Chapter 388: The Station

Li Banfeng set down the oil can, sat on the edge of the bed, and carefully considered the question his wife had raised.

The question was important: what exactly should be done with Bei Wushuang's deed?

Send it back to Bei Wushuang's residence?

Setting aside the fact that Bei Wushuang's residence was not easy to enter, even if he got in and properly placed the deed, in the end it would still benefit Pan Dehai.

What consequences would arise if Pan Dehai took the deed?

If he wanted this piece of land and stayed here as the local earth god, that would be fine.

But Pan Dehai had his own territory; he was the earth god of a proper land. How could he possibly set his sights on such a remote new land?

Most likely, once he got the deed, he would send it to the Inner Province to trade for lifespan.

If the Inner Province got hold of this deed, some issues that had been overlooked would likely come under scrutiny.

"Wife, I'll simply keep this deed on me and we'll talk about it when it becomes useful. What do you think of this plan?"

"For you, husband, there's nothing improper about it, but Bei Wushuang's territory is likely to have some trouble—monsters may grow there."

"What are monsters?"

"They are creatures with extremely high cultivation and extremely high combat power, yet with hardly any humanity.

New land breeds cultivation day and night, but this cultivation does not come evenly.

In some places, not a shred of cultivation may be produced for eight or ten years; in other places, the cultivation produced can let a strange creature leap up several layers in just a few months, or even a few days.

If such cultivation falls to a certain strange creature, by all rights that creature should drop dead on the spot, because its body could not withstand the surge in cultivation.

But suppose it encounters a strange creature with an exceptionally tough physique and survives this hurdle—its cultivation surges wildly while its humanity does not, and it becomes a monster."

"Are monsters about the same as wandering creatures?"

"Far more ferocious than wandering creatures. Wandering creatures have humanity; monsters have almost none, and they keep no rules at all—they even dare to commit evil in proper lands."

Creatures that dare to commit evil in proper lands?

Li Banfeng had spent a year and a half in Puluo Province and had never heard of anything like that.

"Wife, does every ownerless land without an earth god breed monsters?"

"Husband, ownerless land means there is no earth god. Having no earth god and having no deed are two different matters.

Sometimes the earth god dies, but the deed remains in the territory. The deed gathers the new land's cultivation and sends it into the earth god seal for safekeeping.

The earth god seal has an enormous capacity; storing several decades' worth of cultivation is no problem. In the future, when another earth god takes over the new land, he only needs to evenly distribute the cultivation stored in the earth god seal among the strange creatures in the territory, and no sudden surges in cultivation will occur.

If husband takes Bei Wushuang's earth god seal away directly, the cultivation here will be left unchecked, and monsters may well be bred.

Moreover, plenty of strange creatures will come here to make a living, since acquiring cultivation here is unrestricted and governed purely by the law of the jungle."

That won't do.

The probability of forming monsters was not high, so he set that matter aside for now.

But if too many strange creatures gathered here, word of the deed being dug up would spread, and if the Inner Province then turned its attention to this territory, certain things would be exposed again.

He'd wait until some time had passed and Pan Dehai was no longer watching Bei Wushuang's affairs, then find a chance to bury the deed back.

Li Banfeng was talking with his wife when he suddenly heard a bout of sobbing beside his ear.

It was the Silken Thread Earring.

"What are you crying about?" Li Banfeng asked several times, but the Silken Thread Earring gave no answer, only kept sobbing.

The Phonograph sensed something was wrong and told Li Banfeng to take the earring off and place it on the tray, then observed it carefully for a moment.

No matter who called out to it, the Silken Thread Earring showed no response.

The Phonograph sighed and said: "This girl was hurt by a sound-cultivation technique. She can't hear anymore. The technique is called Blood-Splash Resonance. Silken Thread is a peeping cultivator, and she fears this move most of all."

The mention of sound-cultivation techniques reminded Li Banfeng of something: "When I was fighting Bei Wushuang, I suddenly heard a tremendous boom, my eyes went dark, and my ears went deaf. It was only because I heard your voice that I came around. Was it you who saved me?"

Huff!

His wife laughed and said: "It was precisely because I heard that tremendous boom that I knew someone had used a sound-cultivation technique.

I was worried you might be hurt. Our house knew where you were and used the steam whistle to send my song over to you."

Li Banfeng embraced his wife, pressed his face against the front counter, and said: "Thank you, wife, for saving me."

"What thanks are needed between a man and his own woman? It makes even me feel we're being too formal.

Husband, let Silken Thread stay here with me to recuperate for a while. How well she recovers depends on my abilities and on Silken Thread's own fortune.

I've also prepared a few pills here—take them to your friends outside. Anyone afflicted by Blood-Splash Resonance can use these pills to dispel it."

Li Banfeng nodded and left Leaving Leaving Suishenju.

Arriving at Zhang Wanlong and Xiao Genzi's territory, Li Banfeng first thanked them for what had happened earlier, then asked about the price.

Li Banfeng never asked anyone to do things for free; Zhang Wanlong had just been a great help, and the proper thanks were naturally due.

Zhang Wanlong held a cucumber in his hand, eating as he spoke: "Seventh Master, you're being far too polite. I was just testing some new seeds to see what would grow. I truly had no idea what was going on here."

What a smart man.

It wasn't that he didn't know; he simply didn't want to get drawn into unnecessary disputes.

Li Banfeng looked over this one-li plot—the various crops were packed so densely there was barely room to set a foot.

"What you've grown looks especially fine. Tomorrow I'll discuss it with Miss Meng, and then have you open up three more li of territory."

Zhang Wanlong laughed and said: "As I told you before, we don't dare open too much territory, because we can't bring in enough human presence and we fear causing trouble for the earth god."

"That doesn't matter. It still depends on the earth god's wishes. As long as the earth god agrees, you all should hurry up and open up wasteland these next few days."

Zhang Wanlong thanked him repeatedly. Li Banfeng called Xiao Genzi over and gave him ten Xuanchi Pills. This wasn't only for the matter of the golden juice—Xiao Genzi had been dealing with Zhang Wanlong all along, and Li Banfeng had to give him sufficient assurance.

Xiao Genzi still felt ringing in his ears. Li Banfeng gave him one of the pills to dispel Blood-Splash Resonance: "Take this and your ears will be fine. Brother Zhang, you take one too."

"Seventh Master, I don't need that." Zhang Wanlong had also heard the Blood-Splash Resonance, but it hadn't affected him much.

He picked a cucumber, washed it with clean water, and handed it to Li Banfeng: "Seventh Master, try it—it's crisp and sweet."

Li Banfeng took the cucumber but didn't eat it.

The fake Bei Wushuang was made from cucumber. Pan Dehai once said that no single sect could create a new species on its own.

Now Li Banfeng seriously doubted those words — did what Zhang Wanlong cultivated count as a new species?

Upon reaching He Yuxiu's territory, Li Banfeng took out twenty Xuanchi Pills.

He Yuxiu waved her hands repeatedly: "Seventh Brother, you're looking down on me. It's only right that your little sister help you — are we really going to haggle over this?"

Li Banfeng shook his head: "Even blood siblings need to settle accounts clearly. Take them."

He Yuxiu examined the pills' quality: "Seventh Brother, these are fine goods, but I can't use them."

Xuanchi Pills were indeed precious — He Yuxiu had taken plenty of them in the past.

But at her current level and age, He Yuxiu no longer took Xuanchi Pills. The pill poison was too potent and hard to purge; if she took too many, she couldn't bear it either.

"If you won't eat them, save them for the people around you."

He Yuxiu glanced at the oil-peach. She squatted beside the wooden hut, her face pale, still not recovered from the damage inflicted by Blood-Splash Resonance Sound.

Li Banfeng took out two more pills and gave them to He Yuxiu: "These can dissolve a sound cultivator's techniques."

He Yuxiu waved her hand: "It only rang out once, didn't it? I don't need to take medicine. Save them all for that girl."

"Seventh Brother, when can we go back to Green Water City? I want to take this lass out to broaden her horizons, so she won't spend all day thinking about polishing mirrors."

Li Banfeng smiled: "Soon."

"Seventh Brother, that camel — is it a local earth god?"

"Yes." Li Banfeng didn't hide it.

"Do you know where his contract is?"

"It should still be at his dwelling. Why do you care about that?"

He Yuxiu said: "Hand over a local earth god's contract to the Inner Province, and you can trade it for a hundred years of lifespan.

Back then, my father poured nearly the entire He family fortune into it and bought a local earth god's contract. But when it was delivered to the Inner Province, the contract turned out to be fake.

My father was furious. He threw in everything the He family had left and burned every connection they possessed — only then did he snatch the family fortune back.

At the time I couldn't understand how my father could have been swindled in such a matter, but now I think about it — that's a hundred years of lifespan. Put it in front of anyone, and no one could resist."

Li Banfeng had long known that a contract could be traded for a hundred years of lifespan in the Inner Province.

But new lands without a contract would breed demons. The Inner Province deliberately offered high prices to buy up contracts — was this creating favorable conditions for demons to breed?

Li Banfeng asked He Yuxiu: "How did your father get to the Inner Province?"

"He had a travel pass. You can get one from the Garrison Commissioner — the great households all have travel passes to the Inner Province. They're just hard to obtain, much harder than passes to the Outer Provinces."

The roads to the Inner Province were also controlled by the Garrison Commissioner?

……

When they arrived at Meng Yuchun's dwelling, Meng Yuchun was still groggy and not fully recovered. If she had faced Bei Wushuang one-on-one today, no matter what method she used, victory would have been hard to come by.

Meng Yuchun asked: "Where is Bei Wushuang?"

"His whereabouts are unknown. Pan Dehai went after him." It wasn't that Li Banfeng didn't want to tell the truth — some things, if Meng Yuchun truly learned of them, would only be worse for her.

Meng Yuchun sighed: "Let's just hope Pan Dehai finishes off that birdman. Otherwise our place will never know peace.

And tell Pan Dehai not to come back either — that old thing is disgusting…"

Speaking of Pan Dehai, Meng Yuchun couldn't help but retch.

Li Banfeng blinked. No matter what, Pan Dehai shouldn't be disgusting enough to cause that reaction.

"Take this pill first — it can break a sound cultivator's techniques. For virtue-cultivation techniques, I have no solution for now. Work through it slowly on your own."

Meng Yuchun pushed the pill aside, her face flushed with anger: "Who wants your medicine? First explain yourself clearly — why did you write on my peach?"

"The situation was special at the time. I was afraid the news would leak."

"Couldn't you find anywhere else?"

"Nowhere else was suitable. Pan Dehai was watching right there."

Meng Yuchun said, blushing: "Knowing someone was watching, you still dared to make a move on me. Your nerve is getting bigger and bigger!"

Li Banfeng smiled: "Matters on my land will still need your care."

Meng Yuchun nodded: "That's no trouble."

"Also, have the cook and the others keep gathering news on Bei Wushuang. If anything comes up, we'll discuss it together."

……

Five days later, the cook gathered news: Bei Wushuang's whereabouts were unknown. No one knew where he had buried the contract. Pan Dehai had searched for three full days without finding it, and had left with Gao Shuxia and the Hundred-Bai Mu Yu.

Li Banfeng asked: "Is the information reliable?"

The cook was quite confident: "This friend served beside Bei Wushuang for many years. He saw all of this with his own eyes."

Pan Dehai truly hadn't found Bei Wushuang. He saw flesh and blood everywhere, but whether that was the complete Bei Wushuang, he had no way of verifying.

Meng Yuchun was somewhat puzzled: "Why did Pan Dehai take Gao Shuxia and the Hundred-Bai Mu Yu with him?"

Li Banfeng said: "Those two Misses are pretty. The great virtue one may be taking concubines."

Three days later, after confirming Pan Dehai had not returned, Li Banfeng buried Bei Wushuang's contract on Bei Wushuang's land, and stored the cultivation from the local earth seal — using the method the Niangzi Sect had taught him — into his own local earth seal.

Cultivation was hard currency; for strange creatures, nothing was more valuable than that.

Two more days passed, and the station was completed.

Li Banfeng stepped out of Leaving Leaving Suishenju. He could clearly see the platform and the canopy, but could not see the rails or the train.

The station was small, its style very rustic, but the workmanship was exquisite. The packed earth was smoothed so evenly that, without close inspection, it looked no different from stone.

About twenty meters from the carriage door, the platform vanished. Walking back to where the door was and waiting a moment, the station reappeared.

Leaving Leaving Suishenju called this process "ticket inspection."

"Riding without a ticket shall be severely punished!" Leaving Leaving Suishenju emphasized it again specifically.

On the phone, Luo Zhengnan brought news: the Garrison Commissioner intended to acquire Baihua Gate. The Chu family had already agreed, and they were now waiting for the Lu family's reply.

The Chu family agreed?

Was it Eldest Chu who agreed, or was it Seeing Chu Er who agreed?

Li Banfeng didn't care about the Chu family's attitude, but half of Boreal Gate belonged to the Lu family — the Pass Defense Envoy's move was a warning strike against the Lu family.

Luo Zhengnan also said: "The Pass Defense Envoy has taken some interest in the book-and-newspaper trade at Black Stone Slope."

This was a warning strike against Li Qi and Ma Wu.

Li Banfeng changed into his familiar black suit, put on his black top hat, pocketed his keys, pulled the brim low, left his Hundred-Li territory, and set off toward Green Water City.

PS: Let's just see who breaks under the warning strike first.

(End of chapter)