The Overlord of Puluo

Qin Bulou froze. Beside him, Miss Qin bit down on her lip. She had never expected Li Banfeng to figure out that her father was creating an entirely new Daoist path.

Li Banfeng knew he was making things really difficult for them, but if they were going to work together, this was something that had to be settled clearly. ”You created this Daoist path yourself, and it is tied to your cultivation, so normally I would not ask about it. But your path is too unusual. If we ever fall out in the future, I could be at a serious disadvantage. I need to understand it well enough to protect myself.”

Qin Bulou was silent for a long moment before finally telling the truth. ”I really am creating a new Daoist path. The key to this path lies in the one thing I have done more than anything else since I began cultivating.”

Li Banfeng thought for a moment. ”You are a Calculation Cultivator. The thing you have done most must be calculating.”

Qin Bulou asked, ”And when you calculate, are you trying to get the right or wrong answer?”

What kind of question is this? Li Banfeng thought and answered, ”You obviously calculate to get the right answer.”

Qin Bulou gave a bitter smile. ”But the thing I have done most in my life is get the answer wrong. I can make ten mistakes on a single problem and still not get it right once.”

Li Banfeng was taken aback for a moment, but when he thought about it, that was perfectly normal.

Back when he was studying, he had struggled with difficult problems too. Getting one right was never easy, and making mistakes along the way and starting over was nothing unusual. Someone like Qin Bulou dealt with far more complicated calculations, so naturally, his chances of making mistakes were even greater.

Qin Bulou sighed. ”Being a Calculation Cultivator is not easy. I have spent my whole life struggling with calculations. I made mistakes constantly when I first learned the basics, and even now, at my age, I still make mistake after mistake when solving difficult problems.

”Mistakes have followed me all my life. Most of the time, getting something wrong is no big deal, but when your life is on the line, one wrong calculation can kill you. Sometimes I would even wake from a nightmare because of it.

”Then one day I thought, getting the answer right is hard, but getting it wrong is much easier. So why not cultivate through being wrong instead? It sounded ridiculous, but I actually tried it. I began making mistakes on purpose to see what would happen. Then I tried making one mistake on top of another to see how the result would change.

”Deliberately calculating things wrong felt almost like mocking the very art of calculation. It went against the Daoist path itself, but I have to admit, it was rather satisfying. After doing it for long enough, my Calculation Cultivator cultivation did not improve, but another path gradually began to take shape.”

”Hold on!” Li Banfeng raised a hand. ”Getting the answer wrong can count as cultivation too?”

”Of course it can!” Qin Bulou said proudly. ”Master Qi, the first time you shipped goods out, you found that the railway tracks had broken. Didn’t you ever wonder why tracks that had already been repaired would break again?”

Li Banfeng thought back. At the time, he really had not given it much thought. ”That railway had been abandoned for years. You repair it, it breaks, then you repair it again. Isn’t that perfectly normal?”

Qin Bulou said, ”Most mistakes happen in ways that seem perfectly reasonable. You thought there was nothing strange about the tracks breaking, and the workers thought the same. Once people accept a mistake as something normal, they stop guarding against it. That is exactly when my new Daoist path has the most room to work.

”The tracks did not break because I tampered with them afterward. The workers made a mistake while repairing them. An empty train passed over the tracks without any problem, so no one noticed. But when a train loaded with coal came through, the tracks could not bear the weight and snapped.

”Then came the second mistake. After the train derailed, everyone panicked and rushed off to get help, but no one stayed behind to guard the scene. While they were busy dealing with the broken tracks, I took the chance to steal the coal.

”The second shipment happened in much the same way. Your workers made another mistake while repairing the train. By then, they were so used to things going wrong that they no longer thought there might be a reason behind it. The train kept breaking down along the way, and they were too busy fixing it and getting it moving again to stop and question what was happening. I simply took advantage of that opportunity and stole both the carriage and the coal.”

Li Banfeng went over everything again in his mind. ”You make people make mistakes, then make those mistakes lead to even more mistakes. Are those two separate abilities?”

Qin Bulou shook his head. ”The Daoist path hasn’t fully formed yet, so I can’t call them abilities. For now, they are just me scheming against you. I call this Daoist Path Error Cultivation.”

Error Cultivation was basically the Chaos Cultivation that Li Banfeng had thought about previously.

What had allowed Qin Bulou to create a new Daoist path? Was it his talent? Was it his intelligence? Perhaps it was neither.

Qin Bulou had chosen the thing he knew best, hated most, and understood most deeply, then turned it into a way to cultivate. Over time, he had become completely absorbed in it. This was perhaps the way to create a new Daoist path.

”But how did you use these methods on us? Before the first shipment, I don’t think we have ever interacted before. You couldn’t have calculated where the formation was and cast some kind of curse on it.”

Qin Bulou shook his head. ”There were interactions, but you just didn’t notice. Your workers needed food, and the Northern Bridge was the only part of Yellowclay Bridge still operating normally. All their ingredients came from me. That’s how I got to them.”

”You put poison in the food?”

”Not poison. The food itself was perfectly fine, but there were hidden methods worked into it. Take this jar of pickled vegetables. How much coarse salt I used, how much fine salt, and how many days I left it to pickle all mattered. Anyone who ate from this jar would become more likely to make mistakes, especially common mistakes that were hard to notice. Once they made one mistake, they would grow irritable and become even more likely to make another.”

Li Banfeng studied the jar carefully. ”You used the same sort of method in your jianbing guozi, didn’t you? The rickshaw driver ate three or four of them in a row. If you had used poison, he would have noticed, but he had never encountered a method from Error Cultivation before.”

Qin Bulou smiled. ”Exactly. The rickshaw driver was affected by my method, but his cultivation was too high for it to have much effect on him.”

”Why do you always scheme using food?”

”Because I used to be a cook. When I was young, I wanted to become a Culinary Cultivator, so I saved up some money and went to the Peddler to buy the cultivation powder I needed. The Peddler had been drinking that day. His hand slipped, and he gave me Calculation Cultivator powder instead. And so a cook like me ended up spending his whole life doing calculations.”

Would the Peddler really make a mistake like that? Could he have deliberately given Qin Bulou the Calculation Cultivator powder? Could he have been trying to make sure the powder went to the right person? Qin Bulou’s story still needs to be verified. But if he’s telling the truth, he really could be a good partner for business.

Li Banfeng reviewed the Northern Bridge’s rules for dealing with the Border Control Office, made a few changes, and added them to the contract.

He spent the entire day at the Northern Bridge, walking around and checking things for himself. In the end, he and Qin Bulou formally agreed to the contract.

Two days later, Qin Bulou personally led a small train down the mountain with twenty carloads of coal.

”Master Wu, this is the first shipment. There are three more batches, and I will deliver every last one in the coming days.”

Ma Wu smiled. ”The thought is what matters. There’s no need to fuss over the details. Stay and have a simple meal with us today, Senior Qin. Tomorrow, I will visit you myself. I will remove the root of love from Miss Qin first, then I will have a taste of your cooking.”

Qin Bulou smiled. ”Master Wu is being far too generous. Since you have invited me so warmly, it would be rude to refuse.”

Ma Wu always found it easy and pleasant to talk with Qin Bulou.

During the meal, Qin Bulou noticed that Li Qi was nowhere to be seen. ”Is Master Qi still in the Yellowclay Bridge?”

Ma Wu replied, ”I think he went into town to relieve himself of the boredom for a while.”

What is there to do for fun in Yellowclay Bridge? Qin Bulou thought, but he could not think of anywhere.

Li Banfeng was indeed still in town. At this moment, he was fighting Chu Shaoqiang inside an abandoned inn.

Chu Shaoqiang whipped his gray overcoat, sending a shower of shuttle darts flying toward him. Li Banfeng dodged quickly. The darts came thick and fast without a single opening between them and Li Banfeng had no chance to get close.

Li Banfeng used Intent Travels a Thousand Mountains to change Chu Shaoqiang’s surroundings, turning the floor beneath his feet into a steel cable.

Chu Shaoqiang lost his balance on the cable. Li Banfeng leaped onto it, swung his sickle, and killed him.

”Director Qi, that was a splendid fight!” the Film Projector praised.

Li Banfeng sat beside the Film Projector without saying a word. The Chu Shaoqiang he had just fought was only an image created by the Film Projector, and their fight had been a simulation conducted under a certain set of rules. The simulation had ended with Li Banfeng’s victory, but a real fight would have been a completely different matter.

In a real fight, Chu Shaoqiang rarely used shuttle darts. He had all kinds of strange weapons, and there always seemed to be more of them. Li Banfeng could not deal with him just by dodging.

Besides, the steel cable Li Banfeng had brought over might not have hindered Chu Shaoqiang much at all. In a real fight, Chu Shaoqiang would most likely have stood steadily on the cable and fought Li Banfeng without the slightest difficulty.

What if he brought over something else instead?

Li Banfeng had only been able to bring over the steel cable because he had spent quite some time staring at the wire outside the window beforehand. During a fight, he had no time to think or prepare, so the surroundings he could bring over were very limited.

With his current strength, if he ran into Chu Shaoqiang, even getting the first move would still leave him with little chance of winning. Chu Shaoqiang was also under orders from the Inner Provinces to find a piece of Proper Land for them. His warning to Qin Bulou earlier had not been a threat meant to scare him. Li Banfeng was genuinely worried that Chu Shaoqiang might come to Yellowclay Bridge.

Why had the Peddler let him go back then? And why had he given him a piece of soap to eat?

After resting for a while, Li Banfeng asked the Film Projector, ”You can turn things you imagine into real objects. What’s the trick?”

”The trick is to carefully recreate every detail of their outward appearance. Even then, I can only reproduce the outside. Anything on the inside requires much more work on the script.”

The inside...

Li Banfeng was very familiar with Wifey’s inner workings. Could he try bringing her over during a fight? But that went against the principle behind Intent Travels a Thousand Mountains. The ability was meant to change the battlefield, not summon outside help. Even if Li Banfeng managed to bring Wifey over, she would only be a prop and would have no fighting ability.

The inside... There was something about that idea that seemed to give Li Banfeng an idea.

Li Banfeng stood up. ”Let’s try again.”

The Film Projector created another image of Chu Shaoqiang. Li Banfeng’s original plan had been to bring over the fighting environment of the Pocket Dwelling. With him being so familiar with the Pocket Dwelling, it was not so hard to move that surrounding out to the battlefield.

But what was the point of moving that surrounding here? Was the Pocket Dwelling dangerous to an enemy? Of course it was. The problem was that most of that danger came from Wifey and the rest of the family, as well as the boost to Li Banfeng’s own combat strength whenever he fought inside the Pocket Dwelling. None of that had anything to do with the rooms themselves or the surrounding environment.

Bringing over the Pocket Dwelling did not seem like a workable strategy. For now, the only options Li Banfeng could think of were still places like mountain streams, cliffs, and swamps, where a Wanderlust Cultivator could make full use of his advantages.

While Li Banfeng was still changing his strategy, Chu Shaoqiang made a move first. He thrust out both hands, and the two gloves slipped free. In an instant, they swelled into a pair of giant hands more than two meters tall and came slapping at Li Banfeng from the left and right.

Li Banfeng did not dodge because he knew that Chu Shaoqiang was bound to have a follow-up move.

The Sickle stopped the glove on the left, while the Tang Saber stopped the one on the right, keeping both from getting close to Li Banfeng.

Chu Shaoqiang walked between the two Gloves, untied his bow tie, and casually tossed it into the air. The bow tie twisted and folded in midair, turning into a black butterfly. Dust scattered from its wings as it flew toward Li Banfeng.

Li Banfeng took off his fedora and trapped the butterfly beneath it. With a light flick of the hat, as though performing a magic trick, the butterfly vanished.

Chu Shaoqiang gave a light clap. ”Good counter.”

The Film Projector spoke up. ”Director Qi, this is...”

Li Banfeng pressed one hand down, signaling for the Film Projector not to panic. The Film Projector had not created this Chu Shaoqiang. The real one had suddenly appeared!

Why had Chu Shaoqiang come to Yellowclay Bridge? How did he find me so easily? Did he just get here, or had he already set up an ambush?

One question after another churned through Li Banfeng’s mind. The answers would determine whether he could make it out of the inn unharmed, then take Qin Bulou and the others with him and find a way to defend Yellowclay Bridge.

The two stared at each other for a moment. Chu Shaoqiang coughed, then wiped the rose-scented foam from the corner of his mouth.

”Don’t be nervous. I am not here to cause trouble today. I came to tell you something. The Inner Provinces will be sending people to Yellowclay Bridge within the next few days. With your current strength, my advice is to leave immediately and stay out of this fight.”

Li Banfeng frowned. ”You came all this way to warn me? Since when were we on such good terms?”

Chu Shaoqiang already had an excuse prepared. ”My daughter likes you very much, and I would also like to see the two of you get married. Consider this the beginning of our reconciliation.”

When he said the word ”married,” he breathed out a little too forcefully, and a large, colorful soap bubble popped out of his mouth.

Seeing this, Li Banfeng seemed to understand what the soap that the Peddler fed him was for. ”Since you are already here, why not tell me which expert the Inner Provinces are sending to Yellowclay Bridge? This way, I can prepare in advance.”

Chu Shaoqiang said, ”A senior from your Daoist path, Lu Dongliang.”

”Who?” Li Banfeng asked again.

”Lu Dongliang. The former head of the Lu Family.”

Huff!

Li Banfeng remained expressionless, but his nostrils flared slightly as he let out a sharp breath.

Author’s Note:

PS: Sometimes, trying to hold back a laugh can be really hard.