The Overlord of Puluo

Liu Liangyi had already made up his mind to take revenge on Ma Wu, yet he made no move right away. Unlike Liu Changyu, who charged ahead without a second thought, Liu Liangyi paused to weigh every detail, turning possibilities over in his mind until the whole plan was airtight.

Firstly, the mission had to succeed. Whenever a Nightfiend Cultivator struck, the traces they left behind were far too obvious, making it easy for others to uncover evidence. If Liu Liangyi wished to erase it all, then everyone present would have to die—every last one of them.

This part wasn’t difficult for Liu Liangyi. He had sixty ghost servants at his command. If they surrounded Ma Wu from front and back and attacked in unison, not a single person would escape alive.

Secondly, he had to guard against techniques and artifacts. Ghost servants could slip between tangible and intangible forms, giving them a clear advantage in fights. However, there were certain Daoist path techniques that worked well against them.

For example, some Hedonism Cultivators did possess techniques capable of restraining ghosts. However, they needed to reach at least level three before those techniques could be unlocked.

Is Ma Wu a level-three cultivator? Liu Liangyi wondered. He wasn’t sure, but he suspected that Ma Wu’s cultivation could not be low, since the man had managed to kill Song Jiasen.

Aside from techniques, there were artifacts that countered ghosts.

Does Ma Wu possess one of those artifacts? Liu Liangyi thought. He did own one before.

Ma Wu had once owned a dogskin coat, filthy and greasy, the sort that made him look like a beggar whenever he wore it. Yet the moment he put it on, any ordinary ghost he touched would scatter instantly.

However, now that Ma Wu had been driven out of his family, Liu Liangyi had no way of knowing whether that dogskin coat was still in his possession.

Still, he did not dare to gamble on it. If Ma Wu still had the coat, relying on ghost servants alone would not only fail to kill him, it would also cost Liu Liangyi a great many ghost servants.

Those sixty ghost servants were the result of many years of effort and refinement on Liu Liangyi’s part. Losing even one meant the Liu Family would lose a portion of its strength. If he failed to kill Ma Wu and lost his ghost servants in the attempt, it would be a loss he simply could not afford.

To make sure nothing went wrong, Liu Liangyi decided to use paper effigies.

Ghost servants could attach themselves to paper effigies, which meant that they never had to face Ma Wu directly. Even if one effigy was torn apart, the ghost inside could slip out unharmed and move into another.

If they kept switching between the effigies, Ma Wu would never know which one to aim at. And if that happened, they could simply wear him down bit by bit until he finally died.

The plan was sound, but putting it into practice was another matter entirely.

Liu Liangyi hadn’t worked with paper effigies in years. One ghost servant could control no more than five of them, and with sixty ghost servants under him, that meant handling three hundred effigies at once.

This was equivalent to commanding a small army with his current cultivation power. However, he was now old and felt that he no longer had the strength he once had.

After thinking it over, he decided to have forty of his ghost servants control two hundred paper effigies, while keeping the remaining twenty close by to ensure his own safety.

Thirdly, he had to make sure that no one would ever find out.

He had to make sure that Ma Wu’s men noticed nothing, and that not even his own subordinates had a chance to leak any news.

Did Liu Liangyi trust his own subordinates? The truth was that he did not. He did not even trust Hu Juncai, the accounts keeper who had served at his side for years.

After drifting through the underworld for decades, Liu Liangyi had learned to trust no one but himself.

He planned to go to Blue Poplar Village alone, yet he could not go within the next two days. Word had reached him that someone would be appearing near the village soon.

If that person truly showed up, it would be wiser not to stir up trouble. The consequences would be far too serious.

***

Clink-clank, clink-clank!

”Imported soap, snow-soft moisturizing cream, foreign matches, foreign candles, foreign shovels! Come and have a look, come and take a peek! A whole cart of fine goods for you to choose from!”

The Peddler pushed his cart to the roadside, and after calling out twice, he spotted Li Banfeng hurrying toward him with three men in tow.

After hearing that the Peddler would be passing through in the next few days, Li Banfeng had stationed people to keep watch. At long last, he had managed to catch him.

Li Banfeng was an old customer. Even with a fedora on his head and a fake beard stuck across his face, the Peddler recognized him at a glance.

The moment the Peddler saw this old customer approaching, he pushed his cart to leave. He did not want to do business with Li Banfeng.

Li Banfeng stepped ahead and stopped the Peddler. ”I want activation powder for cultivation!”

The Peddler stared at him for a long moment. ”You want activation powder? You actually dare to buy more?”

For someone like Li Banfeng, who already cultivated two Daoist paths, taking on a third would be basically suicide.

Li Banfeng shook his head. ”I’m not the one buying the pills. My two brothers are.”

Behind him stood Ma Wu, Little Chuan, and Little Gen. The two younger men were road construction workers who were fiercely loyal to Ma Wu. They had quietly saved up money in the past to buy medicinal decoctions and had managed to build a bit of Dao affinity. Since their foundations looked decent, Ma Wu had brought them here to help them activate a Daoist path.

Ma Wu stepped forward with a cheerful smile. ”Have a look for us, will you? What powders do you have today?”

The Peddler shot Li Banfeng a disdainful glance before turning to Ma Wu. ”You are just here for cultivation activation, aren’t you? Bringing those two is enough. You didn’t have to bring him along.”

Li Banfeng looked thoroughly displeased. ”I am here to buy things too. You are out here selling[1], so how can you be picky about your customers?”

”You are the one selling yourself, not me!” the Peddler snapped at Li Banfeng before turning his attention to Little Chuan and Little Gen. ”I’ve brought plenty of powders today. Which Daoist Path do the two of you want to choose?”

Little Chuan was still hesitating, so Li Banfeng offered a suggestion. ”Why don’t you choose Hedonism Cultivation like your master did? The two of you can cultivate together.”

Little Chuan shook his head. ”I think that cultivation path has no prospects.”

Ma Wu gave him a sharp kick. ”And who exactly are you calling someone with no prospects?!”

Little Chuan turned to the Peddler. ”Actually, I want to become a Literary Cultivator.”

The Peddler let out a laugh. ”That does like a cultivation path with great prospects. Do you like reading?”

Little Chuan answered with complete sincerity. ”I like reading, but I don’t actually know how to read.”

The Peddler’s smile vanished, replaced by a deep frown. ”You can’t read, so what sort of Literary Cultivator are you trying to be?”

Little Chuan lowered his head. ”I just want to learn how to read.”

Ma Wu stepped in and said to the Peddler, ”Give him the activation powder for Literary Cultivator. I will teach him to read.”

The Peddler shook his head. ”That’s nonsense. Do you think learning to read is easy? How many years did you spend learning it yourself? Have you no sense at all?

”The moment he activates Literary Cultivation, he will have to read a book every day. If he is illiterate, how is he supposed to read anything? If he cannot meet the daily cultivation requirement, he will just be sitting there waiting to die.”

Little Chuan looked utterly miserable. ”I just don’t want to keep living while lying to myself.”

The Peddler waved him off. ”Then go learn to read. Once you can manage that, come find me again.”

Little Chuan looked even more aggrieved. ”I can drive a road roller. I’m not useless.”

The Peddler let out a laugh. ”Who said you’re useless? You don’t have to be a Literary Cultivator to have great prospects. You can drive a road roller, can’t you? Then tell me this, can you fix one?”

Little Chuan nodded. ”I can fix it!”

The Peddler pulled on his gloves, picked up a trowel, and scooped out a spoonful of powder. He held it out to Little Chuan. ”This is the powder for an Artificer Cultivator. It is a path devoted to the art of craftsmanship. The more skills you learn and the better you become at them, the faster your cultivation will grow.”

Little Chuan asked excitedly, ”What is the art of craftsmanship?”

”The art of craftsmanship is... well...” The Peddler paused, struggling to find a tidy explanation. ”Think of things like fixing road rollers, repairing trains and airplanes, working on mechanisms or traps, making bamboo baskets or clay pots, even putting up skyscrapers. All of that falls under the engineering arts. How far you go depends entirely on how much you can learn.”

Little Chuan nodded eagerly. ”I can do this.”

”You can, certainly, but the powder isn’t cheap. Artificer Cultivation costs a hundred and ten thousand. No bargaining.”

At the mention of the price, Little Chuan glanced nervously at Ma Wu.

Ma Wu did not hesitate. He took out the money and handed it over, and the Peddler exchanged the cash for the powder.

The Peddler added a reminder. ”Even after becoming an Artificer Cultivator, you’ll still need to learn to read. Otherwise, it will be hard for you to make real progress in the future.”

Little Chuan agreed, took the bright silver powder that carried a faint iron scent, and braced himself for the sharp sting. He slapped the powder onto his abdomen, and in an instant, he successfully became a cultivator.

Little Gen wanted to choose Artificer Cultivation as well, but he felt that a hundred and ten thousand was far too expensive.

Ma Wu had always been closer to Little Chuan, and Little Gen knew he was not favored to the same degree. He worried that Young Master Wu would not be willing to pay for him.

Seeing that the Peddler’s attention was fixed entirely on Little Chuan, Little Gen quietly slipped over to the side of the cart.

The drawer the Peddler had used earlier was still open. Little Gen quietly pulled on his gloves, scooped up a handful of powder from inside, and smeared it onto himself in secret.

The Peddler suddenly turned around and fixed his stare on Little Gen. ”What are you doing?”

Little Gen gritted through the pain and shook his head. ”Nothing.”

The Peddler’s face darkened. ”You stole my powder!”

Little Gen shook his head even harder. ”N-no... I didn’t.”

Ma Wu grew angry. ”Gen, if you took someone’s powder, you have to admit it. I will pay for it. Do not do something so embarrassing.”

Little Gen lowered his head, too frightened to speak.

The Peddler studied his face for a moment, then asked, ”Which powder did you take just now?”

Little Gen pointed at Little Chuan. ”Mine is the same as his. It came from the same drawer.”

The Peddler shook his head. ”Just because it came from the same drawer does not mean it is the same kind. Look here, is it this color?”

He scooped out a fresh spoonful from the same drawer. The powder inside was golden yellow, even brighter than the gold powder used for Homebound Cultivators.

Everyone stared in shock. The powder taken from that drawer earlier had clearly been silver. How had it become gold?

Little Gen had been far too anxious while stealing and had not noticed the change in color.

He opened his palm and saw golden residue clinging to his gloves.

The powder he had taken earlier really was gold!

The Peddler smiled. ”Young man, you are lucky. The powder you grabbed is cheap, only one hundred dollars.”

Little Gen’s face lit up. ”Only one hundred?”

This is great! Little Gen thought. I won’t need Young Master Wu to pay for me! I can afford this myself!

The Peddler nodded. ”One hundred is enough, and you even get something extra with it.”

After saying that, the Peddler reached into his cart and pulled out two long, narrow buckets. Each one stood about a foot and two inches tall, with a diameter roughly as wide as two clenched fists.

Little Gen asked in surprise, ”What are these buckets for?”

”No rush, no rush, there is more,” the Peddler said. He then handed Little Gen a long ladle with a handle nearly a meter in length.

”These buckets must be used together with this ladle.”

Holding the long-handled ladle, Little Gen frowned in confusion. ”Why do they have to be used together?”

The Peddler explained, ”Those buckets are golden buckets, and this ladle is a golden ladle. You must use these tools to scoop golden soup.”

Little Gen looked down at the ladle again, and an uneasy feeling crept up on him. ”What is golden soup?”

”The golden soup from the latrine, of course.”

”Isn’t that just... poop?”

”You chose Gold Cultivation. Naturally, you have to scoop golden soup.”

”What Gold Cultivation? This is Poop Cultivation!” Little Gen burst into tears on the spot. ”I won’t do it. I am not choosing this path!”

The Peddler shook his head with a weary sigh. ”You have already chosen your Daoist Path. There is no medicine for regret.”

Little Gen wailed, ”I would rather die than choose this path!”

The Peddler let out another sigh. ”If you think about it positively, every Daoist Path in this world has ones that complement it and ones that suppress it.

”Poison Cultivation and Medicine Cultivation suppress each other, Water and Fire suppress each other, Homebound and Wanderlust suppress each other, and Hedonism and Asceticism suppress each other. However, your cultivation path is different. Your path is powerful. It suppresses all other paths, and no path can counter it.

”A Wanderlust Cultivator runs the moment they see you, a Literary Cultivator pinches their nose, a Homebound Cultivator slams their doors shut, a Gourmandism Cultivator feels sick to their stomach, a Martial Cultivator steps back, and a Hedonism Cultivator goes weak in both body and mind.

”Even spirits fear filth. Even a Nightfiend Cultivator’s ghost servants would not dare act wild in front of you. And if you cultivate this path to mastery, you will be unstoppable.”

Little Gen wailed, ”I will not cultivate this! I refuse!”

”You have already stepped onto this Daoist path, so you must try to be more open-minded about it. From now on, you have to carry this poop bucket. Before you can advance to the next level, you must carry it for five hours a day. The bucket cannot be empty; it must have poop in it. You must change it every day. The more often you change it, the faster you will advance.

”Once you advance, you will need to carry it for eight hours a day. After you reach level two, one bucket will no longer be enough. You will need two. Then you can come find me again to buy a third one in preparation for level three.

”Even if you do not wish to advance, you must still carry it for at least two hours a day. And the golden soup inside must be changed at least once every two days.”

”I have already taught you how to walk this path. How far you go from here will depend entirely on you.”

Little Gen crumpled onto the ground and burst into great, heaving sobs. The Peddler, however, didn’t spare him so much as a glance and went straight back to calling out his merchandise to passersby.

Ma Wu strode over to the Peddler and said, ”I want to buy some tonics.”

”Tonics for Hedonism Cultivation?” The Peddler smiled as if he already knew the answer. ”I have them all. Decoctions, powders, or pills? Decoctions act slowly, powders burn out fast, and pills come with a dangerous dose of poison. Take your pick.”

Ma Wu chose the decoctions. The Peddler didn’t give him a prescription, only a bundle of prepackaged daily doses, and warned him that once a packet was opened, its effects would vanish.

After buying more than a hundred packets to last him until the Peddler’s next visit, Ma Wu felt thoroughly satisfied. With his supplies secured, he finally allowed himself to think about the next stage of his cultivation.

Li Banfeng then asked about medicine as well. ”Do you sell anything that can treat pill poison?”

The Peddler gave a small shake of his head. ”No, I don’t have anything for that.”

”Truly none?”

”If I had something that valuable, do you think I would still be pushing this cart around?” the Peddler said. ”Every pill carries its own poison. There’s no dependable cure for any of them. You either endure it with your own body or wait for time to wear it down. No shortcuts.”

Unable to find any cure for pill poison, Li Banfeng tried another question. ”Where is Peddler Road?”

The Peddler looked at Li Banfeng as though words had momentarily failed him. ”Have you no sense of boundaries? I am the Peddler, and you are asking me where Peddler Road is? That’s my secret. Why would I tell you?”

With all the sincerity he could muster, Li Banfeng said, ”I’m willing to pay.”

The Peddler burst into anger. ”Do you think this is about money? This is what I depend on to survive. How could I simply tell anyone? Asking something so vulgar... do you have any respect for me at all?”

Li Banfeng curled his lip. ”So you really can’t tell me?”

The Peddler shook his head. ”Not exactly. If you join my Daoist Path and reach a certain level, I can tell you a few things about the Peddler Road.”

The Peddler has his own Daoist path? Should I try cultivating this Daoist path? Li Banfeng thought. It was the first time he had heard of something like this.

However, Li Banfeng had already started cultivating two Daoist Paths.

He thought for a moment and asked, ”What would happen if I entered another path now?”

”You would die,” the Peddler said bluntly.

”Then forget it.”

Since there was no hope of learning where Peddler Road was, Li Banfeng asked something even more direct. ”Do you sell travel permits?”

The Peddler was momentarily speechless. ”Do you honestly think I’d sell something so vulgar? Absolutely not!”

Li Banfeng scoffed. ”You have nothing to offer, and you still claim you’re running a business!”

The Peddler’s fingers twitched as if he were itching to smack Li Banfeng, but the crowd around them made him think twice. For the sake of his reputation, he swallowed his temper.

Ma Wu and Little Chuan had both bought what they wanted, and Little Gen, at the very least, had finally begun cultivating.

It was so very rare for the Peddler to visit, and Li Banfeng was the only one who ended up with nothing. Naturally, he felt more than a little indignant.

”I’ll take that metal bucket, two bottles of snow-moisturizing cream, two bars of soap, that rice ladle, that pot, the rouge and powder as well, and give me a few of those hairpins.”

”You’re a man. Why are you buying so much rouge and so many hairpins?” the Peddler asked, utterly bewildered.

”Why do you care? I’m paying.” Li Banfeng cast a glance at the red lantern hanging from the Peddler’s cart. ”I want that too.”

The Peddler waved him off. ”Not that lantern. I told you last time, a friend gave it to me. I won’t sell it at any price.”

The lantern was not for sale.

”Then what about that feather duster?”

”That feather duster is for sweeping dust!”

”One hundred dollars. Will you sell it?”

”No!”

”One thousand!”

”No!”

”Ten thousand!”

The Peddler frowned. ”Why do you insist on buying this feather duster?”

Li Banfeng didn’t answer. He had the strange feeling that the feather duster was speaking. He couldn’t quite make out the words.

Listening through the Threaded Earring, he thought he heard it whisper, ”Have pity on me, give me a bite to eat.”

The Peddler glanced from Li Banfeng to the earring clutched in his hand, and his frown deepened.

Author’s Note:

PS: Li Banfeng heard something he shouldn’t have heard.

1. Basically saying that the Peddler is a prostitute ☜