The Overlord of Puluo

Bao Yingchen, the Big Boss of the Three Heroes Sect, personally led over fifty people and crept toward Freewind Wharf quietly.

Yang Xingbo, the Third Boss of the Three Heroes Sect, asked, "Big Bro, this is small stuff. You could have let me handle it. Why drag yourself out here?"

Bao Yingchen shook his head. "Third Bro, what's happening tonight is very important. I might not have to join the fight, but I must be here. I must let all our brothers know that this is serious business."

"Big Bro, is Li Qi really at Freewind Wharf?"

"He must be there. I planted a hook on Qin Tianjiu's subordinate. That subordinate didn't realize it and went off to Freewind Wharf to deliver a message to Li Qi to arrange a meetup between them in a teahouse. Li Qi's been tucked up at Freewind Wharf this whole time. Second Bro thought he could use Qin Tianjiu to connect with Li Qi and wreck havoc in our sect. I knew all about it.

"I will deal with Li Qi first and go back and do a little housekeeping. As for you, Third Bro, you have been working your ass off for our sect so I think the second seat should be yours."

Yang Xingbo bowed so quickly his chin nearly smacked his knees. "Everything I am, Big Bro, is thanks to you."

Bao Yingchen chuckled. "Third Bro, I am old. There are things I can't be bothered with anymore. I will have to rely on you to be a busy bee for the many things in the sect. But first... let's get the task tonight done. This Li Qi... This slippery, ghost-like, here-one-moment-gone-the-next Li Qi is a very tough target. Tonight, Freewind Wharf must be wiped clean off the map and not a single person inside it gets to see the sun come up. Not one. You understand?

"Big Bro, rest assured. You have told me several times already."

When the men arrived at the front of Freewind Wharf, where they found two doormen standing about and looking in their direction with this dazed expression.

Now, under normal circumstances, Yang Xingbo's habit was to snatch such fellows up, give them a good rattling, and squeeze out of them precisely where Li Banfeng could be found.

However, with the Big Boss here, Yang Xingbo didn't dare to make any decisions. And so, he first inquired, "Big Bro, kill? Or should I take them here and do a little questioning?"

Bao Yingchen shook his head. "No need for a chat. They probably can't tell you anything useful anyway. Dispose of them. Quickly. And for goodness' sake, keep it on the down low."

Yang Xingbo flicked his hand. Two men quickly went forward and in one clean motion each, they silenced the two doormen forever.

The two doormen had barely hit the ground when the doors burst open and out poured a whole group of people.

There were singing girls and dancing girls dressed in qipao. There were waiters, musicians with bowties dangling, cleaners in rumpled smocks and odd-job men in shirtsleeves. There were also support hooks with weapons.

Bao Yingchen frowned and turned to Yang Xingbo, "I told you not to make any noise. Can't you just be more careful?"

Yang Xingbo was a little puzzled as none of his men made any noise. Not a sound was made when the killing was done. However, since the Big Boss was not happy, he couldn't say much. He could just summon the others and ordered, "Don't let anyone live! Kill them all!"

Of the over fifty people, none of them had cultivation lower than level four. For these ruthless people to kill, it was as easy as stepping on ants.

A level-five Fire Cultivator sent a ball of flames and instantly turned an odd-job guy into ashes. A level-four Threadbound Cultivator shot a cloud of silver needles. The needles flew out and the thread went looping and swooping. He then seized the thread and gave it a yank, causing a waiter to break into a spray of bits.

A level-five Gourmandism Cultivator opened his mouth to a most unreasonable size and bit off a quarter of a dancing girl's head before gobbling it up. This was his signature killing move. He especially enjoyed watching people losing parts of their head and crying in pain and terror in front of him.

However, this dancing girl did not cry at all. Whatever expression on her remaining part of the face didn't look afraid too. In fact, the parts of her head tasted a little sweet. It totally confused this Gourmandism Cultivator. While he froze in puzzlement, the dancing girl lifted her saber and stabbed at him.

The Gourmandism Cultivator dodged with ease. He was just about to check exactly what sort of dancing girl this was, when a sickle slid around his throat from behind and opened it up like a letter.

There was a level-six Martial Cultivator, whose nickname was Fierce Tigerghost, and he was a favorite subordinate of the Third Boss Yang Xingbo. His job was to find Li Qi in the crowd and prevent Li Qi from escaping amidst the chaos.

A support hook came charging at Fierce Tigerghost and Fierce Tigerghost flicked out with his dagger and slashed the support hook across the neck. Immediately, the support hook's head was cut off.

Fierce Tigerghost did this because he thought there was no need to diddle dawdle with such troublesome figures. But to his surprise, the support hook, who had been slashed and lost a head, still struck and cut his clothes.

This headless support hook was not quick and his aim was really bad, so Fierce Tigerghost did not get hurt. Regardless, Fierce Tigerhead thought it was odd and he wondered, How is a headless man even fighting back? What is this Daoist path?

Fierce Tigerghost couldn't figure it out. While he was still puzzled over this headless absurdity, something cut him hard across the back. It failed to wound him.

Fierce Tigerghost looked back and saw that it was a chef with a kitchen knife. The chef was ready to slash at him again.

A level-four Literary Cultivator stood next to the chef. With this panicked expression, he said, "I just activated Binding Edict, but this dude didn't even react..."

Fierce Tigerghost frowned and said, "Is this dude even a person?"

"Person? Of course they are people," said a man dressed in a black suit with a black fedora pulled low over his eyes. He had appeared out of nowhere.

This man was telling the truth. These were people. Even if they were cabbages, they represented people.

Zhang Wanlong had given Li Banfeng a generous supply of seeds along with a considerable stash of potions. If the potion was mixed with the blood of the people at Freewind Wharf, he could then grow a huge amount of cabbage people within a short time.

However, there was a difference between Zhang Wanlong's cabbage people and Li Banfeng's. Zhang Wanlong's cabbages came out all the same, identically dressed in those pale greenish-white smocks. Li Banfeng's cabbages sprouted in cheongsams, in flowing changshans, in tailcoats, in bowties, and in all kinds of clothing. This made them look more real.

Most importantly, these cabbage people could fight with the cultivators. There was no way they could win, but they could at least survive a few blows. This was something that Zhang Wanlong's cabbage people couldn't do.

This was the work of Li Banfeng's ability, the Golden House of Hidden Beauty. Li Banfeng was not good at making art nor was he good at making sculptures. And so, the ability, the Golden House of Hidden Beauty, became his weakest one.

However, with Zhang Wanlong's seed, things became different. By dropping a single bead of blood onto a freshly grown cabbage person, Li Banfeng could shape it, dress it up, and greatly boost its combat strength by a very considerable margin.

Fierce Tigerghost fixed his gaze on the man in the black suit and readied himself to strike. Then the man in the black suit shot backward. His figure blurred and shrank into the distance.

Fierce Tigerghost was an experience one. He could tell from the speed that his opponent was a high-level Wanderlust Cultivator. He snapped his eyes onto the man's receding silhouette, determined not to lose sight of him.

The level-four Literary Cultivator, however, did not react fast enough. In the blink of an eye, he burst into pieces.

While Fierce Tigerghost stood there with his jaw hanging slightly ajar in astonishment, he caught a glimpse of the man in the black suit slipping into the thick of the brawling crowd.

The man's face was utterly unremarkable. His build was utterly unremarkable. His black suit blended into the darkness of the night, making him nearly impossible to pick out in the crowd.

Oh no! Where did he go?

Fierce Tigerghost didn't linger. He knew the principles of the Passing Flowers on Horseback ability. He needed either to find that man in the black suit immediately and keep his eyes glued to him, or to get himself out of the man's line of sight as soon as possible.

He searched the crowd for a while, but the man in black suit had vanished.

Is he Li Qi? I must tell Big Boss now! Fierce Tigerghost thought. He was about to report to Bao Yingchen when the Tang Saber appeared and tried to chop his head off.

The Tang Saber had prepared extensively for this stealthy strike and held every advantage. Unfortunately, the opponent was a level-six Martial Cultivator. The moment the blade came down, Fierce Tigerghost blocked it with his dagger.

Under normal circumstances, Tang saber would have been able to slice through a dozen daggers like that in a single stroke. But in the hands of a high-level Martial Cultivator, an ordinary blade became a legendary weapon.

The Tang Saber was an enchanted artifact. In fact, the Gramophone had said that it was a very special and unique kind of enchanted artifact. It had spent his days inside the Pocket Dwelling, following its boss around and feasting on good flesh, so its cultivation had really soared. And now here it was, stopped cold by a common dagger.

The Tang Saber felt a hot flush of embarrassment creep up its blade. It pulled back and struck again at once.

Fierce Tigerghost flicked his dagger and blocked again.

"Noob! Don't force it!" the Sickle scolded. Then it slipped under Fierce Tigerghost's right elbow and made a nasty little jab at his ribs.

This was the sort of angle that was nearly impossible to block and even harder to dodge. Still, Fierce Tigerghost managed to block it. He switched the dagger to his left hand, reached across his body, and stopped the Sickle dead against his right ribs.

Every move of an unreasonable Martial Cultivator in a close-range combat was simply flawless.

Fierce Tigerghost handled the blades with such composure, but he was really feeling very nervous. He still hadn't found the man in the black suit. He knew that these two weapons should be his enchanted artifact and that he should be nearby.

Fierce Tigerghost continued dealing with the Tang Saber and the Sickle by instinct while he searched for the man in the black suit.

The Tang Saber lunged straight for his chest. Fierce Tigerghost saw it coming and raised his dagger to block. But then, he felt something cold striking against his chest.

The Tang Saber had successfully stabbed him!

Fierce Tigerghost was shocked. He had clearly predicted the Tang Saber's attack path. How did he not block it? Was he too slow?

He looked at his hands and realized that speed was not the problem. The dagger in his hand was gone.

The dagger had been there when he started the swing. But somewhere between the beginning of the motion and the end, the dagger vanished. It was an utterly useless move.

The Tang Saber, meanwhile, twisted and churned inside his chest. Then it ripped sideways, bursting out through his ribs with a sickening crack and tearing open half his torso.

Fierce Tigerghost staggered backward. He wanted to escape, but Li Banfeng appeared behind him and hacked his head off with the sickle.

"With every slash, a head is taken! Tang Saber announced with a cold little laugh. Then it shrank itself down into a small saber and slipped into Li Banfeng's pocket.

The Sickle spat in the Tang Saber's general direction and stayed where it was, ready to keep fighting at Li Banfeng's side.

Li Banfeng reached into his pocket and gave the white gloves a gentle pat as he muttered, "A fine reward for you."

Over a hundred cabbage people and over fifty cultivators were tangled together in a thrashing, stabbing, shrieking knot of chaos. Li Banfeng was like fish in muddy waters. In the blink of an eye, he had already killed a dozen men.

The presence of a level-seven Homebound Cultivator was almost non-existent. It was too hard to notice such a figure.

It was only then that Yang Xingbo realized that something was wrong. Immediately, he called out, "Big Bro! There is a fierce one in these fakes!"

Bao Yingchen's expression remained perfectly calm. "You just noticed? That man is a Wanderlust Cultivator. He has already killed over a dozen of our brothers. Even your subordinate Fierce Tigerghost has been cut down."

Yang Xingbo started panicking. "That son of a bitch! Where is he?"

"He hid himself very well, but I see him now!"

The moment Bao Yingchen said this, he disappeared.

Li Banfeng, who was hiding in the crowd, suddenly sensed that danger was approaching and quickly moved away. He had just moved two steps away when Bao Yingchen appeared right where he had been standing.

Bao Yingchen smiled at Li Banfeng. "You are Li Qi?"

Li Banfeng did not answer. It was not like Bao Yingchen needed an answer anyway.

Li Banfeng's form blurred. He shot backward, desperately trying to create distance. However, Bao Yingchen still appeared right in front of him, barely five steps away.

Bao Yingchen just activated Traceless Quick Steps and he was even faster than Li Banfeng. This old man was a Wanderlust Cultivator and his cultivation level was even higher than Li Banfeng's!

Suddenly, he stamped his foot down hard right in front of Li Banfeng.

The ground didn't just crack. It cratered. A shockwave burst outward as well as a great belching fury of shattered stone and angry air barreled toward Li Banfeng.

Li Banfeng forcefully dodged, but the edge of the blast still shredded his clothes into pieces and opened up many wounds on his body. Blood trickled from his sleeves and dripped from the hem of his ruined jacket.

Still, he had dodged the worst of it. His vitals were intact. He steadied himself and was going to fight back when he heard a loud noise.

Bao Yingchen had activated Traceless Quick Steps again. He appeared behind Li Banfeng and immediately unleashed the ability Treading Through Ten Thousand Rivers.

How can anyone activate two abilities in such quick succession? I don't think I can dodge this time!

Author's Note:

PS: Bao Yingchen has been cultivating for fifty years, while Li Banfeng has been at it for a year and a half. This is the difference between fifty years and a year and a half. The gap in their mastery of their abilities is simply too great.