The Overlord of Puluo

The First Ridge, Steamroll Street, Wonton Alley.

Inside a small, snug house, the mistress moved about as though the walls themselves were listening. She lifted the lid of a tin chest, peeped inside, and then opened the little wooden box hidden within. From it, she scooped out two bowls of rice before quickly closing everything again. The lids were shut firmly, as if the rice might try to escape if given the chance.

Her husband stood nearby in the kitchen, flyswatter raised, staring at the air with great caution.

After the rice was washed and dropped into the pot, the pair relaxed, just a little.

The man wiped the sweat from his brow. ”It has been half a month since we last saw a mosquito. I think those things are really gone for good.”

”Who knows?” the woman replied, not believing a single word. ”Didn’t Lu Dongjun say the same thing last time, that he would wipe them all out? And what happened then? They came right back. And where did he disappear afterward? If I hadn’t been quick and saved this bit of rice, you would have starved to death already, you big oaf.”

The man leaned over and planted a hard kiss on her cheek. ”That’s why I always say you are such a virtuous and good wife. You start cooking first. I will head out to buy some incense.”

”What are you buying incense for?” she asked. ”Do we even have spare money?”

”Just a little,” he said. ”We need to pay our respects to Lord Qi. Everyone outside is saying it was Lord Qi who put a stop to the mosquito plague. Every household is offering incense. They say if you are not sincere enough, the mosquitoes will come back to your home next year.”

At the mention of mosquitoes, the woman shuddered. ”Really? Who did you hear that from?”

”It’s true. Everyone’s talking about it. They are even building a temple for Lord Qi over at the Third Ridge.”

And indeed, a temple really was being built at the Third Ridge.

In Flatbread Village, construction was already underway. Niu Fuzhi called over the village’s only Artificer Cultivator, Niu Xiaoxian, and frowned as he looked at the half-finished statue. ”Is this really how Lord Qi is supposed to look? You can’t even see his face.”

Niu Xiaoxian scratched his scalp. ”I don’t even remember what Lord Qi looks like anymore. Do you?”

Niu Fuzhi couldn’t remember either. ”Then... then ask someone else. Is there really no one in the village who remembers?”

”No one,” Niu Xiaoxian said. ”I have already asked everyone. What else can we do?”

***

At the Second Ridge, in Guokui[1] Town, Li Banfeng saw quite a few people heading out to buy incense and candles. They could barely afford food, yet they were still buying incense?

While every other business in the Second Ridge struggled to survive, the incense shops alone were flourishing.

”Why don’t we just open an incense shop ourselves?” Li Banfeng said. He bought two bowls of porridge and six Guokui from a breakfast stall, then squatted in an alley to eat with Cedric.

This breakfast stall was the first food stall in Guokui Town to reopen. There weren’t many customers, but the owner worked with care, and the Guokui tasted excellent.

Cedric ate while setting his begging bowl in front of him, as he always did.

Li Banfeng couldn’t understand it. ”You are not short on money. Why do you keep begging?”

Cedric replied with solemn seriousness, ”This is a matter of respect for the founding cultivator of my Daoist path. Until the sores on my body are healed, I will continue to walk his path.”

Li Banfeng glanced at the begging bowl, then remembered what Green Beggar looked like. A shiver ran straight up his spine, raising goosebumps all over his skin. ”Will your founding cultivator actually cure your sores?”

”No.” Cedric shook his head firmly. ”I have only met him once, but I’m sure of one thing. He’s vicious. The only person who might be able to cure my sores is probably the Peddler.”

”Then why don’t you just follow the Peddler’s path?” Li Banfeng said. ”Push a cart and sell things.”

Cedric lifted a finger and pointed at his own face. ”I would like to sell things too, but do you think anyone will buy from me when I look like this?”

After wandering around the Second Ridge for several days, they did not spot a single mosquito on the streets.

Li Banfeng even bought a newspaper. According to it, the mosquitoes in the First Ridge had vanished as well.

”Looks like we actually pulled it off,” Li Banfeng said, shooting Cedric a glance.

Just then, someone tossed a few coins into Cedric’s battered bowl and Cedric thanked them politely.

After tucking the coins into his clothes, he scooped out a handful of white rice and set it neatly in the bowl. He waited. And waited.

Nothing came. No buzzing. No black specks dropping from the air. Not even a lonely straggler.

They tried again and again. Different streets, different times, the same result every time.

It seemed the mosquito plague in the Ridges of Bottomless Stomachs had truly been brought under control.

Of course, the one most qualified to say so was still the local land deity.

After lunch, Pan Dehai’s voice drifted over. ”Young man, the Annihilation Mosquitoes are truly extinct this time. You may be arrogant, but you are a man of virtue. I intend to give you another item. What do you want?”

Li Banfeng thought for a moment. His first thought was money. He wanted money, but then he reconsidered.

He already had ways to earn money. Opportunities like this did not come around often. If he was going to ask for something, it should be something far more valuable than mere coins.

Should he ask for another enchanted artifact and have the bronze lotus reforged?

The fan still wasn’t finished, and the lotus seemed to be running into trouble as well.

After thinking it over, Li Banfeng suddenly had an idea. ”Old Pan,” he said innocently, ”do you happen to have any extra heart tissue or flesh lying around?”

Pan Dehai flew into a rage.

”No virtue! No conscience! Utterly shameless!” he roared. ”I should never have wasted a single glance on a madman like you!”

The words were barely out of his mouth when something appeared in front of Li Banfeng.

It was a worm, about the size of a thumb, legless and pale, a plump white grub.

”What use does this worm have?” Li Banfeng asked.

”This is a supreme treasure of the Gourmandism Cultivators, the Intestinal Roller Silkworm,” Pan Dehai said. ”It is a rare specialty of the Ridges of Bottomless Stomachs. Once a Gourmandism Cultivator swallows it, it will make their appetite even better than when they are inside the Ridges.

”If you don’t want to eat it, you can carry it with you,” Pan Dehai said. ”It can help you obtain nourishment in times of hardship.”

Li Banfeng looked puzzled. ”What do you mean by obtaining nourishment in times of hardship?”

”In places where there are no proper ingredients,” Pan Dehai explained patiently, ”it will help you eat things that are normally hard to swallow as food.”

The explanation was so roundabout that Li Banfeng had to keep asking before he finally understood.

What Pan Dehai truly meant was simple enough. In places without food, other things could serve as substitutes.

For example, leaves could serve as food, or grass. One might even chew on wood. When things were truly desperate, even sand and stones could barely stave off hunger.

Li Banfeng held the worm and examined it for a long while. It did not move at all in his hand and had already gone stiff.

”This isn’t a living worm?” he asked.

”It is alive,” Pan Dehai replied. ”It simply hasn’t awakened yet. Once you swallow it, it will awaken. But you are not a Gourmandism Cultivator. It would be best not to swallow it, or you will not be able to endure the hunger. The item has been given to you, and my goodwill has been conveyed. Young man, we shall meet again.”

With that, Pan Dehai left.

Li Banfeng kept the worm on him, and before long, a familiar hunger began to creep in.

Even just carrying it around had such a strong effect? Li Banfeng muttered inwardly. This really was a very peculiar treasure.

Li Banfeng went off to buy more Guokui. He ate half himself and passed the other half to Cedric.

Cedric looked at him for a moment. ”You are leaving, aren’t you?”

Li Banfeng nodded. ”Everything here in the Ridges of Bottomless Stomachs is done.”

Cedric fell silent. After a long while, he suddenly smiled. ”If there comes a day that I cause everyone in this world to die of sores, I hope there will be one person left alive. I hope that person will be you.”

Li Banfeng waved a hand dismissively. ”That day will never come. If you really dared to do something like that, you would die before it even happened.”

As Cedric watched Li Banfeng’s figure disappear into the distance, he murmured softly, ”Maybe that day isn’t so far away.”

Not long after Li Banfeng left, the soft clatter of a rattle reached Cedric’s ears. ”I have top-grade snow moisturizing cream here. Want to buy a bottle?”

Cedric’s face lit up with surprise. ”Can it remove the power that the ancestor left inside my body?”

”No,” the voice replied simply.

The light in Cedric’s eyes dimmed. ”Then what use is this snow moisturizing cream?”

”It can turn Green Beggar’s pus and blood into a level of cultivation.”

Cedric thanked him profusely. ”Tomorrow, I’ll tattoo four words on my chest: I love the Peddler.”

The Peddler was quiet for a moment. ”If you are serious about that, you won’t make it to tomorrow.”

***

”Has the mosquito plague in the Ridges of Bottomless Stomachs really been dealt with?” He Haiqin asked, flipping through the newspaper with a look of disbelief.

He had seen reports like this before and had assumed it was no different from the past, nothing more than a temporary dip in mosquito numbers.

He Haisheng had only just returned from the Ridges of Bottomless Stomachs, and he shook his head. ”Brother, this time it’s different. The mosquitoes there are truly extinct.”

He Haiqin set the newspaper aside at once. ”Quick. Go back to the Ridges of Bottomless Stomachs and restart all the businesses that belong to us.”

He Haisheng hesitated. ”Big Bro, you already sold all of those businesses to Ling Miaoying.”

He Haiqin slapped his forehead. ”That doesn’t count. I sold them at a dirt-cheap price back then. Things aren’t priced the same now.”

He Yuxiu, who had been listening from the side, spoke up eagerly. ”Exactly. It doesn’t count. I will go burn down his studio and take the contracts back.”

He Haisheng hurried to stop them. ”The three Ling brothers aren’t easy to deal with. We didn’t think this through.”

He Haiqin rubbed his forehead, his expression darkening. ”We killed Lu Dongjun, yet the Ling family ended up reaping the rewards. Why does it feel like we were the ones who got played?”

***

He Jiaqing was lying on his hospital bed when a message from Ling Miaoying arrived.

The mosquito plague in the Ridges of Bottomless Stomachs had been brought under control.

”Who did it?” He Jiaqing asked.

”There are no concrete leads yet,” Ling Miaoying replied. ”We have only heard rumors among the common folk. They say a deity called Lord Qi saved the Ridges of Bottomless Stomachs, and a wave of worship toward him has begun.”

”Lord Qi?” He Jiaqing had never heard of such a figure. ”How are they worshipping him? Burning incense? Making offerings?”

”That depends on the ridge,” Ling Miaoying said. ”In the First Ridge, they set up memorial tablets and burn incense. In the Second Ridge, offerings are required, and some places have even erected statues. In the Third Ridge, the incense fires burn fiercely. Some villages are already building temples for Lord Qi.”

”What do the statues look like?”

”All kinds,” Ling Miaoying replied. ”Some look young, some old. Some are handsome, others ugly. Their appearances vary widely.”

”Any common traits?”

”If there is one trait they share, it is this. They all seem to have thick, luxuriant beards.”

Beards? He Jiaqing thought.

After a long moment of thought, He Jiaqing said to Ling Miaoying, ”Investigate the local land deities in the new lands around the Ridges of Bottomless Stomachs. Inform me at once if you find anything unusual.”

Ling Miaoying agreed and then added, ”The He family has come to take the businesses back. They claim the half they sold us before was sold too cheaply and now they want to go back on the deal.”

He Jiaqing gave a cold laugh. ”Do I really need to spell this out? If talking sweetly doesn’t work, use force. If words don’t work, use violence. If doing it openly doesn’t work, do it quietly.”

”There are plenty of ways,” he added. ”After all, that’s your family.”

”I have told you again and again not to fret over matters like this. Didn’t Old Wan already go to Greenwater Bay? If it comes down to it, send him to see my father again. That foreigner is nowhere to be found. If the rashes flare up on my father’s body once more, let’s see how brave he really is.”

Outside the hospital room, someone cast their gaze toward the bed.

He Jiaqing immediately cut off contact with Ling Miaoying and quickly sank into sleep.

The one watching him was Chen Changrui, captain of the Dark Star Bureau’s Public Security Team. At that moment, he was speaking with the attending physician about He Jiaqing’s condition.

”Still no idea when he’ll wake up?”

The attending physician shook his head.

After leaving the hospital, Captain Chen climbed into the car. You Xuehan, code-named Tangyuan, snapped open her notebook at once and waited for instructions.

Captain Chen took out a cigarette and lit it, inhaling slowly. ”We still don’t know when he will wake up. If there’s nothing seriously wrong with him, it would be best to send him back to Puluo Province as soon as possible. With someone like him staying in Yuezhou, no one can sleep peacefully.”

Lightbulb twisted around in his seat to look at Chen Changrui. ”So what kind of place is Puluo Province, anyway?”

Chen Changrui let out a short laugh. ”You want to go see it for yourself? You really should get some proper training.”

***

Dumpling Town. Three Delicacies Village.

Li Banfeng unfolded the map Old Mister Yao had given him and stopped at the entrance to the new land.

With everything in the Ridges of Bottomless Stomachs finally settled, he was ready to head back to Blue Poplar Village.

Just as he lifted his foot to step into the new land, the liquor gourd suddenly spoke up. ”Little Bro, may I discuss something with you?”

”Go ahead,” Li Banfeng said, smiling at the gourd.

”I would like to go back to Medicine King Gully and tell Old Mister Yao what happened in the Ridges of Bottomless Stomachs,” the gourd said earnestly. ”I won’t say anything extra, only about the mosquito plague. Once that’s done, I’ll have given him a proper explanation. After that, I’ll follow you completely.”

Li Banfeng agreed readily. ”Sure. I want to see Old Mister Yao as well.”

The pendulum twitched twice inside his pocket. Li Banfeng reached in and touched it gently, a quiet signal for her not to worry. Inside his head, thoughts bumped and argued with one another.

In the end, his decision was simply the result of all those quarrelling thoughts finally agreeing.

Just as Li Banfeng was about to change direction, he heard the sudden rattle of a drum.

Clatter clack! Clatter clack!

”Foreign soap, snow moisturizing cream. A whole cart of fine goods. Take your pick!”

The Peddler?

Li Banfeng turned around and saw the Peddler trundling toward him, cart creaking cheerfully along the road.

”An old customer,” the Peddler called out. ”Come have a look. I have got plenty of good things today. Prices are flexible. As long as I don’t lose money, I’ll give you a bargain.”

”What kind of good things?” Li Banfeng asked, curiosity piqued as he stepped closer.

”Oh, all sorts,” the Peddler said. He reached into the cart and lifted out an enormous locust head, its antennae twitching faintly.

Li Banfeng stopped short. ”What is this supposed to be used for?”

The Peddler smiled. ”Lots of uses. You can stew it into soup or cook it into porridge. Tastes wonderful and goes well with meals. Twenty bucks just for you. Interested?”

Author’s Note:

PS: For the price of twenty bucks, I don’t think it’s expensive at all. What do you guys think?

1. Guokui (锅盔, literally ”pot helmet”) is a traditional Chinese flatbread from Shaanxi and Sichuan. It has a thick, layered crust that bakes up incredibly crisp on the outside while staying chewy inside. It is often stuffed with spiced minced meat, usually beef or pork, along with scallions and a touch of Sichuan pepper for fragrance and heat. ☜