Chapter 68: Spider Detective

Li Banfeng crossed over Jiangyue Mountain in Outer Gully. After walking over a hundred *li* of mountain roads, he arrived at a canyon at 3 AM.

According to Yu Nan's description, traversing this canyon would lead to the Land of Rebirth.

The canyon was difficult to navigate. At its widest, it was two to three meters across, but at its narrowest, one could only pass through sideways.

Li Banfeng walked sideways through a long, narrow crevice for over a *li*. By his perception, this single *li* felt more impactful than walking ten *li* in Ligou Town.

As soon as he emerged from the crevice, Li Banfeng didn't notice the dozen-meter-high cliff face beneath his feet and fell directly down.

Fortunately, as a Traveler Cultivator, his excellent footwork allowed him to cushion his fall along the slope before hitting the ground, leaving him unharmed.

His clothes were torn, but it didn't matter; they were the Geng family guard's uniform.

But his shoes were worn through, and Li Banfeng felt a pang of regret.

Brushing the dust from his clothes, Li Banfeng looked back at the cliff face. He suddenly saw a spider crawl out of the crevice, dangling from a strand of silk, slowly descending.

What was so special about a spider?

This spider was indeed quite special. It was huge; its body alone, excluding its legs, had a diameter of over a meter.

Even more remarkably, the spider wore a black top hat. When it reached Li Banfeng, it deliberately removed its hat and bowed to Li Banfeng in a very gentlemanly manner.

Not only could it bow, but this spider could also speak. "My lady, why are you walking alone in this perilous place?"

"My lady?"

Li Banfeng stared at the spider for a moment. "You've mistaken me for someone else, haven't you?"

Hearing Li Banfeng's voice, the spider froze for a moment. This "woman" with heavy makeup and a beautiful face was actually a man. "Ah, a gentleman! My apologies. Are you heading to the new lands for reclamation? We happen to be going the same way."

"Reclamation?"

"Farming?"

"Are you an Agrarian Cultivator?" Li Banfeng asked.

"Agrarian Cultivator?" The spider chuckled. "You jest! You should know from my appearance that I am a Body Cultivator."

The way this spider spoke was different from the local people and also from the modern society Li Banfeng was familiar with.

His tone of voice was reminiscent of a dubbed film.

Of course, the accent wasn't the main point.

The main point was that he was a talking spider.

At the Geng Family Pharmacy, Li Banfeng had met Song Boming. As a Body Cultivator, he bore some resemblance to a crab.

Before this, Li Banfeng had also seen Body Cultivators on Kuwu Mountain. That person had built-in armor.

Now he saw a spider. The Body Cultivation sect certainly boasted diverse forms.

The path ahead widened slightly. The spider quickened its pace and walked alongside Li Banfeng. "Friend, your steady footwork suggests you're a Traveler Cultivator, yes? Traveler Cultivator powders are very expensive, so you must be a wealthy person."

"So-so," Li Banfeng replied casually.

"My life is tough, though. I have no money to build my foundation, nor to buy medicinal powders. I can only try my luck at San Tou Cha."

This spider was very talkative. He mentioned San Tou Cha, and Li Banfeng was genuinely interested.

"You're building your foundation at San Tou Cha? Have you grown three heads?"

The spider chuckled. "Are you deliberately making fun of us Body Cultivators?"

Li Banfeng shook his head. "I've never left Yaowang Gully in my life, so I don't know much about San Tou Cha."

The spider continued as they walked. "Even if you haven't been to San Tou Cha, you should have heard of the origin of Body Cultivators. All Body Cultivators under heaven come from San Tou Cha. For the poor who seek cultivation, this is the only path."

"Why is it for the poor?" Li Banfeng didn't mind showing his ignorance; he asked when he didn't understand.

The spider chuckled. "Friend, are you pretending to be ignorant? Poor folk can't afford elixirs or magical medicines, and have no money to acquire Dao affinity. So they can only try their luck at San Tou Cha.

"San Tou Cha is a place inherently imbued with Dao affinity, but not everyone can benefit from it. Out of ten who go, nine turn into three-headed monsters. Such individuals are condemned to be monsters for life.

"Only one with a strong physique can achieve proper cultivation. That's why our path is called Body Cultivation."

"So, achieving proper cultivation means becoming a spider?"

"I always feel like you're mocking me," the spider rolled all eight of its eyes upwards. "What one transforms into depends on their individual luck and talent.

"Some cultivate into birds, others into beasts. Many also cultivate into scorpions or spiders. Are you looking down on my appearance?"

Li Banfeng shook his head. "Not at all. This path is so difficult, yet you navigate it more smoothly than even I, a Traveler Cultivator. That's a genuine skill."

"Thank you for the compliment," the spider raised its hat and bowed again. "I've told you all this because I want you to know I'm an honest person. If you're also going to clear land for the Lu family, we should be partners."

"Partners?"

This reminded Li Banfeng of his painful experience forming a partnership.

"I'm really not going for reclamation," Li Banfeng politely declined the spider's invitation.

"If you're not going for reclamation, then you can't blame me..."

"Blame you for what?"

Li Banfeng smiled, looking at the spider.

All eight of the spider's eyes fixed on Li Banfeng's two.

After a brief staring contest, the spider suddenly shot out a stream of silk.

Li Banfeng's smile remained, because the silk wasn't aimed at him. Nor did he sense any malice from the spider.

The stream of silk attached itself to the rock face ahead in the canyon. The spider retracted its silk and continued climbing along the rock face.

"If you're not going for reclamation, then I won't take you with me! Hahahaha!"

The path ahead was very narrow and muddy. Li Banfeng struggled to wade through the mud, watching the spider smugly traverse the rock face with ease.

A few minutes later, the spider's figure vanished from Li Banfeng's sight.

After a full two hours, Li Banfeng finally reached the end of the canyon.

No wonder Yu Nan chose this place to seek refuge. Even for Li Banfeng, a first-level Traveler Cultivator, the journey was so arduous. For anyone else, this trip alone would be utterly exhausting.

The end of the canyon wasn't a normal exit as Li Banfeng had imagined; it was another cliff face.

To be precise, the canyon was merely a crevice embedded in the cliff. Now Li Banfeng had to emerge from that crevice.

Standing at the edge of the cliff, he had two options. One was to jump directly down. The other was to use his hands and feet to climb down the precipice.

The cliff beneath him was hundreds of meters high, and neither option seemed logical.

Li Banfeng ultimately made the most logical choice.

He opened his Portable Residence. Before entering, he threw the key off the cliff.

After waiting a moment inside the house, Li Banfeng exited the Portable Residence and picked up the key beneath a tree.

Trees filled his vision; trees were everywhere. Dense trunks and branches obscured over ninety percent of Li Banfeng's view.

Li Banfeng took a step forward. The ground, thick with dead branches and fallen leaves, covered his ankles.

Another step forward, he tripped over a root hidden beneath the leaves, and his foot sank into the mud.

His foot sank quite deep; the mud came up to his thigh.

Li Banfeng reacted quickly. He grabbed a vine and pulled his leg out. Just as he steadied himself, he suddenly felt danger approaching.

No, it wasn't approaching; it had already arrived.

Li Banfeng felt a tingling itch on his calf. He rolled up his trouser leg to look. There were countless leeches sucking on his leg, as if he were wearing a pair of wool pants.

Li Banfeng pulled off a leech. This was no ordinary leech. It was incredibly strong and bit down very tightly, tearing a piece of flesh directly from Li Banfeng's leg.

If he were to pull off this "pair of wool pants," Li Banfeng probably wouldn't have any skin left on his legs.

He returned to his Portable Residence, took off his pants, got a can of salt, and sprinkled it on the leeches.

To his surprise, these leeches were incredibly resilient. Even after salting, they clung on.

Li Banfeng was about to use a knife to cut off the leeches' bodies when he suddenly saw the phonograph emit a burst of steam.

Under the high-temperature scorching, the leeches writhed in unbearable pain and released their grip one by one.

The phonograph then blew steam over Li Banfeng's legs a few more times, disinfecting the wounds covering his legs.

It hurt a bit.

But after the pain, came a soothing relief.

The phonograph even played a song to comfort Li Banfeng:

"If it weren't for me, how would you live..."

"I remember the original lyrics were 'If it weren't for you.'"

"My dear, are you comforting me or bragging?"

Geng Zhiwei's soul had long been consumed. His corpse was also eaten by the Copper Lotus. Its petals remained tightly closed, still refining elixirs.

Various items were scattered on the ground. Li Banfeng quickly tidied them up. Taking advantage of the Copper Lotus being preoccupied, he swiftly collected the weapons of Geng Zhiwei and the two Martial Cultivators.

Their weapons were all good. One Martial Cultivator's weapon was an iron spike over a foot long, with two three-inch long smaller spikes at its base.

Li Banfeng simply called it an "iron spike," only to be mercilessly ridiculed by the phonograph.

"Why are you laughing at me? Do you know what this thing is called?"

The phonograph didn't reply.

The other weapon was also unusual. It resembled a fork formed by two crescent moons, one large and one small, intertwined.

Li Banfeng called it a "fork," and was again ridiculed by the phonograph.

Geng Zhiwei had a pistol with bullets still in its magazine.

Li Banfeng put away the weapons, threw the useless miscellaneous items out of his Portable Residence, and continued traversing the forest according to the map Yu Nan had drawn.

After walking for over an hour, Li Banfeng checked his pocket watch.

It was almost nine o'clock. Why wasn't it getting light yet?

***

Yaowang Gully, Jiangyue Mountain New Land, Lu Family Mansion.

A ray of sunlight shone into the main hall. Zhuo Yuling, the second concubine of Lu Dongliang, head of the Lu family, raised her teacup and took a delicate sip, quietly awaiting her guest's arrival.

After waiting for about an hour, a man of medium build entered the main courtyard, led by the butler.

The man wore a black tailcoat, a black top hat, and black round-framed sunglasses. His face was full, and his features were well-defined, exuding an air of complete gentlemanliness.

He removed his hat and bowed to Zhuo Yuling. "Private Investigator, Dabo Yins, at your service."

"Dabo Yins?"

The man standing opposite was clearly a local with yellow skin and black hair, yet he had given himself a foreign name.

Moreover, he and Zhuo Yuling were old acquaintances.

Zhuo Yuling did not return the bow. She didn't even rise from her chair. She looked at the bowing man and replied with a slightly disdainful sneer, "It's been years. How did you turn into such a pseudo-foreigner?"

Her voice was soft, but her words were sharp.

Dabo Yins politely responded, "Madam, a gentleman's quality is not bound by lineage, nor is grace confined by borders."

Zhuo Yuling pointed to a nearby chair. "Have a seat."

Dabo Yins put on his top hat. He was somewhat displeased by Zhuo Yuling's arrogance, but nonetheless took the seat.

Zhuo Yuling lit a lady's cigarette and took a puff. She slowly said, "I've called you here for three matters. The first is for land reclamation. The second is to find someone. The third is to kill someone.

"There's no need to discuss the reclamation; you understand the terms.

"As for finding someone, I mentioned it in my letter; it's about my daughter, and this matter is of utmost urgency.

"Regarding the killing, the person's name is Li Banfeng. Here are his photos and information. It would be best if you could capture him alive."

Dabo Yins looked at Li Banfeng's photo. After a moment of silence, he uttered, "What a pity."

"A pity about what?" Zhuo Yuling paused.

Dabo Yins chuckled. "Nothing. I just find this young man a pity."