Chapter 364: Self-Born Spirit

Inside Sui Shen Ju, Li Banfeng quietly watched the peep-show man.

The peep-show man's face was covered in snot and drool, his body covered in burn blisters everywhere; his wife had used some method to calm him down.

"What's your name?"

The peep-show man replied: "Mei Laokan."

"Is that a name or a nickname?"

"That's just my name."

"What was your status at the Black Stone Slope branch?"

"No status."

Li Banfeng drew out his sickle, and the peep-show man flinched in terror: "I'm not from the Black Stone Slope branch, I was originally a scout at the Yuema Jian branch, and I came to Black Stone Slope on the orders of our branch leader."

"Why did they send you to Black Stone Slope?"

"Our branch leader said this was the gang leader's instruction. The gang leader wants to build up the Black Stone Slope branch, and he needs a few people who know how to work."

"And you count as someone who knows how to work?"

"I've been running peep shows for over thirty years, and I've never slipped up once."

Li Banfeng was silent for a moment, then asked: "How many children have you kidnapped?"

"Can't count them all."

"Have any children died at your hands?"

"I'm running a business here, I don't usually kill people. Occasionally I ran into ones who wouldn't listen, and I did finish off one or two, but I had no choice."

"Do you know that these children are the precious flesh and blood of their fathers and mothers?"

"But I still have to make a living, business has to go on. They can just have another one…"

Thwack!

Li Banfeng kicked the peep-show man right in the face, breaking his nose bridge and knocking out his teeth. The peep-show man wailed on the ground for a long while, the sounds he made barely sounding human.

The gramophone advised: "Husband, don't lower yourself to his level. Ask the important things first, and this little slave will tidy him up slowly later."

Li Banfeng asked: "This branch leader at Black Stone Slope, is he really from the Garrison Bureau?"

The peep-show man cried and shook his head: "I really don't know that. All I know is a new branch leader came to Black Stone Slope, and the old branch leader was sent off to another branch.

This branch leader knew I was a professional, so he told me to run a few rounds of business at Black Stone Slope first. I didn't dare—the people at Black Stone Slope are tough, if I got caught, I'd be done for.

The branch leader said all the money I made would be mine, and he'd give extra rewards on top. He just told me to gather enough and deliver the goods quickly."

"Deliver to whom?"

"To the Sage of Sageworthy Peak."

"Do you have the connections?"

"After doing this for so many years, of course I have connections. I've never met the Sage himself, but I've met everyone else on Sageworthy Peak."

At this point, the peep-show man's tone rose slightly.

What did that mean?

Showing off in front of me?

Li Banfeng wanted to hit him again, but held back, worried he might accidentally kill the man.

"How many children have you kidnapped at Black Stone Slope?"

"Counting today's, eighteen in total."

"Why hoard so many? Why not move them out faster?"

"Travel passes cost money too. Taking one or two out doesn't cover the cost.

Besides, one or two brats sent to Sageworthy Peak won't even get you an audience with anyone important.

Send three or five children, and you might meet one of the disciples below the mountain.

Send ten or more, and you can meet the disciples on the mountain.

If you have twenty or more, you can meet the Sage's trusted men, and even pass along a few words to the Sage.

This time the branch leader gave instructions—he's going along to deliver the goods himself, and he has to meet someone important, at the very least one of the Sage's trusted men."

This new branch leader didn't want to make money from kidnapping children; he wanted to establish a connection with the Sage.

And what was the purpose of doing this?

Asking this peep-show man would be pointless—this wasn't something someone at his level could know. Presumably, once this job was done and the branch leader had made contact with the Sage, this peep-show man would be silenced by the branch leader.

Li Banfeng pointed at a few mangled corpses and asked: "Do you recognize these tough men beside the branch leader?"

The peep-show man shook his head: "I don't recognize a single one of them. They weren't originally from the gang—they came along with the branch leader."

Could all these people be from another province?

"Have you always been sending the kidnapped children to Lowly's Ridge?"

"Not at all. In the early years when I was doing this business, I didn't even know Sageworthy Peak existed. There were no travel passes back then either, so we could only operate locally. If we got a brat, we had to move it the same day, finding capable people in the gang to send them out.

After a few years working in the gang, the branch took a liking to us professionals and got us travel passes, so we could send the brats out. Back then we sold to wealthy households, the branch took the lion's share, and we got a little gravy.

A few more years passed, and the rules changed—the brats we got could only be sent to Sageworthy Peak. There are a lot more rules involved, but the Sage really does pay well."

"On Sageworthy Peak, what's the highest-ranking person you've ever met?"

"I've met Holy Envoy Zhong."

"You mean Zhong Huai'en?"

"I don't know his name, just that he always wears a white robe."

"Besides money, has he given you anything else?"

"He's given me elixir pills too—all good medicine, the kind you can't find on the market. The more brats I send, the more pills he gives."

"You went into Lowly's Ridge and still managed to walk out?"

"Sure can, the road there isn't hard to travel."

Li Banfeng can't get out, and plenty of people in Jianrengang can't get out either.

Now it can be confirmed that there's a Sage's hand at work here.

Having asked enough about the Sage's Peak matter, Li Banfeng moved on to the Jiang Xiang Gang matter: "How did you know I had my eye on you?"

The peep-show man shook his head and said, "I don't know about that. It was a Tiao Jin Men (fortune-teller) in the gang who told me, said my hideout had been spotted,"

"I told the hall master about it, and the hall master said he'd handle the rest of the arrangements."

Gotta say, this hall master is pretty clever — the arrangements were quite thorough.

Li Banfeng said, "When are you planning to move the goods?"

"Tonight. The hall master said to have a few more brothers grab some dolls, round it up to twenty, and send them all at once to the big warehouse south of the train station, Warehouse Six, Bay Five. We're heading out tonight, no sense letting it drag on and inviting trouble."

"How are you planning to move the goods?"

"I'll take the dolls back first, find a place to settle them, then head to the gang lodge. Someone from the lodge will see me onto the train, and the hall master will go along too."

If this peep-show man doesn't go to the gang lodge, those bastards from the Jiang Xiang Gang probably won't show themselves either, and then Li Banfeng would have to force his way into the lodge.

Taking this peep-show man to the gang lodge — if this kid leaks the news, it'll be even harder for Li Banfeng to deal with.

What exactly should he do?

Use the projector to make an illusion?

The image is realistic enough, but the gang lodge is heavily guarded — hard to set things up in advance.

Is there a better way?

After much deliberation, Li Banfeng thought of a technique: "Who's good at skinning?"

At the mention of skinning, the peep-show man was terrified, jumped up to flee for his life, shouting as he ran, "I only grabbed a few dolls! As long as they behave, I definitely won't kill them!"

"I found good families for all of them! I've never done anything against my conscience! What right do you have to kill people? Let's find a place and have a proper talk about this!"

Xiang Xiang Hongying stepped forward and pinned the peep-show man to the ground.

"Seventh Young Master, I can skin, but the skinning won't look very pretty."

"What do you mean, not very pretty?"

Before Xiang Xiang Hongying could answer, the phonograph sneered, "Wretch, you're planning to flay this man alive, aren't you?"

Xiang Xiang Hongying, with her foot on the peep-show man, replied calmly, "Shouldn't this man be flayed? A child trafficker deserves exactly this fate!"

"Don't cause trouble. My husband still has use for the skin — if you chop it all to bits, how will it be of any use?"

The Blood-Tainted Pendulum said, "I can give it a try."

The phonograph said, "Sister, be a bit careful with your hands. Don't make the wound too big — try to peel this skin off as intact as possible."

The pendulum got to work, and the peep-show man's wails never stopped.

Li Banfeng, using the noise as an excuse, took the projector to the fifth room and replayed the battle from earlier.

Because he'd walked into an ambush, Li Banfeng had fought with everything he had, with no thorough plan — every decision was made on the spot — and there were plenty of problems with the finer details of the battle.

Of course, these battle details were best kept from his wife, because Li Banfeng had used a great deal of Traveler-cultivator methods.

Some things, once unspoken, shouldn't be brought up by oneself either.

Perhaps because his state of mind had calmed, Li Banfeng watched the earlier footage carefully and kept feeling that those four high-level cultivators looked a little familiar.

Especially that mole-cricket body cultivator who was stabbed to death by the Tang Dao — Li Banfeng thought he'd seen him before.

"Oh my, husband, this person your servant has seen before!"

Li Banfeng jumped in fright, quickly turned off the projector, returned to the main room, and said with a smile, "Dear wife, where did you say you've seen him?"

His wife pointed at the relatively intact corpse and said, "This very person — your servant should have seen him."

This was indeed the mole-cricket who had been stabbed to death by the Tang Dao.

Wasn't he from another province?

Could his wife have been to another province too?

"Wife, when did you see this man?"

The phonograph extended its stylus and flipped through newspapers on the bookshelf.

Before long, a newspaper was picked up by the stylus onto the tray, and amid the flickering firelight, a photograph appeared on the wall.

"When my husband isn't home, your servant often reads the newspapers to pass the time. This person — your servant has definitely seen him. He should be one of the Chu family's people."

What his wife pulled out was a newspaper from fifteen years ago, which Li Banfeng had paid a fortune for at the Lu family bookshop.

At the time, Chu family head Chu Shaoqiang and Lu family head Lu Dongliang had joined hands to do a big business at Kudaikan called Flower Branch Street.

That street still exists today — it's still the Lu family's business. The whole street sells flowers; men and women alike can go buy flowers, and every variety is available.

Flower Branch Street — he'd definitely have to go there later, but that wasn't the point right now. The point was the photograph taken when both sides signed the contract.

On that photograph, Li Banfeng saw this mole-cricket.

Although his appearance back then was very different from now, Li Banfeng still recognized his face. The news report at the time didn't mention this person's name, but judging from his position, this person should have been a branch hanger of the Chu family.

He's from Puluo Province!

Then why did he serve as a guard for outsiders?

There might be another story behind this.

While he was thinking, the pendulum finished the skinning.

The peep-show man was still alive — the skin was gone, but the man was still moving.

His wife found the man disgusting and asked the others, "Does anyone here want to eat his soul?"

No one spoke. His wife asked Xiang Xiang Hongying first: "Aren't you going to eat? This stuff won't hurt you."

Xiang Xiang Hongying shook her spear tip and said, "I don't want to fight you for that bite — you go ahead and eat it."

The phonograph asked the Judge's Brush again: "Lazybones, are you going to eat or not?"

"Hmph!" The Judge's Brush paid no heed to his wife.

"Thief Glove, are you going to eat it or not?"

The Glove wagged its index finger and said, "Lady, you can't just toss words around like that. Catch a thief by the loot — without proof or evidence, how can you call me a thief?"

The Phonograph gave a derisive laugh, then turned to Tang Dao and said, "Looks like you'll be the one getting the bargain."

Apart from these few, his wife had asked no one else.

There's a hidden trick in this.

These few treasures are not quite like the other treasures.

Li Banfeng didn't know the reason behind it, but there was one thing he had to verify.

He took out the Sickle and asked, "Can you eat souls?"

The Phonograph was startled. "Hey, husband, are you talking to it?"

Seeing this, the Sickle stopped hiding and came boldly before the Phonograph, saying in a clear voice, "Why can't you talk to me? I've followed Li-lang far longer than you have!"

"What a brazen hussy!" The Phonograph was somewhat surprised. "What's your name?"

"I'm called Sickle!"

The Phonograph asked again, "Did you recognize me before?"

"Why wouldn't I? We both came from the same place!"

The Phonograph was startled. "You're a self-born spirit?"

PS: The Phonograph and the Sickle were both sold to Li Banfeng by Shopkeeper Feng — counting it up, they're old friends too.

(End of this chapter)