Li Banfeng carried a torch to the peddler's house.
Just as he reached the base of the wall, a feather duster flew down from the roof, its multicolored feathers fluttering as it shouted at him, "No starting fires! I'll be back in a bit!"
Li Banfeng stuck the torch into the ground and waited quietly beneath the wall.
Half an hour later, the peddler returned. Li Banfeng handed him the box of maps provided by Huan Wuchang.
According to the findings of the Brotherhood Alliance's investigation, the Great Totem was in Yindu.
"Yindu won't be easy to find," the peddler said, opening the iron box and flipping through the maps. "I doubt any of these maps will be much help anymore."
Li Banfeng said, "I'll go scout it out first. I have the Orientation Chart."
The peddler gave a slight shake of his head. "It's too dangerous. I can't let you go. I'll handle this myself. Lend me your Orientation Chart."
Li Banfeng said nothing.
Borrowing something from the Old Master was no easy feat.
A quiet sobbing reached their ears.
"What are you crying for?" The peddler looked behind Li Banfeng. The weeping was coming from the companion dwelling.
"Th-that Orientation Chart... it's—it's mine! You can't steal it!" the companion dwelling sobbed uncontrollably.
The peddler snapped, "I'm only borrowing it! It's not like I won't give it back!"
"Wh-what if you lose it?"
"I'll pay you back double!"
The companion dwelling stopped crying, and a yellowish-brown scroll appeared in the peddler's hand.
The peddler unrolled the scroll. It was completely blank—no words, no illustrations.
Yet the peddler knew quality when he saw it. Holding it up toward the sun, he nodded. "It's the real deal. I'm heading to the Inner States right now. Brother, keep an eye on things at home. If anyone comes looking for trouble, beat them to death.
"If you can't beat them, pin them down first, and when I get back, we'll beat them together."
As the peddler pushed his cart to leave, Li Banfeng suddenly called out, "Senior Brother, be careful."
The peddler chuckled. "Don't worry. I'm hard to kill."
***
Chu Er lay in bed, blinking in silence, incapable of speech.
Old Mother Ku sighed. "The pill poison has penetrated too deep. Unless you have Blue Leaf Pills, you can forget about ever getting out of bed and walking again in this lifetime.
"Blue Leaf Poplar isn't easy to come by, and refining the pills is just as difficult. I'll go ask around and see if I can obtain some. We'll have to see what luck brings."
Hearing that it depended on luck, Chu Er felt a glimmer of hope; after all, Old Mother Ku possessed the power to control fortune.
Old Mother Ku wasn't very confident, however. "If our luck holds, I might manage to secure two or three. But given your condition, taking two or three won't restore you. Forget about your cultivation—from now on, you'll need someone to look after you even to eat, drink, piss, and shit. You fool, what am I supposed to say to you?"
Old Mother Ku left. Chu Er lay in bed, sniffling as two trails of tears rolled down her cheeks.
She wept, but she had no regrets.
She wanted to wipe away her tears, but her hands wouldn't move.
A handkerchief touched her cheek. Startled, Chu Er saw that Li Banfeng was gently drying her tears.
She strained to curve the corners of her mouth upward. Seeing him, she wanted to smile, yet her tears kept flowing uncontrollably.
"Why did you lie to me? If I had known you were using this method, I never would have let you stall Old Mother Ku." Li Banfeng produced a Blue Leaf Pill and fed it into her mouth.
He had heard everything Old Mother Ku had just said; she simply hadn't been able to see him.
After swallowing the pill and resting for over an hour, Chu Er's fingers gradually regained mobility, and she strained to move them to show Li Banfeng.
Li Banfeng pulled a box from his robe and set it beside her pillow. "There are plenty of Blue Leaf Pills. I'll definitely find a way to cure you."
Chu Er's neck trembled slightly; she wanted to nod to him.
In truth, Li Banfeng didn't have many Blue Leaf Pills left. After reaching above the clouds, he had gifted most of his pills to others, including the Blue Leaf Pills.
The box he left for Chu Er contained only twenty-odd pills. Judging by her condition, that amount was far from enough. Li Banfeng set off at a run toward the newland.
***
Old Mother Ku arrived at He Jiaqing's thirteen newland plots. He Jiaqing was sitting in front of a wooden cabin, lost in a daze.
He still had one covenant deed left and had no idea how to handle it, for the text upon it had not changed.
Since Ai Yeqing had taken the deeds, he ought to have dripped blood onto the domain to register them under his own name, or found someone else to take over as the local spirit.
Yet the words on the deed remained unchanged, proving there was still room to turn things around.
He Jiaqing thought about reburying the deed in the earth and letting Big Head continue serving as local spirit, but if he did, he would have no way of knowing when the other side altered the deed.
Alternatively, he could wait until Ai Yeqing altered and buried the deed, then find an opportunity to alter it back—a sleight of hand.
Yet He Jiaqing had no idea when Ai Yeqing would make his move, and waiting indefinitely wasn't an option.
He wanted to continue reclaiming land, but feared drawing attention and doing work only for someone else to reap the harvest.
He wanted to sit back and watch how things developed, but leaving a domain more than eighty percent reclaimed lying idle tormented him with anxiety.
After days of pondering, he had come up with a fine idea:
First, have Duan Shuqun take out an adjacent plot of newland and claim its covenant deed.
Then have Duan Shuqun sign the deed, nominally defeat Big Head, swallow up these thirteen plots, and replace Big Head as the local spirit.
It was a viable plan, but if they killed an adjacent local spirit, would the peddler hold it against them?
If Duan Shuqun killed the local spirit single-handedly, it wouldn't violate the peddler's rules, but Duan Shuqun lacked the strength.
If He Jiaqing got involved, it would constitute someone of stellar cultivation seizing land and killing people—and the peddler would never let him off.
The crux was that no matter how he tried to cover it up, the peddler would see right through it.
Whether this idea was workable or not, He Jiaqing was torn.
Remaining indecisive for too long wouldn't do either; once Ai Yeqing changed the local spirit, taking the territory back wouldn't be nearly so simple.
In the midst of his turmoil, Old Mother Ku appeared before him carrying a branch of Blue Leaf Poplar. "I need some pills refined."
He Jiaqing knew she wanted Blue Leaf Pills. He shook his head. "That pill is too difficult to refine."
He wasn't making excuses. Blue Leaf Poplar was intensely toxic; once the Blue Leaf Pills were refined, all the residual toxicity would fall upon He Jiaqing.
Although He Jiaqing had the ability to refine pills, he wasn't Tong Lianhua; enduring such potent poison would be exceedingly difficult, and he had no desire to take such a risk lightly.
Old Mother Ku said, "Are you trying to bargain with me? Name your price."
He Jiaqing pondered for a long time before accepting the Blue Leaf Poplar. "I wouldn't dare bargain with you, Granny. But I would like a plot of land around here, and I must ask for your help."
Old Mother Ku frowned. "You can't even hold onto thirteen plots, and now you want a fourteenth?"
He Jiaqing said, "With a fourteenth plot, your disciple will have a way to seize back these thirteen."
Old Mother Ku hesitated for a long time, then shook her head. "You are provoking the peddler."
Holding the branch of Blue Leaf Poplar, He Jiaqing sighed. "If Granny finds it too difficult, I will still refine the pills for you. Only, please don't rush me; Blue Leaf Poplar is excessively toxic, and refining it takes time."
Old Mother Ku stared at He Jiaqing for a long moment.
She knew full well in her heart that unless she helped him secure that plot of land, there was no telling when she would ever get her pills.
***
Li Banfeng reached the Orange Grove, his heart thumping with unease.
He sensed a hint of danger. Could the Old Man of the Orange Grove harbor ill intent?
The old man was pruning an orange tree. Seeing Li Banfeng arrive, he looked delighted. "You're finally here! I knew you'd come."
Li Banfeng was taken aback. "You even knew that?"
The old man peeled an orange for him. It was enormous—ordinary oranges in the Orange Grove were fifty centimeters across, and this one was two sizes larger still, leaving Li Banfeng burping with fullness.
"Have you had your fill? These are the finest oranges in the grove—the tree only bears ten fruits a year. You happened to arrive right when they ripened. If it's not enough, I'll peel another for you!"
"I'm full. I've never tasted such delicious oranges." As before, Li Banfeng gathered the orange peels and buried the seeds in the earth.
The old man smiled. "Whenever I see you, my spirits lift. You plan to make your move tonight, right? I'll go with you. I can't stand seeing good kids get bullied."
Li Banfeng was startled. "Make what move?"
The old man blinked in confusion. "You didn't come to ask for my help?"
Li Banfeng said, "I came hoping to ask you for some Blue Leaf Poplar."
The old man slapped his thigh. "My boy, you really don't have a care in the world! What time do you think it is, and you're still asking for Blue Leaf Poplar? Bei Wushuang is trying to seize your domain, didn't you know?"
Li Banfeng stood frozen for a long time.
Hadn't Bei Wushuang died? He and Xiu'er had killed him together, blowing him to smithereens.
Had he resurrected?
A thought flickered across Li Banfeng's mind, and he remembered something.
When Bei Wushuang died, no one had collected his body, nor had anyone mourned him.
Pan Dehai had once mentioned that the locust plague in Haichiling was linked to Bei Wushuang, an act orchestrated by the Inner States. Bei Wushuang could be considered a meritorious servant to the Inner States, so earning a chance at resurrection made complete sense.
Yet another important question came to mind.
"Senior, how did you know that was my domain?"
The plot adjacent to Bei Wushuang's domain belonged to Li Furong, and it was also Li Banfeng's very first plot of newland. Apart from Meng Yuchun, Li Banfeng had told no one.
The old man smiled. "I've farmed all my life. Scraping by until today, my cultivation isn't too low. I don't have great comprehension and can't grow crops that can talk and dance, and throughout my life I've had no other special skills. But there's one knack I have that even Xu Han can't match: I can speak with the soil.
"Don't look down on the dirt beneath your feet. It doesn't have much to say, but it recognizes its master. When I went to your domain to collect seeds, the soil there told me that you are their master."
Li Banfeng was stunned for a long time.
He wasn't shocked, but rather reminded of something: back on Ma the Fifth's domain, he had sensed the joy within the earth.
It seemed this Old Man of the Orange Grove had an exceptionally sharp perception of spirituality.
The old man sighed. "Bei Wushuang is utter scum. While Zhang Wanlong was around, he never dared show his face. Now that Zhang Wanlong is gone, he's run off to your domain to dig up the covenant deed.
"Meng Yuchun discovered it and went to fight him with her life, but that girl is only at the second tier above the clouds. She's no match for Bei Wushuang."
Li Banfeng couldn't understand what Meng Yuchun was thinking. "Why didn't she inform me right away? Why fight him on her own?"
The old man shook his head. "Young brother, you're a Travel Cultivator, so you probably think the distance is nothing. She's a Home Cultivator—once she steps outside her domain, she can't even tell directions. Finding you isn't that simple.
"She sent her cook out to look for you, and whether he's even made it to Lüshui Bay by now is anyone's guess."
This was the drawback of isolated domains.
Ordinarily, they were hard for outsiders to discover, which was a good thing.
Yet once danger struck, calling for help was just as difficult.
No wonder he had sensed danger earlier—Bei Wushuang had come looking for trouble.
Li Banfeng looked in the direction of his domain. "What a coincidence that I'm here. It's high time I had a chat with Bei Wushuang."
The old man stood up. "Wait here. I'll go grab my weapons."
Li Banfeng stopped him. "How could I trouble you with this, Senior?"
The old man shook his head. "I've wanted to strike for a while now. Even if you hadn't come today, I would've fought Bei Wushuang anyway. You and Meng Yuchun are good kids. I won't let that bastard bully you."
Li Banfeng said, "With those words from you, Senior, he won't be bullying us. Please prepare a branch of Blue Leaf Poplar here for me—a large one. I urgently need it to save someone. Once I finish off Bei Wushuang, the two of us will eat some oranges and have a good drink together."
The old man still couldn't put his mind at ease. "Boy, don't underestimate Bei Wushuang. He's not what he used to be. You might not be able to beat him."
Li Banfeng lowered the brim of his hat. "I haven't underestimated him. If I really can't beat him, I'll come back and ask for your help."
***
Leaving the Orange Grove, Li Banfeng ran toward his domain. Passing by Meng Yuchun's territory, he saw a green butterfly fly into her cave dwelling.
One look was enough to tell this butterfly was out of the ordinary; its flight was far swifter than any bird's.
Meng Yuchun was nursing her wounds inside. The bandages and clothes she had just changed into were already soaked through with blood.
The butterfly reached the entrance, transformed into human form, and shouted, "Sister, that camel is back!"
The stone door opened. Green Butterfly hurried into Meng Yuchun's room, panting heavily. "Sister, that camel reached a mountain and is writing on the cliff!"
Meng Yuchun was startled. "Which mountain?"
"The exceptionally tall one! There aren't many mountains in the Mountain Uplifting Master's domain to begin with..." In her panic, Green Butterfly's words were a bit disjointed, but Meng Yuchun understood.
The mountain she meant was the Mountain Uplifting Master's dwelling, where the covenant deed was kept.
If he opened that cliff, Li Qi's domain would be lost.
Meng Yuchun undid her clothes and stepped in front of the bronze mirror. Biting down on a lock of hair, she picked up a roll of bandages and bound her wounds tightly.
The bronze mirror spoke in a trembling voice. It was her dwelling spirit: "Yuchun, let me go with you."
"You cannot leave the house. If I can lure Bei Wushuang to our home, we'll still stand a chance." Having bound her bandages, Meng Yuchun put on a black short jacket, carefully smoothing the lapels and collar.
"Does it look good?" Meng Yuchun smiled toward the mirror.
"It looks good. Chun'er, you always look the prettiest..." The mirror grew clouded with mist, terrified that it might never see Meng Yuchun again.
Meng Yuchun gathered several numinous artifacts and prepared to head out. A hand reached out from the mirror, grabbing her arm. "Yuchun, don't go! That's Li Qi's domain—stay out of it! Li Qi is a capable man; even if he loses the domain, he can take it back!"
Meng Yuchun shook her head. "Li Qi has been good to me. One must repay kindness!"
The dwelling spirit wept, "Then take those three-headed people with you! Take them along to fight for your life!"
"We had an agreement back then: they only came to reclaim land and do nothing else. I cannot break our word." Meng Yuchun shook off the dwelling spirit and dashed out of the cave.
***
"Hulululu~"
Bei Wushuang stuck out his tongue, looking at the cliff before him, and spat into the inkstone.
After spitting, his navel grumbled, "Could you not be so disgusting?"
Bei Wushuang said, "This is the newland. Water isn't easy to come by. Hurry up and grind the ink!"
The navel sighed. "How utterly unrefined!"
From the hump on his back, a hand reached out and patted the smooth flesh of the hump. "How long are you two going to drag this out? Didn't you say that once all one hundred and eight 'Open' characters are written, this cliff will open on its own?"
"Hulululu..." Bei Wushuang counted. "More than sixty have been written already. It won't be long."
The navel barked, "Do you even know how to count? We had already reached over eighty earlier! How has it gone back down to sixty-some?"
Bei Wushuang lifted his front hooves, thrusting his belly forward. "Count for yourself! There really are only sixty-some!"
The navel took a count, and sure enough, there were only sixty-odd instances of the character "Open" on the cliff face.
How had over twenty characters vanished? Had they miscounted earlier?
The hump shouted, "Stop counting and hurry up and write! We don't even know if the deed is actually inside!"
While the three parts were arguing, Meng Yuchun drew near without a sound.
She was a second-tier Home Cultivator above the clouds. Though her talent was slightly inferior to Li Banfeng's, so long as she kept silent, Bei Wushuang would find it very difficult to detect her.
Meng Yuchun locked her sights on the back of Bei Wushuang's head. With a flick of her right index finger, a foot-long short sword slashed toward the back of his skull.
The short sword was a numinous artifact; it required no direction from Meng Yuchun. Once the right moment came, it knew how to kill.
Just as the blade was about to sever Bei Wushuang's head, a hand suddenly reached out from his hump, caught the hilt, and swung the short sword back toward Meng Yuchun using the momentum of her own strike!
It was not that the artifact had betrayed her; the hand in the hump possessed the techniques of a Martial Cultivator, turning her own weapon into a counterattack.
Meng Yuchun stood her ground, using Generous Heart of the Home to take the blow.
She weathered it, but blood was drawn. Being too far from her dwelling limited the effectiveness of the technique.
The reason she had not dodged was that she had deployed the cloud technique Body and Shadow Comforting Each Other. To keep her shadow beneath Bei Wushuang's feet, she had to stay in place.
Her shadow on the ground wielded a pair of shears, lunging to snip off Bei Wushuang's head.
Meng Yuchun had prepared this ambush meticulously; the shears nearly grazed his throat.
Yet the shadow suddenly froze. Bei Wushuang's navel squirted ink, leaving the character "Seal" on the ground and pinning the shadow to the earth.
The shadow struggled desperately, unable to break through the ink's confinement, leaving Meng Yuchun trapped in place as well.
Her mastery of Body and Shadow Comforting Each Other was incomplete; her shadow and self could not fully separate. With her shadow pinned, she could not move either.
The hand from the hump swung the short sword at Meng Yuchun once more. For a moment, she could think of no countermeasure.
Generous Heart of the Home could not endure another blow; Sprawling Compound could not be deployed; Close the Doors and Bar the Gates was out of the question; and Expand the Domain and Open the Frontiers could not reach Li Banfeng's territory.
She relied too heavily on her dwelling, and failing in a single move left her on the brink of disaster.
The hump chuckled. "Such a beauty... it'd be a pity to lop off your head."
The short sword was still Meng Yuchun's artifact, struggling in the hand's grip. Meng Yuchun grabbed the wrist of the hump's hand, tearing at it frantically, while the shadow on the ground tried to shake off the ink.
"Hulululu!"
Bei Wushuang roared repeatedly. Meng Yuchun felt a chilly wind rush into her mind alongside the sound, reverberating again and again.
A Voice Cultivator technique: Echoing Wind.
Meng Yuchun went limp, unable to overpower the hump, her knees buckling as she was about to collapse.
The hump raised the short sword with a sneer. "Little beauty, don't be afraid. Your sword is quite sharp. Stretch out your neck and stay still, and I promise it won't hurt a bit."
Bang!
Before the hump could swing down, Bei Wushuang was kicked sprawling to the ground by a shadow!
The hump hit the earth hard, dropping the short sword. The shadow scooped up the sword, tossed it to Meng Yuchun, turned back to Bei Wushuang, and asked, "Didn't you just say it wouldn't hurt a bit? Looks to me like it hurts plenty!"
Startled, Bei Wushuang roared at the navel, "How did you let the shadow stand up?!"
The navel looked down at the ground; the shadow was still pinned there. "Th-this isn't the same shadow!"
Bei Wushuang glanced at Meng Yuchun, not expecting her Body and Shadow Comforting Each Other technique to have progressed so quickly that she could deploy two shadows at once.
Meng Yuchun, having just broken free from Echoing Wind, watched Bei Wushuang with a solemn expression.
Bei Wushuang leaped forward toward the shadow, and his navel squirted ink again.
The shadow dodged and vanished; the ink missed completely.
How could this shadow be so fast?
Was this really Meng Yuchun's shadow?
Meng Yuchun stood silently. If Bei Wushuang thought so, let him think so.
Seeing the shadow fail to reappear, Bei Wushuang snorted, preparing to unleash a Voice Cultivator technique.
"Hu, pululu—" The sound suddenly went off-key. Bei Wushuang's snout exploded into mangled gore, his breath spraying out with a cluster of bloody bubbles.
The navel shouted, "There's a Travel Cultivator nearby! Run!"
Banfeng Two reappeared, planting a kick directly into Bei Wushuang's belly. "Now that you know there's a Travel Cultivator, you think you're getting away?!"
The navel spat out a glob of ink, pinning Banfeng Two.
Bei Wushuang spat a mouthful of blood, preparing to use Blood-Spattered Resounding Roar.
"Meeeyah—"
Before the cry could sound, Banfeng Zi slit Bei Wushuang's throat with a Tang dao.
Where did another shadow come from?!
Why hadn't they noticed this shadow before?
The navel squirted ink once more, trapping Banfeng Zi as well. Then Banfeng Yin, sickle in hand, sliced open Bei Wushuang's belly from below.
A massive deluge of ink poured out, interwoven with strands of silver thread.
Together, the silver threads and ink formed a net, trapping all the shadows on the ground securely. Several silver threads crawled up Bei Wushuang's neck, stitching his wound closed.
"Insolent vermin!" A mocking chuckle came from inside Bei Wushuang's belly. "Let me see what tricks you have left..."
His voice grew fainter and fainter.
Risking his life, he had subdued four shadows—an impressive feat of combat power.
Yet he realized that dozens of shadows were now standing around him.
This situation was rather unusual.
These shadows definitely didn't belong to Meng Yuchun. Judging by her expression, even she had no clue where they had come from.
Bei Wushuang glanced around, trying to find an opening among the shadows to escape.
Banfeng Two broke free from the ground using Unimpeded Passage and grinned at Bei Wushuang. "No need to look. We'll make room for you."
At his words, the shadows automatically parted to reveal a path.
Bei Wushuang trembled in terror.
Meng Yuchun trembled as well, overwhelmed with excitement.
Li Banfeng walked down the path. Nudging up the brim of his hat, he looked first at Bei Wushuang's face.
"No need for you to speak. Still the same wretched look." Li Banfeng slapped Bei Wushuang across the face.
He looked down at Bei Wushuang's belly.
"Pretentious and talking like an old coot... You're Lu Maoxian, Old Master Lu, aren't you?"
The silver threads and ink on the ground shrank back into the camel's belly. The belly was shaking even more violently than the camel's head.
Li Banfeng then looked at the hump. The smooth hump was hairless and remained perfectly still.
"One look at this hump and I'm reminded of that big bald head of yours. Shen the Big Golden Seal, long time no see!"
Bei Wushuang tried to bolt, but Li Banfeng cast a glance at him. His four hooves pulled in four different directions simultaneously, sending Bei Wushuang crashing back to the ground.
Squatting down before Bei Wushuang, Li Banfeng asked, "First, tell me where you came from. Take your time—and don't say the wrong thing."
Chapter 801