The Order of Puluo Province

When a village vanished, no one cared. When Li Banfeng forced his way into a ticket office, someone stepped in immediately. This world was far too foreign to him, with too much he had yet to adapt to. Xiao Yeci urged him, "Benefactor, we should get moving. That old woman was from the Jiangxiang Gang—she wasn't lying about that." Li Banfeng turned back and asked, "What kind of outfit is this Jiangxiang Gang, exactly?" Xiao Yeci froze for a moment. This man was bold and resourceful, looking every bit like someone seasoned in the martial world. How could he not even know the Jiangxiang Gang? *Then again, it's just as well he doesn't know. I can explain it all to him. That way, he'll learn something from me, and it'll make getting along on the road much easier.* "The Jiangxiang Gang is a huge faction," she explained. "They have disciples in Yaowanggou, Lüshuiwan, and Haichiling. But they generally stay away from Kudaikan. The folks in Kudaikan kill any member of the Jiangxiang Gang on sight." Hearing these familiar place names, Li Banfeng grew interested. "What's the feud between Kudaikan and the Jiangxiang Gang?" "The Jiangxiang Gang takes in all sorts. Plenty are bandits like that old woman who murder and plunder, and plenty run swindles to cheat people out of their money. Kudaikan doesn't care about any of that. But there's one sort of person Kudaikan will never tolerate." "What sort?" "Human traffickers—child snatchers. Kudaikan is full of Joy Cultivators. Even though their cultivation revolves around seeking pleasure, their constitutions are peculiar. It's terribly hard for them to bear children. Managing to have even one is a miracle from heaven, so Joy Cultivators cherish children above all else. Child traffickers make their living selling off youngsters, so naturally, the Joy Cultivators can't abide them. And the Jiangxiang Gang is crawling with traffickers. That's why Kudaikan and the Jiangxiang Gang are like fire and water." Joy Cultivators cherishing children gave Li Banfeng a whole new perspective on them. As for the Jiangxiang Gang, Kudaikan's stance toward them was entirely justified. Anyone mixed up with child snatchers deserved to be killed on sight, without exception. Xiao Yeci warned, "Benefactor, you must be very careful. Once the Jiangxiang Gang finds out the old crone is dead, they'll definitely investigate. If they trace it back to us, they'll certainly seek revenge." Li Banfeng chuckled wryly to himself. *Even if I hadn't killed that old crone, the Jiangxiang Gang wouldn't let me off anyway! Their chief already wants to put a bullet in me!* His feud with the Jiangxiang Gang wasn't going to end anytime soon, and Li Banfeng had long prepared himself for that. Still, would the Jiangxiang Gang truly care whether an old woman lived or died? Could an organization made up of villainous thugs really be bound so tightly together? "That old woman hid away at home all day. Would the Jiangxiang Gang really bother about her?" "They would. I've read about it in the papers," Xiao Yeci explained patiently. "There was once a Poison Cultivator from the Jiangxiang Gang who stayed hidden deep in the mountains brewing venoms. He often abducted villagers from the foot of the mountain to test his poisons on them. Eventually, the village below couldn't take it anymore. They pooled their money to hire two bladesmen, who went up the mountain and killed the Poison Cultivator. The villagers thought their good days had finally come, but who could have foreseen that the Jiangxiang Gang would return for revenge? They slaughtered the entire village, not leaving a single soul alive." Li Banfeng was appalled. "Surely someone polices that sort of thing! I've seen men in uniform before! Don't they do anything?" "Men in uniform..." Xiao Yeci pondered for a long time. "Do you mean the patrolmen?" *Patrolmen? Aren't they called patrolmen only in the foreign concessions?* Li Banfeng didn't linger on the terminology and pressed on, "When a case this massive breaks out, do the patrolmen really do nothing?" "They do step in, but only for show. The patrolmen belong to the Garrison Commissioner; they only act on his orders. If the Garrison Commissioner tells them to go have a look at the village, they go have a look, jot down the details, and consider the job done." "And who is this Garrison Commissioner?" "The Garrison Commissioner is someone from the Outer States." Xiao Yeci looked Li Banfeng up and down, increasingly astonished by his sheer lack of common knowledge. Even so, Xiao Yeci did not deceive him. Along the road, she shared a great deal of basic knowledge about Puluo Province. "Look to the Garrison for external matters, look to the banners for internal matters. That is the rule of Puluo Province!" This single sentence practically summarized the entire system of order across Puluo Province. Puluo Province was composed of numerous towns and settlements—exactly how many, Xiao Yeci couldn't say. Affairs between towns were called external matters, while affairs within a town were called internal matters. Yaowanggou was a town, an exceptionally large one. If a resident of Yaowanggou wanted to leave through legitimate channels, they had to go through the Garrison Commissioner. The Garrison Commissioners were administrators sent from the Outer States. Their duty was to maintain public order, with their primary focus on controlling the movement of people between towns. "If you want to go to Kudaikan, for example, you must have a travel permit. Otherwise, they won't let you board a train or a boat, and even on foot, you won't make it past the checkpoints!" Through Xiao Yeci's explanation, Li Banfeng came to understand how one obtained a travel permit. To acquire one, a person had to contact both the local Garrison Commissioner and the commissioner at their destination. Only if the local commissioner agreed to let them go and the destination commissioner agreed to accept them could a travel permit be issued. Without a travel permit, one had no legal right to leave Yaowanggou. That was precisely the main responsibility of the Garrison Commissioner and his patrolmen. If Li Banfeng were hunted down in the streets, the patrolmen might not intervene. However, if he tried to cause trouble at the station, the patrolmen would certainly step in, because the station was an area under the Garrison Commissioner's strict jurisdiction. Could Li Banfeng get his hands on a travel permit? From Xiao Yeci's description, it seemed exceedingly difficult. In a situation like Li Banfeng's, the local Garrison Commissioner generally wouldn't grant clearance to someone from the Outer States whose origins were unclear. Nor would the Outer States necessarily permit him to return. From the looks of it, his chances of securing a travel permit were virtually zero. "Without a travel permit, one can't even leave Yaowanggou?" Xiao Yeci shook her head. "It's not that no one can leave. The peddler comes and goes as he pleases, and no one can stop him." The peddler wandered all across Puluo Province, seemingly unconstrained by the Garrison Commissioners. What kind of being was he, exactly? And where did he get those medicines that guided people onto their paths of cultivation? External matters looked to the commissioners—that much Li Banfeng understood. But what was meant by looking to the banners for internal matters? Xiao Yeci explained, "Matters within a town are handled by the families residing there. Whichever family flies the sturdiest banner holds the final word. Last year, something happened in Haichiling. There was a man surnamed Wang who sold tofu pudding, and another surnamed Liu who sold fried dough sticks. Both were poor folk who shouldn't have caused any trouble, but one day they fought over business at the station and blew things out of proportion. Old Wang gave Old Liu a beating. Old Liu couldn't swallow his pride, so once they were outside the station, he fought Old Wang again. Inside the station, under the patrolmen's watch, they had held back somewhat. But outside, the patrolmen paid them no heed, and they went at each other with lethal intent. In the end, Old Wang was gravely injured. The incident alarmed Haichiling's prominent household, the Wang family. Poor as Old Wang was, he still carried the Wang surname. The Wang family sought revenge, leaving Old Liu badly battered as well. The Liu family had influence in Haichiling too, which sparked an outright conflict between the two sides. The clash dragged on for an entire month, resulting in heavy casualties on both sides, and was settled only after the Lin family, one of Puluo Province's great families, stepped in to mediate." "The Lin family can rein in both the Wangs and the Lius?" Xiao Yeci replied, "The Lin family is different. They're one of the Four Great Families of Puluo Province. Aside from the Lin family, there are the Ma, He, and Lu families." *The He family? The Lu family?* *Could they be the families of He Jiaqing and Lu Xiaolan?* Li Banfeng didn't let his mind wander and listened attentively to Xiao Yeci's account. The so-called looking to the banners referred to the banners flown by these families, great and small. The great families commanded respect across all of Puluo Province, while smaller families wielded influence within specific regions. These families exercised varying degrees of power throughout the province, using their sway to maintain the internal order of Puluo. Then what was the relationship between these prominent families and the Garrison Commissioners? There was certainly a connection, but Xiao Yeci couldn't say for sure. She walked along, recounting common knowledge about Puluo Province for hours on end until her throat grew hoarse. Thirty li of muddy, rugged mountain trails were nothing to Li Banfeng, but for the exhausted Xiao Yeci and Lu Chunying, the journey was grueling in the extreme. By the time they reached Ligou, day had already broken. Li Banfeng first headed to Feng's Grocery Store. The shop's front doors were tightly shut; he knocked for quite a while, but no one answered. Where had Shopkeeper Feng gone? *Did he run off, scared I'd come settle scores?* *Hardly, right?* *Over a business deal worth over a hundred thousand, he couldn't possibly abandon his shop entirely.* Beside it, the proprietor of the Yu Family Cloth Shop, Yu Nan, was dressed in a qipao and holding a woman's cigarette. Taking a drag, she puffed out a gentle cloud of smoke and struck up a conversation on her own initiative. "Their shop hasn't opened for several days. Who knows where he went off to make merry." This female shopkeeper had an oblong face, a tall nose, almond eyes, a full forehead, and a rounded chin. Her tight-fitting qipao could barely contain her generous bosom and the fullness of her hips. Just as He Jiaqing had described, she was a beauty straight off an advertising calendar. Li Banfeng's attention wasn't on this beauty; he was pondering Shopkeeper Feng's whereabouts. *Off to make merry?* *What could have made him so happy?* Li Banfeng looked back at Xiao Yeci. "Where are you two headed? I'll see you to the door." Business was business, and service had to be thorough. Xiao Yeci said, "We need to go to the He family ancestral residence. I hear it's somewhere near this main street." *The He family ancestral residence!* "You can't go there. Going there will cost you your lives," Li Banfeng hastily warned upon hearing where the mother and daughter intended to go. Inside the He family ancestral residence lived Lu Xiaolan—or more accurately, Lu Xiaolan trapped by the dwelling spirit. With what little strength this mother and daughter possessed, going to that old residence would merely turn them into scapegoat replacements for Lu Xiaolan. Hearing that the He family ancestral residence was dangerous, Xiao Yeci found herself in a bind. "Benefactor, what on earth happened at the He family residence? We traveled thousands of li specifically to go there, and now you say we can't..." Li Banfeng paused for a moment, then said gently, "Just because I said you shouldn't go doesn't mean you actually can't. Your legs belong to you; who can stop you from going wherever you please? I promised to deliver you to Ligou, and here we are. Plenty of folks around here know where the He family ancestral residence is. Ask around along the street and you'll find the way." Xiao Yeci stared blankly at Li Banfeng, at a loss for how to respond. He surely meant well, but the entire purpose of their trip was the He family residence. Having come all this way, how could they turn back now? She looked at him imploringly, hoping he might offer more advice. Li Banfeng offered a faint smile and said affably, "Pay up." "Uh..." "One thousand yuan. You aren't thinking of skipping out on the bill, are you?" Li Banfeng's tone was no longer quite so affable.