The Overlord of Puluo

Chapter 316: The Mountain-Uprooting Lord’s Home

If Li Banfeng wanted to enter the Mountain-Uprooting Lord’s home without anyone noticing, Path of Unhindered Steps was his best option.

The problem was that Li Banfeng’s own Path of Unhindered Steps probably would not be enough. He would have to borrow Hong Ying’s ability through Deep Court Domain.

Hong Ying could also be counted as one of his dwelling spirits, so borrowing her ability should not be difficult. There was only one prerequisite. Hong Ying had to be willing.

Hong Ying had changed quite a lot recently, but Li Banfeng had barely paid her any attention. If he suddenly acted warm and attentive now that he needed a favor, he would seem very insincere. At the very least, he would have to bring Hong Ying a gift first.

She has hair now, doesn’t she? Should I bring her a hair tie? No, no. That is too small. It doesn’t look sincere enough. Rouge, then? That doesn’t feel like much either.

Maybe a couple pieces of jewelry? Forget it. Where am I supposed to buy jewelry in these wild mountains?

Li Banfeng went to Meng Yuchun hoping to buy a proper little gift, something shiny and pretty enough to please Hong Ying. To his great disappointment, Meng Yuchun did not care for jewelry at all. Worse still, she did not even use rouge.

What should I do now?

After thinking for a long time, Li Banfeng finally thought of the perfect gift.

He knew exactly what Hong Ying liked. He had spent all that time racking his brain over a gift when the perfect one had been right within reach all along. After all, what could be more precious than his own sincerity?

Li Banfeng returned to the Pocket Dwelling and sat down beside Hong Ying. Feeling awkward and a little nervous, he said, ”Miss Hong, there’s something I need to discuss with you.”

Hong Ying had already sensed Li Banfeng’s return, so she sat primly to one side, looking almost shy as she ate the Mountain-Uprooting Lord’s flesh and blood.

When Li Banfeng took the initiative to speak to her, Hong Ying gently wiped the blood from the corner of her mouth with a silk handkerchief. Then, with the grace of a well-bred young lady, she said softly, ”Why are you calling me Miss Hong? That makes us sound so distant.”

Li Banfeng softened his voice until it sounded almost sweet. ”Ying, I want to borrow your ability.”

Hong Ying turned her face away and said coyly, ”You think you can borrow it just because you ask?”

Li Banfeng took Hong Ying’s hand and said with deep affection, ”Ying, I know how you feel. I won’t let you down.”

”Darling Qi, do you mean that?” Hong Ying also held Li Banfeng’s hand.

”With all my heart!” Li Banfeng slipped ten silver dollars into her hand. ”Sincerity is simply the sort of person I am. I don’t waste my time on false affection.”

Hong Ying clenched the silver dollars, and her right hand trembled for a moment. ”You are giving me silver coins... and only ten?”

Li Banfeng gave her another ten. ”There is more if that’s not enough!”

Hong Ying forced down her anger. First, she counted the silver dollars. Only after making sure none were missing did she put them away.

”What ability do you want to borrow?”

”Path of Unhindered Steps.”

”What are you borrowing it for?”

”To sneak into the Mountain-Uprooting Lord’s home and find her contract!”

”Twenty silver dollars is nowhere near enough.”

”Then name your price!”

Hong Ying thought it over for a moment. Then, all at once, she smiled. ”You oil that wicked woman every few days, don’t you? I want to know exactly how you oil her.”

”Why are you asking about that?”

”I don’t just want to ask. I want to try it too.”

Li Banfeng looked at Hong Ying and asked very seriously, ”Do you have gears?”

Hong Ying answered, ”No.”

”Do you have chains?”

”No.”

”Do you have bearings?”

”No...”

”Then what exactly am I supposed to oil?”

Hong Ying did not know how to answer.

Li Banfeng stuffed another ten silver dollars into Hong Ying’s hand. ”Then it’s settled.”

”All right,” Hong Ying agreed in a daze.

Li Banfeng used Deep Court Domain to form a contract with Hong Ying, then left the Pocket Dwelling.

Hong Ying tidied her hair and returned to the Mountain-Uprooting Lord’s flesh and blood. She took two bites, chewed for a moment, and suddenly found that she did not want to eat anymore.

”What is the point of eating this?” Hong Ying muttered to herself. ”Even if I grow them back, no one cares.”

The Gramophone had been watching from the side, and at this, she finally burst out laughing. ”Heyaaaa~ Wretched woman, didn’t he give you thirty silver dollars? Out there, they only charge three silver dollars. You are worth quite a bit.”

”What do you mean by three silver dollars?”

”Changsan Literary House,” the Gramophone said. ”You don’t know?”

Hong Ying really did not know, and the Gramophone had no intention of explaining it to her. So Hong Ying reached out and grabbed the Tang Saber. ”What is Changsan Literary House?”

The Tang saber shuddered in her grip. ”I am an upright and honorable person. I have never been to such a place.”

Hong Ying threw the Tang Saber aside and let out a sigh.

The moment the other enchanted artifacts saw that she had stopped eating, they all crept over at once and began sharing the Mountain-Uprooting Lord’s flesh and blood.

The Gramophone watched her sulk for a while, then finally offered a rare word of advice. ”Wretched woman, being able to regain your human body is a fateful blessing. Don’t look down on yourself just because you’re angry for the moment.”

”Who am I angry with?” Hong Ying snorted. ”I just happen to like that madman. Is that not allowed?”

”What exactly do you like about him?” the Gramophone asked. ”You are only doing this to spite me. You still haven’t figured out that madman’s temper, so don’t waste your effort.”

As the two of them spoke, the enchanted artifacts had already stuffed themselves to the point where they could not eat another bite. Unfortunately, the room was still a complete and utter mess.

”Just look at the state of this place. Hong Ying, go bring that wench Crimson Lotus here and have her clean it up.”

Hong Ying spat at the Gramophone. Yet perhaps because she had grown used to helping her in the past, she still obeyed in the end and went to the seventh room to fetch Crimson Lotus.

Crimson Lotus took one look at the mangled scraps scattered across the floor, then turned to the Gramophone. ”Wicked woman, are you treating me like a slop bucket?”

”Heyaaa~ Little Sister, why would you say that? Whose slop bucket can eat this many good ingredients?”

The Crimson Lotus swallowed her anger and cleaned up every last scrap of flesh and blood from the floor.

***

Li Banfeng went back to the cliffside and went straight to Meng Yuchun. ”What does the contract look like?”

Meng Yuchun picked up a branch and drew a picture on the ground.

Homebound Cultivators were generally quite good at drawing. After all, drawing was part of the foundation for the Golden House of Hidden Beauty ability.

Li Banfeng studied the picture for a while, but he did not see anything that looked like a scroll. All he saw was a box, and inside the box was something that looked very much like a seal.

”This is the contract?”

Meng Yuchun pointed at the drawing. ”This isn’t the contract. It’s the land deity seal and its seal box. The seal box is entirely yellow, with a silvery-white ring carved into the lid. As long as you find that box, you will find the land deity seal.

”The contract is buried beneath the land deity seal. You should find them after digging half a foot down at most.”

Li Banfeng did not understand. ”Why is that?”

Meng Yuchun explained, ”The contract can gather cultivation from the territory, but they cannot store it. Once they are buried, they cannot be dug up again. Otherwise, the land deity will lose their standing, and their cultivation will fall from the Cloudborne Layer to the Terranean Layer. That is why you definitely won’t find the contracts above ground.

”The land deity seal is different. It can store cultivation, so it usually sits above the contract and draws out the cultivation they gather before distributing it to the living spirits within the territory. However, the cultivation stored in the land deity seal dissipates very easily, so it must be kept inside a seal box.

”The contract, the land deity seal, and the seal box were all bestowed by the Inner Provinces. Local land deities cannot replicate any of them, not even those who are Artificer Cultivators. That is why as long as you find the seal box, you will definitely find the contracts.”

Once Li Banfeng understood the details, he carefully studied the shapes of the land deity seal and the seal box again. Then, after sending everyone else away, he borrowed Hong Ying’s strength, used the technique Grandpa Train had taught him, and plunged headfirst into the cliff.

Hong Ying was far stronger than Li Banfeng. By borrowing her strength, he could travel much farther with Path of Unhindered Steps, and he could even change direction underground.

Li Banfeng traveled more than one kilometer through the rock before he finally saw the Mountain-Uprooting Lord’s home.

The Mountain-Uprooting Lord’s home was a three-courtyard estate. When he struck a match, he saw two mountain wolves guarding the entrance.

”Someone’s here.”

”It’s not Master. The footsteps are wrong, and the scent is wrong too.”

”What scent do you smell?”

”Smoke and fire.”

”There seems to be a smell of blood too,” the other mountain wolf added after sniffing carefully. ”Quite a lot of blood, too.”

The two mountain wolves could speak human language, but they could only recognize visitors by sound and scent.

Li Banfeng took a closer look, and only then did he notice something rather unpleasant.

The two mountain wolves had no eyes. Someone had dug them clean out, leaving four pitch-black holes in their faces.

”Who are you? How did you get in here?” one of the mountain wolves snarled at Li Banfeng.

Li Banfeng looked at the two of them. ”Did that old hag dig out your eyes?”

”What does that have to do with you?” the other wolf shouted. ”Being able to serve our master as slaves is our blessing!”

Li Banfeng approached the two mountain wolves step by step and said calmly, ”The Mountain-Uprooting Lord is dead. You need a new master.”

”Stop wasting your breath!” one mountain wolf roared. ”A loyal subject does not serve two masters. As long as we still have a breath left in us, you can forget about entering this gate!”

Li Banfeng stared at the mountain wolf, and his figure suddenly vanished.

This should not have mattered much to the mountain wolf, since it had no eyes to begin with. It tried to track Li Banfeng by sound, but there was no sound to track. It sniffed the air, but there was nothing useful there either.

The other mountain wolf understood what had happened only when a warm, sticky splash of blood struck its face.

The mountain wolf guarding the gate with it had exploded, and flesh and blood sprayed all over its face.

Li Banfeng crouched down and patted the surviving wolf on the head. ”If you don’t want to change masters, you can go join the Mountain-Uprooting Lord.”

The mountain wolf gritted its fangs. ”I’m not the kind of wolf with no backbone!”

Li Banfeng smiled. ”Then take out your backbone and let me have a look?”

”You can see it without me taking it out!”

The mountain wolf straightened its spine at once, strode into the estate, and shouted at the top of its lungs, ”We have a new master! Everyone, stand aside! You there, the one sweeping, are you blind? Master is here, and you’re still blocking the way!”

The one sweeping was a bunny, and she really was blind. The Mountain-Uprooting Lord had gouged out her eyes too. Hearing the wolf shout, she froze in place, unsure where to go.

The mountain wolf turned back to Li Banfeng. ”Master, this way, please.”

Is it really reliable to have a blind wolf lead the way? Li Banfeng thought.

The mountain wolf sounded very confident. ”Master, aren’t you looking for the contract? None of the others can help you, but I know where the contracts are!”

”How do you know?”

”My ears are sharp,” the mountain wolf said. ”I can’t see, but I can hear very clearly.”

Could this wolf really know where the contracts were hidden just by listening? This mountain wolf really did know.

The mountain wolf led Li Banfeng to a cellar entrance in the rear courtyard. ”Master, go inside and take a look. As long as you know what the contract looks like, you will definitely be able to find them.”

Li Banfeng frowned. ”How do you know the contracts are under the cellar?”

”Every year in the twelfth lunar month, the Mountain-Uprooting Lord distributes cultivation to the living spirits in her territory. We get a little share too. Every time she does it, she comes into this cellar. I have heard it clearly year after year. I definitely can’t be wrong.”

Li Banfeng looked at the cellar entrance. The stone door was shut tight. There was no lock, no handle, and no obvious way to open it. In that case, he would not bother opening it at all.

He passed straight through the stone door and went down the stairs with a match in hand. The cellar was large and filled with miscellaneous items, including cloth, furs, many medicinal herbs, cabinets, chests, and some broken furniture.

It did not look like a place where the contracts would be hidden.

Li Banfeng swept his gaze over the clutter and soon noticed something strange. Among the scattered objects stood a stone lion taller than a person.

Why would there be a stone lion in a cellar? Is there something beneath its feet?

Li Banfeng tried to move the stone lion. As a level-six Wanderlust Cultivator and Homebound Cultivator, he was far stronger than an ordinary person, but he had no idea what kind of stone the lion was made from. After three attempts, it still did not budge.

That made sense. The Mountain-Uprooting Lord was a Strength Cultivator, so anything she had used to guard the entrance would never be easy for Li Banfeng to move. The thing he was looking for was likely right beneath the stone lion’s feet.

Should I dig straight down until I get beneath the stone lion? Li Banfeng wondered.

Li Banfeng tapped the ground. The stone slabs were as hard as steel.

It wouldn’t be realistic for me to dig straight down! Let me drill!

Li Banfeng used Path of Unhindered Steps again. He sank into the ground beside the stone lion’s feet, then quickly turned toward the lion.

With that turn, he broke through the wall and entered another room. When he struck another match, he finally saw the layout clearly.

There was another small cellar beneath the first one. Its entrance was set into the ceiling, directly under the stone lion. With that immovable lion blocking the way, no ordinary person could have gotten inside.

At the center of the small cellar sat a small yellow wooden box, roughly a third of a meter long and half as wide and tall. A silvery-white ring had been carved into its surface.

Author’s Note:

PS. The seal box has been found!