Boundless City, Marquis Manor, East Courtyard.
Nian Shangyou stood across from Li Banfeng, a fawning smile on his face.
Li Banfeng smiled as well. "Grand Academician, back again? How did your discussions go?"
Nian Shangyou’s whiskers twitched twice. His voice was steeped in shame and helplessness. "Your Highness, my master has agreed."
"Agreed again?" Li Banfeng acted as though he did not follow. "Agreed to what, exactly? Spell it out for me."
Nian Shangyou took a deep breath. "Your Highness, must I say it aloud?"
"If you don't say it aloud, how am I supposed to understand?"
Nian Shangyou smacked his lips and nodded. "Fine, I'll say it. Regarding the fiefdom, my master has agreed. Xiaodu will be granted to you! We will sign a covenant deed beforehand and issue the official decree afterward!"
"Good!" Li Banfeng exclaimed approvingly. "Go back and make proper arrangements with your master. Tell him to get everything ready and come find me in Puluo Province."
"Puluo Province?" Nian Shangyou shook his bass-like head. "That won't do. My master belongs to the royal line of Great Shang. He cannot go to Puluo Province. It violates ritual propriety."
Li Banfeng frowned. "Grand Academician, do you hear what you're saying? At a time like this, you're still in the mood to lecture me about propriety?"
Nian Shangyou replied, "Then let us set ritual aside and speak of realities. My master is a pureblood Inner Stater. If he goes to Puluo Province, will the peddler spare him?"
Li Banfeng chuckled. "You don't need to worry about that. Since we're doing business, there will naturally be basic guarantees. As long as your master harbors no foul intentions and doesn't bring people he shouldn't, I can guarantee his safety in Puluo Province."
Nian Shangyou countered, "That is impossible. My master gave strict instructions: this business must be conducted in Chaoge and nowhere else. On this point, there is no room for negotiation."
"No room for negotiation? Then why did you come find me? Come back after you've negotiated it properly." Li Banfeng rose to leave.
Nian Shangyou blocked his path. "Your Highness, I beg you to hear me out—just one sentence! It is not that we lack sincerity. One stem bears three branches, and one of those branches refuses to do this business. We can only make our move when that branch falls asleep. I cannot conceive of any way to bring him all the way to Puluo Province. Your Highness, now that things have reached this point, you know the full truth. You are a reasonable man. I have risked my life these past days solely to see this single matter through. I beg Your Highness to think carefully—this transaction truly cannot take place in Puluo Province."
Li Banfeng stared at Nian Shangyou for a long moment, then nodded. "Wait for word from me in Boundless City."
Seeing Li Banfeng soften, Nian Shangyou offered profuse thanks and escorted him out of the courtyard.
Li Banfeng indeed had to give some ground. After a series of probing moves, he had already deduced who stood behind Nian Shangyou.
First-rate weapons, newlands, fiefdoms—the other side could afford all of it. The person backing Nian Shangyou was clearly the most powerful figure in the Shang State today.
The most powerful man in Shang was Qiao Yi, yet Qiao Yi was not merely one person, for he had more than one head.
He had three heads. Under normal circumstances, the other two could not take charge and were denied control of the body most of the time. But now, Qiao Yi was mired in dire straits due to the destruction of the sacrificial altar. His grasp over the body had weakened, and his hold on the entire state of Shang had slipped. Under such conditions, the other two heads had developed ideas of their own.
"Assuming Zhu Jin and Xie Gong want to split from Qiao Yi, Qiao Yi certainly won't come to Puluo Province. That reality truly cannot be changed," Li Banfeng said, relaying the situation to the gramophone.
Back when they were planning, the gramophone had foreseen this possibility as well. "If he won't come, Husband will have to bring Lian Buda into the Inner States. But if anything happens to Lian Buda, the consequences would be catastrophic. Your humble servant previously reminded Husband: if Lian Buda fell into the hands of the Inner States, it would be far more troublesome than the matter of Old Train."
Li Banfeng nodded. "Which is why we cannot afford a single misstep. I'll go discuss it with Lian Buda first."
Upon arriving in Santoucha, Li Banfeng went straight to the New Lord's manor. Lian Buda was currently forcing Lightbulb and Zhong'er to drink oil.
Lightbulb could endure it, downing three bowls in a row.
Zhong'er lacked the stomach for it. Before finishing two bowls, he could no longer take the cloying grease and nearly vomited it back up.
Smelling the heavy stench of oil, Li Banfeng knitted his brows. "Brother, does this count as cultivation?"
Lian Buda puffed out his chest. "Of course it's cultivation! It's the most critical cultivation of all! I'm teaching them techniques."
Li Banfeng still failed to comprehend. "Techniques are learned like this?"
Lian Buda led Li Banfeng into an inner room. With a wave of his greasy sleeve, an oily sheen coated the entire room, sealing off all sound.
"Seventh Brother, those sunflower seeds you brought me are incredible. I wonder what genius came up with such marvelous things."
Li Banfeng agreed whole-heartedly. Pan Dehai's character was questionable, but the man was undeniably a genius.
Lian Buda produced a handful of sunflower seeds and handed them to Li Banfeng. "These are seeds I bred using his method. They carry techniques within them. Some techniques can be directly used, while others can be learned—it all depends on which kind of seed you take. Oil Cultivator arts are too difficult to master normally, so I used the seeds meant for learning, pressed them into seed oil, and fed it to those two brothers. They'll pick up the techniques in no time."
Li Banfeng fell silent for a moment, his eyes suddenly lighting up. "Brother, what do you mean by techniques that can be used?"
Lian Buda gave Li Banfeng a slightly contemptuous look. "Does that even need asking? Isn't it obvious? The seeds you brought contained the art of Vast as the Valley. Naturally, the seeds I cultivate contain Oil Cultivator arts."
"What kinds of arts?" Li Banfeng's gaze grew brighter and brighter.
"Plenty of arts, depending on how I nurture them. Seventh Brother, what's gotten into you?" Lian Buda found Li Banfeng's stare a bit too fervent.
Li Banfeng cut straight to the point: "I want to turn a three-headed person into three separate people. Can that art be stored in a seed?"
Lian Buda nodded slightly. "It can, but there are risks involved."
"What risks? Explain them carefully."
Lian Buda produced a small porcelain vial and said, "Suppose this vial holds sunflower seed oil. You take it and have them drink it. After drinking it, they won't separate immediately; instead, they'll fall into a deep slumber. Once asleep, their bones, flesh, skin, and internal organs will all have to tear apart from one another. That process is extraordinarily perilous. If they pull through, it's done; if they can't endure it, they perish."
Li Banfeng took the porcelain vial. "Is this risk caused by the seed oil?"
Lian Buda nodded. "Sunflower seeds lack deep spirituality after all, so the art's intensity can't be finely controlled. When Juanzi and her people were separated, it went smoothly because I administered the technique myself and gauged the measure with precision. But using seed oil to split someone apart? It's impossible to predict how rough the division might be. If the person has a robust physique, they might pull through. But if their body is frail, they probably don't even have a fifty percent chance of survival."
Which category did Qiao Yi, Zhu Jin, and Xie Gong fall into?
Evidently, they were currently quite frail.
If Li Banfeng brought Lian Buda to Chaoge, Lian Buda would face tremendous peril, and all of Puluo Province would bear immense risk.
Yet if he did not bring Lian Buda, Qiao Yi would be the one bearing the risk. One wrong move, and Qiao Yi might die.
And if Qiao Yi died, what then?
Wouldn't his death be just fine too?
Then let Qiao Yi shoulder the risk.
Lian Buda spent two days pressing a small vial of seed oil for Li Banfeng. When handing it over, Lian Buda repeatedly cautioned him, "Seventh Brother, this oil must be consumed within ten days, or it loses its efficacy. You must watch the measure closely. If their vitality can hold out, let them drink a whole vial. If they can't endure it, give them half."
Li Banfeng asked, "What if they drink half a vial, the potency falls short, and they only split halfway?"
Lian Buda was at a loss as well. "If they can't fully separate, it's fine. They can make do for the time being, and we can think of another way later."
Li Banfeng joked, "If there's any seed oil left over, should I just drink it? Maybe I'll split into two Li Qi's."
Lian Buda shook his head. "It's useless for ordinary people. At most, you'll taste a bit of fragrant oil. My art doesn't tear a person apart—it slides them apart. A three-headed person is like a flower with three petals. As long as there's enough oil, one slip and they slide off, completely separate. But on your flower, there's only one petal. If it slides off, it's still just one petal. No matter how much oil you add, it won't do anything."
Lian Buda's explanation was somewhat abstract. Li Banfeng did not fully grasp the mechanics, but he committed one conclusion to memory: the seed oil had no effect on ordinary people.
Taking the seed oil, Li Banfeng returned to Boundless City and arranged a meeting time with Scholar Fish.
Nian Shangyou was overjoyed. "Your Highness, rest assured. For this journey to Chaoge, my master will arrange everything. We will not let any harm come to you."
Li Banfeng smiled without answering. If anything went wrong in Chaoge, the threat would most likely come from Nian Shangyou's master himself.
Nian Shangyou returned to Chaoge and quickly sent word back, fixing the date for three days later.
With Li Banfeng set to venture into Chaoge once more, the gramophone grew anxious. "Husband, neither Xie Gong nor Zhu Jin are kindhearted souls. Whether the deed succeeds or fails, they won't let you off lightly. What's more, Qiao Yi's true intentions remain impossible to fathom."
"Rest easy, Wife. I have things in hand." Li Banfeng obtained the harshest covenant paper from Red Lotus and, following Nian Shangyou, set off for Chaoge.
***
At the Fifth Gate of Chaoge, He Jiaqing, disguised as a guard, slipped into the Wenyuan Pavilion.
The number of guards had indeed increased, but not to the exaggerated degree Zuo Anna had described. He Jiaqing estimated there were only thirty to forty percent more than before.
Eavesdropping on the guards' idle chatter, He Jiaqing learned that a portion of the garrison had been reassigned elsewhere.
What major incident had occurred in Chaoge to warrant pulling guards even from the Wenyuan Pavilion?
Those who guarded the Wenyuan Pavilion were reportedly Qiao Yi's closest confidants. For Qiao Yi, what could possibly be more important than the covenant deeds housed inside?
For the moment, there was no way to judge these anomalies. The urgent priority was finding an opportunity to steal the deeds.
***
Li Banfeng arrived at the Third Gate of Chaoge. The area within the Third Gate was lined with taverns, teahouses, and theaters. Li Banfeng entered an opera house and followed Nian Shangyou up to a private room on the second floor.
There were neither performers nor patrons in the opera house. All the way to the private room's entrance, Li Banfeng saw only a single guard.
The guard was not particularly tall, clad in mottled, rigid armor. His limbs were short and thin, though two long whiskers sprouted prominently above his upper lip.
From his appearance, he was likely a shrimp. Such a soldier was clearly suited for aquatic warfare; serving as a bodyguard inside an opera house hardly played to his strengths.
Yet this was understandable. Anyone guarding such a location had to be a trusted confidant—even if he was not the fiercest warrior, he had to be completely reliable.
Stepping inside, Li Banfeng saw a set of heavy curtains. Parting them, he found Qiao Yi lying on a bed with his eyes shut tight, while Zhu Jin and Xie Gong remained awake beside him.
Zhu Jin snapped at Li Qi, "You'd better be quick. Our eldest brother has been asleep for a while, and there's no telling when he might wake up."
Li Banfeng frowned slightly. Zhu Jin was so used to bossing others around that he had forgotten whom he was addressing. "I want to be quick too. Did you bring the deposit?"
Zhu Jin scowled with displeasure, but before he could speak, Xie Gong beat him to it. "Shangyou, present the deposit to His Highness."
Nian Shangyou brought forward three covenant deeds first. "These three deeds correspond to three first-rate weapons, all stored in Xiaocheng. Once the deed is done, Your Highness may proceed to Xiaocheng to collect the goods."
Li Banfeng nodded. "So that means Xiaocheng is already my fiefdom?"
Nian Shangyou produced another deed along with an official decree. "The decree and deeds for Xiaodu have been prepared. Starting today, it belongs to Your Highness as your fiefdom. Furthermore, a mobile city is waiting by the shore. Once the matter is concluded, it will transport Your Highness to Xiaodu."
Li Banfeng nodded repeatedly, then asked, "And the newlands?"
Nian Shangyou brought ten pairs of covenant deeds and presented them to Li Banfeng. "Please inspect them, Your Highness."
Li Banfeng examined them thoroughly. He was intimately familiar with covenant deeds, and these were indeed authentic.
Nian Shangyou said, "The remaining ten pairs have also been prepared and will be handed over to Your Highness once the task is finished."
"Good!" Highly satisfied with this posture, Li Banfeng drew a covenant deed from his breast pocket and said to Zhu Jin and Xie Gong, "Sign this."
The paper of this covenant deed was the harshest kind refined by Red Lotus, inscribed personally by the Judge's Brush, its terms airtight.
Zhu Jin had no knack for reading legal documents, but Xie Gong read through it with painstaking care, raising a question.
The deed clearly stipulated that once the deed was done, not a single item—neither the newlands, the fiefdom, nor the first-rate weapons promised to Li Qi—could be withheld. That part was beyond reproach.
However, it also required them to guarantee the safety of Li Banfeng and his retinue within Chaoge.
Guaranteeing Li Banfeng's safety was expected, but Li Banfeng had arrived entirely alone. Where did this retinue come into play?
Li Banfeng said, "Our dealings won't be a one-time affair. Whenever I visit Chaoge in the future, you must guarantee the safety of both myself and my entourage."
Xie Gong frowned. "Prince, you never mentioned this price before!"
Li Banfeng smiled. "Did that even need mentioning? Once business is concluded, I must naturally guard against you silencing me. If I guard against it this time, I must remain cautious in the future as well."
Xie Gong hesitated for a long while, unwilling to sign.
Zhu Jin grew anxious that Qiao Yi might wake at any moment, leaving him at an utter loss.
Li Banfeng had all the patience in the world. If they refused to sign, he would simply wait them out.
After a few moments more, Xie Gong could stall no longer. He signed the covenant deed and pressed his bloody thumbprint upon it.
Taking back the document, Li Banfeng sensed danger quietly creeping closer.
Xie Gong remained expressionless, but Li Banfeng knew full well that once the three-headed person was separated into three individuals, Xie Gong and Zhu Jin would never allow Li Qi to spread that secret.
Zhu Jin glared at Li Banfeng. "We've signed the deed, so you must sign as well. It states clearly that only upon completion does the promised price become binding."
Li Banfeng nodded. "Of course I'll sign."
Pricking his fingertip, he pressed a bloody print onto the deed. A single drop of blood fell to the floor.
An invisible Boundary rippled outward silently from beneath Li Banfeng's feet, swiftly blanketing the entire opera house.
Xie Gong, Zhu Jin, and Nian Shangyou noticed nothing amiss. The guard stationed outside the door felt something odd and lowered his head, searching for a long while, but failed to find any trace of the Boundary.
Li Banfeng brought out two meat buns and handed them to Zhu Jin and Xie Gong. "Eat these."
Zhu Jin asked, "What are these for?"
Li Banfeng said, "This is an anesthetic. If you don't eat them, the pain will kill you in a moment."
Xie Gong eyed the buns. "Chaoge possesses top-grade anesthetics. I can have someone bring some."
Li Banfeng shook his head. "Your anesthetics won't work. Bones, flesh, and internal organs must all be torn apart; no ordinary anesthetic can withstand that. If you want to live, only these buns will do."
Zhu Jin broke into a cold sweat, terrified. "Just how are you planning to separate us?"
"You'll know shortly. If you don't eat, prepare to die of agony." Li Banfeng instructed Nian Shangyou to bring an earthen pot, then drew a pouch of medicinal herbs from his clothes and began brewing a decoction in the broth.
Zhu Jin raised the bun to his mouth, but Xie Gong broke off a small piece first and handed it to Nian Shangyou. "Eat this."
Nian Shangyou's face turned deathly pale. "For me to eat this... wouldn't it be improper? It was prepared for the two of you, my lords."
"You dare disobey an order?" Zhu Jin's eyes flashed with cold menace.
Nian Shangyou dared not resist and swallowed the small morsel.
While the three were speaking, the shadow beneath Li Banfeng's feet crept quietly away, slipping out of the room.
Shortly after swallowing it, Nian Shangyou's eyelids grew heavy, and he slumped against the wall, falling asleep.
Seeing that he had merely dozed off without any adverse effects, Zhu Jin and Xie Gong weighed their options for a moment before both eating their buns.
Before long, they too felt their eyelids grow heavy. Just as they were about to drift off, Li Banfeng ladled out two bowls of decoction and poured them down their throats.
"Gentlemen, you are about to be parted. Inseparable in the past, each to your own life from this day forth."
Terrified, half of Zhu Jin's body shuddered uncontrollably.
Xie Gong ground his teeth and slowly closed his eyes.
Watching the three slip into deep slumber, Li Banfeng waited quietly for the medicine to take effect.
The meat buns they had eaten were no anesthetic; each was stuffed with half a vial of Lian Buda's seed oil.
The medicinal broth was the peddler's Soul-Returning Decoction, which could preserve life in critical moments. Whether it could help them survive this ordeal depended on their own fortunes.
Li Banfeng hoped they would pull through.
If Qiao Yi died, it would be advantageous to Li Banfeng, but not overwhelmingly so. Someone else would merely take Qiao Yi's place, and no one would honor the promises made to Li Banfeng.
If they survived, however, the board would shift.
An hour later, the skin between Qiao Yi and Zhu Jin was the first to rupture, the tear running all the way from shoulder to hip. Greasy, viscous oil, mixed with a meager trace of blood, seeped out from the fissure.
What happened next completely shattered Li Banfeng's understanding of three-headed people.
He had always assumed that a three-headed person was a single body with three heads.
Now, watching their skin slough away entirely, Li Banfeng realized that inside the body of a three-headed person lay three complete bodies.
Qiao Yi's body retained the outline of a normal person, while Zhu Jin's and Xie Gong's bodies were coiled inside Qiao Yi in an intensely twisted fashion.
Was this the effect of the seed oil? Or had three-headed people always been structured this way?
If each had possessed their own body all along, why had Xie Gong and Zhu Jin been able to control Qiao Yi's body?
And if this was caused by the seed oil, how had the bodies of Zhu Jin and Xie Gong grown so rapidly in such a short span of time?
Li Banfeng could not fathom the underlying principles. As Zhu Jin and Xie Gong's bodies slowly unfurled, the two gradually regained consciousness.
"Hurts..." Zhu Jin could not stop himself from crying out. His skin had never made contact with the outside world; even brushing against the soft mattress caused excruciating agony.
Xie Gong opened his eyes as well. He moved his limbs; though racked with unbearable pain, he could not conceal the excitement on his face.
He finally had a body of his own. Never before had he felt such lightness and freedom.
Xie Gong looked toward Li Banfeng, seeking confirmation: "Is it done?"
Li Banfeng said, "See for yourself whether it's done."
It was plain to see. His body was entirely separated from Qiao Yi's, and he was complete.
Gritting his teeth, Xie Gong pushed himself up and smiled at Li Banfeng. "Now that the matter is concluded, Prince, I will fulfill our promise immediately. You may take your reward and depart Chaoge."
Li Banfeng shook his head. "The compensation hasn't been paid in full. There are still ten pairs of newland deeds you haven't handed over."
Xie Gong replied, "Your Highness need not fret. As Scholar Nian said earlier, we have prepared a mobile city waiting by the shore. Once Your Highness reaches the mobile city, you will receive the deeds."
"Is that so?" Li Banfeng chuckled. "Aren't you actually thinking that I won't reach the shore at all—that I won't even walk out of this opera house alive?"
Xie Gong shook his head vigorously. "Your Highness worries too much. I signed a covenant deed with you. If I break our pact, I will surely suffer severe retribution."
Li Banfeng said, "You made preparations beforehand. You have methods to evade the covenant deed, and you believe you can escape its punishment, don't you?"
Xie Gong sighed. "Your Highness is far too suspicious. We three brothers are of noble blood. How could we go back on our word?"
Li Banfeng said, "Since you are so trustworthy, escort me to the mobile city yourself."
Xie Gong shook his head. "In my current state, it is inconvenient to be seen."
"No matter. Just disguise yourself as a commoner. Put on ordinary clothes, and no one will recognize you."
Zhu Jin struggled to his feet. "Prince, quit while you're ahead! With a single command from us, you'll die without a burial plot!"
Li Banfeng looked at Zhu Jin. "Aren't those words a bit too intimidating?"
"You don't believe me?" Xie Gong shouted toward the door, "Ye Shengge, enter!"
Li Banfeng asked, "Ye Shengge? That guard outside the door?"
Xie Gong scoffed, "Did you think he was just an ordinary guard? Did you think nothing of him? He is the grandmaster of a sect! Killing you would be as easy as flipping his hand—"
Halfway through his boast, Xie Gong realized something was wrong.
Ye Shengge had not entered. Had he failed to hear him?
Xie Gong shouted several more times, and Zhu Jin joined in.
Ye Shengge had heard them, and so had Banfeng Zi, hiding in the shadows.
Watching Ye Shengge stand motionless with a blank expression, Banfeng Zi had already deduced the true state of affairs.
"Cough, cough!" Qiao Yi suddenly coughed.
Xie Gong and Zhu Jin jolted in alarm, each grabbing a weapon from beside the bed to subdue Qiao Yi.
Just as Xie Gong leveled his blade at Qiao Yi's throat, an overwhelming heat surged through him, his limbs turning limp and numb. He slumped before Qiao Yi, dazed and sluggish.
Qiao Yi took the knife from Xie Gong's hand and slashed his throat in a single stroke.
Xie Gong clutched his neck, thrashing for a brief moment before falling still.
Qiao Yi turned his face toward Zhu Jin.
Zhu Jin's body had also gone limp and numb—this was Ye Shengge's technique. He watched as Ye Shengge pushed open the door and stepped inside.
Why would Ye Shengge use his technique on him and Xie Gong?
Qiao Yi coughed once more. Ye Shengge stripped off his armor and turned his gaze toward Li Banfeng.
Witnessing this, Zhu Jin finally realized that Ye Shengge obeyed only Qiao Yi's commands.
Impossible.
Ye Shengge had been recruited by Nian Shangyou, and Nian Shangyou was fiercely loyal to Xie Gong.
Why would Ye Shengge follow Qiao Yi's orders?
The guards stationed outside the opera house had also been summoned by Nian Shangyou. Whose orders would they obey?
Qiao Yi took Zhu Jin's knife as well.
Knowing resistance was futile, Zhu Jin knelt painfully on the bed. "Big Brother, I was wrong."
Qiao Yi asked, "Do you truly know your wrong?"
Zhu Jin kowtowed repeatedly. "I truly know my wrong!"
While Zhu Jin's head was pressed against the bed, Qiao Yi plunged the blade into the back of his skull and gave it a vicious twist.
Zhu Jin was dead.
Qiao Yi looked up at Li Banfeng. "Now that they're dead, what will you do?"
Li Banfeng chuckled. "It makes no difference to me. Business can be done with anyone."
Qiao Yi weighed the knife in his hand. "Still talking business? Do you think you're walking out of this room alive?"
As he spoke, Qiao Yi glanced toward Ye Shengge.
Li Banfeng tugged the brim of his hat lower, his eyes locked on Qiao Yi. "Looking to default on the bill? Why don't we test that theory?"
Chapter 721