Li Banfeng practiced with the iron ruler for two hours, feeling as though he had gained some proficiency.
The gramophone urged him on repeatedly as well. "Husband, a real man aims far and wide! Why keep dawdling at home? Hurry up and go out to buy groceries!"
Did going out to buy groceries make someone a real man?
Li Banfeng clicked open his pocket watch. It was already ten o'clock; it really was time to go out and look around.
Returning to the Yu Family Stronghold, Li Banfeng first visited Old Zhu for lunch, then decided to take a stroll in the newland.
A journey cultivator had to walk fifty li every day. Though he had traveled quite far yesterday and exceeded his quota—banking time, as cultivation jargon called it—even with time to spare, it shouldn't be squandered on his daily cultivation.
Unable to dissuade Li Banfeng, Old Zhu could only lay out the taboos of the newland: "Boss Li, don't chop trees, don't pull up grass, and don't harm the birds and beasts in the woods. Don't eat the forest fruit, and don't drink the forest water. If you run into people you can't see through or things you can't figure out, come straight back. You walked a path once when you came to the newland—try to stick to that same route, and by all means be extra careful."
The advice was worth heeding, but retracing the original path was out of the question; pacing back and forth along the same route would not help cultivate his progress.
Relying on the journey cultivator's art of seeking good fortune and avoiding calamity, Li Banfeng tried his best to head toward places that weren't too perilous.
Yet in the newland, places free of peril were few and far between.
Within three li of the Yu Family Stronghold, the going was fairly smooth.
Beyond that three-li range, Li Banfeng repeatedly sensed danger closing in. Goosebumps rose layer upon layer, and every couple of steps he couldn't help but shiver. His art of seeking good fortune and avoiding calamity continuously sounded the alarm.
After walking nearly ten li, Li Banfeng realized he had completed enough of his basic cultivation for the day.
Why not head back now?
Heading back it was. A stroll after lunch, then returning for an afternoon nap—a thoroughly reasonable schedule.
Li Banfeng turned around, preparing to retrace his steps, when suddenly a voice spoke from a tree:
"Brother, is that you!"
Whose voice was that?
He Jiaqing?
Li Banfeng quietly raised his head.
He saw a finger-thick, nearly transparent thread hanging down from the tree.
Following the thread upward, Li Banfeng spotted an enormous "bamboo basket" slowly gliding down along the strand.
Was that a bamboo basket?
It was pitch-black and airtight, seemingly woven from twigs, covered all over with leaves that sealed every gap.
The basket's opening pointed straight down, positioned directly above Li Banfeng's head.
The thread entered through the opening, pierced through the top of the basket, and anchored itself to the tree.
A man's voice came from inside the basket: "Brother, you're finally here."
Hearing the voice the first time, Li Banfeng had felt a stir, thinking he had run into He Jiaqing.
Hearing it again, Li Banfeng realized the voice differed significantly from He Jiaqing's; only because the speaker was muffled inside the "basket" did it sound deep and slightly resemble He Jiaqing's raspy tone.
Looking at the basket, Li Banfeng sensed no danger whatsoever. Calmly, he asked, "Why do you call me brother? Have you mistaken me for someone else?"
The basket halted midair. After a short pause, another voice drifted out: "Child, is that you?"
The voice was hoarse and gentle, like that of an elderly, white-haired mother.
Li Banfeng was adept at imitating female voices, but this time, he couldn't detect the slightest hint of mimicry.
Was there another person inside the basket?
Although he still sensed no danger, Li Banfeng decided to leave immediately.
He hadn't forgotten the carriage driver's warning: if the other party was of a higher tier than himself, he might not sense their malice.
Li Banfeng had only taken a single step forward when threads suddenly shot out from the basket, wrapping around his legs.
Tripped by the thread, Li Banfeng fell flat on his back.
He tried thrashing twice, but the thread was exceedingly tough; his legs couldn't break free.
Li Banfeng didn't rashly use his hands to pull at the thread. If his hands were trapped as well, any chance of escape would be gone.
He thrust both hands into his pockets at once, his right hand first pulling out a Mandarin Duck Axe.
A peculiar weapon formed by two intersecting crescents, its edges were razor-sharp.
Yet Li Banfeng tried several times, and the blade of the axe couldn't sever the thread.
The massive basket sank lower, quivering slowly.
Yet another voice came from inside the "basket," tender and delicate: "Husband, you've come?"
It was the voice of a young woman, still without the slightest trace of imitation.
"You really have the wrong person," Li Banfeng answered calmly, stowing the Mandarin Duck Axe at once and drawing the iron ruler.
The iron ruler had no cutting edge, but its sharp tip was lethal.
The basket kept descending, swaying more and more violently.
A human face slowly emerged at the opening of the basket. It was the face of a young woman with delicate features; a thread as thick as a finger emerged between her lips, trailing all the way down.
So the thread came from her mouth.
This reminded Li Banfeng of a peculiar worm—one that suspended itself from trees using silk threads. What was that insect called again? Seemed like it was a bagworm moth.
Could this woman be a bagworm moth?
A single thread ran straight through her body. One exit was her mouth; where was the other? And what was this basket?
It was the cocoon of a bagworm moth!
The cocoon continued its slow approach. Writhing, the human face crawled out of the cocoon bit by bit.
Long black hair tumbled down onto Li Banfeng's face. The woman with exquisite features looked down at him, silk in her mouth, asking in a muffled voice, "Did I guess wrong all three times?"
"Yes, wrong every time." Li Banfeng smoothed his brow, allowed a faint smile to show, and gripped the iron ruler tight in his right hand, thrusting it straight at the face.
A journey cultivator was fast, and having left the residence not long ago, Li Banfeng was at the peak of his physical vigor.
The thrust was both swift and accurate. Just as the sharp tip of the iron ruler was about to pierce the space between her eyebrows, another strand of insect silk shot out from the basket and wrapped around Li Banfeng's arm.
More silk?
Where did this strand come from?
The cocoon swung back and forth in wider and wider arcs as a human head with short hair struggled out of the opening.
Thick brows, large eyes, heavy lips—it was a sharply chiseled man. With silk in his mouth, he stared down at Li Banfeng and asked, "Really wrong every time?"
"I'm not lying to you. All wrong." Li Banfeng drew his left hand from his pocket.
Before he could open his palm, yet another strand of insect silk wound tightly around his entire left arm.
Inside the cocoon, a head of snow-white hair jostled past the other two heads, clenching a silk thread in its teeth as it forced its way out. It was a wrinkled old woman.
Were three worms crammed into a single cocoon? Or was it one worm with three heads?
The old woman, completely toothless, held the silk in her mouth and grinned at Li Banfeng. "I guessed wrong. Now it's your turn. Guess who I am?"
Li Banfeng blinked and asked, "What if I guess wrong?"
The woman answered, "Then we eat you."
Li Banfeng asked again, "And what if I guess right?"
The man answered, "Then you live with us."
Damn it, neither option left a way out!
Li Banfeng poured all his strength into his left hand, struggling with everything he had.
Clamping onto the silk, the old woman pulled it tighter and tighter.
"What are you clutching in your hand? It must be something fun! Let me see, hurry up and let me see! Hehehe..." Biting the silk, the old woman let out a bizarre laugh.
Under the tug of the silk, Li Banfeng's left hand slowly opened.
It wasn't his key inside, but a glove, and resting on the glove was a rust-red pill.
The old woman tried to wrap the silk around the pill. The instant the silk touched the rust pill, rust rapidly spread along the thread.
It spread so fast that even Li Banfeng was astonished—faster even than the rust pill had corroded the iron cigarette case.
The rust pill countered insect silk so effectively?
What an unexpected boon.
The silk binding his left arm soon rusted through and snapped. Gripping the rust pill, Li Banfeng quickly rolled it across his body. Rust spots spread over all the silk threads, and the tough fibers quickly turned brittle. Li Banfeng broke free in no time.
The three heads in the cocoon bit through their own silk threads as well. They had no choice; the rust was creeping along the strands, nearly crawling into their mouths.
Spitting fresh silk, the three heads lunged at Li Banfeng together.
Prepared this time, Li Banfeng rolled across the ground to dodge the silk, then whipped around and drove the iron ruler into the man's temple.
The man wailed in agony, and the other two heads felt the pain as well, shrieking along with him.
Li Banfeng raised his hand again and tossed the rust pill straight into the cocoon.
The expressions of all three heads twisted simultaneously. Overwhelmed by unbearable agony, they pulled back into the cocoon together.
Before long, the young woman poked her head out of the cocoon again, her handsome face mottled with rust.
For a fleeting moment, Li Banfeng truly wanted to haul the cocoon into the Portable Abode, feed its soul to his wife, and see what kind of thing the bronze lotus could refine from the corpse.
But after a brief hesitation, Li Banfeng left. He still had no idea what state these three worms were actually in; if the rust pill failed to subdue them, he might very well end up staying behind to keep them company.
So this was the newland. Li Banfeng finally understood why five out of six people had died after a single night of wasteland clearing!
Li Banfeng thought no more of it and ran with all his might toward the Yu Family Stronghold.
As he reached the base of an enormous banyan tree, the canopy suddenly quivered, and another mass of silk came plummeting down before his eyes.
Li Banfeng recoiled at top speed, dodging the silk as cold sweat broke out all over. Had those three worms caught up? Had the rust pill stopped working?
From above the canopy came a woman's voice—neither the old woman's nor the young bride's.
"My children only wanted to play with you for a while. Why did you hurt them?"
The face of a middle-aged woman poked out from the canopy.
Was this the mother of those three worms?
Rustle, rustle, rustle!
Dense leaves rustled as a colossal body slithered among the foliage. Li Banfeng shifted direction, intending to skirt around the tree.
Boom!
With a dull crash, the woman dropped from the tree.
She had a human face and a human head. But she had no neck; behind the head was an obese, bloated, emerald-green body. It was a green worm, resting on the ground, towering high over Li Banfeng.
"Don't go. Stay, and become my child."
Ripples cascaded across the worm's body as it crawled toward Li Banfeng.
Chapter 71