The Overlord of Puluo

He Yuxiu had been captured by the Jiangxiang Gang's hall in Soda Kiln.

That came as a surprise to everyone involved. He Yuxiu had never expected it, and neither had the hall master at Soda Kiln.

After surviving a brutal battle that had nearly cost her life, He Yuxiu stopped at a soda stall to find something to eat and drink. The stall stood in a quiet, out-of-the-way spot, and its owner was a member of the Jiangxiang Gang. When he saw how beautiful she was, he slipped something into her soda.

He Yuxiu was desperately thirsty and drank more than a dozen bottles in one sitting.

It was partly her own fault for not having visited Soda Kiln in years. She failed to notice that something was off about the flavor and was knocked unconscious just like that.

The stall owner did not dare lay a hand on such a beautiful woman without permission, so he first presented her to the hall master.

Before the hall master could do anything, however, he noticed the name engraved on her pocket watch.

He Yuxiu? The eldest daughter of the He family? The head of the He family?

The hall master still had his doubts, so he compared the woman before him with the photograph the Border Control Office had provided.

She certainly looked like He Yuxiu, but several details did not match. Her age was the first problem. According to the information he had received, He Yuxiu was already in her forties, yet this woman looked no older than thirty.

Then again, He Yuxiu was renowned for her beauty. Years of martial arts training had kept her strong and healthy, and her easygoing temperament had helped her preserve her youthful appearance.

Even so, the clothes were wrong as well. He Yuxiu's clothes only made the hall master more suspicious. The fabric was cheap, the workmanship was crude, and it was hard to believe that the head of the He Family would ever appear in public dressed like that.

He had her bound in iron chains specially made by an Artificer Cultivator, then spent nearly half a day interrogating her. He Yuxiu was stubborn to the bone and refused to say who she was.

This only left the hall master more uncertain. He could not decide whether he should report the matter to the Border Control Office.

The Border Control Office had secretly ordered the Jiangxiang Gang to watch for any news of He Yuxiu. If the woman they had captured really was her, turning her over would earn the hall master a major reward. It might even open the door to a post in the Border Control Office, or help him secure an official identity in the Outer Provinces.

But what if they had the wrong person?

If he handed her over without being certain, he risked exposing the operation and angering the Border Control Office. How could he possibly answer for that?

Yet he couldn't keep her locked up forever. If the He Family tracked her down to the hall, how could he possibly stand against them?

The hall master was eager to claim the credit, but he did not have the nerve to act without certainty. In the end, he decided to keep He Yuxiu locked up for the night.

He planned to interrogate her again the next morning. If she still refused to admit who she was, he would report the matter to the Border Control Office.

He kept her there for just one more night, and trouble broke out in his own backyard. This time, quite literally. The rear courtyard went up in flames, and Li Banfeng had set the fire himself.

The hall master was horrified and quickly sent his men to put out the fire. However, the flames had been started with Old Mister Yao's liquor, and the more they fought them, the fiercer they burned.

Then the Artificer Cultivator stepped in. He was not a member of the Jiangxiang Gang. He was simply a friend of the hall master and often stayed at the hall to lend a hand.

Of everyone at the Soda Kiln hall, he was the one Li Banfeng was most wary of. According to the fortune teller, his cultivation might already have reached level six.

A level-six cultivator could have found far better work, so why was he helping the Jiangxiang Gang?

There had to be more to it. Li Banfeng suspected that he might have been sent by the Border Control Office.

The Artificer Cultivator gathered a few simple parts and quickly assembled a machine for throwing sand. Its design was straightforward: a belt and bucket wheel scooped sand from the ground and flung it over the flames.

The workmanship was crude, and more than a dozen Jiangxiang Gang members had to turn the wheel together to keep the belt and buckets moving. However, it worked very well. The flying sand soon brought the fire under control.

Li Banfeng watched from the shadows, quietly marveling that the Artificer Cultivator had managed to build such a machine in so little time.

While the man was busy fighting the fire, Li Banfeng followed the clanging into the dungeon. He knocked out the guards along the way and entered the cell.

Who is this beautiful woman and why does she look a little familiar? Li Banfeng thought.

He Yuxiu assumed he was another interrogator and braced herself for a fight. After staring at him for a moment, however, she began to think he looked familiar.

"Li Qi?" she asked cautiously.

Li Banfeng smiled. "Yuxiu, what are you doing here?"

He Yuxiu had no idea how to answer.

Truth be told, she barely knew Li Qi. They had only met through Ma Wu and Qiu Zhiheng, and the two of them had hardly exchanged more than a few words.

Now that they had run into each other here, He Yuxiu could not tell whether Li Qi had come to save her or finish her off.

"Sorry you had to see me like this." He Yuxiu lowered her head and said nothing more.

Li Banfeng moved behind her and began working on the chains.

He Yuxiu glanced back. "You really came to save me?"

"I was passing by. You got lucky."

"Those chains are heavy and hard. You will need an exceptional blade to cut through them. There is no chance of pulling them apart."

Li Banfeng shook his head. "Even a good blade might not be enough. The craftsmanship is extraordinary."

"Then stop wasting your strength," He Yuxiu said as she gritted her teeth. "Just give me some water and get out of here before you are dragged into this too."

When Li Qi still did not move, He Yuxiu grew anxious. "I told you to leave. You can't save me by being here. Think about what cultivation level I am at! If I, a level-eight Martial Cultivator, is unable to break free from these chains, what could you possibly do..."

With a sharp metallic clatter, the chains came loose.

He Yuxiu stared at Li Banfeng, her face flushing red. How did he do it? Just how strong is he?

A set of shackles had two parts: the chain and the lock.

The chain was indeed so tough that even Li Banfeng's sickle could not cut through it. The lock, however, was another matter. The Glove had picked it open.

"Boss, that was no ordinary lock. It took quite a bit of effort to unlock it."

Li Banfeng gave the Glove an approving pat, which meant there would be a handsome reward later.

He Yuxiu looked thoroughly embarrassed. "I... I have not eaten all day. If I had a proper meal in me, I could snap a chain like this in two tries."

Li Banfeng nodded. "Mhm."

He Yuxiu picked up the chain and held it out as evidence. "I really could. It would take just two tries!"

"I believe you. You would not need two tries. One would be enough," Li Banfeng said. "Can you still fight?"

He Yuxiu stretched her stiff limbs. She had been beaten and starved for an entire day, and the poison in her body had not fully cleared. She was in no condition to fight.

"If you cannot, find somewhere to hide," Li Qi said as he lowered the brim of his hat. "I do not have the habit of letting revenge wait until morning."

"Hide?" He Yuxiu muttered. She reached out and snatched up a leather whip before asking, "Do you have a cigarette?"

Li Banfeng took out a cigarette and lit it for her. With the cigarette clenched between her teeth and the whip in hand, He Yuxiu strode out of the dungeon.

Whatever else could be said, the eldest daughter of the He family had a really intimidating presence. Her face was covered in cuts, her clothes were stained with blood, yet every step still carried the same fierce, dashing confidence as before.

Thud!

He Yuxiu stepped on a trap and plunged straight into a pit.

Li Banfeng hurried over and pulled her out. "Slow down. This place is full of traps. Here, take the map and study it carefully. Once we get to the surface, follow this route."

When they reached the courtyard, the hall master and his men were still busy fighting the fire.

He Yuxiu headed straight for the hall master. One of the gang members rushed forward to stop her, only for a single crack of her whip to tear away half his skull.

She kicked the corpse aside and kept walking.

The whip tore through the air, sending blood and flesh flying. Li Banfeng had never understood the reasoning behind Martial Cultivation, but then again, there was nothing remotely reasonable about it.

The whip was meant to be a flexible weapon, yet in He Yuxiu's hands, it was deadlier than any blade.

She had taken barely a dozen steps before more than a dozen bodies lay scattered behind her. The remaining members of the Jiangxiang Gang lost their nerve and fled for the exits.

Whenever one of them fled, Li Banfeng caught them, dragged them somewhere out of sight, and tossed them into the Pocket Dwelling.

Wifey had grown rather particular about her food lately, and prey of this level was hardly worth her attention. Still, they would do for a snack.

If she really didn't want to eat their souls, there were still plenty of enchanted artifacts waiting back home that could devour them instead. Some of those artifacts were rather different from the rest.

He Yuxiu struck them down while Li Banfeng hauled them away. Before long, the hall master had no one left at his side.

He Yuxiu flicked her whip and wrapped it around his neck. The hall master's cheeks swelled before he spat a mouthful of blood straight at her.

It was no ordinary blood. The hall master was a level-five Poison Cultivator, and that single mouthful would have killed an ordinary person on the spot.

He Yuxiu, however, was as reckless as ever. She did not even try to dodge and simply let the poisonous blood splatter across her body.

He Yuxiu seized the hall master by the head, twisted her wrist, and tore it clean off at the base of his neck.

There was just the level-six Artificer Cultivator left in the courtyard and he was panicking.

He Yuxiu was injured and poisoned. If enough preparations were made, this level-six Artificer Cultivator might have been able to hold her off for a while. However, he was not prepared at all.

In addition, he knew that someone stood beside her, moving so quickly that even their afterimages seemed to blur together. From what the Artificer Cultivator could tell, this person was every bit as powerful as He Yuxiu.

Even if he couldn't see this cultivator clearly, he had to look!

If the person was a Wanderlust Cultivator and managed to use Passing Flowers on Horseback, it would all be over.

As the thought crossed his mind, He Yuxiu's whip came lashing toward him.

There was no avoiding it, so the Artificer Cultivator chose to take the blow head-on. Not with his bare skull, of course. He was wearing an iron helmet.

When they fought Tu Yinghong, the Gramophone had quoted an old battlefield saying: "An Artificer Cultivator wields a hundred blades."

It meant that Artificer Cultivators were poor at adapting to changes, but exceptionally good at wearing down an opponent. On the battlefield, they always seemed to have another weapon ready. Anyone fighting one should end the battle quickly and avoid being dragged into a prolonged stalemate.

He Yuxiu had no intention of letting the fight drag on. Her whip slammed into the Artificer Cultivator's helmet and left a deep dent in the metal.

The helmet was slightly damaged, but the man beneath it was unharmed.

When one strike failed, He Yuxiu followed with another, bringing the whip down on the Artificer Cultivator's head once again.

His helmet was astonishingly tough. It was soon covered in dents, yet the man beneath it remained unharmed.

If striking his head did not work, He Yuxiu would attack somewhere else.

However, her attempts at lashing other places were useless. Her whip lashed at him from every direction, but the Artificer Cultivator blocked each blow with ease. He was encased in a full suit of armor.

If the chains he had forged were strong enough to restrain even He Yuxiu, the armor that he had made to protect his own life would obviously be even tougher.

While He Yuxiu was busy attacking him, the Artificer Cultivator slipped a handful of glass marbles from inside his robe and dropped them quietly onto the ground.

The little marbles rolled toward He Yuxiu's feet. She was still muddled from the poison, and she was so furious that she could think of nothing except killing the Artificer Cultivator.

She never once looked down. Her foot landed on one of the marbles, and down she went with a tremendous thump.

The Artificer Cultivator took this chance, leapt over the wall and was about to run for his life when a rather dreadful thought came to him. Where did the Wanderlust Cultivator go?

A figure flashed past his eyes, and a violent buzzing filled the Artificer Cultivator's head.

Boom!

The Artificer Cultivator burst apart, leaving nothing behind but a mangled mass of blood and flesh.

Li Banfeng gathered up the remains, armor and all, tossed them into the Pocket Dwelling, then leapt back over the wall.

He Yuxiu was sitting on the ground with unfocused eyes and a vacant expression. The poison was spreading through her at last.

He Yuxiu forced the corners of her mouth into a faint smile. "Li Qi, thank you. I don't know how I can ever repay you."

"You certainly will repay me. I saved your life. You cannot expect a favor that big to go unrepaid," Li Banfeng said as he pulled her to her feet.

Her cigarette had burned down to the end. He Yuxiu dropped the stub onto the ground and looked at him. "Got another?"

Once again, Li Banfeng handed her one.

He Yuxiu struggled to her feet and staggered toward the door.

Li Qi asked, "Shouldn't you find somewhere to have your wounds treated first?"

"There's still one more. I can't let him off," He Yuxiu muttered as she stumbled all the way into a narrow alley.

A man was running a soda stall there. The moment he saw her, his face went green with fear.

It was his soda that had poisoned her.

He Yuxiu could barely keep her balance, and even her hand had begun to tremble.

Li Banfeng lowered his voice. "Let me handle this."

"No. This one is mine."

The soda seller turned and bolted, but He Yuxiu caught up with him in two strides and cracked her whip.

The tip of the whip came down from the top of the man's head and struck the ground.

Crack!

His body split cleanly down the middle and collapsed into a heap of flesh.

He Yuxiu swayed, then fell beside the stall.

"I have spent my whole life getting knocked down and climbing back up, only to end up like this because of a few worthless scum!" He Yuxiu remarked and gave a bitter laugh while looking at Li Qi. "You have really seen me make a fool of myself this time."

"I'm not laughing," Li Banfeng said. He shook his head and handed He Yuxiu another cigarette before complimenting, "You did well. You have got some balls."

He Yuxiu shook her head.

Author's Note:

PS: She really got no balls