A Millionaire

Li Banfeng didn't recall the dagger at all; right now, he was sitting by the doorway of the main room, muttering to himself. "The gramophone didn't kill me. She still feels fondly toward me." "But when she suddenly breaks into song, it's a bit frightening." "Frightening how? She sings so beautifully." "Doesn't matter how well she sings, one day she'll eat you bones and all." "If she wanted to eat me, she would have done it already. She probably doesn't like eating living things." "What if her tastes change one day? One burst of temper and she'll roast you crisp on the outside and tender within—flesh, soul, and all—not leaving a single scrap!" "You really have no conscience. The gramophone has protected you from beginning to end, so how could you slander a girl like that?" "How do you know she's a girl? For all you know, she's a hideous, singing fiend!" Li Banfeng waved a hand in front of his forehead. Arguing with himself was utterly pointless. He needed to focus his thoughts and figure out how to deal with this gramophone. Throw her out? Setting aside what a pity it would be to throw away such a fine dwelling spirit, the real issue was that Li Banfeng didn't dare! The moment the thought even crossed his mind, the gramophone might scald him to a crisp. She had taken out Luo Yuni in an instant; against someone like him, a single burp of steam from her would be enough to scald him to death. The ideal outcome would be to successfully subdue the dwelling spirit, but the prerequisite was that he had to know her name. Where could he learn it? The only channel he could think of right now was Shopkeeper Feng. He had to make a trip back to Ligou. But before heading back, he needed to sweep through this residence. With both the master of the house and the dwelling spirit gone, Li Banfeng felt a deep sorrow and felt obliged to help tidy up their belongings. It wasn't that Li Banfeng cared about a bit of money; it was mainly out of respect for them. Li Banfeng went to the cellar first. Xiao Yeci had said there was plenty of stuff here. She hadn't lied. The old lady had stashed most of her looted goods in the cellar, with another portion hidden in the cabinets of the main room. When Li Banfeng gathered everything together, the cash alone amounted to 763,236 yuan. On top of that, Li Banfeng found a good amount of gold and silver jewelry and valuable personal trinkets. Unfamiliar with their market prices, he estimated them at around 200,000. Having previously sold the pills and then bought the gramophone, he still had 230,000 left. Leaving aside the pocket change for daily expenses, Li Banfeng had 1,180,000 yuan in assets on hand. Could this be real? *I have 1.18 million!* From the day he was born until now, Li Banfeng's net worth had never exceeded 10,000. Now he actually had 1.18 million! Of course, back in Yuezhou, this money wouldn't even cover a down payment on an apartment. Yet for Li Banfeng, this marked the second peak of his wealth. The first peak had been when he sold the snake-spot pills. There were also some sundries in the compound that Li Banfeng could put to use. The second son, Demao, was a Martial Cultivator. His room held quite a few martial arts manuals, from which Li Banfeng picked out several and kept them. In the old lady's room, a table and two chairs looked decent, so Li Banfeng took them. A needlework board was in good shape too, so he took that as well. There was also a pocket watch, likely looted from a passerby. It was gold-plated and looked stylish enough, though in truth its craftsmanship wasn't as refined as the one Shopkeeper Feng had recommended. Li Banfeng had always wanted a timepiece, so he kept this too. Demao also had a bathtub, which Li Banfeng took as well. Back in the Portable Abode, he could only fetch water in a wooden bucket to sponge himself down, and it had been ages since he had enjoyed a proper, satisfying bath. Once the useful items were packed, there were others that seemed useless for now, yet Li Banfeng took them anyway. Decai's clutter of bottles and jars for concocting poisons, along with some peculiar medicinal ingredients, Li Banfeng collected; it was hard to say what use they might serve down the road. In Demao's room was a spear. Li Banfeng didn't know how to wield such a polearm, but Demao had books on the subject, so he could take his time learning later. In Decai's room were numerous concealed weapons shaped like dart-shuttles, giving off a fishy stench that suggested they were coated with poison. Li Banfeng didn't know how to use concealed weapons, but he gathered them up all the same. With the belongings packed, Li Banfeng first located the corpses of Decai and Demao. Originally, he had planned to bring these two corpses into the Portable Abode to refine into pills. Given the current circumstances, however, Li Banfeng was a little afraid to go back inside. Still, thinking it through, fear was useless. Spending at least two hours a day in the Portable Abode was the foundational practice for a Dwelling Cultivator. Plucking up his courage, Li Banfeng opened the door and dragged the whole heap of things inside—cash, valuables, table and chairs, corpses... The gramophone made not the slightest sound; who knew whether she was fast asleep. The bronze lotus showed no reaction either. Now that shouldn't be. With such fine corpses lying right before it, didn't it want them? Li Banfeng inspected it closely for a moment and found a soft glow haloing the bronze lotus. It was refining a pill. What pill was it refining? *Damn it, that knife! That blood-drinking dagger!* That was a supreme weapon, and it had been tossed into the refinement just like that? Ache wrenching his heart, Li Banfeng wanted to pry open the lotus petals and snatch the dagger back. Too many sundries cluttered the room. Just as Li Banfeng approached the lotus, he tripped over the bathtub, stumbling and nearly falling as the cloth bag at his waist slipped off. *Clatter!* The pendulum inside the bag slid out. *Whoosh!* The gramophone's fire flared to life. *Hiss, hiss, hiss—* Steam billowed forth. Had the gramophone been awakened by the noise? *Clatter-clatter-clank—* "Oh my~ husband dear!" the gramophone burst into song. "Oh my~ dearest wife!" Li Banfeng sang along with a line of his own. The gramophone was a person one could communicate with; she wasn't scary at all. "Oh my husband dear~ wherever did you procure so many goods?" The gramophone's voice was exceedingly gentle; she wasn't scary at all. "Oh my dearest wife, I just picked them up on the way." Li Banfeng wiped away his sweat, slowly inching toward the door. "Husband, you've worked so hard~" This line was sung with such affection and warmth; she wasn't scary at all! "You've worked hard too, my wife~" Li Banfeng bolted out the door and slammed it shut. The gramophone vented a puff of steam, carrying the table and chairs over to the wall, then stood the bathtub upright in the corner. Beside the bathtub, the gramophone spotted the broken pendulum—the only remnant left of Luo Yuni. *Hiss, hiss—* The gramophone grew somewhat displeased. She didn't like this item. "That madman, really... why bring this piece of junk back again?" *Sss, sss, sss—* The petals of the bronze lotus unfolded, drawing the corpses on the floor along with the broken pendulum right into its core. *Hiss, hiss—* The gramophone sneered mockingly, "Oh my~ earlier I didn't see you wanting this pendulum, yet now you pick it up to eat. Seems your belly is starving so sorely you can't even mind your face! You wench, to think how you once rode roughshod across the world, imposing and peerless, only to sink this low today, scavenging garbage to fill your stomach! How truly pathetic. Laughable, utterly laughable! Hahahahaha—" *Pfft!* From the lotus core spat a clear bead of dew, landing squarely on the gramophone's large horn. The laughter cut off abruptly. "You dare spit on me?" The gramophone flew into a rage. All three horns billowed smoke at once as a cloud of steam engulfed the bronze lotus. "Rebelling against me, are you? Today I'll give you a taste of household discipline!" Unfazed, the lotus sent droplets of dew dancing up and down through the steam. ... Li Banfeng returned to the courtyard. Looking around, the familiar walls had vanished, replaced by a dense forest stretching before his eyes. With the old lady dead, Luo Yuni gone, and the ghosts devoured by the gramophone, all the illusions had dissipated. After trekking through the woods for a while, Li Banfeng spotted Xiao Yeci and Lu Chunying. The mother and daughter were covered in cuts and bruises, clinging together and not daring to budge. Seeing Li Banfeng approach, Xiao Yeci cried out in a trembling voice, "Benefactor, you've finally come! We've run into a ghost wall!" Without needing to ask, Li Banfeng could already guess what had happened to them. "You want to go to Ligou, right?" "Yes, Benefactor!" Xiao Yeci and Lu Chunying nodded vigorously. "If I escort you to Ligou, how much can you pay?" "Name your price, Benefactor!" "One thousand!" "It's a deal, Benefactor!" Xiao Yeci was overjoyed; this was far less than she had expected. Li Banfeng hadn't asked for more. He remembered at the foot of Bitter Mist Mountain, the medicine shops had driven the price of snake-spot chrysanthemum down to twenty-five yuan. One thousand yuan could buy forty stalks of snake-spot chrysanthemum—enough to make many people risk their lives. That sum was truly not small. Of course, certain conditions had to be laid out beforehand. "One thousand yuan is only the base fee for escorting you. If we run into villains, there will be an extra charge depending on the situation. And if I suffer any losses, you must compensate me at full value." These terms were reasonable, and Xiao Yeci nodded repeatedly. Li Banfeng led Xiao Yeci and Lu Chunying out toward the edge of the forest. Along the way, Xiao Yeci was on edge, while Lu Chunying hid closely behind her mother. They had been terrified of being whipped by the tree branches, yet as they followed Li Banfeng, not a single lash struck them. With the ghosts in the trees gone, of course they wouldn't be whipped, but they didn't know the reason. "Just what kind of person is he...?" Xiao Yeci wondered in amazement. "He's so formidable in a fight, and he even knows magic, able to subdue ghosts and spirits." Lu Chunying tugged at Xiao Yeci's hem. "Mom, use your gift of gab and conquer him." Xiao Yeci shook her head. "Your mother doesn't have that skill. If you think you can, you go ahead." Emerging from the forest, Li Banfeng saw a stone monument. On the stone monument were carved three characters: Changliu Village. When he first entered the village, Li Banfeng had seen this stone monument and truly believed such a village existed. Looking at it now, the so-called Changliu Village was merely an illusion crafted by the old lady and her dwelling spirit, Luo Yuni. Here, there was only a forest and a single compound—no wonder that when Li Banfeng had entered the village, only one household had had its lights on. Yet this stone monument looked quite old and didn't seem fake. Perhaps there really had been a Changliu Village here once, and perhaps the entire village had fallen victim to the old lady and Luo Yuni. An entire village vanished, and nobody cared? Back when Li Banfeng had argued with the ticket clerk at the station, someone had intervened. Just what kind of order ruled Puluo Province?