Chapter 375: Xia
The Cook Monster questioned Feng over and over again, turning the same question this way and that, to find out how they had found out about the previous land deity dying. However, Feng insisted that she had found out because her dwelling spirit did a divination calculation.
Li Banfeng did not believe a word of it. If the dwelling spirit was truly such a marvelous fortune teller, why had she failed to foresee that Li Banfeng would be tearing away her disguise this very night? Still, Feng herself might genuinely have known nothing.
By then, Nectarine had finished the roast chicken. She had also eaten the pigeon hidden inside the chicken, and the quail hidden inside the pigeon. When there was nothing left but bones and grease, she sucked each of her fingers carefully, stood up, and said, "Brother, I know you came here to help me. I will never forget this kindness. From this day forward, whatever bond Feng and I once shared is over. But we have known each other for many years, and I cannot simply forget everything between us. Please show her mercy. Spare her life and let her leave."
It was impossible for the Cook Monster to listen to Nectarine. He was waiting for Meng Yuchun's instructions.
Meng Yuchun looked at Li Banfeng and Li Banfeng raised his brow at her, conveying the message that they should let Feng go first and see if Xia would come looking for her.
Meng Yuchun understood. She used one of her abilities to pass the order to the Cook Monster.
The Cook Monster stood up and said to Feng, "You may go."
Feng struggled into a sitting position. Her stomach was still twisting with waves of pain. She looked up at the Cook Monster and asked, "Are you not going to give me the antidote?"
The Cook Monster smiled and said, "Do you not want to leave?"
Feng immediately looked toward Nectarine, hoping she would plead for her once more.
Nectarine turned her face away and said through clenched teeth, "Scram far away from me!"
"Darling Nectarine."
"Told you to scram far away from me!"
Feng did not dare say another word. She lowered her head and left the plot. Leaving the plot was easy, but getting out of Li Banfeng's domain was another matter entirely.
After walking over one and a half kilometers, Feng felt the pain in her stomach getting worse. She crouched by the roadside and began to retch, but nothing came out. All she could do was endure the pain and force herself onward.
After another one to one and a half kilometers, she passed by a thorn-covered vine. Its barbs tore through her clothes and scraped a strip of flesh from her back.
Although the wound had only pierced the skin, the pain was excruciating. After taking a few more steps, Feng found the path ahead completely overrun with vines, leaving her no way around them.
With the path ahead blocked, Feng decided to circle around to the left. Homebound Cultivators had a poor sense of direction, and she had no idea where that route might lead.
After walking several dozen paces, she found the way to her left overrun with vines as well.
Am I seeing things? Feng rubbed her eyes with the back of her hand, only for a sharp pain to tear through her eyelids as though they had been sliced with a knife.
She lowered her hand and saw that vines had somehow begun sprouting from the back of it. They were not only on her hand. More vines were growing from her arms, shoulders, chest, abdomen, and both legs. They were spreading all over her body.
Overcome with fear, Feng screamed herself hoarse. "Xia! Xia, save me!"
Meng Yuchun and Li Banfeng waited quietly nearby to see whether Xia would come to Feng's rescue.
After more than ten minutes, Feng's voice had nearly given out when a cluster of green light suddenly appeared in the distance.
A woman's figure slowly emerged above the light. She wore a pale blue robe and a small round cap, with a pair of round, black-tinted spectacles over her eyes. In one hand, she carried a cylinder filled with counting rods, while a huge abacus was strapped to her back.
Such an outfit was commonly worn by fortune tellers, but it was rare to see a woman dressed this way.
Meng Yuchun froze for a moment before calling out, "Gao Shuxia?"
Meng Yuchun actually knew her.
Gao Shuxia sighed. "I told Feng to do everything she could to avoid you, but she still failed to escape you."
She looked toward Li Banfeng and asked, "Who is this man beside you?"
Meng Yuchun smiled and slipped her arm through Li Banfeng's. "He is my lover."
Gao Shuxia stared at her for a moment. "Your lover is a man?"
Li Banfeng frowned. What sort of ridiculous question is this? Meng Yuchun is a woman, so of course her lover is a man.
Meng Yuchun nodded. "I felt like trying something different."
TRY SOMETHING DIFFERENT? THIS... Li Banfeng glanced at Meng Yuchun and suddenly realized that the situation might not be quite what he had assumed.
Meng Yuchun and Gao Shuxia were old acquaintances, while Gao Shuxia's relationship with Feng was clearly special. Could Meng Yuchun and Gao Shuxia's relationship be the same in the past? Could it be that they all share the same taste in partners?
Then, Li Banfeng thought of Meng Yuchun's close friends, Goldwing and Redwing...
From the look of it, it felt like Meng Yuchun and Gao Shuxia wanted to catch up on old times. Upon realizing this, Li Banfeng glanced at Meng Yuchun, reminding her to deal with the matter at hand first.
Meng Yuchun asked, "How did you know something had happened to the Mountain-Uprooting Lord? Do not tell me you divined it."
Gao Shuxia fell silent for a moment before replying, "The Mountain-Uprooting Lord hired a large number of roaming aberrations to seize your territory. That happened, did it not?"
"It did!"
"One of those roaming aberrations was an old friend of mine. The Mountain-Uprooting Lord hired her, so she should have joined the attack against you. But when the time came to act, she lost her nerve and did not follow the Mountain-Uprooting Lord into your territory.
"Afterward, she feared that the Mountain-Uprooting Lord would retaliate, so she prepared a generous gift and planned to apologize. Yet after waiting many days, she never saw the Mountain-Uprooting Lord. She suspected that the Mountain-Uprooting Lord was already dead. Using the information she gave me, I performed a divination and confirmed her death. That was why I sent Feng here to investigate.
"To tell the truth, I genuinely wanted this territory. But since you have already taken it, I will stop thinking about it. I cannot abandon Feng. If what we once shared still mean anything to you, then spare her life. But if it means nothing to you now, we can fight right here!"
Meng Yuchun hesitated for a long while. Whether she was reluctant to discard their old friendship or wary of Gao Shuxia's strength, she ultimately chose not to fight her.
"Take her and leave. Do not enter my territory again."
Gao Shuxia summoned a violent gust of wind and vanished into the night with Feng.
Li Banfeng asked Meng Yuchun, "What level is this Gao Shuxia? Has she reached the Cloudborne Layer?"
Meng Yuchun shook her head. "When I knew her, she was still at level nine. We tried to advance to level ten together. I succeeded, but she failed and became a Wounded Demonic Fiend."
Wounded Demonic Fiends were those who had failed the advancement from level nine to level ten. Their souls had suffered more than twenty percent damage, but less than fifty percent.
Their souls were so severely damaged that recovery was nearly impossible, allowing them to linger in the world for a very long time. They were among the most formidable vengeful spirits in Puluo Province.
"Can a Wounded Demonic Fiend become a land deity?"
Meng Yuchun shook her head and said, "Logically speaking, she doesn't have a higher enough standing. However, I have not seen her for many years, so I don't know what changes she has undergone. Judging from the situation just now, she showed no fear of fighting me, so maybe her cultivation is no weaker than mine."
"But her soul was severely damaged and nearly impossible to repair. Could she still continue to level up?"
Meng Yuchun looked at Li Banfeng awkwardly. Her knowledge of such matters was extremely limited.
That was not an urgent concern. He could always ask Wifey about it later. What mattered now was whether Gao Shuxia had been telling the truth. Had she really learned of this place from a roaming aberration?
More importantly, did such a roaming aberration even exist? He would have to verify the story with the Cook Monster first.
Li Banfeng made his way to Nectarine's plot. Nectarine sat motionless on the ground, her eyes vacant, like a clay statue.
Meng Yuchun frowned. "Look at the state she's in. If an aberrant creature came to test her now, it would kill her with a single slap. Someone like that has no business succeeding in activating the land. She's not worthy of it!"
Meng Yuchun was right. In Nectarine's current state, she did not deserve to own this half-a-kilometer plot. However, Li Banfeng wanted the Heavenly Light. He also wanted his first attempt at activating land to succeed. A successful beginning would be a good omen.
He stood outside the boundary line and nodded toward the Film Projector perched in the tree.
The Film Projector adjusted its lens, revealing Li Banfeng's figure. At the sight of him, Nectarine rose to her feet and walked toward him in a daze. "Brother Bai Sha, you are here."
"Yes."
"What do you think of my face? Am I pretty?"
"Yes."
"What about my figure? She always said I had a beautiful figure. She said she could hold me in her arms forever and never tire of it."
Li Banfeng nodded. "Yes. I am sure she never would."
"Brother Bai Sha, do you like me? Do you want me? I will go with you. I will be yours, and you can do whatever you want with me."
Nectarine spoke in a calm voice, like someone who had lost her soul and was murmuring to herself.
She continued walking toward Li Banfeng one step at a time. He raised a hand to stop her. "Do not come any closer. If you cross the boundary line, you will fail the land activation."
"Activate the land? Ha!" Nectarine laughed, and she was laughing like an idiot that had lost all hope. "Why on earth should I still activate this plot? She made a proper fool of me. All this time, I was nothing but an old rag she kept nearby to block the wind and rain. A rag! That was all I ever was to her. Do you understand?"
"I don't know what she thought of you, and it doesn't matter," Li Banfeng said. "I think of you as a friend. I brought this Culinary Cultivator here to help you activate the land, so you should at least repay that kindness."
"Fine. I will repay you right now. You can have all of me."
Nectarine said and started walking toward him.
Li Banfeng shook his head repeatedly. "Do not even think of repaying me with your body. That would demean both you and me. If you no longer want to activate the land, then leave. We will pretend we never met."
With that, he glanced at the Cook Monster, lowered the brim of his hat, and walked away.
The Cook Monster took another dish from the food box. "Have some, miss. Tender pork slices in a light sauce. This is a good appetizer that feels refreshing. Once you have eaten until your stomach is warm and full, there will be no burden on the heart that is impossible to overcome."
Nectarine remained where she was. The Cook Monster set the food box on the ground, placed the dish on top of it, and went after Li Banfeng.
Nectarine looked at Li Banfeng's retreating figure, then at the food box on the ground. A sob escaped her, and two streams of tears slowly ran down to the corners of her mouth.
***
Li Banfeng asked the cook, "How many roaming aberrations did the Mountain-Uprooting Lord hire to go after Meng Yuchun?"
The Cook Monster thought for a moment. "There were Old Vine and me, along with the Theatrical Temptress, Oldie Due-Taker, and a Hundred-Eyed Fish. The rest were all from his own domain."
"What is the origin of this Hundred-Eyed Fish? Some kind of living spirit from the river?"
The Cook Monster shook his head. "She is certainly no river fish. She is a kind of creeping pest, rather like a silverfish, except that clothes are not nearly enough for her. She will eat anything at all. As for where she came from, I could not tell you. I never dared ask how high her cultivation was either. But I once saw her strike. In the blink of an eye, she gobbled up one of Old Vine's arms. After that, none of us dared to provoke her again. I would say her cultivation was well above ours."
According to Gao Shuxia, the Hundred-Eyed Fish must have been the one who leaked the news. But was this really the truth?
Li Banfeng asked the Cook Monster, "Can you find out anything about the Hundred-Eyed Fish?"
The Cook Monster considered it for a moment. "I will give it a try. Ever since I began serving Shopkeeper Meng, I have heard far less news from outside."
Li Banfeng never asked anyone to work for him without compensation. He took out two Profound Crimson Pills and gave them to the Cook Monster.
Even if they found the Hundred-Eyed Fish, it would not solve the problem at its source. Word of the Mountain-Uprooting Lord's death had already spread. They had sent Gao Shuxia away today, but there was no telling who might come to seize the territory tomorrow.
Meng Yuchun could still deal with opponents at the Terranean Layer, but what would happen if an opponent at the Cloudborne Layer came? And what if the Inner Provinces found out about this?
Li Banfeng had been in Puluo Province for only a year and a half, yet he had already reached level seven in both of his cultivation paths. His speed of advancement was enough to make countless people green with envy. But now, he felt that he was advancing far too slowly. Level seven in both paths was not high enough to become an actual land deity. In fact, he would just embarrass himself with this level of cultivation.
He found a secluded place and swallowed a pill. He did not have many Golden Essence Pills left. By his calculations, he would have no problem reaching level eight, but if he wanted to reach level ten, he would need another dozen pills.
He had no idea what was going on with the Crimson Lotus either. Lately, it had produced either Profound Crimson Pills that he did not want to take or Profound Essence Pills that he had no use for.
He needed to find another dozen of these Golden Essence Pills. However, advancing only his Wanderlust Cultivation would not be enough. He would need to find some nourishing supplements for Wifey and raise the level of his Homebound Cultivation.
***
Gao Shuxia carried Feng on her back and flew beyond the borders of Li Banfeng's domain. She entered a mountain cave, where she found a woman dressed in a silver changshan.
The woman took one look at how disheveled Feng appeared and asked, "You failed?"
Gao Shuxia nodded. "Meng Yuchun has taken the land."
"You couldn't defeat her? Or did you simply not want to hurt her?"
"Easy for you to say. Meng Yuchun has reached the Cloudborne Layer. She is hardly an easy opponent."
The woman in white sighed softly and said, "Then we will have to wait. I have some good news about Bei Wushuang though."
Gao Shuxia paused. "You want me to go after Bei Wushuang? He is even harder to deal with than Meng Yuchun."
"I heard that he offended someone he should never have provoked. Before long, there will probably be a fierce battle. Whether we can profit from the fierce battle will depend on our abilities."
"Did you just say our?" Gao Shuxia sneered. "When did you even do any work?"
The woman in white stroked Gao Shuxia's hair with loving tenderness. "Darling Xia, why are you being so petty with me? It is not that I am unwilling to do my part. The time simply has not come for me to act."
Author's Note:
PS: Bei Wushuang had taken parts of the Mountain-Uprooting Lord's territory. This was recorded in the contract. To Li Banfeng, this man is still a hidden threat. Check chapter 317 for details.