Chapter 446: Ge Junma

Li Banfeng was woken by the Judge's Pen, which still floated in mid-air.

"Do you have something to tell me?"

"Yes," the Judge's Pen replied with a single word.

"Then speak!"

The Judge's Pen remained silent.

Li Banfeng stared at it for a moment, then asked, "Do you think there are too many people?"

"Yes."

Living under the same roof, the Judge's Pen seemed to trust only Li Banfeng.

Li Banfeng took the Judge's Pen to the fifth room, with the Glove silently following behind. The Phonograph felt a little worried, but she could sense a gaze, a gaze from within the Portable Abode.

Once inside the fifth room, Li Banfeng said to the Judge's Pen, "It's quite something for you to get up in the middle of the night and be so attentive. Speak now."

The Judge's Pen said, "I'll take you to the local god's residence. Don't tell anyone."

Li Banfeng yawned, "Let's go."

Outside the Portable Abode, the Judge's Pen actively drew a circle and took Li Banfeng flying. Since meeting this fellow, Li Banfeng had never seen him so diligent.

The two flew south from Yanshazhai, crossed three streets, and arrived at a garden. Ink Fragrance Shop had many gardens, but it wasn't a good time for a stroll. It was freezing cold, and the plants were withered. Aside from layers of dead trees, Li Banfeng saw nothing special.

The Judge's Pen set Li Banfeng down and wrote the character "Hui" (慧, meaning wisdom) under a willow tree. The bare willow tree suddenly sprouted, growing large leaves, and layers of willow catkins floated out, forming a circular barrier as they swirled, enveloping both the willow tree and Li Banfeng.

A cold wind blew, and the willow catkins gradually dispersed. The surrounding scenery began to change. The trees and road that had been behind them vanished, replaced by an endless dense fog. The dense fog stopped abruptly at the willow tree where the Judge's Pen had written. The scenery ahead seemed unchanged, but faint zither music could be heard in the distance.

Following the music, Li Banfeng looked up and saw an open area ahead, with a lake on it. A desk was placed on the frozen lake, with a scroll over ten meters long spread out on it. A man, dressed in a white robe, sat behind the desk, holding a brush, writing on the scroll.

Was this the local god of Ink Fragrance Shop, the Wise Scholar? Practicing calligraphy in the middle of the night, how elegant.

Li Banfeng walked towards the lake. The brush in the man's hand never stopped. Had he not noticed me? Or was he already preparing to attack me?

Li Banfeng stopped. A sense of danger struck, not from the man in white, and its direction was currently uncertain. Li Banfeng hid behind a tree. The Judge's Pen whispered, "Something has come in."

"Where did it come from? Did it follow us in?"

"No, it's been in here for a long time." The Judge's Pen was very familiar with this place and could sense an unnatural change.

Li Banfeng sensed the direction of the danger, his gaze falling upon the lake.

Gurgle! Bang!

A crack appeared on the frozen lake surface. Something was beneath it.

Bang, bang!

More and more cracks appeared, but the man in white remained unperturbed, still writing stroke by stroke on the lake surface. The scroll floated up, and characters rose from it, moving and patrolling across the lake surface.

Was this "Words Worth a Thousand Gold" or "Counting Ink Strokes"? Characters created by "Counting Ink Strokes" would fight indiscriminately, but these characters were not attacking the man in white. Characters created by "Words Worth a Thousand Gold" could distinguish between friend and foe, but their quantity was limited. Among the scholarly cultivators Li Banfeng had seen, Scholar Guo could use twelve "Forbidden" characters at once, which was considered the most powerful example of "Words Worth a Thousand Gold." Now, hundreds of characters had risen from the scroll. By sight, the "War" character (戰) was the most numerous, followed by the "Kill" character (殺).

Bang! Bang! Crack!

A hole opened in the ice, and a red tongue shot out, lunging straight for the man in white. The characters patrolling the ice rushed towards the red tongue. The "War" character (戰) resembled a person holding a long dagger-axe, hooking and pecking at the red tongue. The "Kill" character (殺) resembled a person holding a long spear, striving to thrust and kill the red tongue. In fact, it wasn't a spear; this spear-like weapon was called a 'Shu' (殳), which Li Banfeng had seen in weapon diagrams.

The red tongue leaped out of the lake but was repelled by the numerous characters. Once the red tongue retreated back into the lake, all the characters immediately dispersed, resuming their patrol on the lake surface. The hundreds of characters, moving, attacking, defending, and retreating with such fluidity, made Li Banfeng truly feel the powerful combat strength of scholarly cultivators.

Cracks appeared on the ice again. Some characters gathered near the cracks, ready for battle. Li Banfeng also stared at the cracks, waiting for the red tongue to reappear.

Rumble!

The red tongue did not appear. The entire ice surface suddenly collapsed. Hundreds of characters plunged into the water, stirring up layers of waves. The man in white, along with his desk, floated in mid-air. The brush in his hand showed no pause, and characters continuously rose from the scroll, leaped into the water, and battled the monster in the lake.

A muffled roar echoed, and the lake water churned violently as if boiling. A toad, about a third the size of the lake surface, leaped out of the water and lunged at the man in white. It turned out the red tongue earlier wasn't a real dragon, but this toad's tongue.

Thirty-two "Wing" characters (翼) transformed into a pair of wings, carrying the man in white rapidly dozens of meters higher. The toad kicked its legs and moved its hands in mid-air, mimicking a frog stroke, pursuing relentlessly. Just as the man in white was about to be caught by the toad, Li Banfeng suddenly emerged from the woods, appearing in the toad's line of sight.

The toad slightly turned its head and glanced at Li Banfeng. This glance was very important; it meant the toad was aware of Li Banfeng's presence, a prerequisite for using "Fleeting Glimpse." Li Banfeng watched the toad, then moved swiftly, disappearing from its line of sight. If the toad couldn't lock onto Li Banfeng, it would be injured by the "Fleeting Glimpse" technique. Even if the toad could lock onto Li Banfeng, it would be distracted, giving the man in white an opportunity to counterattack.

Most of the toad's attention was on the man in white, and its gaze failed to lock onto Li Banfeng. One of its front legs was badly injured. Li Banfeng vanished from the toad's sight again. The toad tried to track Li Banfeng's figure, but a group of characters blocked its view. Another hind leg was badly injured. Although the injuries weren't severe, they clearly affected its frog-stroke speed, and the toad created some distance from the man in white.

The man in white, still suspended in mid-air, continued to write, which puzzled Li Banfeng. Writing could indeed create more combat power. But with such a good opportunity, did this Wise Scholar not have a better way to counterattack? Li Banfeng hadn't seen many "Cloud-level" techniques, but even a casual "Ground-level" technique could severely wound this toad. And this was considered supremely intelligent, exceptionally wise?

The pair of wings did fly fast; the man in white was getting further and further from the toad. The toad was furious and turned its gaze towards the shore, seemingly about to attack Li Banfeng. A long dagger-axe from a "War" character (戰) chopped onto the toad's back, drawing some blood. The surrounding characters grew more numerous, and each character's destructive power was considerable. Although the toad was unwilling, it was meaningless to continue the stalemate, so it had to return to the water.

Li Banfeng, quick-eyed and quick-handed, leaped into mid-air, grabbed a "War" character (戰), and snatched the long dagger-axe from its hand. It was this very "War" character (戰) that had struck the toad with its dagger-axe. Its dagger-axe had blood on it, and Li Banfeng quickly collected these few drops of blood into a glass bottle.

The other characters seemed provoked and swarmed to attack Li Banfeng. Li Banfeng said to the Judge's Pen, "Tell your old master that I am his friend."

"This..." The Judge's Pen seemed troubled.

Hundreds of characters were quickly surrounding Li Banfeng. Li Banfeng urged, "Speak! Now is not the time to be lazy!"

"Fly!" The Judge's Pen said only this one word. It carried Li Banfeng, flying out of the characters' encirclement, and after several turns, flew to the man in white. The Judge's Pen spoke to the man in white: "You!"

The Judge's Pen said only this one word. But the man in white acted as if he hadn't heard, continuously writing at his desk. Li Banfeng roughly glanced at what he was writing: more than half consisted of just two characters, "War" (戰) and "Kill" (殺). The remaining half consisted of two phrases: "The blind should be ashamed" and "Scholars should strive."

Seeing a swarm of characters approaching again, the Judge's Pen stopped talking to the man in white and flew directly towards the willow tree with Li Banfeng. The entire courtyard was covered in ice and snow, with only this willow tree covered in green leaves, standing out remarkably. Under the tree, the Judge's Pen wrote the character "Hui" (慧) again. All the leaves on the willow tree instantly fell off. Willow leaves scattered with the wind, forming a barrier that blocked all the characters behind them. When the barrier dispersed, the characters vanished. Along with them, the lake and the man in white on the lake also disappeared. The entire garden returned to silence, as if nothing had happened.

Li Banfeng returned to the study, entered the Portable Abode, and took the Judge's Pen into the fifth room.

"Why didn't you speak to the Wise Scholar just now?"

The Judge's Pen floated in mid-air, giving no response.

Li Banfeng said, "Do you have a conflict with him?"

"Yes!"

"Can he hear you speak?"

"No."

The Judge's Pen and the Wise Scholar couldn't communicate? Li Banfeng frowned and asked, "Do you want to return to him or not?"

"No!" The Judge's Pen answered very simply.

"Then why did you take me to him?"

"Ink Fragrance Shop."

The Judge's Pen was doing this for Ink Fragrance Shop? This greatly surprised Li Banfeng; its feelings for its homeland were unexpectedly deep! Li Banfeng pieced together the cause and effect of the events, roughly clarifying the clues.

"A large toad infiltrated the local god's residence. To fight this large toad, the local god expended a lot of energy, creating the illusion for outsiders that he was in an extremely weakened state, right?"

The Judge's Pen remained silent for a long time before replying, "Probably." Its deduction aligned with Li Banfeng's, but it couldn't provide a precise answer.

Li Banfeng sighed, "Actually, it can't be considered an illusion. The local god's situation is indeed grim. If he were to face another siege now, he'd likely be in great peril."

"Yes." This time, the Judge's Pen's answer was very certain.

"Where did that large toad come from?"

"Unknown."

"Do you know him?"

"No."

The Judge's Pen didn't know this toad and hadn't been aware of its existence before. It was only after hearing Cui Tike's words that it wanted to check on the local god's condition.

Li Banfeng took the projector to the main room. The Phonograph was awake, and Hong Ying was also awake. The projector displayed the scene of the toad emerging from the water. Li Banfeng asked the Phonograph, "My dear wife, do you recognize who this toad is?"

His wife looked for a long time before answering, "I don't recognize it!"

Hong Ying said, "Seventh Brother, tell me what that toad looks like; perhaps I can recognize it."

The Phonograph slapped Hong Ying once: "You wretch, what are you showing off for? You've been deaf and blind for so many years. How could you recognize someone I don't know? My dear husband, this person should be a transformed body cultivator, perhaps only recently promoted to the Cloud level."

A body cultivator, recently ascended to the Cloud level. He wondered if Qiu Luoye would recognize him.

Li Banfeng had the Portable Abode travel to the station. After stepping out, Li Banfeng immediately went to Qiu Luoye's residence. The night was deep, and Qiu Luoye was fast asleep. Li Banfeng gently woke him. Fortunately, Qiu Luoye wasn't too grumpy about being woken up.

"Old Seven, what is it?"

Li Banfeng didn't show Qiu Luoye the projector's image; doing so would expose the Ink Fragrance Shop's local god's residence. It wasn't that he didn't trust Qiu Luoye, but doing so could bring disaster to Ink Fragrance Shop.

Li Banfeng took out a small medicine bottle, poured out a drop of the large toad's blood, sprinkled it on a cabbage seed, and then added two drops of Zhang Wanlong's specially made potion. The cabbage began to grow rapidly. A few minutes later, it grew to over three meters tall, then burst open. A toad emerged from the cabbage. Its size couldn't compare to the one in the lake; it had likely grown to the limit of a "Cabbage Person."

Qiu Luoye stared at the toad for a long time. It hadn't grown skin yet and was covered in bandages, so its expression couldn't be seen, but Li Banfeng could clearly sense Qiu Luoye's tension.

"This toad, is it only this big?" Qiu Luoye had seen "Cabbage People" before and knew they differed somewhat from real beings.

Li Banfeng shook his head and said, "The real toad is much bigger than this, about the size of your manor."

"Ge Junma!" Qiu Luoye gnashed his teeth and uttered a name.

Li Banfeng said, "Is this Ge Junma a body cultivator?"

"Not a body cultivator!" Qiu Luoye shook his head. "He's from Neizhou, a pureblood!"