Where the Boundary Came From

The woman in Cell No. 6 began to sing his lady's old battle anthem. Goosebumps broke out all over Li Banfeng. "Heh heh!" The woman chuckled. "You've heard this tune before, haven't you?" "How did you know?" Li Banfeng did not deny it. The woman said with an air of mystery, "I heard the sound of your goosebumps popping up." Li Banfeng stared blankly. "Was it that loud?" "Quite loud! Popping like firecrackers! Sprouting out from you one by one!" Li Banfeng rubbed his arm, pressed his ear against it, and listened closely. He didn't hear any popping. The woman scoffed. "They've already all popped out! What are you still listening for?" Li Banfeng felt a touch of regret. "When these goosebumps recede, will there be a sound then?" The woman replied, "Yes, a rather dull one... Wait, why do you keep asking about goosebumps? Weren't we talking about the song? Who sang this tune to you before?" "Someone very dear to me," Li Banfeng said. Hearing this, the woman grew immensely excited. "Don't tell me yet! Let me guess which dear one it was!" *Sss-sss!* A series of sniffing sounds came from inside the cell, as though the woman were catching a scent. "I've got it! That person was your mother." Li Banfeng was astonished. "You almost got it right." The woman was equally astonished. "Could it be your father?" "Never mind who that person was," Li Banfeng said. "First tell me who you are, and why you know how to sing this song." At his words, the woman's breathing began to tremble, as though she had suddenly recalled some sorrowful memory. "Do you know why I can sing this song? My son... because I am your mother." The corners of Li Banfeng's eyes dropped. Maintaining his composure, he said, "I'll let it slide this time. Don't do that again." The woman ceased her trembling, her voice returning to normal. "I'm not your mother? Let me think... Could I be your father?" Li Banfeng frowned in displeasure. "Are there no other people in the world besides a mother and father? I'm leaving. You take your time and think it over." "Don't go!" the woman cried out hastily. "There are only two of us in here, and she never speaks. I'm bored out of my mind! Stay and chat with me a while longer—you certainly won't get the short end of the stick." "Two people?" Li Banfeng asked. "Who's the other one?" "First tell me," the woman pressed, "who sang that song to you back then? Was it Zhao Xiaowan?" *Sss-sss...* Another round of sniffing drifted out from the cell. Li Banfeng was deeply shocked. How on earth had she figured that out? "How long have you been locked up in here?" The woman paused for a moment. "A few years? Over a decade? Several decades? It's been a long time. I can't remember!" Li Banfeng said, "Then how do you know I know Zhao Xiaowan?" "Heheheh... You can't figure it out, can you?" the woman giggled eerily. "I smelled the cosmetics on her, that very cheap powder and rouge." Li Banfeng didn't think that proved anything. "Plenty of people use cheap cosmetics. How can you be sure it's Zhao Xiaowan?" "She's different. She blends different kinds of cheap cosmetics together, and once blended, they give off a unique fragrance even lovelier than the most expensive makeup. Back then, plenty of women wanted to learn the trick, but none of them could master it." Inside the companion dwelling, Wu Niang was projecting the situation in the stairwell for everyone to see. Her technique had improved considerably, transmitting the audio with absolute clarity. Hong Ying tugged at Zhao Xiaowan's hand. "Xiaowan, how on earth do you blend your cosmetics? I've been dying to learn! I bought a bunch of cheap cosmetics, but I could never get it right, and in the end people just laughed at me." Zhao Xiaowan was in no mood to indulge Hong Ying. She was deeply anxious. The voice of the person inside the cell was peculiar, as though cloaked by some form of concealment, making it impossible to deduce her identity for the moment. Behind them, Jiu'er silently combed Hong Ying's hair. The red lotus sat on the table, calm on the surface, but inwardly burning with anxiety. The woman in Cell No. 6 continued her questioning: "You have the scent of her cosmetics on you. If she isn't your mother, could she be your grandmother?" "Can't you think along a different line?" Li Banfeng asked. "It's not easy to switch tracks! Don't rush to tell me—let me think carefully. There's another smell on you... engine oil..." Li Banfeng nodded. "I just oiled up recently." "There's also smoke." "I smoke cigarettes." "And the scent of steam." That one was harder to explain. Li Banfeng asked, "Are you sure that's coming from me?" "Is it from you?" The woman sounded doubtful too. She sniffed hard. "No, it's not on you—it's behind you! There's a train following behind you!" Li Banfeng was stunned. She could smell even that? Just how high was this woman's cultivation? Analyzing the scents, the woman began to mutter to herself. "The smell of this train is quite familiar. Is it Old Train? No, Old Train is stuck in this building; he can't get out. Well, that's not entirely true—half of Old Train is still on the outside. Could that half have been brought back? Still not right. Old Train's smell of soot and fire is far more pungent than this. This is Little Train! Little Train always followed Old Train around... Could you be Old Train? No, Old Train doesn't smell like you. You smell like a young man. Who on earth are you? From whose hands did you get Little Train?" Li Banfeng pulled down the brim of his fedora. "Tell me your name first, and then we'll talk about the train." The woman picked up more sounds. "You really love wearing a fedora, don't you? Don't pull the brim down so low! Don't cover your whole face—show a little bit of it. A young man like you can't be bad-looking." "Can you see me?" Li Banfeng asked. "Can't see, but I can hear and smell! The scent on you is so thick." "What scent?" "The scent of the train! How long has Little Train followed you? More than one year, more than two years... It's been three years, hasn't it?" Li Banfeng took two steps back. She could even smell duration? "Don't leave!" the woman urged hastily. "Talk to me a little more! There's Zhao Xiaowan's scent too, very strong. How long have you been with her? Three years as well, right?" Li Banfeng activated Discerning Spiritual Sound, Golden Eyes Discerning the Minute, and Exquisite Hundred Flavors all at once. He glanced all around, trying to figure out what method this woman was using to observe him. *She must be able to see me, or she couldn't possibly be so accurate.* *No, even if she could see me, she couldn't possibly guess this precisely! How did she see 'three years'? How could she know my lady and I have known each other for three years?* The woman spoke again: "How odd. You called out 'niang' again. Are you calling Zhao Xiaowan that, or someone else?" *Niang?* Where did she hear that? Li Banfeng suddenly remembered something. The first time he visited the Miaosheng Gramophone Shop, Ling Miaosheng had heard the inner voice of Li Banfeng's thoughts. *Is this the power of a top-tier Peeping Cultivator?* Back then, the gap between his cultivation and Ling Miaosheng's had been enormous, so it wasn't surprising she overheard him. But now, Li Banfeng had reached the eighth layer above the clouds. How could this woman still hear his thoughts? Fortunately, she couldn't hear everything—only a few stray words. "Is Zhao Xiaowan really not your mother?" the woman asked. "No!" Li Banfeng emptied his mind completely. "Then are you her mother?" "No." The woman grew annoyed. "If you play the game, you have to accept the outcome! Cheating takes all the fun out of it. If I guess right, you have to admit it, otherwise it's no fun." "I'm not cheating," Li Banfeng retorted. "You simply guessed wrong!" The woman clicked her teeth, seemingly gnawing on her fingernails. "Then let me guess again. Why on earth would the word 'niang' pop up between the two of you?" "Senior, who on earth are you?" "Why should I tell you? You have to guess too! Go ahead and guess your own, don't interrupt me!" The woman pondered for a long time, then suddenly cried out, "I've got it! She calls you 'niangzi'—you're her wife, aren't you?!" Inside the fifth room of the companion dwelling, a comb clattered to the floor. Hong Ying glanced back. "Jiu'er, what's wrong?" "Nothing," Jiu'er replied, picking up the comb and resuming combing Hong Ying's hair. His lady murmured softly, "I think I know who she is." Outside the companion dwelling, Li Banfeng nodded repeatedly. "I know who you are now!" Among everyone Li Banfeng knew, there was only one person capable of wielding such razor-sharp logic. The woman grew a bit tense. "You know who I am? Don't try to bluff me! I'm very clever, you can't fool me!" "Do you know Sun Tiecheng?" Li Banfeng asked. "Ah?!" the woman gasped. "Cheating takes all the fun out of it," Li Banfeng said. "Speak the truth. Do you know him or not?" The woman forced herself to sound calm. "I know him! What of it? I'm tight with him—he's my sworn brother!" Li Banfeng smiled. "Did he agree to be your brother?" "He didn't!" Speaking of this made the woman furious. "I genuinely wanted to acknowledge him as my elder brother, but who would've thought he'd put on airs and lecture me with a pile of principles? How could I listen to any of that? No matter what he preached, I pinned him down right then and there and performed the sworn brotherhood ceremony! Once the rice was cooked, he was my brother!" With a look of disdain, Li Banfeng said, "I heard from others that the oath never went through in the end." The woman grew agitated. "Which foul tongue was spouting nonsense to you? Don't listen to them! We went through with it! It's just that Sun Tiecheng is a bit shy. In front of others, he wouldn't let me call him brother. Tell me, what's there to be embarrassed about? By becoming sworn siblings with me, he got two sworn younger sisters as well! Both of my sisters are gorgeous—full of charm, perfect figures, and stunning looks. They look remarkably like me, too! Have you ever seen my sister?" Li Banfeng nodded. "I have." The woman was shocked once more. "Which sister did you see?" Li Banfeng answered honestly, "I met Follow-the-Gourd-to-Draw-the-Dipper." "A'yi..." The woman's voice trembled again. "That's my sister, my flesh-and-blood sister, a piece of meat carved from my own body." Li Banfeng thought about it. "That seems about right." "Is A'yi doing well?" Her voice shook violently; this time she was genuinely grief-stricken. "She's doing very well." "You're lying to me! If she were truly well, why would she give you her jade pendant? Is she no longer in this world?" The woman broke into sobs. "She's here. She is alive. You can hear my inner voice, so you know I'm not lying. She recently married a new wife, and she's living quite merrily." "She married another wife?" Joy crept into the woman's voice. "That little girl A'yi was always promising from a young age! Not like me—I've only married one wife in my whole life, and a cowardly one at that, who wouldn't even swear brotherhood with me. Tell me, is she pretty?" "She's pretty. Very pretty." That was the honest truth; A'yi was a rare beauty. The woman fell silent for a long moment. When she spoke again, her tone had shifted, shedding its weeping edge and gaining a hint of tenderness. "Then let me ask you: am I prettier, or is she?" How was he supposed to answer that? "I haven't seen you yet," Li Banfeng said. "Just say who's prettier!" A trace of murderous intent entered her voice. Li Banfeng puffed out his chest. "You are, of course!" The woman laughed. "You really are an honest man." Li Banfeng nodded. "I was born honest; I couldn't change it even if I tried." "If you had said she was prettier than me, I would have killed you, and then killed that little vixen A'yi, and then..." As she spoke, she suddenly burst into tears. "No, I can't kill A'yi. If A'yi dies, I don't want to live either. I'd die right alongside her. She's the only one left alive in our family... I miss her so much." Li Banfeng shook his head. "I can't invite her over right now. When I see her in a few days, I'll talk it over with her." The woman sniffled twice. "I have another sister named A'yu. Do you know her?" "I do," Li Banfeng nodded. "Do you want to see her?" "I do." *Clatter!* Inside the companion dwelling, Jiu'er's comb dropped again. This time she didn't pick it up. She bolted, dashing from room to room. Hong Ying gave chase behind her. "Jiu'er, don't run! If you don't want to go out, just tell me! No one can force you!" His lady watched Hong Ying's departing figure. "That girl's temperament really hasn't changed at all." Li Banfeng said to the woman, "I can ask for you and see if she wants to meet you." "Don't ask her, and don't tell A'yi either," the woman sighed. "They definitely won't want to see me, and it was my fault to begin with. I wronged them." Li Banfeng followed her lead and asked, "What happened back then? Why were you trapped in the Outer States?" "The Outer States?" The woman sneered. "How could the Outer States ever trap me? What trapped me was her—and him." "Who are 'he' and 'she'?" Li Banfeng couldn't make heads or tails of it. The woman's tone turned conspiratorial. "Come closer, and I'll whisper it to you." Inside the companion dwelling, the red lotus hissed, as though grinding her teeth. *Crazy hag, stop fooling around!* Seeing Li Banfeng step forward, the red lotus was about to speak when the woman in the cell suddenly barked, "Halt!" Li Banfeng pulled back his half-taken step. "Didn't you tell me to come closer?" "Tsk, tsk!" The woman clicked her tongue, her tone dripping with disdain. "Listening to your steady, powerful footsteps just now, you should be a Travel Cultivator. If you are a Travel Cultivator, you ought to have the ability of Seeking Fortune and Avoiding Calamity. There is such an enormous Boundary right in front of your eyes—can you not sense the danger?" Li Banfeng stood dazed for a long time. He truly hadn't sensed any danger just now. *Is there really a Boundary?* Li Banfeng pulled a sheet of white paper from his pocket and tossed it toward the cell gate. In the blink of an eye, the paper vanished without a trace, leaving not even a speck of dust behind. *What a powerful Boundary!* Reaching his current level of cultivation was something ordinary mortals could only dream of, but Li Banfeng knew full well that in the path of the Travel Cultivator, most of his techniques were hardly presentable. Still, Seeking Fortune and Avoiding Calamity was decent enough—the Rickshaw Man had taught him that himself. Had it completely failed today? The woman sighed. "Perhaps it's not your fault. The grade of this Boundary is too high. It's only reasonable that you couldn't sense it." *Boundaries have grades?* Li Banfeng took out the Boundary-opening remote switch and pulled the wooden lever. The woman laughed. "You're using the wrong tool. That won't work." Against a truly formidable Boundary, this remote control indeed did nothing. "What kind of equipment can undo this Boundary?" Li Banfeng asked. "It doesn't rely on equipment; it relies on thought." "Thought might be difficult," Li Banfeng said. "I'm not a mind cultivator." The woman patiently instructed him, "It doesn't matter if you're not a mind cultivator, as long as you remember the trick. Settle your mind, clear away all stray thoughts, and chant the incantation word for word with me." "The incantation is: A'yu is the number one beauty under heaven." Li Banfeng looked up. "Your name is A'yu?" "Focus on chanting the incantation! Don't let your mind wander!" Li Banfeng recited the incantation earnestly. A'yu expressed her satisfaction. "Take a step forward." He didn't rush forward, instead testing it again with a piece of paper. The paper fluttered onto the floor. The Boundary had indeed vanished. Li Banfeng was dumbfounded. "Did you lay down this Boundary?" "Not me," A'yu said. "Her." "Who is she?" From inside the cell came the faint rustle of skin against skin, as if A'yu were stroking someone. "She's in here with me. I talk to her every day. Though she doesn't answer, she can still get things done." "What kind of things can she do?" "Just now, she was the one who lifted the Boundary before the door," A'yu said. "That incantation and everything else was just me joking with you. Wait a moment, I still have things to do. A gap needs to be opened temporarily east of Haichi Ridge." "What gap?" Li Banfeng felt completely lost. "A gap in the Boundary!" A'yu chuckled. "Quite a few people in Puluo Province are studying Boundaries, aren't they? Whatever they study is useless, just like that incantation I taught you—completely pointless! If I can't hear, she can't hear. If she can't hear, nobody can open it! Heheheh!" Li Banfeng was struck dumb. He pondered the process of passing through the Boundaries. The operating principle of the equipment used by the Garrison Office to open Boundaries wasn't what Li Banfeng had imagined before, nor was it what anyone else had thought! The underlying principle behind those devices was neither dispelling nor deactivating the Boundary—it was communication! *Is this how the Outer States control the Boundaries?* Li Banfeng asked, "Did the Outer States trap you here just to manipulate the Boundaries?" "I told you already, the Outer States couldn't trap me! The one trapping me is her. With her here, I can't go anywhere." Li Banfeng didn't know who "she" was, but he followed her line of reasoning. "And who trapped her?" "Old Train! He built a whole bunch of contraptions in this room, so she can't get out either." Li Banfeng continued to play along. "Then who trapped Old Train?" "She trapped Old Train. She set up a Boundary for Old Train, an extraordinary Boundary. Other Boundaries can trap everyone else, but not Old Train. That Boundary can't trap anyone else, but it traps Old Train." "To be able to trap Old Train, she must be an extraordinary figure." "Very extraordinary! Heheheh!" A'yu laughed eerily. "Playing along with my words, are you? Sun Tiecheng is my wife—did you think I don't know Fool Cultivator techniques?" Being seen through didn't matter; Li Banfeng could still play along. "If I let you out right now, could you dispel all the Boundaries in Puluo Province?" "I can! Try it and see!" Li Banfeng pulled out the glove. "Let's give it a try." The glove trembled. "Boss, be prudent!" "It's fine. Let's try!" "Boss, if we really open this, who knows what kind of thing will be let out!" "Don't worry, brother, just give it a shot." The glove groped around on the door for a good while, all five fingers quivering, unable even to find the mechanism to open the gate. A'yu scoffed, looking down on the glove. "Flustered heart and shaking hands—how does that look like someone capable of great things? But I suppose it's too much to ask of you. Old Train's craftsmanship isn't something a pincer hand can crack. Don't waste your energy." Li Banfeng quickly pulled the glove back. "Elder Sister, I truly want to save you." "Why save me? Why call me Elder Sister?" "I became sworn siblings with A'yi. We are of the same golden brotherhood!" A'yu sighed. "You're a man of sentiment and righteousness. Do you have anything to eat? The food sent by the Dark Star Bureau is truly unpalatable." Li Banfeng sprinkled some blood, created a Boundary, and used the technique of Linked Bridal Chambers to retrieve two cans of food. He brought the cans to the door. A hand reached out from the iron gate—fair, slender, half-real and half-illusory, as though growing directly out of the metal, or perhaps like a mirage formed of overlapping light and shadow. Li Banfeng placed the cans onto the hand. The cans blurred into insubstantiality and vanished through the door. "Though it's not fresh food, the flavor of Puluo Province is as sweet as ever." A'yu inhaled deeply, reveling in the taste. After waiting a short while, A'yu finished the canned food. "Will you come visit me in the future?" "I will. As long as I can find you, I'll visit often. Can we consider ourselves friends now?" "What kind of talk is that?" A'yu said angrily. "Trying to trick me into being your friend with just two cans of food? I'm a respectable woman!" Using Linked Bridal Chambers again, Li Banfeng brought out a whole crate of canned food. "Is this enough?" A'yu took the crate inside. "I accept your kind intentions." Li Banfeng nodded. "And you certainly accepted my cans." A'yu added, "Next time you come, don't just bring canned food. Bring some other delicious things." "That's easy enough. But there's another matter I need your help with." "Want to open a Boundary? Which one?" A'yu was usually able to guess what was on Li Banfeng's mind, but this time she guessed wrong. "I want you to help me make a Boundary." "Make a Boundary? Where?" Li Banfeng took out a map of the Suihuang Plains and marked a spot on it. "Tufang opened an entrance at this location. There is no Boundary blocking this entrance, which will become a major threat in the future." Li Banfeng passed the map to the door. A'yu took the map. A cold laugh came from behind the door. "What if it is a threat?" "If Tufang attacks Puluo Province through this entrance, Puluo Province is finished." "If it's finished, then let it be finished! Puluo Province is full of beasts! I can't wait for them all to die sooner!" Li Banfeng roughly understood what A'yu meant. "The beasts that destroyed the City of Fools are mostly no longer in Puluo Province. Making this Boundary is precisely to keep those beasts out." "Sigh!" Another sigh echoed from the cell. "Whether it stops them or not, I don't really care. But there is one thing I care about deeply. Is my little sister aboard Little Train?" "She is," Li Banfeng answered honestly. A'yu said, "I worry she might suffer. You must treat her well from now on." Li Banfeng nodded. "She has always treated me very well." "As for the Boundary, I'll talk it over slowly with her. Whether she agrees isn't up to me. You must be good to Xiao Yu, and I won't mistreat you." *Clack!* A gold bar dropped outside the iron door, roughly the length and thickness of an index finger. Li Banfeng picked it up. "What's the meaning of this? Do you take me for someone who covets wealth?" "This gold bar isn't for spending. When you want to contact me in the future, grip it tightly, and you'll be able to speak with me. Now, you should leave. Some mechanisms of the Outer States are about to move; I won't be able to suppress them much longer." The projector rocked incessantly behind Li Banfeng; he had been suppressing the surveillance equipment the entire time, and he too was on the verge of losing control. Li Banfeng still remembered the fallout caused when He Jiaqing had infiltrated the Dark Star Bureau back then. Just as he was about to step out of the stairwell, he heard A'yu call out, "Take that piece of paper with you, and wipe the blood clean. There are things you shouldn't leave behind, and things I can't easily clean up." The glove cleaned up everything for Li Banfeng, and together they pulled the iron door shut. Back in the stairwell, Li Banfeng was still plagued by questions. He pushed open the main door, wanting to see if anything had changed, only to find Chen Changrui standing by the elevator. "Director Li, you're back! I have an urgent matter to report!" "Every time you see me it's urgent. Can't you say something trivial once in a while?" The two headed to the office. Chen Changrui produced a dossier. "A letter arrived from Tufang, saying they intend to dispatch an envoy to Huan Country. Higher-ups can't make up their minds whether to accept them." Holding the documents, Li Banfeng flipped through them for a while, finding it hard to concentrate. The revelations from the stairwell were simply staggering, and seemingly unrelated matters now appeared to be entwined.