Vanishing Cream

Standing behind the Peddler was none other than Lian Buda! This was the very progenitor of the Oil Cultivators, the venerable senior Lian Buda whose face was larger than an entire city, trapped in the Nameless Place! Li Banfeng had never imagined he would meet him here at Huangtu Bridge today! "You..." Lian Buda nodded. "The Peddler rescued me!" "I—" Gratitude filled Lian Buda's face. "It was all thanks to the message you sent him that he was able to find me." "Hold on a second..." Li Banfeng was still in a hurry to chase after the coachman. The Peddler waved a hand. "No need to chase him. Someone's already on it; he'll be brought over in a moment." Talking with these two truly took no effort at all; the moment Li Banfeng opened his mouth, they already knew what he meant. "Who went after him?" "The coachman—Old Train's disciple." The Peddler was referring to the genuine coachman. Li Banfeng looked at Lian Buda, then back at the Peddler. "This is Senior Little Lian Buda, right?" Lian Buda nodded. "A part of Big Lian Buda came out, but not all of him yet." Li Banfeng asked the Peddler, "How did you find that place?" The Peddler sighed. "It took quite a few twists and turns. Last time you brought up Lian Buda, I went to some friends to sniff out clues. A while back, passing through Iron Gate Fort, I happened to get word from a friend. I dropped my business right then and there and set off to find Lian Buda. I found the trail, but the place wasn't easy to get into. I tried all sorts of ways before finally opening a path. But that path was too narrow—I could get in, but Lian Buda couldn't get out. "I was prepared for that, though. I went to another spot and opened another path for him. That path was wide enough, but far too perilous; he couldn't walk it on his own. I had to find a Travel Cultivator to lead him through. Back at Moxiang Shop, I even discussed it with you, saying that when the time came to save Lian Buda, I'd need your help." Li Banfeng nodded. "I remember that. But you never came looking for me." The Peddler said, "Oh, I actually did go looking for you, but you were out there selling, so I felt bad interrupting your business." Li Banfeng snapped, "What do you mean, 'interrupting my business'?! Me going out there to sell was all for your sake!" "That's true, that's true," the Peddler nodded repeatedly. "With you providing cover on the outside, the people from the Inner States didn't dare make any rash moves, which gave me peace of mind to get things done. Besides, you might not have been able to walk the path I carved out. I know you've got substantial cultivation as a Travel Cultivator, but that path wasn't just perilous—it was long. If you had to carry Lian Buda and charge through, I doubt you'd have the stamina for it." Li Banfeng was intrigued. His stamina was quite formidable; he casually shuttled back and forth between the Outer States and Puluo Province on a regular basis. Who could possibly have better stamina than him? "Brother Lang, tell me then—who has that kind of stamina?" "The coachman! I went to Yaowanggou, fetched the coachman, struck a deal with him, and handed the job over to him." The Peddler stirred a bowl of fruit syrup and handed it to Li Banfeng, telling him to take a breather. Drinking it, Li Banfeng turned it over in his mind. No wonder he hadn't found the coachman when he went to Yaowanggou—the coachman had gone with the Peddler to rescue Lian Buda. Li Banfeng had learned his foundational footwork from the coachman, so he knew the coachman's stamina was indeed impressive. Still, he couldn't quite wrap his head around the Peddler's description. A path the Peddler could enter, but Lian Buda couldn't leave through. A path the Peddler opened up, which required a coachman to lead Lian Buda out. What kind of process was that? While he was pondering, the coachman returned. The last remaining counterfeit coachman had been dealt with by him. Tang Shijiang also caught up. When the martial brothers met, things were still somewhat awkward between them. Ma the Fifth, Xiao Genzi, and Chuanzi arrived as well. The Peddler glanced around at everyone, then called Li Banfeng aside: "There's something I want to discuss with everyone, but I specifically don't want you to know about it." Li Banfeng was taken aback. "I'm the only one who can't know?" The Peddler nodded. "That's right. So many people from the Inner States died here. If I don't discuss things with them, how are you supposed to collect the corpses?" Dealing with the Peddler was truly effortless; so many things went understood without being spoken. Li Banfeng happily went off to collect the corpses. Of the more than eighty counterfeit coachmen, only one had been taken by the real coachman; all the rest went to Li Banfeng. The companion dwelling was packed so full with bodies and rickshaws that it could barely fit another thing. Unfortunately, these coachmen were all dead. The others in the house had plenty to eat, but Madam could only eat the head coachman. Madam wasn't in any rush to tuck in. She took the head coachman to Room Seven for a strict interrogation. Before long, she extracted the whereabouts of Miss Xiao Qin. "Husband, Miss Xiao Qin is still alive, locked in a mine shaft on Coal Mountain. A formation array seals the entrance, but it isn't very sophisticated—you can break it with Sever Path to Open a Road. Miss Xiao Qin hasn't eaten in a long time. Husband, bring some food and drink with you, but make sure she doesn't eat too fast." Stepping out of the companion dwelling, Li Banfeng didn't head straight for Miss Xiao Qin. Certain aftermath cleanup had to be dealt with in a timely manner. He took some joss paper and first returned to Coal Mountain, where he wailed in all earnestness: "You met such a tragic end! Scattered into dust! Not even a bone left behind!" After he wailed for ten minutes or so, a great deal of black ash drifted down over the coal yard, proving that these coachmen were thoroughly dead. With over eighty people in total, the amount of black ash seemed a little meager. Yet this was all Li Banfeng could do. He went to the bamboo grove and wailed for a while longer. Once flying ash appeared there as well, the cleanup was deemed properly settled. He found the mine shaft Madam had mentioned, used Sever Path to Open a Road to shatter the formation at the entrance, and had the glove unlock the chains to rescue Miss Xiao Qin. The young woman was unyielding. Having gone without food and water for two days, she had intended to starve herself to death so as not to burden her father. Fortunately, Li Banfeng had arrived early. He fed her some water and a couple of biscuits, which managed to restore some of her vitality. Carrying Miss Xiao Qin on his back, he headed to Beiqiao and found Qin Bulou. Seeing his daughter back, Qin Bulou scrambled down from his bed and knelt on the floor to kowtow to Li Banfeng. Li Banfeng hated this sort of thing. He stepped forward and pulled Qin Bulou up. "If you've got something to say, stand up straight and say it. First, find someone to look after your daughter." A short while later, the Peddler arrived at Beiqiao. Qin Bulou had just lain down, but upon hearing the Peddler had arrived, he hurriedly clambered out of bed and stumbled into the street. Bowing deeply to the Peddler, he said, "This old man has painstakingly studied the Error pathway for decades, and now I have achieved some small measure of success. I implore Lord Peddler to grant permission for my pathway to branch out and spread its seeds." This was a scene neither Li Banfeng nor Ma the Fifth had ever witnessed before. Qin Bulou was applying to the Peddler to establish a new pathway! The Peddler smiled. "I told you before: to found a sect, you must first be able to hold your own. Once you have that capability, the pathway will naturally follow." Qin Bulou said nothing, keeping his head lowered as he stood in place. At his side, Li Banfeng spoke up: "Old Qin can actually hold his own." The Peddler looked at Li Banfeng. "Brother, are you joking?" Li Banfeng wanted to put in a good word for Old Qin, but didn't know where to start. When the fake coachman led men to seize Huangtu Bridge by force, judging solely by that battle, Qin Bulou had fought miserably. He hadn't taken down a single coachman, and had wound up severely injured. Ma the Fifth also bowed to the Peddler. "Old Qin defended the territory to the death and didn't bow his head to those bastards. His character and courage are beyond reproach." The Peddler shook his head. "This has nothing to do with character or courage." The meaning was already crystal clear: to become the founding patriarch of a pathway, one had to demonstrate real, tangible combat prowess. Qin Bulou's current combat capability clearly fell short of a patriarch's standard. Ma the Fifth wanted to plead further, but Qin Bulou stopped him. "Fifth Young Master, say no more. This old man knows shame. With what little ability I have, I wouldn't dare have the cheek to found any pathway. I only ask that everyone keep this between us, and allow this old man to save some face. For everyone's kindness, I have no way to repay you. If there is ever any call for me in the future, I will go through fire and water without hesitation. Everyone, please accept my bow." Qin Bulou went to kowtow again, but everyone hastily held him back. The Peddler had no interest in watching this and pushed his cart to leave. The coachman stepped forward and said, "Let me vouch for him." The Peddler was surprised. "You'll vouch for him?" The coachman nodded. "I did a lot of heavy lifting for you. Didn't you say you'd reward me? Well, I'm asking you to grant me this favor. I know he doesn't have the chops to be a founding patriarch yet, but just give him a chance. Don't cut off his hopes." Tang Shijiang stared at the coachman, stunned for a long moment. "What on earth are you thinking?" Qin Bulou was an enemy who had seized the coachman's territory. Instead of seeking revenge, the coachman was stepping forward to vouch for him! No matter how he looked at it, Tang Shijiang couldn't make sense of it. The coachman squatted on the ground, lit a pipe, and took a couple of puffs. "This battle was bizarre. Even if it had been me, I might not have won. If it really were me, maybe I wouldn't have fought at all, or maybe I'd have just abandoned the territory right then and there. Rather than handing this place over to outsiders on a silver platter, wouldn't it be better to let Old Qin help me guard it? If he can't hold it, I'll step up. Even if I have to die, I'll drag him down as a cushion. Isn't that pretty good?" Tang Shijiang turned and walked away, unwilling to spare the coachman another glance. The coachman shouted after Tang Shijiang's back, "Senior Brother, don't hate me! To each his own way of living; your junior brother just doesn't have much ambition." The Peddler gave the lantern on his cart a nudge and let out a chuckle and a sigh. "A promise is a promise, and what I agreed to, I must carry out. I'll grant you this favor. Old Qin, this time next year, I'll come find you again. As long as you can show some respectable skill, I'll keep the Error pathway reserved for you." Old Qin first thanked the Peddler, and then thanked the coachman. He produced the local spirit seal, intending to share half the human vitality with the coachman. The coachman chuckled. "What's the meaning of this? A thank-you gift?" Qin Bulou shook his head. "There isn't much vitality in this seal; Huangtu Bridge only has this much foundation right now. From now on, whenever vitality is gathered, no matter how much or how little, we'll split it fifty-fifty. We will serve as the local spirits of Huangtu Bridge together." The coachman stubbed out his pipe. "Serving together works, but let me make one thing clear: when a fight breaks out, you go first." Qin Bulou nodded. "Don't you worry. As long as I have a breath left in me, you won't need to lift a finger." The coachman liked the sound of that. He took the local spirit seal and absorbed half of the vitality. Having wiped out the Fire Wheel Gang, Beiqiao was overjoyed and busy celebrating. The Peddler looked at Li Banfeng, seemingly having something to say. Taking the hint, Li Banfeng followed the Peddler out of Huangtu Bridge and into the newland. Once no one else was around, Lian Buda revealed himself beside the Peddler. The Peddler looked at Lian Buda. "I've already rescued you, and your injuries are mostly healed. Shouldn't we be parting ways now?" Lian Buda rubbed his cheeks. "The weather's been dry these past couple of days. I wanted to ask you for some vanishing cream." Hearing him ask for vanishing cream, the Peddler's face darkened. "How much do you want?" Lian Buda smiled. "Not much. Just enough to cover this face of mine." "Bullshit! Even both of my tubs of vanishing cream wouldn't cover half your face!" The Peddler took a ladle and ladled out a jar of vanishing cream for Lian Buda. Lian Buda thought it too little and asked the Peddler for another jar. Recalling Lian Buda's greasy face, Li Banfeng truly couldn't fathom why he would need vanishing cream. When asked about his future plans, Lian Buda pondered for a long time before saying, "First, I need to get my pathway back on its feet. I heard the disciple in Yaowanggou died, and now only one Oil Cultivator disciple remains, who is currently in the Outer States. Could you let me meet him?" Li Banfeng nodded. "Arranging a meeting isn't difficult, but whether he's willing to remain in Puluo Province depends on his own wishes. That can't be forced." Lian Buda nodded. "Don't worry, I won't make things difficult for him." He left a note for Li Banfeng. East of Yesong Bridge was a patch of newland that had been his territory back in the day; he planned to stay there temporarily for a time. "The local spirit of Yesong Bridge is an old friend of mine. That fellow loves to bicker. Having not seen him in so many years, I wonder if his temper has changed at all." Lian Buda wanted to catch up with the sedan chair bearer. Li Banfeng hurriedly advised against it. "I saw him not long ago. His temper hasn't changed in the slightest. You'd better not go look for him. You'll only end up fuming with anger, and you might easily fall victim to his underhanded schemes." Lian Buda sighed. "I don't really want to look for him either. The problem is that the Profound Birth Red Lotus is in his hands. I want to find him to borrow the red lotus to refine some pills." Borrow the red lotus from the sedan chair bearer? That was hardly a wise idea. Lian Buda cupped his hands. "I will never forget this life-saving grace as long as I live. Farewell to both of you until we meet again." Before walking very far, Lian Buda kept rubbing his face. "Strange. My face really is dry today." Why was it so dry? Could it be because he was out of oil? Once Lian Buda had walked far off, the Peddler looked at Li Banfeng. "Brother, you've really had a hard time lately. When I went to rescue Lian Buda, I was afraid word would leak, so I didn't tell a soul. Who knows which bastard spread the rumor that I fought a duel with a man from heaven and lost my life. I was genuinely a bit flustered at the time, because if the Inner States learned something had happened to me, they'd definitely make a move against Puluo Province. But if word leaked on my end, Lian Buda would never see the light of day again. Fortunately, you held things down on the outside. Otherwise, it wouldn't have been just Huangtu Bridge—who knows how many people the Inner States would have sent over." Li Banfeng said, "I felt those coachmen at Huangtu Bridge were very unusual. Except for the head coachman, the rest seemed to have roughly the same cultivation and equivalent combat strength, as if they were cast from the same mold." The Peddler thought about it, then gave a slight shake of his head. "Poor choice of words. They weren't cast from the same mold—they were birthed by a single coachman. The lead coachman has a very peculiar seed-blood. He can spawn whelps, and he spawns them in huge batches. These whelps all share the same level and combat prowess, and they have a special telepathic bond with the lead coachman. That's why they fight in complete unison. If they were allowed to spawn another batch of whelps, things would have gotten out of hand." So those coachmen really were clones. But how to explain the rickshaws in their hands? "Brother Lang, the rickshaws in their hands are actually part of a steam engine. You must know that, right?" The Peddler nodded. "I only just learned of that myself. The Inner Staters used an external machine to shrink their bodies, and their external machines were housed inside those rickshaws. But I never imagined the external machines could spawn whelps too. It and the coachman are a paired plague. That's why, right after rescuing Lian Buda, I rushed straight to Huangtu Bridge." The matter of the coachman and the rickshaws would have to be studied slowly later on—what kind of seed-blood they possessed to have such potent reproductive capability. Right now, however, Li Banfeng was eager to know about Lian Buda. "Just who trapped Lian Buda in the Nameless Place?" "The Sage." "Why did he do that?" "It's a complicated story; I don't even know where to begin." The Peddler recalled carefully. "Because Puluo Province, just like the Inner States, cannot store fuel oil. All machines run on coal. So as long as the Sage controlled coal, he effectively controlled half of Puluo Province's lifeline. But Lian Buda used his techniques to create oil. His Oil Cultivator techniques could be used not only in personal combat, but also for refining and processing fuel oil. To the Sage, that was a tremendous threat and challenge. "The Sage ordered Lian Buda arrested, but to his surprise, Lian Buda didn't stop there. Instead, he created an even greater threat: he and Old Train teamed up to modify machinery and equipment, shrinking power systems down. That was tantamount to creating easily transportable vehicles—or even combat weapons, like the tanks and armored vehicles of the Outer States. "This move thoroughly infuriated the Sage. He ordered a ruthless crackdown on Lian Buda, Old Train, and their associates. Those court officials took brutal measures and slaughtered countless people. In the end, Lian Buda was captured and imprisoned in an unknown place; there were only rumors that he was still alive." Li Banfeng thought for a moment and asked, "Since the Sage hated Lian Buda so much, why didn't he just kill him?" "Because he wanted to keep Lian Buda alive and use his technology to hold the Inner States in check." "Isn't the Sage an Inner Stater?" That question wasn't easy to answer. The Peddler pondered and said, "He counts as an Inner Stater, but he's different from true Inner Staters. The earliest Sages were pure-blooded Inner Staters; they were Sages to both Puluo Province and the Inner States. But later generations of Sages lived in Puluo Province. Due to intermarrying with the people of Puluo Province, the Sage's lineage was no longer pure. By the time of the later generations, their influence over the Inner States had shrunk considerably, and the Sage had become an emperor exclusive to Puluo Province. "The threat posed by the Inner States to Puluo Province gradually turned into a threat to the Sage himself. The Sage wanted Lian Buda's technology kept away from the common folk of Puluo Province, yet available for his own use at critical moments. "However, that Sage wasn't very bright and didn't know when to stop. The Lian Buda incident implicated far too many people. The Sage practically exterminated the Oil Cultivators, and then turned his slaughter toward the Artisan Cultivators. After killing the Artisan Cultivators, he killed the Merchant Cultivators; after the Merchant Cultivators, he killed the Scholar Cultivators and Warrior Cultivators. He slaughtered until corpses piled into mountains, ultimately igniting the fury of all Puluo Province. Not long after, the Sage was driven from his throne, but few knew where Lian Buda had actually ended up. "It's said Old Train once found him, but before he could reveal his whereabouts, Old Train himself was trapped in the Inner States. If you hadn't found Lian Buda, who knows how many years he would have remained trapped." Li Banfeng said, "Were you worried about leaks because you feared the Inner Staters would strike at Lian Buda first?" The Peddler nodded. "Because the Sage is still alive; he's right there in the Inner States. For the sake of the future, he certainly wouldn't casually reveal Lian Buda's whereabouts to the Inner States. But if he learned I was staging a rescue, that would be another story entirely. The Sage would join forces with the Inner States and try every possible means to stop me. Not only would Lian Buda not be saved, I might even get dragged down myself. "I just truly couldn't fathom who fabricated that rumor, insisting I got into a fight with a man from heaven." "The rumor-monger has already been found. It was Ye Haolong from Pillow City. The man had a bout of sleep sickness, mistook the events in his dream for reality, left the city blabbering nonsense, and spread the rumor everywhere." Li Banfeng gave a brief overview of Ye Haolong's dream. "Ye Haolong..." The Peddler remembered the man. "That old relic spent his whole life losing battle after battle, felt bitter and frustrated inside, and tried to make up for it through me. It wouldn't have mattered if he just boasted a few words, but why on earth did so many people believe him?" Li Banfeng said, "There were other reasons at the time. A lot of incidents happened in Xuehuapu: many experts there were killed, and the Inner States specifically dispatched Zhang Gunli to fight Mister Kong Fang, Xuehuapu's second-in-command. Meanwhile, as Xuehuapu's chief, you watched Xuehuapu suffer heavy blow after heavy blow without ever intervening. So many people believed the rumor was true, thinking the man from heaven had really killed you." The Peddler nodded. "Now this vanishing cream—first, you have to look at the craftsmanship; second, you have to look at the ingredients. It's not a business just anyone can run. If you want to say I'm the chief, that does make a bit of sense!" Li Banfeng said, "We're talking about Xuehuapu. How did you suddenly change the subject to vanishing cream?" The Peddler paused. "What does Xuehuapu do?" That single question made Li Banfeng choke. "Xuehuapu—you don't know what they do? It's... well, a gathering of experts, gathered together, to... They mint coins—they mint silver dollars!" It took Li Banfeng quite a while to recall Xuehuapu's function. The Peddler looked at Li Banfeng. "You're saying silver dollars are minted by Xuehuapu?" Li Banfeng nodded. "Yes. Isn't that what everyone says?" "Have you seen it?" "No." Li Banfeng shook his head. Not just him—hardly anyone in all of Puluo Province seemed to have seen how silver dollars were minted. "That's why I'm telling you: this vanishing cream, not only does the cream itself have to be top quality, but you also have to put your heart into the processing. Too thin, and it won't lock in moisture; too thick, and it suffocates your face and feels uncomfortable. Controlling the heat is especially tricky. And the fragrance—it can't be too overpowering, nor can it be too faint..." Li Banfeng grew a bit annoyed. "Why are you talking about vanishing cream again? Weren't we talking about Xuehuapu?" The Peddler said, "Why talk about Xuehuapu?" "Talk about how they mint silver dollars for Puluo Province, and how you're their chief!" The Peddler still didn't understand. "Why would the silver dollars of Puluo Province be minted by Xuehuapu?" Li Banfeng pulled out a silver dollar. "See this? There's a snowflake on the back. That's Xuehuapu's emblem." The Peddler shook his head. "Why must that be Xuehuapu's emblem? Why can't it be the emblem for vanishing cream?" "How could that be an emblem for vanishing cream? Can vanishing cream mint money?" "Why couldn't it?" The Peddler kept a spoonful of vanishing cream and splashed it onto his cart. The stark white cream trickled down the side of the cart. The Peddler grabbed a handful of medicinal powder and scattered it over the vanishing cream. The vanishing cream transformed into silver dollars, clattering onto the ground. P.S.: Wherever the Peddler goes, his very first hawking cry is always for foreign soap and vanishing cream.