The Overlord of Puluo

Li Banfeng was woken up by the Judge’s Brush. When he woke up, the Judge’s Brush was still hovering in midair.

Li Banfeng asked, ”You wanted to tell me something?”

”Mm,” the Judge’s Brush replied.

”Then tell me.”

The Judge’s Brush remained silent. Li Banfeng watched it for a moment before realizing what was wrong. ”Too many people around?”

”Mm.”

Although they all lived under the same roof, the Judge’s Brush seemed to trust only Li Banfeng.

Li Banfeng took the Judge’s Brush to the fifth room, while the Glove followed silently behind them. The Gramophone was a little worried, but she could sense that the Pocket Dwelling was watching.

Once they entered the fifth room, Li Banfeng looked at the Judge’s Brush. ”You went through all this trouble to wake me in the middle of the night, so this must be important. Go on, tell me.”

The Judge’s Brush said, ”I take you to land deity’s house. Don’t tell anyone.”

Li Banfeng yawned. ”Let’s go.”

After they left the Pocket Dwelling, the Judge’s Brush took the initiative and drew a circle, lifting Li Banfeng into the air. It was the first time Li Banfeng had ever seen the Judge’s Brush be this diligent.

They flew south from Wildgoose Sand Studio, crossed three streets, and arrived in a garden.

There were many parks and gardens in Ink Fragrance Shop, but this was hardly the season for a leisurely stroll in the park. The weather was bitterly cold, and the flowers and trees had long since withered. Aside from the layers of bare, leafless trees, Li Banfeng saw nothing especially noteworthy.

The Judge’s Brush set Li Banfeng down beneath a willow tree and wrote the word wisdom.

The bare willow suddenly sprouted, unfurling a thick canopy of leaves. Layer upon layer of willow catkins drifted into the air, swirling around the tree and Li Banfeng until they formed a barrier around them.

A cold wind swept through, and the catkins gradually scattered. As they faded away, the scenery around him began to change.

The trees and road that had been behind him were gone, replaced by a dense fog that stretched as far as the eye could see.

The willow where the Judge’s Brush had written the word ”wisdom” marked the boundary. The fog stopped abruptly at the tree. The scenery ahead seemed to be the same, but this faint music from a qin sounded from somewhere in the distance.

Li Banfeng followed the sound. When he looked up, he found an open clearing ahead that had not been there before, with a lake in its center.

A writing desk stood on the frozen lake. Spread across it was a scroll more than ten meters long. A man in white sat behind the desk, brush in hand, steadily writing across the scroll.

Is this the Wisdom-Bound Scholar, the land deity of Ink Fragrance Shop? He’s practicing calligraphy in the middle of the night. How cultured... Li Banfeng thought and continued walking toward the lake. As he walked, the man in white never stopped writing.

Did he not notice me? Or is he ready to attack me? Li Banfeng thought. Suddenly, he sensed danger and stopped. The danger was not coming from the man in white, but he could not figure out where it was coming from.

He slipped behind a tree. The Judge’s Brush lowered its voice. ”Something got in.”

”Where did it come from? Did it follow us in?”

”No. It’s been here for a long time.”

The Judge’s Brush knew this place extremely well and could sense that something had changed that should not have.

Li Banfeng focused on the source of the danger, and his attention settled on the lake.

Crack!

A fissure split across the frozen surface. Something was beneath the ice.

Crack! Crack!

More fractures spread across the lake, but the man in white remained completely unmoved. He continued writing stroke by stroke. The scroll rose into the air. One character after another lifted from the page and began darting across the frozen lake.

Is this One Word Worth a Thousand Gold, or Counting Ink Blots to Find the Lines? Li Banfeng muttered inwardly.

The characters created by Counting Ink Blots to Find the Lines would attack indiscriminately, unable to distinguish friend from foe. Yet none of these characters attacked the man in white.

The characters created by One Word Worth a Thousand Gold could distinguish between allies and enemies, but there was a limit to how many could be produced at once.

Among all the Literary Cultivators Li Banfeng had encountered, Guo Jinshi held the most impressive record with One Word Worth a Thousand Gold. He had once controlled twelve ”forbidden” characters at the same time.

Yet now, hundreds of characters had risen from the scroll. At a glance, most of them were the characters for ”war” and ”kill,” with ”war” appearing more frequently.

Bang! Bang! Crack!

The ice split open, and a red dragon burst from the lake, charging straight at the man in white.

The characters patrolling the ice all surged toward the red dragon. Each ”war” character took the form of a warrior wielding a long polearm[1], hooking and striking at the dragon from above and below.

Each ”kill” character resembled a warrior wielding a long spear, thrusting fiercely at the red dragon.

Strictly speaking, though, the weapon was not a polearm. It was a shu, a kind of weapon that closely resembled a long polearm. Li Banfeng had seen it before in a weapons manual.

The red dragon leaped from the lake, only to be driven back by the swarm of characters. As soon as it retreated beneath the water, the characters scattered and resumed patrolling the surface of the lake.

Hundreds of characters advanced, retreated, attacked, and defended in perfect coordination. Watching them move with such fluid precision, Li Banfeng finally understood just how formidable a Literary Cultivator could be in battle.

Cracks appeared across the ice once more. Some of the characters gathered around them, ready to fight, while Li Banfeng fixed his eyes on the fractures and waited for the red dragon to emerge again.

Boom!

The red dragon did not appear.

Instead, the entire sheet of ice suddenly collapsed and hundreds of characters plunged into the water, sending waves rolling across the lake.

The man in white rose into the air along with his writing desk, yet he never stopped writing with his brush. More characters continued rising from the scroll in an endless stream, leaping into the lake to battle the monsters beneath the surface.

Buzz!

A muffled roar rumbled from the lake, and the water churned violently as though it were boiling.

A toad nearly a third the size of the lake burst from the water and lunged at the man in white. It turned out that the red dragon from before had not been a dragon at all. It had been the toad’s tongue.

Thirty-two ”wing” characters transformed into a pair of wings and carried the man in white dozens of meters higher into the air.

The toad kicked and paddled through the air as though swimming, chasing after him without slowing. Just as it was about to catch the man in white, Li Banfeng stepped out from the trees and entered the toad’s line of sight.

The toad turned its head slightly and glanced at him. That single glance was crucial. It meant the toad had noticed Li Banfeng, which was the prerequisite for using Passing Flowers on Horseback.

Li Banfeng kept his eyes on the toad and moved quickly, disappearing from its line of sight.

If the toad failed to keep track of him, it would be injured by Passing Flowers on Horseback. Even if it managed to track him down, it would still be distracted, giving the man in white a chance to counterattack.

Boom!

The toad had its attention mostly on the man in white and it failed to keep track of Li Banfeng. As a result, one of its forelegs was injured by an explosion.

Li Banfeng vanished from its view again. The toad tried to track him, but a swarm of characters swept in and blocked its line of sight.

Boom!

One of its hind legs burst open as well.

Although neither injuries were severe, they clearly affected the toad’s swimming speed. The distance between the toad and the man in white quickly widened.

The man in white was still floating in midair, and he was still writing.

Li Banfeng found this rather baffling. It was true that writing more characters would give him more fighting power, but with such a perfect opportunity, did this Wisdom-Bound Scholar really not have a better way to strike back?

Li Banfeng had not seen many abilities from the Cloudborne Layer, but even an ordinary Terranean Layer ability would be able to badly injure a toad like this. And this fellow was supposed to be brilliantly clever? Exceptionally wise?

He at least had wings that flew fast. The man in white flew farther and farther away from the toad, which led to the toad feeling increasingly annoyed and angry. It turned its gaze toward the shore and seemed to be about to come after Li Banfeng.

Slash!

A ”war” character swung its long polearm into the toad’s back, drawing a thin line of blood.

More and more characters crowded around it, and every one of them packed a decent punch. The toad was plainly unwilling to give up, but there was little point in dragging the fight out any longer. In the end, it had no choice but to retreat into the lake.

Li Banfeng reacted quickly. He leaped into the air, grabbed one of the ”war” characters, and snatched the long polearm from its hands. It was the very same ”war” character that had slashed the toad, and a few drops of blood still clung to the blade. Li Banfeng quickly collected them in a glass vial.

The other characters seemed to have been threatened and rushed at him all at once.

Li Banfeng turned to the Judge’s Brush. ”Tell your old master I am his friend.”

”Erm...” the Judge’s Brush seemed a little troubled.

Hundreds upon hundreds of characters were closing in on Li Banfeng from all sides. He hurriedly urged, ”Say something! This is no time to be lazy!”

”Fly!”

That was the only word the Judge’s Brush said.

He carried Li Banfeng out of the encirclement, weaving through the swarm until they finally reached the man in white.

The Judge’s Brush said to the man in white, ”You!”

That was all that the Judge’s Brush said. Yet the man in white seemed to have not heard a thing. He continued writing and writing on that desk.

Li Banfeng glanced over what he had written. More than half of it consisted of just two characters, one meaning ”war” and the other ”kill.” The remaining half consisted of two phrases: ”The blind ought to be ashamed,” and ”Scholars ought to strive.”

Another swarm of characters was already closing in around them. The Judge’s Brush gave up trying to speak to the man in white and carried Li Banfeng straight toward the willow tree.

The entire garden was buried in bitter winter cold, yet this single willow remained covered in lush green leaves, making it especially eye-catching.

Beneath the tree, the Judge’s Brush wrote the word ”wisdom” again. In an instant, every leaf on the willow fell away.

The leaves whirled through the wind and formed a barrier, blocking all the written characters behind them. By the time the barrier dispersed, the characters were gone as well as the lake and the man in white who had been standing above it.

The entire garden fell silent once more. It was as though nothing had ever happened.

Li Banfeng went back to the Wildgoose Sand Studio and went into the Pocket Dwelling. He took the Judge’s Brush with him to the fifth room.

”Why didn’t you talk to the Wisdom-Bound Scholar just now?”

The Judge’s Brush hovered silently in midair.

Li Banfeng asked, ”Do you have an unresolved argument with him?”

”Mm!”

”Can he hear you when you speak?”

”No.”

So the Judge’s Brush and the Wisdom-Bound Scholar can’t talk to each other? Li Banfeng thought and frowned. He then asked, ”Do you want to go back to him?”

”No!” The Judge’s Brush answered without the slightest hesitation.

”Then why did you take me to see him?”

”Ink Fragrance Shop.”

So the Judge’s Brush had done it for Ink Fragrance Shop?

Li Banfeng was genuinely surprised. He had never expected the Judge’s Brush to care so deeply about his homeland.

He went over everything that had happened and gradually pieced the situation together. ”A giant toad slipped into the land deity’s house. Fighting it has taken up a great deal of the land deity’s strength and attention, which makes it look from the outside as though he has fallen into an extremely weakened state. Is that about right?”

The Judge’s Brush remained silent for a long moment before answering, ”Probably.”

His conjecture was the same as Li Banfeng’s, so he could not give a definite answer.

Li Banfeng sighed. ”I suppose it isn’t really just that he looks weak from the outside. He really is in a bad situation. If he gets besieged now, things will probably end badly for him.”

”Yes.”

This time, the Judge’s Brush answered with absolute certainty.

”Where did that giant toad come from?”

”Don’t know.”

”Do you know who it is?”

”No.”

The Judge’s Brush did not recognize the toad and had not even known it was there before tonight. It was only after hearing what Cedric had said that he decided to check on the land deity.

Li Banfeng took the Film Projector to the main room. The Gramophone was still awake, and so was Hong Ying.

The Film Projector showed the moment the toad burst from the lake. Li Banfeng asked the Gramophone, ”Wifey, do you recognize this toad?”

The Gramophone watched for a long time and answered, ”No!”

Hong Ying said, ”Darling Qi, describe what the toad looks like. I might recognize it.”

The Gramophone smacked Hong Ying with a wooden clapper. ”You wretched woman, what are you showing off for? You have been deaf and blind for all these years. If even I don’t recognize him, how could you? Husband dear, this fellow should be an Incarnation Physique Cultivator. He might have only recently advanced to the Cloudborne Layer.”

A Physique Cultivator who might have only recently reached the Cloudborne Layer? I wonder if Qiu Luoye knows him, Li Banfeng thought.

***

Li Banfeng had the Pocket Dwelling take him to the train station. The moment he stepped outside, he headed straight for Qiu Luoye’s residence.

It was deep into the night, and Qiu Luoye was fast asleep. Li Banfeng gently woke him, and fortunately, Qiu Luoye was not the sort to wake up in a foul mood.

”Old Qi, what is it?”

Li Banfeng did not show Qiu Luoye the footage taken by the Film Projector as doing so would reveal the location of Ink Fragrance Shop’s local land deity. It was not that he didn’t trust Qiu Luoye, but that showing the footage could bring disaster upon Ink Fragrance Shop.

Instead, Li Banfeng took out a small medicine vial and poured a drop of the giant toad’s blood onto some cabbage seeds. Then he added two drops of Zhang Wanlong’s special potion.

The cabbage grew at astonishing speed. Within minutes, it had shot up to more than three meters tall before suddenly bursting apart.

A toad stepped out from inside. It was nowhere near the size of the one in the lake. This was probably as large as a cabbage person could grow.

Qiu Luoye stared at the toad for a long time. His skin had yet to grow back, and his entire body was still wrapped in bandages, so Li Banfeng could not see his expression. Even so, he could clearly sense that Qiu Luoye was feeling very nervous.

”Is the toad only this big?” Qiu Luoye had seen cabbage people before and knew they were not exact replicas of the real thing.

Li Banfeng shook his head. ”The real one is much bigger. About the size of your entire residence.”

Qiu Luoye gritted his teeth as he spat out the name. ”Ge Junma[2]!”

Li Banfeng asked, ”Is this Ge Junma a Physique Cultivator?”

”Not a Physique Cultivator!” Qiu Luoye said as he shook his head. ”He’s a pure-blooded native of the Inner Province!”

Author’s Note:

PS: Compared to the name Ge Junma, the name Qiu Luoye is much more poetic!

1. This is really a 长戈 (Chang Mao). It is an ancient Chinese polearm with a transverse blade so it’s not exactly a halberd. ☜

2. 葛 (Ge) is the surname. 俊 (jun) means ”handsome,” ”good-looking,” or ”talented.” 蟆 (ma) means ”toad.” Altogether, it’s Ge Junma! ☜