Chapter 336: Avoiding Disaster

You Xuehan, codename Tangyuan, is a scholar by profession—that is, a Wen Xiu as referred to in Pulu Province.

Logically, Tangyuan would not participate in handling such relatively primitive anomalies, since these anomalies cannot understand human speech and lack any comprehension of human culture; most of the scholar's techniques are ineffective against them.

But this was an emergency situation, and among all, she arrived fastest, after "Zhong Er" and "Dengpao."

Before this silkworm, there are two most suitable techniques.

The first is textual attack—the technique known in Pulu Province as "One Character, A Thousand Gold."

This silkworm cannot read, but that does not hinder the effect of "One Character, A Thousand Gold"; this technique harnesses the power of written characters and the cultivator's energy to inflict severe damage upon the enemy.

For example, writing the character "shui" (break) on this silkworm's body, if one's cultivation base is high enough, could cause the silkworm to shatter on the spot.

This is the optimal choice for Wen Xiu against primitive anomalies—so why doesn't Tangyuan use it?

"One Character, A Thousand Gold" is a sixth-layer technique; Tangyuan has only fourth-layer cultivation.

Even this fourth-layer base was achieved through external-province technology, using drugs and training; Tangyuan has very limited combat experience.

The second is textual embodiment—the technique known in Pulu Province as "Shu Mo Xun Xing."

This is a fourth-layer Wen Xiu technique, which Tangyuan can use.

This technique also employs the power of written characters and the cultivator's energy to materialize the characters and fight the enemy.

But under current circumstances, this technique is not a good choice.

The embodied characters transform into thousands of warriors, attacking everyone present indiscriminately.

The silkworm's thick hide can withstand it, but "Dengpao" isn't nearly so tough—a "dao" (knife) character materialized into a short blade flying toward him; "Dengpao," slick with oil, could still evade for a moment.

But when a "huo" (fire) character became a flame hurtling toward him, Dengpao panicked, immediately abandoned any attempt to rescue Qin Minghui, and fled beyond the technique's range.

He fled—what about Qin Minghui?

Qin Minghui isn't even the worst off; the worst are the two children, who don't even know basic defensive movements.

Tangyuan found an escape route within the characters themselves and escaped from the technique.

She also considered others might be harmed, so she held back—now she faced a dilemma.

Should she save Qin Minghui first, or the two children?

While she hesitated, Qin Minghui seized the moment the silkworm was distracted by the textual attacks and broke free, lunging toward the two children and shielding them beneath his body.

He had not yet escaped the technique's control range.

Several lines of characters began attacking Qin Minghui, leaving him covered in wounds.

Seeing this, Tangyuan immediately disbanded the technique.

But she didn't realize this was a foolish move.

Since she hadn't used full force earlier, the silkworm hadn't been seriously injured; now that the technique was lifted, the enraged silkworm charged at Qin Minghui again.

At this moment, Tangyuan had no countermeasure.

In the critical moment, Datou burst into the factory and punched the silkworm down.

The silkworm writhed on the ground, trying to rise; Datou stepped forward and kicked it again, snapping its fangs.

While the silkworm was powerless to resist, Datou pulled a syringe from his waist, pierced its skin, and injected the agent.

After struggling briefly, the silkworm lay still on the ground.

Tangyuan quickly called an ambulance and took Qin Minghui and the two children to the hospital.

…

Qin Minghui suffered many injuries, but none were life-threatening; after wound treatment and a pain pump installed, he soon fell asleep.

The next morning, Datou and Dengpao returned to the bureau to write their reports, while Tangyuan stayed at the hospital to care for Qin Minghui.

Chen Zhangrui arrived at the hospital, learned Qin Minghui's condition was stable, and let out a long breath.

According to bureau policy, Qin Minghui was in a private room; with no one else present, Chen Zhangrui spoke a few words with Tangyuan.

"Tangyuan, Zhong Er and Dengpao are new recruits—I won't blame them—but how many years have you been with the bureau?"

Tangyuan lowered her head: "Ten years."

"If I remember right, you became a Dark Energy User at age eight."

Tangyuan nodded.

"I recall your father specifically arranged a master for you in the bureau to train you in scholarly techniques; your talent was truly exceptional—you reached the fourth layer at this age."

Tangyuan bit her lip and said nothing.

Chen Zhangrui glanced at Qin Minghui: "Zhong Er and Dengpao are new—I won't blame them. You've been in the bureau ten years, with fourth-layer strength—and this is how you handled the mission?"

Tangyuan's face flushed red.

Chen Zhangrui sighed: "This isn't your fault—it's mine. I've let you train too little.

You're not the only one in our team like this; last mission, Glasses and Sugar Cubes also messed up badly.

Whenever we face a slightly harder mission, the only ones who can fight hard are Datou and the other veteran team members. What will we do when those veterans can't fight anymore?"

As he spoke, Qin Minghui woke up.

"I'll go get some hot water." Overcome with shame, Tangyuan could no longer sit still and excused herself from the room.

Chen Zhangrui looked at Qin Minghui: "Xiao Qin, good job—you didn't let me down. I'll recommend you for a reward tomorrow at the bureau."

Qin Minghui shook his head: "Captain, I heard everything you just said. We did poorly on this mission."

Chen Zhangrui smiled: "You did well."

"No, we didn't. Everyone's the same—I reviewed the whole process. We made many mistakes."

"Don't dwell on it. You're new, and this was your first encounter with an anomaly. You did fine."

"What's the name of that anomaly?"

"Name…" Chen Zhangrui thought, "According to our classification, it's a Primitive Form Anomalous Organism of the Lepidoptera order."

"How do they call it in Pulu Province?"

"You've heard of Pulu Province?"

"You mentioned it—you said it's the only place where one can truly grow strong."

Chen Zhangrui smiled: "In Pulu Province, this anomaly is simply called a silkworm."

"That name sounds like it's not taken seriously."

"Taken seriously? How do I explain this?" Chen Zhangrui chuckled bitterly,

"In Pulu Province, there are special areas called New Lands. In those places, any hunter can easily take down a silkworm—only because there's nothing valuable on it, so hunters don't bother with them."

Qin Minghui listened intently: "So Pulu Province must be incredibly powerful."

Chen Zhangrui shook his head: "The people of Pulu Province are formidable, but Pulu Province itself isn't powerful. You'll understand once you go there."

…

Ma Wu stared into Aqin's eyes for a long time.

Yesterday, he removed the emotional root from Huoling's eyes; Huoling quickly returned to normal.

But Aqin's emotional root—no matter how hard he tried—would not come out, like a soft thorn, resisting every attempt to pull it.

Fortunately, Aqin had regained some clarity; Ma Wu told her not to watch any more shadow plays, and she obeyed him, staying quietly at the newspaper office overnight.

The next morning, when he looked again, Aqin's emotional root was gone.

When asked about the shadow play "Blood Blade Detective," she felt nothing special.

"Just something new to look at. Not particularly good."

Huoling agreed: "I watch shadow plays for the excitement. This one wasn't exciting at all—just preached a lot of moralizing."

Ma Wu grew even more suspicious.

Had he imagined it?

Were these two women truly just seeking novelty?

He had Bai Qiusheng obtain travel permits and buy train tickets, preparing to go to Kudai Kan.

Huoling was displeased: "Wu Lang, why are you going there? Aren't the two of us enough?"

Aqin also urged: "You've just been promoted—you must be careful."

Ma Wu stared at the bloodstain on the handkerchief—left by Huoling.

Is this truly an emotional root?

Only she could verify it.

…

At Yaowanggou Station, Li Banfeng stepped off the train and asked around the square for the cart driver with the firewheel.

It was rare to come here—if he could meet him, he might as well ask for the seventh-layer technique.

An elderly master knew the driver well: "That brother went home yesterday afternoon—he said he was going to avoid disaster, and even told me to go hide too."

"How could I hide? No work means no income—I've got a whole family to feed."

Avoid disaster?

This driver is a major figure among Traveling Cultivators; his ability to avoid misfortune is not to be underestimated. If he says he's avoiding disaster, something is definitely coming.

What could it be?

Li Banfeng tightened his vigilance, refused a rickshaw, and walked directly to Ligu.

Ligu felt familiar—it was Li Banfeng's first stop in Pulu Province, especially Pailifang Street, where every shop was deeply familiar, including the Xianle Dance Hall he had blown up.

The dance hall has been rebuilt; its facade looks much the same—I heard it's still run by Jiang Xiang's gang.

Should I blow it up again?

Maybe another day.

First, find Feng the Shopkeeper.

Li Banfeng arrived at Feng's General Store, but the shop was closed tight.

Where did he go to have fun again? Isn't Chunsheng here either?

The Yu Family Cloth Shop next door was also shut.

What's going on here?

Li Banfeng was just looking for someone to ask, when he suddenly felt someone approaching from behind.

He spun around and saw a tall, thin figure saying to him: "You're back and didn't even tell me?"

Qiu Zhiheng was overjoyed to run into him on the street.

Perhaps used to this unspoken understanding, Li Banfeng said nothing more, and Qiu Zhiheng asked no further questions—he simply led Li Banfeng to Qiu's Herbal Shop: "Come on, let's go home for dinner."

At the herbal shop, after Qiu Zhiheng introduced him, his wife learned this man was Li Qi.

His wife was also delighted and personally cooked for the two of them.

The herbal shop was thriving; after years of struggle, Qiu Zhiheng finally had his own business and ran it with great care.

His wife prepared a full table of wine and dishes; after a few cups, Qiu Zhiheng said: "Later, take a look at the ledgers and calculate the profit share."

It was clearly agreed from the start: Li Banfeng provided the capital, Qiu Zhiheng provided the labor, fifty-fifty split—when it came time to divide the money, Qiu Zhiheng certainly wouldn't let Li Banfeng lose out.

Li Banfeng waved his hand: "Keep my share for now—I want to expand the business."

"I came here to find Feng, the shopkeeper of Feng's General Store. Do you know where he went?"

His wife added: "He said he was fleeing disaster and told us to close up for the next couple of days."

Why is Feng the shopkeeper fleeing disaster too?

What exactly is going on?

Qiu Zhiheng said: "Our business just opened—how can we just shut down? I suspect the Jiangxiang Gang is coming to cause trouble. Let's see what tricks they think they can pull here."

Is it really the Jiangxiang Gang?

Feng the shopkeeper avoiding the Jiangxiang Gang makes sense.

Why is the coachman avoiding the Jiangxiang Gang?

Is there something else going on here?

While he was pondering, Qiu Zhiheng's son ran in, face flushed, grinning: "Cao Ye is here."

Cao Ye?

Which Cao Ye?

Li Banfeng stepped outside and saw it was indeed the Cao Ye he had met on Kuwu Mountain.

Cao Ye stood at the entrance of the herbal shop, eyes red, a carriage parked behind her.

Beside the carriage stood a man, around sixty, wearing a short jacket, his hair parted, a deep smile on his face, speaking to Cao Ye in the tone of an elder:

"Let me say something you won't like to hear—what good is this job of yours? How much can you earn delivering herbs?

You want to open your own herbal shop? You want to do big business? Look at yourself—are you even cut out for it? Do you think you have the fate for it?"

Cao Ye burst into tears at his words.

It can't be that bad.

On Kuwu Mountain, Cao Ye had fought for her life—how could she cry over a few words from this old man?

Who is this old man to her?

As Li Banfeng observed, his wife rushed out, grabbed Cao Ye, and pulled her inside the herbal shop.

Qiu Zhiheng told the customers inside: "I'm sorry, everyone, we're closing for the day—please come back another time."

The customers were furious—it was barely even afternoon! Why close so early?

Qiu Zhiheng gave no explanation, saw all the customers out, and immediately locked the door.

Li Banfeng said: "Brother Qiu, what's going on?"

Qiu Zhiheng frowned tightly: "I haven't been to Medicine King Gully in too long—I've lost touch with the news."

His wife snapped: "Nonsense! Feng told you to flee disaster, and you ignored him!"

Qiu Zhiheng was furious: "He didn't explain clearly—I thought he had enemies. I never expected this thing to show up!"

Just then, the old man shouted from outside: "What's this? You shut the door the moment I arrive? Is this how you run a business?

Let me say something you won't like to hear—treating customers like this, your herbal shop will never prosper!"

Qiu Zhiheng gritted his teeth: "Damn it!"

Li Banfeng asked: "Who is this man?"

"He's a Mourning Cultivator!"

PS: What kind of Dao sect is a Mourning Cultivator? Why does everyone avoid them?

(End of Chapter)