"If we can really pin this on Shan Chengjun, Qiao Yi still comes out ahead in the end." Li Banfeng considered the ramifications. Pinning the crimes on Shan Chengjun would provoke immense hostility across Puluo Province toward the Sage and the Demon Lord, which still worked to Qiao Yi's advantage.
Lian Buda nodded. "That is the brilliance of a forced loss. No matter what, Qiao Yi won't lose out in this deal. The key is that we can't afford to take a loss either, so the blame must fall on Shan Chengjun."
Li Banfeng agreed completely. But what if Shan Chengjun refused to accept the blame?
After all, every lead currently pointed straight to He Jiaqing and Old Mother Ku. Even if Shan Chengjun, as the Martial Patriarch, served the Sage, he still held considerable influence within Puluo Province. Fabricating an accusation against him out of thin air would be no easy feat.
Lian Buda fretted over this as well. "I have an old friend who is a master of forging evidence—witnesses, physical proof, you name it. I just don't know if he's willing to help. I'll go pay him a visit and see if he can work something out. In the meantime, leak some rumors to the newspapers. Say that Shan Chengjun slipped into Puluo Province and committed wicked deeds. Once the rumors are out there, we can slowly substantiate them. That'll surely pin it on that bastard."
Lian Buda's plan was thorough, but one thing still gave Li Banfeng pause. "Should we tell the Peddler about this?"
After a moment's hesitation, Lian Buda shook his head. "The Peddler isn't easy to track down. Plenty of folks wonder why he hasn't shown up when trouble strikes, but few realize just how much he has on his plate. Besides, telling him might only complicate matters. No matter how rotten Shan Chengjun has become, they were comrades in the past. I doubt the Peddler could bring himself to frame an old brother like that. Better to keep him in the dark for now."
With their plan settled, Lian Buda went off to find his friend.
Could that friend happen to be surnamed Sun?
Li Banfeng did not rush to the newspaper office. Instead, he returned to the companion dwelling.
Shan Chengjun had indeed come to Puluo Province and had even traded blows with his lady. There were details he needed to confirm with her.
Once she recounted those details, spreading the story wouldn't be difficult. Mister Kongfang and his Xuehuapu crew could serve as corroborating witnesses. With a little nudge in the right direction, circumstantial testimony could be forged into ironclad proof. The entire scheme seemed airtight.
Yet Li Banfeng remained uneasy. He still felt it best to consult the Peddler.
The gramophone pondered in silence for a long while before speaking. "Husband, this is a thorny matter, and your humble servant cannot make up your mind for you either. But an old memory comes to mind, and I would like to share it with you, if you care to listen."
Li Banfeng nodded. "Whatever my lady wishes to say, I will naturally listen."
"Then your servant shall speak. Please do not blame me for rambling."
*Hiss! Hiss!*
Warm steam billowed from the brass horn, accompanied by the faint, melancholic strains of a huqin.
"Back when your servant still sang in the opera troupe, there was a girl blessed with an extraordinary voice. Heaven itself had placed a rice bowl in her hands. She took the stage at age seven, and by twelve, she had already gained no small amount of fame. Yet all that glory belonged only to the stage. Behind the curtains, before the troupe master, she was nothing more than an errand girl.
"One day, while cleaning the master's quarters, the girl accidentally tore his favorite robe. She was terrified out of her wits, dreading that he would beat her to death.
"That was no exaggeration. Our master had beaten many people to death; I saw it with my own eyes.
"There was an older girl in the troupe who possessed graceful posture, but an ordinary voice. She was pretty, yet lacked presence in makeup and froze whenever she stepped on stage, her face turning stiff as wood. The master despised her, constantly threatening to sell her off to a brothel.
"That was no idle threat either. Many of our sisters were sold to brothels by his hand.
"Fortunately, that older girl had skilled hands with needle and thread. She spent her days mending garments and handling odd jobs for the troupe, so the master begrudgingly kept her around for chores.
"When the younger girl tore the master's robe, the older girl happened to witness it. But she didn't breathe a word to anyone.
"Instead, she carefully mended the robe so seamlessly that not a trace of the tear remained. The younger girl showered her with tearful thanks, and from that day on, the two became dearest friends.
"Their bond grew remarkably deep. If there was food, they shared it between them; if there were clothes, they took turns wearing them.
"Then, one day, the master took the girl out to perform a private banquet at the estate of a wealthy squire. Upon their return, the master had new clothes tailored for her and bought her piles of delicious treats.
"The girl rushed to share the food and clothes with her elder sister, but the sister sensed something was amiss and went out to ask around. Only then did she learn that the squire had a fondness for opera performers and had taken many as concubines. Yet within less than a year of entering his manor, every single one of them vanished without a trace.
"Some said his primary wife was cruel and beat them to death. Others claimed the squire was utterly devoid of conscience, possessing sadistic methods for torturing women until they perished under his abuse.
"True or false, the girl refused to die. She did not want to marry that squire; she wanted to live. She resolved to find a chance to flee.
"At first, she wondered whether she ought to tell her elder sister. But upon turning it over in her mind, she worried: what if knowing dragged her sister into danger? What if telling her put her in an agonizing dilemma? And what if her sister grew too frightened and betrayed her to the master? Wouldn't her life be forfeit then?
"The more she brooded, the more frightened she became. After agonizing over it, she said nothing. One night, using an excuse to visit the latrine, the girl scaled the wall and fled.
"She carried no travel money, nor any food. Having rarely stepped outside the troupe, she hardly recognized the roads. Within two days, she was dragged back in chains.
"Upon her return, she and her elder sister were locked together in the woodshed, subjected to vicious beatings. The girl couldn't fathom why her sister had been locked up as well.
"Only later did she realize that because they were so close, the master assumed the sister must have been complicit in the escape.
"The girl begged the master for mercy, crying that her sister knew nothing and pleading for her life.
"Who could have known that the master was a fiend with no humanity left in him? The harder she begged, the more enraged he became. In the end, he beat both the girl and her sister to death.
"I heard that before the older sister breathed her last, she never once blamed the girl. Yet the girl was consumed by bitter regret—she would have no face to look upon her sister even in the Netherworld.
"Afterward, we often wondered: before fleeing, shouldn't that girl have spoken with her sister? If she truly trusted her, she shouldn't have feared that confiding would ruin everything. If the two had fled together, looking out for each other along the road, perhaps they really might have escaped. Husband, what do you think?"
The record spun gently on the turntable, playing a melody set to *Joy at Meeting*. As his lady recounted the past, she sang softly along with the huqin:
*"The forest flowers have shed their spring reds, all too soon.*
*Helpless against the morning's chill rain and the evening's biting wind, evening wind.*
*Rouge tears, lingering in drunken sorrow—when shall we meet again?*
*Such is the eternal sorrow of this fleeting life, like water ever flowing east."*
Listening from Room Two, Hong Ying wept softly.
Ninth Miss remarked from beside her, "You've slaughtered countless men on the battlefield, yet you can still shed tears?"
Hong Ying clutched her chest. "There are things I truly do not understand, but this melody pierces my heart with pain."
Ninth Miss sighed. "Indeed. A lady born of a noble house naturally wouldn't understand certain things."
"Actually, I do understand..." Hong Ying choked out through her tears. "Back then, if only... if only another word had been spoken, things might have been different."
Ninth Miss let out a wistful breath. "There is no medicine for regret in this world. Still, where did this tale come from? Is it Zhao Xiaowan's past? I've heard tales of her background before, and they were vastly different from this."
Hong Ying wiped her eyes. "Xiaowan suddenly asked me the other day what her name was. I found it strange too."
Ninth Miss fell into deep thought. "Just how much of what we know was simply fabricated?"
Li Banfeng rose, embraced the gramophone, and asked softly, "My lady, is that troupe master still alive?"
The gramophone gave a cold chuckle. "He died long ago, sliced apart piece by piece in a slow flaying. He feared pain terribly, begging for mercy without pause on the day he died. The one who killed him was pitiless; for every plea of mercy, another cut was dealt, totaling over three thousand slices in all."
"Well done! Good wife!" Li Banfeng held the gramophone in a long embrace, showering it with kisses before leaving the companion dwelling.
Standing on the roof of Xiaoyaowu, Li Banfeng looked toward the distant clouds on the horizon.
He had to tell the Peddler.
Locking his gaze onto the Peddler's cloud, Li Banfeng leaped into the air and soared across.
In the past, he had performed the Cloud Gate technique purely by instinct, giving rise to numerous misunderstandings where the Peddler believed Li Banfeng had flown up to the clouds specifically to burn down his house.
This time, Li Banfeng flew up deliberately, paying close attention to the scenery upon the cloud.
The cloud was immense, far larger than Kongfang's. Upon it grew not just flowers and grass, but vast swathes of forest.
In the heart of the woods, Li Banfeng found an open clearing centered around a three-story Western-style villa. The courtyard walls were white, the building walls were white, and the villa itself was exquisitely constructed and spotlessly maintained.
The only eyesore was the Boston ivy clinging to the walls. The vines were patchy—thick in some spots, bare in others, clearly suffering from neglect.
Carrying a lighter, Li Banfeng entered the courtyard and walked up to the wall. Just as he was about to set it ablaze, he paused, struck by a crucial realization.
*Why am I setting a fire?*
There didn't seem to be any particular reason. It just felt like a familiar routine whenever he arrived.
Then another thought struck him: why had the ivy ended up in such a sorry state in the first place?
"Did I really burn down the Peddler's house in the past?" Li Banfeng muttered to himself, deciding that doing so wasn't very polite.
Yet if he didn't set a fire, how was he supposed to find the Peddler?
He might as well look inside. Perhaps the Peddler was home, or perhaps his lover was around and knew where he had gone.
Pocketing the lighter, Li Banfeng pushed through the front doors of the villa.
The ground floor featured an expansive parlor with a two-story vaulted ceiling. The floor and walls were translucent and lustrous, clear enough to mirror reflections, but the furnishings were sparse. Aside from a circular sofa set and a crystal chandelier, Li Banfeng saw no other conspicuous furniture.
The chandelier was genuinely massive, hanging down from the second-floor ceiling so low that standing on tiptoe from the ground floor would let someone touch the pendants. Yet Li Banfeng saw no candles on it.
This was above the clouds; electricity and gas certainly couldn't reach up here. Without candles, how was this lamp supposed to be lit?
A spiral staircase wound upward toward the second floor. Just as Li Banfeng was about to ascend, a sudden wave of peril washed over him.
*I can't go up. There might be a trap on the second floor.*
A hallway extended from the far end of the parlor. Walking down the corridor, Li Banfeng spotted a kitchen, a dining room, a study, and a tightly closed door.
Judging from the exterior layout, the room faced the sun and was quite spacious; it was likely the master bedroom.
Li Banfeng knocked twice. There was no reply. After waiting outside for a moment, he caught a faint sound from within, like someone stifling a yawn.
Not daring to barge in blindly, Li Banfeng pushed Seeking Fortune and Avoiding Calamity to its absolute limit, waiting for a response from inside.
Beads of sweat formed on his brow one by one. Li Banfeng had no idea who was inside. There was an element of danger, but its severity was impossible to measure.
It was a rare sensation: one second, he shivered all over as if stricken with ague; the next, the chill vanished entirely, as if the occupant bore no ill will whatsoever.
"Who is it?" a woman's voice drifted from the room.
"Li Qi, here to see the Peddler," Li Banfeng introduced himself.
"So you're Li Qi! Ruining my house and stealing my man!"
Li Banfeng blinked, his eyes widening. "I didn't steal your man!"
"Then what are you here for?"
Li Banfeng answered flatly, "I'm looking for your man."
Life was just full of awkward coincidences; it was an impossible question to answer gracefully.
A sickening chill washed over him as danger spiked once more.
From inside, the woman said, "Come on in!"
Li Banfeng waited a moment until the chill receded, then pushed open the door and stepped inside.
In stark contrast to the immaculate white palette of the parlor and corridor, the room was pitch-black, shrouded in swirling clouds and mist.
"Keep walking!" the woman urged.
Li Banfeng sensed no danger, but that didn't mean danger was absent. Perhaps her cultivation was simply so profound that she concealed her malice completely.
He advanced several paces, but the room remained pitch-black, offering nothing to see aside from the drifting vapor. Yet the mist was peculiar—it drifted steadily in a single direction, seemingly guiding his steps.
"Walk faster! What are you afraid of?"
Li Banfeng quickened his pace slightly. Ahead, he caught a glimmer of light.
Approaching the glow, Li Banfeng saw a door, and the woman's voice rang out again: "Hurry inside."
It seemed he hadn't been in the bedroom earlier, but an interior corridor leading to it. This next door had to be the entrance to the bedroom proper.
Li Banfeng pushed the door open, only to be greeted by thick layers of fog once more. After weaving through the vapor for a brief spell, the scenery ahead finally snapped into focus.
He saw bright electric lights and a polished marble floor.
He saw a pretty woman waving at him in greeting.
He saw a middle-aged man hurrying toward him.
"Director Li, you're back! The business travel paperwork for Zhong'er is all sorted out!"
Li Banfeng nodded with an approving look. "Sorted out so quickly? Old Chen, your efficiency is commendable. Come by my office in a bit; I want to beat you to a pulp."
"Director Li, you sure know how to joke." Chen Changrui hastily seized an opportunity to slip away, sensing that Li Banfeng was in a foul mood.
This was the elevator lobby of the Dark Star Bureau.
Li Banfeng retreated to the stairwell, searching fruitlessly for a long time without finding the exit he had entered from.
What kind of technique was this? He had been standing on a cloud just moments ago, only to end up in the Dark Star Bureau in the blink of an eye. How was such a thing possible?
Returning to his office, Li Banfeng chuckled and muttered to himself, "That was Linked Chambers and Bridal Bed, wasn't it?"
Now he could be certain of two things. First, the Peddler truly possessed a cloud in the sky, but he wasn't the only one living on it; there was at least one woman there, likely the Peddler's lover.
Second, that lover was an expert Dwelling Cultivator. The house on the cloud was her dwelling, and the stairwell in the Dark Star Bureau was also her dwelling. Through the Linked Chambers and Bridal Bed technique, she could shift the locations of her dwelling at will.
To think the technique could reach such heights. Clearly, his own mastery required a great deal more polishing.
Yet now was not the time to ponder that. He had to convey the message to the Peddler immediately.
Exiting the Dark Star Bureau, Li Banfeng headed straight for Huahu Park, sprinting all the way from the newland back to Xiaoyaowu.
Once more, he ascended to the Peddler's cloud. This time, he had to exercise extreme caution so he wouldn't be casually banished back to the Dark Star Bureau.
Visiting someone's home empty-handed was bad manners, so Li Banfeng had prepared ahead of time, bringing a bouquet of fresh flowers, a washbasin, and a feather duster as housewarming gifts.
Standing beneath the villa, Li Banfeng shouted up toward the upper floors, "Sister-in-law, I'm back!"
The woman's voice echoed from within the villa. "What did you come back for?"
"To find my senior brother, sister-in-law!"
"Your senior brother isn't here. Come back another day!"
"If senior brother doesn't show up, I'm not leaving."
"And what will you do if you don't leave?"
"I'll burn your house down!" Li Banfeng set the feather duster aside, planted the fresh flowers in the courtyard's flowerbed, and hoisted the washbasin, ready to splash the grease inside against the walls.
The woman yelled in fury, "Li Qi, don't you dare! If you dare light a single spark, I'll end you right now!"
Li Qi retorted angrily, "I'm standing right here! If you've got the guts, come out and end me!"
"If you've got the guts, come inside and face me!"
"I won't go in! What can you do about it?"
Li Banfeng kept his eyes locked on the ground. As a Dwelling Cultivator himself, he understood their repertoire inside and out. If she manifested a Boundary right now, things would become tricky. If her Boundary was vast enough, she could even force him off the cloud entirely.
After a brief pause, the woman unexpectedly backed down. "Come inside to talk."
"I don't want to go in."
"If you don't come in, how am I supposed to take you to the Peddler? Search your conscience—if I truly wanted to harm you, wouldn't I have done it the moment you first set foot in my house?"
Li Banfeng considered her words and felt she was being sincere.
He pushed the door open and entered the parlor. A cup of steaming tea sat on the coffee table, prepared who knew when.
Li Banfeng picked up the teacup and sat on the sofa, glancing around without spotting the mistress of the house.
"Didn't you say you'd take me to see the Peddler?"
"I can take you to the place where he is, but whether he's willing to see you isn't up to me."
Li Banfeng chuckled. "Look at what you're saying. I've traveled all this way; how could he refuse to see me?"
The woman chuckled as well. "You could never grasp his temperament. Let alone you—if he doesn't want to see someone, even I can't catch a glimpse of him."
Li Banfeng sighed. "You certainly can't compare to me."
A sudden wave of peril struck, and Li Banfeng shivered.
"I mean, our bond is different." The moment the words left his mouth, he shivered again.
"What I mean is—"
"Shut your mouth!" the woman snapped in irritation. "Go upstairs. Second room on the right. Move it!"
Li Banfeng climbed the stairs, turned right, and stopped before the second room, using Seeking Fortune and Avoiding Calamity to probe the area first.
There was danger, but well within tolerable limits.
The woman sneered, "If you're scared, then don't go. That's how Travel Cultivators always are—either stark raving mad or cowardly as turtles, without a single decent one among them."
Li Banfeng paid no heed to her goading, though her point held water. If he was afraid, there was no need to go. If he didn't even have the spine to face a manageable risk, why waste his time here?
He reached for the doorknob, only for the woman to shout, "Wait!"
"What is it now?"
"You're actually going?"
"What else?"
The woman said, "Don't open the door yet. Wait for my signal."
*Wait for her signal? Did this require permission beforehand?*
Li Banfeng waited a moment, then suddenly heard a burst of laughter: "Hehehe~"
The laughter also belonged to a woman, but the voice differed noticeably from the first.
*Just how many people live in this house?*
The woman's voice came through: "You may open the door now."
Li Banfeng probed once more with Seeking Fortune and Avoiding Calamity, feeling the sense of danger sharpen considerably.
"Are you trying to set me up?"
The woman laughed. "The same words apply: if I wanted to harm you, I wouldn't need all this hassle. If you don't dare go, then forget it."
Li Banfeng pulled his brim low and pulled the door open.
The room beyond was equally pitch-black, swirling with fog. Li Banfeng assumed he would find himself back in the Dark Star Bureau's stairwell, but when he pushed through the second door and stepped out, a fierce wind tore through, scattering the mist.
As the vapor cleared, he looked around to find himself standing in an open expanse of wilderness, lush green grass reaching past his ankles.
The doorway he had emerged from had vanished without a trace once more, leaving Li Banfeng with no idea where on earth he was.
There wasn't even a soul around to ask for directions. Where was he supposed to find the Peddler?
After wandering aimlessly across the wasteland for over half an hour, Li Banfeng spotted several horses grazing, with a four-wheeled wagon parked nearby.
Li Banfeng walked up to the wagon and lifted the curtain. The carriage interior was spacious, fitted with a sleeping pallet and a small stove. An old man inside opened his eyes and grumbled, "What in the world do you want?"
"Pardon me, could you tell me where this is?"
"What kind of question is that? If you don't even know what place this is, how did you get here?"
Li Banfeng thought for a moment. "I just sort of ended up here in a daze, I suppose?"
"Ended up here in a daze? The hell are you talking about..." The old man chuckled. "This is the Suihuang Plains. Ordinary folks can't even reach this place, you know?"
*The Suihuang Plains?*
The name rang a bell. After racking his memory for a while, Li Banfeng recalled Old Chen's words: *During the Second Puluo War, Huang Yuxian commanded over thirty engagements of varying scales, suffering virtually no defeats. In particular, during the Battle of the Suihuang Plains, she led the Valiant Cavalry to crush the Inner States' grand army, helping Puluo Province secure its victory.*
Huang Yuxian was his lady, so she would definitely know about the Suihuang Plains.
The old man asked, "Need a ride?"
Li Banfeng nodded. "Hold on a moment. I'll need your wagon shortly, so don't leave!"
"Where you going? Taking a piss?"
Li Banfeng nodded. "Yeah, taking a piss. Just wait here for me."
The old man scoffed, "Just piss right here! What're you running so far off for? You think anyone's looking at you?"
Li Banfeng sprinted into the distance and slipped into the companion dwelling. "My lady, I've arrived at the Suihuang Plains looking for the Peddler, but I don't know where he is."
His lady was taken aback. "Husband, why did you go to the Suihuang Plains to look for the Peddler?"
"I pried the location out of his lover."
His lady thought it over. "I am familiar with the Suihuang Plains, but as for where the Peddler might have gone, I truly cannot say for sure... Though I think the place he is most likely to visit would be Huangtu Town."
Li Banfeng asked, "Where's Huangtu Town at?"
The gramophone chuckled. "Where did you pick up that rustic accent now? Just ask a local; they will all know. That place is very unique, sitting right next to an entrance to the Inner States."
"There's an Inner States entrance here too?"
The gramophone puffed steam as it answered, "Indeed. During the war, this was where the fighting raged fiercest. If the Peddler had urgent business on the Suihuang Plains, he would almost certainly go to Huangtu Town. But if he came merely to peddle goods, there's no telling—he might push his cart all over the plains. It wouldn't hurt for you to check Huangtu Town, husband, but if battle breaks out, stay as far away as possible. The entrance to the Inner States on the Suihuang Plains is sealed tight by an array that hasn't been breached in many years. If anyone dares emerge from that gate, they are no ordinary figure. Facing them alone would be beyond you, I fear."
Li Banfeng stepped out of the companion dwelling, walked over to the wagon driver, and asked, "Has the Peddler been by lately?"
"He came!"
"What did he come for?"
The old man replied, "What else would he come for? Selling his wares, of course!"
"Do you know where he is?"
The old man shook his head. "You've arrived at a bad time. He's gone—left the day before yesterday."
Li Banfeng frowned. "He really left?"
The old man waved a hand dismissively. "You pulling my leg? Think I'd lie to you?"
Li Banfeng pondered for a moment, then boarded the wagon. "Take me to Huangtu Town."
"That far? You'll have to pay half the fare upfront, then. I'm not running on empty."
"Here. I can pay you the full amount right now, just get me there."
The old man drove the wagon toward Huangtu Town. Every three to five li, the carriage cabin behind him shuddered violently.
The closer they drew to Huangtu Town, the harder the cabin shook, frightening the two draft horses until they began trembling in their harnesses.
"Holy mother, what's going on back there!" The old man pulled aside the curtain and shouted back, "What're you doing? What's with all the shaking? You're spooking the horses!"
Li Banfeng's face was deathly pale. "It's nothing."
The old man grew cross. "I'm telling you, don't mess around in my wagon! I'm trying to run a business here!"
Cold sweat poured down Li Banfeng's brow drop by drop, leaving him unable to even sit upright. What on earth had happened in Huangtu Town to trigger such a terrifying premonition from Seeking Fortune and Avoiding Calamity?
Chapter 695