Chapter 297: Let Him Put Out More Strength

Seeing Ling Miaoying's stomach exploded.

Fresh blood, entrails, shredded flesh, undigested food and food that had already been digested all gushed out.

Li Banfeng had sprinted all the way here, and his stamina was nearly spent. Having been away from the house too long, the trait that made him hard to detect was no longer at its peak, and the first successful use of Tianhe Zhi Ji also consumed an enormous amount.

He stumbled and nearly fell. Tu Yinghong, hearing the sound, rushed out of the room and was about to make a move on Li Banfeng, but Li Banfeng aimed at Tu Yinghong's head and fired first.

Bang!

That shot went off.

Ling Miaoying's handgun always hits its target when fired, but because Li Banfeng's marksmanship was poor, he didn't hit a vital spot—only Tu Yinghong's right shoulder.

Tu Yinghong was wearing self-made armor, but Ling Miaoying's handgun was too powerful; the bullet still punched through the bone. Before Tu Yinghong could steady herself, Li Banfeng fired four more shots in quick succession.

Of those four bullets, only one went off, and that one hit Tu Yinghong's neck.

Tu Yinghong clamped her hand over the wound on her neck and staggered back a few steps. Ling Miaoying cast a pleading look toward Tu Yinghong, and without a moment's hesitation, Tu Yinghong leapt out the corridor window and vanished in the blink of an eye.

She ran.

Li Banfeng had no idea what method she'd used to escape so quickly.

Nor did he know whether this woman would come back.

She might have simply ducked out to tend her wounds, or found some place to prepare her magic treasures anew, or even called for reinforcements.

Li Banfeng knew almost nothing about Tu Yinghong, but he understood Ling Miaoying—Ling Miaoying seemed to carry an inexhaustible supply of magic treasures and spirit items, always producing some trump card Li Banfeng never anticipated.

Rather than drag this out, it was better to finish off Ling Miaoying quickly, then return to Leaving Leaving Suishenju to recover his stamina—provided the key to Leaving Leaving Suishenju really was in Xiaoyao Wu.

Li Banfeng's exchange with Tu Yinghong had lasted only a little over three seconds, and during those three seconds Li Banfeng figured Ling Miaoying shouldn't have been able to deal with the wound on his belly.

Li Banfeng had underestimated him.

Ling Miaoying really had fixed the wound.

He shoved his entrails back into his belly, slapped a piece of adhesive tape over it, and somehow sealed the wound shut.

In the meantime, Tang Dao and the pendulum launched a sneak attack, but a halo of light sprang up behind Ling Miaoying like a shield and blocked them both.

The wine gourd released a mist of alcohol that enveloped Ling Miaoying; the shield alone seemed unable to hold it back.

All Li Banfeng had to do was light a fire, and he could burn Ling Miaoying.

At this life-or-death moment, Ling Miaoying suddenly charged at Li Banfeng.

His shoes were special, so this burst of speed was extremely fast.

Li Banfeng was heavily drained, and his footwork was just a fraction slower.

He was tackled by Ling Miaoying and couldn't dodge.

The two of them grappled together. At this distance Li Banfeng couldn't set a fire without harming himself, and neither side could easily find an opening to use techniques—it all came down to Gao Chao-level close-quarters combat skill and Tou Dao Ling for position.

Ling Miaoying grabbed at his hair; Li Banfeng gouged at his eyes.

Ling Miaoying clawed at his face; Li Banfeng choked his neck.

One gravely wounded, the other utterly exhausted—neither had the ability to finish the other in a single move.

One was a seventh-layer Peeping Cultivator, the other a sixth-layer Traveling Cultivator who was also a fifth-layer House Cultivator—this is how fierce a duel between high-level cultivators gets!

Tang Dao and the pendulum kept tangling with the shield, the wine gourd and the steel wire rope clashed together, and the projector adjusted its angle from the corner of the wall—this thing was a menace!

Although the image it had previously created had been beheaded by Tang Dao, the shadow could still fight; it was just limited by the projector's projection angle and couldn't enter the corridor, which lay outside the screen's range.

After adjusting the angle, the projector could create a new shadow—one able to move through the corridor and help Ling Miaoying fight.

Ling Miaoying had too many spirit items; it looked like he was about to gain the upper hand.

In the stalemate, the white glove suddenly gave Ling Miaoying's ear a light scratch.

Ling Miaoying flinched, giving Li Banfeng the opening he needed to use a technique.

Li Banfeng wrenched himself free from the grapple, circled behind Ling Miaoying, and with superhuman strength dragged Ling Miaoying toward the room.

Ling Miaoying's eyes went wide—he couldn't make sense of Li Banfeng's change.

Both of them were clearly at the end of their ropes—why did this kid still have so much strength?

Did he take a pill?

He'd clearly had no chance to take one just now.

Why was he running toward the room?

Could it be a House Cultivator technique?

Impossible!

He's a Traveling Cultivator—how could he possibly have a House Cultivator technique?

What Li Banfeng used really was a House Cultivator technique.

He used the Homesick Arrow technique.

From the moment he'd run back all the way from Black Stone Slope, Li Banfeng had been homesick the whole time, because he was afraid he'd never be able to return to Leaving Leaving Suishenju.

With the technique now at its peak, no one could stop Li Banfeng's steps homeward.

Li Banfeng dragged Ling Miaoying into the room. Ling Miaoying struggled with all his might, but the difference in strength between them was enormous.

The projector created a new shadow, but limited by its projection angle, it still couldn't enter Li Banfeng's room.

It adjusted its angle again, intending to create a shadow inside Li Banfeng's room.

Li Banfeng reached one hand under the bed and fished the key out from a crack in the floorboards.

The key!

The key was still here!

Li Banfeng was overjoyed, and his strength surged again.

Ling Miaoying thrashed his neck about with all his might and bit at Li Banfeng's wrist.

The Homesick Arrow technique reached its peak; Li Banfeng couldn't even feel the pain. He turned the key to Leaving Leaving Suishenju and dragged Ling Miaoying inside.

Once the master left, the treasures and spirit objects all lost their footing.

The gourd took the chance to knock over the projector, and the newly formed phantom was cast out the window.

The pendulum and the Tang Dao paced back and forth, tangled up the steel wire, and followed Li Banfeng into the room.

The glove, seeing no one was watching, swallowed Seeing Ling Miaoying's projector, and followed back to Leaving Leaving Suishenju as well.

Back in Leaving Leaving Suishenju, Li Banfeng tossed the key outside the door, then collapsed from exhaustion and lay still on the floor.

Ling Miaoying suddenly rose, grabbed the steel wire, and was about to chop off Li Banfeng's head.

Li Banfeng laughed.

Ling Miaoying's hand hung suspended in midair, hooked by his wife's phonograph needle.

His wife was playing a slow beat, about to sing a tune, but Li Banfeng sang first — a "Du Shiniang."

"Wife, are you starving? If you're starving, tell your husband — husband will make you noodle soup!"

The phonograph tittered: "Oh my, husband, this isn't noodle soup, this is top-grade ingredients!"

Ling Miaoying stared at the phonograph and cried out in shock: "A steam phonograph from Outer Amikan — how could it possibly have become a treasure?"

A burst of steam scalded Ling Miaoying until his flesh split open; his wife got angry, so angry her stomach growled nonstop.

Li Banfeng laughed and said: "Your eye's not bad — worthy brother of Ling Miaosheng. But you speak without any sense of measure. This is my wife — how dare you call her a treasure?"

Wife?

Ling Miaoying couldn't make sense of it, nor did he have any way to think it through.

The phonograph was very hungry, and this meal was eaten with some impatience.

Watching his wife wolf down her food, Li Banfeng was deeply gratified.

A wife ought to be raised just like this — raised plump and white!

But if they returned to the outer provinces later, buying groceries for his wife would still be a troublesome matter.

In that environment of the outer provinces, would his wife like it?

Li Banfeng patted his forehead, reminding himself not to think randomly.

He had some guesses.

From now on in Leaving Leaving Suishenju, regarding matters of location, he must try not to think randomly.

……

Tu Yinghong returned to Xiaoyao Wu and saw quite a few people standing in the corridor — mostly overnight guests and dancing girls.

These people had heard the gunshots and fighting sounds. At first they didn't dare come out — in Prozhou, too much curiosity easily cost one's life.

When the sounds gradually died down, a group of people only then came out to check the situation.

The doorman, who had been sound asleep, was also startled awake. Tu Yinghong looked around but didn't see Ling Miaoying or Li Qi.

She pretended to be a curious bystander and asked the people around her what had happened.

"Don't know what happened — just heard someone firing a gun."

"There's blood in this place too, no idea whose blood it is."

"Not just blood — look, what's this thing? Is this intestine? And there's vegetable leaves on the intestine!"

Not a single person around could explain things clearly.

Tu Yinghong glanced into Li Banfeng's room — it was empty inside.

She wanted to go in for a closer look, but was stopped by the doorman: "All of you go back to bed! Stop making trouble here!"

Tu Yinghong was shoved aside.

If she wanted to kill this doorman, she only needed to move one finger.

A few more flicks of her fingers and she could kill everyone in the corridor, then go inside for a thorough look.

But she did not do this.

She knew doing so wouldn't help Ling Miaoying — on the contrary, it would bring trouble upon Ling Miaoying.

Tu Yinghong silently left Xiaoyao Wu, returned to the small building, and quietly waited for news of Ling Miaoying.

……

Lu Chunying and the rest of them, at Lu Maoxian's home, were also quietly waiting for news of Ling Miaoying.

They waited until nearly seven o'clock, when the sky was already fully bright, and finally a spy brought word.

The Pass Commissioner came out of the bookhouse, and Ling Miaoying was not seen.

Lu Dongtang couldn't hold back any longer and cursed at his subordinate: "The Pass Commissioner has already come out — what are you all waiting for? Go into the bookhouse and find him!"

"Fusheng Bookhouse is the Chu family's business — it's not really proper for us to…"

"So what about the Chu family? I'm not afraid of them!"

The subordinates went to Fusheng Bookhouse, and shortly after, came running back.

"We searched the whole bookhouse — didn't see Ling Miaoying."

Lu Dongtang had nothing to say.

Lu Chunying stood up, sighed, and said: "No wonder Uncle Grandfather was outmaneuvered by Ling Miaoying — this kind of cunning runs in the family."

Lu Dongtang could stand no more and rose, about to curse someone out. Qiu Zhiheng glanced at him, and Lu Dongtang's blood surged downward, gathered in one spot, and in a sudden eruption, split his trousers open.

Lu Dongtang covered his trousers and sat back down in the chair, quickly lowering his head.

If Hou Zi Qiu looked at him again, it could leave him without descendants.

The main family left, and the other families also departed one after another.

Lu Maoxian sat in the bedroom, silently grinding his teeth.

……

Outside the residence, Ma Wu said to Hou Zi Qiu and Tan Fucheng: "Uncle Qiu, Uncle Tan, if you don't mind, let's go to Xiaoyao Wu together for a drink."

Tan Fucheng looked at Qiu Zhiheng, and Qiu Zhiheng looked at Lu Chunying.

Lu Chunying laughed and said, "Brother Qiu, Fifth Brother has put in this effort — we can't refuse him face."

Qiu Zhiheng nodded: "Fine, let's sit together for a while."

Ma Wuyi raised a hand: "Two uncles, after you."

Tan Fucheng frowned and said, "Even Young Lady Chunying is calling you brother — what are you still calling uncle for? From now on, we're all of the same generation."

……

The group headed together toward Outside Xiaoyao Wu, but before they could enter the gate, the doorman rushed up to them first.

"Fifth Master, something happened last night — no one knows who came, went into Seventh Master's room, and fired a gun, made a complete mess…"

The doorman's ability to express himself was limited, and what he said was a complete mess.

Ma Wu first had everyone rest in the dance hall, and hurried off to the rear building himself.

Going up to the second floor, Ma Wu's heart tightened — he saw bloodstains in the corridor, scorch marks, and some indescribable things; a fierce fight had clearly taken place here.

Could something have happened to Old Seven?

Beads of sweat broke out on Ma Wu's forehead.

Arriving at Li Qi's door, he found two men guarding the entrance, not allowing any idle bystanders inside.

"Fifth Master, everything inside is in chaos, and there's blood — shall you go in and take a look?"

Ma Wu pushed open the door and entered the room, only to find the room perfectly tidy.

The doorman was dumbfounded too, and said to Ma Wu, "Fifth Master, it wasn't like this just now, just now it was…"

Splash~

A sound of water.

Li Banfeng walked out of the washroom.

The doorman was trembling all over: "Seventh Master, you — when did you get back?"

Li Banfeng wiped his hands and said, "I came back last night."

Ma Wu had had a false alarm, wiped away a cold sweat, sent the doorman away, and asked, "Did something happen last night?"

Li Banfeng nodded and said, "Something happened."

"What happened?"

"I haven't made it up yet."

Ma Wu's face was helpless: "What's there to make up between us? You can't even tell me the truth?"

"I can tell you, but it's not easy to tell others." Li Banfeng took out a bundle and handed it to Ma Wu.

Ma Wu took the bundle, unfolded it, and saw it was Seeing Ling Miaoying's head.

"Old Seven…" Ma Wu's mouth hung open, and only closed after a long while, "The Lu family waited for Ling Miaoying the whole night, and this is how you let them have him?"

Li Banfeng nodded and said, "Yes, so we have to make it up properly — can't let him die just like that, have to make him put in a bit more effort."

PS: The projector was taken away by the glove — will he spit it out?

(End of chapter)