The Overlord of Puluo

As dusk crept over the forest, the people from the medicinal trading house packed up their baskets and wandered off toward the next clearing as almost all the speckled-snake chrysanthemums here were plucked away.

Old Smoke Cannon took a deep puff on his pipe and exhaled a mouthful of smoke before he continued following the people from the medicinal trading house.

The group trekked for over an hour before the people from the medicinal trading house led them to another good spot. This grove was secluded and quiet, and the trees stood far enough apart. To their surprise, there were even more flowers than there were at the first site. Yet even though there were more flowers around, everyone moved more slowly as they gathered them.

The fog on Mount Bitterfog was eating away at everyone and even the people from the medicinal trading house grew weak and sluggish.

Chubby Qin was affected the least, while Li Banfeng suffered the most. His hands and feet tingled with numbness, and his vision blurred in waves. By nightfall, the fog had become even heavier, and their situation became increasingly difficult.

Nectarine carried a pocket watch, and when she checked the time, she saw that it was already past nine. She was struggling to hold on as well, so she said, ”Why don’t we head back? This trip has already been worth it.”

Nectarine had picked thirty-five speckled-snake chrysanthemums in total, which was worth two thousand nine hundred seventy-five yuan. This amount was enough for her to break even.

Li Banfeng had picked two more stalks than Nectarine, exactly as he had expected. Even so, he felt that if they didn’t head down soon, their lives would be at risk.

Chubby Qin, however, refused to leave. He had only plucked sixteen flowers, the fewest in the group. At the medicinal trading house’s price, he would earn just over thirteen hundred yuan. After deducting his travel expenses, he would still make a small profit, but not much. And so, he simply couldn’t accept this.

The speckled-snake chrysanthemums at this second site were easier to find than those at the first. Chubby Qin was also in better shape than the others. By his own estimate, he could endure the toxic fog until dawn. To him, this was the perfect chance to catch up and gather more.

Chubby Qin refused to leave, and Leafy wouldn’t leave either. She kept herself going with medicated candies, and for now her body showed no signs of major issues. Old Smoke Cannon had already finished two more pouches of tobacco. In his words, as long as he could smoke, he could keep going.

Since none of them were leaving, Nectarine refused to go either. She, too, was unwilling to give up. Seeing how she was struggling to even shake her buttcheeks, Li Banfeng really wanted to persuade her to stop.

However, he no longer had the strength to speak. The dizziness was so bad he felt that if he opened his mouth, he’d probably throw up.

Besides, Nectarine was just an acquaintance. The one he was truly worried about was Chubby Qin. Yet Chubby Qin refused to leave no matter what. In the end, Li Banfeng had no choice but to head down the mountain alone.

Before he left, Leafy stepped forward and advised, ”Elder Brother Bai Sha, if you really are a Hedonism Cultivator, then you will need to rest for at least half a month. Hedonism Cultivators have weak constitutions[1], so this kind of toxic fog harms them the most. If you follow another Daoist path, you’ll need at least three to five days of rest. But if you’re a Homebound Cultivator, then just ignore what I said.”

Li Banfeng was just catching the crucial part when Nectarine suddenly interrupted. ”What about Homebound Cultivators?”

Leafy’s eyes went wide. ”Big Sis, don’t tell me you’re a Homebound Cultivator?”

Nectarine only laughed. ”I was just asking casually.”

Leafy lowered her voice and said, “Even a Homebound Cultivator without a dwelling spirit only needs to go home and sleep for seven or eight hours to get rid of this poison. If they have one, it will take even less time. This is the strength of Homebound Cultivators. As long as they can get home, they have nothing to fear.”

Nectarine let out a soft sigh. ”If only I were a Homebound Cultivator...”

Leafy shook her head. ”Big Sis, Homebound Cultivators usually don’t go out so easily. Could it be that you really are...”

As Leafy spoke, she kept staring at Nectarine, seemingly very curious about her Daoist path.

Nectarine reached out and caressed Leafy’s cheek. ”Once we’re done with this job, come visit me at my home. Then you’ll know whether I’m a Homebound Cultivator or not.”

Li Banfeng had no mood for all this chattering. He leaned close to Chubby Qin’s ear and whispered, ”Just keep picking flowers here. Don’t move to another spot. Once you’ve picked a few more, head down the mountain right away!”

Chubby Qin casually answered in agreement. Since there were plenty of flowers here, he was not planning on switching to another location. However, there was no way he would leave easily. His plan was to endure and stay until tomorrow morning.

The man in gold-rimmed glasses had said that while the blooming time of the speckled-snake chrysanthemum was uncertain, once it did bloom, it would last for a full day and night.

The flowers that had bloomed around seven in the morning would not wither until seven the next day. This meant that he would be able to pick another twenty flowers during the night.

If he waited until dawn to head down the mountain, the worst he faced was a few days of vomiting and diarrhea, something he could recover from with just a couple of hearty meals.

Seeing Chubby Qin so focused on picking flowers, Li Banfeng left the grove, stepped into his Pocket Dwelling as he hid his key in a secluded spot along the mountain path.

He didn’t head down the mountain, as Leafy’s words had reminded him that it would be safer to recover in his Pocket Abode. He decided to rest there first. Only once he had mostly regained his strength would he descend the mountain; otherwise, he might run into danger along the way.

Something felt wrong along the mountain path. There was a serious problem.

Everyone’s behavior so far had been reasonable. For a group of strangers, looking out for one another within limits made sense. The man in gold-rimmed glasses had acted in ways that seemed logical, yet Li Banfeng couldn’t bring himself to trust him.

However, one thing stood out as illogical during this flower-harvesting trip: they had been attacked by the same person three times in a row.

On Mount Bitterfog, everyone was after speckled-snake chrysanthemums, so being robbed was within his expectation. But to be robbed by the same person three times? It made no sense at all.

Li Banfeng untied his cloth bag, tossed it aside, and lay flat inside the room, trying to piece together the sequence of events.

The first time we ran into that bald man on the road, it might have been a coincidence. But then we met him again on the road up the mountain. How did that happen? Was that another coincidence? And then, the man showed up a third time to rob us... how could that be explained?

No, it doesn’t make sense. That bald man must be following us. But on Mount Bitterfog, with visibility this poor, how could he tail us without being noticed? Tracking anyone here should have been nearly impossible.

If Old Smoke Cannon weren’t with us, we wouldn’t even be able to follow the people from the medicinal trading house. Yet that bald man managed to follow us the whole way? Is someone in his group skilled at tracking... or did someone leave signs for them to follow?

As these thoughts spun in his head, the burning pain wracked his body, making it impossible to concentrate. The pain was overwhelming. The dizziness that came with it made him feel like puking.

This fog on Mount Bitterfog really is killing me, Li Banfeng muttered inwardly. No! I can’t throw up in my house, at least not on the floor!

The house had no ventilation. If he vomited on the floor, the stench would linger with no telling how long it would last.

Yet Li Banfeng could no longer hold it back anymore! He tore open the cloth bag, dumped out the speckled-snake chrysanthemums, and vomited into it until nothing but bile came out.

After emptying his stomach, he felt a little better. He tied the bag shut, tossed it aside, and collapsed to the ground, sinking into a deep sleep.

He didn’t know how long he slept, but suddenly a strange smell jolted him awake. Inside the Pocket Dwelling, there shouldn’t have been any scent besides dust.

Could it be the smell of the speckled-snake chrysanthemums? Li Banfeng wondered. While he was outside the house, he hadn’t noticed the chrysanthemums giving off any distinct scent. After all, the mountain fog was so thick and choking that it could have smothered the flowers’ scent.

Now that he was in his Pocket Dwelling, with no other odors interfering, he could smell the chrysanthemums clearly. It had to be the speckled-snake chrysanthemums, for he detected a unique floral fragrance.

I forgot! Leafy said the flower is poisonous. Even swallowing one stalk would kill you. Could the fragrance be poisonous too?

Feeling startled and alarmed, Li Banfeng quickly got up. He had scattered the speckled-snake chrysanthemums carelessly around the room, but now he needed to find a proper place to store them.

He took out a match and lit a candle.

Oddly enough, his body no longer ached after that nap. His head no longer felt dizzy, and he felt almost fully recovered. But the very next moment, his scalp prickled, as if currents of electricity were rolling from his forehead to the back of his head.

Where are my speckled-snake chrysanthemums? Where are all thirty-seven that I went through hell to gather? I can’t even find a single one!

The loss of the flowers and money wasn’t the biggest issue. Li Banfeng was the only one who could enter his Pocket Dwelling. So who could have stolen them?

I couldn’t possibly have eaten the flowers while I was sleeping, right? But the flowers are not edible!

Li Banfeng searched everywhere but couldn’t find even a single petal.

The candlelight illuminated only a small circle, and as he moved forward without watching his step, he tripped on something and nearly fell. Lifting the candle, he glanced back and saw a bronze lotus flower lying on the ground.

Wait... is this the bronze lotus flower? Li Banfeng thought.

The bronze lotus flower was still lying in the same spot on the ground, but its state had changed. It had bloomed!

Li Banfeng could clearly see the center of the flower and the seedpod within it. Inside rested a single lotus seed, perfectly ripe.

He carefully plucked it, and the lotus instantly snapped shut, nearly clamping down on his hand. Still, he managed to get the seed. In the center of his palm, the bluish-green seed trembled lightly.

Li Banfeng had no idea what the seed was or how he should handle it.

Suddenly, it swelled to the size of a fist before bursting apart with a loud bang.

The sudden burst startled Li Banfeng. He jerked his hand back as eight beads, each no larger than a pinky nail, shot out and scattered across the floor.

Li Banfeng picked one up and examined it. The bead had a white base with black speckles, as though some kind of scale was embedded within.

What is this thing?

1. The raw uses the term 体虚 (tǐ xū), which refers to physical weakness caused by a deficiency in qi, blood, or yin and yang. However, the term also carries a cultural nuance. When someone is described as having this kind of weakness, it can imply that they have overindulged in sex, depleting the kidney’s yang qi and leaving the body in a weakened state. ☜