Chapter 315: The Covenant of the Local Land God

Ba Shan Zhu scanned the severed limbs and remains strewn across the room, gave a cold laugh, and said, "Day in, day out she plays the virtuous lady, but behind closed doors she's this vicious and ruthless—a two-faced, cheap whore who deserves to be sliced into a thousand pieces."

She was cursing Meng Yuchun, but Xiang Xiang Hongying misunderstood.

Xiang Xiang Hongying swiveled the barrel of her spear toward the voice and asked, "Old hag, who are you cursing?"

Ba Shan Zhu waved her cane: "Are you the house spirit?"

"That's right!" Xiang Xiang Hongying flicked the spear tip with obvious pride.

Now the spear tip was drenched in blood, which, set against its original metallic sheen, gave it a strange, striking beauty.

Ba Shan Zhu raised her cane to strike, when suddenly the gramophone called out, "Hey, you cheap wretch, what kind of house spirit are you? When is it ever your turn to call the shots in this house?"

Ba Shan Zhu looked at the gramophone. At first she only saw the thing hissing with steam and belching smoke, and mistook it for a tea stove.

Now she realized the thing had a record on top, the record kept spinning, and the horn could produce sound.

Meng Yuchun actually had two house spirits.

She had heard of such things before—some high-level Yu Zhaixiu did indeed have more than one house spirit.

What was that man doing here, then?

Ba Shan Zhu looked at Li Banfeng: "Are you a house spirit too?"

"I…" Li Banfeng had no idea how to explain himself.

Ba Shan Zhu laughed and said, "Enough! I'll send you all off together!"

Boom!

The cane slammed into the floor; an invisible force surged up, and the corpses and all manner of magical artifacts in the room flew into the air.

Tang Dao shrieked and dove into Li Banfeng's pocket along with the gloves.

The music box was clumsier—it wanted to find Li Banfeng but couldn't fly over.

The Judge's Brush hovered in midair, unconcerned, turned over, and went back to sleep.

The calendar rolled itself up, hung on the pendulum, and flew over to Li Banfeng together with the wine gourd.

Even flying to Li Banfeng's side was no guarantee of safety—Li Banfeng himself was flying too.

In the main hall of Sui Shen Ju, tables, chairs, benches, rice bowls, water buckets, and even Li Banfeng's bed all flew up into the air.

"A Strength Cultivator?" The gramophone didn't fly; it calmly puffed out steam. "That Daoist path is rare these days."

"What's so rare? Back in the day weren't there plenty of them on the battlefield?" Xiang Xiang Hongying didn't fly either; her loose long hair lifted slightly.

Hiss, hiss~

The gramophone laughed and said, "Blind old crone, those days are long gone. Strength Cultivators have been pushed to the brink by Wu Xiu."

Xiang Xiang Hongying snorted coldly, "One force beats ten skills, one speed shatters a hundred tricks. What do Wu Xiu count for?"

The two were still arguing about cultivation paths, and Ba Shan Zhu realized the situation had turned badly against her.

The fact that these two house spirits hadn't been thrown into the air proved their strength was no less than Meng Yuchun's. Killing them in a short time would be extremely difficult.

That male house spirit looked useless—use him as leverage first, see if she could find a way to escape.

Ba Shan Zhu shifted her force, intending to slam Li Banfeng into the ground.

Clang, clang, clang!

A tight drumbeat rang out, and Ba Shan Zhu felt her Qi flow stutter, her techniques hard to deploy.

Amid the rhythm of gongs and drums, Li Banfeng, along with all the furniture and magical artifacts in the room, slowly settled back into place. Song Zhiyi had broken Ba Shan Zhu's technique.

Ba Shan Zhu raised her cane and struck at the gramophone.

Boom!

The gramophone's front cabinet let out a dull thud.

Ba Shan Zhu had hit the gramophone's front door, but couldn't bring her full force to bear—her Qi kept jumping in time with the drumbeat, and the powers within her body clashed against each other.

The gramophone's singing voice turned cold: "You old crone who doesn't know when to die—who told you to touch my husband?"

The old crone's body trembled as she gathered every ounce of strength, trying to break free of the gramophone's control.

The gongs and drums grew denser, interwoven with Song Zhiyi's ghastly singing: "I shall go to the Gazing-Home Terrace to look in person, and there I see the little ghost runners and the great ghost judges, escorting the wrongly slain souls, iron chains around their necks, wretched, wretched, woeful, woeful, the netherwind swirls, blowing cold through to my very bones."

"Tanyin Shan" was originally a painted-face aria, but Song Zhiyi had changed the key and the meter, transforming it into a qingyi singing style. The tune was eerie and mournful, striking terror into Ba Shan Zhu's heart and making cold sweat pour down.

No good.

She couldn't beat this house spirit!

Ba Shan Zhu turned to head out the door, but the great door wouldn't open.

She saw another door behind Li Banfeng. Ba Shan Zhu transformed into ghost fire and rushed toward it.

This enraged Song Zhiyi even more—she thought the old crone was going for Li Banfeng.

A burst of steam came rushing in, forcing the old crone to reveal her true form. The stylus pierced straight through her eyeball, hooked onto the eye socket, and dragged her back.

"You truly don't know when to die—how dare you touch my husband!" Boiling steam heated the stylus until it glowed red-hot, scalding the old crone's eye socket until it smoked.

The old crone tried to use brute force to snap the gramophone's stylus, but the ghastly singing never stopped, and she could never muster her strength.

Li Banfeng didn't understand.

Song Zhiyi's singing sounded quite pleasant—how could it have such deadly power against the old crone?

While he was thinking, a sudden warm, wet sensation brushed his ear.

What was going on?

Li Banfeng yanked off the earring and snapped, "Didn't I say you're not allowed to pee in my ear?"

Xiang Xiang Hongying warned the earring: "Listen carefully when you're told to listen, and never listen when you're not told to. That vicious woman was afraid of hurting her man, so she let you hear the pleasant parts. If you'd heard the real sounds, your souls would've been scared right out of you."

Ba Shan Zhu rotated her wrist. On her wrist was a gold bracelet—a rare spiritual artifact that might still save her life.

She worked it for a long while, but the bracelet gave no response.

Strange—where was the bracelet?

The bracelet is gone!

The needle's temperature rose again, the singing voices layered and interweaving, as if a thousand performers were all singing one grand opera together.

Hung on the needle, Ba Shan Zhu gradually stopped struggling; the phonograph's lyrics had sent her into a daze.

Another needle pierced into the top of her head; Ba Shan Zhu's body convulsed, her eyes rolled back, as if her brain had been sucked out.

Li Banfeng sighed inwardly: Lucky for me I'm a righteous person, and my home is a righteous place too.

If this had happened in someone else's house — blood everywhere, corpses piled up, and an old woman having her brains sucked out alive — it would surely have become a den of demons.

"Wife, leave her a breath. I have questions for her."

The phonograph said: "Husband, ask quickly. Xiang Xiang Hongying, you stay on guard too — this one's cultivation isn't on the ground layer."

Xiang Xiang Hongying said: "Since it's not on the ground layer, we should kill her fast, don't let her cause trouble!"

"You wretched woman, who asked you to chatter? When husband wants to ask questions, you listen to husband!"

Not on the ground layer?

Then she's on the cloud layer.

Li Banfeng asked: "Are you a local earth god?"

Ba Shan Zhu didn't want to speak. The needle's temperature suddenly shot up; Ba Shan Zhu trembled violently and finally opened her mouth: "I am the local earth god of the eastern territory, Ba Shan Zhu."

"Meng Yuchun's neighbor?"

"Yes."

"Why did you want to kill her?"

"I wanted to take her contract. If she hadn't resisted or sought revenge, I could have spared her."

"What's the use of taking her contract?" Li Banfeng had always wanted to know this — just how valuable was a contract to a local earth god?

"Take her contract to the Inner Province, and you can trade it for a hundred years of lifespan."

Li Banfeng was startled: "Is this a promise from the Inner Province?"

"It's not a promise, it's a rule — a rule every local earth god knows."

Li Banfeng was dumbfounded, at a loss for words.

Could the Inner Province actually set rules like this?

Thinking back now, Shui Yongquan really was loyal and righteous — back then he could have dug up Qiu Luoye's contract, but he didn't.

"What happens to a local earth god if their contract is dug up?"

"They lose their station."

"And what happens if they lose their station?"

"Their cultivation drops. Sometimes three to five days, sometimes a year or two — a local earth god who loses their contract will fall from the cloud layer to the ground layer."

Falling from the cloud layer to the ground layer — isn't that the same as a failed advancement?

"So that means they'd turn into a wounded demon fiend?"

"Not a wounded demon fiend. Losing cultivation is a great wound — those with deep roots can cling to a little spiritual nature and scrape by alive, but those without deep roots simply vanish into ash."

No wonder every local earth god fights to the death over their contract — the price of having it dug up is far too steep.

Li Banfeng asked Ba Shan Zhu: "For a hundred years of lifespan, you'd take such a desperate risk?"

"I had no choice. I'm over four hundred and eighty years old — among local earth gods, that's already considered long-lived.

On the cloud layer, the longest lifespan never exceeds five hundred. If I couldn't find a way to extend my life, I probably wouldn't last a few more years either."

The phonograph said from the side: "Husband, this old woman isn't lying — the Inner Province does indeed have such a rule."

When his wife mentioned the Inner Province, Li Banfeng shuddered — he thought she was about to go mad again.

But today his wife seemed quite normal.

Looks like she's recovered quite a bit.

All those days of feeding her weren't wasted!

Li Banfeng continued: "Why did you specifically target Meng Yuchun?"

"She's a household cultivator, not very experienced, and she just became a local earth god — she doesn't know many of the rules. Among the neighboring local earth gods, she was the easiest one to deal with.

None of the nearby local earth gods had ever encountered a pioneer. No one could see any hope ahead. Only she got lucky — less than a year in, and a pioneer showed up.

The surrounding local earth gods all envied her. If I killed her, no one would say anything against me. Even if she didn't die by my hand, she'd die by someone else's sooner or later."

So this is what the relationship between local earth gods is like?

"Tribute-taker, Sweet Snot, Pen-knife Clerk, Theatrical Recruiter — all these wandering fiends were hired by you?"

"Yes."

"What did you pay them?"

"Cultivation. Cultivation from the ground layer."

"Where did the cultivation in your hands come from?"

The old woman's expression grew more and more dazed; she mumbled incoherently for a long while without making herself clear.

The phonograph said: "Husband, the territory of new land can breed cultivation. A local earth god's contract can gather up this cultivation and use it to reward the strange fiends under them. If the price is high enough, you can even buy off wandering fiends.

But buying off so many wandering fiends at once — this old woman must have gone bankrupt. From now on, if she wants to control the strange fiends on her territory, she won't have any bargaining chips left."

The old woman muttered: "Can't be helped, can't be helped... I want to live..."

Li Banfeng didn't catch Ba Shan Zhu's words — his mind was now full of the matter of cultivation.

"Husband, ask quickly if you have more questions. We can't keep this one around long."

Li Banfeng hurriedly asked: "Where is your contract?"

"At my dwelling."

Isn't that just stating the obvious!

"Where is your residence?"

"You want my contract deed?" Ba Shan Zhu gasped. "Spare my life, and I'll take you to get it."

The singing needle's temperature rose again, and his wife warned Ba Shan Zhu: "Don't talk so much. Answer honestly whatever is asked."

Unable to endure the torment, Ba Shan Zhu told the truth: "Go find Xizhao Fu. She knows where I live."

"Good, good!" Li Banfeng nodded, signaling his wife to go ahead.

The singing needle suddenly stretched longer, piercing straight through from the top of Ba Shan Zhu's head all the way down to the ground.

As Ba Shan Zhu convulsed, he kept muttering: "I want to live, let me live…"

After a long low moan, Ba Shan Zhu fell silent. His soul had been eaten by his wife.

Steam puffed out in bursts, and the phonograph slowly sang: "Husband, even if you brought me dragon liver and phoenix marrow today, this little one couldn't eat another bite."

Li Banfeng smiled and said: "Wife, rest a moment. I'll go out for a look around and be back soon."

"Oh my, husband, you're not going to look for that old crone's contract deed, are you?"

Li Banfeng twitched his nose and said: "I'm just curious. I want to go take a look."

"Oh my, husband, you're not thinking about the cultivation inside the contract deed, are you?"

Li Banfeng grinned innocently: "Isn't it nice to stock up a bit more cultivation? You said it yourself, wife — all the cultivation on the territory is stored in contract deeds."

"Oh my, husband, your cultivation was given to you by this little one. What would you want a contract deed for?"

Li Banfeng wiped his sweat and said: "Even if I don't use it, I can let you use it!"

"Oh my, husband, this little one has no use for that kind of cultivation. The cultivation from the New Land isn't the same as proper cultivation.

Madame Suoe — husband has seen her. Does husband want to turn into a sight like that?"

Li Banfeng was taken aback: "Using cultivation from the New Land will turn me into Madame Suoe?"

"That's not quite it. Madame Suoe became that way through bitter cultivation. What a Yu Zhaixiu might turn into, though, is hard to say.

The strange beings on the New Land — some are people, some are close kin of people — only because they gained New Land cultivation did they end up looking like that. Husband, have you thought this through? Do you truly want to become a sight like that?"

Li Banfeng pressed his lips together and said: "Changing how one looks isn't any big deal."

Xiang Xiang Hongying brought the mirror over to Li Banfeng: "First take a look at how you look right now. If you really turn into some monster, won't you despise yourself?"

As a spear, you look in the mirror every day — you don't despise yourself, so why would I despise you?

"I don't despise myself. I wonder if my wife despises me?"

"Oh my, husband, this little one doesn't despise you either. If husband wants to go, then go."

"Good, I'll go right now." Li Banfeng crouched down and opened the box.

"Oh my, husband, what are you doing?"

"I'm going to oil you up right now."

The phonograph trembled: "Husband, this little one was giving you a kind warning — why does husband want to oil me up?"

Creak~

Li Banfeng had already opened the back cover.

The phonograph trembled even harder: "Husband, this little one ate so much today — you mustn't oil the wrong place. Look carefully, husband, look… care… no, no, don't, husband, don't~

Husband, husband, that, that, that local earth god's contract deed, it, it still has other uses. Don't, don't be in such a rush, husband. Listen to this little one, let me, slowly explain~"

PS: What other uses could a contract deed possibly have!

(End of chapter)