The Overlord of Puluo

That night, ten young men trudged after Li Banfeng and Ma Wu toward the new land. Each one lugged a sack of stinky fish. They were the same dead fish Li Banfeng had bought from the market the night before, left out in the sun all day until the smell turned so foul that even the wind refused to carry it.

The journey was no easy task for the ten young men. One hulking fellow with skin the color of burnt toast hadn’t gone one kilometer before his face turned white as flour from the awful stench.

”Those two must be off to the new land for peach-hunting, right? What else would make a man carry fish that stink to high heaven?”

Another young man in blue nodded. ”Judging by the season, they are indeed very likely off peach-hunting. But that job’s not for them. They’ll be lucky to scrape a single coin!”

A skinny fellow in a yellow jacket snorted. ”Let them worry about their coins. We’ll mind ours. When the time comes, we charge fair and square. There’s a standard rate for these peaches, and if they won’t pay us the standard price, we won’t sell!”

Ma Wu was indeed leading them on a peach hunt. In the new land of Blue Poplar Village, earthen longevity peaches were the most common finds.

The group walked all the way to the southern edge of the village, where the houses disappeared, leaving only a few scattered tents. Many didn’t even have those and slept straight on the bare ground.

The edge of the new land was a most peculiar place, the kind where the strangest things could crawl out of nowhere. You might fall asleep warm and cozy one night and be gone by morning, leaving no body, no bones, not even a trace behind.

These people had all but lost the will to live. A scrap of food was a blessing, a crumb a miracle. They slept by the edge of the new land because there was nowhere else to lay their heads. They couldn’t even fight for a spot under the bridges.

The forest looked ordinary enough, only denser than usual. When they reached the middle, five of the young men, under Ma Wu’s direction, untied the ten sacks of stinky fish and spread them out on the ground.

The group trudged out of the village and into a patch of forest. It looked ordinary at first glance, only thicker and denser than most. When they walked to the center of the forest, five of the young men, under Ma Wu’s order, untied the ten sacks of stinking fish and dumped them in heaps across the ground.

All twelve took their places. The ten young men stood watch on the upwind slope, and Li Banfeng with Ma Wu waited below on the leeward side, where the wind is weaker and carried every foul smell straight to their noses..

Ma Wu kept trying to reassure him. ”Brother Li, the peach tree will definitely come from the leeward side. We have to keep watch here so we can give the signal when it appears.”

Li Banfeng’s face looked dreadfully pale. ”Stop talking. Say one more word and I’ll puke.”

”Brother Li, it’s not that bad. I think it smells fine.”

”Say another word and I’ll puke all over you,” Li Banfeng snapped.

Li Banfeng wasn’t acting like a fussy little girl. He just had an unusually sharp sense of smell. On the leeward side, every gust of wind stuffed his nostrils full of fish stink until he thought he might drop dead then and there.

By half past four in the morning, when the sky was still black but thinking about turning blue, the forest finally stirred.

Creak... ga-ga-ga...

Something was moving among the trees.

Li Banfeng fitted the Threaded Earring into place and activated Perceiving the Spirit’s Melody, tuning his senses to the faintest whisper of the creature amidst the trees.

Creeeak~

A sharp screech split the air and jabbed straight into his ears. The pain made his head throb, and when the ringing died away, he caught the sound of a growl hiding beneath the screech.

”So fragrant... so very fragrant~”

Fragrant? Li Banfeng thought. He was half-tempted to step out and have a proper chat with whatever creature that was calling this smell ”fragrant.”

Whoosh! The leaves rustled wildly, and Ma Wu waved his hand, signaling everyone to get ready.

An earthen longevity peach tree was slowly moving toward them. Beneath the stench, Li Banfeng caught a faint whiff of peach flowers.

Clack, clack, clack~

The rasp of bark scraped through the forest, dry and scratchy like claws on wood. The sound went on and on, and before long it was clear that something enormous was moving very slowly beneath the tree, twisting and sliding like a giant python.

Anyone new to the new land of Blue Poplar Village would have been scared half to death at the sight of such a massive ”python.”

However, many of the young men had gone peach-hunting before. They knew it wasn’t a python at all, but the root of an earthen longevity peach tree.

The root seemed to be the tree’s nose, probing around for the source of the scent. When it passed by Li Banfeng, it didn’t react at all. After all, a level-two Homebound Cultivator like him was easy to overlook, barely a presence at all.

However, when it reached Ma Wu, the root reacted. It coiled up the trunk, stretching toward him as fine tendrils sprouted and brushed against his body.

Tiny beads of sweat burst out across Ma Wu’s face. He was scared to his bones. Just because he had experience in peach-hunting wouldn’t guarantee that no accidents would happen to him.

The earthen longevity peach tree might not have been very smart, but it was good at fighting. If it wrapped its roots around Ma Wu, a Hedonism Cultivator who hadn’t even reached the first level, he would end up as nothing more than a tasty little appetizer.

After a long, twitching pause, the root uncoiled and swung toward the heap of stinky fish.

The peach tree sensed that someone was lurking somewhere close, but that person was far less tempting than the pile of stinky fish. It plunged its thick root into the heap and began slurping madly.

Through the Threaded Earring, Li Banfeng could hear the muffled cries of the peach tree. ”Fragrant... so fragrant!”

Soon, a few roots wriggled into the pile, and before their eyes, the pile of stinky fish began to shrink at a visible rate.

Seeing that the time was right, Ma Wu motioned for the group to follow. They crept along the trail of roots until, at last, the hidden tree came into view.

The earthen longevity peach tree was enormous. It would take three men to wrap their arms around its trunk, and its broad canopy was wide enough to hold a treehouse. Beneath it, the exposed roots sprawled out in a tangled mass that stretched farther than the human eye could see.

The tree had only recently arrived in the forest, and Li Banfeng couldn’t help but wonder how something so huge had managed to move through such dense woods.

However, now was not the best time for such thoughts. They were running out of time.

Each of the twelve men carried a cloth sack. While the peach tree gorged itself on the stinky fish, they sprang forward and scrambled up its trunk as fast as they could.

Their targets were the earthen longevity peaches, each the size of a clenched fist, dangling beneath the leafy canopy.

The peach tree gave a violent shudder, as if annoyed by the faint discomfort of a few fleas crawling on its body. Two of the young men nearly fell, but Li Banfeng and Ma Wu managed to pull them back up in time.

It was always better to have more men during peach-hunting. Not only did it make harvesting faster, but it also meant everyone could keep an eye out for each other. Falling was an absolute no-no. The moment someone landed among the roots or on a root, they would be eaten alive with not even a bone left.

The peach tree soon settled down, ignoring the ”fleas” clinging to its branches. All its attention was on its delicious, stinking feast of rotting fish.

Now was the perfect time to harvest. They had to move fast, because the number of peaches they could grab before the tree stopped eating depended entirely on their skill.

Li Banfeng was the fastest of them all. Not only were his hands quick, but his feet moved just as fast. As a Wanderlust Cultivator, he could glide across the branches as easily as walking on solid ground. In no time at all, he had stuffed two whole bags full of peaches.

The others lagged behind, fumbling and swaying. Every peach took a careful twist and tug. The ones with shaky feet had to be grabbed and yanked back up before they slipped too far.

By the time everyone had filled at least one bag, more than two-thirds of the stinky fish pile had been devoured.

Ma Wu took one look at the pile and shouted, ”Fall back!”

The group snatched up their bags and bolted from the tree. If they waited any longer, it would have been too late.

The earthen longevity peach tree had a varied appetite. It loved stinky fish best of all, but it wouldn’t mind nibbling a little something else if the chance came along.

They hurried out of the forest as fast as they could. Halfway through, Li Banfeng stopped on a treetop and glanced back toward where the tree had stood. To his surprise, it was gone, as if it had never been there at all.

Li Banfeng couldn’t begin to guess how it had vanished so completely. Was it planted by an Agrarian Cultivator, or had it somehow grown itself into being?

There was no answer to his question.

The hunt ended that night. Li Banfeng and Ma Wu had been lucky enough to encounter the earthen longevity peach tree.

If they hadn’t, the entire trip would have been for nothing. They would still have to pay the hired men, and while the stinky fish might keep until tomorrow night, the venture would still end in a loss.

The group made their way back to Blue Poplar Village. On their way back, they passed by a breakfast vendor, and Ma Wu bought fried dough sticks and deep-fried pancakes to share with everyone.

The moment Ma Wu and the others were out of sight, the vendor packed up shut his stall before hurrying off to deliver a message to the chief steward of the Song Family, Tang Tianjin.

When Tang Tianjin received the news, he immediately reported it to the head of the Song Family, Song Jiasen.

Was buying breakfast really something important enough to report to the family head? Of course not. The breakfast was nothing. The peaches were what mattered.

”Master,” the chief steward said, ”the fifth young master of the Ma Family has taken a band of men to hunt in the new land.”

In Blue Poplar Village, hunting was one of the main ways the villagers made their living.

However, Blue Poplar Village was part of the Song Family’s territory. Anyone who wanted to hunt in the new land had to report to the Song Family first, and whatever they caught had to be sold through the Song Family.

Ma Wu had gone hunting without informing them first, which was considered an offense in the eyes of the Song Family.

Song Jiasen sipped his tea, nibbled at a pastry, and then asked, calm as ever, ”What was he hunting?”

”Earthen longevity peaches. He hired ten men and brought back more than ten sacks of them peaches.”

Song Jiasen pondered for a moment before shaking his head slightly. ”Why would he hunt peaches? That business isn’t something he can handle. He won’t make a profit.”

The chief steward said, ”Master, whether he makes money or not isn’t our concern. But doing this without informing us breaks the rules. It’s as if he doesn’t take the Song Family seriously.”

Song Jiasen gave a quiet chuckle. ”A few days ago, Ma Junyang couldn’t even pay his rent. He was holed up in some miserable shack. Now he’s somehow gotten his hands on a bit of money and moved into a small house with stairs.

”These pampered young masters can never endure a scrap of hardship. He’s living in a better place now, but when the rent comes due again, his days will be numbered.

”Let him keep his peaches. When he comes to sell, pay him the standard rate. Once he finds there is no profit in it, he won’t try again.”

”Master,” the chief steward said cautiously, ”the Ma Family still has connections in the city. Even if Ma Wu was thrown out, his roots aren’t gone yet. What if he refuses to sell through us?”

Song Jiasen lifted his teacup, took a slow sip, and kept his face perfectly calm. ”Then we simply cannot allow him to exist. If he will not sell through us, make sure that he doesn’t take even a single peach out of Blue Poplar Village.”

***

Ma Wu led the group back to their lodgings. Each man lugged a bulging bag, and soon they were lining them up to be weighed one by one.

Each 0.5 kilogram of peaches was worth a hundred yuan. That was the going rate for peach-picking in the new land of Blue Poplar Village.

Some were fast and some were slow. The fast ones gathered twenty-five kilogram of peaches and received five thousand yuan, while the slower ones gathered five kilogram and received a thousand yuan.

The dozen-odd bags of peaches, not counting Li Banfeng’s and Ma Wu’s, weighed one hundred and ninety kilograms. Altogether, Ma Wu paid out thirty thousand yuan.

What were these peaches even for? Well, the flesh of an earthen longevity peach was a treasure for alchemists. And the pit? That hard little stone was a precious medicinal herb.

And how much would they sell for? The Song Family paid one hundred yuan for every 0.5 kilogram.

It was hilarious! Ma Wu was buying the peaches for a hundred yuan per 0.5 kilogram and selling them for one hundred yuan per 0.5 kilogram. Not a single coin of profit! In fact, he would be losing money because the stinky fish was not free!

In Blue Poplar Village, only the Song Family ever made a real profit from peach-picking. They sold the peaches in the city for five hundred yuan per 0.5 kilogram, which was a fivefold markup.

But could Ma Wu take his peaches out of the village? Of course he couldn’t.

The Song Family would never let him haul ten sacks of peaches out of Blue Poplar Village. That would be cutting off their profit and giving them a good slap in the face for good measure.

So why on earth would Ma Wu even bother with such a business?

The young man in blue asked, ”Bosses, you’re not planning to sell those peaches back to the Song Family, are you? I’ll warn you two. You can’t make money that way.”

Ma Wu smiled. ”Boss Song is my friend. You might not make money, but I’m not the same.”

The young man didn’t dare ask again. One by one, the workers took their pay and left. Only Li Banfeng and Ma Wu stayed behind in the wooden house.

When the workers left, Li Banfeng fetched water while Ma Wu soaked the peaches.

After soaking the peaches for more than an hour, seven or eight hundred wriggling insects floated to the surface. The earthen longevity peaches were so sweet that they became easily infested with insects.

From the wriggling swarm, Ma Wu carefully picked out more than fifty mottled blue insects and passed them to Li Banfeng.

”These ones are called tiger-headed lice,” he said. ”Brother Li, keep them safe.”

Li Banfeng stored the strange blue insects with care, then set off for the market to buy fish.

As for Ma Wu? He took all the peaches and made his way to the Song Family to sell them.

Author’s note:

With Li Banfeng possessing the technique ”Hundred Flavors at the Tip of the Nose,” the stinky fish is basically lethal!!

The Overlord of Puluo has officially reached Level Two. Thank you all for your support throughout this writing journey.