"I came here to get a few Xuyuan silkworms," He Jiaqing explained to Li Banfeng. "I have quite a few Curse Cultivators under me, and first-rate curse techniques rely on Xuyuan silkworms to cast. You ought to know that too."
"Don't listen to his quibbling!" Yang Xiangjun took out a medicine vial. "Getting Xuyuan silkworms isn't hard at all. What reason would anyone have to hang around this place for so many days? One look at this guy tells you he's shady. He'll never tell the truth, so let's just kill him right now!
"Seventh Master, if you can't bring yourself to do it, I'll help you. If he swallows this bottle of medicine, we can even leave him an intact corpse!"
He Jiaqing frowned, looking at Yang Xiangjun. "Senior, I don't believe I've ever offended you, have I?"
"Who are you calling senior?" Yang Xiangjun looked He Jiaqing up and down. "Do you think dressing up like a youth actually makes you one? Beneath that skin of yours, you're probably a ninety-year-old geezer!"
He Jiaqing shook his head. "You can't just throw accusations around like that. Li Seven and I are old acquaintances. We know each other inside and out—it's not like we met yesterday!"
"So what if you're old acquaintances?" Yang Xiangjun sneered. "Taking advantage of an old acquaintance's goodwill to team up with scoundrels and plot against our Seventh Master—a wretched wretch like you is all the more reason to put down! Drink this medicine right now, and I promise it won't hurt one bit!"
He Jiaqing was stunned for a good while. "Senior, make yourself clear. Which scoundrel did I team up with?"
Just as Li Banfeng was about to ask about Duan Tielu, Yang Xiangjun cut in first: "You know damn well which scoundrel you teamed up with! Do you dare confess what kind of scheme you cooked up between you?"
He Jiaqing said, "I don't even know who you're talking about, so what kind of scheme could there be?"
Yang Xiangjun turned to Li Banfeng. "This bastard's a tough nut to crack—he simply refuses to talk! Keeping him around is useless to us, so let's just kill him!"
Li Banfeng felt that made sense too. "Kill him, then!"
"Hold on!" He Jiaqing grew angry. Eyes bloodshot, he looked at Li Banfeng. "I don't know what grudge this senior has against me. We're total strangers, yet he's hell-bent on putting me to death. Clearly he's the one being completely unreasonable—why are you siding with him?"
As he spoke, He Jiaqing's voice even trembled slightly. "Brother, I don't know what today's matter is really about. I'm not the only one who came to the Curse Gu Ruins for Xuyuan silkworms, and capturing Xuyuan silkworms isn't an easy task. Forget staying a few extra days—plenty of people stay for a month or more!
"If you two insist on pinning a crime on me today, at least make the charges clear! Who did I collude with? Who did I team up with? Who did I actually harm? Even if you must have my life, you have to explain things properly to me!"
Just as Li Banfeng was about to get to the bottom of it, Yang Xiangjun snapped angrily, "Why should we explain such a secret matter to you? Would it be worth leaking word just for a bird-brained bastard like you?"
He Jiaqing nodded. "That makes sense. Since it isn't convenient to talk out here, how about we change locations?"
He pointed toward the house.
Li Banfeng gave a slight nod.
With an unwilling grimace, Yang Xiangjun followed the two of them inside.
He Jiaqing brought out a magical treasure, screening off the entire perimeter of the building.
Li Banfeng asked He Jiaqing, "Do you know Duan Tielu's whereabouts?"
Yang Xiangjun stood at the ready nearby. If He Jiaqing said he knew, that proved he was Duan Tielu's accomplice, and he had to be killed.
If He Jiaqing said he didn't know, that proved he was useless, and he definitely had to be killed.
He Jiaqing pondered for a moment, then said, "I did spot a suspicious person in the Curse Gu Ruins. At first, I assumed he had also come for Xuyuan silkworms, so I didn't pay it much mind.
"Later on, though, I discovered things weren't that simple. That man never went near the places where Xuyuan silkworms appear. His movements are extremely secretive—especially his living quarters, which I haven't been able to locate to this day. If you say Duan Tielu is in the Curse Gu Ruins, then that man is heavily suspect."
Li Banfeng looked over at Yang Xiangjun. Yang Xiangjun remained silent.
He Jiaqing's response was far too clever; Yang Xiangjun couldn't find a single flaw in it.
Li Banfeng asked Yang Xiangjun, "Have you seen the person he's talking about?"
Yang Xiangjun shook his head. "I haven't. He's definitely lying!"
He Jiaqing smiled. "Whether I'm lying or not, we'll know once we go out and look. It's still early, so we might just run into him."
Li Banfeng instructed Yang Xiangjun, "Head back to the village and have the Curse Cultivators and Gu Cultivators go about their business as usual. Don't arouse suspicion. He Jiaqing and I will go check out that person's identity."
Yang Xiangjun looked astonished. "You're going with him?"
"Yeah." Li Banfeng saw nothing wrong with that.
He was a top-tier Dwelling Cultivator, and He Jiaqing was a top-tier Thief Cultivator. Both had methods to conceal themselves from prying eyes, making them far better suited for the task than Yang Xiangjun.
The two left the village, Yang Xiangjun glaring after them in resentful indignation.
He Jiaqing shot Yang Xiangjun a sidelong glance, smiled smugly, and even made sure to touch up the powder on his face before leaving.
Some fifty-odd li north of the village stood a mountain. Reaching its base, He Jiaqing found a secluded spot and drew a few quick strokes in the snow, sketching the mountain's rough contour.
"The man I mentioned frequently appears on this mountain. I've spotted him both halfway up the slope and near the summit."
Li Banfeng asked, "What did you come to this mountain for? Are there Xuyuan silkworms here?"
He Jiaqing shook his head. "There are no Xuyuan silkworms on this mountain. Back then, I realized Yang Xiangjun was watching me. To evade him, I wanted to find a dwelling place on this mountain. But once I discovered that man, I had a faint premonition that he was far more dangerous than Yang Xiangjun."
Li Banfeng surveyed the mountain terrain. "What does this person look like?"
He Jiaqing shook his head. "I couldn't get a clear look at his appearance or his build. I couldn't even determine his age. I tried using a tracking treasure to locate him, but it didn't succeed."
Li Banfeng considered Duan Tielu's defining traits. "Did you try treasure-seeking techniques? Duan Tielu carries many magical treasures on him."
He Jiaqing nodded. "I did try treasure-hunting methods, but I was fooled by his diversionary trick."
Li Banfeng didn't quite understand. "You knew it was a diversionary trick, yet you still fell for it?"
He Jiaqing explained, "According to my methods, I probed and detected over a thousand priceless treasures on this mountain.
"Think about it: how could one person carry over a thousand treasures with him? Clearly, he used some technique to disrupt my judgment.
"It was an obvious diversion placed right out in the open, but I didn't have the ability to unravel it, so I could only watch myself get duped."
A'yu's voice emerged from the companion dwelling: "Old Seventh, that might not be a diversion. Duan Tielu's home might be right here. He really could possess that many treasures in his household, and this mountain suits his living habits very well."
Li Banfeng activated Seeking Fortune and Avoiding Calamity and took the lead, while He Jiaqing employed the Thief Cultivator technique Untouched by Dust, sweeping away their traces from behind.
Reaching midway up the mountain, Li Banfeng suddenly halted. He heard A'yu's voice; from within the companion dwelling, she had spotted an irregularity.
"The snow cover here has been disturbed. Duan Tielu's house should be underneath the snow."
Li Banfeng pressed a hand against the accumulated snow, quietly sensing the danger.
Danger was present, but not immense. To Li Banfeng, it felt as though an expert were concealed beneath—roughly on par with Zhang Gunli's level.
Given Duan Tielu's strength, the peril shouldn't have felt so mild.
The snow slowly melted against his palm. Drops of water slid along his skin for a moment without evaporating, clinging to him with a hint of attachment.
Dwelling Cultivator technique: Recounting Family Treasures.
Those droplets of water now counted as Li Banfeng's family.
Seeping downward through the snow, the water droplets sent a progressively stronger sense of peril back up to him.
A chill traveled from his palm all the way to his scalp. A'yi hadn't exaggerated; the danger at this moment truly rivaled what Li Banfeng had felt back when he ambushed Shan Chengjun.
Yet Li Banfeng was no longer the man he once was. Having weathered multiple brutal battles, what peril was left that he wouldn't dare face?
Li Banfeng pointed at the snow and looked at He Jiaqing. "Go down and scout the way."
Seeing this, Banfeng Two breathed a sigh of relief.
He Jiaqing shook his head, indicating he didn't dare.
Li Banfeng raised his hand and made a horizontal slicing motion.
He Jiaqing shuddered. After a brief hesitation, he dropped flat onto the ground and blew steadily against the snow.
This was the Thief Cultivator technique: Blowing Ash to Find Crevices. There was no ash here, only snow, but the technique proved just as effective.
Fine flakes of snow were blown deep beneath the drift, sweeping along the mountain rock. After about ten minutes, He Jiaqing rose and pointed further up the slope.
This was the essence of Blowing Ash to Find Crevices. By blowing snow, He Jiaqing had pinpointed the location of a seam beneath the drift.
This seam might merely be a fracture in the rock, or it could be the door crack to Duan Tielu's home; the precise situation still required further probing.
The two advanced another stretch up the mountain. He Jiaqing pulled a folding fan from his sleeve, poked a hole in the snow, roughly judged the direction, and pressed the fan deep into the drift.
The fan remained submerged for over ten minutes before He Jiaqing caught a sensation.
He traced the character for "door" in the snow. He had located Duan Tielu's main entrance.
He didn't recklessly open the door, nor did he make the slightest sound. Looking at Li Banfeng, he waited for his command.
Opening the door risked alerting the enemy.
Li Banfeng gave a slight nod, gesturing for He Jiaqing to go inside and investigate.
With an utterly reluctant expression, He Jiaqing manipulated the fan to crack the door open just a sliver. Confirming there were no other mechanisms inside, He Jiaqing raised a hand to signal Li Banfeng to take flight.
Li Banfeng used his technique to ride the wind into the air. He Jiaqing erased both their footprints, then followed the hole the fan had left in the snow, twisting his body into a long, thin strip to slide beneath the surface.
After a brief wait, the fan poked out through the original hole in the snow drift, spread its leaves, and waved twice before Li Banfeng. Written across the fan face were the words: "All safe."
He Jiaqing's scouting efficiency was remarkably swift.
Li Banfeng didn't take the door. Using Unimpeded Passage, he phased directly through the snow into the building.
The moment he entered, Li Banfeng sensed something was off.
Before him stretched a corridor, easily a hundred meters long.
Both sides of the corridor were lined with rooms, accompanied by several staircases and ladders leading to upper and lower levels.
In such a massive place, no matter how agile He Jiaqing was or how many techniques he possessed, there was no way he could have scouted everything so quickly. How could he have casually written "All safe" on the fan?
Had he skipped scouting altogether and simply bolted?
Even if He Jiaqing dared to flee, he wouldn't dare trick Li Banfeng with that fan. If he truly did such a thing, the moment Li Banfeng made it out alive, He Jiaqing would be a dead man.
If the kid hadn't run, where could he have gone?
Had he already been captured by Duan Tielu?
To capture He Jiaqing in such a short window, Duan Tielu's strength would have to be terrifyingly high.
However, He Jiaqing had entered through the main door, where Duan Tielu would surely have precautions in place. Li Banfeng had phased through the wall, which Duan Tielu might not have detected.
Li Banfeng pushed open the rooms lining the hallway one by one.
The first room was cramped, though its area wasn't small—judging by sight, well over a hundred square meters, packed with an array of pipes and valves, making the room intensely stuffy and hot.
The second room held only a water pump. The pump was massive and produced tremendous noise, buzzing loudly enough to make Li Banfeng's ears ring.
Yet the moment he closed the door, all the noise vanished, as did the sweltering heat brought by the steam. The corridor outside remained chilly, cool, and utterly quiet.
Li Banfeng prepared to push open the third door. He gave a sudden shudder as an intense wave of danger struck him.
Placing his right hand on the doorknob, he simultaneously released Banfeng Two and Banfeng Zi to maintain vigilance outside.
The moment he shoved the door open, Li Banfeng froze.
Inside sat an enormous yellow oil tank bearing a label that read: "Lubricating Oil."
Li Banfeng had built numerous factories back in Qishuiyao and had seen far too many tanks like this. From the outside, apart from a minor oil leak, this lubrication tank showed no irregularities whatsoever.
Closing the door, Li Banfeng pondered where the sense of danger had originated. After thinking for a moment, a chill slowly crept into his heart.
Sensing danger in a place that held no threat—what did that prove?
Were the places where he sensed no danger actually safe now?
Li Banfeng realized that Seeking Fortune and Avoiding Calamity had suffered a major malfunction. Duan Tielu had used some sort of magical treasure to disrupt his technique.
What kind of magical treasure could sabotage Seeking Fortune and Avoiding Calamity?
Not daring to explore recklessly any longer, Li Banfeng summoned all twelve shadows of the Earthly Branches to inspect every room along the corridor one after another.
The rooms on this level were filled with various machinery, nothing out of the ordinary.
Following a staircase, Li Banfeng went up to the next floor. There were even more rooms above, some packed with extensive instrumentation, others housing control consoles.
Seeing no sign of anyone across both floors, Li Banfeng sent Banfeng Zi and six shadows higher up while he took the other six shadows downstairs.
The layout on the lower level was far more streamlined. Each room was roughly the same size, furnished with bunks, wardrobes, and desks.
Were these staff quarters?
Four bunks to a room, with over thirty rooms on a single floor—it seemed Duan Tielu possessed quite a few subordinates. But where had all these people gone?
Walking all the way to the center of the corridor, Li Banfeng came upon a large hall. On the hall wall were faint diagrams and text, resembling a leaderboard.
It seemed Duan Tielu also kept a habit of performance evaluations.
Opposite the leaderboard wall was an entrance. Li Banfeng walked toward the doors, intending to see if they led outside. Just as his hand touched the doorframe, a voice suddenly spoke: "You haven't left yet?"
"Whether I leave or not, what's it to you..." Li Banfeng blinked. Why had that response slipped out so naturally?
Tracing the origin of the voice, he looked toward the left wall of the hall.
Upon the originally off-white wall, a glass window had appeared. An elderly man stood inside, smiling toward Li Banfeng.
No wonder those words had blurted out—they had been pent up in Li Banfeng's heart for a very long time.
Back in the dormitories of Yuezhou University, ever since they saw He Jiaqing off, the old caretaker at the gate would frequently ask Li Banfeng: "You haven't left yet?"
Li Banfeng had been immensely annoyed by that phrase back then. And that old man's tone and voice were completely identical to the elderly man standing before him right now.
Did they look identical too?
What had the old caretaker looked like again?
He couldn't recall the caretaker's face, and the elderly man before him was somewhat difficult to make out clearly as well.
Li Banfeng stared at the old man's face for a moment. Each individual facial feature could be seen with absolute clarity, yet when viewed as a whole, the face grew somewhat hazy.
This was a Dwelling Cultivator's talent!
He carried a Dwelling Cultivator magical treasure on him.
Leaning against the glass window, the old man said to Li Banfeng, "You've looked through every room. Why haven't you left yet?"
Li Banfeng turned around and faced the glass window. "I came all this way, and you want to send me off without even offering a cup of tea?"
The old man slid open the glass pane and handed over a teacup. "It's not like this is our first time meeting—is there any need for such formalities? Drink the tea and get going."
Li Banfeng took the teacup, sipped the tea, and asked, "Are you Duan Tielu?"
This wasn't a blind guess; Li Banfeng had heard Duan Tielu's voice through A'yu, and it was entirely identical to the old man before him.
Duan Tielu smiled. "You say that as if we didn't know each other before."
Li Banfeng shook his head. "We really didn't know each other before. You worked as the dorm manager at Yuezhou University's Building Six?"
Duan Tielu nodded. "I worked there for several days and found the job quite entertaining. Sitting in a tiny booth with nothing else to do except make life difficult for people. Meals and lodging included, plus someone paying me wages—you'd never find such a sweet gig in Puluo Province."
Li Banfeng voiced his agreement. "In Puluo Province, someone like that usually wouldn't live to see the next morning. When did you start working as the dorm manager?"
Duan Tielu said, "The very day He Jiaqing placed the Mysterious Life Red Lotus inside the campus supermarket."
Li Banfeng asked, "Did that matter have anything to do with you?"
At the mention of that, Duan Tielu sighed. "Originally, it had nothing to do with me, but I was the one who built that storage locker. I have to provide after-sales service. If something went wrong and the blame fell on me, wouldn't I be the one suffering a massive loss?"
Li Banfeng roughly calculated the logic. "You wouldn't have suffered a loss, would you? Didn't you want the Red Lotus? You could have just taken it!"
"What would I want that thing for?" Duan Tielu sneered with disdain. "If I wanted one, I'd forge it myself. It's just a medicine furnace for alchemy—what's so extraordinary about it?
"Besides, who knows if what He Jiaqing put inside was even the Red Lotus? If it wasn't, there's no telling what kind of monstrosity it was. As long as that thing sat in my locker, I couldn't rest easy.
"Young Master He, wouldn't you say that's fair logic?"
As soon as the words fell, a figure surfaced upon the wall that previously bore the leaderboard.
He Jiaqing hung half-embedded inside the wall and half-protruding outside, like a relief sculpture pressed into the stone.
Duan Tielu looked at He Jiaqing. "Tell me, how could a child like you be so thoughtless? You're a young master from a wealthy family, a once-in-a-generation genius, doted on hand and foot by the Brotherhood Alliance every single day. If you wanted to hide a Red Lotus, anywhere else would have done—why did you have to hide it in my storage locker? Did you simply insist on dragging me down with you?"
He Jiaqing replied, "Senior, I never intended to drag you into it. I thought that by placing it in the locker, it would find its way back to the Dark Star Bureau.
"The locker was linked to the Dark Star Bureau, so if it returned, wouldn't everyone be happy?"
"Everyone happy? Tsk, tsk, tsk! How do you have the gall to utter such words?" Duan Tielu looked at He Jiaqing. "Your Brotherhood Alliance went to immense trouble to retrieve the Mysterious Life Red Lotus, only for it to be sent straight back through the locker I crafted! Wouldn't that blame end up pinned right on my head in the end?
"From the day you placed the Red Lotus in that locker, I severed the path between the locker and the Dark Star Bureau. That thing couldn't return to the Dark Star Bureau—it could only wait for Li Banfeng to take it out."
With that, Duan Tielu turned to Li Banfeng. "And you truly made me anxious. Day after day I urged you to take the item and go, yet you simply refused to leave."
Li Banfeng frowned. "How did you urge me? You chased me out every single day! You never said a single word about the locker or the Red Lotus!"
Duan Tielu even looked indignant. "If I told you about the Red Lotus, wouldn't that be tantamount to admitting I knew about it? If I knew about it, wouldn't the blame end up on my head after all?"
Li Banfeng let out a long sigh. "You act with even more caution than Che Wushang."
Duan Tielu froze, his gaze turning somewhat hostile. "Comparing me to Che Wushang—that's a rather nasty insult.
"Regardless, what's past is past. Li Seven, you're the grand boss of Puluo Province now. I don't wish to offend you, but I don't fear you either. Take He Jiaqing and get out of here right now, and we'll pretend we never met.
"If you insist on looking for trouble with me, I will gladly see it through to the end. That Duan here has lived to this day is thanks to genuine capability."
Li Banfeng said, "I didn't come looking for trouble. I came to talk business with you."
Duan Tielu shook his head slightly. "I checked the almanac today; it's not a suitable day for business. Pick another auspicious day to come find me."
"Very well. Another day it is." Li Banfeng finished the last sip of tea and handed the cup back to Duan Tielu.
Duan Tielu took the cup. "How was the tea?"
Li Banfeng praised, "Quite a fine flavor."
"Safe travels, I won't see you out!" Duan Tielu pointed toward the main door.
Li Banfeng looked back at He Jiaqing. "What about him?"
"Your call!" Duan Tielu smiled. "You can pry him out, or I can let him out."
"Then please trouble yourself to release him."
Duan Tielu set the teacup on the table and waved a hand toward He Jiaqing.
He Jiaqing dropped out of the wall, crashing heavily to the ground. Scrambling to his feet at once, he stepped behind Li Banfeng.
Without another word, Li Banfeng pushed open the main door.
Outside lay an expanse of snow. Li Banfeng stepped through the doorway and left the hall.
Just as He Jiaqing moved to follow him out, he suddenly sensed something amiss. The snowy ground outside looked familiar, resembling the spot where they had first entered.
Yet where was the hole he had poked with his fan?
He Jiaqing had wiped away both their traces along the journey, but he had deliberately left the hole where the fan entered the snow—that was his escape route.
Yet that hole was nowhere to be seen.
*Clang!*
The heavy door slammed shut. He Jiaqing hadn't made it out.
Duan Tielu closed the glass window and looked at He Jiaqing. "He's already gone. Why haven't you left? What are you waiting around for?"
He Jiaqing turned to stare at Duan Tielu.
Duan Tielu chuckled. "Hurry up and leave! He saved your life, so you ought to share life and death with him. Right now he's dead for sure—aren't you going to join him?"
He Jiaqing said, "We came to discuss business with you. When the deal fell through, we said nothing out of turn. Why must you do us harm?"
"Discuss business? Are you dreaming?" Duan Tielu fiddled with the teacup in his hands. "You managed to find your way right to my doorstep—did you really expect to walk out alive?
"That Li Seven... what can I even say about him? I told him I'd let him go, and he actually dared to walk out! With a temperament like that, he still wants to play the grand boss in Puluo Province? Isn't that just begging for an early grave?"
He Jiaqing turned to flee, only to find his legs heavy as lead, unable to shift a single step.
"What are you thinking?" Duan Tielu looked at He Jiaqing. "I just told you that neither of you is leaving here alive. Did you think I was joking?
"Your master is a thief, and you are a thief. A thief must live like a thief—sneak around to earn a bite to eat, and that ought to be enough for you! What grand, thousand-li stratagems are you trying to play at? What masterminding from behind the curtains are you trying to pull off? Do you even deserve it?
"Let me tell you this as well: from the day you put that Mysterious Life Red Lotus into my locker, your life was entrusted to my hands. Who's to say which day I might decide to collect it? Even if you wanted to keep it, you couldn't!"
*Smack!*
Duan Tielu slammed the teacup onto the table!
A burst of blazing flames erupted abruptly over He Jiaqing, enveloping his entire body in an instant.
Watching He Jiaqing thrash amidst the roaring fire, Duan Tielu stroked his teacup with a smirk. "Jiaqing, if it hurts, just go ahead and cry out."
At his side, Li Banfeng held a teapot, topping up Duan Tielu's cup to the brim. "Old Stove, if it's too hot, just say the word."
Duan Tielu snapped his head toward Li Banfeng, his face frozen in stunned disbelief. "How did you come back?"
Li Banfeng chuckled. "I said I was leaving, and you actually believed I left? Old Stove, with so few brains to your name, how on earth did you manage to survive to such an old age?"
Chapter 852