The Overlord of Puluo

Li Banfeng calmly looked at the hunter. ”Say something. Are you the Dripper?”

The hunter could not answer.

Anyone who lied on Mount Bloodfang would be punished.

With so many stones scattered across the ground, if the hunter denied being the Dripper, flying rocks would likely strike him. Even if the flying rocks didn’t seriously injure him, they would still give Li Banfeng a perfect opening to strike.

After a long silence, the hunter finally asked, ”How did you figure it out?”

Li Banfeng did not answer. He had no intention of explaining himself.

It was obvious that the name Dripper Bloodfang Monster was a mouthful.

Just how much of a mouthful was it? Say it a few more times, and even Li Banfeng’s tongue would tie itself in knots. If even Li Banfeng stumbled over it, how difficult would it be for someone like the hunter, whose speech was unclear to begin with?

The normal thing to do would be to shorten the Dripper Bloodfang Monster to simply Bloodfang Monster. Li Banfeng had always called it the Bloodfang Monster.

The hunter, however, did not. Despite his unclear speech and how difficult the full name was to say, he sometimes called it the Bloodfang Monster, and other times deliberately said the Dripper Bloodfang Monster.

When asked what kind of monsters lived on Mount Bloodfang, he would answer with the Dripper Bloodfang Monster. But when the question turned to the monster’s range of activity, he said the Bloodfang Monster could not leave the mountain. He never mentioned the Dripper.

Everything he said was the truth, but he deliberately distinguished between the Dripper and the Bloodfang Monster.

As a Wanderlust Cultivator who roamed the world and crossed countless mountains and rivers, Li Banfeng would naturally not overlook such an abnormal detail.

Seeing that Li Banfeng did not respond, the Dripper monster asked again, ”Since it’s rare for us to cross paths and one of us is bound to die, can we at least speak honestly before we make a move? You already know I am the Dripper. So why did you still let me act as your guide?”

Li Banfeng still did not answer. At the time, he had yet to confirm the hunter’s true identity. He merely suspected malicious intent.

That suspicion stemmed from the moment the man had appeared beside him without Li Banfeng noticing at all.

From this, he inferred that the man was highly skilled in ambushes and was very likely an aberration of the New Land.

If his judgment was wrong and the hunter harbored no malice, then hiring him with money was only reasonable. Having a guide was never a bad thing.

However, if the hunter truly was a monster, then rather than waiting to be ambushed, it was better to keep him in plain sight.

Of course, if the hunter had refused at the time, Li Banfeng could not have forced him. But he believed the hunter would not be able to resist the lure of money, just as aberrant creatures could not resist the lure of food. After spending so long in the New Land, Li Banfeng was no stranger to either.

The Dripper asked again, ”You clearly know I want to kill you. So why did you still follow me?”

This time, Li Banfeng answered, ”If I don’t follow you, how am I supposed to avoid the Bloodfang Monster?”

The Dripper had said it himself. He wanted to avoid the Bloodfang Monster. That much was true. And along the way, he had indeed avoided it.

As for why the Dripper wanted to avoid the Bloodfang Monster, Li Banfeng was unsure. However, he had a rough guess. As for whether this guess was right, he would verify it shortly.

The Dripper let out a laugh. ”You think you can survive just by avoiding the Bloodfang Monster? Do you know why I brought you to this place?”

Li Banfeng nodded calmly.

”I know,” he said. ”Because once you’re here, it’s hard to escape.”

Surrounded by wasteland grass and uneven mountain stones, the terrain left little room to escape.

The Dripper looked at Li Banfeng with a faint smile. ”You’re a Wanderlust Cultivator, aren’t you? Think your footwork can get you out of this? Go on. Run.”

Li Banfeng did not rush to run. Instead, he looked at the Dripper and asked, ”Why are you avoiding the Bloodfang Monster?

”Is it because he keeps stealing your food and you can’t beat him? On Mount Bloodfang, you called yourself a hunter. That wasn’t a lie. You really are a hunter, and your prey is me.

”Then why did you advise me not to go up the mountain? Were you planning to wait until I left Mount Bloodfang before making a move? Were you afraid your prey would be stolen?

”Are you really that afraid of the Bloodfang Monster? He’s at the fifth level. You’re clearly not his match. At best, you are only at the fourth level. Or do you not even reach the fourth?

A cold light flashed in the Dripper’s eyes. Those words had struck right at his sore spot.

Li Banfeng had guessed correctly. The Dripper had never intended to make a move on the mountain. He truly feared the Bloodfang Monster. Although his range of activity was broader, he simply could not defeat it.

Li Banfeng continued, ”Mount Bloodfang is the territory of both of you. So why does the Bloodfang Monster always bully you?”

Those words angered the Dripper. He clenched his teeth. ”Don’t try to play that game with me. Trying to pit us against each other won’t work.”

”Won’t it?” Li Banfeng said. ”I think it works just fine. Your cultivation level is not that much lower than the Bloodfang Monster, are you? You just need a helper, and you can kill him.”

The Dripper gritted his teeth and said, ”Shut your mouth!”

Li Banfeng continued, ”You don’t want to kill him? You definitely do! Do you think the two of us working together could kill him?”

”Shut up!” The Dripper’s rage boiled over. He was ready to kill Li Banfeng on the spot.

No matter how much he hated the Bloodfang Monster, he would never take advice from a stranger, even if everything that Li Banfeng said was true.

Li Banfeng continued, ”Kill the Bloodfang Monster, and Mount Bloodfang will belong to you alone!”

”Shut up!”

”Helpers aren’t easy to come by,” Li Banfeng continued. ”You should treasure a chance like this.”

”Shut up!”

”A helper is standing right in front of you,” Li Banfeng said. ”And I want the Bloodfang Monster dead too.”

”I told you to shut up!”

”I am a good person and I can help you!”

”I told you to—”

Bang!

Just as the Dripper lunged at Li Banfeng, a mountain rock suddenly exploded, and flying fragments carved several gashes across his body.

He truly had no intention of falling for Li Banfeng’s attempt at sowing discord. He had been fully focused on waiting for the moment to strike. What he had not expected was that Li Banfeng had never been trying to sow discord at all.

He did not expect that Li Banfeng would lie!

”I can help you.”

That was a lie.

After speaking nothing but the truth for so long, Li Banfeng suddenly slipped in a single lie. It was the first step of his tactic, and it caught the Dripper completely off guard.

”I genuinely want to help you. I never once thought of killing you!” Li Banfeng blurted out another lie.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

This lie directly contradicted Li Banfeng’s true thoughts. Mountain rocks exploded with violent force, and both the Dripper and Li Banfeng were injured.

”I sincerely want to befriend you. I have never harbored any intent to harm you!”

Rumble! Rumble!

Dust billowed as shattered rocks continued to explode.

The Dripper clutched his head and curled up on the ground as he thought, This man is insane! This is the mountain!

Rock explosions here were far more violent than those below. And yet he was still spouting such shameless lies.

The Dripper could not understand Li Banfeng’s thinking at all. He could only assume that Li Banfeng intended to drag them both to their deaths.

This mad man must be dreaming!

Mount Bloodfang was the Dripper’s territory. He knew how to evade the exploding rocks, so his injuries were not severe. But through the haze of dust, he saw that Li Banfeng was not badly injured either.

When they had not ascended the mountain, Li Banfeng kept lying again and again, which triggered one explosion after another. The Dripper had thought Li Banfeng was simply going crazy.

The truth was that Li Banfeng had not been crazy at all. He had told those lies deliberately, watching how the rocks exploded and how the fragments flew.

He knew he was far less familiar with Mount Bloodfang than the Dripper. Fortunately, thanks to his cultivation as a Wanderlust Cultivator, he did not suffer too badly.

Then what exactly was he doing all this for? Was it only to trap the Dripper? And now that the Dripper was already trapped, why wasn’t Li Banfeng running?

The Dripper was just about to explode in fury when a rich scent of liquor suddenly reached his nose.

Where did that smell come from?

It seemed to be coming from his own body.

This was the second step of his tactic: splashing the liquor.

Using the chaos of the exploding rocks as cover, Li Banfeng managed to splash liquor onto the Dripper.

This was an extremely difficult move. Li Banfeng needed to dodge the mountain rocks and he would not have a chance to splash the liquor. However, he didn’t need to do it himself. The liquor gourd was extremely intelligent and knew exactly when and what to do.

While Li Banfeng dodged the flying stones, the liquor had already been splashed.

The liquor gourd gave a timely reminder. ”Little brother, set it on fire!”

Li Banfeng struck a match against his trousers and tossed it onto the Dripper.

Flames surged up his body, and the Dripper let out a miserable scream. He rolled wildly across the ground, trying to put out the fire, but it was useless.

This was the Medicine King’s medicinal liquor. How could it be so easily extinguished?

Before he could find a chance to quell the flames, the Tang saber was already out of its sheath, thrusting straight into the Dripper’s chest.

Gritting his teeth through the searing pain, the Dripper tore the longbow from his back, nocked an arrow, and drew the string tight, ready to shoot Li Banfeng dead on the spot.

The pendulum shot forward, slicing through the bowstring before hacking into the Dripper’s neck, drawing blood with full force.

This was the third step of the tactic: seize every weapon and fight.

Anything that could be used as a weapon was thrown into the fight!

Li Banfeng hurled the sickle. It hooked into the Dripper’s skull with a wet crack. He pulled out the trowel and was just about to throw it when something suddenly coiled around his wrist.

It was wild grass.

A blade of grass as tall as a man shot upward, its stalk wrapping tightly around his arm.

Li Banfeng swapped the trowel to his left hand and chopped the grass clean through. Unfortunately, the ground did not take the hint. Two more clumps leapt up and cinched around his legs.

Worse still, the weeds all around him began to wriggle and grow, crawling toward him with far too much enthusiasm.

The Dripper was fighting back.

”A Sylvan Cultivator!” the liquor gourd hollered, sloshing liquor over the grass strangling Li Banfeng.

”Set it on fire!” the liquor gourd shouted again.

Li Banfeng was genuinely worried he might burn himself, but the liquor gourd knew exactly how far to go. The flames politely burned away the grass clinging to his body and stopped there, not hurting him in the slightest.

At the same time, a vast carpet of fresh green grass surged up and wrapped itself around the Dripper. The fire on his body sputtered, hissed, and finally went out.

Then, a thick strand of grass wrapped itself around the Tang saber in the Dripper’s chest and yanked with all its might, pulling the saber straight out of him. The sickle was torn free, and the pendulum was torn free as well.

The Dripper had no interest in fighting anymore. He wanted to run.

He had lost a frightening amount of blood. There was a blade wound in his chest, a hole chopped into his skull, and burns all over his body. And yet, battered as he was, the Dripper could still use his techniques.

Wild grass swarmed over him, wrapping him up like a poorly bundled mummy, and he shot through the undergrowth at full speed.

He was heading for the Bloodfang Monster. He was terrified of it. He despised it with all his heart. But right now, it was the only thing in the world that could save him.

Where is the Bloodfang Monster? It should be in the lair on the mountaintop. He will definitely save me... Definitely...

Sssrrrk.

The grass leaves wrapped around the Dripper began to slacken and slide away. He could no longer hold his power together.

He could just barely endure the burns and blade wounds. The sickle, however, was another matter entirely. It was poisoned, and that was more than his body could take.

The poison came from the Blue Poplar Tree, further refined with a bronze lotus flower. That the Dripper had managed to cling to life this long was already something of a miracle.

The Tang saber shot forward and stabbed straight into the Dripper’s throat. Seizing the opening, the pendulum swept in and drained him dry.

The liquor gourd laughed in delight. ”Good liquor. Truly good liquor!”

The enchanted artifact Old Mister Yao had given him was indeed a fine thing. The liquor gourd had done splendid work in this fight.

Looking at the liquor gourd, Li Banfeng became slightly lost in thought.

Old Mister Yao really is one of the good ones, even among local land deities.

He knew I would run into danger along the way. He told me how to avoid it and even gave me the means to survive. But there was someone else who knew too.

Back then, the situation had been far more dangerous than it is now and I knew nothing back then.

He told me to make a phone call. Then he suddenly appeared in front of me. He dragged me straight into a life-and-death trap and told me nothing at all. Before that, he had not even mentioned Puluo Province.

As for the thing he gave me, I do not even know if it truly came from him. I do not know what his purpose was. And I do not know whether I will be able to keep it in the end.

After being stared at for too long by Li Banfeng, the liquor gourd grew faintly warm.

”Little brother, don’t keep staring at your elder sister like that.”

Li Banfeng smiled. ”If elder sister is this pretty, can’t I take a look?”

”You’re still so young, and you dare flirt with me?” The liquor gourd sprayed a faceful of liquor mist at him, sounding slightly angry.

Li Banfeng caressed the liquor gourd. ”Let Mount Bloodfang bear witness. I truly admire elder sister.”

The stones of the mountain remained perfectly still, proving that Li Banfeng was telling the truth.

The gourd let out a string of snickers.

Mount Bloodfang is truly an interesting place, Li Banfeng thought.

Li Banfeng hauled the Dripper’s corpse back into the Pocket Dwelling. The commotion from the fight had been far too loud, so before the Bloodfang Monster could come charging after him, he hurried down the mountain.

When he reached the foot of the slope, he muttered, ”I didn’t kill the Dripper.”

Bang!

A mountain rock immediately exploded.

So it doesn’t work even if I say it that softly?

Fine. I might as well say it loudly!

Li Banfeng shouted toward Mount Bloodfang, ”I am a good person!”

Mount Bloodfang showed no reaction at all.

Li Banfeng shouted again, ”My wife is also a good person!”

Mount Bloodfang did not react at all.

Li Banfeng shouted once more, ”My entire family are good people!”

Nothing happened. Not a single mountain rock exploded.

What about that person? Is he a good person?

Li Banfeng shouted again, ”I think he is not a good person!”

A light breeze drifted past and it was just a complete silence in the mountain areas.

Li Banfeng was very pleased with the result.

He took off his fedora and brushed the broken stones and dust from it. Then he put the hat back on, turned around, and walked calmly into the night.

Author’s Note:

PS: Who exactly is that person? Why is he not a good person?