The Overlord of Puluo

Granny Bitter personally plucked a stalk of bitter greens and held it out to Li Banfeng. ”Eat this.”

At least the leaves were clean, so Li Banfeng ate them.

Granny Bitter watched him for a moment, then gave a small nod of approval. She did not force him to touch the rice again. The next instant, her figure faded from sight.

The Free Meal Hall returned to calm.

Li Banfeng sat beside Miss Chu and asked, ”After this meal, can we go back?”

Miss Chu shook her head. ”Not even close. We only get the free meal once every ten days. And every time, it lasts three days.”

He turned to stare at her.

”Three days of this? And you can endure it?”

”Whether we can endure it or not doesn’t matter,” Miss Chu replied. ”We have to eat it. If we don’t, they won’t give us grain next month.”

”If they won’t give you grain, can’t you grow your own? Do you really have to rely on handouts?”

Miss Chu looked genuinely terrified. ”Master Qi, please stop causing trouble. I am not as tough as you. I am really afraid of being beaten to death!”

Li Banfeng wanted to step outside for a breath of fresh air, then retreat to his Pocket Dwelling and sleep it off. However, the man ladling the rice wouldn’t allow it.

”No one leaves before noon. That’s the rule.”

”What if someone needs to pee?”

”Then hold it!” the man snapped. ”A rule is a rule. Why do you have so many problems?”

Miss Chu hurried forward and grabbed Li Banfeng’s sleeve, silently pleading with him not to argue anymore.

Li Banfeng lowered his gaze and studied her.

The Miss Chu standing here in Bitter Greens Manor was nothing like the Miss Chu of Greenwater City. It was as if they were two different people.

”When did you become so timid?” he asked.

”Isn’t it all for cultivation?” she replied.

”You are the young lady of a wealthy family. Why choose this Daoist path? Why force yourself to suffer like this?”

A trace of gloom flickered across Miss Chu’s face. She turned her head away, then rolled her eyes upward and looked at him sidelong. ”Why are you asking that?”

Li Banfeng reached out and pushed her face aside. ”If I ask you something, answer properly. What’s with that look? It won’t work on me. Save it for someone else.”

Miss Chu lowered her head. When she spoke again, her voice was barely louder than a breath.

”I originally planned to become a Literary Cultivator. The year my father died, I had not started cultivating yet. After he passed, my mother passed away as well.

”The clan fought over the position of family head. It turned into a battle to the death. My two younger brothers... both died. Killed by their own elder brother.

”What does blood of the same flesh even mean? Even sworn enemies aren’t always that ruthless. I was harder to kill, so I survived. That’s all. In this world, there are more people hoping I die than hoping I live.

”Isn’t a person born into this world to suffer? Live a lifetime, suffer a lifetime. Cultivate within suffering. Isn’t that the strongest Daoist path? Tell me, isn’t that reason enough?”

”What kind of logic is that?”

”That is the logic,” Miss Chu insisted stubbornly. ”When there’s no one left in this world who cares whether you live or die, you will understand.”

Li Banfeng laughed. For most of the past twenty-odd years of his life, no one had cared about him.

”If others don’t care about you, does that mean you don’t care about yourself either?”

Miss Chu gave a faint, bitter smile. ”What difference does it make if I do?”

”It makes a difference,” Li Banfeng said firmly. ”It’s the only thing that truly matters.”

They were still in the middle of their quiet argument when three more people stepped into the Free Meal Hall.

These three arrived late? Li Banfeng thought.

”Will there still be food for them?”

Miss Chu nodded. ”Yes. They are here to enter this Daoist path. The Free Meal Hall always saves a little for newcomers.”

A man and a woman walked in first. A child followed close behind, clutching the woman’s hand.

A family? Li Banfeng thought. A whole family planning to become Ascetic Cultivators?

The man ladling rice handed them three bowls. Each one was only half full, and there wasn’t a single strand of bitter greens inside.

The man was clearly starving. He lowered his head and swallowed the half bowl of rice and sand in just a few hurried mouthfuls, barely chewing before forcing it down.

The woman looked at the child. Worrying that he wouldn’t have enough to eat, she gave some of her rice to him. There was too much sand in the child’s rice and the child could not swallow it.

The woman comforted him softly. ”Chew slowly. Eat slowly. Don’t waste it.”

The man grew impatient. He strode forward and yanked the bowl from the child’s hands. ”If you don’t want to eat, then don’t eat! If you can’t endure this little bit of hardship, how can you be an Ascetic Cultivator?”

The woman stood off to the side, tears pooling in her eyes. She wanted to step in, to say something, but she didn’t dare.

Miss Chu’s jaw tightened. She hated people like this the most. She was just about to snatch the bowl back for the child when she realized Li Banfeng was gone.

The man lifted his chopsticks and was about to continue eating when Li Banfeng stepped forward and kicked him straight in the face.

The man crashed flat onto his back. The bowl slipped from his hand and shattered beside him, rice and sand scattering across the floor.

Clutching his face, he glared up at Li Banfeng. ”What right do you have to hit me?”

Li Banfeng looked at him coldly. ”If you can’t take a beating, then get lost. If you can’t endure this little bit of hardship, how can you be an Ascetic Cultivator?”

Tears welled in the man’s eyes. He turned toward the rice-ladling man and shouted, ”He hit me. Aren’t you going to do anything?”

The rice-ladling man tightened his grip on the scoop. ”What exactly are you trying to do?”

Li Banfeng looked back at the rice-ladling man and said, ”You are the one who mixed sand into the rice, aren’t you?”

”I am!” the man shot back without hesitation. ”That’s the rule of Bitter Greens Manor. We are meant to taste our hardships!”

Li Banfeng gave a nod. ”Good. Then I’ll let you taste a little more hardship.”

As soon as the words left his mouth, Li Banfeng flashed forward and punched the rice-ladling man’s stomach.

The man’s jaw tightened until the muscles stood out along his cheeks. His eyes bulged, round and furious, as he fixed Li Banfeng with a glare so fierce it seemed he meant to scorch a hole straight through him by will alone.

Miss Chu shouted out loud, ”Becareful! He’s about to activate Shared Suffering!

Shared Suffering was a level-two ability of the Ascetic Cultivator. The man meant to split the pain evenly and force Li Banfeng to bear half of it.

Li Banfeng’s figure suddenly vanished. He activated Traceless Quick Steps once again.

The man’s eyes darted around wildly. He saw nothing. He could not locate Li Banfeng at all.

Before he could react, Li Banfeng appeared behind him and drove another punch into his back. The force sent him stumbling forward, crashing hard onto the ground.

The rice-ladling man was a level-three Ascetic Cultivator. In theory, he should have been able to hold his ground for at least a short while against a fellow level-three Wanderlust Cultivator.

However, Li Banfeng was also a level-four Homebound Cultivator. With the ability Overlooked by All, he erased his presence entirely before he struck. There was no warning, no flicker of intent, not even the faint shift of air that preceded a blow.

The man never saw it coming. He had no chance to fight back.

This was the strength of someone cultivating two paths. Li Banfeng easily overpowered the level-three Ascetic Cultivator. However, Li Banfeng had no intention of killing. He had not forgotten Old Teapot’s warning.

The man lay sprawled on the floor, clutching his stomach and howling loud enough to rattle the rafters.

”He’s broken the rules!” he wailed, voice wobbling with pain and outrage. ”He can’t stay here at the manor anymore!”

Li Banfeng stepped forward and kicked him once more. ”You think I want to stay here?”

Several Ascetic Cultivators rushed forward and tried to surround Li Banfeng.

He stomped down hard. The stone beneath his foot shattered, and a thick cloud of dust burst into the air. While their vision was obscured, he moved. Fists and kicks lashed out in quick succession. One after another, the Ascetic Cultivators were knocked off their feet and sent crashing to the ground.

More of them charged in without hesitation.

Li Banfeng pulled out his feather duster. What looked like a harmless household item swept through the air with startling force. He struck them one by one, each blow precise and unhesitating, sending them stumbling back or sprawling onto the floor.

In moments, the entire Free Meal Hall descended into chaos.

Miss Chu stared in shock, utterly speechless.

She had watched him face Granny Bitter only moments ago, nearly beaten to death in the name of “tempering.” She would never have imagined that the very same man would turn around and overturn the entire Free Meal Hall without a shred of hesitation.

Which hospital did Li Banfeng get his brain checked? And which doctor dare say that he’s not mentally insane? Is he not scared of meeting a high-level Ascetic Cultivator? Miss Chu muttered inwardly.

Aside from Granny Bitter, were there even any truly high-level cultivators in Bitter Greens Manor? By Li Banfeng’s estimation, not a single Ascetic Cultivator present had surpassed level four.

Bitter Greens Manor was indeed a very good cultivating place for Ascetic Cultivators. However, no one was born to be humiliated and abused. Once a cultivator reached level four or higher, they would surely have other paths and methods available to them. There was no reason to remain here, clinging to suffering as though it were the only way forward.

Li Banfeng had been confident he could deal with anyone below level four. However, there were too many of them right now and he was starting to struggle.

After fighting all these people for some time, Li Banfeng suddenly shouted, ”If you want to fight me, then stay! If you don’t, get out! And if you’re too slow, don’t blame me later!”

”Run!” Miss Chu cried. She grabbed the newly arrived woman by the arm. The woman scooped up the child, and the three of them bolted toward the exit.

It was a clever move. Once someone took the lead, those who had already lost the will to fight followed without hesitation. The beaten man hurried out as well. Before long, more than half the people had fled.

In a matter of moments, more than half the hall had emptied. Only a small group remained, stubbornly pressing forward, still trying to subdue Li Banfeng.

Li Banfeng abruptly leaped upward and landed lightly on one of the roof beams. From within his robes, he drew out the teapot.

Since they stubbornly refused to leave, then they could very well enjoy a bath right here in the Free Meal Hall.

Li Banfeng sat on the roof beam and stroked the teapot. The teapot gave a long, unhappy sigh. ”I did say I didn’t want to come here. Yet here we are, and there’s still a fight. I told you clearly, you cannot kill anyone. So how do you intend to handle this?”

”Just teach them a lesson,” Li Banfeng said.

The teapot understood. At once, a surge of steaming tea poured out, far more than any ordinary teapot could possibly hold. It spread swiftly across the floor, swallowing ankles, then knees, then waists.

The teawater rose higher along the edges and formed smooth walls on all sides. There was no gap, no door, and no way out.

The water was hot, but not deadly. It would not boil them alive, but blisters were inevitable.

They tried to lock their gaze onto Li Banfeng and split the pain with him, but he moved swiftly along the rafters, slipping from beam to beam.

Each time their eyes found him, he was already somewhere else. They could not fix on him long enough to trigger Shared Suffering.

Ascetic Cultivators might pride themselves on enduring hardship, but pain was still pain. Standing waist-deep in scalding tea, they hissed and flinched, leaping and scrambling as if the floor itself had turned hostile.

A few gritted their teeth and attempted to climb the rafters to escape the rising heat. Each time, Li Banfeng kicked them without hesitation. A sharp kick sent one tumbling back into the tea.

The rice-ladling man screamed hoarsely, ”Just wait until Granny Bitter arrives. She will take your life!”

Li Banfeng laughed. ”Don’t you all claim you want to suffer? I am only giving you more hardship. I am helping your cultivation. Granny Bitter won’t blame me.”

It was a joke, of course. Li Banfeng knew perfectly well he was stirring up trouble. Still, he had not killed anyone. Granny Bitter would not demand his life for this. At worst, she would expel him from Bitter Greens Manor, and that was exactly what he wanted.

He did not care where he was sent, so long as it was not here. However, after waiting for quite a while, Granny Bitter did not intervene. She stood outside the Free Meal Hall and did not even step through the door.

”That old teapot is still in this world,” she said with a faint laugh. ”What he says is not wrong. This does help their cultivation.”

With that, Granny Bitter left.

After being scalded for more than two hours, all the Ascetic Cultivators finally calmed down. Seeing that they had stopped fighting, Li Banfeng put the teapot away and dropped lightly from the rafters.

He walked up to the rice-ladling man and ordered, ”Go make lunch. And don’t mix sand into it again. If I bite into even a single grain, I’ll beat you once.”

The man did not dare utter a word. His skin was mottled with blisters, and his hands trembled as he dragged himself toward the kitchen.

Li Banfeng then stepped outside. He glanced over at the family of three that was going to become Ascetic Cultivators and asked, ”Why do you want to join this cultivation path?”

The man lowered his head and said nothing.

The woman bit her lip before speaking. ”My child and I truly have nothing left to eat. We heard that if we become Ascetic Cultivators, we will get food at the Bitter Greens Manor. At least here... we can survive.”

Li Banfeng glanced at the man. ”Was this your idea?”

”It wasn’t me!” the man said at once, shaking his head repeatedly. ”I didn’t even know them before today. We just happened to be walking the same road.”

Li Banfeng paused. So he had misunderstood. They were not a family after all.

”You are not even family, yet you grabbed their food and gobbled it down without a second thought,” Li Banfeng said coldly. ”You truly are well suited for suffering. You stay.”

”I am not staying!” the man cried, scrambling to his feet. ”I don’t want to cultivate this Daoist Path anymore!”

He turned and tried to bolt.

”And you think that’s up to you?” Li Banfeng replied.

Li Banfeng kicked the man back to the ground. Then he took out two silver dollars and pressed them into the woman’s hands.

”Once you join this Daoist path, all that’s left is suffering,” he said. ”Not only will you suffer, your child won’t have a future either. Go speak properly with Granny Bitter and see if she’s willing to let you leave. You haven’t entered the Daoist path yet. She won’t force you to stay.

”And once you leave, don’t ever come back. No matter how hard life gets, you must live it striving for comfort, not suffering.”

No matter how hard life became, one had to live it aiming for comfort.

Miss Chu stood there, looking at him in silence for a long while.

Li Banfeng straightened his clothes, lowered the brim of his hat, and walked away without another word.

He needed to go back inside his Pocket Dwelling and take a hot bath.

***

Late that night, the rice-ladling man returned with a group of Ascetic Cultivators. They went straight to Miss Chu’s quarters.

”The bearded man from earlier,” the rice-ladling man said. ”Did he come with you?”

Miss Chu nodded. ”Yes. What about it?”

”Who is he?”

She shook her head calmly. ”I don’t know. We met on the way here.”

The man’s cheek twitched. HHe leaned closer and lowered his voice. ”And who are you?”

”A person who is here to suffer.”

It was the standard reply in Bitter Greens Manor. Miss Chu had never revealed her true identity, and by the manor’s rules, no one was allowed to pry into another’s past.

The rice-ladling man did not question her further. If he continued asking, he would be breaking the rules.

”I came tonight because I need your help,” he said instead. ”Go find that bearded man for us. We have something to discuss with him.”

Miss Chu lowered her head slightly, then lifted her eyes and swept her gaze across the group. ”Planning to play dirty?” she said coldly. ”Look at you lot. Pathetic.”

The man’s jaw tightened. ”It’s a simple request. Are you helping or not?”

”No.” Miss Chu’s expression turned vicious and contorted. ”And what exactly can you do about it?”

The man instinctively took half a step back. There was something in her expression that scared him.

He turned to the others. ”Do it.”

Miss Chu’s hand flicked. A dagger slipped from her sleeve into her palm, and she met them head-on.

***

Late that night, Miss Chu was beaten until she was barely conscious and then strung up from a wooden post outside the Free Meal Hall.

The rice-ladling man stood below her and looked up. ”I’ll ask you one last time. Who is that bearded man?”

Miss Chu lifted her head with effort and a faint smile curved her lips.

”I won’t tell you,” she said, glancing at the onlookers. ”Go on. Kill me if you dare.”

The Miss Chu in a frenzy was still the same Miss Chu from Greenwater City. One look at her was enough to make the crowd shudder.

One of the female Ascetic Cultivators faltered. Fear crept into her voice as she leaned closer and whispered, ”If we do this, won’t Granny Bitter be angered?”

”Relax. I know where the line is,” the rice-ladling man said with confidence. ”Granny Bitter never interferes in matters of suffering. That bearded man broke the rules first. She won’t protect him, and she certainly won’t protect me.”

As he spoke, he reached for a red-hot iron rod and continued, ”This is for unscrewing the door. You know what the door is, right? Let me ask you one last time. Who is that bearded man? He is not an Ascetic Cultivator at all so why did he come to Bitter Greens Manor?”

Author’s Note

PS: What does he mean by door?