Having scared off Zhang Gunli and Mr. Kongfang, Li Banfeng quickly hid the key. There was no telling whether those two might suddenly come charging back.
Back in the companion dwelling, Li Banfeng was still holding the rattle drum in his hand.
Had it not been for this rattle drum just now, Li Banfeng wouldn't even have known how to get away. Zhang Gunli was so formidable, and Mr. Kongfang was clearly superior to him; with Li Banfeng's current strength, trying to take on Mr. Kongfang would simply be too difficult.
Judging by how fast Mr. Kongfang had fled, however, he hardly seemed like one of the Peddler's subordinates—if anything, he acted as though he had a grudge against the Peddler.
Just how many hidden details lay between them? Li Banfeng couldn't tell for the moment.
The gramophone was using paste to affix flesh and blood to the clay doll. Seeing Li Banfeng drenched in sweat, she asked with concern, "Husband, you look flustered and agitated. What happened?"
Li Banfeng gave the rattle drum in his hand a shake. "Rumor has it the Peddler fought a battle with the man from heaven and was killed by him."
The companion dwelling fell dead silent. Apart from the few magical treasures that had accompanied Li Banfeng and already knew the news, everyone else was stunned.
"That can't be... I don't think that could possibly—" As she spoke, the gramophone lacked conviction; she knew what consequences Puluo Province would face if the Peddler was truly gone.
Li Banfeng said, "The Inner States sent Zhang Gunli to attack Xuehuapu's second-in-command, Mr. Kongfang. They're testing the Peddler. If Mr. Kongfang is killed and the Peddler still makes no response, that proves the Peddler is really gone."
The gramophone asked, "I've never heard the name Mr. Kongfang, nor do I know what caliber Xuehuapu's second-in-command possesses. Have you met him, Husband?"
"I just saw him. Mr. Kongfang is a ruthless figure who can overpower Zhang Gunli. Xuehuapu isn't just an empty name; at least this second-in-command is genuinely powerful."
"Husband, if Xuehuapu's second-in-command still dares to show his face in Puluo Province, doesn't that prove the Peddler ought to be fine?"
"Hard to say." Li Banfeng twirled the rattle drum in his hand. He couldn't be certain of the true relationship between Mr. Kongfang and the Peddler right now.
The gramophone still found the matter suspicious. "A duel between the Peddler and the man from heaven would be an earth-shattering event in Puluo Province. Why wasn't there any stir before the fight began?"
The old teapot said, "Both the Peddler and the man from heaven knew the consequences of such a duel. Whoever won or lost, it would be terribly disadvantageous for Puluo Province. I expect neither of them wanted to make a show of it, so they kept things deeply under wraps before the duel."
The gramophone still didn't buy it. "Kept it deeply under wraps before the fight, yet the news leaked right after? How?"
The glove said, "The news was told by a man named Ye Haolong in Pillow City."
The gramophone glanced at the calendar. "Pillow City? That's even more preposterous! The people of Pillow City sleep through three out of four seasons every year. Right now is their sleeping season—how could he possibly have seen the Peddler duel the man from heaven?"
This was indeed rather bizarre.
Li Banfeng was just thinking of going to Pillow City to take a look when he suddenly heard the red lotus shout from the Ninth Room, "There's no smoke without fire! My guess is that the Peddler and the man from heaven are going to fight, but haven't yet. Can you pass a message to the Peddler for me?"
Li Banfeng entered the Ninth Room, carried the red lotus into the main room, and asked, "Were you speaking to me just now?"
The red lotus said, "Besides you, who else in this house can get a word with the Peddler? The Peddler calls you brother, so you must be friends."
"He and I are friends. What message do you want passed?"
The red lotus said word by word, "Tell the Peddler not to fight the man from heaven. Neither side can afford to lose this battle."
Hearing this, the gramophone said, "Little Sister Red Lotus, what's gotten into you? Worried about your man from heaven?"
"Yes, I am worried!" the red lotus openly admitted. "But you ought to know what state Puluo Province will be in without the Peddler. I have history with the Peddler; if I advise him, he should be willing to listen."
The gramophone sighed. "If it were that easy to talk him out of it, their feud wouldn't have lasted all these years."
The red lotus said, "Whether it stops him or not, as long as the message is delivered. I won't have you do this for nothing—I'll pay you!"
The gramophone chuckled. "What reward could you possibly give?"
The red lotus turned toward the gramophone and unfolded her petals. "I'll make you a body."
The gramophone froze. "What kind of body?"
"Your body. Zhao Xiaowan's body. The body of the world's greatest beauty. Don't you want it?"
The gramophone scoffed. "I wondered what grand treasure it was. Isn't that just a puppet?"
The red lotus said, "This puppet can be made to look identical to how you were back then. Do you really not want it?"
"No," the gramophone huffed coldly. "A fake is a fake. If I wanted a fake, I'd rather have my husband grow me one."
Li Banfeng really could grow one for her.
He had obtained a sword from Bei Wushuang that bore Zhao Xiaowan's bloodstains. As long as the dried stains were restored to fresh blood, he could grow a "Zhao Xiaowan" from it.
The red lotus understood what the gramophone meant. "Do you really want to grow a cabbage person? How many days can a thing like that last?"
"Who said it has to be a cabbage person?"
"He could also grow you a melon person, but how many days would that keep? Once the melon molds and rots, isn't that drop of blood wasted? Just how much blood is there on that sword of yours anyway?
"I've seen you use the Flesh-Masonry method to make bodies for yourself. You aren't a Glue Cultivator; you don't have that skill, and what you cobble together is neither fish nor fowl. Why put yourself through that?
"Don't you want a tangible body? Don't you want to be a real husband and wife with him? All it takes is delivering one message. As long as the words are delivered, regardless of whether the Peddler agrees or not, I'll take care of this for you!"
The gramophone said no more.
To say she didn't want it would be a lie.
Sometimes she was very envious of Hong Ying. Even if Hong Ying's face fell a little short, at least her figure was real.
Seeing that the gramophone had gone quiet, the red lotus asked Li Banfeng, "Do you agree?"
"Agree to what?" Li Banfeng had been contemplating his next moves the entire time and hadn't really been listening to what the red lotus and the gramophone were discussing.
The red lotus repeated, "As long as you deliver the message to the Peddler, leave this matter to me!"
Li Banfeng shook his head. "I don't even know where the Peddler is. How am I supposed to pass him a message?"
"Find a way to look for him! You can definitely find him. When you do, tell him not to fight the man from heaven!"
Li Banfeng nodded. "Fine. If I run into him, I'll definitely pass it on. First, I'm heading to Green Water City to stabilize the situation, then I'll check out Pillow City and see what's going on with that fellow named Ye Haolong."
***
The Inner States, Wubian City, the Luo family mansion.
Inside a hall carved from an unbroken piece of crystal stone, Luo Lijun crawled down from the top of a stout, transparent pillar over ten meters tall and approached Zhang Gunli.
Zhang Gunli kept his head lowered. The ground beneath his feet was transparent, the surrounding walls were transparent, and even the ceiling of the palace was transparent. Beyond the transparency lay endless darkness.
Luo Lijun had already reviewed the report Zhang Gunli submitted. Right now, she only wanted to confirm a few matters. "You saw the Peddler?"
Zhang Gunli nodded repeatedly.
He couldn't say he had only heard the drumbeat of the Peddler's rattle drum; such an answer would bring severe punishment upon him.
Luo Lijun asked again, "According to what you stated, when you and Mr. Kongfang crossed swords, the two sides were fairly evenly matched, with Mr. Kongfang holding a slight advantage. Under such circumstances, the Peddler shouldn't have needed to intervene."
Zhang Gunli had already prepared his explanation for this question. "Subordinate believes that because Xuehuapu has suffered repeated heavy blows, the Peddler likely wanted to seize this opportunity to uncover the truth behind it all."
Luo Lijun's antennae twitched. "By that, do you mean the Peddler suspects us?"
"Subordinate believes there is indeed such a possibility." Zhang Gunli was extremely nervous as he said this. If the person facing him were unreasonable, she might well vent her rage on him.
However, he knew Luo Lijun was a reasonable person; as long as he presented reasoned arguments with sound grounds, she should be able to hear him out.
Furthermore, these words had to be spoken with utter sincerity. This was the Inner States, and this was Luo Lijun's estate; the slightest ripple within Zhang Gunli's heart could be detected by Luo Lijun.
Luo Lijun remained silent for a long time. Zhang Gunli kept his head lowered the whole while as bead after bead of sweat rolled down his cheeks and dripped onto the floor, blurring the once-transparent surface.
It wasn't just the floor beneath Zhang Gunli's feet that blurred; the entire crystal hall grew hazy, while in the darkness beyond the palace, fleeting flecks of light flickered.
"Withdraw." Luo Lijun flicked her antennae. Zhang Gunli backed away all the way out of the crystal hall.
Luo Lijun crawled back and forth alone in the hall. In the darkness outside, countless specks of light converged into a line, twisting into a cord like a silver snake coiling outside the hall for a moment before scattering back into points of light that flickered all around.
From the top of a pillar over ten meters tall, another giant pond snail crawled down. "Elder Sister, what has troubled you to such an extent?"
Luo Lijun sighed. "The Peddler is still alive. The war against the Demonic Land cannot be waged any longer. I'll send word to report this to the cabinet at once."
With a shift in Luo Lijun's thoughts, several earthworms outside the crystal hall sensed it and crawled off in all directions.
Luo Yanjun said, "Elder Sister, everyone else is easy to deal with, but I fear Old Fan and his crowd won't listen to reason. They itch for war every day. If you tell them now that the fight is off, I reckon they'll entangle themselves with you to the bitter end."
"What if they do entangle themselves?" Luo Lijun grew somewhat angry, and the transparent crystal hall flushed faintly red. "Military campaigns were never under Old Fan's purview to begin with!
"The last war with the Outer States was Old Fan and his lot's idea, and what happened? We suffered defeat, Old Fan washed his hands of it and claimed he didn't manage military affairs and none of it concerned him!
"Later, it was his idea again to send spies into the Demonic Land—refining over a hundred people to forge a single spy at a whim! Five were sent out, and three vanished without a trace, yet now he says again that the matter has nothing to do with him!
"Now that troops are to be deployed against the Demonic Land, they want to stick their hands in again! At their age, do they have no shame?"
As she spoke, a sheet of fire burned outside the crystal hall from the east wall to the west wall.
Luo Lijun was furious.
Luo Yanjun sighed. "Sister, calm your anger. Old Fan and his lot have higher seed blood than ours. If they insist on interfering in this, there really is nothing you can do about them."
Drip, drop...
A cloud of mist draped over the outside of the crystal hall, slowly extinguishing the flames.
The mist came from Luo Yanjun, and from Luo Lijun herself as well.
Luo Lijun knew in her heart that if Old Fan truly used seed blood to suppress her, she wouldn't be able to come up with a way to counter him either.
Before long, an earthworm crawled across the wall, signaling to Luo Lijun that Old Fan and the others had arrived.
Luo Lijun checked her reflection in the crystal wall, tidied her appearance slightly, and went to welcome them at the hall's entrance. "Lord Fan, Lord Lü, Lord Bi, forgive Lijun for not greeting your honorable arrival sooner."
A single figure walked into the hall, yet Luo Lijun had uttered "Lord" three times.
This was because the person had three heads.
"Lord Luo, I hear this war is called off. Would you care to explain the reason to me?" The middle head was Lord Fan, who spoke first.
Luo Lijun said, "I have already explained the reason to the lords. The Peddler is still alive. Rashly deploying troops against the Demonic Land is not a wise move."
The head on the left belonged to Lord Lü, who strongly disagreed with Luo Lijun's claim. "So what if the Peddler is alive? Our forces march under heavenly majesty to suppress rebels—are we supposed to fear a common hawker?"
Luo Yanjun chimed in from the side, "Lord Lü, that is hardly apt. A hawker he may be, but to call him 'common' is wide of the mark by a hundred thousand li, isn't it?"
Luo Lijun said, "My lords, we have suffered considerably at the Peddler's hands. I trust you haven't forgotten our past engagements. It was precisely because we received word of the Peddler's death that the imperial court planned this expedition against the Demonic Land. Now that the Peddler is alive, the matter of sending troops naturally warrants careful deliberation."
The head on the far right was Lord Bi, who also spoke up: "Even if that hawker is alive, Xuehuapu has suffered repeated heavy blows while he sat idly by. And this time, when Zhang Gunli fought the rebel ringleader of Xuehuapu, the Peddler appeared, yet Zhang Gunli was still able to withdraw intact. This shows the Peddler is heavily wounded and powerless to fight! Now is precisely the golden opportunity to suppress the rebels!"
The fact that Zhang Gunli had encountered the Peddler and still returned alive was indeed rather fishy.
Luo Lijun started to explain, but Lord Fan gave her no chance to speak: "Lord Luo, I hear you have had no small amount of contact with the Demonic Land. Could there be some illicit collusion going on?"
Luo Lijun's frame shuddered, anger flaring within her.
"Lord Fan, 'First stabilize the Demonic Land, then gradually seek control over the Outer States'—that was in the imperial court's official decree, written plainly word for word! Now you turn around and accuse me of collusion with the Demonic Land. Could it be that the imperial court directed me to collude with them?"
Lord Fan held his tongue. Beside him, Lord Lü said, "Lord Fan was merely speaking figuratively."
Her temper fully ignited, Luo Lijun spoke without regard for decorum: "Earlier, Lord Fan suggested sending spies into the Outer States. May I ask how many lives our clan sacrificed for that, and just how much intelligence was gathered in the end?
"That account has yet to be settled, and now you slander me with claims of colluding with the Demonic Land! Lord Fan, isn't this conduct of yours far too domineering?"
Lord Bi chimed in, "We were merely offering a suggestion. How matters are decided ultimately rests with you who manage military affairs."
"If you do not manage military affairs, why are the three of you meddling in this campaign against the Demonic Land?"
Lord Fan grew enraged, his burly frame suddenly shooting up three chi.
The crystal palace creaked and groaned, expanding upward in tandem with Lord Fan's stature.
Gazing down at Luo Lijun, Lord Fan said in a low, heavy voice, "Possessing the bloodline of the imperial clan, it is my bounden duty to share the court's burdens and offer counsel for the state! It is entirely within my purview to exert my mind to the utmost; my responsibility is inescapable!
"Lord Luo, clinging so tenaciously to past events—what is your motive? Are you trying to seize a hold over me to gag my mouth?"
Creak, crack...
The crystal hall continued to swell.
Luo Yanjun sighed softly. In the end, seed blood was an insurmountable threshold.
Luo Lijun reined in her emotion and tone. "According to Lord Fan, how should this matter be handled?"
"How to handle it is the business of military affairs. We are merely offering counsel.
"Spread word through the Demonic Land that the Peddler is dead, and see if he dares show himself.
"If he dares not come out, it proves his combat power is spent. We should seize this golden opportunity to wipe out the Demonic Land in one fell swoop."
Luo Lijun remained silent for a long time, then let out a soft sigh. "Very well. It shall be done according to your wishes, my lords."
***
Inside Xiaoyaowu, Li Banfeng held a winecup, listening to Xiu'er nag in his ear: "Old Seven, has something really happened to the Peddler?"
Li Banfeng did not answer.
Zhang Xiuling said from the side, "Seventh Master, if something really has happened, just give us the straight word! I'll have the brothers in the gang get ready, and we'll stake our lives right here against the Inner States!"
Li Banfeng still said nothing.
Han Yaomen, the grand master of the Qingyun Society, was beside himself with anxiety. "Seventh Master, please, say something! I can't speak for others, but the brothers of the Qingyun Society will never bow our heads to the Inner States!"
Everyone chimed in, asking questions without end.
Fearing they might provoke Li Seven, Ma the Fifth kept trying to soothe them from the side. "Everyone, let's discuss this slowly. Even our Old Seven doesn't know about some of these things."
"How could Seventh Master not know?" Shen Jinzhong, the Great Gold Seal of the Three Heroes Sect, shook his head. "To my eyes, things look grim for the Peddler. We had best prepare early."
"What kind of blind nonsense is that? Grim?" Li Seven set down his cup. "Just the day before yesterday, I saw the Peddler in the newland. The man has had business to attend to these past two days and hasn't had the time to do business. How did all these rumors sprout up when it reached you lot? Where did you even hear this news?"
He Yuxiu said, "It's already in the newspapers! Not just Green Water City—almost all of Puluo Province knows about it by now."
"Which newspaper ran it? I'll go smash their press in a bit!" Li Seven rose to his feet. "Tend to your own businesses and territories. Live your lives as you should.
"The Inner States are likely looking to stir up trouble and deliberately spreading rumors here. Gather your people and tighten your defenses."
Li Seven left Xiaoyaowu. His few words alone couldn't put everyone's minds at ease; they remained gathered in the private room, arguing and debating without pause.
By seven in the evening, Xiaoyaowu still had little business. People in Green Water City were terrified and uneasy, with no heart left even for the dance halls.
The situation across all of Puluo Province was much the same. If the Peddler never appeared, there was no telling what chaos would erupt next.
Yet how could the Peddler appear?
Clink-clank, clink-clank...
"Foreign soaps, vanishing cream, silk scarves, hankies, sewing kits!
Leather buckets, whatchamacallit, iron buckets, and iron shovels too!
Pickle jars, soy sauce jugs, rice spoons, water ladles, kitchen cleavers!
A cart of fine goods, a trusted old brand, all sold cheap for you to choose!"
The Peddler pushed his handcart and arrived at Changfeng Village in Lüshui Bay.
Several children were playing at the village entrance. A young girl spotted the Peddler and stepped up, wanting to buy some herbal candy to eat.
Where was the candy kept?
The Peddler searched for a good while before finding the jar of herbal candy on the cart.
"How many do you want?"
The girl said, "Two orange flavor, one pear flavor."
Which one was orange...?
The Peddler searched around for a long time, then handed five pieces of candy to the girl. "I'll give you two extra, so don't be picky about the flavor."
Hearing that he gave extra, the other children swarmed around as well:
"I want three orange!"
"I want one cantaloupe!"
"I want a hawthorn one!"
The Peddler pressed his lips together and muttered under his breath, "How much does the candy cost again?"
The glove reminded him, "The Peddler always sells at market price: thirteen cents a piece."
The pricing was awkward—hard to calculate, and hard to make change for.
A village woman walked up to the village entrance to call her children home for dinner. Spotting the Peddler from afar, she couldn't help crying out, "Heavens! He's here, he's alive!"
Her voice was truly booming; that single shout startled half the village.
Villagers flocked to the entrance one after another, crowding around the Peddler and asking prices right and left.
"How much for this bucket?"
The Peddler thought for a moment. "Take a look yourself. I'll give it to you half-price today."
"I'll take that pickle jar."
The Peddler nodded. "Generous. Just pay whatever you see fit."
"Two clothes hangers, a pack of candles, two boxes of matches, a backscratcher, plus a pair of scissors—how much for all of that?"
The Peddler scratched his scalp. "You want that many things?"
The person grinned. "I'm not buying, just asking the price."
"Scram! If you're not buying, what are you crowding around for?!"
A young man came forward and said with flushed excitement, "I want to buy Martial Cultivator medicinal powder!"
The Peddler opened the cabinet, glanced inside, and shook his head. "Martial Cultivator powder is sold out!"
"Th-then I'll buy Literary Cultivator powder."
"Can you read?"
"No."
"If you're illiterate, what business do you have being a Literary Cultivator?"
The young fellow thought for a moment.
"Then I'll take Fire Cultivator powder."
"A rare powder like that—you think it's just lying around whenever you want it?"
"What about Water Cultivator then?"
"None of that either."
The young man grew anxious. "Just what powders do you have here?"
The Peddler looked carefully again. "Only Gold Cultivator."
The young fellow beamed with joy. "Gold Cultivator powder—is that the pathway that turns stones into gold?"
The Peddler shook his head. "It's the kind where you carry a night soil bucket on your back and collect night soil everywhere."
The young man didn't catch the meaning, so the Peddler brought over a bucket to show him.
The young fellow shook his head frantically. "Isn't that just a dung collector?! No way, absolutely not that!"
"Take it or leave it. You have the nerve to be picky?" Seizing on those words and riding the mood, the Peddler pushed his cart and left.
The villagers hardly cared whether they bought anything. Normally, seeing the Peddler wouldn't feel special at all.
Yet seeing him today filled their hearts with joy. Passed from person to person, word slowly spread through the neighboring villages.
He walked from Changfeng Village to Lanyang Village, and from Lanyang Village into the newland.
Upon arriving at the newland, he set down the cart. The Peddler sat by the roadside, wiped away his sweat, brought out the old teapot, and poured himself a cup of tea to drink.
This Peddler was Li Banfeng in disguise.
Only by laying eyes on the Peddler could Puluo Province settle down, and the Inner States quiet their ambitions.
Yet Li Banfeng couldn't disguise himself as the Peddler indefinitely. He lacked the knack for it: he couldn't remember the goods' names or prices. But that was secondary; the crux of the matter was that he had no powders and couldn't keep bluffing people with the Gold Cultivator pathway forever.
He still needed to go to Pillow City and clear this mess up.
***
Pillow City was a proper city, serviced by rail.
Alighting from the train, he had his ticket checked by a station attendant who yawned the entire time. Exiting the platform, he found the plaza in front of the station deserted—not a soul in sight.
The small city wasn't large, boasting only one main street. Walking along it, he saw no pedestrians, and the shops on either side were all shuttered.
After walking for quite a while, he finally encountered a rickshaw puller lying inside his vehicle, fast asleep. Li Banfeng wanted to ask for directions, but after calling him for ages, the puller didn't wake.
"Brother, don't waste your breath," the teapot spoke up. "Back around the station area, someone who falls asleep might still wake up. But once you're inside the city, if you want to wake anyone, you'll have to wait until next spring."
Li Banfeng took out the teapot. "You're familiar with this place?"
"Familiar? I was born here, raised here. Just how many years I spent here, I can't remember. I only recall that one day, I felt people shouldn't live like this—people need aspirations, people need something to strive for. So I figured I ought to venture out into the world. Who knew I'd stumble straight into Bitter Herb Manor?"
Not having someone to point the way didn't matter. Li Banfeng was a Journey Cultivator with an impeccable sense of direction. Following the address Liao Zihui had given him, Li Banfeng navigated his own way.
He turned into an alley, and things here were quite a sight.
A man lay sprawled on his stomach at a courtyard gate, hands frozen in the posture of crawling inside.
The courtyard was likely his home. Why had he fallen asleep at his threshold instead of going inside?
Yawning, the old teapot said, "He wanted to get back inside, but he didn't make it in time."
Further ahead, a sundries vendor lay asleep atop his own stall. Across from the stall slept a woman, one hand clutching a box of rouge and the other holding loose change.
She had bought the rouge and was about to pay, but the vendor hadn't managed to collect the money in time before both of them collapsed asleep right there.
The old teapot looked at the rouge in the woman's hand. "That sort of rouge isn't easy to come by. The lass was probably afraid she wouldn't be able to buy it later. The stallkeeper was greedy too—he just had to make one last sale, and as a result, he couldn't pack up his stall in time and ended up like this."
Li Banfeng was curious. "Halfway through a transaction, couldn't they hold out a bit longer? Did they really have to fall asleep right here?"
As he spoke, Li Banfeng couldn't help letting out a yawn himself.
The old teapot chuckled. "Once the Start of Summer arrives, the moment midnight passes, everyone in Pillow City, high and low, gets so sleepy they can't keep their eyes open.
"If you have good sense, you hurry back home to sleep. If you don't, and insist on doing a bit of business, chances are you end up sleeping in the street—and that one sleep lasts until the Start of Spring next year."
Li Banfeng still didn't understand. "Then what about answering nature's call?"
"The local spirit has his methods. In Pillow City, as long as you clear your system before falling asleep, nature won't call once you're out."
"What is the local spirit here called?"
"I don't remember his name."
"What pathway is he on?"
"He's a Lazy Cultivator."
Li Banfeng touched the Judge's Brush. "This place suits you perfectly!"
The Judge's Brush gave no answer; it had fallen asleep long ago.
That vendor wasn't even the most absurd. Walking deeper into the alley, Li Banfeng spotted a latrine. Outside its doorway sprawled a woman, who had likely finished using the latrine and tried to run home, only to fail and collapse asleep nearby.
Even more absurdly, there was a man half-reclined inside the latrine—he had fallen straight to sleep halfway through doing his business!
Walking along the alleyway for ten-odd minutes, Li Banfeng found Ye Haolong's residence.
This belonged to a prominent family, a compound with three courtyards. Li Banfeng didn't bother knocking, knowing full well no one would answer. Using his Unimpeded Travel technique, he slipped straight through the wall.
In the front courtyard, maids and servants were in their respective rooms, slumbering soundly.
Arriving at the main courtyard, Li Banfeng walked straight into the central building. A solitary man slept in the inner room, tucked under a quilt, the bedding neat and tidy.
Judging by the man's appearance, he was in his seventies with snow-white beard and hair—surely Ye Haolong, whom Liao Zihui had mentioned.
Li Banfeng called out several times beside Ye Haolong, but Ye Haolong did not awaken.
"He is a cultivator of the First Tier Above the Clouds, and even he can't resist Pillow City's rules?"
"He can't," the old teapot said, its speech growing sluggish. "No matter how high his cultivation is, in Pillow City, unless he wants to wake up himself, waking him is next to impossible."
What was to be done? If he wouldn't get up, there was no way to communicate.
Li Banfeng looked around. "There's actually a place like Pillow City in the world? Aren't they afraid of thieves?"
"Not afraid, genuinely not afraid at all," the old teapot said, yawning. "In Pillow City, if you take something you shouldn't, don't even think of walking out of these borders. You'll sleep for three to five years, and once you wake, you have to pay double compensation.
"And if you hurt anyone in the city while the city is sleeping, once you fall asleep you can forget about ever waking up again—your life ends right then and there.
"Brother, whatever ideas you have, think of them fast. I'm about to fall asleep, and I fear you won't be able to hold out much longer either."
Chapter 576