The Overlord of Puluo

Li Banfeng told Luo Zhengnan to leave first, but Luo Zhengnan refused.

Luo Zhengnan didn't know what Li Qi had gone through in the past, but he was the one who had brought up revenge in the first place. Now that Li Qi was going to wipe out Blackstone Slope Hall, how could Luo Zhengnan let him fight alone?

"Master Qi, saying that is an insult to me. I, Luo, might not be a good man, but I am no coward either. As long as you stay here, I am not leaving."

Li Banfeng was not being courteous with Luo Zhengnan. He was worried Luo Zhengnan would not be able to keep up.

Luo Zhengnan had a sharp eye and a sharp mind. When it came to scouting and judgment, he was first-rate. But fighting was another matter, and Li Banfeng had not yet seen what he could do.

Luo Zhengnan said he could fight, and Li Banfeng believed him. Unfortunately, this was not the sort of trouble that could be solved simply by knowing how to hit someone.

The Border Control Office was now involved in whatever business of the Jiangxiang Gang. Although Li Banfeng was not someone born and raised in Puluo and didn't share the same kind of fear as Puluo people would have towards the Border Control Office, he had to be ready to strike, slip away, bargain, dodge, or turn the whole situation around at a moment's notice.

To put it plainly, this was the sort of fight where he had to be ready to strike and ready to run at any moment.

Homebound Cultivators were good at cutting into a battlefield. Wanderlust Cultivators were good at getting out of one. Luo Zhengnan did not have either of those advantages, so keeping up with Li Banfeng's pace would be difficult.

Luo Zhengnan understood that perfectly well. "Master Qi, I won't drag you down. We should split up. I'll go gather information, and when the time is right, you can make your move. For the next day or two, you should conserve your strength and avoid showing yourself in public as much as possible."

Li Banfeng asked, "You mean there won't be a good chance to act in the next day or two?"

Luo Zhengnan smiled. "Master Qi, the Jiangxiang Gang may only be a second-rate gang, but it has been around the jianghu for quite a few years. Judging by how tightly guarded the hall is now, I reckon they can hold out for at least a day or two. If we charge in and clash with them head-on during that time, it won't be worth the cost.

"We should handle this the same way we handled One-Mouthful Pei. We try our best to avoid making a move inside their own den. Since they have gone into the child-abducting business, they will have to move the goods sooner or later. Once I find out where and when, we can decide how to act."

Luo Zhengnan really was a clever man. He always seemed to know exactly what Li Banfeng needed most.

The two of them agreed to meet at noon the day after tomorrow. After that, Li Banfeng found an inn, swallowed a Golden Essence Pill, and dissolved most of the pill toxin in his body. Once that was done, he went back into his Pocket Dwelling to rest.

Now that he has taken a Golden Essence Pill, he could stay inside the Pocket Dwelling for two or three days without any serious issues. It was also a good chance to build up some fortune through the ability Peaceful Home and Prosperous Work.

Previously, he had stayed in the Pocket Dwelling for thirteen hours and his luck increased slightly. Though it was just slightly, it was quite obvious.

The Jiangxiang Gang's hall at Blackstone Slope was very small. According to Li Banfeng's original plan, he should have attacked the moment he got off the cart. Yet Luo Zhengnan had noticed something wrong near the hall, and that was the effect of the slightly increased luck!

If thirteen hours had already made a difference, what would a day and a half do?

After a full day in the Pocket Dwelling, the Gramophone asked quite casually, "Heyaaaaaa! Husband dear~ Are you not going out to get groceries today?"

Li Banfeng stroked her great horn and sang back, "Eyaaaaaa, my wifey dear, your husband is staying home and not going anywhere. Does that not please you?"

His wife answered, "Heyaaaa~ Husband dear, if you stay home to keep this humble girl company, then of course this humble wifey is terribly pleased. I only fear that my beloved and respectable husband may grow too fond of the comforts of home and leave his grand ambitions to gather dust."

"Heyaaa~ Wifey dear, is getting groceries such a grand ambition?" Li Banfeng tickled the Gramophone just beneath her arm, and she quivered all over with laughter.

The two of them sang back and forth, sweet as could be, but the longer Hong Ying listened, the stranger it sounded.

She had served as a dwelling spirit for others before. Since when would a dwelling spirit push their Homebound Cultivator to leave the house?

What exactly was Zhao Xiaowan trying to do?

Li Banfeng thought it was weird too and seemed to understand Zhao Xiaowan's intentions.

After another half day, Li Banfeng finally went out. Before he left, the Gramophone reminded him, "Judging by your complexion, my dear husband, your fortune is excellent today. You may act a little more decisively."

Excellent fortune! Looks like the thirty-some hours in the house was worth it! Li Banfeng muttered inwardly.

The moment Li Banfeng stepped out the door, his legs were delighted. They had been cooped up far too long, and now they went hurrying off almost before he had told them where to go. He very quickly found Luo Zhengnan.

Luo Zhengnan had indeed managed to dig up some news. "Master Qi, I spent all of yesterday looking into the child-snatchers, but I didn't find much. Then I changed my approach, and that was when I heard something useful.

"There's a peep-box[1] performer around Blackstone Slope lately. He leaves before dawn every day, heads straight for the outskirts, and comes back at night, though never at any fixed hour.

"A friend of mine saw two fortune-tellers near the place where he was staying. Judging by the way they did business, they should be from the Jiangxiang Gang. They were probably there to keep watch for the peep-box performer.

"Using peep boxes to lure children has always been one of the Jiangxiang Gang's old tricks. Two hours ago, my friend sent word that the peep-box performer had gone to the western outskirts."

Li Banfeng sorted through the information in his mind and quickly made his plan. "I'll go to the western outskirts and look for the peep-box peddler. You go to his place and check the situation there. My guess is that the children are hidden at his lodgings.

"Just get a clear look at things. Don't alert them. Once we know what both sides are holding, we'll scoop them all up in one net."

Luo Zhengnan nodded again and again. This was exactly what he had been thinking.

***

Clink-clang, clink-clang!

The sound of a rattle drum came skipping into Willowpond Village on the western outskirts.

A few children at the village entrance followed the noise and gathered around. They thought the Peddler had come, and they were hoping to buy a couple pieces of candy. But when they drew closer, they saw that the man was not the Peddler at all.

He was a peep-box performer.

The peep-box performer was pushing a four-wheeled cart.

On the cart sat a great wooden cabinet, and this cabinet was even bigger than the one that the Peddler used to carry his goods. At the front and back were eight glass lenses each. They were magnifying lenses, the kind people pressed their faces against when they wanted to watch a peep box and see the pictures inside the box. And what sort of pictures were in there?

There were famous landscapes inside, and picture-book stories too.

A proper peep-box performer had to be half a storyteller. He pulled the cord, beat his rattle drum, changed the pictures one by one with his hands, and told the story piece by piece with his mouth.

Now, you might wonder what was so marvelous about a thing like that. Why not go into the city and watch a moving picture, or a movie, as people were already calling them?

It depended on where a person lived. Willowpond Village was in the far outskirts. A trip to Blackstone City and back took a whole day. The cheapest movie ticket cost three dollars, and once food and drink were counted in, the day would cost at least eight to ten dollars. A farmer wouldn't bear to spend money like that.

A peep show cost only one mao[2], and that was quite enough. Village children, especially, adored the thing.

Five kids had pressed their faces to the glass lenses, staring so hard they almost seemed ready to crawl into the pictures. The peep-box performer beat his rattle drum in one hand and told the story in a slow, easy voice.

Today's story was Wu Song Fights the Tiger. Wu Song had just finished drinking his eighteen bowls of wine, and he had not even climbed Jingyang Ridge yet, when the peep-box performer suddenly began waving everyone off. "All right, all right, that's enough for today. Go on home now."

The villagers who had gathered to watch the fun slowly scattered, but the five children remained where they were.

At first glance, anyone would have thought the children simply wanted to see more. The truth was that they could no longer walk.

No one knew what they had seen . Every picture in that peep-show box had been worked with the abilities of an Illusion Cultivator.

The peep-box performer pushed his cart onward, and the five children followed behind it. When he reached a place where no one was watching, he opened the cabinet door. The five children lined up neatly, one after another, and stepped inside.

Then the peep-box performer shut the door, took hold of the cart, and pushed it out of Willowpond Village.

Li Banfeng was following behind the man, waiting for the right place to make his move.

At the same time, Luo Zhengnan had already reached the peep-box performer's house. But somehow, the fortune-tellers were no longer nearby.

The moment Luo Zhengnan saw that, his heart sank. He knew something was wrong. He snuck into the courtyard and searched the three tiled rooms one by one, but he did not find anyone.

Did they move the goods already? Luo Zhengnan thought.

If that was the case, things would not be too bad. Luo Zhengnan was really worried about the other possibility: word had gotten out, and the other side was already on guard. If that was true, Li Banfeng would be in danger.

Luo Zhengnan left the courtyard at once and hurried back to where he was staying. From a box, he took out a rotary dial, fixed it into his back, then fitted an antenna to the top of his head. He needed to tell Li Banfeng as soon as possible.

Li Banfeng was carrying a simple telephone on him, but the thing had no antenna attached. Whether the signal could reach him was another matter entirely.

As it turned out, the signal was not bad at all. The telephone did vibrate. The trouble was that the message came a little too late.

Li Banfeng had already walked into an ambush.

He had been following the peep-box performer all this time, waiting for the right chance to catch him and squeeze a few answers out of him. But the peep-box performer had been prepared from the start. Step by step, he had led Li Banfeng straight into the trap.

Five men stepped out from the surrounding area. Together with the peep-box performer, there were six of them, and they encircled Li Banfeng.

One of them was a man in his fifties, dressed in a Western suit with a tie fastened at his throat. He looked at Li Banfeng and asked, "Are you with the He Family?"

Li Banfeng did not answer. He studied the man instead. There was something rather particular about the way he was dressed.

Plenty of men in Puluo wore Western suits, but most of those suits had been altered into a local style. The waist was narrower, the front hung longer, and the collar was shorter, giving them a distinctly Puluo look.

Li Banfeng's suit was a typical example. The middle-aged man's suit was different. His was the proper Western kind, and this was not something often seen in Puluo.

Seeing that Li Banfeng was still not talking, the middle-aged man introduced himself.

"I am an officer from the Border Control Office. By order of the Border Control Office, I am inviting you to answer a few questions. Don't worry. We will give you a chance to explain the truth of what happened. We will not let a guilty man go free, but we will never wrong an innocent one either."

As expected, this was really someone from the Outer Province.

Li Banfeng smiled. "You want me to tell you what really happened? Can't you see the truth? It's right in front of you."

The middle-aged man frowned slightly. "I don't know what you are talking about."

Li Banfeng brought his foot down and crushed a stone beneath it. The stone burst apart, and the flying shards smashed the peep-box performer's cart to pieces.

Five children were sitting inside the cabinet.

All five had been affected by the ability of an Illusion Cultivator and sunk into a terrible dizziness. After being jolted around all that way, they were barely conscious. Their faces were blank, their eyes were dull, and all sorts of vomit still clung to the corners of their mouths.

Li Banfeng pointed at the wrecked cart. "You don't see them?"

The middle-aged man was quiet for a moment. Then he shook his head. "No, I really don't. All I saw was you attacking an honest businessman."

Li Banfeng pointed at the peep-box performer. "You call him an honest businessman?"

The middle-aged man nodded. "I know who is honest and who isn't. Come with me to the Border Control Office right now, or I'll have to use other methods to make you come with us."

Li Banfeng stayed quiet. He was thinking through his options.

The peep-box performer was obviously with the Jiangxiang Gang. He abducted those kids so professionally that his identity was obvious.

The man in the suit really was from the Border Control Film. That much was also beyond doubt.

The four men with him were most likely his subordinates, and their cultivation could not be low. The question was how high.

Before Li Banfeng walked into the ambush, he had not sensed any danger. This meant the four men knew how to hide their malicious intent. Was it simply because their cultivation was much higher than his?

Li Banfeng was a level-seven Wanderlust Cultivator. If they could hide their hostility through cultivation alone, then they had to be at least level nine.

However, level-nine cultivators would not have to lower themselves so easily and work as someone else's hired thug. This meant that they had most likely used some kind of enchanted artifact or spirit-bound item to conceal the malicious intent.

Of course, this was only Li Banfeng's own guess. These men might also have been tools specially trained by the Outer Provinces for this kind of work.

The smartest thing to do now was run.

There are too many of them, Li Banfeng thought. Fighting them head-on will be difficult, but with the speed of a level-seven Wanderlust Cultivator, getting away should be much easier.

Yet from the way that man is acting, he doesn't seem worried that I might run.

The four subordinates are all standing close to him, and their attention is on him, not me.

They don't look like hired fighters. They look more like bodyguards.

One of them has kept his hand in his trouser pocket the whole time. He must be ready to trigger some kind of mechanism.

If I run, will I be stepping right into their trap?

And if I stay?

The thought had barely crossed his mind when a sharp sense of danger flooded his mind. It was a warning from Seeking Fortune and Avoiding Calamity. The other side was not weak. If Li Banfeng rushed in, he would be taking an enormous risk.

As Li Banfeng's thoughts raced, he heard the middle-aged man warn him again.

"I believe someone has misled you. I am even willing to believe this matter has nothing to do with you. Come with me. Once we reach the Border Control Office, everything can be explained. I give you my word..."

Before the man could finish, Li Banfeng's figure suddenly blurred. He used Traceless Quick Steps.

The four subordinates were experienced, and their reactions were extremely fast.

The moment they saw Li Banfeng use Traceless Quick Steps, they realized he was a Wanderlust Cultivator. Two of them moved in front of the middle-aged man, while another stepped behind him.

They kept their eyes on Li Banfeng and blocked his line of sight to the middle-aged man at the same time.

They were guarding against Passing Flowers on Horseback. They knew the level-five ability of Wanderlust Cultivators!

The last subordinate worked the mechanism in his trouser pocket and a ring of light flared around them.

A boundary line! Li Banfeng recognized this!

Meng Yuchun had used something similar when she fought the Mountain-Uprooting Lord. The Mountain-Uprooting Lord had crashed into the boundary line and nearly lost half her life.

Thank goodness Li Banfeng had not chosen to run. If he had, he would have slammed straight into that boundary line. Even if it did not kill him, it would have left him badly injured.

The four bodyguards kept their eyes fixed on Li Banfeng. They held their positions and waited, watching to see what he would do next.

The four guards had covered every angle. Taking them head-on really would be dangerous.

Even so, Li Banfeng rushed straight for the middle-aged man.

It was a crazy move.

The four bodyguards were not weak. Two of them were level seven, and the other two were level six. The instant Li Banfeng charged in, they shifted their positions and closed the gaps, leaving him almost no chance to strike.

Boom!

The ground gave a tremendous crack, and a cloud of dust leapt up as if the earth itself had been slapped awake.

The four guards and the middle-aged man were all thrown off their feet. Treading Through Ten Thousand Rivers had sent them tumbling like leaves in a storm, and for a moment, the four guards felt a sense of fear they could hardly describe.

What level is this person? Is this the level-seven ability of a Wanderlust Cultivator?

All four bodyguards were injured, but they scrambled back to their feet at once and surrounded Li Banfeng again.

This time, however, none of them dared to attack as Li Banfeng had the middle-aged man by the hair.

The man's face was covered in blood, and he had lost two of his front teeth. When he spoke, the words came out thick and slurred. "Young man, don't be rash. I admire your courage, and I admire your character.

"You haven't killed me yet, which means you still want to negotiate. I can give you that chance.

"But this is your last chance. Let me go now, and I can overlook what just happened."

"You have misunderstood. I didn't kill you because I still had something to ask," Li Banfeng said and pointed at the peep-box performer's cart. "Do you really not see those five children?"

The middle-aged man answered, "Why are you so obsessed with this? So what if I can't see them? Does it matter? You injured me, and that alone is enough to bring disaster down on your head. I am giving you a chance out of mercy..."

"If you can't see them, then what use are your eyes?"

With that, Li Banfeng raised his hand and dug out both of the man's eyes.

1. Boxes with hidden items inside. There would be puppets or pictures outside the box, with people having to pay extra to look through the holes and see what's inside. Find out more here. ☜

2. 0.01 in China currency ☜