A'yi was blown very far away. Watching the trajectory of her flight, Qiu Luoye set down his washboard, thinking she would never come back.
Yet when evening came, A'yi returned after all.
Leading A'yun, A'long, and a crowd of villagers, she hauled several cartloads of coal and bricks out from the deep mountains, paying two silver dollars to everyone who helped with the labor.
Li Banfeng was quite curious. "Is there anywhere to spend money in this village?"
"Yes, plenty of places!" A'yun explained. "Villagers need money to buy things from one another. Sometimes older villagers go outside for a stroll, and that takes money too."
"Where can they go?"
"They visit both the Inner States and the Outer States, but where they go most often is still Puluo Province."
As the two were speaking, the pieces of coal stepped down from the carts, picked up bricks, and set to work repairing A'yi's house.
Li Banfeng was a man of the world; in Puluo Province, he had seen plenty of things like wooden puppets or stone golems serving as thugs or laborers.
Still, coal holding bricks and building a house directly was something he had trouble wrapping his head around.
Li Banfeng squatted beside the coal, watching smoke rise from its body as it carried bricks upstairs. Beside it, other chunks of coal were tasked with mixing mortar. Working in concert, they swiftly repaired the wall Li Banfeng had blown apart.
One chunk of coal was quite small. After hauling a few loads of bricks, its body burned away completely, leaving behind a wisp of ash that drifted over to A'yi's side.
A'yi produced a glass bottle, gathered up the ash, and asked softly, "What do you want to be in your next life?"
Li Banfeng activated Discerning Spiritual Sound and heard the voice inside the bottle.
The wisp of ash said, "I want to be human."
A'yi chuckled. "It's not that easy. How about living one life as an insect, then seeing if you can become a beast, and only then thinking about becoming human—what do you say?"
The ash was very stubborn, repeating over and over, "I just want to be human."
A'yi sighed. "All right, then. Tomorrow I'll take you to the coal yard. You'll have to be a piece of coal for another life, and try your luck again."
The coal ash in the bottle agreed.
Li Banfeng sat beside A'yi, looking at the bottle as he asked, "If it spends another life as coal, is it guaranteed to become human in the life after that?"
A'yi shook her head. "Hard to say. The mountain behind Hulu Village has countless pieces of coal. It depends on what kind of coal it reincarnates into in its next life. If it turns into high-grade coal, maybe it really will become human."
Li Banfeng still didn't quite understand. "Whether the coal on Hulu Mountain can become human—is that up to you to decide?"
A'yi shook her head. "It's not up to me; it's decided by their own spirituality. A piece of coal can gather quite a bit of spirituality, but it doesn't change much. Choosing to be coal in the next life is a risky gamble. Becoming coal, you might start right off with ten thousand points of spirituality, but after cultivating your whole life, you might still end up with only ten thousand. Being an insect is different. You might start with only three or five hundred, but that spirituality grows fast. By the end of a lifetime, it might grow to over a thousand, or perhaps twenty or thirty thousand. Or it might not grow at all, dying the moment it cracks its eggshell. Nobody can say for sure."
"You really didn't make it clear; I can't make head or tail of it," Li Banfeng said, then asked the coal ash, "Do you want to be a piece of coal again next life just to keep a higher starting point?"
The ash didn't respond. A'yi scoffed at Li Banfeng. "Are you stupid? Why are you talking to a puff of coal ash?"
One after another, the pieces of coal burned out. By the time the last chunk turned to ash and drifted into A'yi's bottle, her house was repaired.
The coal's workmanship was a bit rough; on the wall blown apart by Li Banfeng, the patch marks were plainly visible.
A'yi wasn't picky. Calling out to Qiu Luoye, she said, "As long as you can live in it, right? What's the point of making it look so pretty? Wifey, let's go home!"
Li Banfeng inspected the house closely. "It's repaired quite well indeed. Let me blow it up again."
A'yi chuckled to Qiu Luoye, "Look at what a joker my brother is. The moment my house is fixed, he wants to blow it up."
Qiu Luoye said, "Why do you think he's joking?"
A'yi froze for a moment, seeing that Li Banfeng had already carried explosives upstairs.
A'yi hurried upstairs. "Brother, there's something I haven't taught you yet! In our technique, you must learn to rein it in and let it loose at will! Go blow up somewhere else!"
That night, A'yi earnestly taught Li Banfeng the essentials of reining it in and letting it loose: "The key to reining it in and letting it loose lies in the order of doing things. Big affairs aside, just take mundane trifles like eating, drinking, and relieving yourself—as long as you do them in the proper order, you can keep the madness under control. Cook before you eat, boil water before you drink, and check if anyone's inside before stepping into the privy. That is order. Don't look down on how simple it sounds; every single thing holds profound principle."
Li Banfeng pondered for a long time, still feeling the process was a bit abstract.
A'yi said impatiently, "Let me give you an example! How do you usually handle things with your wife?"
Li Banfeng puffed out his chest. "Do it! Then finish!"
A'yi spat at Li Banfeng. "Is that any way to treat a wife? She married you—how is she supposed to live with you going forward? There's great depth to this! Let me teach you step by step—"
When dawn broke the next day, Li Banfeng had learned the order of doing things, and his thoughts felt considerably clearer.
Yet once he sorted through the sequence piece by piece, Li Banfeng realized an important problem: "Sister, we're not truly sane. We're just pretending not to be mad."
A'yi laughed. "If you weren't mad, you couldn't have entered our Dao gate in the first place! And let me tell you, there's never been a shortage of madmen in this world. Everyone merely forces themselves to pretend they aren't mad in front of others; when they're alone, they're probably crazier than we are! You still have to keep learning the essentials of the Mad Cultivator Dao gate. If you've got nothing to do these next two days, just walk around the village with me."
Li Banfeng spent a few days touring the village with A'yi, and he discovered two things.
First, when the villagers of Hulu Village were alone, their state differed drastically from when they were in front of others.
Second, Hulu Village was massive—far larger than Li Banfeng had imagined.
Beyond the Gourd Head, Gourd Waist, and Gourd Belly, Hulu Village had also grown many small gourds, which formed coal mountains, ore mines, and countless woodlands and meadows.
A'yi warned, "Don't wander into these woods casually. I've gotten lost here before, too."
Li Banfeng shook his head. "You're worrying too much. I'm a Travel Cultivator above the clouds; how could I get lost in the woods?"
"Travel Cultivators think they're so special?" A'yi snorted. "Travel Cultivators can find their way because they remember directions and the paths they've walked before. But these woods change every day, and the bearings in Hulu Village shift every day too. It's nothing unusual for a Travel Cultivator to lose their way here."
A'yi led Li Banfeng into a patch of woods and carved the character 'Yi' onto a pine tree.
This was making a mark. Li Banfeng asked, "Is that to keep from getting lost?"
A'yi shook her head. "This pine was originally the edge of these woods. Now it isn't the edge anymore, which proves the tree's position has moved—or perhaps the woods themselves have grown."
"The woods grew?" Li Banfeng looked toward the depths of the forest. Amidst dense layers of fog, faint murmurs seemed audible.
A'yi said, "Land can grow. But this isn't a technique I developed—it's a technique from the Inner States. I've studied it for a long time and mastered seventy percent, but there's still thirty percent I haven't learned."
Li Banfeng asked, "Which thirty percent haven't you learned?"
A'yi scooped up a handful of earth and offered it to Li Banfeng. "Fresh soil stolen from the Inner States can also grow when brought to Hulu Village. But how to produce fresh soil that can grow—that I truly haven't learned."
Li Banfeng thought for a moment. "Then take some time to go to the Inner States and learn it again?"
A'yi smiled. "Funny you should say that; I happen to be free these couple of days. Brother, many prominent figures in Puluo Province have studied the Boundary for all these years, and they all believe the Boundary is the vital point used to manipulate Puluo Province. What do you think?"
Li Banfeng had thought about this question many times. "Actually, there are two vital points, and one is even more critical than the Boundary—"
"The greatest vital point is the newland!" He Jiaqing held a deck of playing cards, shuffling them.
He had played three games with Zuo Anna, and Zuo Anna hadn't won a single round.
Watching He Jiaqing's shuffling motion closely, Zuo Anna asked, "Why do you think the greatest vital point for Puluo Province is the newland, not the Boundary?"
He Jiaqing drew a Three of Spades from the deck. "This is a person from Puluo Province. First starting as a raw beginner, then becoming a Terrane Cultivator with the peddler's help. Under the peddler's unique system of rules, Puluo Province offers plenty of opportunities. No matter how humble his origins, as long as he seizes the opportunity, he can become a Ninth Layer Terrane Cultivator."
As he spoke, the card in He Jiaqing's hand transformed from the Three of Spades into the Nine of Spades. Without a single superfluous motion, the card transformed directly before Zuo Anna's eyes.
"Once reaching the Ninth Layer Terrane, a cultivator runs into an unavoidable problem. The cultivator must go to the Inner States to shed their mortal frame and undergo a massive transformation of both body and mind."
The card in He Jiaqing's hand changed from the Nine of Spades to the Ten of Diamonds. "This change is fatal—fatal to all of Puluo Province. This cultivator, raised and nurtured by Puluo Province, far from becoming Puluo Province's protector, falls under the Inner States' control instead and becomes military power for the Inner States to invade Puluo Province."
Zuo Anna took the Ten of Diamonds from He Jiaqing's hand and examined it carefully. "You state that too absolutely. As far as I know, not every Ninth Layer cultivator has to go to the Inner States to ascend to the Tenth Layer. Many people have skipped this step, including you. The peddler ought to know the method to bypass the Tenth Layer. If he were generous enough, he could popularize this method, which would solve this crucial problem."
He Jiaqing smiled. "You aren't from Puluo Province, and your primary enemy isn't the Shang State, but the Tufang State. That's why you've never thought deeply about this problem. There are many ways to bypass the Tenth Layer, but every method runs up against one inevitable issue: once you ascend above the clouds, you need territory to maintain your status and gather human presence. This means all ascenders who bypass the Tenth Layer must either seize land from existing local spirits or stumble upon unclaimed land. The latter is a low-probability event not worth discussing, while seizing land from existing local spirits simply isn't something an ordinary cultivator can achieve."
Fingering the card in her hand, Zuo Anna nodded slightly. "What you say is true. The newland is an inescapable constraint for Puluo Province. Yet as far as I know, many local spirits who returned from the Inner States still maintain their hostility toward the Shang State and remain loyal to Puluo Province."
He Jiaqing shook his head. "That's merely an emotional display. They suffered abuse in the Shang State, so expecting them to constantly cherish goodwill toward the Inner States is naturally difficult. But if the Shang State changes its tactics—if they pull out the covenant deeds to all the newlands and threaten the local spirits' lives to make them jointly carry out a mission—do you think they would refuse?"
With a wave of He Jiaqing's hand, the card in Zuo Anna's hand turned from the Ten of Diamonds into the Ten of Hearts. "At that moment, they will not refuse. They will become Shang State people through and through. And these people are the true elites of Puluo Province. It is because Puluo Province cannot provide these elites with the essential conditions for growth that we've ended up in today's predicament."
Zuo Anna placed the card on the table and nodded slightly. "Is this why you want to go to Chaoge again to steal covenant deeds?"
He Jiaqing gathered up the cards. "You can understand it as my personal ambition, but this truly is fighting for a chance for Puluo Province!"
Zuo Anna nodded. "I can deliver you to Chaoge."
"That's far from enough. The situation in Chaoge is no longer what it was before. Wenyuan Pavilion has surely tightened its guard, and it's even possible the covenant deeds are no longer in Wenyuan Pavilion, having been transferred elsewhere. I need your cooperation and assistance. I need intelligence on Chaoge, not just a simple ride."
Zuo Anna pondered for a long time. "If that is the case, we must take on greater risks and commit more resources. I'm afraid this assistance won't come without a price."
He Jiaqing spread the cards out before Zuo Anna. "Pick a few cards and give me a list. I can hand over the covenant deeds of some local spirits to you."
Zuo Anna calculated for a long time before drawing three cards. "This is my asking price. As for the specific list, I'll inform you once I've consulted my superiors."
***
Bo City, Shang State.
Bo City, originally named the Bo Capital, was the oldest capital of the Shang State. Though its architecture was ancient and its population not particularly large, the scale of this city was even grander than Chaoge.
The city still retained the Shang capital layout of nine successive gates. Beyond the ninth gate stood an enormous circular altar, where Qiao Yi was presiding over a sacrificial rite.
This sacrificial rite was different from past ones. Previously, rites typically lasted only three days, but this one was to continue for ten full days without the slightest interruption. At this moment, Qiao Yi remained awake while Xie Gong and Zhu Jin slept; the three took turns rotating, keeping the sacrificial rite running smoothly for seven days.
At the center of the altar, soil gushed forth from time to time. Leading his subordinates, the master of ceremonies chanted prayers, presented offerings, and then performed songs and dances, bestowing the offerings upon the assembled ministers attending the rite.
The same process had to be repeated uninterruptedly. The master of ceremonies had three heads as well, but his workload was far heavier than Qiao Yi's; he was on the verge of collapse.
The soil at the center of the altar piled up into a small hill. The master of ceremonies had no idea what Qiao Yi needed so much seed soil for. Clinging on through elixirs for three agonizing days, the sacrificial rite finally concluded. Leading his subordinates, the master of ceremonies turned the altar's soil over to Qiao Yi.
Qiao Yi inspected the quality of the soil and ordered men to transport it to the Mushou Garden at the eighth city gate.
Mushou Garden was originally a royal hunting and grazing park. The Mushou Garden in Bo City was rather special: it connected to an entrance leading into Puluo Province—a randomized entrance.
The soil newly generated on the altar was called "seed soil." After a certain degree of processing and treatment in Mushou Garden, it was to be dropped directly through the entrance into Puluo Province.
This seed soil would grow rapidly in Puluo Province, which was the process by which a newland was born. Previously, the processing and handling of seed soil had always been overseen by Luo Yanjun. But now, with the Luo family in a delicate situation, this crucial task had been entrusted by Qiao Yi to his trusted aide, Yang Yueze.
This work had to be done swiftly. Once the seed soil left the altar, it had to be cast into Puluo Province within five hours, or else it would lose its vitality.
After two hours, Yang Yueze let out a long cry and shook his horns, signaling that his task was complete and the seed soil had already been cast into Puluo Province.
The ministers all found Yang Yueze clean and brisk in his work, offering him praise one after another.
In truth, Yang Yueze had done only half the job. The seed soil had been processed, but not cast into Puluo Province. Instead, he distributed the seed soil to thirteen local spirits preparing to take office, awaiting Qiao Yi's orders.
Once the ministers departed Mushou Garden to prepare for their return to Chaoge, Qiao Yi went up into the pavilion and laid out assignments for these thirteen local spirits.
"When the Great Shang enfeoffs Chiefs of a Hundred Li, it has always been enfeoffment upon formed land. Today, this old man risks death to break precedent and grant you gentlemen enfeoffment with carried land."
When Qiao Yi spoke these words, Yang Yueze trembled just listening.
"Enfeoffment upon formed land" referred to forming the land first, then having each local spirit take their covenant deed to assume office in the newland—this was the Shang State's standard convention.
"Enfeoffment with carried land" meant having local spirits carry the seed soil to Puluo Province to scatter it themselves, assuming office as local spirits directly once the newland took shape.
For the Shang State, enfeoffment with carried land was extraordinarily risky, because no one could guarantee where these local spirits might take the seed soil or whom they might give it to.
Yet enfeoffment with carried land was not without precedent. The Beggar Cultivator Gouweicao was a newland local spirit enfeoffed with carried land; the reason he had been permitted this was to monitor Lühuazi.
Under enfeoffment upon formed land, the seed soil was cast directly into Puluo Province. The entrance at Mushou Garden was peculiar: once the soil passed through, the drop location was entirely random, meaning the Shang State had no idea where the newland would actually form.
Under enfeoffment with carried land, however, the enfeoffed individual chose where to scatter the soil. Gouweicao had arranged his newland right next to Lüshui Bay, allowing him to carry out his mission of monitoring Lühuazi effectively.
Such was the original design, but the outcome fell short of expectations. Beside Lühuazi, Gouweicao's newland was gradually eaten away to nothing, he nearly lost his status, and under Lühuazi's coercion, he ended up acting as a hired thug—ultimately dying at Li Banfeng's hands.
Now Qiao Yi was having thirteen local spirits receive enfeoffment with carried land together for a single reason: he wanted these thirteen pieces of land joined together.
After the theft of the covenant deeds, Qiao Yi had reached a conclusion: He Jiaqing's reasoning was viable. If thirteen newlands were joined together and placed under the command of one person to be reclaimed into formal territory, an empire could be established within Puluo Province.
Of course, such words could not be spoken openly, and these thirteen local spirits had to be meticulously selected.
The thirteen men Qiao Yi had chosen had suffered every manner of torment in the Shang State and no longer saw themselves as human beings. In normal times, if any Shang citizen merely smiled at them, they would be filled with boundless gratitude, even willing to lay down their lives in devotion.
Now that Qiao Yi was granting them enfeoffment with carried land, it was a monumental favor beyond anything they could have dreamed of in this lifetime.
With little time remaining, Qiao Yi summoned the most loyal of the thirteen: "Liu Bufei! Today I confer upon you the title of General of Valiant Might, to lead the twelve Chiefs of a Hundred Li, suppress rebellion, purge traitors, and defend the realm!"
Liu Bufei dropped to his knees, kowtowing loudly against the floor.
The other twelve local spirits were each bestowed lesser general titles as well. They kowtowed along with Liu Bufei, their foreheads bleeding, unable to stop.
Qiao Yi ordered wine prepared to see them off. Once the thirteen local spirits were sent on their way, the utterly exhausted Qiao Yi returned to his manor and fell fast asleep.
The moment he fell asleep, Xie Gong woke up shortly after. This was a unique resonance between the three of them—the three could not sleep at the same time.
Xie Gong carefully sensed the condition of Qiao Yi and Zhu Jin; both were sleeping deeply.
After resting a moment, Xie Gong walked out of the manor and took his men for a stroll around the perimeter. Upon learning that the ministers who attended the sacrificial rite were already on their way back to Chaoge, Xie Gong felt something was amiss.
After ten whole days of sacrifice, they were still delaying their departure—had Qiao Yi done something?
Xie Gong looked into the mirror at Qiao Yi's face. The fast-asleep Qiao Yi felt increasingly unfamiliar to him.
Beside the mirror, a spider scuttled quickly past.
Xie Gong was about to crush the spider when he suddenly heard someone report that the carriages and boats were ready, asking whether Xie Gong would set out for Chaoge.
Leave, or stay?
Xie Gong wanted to remain in Bo City to investigate further, but feared arousing Qiao Yi's suspicion.
Amidst his indecision, the spider had already scurried far away.
Chapter 709