Chapter 374: Great Wisdom in Laziness

Li Banfeng's lapel was caught on the Judge's Brush, and he flapped his arms, soaring smugly through the air.

He firmly believed he was a Land God—a Land God who could fly.

The Judge's Brush wanted to curse him out, but couldn't be bothered to speak; carrying him through the air was already exhausting enough.

Under the cover of the projector, Li Banfeng flew silently to the side of the offering table.

He picked up a bottle of peach blossom wine from the offering table and gulped it down.

Youtao couldn't see Li Banfeng, but she saw the wine being drunk and was overjoyed.

Next came the blood-sprinkling.

Youtao said to Xiao Feng, "This is the plot of land you use for refuge—you do the blood-sprinkling."

Xiao Feng nodded, took the knife, and was just about to pierce her palm when she suddenly felt a wave of imposing pressure bearing down, so heavy that neither of them could lift their heads.

"Hoo-ya-ya-ya-ya~" Li Banfeng let out a roar, scaring the two of them into trembling.

Youtao lowered her voice and said, "The Land God doesn't seem to want you sprinkling blood."

Xiao Feng looked utterly bewildered. "There's such a thing?"

"Then I'll sprinkle it instead. We two are never apart anyway." Youtao pierced her palm and sprinkled the blood. Li Banfeng felt another pang of heart palpitations.

This time, the palpitations did not make Li Banfeng feel fear; instead, they made him even more excited. He became all the more certain that he was the master of this land.

There was still one day left before the examination would begin.

Li Banfeng planned to gather all the living creatures on his territory, then select suitable strange creatures to conduct the examination for Youtao and Xiao Feng.

This moment was extremely important to Li Banfeng. If Youtao passed the examination, the first ray of heavenly light would come to his territory.

He picked up an earthworm from the ground and said earnestly, "This is a big deal, understand? We're going to break new ground, understand? We're about to have a wonderful future, understand?"

The earthworm writhed nonstop in Li Banfeng's hand.

The Judge's Brush snorted. "Give me back my capital."

Li Banfeng looked at the earthworm in his hand and suddenly couldn't be bothered to talk to it anymore.

Once he grew lazy, the Fool Cultivation technique dissolved along with it, and Li Banfeng became much clearer-headed.

He couldn't go find strange creatures to examine the land-breakers. If he really did that, his identity would be exposed immediately.

This matter had to be left for Meng Yuchun to handle for him.

Li Banfeng found Meng Yuchun. Meng Yuchun's face showed difficulty as she said, "Your territory—truthfully, I'm not all that familiar with it. I'm afraid those strange creatures won't listen to me…"

"Trying to welch on the deal, aren't you?" Li Banfeng yawned. "We signed a contract, did you forget? I saved your life, did you forget? Repaying kindness with ingratitude brings retribution, you know that?"

Meng Yuchun's face flushed crimson. "I'll go, then…"

Upon arriving at Li Banfeng's territory, Meng Yuchun called over her two closest sisters—Red Butterfly and Huang Die—to help her deliver the message. They told the strange creatures on the territory that someone was coming to break new ground, and those who wished to go and conduct the examination should leave their names with her, to receive a reward once the deed was done.

Li Banfeng rubbed his eyes, fighting off his drowsiness, and said, "Where's Little Butterfly?"

Back then, Little Butterfly had been seduced by Drama-Recruiter Wife and revealed some of Meng Yuchun's secrets. Taking advantage of Little Butterfly spinning a cocoon to transform into a butterfly, Drama-Recruiter Wife disguised herself as Little Butterfly and wormed out Meng Yuchun's address.

Meng Yuchun sighed and said, "She's still young, didn't know any better. She had only just transformed into a butterfly. Sisters after all—I left her an intact corpse."

Li Banfeng looked at Meng Yuchun and said, "You hung her up in your house?"

"Not in the house. Hung her at the cave entrance. The wind's stronger there, drier."

Li Banfeng sighed, wanting to say something, but couldn't be bothered to speak.

Yu Zhaixiu don't have many friends, but they are very sincere with the friends they have.

But never trample on that sincerity. A Yu Zhaixiu's wrath, a person might only get to experience it once in their entire life.

Before long, Huang Die and Red Butterfly returned.

Their expressions were very awkward. The strange creatures here didn't show them much respect.

They had spread the word. On Meng Yuchun's territory, the strange creatures—whether they went or not—had to give the two of them a proper answer.

The two of them were friends of the Land God; matters of face and propriety couldn't be slighted.

But on Li Banfeng's territory, the strange creatures paid them little heed.

Most of the strange creatures didn't know them.

The few strange creatures who did know them paid no attention to Meng Yuchun.

Some strange creatures didn't know about the previous events and still thought the Land God on this territory was Ba Shan Zhu.

Some strange creatures knew Ba Shan Zhu was gone, but treated the place as unowned land and didn't regard Meng Yuchun as their Land God.

Li Banfeng yawned again, seemingly unbothered. "Don't worry. A sure-fire deal with no loss—there's always someone willing to try their luck."

For strange creatures, examining land-breakers meant fighting if they could win, and leaving if they couldn't.

Win, and they earned a haul of cultivation; lose, and there was nothing to fear—as long as they weren't too reckless, they wouldn't get hurt, let alone lose their lives. Basically no loss, unless they ran into special types like Ma Wu and Xiao Genzi.

So Li Banfeng wasn't worried about strange creatures not showing up. He was worried about something else.

That night, Youtao went to bed early in the tent, preparing for the upcoming land-breaking.

Sleeping deep into the night, half-awake, she didn't know what time it was, when she suddenly heard Xiao Feng muttering softly, "It's really here, I'm not lying to you, it's really here…"

Youtao opened her eyes. "What's here?"

Xiao Feng pointed at the corner of the tent, trembling as she said, "There's really a snake here. Is this one come to examine us?"

Youtao started, looked toward the corner, and sure enough there was a snake in the tent—about two fingers thick, over two feet long, blood-red all over, with a black stripe coiled around the middle of its body.

This was the Black-Fin Snake unique to new land—highly venomous.

The snake was clearly red, so why was it called the Black-Fin Snake?

That was because the red snake body was a puppet; the black-stripe portion was the snake's true body. If one didn't know this and attacked the snake body directly, the snake wouldn't be hurt and might even seize the chance to counterattack.

Youtao had some experience. She fixed her gaze tightly on that black stripe.

She activated her Joy Cultivation technique. The Black-Fin Snake's blood rushed to its head; it sensed the threat and quickly left the tent.

Youtao let out a long breath and said to Xiao Feng, "Next time you see a snake, tell me sooner. You have cultivation too—how could you not even dare to cry out?"

Miss Xiao Feng lowered her head, her eyes reddening, and said aggrievedly, "I'm just a useless person, always dragging you down."

Youtao sighed and pulled Miss Xiao Feng into her arms. "Why are you crying? Can't I say a couple of words to you? It's all my fault for spoiling you. Hurry up and sleep. We've got plenty of tough fights ahead of us over the next three days."

By noon the next day, the first strange being sent to test them arrived at the boundary.

It was a bamboo — with a stalk and leaves — hopping on one bounce at a time into the plot of land.

Li Banfeng had seen this kind of strange being before when he was reclaiming land. He hadn't paid it much mind at the time — the bamboo is hollow inside, and as long as there's a passage, Ma Wu could take it down without trouble.

But Youtao held no advantage against the bamboo.

After fighting for over an hour, Youtao and the bamboo were evenly matched.

Meng Yuchun took Li Banfeng flying in mid-air, concealing their figures, silently watching the battle.

Youtao's cultivation hadn't improved much — still at the first layer — and this bamboo was roughly at the same level.

Two novices pecking at each other — for Meng Yuchun, there really wasn't much to watch, but the more she watched, the more she felt something was off.

"This woman is a Yu Zhaixiu?" Meng Yuchun pointed at Miss Xiao Feng.

Li Banfeng couldn't be bothered to answer, only nodded.

Meng Yuchun frowned and said, "This child should have reached a higher layer. It's probably because she's been away from home too long — her combat ability has suffered."

This explanation made sense, but the course of the battle that followed left Meng Yuchun even more puzzled.

Miss Xiao Feng couldn't help out and kept being a burden. Several times, Youtao fell into a bitter fight just to save her.

If she can't fight, can't this Miss at least dodge?

After a full three hours of fighting, the bamboo was finally driven off by Youtao.

Youtao was panting heavily, sitting on the ground unable to stand.

Meng Yuchun shook her head and sighed, "With this caliber, they dare come to reclaim land? I'm afraid they may not last until tomorrow."

Li Banfeng asked Meng Yuchun, "Can the local earth god interfere with land reclamation?"

Meng Yuchun was taken aback. "You want to help them? It can be done — there's a hard way and a soft way.

The hard way is to strike covertly, directly driving off the strange beings sent to test them. But this must be done in secret, otherwise next time someone reclaims land, no strange being will be willing to put in effort.

The soft way is to give the strange beings some benefits, let them go through the motions and call it done.

But these benefits are hard to calculate. What strange beings care about most is cultivation. Give too much, and it's unfair to those strange beings who truly put in effort; give too little, and the strange beings won't admit defeat easily — after all, their reputation is at stake too."

Li Banfeng nodded — Meng Yuchun had improved quite a bit.

Under Li Banfeng's lead, quite a few land reclaimers had come to Meng Yuchun's territory. She had accumulated a lot of experience and learned a great deal of knowledge from the well-versed strange beings on her land.

Li Banfeng asked again, "What if I don't fight the strange beings?"

Meng Yuchun was stunned. "Then who are you going to fight? Surely not these two women?"

Li Banfeng didn't answer, but instead asked another question: "Can you do divination?"

Meng Yuchun shook her head. "I can't."

"Have you ever seen a Yu Zhaixiu who could do divination?"

"That I have seen. I know a house spirit who was especially skilled at divination. She once passed her Tianhe Zhi Ji on to her Yu Zhaixiu, but how much the Yu Zhaixiu learns depends on their own cultivation level."

Li Banfeng pointed at Miss Xiao Feng and said, "Look at her — how many layers of cultivation does she have?"

"Clumsy as she looks, I'd say she's at most first layer."

"Could a first-layer Yu Zhaixiu, relying on divination techniques, Qu Ji Qiji Bixiong all the way, dodging strong enemies and fleeing hundreds of miles?"

"That would be incredibly difficult," Meng Yuchun said, stunned for a moment, then asked, "Why are you asking me? Isn't Qu Ji Qiji Bixiong a technique of you travelers?"

Li Banfeng shook his head and said, "It's hard, truly hard. Relying on Qu Ji Qiji Bixiong alone, I'm afraid I couldn't do it.

The one chasing Miss Xiao Feng is her own house spirit. That house spirit is surely better at divination than she is, and would certainly be able to calculate which direction they're fleeing.

Neither Yu Zhaixiu nor Huan Xiu are good at running for their lives — how did they manage to flee all the way here?"

Meng Yuchun said in surprise, "You suspect one of them is up to something?"

"Not two — just one. I trust Youtao," Li Banfeng said. "That's why I'm asking you: can a local earth god lay hands on land reclaimers?"

Meng Yuchun shook her head. "That won't do. The local earth god has a contract with the land reclaimers. If you lay hands on them, it counts as breaking the contract."

"What happens if the contract is broken?"

"I can't say exactly what the consequences would be, but you'd best not do such a thing. And once word gets out, no one will ever come to your land to reclaim again."

Li Banfeng frowned slightly and said, "This matter doesn't seem easy to handle. Can I find an obedient strange being to act on my behalf?"

"That can be done, but the strange being's level can't be too high. They only want a one-li plot, so the strange beings we send are generally also at one or two layers of cultivation.

Some local earth gods who particularly dislike a certain land reclaimer will send third-layer strange beings to test them. Some strange beings who barely reach fourth layer can also give it a try."

"Third or fourth layer strange beings probably won't be enough."

Meng Yuchun shook her head repeatedly. "Higher-level strange beings entering the plot would count as breaking the contract."

Li Banfeng kept staring at Miss Xiao Feng.

Seeing Li Banfeng's solemn expression, Meng Yuchun also realized the situation was no ordinary matter. "If this woman really can hide her cultivation this deeply, we really do need to find someone tough to deal with her.

I have two wandering strange beings under me. They've signed contracts with me — on my territory they can't run wild, but on other territories they still aren't bound by the rules of land reclamation."

Li Banfeng smiled. "Those two people — I think I know them."

PS: When dealing with the Ba Shan Zhu, Li Banfeng helped Meng Yuchun subdue two wandering strange beings. See Chapter 319 for details.

(End of this chapter)