Chapter 717: Earned

In the early morning hours, Xiaoyao Dock was silent. The guests had dispersed, the dancers had returned, and the performers were fast asleep.

The peddler entered Li Banfeng's room through the window; Li Banfeng was waiting inside.

"I had planned to help you collect the sunflower seeds, but an urgent matter came up, so you'll have to collect them yourself," the peddler said. He handed Li Banfeng a map, a box of cooling balm, and seven packets of Soul-Returning Soup. "Apply the cooling balm to your eyes, and you'll be able to see where the sunflowers are. The map is very clear; you'll definitely find them."

Li Banfeng took the map and the packets of medicine, and asked, "What urgent matter did you encounter?"

The peddler looked at Li Banfeng's condition. "Don't worry about that for now," he said. "Focus on sorting out your own affairs first."

Li Banfeng looked at the map. "So many places?" he wondered.

"Didn't I tell you?" the peddler replied. "Many people remember you."

Li Banfeng also noticed two place names not on the map, which only had textual descriptions. "These places too?" he asked.

"Yes!" the peddler affirmed. "These two places are crucial; you must go."

Li Banfeng was still puzzled. "Who did you send to plant sunflowers in these places?" he asked.

"I have agents in those places," the peddler replied. "From today, you must take one dose of Soul-Returning Soup daily." He said no more and hurried away.

Taking one dose daily meant Li Banfeng's condition was even more precarious.

Li Banfeng took the map and began searching for sunflowers everywhere.

In Lanyang Village, a sunflower had formed a statue depicting a man in black wielding a knife, hacking at someone. The local customs there remained simple, and the impression of Li Qi had not changed.

Zhengjing Village had one and a half statues. One was fully formed, and the other was nearly complete. They depicted a man in black shooting people with a gun.

Li Banfeng was very dissatisfied. After all the effort he had put into cultivating his image in Zhengjing Village, was this the only impression he had left?

Snake Bridge Village had eight statues.

Each time Li Banfeng rescued the three-headed people, he settled them in Snake Bridge Village, which now had over ten thousand permanent residents.

Could the popularity here really be higher than at Daogui Ridge?

The statues in Snake Bridge Village were very interesting. They depicted a man in black, wearing a top hat, driving a train.

The popularity of Seven Autumn City also largely came from the three-headed people, but the statues there were distinctly different from those in Snake Bridge Village. Li Banfeng was shown standing in front of a wooden house, seemingly guarding it.

Although fewer than three thousand three-headed people lived in Seven Autumn City, Li Banfeng collected five statues from there. Qingyan City had one and a half statues, depicting Li Banfeng holding a child.

Sleepless Town had one statue, depicting Li Banfeng holding a pillow. Ever since Li Banfeng became the local 'God-King of Self-Exertion' there, people could finally sleep properly.

Six statues were collected from Haichi Ridge. As it wasn't a temple fair, the popularity of Master Qi was limited. Five statues came from Master Qi temples in various villages, and one more came from Erdao Ridge. Toudao Ridge only had half a statue, which was not yet fully formed.

The statues in Three-Headed Fork were more dispersed, but their number was astonishing. Li Banfeng found a total of sixteen statues.

These statues varied in form, but most had three heads. The three-headed people longed for Li Qi to rescue them, but they didn't know what he looked like.

One of the statues was very special: it depicted Li Banfeng dancing while holding a basket.

This statue came from Baiji Commandery. The peddler had collected it in advance and hidden it on a desolate island in the underground city's sea market.

Seeing this statue, Li Banfeng felt a pang of shame. The little he had done for Baijundu was truly far less than what Baijundu had sacrificed.

There were also Huangtu Bridge, Baihua Village, and Qishui Kiln—indeed, many places remembered Li Qi.

Li Banfeng collected the statues from each location one by one. After absorbing the popularity, he roughly estimated that he had gathered about fifty percent.

The good news was that nearly half of the popularity had been collected.

The problem was, where would he find the remaining majority?

Hong Ying didn't think it was a big deal. "Didn't the peddler give him a lot of Soul-Returning Soup?" she asked. "Hubby can just keep drinking it, and once he has enough for half a month, he can go collect more popularity. Won't that be enough?"

Zhao Xiaowan snatched a board and playfully hit her twice. "If you can't count, don't interfere!" she retorted. "The peddler said he needs to take one dose a day. There are only seven doses here; how can that last half a month?"

Furthermore, some of this small portion of popularity was absorbed by Li Banfeng from various local seals, and these seals couldn't accumulate much popularity in a short period.

Hong Ying rubbed herself for a while and pouted, "The peddler is so stingy! He couldn't even give a little more of this tonic."

Miss Jiu poked Hong Ying's waist, signaling her to stop talking.

The peddler had given seven days' worth of medicine. The implication was clear: if he didn't complete the promotion within seven days, the Soul-Returning Soup would likely be useless.

There were still two places on the map without marked locations, only textual descriptions.

The first place was Bitter Vegetable Village. He really didn't want to go there, but now he had no choice. Li Banfeng gritted his teeth and said, "Alright, I'll go to Bitter Vegetable Village!"

The Gramophone looked at the map. "There's one last place," she said. "When will you go there, Hubby?"

Li Banfeng pressed down on his legs, trying desperately to control their trembling. "I've already set a time," he said. "I'll go there last, and once I'm there, I must complete the promotion."

Reaching the edge of Bitter Vegetable Village, Li Banfeng took a deep breath and muttered to himself, "Granny, let's make a deal. You give me some good fortune, and we can skip the tempering, alright?"

Granny Ku looked at the desolate area. She said to He Jiaqing, "All thirteen territories are yours?"

He Jiaqing took out the deed. "Shu Wanjuan signed this," he stated.

Granny Ku examined the deed and exclaimed, "Good lad! To get a deed from that old rogue, you've handled this matter exceptionally well!"

He Jiaqing looked around. "I still need to find a way to develop these territories," he said. "I've calculated the manpower of the Brotherhood Alliance, and we're quite short."

Granny Ku also knew that manpower was a big problem. "I'll help you figure something out for this," she said. "Keep an eye out for the right moment to go to Neizhou and bring back all the deeds for these territories."

He Jiaqing replied, "We can't rush this. Neizhou is heavily guarded right now. If I go, it might be difficult to succeed."

"Even if I succeed," he added, "it would tip them off and force Shu Wanjuan to turn against us."

Granny Ku nodded. "I'm not rushing you; I just want you to remember this matter," she said. "In the meantime, recruit more oddities. Don't wait until it's time to cultivate the land and find you can't even perform the initial assessments—"

Before she finished speaking, Granny Ku suddenly stopped.

Seeing her frown deeply, He Jiaqing asked, "Granny, what's wrong?"

Granny Ku suddenly showed a hint of a smile. "Good news!" she said. "My nephew is here."

He Jiaqing didn't know where Granny Ku had a nephew from. Granny Ku offered no explanation and vanished in an instant.

In Bitter Vegetable Village, Li Banfeng was collecting statues. The area was vast and sparsely populated, and the peddler had planted the sunflowers somewhat spread out. Li Banfeng found three sunflowers; one had a fully formed statue, while the other two had not yet matured.

Li Banfeng had once transformed Bitter Vegetable Village into Joyful Village. The sentiment was still there, but there were simply too few people.

According to the map, there were two more sunflowers. To be honest, finding even one statue on these two sunflowers would be good; taking this risk here truly wasn't worth it.

Li Banfeng was about to leave Bitter Vegetable Village when he suddenly shivered involuntarily.

He felt that something was wrong, and quickly stood motionless, pressing himself against the wall.

A cold wind, carrying a bitter scent, blew past. Granny Ku slowly walked past Li Banfeng.

If it were an ordinary person, with Li Banfeng's talent for Cloud Four Dwellings cultivation, even if he walked around casually or waved his arms wildly, he wouldn't attract attention.

But Granny Ku was not an ordinary person. Now, if Li Banfeng moved even an inch, she would discover him.

Don't move, absolutely do not move.

Li Banfeng pressed his body tightly against the wall, almost merging with it.

But his legs were disobedient. Even with extreme effort to control them, they still trembled twice.

Granny Ku came up to Li Banfeng and chuckled, "When did you arrive? Come on in and sit down at my place."

Li Banfeng forced a smile. "I was just