Chapter 379: There Really Is a Perfect Solution

He Yuxiu worked for three days and easily cleared the plot of land.

Li Banfeng hired a few people from Meng Yuchun's territory to help He Yuxiu build a house, then bought wine and dishes from the cook and set up a table in the tent to celebrate He Yuxiu's success.

He Yuxiu picked up a lamb's head and took a bite, exclaiming repeatedly, "This cook's skill is truly excellent. Kitchen cultivators are rare these days. If it weren't for the new land's rules, I'd really want to take him back to Green Water City."

After all, she came from a prestigious family. Though He Yuxiu was reckless, she was well-informed and could tell the origin of the wine and dishes.

Though satisfied with the food and drink, He Yuxiu frowned slightly as she looked at the wooden house being built: "Brother, am I really going to stay here long-term?"

When outsiders were present, He Yuxiu called Li Banfeng "brother"—this was their agreed-upon arrangement.

Li Banfeng nodded: "At the very least, we'll have to stay a few months."

He Yuxiu sighed: "When I was young, I never wanted to come to the new land. This place is always pitch-black, full of talking birds and beasts, but hardly any talking people. Stay long enough, and it can really drive a person mad with loneliness."

Youtao, who was nearby, said: "Sister, if you have something to say, tell me."

He Yuxiu hooked Youtao's nose bridge with a finger and smiled without speaking.

Youtao guessed He Yuxiu might have private matters to discuss with Li Baisha, so she made an excuse and left the tent. He Yuxiu lowered her voice and asked: "Any news from Green Water City?"

Li Banfeng had indeed gathered some information through Luo Zhengnan: "The bad news is the Pass Defense Commissioner is still targeting the He family. The He family's business is getting worse by the day.

The good news is none of the He family branches are stirring up trouble. Within the family, things are relatively peaceful for now."

He Yuxiu nodded: "Haiqin acted ruthlessly—he cleaned out all the ruthless people in the side branches, so the side branches obey. But when real trouble comes, they're truly useless, not a single one who can step up.

Now Haiqin is gone, Haisheng is in an outer province. If I don't show my face, the He family is probably finished."

Li Banfeng said: "If you show your face and get taken down by the Pass Defense Commissioner directly, won't the He family be finished even faster?"

"Hiding in the new land isn't necessarily safe either," He Yuxiu looked outside the tent. "I've seen plenty of farming cultivators, but one this sinister is a first for me. Look at his plot—it doesn't even look like new land anymore."

Zhang Wanlong's cleared plot truly didn't look like new land. Within a one-li radius, the fields were laid out in neat rows, the crops growing lush and thriving. The land hadn't even been fully cleared yet, but he was already managing it in perfect order.

The next afternoon, the three-day deadline arrived. Zhang Wanlong succeeded in opening the wasteland—the result was never in doubt.

Li Banfeng brought a portion of wine and dishes into the plot to congratulate the two. They were busy and couldn't spare time to eat just then.

Zhang Wanlong had planted a few mu of crops—not for people to eat, but specifically for the strange creatures.

The two-faced sheep, headless oxen, donkey-headed maggots, and eight-legged rabbits on Li Banfeng's territory came in group after group.

These strange creatures weren't here to cause trouble—they were here to eat.

The crops Zhang Wanlong grew for them were neither toxic nor harmful, and quite delicious. The sole purpose of feeding them these crops was to have them produce the materials for Xiao Genzi's gold-tuning juice while they ate.

Genzi no longer had to wander around with a spoon and fork panning for gold—right before his eyes were piles of Jin Shan for him to take.

Li Banfeng carried the food box and sighed to himself. No matter how skilled the chef, the aroma of wine and dishes could never match the majesty of Jin Shan.

Zhang Wanlong laughed: "Seventh Master, this isn't a place for eating. Please wait a moment—I'll tidy up another spot."

A one-li plot was neither large nor small. Besides the Jin Shan and farmland, Zhang Wanlong had also specially made a garden.

Among the flower clusters, he set a dining table—this meal now had flavor.

After two cups of wine, Li Banfeng asked Zhang Wanlong: "With your skills, opening another three to five li of new land wouldn't be a problem, would it?"

Zhang Wanlong shook his head: "We didn't come here to acquire land. We truly came here to cultivate. If we open too much territory and the human energy can't keep up, isn't that just making trouble for the local earth god?"

The words were faultless, and the deeds were faultless too.

After eating and drinking their fill, Zhang Wanlong and Genzi each went back to their tasks. Li Banfeng walked a circle around the plot. The fields were full of proper crops, and those eggplant-version "Zhang Wanlongs" grown earlier were nowhere to be seen.

Where had those eggplant people gone?

As Li Banfeng was about to leave the plot, he saw a few "Zhang Wanlongs" returning.

They carried baskets on their backs, filled with all manner of herbs.

Li Banfeng looked at the real Zhang Wanlong: "It seems the good things you grow aren't just for killing boredom—they can do quite a bit of work too."

Zhang Wanlong shook his head: "They can only handle rough tasks. Seventh Master, look at the herbs in these baskets—eight or nine out of ten are unusable.

They picked long-leaf ones when they needed short-leaf ones, picked thorny ones when they needed flowering ones. And after great difficulty finding the right ginseng, these idiots didn't know how to dig up the root—they brought back the leaves. What's the use of that?"

The use seemed not small either.

Li Banfeng repeatedly compared these grown "Zhang Wanlongs" with the original and found they differed slightly from the source, but without close observation, it was hard to tell.

"Could you sell me some of these seeds?"

"Easy to say!" Zhang Wanlong immediately took a small bag of seeds and gave them to Li Banfeng.

Li Banfeng took the seeds and asked: "Once these are planted, will they all look like you?"

Zhang Wanlong laughed: "Seventh Master really knows how to joke. If they all looked like me, what would be the point of planting them?

What kind of fruit grows depends on whose blood is used to breed them.

Before these seeds go into the soil, they need to drink a drop of blood. Whosever blood they drink, the fruit that grows will look like that person."

Li Banfeng said in surprise: "Just one drop of blood is enough?"

"Just one drop of blood."

"How much for this bag of seeds?"

"Mentioning money would be too formal. I want to make friends with you—take the seeds as a gift."

Li Banfeng shook his head: "I don't take things for nothing. If you won't name a price, I can only return them as they are."

Zhang Wanlong nodded: "Seventh Master speaks straightforwardly. Since you're sincere, I won't ask for much—this bag of seeds is a thousand silver dollars."

Given what these seeds could do, a thousand silver dollars was truly not expensive—in fact, it could be called absurdly cheap.

Li Banfeng said: "Isn't that price too low?"

Zhang Wanlong smiled: "For anyone else, no matter how much they offered I might not sell. But Seventh Master, you're different. Whenever you come to buy from me, seeds of this quality will always be at this price."

"Alright, I'll remember this kindness. I'll take the seeds for now and bring the money tomorrow."

Li Banfeng brought the seeds back to Leaving Leaving Suishenju, took one out and placed it on the table, unscrewed the Blood-bearing Pendulum, and dripped a drop of blood onto the seed.

The phonograph used its needle to pick up a seed, observed it for a moment, and seemed to notice something special.

"What a powerful technique—this technique has great use! Perhaps it can, perhaps it can…"

"Maybe able to what?" Li Banfeng didn't understand why his wife was so excited.

His wife paused, then sang, "Oh, my lord husband, your little slave was talking nonsense just now, my lord husband need not mind it."

Li Banfeng buried the seed in the plot of land He Yuxiu had cleared. He didn't have Zhang Wanlong's technique, so the thing grew much more slowly. After waiting over an hour, the root tendrils had just barely sprouted.

Li Banfeng went back to Leaving Leaving Suishenju to sleep.

The next morning at dawn, he looked and saw a cabbage over a meter tall had grown in the field.

How did it turn into a cabbage?

Shouldn't it have been an eggplant?

Could it be that eggplant-people and cabbage-people have different functions?

Li Banfeng used a knife to slice the cabbage open, and a man crawled out from inside the cabbage.

He Yuxiu had just come out of the tent, preparing to wash up. Seeing this man, she nearly struck.

She recognized this person — he was a disciple of Jiang Xiang's Sodawater Hall, killed by Li Banfeng's own hand. Before dying, the Blood-Sucking Zhong Bai had drained a great deal of his blood.

Fortunately, He Yuxiu was well-experienced. Seeing the sliced-open cabbage beside him, and then looking at this blank-staring person, she realized this must be something grown by that unorthodox farmer-cultivator.

"This is a good thing!" He Yuxiu stared at the cabbage-person from head to toe, unable to hold back her admiration. "It looks exactly like a real one."

Li Banfeng nodded. "If it stays in our hands, then it really is a good thing."

He Yuxiu poked at the cabbage-person's clothing. "He's even wearing a white jacket. Seventh Brother, did you prepare this for him?"

Li Banfeng shook his head. He hadn't prepared any clothing for the cabbage-person — the jacket and pants had both come out of the cabbage with him.

He Yuxiu noticed the problem too. "This doesn't seem like clothing — it feels like cabbage ribs."

It didn't feel real to the touch, but visually there were no flaws.

Li Banfeng used his sickle to pat the "cabbage-person's" face. The "cabbage-person" showed no reaction.

He knew no fear.

Li Banfeng asked the "cabbage-person" again, "What's your name?"

The cabbage-person didn't answer — it seemed he couldn't speak either.

Li Banfeng told him to move, but the "cabbage-person" couldn't understand the command either.

He Yuxiu shook her head and said, "If this thing can't move, then it's not much use."

Li Banfeng thought for a long while, recalling his past experience dealing with a watermelon-person.

He cut off two slices of cabbage rib with his knife and chewed them up.

The cabbage ribs were crisp and sweet, but like the watermelon, they were terribly astringent. The astringency made Li Banfeng break out in a sweat, and within the sweat was the fishy smell of cabbage.

The cabbage-person turned its face toward Li Banfeng, as if sensing something about him.

Li Banfeng shouted, "Walk!"

The cabbage-person slowly stepped forward.

"Run!"

The cabbage-person immediately quickened its pace.

"Kill!"

The cabbage-person turned and charged at He Yuxiu. Because aside from Li Banfeng, He Yuxiu was the only other person present. Li Banfeng carried the smell of cabbage on him, so the cabbage-person wouldn't attack cabbage.

He Yuxiu naturally wasn't afraid of this cabbage. One punch smashed the cabbage-head to a pulp.

But the remaining cabbage-body kept clawing at He Yuxiu. He Yuxiu raised her fists and beat this "cabbage-person" completely into shredded cabbage ribs. Even if a single scrap of limb remained, the cabbage-person would keep fighting He Yuxiu to the death.

He Yuxiu shook the cabbage juice from her hands and said to Li Banfeng, "Seventh Brother, you can't underestimate this cabbage. One or two are still easy to handle, but if there are hundreds or thousands, that would really be a troublesome matter. If there were even more — up to tens of thousands — in Provo State, it could probably walk sideways."

Li Banfeng looked toward Zhang Wanlong's plot, gazing at the lush crops in the field, and murmured to himself, "It really is a troublesome matter, but it really is a good thing too."

Back at Leaving Leaving Suishenju, Li Banfeng sat on the edge of the bed, dazed.

The gramophone asked, "Oh, my lord husband, what's troubling you now?"

Li Banfeng said, "I don't want to stay on the new land forever, but there are some things on the territory that must be handled carefully. Once there's a change, I have to come back and take a look."

Huff huff~

"Lord husband, this truly puts your little slave in a difficult spot. Your territory is still so remote. If lord husband goes to Green Water City and something happens on the territory, even if lord husband senses it, he can't run back in time.

You don't want to stay on the territory, yet you want to manage affairs on the territory — this kind of perfect-solution method, your little slave truly cannot think of one."

Li Banfeng thought for a long time, but couldn't come up with any good solution.

Once he senses something on the territory, use his own will to directly have Leaving Leaving Suishenju bring him back to the plot?

The person can come back, but the key can't. Once he goes to the plot, Li Banfeng won't be able to return home for a short while.

He is now a seventh-layer Yu Zhaixiu, carrying the technique of Zhou Anju. Staying away from home for too long will seriously affect his fortune.

Hum!

Leaving Leaving Suishenju trembled sharply, and an aged voice rose in Li Banfeng's ear:

"There is a way — build a train station here."

"What's the use of building a station?" Li Banfeng didn't understand what Leaving Leaving Suishenju meant.

"With a station, I can park." Leaving Leaving Suishenju gave the answer.

"Where can't you park?"

"It's different. Parking at a station is called normal parking. Parking anywhere else is called temporary parking."

"What's the difference?"

"The difference is, during temporary parking, the doors are closed. When parked in a station, the doors are open."

"Then that can… wait a moment!" Li Banfeng suddenly realized. "That is to say, if I build a station on this territory, you can bring me over, and you can also leave the doors open."

"As long as it's within normal station-stop time, the doors will remain open."

PS: Station-stop time is the key!

(End of Chapter)