At three in the afternoon, Li Banfeng woke drowsily, only to hear someone calling out beside his ear.
"A lone column of smoke rises straight from the desert wastes; the setting sun hangs round above the long river!"
"Round what?" Li Banfeng opened his eyes to see the Tang dao standing upright before him.
Li Banfeng stared blankly for a long moment, but the Tang dao declared slowly, "The hour of the decisive battle has arrived."
He had almost forgotten.
Last night, Li Banfeng had agreed with the Tang dao to have their showdown today.
Flames flared in the gramophone's fuel tank, and singing rang out amid the billowing steam: "Husband, your humble servant told you we couldn't keep this blade."
The Tang dao turned toward the gramophone, seeming somewhat wary. "A one-on-one duel, a fair contest! Bystanders have no right to interfere."
*Ch-ch—*
The gramophone scoffed with a snicker. "You're preaching rules to a mere woman like me?"
The Tang dao took two steps back and said to Li Banfeng, "If you outnumber me to bully me, then even if I am defeated, I will never willingly concede!"
*Whoosh!*
Steam billowed out.
The gramophone sang slowly, "Who says anything about outnumbering you? Husband doesn't need to lift a finger—I'll scatter your soul right this instant."
"You're... you're..."
While the Tang dao scrambled for an excuse, Li Banfeng got up, drank some water from the bucket, stretched his limbs, and said to the gramophone, "Wife, I made a prior agreement with him for a one-on-one duel today. I cannot break my word."
"Husband, this is no child's play. One careless slip, and this wretch will truly take your life."
"Don't worry, wife. I'm certain I can beat him."
The Tang dao barked, "Now that sounds like a true hero! Where shall we fight? Step outside for slaughter, or battle right here?"
Li Banfeng looked around. "If we fight here, I'm afraid my furnishings might get wrecked."
The gramophone cautioned, "Husband, if you step outside this door, I won't be able to protect you!"
The Tang dao wanted to fight outside too, worried the gramophone might intervene, though it couldn't say so openly.
Li Banfeng pondered for a moment. "Let's fight in the third room!"
The gramophone froze. "What third room?"
"The third room, that's all I mean." Li Banfeng simply referred to the newly opened third room as the third room.
The Tang dao agreed as well; getting further from the gramophone was naturally for the best. "Will you not bring a weapon? I do not slay unarmed men."
Li Banfeng casually picked up two daggers from the floor. They were weapons taken from ordinary Jiangxiang Gang members, crude in both material and craftsmanship.
The Tang dao was rather displeased by the daggers. "Fighting me with such crude, inferior blades shows far too little respect!"
Li Banfeng gave a cold sneer. "We'll see once we fight."
The two entered the third room. Newly opened not long ago, it was roughly the same size as the main room and quite spacious. Li Banfeng and the Tang dao each stood against opposite walls.
With a metallic clang, the Tang dao drew itself from its scabbard, its chilling glint reflecting onto Li Banfeng's face. "Make your move first! I'll yield you three bouts!"
Li Banfeng took a rust pill from his pocket.
The Tang dao scoffed, "Thinking of taking pills now? I'm afraid it's too late!"
Li Banfeng placed the rust pill on one dagger. Before long, the dagger—over ten centimeters long—disintegrated into a pile of rusty slag.
Startled, the Tang dao hovered back and forth along the wall. "What a ferocious pill! You think to use that against me? Let me tell you, you might not even hurt me—you might not even touch me!"
Li Banfeng tossed the other dagger into midair and threw the rust pill, striking the edge dead center.
The dagger hit the floor, coated in rust.
The Tang dao panicked a little, not expecting Li Banfeng's throw to be so steady and precise.
Yet it saw that the rust pill had already fallen to the floor.
"A hero fears no peril! A stout-hearted man breaks before he bends! Could I possibly be frightened by such cheap parlor tricks?" With that, the Tang dao positioned itself horizontally in the center of the room, cutting off the path between Li Banfeng and the rust pill.
Li Banfeng had already thrown his rust pill; it would never let Li Banfeng retrieve it.
Li Banfeng pulled another rust pill from his pocket, looked at the Tang dao, and said coldly, "You've got some fucking nerve."
The Tang dao backed away to the wall, its blade inadvertently trembling twice.
*How does he have another pill?*
"Make yourself clear. Are you truly letting me strike first?" They were less than five meters apart, and Li Banfeng could fling the pill at any moment.
*Clang!*
"Triumphant songs greet an enlightened lord, his portrait gracing the Kirin Tower! Your subordinate has drifted his entire life, at last finding an enlightened master, and stands ready to serve like dog and horse!" The Tang dao slid back into its scabbard on its own, then prostrated itself flat on the floor.
*Pfft.*
From the main room, the gramophone scoffed with utter disdain for the Tang dao.
Li Banfeng asked the Tang dao, "What's your name?"
"Your subordinate has neither name nor surname. Master may call me whatever you please." The Tang dao remained prostrated on the floor.
*Pfft.*
Neither name nor surname?
The gramophone grew somewhat vigilant.
Li Banfeng said to the Tang dao, "Neither name nor surname? That won't do. You're a magical artifact; you should have a resounding name. I'll give you one!"
"For Master to bestow a name is your subordinate's greatest fortune!"
Li Banfeng pondered for a long while before saying, "From now on, you'll be called Second Blade!"
The Tang dao found this rather vulgar and raised itself slightly. "Why not Big Blade?"
Li Banfeng produced the scythe. "He was the first to follow me. He's Big Blade."
The Tang dao was not entirely convinced, but said nothing more.
Li Banfeng hung the Tang dao from his belt, but felt it looked too conspicuous. Yet the blade was too long to put anywhere else comfortably.
"The scythe is still more compact," Li Banfeng sighed. Just as he spoke, the Tang dao suddenly shrank, turning into a dagger less than ten centimeters long.
What a fine artifact—not only could it change sizes, it could even understand Li Banfeng's thoughts.
Having pocketed the fine blade, Li Banfeng returned to the main room. A puff of steam swept over him, stroking back and forth across his body.
Li Banfeng blinked in surprise. "Wife, what are you doing?"
The gramophone sang gently, "Husband returns triumphant; your humble servant is celebrating for you."
"Let's skip the celebration. I'm afraid I won't be able to hold myself back."
The steam dispersed, yet the record continued spinning on the turntable.
This blade didn't seem like an ordinary magical artifact.
...
At dusk, Li Banfeng stepped out of the Portable Abode and entered Qin Xiaopang's courtyard, just as Qin Xiaopang was hanging up laundry.
"Seventh Brother, what brings you here?" Delighted, Xiaopang hurriedly invited Li Banfeng inside.
"Seventh Brother, have you heard? The branch master of the Jiangxiang Gang's Medicine King Hall Second Branch has gone missing! Right inside the sub-branch altar! Over a dozen people at his side vanished as well—no sign of them alive, no corpse to be found!"
"Is that so? In that case, won't the Jiangxiang Gang suffer a heavy blow to their vitality?" Influenced by the Tang dao's highfalutin manner, Li Banfeng couldn't quite adjust his tone back.
Xiaopang scratched his head. "Seventh Brother, why are you talking so bookish? The Jiangxiang Gang is definitely hurting. Not only is the branch master gone, but the Second Branch's Sage, Zhong Desong, is gone too. Remember him, Seventh Brother? He even came to the bun shop last night for the feast."
Li Banfeng shook his head. "I don't recall much of him. With something this massive happening to the Jiangxiang Gang, they must be scouring the area for the culprit, right?"
Xiaopang shook his head. "I haven't heard anything about that. Xiang Guicheng directly took over as head of the Second Branch, and nobody's seen him going out to hunt down any killer. He did ask Sixth Brother Zhang a few questions today, but Sixth Brother Zhang ignored him."
When Li Banfeng blew up the Xianle Dance Hall, the Jiangxiang Gang had handled it quietly.
Now that he had practically flipped the Second Branch's altar upside down, the Jiangxiang Gang was still keeping it quiet?
This made Li Banfeng feel the situation was growing increasingly subtle.
...
At ten that evening, Li Banfeng made a round through Waigou before returning to Ligou and arriving near Feng's Grocery Store.
A record rack stood in front of the grocery store. This was the signal agreed upon between Shopkeeper Feng and Li Banfeng; seeing the record rack meant Shopkeeper Feng had news.
Was it news about the travel permit?
Li Banfeng was eager to return to Yuezhou as soon as possible, but he had yet to amass the twenty million, mainly because the haul from the battle at the sub-branch altar had been limited.
Upon entering the grocery store, he learned there was still no word on the travel permit, but the red pill had been sold.
Shopkeeper Feng had fetched a good price, parting with it for two hundred thousand. Taking a twenty percent cut, he handed Li Banfeng one hundred and sixty thousand.
Li Banfeng was delighted and left five more Xuanchi Pills with Shopkeeper Feng on consignment. The twenty-million goal seemed a little less distant now.
Paifang Street had few pedestrians tonight. With the Jiangxiang Gang suffering one disaster after another, the residents of Ligou hardly dared venture out at night. Li Banfeng wanted to buy a newspaper, walking quite a distance before finally running into a paperboy.
The evening paper was filled with news of the attack on the Jiangxiang Gang's sub-branch altar. The headline clearly stated: Branch Master and Sage Missing, Whereabouts Unknown.
An attack on a sub-branch altar was a huge deal, but by rights the news shouldn't have spread so fast.
The nature of this incident was different from Xianle Dance Hall. That time, Li Banfeng had used dynamite, alarming the whole of Ligou.
At the altar, however, Li Banfeng had used tea. If the Jiangxiang Gang wanted to conceal it, they could have easily kept the news under wraps.
Why did it look like they were deliberately leaking word?
Just what was the Jiangxiang Gang's objective?
Li Banfeng glanced over page two and spotted another piece of news: The Lu family had successfully reclaimed wasteland in the Mount Jiangyue newland, laying claim to over two hundred mu of territory.
In the photograph, Li Banfeng saw the Lu family patriarch, Lu Dongliang, as well as a familiar face.
The private investigator, Daboyins!
He was at the Mount Jiangyue newland, helping the Lu family clear land?
He belonged to the Lu family?
He wasn't hired by the Jiangxiang Gang?
The Lu family is looking for me?
What do they want with me?
Could Lu Xiaolan already be out?
Li Banfeng felt a chill in his heart. Putting away the newspaper, he prepared to head to the He family ancestral residence to gather information.
Stepping into Chuanzi Alley, Li Banfeng suddenly heard a familiar voice in the distance.
"Steward Qiu, let me tell you one more time, alright? We really don't know if that was the Lu family's Eldest Miss! We've never seen her before!"
That cadence was all too distinctive.
Xiao Yeci?
Why would she be here?
She's looking for Miss Lu?
Sensing something was amiss, Li Banfeng immediately produced his key and slipped into the Portable Abode.
Xiao Yeci, Lu Chunying, and the Lu family's head steward, Qiu Zhiheng, walked into the alley together. Xiao Yeci stressed once more, "We truly haven't seen the Eldest Miss. If we've mistaken someone else for her, please don't hold it against us!"
Qiu Zhiheng smiled faintly. "Madam, Miss, there is no need to worry. I merely came to have a look."
Once the three had walked further off, Li Banfeng silently emerged from the Portable Abode.
In the dark of night, he could barely make out their retreating figures.
Xiao Yeci, recognized.
Lu Chunying, recognized.
And another person who also seemed familiar, his physique far too distinctive.
Over 1.8 meters tall, weighing less than eighty jin.
Monkey Qiu—the Monkey Qiu who had saved his life.
Chapter 89