Chapter 39: Wind Rising from Flat Ground

Li Banfeng had a beautiful dream all night. In the dream, there was always a goose feather tickling his ear.

After leaving the Suishenju, he discovered it was noon again. Li Banfeng realized he must have a timekeeping tool.

After returning to Yuezhou, these things would be easy to handle; a mobile phone could solve everything.

It was getting late, and he didn't know if he could still buy a train ticket.

Li Banfeng stepped out of the Suishenju and walked a few hundred meters on the street when he suddenly felt a strange reaction in his body.

What kind of reaction it was, Li Banfeng couldn't say.

He searched for vehicles on the street—carriages, rickshaws, anything would do.

While scanning, he noticed pedestrians casting glances at him from time to time.

Why are they looking at me?

Dressed in a suit and leather shoes, paired with a top hat, I'm dressed very decently today!

The pedestrians didn't have any malice; they were just curious.

Strange, how do I know they don't have malice?

Why are there so many strange reactions today?

The pedestrians indeed had no malice; what they were looking at wasn't his attire, but Li Banfeng's extraordinary speed.

He wasn't running; he was just walking, hands in his pockets, walking down the street nonchalantly.

But his feet were moving his body forward rapidly in a trajectory difficult for ordinary people to understand. By the time Li Banfeng noticed the anomaly, he had already reached the end of the street.

I didn't intend to walk this fast...

Looking at the houses rapidly receding on both sides of the street, Li Banfeng tried his best to restrain his steps.

He indeed hadn't exerted any active force, let alone felt the slightest exhaustion.

But these legs seemed to have motors installed; without stepping on the brakes, they couldn't stop at all.

Even after stepping on the brakes, it was hard to control. Li Banfeng could stand still, but as soon as he took a step forward, he seemed to be charging forward at twenty miles per hour.

This isn't very good. How can I not even know how to walk normally?

Is this caused by the poisonous fog of the Bitter Wushan?

Is this a temporary symptom or irreversible damage?

Although he tried his best to restrain himself, Li Banfeng still reached the edge of Li Gully in a very short time.

He had wanted to find a quiet place to control his legs properly. When passing a large banyan tree, a rickshaw under the tree attracted his attention.

First take the rickshaw to the train station, buy a ticket, get on the train, enter the Suishenju, and then train his legs.

While pondering, his legs didn't stop and he walked another few dozen meters. Li Banfeng retreated along the same path, came to the driver, and struggled to stop his steps, asking: "How much to the train station?"

The driver took a puff of his dry tobacco, looked up at Li Banfeng, and laughed: "You're going to the station; do you still need to take a carriage?"

Li Banfeng stared at the driver for a moment.

He recognized this driver; Monkey Qiu had hired him—a driver with a fire wheel.

It was he who had pulled Li Banfeng from the station to where the peddler was. Monkey Qiu had paid a full five hundred in carriage fees for this.

This driver was right; the station wasn't far from Li Gully. With Li Banfeng's speed, he could walk there in the blink of an eye.

But Li Banfeng didn't know the way.

The driver stood up and pointed to the dirt road in front: "Follow this road north, walk three and a half li, turn east, walk two li, then north, less than one li, there's a fork, walk another two li, and you'll be at the train station."

Li Banfeng shook his head: "Too troublesome, better take the carriage."

The driver puffed on his cigarette: "What's troublesome about this? You've already reached the first layer of traveler cultivation; can you still not find the way?"

Indeed.

This eerie speed wasn't caused by the poisonous fog of the Bitter Wushan; it was caused by the traveler cultivation reaching a new level.

Why did the traveler cultivation reach a new level?

Because Li Banfeng had stayed in a dangerous place for a day and a night.

When he was on the Bitter Wushan, he was choked dizzy by the poisonous fog, which made Li Banfeng forget the peddler's instructions.

Staying in a dangerous place for a day and a night, traveler cultivation must reach a new level.

Bitter Wushan is a dangerous place. This means Li Banfeng passed the traveler's test and became a first-layer cultivator.

It's a good thing that traveler cultivation reached a new level.

But it can't reach it too quickly, otherwise, he would suffer a backlash from residential cultivation.

But there's no other way. The Suishenju can't produce a residential spirit, and residential cultivation can't reach a new level. In the future, residential cultivation will inevitably be suppressed by traveler cultivation. All Li Banfeng can do is control the gap between the two sides.

"Why wasn't there a reaction yesterday?" Li Banfeng muttered to himself.

The driver asked: "When did you pass the first-layer barrier?"

"The day before yesterday, on the Bitter Wushan," Li Banfeng answered truthfully.

The driver laughed: "Passed the barrier the day before yesterday, reached a new level today—that's considered fast. Most people have to wait three to five days. Little brother, you have good fortune. Hurry to the station."

Li Banfeng said to the driver: "I'm too lazy to walk. Since you're here pulling the carriage, are you not going to do business?"

The driver was stunned for a moment: "You must take my carriage? Do you know the price of my carriage? Others' carriages are eight dollars; I have to charge you two hundred."

"Two hundred, I'll pay!" Li Banfeng took out two hundred in banknotes and gave them to the driver.

From this driver, Li Banfeng sensed a kind of intimacy. He firmly believed he had given the two hundred dollars correctly.

The driver touched the texture on the banknotes and laughed: "Fine, I'll tell you in advance, my carriage arrives in the blink of an eye."

"Can you walk a bit slower?" Li Banfeng made a request that seemed very unreasonable.

The driver understood Li Banfeng's meaning: "Walking slower is fine, but the slower I walk, the higher the price. Five hundred dollars, walk two marks—do you agree?"

Two marks refers to two numbers on the dial, which means walking for ten minutes.

Li Banfeng nodded: "Agreed."

The driver sighed: "Sending fat meat to the mouth, I have to eat it. Get on."

Li Banfeng got on the rickshaw, and the driver pulled the carriage, walking north nonchalantly.

Li Banfeng asked: "What layer of traveler cultivation are you?"

He could see this driver was a traveler cultivator. When he took his carriage the first time, the driver had already demonstrated traveler cultivation abilities, only Li Banfeng didn't know the concept of traveler cultivation at the time.

The driver didn't answer: "Five hundred dollars, and you want to ask about my cultivation? Do you think that's appropriate? Two marks pass very quickly; ask something else."

"Do traveler cultivators usually walk this fast?"

"Do you see me walking fast?" While speaking, the driver walked forward step by step, at the same speed as an ordinary person.

"But why do I walk so fast?"

The driver explained: "The way you walked just now is called 'Wind Rising from Flat Ground.' This is the ability of a first-layer traveler cultivator.

A traveler cultivator who has just reached a new level doesn't know how to control their strength under their feet. You'll have to practice for a few days to be able to control it freely."

"How should I practice?"

The driver pointed to a water-pressure well by the street: "Have you used a water-pressure well? Walking before was like waving your arms and pumping water with a 'gudong gudong' sound. Now you have to hold back your strength; the water flow that comes out should be a circle thinner than a hemp rope. Only then can you walk like an ordinary person."

A circle thinner than a hemp rope?

"That's not easy to grasp."

"There's a trick. Start by holding back the first bit of strength from your hips, move forward slowly step by step, then hold back the second bit of strength from your kneecaps, and follow your hip bones to probe forward as you walk.

Next are your ankles, and then down to your toes. Hold back the strength bit by bit. As long as your comprehension is enough, you can figure out the basics in a day."

Li Banfeng gave a bitter laugh: "After reaching a new level, I have to learn to walk all over again?"

"Don't complain about the trouble. It won't be smooth at the beginning, and you'll have to fall a few times. Once you learn the trick inside, walking sixty or seventy li in an hour won't be a problem."

With this speed, the basic cultivation of twenty li a day wouldn't take half an hour to complete.

But the problem is...

"First-layer traveler cultivation, is twenty li a day enough?"

"Not enough!" The driver shook his head repeatedly. "If you walk in ordinary places, at least fifty li a day."

Fifty li?

That's not a big problem either.

"What is an ordinary place?"

"Streets and alleys are all ordinary places."

"What is an unusual place?"

"Going up a mountain—the steeper the better. Going into water is also fine—the deeper the better. There is a muddy swamp in the Lanqing Village. If you can walk two li inside it, the day's cultivation is considered enough.

There is a Blade Ghost Ridge on Yangcha Mountain. If you walk one li on the mountain ridge, not only is the cultivation enough, but you can also save up a day's time.

The essence of traveler cultivation lies in this danger. The more dangerous the territory, the faster the cultivation improves."

Li Banfeng felt deeply: "On the Bitter Wushan, cultivation improved very quickly, right?"

The driver shook his head: "That place, I advise you to go less. Going up and down the mountain, scattered and sparse, you don't even know how many people lost their lives on that mountain.

Being able to come back alive is your good fortune. Your fortune is indeed good. You could even survive the heavenly light. If your fortune is good, you should cherish your life. To lose such a good life for those few dollars is not worth it."

"Going up the Bitter Wushan was also to make money. Money, in the end, is not easy to earn." Li Banfeng felt deeply about this.

The driver shook his head and laughed: "There are plenty of businesses that are easy to make money. Pulling a carriage is not bad. Last time I took your urgent job, I earned five hundred in one trip. Today I took another job from you, and earned five hundred again.

I heard that this year, major medicine shops are buying Snake-Pattern Chrysanthemums for only twenty-five dollars a plant. You tell me yourself, whose money is easier to earn?"

According to his way of speaking, pulling a carriage is indeed easier to earn money.

The driver laughed: "You look down on this trade, thinking pulling a carriage is shameful. I also look down on you people who risk your lives, thinking your lives are cheap."

Li Banfeng didn't argue with the driver about the profession anymore, but instead asked: "How should I find a suitable place for cultivation? That is, some danger, but not too dangerous?"

The driver answered briefly: "Dangerous places should be handled according to one's ability; dangerous people should be kept at a distance. Bitter Wushan is both a dangerous place and full of dangerous people. You shouldn't go to such a place!"

"How should I distinguish between dangerous places and dangerous people?"

"Traveler cultivators can sense danger. This is called 'Seeking Good Fortune and Avoiding Calamity.' This is also a technique that only first-layer traveler cultivators have. Not only can you see dangerous places, but you can also see dangerous people."

Li Banfeng's eyes lit up: "First-layer traveler cultivation has two techniques?"

PS: November, first day, Sala asks for votes from all dear readers.

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 40 =====