Chapter 736: She Eats Live Prey

The battered Saint cowered in the corner, looking up at Dan Chengjun.

"My dear subject, Dan," he pleaded, "How did a mere misunderstanding between ruler and subject escalate to this?"

Dan Chengjun smiled, walked closer, and began to chat casually with the Saint. With every word he spoke, he slapped the Saint.

"Who is your dear subject? Who shares a ruler-subject relationship with you? If I hadn't saved you, Qiao Yi would have already hung your head on the walls of Chaoge City! Back then, when you were outside, you couldn't secure your position and had the Peddler escort you to Scoundrel's Ridge. You truly are a match for Scoundrel's Ridge, but you couldn't even defend it! The Blade Fiends forced you back to Chaoge. And it's truly a joke, speaking of it: you brought the Blade Fiends upon yourself! You had Chu Shaoqiang move Blade Fiend Ridge to your doorstep—how despicable are you? Once back in Chaoge, you were still a good-for-nothing. How many people in court respected you? When Li Qi entered Triple City, you finally panicked, bringing a few insignificant cronies to fight Qiao Yi desperately. If you had truly dared to fight, I would have considered you a man, but before Qiao Yi could even strike hard, those worthless subordinates of yours all fled in terror, and you yourself ran faster than them! I blocked Qiao Yi, saved your life, and sent you to Tufang Country, calling you 'Your Majesty' repeatedly. And today, in your 'imperial fury,' you intend to harm me? Is this what you call imperial majesty? What kind of dragon are you? Is this a face? Do you even have a face left?!"

Dan Chengjun slapped him left and right, delivering countless blows to the Saint's face. The Saint's face truly ceased to be a face; his skin was nearly stripped off.

"My dear subject," the Saint stammered, "I was wrong. I am willing to issue an imperial decree admitting my faults. I am willing to bestow upon you the title of Equal-to-King—"

Dan Chengjun spat on the Saint's face. "Still 'I,' still 'Equal-to-King'!" he sneered. "What use is a king you bestow? You yourself are a stray dog; what king can you still bestow upon me? Do you really take me for a scoundrel from Scoundrel's Ridge?!"

The Saint lowered his head and said, "Chengjun, I'll let you decide how to handle this matter. Just spare my life."

"Now that's a human thing to say," Dan Chengjun remarked. He picked up the Saint, put him into a sack, and left the residence.

Arriving at Hao Shouyi's residence, Dan Chengjun set the sack down. "Can you modify this thing for me?" he asked.

Hao Shouyi opened the sack and looked inside. Seeing that it contained the Saint, he was slightly surprised.

After his surprise, he looked up and asked Dan Chengjun, "What kind of modification are you looking for?"

Dan Chengjun thought for a moment. "Able to speak and move, obedient, but not troublesome," he replied.

Hao Shouyi pondered for a moment, then suddenly realized the Saint was using a technique. "I think he's quite a lot of trouble right now," he said. Dan Chengjun reached into the sack and felt along the Saint's spine. All the vertebrae shattered. The Saint's expression immediately became calm. Dan Chengjun wiped his hands and told Hao Shouyi, "The rest is up to you."

He trusted Hao Shouyi completely; he was willing to entrust even the Peddler's cartwheels to Hao Shouyi, let alone a Saint.

There were still many things to do next, but the most pressing matter now was to see the Demon Lord as soon as possible. He needed to give the Demon Lord some other ideas.

After seeing the Demon Lord, he also needed to contact Shu Wanjuan; they had many things to discuss.

Following Qiao Yi's instructions, Shu Wanjuan sent a batch of strange creatures to the new territory. The local gods from the thirteen territories came out to greet them, every one of them acting flawlessly.

Shu Wanjuan was genuinely curious: Where did He Jiaqing get so many performance cultivators?

It's also possible that some of these people weren't performance cultivators; perhaps many simply held performance cultivation artifacts. He Jiaqing's arrangements were indeed thorough. The one playing Liu Bufei not only looked similar but also acted and spoke in character. Even Shu Wanjuan found it hard to tell the difference.

Once the strange creatures were settled, He Jiaqing also appeared. "Marquis," he said, "such trivial matters shouldn't require your personal attention."

He Jiaqing was right; given Shu Wanjuan's status, he indeed shouldn't be distributing strange creatures.

Shu Wanjuan knew what he was doing. "Every thunderclap and drop of rain is an act of imperial grace," he replied. "Since it's a royal assignment, as a subject, one should exert full effort. How can one pick and choose?"

He Jiaqing nodded repeatedly. "Although I am not a subject," he said, "I have received many favors from the court, and I am also deeply grateful to the court."

This remark infuriated Shu Wanjuan so much he couldn't speak for a long time.

The fact was, He Jiaqing had indeed received favors from the court: the court had sent him the strange creatures and would soon send him trailblazers.

But the logic wasn't the same; these favors were stolen by him.

Anger aside, Shu Wanjuan couldn't yet fall out with He Jiaqing. After a brief chat, Shu Wanjuan received a message from Dan Chengjun. He found an excuse and left the new territory.

Not long after Shu Wanjuan left, Big Head arrived in the territory and reported the progress of the Fraternity Alliance's recruitment to He Jiaqing.

He Jiaqing was not very satisfied. "After so many days of recruitment, we still don't have half the people we need," he grumbled. "I wonder what Shen Rongqing is busy with every day."

Big Head was also anxious for He Jiaqing. "I'll go help her," he offered. "I happen to have some time recently."

He Jiaqing refused. "You can't do everything yourself," he said. "If you have leisure time, spend more time managing your own territory and earning more popularity. When you reach the Cloud Realm, you'll need to cultivate even harder. We brothers will face many strong enemies in the future."

At the mention of popularity, Big Head had an idea. "Ma Chunting has hired many people at a high price to reclaim the new territory," he said. "Many who failed in their reclamation efforts are now out of work. I'd like to hire them first."

That was indeed a good idea.

Ma Chunting invested his entire family fortune to reclaim land for Ma Chenxing. But once the hired trailblazers failed, they couldn't reclaim land within a hundred li radius anymore. These people lost their business and couldn't find other work immediately, so hiring them would indeed be appropriate.

But He Jiaqing was still a little worried. "It's best if our matters don't get involved with the Ma family," he said. "Ma Wu is sharp-minded and might inadvertently uncover some secrets. If only we had the Three-Headed people he commands! I went to his territory the day before yesterday, and he had already reclaimed more than half of the new territory he just acquired."

Big Head thought for a moment. "How about I offer more money," he suggested, "and try to hire some Three-Headed people from him?"

He Jiaqing shook his head repeatedly. "That won't do," he said. "Those Three-Headed people are fiercely loyal; you won't be able to hire them. And you'll offend Li Qi. Li Qi is already seeing red over the war; at this critical juncture, absolutely do not provoke him. When Tufang Country sent people to Bitter Fog Mountain, he killed them without hesitation. What else is he incapable of doing?"

Big Head nodded. "Alright," he said, "I'll try my best to avoid Li Qi and Ma Wu."

In He Jiaqing's view, Big Head indeed should avoid them, but seeing it himself, he was still a bit unwilling. He always felt like he was missing out on something. "Ma Wu is very good to the Three-Headed people in his territory," he lamented. "The Three-Headed people are grateful to him. What a shame to lose out on all that popularity."

Big Head didn't understand. "What does popularity have to do with gratitude?" he asked. "Isn't popularity based on numbers?"

He Jiaqing explained, "You don't understand. There's a special kind of popularity that doesn't just rely on numbers, but also on intentions and thoughts. This kind of popularity is very precious."

"It is this kind of popularity that, when collected, will be of great use in the future." Li Banfeng lifted the sunflower disc and harvested eight divine statues from it.

This sunflower was planted in Ma Wu's new territory and had been cultivated for a long time. Among the eight divine statues, five belonged to Li Qi; these represented the Three-Headed people's gratitude for Li Qi saving their lives.

The other three were for Ma Wu, because Ma Wu genuinely treated them well. Ma Wu paid them high wages and provided living conditions they had never dared to imagine.

Ma Wu held the divine statues and asked, "Old Seven, how should I use these?"

Li Banfeng asked, "How much longer until you ascend to the Cloud Realm?"

Ma Wu had also been thinking about this. "By my own calculations, I can reach the ninth level by the end of the month," he said, "but according to Brother Qiu, before ascending to the Cloud Realm, one cannot indulge in pleasure for half a year."

Li Banfeng asked seriously, "Not even a little bit?"

Ma Wu nodded. "Not even by oneself," he confirmed.

Li Qi encouraged him, "Then you must absolutely persevere!"

Ma Wu directly shook his head. "Don't even think about it," he said. "I definitely can't do it. Forget half a year, I can't even last half a month. I guess I'm destined to never reach the Cloud Realm in this lifetime."

Li Qi thought for a moment and offered Ma Wu an idea. "If you cut it off," he asked, "would you be able to endure it?"

Ma Wu turned pale with shock. "Don't even joke about that!" he exclaimed. "What's the point of living then?"

Li Banfeng returned to his portable residence and asked his wife if she had heard of anything similar.

His wife shook her head. "About pleasure cultivators, I, your humble servant, don't know much," she said. "We haven't found any pleasure cultivators in our family either."

Jiu'er laughed. "Isn't Hong Ying a pleasure cultivator in word only?" she teased.

"Nonsense!" Hong Ying exclaimed. She was braiding Jiu'er's hair and gently tugged on Jiu'er's braid. "But I do know a bit about this. I once heard my second brother say there's a type of medicine that can make pleasure cultivators lose their desires. I don't know if this medicine would be useful."

"Your second brother?" Li Banfeng recalled for a moment. "The one who was dragged into a painting by Mu Yuejuan and nearly drained dry?"

Hong Ying nodded. "Mu Yuejuan told him about it," she confirmed.

Li Banfeng did know about Mu Yuejuan, but the key was, where could he find her?

Zhao Xiaowan provided a clue. "The last time we met," she said, "Mu Yuejuan had joined Snowflake Porthole and was with Mr. Kong Fang."

Mr. Kong Fang—he had almost forgotten about him.

This person couldn't be forgotten. The more critical the moment, the more vigilance was needed.

There was a lot of bad blood between Li Banfeng and Mr. Kong Fang. In the past, he would have definitely avoided him, but Li Banfeng's strength was no longer what it used to be, so it might not be a bad idea to seek him out for a chat.

This wasn't just about Ma Wu; the war wasn't over yet, and Li Banfeng had to pay attention to Snowflake Porthole's movements.

Taking the initiative to find Mr. Kong Fang required not only courage but also strength. Li Banfeng could bring his family along in a critical moment, and Mr. Kong Fang could also bring his subordinates to fight.

Moreover, his wife had said that when Dan Chengjun last fought Mr. Kong Fang, he was originally targeting Li Qi. Dan Chengjun had once caused trouble for the Peddler, so to spar with someone of that level, Li Banfeng needed to be fully prepared.

First, he had to solidify his cultivation; he must learn the technique of "Borderless Wanderer."

But "Mind Travels a Thousand Mountains" and "Go It Alone"—how could these two techniques be combined?

Li Banfeng had an idea.

"Yingying," he said, "come with me for a bit."

"What for?" she asked.

"To practice some techniques together."

Hong Ying said joyfully, "Qilang, you've finally remembered this important matter! I'll just get ready and be right there."

Hong Ying truly valued practicing techniques. She changed into a suit of military attire, intending to seriously train with Li Banfeng.

Seven-Room Pineapple came to the main hall and said to Zhao Xiaowan, "Madam, I want to investigate the hooks of Xuzhou."

Hong Ying scolded Seven-Room, "We're doing serious business; why are you interfering?"

Zhao Xiaowan looked at Li Banfeng. "Pineapple's matter is also important," Li Banfeng said. "We can go out and check it out together." Li Banfeng first stepped out of his portable residence and used the "Connected Wide Bridal Chamber" technique to bring out his wife, Hong Ying, and Pineapple.

Knowing Pineapple had something to say, Li Banfeng didn't pick up the key and led everyone to a distant place.

Once they reached a secluded spot, Pineapple asked Li Banfeng, "Seventh Master, have you been having nightmares lately?"

Li Banfeng thought for a moment. "It's been better these past few days," he replied. "For a while before that, the nightmares were incessant."

"What kind of nightmares were they?" asked Pineapple.

Li Banfeng said, "I saw the entire Pro Continent in ruins after a fierce battle."

Pineapple chose his words carefully. "I discovered something at home," he said. "I'm not entirely sure if it's related to Seventh Master's nightmares, but these past few days, when Seventh Master was asleep, I heard some sounds."

"What sounds?" Zhao Xiaowan asked.

"Voices speaking," Pineapple replied. "I couldn't make out what was said specifically. But to speak at home and still evade my ears, there aren't many people with that ability."

This was clear enough.

His wife was a top sound cultivator; she could evade Seven-Room's ears, but she would never harm Li Banfeng.

Second Room's shadow cultivator had special abilities, able to communicate with shadows using extremely low sounds, but this trick might not work on Li Banfeng.

Moreover, Second Room had suffered a loss with Banfeng Yi and was under his wife's close surveillance. He dared not show himself