Chapter 801: Backfiring Loyalty

Li Banfeng arrived at the peddler's residence, carrying a torch.

As he reached the base of the wall, a feather duster flew down from the roof, its colorful feathers fluttering, and shouted at Li Banfeng, "No fires! I'll be right back!"

Li Banfeng stuck the torch into the ground and waited quietly by the wall.

Half an hour later, the peddler returned. Li Banfeng handed him a box of maps that Illusionist Wu Chang had provided.

According to the investigation by the Brotherhood Alliance, the Great Totem was located in Yindu.

"Yindu is a difficult place to find," the peddler said, opening the iron box and flipping through the maps. "These maps are probably no longer useful."

Li Banfeng said, "I'll go scout ahead. I have the Orientation Map."

The peddler shook his head slightly. "This is too dangerous; I can't let you go. I'll handle it myself. Lend me the Orientation Map."

Li Banfeng remained silent.

Borrowing something from the old man was not an easy task.

A sound of sobbing reached his ears.

"Why are you crying?" the peddler asked, looking behind Li Banfeng. The sobbing came from the Portable Abode.

"Th-that, that Orientation Map, it's, it's mine! You can't just take it!" the Portable Abode cried, choking on its sobs.

The peddler retorted angrily, "I'm just borrowing it; I'm not keeping it!"

"W-what if you lose it?"

"I'll compensate you, double the amount!"

The Portable Abode stopped crying, and a yellowish-brown scroll appeared in the peddler's hand.

The peddler unrolled the scroll; it was blank, with no words or diagrams.

But the peddler knew its value. He held it up to the sun, nodded, and said, "This is the real thing. I'll head to Neizhou now. Brother, keep an eye on the house. If anyone comes to cause trouble, beat them senseless. If you can't beat them, just hold them down until I get back, and we'll fight them together."

As the peddler pushed his cart to leave, Li Banfeng suddenly called out, "Senior Brother, please be careful."

The peddler smiled. "Don't worry, I'm tough."

Chu Er lay on the bed, blinking silently. She couldn't speak.

Grandma Ku sighed. "The elixir poison is too deep. Unless you have a Blue Leaf Elixir, you won't be able to get out of bed and walk for the rest of your life. Blue Leaf Poplar is hard to come by, and the elixir is difficult to refine. I'll go ask around to see if I can get some. It all depends on luck."

Hearing "it depends on luck," Chu Er felt a glimmer of hope, especially since Grandma Ku had the ability to control fortune.

Grandma Ku wasn't very confident. "If luck is on our side, I might be able to get two or three pills. But given your condition, even two or three pills won't restore you. Don't even think about your cultivation. From now on, you'll need others to take care of your every need. You fool, what am I going to do with you!"

Grandma Ku left. Chu Er lay on the bed, sniffled, and two lines of tears streamed down her face.

She cried, but she had no regrets.

She tried to wipe away her tears, but her hands wouldn't move.

A handkerchief was pressed against her cheek. Chu Er was startled to see Li Banfeng wiping away her tears.

Chu Er tried to curl the corners of her mouth upward. Seeing Li Banfeng, she wanted to smile, but tears still flowed uncontrollably.

"Why did you deceive me? If I had known you were using this method, I would never have let you distract Grandma Ku," Li Banfeng said. He took out a Blue Leaf Elixir and fed it to Chu Er.

Li Banfeng had heard everything Grandma Ku had just said, though Grandma Ku couldn't see him.

After taking the elixir and resting for over an hour, Chu Er's fingers gradually regained movement. She tried to move them for Li Banfeng to see.

Li Banfeng took a box from his pocket and placed it beside Chu Er's pillow. "I have plenty of Blue Leaf Elixirs. I will definitely find a way to cure you."

Chu Er's neck trembled slightly. She wanted to nod to Li Banfeng.

In reality, not many Blue Leaf Elixirs were left. After Li Banfeng reached the Cloud Realm, he had given away all the elixirs he possessed, including the Blue Leaf Elixirs.

The box given to Chu Er contained only about twenty pills. Given Chu Er's condition, this amount was likely insufficient, so Li Banfeng rushed all the way to the New Lands.

Grandma Ku arrived at He Jiaqing's thirteen plots of New Lands. He Jiaqing was sitting silently in a daze in front of a wooden house.

He still had one deed left and didn't know how to deal with it, because he saw that the text on the deed hadn't changed.

Since Ai Yeqing had taken the deed, he should have dripped blood on the land and registered it under his own name, or found someone to replace him as the local land god.

But the text on the deed hadn't changed, indicating there was still room for reversal.

He Jiaqing wanted to rebury the deed underground and then have Big Head become the local land god, but if the other party changed the deed, he wouldn't know.

Alternatively, he could wait for Ai Yeqing to change the deed and bury it, then find an opportunity to change it back, performing a "steal a beam and replace a pillar" trick.

But He Jiaqing didn't know when Ai Yeqing would act, so constantly waiting wasn't a solution either.

He wanted to continue developing the land, but he was afraid of drawing attention and of doing all the work only for someone else to benefit.

He wanted to observe the situation, but leaving over 80% of his developed land unattended left him feeling distraught.

After several days of thinking, he came up with a good idea.

First, he would have Duan Shuqun take down an adjacent New Land plot and seize its deed. Then, he would have Duan Shuqun sign the deed, nominally defeating Big Head and absorbing these thirteen plots of land, making Duan Shuqun the new local land god.

This was a feasible plan, but would the peddler blame him for killing an adjacent local land god?

If Duan Shuqun killed the local land god alone, it wouldn't violate the peddler's rules, but Duan Shuqun didn't possess such strength.

If He Jiaqing participated, it would be considered seizing land and killing people by a Star Cultivator, and the peddler would definitely not spare him.

The key was that no matter how much he tried to cover it up, the peddler would know He Jiaqing was behind it.

He Jiaqing was in a dilemma about whether this idea was feasible.

He couldn't hesitate for too long; if Ai Yeqing changed the local land god, it wouldn't be easy to reclaim the territory.

In his vexation, Grandma Ku approached He Jiaqing, holding a branch of Blue Leaf Poplar. "I need to refine some elixirs."

He Jiaqing knew Grandma Ku wanted to refine the Blue Leaf Elixir. He shook his head. "This elixir is too difficult to refine."

This wasn't an excuse; Blue Leaf Poplar was highly poisonous, and refining the Blue Leaf Elixir would leave all the remaining toxicity to He Jiaqing.

Although He Jiaqing had the ability to refine elixirs, he wasn't a Copper Lotus; he would find it very difficult to withstand such severe poison, and he didn't want to take this risk lightly.

Grandma Ku said, "Are you trying to bargain with me? You can name your price."

He Jiaqing pondered for a long time, then took the Blue Leaf Poplar. "I wouldn't dare bargain with you, but I would like a plot of land around here. Please, Grandma, help me with this."

Grandma Ku frowned. "You can't even manage thirteen plots, and now you want a fourteenth?"

He Jiaqing replied, "With a fourteenth plot, your disciple will have a way to reclaim these thirteen plots."

Grandma Ku hesitated for a long time, then shook her head. "You are provoking the peddler."

He Jiaqing held the Blue Leaf Poplar branch and sighed. "If Grandma finds it difficult, I will still help Grandma refine this elixir. But please don't rush, Grandma; Blue Leaf Poplar is highly poisonous, and refining the elixir takes time."

Grandma Ku stared at He Jiaqing for a long time.

She knew clearly that if she didn't help He Jiaqing acquire this plot of land, she wouldn't know when she would get the elixir.

Li Banfeng arrived at the Orange Grove, feeling a tremor in his heart.

He sensed some danger. Could it be that the Old Man of the Orange Grove harbored ill will?

The Old Man of the Orange Grove was pruning orange trees. Seeing Li Banfeng, the old man was particularly happy. "You've finally arrived! I knew you would come."

Li Banfeng was surprised. "You knew that?"

The old man peeled an orange for Li Banfeng. The orange was huge; ordinary oranges in the grove were already fifty centimeters, and this one was two sizes larger. Li Banfeng kept burping from eating it.

"Are you full? This is the best orange in the grove; it only bears ten fruits a year. You've arrived just in time for the harvest. If it's not enough, I'll peel another one for you!"

"I'm full. I've never eaten such a delicious orange," Li Banfeng said. As before, he collected the orange peel and buried the orange seeds in the soil.

The old man smiled. "Seeing you always brightens my spirits. You're planning to make a move tonight, aren't you? I'll go with you. I can't stand to see good children being bullied."

Li Banfeng was taken aback. "Make what move?"

The old man was surprised. "Aren't you here to ask for my help?"

Li Banfeng said, "I wanted to ask you for some Blue Leaf Poplar."

The old man slapped his thigh. "Child, you're really carefree! At a time like this, you still want Blue Leaf Poplar? Beiwushuang is about to take your territory; didn't you know?"

Li Banfeng was stunned for a long time.

Wasn't Beiwushuang dead? He and Xiu'er had killed him together; he'd been blown to pieces.

He resurrected?

A thought surfaced in Li Banfeng's mind; he remembered something.

When Beiwushuang died, he hadn't collected his due, nor had he cried.

Pan Dehai had once said that the insect plague incident at Haichi Ridge was related to Beiwushuang, and it was instigated by Neizhou. Beiwushuang should be considered a meritorious official of Neizhou, so it made sense for him to earn a chance at resurrection.

But then he thought of another important question.

"Senior, how did you know that was my territory?"

The territory next to Beiwushuang's belonged to Li Furong, and it was also Li Banfeng's first New Land, but Li Banfeng hadn't told anyone about this except Meng Yuchun.

The old man smiled. "I've tilled land my whole life. I've cultivated to this point, and my cultivation isn't too low. I don't have such great insight to grow crops that can talk or jump. I have no other special talents in this life, but I do have one unique skill, one that even Xu Han doesn't possess: I can talk to the earth. Don't underestimate the soil on the ground; it doesn't say much, but it recognizes its owner. When I went to your territory to collect seeds, the earth on your land told me you were its master."

Li Banfeng was silent for a long time.

He wasn't surprised; he just remembered something: on Ma Wu's territory, he had sensed joy in the soil.

It seemed the Old Man of the Orange Grove had a strong perception of spirituality.

The old man sighed. "Beiwushuang is no good. When Zhang Wanlong was here, he was never seen. Now that Zhang Wanlong is gone, he's come to your territory looking for the deed. Meng Yuchun discovered this and went to fight him desperately, but the girl had only just reached the second level of Cloud Realm cultivation; she couldn't defeat Beiwushuang."

Li Banfeng wondered what Meng Yuchun was thinking. "She should have told me right away. Why fight him herself?"

The old man shook his head. "Young brother, you're a traveler cultivator, so you might think this territory isn't far. But she's a home cultivator; she doesn't even know her way outside her territory. It's not easy for her to find you. She sent the cook out to find you. It's still uncertain whether he's even reached Greenwater Bay yet."

This highlighted the issue of territory isolation.

It was usually hard to be discovered, which was good.

But once danger struck, it was also difficult to call for help.

No wonder he had sensed danger earlier; it was Beiwushuang causing trouble.

Li Banfeng looked in the direction of his territory. "It's a good thing I came. I'll have a chat with Beiwushuang."

The Old Man of the Orange Grove stood up. "You wait here. I'll go get my tools."

Li Banfeng stopped the old man. "How could I trouble you with this?"

The old man shook his head. "I've wanted to act for a long time. If you hadn't come today, I would have had to fight Beiwushuang myself. You and Meng Yuchun are good children; I can't let that bastard bully you."

Li Banfeng said, "Elder, with your words, he won't be able to bully us. Please, would you prepare a large Blue Leaf Poplar branch here? I need it urgently to save someone. After I deal with Beiwushuang, we'll have some oranges first, then a good drink together."

The old man was truly worried. "Child, you absolutely mustn't underestimate Beiwushuang. He's not the same as before; you might not be able to defeat him."

Li Banfeng pulled down the brim of his hat. "I'm not underestimating him. If I truly can't defeat him, I'll come back to ask for your help."

Leaving the Orange Grove, Li Banfeng ran towards his own territory. Passing by Meng Yuchun's territory, Li Banfeng saw a blue butterfly fly into Meng Yuchun's cave dwelling.

This butterfly was clearly extraordinary; it flew much faster than a bird.

Meng Yuchun was recuperating at home. Her recently changed bandages and clothes were already soaked with blood.

The butterfly flew to the entrance, transformed into a human, and shouted, "Sister, that camel is here again!"

The stone door opened, and Qing Die entered Meng Yuchun's room, panting. "Sister, that camel has reached a mountain and is writing on the cliff."

Meng Yuchun was startled. "Which mountain?"

"It's that really tall mountain, there aren't many mountains in Ba Shanzhu's territory in total," Qing Die said frantically, her words a bit jumbled, but Meng Yuchun still understood.

The mountain she was talking about was Ba Shanzhu's residence and the location of the territorial deed.

If he managed to open that cliff, Li Qi's territory would be lost.

Meng Yuchun tore open her clothes, went to the bronze mirror, bit a strand of her hair, grabbed a roll of bandages, and tightly wrapped her wounds.

The bronze mirror spoke with a trembling voice; it was her household spirit. "Yuchun, let me go with you."

"You can't leave the residence. If I can lure Beiwushuang to our home, we'll still have a chance to win," Meng Yuchun said, having finished wrapping her bandages. She put on a black short jacket, carefully adjusting the lapels and collar.

"Do I look good?" Meng Yuchun smiled at the mirror.

"Beautiful, Chun'er, you're the most beautiful." The mirror fogged over, worried she might never see Meng Yuchun again.

Meng Yuchun took a few magic treasures and prepared to leave. A hand reached out from the mirror and grabbed her arm. "Yuchun, don't go. That's Li Qi's territory. Don't worry about it! Li Qi is a capable person; even if he loses the territory, he can reclaim it!"

Meng Yuchun shook her head. "Li Qi has shown me kindness. One must repay kindness!"

The household spirit cried, "Then take those three-headed people with you! Take them to fight for your lives!"

"It was agreed from the start that they would only come to develop the land, nothing else. I can't break that agreement," Meng Yuchun said, shaking off the household spirit and rushing out of the cave.

*Snorting sounds*

Beiwushuang stuck out his tongue, looked at the cliff before him, and spat saliva into an inkstone.

After spitting, his navel grunted, "Can you not be so disgusting?"

Beiwushuang said, "This is New Land; water is hard to find. Hurry up and grind the ink!"

Hearing this, the navel sighed, "This is an insult to scholars!"

A hand extended from the hump on his back, stroking the smooth hump flesh. "How long are you two going to dilly-dally? Didn't we say that once 108 'open' characters are written, this cliff would open by itself?"

*Snorting sounds* Beiwushuang counted. "Over sixty have been written already; it's almost done."

The navel shouted, "Can you count? Just now, over eighty were written; how has it turned into over sixty now?"

Beiwushuang lifted his front hoof. The navel, facing forward, said, "Count it yourself; it's just over sixty!"

The navel counted, and indeed, there were only just over sixty "open" characters on the cliff.

Why were there over twenty characters missing? Had he miscounted before?

The hump shouted, "Stop counting! Hurry up and write. We don't even know if the deed is inside."

As these three body parts argued, Meng Yuchun silently arrived beside them.

She was a second-level Cloud Realm Home Cultivator. Although her talent was slightly inferior to Li Banfeng's, as long as she remained inconspicuous, Beiwushuang would have difficulty detecting her.

Meng Yuchun fixed her gaze on Beiwushuang's back of the head. With a flick of her right index finger, a short sword over a foot long slashed down towards Beiwushuang's head.

This short sword was a magic treasure; it didn't need any instructions from Meng Yuchun. At the right moment, it knew how to kill the enemy.

Just as the sword's edge was about to sever Beiwushuang's head, a hand suddenly extended from Beiwushuang's hump, grabbed the hilt, and, using the short sword's momentum, slashed back at Meng Yuchun.

This wasn't the magic treasure betraying her; it was because the hand from the hump possessed martial cultivation techniques, directly turning Meng Yuchun's magic treasure into a weapon for counter-attack.

Meng Yuchun stood her ground and used Abode Heart's Stoutness to forcefully withstand the sword strike.

She managed to withstand it, but Meng Yuchun bled. This location was too far from her residence, limiting the effectiveness of Abode Heart's Stoutness.

The reason she didn't dodge was that she had used a Cloud Realm technique called Connected Forms, and to ensure her shadow remained under Beiwushuang's feet, Meng Yuchun had to stay in place.

The shadow on the ground, holding a pair of scissors, moved to cut Beiwushuang's head.

Meng Yuchun's sneak attack was very well-prepared; the scissors nearly touched Beiwushuang's throat.

But the shadow suddenly became still. Beiwushuang's navel sprayed some ink, leaving a "seal" character on the ground, trapping the shadow.

The shadow struggled fiercely but couldn't break through the ink's seal. And at this moment, Meng Yuchun was also trapped in place.

Her Connected Forms technique wasn't perfected; her shadow and she couldn't be completely separated. With the shadow stuck in place, she couldn't move either.

The hand extending from the hump, holding the short sword, came to strike Meng Yuchun again. Meng Yuchun couldn't think of a countermeasure immediately.

Abode Heart's Stoutness certainly wouldn't hold up. Deep Mansion Grand Courtyard couldn't be used. Closing Doors and Shutting Gates was even less likely. And Expanding Land and Extending Borders couldn't reach Li Banfeng's territory.

She relied too much on her residence, and now, with one failed move, she was almost in a desperate situation.

The hump chuckled, "It would be a pity to chop off such a beautiful woman's head."

After all, the short sword was Meng Yuchun's magic treasure; it was still struggling fiercely in the hump's hand. Meng Yuchun, gripping the hump's wrist, was also tearing desperately.

The shadow on the ground was trying to shake off the ink.

*Snorting sounds!*

Beiwushuang roared continuously. Meng Yuchun felt a cold wind enter her mind with the sound. The sound reverberated repeatedly, and the cold wind swirled again and again.

A sound cultivation technique: Echoing Wind and Returning Resonance.

Meng Yuchun's entire body went limp. She couldn't fight against the hump, and her body was about to collapse as if kneeling, on the verge of falling to the ground.

The hump raised the short sword and chuckled, "Little beauty, don't be afraid. Your sword is quite fast. Just stretch out your neck and don't move, I promise it won't hurt at all."

Before the hump could strike, Beiwushuang was kicked over onto the ground by a shadow.

The hump fell hard, dropping the short sword. The shadow picked up the short sword, threw it to Meng Yuchun, and turned to ask Beiwushuang, "Didn't you just say it wouldn't hurt at all? You look like you're hurting quite a bit!"

Beiwushuang was startled and roared at his navel, "How did the shadow get up?"

The navel looked at the ground. The shadow was still trapped. "Th-this isn't the same shadow!"

Beiwushuang glanced at Meng Yuchun, surprised that her Connected Forms technique had advanced so quickly that she could use two shadows at once.

Meng Yuchun had just broken free from the Echoing Wind and Returning Resonance technique and was now looking at Beiwushuang with a very serious expression.

Beiwushuang leaped, jumping close to the shadow, and his navel sprayed ink again.

The shadow flickered and vanished; the ink missed.

Why was this shadow so fast?

Was this Meng Yuchun's shadow?

Meng Yuchun stood calmly in place. If Beiwushuang thought it was, then let him think it was.

Beiwushuang, seeing no sign of the shadow, snorted and prepared to use a sound cultivation technique.

*Hoo, spluttering sound* The sound suddenly changed pitch. Beiwushuang's nose exploded, becoming a bloody mess, and his breath exhaled with a string of blood bubbles.

The navel shouted, "There's a traveler cultivator nearby, quick, let's go!"

Banfeng Yi reappeared, kicking Beiwushuang in the stomach. "You know there's a traveler cultivator, and you still want to leave!"

The navel sprayed a blob of ink, trapping Banfeng Yi.

Beiwushuang spat out a mouthful of blood, preparing to use Blood Splatter Resonant Sound.

"Squawk—"

Before he could make that sound, Banfeng Zi, holding a Tang dao, slit Beiwushuang's throat.

How did another shadow appear?

Why hadn't this shadow been detected before?

Beiwushuang's navel sprayed ink again, trapping Banfeng Zi as well. Then Banfeng Yin, holding a sickle, cut open Beiwushuang's belly from underneath.

A large blob of ink poured out, mixed with strands of silver thread.

The silver threads, along with the ink, formed a net, firmly trapping all the shadows on the ground. A few more silver threads crawled up Beiwushuang's neck, stitching up his wounds.

"Rats! How dare you!" a laugh echoed from inside Beiwushuang's belly. "Let's see what other tricks you have up your sleeves."

His voice grew fainter.

He had risked his life to control four shadows, a commendable display of combat power.

But then he noticed dozens of shadows standing around him, a rather unusual situation.

These shadows definitely weren't Meng Yuchun's. From their expressions, even Meng Yuchun herself didn't know their origin.

Beiwushuang looked around, trying to find a gap among the shadows to escape.

Banfeng Yi broke free from the ground using Unobstructed Movement and smiled at Beiwushuang. "Don't bother looking. We'll make a gap for you."

As he finished speaking, the shadows automatically parted, creating a path.

Beiwushuang trembled. He was terrified.

Meng Yuchun also shivered. She was very excited.

Li Banfeng walked through the opened path, lifted his hat brim, and first looked at Beiwushuang's face.

"No need to speak. You're still the same old rotten self," Li Banfeng said, slapping Beiwushuang's face.

He looked down at Beiwushuang's belly.

"Speaking with an air of aged arrogance, and fond of showing off your status—you must be Lu Maoxian, the Old Master Lu, aren't you?"

The silver threads on the ground, along with the ink, retracted back into the camel's belly. The camel's belly trembled even more violently than its head.

Li Banfeng then looked at the hump, which was smooth and hairless, very stable, and completely still.

"Just looking at this hump reminds me of your big bald head, Shen Dajinyin. How have you been?"

Beiwushuang tried to escape. Li Banfeng glanced at him, and Beiwushuang's four hooves each pulled in a different direction, causing him to fall to the ground again.

Li Banfeng squatted in front of Beiwushuang and asked, "First, tell me where you came from. Take your time, and don't get anything wrong."