Chapter 393: Just Who Is It Aimed At?

Li Banfeng arrived at Zhengjing Village, found Shui Yongquan and Qiu Luoye, and discussed borrowing people.

Shui Yongquan was silent for a moment, then said: "Li Qi, it's been many years since I've been to Zhengdi, there are some things I really may not understand anymore, but I still want to say one thing — if you want to take a hard line against the Garrison Commissioner, I'm afraid that won't work."

Li Banfeng shook his head and said: "The time is ripe, this time I must take a hard line against them."

Shui Yongquan said helplessly: "You have your own ideas, but as for borrowing people, let me think it over a bit more. I previously sent Huoling and Aqin, and my heart is still hanging in the balance…"

Qiu Luoye snorted beside him: "What are you hanging on about? Huoling and Aqin are both my people!"

Shui Yongquan said: "They used my techniques, that's how they got to Zhengdi."

Qiu Luoye said with a cold laugh: "What, you're afraid they'll use the techniques to track you down?"

Shui Yongquan sighed: "Green Water City is Green Flower Boy's territory. We've been sending people there one after another — aren't you worried he'll come attacking?"

"Worried about what? You really think he can come attacking?" Qiu Luoye was very calm; he wasn't speaking out of anger. "This is our own doorstep. Let him try to come attacking."

Shui Yongquan sighed: "You always act too recklessly."

Qiu Luoye laughed: "Are you any more steady? Are you steadier than those few local earth gods next to Green Water Bay?

They are truly steady — every time Green Flower Boy comes, they flinch. I heard one local earth god lost seventy percent of his territory, with less than thirty percent left, and who knows how much longer he can hold out.

There are plenty of people reclaiming land around Green Water Bay, but none of those new lands have been converted into Zhengdi. Whenever a reclamation is nearly done, Green Flower Boy snatches it away.

I'm no good at arithmetic, I don't know how big seventy percent of a territory is. We're lucky our territory is a bit farther from Green Flower Boy. But once he takes all the surrounding territories and reaches his hand toward ours, do you think being steady means you won't get beaten?"

Shui Yongquan shook his head: "He can't possibly reach his hand this far. By the time he really does, our place will probably have become Zhengdi too, and it won't be too late to have a proper contest with him then."

Qiu Luoye scoffed: "With your courage, you still count on this place becoming Zhengdi? Don't you feel ashamed saying that?"

Shui Yongquan frowned: "Do you know how much renqi Green Water City has? Do you know how high Green Flower Boy's cultivation is? If he discovers you're sending strange creatures onto his territory, do you know what the consequences would be?"

Qiu Luoye turned his face and looked at Shui Yongquan seriously: "I know. Green Flower Boy's cultivation is far above yours and mine. If you're scared, hide in the new land for the rest of your life. If you're not scared, let's fight for it once.

Li Qi, I'll send you the people — all of them are good fighters! Old Shui here doesn't dare help you, but I'll find others to help you. Isn't it just a matter of covering up identities? We've got plenty of ways!

Let's talk about the price first — how many people can you bring to reclaim land?"

No matter what past grievances existed, Li Banfeng still admired Qiu Luoye's forthrightness.

Li Banfeng held out one hand: "Five hundred people."

Businesses everywhere were running in an orderly fashion. With Li Banfeng's current resources, calling five hundred people to reclaim land was not difficult.

Qiu Luoye struck the ground with a fist, and the ground shook several times: "Decisive! Let's pick our people!"

Shui Yongquan pressed her lips together: "Five hundred people, that's really quite a lot…"

Of course it was.

Before Li Banfeng came, neither Shui Yongquan nor Qiu Luoye had ever had a successful reclamation here. The two of them could fight over a single reclamation worker.

The two of them had reached the second layer of Cloud cultivation, their renqi accumulated through sheer numbers of strange creatures. They had long given up any hope for reclamation, but now hope had arrived.

From the time they met until now, Li Banfeng had successively arranged people to reclaim several dozen plots on both Shui Yongquan's and Qiu Luoye's territories, and now he was coming with an even bigger batch.

Qiu Luoye laughed: "Old Shui, drooling? Such a big piece of fat sitting right here — want a bite?

If you want a bite, you've got to put in the work! Brother Li Qi came to us with a job — do you know what doing a job means?

Bring out something real, stop playing your old tired tune!"

Shui Yongquan gritted her teeth: "Fine, let's go!"

Qiu Luoye didn't hold back — she called six good fighters for Li Banfeng.

One was the headless person Duan Wuchou. This one was a woman, her figure and clothing the same as any normal woman, except she had no head. She usually spoke through her navel. She was a sixth-layer Nightmare cultivator.

Another was the two-headed person Liang Wucai, also a woman with a normal figure, but she had two heads. The two heads were even distinguished in name — one called Liang Wu, the other Liang Cai — and they often bickered and argued when there was nothing to do.

Shui Yongquan looked at Duan Wuchou and Liang Wucai, rubbed her forehead, and said: "Couldn't you two have split it more evenly? Guogua Qiu Daxiang, you pick people like this — how am I supposed to hide their identities?"

Besides these two, there was the sixth-layer Body cultivator Bai Bai Shou Lian — true to his name, this man had over a hundred hands.

The sixth-layer Insight cultivator Guan Bafang — this man had sixteen eyes.

The sixth-layer Food cultivator Chi Liuhe — this woman was even fatter than Qiu Luoye.

The last one was the Street-Cursing Woman — an old friend, no need for further introduction.

Shui Yongquan roared: "Guogua Qiu Daxiang, you son of a bitch doing this on purpose! How am I supposed to bring these people into Green Water City!"

Apart from the Street-Cursing Woman, the remaining five all posed serious technical difficulties for Shui Yongquan.

Qiu Luoye said: "Old Shui, five hundred reclamation workers aren't easy money. Brother Li Qi wants real tough ones.

Tough ones don't come that neat and tidy — think of another way."

To earn more from the reclamation workers, Shui Yongquan went all out, using the Hundred Streams Hundred Transformations technique to forcibly alter the appearances of several people.

Using the Hundred Streams Hundred Transformations technique required time. While performing it, Shui Yongquan repeatedly instructed: "If you feel the spell can't be hidden anymore, drink water immediately, and wash your body with water. As long as there's enough water, you can recover the technique!"

Both of them had given their all and taken on considerable risk. Li Banfeng immediately rushed back to Green Water City to gather the reclamation workers.

What worried him most now was time. According to Shan Baowen, Chu Huaijun would make his move in a few days. Whether the reinforcements from the new land could arrive in time was uncertain.

Once the six helpers from the new land arrived, Li Banfeng felt more at ease.

The two-headed person Liang Wucai, the Food cultivator Chi Liuhe, and the Body cultivator Bai Bai Shou Lian went first to set up defenses at Lu Chunying's residence.

The Street-Cursing Woman, the Insight cultivator Guan Bafang, and the Nightmare cultivator Duan Wuchou were all placed under Luo Zhengnan's command. They were responsible for watching the Chu family's movements and relaying information.

Shen Rongqing and Zhang Xiuling had also made preparations to provide support at any moment.

Li Banfeng stayed at Outside Xiaoyao Wu, managing his business while continuing to gather people.

He returned to his own territory, intending to invite Zhang Wanlong as well. Even if the Garrison Commissioner completely tore off all pretense, he was prepared to fight to the very end.

But Zhang Wanlong politely declined: "Brother Qiye, I truly want to help you, but I'm just a farmer — fighting really isn't my strong suit.

I have two bags of good seeds here, and some medicinal liquid — I'll give them all to you. That's all I'm capable of. Please don't make things hard for me."

Li Banfeng was already very satisfied with Zhang Wanlong going this far. Farming cultivators truly weren't suited for facing the enemy on the battlefield.

Besides, Zhang Wanlong wasn't a Travel cultivator either. Going from Li Banfeng's territory to Green Water City took considerable time — by the time he arrived, Chu Huaijun would probably have already made his move.

Li Banfeng didn't take Zhang Wanlong's seeds and medicinal liquid for nothing — he had Zhang Wanlong calculate the price on the spot and paid him in silver dollars.

After returning to Green Water City, Li Banfeng continued to monitor Chu Huaijun's movements.

But Chu Huaijun kept his composure and showed no activity at all.

Could the information brought by Shan Baowen be wrong?

Or were the people they wanted to eliminate not among those three?

Li Banfeng worried this was Chu Huaijun's stalling tactic — once things slowed down, slackness was inevitable, and any single oversight could send all the previous preparations down the drain.

But the Chu family simply refused to move.

Late at night, just as Free Roost had closed, Li Banfeng was pondering countermeasures, wondering whether to simply storm the Chu family's doorstep.

On second thought, he felt doing so would be utterly foolish.

His side had made thorough preparations and seized the initiative; now they were just waiting for the enemy to come, yet he himself couldn't hold his nerve.

His wife had called him impetuous — and she wasn't wrong.

He'd find his wife later for some machine oil, cool his head first, then think of a plan.

Li Banfeng was about to head back to Leaving Leaving Suishenju when Qin Xiaopang suddenly showed up at Free Roost.

Li Banfeng frowned and said, "Why did you come straight here? Weren't we supposed to meet at the teahouse? If your boss has his eye on you, things will get messy."

Xiaopang shook his head and said, "Seventh Brother, there's no time for that. The Second Boss sent me to tip you off — he says the Boss has gathered over fifty skilled fighters, and they set out from Horn Garden two hours ago."

Li Banfeng's brow twitched; he understood why the Chu family had been sitting still all along.

The Chu family had no intention of acting themselves — they were letting Three Heroes Gate do the job for them.

Three Heroes Gate actually went along with it — was it really just for that pair of Judge's Pens?

Horn Garden was in a remote spot, not far from Lu Chunying's residence — Three Heroes Gate certainly knew how to pick a location.

Fine — once they reach Lu Chunying's house, not a single one of those fifty-plus people will escape.

Wait.

From Horn Garden to Lu Chunying's residence takes less than two hours.

If a fight had broken out at Lu Chunying's place, I should have gotten word by now.

Why is there still no news?

"Your Jin Yin brought the people there, then didn't move to act in a hurry?"

Qin Xiaopang shook his head and said, "How could we do that? Once everyone's assembled, if we don't act, are we just going to wait for word to leak?"

Li Banfeng fell silent for a moment, breaking out in a cold sweat from head to toe.

They're not heading for Lu Chunying's house.

Their target isn't He Yuxiu, isn't Lu Chunying, and isn't Ma Wu either.

Li Banfeng said to Qin Xiaopang, "Old Nine, hurry and find your Second Boss. Ask him if he wants to be the Boss — if he does, go seize the Boss's seat tonight."

Xiaopang was stunned: "Seventh Brother, you mean go tonight?"

"Right now."

Xiaopang didn't dare delay and turned to leave at once.

Li Banfeng called out, "Don't use the front door — go out the back. No matter who you meet on the way, hide from them, don't engage, and hurry to find your Second Boss."

After Xiaopang ran out the back door, Li Banfeng called Cao Zhida over: "How many people are still at Free Roost?"

Cao Zhida did a quick count: "No guests staying over tonight, they're all our own people —

seventeen on the coat-check, three singers live here, over thirty for accompanying and partner dancers, about ten in the band, and counting the accountants, cooks, and odd-job hands, it's close to a hundred."

"Get them out of here, all of them."

Cao Zhida glanced at the clock: "Leave? Now? It's the middle of the night."

"Leave! Right now!"

After sending them all away, Li Banfeng prepared to retreat into Leaving Leaving Suishenju and hide.

Cao Zhida didn't dare ask more and was about to go call the people when Li Banfeng stopped him again.

He was estimating the distance from Horn Garden to Free Roost.

There wasn't enough time.

These people couldn't leave now.

By the time all hundred were assembled and stepped outside, they'd run straight into Three Heroes Gate's men.

Three Heroes Gate had a big reputation, but they were still a street gang after all — they'd kill the people and then destroy Free Roost.

And then?

I'd hide inside Leaving Leaving Suishenju?

Li Banfeng muttered, "They're coming no matter what — what difference does it make where they show up!"

Cao Zhida said in astonishment, "Who's coming?"

Li Banfeng added, "We can't leave."

"N-now we're not leaving?"

"We're not leaving," Li Banfeng rose and said, "Gather everyone in the main dance floor, stay inside, and don't run about."

Cao Zhida hurried off.

Li Banfeng pulled out the circuit board, installed the battery, attached the antenna, fitted the dial, and got through to Luo Zhengnan.

"Tell Ma Wu that Three Heroes Gate is almost at Free Roost."

Luo Zhengnan's head buzzed: "Brother Qiye, this is aimed at you — get out of here, quick."

"I'm not leaving. I'll hold them here. Tell Ma Wu to bring people over immediately — bring all of our people.

Tell Shen Rongqing and Zhang Xiuling that Three Heroes Gate is changing its Boss — have them go bear witness.

Leave someone watching Chu Huaijun's door; the moment he shows his face, send me word at once."

Cao Zhida came to report: "Seventh Master, everyone's been gathered, they're all at the big dance floor."

Li Banfeng nodded, took the dagger, and headed to the big dance floor.

Cao Zhida was taken aback: "Seventh Master, what are you going to do?"

"Bleed them!" Li Banfeng, dagger in hand, swept his gaze over every person in the dance floor.

PS: Seventh Master has gone mad, Jiang Mengting even wet herself — he really is going to bleed them.

(End of chapter)