The Overlord of Puluo

Among the four great families, the Ma Family was the most enthusiastic about land activation and had carried out the greatest number of such operations in newly claimed lands.

Ma Wu had accompanied these efforts in the past, observing firsthand and gaining some experience as a result. However, all he had done was observe. He had never activated a plot of land.

With how powerful his family was, he didn’t need to take such risks. Matters like this were always handled by hiring specialized land-activating parties.

Even now, Ma Wu did not want to take risks. He was more inclined to have Zuo Wugang lead two underlings to carry out the land activation.

Yet Li Banfeng did not agree.

This plot of new land that they wanted to activate would not only help their cultivation but also serve as a refuge for Li Banfeng and Ma Wu. Until Zuo Wugang had fully earned their trust, Li Banfeng did not want him to know where it was.

The same applied to Zhen Jincheng and Cao Zhigang. Neither of them could come along.

Seeing how resolute Li Banfeng was, Ma Wu could only agree.

In actuality, land-activating was a luck-based event. The reason Ma Wu felt the risks were high was based on experience drawn from the Ma Family’s land-activating efforts. Even so, there had been rare cases where a level-one cultivator had successfully activated land alone.

Moreover, even if danger arose, one could give up on land activation and still have a chance to escape. The price was that land activation would never again be possible within a hundred li.

”In Puluo Province, as far as I know, the person with the most experience in land activation is private investigator Daboinsky. He once helped our family prepare the offerings. I still remember the types and quantities. Getting those items won’t be difficult. The real issue is choosing the right location.”

Li Banfeng had two locations in mind. One was the wasteland between Gourd Gully and Iron-thread River. The other lay between Little Yellow Spring and the orange grove.

In the end, the two of them chose the wasteland between Little Yellow Spring and the orange grove.

Food was easy to replenish here. The oranges in the grove were edible, something Ma Wu knew well.

From Li Banfeng’s perspective, his good relationship with the owner of the orange grove meant that, at critical moments, someone would have his back.

With the location chosen, the remaining issue was Ma Wu’s cultivation.

Obviously, they couldn’t bring women along on this trip. Ma Wu himself also said that the Golden Essence Pill he had taken earlier would be enough to sustain him for a while.

Li Banfeng also gave Ma Wu seven Mystic Blazing Pills. If anything unexpected happened, they would allow Ma Wu to hold out for a few more days.

Once everything was ready, Ma Wu chose a pair of shoes imbued with spirit essence. Their soles were thick, etched with deep tread patterns that could nearly double his usual speed. He then set out together with Li Banfeng.

Before setting off, Ma Wu made arrangements for Little Chuan and Zuo Wugang to oversee Blue Poplar Village.

Little Chuan handled the routine matters, while Zuo Wugang dealt with any special situations.

Little Chuan was somewhat worried. ”Master Wu, I can barely read a few characters. If you let me manage the business, won’t that turn into a joke?”

”How could that be a joke?” Ma Wu had great confidence in Little Chuan. ”It’s already the end of the year. The hunters are all home celebrating the New Year, so there isn’t much business to begin with.

”Besides, you usually accompany me when buying and selling goods. You’ve already learned quite a bit. It’s time to get some hands-on practice.”

Ma Wu truly trusted Little Chuan, but he was far more cautious when it came to Zuo Wugang.

Through these days of interaction, Ma Wu had discovered that Zuo Wugang was a reliable support hook[1]. Whenever trouble arose in the village, Zuo Wugang could settle it at once with a single order from Ma Wu.

However, if Ma Wu did not give an order, matters became somewhat troublesome. Zuo Wugang was not very good at making decisions.

When they reached the village entrance, Li Banfeng saw Little Gen scooping up ”gold liquid.”

In the bitter cold, finding ”gold liquid” was no easy task. With two buckets strapped to his back, Little Gen searched about, drenched in sweat despite the freezing air.

Li Banfeng asked quietly, ”He has advanced a level?”

Ma Wu nodded and said, ”Yesterday he told me he felt he had already advanced one level. Cultivation gives you a sense for these things, so it’s probably not wrong.”

”Even if he’s advanced a level, carrying a single bucket should be enough. Didn’t the Peddler say he would only need to start carrying two buckets once he advanced to level two?”

Ma Wu said, ”Little Gen says that carrying an extra bucket lets him earn extra cultivation time.”

Li Banfeng praised him repeatedly. ”Looks like this kid has great potential.”

Because he brought Ma Wu along, the journey took a bit longer than usual. However, their preparations were thorough, and they encountered almost no obstacles at Gourd Gully.

Red Clay Ridge was manageable as well. Li Banfeng had passed through it once before and had already found a largely safe route. Relying on a Wanderlust Cultivator’s sense of direction, he led Ma Wu smoothly across the ridge.

Crossing the Iron-thread River would have been troublesome, as Ma Wu had no tools to fly across. However, Li Banfeng did. He still had the Judge’s Brush given to him by those two tree-burning thugs.

Using the Judge’s Brush, Li Banfeng drew a circle on the ground. He and Ma Wu stepped inside and waited for the brush to respond.

After waiting for more than half an hour, the tip of the Judge’s Brush trembled slightly.

To ordinary people, this was already a response. But Li Banfeng was different. With the Perceiving the Spirit’s Melody technique, he could not only see the tip tremble, but also hear the Judge’s Brush speak.

”Where to?”

It spoke only two words. The voice was barely more than a whisper. Without careful attention, the two words would have gone unheard.

So this is the enchanted artifact of a Lazy Cultivator? Li Banfeng thought and pointed the tip of the brush toward the opposite bank of the river. With that, the Judge’s Brush fell silent again.

After another half hour of waiting, the tip of the Judge’s Brush trembled again as it said, ”Stand firm.”

It spoke only two words again.

The two waited for a while longer. Then the ground beneath their feet slowly lifted, raising a cloud of dust that carried Li Banfeng and Ma Wu up into the air.

How high did they fly? Only around half a meter, barely skimming above the ground.

The entire Iron-thread River was infested with iron-thread worms. Each one was coiled and winding, writhing beneath their feet.

Ma Wu’s hair stood on end. ”Brother Li, can this enchanted artifact of yours be relied on? We absolutely can’t fall. If we do, it’s over.”

Li Banfeng did not dare claim that the Judge’s Brush was reliable either. They drifted slowly toward the opposite bank. In the bitter cold of midwinter, both of them were drenched in sweat.

With his nerves still on edge, Ma Wu asked, ”Which Daoist Path does this enchanted artifact belong to?”

Li Banfeng was just about to bring it up. ”Brother Ma, do you know anything about Lazy Cultivation?”

Ma Wu nodded. ”I do. That Daoist Path is special. The essence of their cultivation lies in the word ’lazy.’ They have three maxims they’re always reciting.”

”What are the three?”

”The first is: ’If one may lie down, one must not sit.’ The second is: ’If one may sit, one must not stand.’ The third is: ’If one may stand, one must not walk.’”

Li Banfeng was stunned for a moment. He put away the Judge’s Brush, pondered for a long while, then asked, ”Can cultivators of this Daoist Path fight?”

”You can’t really say they can fight, and you can’t say they can’t either...” Ma Wu did not know how to describe it. ”Lazy Cultivators are rare. I saw one once when I was fifteen.

”It was at the Ridge of Bottomless Stomachs. A Lazy Cultivator was set to fight a Gourmandism Cultivator to the death. They agreed on a place to meet, but the Lazy Cultivator arrived an hour late. By then, the Gourmandism Cultivator was so furious that he was cursing the Lazy Cultivator’s mother.

”When they were finally about to start fighting, the Lazy Cultivator did nothing but stare at him and keep yawning.”

”And what happened next?”

”The Lazy Cultivator said he no longer felt like fighting. Before long, the Gourmandism Cultivator started yawning as well and he could barely open his eyes. After cursing a few more times, he also declared that he wasn’t fighting anymore.

”In the end, the two of them each found a place to sleep, and the matter was settled just like that.”

Li Banfeng came to a halt and shot Ma Wu a look. ”That’s what you rich folks call a fight to the death?”

”I didn’t say that. They were the ones who said they were going to fight to the death.”

So such a Daoist Path truly exist in this world, Li Banfeng thought.

Li Banfeng was familiar with the route, while Ma Wu could barely keep up. They walked for a full six days before finally reaching Little Yellow Spring.

Ma Wu’s shoes did increase his speed, but a Hedonism Cultivator’s body was inherently too weak, and he still needed to get enough rest each day.

Li Banfeng was not in a hurry either. He set up two tents, and the two rested separately. He took one Golden Essence Pill each day and also needed time to recover. Every night, he still returned to the Pocket Dwelling to sleep.

When crossing Little Yellow Spring, Li Banfeng was extremely cautious and carefully explained the rules to Ma Wu in detail.

Once they were truly on the narrow path, Ma Wu was so frightened that his bones felt cold and his hair stood on end. By contrast, Li Banfeng walked calmly with the feather duster in hand. The wind continued to blow from the south the entire time, confirming that nothing was wrong.

After spending over five hours walking for over fifty kilometers, they finally reached the wasteland. Exhausted and shaken by fear, Ma Wu collapsed onto the ground and lay there for a long while, unable to get up.

After resting for two hours, the two continued on their way. Eventually, they selected a site for land activation beside a pine forest that was located more than fifteen kilometers away from the orange grove.

With a pine forest nearby, gathering building materials would be far easier, and timber would not be an issue when they built a wooden cabin.

The site was close enough to the orange grove for convenient food resupply, yet far enough to avoid drawing attention. Li Banfeng did not want to offend the grove’s owner, nor did he want hunters heading to the grove to notice the plot of land they chose here.

Ma Wu took a small table from his pack and began calculating where to place the offering table.

This was the most critical step and had to be handled personally by Ma Wu.

A single local land deity governed the land within a radius of fifty kilometers. The boundaries were invisible, but their territories were connected to one another.

If the offering table were placed incorrectly, right on the boundary between two local land deities’ territories, it could draw the attention of both at once. Drawing the attention of both at once would be disastrous, with consequences Ma Wu did not even want to think about.

Ma Wu had followed his father when choosing plots of land on several occasions before, so he understood the key points.

He grabbed a handful of soil and tested its texture. Then he moved ten steps to the left, picked up another clump, and carefully kneaded it between his fingers.

After testing the soil in dozens of spots like this, Ma Wu had a rough sense of the situation.

”Brother Li, the soil in these spots is soft and sticky. It should all fall under the same local land deity. Let’s choose this place.”

Li Banfeng nodded and, together with Ma Wu, finished setting up the offering table and offerings before lighting the incense and candles.

The quantity of the offerings was based on Ma Wu’s past observations. When the Ma Family had activated a new land with a radius of half a kilometer, they had used only a single jug of top-grade aged wine. Following that precedent, Ma Wu prepared the offerings in exactly the same manner, daring not to add or reduce anything.

Ma Wu took out the contract and read it aloud once. This type of contract had only a single fixed version. Its contents simply stated their intent to establish a residence here and respectfully requested the deity’s permission.

The contract burned down to ash. Before long, a gust of wind rose and carried the ashes off.

Li Banfeng activated Keen-Eyed Perception and scanned the surroundings, eager to see what kind of being the local land deity Ma Wu had mentioned truly was.

After watching for a moment, he suddenly saw a cluster of bluish-green flames circling the offering table. The wine jug trembled twice, and the wine inside quickly vanished.

Ma Wu smiled. ”Brother Li, it’s done.”

Li Banfeng did not smile. The local land deity is an undead spirit?

Before long, a faint glow surfaced on the ground in the distance. Ma Wu turned to Li Banfeng. ”Brother Li, look closely. That is the boundary of the land. The deity has acknowledged our contract. It’s time for you to spill your blood.”

The one who spilled blood on the land would become its owner.

The two of them had discussed it before setting out. The first newly activated land would belong to Li Banfeng.

Li Banfeng took out a short saber, sliced his palm open, and spilled his blood onto the ground beneath him.

”Brother Li, the contract has been sealed. The land-activation phase will start at this time tomorrow. We can guard the land ourselves or have others assist us, but once it starts, no one is allowed to cross the boundary. If we can hold out for three days, the land will be ours.”

Li Banfeng thought for a moment, then asked, ”You just said no one can step outside the boundary?”

”Yes, not a single one. For land activation, you must choose people you can trust. The number doesn’t matter, but they must be reliable. If you bring a hundred people and even one steps outside the boundary, the activation fails. That’s what I meant earlier. Sometimes, having too many people becomes a problem.”

”As long as I don’t step outside the boundary, it’s fine...” Li Banfeng spotted a loophole in the rules and thought to himself: If I enter the Pocket Dwelling and never come out, does that count as not stepping outside the boundary? If I stay inside the Pocket Dwelling for three days straight, wouldn’t that count as successfully activating the land?

As he thought about it, Li Banfeng suddenly smiled.

Author’s Note:

PS: Do such good deals really exist in this world?

1. Author defined this previously as house guard ☜