Chapter 369: All Friends Who've Shared Life and Death

Li Banfeng held the remote and looked it over again and again, several times.

It wasn't that he lacked the nerve to try — he truly couldn't tell what changes Leaving Leaving Suishenju had actually made.

The key question: after the modifications, did the functions match what Li Banfeng wanted?

"Do you know what this is for?"

Leaving Leaving Suishenju replied: "For crossing through."

"Do you know what kind of crossing I need?"

"How could I not? Wherever you go, I follow."

"Can this thing open the border line?"

"Half a minute at a time, once per day."

Li Banfeng thought for a moment and said: "You mean this mechanism, right?"

"What else could it be? The craftsmanship on this thing is ingenious — given the materials on hand, this is as far as I could modify it. Go try it out; whether it works is another matter."

Li Banfeng took a paper figure, sprinkled a little blood on it, left Leaving Leaving Suishenju, stood near the border line, and pulled the lever.

He guided the paper figure across the border line; the paper figure was unharmed.

It worked!

What fine craftsmanship Leaving Leaving Suishenju had!

For a train, to possess such ingenious craftsmanship!

He only had thirty seconds; the paper figure used up twenty. Li Banfeng didn't hesitate any longer and dashed across the border line. Ten seconds later, the mechanism clicked, the lever returned to its original position, and no matter how Li Banfeng tried to pull it again, it wouldn't budge.

The supposedly impassable border of Like Puluozhou had been opened just like that — Li Banfeng could hardly believe it.

As long as this remote isn't damaged, Li Banfeng could now roam freely across most of Like Puluozhou, no longer needing to worry about travel passes.

Behind him was Black Stone Slope.

Ahead lay Soda Kiln, which bordered Black Stone Slope directly.

Li Banfeng carefully tucked the remote away, pulled his hat brim low, and vanished into the night.

……

Soda Kiln — a town about the same size as Medicine King Gully.

The place had a very distinctive name. Back when he was at the newspaper, Li Banfeng had once asked about the origin of the name "Soda Kiln," and Xiao Chuanzi's explanation was that the soda here was especially good to drink.

At daybreak, Li Banfeng arrived in town, and a rich, fragrant aroma hit his nose.

It was the smell of soda — early in the morning, quite a few soda stalls had already opened for business.

Li Banfeng found a stall and sat down. The proprietress asked what flavor soda he wanted.

Orange, grape, cantaloupe — the soda here was blended purely from artificial flavoring, one hundred percent containing no natural fruit juice whatsoever.

But whatever technique they used, the blended soda really was delicious.

Li Banfeng ordered two bottles of grape soda, plus the stall's signature set: two authentic Yingrili sausages, a plate of authentic Green Water City pig's head meat, a dish of Soda Kiln ancient-method spicy cabbage, and a bowl of the stall's secret-recipe white porridge.

Was this combination appropriate?

Li Banfeng thought it was quite fitting — generous portions, filling, full of flavor, and not the least bit greasy.

While eating, Li Banfeng chatted casually with the proprietress, and the conversation turned to the origins of Soda Kiln.

The name originally had nothing to do with beverages.

"Our Soda Kiln built the first batch of boilers in Like Puluozhou. In the boilers, water turns to steam, and steam turns back to water — the water-steam cycle is the very foundation of the steam engine.

Every household in our Soda Kiln had steam running through it, earlier than Black Stone Slope. If it weren't for the folks over at Black Stone Slope knowing how to do business, Soda Kiln would have lived better than them!

Later, Soda Kiln gained some fame, and people started a soda business here, making up nonsense that the soda sect originated in Soda Kiln.

As a result, Soda Kiln's steam engines didn't progress much, but the soda kept getting better and better. Locals love to drink it, outsiders love to drink it too — soda stalls are everywhere in town, and they all claim our town's name came from the soda. Tell me, isn't that just spreading rumors…"

Looking at her, the proprietress wasn't much past her mid-twenties, but once she got talking about the history of Soda Kiln, she couldn't stop. Seeing Li Banfeng was almost done eating, she gave him another bottle of soda, just to chat with him a bit longer.

After the meal, Li Banfeng returned to Leaving Leaving Suishenju and slept for a while. At dusk, he bought a map and wandered the streets.

At this hour, there were even more soda stalls. Li Banfeng was thinking about finding a place for dinner when he spotted the same stall where he'd eaten breakfast.

The proprietress saw Li Banfeng and quickly called him over to sit. Suddenly, a voice beside him said: "My friend, don't be in such a hurry to leave — allow me a word."

Li Banfeng turned his head and saw a man by the roadside, wearing a long black-cloth gown, a small round-topped cap, a goatee, and holding a red-wood folding fan.

In front of him sat a square table, and beside the table hung a signboard with two large lines of text: Knowing past and future, transforming the infinite; fortune, misfortune, calamity, and blessing all foretold in advance.

He was a fortune-teller.

The proprietress coughed a few times, signaling Li Banfeng not to engage.

Li Banfeng walked up to the fortune-teller and asked: "You're looking for me?"

The fortune-teller nodded and said: "First time in Soda Kiln, isn't it?"

Li Banfeng answered honestly: "Indeed, my first time."

The fortune-teller counted on his fingers for a moment, then his brow suddenly furrowed tight: "You shouldn't have come."

Li Banfeng was startled: "Why shouldn't I have come?"

"Your fate is destined to contain a baleful number, and that baleful number lies right here in Soda Kiln. Having arrived at Soda Kiln, you've already triggered the baleful sign — a calamity of bloodshed is certain."

"What's a baleful number? Sounds awfully scary." Li Banfeng tucked his hands together and squatted down on the ground, the picture of an honest, simple fellow.

The fortune-teller said: "You've come this time — is it to visit relatives, or to call on friends?"

"I've come to visit a friend."

"Are you and this friend on close terms?"

"Very close — life-and-death friendship! We've gone through life-and-death together several times over!"

The fortune-teller closed his paper fan and asked sharply: "You've come to collect a debt, haven't you?"

Li Banfeng said, taken aback: "Not at all to collect a debt — I've come to repay a kindness."

"That's not right what you're saying! You've come to collect a debt!" The fortune-teller took paper and pen, and said to Li Banfeng, "You write a character first."

This was a character-reading divination.

Li Banfeng asked carefully, "How much for the character-reading?"

"Not a single cent!" The fortune-teller waved his hand and said, "I'm not here to take your money. I can see you're a person of deep loyalty and righteousness, and I want to help you break this disaster."

"No charge, then that's fine." Li Banfeng nodded repeatedly and wrote the character "xiang" on the paper.

After looking it over, the fortune-teller's expression grew even more solemn: "This is a most inauspicious omen. Even through the paper, I can smell the scent of blood."

"What smell? Why can't I smell it?" Li Banfeng was very nervous.

"Look carefully at this character xiang — one tree (mu) facing one eye (mu). The bloodshed is right before your eyes."

Li Banfeng was puzzled: "How does a tree character mean bloodshed?"

"If the wood has splinters, and they prick your hand, will it bleed or not?"

"It would definitely bleed."

"If a wooden pole were poked into your eye, would that be life-threatening or not?"

"That would definitely be life-threatening!"

The fortune-teller nodded and said: "That's why I said earlier you've come to collect a debt. You've come to the Soda Kiln, and your friend's life is as good as gone."

Li Banfeng was terrified, wiped the sweat from his face, stood up and said: "Then I'll just leave."

"Too late!" The fortune-teller sighed at length, "You've come, and the fatal number has already collided. Your friend there cannot escape this calamity."

"That won't do!" Li Banfeng cupped his hands together, squatted back down on the ground, his voice trembling as if about to cry, "I came here to repay a kindness — how could I end up killing my friend!"

"What a truly sincere man. In these times, one hardly meets a good person as loyal and righteous as you," the fortune-teller nodded, "Meeting you today is also a stroke of fate. This old man will stake half a lifetime of cultivation to devise a way to break this for you. First tell me — what is your friend's surname and name, and where does he live?"

"I don't know what he's called."

The fortune-teller was startled: "What do you mean by that? Didn't you say you shared a life-and-death bond?"

"We did share a life-and-death bond. Back then, to fulfill a wish of mine, he handed his very life over to me."

Spoken with such conviction, it needed a couple of truthful lines mixed in — what Li Banfeng had just said was indeed the truth.

The fortune-teller grew even more puzzled: "If the bond between you is so deep, how is it you don't even know his name?"

Li Banfeng wiped his tears and said: "He wouldn't say. He only said he was a Prime Minister of the Jianghu, and his home was right here in the Soda Kiln — that's why I wrote the character xiang."

Hearing this, the fortune-teller fell silent for a moment.

"Prime Minister of the Jianghu" was how disciples of the Jiang Xiang Gang referred to themselves.

The fortune-teller asked: "Your friend — how old, and what does he look like?"

Li Banfeng said: "Fifty-something, quite thin, a bit dark-complexioned, very gentle in the way he talks and handles things."

The fortune-teller fell into deep thought.

Based on that description, there really did seem to be someone like that at the lodge, but he couldn't be sure exactly who.

Not being certain was normal, because Li Banfeng hadn't actually given any distinctive features. By that description, one could pick out a whole bunch of people just walking around the street.

The fortune-teller was very torn — was the person he spoke of really a fellow disciple or not?

But after agonizing for a while, looking at Li Banfeng's honest, simple appearance, the fortune-teller decided to go ahead with this piece of business.

"Let me cast a divination to see if I can help you find that friend. Once you meet him, how do you plan to repay the kindness?"

Li Banfeng continued with the truth: "I've brought quite a few good things, but I can't tell you what they are. Once I meet my friend, I'll give all those good things to him, and I'll share a little with you too."

"A good-hearted man — heaven pities you. This favor, I'll help you for certain." The fortune-teller brought out counting rods and first asked Li Banfeng for his birth date and hour.

Li Banfeng didn't know when he was born, so he made one up straight off.

After the calculation, the fortune-teller packed up his stall on the spot: "Come with me. Your friend's whereabouts have already been divined. Whether you can save him depends on the fate between you two."

Seeing Li Banfeng about to follow the fortune-teller away, the owner of the soda stall was frantic with worry — she wanted to stop him, but didn't dare speak up.

The fortune-teller led Li Banfeng through streets and alleys, chatting with him all the while, constantly praising Li Banfeng's loyalty and righteousness.

This was the Jiang Xiang Gang's "Kun Ma" technique — it stressed shen (judging), qiao (probing), da (intimidating), qian (deceiving), long (flattering), and mai (self-promotion).

Shen meant reading the person's words and expression. Seeing Li Banfeng looking around as he walked, he concluded this was an outsider.

Qiao meant indirect probing to extract information. The two had never met, yet the fortune-teller had pried quite a lot out of Li Banfeng.

Da meant intimidation, emphasizing that disaster was sure to come. Once these three steps were done, the preliminaries were in place.

After the preliminaries came the main act. Qian meant deception — tying unrelated matters together. Having Li Banfeng do the character-reading was a qian technique.

Long meant flattery — winning Li Banfeng's trust through praise.

Mai meant self-promotion. Once this step was reached, the deal was as good as done.

Along the way, Li Banfeng kept nodding, taking every word the fortune-teller said as gospel. In the fortune-teller's view, this piece of business was already done.

The only thing the fortune-teller needed to confirm was whether this man was a friend of some fellow disciple at the lodge.

If he really was a friend of a fellow lodge member, then he'd hand him over to that fellow member to deal with — one couldn't offend the harmony for the sake of a fat sheep.

If no one at the lodge knew him, then there was no need for courtesy. If this man walked away with even a single copper coin left on him, it would mean the fortune-teller hadn't learned his craft well enough.

Arriving at a small alley, the fortune-teller calculated on his fingers and said to Li Banfeng: "Wait here for a moment. Not far ahead is the calamity. Let me first see whether your friend is caught up in it."

Li Banfeng cupped his hands together and waited obediently in the alley.

The fortune-teller left the alley, turned into another lane, and entered a residence.

This residence was their lodge. The lodge leader was in the middle of disciplining two female disciples. The Jiang Xiang Gang had a trade called "releasing white doves" — using women to swindle men out of their money. The former owner of the Tethered Earring, the shopkeeper Zhou Yujuan of the Fairy Music Dance Hall, had started out in that trade.

These two female disciples' skills were lacking — they hadn't landed a job in half a month — so they were subjected to family discipline, sprawled over a spring bench taking their lashes.

The fortune-teller stepped forward to report: "Lodge leader, there's a man come to our lodge looking for a friend. He says it's a friend with a life-and-death bond, one of our gang's people."

"Came to our lodge looking for a friend? With a life-and-death bond?" The lodge leader found it strange too. "Are you fucking pulling my leg?"

The fortune-teller was about to explain when he heard Li Banfeng say from the side: "Lodge leader, I'm not lying to you. It really is a life-and-death bond — they handed their lives over to me.

This time I've come, I've brought plenty of good things for you all. Don't worry, we're all friends here — everyone gets a share."

Li Banfeng drew out the sickle.

The Tang Dao flew up after it.

The gourd was on the left, the pendulum on the right.

The gloves arrived at the main gate and shut the door.

……

Ten minutes later, Li Banfeng came out, still supporting the fortune-teller from before.

"Don't cry, everything I told you is the truth. I really do have a life-and-death bond with them—

I just wanted to wipe out your gang for a wish of mine, and they all gave their lives for it. Isn't that a deep bond?"

Passing the soda stall, Li Banfeng even greeted the proprietress.

The proprietress had no idea what was going on, never expecting those two to be chatting so warmly.

Li Banfeng went on comforting the fortune-teller: "You really are accurate with your readings, I'm not flattering you, I genuinely admire you. Those people in the branch just now were all good friends of mine, and they entrusted their lives to me as well—

your headquarters must have plenty more good friends. Take me to meet them. You saw it yourself too, I brought quite a few nice things, all prepared for you folks, and I even set aside a special share just for you—

didn't I tell you, don't cry. Crying like that looks bad, makes people think I've done something—

hurry up and wipe your tears, and wipe the blood off your face too."

……

Having knocked out two branches, Li Banfeng arrived at the Jiang Xiang gang's headquarters.

This headquarters, he didn't barge straight in, but waited until deep into the night before coming.

The fortune-teller told Li Banfeng that in this headquarters there was a high-ranking Master Gongxiu, most skilled at making mechanical traps. The fortune-teller drew Li Banfeng a map, marking out a safe route. Li Banfeng had no idea whether what he said was true or false.

He certainly couldn't go test the danger himself. Using the music box to put down a few lookouts and sentries, Li Banfeng took two paper figures out of Leaving Leaving Suishenju and sent them along the route.

What the fortune-teller said was true; this route was indeed safe.

Li Banfeng entered the headquarters' courtyard. Late autumn, early winter, the weather was very cold. Li Banfeng worried the gang leader and the others might catch cold, so he prepared to set a fire in the headquarters first.

Just as he was searching for a place to set the fire, he heard the Thread-Pulling Earrings whisper: "Master, there's movement."

Clang, clang!

The sound of metal colliding.

The sound seemed to come from underground.

In the dungeon, He Yuxiu, covered in wounds all over her body, was bound tightly by chains.

The chains were made of special material; He Yuxiu couldn't break free, and she desperately slammed her body against the iron door.

"You bastard brutes!" He Yuxiu gritted her teeth. "Even if I've got only one breath left, I'll fight you to the end!"

PS: Earlier Shen Jingye said he would borrow the Jiang Xiang gang to kill He Yuxiu, and he really went and did it.

(End of chapter)