The Overlord of Puluo

No wonder the old residence carried an antique charm along with an air of grandeur. It had once been the residence of the famous beauty Luo Yuni located outside the city.

This woman was Luo Yuni, the famous beauty once reported in the newspapers to have died tragically in her own residence.

Is she the old woman’s dwelling spirit? Where did the newspaper come from? And what connection does this Luo Yuni have to the old woman? Li Banfeng wondered.

When Li Banfeng did not utter her name, Luo Yuni seemed to understand what he was worried about and asked, ”Do you want to know what happened afterward?”

Clang! Clang! Clang!

As Luo Yuni continued her story, the tabletop pendulum clock struck eleven times. With each swing, the scene changed. The man who had murdered her now lay dead on the floor, while she sat beside his body, calmly fixing her hair and makeup.

The man’s body was taken away, but before long, he came back. He appeared beside Luo Yuni, holding an eyebrow pencil as if he wished to draw her brows. It was clear this was no longer the living man, but his ghost.

Luo Yuni did not spare him a glance. With a casual wave of her hand, she cast him out the window. There happened to be a willow tree outside, and his ghostly figure ended up hanging from its branches.

Luo Yuni went on combing her hair and touching up her makeup. Even as the days slipped by, her smile stayed as alluring as ever.

Day after day, the man’s ghost dangled from the willow tree, gazing at Luo Yuni with an unbroken obsession.

After what felt like ages, a young couple moved into the house. The husband wore a white shirt and black suspenders. Each day he left early and returned late, giving the impression of a man with a proper job.

While the wife busied herself with chores, she never noticed the other woman in the house. That woman sat before the old pendulum clock, carefully tending to her hair and makeup.

The wife could not see her. In truth, if Luo Yuni chose not to reveal herself, Li Banfeng would never see her.

The days had been simple and sweet. Then one day, the husband saw Luo Yuni combing her hair and doing her makeup, and from that moment, he no longer found life sweet. He began to feel that his wife was not truly beautiful. When compared to real beauty, it seemed she might never have been beautiful at all.

Luo Yuni looked at the man with pity, then gently extended her arm and handed him the comb. Overcome with excitement, he carefully took it from her hand, and to comb her hair became the greatest achievement of his life.

Li Banfeng could not fathom the man’s thoughts, nor the obsession and rapture on his face.

The man combed Luo Yuni’s hair over and over, unwilling to leave a single strand untouched. Only when she grew weary and cast him a glance did he finally set the comb aside.

After setting down the comb, the man picked up an eyebrow pencil, intending to draw Luo Yuni’s brows. However, she shook her head, and slowly faded away.

She was gone, leaving the man clutching the eyebrow pencil. He stood in the same spot, appearing lost and helpless. From then on, he spent his days staring blankly at the pendulum clock, indifferent to his wife’s complaints and tears.

One day, he plunged the eyebrow pencil into his temple, stabbing himself again and again. With every stab, his face contorted in pain beneath a grotesque smile. Finally, he saw Luo Yuni again. He believed that as long as he kept stabbing the pencil into his temple, he could be with her.

Clutching the bloodstained pencil, he longed to draw Luo Yuni’s brows. His wife saw this and fled the house in terror, but she never made it past the courtyard. The ghost hanging from the willow lashed out its branches, binding her and dragging her back inside.

No wonder the willow trees never let anyone leave the residence. They were all Luo Yuni’s slaves, souls she had hung upon the branches.

The husband stabbed himself to death with the eyebrow pencil. The wife was bound by the willow branches until late night before Luo Yuni cut her throat with the short saber. She died, and the short saber was drenched in blood that vanished almost at once.

The scene froze, and Luo Yuni said gently to Li Banfeng, ”This saber loves drinking blood at midnight. The more it drinks, the sharper it becomes. It took me three years to uncover its profound secret, while that old hag spent thirty and still failed to see through it. Yet on our very first meeting, I revealed this secret to you. Is that not proof of my sincerity?”

Luo Yuni’s smile grew even more captivating, yet Li Banfeng’s gaze was no longer on her smile.

”You’re lying,” Li Banfeng said as he shook his head. ”That old woman knew the secret of this blade. She didn’t rush to kill me but kept me until midnight so the blade could drink my blood.”

Luo Yuni smiled. ”That was because I only told her the secret last night. Didn’t you notice? Even her two sons didn’t know why they were told to keep you until midnight. It was because the old woman hadn’t had the time to tell them.

”That is how foolish that old hag was. If I hadn’t told her, she would never have uncovered the secret of this saber. Cultivating at her side was nothing but an insult and a torment to me.”

Li Banfeng asked, ”Then why did you choose her?”

Luo Yuni shook her head. ”I didn’t choose her. She chose me. She was the only Homebound Cultivator I ever encountered, and she called me by my name. Before I met her, I was nothing more than a vengeful spirit. When she summoned me, I became a dwelling spirit.”

Li Banfeng’s eyes lit up. ”How does one summon a dwelling spirit?”

Luo Yuni arched his brow. ”Don’t you already know? Aren’t you a Homebound Cultivator as well?”

Li Banfeng raised his brows in turn. ”You could tell?”

Luo Yuni cackled. ”How could I not? In my house, not a single move of yours can escape my eyes. You have a very special house. A house that ordinary people and even ordinary dwelling spirits cannot see. But I am no ordinary dwelling spirit. I can see your house and I know you have a key to open that residence. It was only because you returned to it that you were able to quickly expel the poison Decai gave you.”

Hearing this, Li Banfeng had a sudden realization. He realized that unless it was truly necessary, he should never again step into the home of a Homebound Cultivator so easily.

Luo Yuni asked softly, ”Do you want to nurture a dwelling spirit? Why waste so much effort? I am willing to become yours. I’m right here already so why don’t you want me?”

Li Banfeng frowned in frustration. ”If you know, then why won’t you teach me how to cultivate a dwelling spirit?”

Luo Yuni shook her head. ”It takes too much time and effort, and it’s of no real use.”

Li Banfeng lowered his gaze. ”If you hide things from me, it only shows you aren’t truly sincere with me!”

Luo Yuni let out a soft sigh. ”Very well... whatever you ask, I’ll obey.”

The pendulum swayed, and the halo went on playing out scenes of the past like a moving picture.

The couple’s ghostly forms dangled from the willow tree. Their hollow eyes fixed on Luo Yuni with a chilling obsession.

Countless years seemed to pass. One after another, more than a dozen households came to live in this house, but all of them died by Luo Yuni’s hand. Souls dangled in dense rows from the willow trees that surrounded the courtyard.

When the perspective of the scene changed, Li Banfeng froze in surprise. The courtyard it revealed was much larger than the one he had entered himself.

Another household moved in. A weary-looking woman of around thirty years old arrived with two children.

The old woman? Li Banfeng thought.

Within a few days of living there, the woman’s hollow cheeks grew fuller, and her bloodless complexion gained a hint of color.

Her eyes, once dull, now sparkled with vitality, and she carried out the household chores with renewed vigor.

She had become attuned with the house, something that Li Banfeng had experienced himself.

When she cleaned and dusted the main hall, she would always sniff around, as if catching the trace of something different.

When she stood in the courtyard to cool off, she would gaze at the surrounding willows as if she could sense the souls dangling from the willow tree branches.

She often sat deep in thought, and the house seemed to join her, sinking into a tranquil and profound stillness.

One day, she came back with several bundles of old newspapers, which she spread out and examined sheet by sheet.

She pulled out over a dozen sheets and examined the news with care, staring closely at each photograph.

She could not recognize many of the words, but the photographs were clear. They showed the very residence from the papers.

That night, after coaxing her two children to sleep in the room situated on the east side, she went alone to the main room.

She lit a candle and fixed her gaze on the old pendulum clock. Holding her breath, she stood as the house sank into utter silence.

Li Banfeng observed her closely and noticed that gazing at the clock was an essential part of the process. Through the woman’s pupils, he could see the reflection of the clock clearly.

He caught the faint sound of her heartbeat slowing. The house pulsed in time, and the willows outside shivered to the same beat. They had become one.

Through the flicker of light and shadow, Li Banfeng could sense that the woman had fused with the house. This was the power of a Homebound Cultivator.

Clang! Clang! Clang!

With each toll, the old clock seemed to awaken with spirit in the woman’s eyes. In that moment, she sensed where the dwelling spirit was. Taking a deep breath, she called out, ”Luo Yuni!”

Clang!

It was a single chime, signaling that it was eleven thirty.

Luo Yuni’s voice rang in Li Banfeng’s ear. ”She heard the clock chime, and from that moment I became her dwelling spirit.”

Li Banfeng asked, ”Did you never confirm it with her face to face?”

In the scenes Li Banfeng had seen, Luo Yuni had never appeared together with the woman.

Luo Yuni’s laughter echoed. ”For thirty years, I never revealed my true face or let her hear my voice. I only ever left hints. I detest even just looking at her.

”She devoted herself entirely to pleasing me. Seventy percent of the souls hanging from these trees were her offerings to me, but I never felt any gratitude toward her. After all, this was how she made her living.

”I cultivated with her only because I had no other choice. I was far more talented than her and I was at a much higher level. I could have helped her advance further in her cultivation, but I only allowed her to reach level one because I detest her.”

This had long been a question on Li Banfeng’s mind. Despite her age, the old woman was still only a level-one cultivator.

He asked, ”Doesn’t ten years of cultivation raise you by one level? How is she still at level one even after thirty years of cultivation?”

Hearing this, Luo Yuni shook her head slightly. ”You are really an odd one. When you kill, you seem like someone with years of experience, but when you talk, you sound like a clueless virgin. If a cultivator follows the proper path for ten years without a single lapse or mistake, they can advance by one level.

”However, how many dare to claim that they will suffer no mishap in ten years of cultivation? How many can say they have never erred once in that span? Very few truly reach the second level after ten years.”

Li Banfeng asked, ”Then what mistake did that old woman make that kept her from reaching the second level even after thirty years?”

Luo Yuni laughed. ”I was her mistake. If a Homebound Cultivator and their dwelling spirit are not of one mind, the spirit will suppress the cultivator. That old woman disgusted me. Even if she cultivated for another hundred years, she would still be stuck at the first level.”

Indeed! As it turned out, cultivating by lying at home was not so easy at all.

Both the Peddler and Ma Wu had said that a dwelling spirit was crucial to a Homebound Cultivator. If a Homebound Cultivator was not getting along with their dwelling spirit, their cultivation would never progress.

At this point, Luo Yuni let out a long sigh. ”You have no idea how sickening that old woman was. For thirty years, she never sought a man, nor did she allow her sons to touch a woman. If I even spoke a word to her two sons, she would fly into a rage. She wouldn’t even let them leave the house, forcing them to spend their whole lives trapped within this residence.

Her eldest son, Decai, had trained in martial arts since childhood. He once tried to buy the Activation Powder from the Peddler to pursue the path of a Martial Cultivator, but the old woman forbade it. By the time he reached thirty-five, she forced him to become a Poison Cultivator instead. Decai could barely read, so he fumbled through a few old books and ended up nearly poisoning himself to death.

Her second son, Demao, had tried martial arts too, but his mother forbade it. He was luckier than his brother. With help from other members of the Jiangxiang Gang, he secretly bought an activating powder for Martial Cultivation and managed to reach level one last year. He had no teacher, so all he could do was read a few books and learn some routines. When facing someone like you, who does not fight by the book, he stood no chance and was doomed to die.

”She was such a loathsome person. Every day I wished she would just get the hell out of the house. Why would I ever let her make progress in her cultivation?”

Li Banfeng nodded. ”That does sound disgusting. Just hearing about it makes me sick in the stomach.”

Although he spoke those words, he was really wondering why Luo Yuni hadn’t simply killed the old woman. Hadn’t there been cases of dwelling spirits turning on their masters? Even so, he kept the thought to himself and did not ask.

All the images vanished, leaving only Luo Yuni seated at her dressing table. She turned and smiled enchantingly at Li Banfeng as she said,

”From the moment you stepped into this house, I knew you were my true master. If I had fought with all my strength, you never could have beaten that old woman. If I had helped fully, you would not stand the slightest chance. I took a liking to you. Say my name and I will be yours. Come, Master, I am waiting!”

If it had been any other man, being called ”master” would have been enough to crack him and make him drop all forms of resistance. Nevertheless, Li Banfeng was unmoved. He shook his head and said nothing.

Luo Yuni frowned slightly and asked, ”You don’t want me?”

Li Banfeng shook his head. ”It’s not that I don’t want you.”

Luo Yuni thought for a long time, trying to guess what was on Li Banfeng’s mind. Finally she said, ”It is because you do not want this life. You saved that mother and daughter. You are a kind man. I hate this way of living too. I am tired of killing. I will set all the souls around this courtyard free. If you take me in, I will live a humble, bitter life by your side.”

Luo Yuni slowly reached out her hand toward Li Banfeng, but Li Banfeng did not take her hand. Instead, he quietly stepped away from his position before the old pendulum clock.

The old pendulum clock was Luo Yuni’s true body, but her soul did not always stay within it. At this moment, her soul was indeed not inside the clock.

From Li Banfeng’s perspective, it appeared as though he was facing Luo Yuni speaking directly to Luo Yuni. Yet, in the reflection of the clock, both he and Luo Yuni stood in the same space, facing the old pendulum clock together.

In other words, in the clock’s reflection, the two of them seemed to be sitting in the same spot, so close together that their positions nearly overlapped.

At this moment, Luo Yuni’s soul lingered right beside Li Banfeng, or perhaps directly behind him.