Chapter 444: Ink Fragrance Shop

Chu Shaoqiang finished writing a letter and placed it in an envelope.

Before sealing the envelope, Chu Shaoqiang took out the letter again and carefully checked every word and phrase.

Five days have passed since the incident; Guo the Metropolitan Graduate and Tian Dasong's case must now be reported to Neizhou.

These two men were taken by Chu Shaoqiang to Qiuluoye's territory, intending to earn merit and be promoted to Yunshang, but instead lost their lives.

For these past few days, Chu Shaoqiang has been pondering how to absolve himself of responsibility, yet still has not found a suitable excuse.

Better to report the truth honestly, but refine the wording—avoid using the word "failure"; replace it with "gradual advance."

As Chu Shaoqiang revised the letter, a man with large eyes, a long face, and bat-like wings materialized before him.

Chu Shaoqiang knew someone had arrived; this bat-like man was Wang Fuqi, his designated courier to Neizhou.

"Go rest for now. I'll call you when the letter is done."

Wang Fuqi bowed and said, "Lord Chu, I've come to deliver news—the three officials guarding the covenant scrolls have met with disaster."

Chu Shaoqiang was not overly concerned; though the covenant guardians were all from Neizhou and held high status, the matter had nothing to do with him.

But if it truly had nothing to do with him, why had Wang Fuqi come specifically to report it?

Could it possibly be connected?

"Did someone steal Qiuluoye's covenant scroll?" For Chu Shaoqiang, this was the most vital leverage against Qiuluoye.

If the scroll was stolen…

It would be a tremendous stroke of luck for Chu Shaoqiang.

Then he could find a perfectly valid reason for his earlier "failure."

Wang Fuqi shook his head: "The scroll wasn't stolen—it was destroyed."

"Who did it?" Chu Shaoqiang found this hard to believe. "If the scroll is destroyed, the curse must trigger—Qiuluoye would die instantly. It can't be that he killed himself."

Wang Fuqi said: "Qiuluoye's current condition is still unknown. Last night, Master Fan was the first to notice something wrong with Qiuluoye's scroll. He touched it—and suddenly burst into flames, the fire spreading instantly over his entire body."

"Master Lü rushed to save Fan, but the fire leapt onto him too; both were burned to ash."

"The remaining officials fled. Master Zhong was a bit too slow—he got a spark on his skin and was also reduced to ash."

Chu Shaoqiang found this hard to believe. He considered the sequence of events and asked: "Did someone tamper with the scrolls in Neizhou? Or did someone alter another scroll in Puluozhou, transmitting the effect to the one in Neizhou?"

Wang Fuqi said: "Lord Chu, you've seen the Neizhou archive yourself—it's so secure not even a fly can get in. How could anyone tamper with it there?"

Chu Shaoqiang chuckled: "Fuqi, you know too little. The archive has had incidents before—just recently, in fact."

"I think we must investigate Neizhou itself. I don't believe someone from Puluozhou did this."

"If someone could transmit such a powerful technique from Puluozhou into Neizhou through a scroll, how immense would their power be?"

Wang Fuqi whispered: "Lord Chu, we need not dwell on how powerful this person is. I came to tell you—the Censorate has pinned this incident on you."

"Pinned it on me?" Chu Shaoqiang was stunned. "On what grounds?!"

"The Censorate claims it's due to your incompetence, which drove Qiuluoye to desperation. The blame has already been laid at your feet. Think about how you'll explain yourself when you return."

"Return? Explain?" Chu Shaoqiang shook his head. "I can't return. There's no way to explain."

Wang Fuqi was startled: "Lord Chu, I'm just delivering a message. If you have other plans, I truly don't know."

As Wang Fuqi turned to leave, Chu Shaoqiang called him back.

"You don't understand anything. If I return now, I can't explain anything—I'll only face punishment, and might even lose my life."

"Then what does Lord Chu intend?"

"What do the higher-ups want? Land. True land. We must reclaim it!"

Wang Fuqi nodded: "I'll go to Qiuluoye's territory and see what the situation is now."

"Go to Qiuluoye's territory?" Chu Shaoqiang sighed. "There are three thousand three monstrous beasts there. How many men would we need to hold that land? Let's look elsewhere."

Wang Fuqi said: "But if Qiuluoye is dead, we might just inherit his land."

Chu Shaoqiang shook his head: "Is Qiuluoye truly dead? I can't make sense of this."

…

Qiuluoye, wrapped in bandages, was gnawing on a pumpkin. After finishing one, he picked up another and began eating it again.

Ma Wu didn't understand: "Brother Qiu, when did you start liking vegetables?"

Before Qiuluoye could answer, Shi Tou chimed in: "Our Lord Qiu always eats vegetarian. Eating meat with you guys was just for show—he's an elephant; he thrives on vegetables…"

Thud!

The tiger kicked Shi Tou.

Not because of the vegetarian thing—because of the elephant thing.

The tiger snapped: "Young Master Qi said never again to call Lord Qiu 'Elephant.' How could you forget so quickly?"

Though the covenant scroll was destroyed, Li Banfeng refused to let Qiuluoye be associated even slightly with "Elephant," so he forbade anyone from using that nickname.

Qiuluoye's status had been restored, his cultivation base stabilized; how much combat power he regained remained unknown.

Qiuluoye himself had no idea—he could only eat as much as possible.

"Pumpkin rinds are good—they build skin!" Qiuluoye finished another pumpkin, wiped his mouth, and asked, "Where's Old Qi? I haven't seen him all day."

Ma Wu said: "Old Qi is exhausted. He said he needs two solid days of sleep."

Qiuluoye hugged the pumpkin: "I owe Old Qi too much. I don't know how I'll ever repay him."

Ma Wu smiled: "Brother Qiu, don't think so far ahead. Eat, sleep, heal your body—then worry about the future."

…

Inside the Personal Chamber, Li Banfeng was not sleeping—he was taking an art lesson.

Today's art instructor was not Zhong Biao, but Xiang Hongying.

Xiang Hongying, a scion of a distinguished family, had received excellent education in music, chess, calligraphy, and painting, with particular skill in painting.

Unlike Zhong Biao's Western techniques, Xiang Hongying practiced ink-and-wash painting. She felt the paper's dimensions with her fingers and quickly painted a portrait of a beautiful woman bending to pick flowers—her face delicate and lovely, her figure graceful, though her attire was somewhat immodest.

Zhong Biao glanced at it and asked: "Wenchang, are you not ashamed to paint such things?"

"Pah!" Xiang Hongying spat. "You know shame? Think about what you looked like last night."

Zhong Biao sang slowly: "What happened last night? Being affectionate with your own husband—what's wrong with that?"

Xiang Hongying ignored Zhong Biao, hung the painting on the wall, and asked Li Banfeng: "Seventh Master, what do you think of this painting?"

Li Banfeng sneered: "I won't even look at such indecent art."

"Then look!" Xiang Hongying pointed to the painting. "This is the door! This is the gate! How can you not tell them apart?!"

Li Banfeng explained: "I drank too much last night. I didn't realize it was you—I thought you were my wife. My wife doesn't draw them like this."

"You madman! You eat and then deny it? You think I suffered in vain?!"

Though still arguing with Xiang Hongying, Li Banfeng's mind was elsewhere.

He was reviewing the process of saving Qiuluoye.

He passed the first trial through the Technique of the Fool.

He passed the second through Honglian's elixir.

He passed the third through Zhang Wanlong's seed.

These people seemed unrelated, yet by leveraging their methods, Li Banfeng dismantled what appeared to be an unsolvable trap—Neizhou's trap.

Was there some hidden connection?

As Xiang Hongying paused slightly, Zhong Biao extended his trumpet mouth to Li Banfeng's ear and whispered: "Husband, where did you learn the Body-Assembly Technique?"

Li Banfeng did not deceive his wife: "I learned it in Fool's City."

"Fool's City?" His wife sensed something off. "Husband, this technique doesn't seem to come from Fool's cultivation."

"Which Dao sect do you think it came from?"

"I don't know the technique's essentials—I dare not guess," Zhong Biao's voice grew quieter. "Husband, would you teach me this technique?"

Li Banfeng smiled: "If my own wife wants to learn, I'll gladly teach it."

Zhong Biao dismissed everyone else; only they remained in the main chamber. Li Banfeng taught her the technique's essentials.

"When I first learned Body-Assembly, I thought it was a method of soul attachment. Only after mastering its mechanism did I realize I had it backward."

"It's not about attaching the soul to the body—it's about sticking the body to the soul. Two key principles: stacking and joining. Stacking moves inward to outward; joining fills in from all sides. The crucial point is realism—where flesh meets flesh, it must be seamless."

After hearing it, Zhong Biao found it confusing: "Husband, this sounds like Glue Cultivation technique."

"Glue Cultivation?" Li Banfeng had heard of Glue Cultivation from Qiuluoye, but knew little of its methods.

Zhong Biao added: "You've never entered Glue Cultivation's Dao—how could you learn its technique?"

"I couldn't learn it by my own power," he pulled out a box of paste. "This came from Fool's City—it's what binds the flesh together."

Zhong Biao took the paste with her needle and sniffed it at the trumpet's mouth, then sneered: "It smells of powder—some fox spirit must have given it to you!"

Li Banfeng praised: "Wife, you're right—her powder was extremely thick!"

Zhong Biao blasted steam into Li Banfeng's face: "Shameless madman! You go seducing women and dare to flaunt it?!"

Li Banfeng smiled, said nothing in defense, and taught his wife how to use the paste.

Leaving the Personal Chamber, Li Banfeng checked on Qiuluoye's condition and asked Ma Wu about business matters.

Ma Wu sighed: "This is the last third of the land. Business is poor all around. To make Qiuqi City thrive, we'll need to put in serious effort."

Li Banfeng looked eastward: "That's the Ink Fragrance Shop, right? Is business good there?"

Ma Wu didn't know how to answer: "The Ink Fragrance Shop is a scholar's domain. Shen Rongqing came from there. You must understand their temperament to do business—misread it, and you'll fail at everything."

Ma Wu didn't know how to put it: "The Ink Fragrance Shop is a domain for literati; Shen Rongqing came from there, understands their nature well enough to barely make a living—fail to grasp their nature, and you can't do anything at all."

Ma Wu shook his head: "I can't grasp it. I went there twice as a child—I couldn't stay a moment longer than necessary."

"Seventh Master, let's focus elsewhere. We should avoid the Ink Fragrance Shop as much as possible."

Old Seven, let's direct our efforts elsewhere; it's best to keep away from the people at the Ink Fragrance Shop.

"Qiqiu City will one day become the showcase of Pulu Province—how can it not interact with its neighbors?"

Lu Chunying said beside him: "Seventh Brother, my mother also wants to take me to Moxiang Store—why don't we go together?"

Li Banfeng looked at Xiao Yeci: "Then let's go take a look!"

Xiao Yeci glanced at He Yuxiu: "Sister, are you coming too?"

He Yuxiu shook her head vigorously: "What would I go there for? To suffer?"

The next morning, Li Banfeng took Xiao Yeci, Lu Chunying, Lu Yuanxin, and Tan Fucheng, among others, onto the train bound for Moxiang Store.

When they got off and walked onto the platform, Li Banfeng felt something was very strange.

This place was unlike a normal train station—the floor and pillars were made of wood, painted red; the platform roof had a distinct ridge and inlaid with glazed tiles. Had the train not been right behind him, Li Banfeng would have thought he'd stepped into the corridor of some wealthy household.

Huff, huff~

The train pulled away, and Li Banfeng felt the entire platform trembling.

At the platform entrance, a man in a blue-green long robe, his hair slicked back and gleaming, bowed politely and asked: "Gentlemen, please stop—may I see your credentials?"

Li Banfeng blinked: "Credentials?"

Xiao Yeci thought for a moment, then pulled out the ticket and offered it with both hands.

The man accepted it with both hands, checked it carefully, then extended his right hand toward the gate and said: "Please proceed!"

He was a ticket inspector.

Tan Fucheng snorted: "Just checking a ticket, and he has to call it 'credentials'?"

Lu Yuanxin reminded him: "Brother Tan, mind your status."

Outside the station, Xiao Yeci kept urging Lu Chunying: "Nannan, show some grace and refinement—don't let them laugh at you."

Tan Fucheng summoned a rickshaw puller. The puller looked at the group and asked: "There are many roads ahead—where would you like to go?"

Tan Fucheng replied: "To the inn."

"There are dozens of inns at Moxiang Store—where exactly do you mean?"

"That… uh…" Tan Fucheng didn't know how to respond. He'd hired rickshaws before—this shouldn't be so complicated.

Li Banfeng faintly heard a sigh: "Home."

Home?

Whose home?

PS: Who spoke?

Thank you to reader Dujiaolong for becoming the third Silver Patron—truly appreciated.

(End of Chapter)