The Overlord of Puluo

When He Caiyuan saw Ge Junma's body, he trembled slightly.

The Peddler smiled. "Hurts, doesn't it? Your master is dead. Don't you feel like kowtowing to him? Go ahead. Give him a kowtow, and I will let you pass."

Tears ran from the corners of He Caiyuan's eyes. He was genuinely grieving.

After hesitating for a moment, he did not kowtow. Instead, he let out a long sigh. "Lord Ge showed this old man kindness as great as a mountain. Now that he has left us so suddenly, the pain cuts me to the heart!"

The Peddler sighed. "Such loyalty is rare. If I had known, I would have let you see him one last time. However, it's not too late. That toad can't travel very fast. Set off now, and you should still be able to catch up with him on the road to the yellow springs in the underworld."

He Caiyuan wiped away his tears and shook his head. "The man is gone, and this old man has nothing left to hold onto. From this day forward, I am willing to follow you and serve at your command."

The Peddler burst out laughing. He slowly emerged from the darkness of the night and pushed his cart over to He Caiyuan.

Given his status, strength, and profession, which had taken him all across the land, the Peddler had met so many types of people. Yet people like He Caiyuan could still manage to surprise him.

"Tell me this first... How did this toad get into Puluo Province? Who sent him here? I want to see exactly who broke the rules."

He Caiyuan replied, "This old man does not yet know the details."

The Peddler looked at him. "If you don't know anything, what use do I have for you?"

He Caiyuan quickly changed his answer. "I have heard a few rumors. Some people said Ge Junma accidentally wandered into Ink Fragrance Shop and was trapped there by the land deity, unable to leave."

"Accidentally wandered in?" The Peddler smiled. "So he just happened to leave the Inner Provinces by mistake, then somehow stumbled into Ink Fragrance Shop as well. Is that what you are saying?"

He Caiyuan was not stupid. He knew the story did not sound believable, so he hurried to explain. "It is only a rumor. Please give this old servant three days, Master. I will definitely uncover the truth."

The Peddler broke out in goosebumps.

They had only exchanged a few words, yet He Caiyuan was already calling the Peddler "Master" and referring to himself as this old servant.

"Do you really want to be my servant?" the Peddler asked. He half-sat on his cart and lazily played with the rattle drum in his hand.

He Caiyuan lifted the hem of his robe, dropped to his knees, and kowtowed. "This old servant is willing to entrust his life to the Master!"

The Peddler nodded. "Very well. I will take that life of yours."

Chu Shaoqiang had seen everything clearly from the side. He knew there was no chance that the Peddler would spare He Caiyuan. He just didn't expect He Caiyuan to suddenly whip up the robe pooled on the ground, revealing two enormous words written in blood.

One was "NET" and the other was "KILL," and both words flew straight at the Peddler.

He Caiyuan had secretly written them when he was begging the Peddler for mercy.

Chu Shaoqiang knew that the word "KILL" was going to fight the Peddler. This was easily understood. However, he couldn't figure out what the word "NET" was supposed to do.

If He Caiyuan wanted to trap the Peddler with this net, it would seem like child's play. However, this "NET" was not just a simple word. Each of its letters was made up of hundreds of smaller "nets," nested layer upon layer within one another.

The fact that He Caiyuan had managed to write "NET" right under the Peddler's nose showed just how skilled he was. He had expected the Peddler to destroy "KILL" first and only then deal with "NET." By that point, the hundreds of smaller nets hidden inside the word would spread open at once and buy him a little time. Even a brief delay might give him a chance to escape.

As the Peddler watched the two words fly towards him, he continued sitting on the cart. He gave his rattle drum a light shake from side to side and easily caught both words.

Hundreds of nets sprang open at once, but none of them entangled the Peddler. Instead, they wrapped themselves around the rattle drum.

The Peddler smiled, while He Caiyuan started crying. He Caiyuan knew that the Peddler was strong, but he just never expected the Peddler to be this powerful.

The Peddler casually brushed the layers of silk netting aside, revealing He Caiyuan's blood on the face of the rattle drum.

"Is this your blood?" the Peddler asked.

The moment the Peddler asked that, He Caiyuan turned and ran.

The Peddler gripped the face of the rattle drum with his left hand and the handle with his right. With a light twist of both hands, He Caiyuan's entire body twisted like a fried dough twist before collapsing to the ground and becoming motionless.

Sweat kept running down Chu Shaoqiang's face.

The Peddler looked at him and said, "Your turn."

Chu Shaoqiang trembled as he spoke. "I don't know why Ge Junma came to Ink Fragrance Shop. I only received word from the Inner Provinces that he was trapped here. They said that as long as we rescued him, they would stop pursuing the matter with Qiu Luoye."

"That's really all you know?"

Chu Shaoqiang nodded repeatedly. "I wouldn't dare lie to you. Everything I have said is true. If you can spare my life, I will be deeply grateful. If you must kill me, then please make it quick."

The Peddler walked over to Chu Shaoqiang, took out a piece of coarse cloth, gave it a shake, and wiped the sweat from his face. "Look how frightened you are. I can't even wipe all this sweat off. Here, I will give you a bar of soap. Take it and wash yourself."

The Peddler stretched his hand out and a bar of soap flew over from the cart and fell right into his hand. He gave it a sniff and commented, "Rose-scented. Have a taste."

With that, he stuffed the bar of soap into Chu Shaoqiang's mouth. Chu Shaoqiang had no chance to resist, and the bar of soap forced its way straight down his throat.

The strong scent of roses mixed with foam and rose back up his esophagus. Chu Shaoqiang did not dare struggle. He did not even dare spit out the foam and simply stood there obediently.

After swallowing the soap, Chu Shaoqiang knew his life had been spared, but he also knew that unless the Peddler allowed it, that bar of soap would never come out again. From now on, he would have many things to do, and exactly what those things were would depend on the Peddler's orders.

"Go on. Go wash your face," the Peddler said. He waved him away, and Chu Shaoqiang took off running.

The Peddler walked into the forest and found Li Banfeng wrapping his wounds with adhesive tape.

"That foreign stuff isn't much use. All it can do is stop the bleeding. I have got some snow cream here. Let me put some on for you. Your wounds will heal faster, and you won't find any scars when they are healed."

Li Banfeng snorted. "So when exactly did you get here? Don't tell me you've been standing around this whole time watching me get beaten half to death."

The Peddler put on a serious expression. "Of course not! I just got here!"

"How recently is 'just'?"

"How many times did you hear the drum?"

Li Banfeng thought for a moment. "Dong-dong-dong-dong. Four beats."

"WRONG!" the Peddler said with a shook of his head. "It was Dong! Then dong-dong-dong-dong. Five altogether. That first beat was when I knocked the toad down. After that, I came straight over to save you."

"One beat was all it took to take him down?" Li Banfeng clearly did not believe him. "And besides, I have been guarding the entrance this whole time. How did you even get inside?"

"You mean the lake? There's more than one way in. We still don't know which entrance Ge Junma used. That scholar did pretty well to hold out against him for so long."

That scholar? Li Banfeng thought and asked, "You mean the land deity of Ink Fragrance Shop?"

Li Banfeng then recalled something he had been wanting to ask, so he continued, "How did he end up like that? He couldn't even tell friend from foe. He attacked anyone he saw."

"Don't ask me." The Peddler gave a bitter smile. "I sold him a brush, and somehow it ended up being used like this. It pains me to see it too."

"You sold a brush?" Li Banfeng picked up his Judge's Brush. "Someone gave me this. I didn't buy it from you."

The Peddler shook his head. "I am not talking about you. I am talking about your Judge's Brush."

"You sold my Judge's Brush... another brush?" Li Banfeng asked. Even saying it made Li Banfeng's tongue twist. He frowned and asked again, "Can you explain that a little more clearly?"

"You still don't get it?" The Peddler laughed. "Then ask your Judge's Brush. It should take him three sentences to guess why someone has come and five to see straight through their heart. Why don't you see if he can figure out what I mean?"

Isn't that how people described Murong Gui? Since when does this become a description of our Judge's Brush? Li Banfeng thought.

The Judge's Brush answered the Peddler from beside him. "Figure out my ass."

"Vulgar!" The Peddler had heard him. "You have spent too much time with a vulgar man that you, the Wisdom-Bound Scholar, have even picked up some bad habits!"

Li Banfeng picked up the Judge's Brush. "He's the Wisdom-Bound Scholar?"

The Peddler nodded and said, "Yes. He is the foremost scholar of Ink Fragrance Shop, the one born with a natural affinity for the written word. Murong Gui was originally a poor scholar. When he was young, he relied on his learning to slowly build up a fortune of his own. Back when his cultivation was still at the Terranean Layer, he had already gained considerable prestige in Ink Fragrance Shop and founded a large gang called the Ink Scholars Gang.

"At the time, the land deity of Ink Fragrance Shop was known as the Ink Scholar of Eightfold Talent. Although Murong Gui used the title of the land deity for the name of the gang, the land deity did not get mad about it. In fact, the land deity thought highly of Murong Gui and took him in as a disciple.

"Later, the Ink Scholar of Eightfold Talent used a special method to let Murong Gui bypass the Inner Provinces and advance directly to the Cloudborne Layer. He then handed the territory of Ink Fragrance Shop over to the Wisdom-Bound Scholar before disappearing without a trace. From that point on, Murong Gui became the land deity of Ink Fragrance Shop."

Li Banfeng looked at the Judge's Brush. "Why didn't you tell me about this sooner?"

The Judge's Brush thought for a long moment before answering, "Too long."

Li Banfeng asked the Peddler, "Why did Murong Gui end up becoming the Judge's Brush?"

The Peddler sighed. "There's a long story behind that. Who knows how long it would take to explain everything? Everyone knew Murong Gui was good at reading people. If he guessed right, they took it for granted. If he guessed wrong, it was then suddenly an unforgivable mistake. However, no matter how skilled someone is, no one is capable of reading people correctly every single time. And even if you do read them correctly, who can always handle everything perfectly?

"When you are the head of a family, you get blamed for everything that goes wrong in the family. When you are the head of a gang, you get blamed for everything that goes wrong in the gang. Then Murong Gui became the ruler of an entire territory, so naturally, everything that happened here became his fault as well.

"And Ink Fragrance Shop is full of scholars. You know what scholars are like. They never say anything plainly, so trying to figure out what they really mean is hard enough. If you give them the slightest grievance, they will attack you with both tongue and pen until there's no end to it.

"On top of that, Ink Fragrance Shop is a special place. Those who can't read have to be made to want to learn. Those who can read have to keep studying. Those who are already learning have to study even harder. Just maintaining the rules of the territory was exhausting. Considering how Murong Gui also had to constantly try to read everyone's thoughts, he simply couldn't take it anymore in the end."

At this point, the Judge's Brush shouted, "That old bastard ran away!"

Which old bastard? Li Banfeng thought.

The Peddler said, "He's talking about the Ink Scholar of Eightfold Talent. The day the Ink Scholar of Eightfold Talent left Ink Fragrance Shop, he was especially happy. After spending a few years as the land deity, Murong Gui changed. He changed completely."

Li Banfeng asked, "What did he become like?"

The Peddler picked up the Judge's Brush and wrote the word "Wisdom" beneath the willow tree, revealing the house of the land deity before them. The Peddler then led Li Banfeng across the frozen lake and into a pavilion hidden in the bamboo.

The "land deity" of Ink Fragrance Shop was still inside. The Peddler had already killed the toad in the lake, so there was no longer any need for him to keep exerting his power over the frozen surface. Even so, he remained at his desk, writing furiously. This time, he was not writing "kill" or "battle." He was repeatedly writing the three rules of Ink Fragrance Shop:

"The blind ought to be ashamed."

"Scholars ought to strive."

"Everyone ought to study literature."

The Peddler pointed at the wall. "Murong Gui left those words behind years ago."

Li Banfeng looked up and saw four enormous words written in bold, powerful strokes:

"I AM DONE GUESSING!"

The Peddler raised his brows. "He stopped trying to read people. He stopped caring about anything. There's a saying in the Outer Provinces for that: 'let it rot.' You know what that means?"

Li Banfeng nodded. "Yeah, I know."

The Peddler continued, "After he decided to let it all rot away, all sorts of problems started cropping up around the Ink Fragrance Shop. So I sold him a brush with spirit essence, hoping it could help him maintain order across the territory. I wanted the brush to share some of his burden. Who would have thought that shameless bastard Murong Gui would secretly become a Lazy Cultivator? He used one of the Lazy Cultivator abilities to transfer his Literary Cultivator cultivation into the brush. He then turned himself into the brush and turned the brush into the land deity. Then he passed himself off as an enchanted artifact, drifted out among ordinary people, and escaped.

"That poor brush of mine has spent all these years faithfully protecting the territory. Its spirit essence is still there, but almost all of its intelligence has been worn away. Now it can't even tell friend from foe and attacks anyone it sees. Luckily, it still recognizes me, so it didn't attack me."

As the Peddler spoke, he gave this "land deity" a few sympathetic pats.

The "land deity" raised its head and stared at him for a long moment. Then it opened its mouth and bit down hard on the Peddler's hand.

"Let go! Hurry up and let go!" The Peddler shouted as he kicked and struggled until he finally managed to yank his hand free.

The bite had been vicious, and the pain made him tremble all over.

Li Banfeng looked at the Judge's Brush. "How did you transfer your cultivation into a brush?"

"Hmph!" the Judge's Brush rolled over and went to sleep.

Author's Note:

PS: It is very important that the order be maintained at Ink Fragrance Shop.