The peddler held a rolled cigarette between his teeth, speaking with bitter resentment. "The Inner States stir up trouble in Puluo Province every other day. Ever since Qiao Yi took control of the imperial court, his methods have grown increasingly venomous."
Li Banfeng spat a bit of tobacco residue. "Take that raw deal from last time—I still get furious just thinking about it! Even blowing up his altar didn't cool my anger!"
Speaking of this, the peddler ground his teeth as well. "They come to Puluo Province and do their dirty deeds. If they succeed, they make a fortune; if they fail, they act like it never happened! They bank on the fact that I'm running all over the place with no time to retaliate. Those bastards are getting more brazen by the day!"
Li Banfeng gnashed his teeth too. "Every one of those bastards deserves to die. We ought to burn all their houses down!"
The peddler nodded in deep agreement. "So you see, other people's houses can be burned down too."
Li Banfeng agreed whole-heartedly. "An altar is a building too. Didn't I just burn one down?"
"Well done," the peddler said, looking up at the sky. "Actually, I have a house above Hulu Village too. It isn't very big, but the craftsmanship is quite good. I was thinking—"
Li Banfeng whipped out a lighter.
The peddler abruptly turned to him. "I was thinking of giving this house to you! What are you doing with that lighter?"
Li Banfeng looked at the flame on the lighter and explained, "Uh, well... I was just going to light another cigarette for you."
The peddler confiscated the lighter and took Li Banfeng up onto a cloud. The cloud was fairly large. On it stood a patch of woods and a brook. At the end of the brook was a water well, and beside the well stood a three-story wooden house.
It wasn't a multi-story wooden building, but rather composed purely of wooden cabins. The first floor had five cabins—two large and three small; the second floor had three cabins—one large and two small; and the third floor had two rooms—one large and one small.
Though connected to one another, the ten cabins varied in architectural style. Even without any knowledge of construction craft, Li Banfeng could tell they were not built by the same hand.
"These cabins are patched together, aren't they? Some look like hunter shacks, some like farm cottages, some like rouge shops. And it's way too bare inside—no furniture is bad enough, but there isn't even any bedding! Look at these windows, how long has it been since anyone wiped them—"
"If you don't want it, forget it!" the peddler snapped in exasperation.
"I want it!" Li Banfeng agreed without hesitation. "Where are the keys? Are there property deeds?"
There was a large ring of keys and ten property deeds. The peddler handed them all to Li Banfeng, then signed a separate covenant deed, sprinkling blood onto both the deed and the cloud.
Li Banfeng asked, "Is there something special about this deed?"
"This is a land deed. Some call it a cloud deed, but I think 'land deed' fits better. The process isn't much different from claiming land during reclamation."
Li Banfeng had made a cloud in the Inner States before, but he had never signed a deed like this. Examining the land deed carefully, he asked, "Is this cloud yours or your wife's? Don't have some sister-in-law show up later to settle scores with me."
"What kind of talk is that! If I can give you a house, it's naturally my own."
"Aren't you a ground cultivator? Can you use Cloud Gate techniques?"
The peddler replied, "I told you before that I can't use the Cloud Gate methods designed for above the clouds, but the ground has its own ground methods! Otherwise, why would they be called boundless techniques?"
"Are there Cloud Gate techniques beyond above the clouds too?"
The peddler shook his head. "None discovered yet. Perhaps someone will create them in the future. Puluo Province has survived to this day because of change. As long as change continues, we won't have to worry about failing to defeat the Inner States."
Li Banfeng stood at the edge of the clouds and gazed into the distance. From such a height, he still couldn't see the end of Hulu Village. "It seems Qiao Yi has quite a few variables up his sleeve as well."
The peddler nodded. "His variables are concentrated in the newland. Now that you've blown up his altar, he probably won't be able to play those cards anytime soon."
"Variables concentrated in the newland?" Li Banfeng hadn't heard of this yet.
The peddler took out a map and handed it to Li Banfeng. "The dozen or so newlands marked here were all created from a single sacrificial rite. Through enfeoffment with carried land, Qiao Yi consecrated thirteen local spirits all at once. These thirteen territories are linked together, forming the embryonic shape of a future empire."
Li Banfeng was no stranger to such methods; He Jiaqing had harbored similar ambitions.
"I'll go have a chat with these thirteen local spirits." Li Banfeng put away the map and was about to set off, but the peddler stopped him.
"You can't do this. It's dirty work. If something goes wrong, your situation will become extremely difficult."
"Are you planning to let Critic do it?"
"Critic isn't suitable either. I've handed this over to He Jiaqing."
Li Banfeng was somewhat concerned. "He Jiaqing wants to become emperor. Aren't you worried?"
"I am worried. But Puluo Province needs change. We have to give a chance to those who seek change. As for how to keep him in check, we'll have to figure that out. I'm telling you this so you'll be on your guard."
The two descended from the cloud. The peddler took a chest and handed it to A'yi. "Here is your payment. Look closely—it's a double portion."
A'yi opened the chest, took a look, and showed a satisfied smile.
Li Banfeng wanted to know what was inside, but A'yi snapped the lid shut, refusing to let him see.
The peddler said, "No need for the tedious formalities of the Inner States. As long as it generates soil, consider it done. The sooner this job is finished, the better."
The peddler left. Li Banfeng was also preparing to leave Hulu Village when A'yi called out, "Xiaoyu, don't be in such a hurry to leave. Big Sister was a bit too heavy-handed the other day. Let me teach you another technique to make up for it."
Hearing this, Li Banfeng was delighted. "What technique?"
A'yi opened a powder box. "Hold out your hand first."
Li Banfeng held out his right hand. A'yi grabbed a handful of medicinal powder and smeared it all over his face.
Li Banfeng's cheeks stung so fiercely they twitched. "Why did you tell me to hold out my hand?"
A'yi asked solemnly, "Do you think your right hand is crazy?"
Li Banfeng looked at his right hand. "Let me ask it."
After asking, Li Banfeng said, "My right hand says it isn't crazy."
A'yi brought over a wooden box. "Madmen always think they aren't mad. You don't find this out by asking; you test for it. Reach into this box and grab something."
Li Banfeng inspected the wooden box closely. It was square and plain, showing nothing unusual from the outside.
There was an opening on the top. Li Banfeng reached in and pulled out a sachet.
The sachet was slightly larger than a quail egg, made of satin embroidered with a dragon and phoenix auspicious design, and crafted with great exquisite detail.
Li Banfeng sniffed the fragrance—it was rich and thick. Before he could figure out what was special about it, the sachet suddenly burst into flames in his hand.
Li Banfeng quickly pulled back his hand and tossed the sachet aside. The flames flared up violently, nearly scorching his clothes.
A'yi opened the box; inside were over twenty sachets. "Only one of these sachets is crazy, and you picked the crazy one."
Li Banfeng looked at A'yi, skeptical of her claim.
He was a Travel Cultivator of the third layer above the clouds, and his Seeking Fortune and Avoiding Calamity technique had been guided by an expert. It was impossible for him to willingly plunge into danger.
A'yi smiled. "If you don't believe me, I'll drive another sachet mad and let you try again."
Li Banfeng suspected that every sachet in the box was crazy. He inspected every single one. He was a practitioner of the Mad Cultivator path; if there was truly anything abnormal about the sachets, he would surely sense it.
There was nothing abnormal about them. Li Banfeng kept his eyes fixed on A'yi to see how she would cast her technique.
A'yi put the sachets back into the box and, right in front of Li Banfeng, used the technique of Mad Domineering. "Another sachet is mad. If you can avoid it, that'll show real skill."
Li Banfeng reached in to touch the sachets. As his fingertips grazed them, he could already sense an aura of madness.
This aura of madness was extremely faint and concealed. For Li Banfeng, picking out the mad sachet in a short time would be very difficult, but avoiding it was far easier.
He quickly selected a sachet. But the moment he opened his palm, the sachet had already caught fire.
This defied all logic. Li Banfeng had sensed the aura of madness and used Seeking Fortune and Avoiding Calamity, yet out of more than twenty sachets, he had chosen the most dangerous one!
He shook the burning sachet from his palm. But in making a slightly wider motion, he brushed against a bamboo basket by the window.
A green snake sprang out of the basket and lunged to bite his arm.
Li Banfeng quickly jerked his hand back, and in doing so triggered a mechanism. A feathered arrow dropped from above, nearly piercing his skull.
A'yi chuckled as she watched Li Banfeng parry and dodge. After fending off a succession of traps, Li Banfeng realized one thing: if he fought A'yi inside this room, he had almost zero chance of winning.
"Are you a Dwelling Cultivator?" Li Banfeng asked her earnestly.
A'yi shook her head. "I'm not a Dwelling Cultivator. The reason you ended up in such a wretched state just now is that your right hand was hit by a Mad Cultivator technique—Regret Over Meeting Late.
"Every madman is a kindred spirit to another madman. When madmen meet, they hit it off instantly. There are a hundred and eighteen objects in this room that are mad. If I hadn't retracted the technique, your right hand would have visited every single one of those hundred and eighteen objects."
Li Banfeng pondered for a moment and recalled the first-class weapon, the stone monster.
"That stone monster is living so happily in Hulu Village not because he truly loves singing and dancing, but because he was struck by the Regret Over Meeting Late technique and fell in love with the villagers?"
A'yi glanced out the window. The stone monster, wearing a beard of long corn silk, was dancing while tilling the cornfield.
"He's a bit special. He was indeed struck by Regret Over Meeting Late, but he genuinely loves dancing as well. In the altar, he was just a stone, sitting there through a hundred years of wind and rain. Unless an opportunity to strike arose, he couldn't even move an inch. He loves dancing so much probably to make up for all the years he missed."
While Li Banfeng was still pondering how to apply Regret Over Meeting Late, A'yi looked at him affectionately and said softly, "Xiaoyu, out of all the villagers in Hulu Village, each person at most learns one technique from me. You're the only one so far to learn two. We sisters missed out on so much in the past, and Big Sister wants to make it up to you. Let bygones be bygones. Don't hold grudges against Big Sister anymore."
Li Banfeng sniffled a couple of times, grievance welling up so strongly it seemed tears would fall at any second. "There are some things I won't ever forget in this lifetime. Two techniques can't make up for them. Three or five might just do it."
A'yi poked him with a finger. "You greedy girl! You haven't even learned Regret Over Meeting Late yet, and you're already asking for other techniques?"
Li Banfeng was full of confidence. "I think I've pretty much learned it."
"Even if you've mastered the essentials, do you know how to use it in battle? I always use it in tandem with Artisan Cultivator techniques."
What A'yi said was true; her demonstration just now had centered around the mechanisms filling this room.
"The essence of the Artisan Cultivator lies in deployment. People speak of the 'Artisan's Hundred Blades,' but that refers to an Artisan Cultivator who is fully prepared. When caught off guard, an Artisan Cultivator would be lucky to pull out ten weapons, and whether those ten weapons can trick the opponent into taking the bait is another matter entirely.
"Years ago, there was a senior Artisan Cultivator who was exceptionally skilled at setting traps. When he dug a pitfall in the ground, even I might not have been able to tell whether it was real or fake. But no matter how well a trap is made, if the enemy simply doesn't step into it, you're helpless. That senior encountered a Travel Cultivator named Che Wushang. That man had little other capability, but he had honed Seeking Fortune and Avoiding Calamity to the absolute peak. He evaded every trap and gravely injured that senior Artisan Cultivator.
"That senior was a grand leader among Artisan Cultivators, yet he was defeated by someone like Che Wushang. After that battle, he became the laughingstock of the Artisan Cultivators and died in melancholy not long after.
"From that day on, I thought about creating a technique that would make enemies walk right into the traps themselves. That is the origin of Regret Over Meeting Late.
"Xiaoyu, you don't know Artisan Cultivator techniques. How to use this technique is something you'll have to ponder carefully on your own."
Li Banfeng wasn't worried in the slightest.
He indeed didn't know Artisan Cultivator techniques, but that didn't mean he couldn't lay traps. All things had spirit, and anything with spirit could become a friend.
"Little Sister, stay with Big Sister for two more days. Study the technique well, and we can catch up on old times."
"All right!" Li Banfeng agreed readily. "Big Sister, could you give me some more explosives?"
A'yi's face darkened. "You want to blow up my house again?"
"No, no, just keeping them for an emergency."
A'yi thought about it and agreed, but she still made Li Banfeng sign a covenant deed promising not to blow up her house or her village.
Li Banfeng glanced out the window. "Brother Qiu has been working pretty hard these days. You don't have that many clothes, so stop making him wash them all the time."
A'yi's face darkened even further. "He's my wife! Why are you always obsessing over him? I could tell at a glance, you little flirt, you're up to no good!"
***
On the newland, the local spirit Xin Rushuang was patrolling her territory.
Recently, some anomalous creatures had settled on her land without signing a deed or stating their origins, which made Xin Rushuang uneasy.
Such ignorant anomalous creatures could be found on any territory. A short-tempered local spirit might drive them away or even kill them, while a gentler one might turn a blind eye, allowing them to stay without granting them cultivation.
Ahead, a hedgehog and a snake lay curled together, sleeping. From their builds, their cultivations were around the fifth layer of the ground—already a rare sight among anomalous creatures.
When encountering such creatures, a local spirit ought to negotiate and persuade them to sign a deed; whether for land reclamation assessments or territorial battles with other spirits, they would make two fierce generals.
Yet for Xin Rushuang, managing territory wasn't something she needed to consider.
She was one of the thirteen local spirits enfeoffed with carried land; many matters of the territory were to be handled by Liu Bufei.
What she needed to do right now was kill these two creatures of unknown origin, freeze them solid, shatter them into minced meat, and bury them without leaving a trace.
She was a Cold Cultivator. Before casting a technique, she was accustomed to pointing her right index finger at the target, which helped her focus her mind and ensured the technique hit accurately.
She raised her right hand, intending to point at the hedgehog and the snake, but for some reason, she couldn't extend her index finger.
The finger felt as if the tendon had been plucked out; it couldn't muster any strength.
Xin Rushuang knew she had encountered a ruthless opponent. Her body rapidly iced over, encasing herself from head to toe in a layer of ice armor.
Being encased in ice armor didn't hinder her movements. She quickly turned around, trying to locate the ambusher.
On the open wasteland, there was nowhere to hide, yet after searching for a long time, Xin Rushuang found no attacker. Instead, she felt a burning heat in her right leg.
Was she burned by fire?
No, Xin Rushuang knew this feeling intimately. Severe frostbite brought a burning agony. Her right leg was frostbitten.
She was a Cold Cultivator—how could she be harmed by ice?
She soon understood the reason: someone had repeatedly stacked the exact same technique upon hers until her right leg was injured.
Who possessed such formidable skill to repeatedly apply the same technique onto a single leg?
Xin Rushuang had seen many Cold Cultivators, and not even masters of the second layer above the clouds could necessarily pull this off.
There was no use overthinking it; her right leg was about to be ruined, and she had to break the technique immediately.
Fearing her technique was being controlled, Xin Rushuang instantly canceled the Ice Armor technique and struggled to thaw her right leg.
Hiding beneath the soil, He Jiaqing quietly observed Xin Rushuang.
Stealing her hand tendon was to prevent her from counterattacking and seize the opportunity to steal her Cold Cultivator technique.
Freezing her right leg was to restrict her movement and force her to dispel the ice armor on her own.
Next, He Jiaqing intended to steal her heart and liver. Xin Rushuang would have neither the ability to counterattack nor the chance to flee.
Just as He Jiaqing was about to strike, a massive character for "RETREAT" suddenly appeared before him.
"What insolent gall!" Shu Wanjuan's voice resonated across the wasteland. Datou, hiding in the distance, prepared to come out to support him, but He Jiaqing signaled him not to approach.
The terror from his previous encounter with Shu Wanjuan was still vivid in his memory. He Jiaqing shrank beneath the soil, not daring to move a muscle.
"For Old Mother Ku's sake, I spare your life. Scram!"
The gigantic "RETREAT" character surged rapidly toward He Jiaqing. He Jiaqing drilled out of the dirt and quickly fled Xin Rushuang's territory with Datou.
Xin Rushuang wanted to give chase, but Shu Wanjuan suddenly appeared and blocked her path.
Recognizing Shu Wanjuan, Xin Rushuang hurried to kneel and pay her respects. "Lord Marquis!"
Shu Wanjuan asked, "Where is Liu Bufei?"
Xin Rushuang kept her head bowed. "Reporting to Lord Marquis, he should be in his own territory."
"Are all thirteen local spirits enfeoffed with carried land in their respective territories?"
Xin Rushuang shook her head. "This subordinate does not know."
"Do you not meet under normal circumstances?"
"General Fenwu gave orders that without his command, we are not to meet, lest we arouse suspicion."
Shu Wanjuan frowned slightly. "Take me to see him."
Walking across the newland, Shu Wanjuan noticed some clues.
Across these thirteen territories, more than one local spirit had already died.
***
Fleeing into the distance, He Jiaqing looked back toward Xin Rushuang's territory.
Datou was panting heavily, only catching his breath after a good while. "Who was that just now? A Scholar Cultivator?"
He Jiaqing nodded. "A Scholar Cultivator. The founding patriarch of the Scholar Cultivators."
Datou was astonished. "To escape with our lives from someone like that is truly not easy."
"It wasn't easy," He Jiaqing agreed, though he also found it strange. "But why did we manage to escape with our lives?"
Datou said, "He said it was out of respect for Granny Ku."
"Impossible. Granny Ku doesn't carry that much weight." He Jiaqing concluded there had to be another reason.
***
Li Banfeng packed his things, said goodbye to Qiu Luoye, and left Hulu Village.
A'yi accompanied him all the way to the village entrance, reluctant to part. "Little Sister, while Big Sister isn't by your side, take good care of yourself. Even though you became someone's concubine, you shouldn't take too much abuse. If they bully you too badly, come find Big Sister, and Big Sister will stand up for you."
"Big Sister is truly good to me," Li Banfeng said, looking at A'yi with a serious expression. "Actually, you know I'm not your sister, don't you?"
A'yi touched Li Banfeng's face and suddenly smiled. "The principle of our path is this: never hold back on what you don't want to do, and never hesitate on what you do want to do. You don't have Xiaoyu's terrible temper, and I don't owe you so much guilt. Having you as my sister—isn't that way better than Xiaoyu?"
Li Banfeng felt that made a lot of sense.
Walking out of the village entrance, Li Banfeng heard A'yi's singing again:
"Oh, big brother~ The rhododendrons on the mountain are in bloom~ Walk a little slower, big brother~ Pick another flower for your little sister~"
Not long after leaving Hulu Village, Li Banfeng received a phone call from Luo Zhengnan. "Seventh Master, disaster has struck! Juanzi and the others have vanished, Qiao Yi is about to arrive, and Qiu Zhiheng is going mad—"
Li Banfeng rushed to Santoucha. When he arrived at the new monarch's residence, Qiu Zhiheng hung his head and said, "Old Seven, I've failed you. Punish me however you see fit; I won't say a word."
Zhong'er brought Juanzi, Mengzi, and Xiaoshan before Li Banfeng. Lian Buda stood to the side, his face flushed crimson. Without a word needed, the situation was crystal clear.
Li Banfeng looked at Juanzi and the other two, nodding slightly. "This is pretty good too."
Lian Buda smiled.
Qiu Zhiheng was stunned.
"Old Seven, Qiao Yi is on his way. How are we going to account to him when he gets here?"
"Who does he think he is? What do I need to account to him for?" Li Banfeng didn't care at all. "Find another three-headed person to replace the new monarch."
Zhong'er smiled as well; his idea had been correct. "Seventh Master, the new monarch has already been found."
He called over A'song, A'xiu, and A'fu.
Qiu Zhiheng lowered his head even further. "The three of them... are really too dreadful to look at."
Li Banfeng was quite satisfied. "Don't they also have three heads? What's so dreadful about them? Call the Luo sisters over."
Qiu Zhiheng had some misgivings. "Telling the Luo sisters about this right now... might not be appropriate, would it?"
Li Banfeng smiled faintly. "What's inappropriate about it?"
At first, Li Banfeng had also thought about training Juanzi and the others to act as the new monarch, and had worried they might slip up.
Yet after going through so much, Li Banfeng had realized that this wasn't what mattered at all.
Leaving the new monarch's residence, Li Banfeng said to Qiu Zhiheng, "This isn't your fault, so there's no need to blame yourself. The Luo family wants to turn their fortunes around, and they rely entirely on this new monarch. Qiao Yi wants to seize power, and he relies on this new monarch as well. As for whether this new monarch actually possesses imperial blood, do you really think anyone cares?"
Qiu Zhiheng still couldn't put his mind at ease. "A'xiu and the others are purely impoverished folk. No matter how you look at them, they don't look like an emperor."
Li Banfeng chuckled. "If a rough fellow like me can be someone's little sister, why can't poor folk be an emperor?"
P.S. When A'yi fought Shan Chengjun, the technique she used was Regret Over Meeting Late.
Chapter 713