The Overlord of Puluo

Li Banfeng's lapel was caught on the Judge's Brush as he flapped his arms and sailed through the air, looking immensely pleased with himself.

He firmly believed that he was a land deity, and naturally, a land deity could fly.

The Judge's Brush wanted to curse him, but could not be bothered to speak. Carrying him through the air was tiring enough already.

Hidden by the Film Projector's illusion, Li Banfeng flew silently to the offering table.

He picked up a bottle of peach blossom wine and gulped it down.

Nectarine could not see Li Banfeng, but she saw the wine disappearing and was overjoyed.

Next, they had to splatter blood on the land.

Nectarine said to Feng, "This is the land that you will use to keep yourself safe. You will be the one to splatter blood."

Feng nodded. She raised a knife to cut her palm, but before the blade touched her skin, a crushing presence descended upon them, forcing both women to bow their heads.

"HUUYAAAAAAA~" Li Banfeng let out a fierce roar, making them tremble from head to toe.

Nectarine lowered her voice. "It seems the land deity does not want you to spill your blood."

Feng stared at her in disbelief. "That can happen?"

"I'll scatter the blood instead. We are always together anyway," Nectarine said. With that, she cut her palm and scattered her blood on the land.

When that happened, Li Banfeng felt this wave of palpitations. This time, however, he didn't feel afraid. It only made him more excited and more certain that he really was the master of this land.

The trial of worthiness would start in a day.

Li Banfeng planned to gather every living creature in his territory, then choose a few suitable aberrant creatures to test Nectarine and Feng.

This was an important moment for him. If Nectarine passed the trial, the first Heavenly Light would descend upon his territory.

He picked up an earthworm from the ground and addressed it solemnly. "This is a serious matter. Do you understand? Someone is about to activate a plot in our land! Do you understand? A wonderful future awaits us. Do you understand?"

The earthworm writhed desperately in his hand.

The Judge's Brush gave a snort and said, "Pay up."

Li Banfeng stared at the earthworm and suddenly felt really lazy to talk to it.

Upon feeling that sense of laziness, the Folly Cultivation ability stopped working, and his mind cleared considerably.

He could not personally approach the aberrant creatures and choose which ones would test the land activators. Doing so would expose his identity. He would have to ask Meng Yuchun to handle it instead.

Li Banfeng went to find Meng Yuchun, but she looked troubled. "I am not very familiar with your territory, so I am afraid the aberrant creatures in your land might not listen to me..."

Li Banfeng yawned. "Trying to back out now? We signed a contract, remember? I saved your life, remember? People who repay kindness with betrayal tend to meet a nasty end. You know that, don't you?"

Meng Yuchun flushed bright red. "Fine. I will go..."

Once they reached Li Banfeng's territory, Meng Yuchun summoned her two closest sisters, Redwing and Goldwing, and asked them to spread the word that someone was preparing to activate a plot of land, and any aberrant creature interested in taking part in the trial could register its name with her and collect a reward once the matter was settled.

Li Banfeng rubbed his eyes and fought back a yawn. "What about Tinywing?"

Back then, the Theatrical Temptress had seduced Tinywing into revealing some of Meng Yuchun's secrets. While Tinywing was sealed inside her cocoon, transforming into a butterfly, the Theatrical Temptress had pretended to be Tinywing and used the disguise to figure out where Meng Yuchun lived.

Meng Yuchun sighed. "She was young and foolish, and she had only just transformed into a butterfly. We were sisters, after all, so I made sure her body remained intact."

Li Banfeng stared at Meng Yuchun. "You...hung her in your house?"

"No. I hung her at the mouth of the cave. The wind is stronger there, so it stays drier."

Li Banfeng sighed. He wanted to say something, but felt too lazy to say anything.

Homebound Cultivators had few friends, and they would treat those friends with absolute sincerity. However, one should never simply take this sincerity for granted. A person might only experience the fury of a Homebound Cultivator once in their lifetime.

Before long, Goldwing and Redwing returned, both looking rather embarrassed. The aberrant creatures here had shown them little respect.

They had managed to spread the word. If they were at Meng Yuchun's territory, things would have been very different. Whether the aberrant creatures intended to take part or not, they would still have given the two butterflies a proper answer. After all, Goldwing and Redwing were friends of the land deity, so these aberrant creatures would obviously show some respect and courtesy.

However, the aberrant creatures in Li Banfeng's territory did not really pay them any attention. The majority did not know who they were. Even among those who recognized them, few paid any attention to Meng Yuchun's request.

Some had no idea what had happened and still believed the Mountain-Uprooting Lord was the land deity here. Others knew she was gone, but assumed the territory had become masterless. They certainly did not regard Meng Yuchun as their land deity.

Li Banfeng yawned again, seemingly unconcerned. "Don't worry. With nothing to lose and cultivation to gain, someone will always come and try their luck."

For aberrant creatures, testing land activators was usually a risk-free opportunity. If they could win, they fought. If they could not, they simply left.

If they won, they would gain cultivation. If they lost, there were no actual consequences. As long as they did not act recklessly, they were unlikely to be injured, much less killed. Encounters with unusual opponents like Ma Wu and Little Gen were rare.

Therefore, Li Banfeng was not worried that there wouldn't be any aberrant creatures. He was really worried about something else.

That evening, Nectarine went to bed early in the tent so she would be rested for the land activation the next day.

Sometime after midnight, she stirred in a daze and heard Feng whispering, "There is one here. I am not lying. There really is one here..."

Nectarine opened her eyes. "One what?"

Feng trembled as she pointed toward a corner of the tent. "There really is a snake in here. Has it come to test us?"

Nectarine's heart jumped. She looked toward the corner and saw that there really was a snake inside the tent. It was as thick as two fingers and over half a meter long, with a blood-red body wrapped by a single black stripe.

It was a Black-Fin Snake, a highly venomous species found only in New Land.

Why was it called a Black-Fin Snake when most of its body was red? This was because the red body was merely a puppet that the snake controlled. This snake's actual form was really the black stripe that coiled around the middle part. If anyone unaware of this attacked the red part, they would discover that their attack was useless. By then, the snake might have already fought back.

Nectarine knew a thing or two about such creatures, so she kept her eyes fixed on the black stripe.

She activated a Hedonism Cultivator ability, causing blood to rush to the Black-Fin Snake's head. Sensing the danger, it quickly slithered out of the tent.

Nectarine heaved a long sigh of relief, then turned to Feng. "Next time you see a snake, tell me sooner. You have cultivation of your own, so why were you too scared to even call out?"

Feng lowered her head. Her eyes reddened as she replied in a hurt voice, "I am useless. All I ever do is hold you back."

Nectarine sighed and pulled Feng into her arms. "Why are you crying? Can't I scold you a little? This is all my fault for spoiling you. Now go back to sleep. We have plenty of hard fights ahead of us over the next three days."

At noon the next day, the first aberrant creature arrived at the boundary to help test the land activator. It was a bamboo stalk, complete with leaves and branches, which hopped across the boundary and into the plot.

Li Banfeng had encountered this kind of aberrant creature when he was activating his plot of land. He didn't think much of such a creature. The Bamboo was hollow, which meant that it had an opening for Ma Wu to handle with ease.

Nectarine, however, was at a disadvantage against it. After more than an hour of fighting, neither side had managed to gain the upper hand.

Meng Yuchun carried Li Banfeng into the air. She kept them both invisible as they watched the fight in silence.

Nectarine's cultivation had not improved and remained at level one. The bamboo was roughly as strong as she was.

To Meng Yuchun, watching two novices clumsily trade blows should have been thoroughly boring. However, the longer she watched, the more she felt that something was off.

"Is that girl a Homebound Cultivator?" Meng Yuchun pointed at Feng.

Li Banfeng felt too lazy to answer and merely nodded.

Meng Yuchun frowned. "She must have reached at least some level of cultivation. Perhaps she has been away from home for too long, and her combat strength has become much weaker."

The explanation made sense, but as the fight continued, Meng Yuchun only grew more puzzled as Feng was no help at all. Instead, she kept getting in the way, and Nectarine was forced into a difficult fight several times while trying to save her.

Even if the girl could not fight, did she not at least know how to dodge?

After three full hours, Nectarine finally drove the bamboo away. She collapsed onto the ground, gasping for breath and unable to stand.

Meng Yuchun shook her head with a sigh. "How dare they activate a plot of land when this is all that they are capable of? I doubt they will even last until tomorrow."

Li Banfeng asked, "Can a land deity interfere with land activation"

Meng Yuchun paused. "You want to help them? It is possible. You can either take a forceful approach or a gentler one. The forceful approach would be to intervene in secret and drive away any aberrant creatures that come to test them. However, you must make sure no one discovers what you have done. Otherwise, the next time someone tries to activate land here, no aberrant creature would be willing to help test the land activators.

"The gentler approach would be to offer the aberrant creatures some compensation in exchange for putting on a fake fight and then withdrawing. The difficulty lies in deciding how much to offer. What aberrant creatures value most is cultivation. Give them too much, and it would be unfair to those who genuinely put in the effort. Give them too little, and they will not be willing to concede so easily. After all, their reputations would be at stake as well."

Li Banfeng nodded. Meng Yuchun had improved considerably.

With Li Banfeng's help, many people had come to activate land in Meng Yuchun's territory. Because of that, she had gained a lot of experiences and a lot of information from those more experienced aberrant creatures in her territory.

Li Banfeng asked, "What if I don't attack the aberrant creatures?"

Meng Yuchun blinked. "Then who are you planning to attack? Those two girls?"

Li Banfeng did not answer. Instead, he asked another question. "Do you know how to do divination calculation?"

Meng Yuchun shook her head. "No."

"Have you ever met a Homebound Cultivator who could?"

"I have. I know a dwelling spirit who was particularly skilled in divination. She gave the ability to her Homebound Cultivator, but how accurately the cultivator can tell fortunes depends on their cultivation level."

Li Banfeng pointed at Feng. "What level do you think her cultivation has reached?"

"Judging by how clumsy she is, she's level one at most."

"Could a level-one Homebound Cultivator use a divination ability to avoid danger at every turn, escape a powerful enemy, and flee more than a hundred kilometers?"

Meng Yuchun was stunned as she said, "That's too hard."

Then, she asked, "Why are you asking me? Isn't Seeking Fortune and Avoiding Calamity an ability used by Wanderlust Cultivators?"

Li Banfeng shook his head. "It would be extremely difficult. I doubt even I could have escaped that far using Seeking Fortune and Avoiding Calamity alone. The one hunting Feng is her own dwelling spirit, who must be far more skilled at divination than she is. It should have been able to predict which way they would flee. Neither Homebound Cultivators nor Hedonism Cultivators are particularly skilled at escaping. So how did the two of them make it all the way here?"

Meng Yuchun stared at him in surprise. "You think the two of them are hiding something?"

"Not both of them. Just one. I trust Nectarine." Li Banfeng continued, "That is why I asked whether a land deity could attack someone activating land in their territory."

Meng Yuchun shook her head. "You cannot do that. A land deity is bound by a contract with the land activators. Attacking them would mean breaking it."

"What happens if I break the contract?"

"I don't know what exactly are the consequences of breaking a contract, but you better not do that. Plus, if word gets out, no one will ever come to activate land in your territory again."

Li Banfeng frowned slightly. "That makes things difficult. Could I have an obedient aberrant creature attack her instead?"

"That would work, but the aberrant creature cannot be too powerful. They only asked for a plot extending half a kilometer in every direction, so the creatures sent to test them should normally be at the first or second level.

"If a land deity really hates one of the land activators, they might send a level-three aberrant creature. Some aberrant creatures that have only just reached level four might be able to try."

"I doubt a level-three or level-four aberrant creature would be good enough."

Meng Yuchun shook her head repeatedly. "Sending anything stronger into the plot would violate the contract."

Li Banfeng kept his eyes fixed on Feng.

Seeing the grave look on Li Banfeng's face, Meng Yuchun realized that the situation was no ordinary one. "If that woman can really hide her cultivation so well, then we will need someone dangerous enough to deal with her. I have two roaming aberrations under contract. They cannot run wild in my territory, but once they enter another territory, they are no longer restricted by the rules of the land activation."

Li Banfeng smiled. "I think I know those two."

Author's Note:

PS: During the fight against the Mountain-Uprooting Lord, Li Banfeng helped Meng Yuchun subdue two roaming aberrations. See Chapter 318 for details.