Chapter 52: Millionaire

Li Banfeng had completely forgotten about the short dagger. He was currently sitting by the main house's entrance, talking to himself.

"The phonograph didn't kill me. She still seems to have a good impression of me."

"But when she suddenly started singing, it was a bit frightening."

"Frightening? She sang beautifully!"

"It doesn't matter how well she sings; one day she'll eat you whole, bones and all."

"If she wanted to eat me, she would have already. She probably doesn't like eating things that are alive."

"What if she changes her taste someday? If she gets angry, she might roast you until you're crispy outside and tender inside, body and soul, leaving no trace!"

"You're heartless! The phonograph has protected you all along. How can you slander a lady like that?"

"How do you know it's a lady? It might be a grotesque singing demon!"

Li Banfeng waved a hand at his forehead. Arguing with himself was utterly pointless.

He needed to focus his thoughts and figure out how to deal with the phonograph.

Should he discard her?

Not to mention, it would be a shame to discard such a good house spirit.

More importantly, Li Banfeng didn't dare to!

He feared that the moment he considered it, the phonograph would scald him to death.

She instantly killed Luo Yuni. For someone like him, a single burp from her could scald him to death.

The ideal outcome would be to successfully subdue the house spirit, but that required knowing its name.

How could he find that out?

The only person he could think of was Shopkeeper Feng.

He had to go back to Ligou.

But before returning, he needed to clean up the mansion.

The mansion's owner and house spirit were gone, and Li Banfeng felt very melancholic. He needed to help them sort through their belongings.

Li Banfeng wasn't interested in the money; it was mainly out of respect for them.

Li Banfeng first went to the cellar. Xiao Yeci had said there were many things there.

She hadn't lied. The old woman usually stored most of her stolen goods in the cellar, with some hidden in the main house's cabinets. Li Banfeng gathered everything, finding 763,236 yuan in cash alone.

In addition, Li Banfeng found a considerable amount of gold and silver jewelry and other valuable personal items. Unfamiliar with their prices, he estimated their worth at 200,000 yuan.

After selling the pills and buying the phonograph, he had 230,000 yuan left.

Excluding minor daily expenses, Li Banfeng now had assets totaling 1.18 million yuan.

Was this real?

I have 1.18 million!

From birth until now, Li Banfeng's assets had never exceeded 10,000 yuan.

And now he actually had 1.18 million!

Of course, this amount wouldn't even cover a down payment in Yuezhou.

But for Li Banfeng, this was his second financial peak.

The first peak was when he sold the Snake-Spot Pills.

There were also various other items in the mansion that Li Banfeng could use.

The second son, Demao, was a martial cultivator. His room contained many martial arts texts. Li Banfeng selected a few and kept them.

The old woman's room had a nice-looking table and two chairs, which Li Banfeng took. The sewing kit was also good, so he kept that too.

There was also a pocket watch, likely stolen from a passerby. It was gold-plated and stylish, though its craftsmanship wasn't as exquisite as the one Shopkeeper Feng had recommended.

Li Banfeng had always wanted a timepiece, so he took this one.

Demao also had a bathtub, which Li Banfeng took. Normally, in the Portable Residence, he could only use a wooden bucket for water to wipe himself down, and it had been a long time since he'd had a proper, refreshing bath.

After gathering the useful items, Li Banfeng also collected some things that seemed useless at the moment.

Decai's collection of bottles and jars for concocting poisons, along with some special medicinal herbs, were taken by Li Banfeng. It was hard to say what use they might have.

In Demao's room, there was a long spear. Li Banfeng didn't know how to use such a long weapon, but Demao had relevant books, so he could learn later.

Decai's room contained numerous dart-like hidden weapons. They had a pungent smell, indicating they were likely poisoned. Li Banfeng didn't know how to use hidden weapons, but he took them for now.

After finishing the tidying, Li Banfeng first located Decai's and Demao's bodies.

He had originally planned to put these two bodies into the Portable Residence for alchemy.

But given the current situation, Li Banfeng was a bit afraid to return.

However, on second thought, fear was useless. He had to return to the Portable Residence for at least two hours each day; this was the basic practice for a house cultivator.

Mustering his courage, Li Banfeng opened the door and dragged in all the cash, valuables, furniture, bodies... a whole heap of things.

The phonograph showed no signs of movement. He wondered if it was fast asleep.

The copper lotus was also still.

This wasn't right.

With such fine corpses right there, didn't it want them?

Li Banfeng observed closely for a moment and noticed a halo of light on the copper lotus.

It was refining pills.

What kind of pill was it refining?

Oh no, the dagger! The blood-sucking short dagger!

That was a top-grade weapon. Was it being refined just like that?

Li Banfeng's heart ached terribly. He wanted to pry open the lotus petals and retrieve the dagger.

The room was too cluttered. Just as Li Banfeng approached the lotus, he accidentally tripped over the bathtub, nearly fell, and the cloth bag at his waist dropped.

Clang!

The pendulum from inside the cloth bag slid out.

Whoosh!

The phonograph's light glowed.

Hiss, hiss, hiss~

Steam billowed out.

Was the phonograph awakened?

Clang-a-lang-lang~

"Oh, my dear husband!" the phonograph began to sing.

"Oh, my dear wife!" Li Banfeng sang back.

The phonograph was a conversational being; she wasn't scary at all.

"Oh, my dear husband, where did you acquire so many belongings?"

The phonograph's voice was very gentle, not frightening at all.

"Oh, my dear wife, I just acquired them casually."

Li Banfeng wiped sweat from his brow and slowly moved toward the door.

"My dear husband, you work so hard~" She sang this line with such affection and warmth. She wasn't scary at all!

"You work hard too, my dear wife~" Li Banfeng rushed outside and closed the door.

The phonograph puffed out a breath of steam, carrying a set of tables and chairs to the wall, and then stood the bathtub upright in the corner.

Beside the bathtub, the phonograph noticed the broken pendulum, Luo Yuni's only remnant.

Hiss, hiss~

The phonograph was displeased; she didn't like this item.

"That madman, seriously, why did he bring this useless thing back again?"

Hiss, hiss, hiss~

The copper lotus's petals opened, drawing the bodies on the ground, along with the broken pendulum, into its core.

Hiss, hiss~

The phonograph scoffed repeatedly, "Oh, my! You didn't want this pendulum a moment ago, but now you're picking it up to eat. It seems you're truly ravenous and have no regard for your dignity. You wretch, back in the day, you were formidable and awe-inspiring, renowned far and wide. Now you've fallen so low, scavenging scraps to fill your stomach. It's truly chilling, laughable, absolutely ludicrous! Hahahahaha~"

Plop!

A clear dewdrop spurted from the lotus core, landing precisely on the phonograph's large horn.

The laughter abruptly stopped.

"You dared to spit on me?" The phonograph erupted in fury, all three horns smoking simultaneously. A cloud of steam enveloped the copper lotus. "You've gone too far! Today, I'll show you some house rules!"

The lotus was unfazed, its tiny dewdrops swirling up and down within the steam.

...

Li Banfeng returned to the courtyard. Looking up, the familiar surrounding wall was gone, replaced by a dense forest.

The old woman was dead, Luo Yuni was gone, and the ghosts had been eaten by the phonograph. All illusions had vanished.

After traversing the forest for a while, Li Banfeng saw Xiao Yeci and Lu Chunying.

The mother and daughter were covered in injuries, huddled together, unable to move.

Seeing Li Banfeng approach, Xiao Yeci called out in a trembling voice, "Oh, benefactor, you've finally come! We encountered a ghost wall!"

Without needing to ask, Li Banfeng could tell what they had been through.

"You want to go to Ligou, right?"

"Yes, benefactor!" Xiao Yeci and Lu Chunying nodded vigorously.

"If I take you to Ligou, how much can you pay?"

"Name your price, benefactor!"

"One thousand!"

"Deal, benefactor!" Xiao Yeci was pleasantly surprised; this was less than she had expected.

Li Banfeng didn't ask for more. He remembered how, at the foot of Kuwu Mountain, the pharmacy had driven the price of Snake-Spot Chrysanthemums down to twenty-five yuan.

A thousand yuan could buy forty Snake-Spot Chrysanthemums, enough to make many people risk their lives. This was indeed a significant sum.

Of course, some conditions needed to be clarified.

"One thousand yuan is just the basic escort fee. If we encounter villains, we'll need to adjust the price accordingly, and if I suffer any losses, you'll have to compensate me at cost."

The rules were reasonable. Xiao Yeci nodded repeatedly.

Li Banfeng led Xiao Yeci and Lu Chunying out of the forest.

Along the way, Xiao Yeci was trembling with fear, and Lu Chunying stayed tightly hidden behind her mother.

They had been terrified by the tree branches, but following Li Banfeng, they weren't hit even once.

The ghosts in the trees were gone, so naturally, they wouldn't be hit, but they didn't know the full story.

"What kind of person is he...?" Xiao Yeci was very surprised. "He's so capable in a fight, and he even knows magic! He can even subdue ghosts!"

Lu Chunying tugged at Xiao Yeci's sleeve. "Mom, use your persuasive skills and subdue him."

Xiao Yeci shook her head. "I don't have that ability, dear. You do it if you can."

Stepping out of the forest, Li Banfeng saw a stone tablet.

Three characters were inscribed on it: Changliu Village.

When he first entered the 'village,' Li Banfeng had seen this tablet and genuinely believed there was a real village here.

Now it seemed "Changliu Village" was an illusion created by the old woman and her house spirit, Luo Yuni. There was only a forest and a mansion here, which explained why only one house had lights on when Li Banfeng entered.

However, the stone tablet looked old, not like a fake.

Perhaps there genuinely was a Changliu Village here once, and perhaps everyone in it was harmed by the old woman and Luo Yuni.

A whole village vanished—and no one cared?

Yet, when Li Banfeng argued with the ticket seller at the station, someone did intervene.

What kind of order truly existed in Prouncia?

PS: Dear readers, *Lord of Prouncia* is striving to reach Lv2. The "out of circle" index is already met, and the follower count is almost there; we just need more interaction. Please leave a comment for Salad—even just one word or sentence would be great. On behalf of Banfeng, thank you all.