Chapter 316: Residence of the Mountain-Removing Master

To discreetly enter Ba Shan Zhu's residence, the best option was to use the Unimpeded Movement technique. Li Banfeng's own Unimpeded Movement might not be powerful enough, so he would need to borrow Hong Ying's.

As Hong Ying was considered Li Banfeng's house spirit, borrowing her techniques through the Deep Estate method was technically very easy to achieve. The only prerequisite was Hong Ying's willingness.

Hong Ying had changed significantly lately, but Li Banfeng hadn't paid much attention to it. Now that he needed a favor, trying to get close to her again would make him seem very insincere. At the very least, he needed to bring Hong Ying a gift first.

She had grown her hair long; should he bring her a hair tie? The gift would be too trivial to convey his sincerity. Or some rouge? That wasn't substantial enough either. How about two pieces of jewelry? In this desolate wilderness, where would he buy them?

Li Banfeng considered asking Meng Yuchun for jewelry, but it turned out Meng Yuchun didn't like wearing it, or even rouge. What was he to do?

After much thought, Li Banfeng finally came up with the perfect gift. He knew what Hong Ying truly desired; the gift he sought was closer than he thought! No gift could surpass his own sincerity!

Li Banfeng returned to his portable residence, Sui Shen Ju, and sat beside Hong Ying. A little awkward and nervous, he said, "Miss Hong, I have something to discuss with you."

Hong Ying, aware of Li Banfeng's return, was sitting demurely, shyly eating Ba Shan Zhu's flesh and blood. Hearing Li Banfeng initiate a conversation, Hong Ying gently wiped the blood from her mouth with a silk handkerchief. With the demeanor of a noble lady, she softly said, "Why 'Miss Hong'? That makes us sound like strangers."

Li Banfeng affectionately called out, "Yingying, I'd like to borrow your technique for a bit."

Hong Ying turned her face away and said with a coy huff, "You think you can just borrow it just because you ask?"

Li Banfeng took Hong Ying's hand and said tenderly, "Yingying, I know your feelings, and I won't let you down."

"Seventh Brother, do you truly mean that?" Hong Ying also gripped Li Banfeng's hand.

"Absolutely!" Li Banfeng slipped ten silver dollars into Hong Ying's hand. "I'm a sincere person; I never do anything insincere."

Hong Ying clutched the silver dollars, her right hand trembling for a moment. "You're giving me silver dollars... and only ten?"

Li Banfeng gave her another ten. "If that's not enough, there's more!"

Hong Ying suppressed her anger, counted the silver dollars, and then put them away.

"Which technique do you want to borrow?"

"The Unimpeded Movement technique."

"What do you need it for?"

"To enter Ba Shan Zhu's lair and find her deed!"

"Twenty silver dollars isn't enough!"

"Then name your price!"

Hong Ying pondered for a moment, then suddenly smiled. "You're always applying lubricant with that wicked woman; I just want to know how that lubricant is applied!"

"Why are you asking that?"

"Not just ask, I want to try it myself."

Li Banfeng looked at Hong Ying and asked very seriously, "Do you have gears?"

"No," Hong Ying replied.

"Chains?"

"No."

"Bearings?"

"Not those either..."

"Then what are you applying lubricant to?"

Hong Ying was at a loss for words.

Li Banfeng slipped Hong Ying another ten silver dollars. "So it's settled."

"Alright," Hong Ying agreed distractedly.

Li Banfeng established a contract with Hong Ying using the Deep Estate technique, then promptly left Sui Shen Ju.

Hong Ying tidied her hair and continued eating Ba Shan Zhu's flesh and blood. After a couple of bites, Hong Ying lost her appetite.

"What's the point of eating this? Even if it grows out, no one will appreciate it."

The Gramophone, who had been watching, couldn't help but laugh aloud. "Hey, you hussy, didn't he give you thirty silver dollars? Out there, it's usually three silver dollars. Your price isn't low now."

"What's 'three silver dollars'?"

"The Chang San Shu Yu, don't you know?"

Hong Ying genuinely didn't know, and since the Gramophone refused to explain, she reached out and grabbed the Tang Saber. "What is a Chang San Shu Yu?"

The Tang Saber said with a trembling voice, "This humble general is a proper person; I've never been to such a place."

Hong Ying threw down the Tang Saber and sighed. Seeing that she had stopped eating, the other magical artifacts came forward to share Ba Shan Zhu's flesh and blood.

The Gramophone advised, "You hussy, it's your good fortune that you can regain human form. Don't undervalue yourself out of a temporary fit of pique."

"Who am I mad at?" Hong Ying scoffed. "I just fancy that madman, is that a problem?"

"What do you like about him? You just want to spite me, that's all. You can't fathom that madman's temperament, so don't waste your efforts on this."

As they spoke, the magical artifacts had all eaten their fill, but the room was still a mess.

"What a mess! Hong Ying, go bring that hussy Hong Lian here and have her clean this up."

Hong Ying spat at the Gramophone, but perhaps accustomed to taking orders from her, she surprisingly obeyed and went to the seventh room to bring Hong Lian. Hong Lian looked at the shattered remains on the floor and said to the Gramophone, "Wicked woman, are you treating me like a slop pail?"

"Oh, dear sister, how can you say such a thing? Whose slop pail has so many good ingredients?"

Hong Lian swallowed her anger and completely ate the flesh and blood off the floor.

Li Banfeng returned to the cliffside and first asked Meng Yuchun, "What does the deed look like?"

Meng Yuchun took a branch and drew a picture on the ground. House cultivators generally had good drawing skills, a basic ability derived from the Golden House Concealment technique. However, Li Banfeng didn't see any scrolls or similar items in the drawing. Instead, he saw only a box containing something resembling a seal.

"This is the deed?"

Meng Yuchun pointed to the drawing and said, "This isn't the deed; this is the Land Seal and its box. The box is entirely yellow with a silver-white ring carved on its lid. If you find this box, you'll find the Land Seal. The deed is buried beneath the Land Seal; you'll only need to dig about half a chi of soil to find it."

Li Banfeng was puzzled. "What's the reason for this?"

Meng Yuchun explained, "The deed can gather cultivation from the land, but it cannot store it. Once the deed is buried, it cannot be unearthed; otherwise, the local land god would lose their position and soon their cloud cultivation. That's why you definitely won't see the deed above ground. The Land Seal can store cultivation. It usually rests on top of the deed, drawing out the cultivation to be distributed to the living beings in the area. However, the cultivation in the Land Seal is easily lost, so it must be kept in its box. The deed, Land Seal, and box are all bestowed by Neizhou. These three items cannot be replicated by local land gods, not even by worker-cultivator land gods. So, as long as you find the box, you will definitely find the deed."

Having understood the details, Li Banfeng carefully observed the shape of the Land Seal and its box.

He sent everyone else away. Then, harnessing Hong Ying's power and employing the technique taught by Grandfather Train, Li Banfeng plunged headfirst into the cliff. Hong Ying's power was far stronger than Li Banfeng's. With her strength, when Li Banfeng used the Unimpeded Movement technique, he could not only penetrate deeper but also turn corners. Li Banfeng traveled over two li deep into the rock, finally seeing Ba Shan Zhu's residence.

Ba Shan Zhu's residence was a traditional three-courtyard compound. Li Banfeng lit a match and saw two mountain wolves guarding the entrance.

"Someone's here."

"It's not the master; the footsteps are wrong, and the scent is wrong too."

"What do you smell?"

"I smell smoke and fire."

"And a bloody smell. It seems this person has a lot of blood on them."

These two mountain wolves could speak, but they could only determine a person's identity by sound and smell. Li Banfeng took a closer look and realized that the eyes of both wolves had been gouged out, leaving only two dark, empty sockets on their faces.

"Who are you! How did you get in?" one mountain wolf snarled twice at Li Banfeng.

Li Banfeng looked at the mountain wolf and asked, "Did that old hag gouge out your eyes?"

The other mountain wolf shouted, "What does that have to do with you? It is our fortune to be servants to the master!"

Li Banfeng approached the two mountain wolves step by step and said in a calm voice, "Ba Shan Zhu is dead; you'll need a new master now."

One mountain wolf roared, "Don't say useless things! Loyal subjects do not serve two masters. As long as we draw breath, you won't get through this door!"

Li Banfeng stared at that mountain wolf, and his figure suddenly vanished. The mountain wolf had no eyes and couldn't see Li Banfeng. It tried to locate him by sound but couldn't perceive his position.

The other mountain wolf felt something deeply; he felt the sticky wetness of fresh blood all over his face. The mountain wolf guarding the door with him had exploded, splattering its flesh and blood all over his face.

Li Banfeng crouched on the ground and stroked the wolf's head. "If you don't want a new master, you can also join Ba Shan Zhu."

The mountain wolf gritted its teeth and said, "I am not one of those spineless people!"

Li Banfeng chuckled, "Want to take out your backbone and let me see?"

"No need to take it out, you can see it already!"

The mountain wolf straightened its spine, walked into the residence, and loudly shouted to the people inside the compound, "The new master's here, everyone stand aside! You broom-sweeper, are you blind? The master's here, and you're still blocking the way!"

The one responsible for sweeping was a rabbit, and she was indeed blind, her eyes also having been gouged out by Ba Shan Zhu. Hearing the mountain wolf's shouts, she momentarily didn't know where to stand.

The mountain wolf turned back to Li Banfeng and said, "Master, this way please."

Let a blind person lead the way? Was this reliable?

The mountain wolf was very confident. "Master, you're looking for the deed, right? These people are useless. I know where the deed is!"

"How do you know?"

"My ears are sharp. I can't see, but I can hear clearly."

Just by listening, he knew where the deed was hidden? This mountain wolf really did know.

He led Li Banfeng to the entrance of a cellar in the back courtyard and said, "Master, go inside and take a look. As long as you recognize what the deed looks like, you'll definitely find it."

Li Banfeng frowned and said, "How do you know the deed is definitely under the cellar?"

The mountain wolf said, "Every twelfth lunar month, Ba Shan Zhu distributes cultivation to the living beings in the area, and we get a little bit too. Every time it's time to distribute cultivation, Ba Shan Zhu comes into this cellar. I've heard it for so many years; it's absolutely true, there's no mistake."

Li Banfeng examined the cellar entrance. The large stone door was tightly shut, with no visible lock or apparent way to open it. He decided not to bother opening it. Li Banfeng passed directly through the door, descended the stairs into the cellar, illuminated by the light of a match.

The cellar was large, filled with various items: fabrics, furs, many medicinal herbs, as well as cabinets, boxes, and some broken furniture. This didn't look like a place where a deed would be hidden. Li Banfeng scanned among the clutter and found a strange object. It was a stone lion, taller than a person.

What was a stone lion doing in a cellar? Could it be that there was something beneath the lion's feet?

Li Banfeng tried to move the stone lion. As a sixth-level traveler-cultivator and house-cultivator, his strength far surpassed that of an ordinary person. But he didn't know what kind of stone the lion was made of. Li Banfeng tried three times, but the stone lion didn't budge an inch. Ba Shan Zhu was a strength cultivator. Anything she used to guard an entrance, Li Banfeng definitely couldn't move. What he was looking for was very likely beneath this stone lion.

Should he just start digging, right under the stone lion? Li Banfeng tapped the ground; the stone slabs on the floor were as hard as steel. Digging directly was unrealistic. He'd have to go through!

Li Banfeng once again used the Unimpeded Movement technique, tunneling underground from beside the lion's feet, then quickly turning towards the lion. With this turn, Li Banfeng broke through the wall and entered another room. When he lit another match, Li Banfeng finally saw the layout of the place.

Below the main cellar, there was another small cellar. The small cellar had an entrance in its ceiling, on top of which rested the unmovable stone lion. It would be impossible for a normal person to enter. Inside the small cellar, there was only one item in the center of the floor: a small yellow wooden box, one chi long, half a chi wide, and half a chi high. A silver-white ring was carved on the box.