The Overlord of Puluo

In the main hall, He Yuxiu had captured Hall Master Yao Zhiyi alive. She twisted his arms and legs until they broke, chained him up, and tossed him aside.

Several Jiangxiang Gang followers rushed over to save their hall master. Lu Yuanxin released a swarm of flying insects from his body, and within moments, the men had been gnawed down to white bones.

Miss Chu grabbed another Jiangxiang Gang follower and shoved his head into the boiling hotpot. While his face was still hot, she peeled the skin right off.

Another Jiangxiang Gang member had barely gotten close when Miss Chu pried off the top of his skull with a pair of chopsticks and brain matter spilled all over the table.

Cedric picked up a roast chicken, shook the brain matter off it, and kept eating.

One of the Jiangxiang Gang members was a decent cultivator and tried to sneak up on Miss Chu from behind, but Lu Chunying kicked him hard enough to send him stumbling.

Tan Fucheng quickly caught the man, kept him steady, and helped him into a chair. He said to the guy, ”Sit still and don’t move.”

And the member of the Jiangxiang Gang really didn’t move. He could only sit there and watch as Tan Fucheng slit his throat.

The Jiangxiang Gang’s main hall had plenty of fighting strength, but only when there was someone around to organize them.

As of now, their gang leader had died and the hall master had been captured alive. Some of the remaining members fought while others tried to run, and the whole place descended into chaos.

Someone caught a glimpse of a figure flashing past. In the next instant, that person exploded into a mess of flesh and blood.

After killing dozens of them, Li Banfeng contacted Luo Zhengnan and told him to bring some men over to clean up the rest.

”Old Luo, they are all old friends from the gangs. You haven’t forgotten the old ties between you, have you?”

”Master Qi, of course I haven’t forgotten. I will come see them off on their final journey.”

***

Daboinsky crouched by the lakeside, using his spider silk to sense what was happening around him.

He Jiaqing had guessed right. There was another exit from the basement, and Daboinsky had brought Lu Xiaolan out through it just before Li Qi took away the stone awls.

Lu Xiaolan said, ”We need to go. The spear’s imposing presence is hard to control. They will find us soon, and once they do, we won’t be able to leave even if we want to.”

Daboinsky shook his head. ”Wait a little longer. I still need to find something very important.”

”What exactly are you looking for?”

”A body. Xiao Zhenggong’s body.”

***

Luo Zhengnan soon arrived at the main hall with his men. He caught up with his old friends from the gangs for a while, then sent them on their way one by one.

”Master Qi, where’s Gang Leader Xiao? I was hoping to see him.”

Li Qi shook his head. ”Dead. There wasn’t even a body left.”

Luo Zhengnan sighed. ”What a shame. There were still plenty of things I wanted to ask him.”

Li Qi smiled. ”If I had known, I would have left him with a breath or two so you could ask your questions.”

”Forget it. Just talking to him gets on my nerves. I will have a few words with Yao Zhiyi instead.”

Luo Zhengnan crouched down in front of Yao Zhiyi. ”Big Bro, remember me?”

Yao Zhiyi stared at him in shock. ”Luo Zhengnan? Weren’t you dead...?”

Luo Zhengnan patted Yao Zhiyi on the cheek. ”Things have already come this far, and you still don’t know how to say a few nice things? Aren’t you afraid I will cut out your tongue?”

Yao Zhiyi shook his head repeatedly. ”Old Luo, what happened to you had nothing to do with me. The gang leader was the one who told One-Mouthful Pei to do it.”

”Fine, let’s not talk about me for now. Tell me about the gang instead. What’s the deal with this Flying General’s Battalion?”

With things already at this point, Yao Zhiyi stopped trying to hide anything.

”The gang leader said the Jiangxiang Gang had no future left, so he planned to change the name and start over. Somehow, he got in touch with Iron Goat Mountain and asked their Stronghold Chief, Lu Xiaolan, to pretend to be the Flying General, Zhao Xiaowan. That’s how they put up the banner of the Flying General’s Battalion.”

Lu Xiaolan? She was the one pretending to be the Flying General? That woman really has no shame. She actually dared to use Zhao Xiaowan’s name.

Li Qi asked, ”Was Lu Xiaolan the one who wiped out the bandits on Thousand Pearl Mountain?”

Yao Zhiyi actually knew what had happened behind the scenes. ”You couldn’t really call it wiping them out. It was more like one gang swallowing another. Iron Goat Mountain and Thousand Pearl Mountain had been at odds for a long time. Lu Xiaolan went up the mountain, killed the stronghold chief, and took in all of his bandits. Then they spread the word that the Flying General had rid the people of a menace. Gang Leader Xiao found a few writers to spread the story around. That’s how the Flying General’s Battalion made a name for itself.”

Luo Zhengnan still looked doubtful. ”Old Yao, with things having come this far, don’t start lying to me now.”

Yao Zhiyi said, ”Little Bro Luo, how would I dare lie to you? Everything I just told you was true!”

Luo Zhengnan said, ”I have heard of Thousand Pearl Mountain. Those people had some real skill. What was Lu Xiaolan capable of? You are telling me she went up Thousand Pearl Mountain alone and killed their stronghold chief? How am I supposed to believe that?”

Yao Zhiyi quickly shook his head. ”I never said she went up there alone. She brought quite a few people with her, slipped onto the mountain, and made her move there. Gang Leader Xiao also gave her a treasure at the time.”

”What treasure?”

”Zhao Xiaowan. Zhao Xiaowan after she turned into a spear. And this one’s the real thing. Just bring it in front of someone and the pressure coming off it is enough to make them unable to raise their head.”

The moment they heard about the spear, veins throbbed on both Luo Zhengnan and Li Banfeng’s foreheads.

Luo Zhengnan’s were from anger and grudge!

He had nearly lost his life at Iron Gate Fort over that spear. In the end, he handed it over to Xiao Zhenggong, only for Xiao Zhenggong to go back on his word and never make good on his promise to make him vice gang leader. Even now, just thinking about it made Luo Zhengnan grit his teeth.

Li Banfeng’s veins were throbbing because he was trying so hard not to laugh. That spear had been made by the Crimson Lotus. It wasn’t called Zhao Xiaowan at all. Its name was Exploding Tiger.

They had originally made it just to fool Luo Zhengnan. Who would have thought it would end up fooling so many people?

Luo Zhengnan said, ”It’s something that important, and Xiao Zhenggong was willing to hand it over to Lu Xiaolan?”

Yao Zhiyi said, ”Lu Xiaolan has real ability. There’s a fake foreign devil by her side who’s connected to the Inner Provinces. That fake foreign devil even found someone to make a corpse for the gang leader. It looked exactly like the real thing, and even the blood matched. No one could tell it was fake!”

A corpse that looks exactly like the real thing? Could it have been made with the Skill of Fleshbuilding? No way. Even the Skill of Fleshbuilding can’t make the blood match perfectly. What other method did they use?

Li Banfeng was very interested in this.

Luo Zhengnan asked, ”Where is Lu Xiaolan now?”

Yao Zhiyi said, ”Under the lake. There’s a basement down there, and both Lu Xiaolan and that fake foreign devil are inside. The basement has special Artificer Cultivator abilities built into it, something the fake foreign devil got from the Inner Provinces. It can’t be opened from the inside. You can only get in from outside. They must still be down there. I will take you to see.”

A basement under the lake?

Li Banfeng froze. He had seen the entrance to the basement inside the cave. Had Lu Xiaolan and Daboinsky been down there at the time?

He Yuxiu had broken Yao Zhiyi’s legs, so he couldn’t walk. Luo Zhengnan had someone bring over a small cart and wheeled him there. When they entered the cave, the stone door was tightly shut. There wasn’t even a visible seam from the outside.

Luo Zhengnan frowned. ”Where’s this basement you were talking about?”

Yao Zhiyi started to panic. ”It’s... it’s right here. Beside the door, there should be a pair of awls. Those awls...”

Li Banfeng snapped, ”Then where are the stone awls?”

”They... they were right here!” Yao Zhiyi had no idea how to explain it. The stone awls that had originally been embedded in the wall were gone.

Li Banfeng asked again, ”Where’s that corpse you mentioned? The one that looked exactly like the real thing!”

Yao Zhiyi said, ”It’s in the rear building. I will take you there.”

Luo Zhengnan had someone wheel Yao Zhiyi over on the cart. They went into the rear building, headed up to the second floor, and stopped at the third room. When they pushed the door open, there was a bed inside with a burial shroud laid over it, but the corpse was nowhere to be seen.

Luo Zhengnan grabbed Yao Zhiyi by the collar. ”Old Yao, lying to me is one thing, but you still dare lie when Master Qi is standing right here?”

Li Qi was furious. ”Yao Zhiyi, you have got some nerve. Old Luo, he’s yours.”

Yao Zhiyi hurriedly said, ”Little Bro Luo, every word I said was true. You have to believe me!”

”Believe you?” Luo Zhengnan said. He had someone bring him a chisel and continued, ”You always used to ask me how I got this hole in my head. Now I will show you exactly how it happened. One strike at a time.”

***

After dealing with Yao Zhiyi, Luo Zhengnan sighed. ”That bastard was a tough nut. Couldn’t get anything else out of him.”

Li Banfeng shook his head. ”Forget it. The Jiangxiang Gang is gone, you have had your revenge, and that knot in your heart is finally untied. Why bother worrying about anything else?”

Luo Zhengnan sighed. ”I really don’t care about anything else. It’s Zhao Xiaowan that still gets under my skin. That spear is an incredibly rare treasure. It was yours in the first place, and I pestered you until you finally sold it to me. Now I want to get it back and present it to you again.”

Li Banfeng waved him off. ”It’s really not that important. There’s no need to rush over something like this.”

Li Banfeng really wasn’t in any hurry.

Glove quietly said, ”Boss, how about I put those two stone awls back in place? Then we can head down and take a look.”

”Look at who? What’s there to look at?”

Was Lu Xiaolan that nice to look at? Or was the Exploding Tiger spear? Regardless, Li Banfeng couldn’t be bothered to look at either one.

If Lu Xiaolan wasn’t down there, going down would be a waste of time. If she was down there, then she could stay down there.

If the basement really couldn’t be opened from the inside, she could just stay put. She had spent so long trapped in the He Family’s old residence without dying. A few more days down there wouldn’t hurt.

Though, now that he thought about it, that comparison wasn’t quite right. The basement was nothing like the He Family’s old residence. In the Old He Family’s residence, there were wild cats going in and out. As for this basement, not even an insect could get inside.

He Jiaqing was nearly losing his mind. Even with his cultivation, he still couldn’t find any way out.

Is this Lu Xiaolan’s doing? he thought.

He Jiaqing gritted his teeth and cursed, ”Why are you so damn vicious?”

***

Lu Xiaolan asked, ”Why are you so determined to carry that corpse around?”

Daboinsky said, ”Because this corpse was made using Xiao Zhenggong’s blood.”

”What’s so useful about his blood?”

”Ordinary blood wouldn’t be useful, but this blood is different. I collected it from him a month ago. It contains part of his soul and some of his memories.”

Lu Xiaolan still didn’t understand. ”What do you need his soul and memories for?”

”Because the real Xiao Zhenggong is most likely already dead. The memories in this corpse are connected to an important secret.”

”What secret?”

Daboinsky looked at Lu Xiaolan. ”By working with us, Xiao Zhenggong wasn’t just giving up the Jiangxiang Gang. He was also giving up an important position he held in the Outer Provinces.”

”I have heard about that. He was a deputy captain in the Dark Star Bureau. It’s not exactly an impressive position.”

Daboinsky shook his head. ”His rank might not have been high, but his position was very important. The Dark Star Bureau holds a lot of important secrets. Xiao Zhenggong had already learned the secret he wanted, which was why he was willing to give up his post there and return to Puluo Province.”

”So what exactly is this secret? Do you actually know something, or are you just guessing?”

Daboinsky shook his head. ”It’s not a wild guess. It’s a reasonable inference. Unfortunately, this blood was taken a month ago. I am afraid we won’t be able to recover any important information from the past month.”

***

Cedric finished a glass of red wine, wiped his mouth with a napkin, straightened his white coat, and stood up. ”I am full.”

Li Banfeng said, ”If you are full, then please go back.”

Cedric walked to the door and strapped the large metal disinfectant tank onto his back. The tank was very light.

He Jiaqing had gone out, but he hadn’t come back.

Where did he go? Did he get it done?

Cedric didn’t care. It really wasn’t important to him. His only job had been to bring He Jiaqing here and this job had been finished a long time ago.

Author’s Note:

PS: What is Jiaqing supposed to live on while he’s stuck in the basement?

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