Chapter 120

Li Banfeng tried his best to suppress his shaking legs as he listened to the missus explain the third-layer techniques.

"Listen here, husband, residential cultivators at the first and second layers actually don't have techniques; they only have two innate talents. The first is 'Guarding the Home on the Land,' which means a residential cultivator's combat power increases by one level once they enter their residence. The second is 'Turning a Blind Eye,' which means when a residential cultivator leaves their residence, they won't be noticed by others."

Li Banfeng nodded and said, "I can do that too. But what about 'Hundred Flavors Linglong,' 'Golden Eyes Qiu Hao,' and 'Insight into Spiritual Sounds'? Aren't those techniques?"

His legs weren't just shaking; they seemed to be stretching out as well.

"Those are techniques, but they are even more of a token of affection from this little slave; other residential cultivators might not necessarily know how to use them."

This is the special nature of residential cultivators, and also the reason why others are unwilling to engage in battle with them. A portion of a residential cultivator's techniques are given by the house spirit, and it is very difficult to grasp the patterns within them.

The missus continued: "But third-layer techniques are different. This technique is the same for all residential cultivators under heaven; it is called 'Heart Returning Like an Arrow.'"

"As long as a residential cultivator has the urge to return, wanting to go home, their combat power will increase significantly. But how much it increases and how long it can be sustained depends on the husband's ability."

Li Banfeng slapped his thigh. "You know I can sustain it for a long time."

Pfft~

The phonograph let out a slightly mocking laugh: "The technique of 'Heart Returning Like an Arrow' depends first on how high the husband's cultivation base is, and second on how urgent the desire to return is. The higher the cultivation base and the more urgent the desire to return, the more powerful and lasting the technique will be."

"So that's how it is. I'll go out and test it first." Li Banfeng got up and ran outside; he couldn't hold it in anymore.

He wanted to run, uncontrollably wanting to sprint. If he kept his upper body still, it seemed his legs would run off on their own.

The phonograph gave a word of caution: "Husband, residential cultivators have no levels. You cannot spend less than two hours at home every day. Once you ascend to the first layer, you cannot spend less than three hours. Once you ascend to two layers, you cannot spend less than four hours. Now that you have reached the third layer, you cannot spend less than five hours."

"Usually, you are busy with making a living, and whether you return early or late, this little slave has never minded. From now on, having ascended to the third layer, you must pay more attention to the rules."

"This little slave is easy to talk to here, but the house itself is not so easy to appease."

Li Banfeng gave his word and immediately left the Leaving Suishenju.

Inside the outer room, a dewdrop emerged on the body of the copper lotus flower.

She wasn't about to spit; she was breaking out in a cold sweat.

He ran all the way with his legs like the wind, rushing out of Lanyang Village and onto the wilderness, sprinting aimlessly.

The crowd stretched their necks, waiting for the good show to begin. After three rounds of drumbeats, the two officially started fighting.

While running, Li Banfeng pondered:

The few words of caution the phonograph gave at the end were very critical. The cultivation method for residential cultivators lies in the balance between the cultivator, the house, and the house spirit.

If a residential cultivator does not go home for a long time, or if the time spent at home is insufficient, it will lead to the residential cultivator and the house growing distant, and may even lead to the house retaliating.

If the Leaving Suishenju wants to retaliate against me, will it act directly, or will it join forces with the missus to deal with me?

This question is a bit redundant.

If the missus wanted to deal with me, she wouldn't need to join forces with the Leaving Suishenju at all. The key lies in...

The key lies in when I can stop!

Li Banfeng had already been running for a long time.

From Lanyang Village to the wilderness, from the wilderness to a small town, from one town to another, Li Banfeng ran over a hundred miles. Until he ran back to the small wooden house, he had absolutely no desire to stop.

Once he stopped, Li Banfeng's legs began to shake again unconsciously.

He had underestimated this so-called retaliation. If he encountered an enemy now, Li Banfeng would have almost no ability to fight back.

Continuing to run didn't seem to solve the problem either, unless he relied on running to directly promote to the second layer. Ten years of time, fifty miles a day—who knows what year and month that would take.

How can the problem be solved?

Li Banfeng controlled his trembling arms and fished out the newly refined Jin Yuandan from his bosom.

There were thirty-eight pills in total, each representing one hundred days of cultivation.

Three thousand eight hundred days, exceeding ten years of cultivation. If he ate these pills, Li Banfeng could promote to the second layer and return to a situation where he was only one layer behind the residential cultivator.

Can I eat so many pills at once?

Just by stopping for this short while, Li Banfeng had the urge to run again.

He had to run; his two legs felt like they were about to fly off his hip bones.

This wasn't a sensory illusion; these two legs were really about to fly off. Li Banfeng heard the sound of joints rubbing.

Blood seeped out of his thighs; a portion of his skin had been torn apart by his own thighs.

It wasn't just his legs; the joints all over his body wanted to sprint wildly.

His left hand wanted to run east, his right hand wanted to go west, and his neck wanted to fly into the sky!

His legs had to run, run without stopping. Once he stopped, his whole body would be torn apart!

He couldn't go on like this.

If I eat fewer pills, I still won't be able to promote to the second layer, and the effect of the retaliation won't improve much.

Running aimlessly like this until I die of exhaustion, I'm afraid I won't be able to stop.

If I happen to encounter an enemy, I might end up running my own life away.

Go back to the Leaving Suishenju and eat them?

Not appropriate.

The fact that Li Banfeng is also cultivating as a traveling cultivator cannot be known by the phonograph.

The phonograph detests traveling cultivators very much, for reasons unknown.

If the phonograph knew that Li Banfeng was eating pills to improve his traveling cultivation, it would likely prevent Li Banfeng from promoting, or even suddenly go mad and take Li Banfeng's life.

In for a penny, in for a pound!

I'll just eat them now. If it really doesn't work, I'll go back to the Leaving Suishenju to detox.

Li Banfeng ran all the way back to the small wooden house. Ma Wu walked out of the bedroom holding a newspaper: "Brother Li, can you guess what happened? The Lu family, they..."

"Don't talk about that yet. I can't go to the new land tonight. Help me guard the door; no one is allowed to come in."

"Brother Li, what on earth happened? Why are you shaking so violently?"

"Shaking, what does shaking matter? No, isn't it quite good?" Li Banfeng's speech was stuttering. He couldn't explain it clearly, so he didn't say much more.

He quickly climbed the stairs, entered the bedroom, poured out the thirty-eight pills, stuffed them directly into his mouth, and swallowed them with a gulp of water.

Since arriving in Puluozhou, this was the first time Li Banfeng had eaten pills.

The Jin Yuandan pills slid down his throat one by one, very smoothly, without the slightest feeling of obstruction.

With thirty-eight pills in his stomach, Li Banfeng didn't have any special feelings.

He just felt that the desire to shake wasn't as intense anymore.

Does this count as promoting to the second layer of traveling cultivation?

Has the retaliation of the cultivation base disappeared?

Is it effective so quickly?

Is the promotion so smooth?

Li Banfeng felt a burst of joy. He looked at his own body and felt that something was wrong.

He was still shaking, and he was still shaking violently.

The reason he felt the desire wasn't as intense was because he couldn't perceive his own body anymore.

He wanted to move his arms, but his arms wouldn't listen to him.

Is the pill poison so fierce?

Hurry back to the Leaving Suishenju to detox!

How to explain it to the missus?

Just say I suddenly went mad and ate the pills!

Is this explanation credible?

I think it's quite credible!

Wan Jinxian reminded him again: "Is it appropriate to go to the Lu family mansion?"

Yet he asked which man hasn't lied to his wife at home!

Li Banfeng wanted to take out the key, but couldn't; his hands had completely lost control.

I want to go home, I want to go home, I want to go home.

Li Banfeng's veins bulged, bloodshot eyes appeared, and his fingertips trembled slowly as he reached into his pants pocket.

"Heart Returning Like an Arrow"—his desire to go home was extremely urgent, which also caused his physical quality to rapidly improve by a level, briefly overcoming the influence of the pill poison.

He twisted the key, opened the door, and threw the key under the bed.

Once he returned to the Leaving Suishenju, after taking just two steps, Li Banfeng collapsed onto the ground.

The moment he returned to the Leaving Suishenju, his desire to go home was satisfied, the urgency disappeared, and the increased combat power vanished along with it.

Pfft pfft~

Seeing Li Banfeng collapsed on the ground, the phonograph exclaimed: "Listen here, husband, what has happened to you?"

Li Banfeng could still barely speak: "I ate pills, Jin Yuandan."

"Husband, why did you eat those?"

"I felt they were a great tonic, so I ate them."

"How many did you eat?"

"Thirty-eight, I ate them all!"

"Listen here~ you madman, do you not want your life anymore?"

A mass of steam lifted Li Banfeng and sent him to the bed. Li Banfeng lay flat for a moment, and under the swirling steam, he slowly calmed down.

Pill poison is terrifying; Li Banfeng would need to spend a long time to regain full perception of his body.

But that was much better than the retaliation of the cultivation base. The moment before he took the pills, he even suspected his body would be torn apart.

Li Banfeng's legs were still shaking, as if they still wanted to leave his body.

But he could see that the amplitude of the shaking was clearly not as violent.

On the copper lotus flower, dewdrops flowed down one after another.

Ma Wu was flipping through the newspaper downstairs; today's news was indeed extraordinary.

The news about the Lu family had been reported. Lu Dongjun accused He Yuxiu of secretly harming Lu Dongliang, while He Yuxiu stated that Lu Dongjun wanted to kill his brother and usurp power.

Both sides held their own opinions, and there was no conclusion to this matter for the time being.

There was also no conclusion regarding Lu Dongliang's whereabouts.

Ma Wu couldn't be bothered to look at the news commentaries given by the major pundits; he was more concerned about some less important news.

The Ma family was raising funds from multiple sources, preparing to open up new land.

Although the Ma family had been on a downward slope these years, opening up new land shouldn't require raising funds from multiple sources.

Based on Ma Wu's understanding of his father, the Ma family's purpose in doing this was to take out the money deposited in the Lu family bank; his father wanted to stay as far away from this dispute as possible.

Looking at another piece of news, the Chu family's second young lady, Chu Huaiyuan, clarified the false rumors about her killing her husband and went to the Baile Sect to support the singing queen Jiang Mengting.

Chu Er went to the Baile Sect again.

She had always had ideas about the Baile Sect, but it was the Lu family's property, and she couldn't get her hands in. Now the opportunity had come.

This also represented the Chu family's attitude; they wanted to participate in this dispute and wanted to reap more benefits.

Ma Wu felt itchy watching this.

The Lu family was in chaos, and the landscape of Puluozhou was about to be rewritten. He smelled the scent of opportunity in it.

Something big had happened in Puluozhou, and with so many troubles in the Lu family, they probably didn't have the spare energy to focus on Li Banfeng.

Thinking of this, Ma Wu worried about Li Banfeng's condition again.

He originally wanted to go to the bedroom upstairs to ask, but suddenly heard someone knocking on the door.

Opening the door, he saw a middle-aged man standing outside, around fifty years old, wearing a dark green long gown, with a clean-shaven face, wearing a pair of round-framed sunglasses and a wide-brimmed hat.

"Who are you looking for?" Ma Wu asked politely.

The middle-aged man smiled: "I'm looking for you, Young Master Five."

Ma Wu's heart tightened, and he pretended to be calm: "How should I address you?"

"My name is Yang Yanzheng, and I am a steward of the Chu family."

Upon hearing this name, Ma Wu remembered what Landlord Wei had said before he died.

It was this Yang Yanzheng, a man of the Chu family's second young lady, who had been instigating others to persecute Ma Wu.

"What can I do for you?" Ma Wu stood at the door, his expression remaining calm.

Yang Yanzheng smiled: "My young lady is having a birthday this month and would like to invite you to sit down together. I have brought the invitation for you."

Ma Wu took the invitation, glanced at it, and smiled slightly: "Your young lady still wants to invite me? I've already been expelled from the family. Is it appropriate for me to go to your young lady's birthday party with this status?"

Yang Yanzheng said: "Our young lady feels that you haven't done anything wrong and shouldn't have suffered so much. She doesn't care what others say. As long as you are willing to grace us with your presence, the Chu family's door will always be open for you."

Ma Wu was stunned for a moment, then suddenly asked: "What if I don't grace you with my presence?"

Yang Yanzheng was silent for a long time, then sighed: "Young Master Five, you have really suffered a lot these days. You don't want to suffer these hardships again, do you?"

PS: Thanks to book friend 20220724175249537.

The Chu family's second young lady first appeared in the newspaper of Yaowang Gou; she is a second-layer bitter cultivator.

(End of chapter)