg was still caught inside the boundary. Enduring the pain, He Jiaqing had to yank it free first. When caught by Close the Doors and Bar the Gates, this was the price that had to be paid: entering the boundary took a cut, and leaving the boundary took another. Whether it was just one leg or a person's entire body, once caught, you had to get out. Could he choose not to leave? Could he fight right inside the boundary? He would suffer terribly. An above-the-clouds Dwelling Cultivator would certainly possess the ninth-tier technique, Expand the Domain and Open the Frontiers. Fighting a Dwelling Cultivator inside the boundary was equivalent to fighting him inside his own dwelling—how massive an advantage would that give him? Yanking out his right foot, another layer of flesh and blood was scraped away. He Jiaqing reached toward the mechanism, preparing to open the stone door and seize the initiative. Before his fingertips even brushed the mechanism, a fresh wave of searing pain struck his feet. Looking down, he found the boundary had suddenly appeared behind him. What was happening? The boundary could move? For an above-the-clouds Dwelling Cultivator, the boundary of Close the Doors and Bar the Gates could indeed shift, because a Dwelling Cultivator could expand its area to a certain extent. He Jiaqing had once witnessed an above-the-clouds Dwelling Cultivator whose boundary shifted through successive stages, expanding from eight or nine feet to five or six zhang. Yet changing a boundary took time. The Dwelling Cultivator outside the door was terrifyingly skilled—it shifted instantly, stripping another layer of skin from He Jiaqing in the blink of an eye. Without the slightest hesitation, willing to suffer one more bout of agony, He Jiaqing scrambled backward and leaped clear of the boundary. Staring fixedly at the glowing line, he shouted, "Hero outside the door, I concede!" He was done fighting. In his current state, He Jiaqing knew he probably couldn't beat the person outside. Even if he could, he couldn't afford a fight to the death. He needed to stay in decent shape to deal with Lüshui Beggar. Standing outside the entrance, Li Banfeng found the voice from within remarkably familiar. He Jiaqing had disguised his voice somewhat, but Li Banfeng had known him for four years in college; subtle nuances in his accent were unmistakable. There was no reply from outside. He Jiaqing continued, "I found a resting spot on your territory without greeting you in advance. That was my wrongdoing. In a few days, I will certainly send a token of my regard. If it meets with your satisfaction, we can consider this matter settled." His words sounded quite sincere. Li Banfeng offered no answer. Dispelling Close the Doors and Bar the Gates, he quietly slipped away from the desolate mountain. The glove poked out of his pocket and trailed behind Li Banfeng, clearing his footprints—a basic professional habit for a Thief Cultivator. Li Banfeng turned the current situation over in his mind. It turned out that everything in the cave belonged to He Jiaqing, including the specialized tools and the harvested popular aura. Big Head was He Jiaqing's man, having already turned traitor within the Dark Star Bureau. He had dug up a confidential file for He Jiaqing and delivered it to the Chashan Hotel, though what exactly was in that file remained unknown for now. Big Head had left the tools storing popular aura in the cave for He Jiaqing to retrieve, choosing this newland as their drop-off point. Had they chosen it purely for secrecy, or did He Jiaqing also know that this was a route leading to Puluo Province? Had He Jiaqing come from Puluo Province? A string of questions surfaced in his mind. Li Banfeng truly wanted to walk into the cave and demand answers to He Jiaqing's face. Yet asking would accomplish nothing. Why would he tell him? Li Banfeng had previously deduced that He Jiaqing's cultivation was at least three tiers above the clouds. Charging blindly into the cave would likely cost him his life. *** He Jiaqing waited in the cave for nearly half an hour. Only after confirming there was no longer any movement outside did he open the stone door at the entrance. No tracks remained on the ground. He couldn't tell where the local spirit had gone. Even if he could, he couldn't recklessly trail him; provoking that local spirit again would bring unimaginable consequences. The button on his chest vibrated, and He Jiaqing received a message from Zhu Junlong: "Jiaqing, I've got everything ready on my end. When should we pay a visit to Kang Zhenchang?" Kang Zhenchang was the Healing Cultivator Big Head had investigated, currently the only man with a chance of saving He Jiaqing. He Jiaqing still had plenty of the borrowed lifespan he had taken from Zhang Gunli, so he faced no immediate mortal danger over the next few days. After a moment's thought, he replied to Zhu Junlong: "Wait a bit longer. The timing isn't right yet." *** "And when do you think the timing will be right?" Daboynes stared coldly at Xiao Zhenggong. The lingering glow of the setting sun slanted through the window onto the floor; between the alternating light and shadow, strands of spider silk swayed faintly back and forth. Xiao Zhenggong wore a calm expression, but his heart was pounding furiously. It would be a lie to say he wasn't afraid. As things stood, Daboynes could string him up on a spiderweb at any moment, drain his flesh and blood, and hang him by the doorway to dry in the wind. Daboynes was thoroughly incensed. Through old acquaintances, he had obtained special chemical reagents to help Xiao Zhenggong restore three tiers of cultivation. He had paid a massive fortune in money and connections for this, yet Xiao Zhenggong deemed three tiers insufficient, brushing Daboynes off with a blunt "the timing isn't right." When would the timing be right? Both understood perfectly well. Daboynes had previously been a fifth-tier Body Cultivator. Having cultivated diligently over the past few years and even trained in the Inner States, his cultivation had certainly reached the sixth tier, if not higher. Xiao Zhenggong's plan was to wait until his cultivation recovered to the seventh tier before revealing the secret of the Boundary. Only then would he hold the upper hand. Yet Daboynes had no intention of allowing that. He lacked the resources to restore Xiao Zhenggong to the seventh tier, and even if he had them, he wouldn't do it. Xiao Zhenggong was certain of one thing: so long as he didn't disclose the secret of the Boundary, Daboynes wouldn't kill him. Clamping a cigarette between his teeth, he continued flipping through the notebook. "I simply can't remember some things. Forcing me won't help." On Daboynes's forehead, a horizontal wrinkle split open. Six eyes thrust out from within the crease, all fixing their gaze upon Xiao Zhenggong. Xiao Zhenggong pretended not to see them, but a tremor of dread stirred in his chest. He knew Daboynes was a Body Cultivator and a spider mutant, yet seeing him with eight eyes made his earlier confidence and calm dissolve at terrifying speed. Daboynes asked, "Have you forgotten your own surname?" Xiao Zhenggong chuckled. "My surname is Xiao. Do I really need you to remind me?" "Say it again." "My surname is Xiao!" "Say it again!" "I..." Xiao Zhenggong suddenly stammered. Daboynes raised his voice. "I'll ask you one more time: do you know what your surname is?" "I... I..." Xiao Zhenggong forced out with difficulty, "My surname is Yu." "What is your name?" Xiao Zhenggong continued, "I... my name is Yu Dacheng." "Whose man are you?" "I am... from Iron Sheep Mountain." "Who is your boss?" "My boss... used to be..." "Don't talk about the past. Tell me who it is now." "The Chief... right now, is Lu Xiaolan." Daboynes nodded. "Do you obey the Chief?" "I do." "Do you obey me?" "I do," Xiao Zhenggong answered with absolute earnestness. "Good. It's good that you're obedient." The six eyes sank back beneath his skin, and the wrinkle on Daboynes's forehead smoothed closed. Xiao Zhenggong's vacant gaze suddenly cleared. He looked up at Daboynes. "What did you just ask me?" Daboynes smiled. "Nothing. Just reminiscing a bit. We're old friends, after all." "Old friends..." Xiao Zhenggong strained to recall his past dealings with Daboynes. In his memory, the two of them hadn't interacted much. Daboynes asked mildly, "Leader Xiao, have you remembered the secret of the Boundary?" Xiao Zhenggong shook his head rapidly, then lowered his gaze. "N-not so quickly." Daboynes smiled. "Then think faster." Xiao Zhenggong leafed through the notebook, his eyes shifting erratically. He would keep stalling, using the same methods and tricks. That shameless, brazen cunning was Xiao Zhenggong's hallmark. Only now, Xiao Zhenggong had lost much of his nerve. The servility and cowardice buried in his soul remained firmly under Daboynes's thumb. *** Having obtained the grease from the gramophone shop, Li Banfeng returned to Yuezhou. The substance was indeed precious, and the shop didn't have much in stock. The projector calculated the amount and told Li Banfeng, "If we want to comb every single floor of the Dark Star Bureau building, this grease still won't be enough. But if we only visit a small fraction of them, it shouldn't pose much of a problem." Li Banfeng disliked procrastination; he decided to act that very night. First, he checked the duty roster: the person on shift was Haitangguo. Li Banfeng had heard Tangyuan mention that Haitangguo was a friend of Mijian, a fourth-tier dark-energy user whose class was Sleeper—the equivalent of the Sleep Cultivator pathway. Haitangguo was slightly older than Tangyuan, around the same age as Mijian. In the Dark Star Bureau, she counted as young, but within the security team, she was a veteran. With someone like that on duty, would Li Banfeng's task be easy? Immensely easy. At eleven that night, Li Banfeng swept past the duty room door at lightning speed. Haitangguo was already fast asleep. A Sleep Cultivator's method of cultivation was sleeping, infecting and controlling the people and objects around them through slumber. Haitangguo could control when she fell asleep, and she could have chosen to stay awake during her shift. But being a veteran, slacking off on the job was the most fundamental display of an old hand's skill. Just as she sat upright behind her desk, appearing to peruse documents, she had actually been sound asleep for over an hour. Carrying the projector, Li Banfeng reached the stairwell door. After several minutes, the projector gave its assessment: "Director Seven, head to the eleventh floor first. Every landing in the stairwell has my kin. Walking fewer floors will save plenty of grease." Li Banfeng took the elevator to the eleventh floor, waited ten minutes outside the stairwell door, and then the projector alerted him that it was safe to head up. Following the stairs to the twelfth floor, a heavy black iron door barred their way. Two lights shone above the door. The projector first cast an illusion to conceal Li Banfeng's figure, while the glove crept over the iron door, groping quietly for a moment before prying it open a crack. This was guided by memory: prior to this, the black glove had unlocked this iron door many times. Through the slit, the projector shone a narrow beam of light into the room. After flickering for a long time, the projector said, "Director Seven, my kin inside has become a friend." The glove cautioned, "Boss, be extra careful. There might be hidden mechanisms in this room." Li Banfeng activated Golden Eyes of Keen Detail, Discernment of Spirit Sounds, and Delicate Taste of Hundred Flavors, advancing with utmost caution at every step. Under the projector's light, Li Banfeng could clearly see archive boxes arranged neatly across rows of shelves. Scanning them, he spotted a label on an archive box in the second row: *Ruirong Textile Factory*. A case dossier on Ruirong Textile Factory? The Dark Star Bureau actually kept a file on the textile factory, yet forbade the security team members from reading it? What kind of sense did that make? Li Banfeng picked up the box, preparing to flip through it, when the glove warned, "Boss, when the black glove came here, that wasn't what it was looking for." The black glove had originally belonged to Xiao Zhenggong, who had also visited this archive in the past. What had he been searching for back then? Was what he wanted the same thing Big Head had found? Li Banfeng couldn't be certain. By his estimation, there were over a hundred shelves in this archive. Checking box after box, simply reading the labels would take an eternity. He would see what Xiao Zhenggong had been looking for first. Relying on memory, the glove felt around the various shelves. After half an hour, it located the archive box that had appeared in its recollections. "Great luck! Found it so fast!" the glove exclaimed in surprise. "Boss, this is the very thing Xiao Zhenggong was looking for." The archive box bore only two words: *Boundary*. The Boundary! Li Banfeng's primary goal in coming to the Outer States as a balancer was to find a way forward for Puluo Province. Puluo Province's territory was fractured by the Boundary, and the technology to control that Boundary was held by the Outer States. That meant Puluo Province's lifeblood was likewise gripped in their hands. Even if Li Banfeng didn't consider the Outer States' combat power superior to Puluo Province's, if the Outer States simply washed their hands of Puluo Province, a divided Puluo would possess no strength to withstand the Inner States. If he could find a way to completely dismantle the Boundary, it would mean securing a future for Puluo Province. The usually composed Li Banfeng felt a surge of excitement. Opening the archive box, he unfolded the first file and read the opening line: *The Boundary of Puluo Province originates from variations in dark energy induced by magnetic fields. The connection between magnetic fields and dark energy is the key to controlling the Boundary...* The archive box was large, packed with a massive stack of materials; reading even a tenth of it in a single night would be difficult. The projector had come prepared. Instructing the glove to spread out the papers, it began snapping photos rapidly. After a dozen pages, the projector abruptly stopped. It opened its own film chamber, pulled out a strip of film, and examined it before its lens for a long time. "This is impossible..." Li Banfeng asked, "What happened?" "I can't record it. The film is completely blank." The projector sounded frantic. At such a critical juncture, it shouldn't be failing. Yet Li Banfeng showed no surprise. "These documents must be made of special material that prevents the film from being exposed." The glove sighed. "At the end of the day, Old Proj is still useless." The projector panicked. "Let me think of something else! There has to be another way!" This wasn't the projector's fault. Li Banfeng concealed the key, opened the door to the companion dwelling, and handed the archive box to the gramophone. "My precious darling, can you memorize what's written here?" His lady rapidly flipped through each sheaf of documents. First came admiration, followed immediately by lamentation. "Precious husband, you truly found the secret of the Boundary! "Precious husband, this isn't easy to learn. Grant me a closer look... "Oh, my husband, these Outer States folk have so many odd ways of speaking! Always babbling about magnetic fields and magnetic induction—such tongue-twisting words! And all these diagrams and numbers... Husband, this won't be easy to memorize at all!" She went through them over and over. Watching from the side, Hong Ying grew anxious as well. "All this dense scribbling and nonsense—who could possibly commit it to memory?" The gramophone said, "Indeed! Yingying, I truly cannot memorize it all. Our hands are quick, so let us copy a transcript!" Hong Ying also felt daunted. "With so many diagrams and scribbles, don't blame me if I copy something wrong." The gramophone chuckled. "Silly girl, how could I bear to blame you? If you copy something wrong, I'll simply beat you to death on the spot!" Dipping its stylus into ink, the gramophone began transcribing. Hong Ying picked up a pen and joined in. Li Banfeng's hands were fast too—even quicker than the gramophone and Hong Ying. Having gone to university in the Outer States, he possessed a far better grasp of their scientific concepts. The pendulum, Mengde, and the projector all pitched in to help. The music box was too slow with its hands; eager to assist, it simply couldn't keep pace. The glove worked fast, but its vocabulary was limited, making its transcription an agonizing struggle. The scythe, Tang sword, teapot, and liquor gourd were unsuited for writing, so they stood by to help bind the finished pages. They labored for a full five hours, yet barely finished half. At this rate, they wouldn't finish tonight. The projector warned, "Director Seven, we'd better leave the archive before dawn." That was a serious concern. Since they couldn't finish tonight anyway, Li Banfeng didn't want to get greedy. He tidied up the transcribed materials, intending to copy the rest next time. Yet the glove voiced its misgivings: "Boss, next time we come, this thing might not be in the same spot." Li Banfeng paused. "What do you mean?" The glove struggled to explain: "I just faintly remember that whenever the black glove came here, it had to search for it from scratch every time. Sometimes it found it in half an hour; other times, it spent an entire night and came up empty." Li Banfeng understood the glove's meaning: the placement of these files was not fixed. The next time they came, this archive box might have been moved. That made things difficult. Hong Ying yawned. "We've copied so much tonight—let's study this first. As for the other half, we can find another chance later." The glove held a different view: "In our line of work, variables are the greatest danger. Things went smoothly today, but next time there might be complications." Hong Ying retorted, "What complications could there be? Didn't you say that fellow surnamed Xiao came here many times? If he could leave unscathed, what does our Master Seven have to fear?" The glove wagged its index finger. "The boss said it himself: Xiao Zhenggong lived in the Outer States for years. He knew how to deal with certain situations, but we don't!" Their bickering went back and forth, eventually waking the Judge's Brush lying on the shelf. "Annoying!" The Judge's Brush rolled over, stood up from the shelf, and flew beside the archive box. "Ink!" the Judge's Brush commanded. The glove hurriedly rushed over to grind ink. The pendulum blinked in surprise. "Why are you obeying him so readily?" The glove couldn't explain it either: "I just felt... he had quite an imposing aura just now." "Paper!" the Judge's Brush ordered again. The Tang sword trimmed the paper neatly and laid it before the brush. "Turn!" Looking at the document, the Judge's Brush commanded Hong Ying to turn the page. Hong Ying snapped, "Have you lost your mind? You dare boss me around?" The gramophone gave Hong Ying a smack. "Do as he says!" Helpless, Hong Ying turned the page for the Judge's Brush. Dipping into the ink, the brush swept its tip across the sheet. In an instant, a whole page of data was fully transcribed. Li Banfeng was dumbfounded. This was faster than a photocopier. "Are you using the Literary Cultivation technique, A Thousand Lines in One Stroke?" Li Banfeng had seen Zhang Xiuling use that technique before, but Zhang Xiuling certainly couldn't write anywhere near this fast. Even an above-the-clouds Literary Cultivator wouldn't be able to write at this speed. "Hmph!" The Judge's Brush couldn't be bothered to answer. In the blink of an eye, another page was done. As Hong Ying turned the pages, the Judge's Brush wrote continuously. In under an hour, the remaining half of the archive was entirely finished. Done with its work, the Judge's Brush flew back to the shelf. It took a minute to pick a suitable spot, then settled down and lay flat. Li Banfeng walked up to the shelf and asked, "I remember the peddler mentioning back then that you gave all your techniques to the true brush. How do you still know Literary Cultivation techniques?" "Quilt!" The Judge's Brush ignored Li Banfeng's question, uttering only that single word. What did "quilt" mean? Li Banfeng pondered for a moment before realizing it was meant literally. He picked up a newspaper and draped it over the Judge's Brush like a blanket. The brush immediately fell fast asleep. Hong Ying grumbled in annoyance, "If we'd known he had this trick, why did we exhaust ourselves like that?" The gramophone sighed. "Do you think this wretched brush exerts so much effort for free? Who knows what price he'll demand of my husband later." Hong Ying protested bitterly, "And do we work for free? Did we not exert ourselves?" The Judge's Brush snapped, "Still squabbling!" The whole household fell silent. Taking the archive box, Li Banfeng soundlessly departed the companion dwelling. Returning the box to its original shelf, Li Banfeng exited the archive and headed straight back to his quarters. In no mood to sleep, he immediately set to studying the secret of the Boundary with his lady. After examining it for an entire day, his lady reached a conclusion: "Husband, this isn't an art. Back in our Puluo Province, this definitely wouldn't count as an art." The first half of the material dealt with electromagnetic theory. It wasn't entirely fair to say it wasn't an art, but his lady simply had little understanding of such technology. Having attended university, Li Banfeng naturally grasped the basics of electromagnetism. He had to explain the fundamentals to his lady step by step. After talking for a whole day, Li Banfeng finally recalled something: "The old master of our house must understand this. We should have shown it to him first." The gramophone replied, "The old master has already seen it. When asked if he understood, he refused to say much. My husband had better go ask him in person." Li Banfeng went to the third chamber and asked, "Old Master, have you figured out the secret here?" The companion dwelling replied, "I suppose I have." "Is this how the people of the Outer States control the Boundary?" "Presumably so." Li Banfeng was somewhat dissatisfied. "Old Master, why are you being so vague?" The companion dwelling answered frankly, "Because I cannot be sure. It looks somewhat like it, yet not entirely like it." "Should we follow this method and craft something to test it out?" "That works. Ah Qi, help me gather the materials. Some of them aren't available ready-made; you'll have to find an Electric Cultivator to sort it out." He would need to have Luo Zhengnan make a trip. Li Banfeng said, "Old Master, write me a list of materials first." *** Daboynes held the list of materials, shaking his head repeatedly. "With the materials you've listed, I doubt Puluo Province can provide them all." "Quite a few things must be found in the Outer States." Under Daboynes's pressure, Xiao Zhenggong had finally written out the list, but the items were extraordinarily difficult to procure. Daboynes marked several entries on the paper. "I've been to the Outer States as well. Many of these things I've never even heard of, and they might not even exist there. Did you misread them?" Xiao Zhenggong was supremely confident on this point. "Back when I was in the Dark Star Bureau, I went into that archive over a dozen times, taking out only a small portion of the documents each time and having different subordinates encode them into ciphers. Do you have any idea how much blood and sweat I poured into this? And you dare suspect I misread them?" Daboynes felt troubled. "The materials that can be found in Puluo Province are manageable enough, but those from the Outer States won't be easy to get." "Go find Lu Xiaolan!" Xiao Zhenggong crossed his legs and poured himself a cup of liquor. "She spent so many years in the Outer States; she has connections to spare." Daboynes glanced at Xiao Zhenggong. Over recent days, Xiao Zhenggong's attitude had become considerably more humble, yet looking at him now, that arrogant streak was threatening to return. Should he ask him again whether he remembered his own surname? After a moment's thought, Daboynes dropped the idea. Let him act arrogant for a bit; he wouldn't be of any use much longer anyway. *** Midnight, at Black Rock Slope. Duan Shuqun, the general manager of the Dongjing Stationery Company, had just stepped out of the workshop. Two days ago, they had landed a large order to rush out a batch of stationery for delivery to Qiqiu City. Duan Shuqun had offered generous bonuses, leading the workers in overtime until now, finally completing the entire batch. The workers headed home one by one, while Duan Shuqun returned to his office to balance the accounts. Not long after he sat down, a figure drenched in blood and grime suddenly leapt into the room. Duan Shuqun froze. Looking closely, he realized the intruder was none other than He Jiaqing. "Jiaqing, how did you end up like this?" Duan Shuqun stepped forward to support him. He Jiaqing waved his hand, stumbling backward. "Don't touch me! I'm carrying an infection, and Lüshui Beggar is right on my heels! Help me find a place to hide first!"