Chapter 441: Rebirth

Li Banfeng said he would help Qiu Luoye pass the three trials tonight.

His wife quickly advised, "Husband, you mustn't. He's likely not ready for the first and third trials."

"Then we'll prepare together," Li Banfeng said, leaning over the left speaker of the gramophone and whispering extensively.

The gramophone trembled slightly and softly said, "My dear husband, please don't speak so quickly; my little ears are very ticklish."

When Li Banfeng slowed his speech, the gramophone felt even more ticklish and giggled incessantly.

"Husband, how did you come up with this idea?"

"I've been thinking about this ever since I learned the Body-Building technique, for several days now. I just don't know if it will work."

His wife pondered for a moment and said, "It makes sense in theory, but this contract has already caught the attention of Neizhou. If they notice any changes, Neizhou might resort to other methods. I absolutely won't allow you to put yourself at risk, husband."

Li Banfeng also considered this. "I can find someone who isn't afraid of Neizhou's methods."

"I don't believe you. Who in this world isn't afraid of death? Where would you find such a person? And if they're not willing, if you've tricked them, they might change their mind at the crucial moment, and you'd regret it immensely."

"This person will absolutely not back out! My only fear is that he won't resonate with the contract." Li Banfeng, still close to the speaker, explained who this person was to his wife.

His wife smiled upon hearing this. "Only you, husband, could think of such a thing. Since they're from the same lineage, there should be a connection. I just wonder if the nickname will be effective."

Li Banfeng was confident. "It will be more effective than Li Furong."

The gramophone grew concerned again. "If Qiu Luoye recognizes it too deeply, he might get entangled."

Li Banfeng said, "Don't worry about that; he won't recognize it himself, but it will definitely work!"

The gramophone enveloped Li Banfeng in steam and said, "Since you have such an extraordinary plan, husband, let's accomplish this together tonight."

Li Banfeng patted the back cabinet door of the gramophone. "How about we get it done right now?"

A puff of steam pushed Li Banfeng away. "A major task is upon us, and you're still not serious, husband. We must carefully calculate the timing. I've roughly thought it over, and the schedule is quite tight. If any step is delayed, unforeseen complications will arise."

Controlling the timing was indeed crucial. Li Banfeng called Meng De over, precisely set each node, and then transformed Meng De into a pocket watch, which he carried with him.

His wife instructed, "After the contract is unearthed, have Qiu Luoye soak in hot water. His skin and flesh will slough off quickly without him feeling pain, which will prevent the first trial from being delayed too long."

Soaking in hot water, waiting for all his skin and flesh to dissolve.

This likely won't work. How could anyone not be afraid watching their own flesh and blood fall away?

His wife then added, "Immediately after separating from the flesh, the soul can't see anything. This is a good opportunity to act, so the faster the flesh sloughs off, the better!"

Can't see!

This made things much easier.

Leaving the Portable Abode, Li Banfeng asked Ma Wu to prepare a large basin for Qiu Luoye, one big enough to fit two Qiu Luoyes.

Such a large basin was hard to find. Having no other option, Ma Wu found a public bathhouse and rented it out, saying, "This is the only suitable place."

Li Banfeng looked at the bathhouse environment. "This place will do, but it's a bit far from the mountain."

Ma Wu sighed and said, "Then I'll look again."

"No need to look further, this place is fine." Tricking Qiu Luoye into coming to a bathhouse for a wash was much better than just having him soak in a wooden basin.

Li Banfeng looked around the bathhouse and fished out some grey grime from the pool.

This grime had been scrubbed off people's bodies.

Ma Wu quickly explained, "We just rented the place, and the water hasn't been changed yet. Someone will come to clean it soon."

Li Banfeng stared at the grime and smiled. "This stuff is great! I was going to use lime, but this is much better."

Ma Wu looked at the grime in Li Banfeng's hand and tentatively asked, "Old Seven, you're not joking, are you? You think this stuff is good?"

"Good! Extremely good! Brother, get me a sack of it!"

"A sack?" Ma Wu was stunned for a moment. "Where would I even get that much?"

"From bathhouses! If that's still not enough, call all our brothers who haven't bathed and have them scrub themselves!"

Ma Wu, resigned, called Chuanzi and told him to gather his men to collect the grime.

What was this stuff for?

Chuanzi didn't understand but didn't dare ask too many questions. He took his men and visited every bathhouse in town, only managing to collect half a sack.

For the remaining half sack, with no other option, they did as Li Qi suggested: they found a group of people who hadn't bathed and scrubbed them on the spot.

Collecting the grime wasn't the end of it. Ma Wu then instructed Chuanzi to take his brothers and set up checkpoints between Qiu Luoye's territory and Wuqin Township, prohibiting passage after 8 PM tonight.

Li Banfeng went to the market and bought all the available spinning tops, slingshots, bamboo-copters, glass marbles, and shuttlecocks, sending them all into the Portable Abode.

He bought these items to please the Portable Abode and activate its "Peaceful Living and Prosperous Work" technique.

"Old man, I'm undertaking a major task today; I need good fortune."

The Portable Abode snorted, "You're trying to gain luck with these? Where's your sincerity?"

"I am sincere!"

Li Banfeng spent the entire afternoon playing with spinning tops with the old man, and the Portable Abode was very pleased.

In the evening, Li Banfeng and Ma Wu brought Qiu Luoye to the bathhouse.

Qiu Luoye was very unaccustomed to the place. "The floor is too slippery, even slicker than river stones. When my cultivation was still rooted in the ground, I never liked coming to bathhouses. How much better it is to bathe in the river!"

Li Banfeng smiled. "Brother, let's first soak in the bath and enjoy some drinks. Then, we'll get down to serious business. We discussed unearthing your contract earlier, and we're acting tonight. Brother, if you have any regrets, it's still not too late."

Qiu Luoye chuckled. "Brother, that question is unnecessary. Once I've decided something, when have I ever been vague?"

"Good!" Ma Wu ordered food and drinks to be prepared, and the three of them began to eat and drink.

Qiu Luoye was a brave man, but it was impossible for him not to be nervous at this crucial juncture.

Qiu Luoye was reluctant to talk much while eating and drinking. When they had eaten their fill, he sank into the pool and drank over a dozen jars of wine. The alcohol and the steam from the pool rushed to his head.

Li Banfeng said to Qiu Luoye, "Brother, I need a bit of your blood."

"Here!" Qiu Luoye cut his palm and squeezed out fresh blood, which Li Banfeng collected in a small bottle.

After collecting the blood, Li Banfeng said to Qiu Luoye, "I'll go unearth the contract soon; things are about to get serious!"

"Bring it on!" Qiu Luoye picked up a jar of wine and guzzled it down in one breath.

It was clear he was still somewhat flustered.

Ma Wu quickly ordered more wine to be brought.

Li Banfeng told Ma Wu to continue drinking with Qiu Luoye and specifically reminded him that the bath attendant would arrive in two hours.

Ma Wu glanced at the pocket watch, nodded, and instructed his subordinates, "Clean the scrubbing room thoroughly; I don't want to see a single speck of grime!"

His subordinates understood and quickly arranged the prepared sack of grime in the scrubbing room.

Li Banfeng left the bathhouse, found a quiet spot, poured half the blood from the small bottle onto melon seeds, and sealed the other half back in the bottle.

It took nearly two hours for two melon-shaped Qiu Luoyes to grow.

The melon figures took much longer to form than the cabbage figures, but they were also much more refined. Li Banfeng led the two melon Qiu Luoyes into the Portable Abode, had the pendulum adorn one of them, and then had the gramophone inject steam into both melon figures to ensure they could react simply.

Li Banfeng left one melon Qiu Luoye in the Portable Abode for his wife to use.

He brought the other Qiu Luoye into the bathhouse and cleared his throat.

Ma Wu heard the sound and, realizing things were nearly ready, quickly said to Qiu Luoye, "Brother Qiu, let's go get scrubbed!"

Qiu Luoye waved his hand. "No scrubbing. Even when I was young, I disliked getting scrubbed. Their hands aren't strong enough, and it makes me uncomfortable."

Ma Wu said, "This master has strong enough hands; let's go take a look first."

The two went to the scrubbing room, where the bath attendant was waiting, smiling.

Qiu Luoye stared at the bath attendant for a moment, observing his tall, strong build, thick eyebrows, and large eyes. Qiu Luoye couldn't help but exclaim, "This person is quite handsome!"

This was the melon Qiu Luoye, disguised with the blood.

Qiu Luoye lay down on the bed, and the melon Qiu Luoye took a towel and began to scrub him.

After just one scrub, Qiu Luoye nodded repeatedly. "This strength feels good!"

As Qiu Luoye was being scrubbed, Li Banfeng sprinted to the mountain.

The tiger was waiting at the residence and immediately led Li Banfeng to where the contract was buried.

The contract was buried on the hillside. Li Banfeng unearthed it, sent the tiger away, and immediately returned it to the Portable Abode.

His wife took the contract and first covered it with a mist of water.

This was to create an illusion.

"Husband, Neizhou is surely watching Qiu Luoye's contract. When it's unearthed, Neizhou should be able to see it. I can only deceive them for as long as possible. Now, we can only hope Qiu Luoye's soul quickly departs."

When a contract is unearthed, a local deity loses cultivation, and their soul departs their body, which is akin to dying again.

However, this process takes time. Some local deities' souls depart in under an hour, while others might not depart for three to five days.

"Husband, the duration of soul departure depends on the local deity's connection to their territory. The deeper the connection, the faster the soul departs. Husband, you must pay close attention, as the moment after soul departure is crucial."

Li Banfeng immediately rushed back to the bathhouse.

Qiu Luoye's connection to Wuqin Township was not deep, but his connection to his own territory was very strong. Li Banfeng estimated that his soul would successfully depart within one or two hours at most.

Of course, if Qiu Luoye's soul didn't depart for a day or two, Li Banfeng could only continue with this preparation, because once the soul departed, there wasn't a moment to lose.

When Li Banfeng arrived at the bathhouse, Qiu Luoye was still leisurely enjoying himself, lying face down on the bed.

The melon Qiu Luoye was scrubbing diligently. As he scrubbed Qiu Luoye's back, a piece of flesh sloughed off with a swish.

"What fell off?" Qiu Luoye asked, startled.

Ma Wu forced a calm demeanor and chuckled, "Just some grime that got scrubbed off."

"Such a large piece of grime!" Qiu Luoye was skeptical and wanted to take a closer look.

Li Banfeng entered the scrubbing room and distracted Qiu Luoye. "Brother Qiu, how long has it been since you last had a scrub? Isn't it natural to have some grime? Master, apply a little more force and scrub all the grime off."

He spoke without changing his expression, but Li Banfeng's heart was pounding.

Qiu Luoye's soul had already departed. He hadn't expected it to happen so quickly.

The melon figure kept scrubbing with force, regardless of what came off, and pieces of Qiu Luoye's flesh continued to slough off one after another.

Li Banfeng continued to chat with Qiu Luoye, while Ma Wu quietly prepared the sack of grime.

Qiu Luoye lay on the bed, feeling that something was amiss with his body.

"Old Seven, is this bath attendant's hand too strong?" As he spoke, another large patch of flesh was scrubbed off by the melon figure.

Qiu Luoye also felt that something was off with his face. He grabbed it, and nearly tore off the flesh on his face.

"Brother Qiu, do you think his hands are too strong?" Li Banfeng pushed the bath attendant. "Can't you be gentler?"

The melon figure stumbled and fell onto Qiu Luoye.

Crash!

It was already difficult for the scrubbing bed to support just Qiu Luoye; with two Qiu Luoyes stacked on top, it was impossible.

The bed collapsed!

Qiu Luoye fell to the ground with a thud, shedding all his flesh and blood, even his eyeballs rolled out.

In an instant, Qiu Luoye's vision went black.

His soul had separated from his body.

Li Banfeng quickly used the Body-Building technique to attach the melon figure's body to Qiu Luoye.

Meanwhile, Ma Wu held the sack and sprinkled the grime onto the floor.

Qiu Luoye cried out, "Old Seven, what's happening? Why can't I see anything!"

Li Banfeng said, "I can't see either; someone released poison. Old Five, where are you?"

Ma Wu, who was scattering grime from the sack onto the floor, heard Li Qi call him and quickly replied, "I've got the bath attendant! He's an assassin; I'm fighting him!"

Thud!

Ma Wu accidentally stepped on Qiu Luoye's flesh, slipped, and fell.

It was a hard fall; Ma Wu gritted his teeth and groaned twice.

Qiu Luoye immediately became anxious. "Old Five, don't fight him head-on. You hide first, and I'll deal with him!"

Qiu Luoye genuinely wanted to fight, but he couldn't move. His soul had just been attached to the melon body and hadn't adapted yet.

He thought he had truly been poisoned. It had been many years since he suffered from poison, and he wondered what kind of potent poison this was.

But on second thought, he realized something was wrong. Why could Ma Wu move, but he couldn't?

Li Banfeng shouted, "Old Five, hold him! Wait for me!"

Using the "Trampling Ten Thousand Rivers" technique, Li Banfeng pulverized the flesh Qiu Luoye had shed, picked up the sack from the ground, and sprinkled the grime into the pulped flesh.

Hearing the sounds of struggle near him, Qiu Luoye became frantic. "You two brothers go ahead! Don't worry about me; I'll fight him!"

As soon as he spoke, Qiu Luoye stood up with the melon body.

Li Banfeng was startled; Qiu Luoye recovered too quickly!

Qiu Luoye stood still and slowly opened his eyes.

His vision transitioned from blurry to clear; Qiu Luoye could now see.

As he scanned his surroundings, Qiu Luoye saw flesh and blood strewn everywhere, mixed with grey grime, making it impossible to discern any definite shapes.

Li Banfeng and Ma Wu had originally prepared many acts, but now that Qiu Luoye could see, there was no need to perform the rest.

Qiu Luoye asked, "Where did the bath attendant go?"

"I blew him up using the 'Horse-Viewing Flowers' technique." Li Banfeng pointed to the flesh and blood on the ground as physical evidence.

Qiu Luoye asked, "Is this his corpse?"

Ma Wu nodded. "Yes, this is his corpse."

The witness was also present.

Qiu Luoye moved his body around, still feeling that something was off. "My body... why is it so stiff?"

Li Banfeng said, "You're poisoned; my body is stiff too!"

Ma Wu said, "We were all poisoned just now."

Qiu Luoye blinked and asked, "What kind of poison did he use? Why was I the only one who couldn't move earlier?"

Li Banfeng said, "You were severely injured; it's already good that you're recovering now."

Qiu Luoye looked at Li Qi, finding nothing wrong with his words.

After a moment, Qiu Luoye stepped forward and stomped on the pulped flesh. "I even complimented how handsome he was! Who the hell sent him to harm us?!"

Don't use too much force, Brother Qiu; the melon is too fragile; don't crush it.

Seeing Qiu Luoye's condition, Li Banfeng knew he was on the right track.

The first trial was passed!