Chapter 161: Roast Cake Village

After passing through several villages consecutively, Li Banfeng still hadn’t used the medicine. Elder Yao’s medicine was meant for saving people. These villages were either deserted or inhabited only by groups who survived by consuming human flesh.

Deserted villages didn’t need saving. As for those who ate human flesh, if they only scavenged corpses, Li Banfeng might spare their lives. But if they hunted innocent people, he would “save” them in a different way. He would sever their limbs, send them into his portable dwelling, and let his wife redeem their souls. Whether the remaining parts had any edible value depended on Honglian’s mood.

Honglian generally had little interest in corpses without cultivation. Although Haichi Ling was known as a gathering place for Flesh Cultivators, there weren’t as many cultivators as one might imagine. However, this place was indeed peculiar. Every two hours, Li Banfeng had to return to his portable dwelling to eat something. He didn’t know what force governed this land, but people easily became hungry here.

This was Sandao Ling, the most isolated and bug-infested area of Haichi Ling. It was virtually forgotten by everyone. For the first time in his life, Li Banfeng witnessed what it meant for nine out of ten houses to be empty, and for starvation victims to lie everywhere. This was entirely different from the famines depicted in films and television; it was a suffocating sense of oppression and terror.

“Good thing I’m mentally ill, otherwise you would have scared me sick,” Li Banfeng said, patting a man’s head. He then seriously asked, “Weren’t you afraid when you were boiling your wife?”

The man had tied up his wife, preparing to boil her alive, when Li Banfeng happened to see him. Li Banfeng freed the wife and then began to seriously lecture the man.

The man cried, “I had no choice, I was so hungry…”

“Boiling her alive? How could you bring yourself to do that? At least stab her first! I’d let you die quickly!”

Li Banfeng threw the man into his portable dwelling. He continued searching the village but found nothing by nightfall. He returned to his room and ate six cans. At this rate, Li Banfeng’s own food reserves might not be enough.

His wife was very full today. Seeing Li Banfeng return with the wine gourd, she greeted it warmly: “Oh, little sister, we all ate our fill today. Are you hungry? I saved two fresh souls for you.”

The wine gourd hopped to his wife’s side and replied, “Thank you for your kindness, elder sister, but I don’t consume souls.”

“What about flesh and blood? That wretched Honglian is picky and left a pile of good things she wouldn’t eat. Why don’t you try some?”

“I can eat some flesh and blood, but I’ve seen a lot of blood today following my young brother, so I feel a bit nauseated. Perhaps another day.”

“Oh, little sister, you just go out risking your life with my husband, yet you never ask for food or drink. I truly don’t know what you like. As a magical artifact, you must have some requirements, right?”

Upon hearing this, Li Banfeng’s cheek twitched. Something had slipped his mind. All magical artifacts in the world had requirements, but ever since the wine gourd came into his possession, Li Banfeng had never thought about it. If his wife hadn’t reminded him, Li Banfeng didn’t know when he would have remembered.

The gourd replied, “Of course, I have requirements, but I’m afraid you’ll laugh if I tell you, elder sister. I’m quite fond of wine, drinking it insatiably all year round, mostly because I’m afraid of my body getting cold. However, I can only produce one jin of wine a day, and that one jin must be saved for my young brother. When I don’t have wine to drink, I need to find a place to warm myself. If there’s no place to warm up, I can only warm myself on my young brother. If he’s inconvenienced, then I’ll warm myself on you, elder sister. That’s my requirement.”

Upon hearing this, Li Banfeng suddenly realized. Except for that night when he drank with his wife, the wine gourd had always stuck very closely to him. This was hardly a great cost.

Li Banfeng was quite satisfied. His wife scoffed, “Hmph! You brazen hussy, aren’t you ashamed? If my husband and I share a room tonight, will you follow us to warm yourself?”

“I’ll just stick close by; it won’t be in the way.”

“Hmph! The more you speak, the more shameless you become!”

Li Banfeng also felt shy and moved closer to the gramophone: “Wife, are we truly sharing a room tonight?”

“Oh, husband, I was just joking. My body isn’t convenient today, so please rest in the outer room.”

Not convenient? What’s inconvenient?

“Are you perhaps out of oil, wife?”

“Oh, husband, I’m not lacking oil at all, not in the least. Please rest early, husband, go to sleep quickly, husband, oh husband…”

His wife’s voice was too alluring.

Li Banfeng slept in the third room that night. The next day, at dawn, he continued his search in Sandao Ling.

Only the gramophone and Honglian remained in the room. Honglian, in the outer room, said to the gramophone: “Did you figure it out?”

“I did. Not only her requirements, but also her sect.”

“Tell me.”

The gramophone scoffed, “You should have figured it out too, so why ask me? That madman is naturally suspicious, yet he has no doubts about that gourd. That’s her requirement—she can influence others’ thoughts and make them believe her. When she was alive, she must have been a Thought Cultivator.”

Honglian remained silent for a long time, then felt something was wrong: “That madman has peculiar thoughts and naturally suppresses Thought Cultivators. If the gourd truly is a Thought Cultivator, it shouldn’t be able to control his thoughts.”

“It’s not control; it’s influence. This gourd is different from ordinary Thought Cultivators. She doesn’t use force; she uses gentle persuasion. Once she serves that madman obediently, he naturally won’t suspect her.”

Honglian was somewhat worried: “This situation is difficult to handle. Why didn’t you expose her in front of the madman?”

“What’s the rush? If she were exposed, how could we discover her true intentions? Don’t worry. Besides you and me, there’s someone else who suspects her—a fellow disciple of hers. They will help the madman guard against her.”

Honglian sneered, “What does my peace of mind matter? I don’t want to be his wife anyway.”

“Say what you will, you still have to live under the same roof with him, don’t you?”

Before long, the sound of a door opening came from outside. Li Banfeng had returned to look for canned food.

“Oh, husband, have you arrived at Haichi Ling? At this rate of eating, our household’s food reserves won’t last.”

Indeed, they wouldn’t last. Li Banfeng needed to finish the business in Haichi Ling quickly.

From dawn till dusk, Li Banfeng still hadn’t seen any decent villages. As he reached a crossroads, a pungent, spicy odor drifted into his nostrils. Someone was releasing poison! Li Banfeng quickly retreated, carefully observing his surroundings.

Danger struck from behind. Li Banfeng didn’t rush to turn around; instead, he drew his Tang Blade and thrust it behind him. A pained cry came from behind him. Li Banfeng immediately turned and stomped his foot down forcefully. The technique of Shattering Ten Thousand Rivers. It failed. The pebbles on the ground didn’t shatter; Li Banfeng’s technique had failed. This technique often failed. Since learning it, Li Banfeng had only succeeded twice, both times when his legs were extremely heavy.

Behind him stood a middle-aged man, appearing to be over fifty, holding a spiked mace. He pointed it at Li Banfeng and shouted, “Who are you?”

Li Banfeng recalled his Tang Blade, looked at the man, and said, “I should be asking you, who are you? Are you here to eat flesh again? Do you want an arm, or a leg?”

“Eat flesh?” The man was furious. “You’re a man-eating beast!”

As his words fell, the man charged forward, raising his spiked mace. Just by the sound of the wind, the spiked mace must have weighed over a hundred jin. The man’s shoulder was injured by the Tang Blade, but it didn’t affect his performance at all. Each strike was faster than the last, forcing Li Banfeng to continuously retreat.

After circling for a moment, Li Banfeng seized an opportunity, stepped close to the man, and pressed his scythe against the man’s chest, demanding, “Who exactly are you?”

The man didn’t dodge or retreat; he crashed directly onto the blade, swinging his spiked mace towards Li Banfeng’s head. Such a powerful physique and reckless fighting style strongly suggested that this was a Flesh Cultivator. Judging by his combat power, this person was at least at the third level.

Li Banfeng pulled back his scythe. He hadn’t intended to kill; from their brief exchange, he deduced there was a misunderstanding between them.

“I’m here to deliver medicine.”

That single sentence made the middle-aged man stop. He paused for a moment, then looked at Li Banfeng with excitement: “Did Second Master send you?”

“Which Second Master?” Li Banfeng looked puzzled.

“Second Master Lu from the Lu family!”

Lu Dongjun? Li Banfeng recalled some news from the newspapers. Lu Dongjun had come to Haichi Ling to deal with the bug infestation, and it seemed he had achieved some success. So why am I still here?

Li Banfeng shook his head: “It wasn’t Second Master Lu who sent me. Another esteemed master sent me, and his identity cannot be disclosed.”

The middle-aged man was very disappointed: “If it’s not Second Master Lu’s medicine, it probably won’t be of much use.”

“Useful or not, why don’t you try it first? I’ve come all this way,” Li Banfeng said, feeling a bit awkward after coming all the way to Haichi Ling with great difficulty only to be unwelcomed.

“Trying it is fine,” the middle-aged man agreed, after scrutinizing Li Banfeng for a moment. He just agreed, just like that. Li Banfeng found the man truly simple-minded, so simple-minded that it made him a little suspicious.

“Come with me,” the middle-aged man said, leading Li Banfeng into a village. At the village entrance, three men stood ready, one holding an iron hammer, one a Guan Wang Saber, and another an axe. Each of their weapons was quite heavy.

“Put down your weapons,” the man said. “This person is delivering medicine.”

“Second Master’s medicine?” The three men were all excited.

Li Banfeng frowned and said, “Not Second Master, it’s Seventh Master. Hurry up and clear the way.”

The three men exchanged glances. The man with the spiked mace said, “He really is delivering medicine.”

“Delivering medicine… alright then.” The three men cleared the way.

Were they all so simple-minded?

Li Banfeng entered the village and saw the long-unseen smoke from cooking fires. People were still cooking in this village. Li Banfeng smelled the aroma of rice.

The middle-aged man asked, “Have you eaten? Have some food first.”

Li Banfeng was indeed hungry. He entered the man’s house and saw a stout middle-aged person bring over a basin of food and place it before him.

“Is this your younger brother?” Li Banfeng asked casually.

The man was displeased: “What kind of talk is that? This is my wife!”

Li Banfeng looked at the middle-aged person again. The woman glared at Li Banfeng and went back into the inner room. No wonder people say women aren’t suited for Flesh Cultivation; this hostess seemed to have grown a beard.

The man introduced himself: “My name is Niu Fuzhi, I’m blessed and ambitious. What should I call you?”

“I’m Li Qi.”

Niu Fuzhi looked disdainful: “What a rustic name. You clearly haven’t had much education, and I guess your medicine won’t be effective either.”

Li Banfeng wanted to say that he also went by Li Furong, and ask if that name sounded more cultured. But there was no need to dwell on it. The food basin was covered with a mesh net. Seeing the steaming white rice, Li Banfeng’s appetite was piqued. He sniffed it, and besides the aroma of rice, there were no other strange smells. After perceiving for a moment with his 'Avert Misfortune, Attract Fortune' ability, he sensed no danger either.

He lifted the mesh net and began to eat with confidence. He had to eat quickly; some mosquitoes wouldn’t even spare cooked rice. He ate eight liang of rice. Knowing how hard it was to come by, Li Banfeng felt embarrassed to eat more.

Putting down his bowl and chopsticks, Li Banfeng asked, “Where did you get this rice?”

“We grew it.”

Grew it? “At this time of year, you can still grow rice?”

Niu Fuzhi said, “We have Plough Cultivators. We can grow grain even at this time of year, but we can’t stop these mosquitoes. Are you full? Go ahead and try out your medicine!”

“Where should I try it?”

“In the fields! We’re about to harvest the rice.”

Li Banfeng thought for a moment and said, “The ones releasing poison in the fields just now—was that you?”

Niu Fuzhi said, “How is that poison? That’s mosquito repellent. We’ve tried many different medicines already.”