Chapter 400: Just Business Partners, Not Friends

Two Judge's Brushes, just like that, were taken in by Leaving Leaving Suishenju.

The Gloves sighed and said, "If we're talking about quick hands, it really has to be our Old Man!"

Li Banfeng roared, "Old fellow, these are things I brought back — you just took them away on a word, at least tell me what they're for!"

Leaving Leaving Suishenju laughed and said, "These are rails. They're no use to you kept around, but they're a great use to me."

Rails!

Rails worth a Bailing Gate!

No wonder they're the treasure the Chu family keeps at the very bottom of the chest.

Li Banfeng patted the Gloves and said with a smile, "This time you've done a great deed, a generous reward is in order."

The Gloves raised a forefinger, stood on the ground, and rocked its head as it said, "Doing things for the Master is our bounden duty. As for rewards, the Master is truly being too formal."

Xie Juncong is the head of the Ghost Hand Gate, the true ancestor of thieves — to be able to steal something from his hands without him noticing, the Gloves' ability left Li Banfeng quite astonished.

But he couldn't let the astonishment show; Li Banfeng's expression remained calm. Now that six rails had been collected, there were some things he needed to confirm with Leaving Leaving Suishenju.

"Old Man, at the very start you only had two rails and could already leave the key behind and wander freely. Now that you have six, shouldn't your methods be greater?"

Leaving Leaving Suishenju coughed once and said, "That's not called wandering freely, that's following you. I can only follow you, or follow the key — that rule cannot be changed.

Back then there were two rails, now there are six rails — naturally there are changes. Now I can go from the truly tangible to the虚无縹緲."

Li Banfeng shook his head and said, "We're all family here, don't speak foreign language."

"Put it plainly, it's 'fuzzy.' Some fuzzy places, I can go to them too.

When there were only two rails, I could only go to places you could see — Black Stone Slope is an example."

Li Banfeng had been staring at the photograph of Black Stone Slope, and in the blink of an eye he was at the Yelaixiang Newsroom studio on Black Stone Slope.

"Then what about Oil Lake?"

Leaving Leaving Suishenju said, "Places seen in dreams count too."

The Gloves snorted and said, "That's because the Old Man wanted to go steal oil, and used the Master's dream to play favorites…"

"Hold your tongue!" Leaving Leaving Suishenju roared, "This old man is not like you!"

The Gloves gave a cold laugh, and Li Banfeng asked again, "What about after you had four rails?"

"With four rails, I no longer need you to truly and tangibly see a place. Seeing a similar location and being able to make an inference works too."

The words were a bit roundabout, but Li Banfeng could understand.

At Medicine King Gully, Leaving Leaving Suishenju left not an inch of ground unturned, brutally breaking the Death Gate Array. Beforehand, Li Banfeng had only found one bloodstain; the later bloodstains were all found according to Li Banfeng's inferences.

In other words, with one more pair of rails, Leaving Leaving Suishenju could apply some fuzziness to the destination.

The more rails, the higher the degree of fuzziness, and the more intelligent Leaving Leaving Suishenju became.

Li Banfeng asked, "With six rails, how fuzzy can you get?"

Leaving Leaving Suishenju said, "Some places you may never have seen, but as long as I've been there and can still remember them, and the distance isn't too far and you can describe it clearly, we can go."

Li Banfeng was very excited: "What places have you been to?"

"Too many — I've been to almost everywhere in Like Puluozhou!"

"Then doesn't that mean any place I can describe clearly and isn't too far away, you can go?"

"As long as this old man can remember the place."

"Which places do you remember?"

"The places this old man has been to, I basically don't remember any of them."

Li Banfeng was no longer so excited: "Old Man, aren't you just playing me? A train that doesn't remember where it's been?"

"A train doesn't need to remember too many places — remembering the stations is enough. You only built one station, and this old man still remembers it."

Li Banfeng was left speechless. The Gloves snorted: "There's no station at Oil Lake either, and you still went there to steal oil! In the end, it all comes down to whether our Old Man wants to remember!"

Leaving Leaving Suishenju flew into a rage: "This old man went to Oil Lake because Ah Qi saw Oil Lake in his dream!"

Li Banfeng didn't dwell on this. Leaving Leaving Suishenju had a spirit-intelligence, so it ought to have its own thoughts. Although at the time of going to Oil Lake, Li Banfeng had run into some danger at Face-Not-Big, afterward leaving not an inch of ground unturned relied entirely on Leaving Leaving Suishenju having saved up enough fuel.

This also reminded Li Banfeng of something — he looked at the fuel in the third room; only five barrels were left, truly not many.

"Shouldn't we go to Face-Not-Big's place and get some more fuel?"

On this point, Leaving Leaving Suishenju agreed: "This old man has been acquainted with Face-Not-Big for many years, but now there are some matters, it's not very convenient to meet. You go chat with him a bit on my behalf."

Li Banfeng was somewhat puzzled: "Chat about what?"

"Just chat about anything."

Li Banfeng still didn't understand. The Gloves said from the side: "Master, the Old Man's meaning is, you keep Face-Not-Big occupied, so he can keep stealing oil."

Leaving Leaving Suishenju flew into a rage: "This old man is not the sort of person you make me out to be!"

The Gloves burst out laughing: "The Old Man is truly noble."

Whoosh!

A jar flew over and landed right on the Gloves, and the laughter cut off short.

Li Banfeng pondered for a moment, then shook his head slightly.

Asking me to keep Face-Not-Big occupied.

Is Face-Not-Big that easy to keep occupied?

Let's wait until the matter with the Customs Commissioner is dealt with.

……

He Jiaqing had just come back from a comic convention, with a fox tail stuck in his hair.

The button on his chest trembled. He Jiaqing gripped the button and heard Wan Jinxian's voice.

"Jiaqing, Xie Juncong got that pair of Judge's Brushes."

He Jiaqing smiled: "Good news. Send them to Yuezhou in a few days, I'll study them properly."

"Jiaqing, here's the thing — Xie Juncong said he did get it, but then Li Qi stole it from him."

"Stole it? Someone stole something from Xie Juncong?" He Jiaqing found it hard to believe.

"That's what Xie Juncong said. I don't believe it either — who else could steal something from his hands?

Besides, Li Qi is working with us on business now, he should count as our friend — how could he steal from us?"

He Jiaqing thought for a moment and said: "The business is real, but whether he's a friend is another matter. Li Qi is very clear about that.

Tell Old Xie that I'm very angry about this. Tell him to figure out a way to get the thing back himself."

While they were speaking, a girl wearing fox ears rushed out of the convention hall and snatched the fox tail right off He Jiaqing's head: "You stole this too — shameless!"

……

Wan Jinxian cut the connection and looked at Cui Tike: "That's the whole story."

Cui Tike pinched his chin, his thoughts a bit tangled: "I don't understand what the relationship between Li Qi and He Jiaqing actually is."

Wan Jinxian shook his head: "I don't understand either. Maybe it's about the same as the relationship between you and me."

Cui Tike shook his head: "I don't think it's quite the same. From what I've gathered, Li Qi is resisting — resisting for the sake of Pluro Province."

"What Jiaqing is doing is the same."

"I can't see that. All I see is him trying every way he can to strengthen himself."

Wan Jinxian sighed: "You don't understand Pluro Province's situation. You don't understand how powerful the forces from the Inner Province and the Outer Provinces are."

"Of course I understand," Cui Tike said with a smile. "My country has places like that too."

Wan Jinxian was startled: "You foreigners have places like that too?"

"We do," Cui Tike nodded. "We just don't call it Pluro Province."

This gave Wan Jinxian another suspicion: "Your Dao Sect didn't come from Pluro Province — it came from your country?"

This was important — Wan Jinxian had never been able to figure out the source of Cui Tike's cultivation.

If Cui Tike's cultivation came from a foreign country, it would prove that the Plague Cultivator lineage might not have been created by Green Water Beggar.

"Dao Sect…" Cui Tike shook his head. "If the place we come from also has the concept of Dao Sect, then the people there would have the capital to resist."

They don't have Dao Sect there?

"From what you're saying, it sounds like your people have suffered plenty of oppression too?"

Cui Tike nodded: "If you've heard the stories from where we come from, I guarantee you'd weep. I guarantee you'd think Pluro Province is as beautiful as heaven.

Human nature is the same everywhere — that's why I despise humanity. One day, I will end every single person's life with my own hands."

"You're mad — mad beyond any cure." Wan Jinxian could think of no better assessment.

"I'm not mad, Senior Brother. Most people in this world will die of disease. Those who die of disease die a good death.

I let them die from the diseases I create — it follows the laws of nature, and it follows humanity's wishes. I think we should accomplish this great undertaking together."

Wan Jinxian nodded: "Fine, I can help you. First, cure the rash on my body."

Cui Tike smiled: "Senior Brother, don't fuss over that little rash. It's a gift from the Patriarch. That I'm willing to share it with you is precisely proof of my generosity toward you."

Wan Jinxian said no more and rose to leave.

After he left the hospital, Cui Tike used a probe to puncture his own nose, and a bit of jade-green pus seeped out.

This pus had seeped out from Wan Jinxian's body.

Cui Tike tested the pus's texture with his hand, tasted its flavor, and closed his eyes to sense it for a long while, arriving at a conclusion:

"He's resisting, and he's achieved some results. My Senior Brother is very powerful — both in cultivation and in willpower, very powerful.

If he keeps resisting like this, what will the outcome be?"

Slurp~

Cui Tike swallowed the pus down.

……

Wan Jinxian returned to his residence. The butler brought him a box of silver dollars: "Master, the house at He Shun Garden has been sold."

He had already sold six residences in Green Water City; now only this one remained.

This one couldn't be sold — if he sold it, he'd have to sleep on the street.

He needed money. He needed to buy elixir pills. He needed to advance.

The pustules on his back itched in waves.

Wan Jinxian clenched his teeth and thought to himself: After advancing to the eighth layer, I should be able to dissolve this rash.

……

At the Chu family mansion, Chu Huaijun bit down on a cigar and quietly listened to his subordinates report on the Three Heroes Gate's movements.

Bao Yingchen was dead, Yang Xingbo was dead, Dong Kaibin was dead too — the faction he had cultivated inside Three Heroes Gate had been wiped clean.

What was most hateful was that Bao Yingchen's death had actually been pinned on him.

The He family, the Lu family, Green Cloud Society, Hundred Flowers Gate, White Crane Gang… big and small families and gangs were all willing to testify, all saying Bao Yingchen had been ambushed by Chu Huaijun.

Chu Huaijun sent someone to find Shen Jinzhong and demand an explanation.

Shen Jinzhong sent over Dong Kaibin's head and the heads of his men — the explanation was given plain and clear.

Three Heroes Gate's days were over. Only by wiping out this gang would they know who truly ruled Pluro Province!

Chu Huaijun stubbed out his cigar and called his men: "Yingchun — prepare a banquet. Tomorrow evening I'm hosting the Chief Commissioner for dinner."

(End of chapter)