The Overlord of Puluo

Shen Rongqing collapsed into Ma Wu’s arms and sobbed. Ma Wu held her tightly. For a moment, it seemed as if he was using his own body to hold up the entire sky for her. However, he was really not alone.

Huo Ling, Qin, Zuo Wugang, and Tan Fucheng were all waiting outside. However, the one who had really sent the white robe flying away in fear was Lu Yuanxin, the Entomic Cultivator.

To deal with Lu Dongchun, Lu Yuanxin had trained his clothgnawers to their limit. They were great in number, enormous in appetite, sharp of tooth, and resistant to poison. The white robe was a high-level Threadbound Cultivator, but even he couldn’t withstand Lu Yuanxin’s clothgnawers.

For now, the others could only wait outside the teahouse. Li Banfeng had given the order, and none of them were allowed to go in and make a mess of things.

The others could bear waiting, but Huo Ling and Qin found it almost unbearable. For Darling Wu’s sake, they had rushed over to save a vixen.

”Ling, your ears are sharp. Listen. What are they saying in there?”

By listening through the charcoal fire in the tea stove, Huo Ling heard Ma Wu repeating the same words over and over.

”I am here. It is all right now.”

***

”He is here. It is all right now...”

When Li Banfeng saw the white robe fly back, he finally let out a sigh of relief.

The robe slipped onto Zhong Huaien’s body and carried him out of the alley.

Li Banfeng wouldn’t have to worry about whether Zhong Huaien was alive or dead right now. What mattered was that the robe was still here. As long as the robe was still here, there was someone to deliver the message.

***

That night, Shen Rongqing did not go back to the film company, and Ma Wu did not go back to Freewind Wharf.

The two of them left the teahouse quietly and went to Peace Tower, where they asked for the same room as before. They spent the night there. Strictly speaking, though, neither of them slept.

At daybreak, Shen Rongqing stroked Ma Wu’s cheek and asked softly, ”How did you know I was in danger at the teahouse?”

Ma Wu shook his head. ”I didn’t know you were in danger. I was passing by Lotus Pond Teahouse and saw the lights still on, so I thought I would go up and have a look. I wanted to try my luck and see if I might run into you.”

”Do you know whose business Lotus Pond Teahouse is?”

”I know,” Ma Wu said as he nodded calmly. ”Lotus Pond Teahouse belongs to the Ling Family. The Ling Family is my enemy, and you are helping them with their business.”

”You knew, and yet...” Shen Rongqing, the finest talented woman in Puluo Province, suddenly felt that she was unable to find the words to express herself correctly.

”You don’t need to say it.” Ma Wu shook his head and held her tighter. ”It doesn’t matter. For you, none of it matters.”

Shen Rongqing buried her face against his chest and asked softly, ”What is your cultivation level, really? How did you defeat that Threadbound Cultivator?”

This was the crucial question.

Ma Wu quietly used his Hedonism Cultivator abilities, forcing his heartbeat steady and keeping his thoughts under control.

Then he answered calmly, ”No matter what my cultivation is, you are my woman, and I am your man. That is enough.”

He had rehearsed this line many times, and he was certain it sounded moving enough. But after a long silence, Shen Rongqing still pulled away from his arms.

Shen Rongqing got dressed and said to Ma Wu, ”Get a good sleep and forget me.”

It was not that she didn’t believe him. She simply knew where she stood, and she knew who she was. She couldn’t be with Ma Wu.

Ma Wu watched Shen Rongqing leave the room before wiping the sweat from his brow.

This talented woman was not easy to deal with. Everything had happened so suddenly, and Old Qi had not let him prepare in advance. What if she had seen through the trick?

***

At daybreak, Shen Rongqing went back to the office of the film company. She sat in her office for a while in a daze before she contacted He Jiaqing. ”Jiaqing, Zhong Huaien sent someone to kill me last night. This was probably the Sage’s order.”

He Jiaqing was disguised as a street cleaner and sweeping the road when he heard the news. For a moment, he felt as if someone had dumped an entire cart of trouble straight onto his head.

”How did things end up like this?” He Jiaqing asked.

”Jiaqing, I said he tried to kill me!”

Before He Jiaqing could respond, Shen Rongqing cut off the connection.

He Jiaqing stood there with the broom in his hand and realized he had said the wrong thing. He had not asked whether Shen Rongqing was safe. That should have been the first thing out of his mouth.

”Capable people never listen. Obedient people are never capable. Why is it so hard to find someone who can get things done, handle trouble properly, and still work loyally under me? Why can I never find someone like that...”

”What are you mumbling about?” a cleaning lady beside him snapped. ”Are you here to work or just stand there daydreaming? Sweep!”

”Right.” He Jiaqing sniffled.

There was plenty of traffic along this stretch of road, so he had to finish setting up the equipment quickly. If he wanted to make use of the morning rush, he would have to endure for now.

***

Li Banfeng returned to Freewind Wharf and found Luo Zhengnan. He had already done his part. He had shoved a grudge right between He Jiaqing and the Sage.

But after going to all that trouble, was he supposed to simply hand the matter over and let them fight it out on their own? Not a chance.

Ever since Li Banfeng had arrived in Puluo Province, the first people to truly disgust him had been the Jiangxiang Gang. Of course, they were hardly the only ones. Plenty of people had sickened him since then, and one by one, Li Banfeng had sent them off.

However, the worst of all had been Vilefolk Hillock under the Sage.

And now, of all things, the Sage and the Jiangxiang Gang had gotten mixed up together. They kidnapped children and sent them to Vilefolk Hillock, where the children were twisted into vile servants and trained to spend their lives as the Sage’s slaves.

Now these two disgusting forces had come together to do something even more disgusting. It was time to make them suffer for it. But for that, Li Banfeng needed Luo Zhengnan’s help.

Li Banfeng never asked people to work for nothing. He first handed Luo Zhengnan five hundred silver dollars and said, ”This is your reward for this fight. There are still bigger things ahead, and we will need to handle them together. So tell me first. What do you want? Business, or territory?”

Luo Zhengnan looked at Li Qi. He knew there was still no such thing as complete trust between them. He knew Li Qi was still wary of him and still had his doubts. But after hesitating for a long while, Luo Zhengnan finally said what he really wanted.

”Master Qi, I don’t want money or territory. I want revenge.”

Some people simply clicked with Li Banfeng from the start. Even their grudges happened to be the same.

”The man who killed you was Pei Yuzheng?”

Luo Zhengnan nodded. ”Hall Master at Blue Wispy City.”

”Are you familiar with Blue Wispy City?”

”I have been there a few times. I know the Jiangxiang Gang’s sect hall in the city, and I know where their branch offices are. Pei Yuzheng does not have many cultivators under him, and the few he does have are nothing special. The one we have to worry about is Pei Yuzheng himself.

”He is a level-five Fire Cultivator. That might not seem like much to you, Master Qi, but he is not an easy man to judge. Catch him at the right time, and he can be easily killed. Pick the wrong time, and even getting close to him can be hard.”

”That is why we cannot kill him inside his sect hall. The place is too big, and there are too many people. You never know where Pei Yuzheng will appear, and you never know where his fire will come from.

”The Chu Family, the Ma Family, and the Hundred Flowers Sect have all tried sending assassins after him. They all chose to attack inside the sect hall, and none of them came back alive. Pei Yuzheng just opened his mouth and breathed a mouthful of fire, and they were burned to death on the spot.

”So if we want to kill him, we need to choose the right moment.”

What’s considered the right moment?”

”That depends on how soon Master Qi is willing to help me get my revenge.”

”As soon as possible.”

”Thank you, Master Qi!” Luo Zhengnan stood up and gave Li Banfeng a deep bow.

Then he marked a circle on the illustrated calendar. ”Today is the second. If Master Qi is willing to help me, we can leave tomorrow. By train, we will reach Blue Wispy City on the fifth, just in time for their delivery day.”

”What are they delivering?”

”Children,” Luo Zhengnan said. ”Blue Wispy City is not like other places. The human traffickers there are rampant. In other places, people call it child abduction. In Blue Wispy City, they call it kidnapping.

”The traffickers under the Jiangxiang Gang are bold enough to grab children in the middle of the street. If anyone dares to stop them, they are just as bold about hurting people in the middle of the street too.

”After that, they lock the children inside the sect hall and wait for the families to bring ransom money. Those who can pay get their children back. Those who cannot pay just won’t have their kids back.”

Li Banfeng frowned. ”That is what bandits do.”

Luo Zhengnan nodded. ”You are right. What the Jiangxiang Gang does in Blue Wispy City is no different from what the bandits do. In some ways, it is even worse. They can do this because things are a bit unique in Blue Wispy City. Over there, the children are mostly looked after by the old, the weak, and the helpless.”

”What happens to the children whose families cannot pay?”

”They are sent by train to Vilefolk Hillock,” Luo Zhengnan said. ”Pei Yuzheng calls it a delivery. A delivery for the Sage.”

”By train?” Li Banfeng was startled. ”The Border Controller does nothing?”

Luo Zhengnan said, ”That is Pei Yuzheng’s particular trick. He has someone covering for him at the station, so he can smuggle the children out through the freight trains. I don’t know whether that protection comes from the Outer Provinces or from Vilefolk Hillock.

”But every delivery has to be handled by Pei Yuzheng himself. He has the different branches of Jiangxiang Gang pack the children into crates, then send them to a warehouse east of the station.

”After that, Pei Yuzheng personally escorts the crates into the station. He can bring ten men at most. That is the station’s rule. Other than his closest confidants, very few people know how the arrangement really works. And so, this would be our best timing to kill him.”

This was the finest thing about clever people. They knew how to use whatever was at hand and turn a complicated problem into a simple one.

Li Banfeng lowered the brim of his hat. ”Get ready. We leave tomorrow.”

***

On Sage’s Peak, the dying Zhong Huaien was carried into the Sage’s residence.

The Sage came out of his bedroom and looked at Zhong Huaien’s battered body, then at the white robe riddled with holes before asking, ”What happened?”

The white robe couldn’t speak. Though Zhong Huaien’s cultivation was weaker, he had to speak first in front of the Sage because his status was very high.

With great effort, Zhong Huaien said, ”Master, I was ambushed by a Wanderlust Cultivator. I fought him as best I could, but I was no match for him.”

A Wanderlust Cultivator? the Sage muttered inwardly.

”Was it He Jiaqing again?”

Zhong Huaien didn’t dare answer without much thought as he hadn’t seen the attacker’s face clearly.

The Sage turned to the white robe. ”You speak!”

What was the white robe supposed to say? That he had come up with the idea of going back to ambush Shen Rongqing, failed to kill her, and almost got his junior brother killed in the process?

If he told the truth like that, he would never leave the Sage’s residence alive.

Fortunately, he had prepared for this. He changed the story and said, ”Teacher, we went to meet Shen Rongqing. Junior Brother asked why He Jiaqing hadn’t come, and scolded that He Jiaqing was too arrogant. Shen Rongqing said that we weren’t qualified to see He Jiaqing. Junior Brother was angered and said a few harsh words, but we left soon after. We never expected to be ambushed halfway by a Wanderlust Cultivator and an Entomic Cultivator.”

There was nothing wrong with that explanation. Every word of it was true. Entomic Cultivators were the natural bane of Threadbound Cultivators, and the holes in the white robe really had been gnawed open by clothgnawers.

The white robe had merely left out a few very important pieces.

The Sage was silent for a long while. Then he said to Zhong Huaien and the white robe, ”Go and recover from your wounds first. Once you are healed, take men to the Outer Provinces and contact Xiao Zhenggong. Whatever it costs, He Jiaqing must be killed.”

The white robe gathered its courage. ”Teacher, Senior Brother Xiao might not listen to me.”

”Then tell him it is my order. Let’s see if he has the nerve to disobey me!”

The white robe dared not say another word.

It was far too hard to read Xiao Zhenggong’s mind. Even if he didn’t openly defy the order, what could anyone do if he simply dragged his feet and refused to act?

***

There was always this thin haze of smoke drifting through the air of Blue Wispy City. It was an industrial city too, but it was nothing like Blackstone Slope.

Blackstone Slope was a manufacturing city. Factories were everywhere, and workers’ homes were built close around them. Many workers even lived inside the factories themselves.

Blue Wispy City was different. Its industry was smelting, and the smelting works had to be built near the mines. No one wanted to live anywhere near those mines, so the city had slowly split itself into two very different halves.

The south was the city area, where the homes were built. The north was the mining district, full of mine shafts and smelting factories. During the day, the workers went north to work. At night, they returned south to live.

However, this created a problem. If a worker’s job was far from home, who was supposed to watch the children? With their meager wages, hiring someone was out of the question.

If the elderly couldn’t be relied on to take care of the kids, the kids had to be left with neighbors. Once the older children grew a little, they would help look after the younger ones. Under these circumstances, the human traffickers had a lot of chances to grab some kids.

Night had only just fallen when Pei Yuzheng arrived at the warehouse with ten trusted men.

Other men from different branches of Jiangxiang Gang had already delivered their children here. Two had yet to arrive. Pei Yuzheng checked his pocket watch. There was still time, so he decided to wait a little longer.

He inspected the crates one by one, then gave his men an order. ”Punch two more holes in this one. Don’t let them suffocate on the way.”

A child started crying inside one of the crates.

Pei Yuzheng frowned. ”Sew his mouth shut. I don’t want him causing trouble for me at the station.”

This was no empty threat. One of his men really went to fetch a needle. Any child who cried or made a fuss would really have their mouth sewn shut.

A burly man brought over a needle and thread, then opened the crate. Sewing mouths shut was his specialty.

Li Banfeng took the needle and thread from his hand. Before Pei Yuzheng could react, the needle had pierced through his lower lip, gone up through his upper lip, and dragged the thread along with it. Li Banfeng stitched back and forth several times, neatly sewing Pei Yuzheng’s mouth shut.

Pei Yuzheng was shocked. Li Banfeng had moved too quickly for him to respond.

He tried to breathe fire, but his mouth wouldn’t open. By the time he looked again, Li Banfeng had vanished.

Pei Yuzheng tore the stitches from his lips and roared, ”Who is it?”

”An enemy,” Luo Zhengnan said as he stood at the warehouse entrance and walked slowly toward Pei Yuzheng.

Pei Yuzheng was so shocked that he froze right there.

Isn’t Luo Zhengnan dead? Pei Yuzheng himself burned him to death with the breath of fire. He even gathered the ashes afterward.

How is Luo Zhengnan alive? Who was the one that disappeared?

Luo Zhengnan stared at Pei Yuzheng.

He wanted to see whether Pei Yuzheng could still breathe fire. He wanted to see whether the attack really came without the slightest warning.

Pei Yuzheng wanted to breathe fire too. He really could do it without the slightest warning. Unfortunately, he no longer had the chance.

His forehead began to swell. Then his cheeks, his chest, his belly, and his limbs swelled after it.

Boom! With a dull boom, Pei Yuzheng exploded into blood and flesh.

Boom! Boom!

More dull explosion noises sounded continuously. Of Pei Yuzheng’s ten men, nine burst one after another into blood and scraps of flesh.

It was the Wanderlust Cultivator ability, Passing Flowers on Horseback.

Only one Jiangxiang Gang member was left. It was the burly man who had opened the crate. He stood nailed to the spot, shaking all over, because he knew Li Banfeng was right behind him.

Li Banfeng asked, ”Where did these children come from?”

”I... I don’t know.”

Luo Zhengnan sighed. ”What a shame. If you had known, you might still have had a chance to keep that head of yours.”

”Hall Master Luo, you...you and I don’t share any grudges...”

”But I have a grudge against you,” Li Banfeng said with a smile from behind the burly man.

”Good sir, I have never offended you. I have never even seen you before...” The burly man did not dare turn around. He was crying so miserably that he sounded even worse than the children in the crates.

Inside the crate he had just opened, a child quietly poked his head out.

Li Banfeng gave Luo Zhengnan a look, telling him to cover the child’s eyes.

Luo Zhengnan covered the child’s eyes and softened his voice. ”Come here. Uncle has candy for you. Tell me, where is your home?”

As he spoke, the burly man’s crying stopped.

Author’s Note:

PS: Luo Zhengnan had gotten his revenge, but Li Qi’s revenge had only just begun.