The Overlord of Puluo

Li Banfeng and Ma Wu took the train to Blackstone Slope.

In the past, Li Banfeng had never found train rides boring. If he got bored, he could simply return to the Pocket Dwelling and spend some time fooling around with Wifey.

Today, however, he could not go back even if he wanted to. He didn’t have the key with him.

Fortunately, Ma Wu was thoughtful. Before boarding the train, he had bought a thick stack of newspapers and magazines. The two of them read the whole way, while Li Banfeng listened to the Glove panting the whole way too.

What exactly was it panting for? What had the glove done to tire itself out like that?

It wasn’t just the glove. Ma Wu was panting as well with cold sweat on his face.

”Old Wu, what’s going on with you?”

Ma Wu wiped the sweat from his face. ”I think I am about to advance.”

Li Banfeng smiled. ”With the way you sleep, you should have advanced ages ago. Once we reach Blackstone Slope, lie down for a couple of days first.”

”I cannot lie down,” Ma Wu said, shaking his head. ”We have to take over Lu Maoxian’s businesses as quickly as possible. He was a big figure in Blackstone Slope, and he had more businesses under his name than you can count.”

”What is the rush? The Lu Family already gifted those businesses to us. Are you afraid that someone else will snatch them away?”

Lu Maoxian had plotted against the main branch. According to family rules, his name should have been removed from the family lineage, and all his property should have been returned to the main family.

To repay Li Qi and Ma Wu, Lu Chunying had given them all of Lu Maoxian’s businesses in Blackstone Slope.

Ma Wu shook his head. ”You don’t understand. The Pure Conduct Society really might come and snatch them. When a disciple of the Pure Conduct Society dies, the Pure Conduct Society would then take over their property. Lu Maoxian was not just a disciple either. He was one of their elders.”

Ah.. so it’s because the Pure Conduct Society will try to take the businesses... Li Banfeng thought.

Li Banfeng frowned slightly. ”We have not even finished negotiating the last deal with them, and now another one has landed in our laps.”

Ma Wu was taken aback. ”What deal are you negotiating with them?”

”They want to take our projector business,” Li Banfeng said.

Ma Wu laughed. ”What are they dreaming about?”

Li Banfeng didn’t laugh.

The Sage is the one behind the Pure Conduct Society. Now that Lu Maoxian is dead, will the Sage make a move?

***

At the Sage’s Residence atop Sage’s Peak in the Vile Hillock, a white-robed disciple had just brought in a rather unpleasant piece of news.

Lu Maoxian was dead.

The panting inside the room stopped at once.

The Sage asked, ”Do we know who did it?”

”Lu Maoxian sent men to assassinate Lu Chunying because he wanted the position of family head. It must have something to do with Lu Chunying.”

”Lu Chunying killed Lu Maoxian, and then made a grand show of going to Lu Maoxian’s estate to demand an explanation from him. Do you think that makes sense?”

”Perhaps Lu Chunying did it on purpose to hide the truth from everyone.”

”The two sides had already reached the point where only one could survive, and the commotion had even alerted the Outer Provinces. Yet you are here saying that she was trying to hide the truth?”

The white-robed youngster thought for a long time, but he didn’t know how to respond.

There was indeed something wrong with this logic.

Smack!

Two sharp slaps sounded from inside the room. A woman came hurrying out, clutching her butt in a panic.

The Sage spoke slowly. ”Someone took advantage of the chaos and made his move.”

”Who?”

”Who else?”

His tone was calm, but anyone could hear the anger beneath it.

The Sage was talking about He Jiaqing.

The white-robed disciple said, ”Teacher, He Jiaqing launched a sudden attack on Lu Maoxian before, but he did not kill him.”

He Jiaqing had merely castrated Lu Maoxian. Lu Maoxian had cried and complained about it for a very long time, but back then, He Jiaqing really had not killed him.

The Sage gave a cold laugh. ”Back then, He Jiaqing did not dare kill Lu Maoxian because he was threatened by the Greenwater Beggar.

”Now that the Lu Family has fallen into chaos, He Jiaqing has made his move again. This time, he caught Lu Maoxian off guard, killed him, and pushed the blame onto Lu Chunying.

”When He Jiaqing decides to do something, he makes sure it gets done. In that regard, I do rather admire him.”

The white-robed disciple pondered for a while and asked, ”Teacher, since he is so capable, would it not be better to recruit him and have him serve under you?”

The Sage smiled. ”That man is far too ambitious. Even if we recruit him, he will be difficult to tame. However, we can use that as bait to get rid of him. Find a way to contact him. Tell him to come to Puluo Province.”

***

Li Banfeng reached Blackstone Slope and went straight back to his house for the key.

There it was, tucked away under the bed, exactly where he had left it. He snatched it up and hurried back to the Pocket Dwelling.

When he stepped inside, Wifey was not angry with him. This was because Li Banfeng told her in advance that he would be staying outside for a few days.

The Pocket Dwelling was not angry either.

Li Banfeng had only just sat down on the bed when Glove came panting up to him.

”Boss, now that we are finally home, I don’t need to keep hiding things anymore. Good things ought to be brought out and shown.”

Li Banfeng asked, ”What good things?”

”Boss, look!” Glove said and spat out a square box about one foot wide. There was even an iron lock hanging from it.

Li Banfeng stared at the box and found himself deeply puzzled. Just how much could one glove possibly hold?

”So you were panting the whole way because you were stuffed full?”

”Not stuffed. It was heavy!” As Glove spoke, it picked up a hairpin from the table.

Hong Ying snapped, ”What are you doing? That is mine!”

”Just borrowing it for a bit. Tomorrow, our boss can buy you a whole box of them.”

”A whole box?” Hong Ying grew even angrier. ”Are you paying for it?”

”I did pay! I brought money back for our boss!” Glove held the hairpin, poked it into the keyhole, and gave it two little twists.

The lock clicked open. Inside the box were gold bars. A whole box of gold bars.

Glove curled its thumb against its palm, bent forward, and gave Li Banfeng a wonderfully proper bow. ”Boss, this is my humble gift to you. Please have a look.”

Li Banfeng picked up one of the gold bars. It did not look very big, but it had a proper weight to it. No wonder Glove looked so exhausted.

”Where did these gold bars come from?”

Glove straightened itself proudly. ”I took them from that old man’s house. They were right under his bed!”

That old man? Li Banfeng thought. Lu Maoxian?

”How did you know there was gold under his bed? And the box was not even open.”

Glove spoke with great modesty. ”If I came across gold and could not even sniff it out, how could I still dare to earn a living serving you?”

Li Banfeng laughed. ”So you wore yourself out the whole way just to drag back this box of gold?”

Glove’s index finger trembled up and down in a little nod. ”As the saying goes, wealth should never be shown in public. I could not take it out while we were still outside. What if it brought you trouble?”

”Good!” Li Banfeng said with a smile. ”Then you deserve a reward. This whole box of gold is yours.”

Glove froze for quite a while. ”Boss, did you say it is all mine?”

Li Banfeng nodded. ”All yours.”

”Oh no! That won’t do. This is my gift to honor you.”

”What is wrong with it?” Li Banfeng said. ”This is my reward to you.”

Glove still felt dreadfully uneasy. ”Then I will keep half. No matter what, I should leave at least half for you.”

Li Banfeng smiled. ”Half of it was earned through your own ability, and the other half is my gift to you. That means this whole box of gold bars still belongs to you.”

The Gramophone chimed in from the side. ”Heyaaa~ Husband dear, what use is there in giving him so much gold? He has nowhere to spend it!”

Li Banfeng smiled. ”Wifey, this is where you don’t understand. When you like something, you must have it. You don’t necessarily need to use it, but as long as it is yours, and you can hold it in your hand, your heart will feel wonderfully at ease!”

When Glove heard this, it raised its middle finger high and stared at Li Banfeng.

Some things were not meant for just anyone to understand. Yet somehow, Li Banfeng understood Glove’s nature perfectly.

Li Banfeng closed the lid of the box and handed that whole chest of gold to Glove with the sort of solemn care one might use when passing down a family treasure.

Glove swallowed the box at once. Then it planted its thumb and little finger on the floor, let its index and ring fingers hang down, and straightened itself as tall as a glove could possibly straighten. It stared at Li Banfeng with great seriousness.

Glove felt that Li Banfeng was especially tall today. It had to straighten itself until its whole little body was pulled tight just to look up at him.

”Boss, I...”

”Do not point your middle finger at me!” Li Banfeng swung the feather duster and smacked Glove flat against the floor.

Glove quickly lowered its middle finger and raised its index finger instead, using that as its ”head” before scurrying off to the fifth room alone to happily count the number of gold bars.

***

Ma Wu finished going through the accounts and took over one of the coal mines under Lu Maoxian’s control. Everything went surprisingly smoothly. The Pure Conduct Society did not even come looking for trouble.

With his advancement drawing near, Ma Wu didn’t dare to overwork himself. He handed the remaining business to his subordinates and returned to the newspaper office to rest.

It was calm at the Blackstone Slope for the moment, and Li Banfeng used the chance to dig into the full story behind Plumleaf Paper Mill.

The news in the papers had been true. Tu Shumei had indeed sold the paper mill to the He Family. The question was...how had it ended up in Shen Rongqing’s hands?

Searching through old newspapers was a terribly tiring business. One had to take bits and pieces of news that seemed to have nothing to do with one another, then fit them together like scraps of a torn-up letter. After following the timeline of the reports, Li Banfeng finally found a clue.

Not long after the paper mill was purchased, He Haiqin fell ill.

At the time, the fight between the He Family and the Lu Family had been especially fierce, and most of their struggle centered around Greenwater City. The He Family’s businesses had spread far too wide. Once He Haiqin fell ill, many of those businesses were left neglected. Instead of making money, they began to bleed money.

Under He Haiqin’s instructions, the He Family sold off a large batch of assets and Plumleaf Paper Mill was one of them.

The paper mill was sold to Shen Rongqing. And what about the other businesses?

They were sold to Qian Xiangjun, Duan Shuqun, Luo Suxuan...

One familiar name after another appeared again in the articles. Once Li Banfeng connected all of this to the cause of He Haiqin’s illness, the whole shape of the matter became clear.

He Jiaqing had used Wan Jinxian to bring down He Haiqin. With that one nasty little move, he had changed the entire situation in Puluo Province and made himself a great fat fortune.

He first tricked the He Family. Then, he tricked the Lu Family. If all those assets were counted together and turned into plain money, He Jiaqing might already be the richest man in Puluo Province.

But why had He Jiaqing not returned to Puluo Province? Why had he not laid everything out in the open, marched back with a proper name and a proper reason, and planted himself in the boss’s chair?

Because that chair was fake.

The Outer Provinces controlled the economy of the Puluo Province, while the Inner Provinces controlled the cultivation level of the cultivators in Puluo Province. In other words, Puluo Province’s lifeline was in someone else’s hands. If He Jiaqing came back now, he would be no different from He Haiqin or Lu Dongliang. He would still be at someone else’s mercy.

So what would He Jiaqing do?

Li Banfeng started muttering to himself.

”Sooner or later, He Jiaqing will make a move against me. If I fight him head-on now, I will not be able to beat him. He can use A Parting Across Ten Thousand Miles, which means he’s at least at level nine.

”In terms of cultivation level, I am not on par with him. In terms of wealth and assets, I can’t win either. The Crimson Lotus is with me now, and that has clearly messed up his plan.

”But what is his plan? I still can’t quite tell. Should I keep digging? The clues are all right in front of me, but it’s hard to trace the root with these clues. He Jiaqing has laid out a scheme that is too big. I can’t rush. There is something more urgent that I should deal with right now.”

After getting a taste of that wonderful little teleportation trick, Li Banfeng pictured Feng’s General Store in his mind and prepared to go straight to Medicine King Gully.

He spent more than ten minutes thinking about it, making sure every detail was perfectly clear.

Once he had explained everything to Wifey and gathered all his enchanted artifacts, he stepped out of the room. And after stepping out, he found himself still inside the newspaper office of the Night-Blooming Jasmine.

What’s going on? Is it not working or did I not think about every detail properly?

Li Banfeng went back into the Pocket Dwelling and pictured the place even more carefully this time.

He did not stop at thinking about it. He muttered the words aloud too. ”Medicine King Gully. Inner Gully...”

Once he was done, he prepared himself to step out again. Just then, an old, raspy voice sounded beside his ear. ”Can’t go there!”

”Why not?”

”Too far!”

”Medicine King Gully is too far?”

”There are only two rails! What more do you want?”

Li Banfeng quickly asked, ”How can I bring the key inside?”

The Pocket Dwelling gave no reply. It seemed this was something it did not wish to say.

”Not enough,” Li Banfeng murmured, reaching over to stroke Glove.

Glove jolted in fright. ”What is not enough? You mean the gold?”

Li Banfeng smiled. ”I mean two rails are not enough.”

Author’s Note:

PS: Some things are better left unsaid.