In Green Water City, at the Garrison General Office.
Liao Zihui sat upright in his chair and handed the processed travel pass to Li Banfeng. "From the seventh to the tenth, and from the twenty-fifth to the twenty-eighth of every month, the border opens for eight days. During those eight days, with this pass, you can make one round trip across the boundary. If there is an emergency at any other time, please notify the Garrison Office in advance, and we will arrange a temporary clearance depending on the circumstances."
Li Banfeng sat just as straight. Taking the pass, he cupped his hands in gratitude. "Chief Liao, thank you very much!"
Liao Zihui hurried to return the courtesy. "White Falcon Commandery has it rough. Five islands, barely ten thousand people, fighting desperately against the Inner States all year round. It pains me to see it too. Now that Director Li has taken the lead and raised the matter, higher authorities have attached great importance to it and moved immediately to resolve the issue. Whatever work falls on my side must be handled properly; we cannot let our brave warriors lose heart."
Li Banfeng glanced to the side. The cameramen and photographers had not left yet. He stood, cupping his hands in thanks once more. "On behalf of the warriors of White Falcon Commandery, I thank you."
Liao Zihui also rose quickly to his feet. "Director Li, you flatter me far too much. What little I did amounts to nothing. You went to White Falcon Commandery in person and fought side by side with the islanders. That magnificent feat has earned my deepest admiration!"
The two stood facing each other, maintaining their salutes for a short pause. Once the camera crew and photographers finally departed, they both settled back into the sofa.
Liao Zihui leaned back against the cushions. "Now that we're done speaking to Director Li, I need a word with Seventh Master. I hear Seventh Master has taken over the Santoucha Underground City."
Li Banfeng nodded. "You can set your mind at ease on that front. I'll continue looking after some of your businesses."
Liao Zihui chuckled. "Hearing Seventh Master say so truly puts my mind at ease. As you know, I plan to retire in Puluo Province, and before I do, I have to squirrel away some capital for myself. There is one other matter I'd like to ask Seventh Master about. Rumor has it that the Sage in the Inner States already died on Sage Peak, and that the Sage who fled back to the Inner States is an impostor. Has Seventh Master heard about this?"
Li Banfeng nodded. "I've heard."
Liao Zihui pressed on. "I also heard that the Sage left behind an orphan who ended up drifting into Santoucha."
Li Banfeng nodded again. "I've heard of that as well."
Liao Zihui asked, "Seventh Master, is this actually true or false?"
Li Banfeng sighed. "Zihui, I only learned about it recently myself. It's hard to say whether it's true or false."
After a moment of silence, Liao Zihui poured Li Banfeng a cup of tea and offered him a cigarette. "Now that we're done speaking to Seventh Master, I need a word with Brother Li. Whether this is true or false is very important to me. If I don't get to the bottom of it, there are many things I won't know how to handle going forward."
Li Banfeng gave a slight nod. "Since you're asking, elder brother, I'll give you the honest truth. As I see it, the matter is real."
Liao Zihui said, "Brother, since it's real, how do you plan to handle it?"
Li Banfeng countered, "Elder brother, I'd like to know how you plan to handle it."
Liao Zihui was silent for a moment. Then he called the photographer back inside and straightened his posture. "Director Li, on the premise of not interfering with the internal affairs of the Great Shang Empire, we intend to provide assistance within a certain scope to help the royal orphan pursue legitimate interests."
Li Banfeng straightened his posture as well. "I will effectively fulfill my role as a balancer to create favorable opportunities and conditions for further strengthening communication and collaboration between both sides."
*Click-flash!*
The flashbulb went off.
Peaceful smiles remained fixed on both their faces.
***
Having concluded business at the Garrison Office, Li Banfeng originally intended to pay visits to several friends, but Luo Lijun sent word through Luo Zhengnan: an old acquaintance of hers from Great Shang had arrived in Santoucha and wished to meet the Sage's orphan.
The matter put Luo Lijun in an awkward position. This acquaintance was named Hu Chihong, a scholar whom Luo Lijun had elevated from the common folk. She professed that regardless of the current state of affairs, she remained utterly loyal to the Luo family.
Luo Lijun did not know her true intentions, nor did she trust so-called utter loyalty. Yet if she shut Hu Chihong out, she might never win back any of her old subordinates in the future.
Li Banfeng returned to Santoucha; this current step was exceedingly important.
Regardless of what Hu Chihong had come for, Li Banfeng decided to let her see the Sage's orphan.
Li Banfeng arranged for Juanzi and Hu Chihong to meet in a barren hill on the Black Yellow Beach.
That day, Li Banfeng hid in the shadows while the Luo sisters stayed in the open. Hu Chihong crawled along the whole way into the mountains, seemingly holding the Sage's orphan in utmost reverence.
On second thought, however, this Hu Chihong was a butterfly over three meters long. Aside from crawling, she could only fly; other postures for getting around hardly suited her anyway.
"To gaze upon Your Highness today is truly the greatest fortune of my life! If I can assist Your Highness in succeeding to the state altars and ascending the imperial throne, this Hu will not hesitate to grind her bones to dust!" Hu Chihong performed a grand salute toward the Sage's orphan.
Juanzi expressed her appreciation of Hu Chihong.
Mengzi put on the stern majesty of a martial artist, scrutinizing Hu Chihong as if examining her inner thoughts.
Xiaoshan said nothing, merely watching with an indifferent gaze.
This butterfly looked quite pretty. Xiaoshan was contemplating taking her into his harem.
After meeting the Sage's heir, Hu Chihong went to see Consort Shuang.
She possessed a clever tongue. Upon seeing Consort Shuang, she immediately kowtowed and proclaimed, "Greetings to Her Imperial Majesty the Empress!"
With that single sentence, she elevated Liangwucai's status to the skies.
Liangwu felt rather smug. At the side, the Sage's disciple Gong Ziming waved his hands repeatedly, signaling the sisters not to lose their composure.
Liangcai wore an icy expression and said to Hu Chihong, "Do not speak nonsense. I am not the primary empress."
Hu Chihong hurried to apologize. "It is the fortune of three lifetimes for this humble subject to behold His Highness the Imperial Prince and Her Highness Consort Shuang. For a moment my words ran heedless; I beg Your Highness's forgiveness."
Leaving the residence where the Sage's orphan lived, Hu Chihong took her leave of Luo Lijun. "Upon my return, I will surely rally our former colleagues to follow our master and rise together in great enterprise!"
Luo Lijun hastily dissuaded her. "The time has not yet come. Do not act rashly. Nor may anything that transpired here be known to others."
Hu Chihong promised to keep Luo Lijun's secrets. After Luo Lijun urged her repeatedly, the two parted with reluctance.
Once Hu Chihong was gone, Li Banfeng asked a question. "How did such a large butterfly get to Santoucha? She's a pureblooded Inner States native. Does she get to enter Puluo Province just because she wants to?"
Luo Lijun replied, "She told me that Zhu Jin, Qiao Yi, and Xie Gong sent her to Puluo Province on an errand. I haven't made sense of it either. Those sent to do errands in Puluo Province are always Puluo natives. Sending a pureblooded Inner States native is practically sending them to their death, isn't it? Besides, I still haven't figured out how Hu Chihong crossed the Boundary."
Li Banfeng asked, "You didn't ask her about any of this?"
Luo Lijun said, "I did. Hu Chihong claimed she also learned the method of transformation and bluffed her way across the Boundary using a Puluo Province identity. When I asked her to demonstrate the transformation, she couldn't. She said her technique was unpolished and she couldn't use it for the past two days."
Li Banfeng frowned. "What does this have to do with technique? Haven't all Inner States natives who can transform been melted down and rebuilt?"
"Mm." Luo Lijun nodded slightly, her hand continuously stroking her river snail shell.
The two remained silent for a long time. Li Banfeng let out a sigh. "Go call Shaojun over."
"All right." Luo Lijun hoisted the snail shell onto her back, intending to fetch Shaojun, but after thinking it over, she set the shell back down.
If Shaojun came, she would tell Li Qi the whole truth.
Rather than letting that happen, she might as well tell Li Qi herself, sparing herself from incurring Li Qi's disgust.
"For us people of Great Shang to transform into Puluo Province natives, going back into the furnace isn't strictly necessary. There are other means. My sister and I used the shell-shedding method to transform. It's a secret art exclusive to our Luo family. It requires leaving part of our body inside the shell while taking the other part outside—"
Though she stated it simply, the process was actually exceedingly intricate.
Luo Lijun explained it in the plainest terms she could muster: special components were placed within her shell that could combine with her body or separate from it, running independently inside the snail shell to provide her with power.
Such craftsmanship required exorbitant parts, exquisite techniques, and an exceptionally fine control over the equipment—which was what Luo Lijun meant by mastering the method of transformation.
As Li Banfeng understood it, this amounted to two complete sets of machinery capable of combining and separating on demand. From the information currently at his disposal, such technology remained far beyond the reach of the Outer States.
"Did you never think of applying this technology to weapons?"
After a long silence, Luo Lijun said, "In truth, these methods were applied to weaponry long ago. It's just that we couldn't bring the weapons out. Otherwise, Puluo Province would have ceased to exist long ago."
This indeed warranted extra caution. From Luo Lijun's tone, she did not seem to be making harsh threats or boasting; she was stating objective facts.
Li Banfeng looked at the snail shell. "You could bring out a snail shell this huge. Why couldn't you bring out weapons?"
Luo Lijun shook her head. "The people of the White Falcon Alliance tampered with the roads. Weapons that are too large will sink into them. Some less cumbersome weapons can pass along the roads, but after crossing the roads, they cannot pass the Boundary. There are multiple layers of boundaries between the Inner States and Puluo Province. Those boundaries have destroyed who knows how many of our fine armaments. We also tried modifying weapons to be exceptionally delicate, but such delicate weapons are limited in quantity and power. Furthermore, we cannot dispatch too large a force to Puluo Province; once the numbers grow, they cannot cross the Boundary either. So those delicate armaments proved of little use upon reaching Puluo Province."
Li Banfeng asked, "Why would they be useless? Find people with high combat strength, equip them with delicate armaments, and seek quality rather than quantity. Wouldn't that accomplish things?"
Luo Lijun sighed. "It won't. Nothing can be accomplished. If it were anywhere else, perhaps it could, but not in Puluo Province. Beneath the firmament, across eleven provinces and three thousand nations, in terms of individual combat strength, not a single place can stand against Puluo Province."
Li Banfeng asked, "What place do you mean by 'beneath the firmament'?"
Luo Lijun answered, "You hold high status in the Outer States, so you ought to know some classified secrets. What I call 'beneath the firmament' is what you refer to as the star system where the Dark Star resides. The eleven provinces refer to eleven planets, and the three thousand nations refer to the three thousand countries upon those eleven planets. We once recruited the strongest warriors from among those three thousand nations. Those men carried carefully forged armaments to Puluo Province, and not a single one survived. But if we were truly allowed to bring sufficient troops and our most formidable weapons, we would be entirely certain of trampling Puluo Province flat."
Due to their differing frames of reference, Li Banfeng and Luo Lijun encountered certain communication barriers when discussing technology; he did not fully understand some of her specialized jargon.
Even so, the armaments Luo Lijun described undeniably brought considerable pressure upon Li Banfeng.
Luo Lijun reminded him, "Once in the Inner States, such heavy weaponry is an everyday occurrence. Do you dare make this journey with us?"
Li Banfeng asked, "Are you in a rush to go? I still need to make some preparations on my end."
Luo Lijun thought it over. "If Hu Chihong doesn't leak the matter, we should still be able to delay for a while. She was originally a commoner, and her achievements today are entirely owed to my patronage. I believe she can keep the secret. But for how long? Perhaps three to five years, perhaps seven to eight months. That much is impossible to say."
***
"My lords, your subordinate saw the Sage's orphan. He is in Santoucha."
The very day Hu Chihong returned to the Inner States, she promptly reported what she had witnessed in Santoucha.
Standing before her was a three-headed person. The head on the left was named Zhu Jin, the head in the center was named Qiao Yi, and the head on the right was named Xie Gong.
Zhu Jin asked, "What did you think of the prince's bearing?"
Hu Chihong replied, "Nearly identical to the Sage."
Xie Gong shook his head slightly. "A mere youth. To claim he is identical to the Sage is surely an overstatement."
Hu Chihong added, "My lords, I also saw Her Imperial Majesty the Empress. She possesses extraordinary beauty, solemn comportment, and considerable majesty."
Zhu Jin frowned. "By 'Empress,' do you mean the rumored Consort Shuang? That title cannot be tossed about casually. I had men conduct discrete inquiries among the Sage's disciples; none of them have ever seen this Consort Shuang."
Hu Chihong said, "My lords, the Sage currently at court might not be the true Sage at all, and the disciples around him might not be the real disciples of the Sage—"
"Insolence!" Xie Gong barked in reprimand. "This concerns the state altars! How can someone of your station overstep so brazenly!"
Hu Chihong fell silent, not daring to speak.
Both Xie Gong and Zhu Jin looked toward Qiao Yi in the center.
Qiao Yi asked Hu Chihong, "Were the so-called orphan and imperial widow both found by Luo Lijun?"
Hu Chihong nodded.
Qiao Yi gave a cold sneer. "That traitor deserves to die!"
***
"Seventh Brother, come in a little more. Just a little."
On the sixth floor of Qingyuan Mansion, Li Banfeng sent away all uninvolved personnel to learn techniques alongside Hong Ying.
Hong Ying guided Li Banfeng a small step forward, having him make a second mark.
"Seventh Brother, remember these two positions? Plant it right here—don't change spots!"
Li Banfeng carefully inspected the two marks and gave a slight nod.
The technique Hundred Steps Traverse was difficult to practice inside the companion dwelling. The Old Master had let Hong Ying out, even allowing her to emerge with her combat strength so she could instruct Li Banfeng hand-to-hand.
Hong Ying's guidance was earnest, yet also quite crude. She could not articulate the underlying principles of the technique, only drawing points and lines on the ground and telling Li Banfeng to place his marks according to her rules.
Yet this approach proved astonishingly effective, yielding a ridiculously high success rate. Li Banfeng was an absolute novice, but when executing the technique according to the distances and speeds Hong Ying marked out, he succeeded seven or eight times out of ten.
There was no explaining the theory behind it. Where to run eighty steps, where to run sixty steps—Hong Ying knew at a glance, and her judgment was exceedingly precise. On this point, Ninth Lady fell far short of Hong Ying.
Yet once he left Hong Ying's markers behind and tried executing the technique on his own, Li Banfeng's success rate was pitiful.
After practicing for three days, Li Banfeng began to grasp a few patterns. Seeing Li Banfeng still pondering intently, Hong Ying urged, "Seventh Brother, don't overthink it. Techniques must follow the heart's movement. Thinking too much will ruin your brain."
Li Banfeng stared at Hong Ying for a long while before asking, "When you were clashing with my wife in the military, how old were you?"
Hong Ying gave a cold snort. "Why ask about that? It's all in the past."
"No, I must ask about this."
Hong Ying was truly reluctant to bring it up, but since Li Banfeng insisted, she gave it serious thought. "Back then, I remember I was twenty-six, and Xiaowan was twenty-seven."
Li Banfeng frowned. "Are you joking?"
Hong Ying blinked her large eyes, answering earnestly, "Who's joking with you? That wasn't young by any means. Back then, I was genuinely terrified I wouldn't be able to find a husband."
Li Banfeng said, "At twenty-six, how high was your cultivation?"
Hong Ying said, "About the same as it is now. Naturally, my combat strength was considerably stronger back then."
"Reaching beyond above the clouds at twenty-six?"
Hong Ying waved her hand. "Far more than that. I was also one of the leaders of the Travel Cultivators. That wasn't a title I gave myself; the Mad Artisan said it. When it came strictly to the path of travel cultivation, even he wouldn't necessarily have beaten me."
Li Banfeng asked again, "When did you enter the Dao sect?"
"Twelve."
"You cultivated for fourteen years and became a leader among Travel Cultivators?"
"Not at all," Hong Ying shook her head. "I became a Travel Cultivator leader at twenty-three. Altogether, I had cultivated for eleven years."
Li Banfeng stared in complete bewilderment. "And you didn't take elixir pills?"
"I never took those things. They harm the body."
"How can someone like you even exist?" Li Banfeng was utterly at a loss for words.
Hong Ying chuckled. "Someone else once said that to me, just like you did."
"Who?"
"That peddler. He said I had the finest talent for travel cultivation in the world. He said if I hadn't been bound by the military and unable to roam freely, my cultivation would be even higher. He even found a wonderful place for me, prepared specifically for Travel Cultivators, telling me to stop fighting wars and focus on cultivating there."
"Did you go?"
Hong Ying snorted. "Do you take me for a fool? If there were truly such a great place, would he tell me? Why didn't he tell the Mad Artisan?"
Li Banfeng did not know how to respond. The peddler's evaluation was undoubtedly accurate; Hong Ying's talent had already surpassed Li Banfeng's comprehension.
*Woooo—*
A train whistle echoed in their ears. The Old Train blew its whistle, urging Hong Ying home.
Hong Ying felt a twinge of regret. "These three days, I've been cooped up inside this building the whole time. I didn't even get to look outside."
Li Banfeng returned to the companion dwelling, found a veil for Hong Ying to wrap around her face, and prepared to take her out for a stroll. Fearing Hong Ying might feel lonely on her own, he also thought of bringing his wife along.
The companion dwelling was displeased. "Ah Qi, you intend to take both house spirits out without so much as asking me?"
"Old Master, wasn't I just about to ask you? Yingying has only been out once in all this time; it's quite pitiful. Let her walk around the Underground City—"
"No!" the companion dwelling refused. "One house spirit must remain!"
Li Banfeng still wanted to negotiate with the companion dwelling when the gramophone spoke up: "Husband, I'm currently pondering modifications for the Dark Bridge Cannon and don't have time to go out. Take Yingying for a walk."
Veiled, Hong Ying happily followed Li Banfeng out of Qingyuan Mansion. But after just two steps down the street, in the blink of an eye, Hong Ying was gone.
Where had she run off to?
Fortunately, Li Banfeng's cultivation was not low, allowing him to discern some traces. He returned inside the mansion and found Hong Ying on the sixth floor.
"What happened to you?"
Hong Ying huddled in a corner, shaking her head incessantly. "I'd better not go out. There are people out there."
Ever since Zhao Xiaowan had ruined both her eyes, Hong Ying had never seen what a city looked like again.
She had come out once before near Mount Zhouzi, but that was wilderness; no matter the era, such places were largely the same.
The Underground City could not be considered a bustling metropolis, yet it was indeed a city, and completely different from the cities of Hong Ying's era. Just seeing the pedestrians' attire and the storefronts of various shops had scared Hong Ying half to death.
After much persuasion from Li Banfeng, Hong Ying gritted her teeth and followed him out again. Along the way, she clutched Li Banfeng's hand tightly, her palm drenched in sweat.
Seeing a train heading toward them, Hong Ying wanted to run again, but Li Banfeng held her back and pulled her aboard.
It was a cargo train from the Human Market, its carriage loaded entirely with shoes.
Sitting inside the train, Hong Ying felt uncomfortable all over. "I... I've never liked trains. Even though our home is inside a train... Xiaowan liked them. She loved that sort of thing. But I truly can't stand it..."
Li Banfeng was reminded of something. "My wife is only a year older than you. When did she enter the Dao sect? Did you two cultivate for the same length of time?"
Hong Ying shook her head. "I don't know when Xiaowan entered the Dao sect. When we met, her cultivation was already quite high. Her cultivation progressed rapidly too, but she was different from me."
"How was she different?"
Hong Ying thought for a moment. "Who was it that said she was different again? It seemed to be Cong Shixiang. Cong Shixiang said she didn't share the same bloodline as us."
"Bloodline?" Li Banfeng was taken aback. "What bloodline?"
Hong Ying shook her head. "I can't remember."
She had died once, losing a great deal of memory in the process.
Li Banfeng asked again, "What kind of place is the Inner States? Do you remember?"
Hong Ying looked left and right, then lowered her voice. "I'm really embarrassed to tell you, but I've never been to the Inner States."
What kind of answer was that?
Li Banfeng found it hard to believe. "Didn't you fight wars for the Inner States?"
Hong Ying thought about it. "It depends on how you look at it. We fought for the Sage, and the Sage counted as being from the Inner States. But I was born in the King's Land, raised in the King's Land, fought to the end in the King's Land, and died in the King's Land. In all my life, I never once left the King's Land."
"What place is the King's Land?"
"It should be what you call Puluo Province." Hong Ying's expression looked somewhat awkward, an embarrassment she could not conceal even beneath her metallic sheen. "To tell the truth, when I first regained my hearing, I had no idea what you all meant by the words you spoke. You mentioned Puluo Province, and I didn't know what Puluo Province was. You mentioned the Inner States, and I didn't quite understand that either. But since you were all talking about them, I couldn't very well say I didn't know, so I had to do my best to chime in. Back then, I only knew of the King's Land, the Demonic Land, and the Sacred Land. Thinking about it later, the King's Land and the Demonic Land were both originally the King's Land, so the King's Land must be Puluo Province, and the Inner States must surely be the Sacred Land."
Li Banfeng smiled faintly.
Hong Ying snorted. "What are you smiling at? Looking down on me?"
Li Banfeng stopped smiling. He certainly harbored no thoughts of belittling Hong Ying. "The King's Land refers to the Sage's domain?"
Hong Ying nodded. "'All under heaven is the King's Land.'"
"Then what are the origins of the Demonic Land?"
"The Demonic Land was really just a remote region. The peddler, the Mad Artisan, and Granny Ku led a group of people to rebel and stir up trouble in that remote region. The Sage said they were bewitched by the Demon Clan, which is why he called the territory they occupied the Demonic Land."
Li Banfeng asked, "And what are the origins of the Demon Clan?"
"The Sage never explained their origins. The Sage never spoke plainly about anything. In short, the Demon Clan were outsiders, villains harboring ill intent."
"Did it have something to do with the Demon Lord?"
Hong Ying shook her head. "I truly don't know that. I don't even know who this Demon Lord you speak of is! I only know that Xiaowan and I were ordered to fight. Right from the start, we couldn't beat the Demonic Land at all. Although that crowd from the Demonic Land was disorganized, their individual combat prowess was far too formidable; they could somehow win battles that made no sense at all. Later, the Sacred Land sent reinforcements, catching the Demonic Land in a pincer attack. That peddler went to fight desperately against the Sacred Land, leaving the Mad Artisan and Granny Ku behind to hold the line here. Xiaowan had a sharp mind. Seizing on a dispute between Granny Ku and the peddler, she defeated Granny Ku. The Mad Artisan was severely deranged at the time; halfway through the battle, he made a blunder, and Xiaowan caught him red-handed, defeating him as well. Afterward, Xiaowan was summoned back to court. The Sage insisted that she perform opera in the imperial court. You ought to know some of what followed: both of us were thrown into the dungeon over that affair.
"We were originally sentenced to execution by beheading, but unexpectedly, the peddler fought his way back. He battered the reinforcements sent by the Sacred Land to pieces, and he even had two more helpers at his side. One was Lu Qianjiao, whom you've met, and the other was the Heavenly Maiden—a person from the heavens. Beaten into a steady retreat, the Sage released us from the dungeon to fight once more. At first, relying on Xiaowan's clever mind and Yao Xin's considerable skill, our sisters won a few victories. But later on, things fell apart. That peddler was clever too and refused to fall for Xiaowan's tricks. The Mad Artisan recovered his wits; he wasn't mad anymore, and he began leading his disciples into battle properly. Granny Ku came to her senses as well, no longer arguing with the peddler and focusing wholeheartedly on fighting us. Our days grew difficult."
At this point, Hong Ying's voice grew quieter. "I fought for over a decade. I knew which battles could be won and which couldn't. That battle back then simply could not be won, no matter what. My father was a famous general of his generation, and I was born into a prominent clan; I knew how vile the Sage's mind truly was. When I saw the imperial edict in Cong Shixiang's hands, I learned what it meant to have all hope turn to ashes. I urged Xiaowan not to fight anymore. She wouldn't listen, nor would she explain. In the end, things turned out like that..."
Speaking of this, Hong Ying still felt somewhat aggrieved. Li Banfeng already knew the events that followed; he wanted to learn something new.
"What Dao sect did the Heavenly Maiden belong to? What was her specialty?"
Hong Ying shook her head. "I really don't know what Dao sect the Heavenly Maiden belonged to. I saw her once. She was beautiful—just as beautiful as Xiaowan. But she didn't fight me. She used the Mystic Origin Red Lotus to gather away all the corpses on the battlefield. Beyond that, I have no other impression of her."
Li Banfeng sank into deep thought.
The peddler and the Heavenly Maiden had served in the same army, comrades who shared life and death. How had they become mortal enemies who could not rest until one was dead?
Hong Ying leaned against the side of the train carriage, gazing intently at the scenery along the streets, watching with such focus, so thoroughly captivated.
Li Banfeng asked no more questions. For Hong Ying, this span of time was far too precious.
***
After escorting Hong Ying back to the companion dwelling, Li Banfeng continued delving into the technique. The next day, he received a message from Luo Lijun:
"An old friend in the Inner States wants me to make a trip to Zhaoge. Do you think I can go?"
Chapter 666