The Overlord of Puluo

At eight in the evening, the exhausted Lu Dongliang returned to the residence. He slumped into the study and waited... and waited... and waited some more.

More than half an hour later, Qiu Zhiheng finally came in and reported, ”Master, our men have seized more than twenty people and tossed the whole lot straight into the dungeon.”

He continued, ”Six of them were transporting gramophones on the road. The rest were rickshaw drivers. They said they transported gramophones for people last night and today.”

Lu Dongliang nodded. ”Start by questioning them. And if you sniff out even the tiniest clue, come tell me straight away.”

Lu Dongliang could feel it. Li Banfeng and the Arcane Crimson Lotus were close. It was as if, by stretching out his hand just a little farther, he might brush his fingers against them both.

Qiu Zhiheng hurried off toward the dungeon.

Lu Dongliang, who had spent the entire day wrangling business with the great families, was bone-tired. He had only just decided to rest when a steward rushed in and announced, ”Master, the eldest daughter of the He Family has arrived.”

”Who?” Lu Dongliang asked impatiently.

The steward replied, ”He Haiqin’s elder sister, He Yuxiu.”

Lu Dongliang grabbed his yellow wool coat, gave it a brisk shake, and flung it over his shoulders with clear irritation. ”That shrew. What is she doing here at this hour?”

He was thoroughly displeased, of course, but he didn’t let a trace of it show. After clawing his way up for so many years, the more crucial the moment, the steadier Lu Dongliang became.

He Yuxiu had a terrible temper and a high level of cultivation. No matter what she wanted to do, Lu Dongliang knew he had to keep her calm.

When he reached the main hall, he found He Yuxiu waiting by the stairs with two attendants in tow. Lu Dongliang instantly plastered on his brightest smile. ”Big Sis Xiu! What a surprise. If you’d only sent word ahead, I would have come out personally to fetch you.”

”Oh, please. You? Come fetch me? What an honor that would be,” He Yuxiu said with a cold, slicing laugh. ”Master Lu, you’re one of the great figures of Puluo, aren’t you? Your words are supposed to carry a bit of weight.”

She continued, ”My nephew has been lying in the hospital for months. You keep saying you will give us an explanation. When exactly is that explanation supposed to arrive??”

Lu Dongliang rushed forward, trying his best to calm her down. ”Big Sis Xiu, I’m just as anxious as you are, truly. The thing is, Xiaolan has only just come back...”

”Just returned?” He Yuxiu let out a sharp little sneer. ”Funny. I heard she’s been back for a few months.”

Lu Dongliang said nothing. So what if she has been back for a few months? If I refuse to hand her over, do you think you can seize her from under my nose?

Seeing that Lu Dongliang still refused to speak, He Yuxiu lit a cigarette and said, ”Boss Lu, let’s be frank, I came tonight to take Lu Xiaolan away. If you agree, we can consider this matter settled. If you don’t... then I’m not leaving.”

He Yuxiu sank onto the sofa, crossed her legs, and waited for Lu Dongliang to speak. Lu Dongliang hurriedly told Wu Ma to bring tea at once.

He took the seat opposite He Yuxiu and explained, ”There are still many things Xiaolan has not explained. She was wrong to injure Jiaqing, and when the time comes to punish her, I will not hold back. But this is a matter of life and death. We should at least let the child speak for herself, don’t you think?”

He Yuxiu tapped the ash from her cigarette and said, ”Very well. Tell me then. What exactly hasn’t been made clear? Let me hear it for myself and see whether it makes any sense.”

Lu Dongliang gave a small, weary smile. ”There are far too many things. I hardly know where to begin.”

He Yuxiu smiled as well. ”You don’t know where to begin? Allow me to help. First question. Where exactly did Lu Xiaolan return from?”

”She came back from the Outer Provinces. The train derailed, and Xiaolan was severely injured. You already know all of this.”

”Still spouting nonsense?” He Yuxiu snapped. ”I’ve already looked into it myself. She ran straight out of my family’s old residence.”

Lu Dongliang stayed silent. He pulled out a cigarette and bit it between his teeth. He wasn’t much of a smoker, but tonight his mood was foul enough to make an exception.

In recent years, whenever he dealt with the great families, he was always the one holding the upper hand.

He might have been in a slightly passive spot today, but that hardly bothered him. If anything, it sharpened his curiosity. He wanted to see exactly what He Yuxiu thought she could do.

He Yuxiu smiled. ”Let me ask you something else. You are looking for Li Banfeng, aren’t you?”

Lu Dongliang didn’t bother denying it. ”I am. Xiaolan told me he took something extremely important.”

He Yuxiu asked again, ”You mean the Arcane Crimson Lotus that Jiaqing found, don’t you?”

The corner of Lu Dongliang’s eye gave the slightest twitch.

In the past few months, the He Family and the Lu Family had run into conflict time and again, yet every clash circled back to the fact that He Jiaqing was injured.

As for the Arcane Crimson Lotus, both families avoided speaking of it entirely. Neither wanted the world to know of such a treasure, in case the other families began to covet it.

But today, He Yuxiu had dragged the matter out into the open.

Was this her own idea, or He Haiqin’s? And why hadn’t He Haiqin come himself? Was it because He Yuxiu could fight circles around him? Had this shrew barged in here just to stir up trouble under my roof?

This was a matter that required careful thought on Lu Dongliang’s part.

He Yuxiu was the strongest fighter in the He Family. If this shrew truly fought to the death, even if Lu Dongliang managed to beat her, he would likely come away badly injured.

”Say something. Did you go looking for the Arcane Crimson Lotus?” He Yuxiu kept pressing.

Lu Dongliang decided to stall. ”I never planned to look for the lotus. I know it was a treasure that Jiaqing found. I only want to track down Li Banfeng and clear up the misunderstanding between our families.”

”Still talking nonsense!” He Yuxiu crushed her cigarette. ”Li Banfeng has been dead for ages. He died with the lotus in Lu Xiaolan’s hands. The lotus is already with you. And you’re still playing word games with me?”

Lu Dongliang frowned. ”Big Sis Xiu, where did you hear that? We’ve struggled half our lives to get to where we are now. You can’t go believing every bit of street gossip.”

He Yuxiu let out a cold laugh. ”Street gossip? If I trusted any of that, I’d have ripped this place apart ages ago. Your precious daughter, Lu Xiaolan, was trapped in my family’s old residence and nearly starved to death. She tricked Li Banfeng into taking the lotus and even told him to come to the old residence to rescue her. The two of them quarreled over the treasure in the old residence, and Lu Xiaolan ended up killing Li Banfeng there! And now you act as if you are searching for Li Banfeng. The lotus is in your possession already. What could you possibly want with him now?”

Lu Dongliang frowned. ”Big Sis Xiu, if you want to make claims like that, bring evidence. Who said it? And do they have the guts to face me directly?”

He Yuxiu stood up and said, ”A confrontation is fine, but not here. The one who said it was the dwelling spirit of my family’s old residence. When my father moved out of Medicine King Gully, the house was given to my second uncle, who is a Homebound Cultivator. When he died, the dwelling spirit remained in the old residence. That old house has gone untended for many years. If I hadn’t received word and gone to take a look, I still wouldn’t have known something so serious had happened.

”Lu Dongliang, do you dare challenge me? Do you dare say your daughter never set foot in my family’s old residence? Do you really think I wouldn’t know that Monkey Qiu dragged Lu Xiaolan out of that house himself? I just came back from Medicine King Gully. When the dwelling spirit told me about it, I was looking straight at it. That is my family’s dwelling spirit. Why the hell would it lie to me?”

The veins on Lu Dongliang’s forehead pulsed.

It was not He Yuxiu who had angered him. Her temper was nothing new, and he understood her better than anyone. It was Lu Xiaolan who angered him. He couldn’t believe that Lu Xiaolan had never told him the truth.

So from the very start, Lu Xiaolan had lied to him? And she had kept the lie going all this time?

It was not only Lu Dongliang who burned with anger. Zhuo Yuling, lying flat on the second-floor roof to eavesdrop, almost slipped right off the tiles.

Li Banfeng had been dead all along? Killed by Xiaolan in the He Family’s old residence? And she had lied to me as well? Was He Yuxiu telling the truth?

If she dared to confront them face to face, then it had to be true. After all, a dwelling spirit could not lie.

***

Could a dwelling spirit truly be incapable of lying?

At Yuezhou’s Third Hospital, with He Haisheng gone on an errand, He Jiaqing, who lying unconscious on the bed, was the only one in the room.

Suddenly, he laughed, and the laughter rang throughout the room.

Who said a dwelling spirit cannot lie? That spirit is my friend. Anything is negotiable!

***

Inside the Lu Family residence, He Yuxiu lit another cigarette, drew in a deep breath, and steadied her voice. ”Boss Lu, you and I have slept together before. We know each other inside out. I am not going to make things difficult for you. Just ask Lu Xiaolan to come out and let me ask her a few questions face to face.”

He Yuxiu and Lu Dongliang had indeed slept together.

When He Yuxiu was young, she had been a renowned beauty with a wild, free spirit. She and Lu Dongliang knew each other intimately, well enough to know exactly how deep, how hard, and how long the other could go.

He Yuxiu had already brought matters to this stage. If Lu Dongliang still refused to bring out Lu Xiaolan, he would leave her no choice but to turn hostile.

However, a meeting was still just a meeting. Lu Dongliang would never allow He Yuxiu to take Lu Xiaolan away.

Even if he had to resort to torture, even if Lu Xiaolan died under interrogation, Lu Dongliang had to find out where the Arcane Crimson Lotus went.

He called a steward over and quietly ordered him to bring Lu Xiaolan down. Then he added, ”Send more people. Keep a close eye on Xiaolan.”

There was nothing unreasonable about that order. Lu Xiaolan was about to stand before He Yuxiu. If she really had lied and the truth came out, she might act on impulse.

Of course, Lu Dongliang also summoned more people to guard against He Yuxiu.

He could have said it openly, and it would not have mattered even if He Yuxiu had heard. This was his home. It was only natural for him to take precautions.

Yet, out of habit, the ever-cautious Lu Dongliang lowered his voice. All He Yuxiu caught were three words: ”Send more people.”

She grew alert at once, and her expression turned fierce. ”Boss Lu, what are you trying to do? You had better be honest and clear about your intentions!”

Lu Dongliang looked genuinely surprised. ”I told them to bring Xiaolan down because you said you wanted to see her. How is that not clear enough?”

He Yuxiu stared at him out of the corner of her eye.

Keeping his expression calm, Lu Dongliang said, ”Auntie Wu, bring Big Sis Xiu another pot of tea.”

Auntie Wu went to make the tea. The steward went upstairs to escort Lu Xiaolan.

Lu Dongliang slipped a record onto the gramophone and let ”Dream Lover” drift through the room. It was his attempt to ease the tension.

Zhuo Yuling, lying on the rooftop beams, could not wait any longer.

”Gugu, gurgle, gurgle~”

Why do I hear a gecko chirping? Lu Dongliang wondered.

It wasn’t strange to hear a gecko as every house had a few. However, Lu Dongliang felt that something was off. He paused and looked up at the ceiling, and He Yuxiu followed his gaze.

Zhuo Yuling!

Zhuo Yuling was crawling on the ceiling with her head trembling rapidly as she made the sound.

”Gugu, gurgle, gurgle~”

He Yuxiu shouted in shock, ”Lu Dongliang, you bastard, you set me up.”

He Yuxiu, being a level-eight Martial Cultivator, lifted the table and instantly moved right in front of Lu Dongliang.

At this moment, Xiao Yeci walked out from the third-floor bathroom and happened to see this scene from behind the stairway railing.

Not knowing what had happened, she froze. Why is that woman holding that table? Is this some kind of gang fight? Clearly, that woman is not much of an expert!

Xiao Yeci had heard storytellers[1] say that when true experts exchanged blows, they used the finest weapons and the strongest martial skills. They never made a move lightly. Once they fought, it lasted three days and three nights, shaking mountains and splitting the earth, and even then, the victor might not be decided.

This was the part Xiao Yeci could not understand.

When true experts fought, it was never that complicated. The higher their levels, the simpler their moves became.

He Yuxiu was a level-eight Martial Cultivator, and anything she could lift became a weapon.

A whole table could serve as a shield. If it shattered, every splinter and plank would turn into something deadly.

The teapot, teacups, fruit plate, and vase on the table all became concealed weapons that shot straight toward Lu Dongliang.

One should never underestimate these concealed weapons. A single teapot could pierce straight through Lu Dongliang’s body, and that was the power of a level-eight martial cultivator.

Lu Dongliang seemed to stand perfectly still, yet he slipped past more than a dozen flying objects with ease. The footwork of a level-nine Wanderlust Cultivator was already far beyond what He Yuxiu could see.

He Yuxiu never expected those small objects to hit Lu Dongliang, so she hurled the entire table at him instead.

This move was only meant to slow him down. He Yuxiu knew Lu Dongliang could dodge it with ease, and she was already preparing her next strike.

This was a battle between a level-eight cultivator and a ninth-level cultivator. A clash at that level would never drag on for three days and three nights, as victory would be decided in the blink of an eye.

This was why her next move had to be the killing strike.

If He Yuxiu failed to kill Lu Dongliang with her next strike, she would have to be prepared to die. But to her surprise, Lu Dongliang didn’t even dodge the table.

His feet had been caught by spider silk. It held him for only an instant, but that was enough for him to take the hit. He had been caught off guard where he least expected it. Lu Dongliang had never imagined he would walk straight into an ambush in his own home.

The corner of the table slammed into Lu Dongliang’s chest. He took the blow head-on and spat out a mouthful of blood.

The strength of an eighth-level Martial Cultivator was overwhelming.

When He Yuxiu sensed that something was wrong and hastily withdrew her strike, someone else had delivered the finishing blow for her.

It was Lu Dongliang’s younger brother, Lu Dongjun, an eighth-level martial cultivator. He suddenly appeared and slammed a heavy punch into Lu Dongliang’s back.

His fist tore through the spine and burst out of the chest.

Almost at the same moment, Zhuo Yuling twisted her waist and dropped with her back to the ground. As she fell, a long gecko tail snapped out from beneath her skirt, hardening into a sharp spike that drove straight into the center of Lu Dongliang’s forehead.

What is going on? Lu Dongliang thought.

Everything had happened so suddenly that he couldn’t react. But in the blink of an eye, the truth became clear to him.

Zhuo Yuling had attacked him for Lu Xiaolan. Lu Dongjun had struck for the position of family head. And He Yuxiu had fought to take Lu Xiaolan away.

The spider silk had come from that land-activating private investigator.

Lu Dongliang could sense it whenever He Yuxiu was about to strike, yet when the others launched their attacks, he hadn’t sensed a trace of malicious intent.

They had used an enchanted artifact that concealed every trace of malicious intent.

Were they working together? Not necessarily. Lu Dongjun and Zhuo Yuling might truly have colluded, and the private investigator had clearly been hired by them.

As for He Yuxiu, she only wanted to take Lu Xiaolan away, so she could not possibly have been working with Zhuo Yuling.

This foolish woman was dragged into the mess without understanding anything at all.

What should I do? I can’t stay here, thought Lu Dongliang.

The situation was dire. Lu Dongliang had been gravely wounded. Staying even a moment longer could cost him his life.

He looked at He Yuxiu again.

This woman is truly damned. She has to survive. Even if I die, someone needs to bear witness to what happened today. If only Monkey Qiu were here. I should have kept him home to guard the house!

Lu Dongliang gave He Yuxiu a light push. In an instant, the confused He Yuxiu was flung out of the residence. Her back struck the wall, and she went straight through it.

Lu Dongliang flew out as well, shooting toward the mansion wall and passing through it just as easily, meeting almost no resistance.

It was the ability of a level-nine Wanderlust Cultivator: A Parting Across Ten Thousand Miles.

Lu Dongliang had always suspected that Lu Xiaolan lied, but he knew that some of her words had been true.

Zhuo Yuling was stunned. She remembered what Lu Xiaolan had said about He Jiaqing. He Jiaqing had given her only a light push, yet she had been sent flying.

From that simple description, Lu Dongliang had deduced He Jiaqing’s Daoist path. And with that same description, he knew that He Jiaqing’s cultivation level was higher than Qiu Zhiheng’s.

The two vanished just like that, leaving Lu Dongjun standing at the original spot in stunned disbelief.

Xiao Yeci stood in the corridor, frozen in place. Lu Chunying pulled her along and signaled for her to run for her life.

***

The Third Hospital, Yuezhou.

He Jiaqing truly could not hold it in any longer.

Taking advantage of the moment when He Haisheng and the caregiver stepped out, he burst into loud laughter. He laughed so hard he sat upright, his shoulders shaking as his body rocked back and forth.

1. The raw here is 说书先生 (Shuo Shu Xian Sheng)refers to the storytellers of old, folk performers who earned their living by narrating stories aloud. They were also called “storytellers” or “story talkers.” The tales they told ranged from historical epics and supernatural legends to courtroom dramas and martial arts tales. ☜