Souls

Green Water City, Yuanzhu Ward. Li Banfeng returned to his second dwelling. The so-called second dwelling was where he hid Green Water City's covenant deed. Outwardly, it appeared to be a residence, but what Li Banfeng actually entered was a dark-dimension space. He dug up the local spirit seal and placed it atop his head. Green Water City's human vitality never disappointed Li Banfeng. Sitting by the wall, he savored it slowly, taking a full twenty-eight minutes to drain the human vitality completely dry. Now a cultivator at the dual second layer above the clouds, Li Banfeng absorbed human vitality for twenty-eight minutes straight without feeling any noticeable discomfort; after resting for a short while, he was able to get to his feet. Green Water City had flourishing human vitality and an abundant reserve, but the crux was that advancing from the second layer to the third required an astonishing amount of it. Even after exhausting all the human vitality in the local spirit seal, it still fell short. Fortunately, the deficit was not too large. Li Banfeng went straight to Yesong Bridge to absorb a second wave of human vitality. Ma the Fifth had his hands full with far too many affairs to attend to. Combined with his lingering reluctance regarding Yesong Bridge itself, he had not put much effort into running it. He Yuxiu did not like Yesong Bridge either, and she was currently busy managing her own territory. Only Xiao Yeci was relatively obedient. Li Banfeng had told her to run the businesses well, and she had done a decent job, but results were not apparent in the short term. Yesong Bridge remained in its former lukewarm state, with very limited human vitality. After draining its local spirit seal dry, Li Banfeng had not even scraped together enough to cover the fractional remainder. But Yesong Bridge was not the only other place; Li Banfeng next went to Sleepless Town. Sleepless Town was a proper land, the territory of the Diligence Cultivator Wang Zimian. After doing away with Wang Zimian, Li Banfeng had originally intended to use Wang Zimian's territory to save Shui Yongquan, but up until now, he still had not found a suitable method. He dug up the covenant deed, reburied it, and gathered the human vitality of Sleepless Town using the local spirit seal. After the Diligence Cultivators were driven out of Sleepless Town, order had gradually returned to normal. People worked by day and rested by night, at least living like normal human beings. Yet the human vitality here had not changed much. Even after Li Banfeng drained the local spirit seal dry, it still fell short of what was needed for the third layer. He still had another proper land: Huaxian Manor, the territory of Hua Manchun. This territory was too unique. Huaxian Manor held only a group of women left behind by Hua Manchun; aside from them, the vast land had no other permanent residents. As a result, the manor's own human vitality was extremely meager. In an environment with such limited resources, how had Hua Manchun advanced? According to those women, the human vitality Hua Manchun used to advance came mainly from business. By deduction, he had refined corpses to produce medicinal powders, exchanging them for money and human vitality. After Hua Manchun died, this business naturally ceased, leaving very little human vitality for Li Banfeng to find here. With all the proper lands in his possession exhausted, only newlands remained. How much human vitality could a newland have? Li Banfeng was far from optimistic. Aside from collecting human vitality from his own territories, Li Banfeng could also borrow a bit from others. The first place that came to mind was Moxiang Shop. Moxiang Shop was a large city with thriving human vitality. Its local spirit was somewhat hard to define: it could be considered the lazy brush of his own household, or the painstaking brush that wrote continuously by the lakeside. Regardless of which brush it was, neither had any use for human vitality, and so much of it shouldn't go to waste. Li Banfeng went to Moxiang Shop and headed straight for the Willow Garden. A few snowfalls had blanketed Moxiang Shop in silver, making the scholarly air seem even thicker. As he arrived at the garden entrance, a woman called out earnestly, "I knew you would come, for you understand my yearning!" Xiao Yeci? Li Banfeng was startled, nearly slipping on the snow. Has Xiao Yeci's cultivation grown this much? She recognized me from so far away? Impossible. In Li Banfeng's recollection, Xiao Yeci was a second-layer Scholar Cultivator. She had received plenty of resources from the Lu family lately, but even if her pills and practice kept pace, at most she would have risen to around the third layer. How could a third-layer surface cultivator ever notice a Dwelling Cultivator at the second layer above the clouds? Without making a sound or movement, Li Banfeng watched Xiao Yeci for a moment. Xiao Yeci sighed a few times in the snow, jotting down the line she had just spoken into a notebook. Youtao tugged at Xiao Yeci's lapel. "Sister, that's enough, isn't it? Where can't you recite poetry? Why must we come to this place? I'm almost freezing to death!" With a mournful look, Xiao Yeci said, "Winter has arrived; it is cold everywhere." Youtao grinned. "It's not cold under the covers!" Xiao Yeci grew a little flustered. "Don't you get any wild ideas! We came here to cultivate!" "What's good to cultivate here? You have to talk in classical gibberish just to speak. When will you ever get to cultivate properly? Let me tell you, I'll only accompany you here for one month. Next month, you're coming with me to Kudaikan." "I really don't want to go to Kudaikan!" "You have to go whether you want to or not. That was what we agreed on." Li Banfeng did not greet the two of them. He made his way alone into the willow grove, found that particular willow tree, and used a twig to write the character "Hui" beneath it. The willow tree did not react. Was the handwriting too sloppy, or was the stroke order incorrect? Li Banfeng took out the Judge's Brush and had it write the character "Hui" stroke by stroke. The willow tree still showed no response. "Changed," the Judge's Brush said. Someone had changed the entrance. "Did something happen to the local spirit again?" "The peddler," the Judge's Brush replied with two words. His guess was likely correct. The person who changed the entrance was most likely the peddler. After what happened at Moxiang Shop last time, the peddler was bound to set up some precautions. But now that he changed the entrance, how do I get in? As Li Banfeng was trying to figure out a way—the local spirit's residence was a lake, which might be a dark-dimension space, and he could probably enter using Lühuazi's alms bowl, but was the entrance still in this grove...? While he was pondering, the Judge's Brush floated up from Li Banfeng's hand. "Allow me." "The entrance was changed. Can you still find it?" "Yes." The Judge's Brush had a special resonance with this land. After searching around for a short while, it moved to a different willow tree and wrote two "Hui" characters. Slowly, the once-familiar lake surface emerged before their eyes. In the early winter, the lake had not yet frozen over. Inside the carved pavilion by the shore, Li Banfeng could vaguely see the figure of the local spirit. Though called a local spirit, he was actually a writing brush. But Li Banfeng had fought him before; once this brush went berserk, its combat power was not to be underestimated. "Old Brush," Li Banfeng asked the Judge's Brush, "do you know where the local spirit seal is?" Li Banfeng did not want a direct confrontation with the writing brush. If he ended up breaking it, maintaining order in Moxiang Shop would become difficult. "I remember." The Judge's Brush quietly led the way, while Li Banfeng followed with Hidden Footsteps. After walking along the lakeside for a moment, the Judge's Brush lifted a rock by the shore, revealing a hidden compartment behind it. Li Banfeng peered into the compartment; it was completely empty. Where's the local spirit seal? The Judge's Brush was also somewhat baffled. Had someone come by recently and stolen the seal? Was the writing brush doing all right? Li Banfeng quietly approached the carved pavilion and peeked inside. He saw that the brush was still dressed as a scholar, holding a pen in his right hand and writing furiously across sheets of white paper, while his left hand held the local spirit seal pressed against the crown of his head. He knows how to absorb human vitality now? Li Banfeng was deeply shocked, and the Judge's Brush was equally astonished. The scholar snapped his head around, spotting Li Banfeng and the Judge's Brush. He hurried to hide the local spirit seal behind his back and dipped his brush into ink, bracing to fight Li Banfeng to the death at any moment. The seal was right in his hands; should he snatch it? If it came down to a fight, Li Banfeng was confident he could defeat this brush scholar, but he did not wish to do so. Whether scholar or brush, ever since the Judge's Brush handed over the position of local spirit, he had dutifully carried out the local spirit's responsibilities. The human vitality of Moxiang Shop was rightfully his to begin with. Moreover, this most likely wasn't his first time absorbing human vitality; there was probably little left inside the seal anyway. Li Banfeng led the Judge's Brush away from the pavilion. As they moved off into the distance, the projector spoke: "That person was originally filled with the green of terror, but after we left, he turned into a relaxed pale yellow. We're gone, so he isn't afraid anymore. We didn't really mean to hurt him." Li Banfeng shook his head. "In truth, we shouldn't have disturbed him in the first place." Moxiang Shop was out of the question. Where else could he borrow some cultivation? Qiqiu City? Qiu Luoye was also counting on human vitality to advance, so he wouldn't have much of a reserve. Black Rock Slope? Tang Shijiang had probably stopped using human vitality long ago, but something so precious surely had other uses, making it awkward to ask. Better try my luck in my own newlands. A mosquito leg is still meat, and I have more than one newland. If I really can't scrape together enough, I'll discuss it with Big Brother Tang. If Big Brother Tang won't give any, I can still borrow a bit from Old Xu. Li Banfeng first returned to his earliest newland, the territory that originally belonged to the Mountain Uplifting Master. No longer needing Hong Ying's assistance, he relied on his Unobstructed Passage technique to slip easily into the rock face and enter the Mountain Uplifting Master's residence. Though he hadn't returned in quite some time, the blind mountain wolf could still recognize Li Banfeng's scent and trotted up to greet him. "Master, you're finally back! We thought you had abandoned us!" Li Banfeng patted the mountain wolf on the head. "You're not lacking food or drink, are you?" "Not at all. Those fellows in the mountains follow the rules fairly well. Every three to five days, they deliver food." Li Banfeng reminded it, "Keep good track in the ledger. If anyone fails to show up over the long run, let me know." Arriving in the backyard, Li Banfeng descended into the tunnel to retrieve the local spirit seal. Looking at the seal, Li Banfeng harbored little hope. Whatever human vitality this desolate place possessed was sustained only by anomalous creatures. A single gulp probably wouldn't even fill the gap between his teeth. Li Banfeng pressed the local spirit seal to his head, first setting aside the chaotic cultivation within, then allowing the human vitality to surge rapidly into his body. Wait, this amount is unusual. Li Banfeng absorbed human vitality through the seal for over seven full minutes. Not only was it enough to fill the gap between his teeth, but it filled the entire capacity needed to advance to the third layer. Where did so much human vitality come from? Li Banfeng had moved all the anomalous creatures from Qiu Luoye's territory over here. Could they all have come from that group? Impossible. If anomalous creatures were that efficient, Qiu Luoye would have reached the third layer above the clouds long ago. Where else could this human vitality have come from? As he pondered, Li Banfeng suddenly felt a tremor in his heart—someone was reclaiming land right within this territory. Who is this? How is their timing so immaculate? Zhang Wanlong had set up the tribute table and arranged the offerings. Xiao Genzi asked, "Brother Zhang, do you really think the local spirit is back? Why don't I feel anything at all?" "Brother, your cultivation is still a bit shy. Practice for a few more years, and you'll feel it." Zhang Wanlong squatted beside the tribute table, waiting for the local spirit's response. After waiting over half an hour, there was still no movement. "Strange. Did we not prepare enough offerings?" Zhang Wanlong looked at the tribute and counted on his fingers. "It should be about right. We only asked for three bamboo-hat sizes of land. In my estimate, it's more than enough, not less. Could it be that the local spirit didn't return...?" Zhang Wanlong pondered for a moment, smacked his forehead, and hurried toward the bamboo grove, where several bamboo shoots had just broken through the soil. "My carelessness! Thank goodness the local spirit hasn't arrived yet. If he saw this, there's no telling how much trouble it would cause." Zhang Wanlong scattered a handful of moss, which grew rapidly and concealed the iron sinews on the bamboo shoots. Just as Zhang Wanlong intended to return to the tribute table for another look, he caught sight of someone walking toward the bamboo grove in the distance. "Who is that?" Looking at the person's silhouette, Xiao Genzi recognized him at a glance. "Seventh Master is here!" Zhang Wanlong hurried forward to greet him. "Seventh Master, it's been a while! What brings you to my place?" The words sounded odd. Li Banfeng was the local spirit of this place, yet with Zhang Wanlong, he was treated like a guest instead. "Brother Zhang, I've come to do business with you. Do you have any good seeds lately?" "Of course! My business relies entirely on your patronage, Seventh Master. As long as you ask, I'll bring out the best treasures from the bottom of my chests. Let's sit for a while at the village and chat at our leisure." Zhang Wanlong led Li Banfeng toward the village. The so-called village was a settlement they had built specifically for the plant-people he cultivated to live in. Just as they reached the entrance of the village, an old man smoking a pipe greeted Zhang Wanlong first upon seeing him: "Master Zhang, you're back! The wheat in my fields is almost ready to harvest, but my family is short on hands. I'll need your help, Master Zhang." Zhang Wanlong nodded. "Rest assured, I've already spoken to them. In a couple of days, hired harvesters will head to your home to work. Treat them well, mind you—don't skimp on food or drink, and don't short them their wages!" Early winter was not the season to harvest wheat. Of course, for Zhang Wanlong, that was no difficulty at all; with his methods, crops could be harvested year-round. The wheat was not the point. The point was that the old man just now was rather unusual. Li Banfeng stared closely at the old man for several moments and asked in a low voice, "Is this a real person?" "Real? Not at all," Zhang Wanlong replied with a chuckle and a shake of his head. "This is a loofah-person I grew. If you look down his throat, you can even see loofah seeds!" "A loofah-person speaks so authentically?" Zhang Wanlong sighed. "Pardon the embarrassment. Year in, year out, this old man only knows those few sentences, all taught by me word by word. He doesn't actually understand what they mean, just like a parrot mimicking human speech. Going through all that trouble to teach him was just for a bit of amusement. Otherwise, in this desolate wasteland, wouldn't the two of us be bored to death?" A question-and-answer flow that smooth, just for amusement? As they continued forward, a pretty girl around sixteen or seventeen came toward them, smiling sweetly at Xiao Genzi. "Brother Genzi, didn't you say the day before yesterday that you'd teach me how to read? I've been waiting at home for two days." Xiao Genzi gave an earnest chuckle. "I'll go, I'll head over in a bit." The girl blushed and walked away. Xiao Genzi turned to Li Banfeng. "Seventh Master, the girl wants me over. Do you think I should go or not?" Li Banfeng looked at the girl's receding figure, at a loss for an answer. Zhang Wanlong frowned. "Brother, that's not right of you. Aren't you making Seventh Master misunderstand? This girl was made from a persimmon, crafted specifically for Genzi. At my age, I no longer care about such nonsense, but Genzi is still young; he needs a girl to talk to." Genzi looked at Li Banfeng. "I think the girl is sincere." He spoke simply and honestly, yet his expression carried an entirely different implication. Watching the passersby coming and going through the village, Li Banfeng could not help but praise, "Brother Zhang, your craftsmanship is truly exquisite." "How could I dare call it exquisite?" Zhang Wanlong shook his head. "You haven't seen what my master creates. Not only do they look lifelike, but they can also fight. That is true skill." Li Banfeng had seen the eggplant-people Old Xu grew. Whether they could fight was one matter, but in terms of appearance, they were nowhere near as delicately crafted as Zhang Wanlong's. When they reached Zhang Wanlong's courtyard, two women brought out a washbasin and towels to attend to Zhang Wanlong washing his face and changing clothes. One girl wiped Zhang Wanlong's face with a handkerchief and kissed him on the cheek. Zhang Wanlong pinched her cheek affectionately, which infuriated the other girl. Li Banfeng chuckled. "Brother Zhang, were these two lovely companions also grown by you? Didn't you say you no longer cared about such things?" Zhang Wanlong sighed. "Romance and love are things I don't care about anymore, but daily living cannot be neglected. I work so hard doing farm labor; I need someone by my side to do laundry and cook. Seventh Master, it happens to be mealtime. I don't have delicacies from mountain and sea, just home-cooked fare. Would you honor me by having a couple of drinks together?" Li Banfeng nodded. Zhang Wanlong hurried to usher Li Banfeng into the living room, where dishes and wine were laid out on the table—a well-balanced, exceedingly refined spread of meat and vegetables. "Seventh Master, since you didn't bring any lovely companions with you, make do with me waiting on you." Xiao Genzi hung up Li Banfeng's coat and poured wine for the two of them. After two cups of wine went down, Zhang Wanlong asked, "Seventh Master, what kind of seeds do you want this time? For carrying water and chopping wood, or for charging into battle?" "What are the water-carrying, wood-chopping ones like?" "I have a batch of celery-people here. They work diligently and can endure hardship. Take them home and leave all the hard, exhausting chores to them. Normally, just give them some water and let them soak in the sun, and using them for half a year to a year is no trouble at all." "What about the ones for charging into battle?" "Then celery-people won't do; their bones are too brittle. I also have a group of wax-gourd-people. They're big and strong—shouldering a tree trunk, they can charge a city wall with you! Of course, wax-gourd-people aren't exceptionally sturdy either. I also have a batch of walnut-people. They aren't very tall, but they're born with a layer of hard armor that can withstand blades and axes. They're just a bit delicate; they require special fertilizer for maintenance. If the oil inside the walnut meat dries up, they become useless." Li Banfeng nodded. "I like all the ones you mentioned. Do you have any seeds that don't require blood?" "What do you mean by that?" "Using your seeds always requires sprinkling a drop of blood. That's rather troublesome, so I wanted to find some seeds that don't need blood." Zhang Wanlong shook his head slightly. "Seventh Master, you're making things difficult for me. If you only want to farm, that doesn't need blood. But to make seeds transform into human shape, not sprinkling blood simply won't work." "Is that so?" Li Banfeng turned to look back at the two pretty girls in the room. "Whose blood was sprinkled on these two sisters-in-law?" Zhang Wanlong thumped his chest. "My own blood!" Li Banfeng chuckled. "Brother Zhang, forgive my bluntness, but you aren't nearly this lovely." "You sculpt them slowly!" Zhang Wanlong explained in all seriousness. "These two wives of mine—one was made from a peach, the other from an apricot. Though the foundation is me, a lot of effort went into cultivating them. The moment they break ground and sprout, you have to tend to them bit by bit: eyebrows, eyes, lips, teeth—how they grow, how they develop, how much water to give, how much fertilizer to apply, how many branches and leaves to prune—you have to have it all mapped out..." Zhang Wanlong explained in great detail, and Li Banfeng listened intently. "Brother Zhang, I see the people across this village all look different. Could they all have been cultivated individually by you?" Zhang Wanlong replied with a solemn face, "Of course! They're meant for the two of us brothers to live alongside. If they all looked identical, wouldn't the two of us go mad?" "Fair point!" Li Banfeng raised his wine cup and drank a toast with Zhang Wanlong. Zhang Wanlong was a master at deflecting. Li Banfeng had asked about feasibility—how much time would it take to specifically cultivate so many people one by one? Zhang Wanlong had answered about necessity—the people you live with cannot all look cookie-cutter identical. There was nothing wrong with what he said; it just skillfully skirted around Li Banfeng's question. Glasses clinked and the meal came to an end. Li Banfeng stood to take his leave, and Zhang Wanlong hurried to urge him to stay. "Seventh Master, why the rush? It isn't often you come by; stay for a couple of days before leaving." "I won't stay. I have urgent business to attend to. I'll visit another day." As they spoke, Xiao Genzi brought Li Banfeng's coat and draped it over his shoulders. There was something inside the garment. Li Banfeng said nothing. Zhang Wanlong and Xiao Genzi escorted him all the way to the village entrance, where they parted ways. Xiao Genzi said to Zhang Wanlong, "Brother Zhang, didn't we forget our serious business? The tribute table is still laid out over there, and we don't know if the local spirit agreed. Let me go check." Zhang Wanlong waved his hand. "No need to look. The local spirit has matters to attend to; he definitely didn't agree." Xiao Genzi was taken aback. "The local spirit has matters? How do you know?" Zhang Wanlong smiled. "Brother, let's not bother with reclaiming land. Let's just find a spot and plant bamboo." "Without discussing it with the local spirit, wouldn't that be improper?" "I wager the local spirit won't find fault. Just trust me." Walking across the newland, Li Banfeng occasionally caught sight of herbalists and hunters delivering goods to the village trip after trip. Some exchanged a couple of sentences with each other, while others said nothing at all, focusing solely on their work. All of these appeared to be people grown by Zhang Wanlong. Were they truly as Zhang Wanlong claimed—unfeeling, thoughtless tool-people? The projector provided the answer. "Director Seven, the old man at the village entrance originally had a light green aura on him; he was genuinely worried that his wheat wouldn't be harvested. When Zhang Wanlong told him the harvesters were coming soon, the old man's aura turned yellow—he felt great joy in his heart. "And that girl: after seeing Xiao Genzi, her body was completely red. She genuinely likes Genzi. "As for those two girls in the room, one carried a sweet red; she is deeply favored. The other carried a tart orange-yellow; her jealousy is very strong." "What about the passing farmers and hunters?" "Some of them have colors—some vivid, some very faint, impossible to notice without looking carefully. "And there are others who are completely blank. Perhaps my vision isn't sufficient yet, or perhaps the colors on them are beyond the range I can distinguish." A group of men carrying scythes entered the village; they were presumably the harvesters Zhang Wanlong had mentioned. These men bore a strong resemblance to Zhang Wanlong. They were the ones the projector referred to as having virtually no color—people who were, in the truest sense, tool-people. Meanwhile, the other plant-people with colors possessed a strong spirituality, close to that of human beings—perhaps what could be called souls. No wonder there was so much human vitality on this land. No wonder Old Xu cared so deeply about this disciple of his. Was what he was doing right or wrong? Puluo Province was not the Outer States, and the criteria for judging things were different here. Regarding this matter, Li Banfeng could not pass judgment. Walking into the distance, Li Banfeng quietly returned to the companion dwelling, took off his coat, and pulled a piece of bamboo from the garment's lining. Xiao Genzi had slipped this bamboo inside. Holding the bamboo, Li Banfeng examined it for a moment. By the light of the gramophone's fire, he saw bright, striking iron sinews running down it one after another. Puffing steam, the gramophone asked, "Husband, what is this?" "Madam, this seems to be iron-sinew bamboo." "That can't be right." Madam nudged the bamboo with her needle and inspected it closely for a while. "Iron-sinew bamboo always has ten iron sinews. This stalk only has eight." "What use does bamboo with eight iron sinews have?" The gramophone swayed her horn. "Your humble servant has never seen such a thing either." What on earth was Zhang Wanlong trying to do? Was this an experimental specimen of iron-sinew bamboo? At this moment, Li Banfeng deeply understood Xu Han's feelings: Zhang Wanlong was an elusive, unfathomable man. Right now, there was no time to deal with this matter. Li Banfeng said, "Madam, I've taken in enough human vitality. I can pretty much advance now." Hong Ying was overjoyed. "Seven, advance Travel Cultivator to the third layer as well!" Li Banfeng shook his head. "The human vitality I have is only enough to do one deal." Hong Ying pouted unhappily. "If that one deal can't be saved for me, must it be saved for Xiaowan?" "What Travel Cultivator is Husband cultivating right now!" Madam smacked Hong Ying with a plank. This girl Hong Ying was far too unreasonable. Li Banfeng was in a hurry to advance to the third layer in order to use the Sleep Soundly Without Care technique to save the glove; Travel Cultivator was in no rush. "Husband, let us advance Dwelling Cultivator steadily first. Because time is pressed, Husband must swallow an entire Profound Accumulation Pill. Once the medicinal potency stabilizes, your humble servant will guide Husband through the advancement." "Swallow a whole Profound Accumulation Pill?" Li Banfeng was afraid his body couldn't withstand it. The gramophone was also worried Li Banfeng might not withstand it: "Husband, if it were up to your humble servant, waiting another half a year or full year wouldn't be too late. I can stabilize the curse on the glove. So long as Xiao Qianshou doesn't find him, his life should not be in serious danger." Should not be... The group of magic treasures, including the Judge's Brush, all watched Li Banfeng. Li Banfeng took out a Profound Accumulation Pill and popped it into his mouth. "Come, Madam."