The Overlord of Puluo

Ma Wu had only just returned from Blackstone Slope and barely managed to sleep for an hour when Zhen Jincheng burst in.

”Master Wu, the warehouses are on fire!”

Ma Wu dragged himself out of bed and threw on his clothes with a weary sigh. ”Those useless warehouses again. I have wanted to tear them down for ages, but I never got around to it. Wonderful. Now they have finally found a way to cause trouble.”

Huo Ling rubbed her sleepy eyes. ”It’s only a fire. What’s there to be afraid of? I will help you put it out.”

”Don’t go. You will only make a bigger mess!”

Ma Wu hurried to the warehouses and started shouting orders for everyone to fight the fire.

The warehouses were stacked with old oilcloth, and the fire clung to it like it had found its favorite meal. No matter how hard everyone fought, the flames kept spreading, throwing the whole place into chaos.

Ma Wu was deeply anxious, afraid the flames would spread to Freewind Wharf, when he suddenly saw a middle-aged man walk up beside him and say, ”Tell Li Qi to meet me at the Tower of Happy Returns at seven tomorrow night. If he’s late, you will lose your life.”

”Who are you?” Ma Wu froze. When he turned to look again, the middle-aged man had already vanished.

What does he mean by that?

The fire kept growing, and Ma Wu had no attention to spare for that middle-aged man. He could only keep barking orders and fighting the flames.

By dawn, the fire was finally out, but half the warehouses had burned to the ground. Ma Wu was so exhausted that the moment he reached his bed, he collapsed onto it and fell asleep.

Once Ma Wu lay down, he could not get back up.

First came the chills. He curled into himself, shivering under the covers. Then the fever hit, and his whole body burned so fiercely that even Huo Ling found him scalding to the touch.

”He’s fallen ill from exhaustion. Hurry, call a physician!”

***

Li Banfeng stayed hidden in the Pocket Dwelling until noon.

Tu Yinghong had come prepared to fight him to the death this time.

Does she really care that much about Ling Miaoying, or is there another reason behind it? Li Banfeng thought.

He had won this battle only because he had prepared for it so thoroughly.

Yet after winning, Li Banfeng felt a sense of danger again.

What might be the reason this time? It means Tu Yinghong brought a helper. But if she has a helper, why did that person not act earlier? Is this helper going to do something to Freewind Wharf?

Zuo Wugang, Huo Ling, and plenty of powerful individuals were guarding Freewind Wharf, but Li Banfeng still could not set his mind at ease. After grabbing a quick bite, he hurried back.

The moment he entered, he saw Zuo Wugang anxiously calling people over.

”What happened?”

Zuo Wugang rushed over, his face all twisted with panic. ”Master Qi, you are finally back! Master Wu is in a terrible state!”

”What do you mean by terrible?”

”The warehouses caught fire last night, and Master Wu led us all in putting it out. He must have worn himself out completely. The moment he lay down, he couldn’t get up again!”

Li Banfeng hurried to see Ma Wu.

Ma Wu looked dreadful, but the moment he saw Li Banfeng, his eyes cleared a little. Then he suddenly remembered what the middle-aged man had told him the night before: Tell Li Qi to meet me at the Tower of Happy Returns at seven tomorrow night. If he’s late, you will lose your life.

”Old Qi.” Ma Wu gripped Li Banfeng’s arm tightly. ”I...I...last night...”

After panting for a long while, Ma Wu did not continue. He could not say it.

That person wants Old Qi to go to the Tower of Happy Returns. There must be an ambush waiting there. If Old Qi went, something terrible would happen to him, Ma Wu muttered inwardly.

Ma Wu could not let him go. That would be no different from sending him to his death.

Ma Wu shook his head and closed his eyes.

Li Banfeng touched Ma Wu’s forehead, then turned back and shouted at everyone, ”Where’s the physician? Go call a physician!”

Zuo Wugang said, ”We have already called more than a dozen doctors to examine him. It is no use!”

”Then call a famous physician! Call the best one you can find!”

Zuo Wugang said nothing. The physicians he had brought in were already famous.

”Keep looking. Hurry up and call every physician in the city!”

Cao Zhigang jogged into the bedroom. ”Master Qi, there is a newly opened hospital in the city. I heard they are very capable and specialize in difficult and unusual illnesses.”

”Then why are you still standing here? Go get them!”

”I went there, but that hospital puts on too many airs. They do not make house calls!”

Zuo Wugang said, ”Prepare a carriage. We will take Master Wu there.”

”Why the fuck are you still preparing a carriage?”

Li Banfeng asked for the address, hoisted Ma Wu onto his back, and rushed out of Freewind Wharf.

On the way, Ma Wu panted, ”Old Qi, I should have died long ago. I should have died back in Blue Poplar Village. I only lived this long because of you. I have already gotten more than enough.”

”What do you mean by more than enough? We are only just getting started.”

”Old Qi, put me down. This illness might be contagious.”

”Stop fucking talking nonsense. Close your eyes and rest for a while.”

”Old Qi, I am leaving everything we own to you. You cannot abandon it. This is the fruit of our labor...”

”We are at the hospital. We are almost there!”

Li Banfeng rushed into the hospital. The hospital had a very unusual name. It was called Beyond Borders.

The hospital was not a large place, but it was packed with patients. Li Banfeng carried Ma Wu on his back and rushed straight toward the wards.

Before he could get far, the nurse on duty stepped out and blocked his way. ”What are you doing? Register first if you want treatment!”

”This is an emergency.”

”Even if it’s an emergency, you still need to register.”

”Please treat him first. I will go register!”

The nurse glanced at Ma Wu and asked, ”Is this man even alive? I do not think there is any point registering him.”

Li Banfeng raised his head and looked at her. ”What did you just say?”

The nurse trembled in fear. Just then, a man came over from behind her, and she darted behind him at once. ”Director, this man is here to cause trouble!”

The man she called Director wore a white cap and a mask, showing only a pair of eyes.

Li Banfeng said, ”You are the director? Treat him first. I will go register right now.”

”Li Qi?” The director pulled down his mask.

Li Banfeng froze. He knew this man.

”Cedric? You are the director here?”

It was Cedric, the foreigner and Disease Cultivator.

Since they parted at the Ridges of Bottomless Stomachs, they had not seen each other again.

Cedric nodded. ”This is my hospital. I have placed my entire career in Puluo Province. I love Puluo Province.”

Whether Cedric truly loved Puluo Province or not, Li Banfeng did not know.

A Disease Cultivator opening a hospital was somewhat absurd.

Could this hospital really work?

Cedric looked at Ma Wu and ordered the nurse to prepare the emergency room at once.

Li Banfeng brought Ma Wu into the emergency room, and Cedric said, ”Please wait outside.”

Li Banfeng quickly left the treatment room. The nurse was about to help Cedric prepare the instruments when Cedric said, ”You go out too.”

”Me?”

”Out!”

The nurse lowered her head and left the emergency room, doing her best to avoid Li Banfeng as she slipped miserably through the corridor.

Only Ma Wu and Cedric remained in the emergency room.

Cedric stared at Ma Wu for a few moments. Then he gave a slow nod and said, ”The scent of someone from the same path really is different.”

***

Half an hour later, Cedric came out of the emergency room and gave Li Banfeng a nod.

Li Banfeng went in and found Ma Wu lying peacefully on the bed. The fever had broken, his breathing had steadied, and he had fallen into a deep sleep.

Cedric said, ”Let your friend rest here for a while. He should be able to leave the hospital tomorrow.”

Li Banfeng never let others do things for him for nothing. ”What kind of payment should I give you?”

Cedric smiled. ”On professional grounds, this is a hospital, and treating patients is my duty. On personal grounds, you helped me at the Ridges of Bottomless Stomachs, so it is only right that I return the favor.”

Cedric had Ma Wu sent to a ward, and Li Banfeng stayed by his bedside to look after him.

Who did this to Ma Wu? Judging from the timing, it had to be connected to Tu Yinghong.

Whoever did this could make Ma Wu fall ill, and no one else could cure him. Cedric was the only one who could treat him. That meant the culprit was probably a Disease Cultivator too.

***

Wan Jinxian had booked out the entire Tower of Happy Returns and was waiting for Li Qi to walk right into his trap.

By seven that evening, Li Qi still had not shown up, so Wan Jinxian contacted his spy at Freewind Wharf.

”He took Ma Wu to the hospital.”

What use would that be? Wan Jinxian thought. What hospital could possibly cure him?

Wan Jinxian waited another half hour, but Li Qi still did not show up.

He felt suspicious and decided to visit the hospital.

The hospital was called Beyond Borders, a place Wan Jinxian had really never heard of before.

He entered the lobby and went straight to the nurse on duty. ”Which ward is Ma Junyang in?”

The nurse looked at Wan Jinxian and asked, ”Why are you looking for Ma Junyang? It is not visiting hours now.”

Wan Jinxian said with a gentle expression, ”I am his uncle. I heard my nephew fell ill, so I came all this way. Just let me take a look from outside the door.”

”Do you not understand the words that are coming out of my mouth?” the nurse snapped. ”Rules are rules. Why do you have so much to say? Leave...”

Before she could finish, she clutched at her chest. A suffocating pressure seized her throat, and she suddenly could not breathe.

Wan Jinxian smiled and asked again, ”I will ask you one more time. Which ward is Ma Junyang in?”

Tears welled up in the nurse’s eyes. She trembled as she pointed toward Ward Six and silently begged him to spare her.

”Young lady, in your next life, learn how to speak properly.”

The nurse clutched her throat. A few seconds later, her struggling stopped, and so did her breathing.

Wan Jinxian walked into the corridor and headed toward Ward Six.

The Threaded Earring heard the movement, and Li Banfeng prepared himself for a fight.

Wan Jinxian had only taken two steps when a voice suddenly called out from behind him.

”Why are you looking for Ma Junyang?”

He turned and found a blond, blue-eyed man standing in the corridor.

A foreigner? Wan Jinxian thought and said, ”I came to visit my nephew.”

”Visiting hours are over. Come back tomorrow.”

Wan Jinxian fell silent for a moment. He then smiled. ”Why make this difficult? Today is a good day. I didn’t want to kill too many people.”

Cedric walked up to Wan Jinxian and asked very seriously, ”What do you mean by that?”

The corner of Wan Jinxian’s eye twitched, and Cedric suddenly felt an itch in his nose. He pulled down his mask and sniffled, but the sneeze was already rising. No matter how hard he tried, he could not hold it back.

Wan Jinxian’s smile deepened. ”It’s just a sneeze. No need to fight it. You will feel much better once you let it out.”

Cedric inhaled sharply, and Wan Jinxian waited for the foreigner’s eyeballs to come flying out with the sneeze.

Achoo!

Cedric sneezed, but his eyeballs stayed right where they were.

Wan Jinxian froze and touched his cheek.

Wan Jinxian’s face was covered in blood, but it was not Cedric’s. It was his own.

Cedric’s sneeze had sliced a deep gash across his cheek.

Wan Jinxian stared at Cedric in shock.

Cedric stuck out his tongue. A clump of black, sticky paste sat on it, wriggling like something alive.

”This is the Disease Nidus you planted, is it not?” Cedric swallowed the sticky mass. ”Delicious. The last time I tasted something this good was a year ago!”

Wan Jinxian froze. ”You are a Disease Cultivator too? Impossible...”

There are actually other Disease Cultivators alive in this world? Wan Jiaxian thought as he wiped the blood from his face and flung it at Cedric.

He suddenly thought of someone, the person who had once secretly harmed He Jiaqing.

Back then, Wan Jinxian had suspected that it was done by someone from the same path. But even if another Disease Cultivator really existed, it should not have been a foreigner.

Cedric started coughing violently. The Disease Nidus Wan Jinxian had planted in him was taking effect again.

Wan Jinxian was about to seize the chance to attack again when Cedric suddenly spat out a clump of hardened phlegm that struck him on the left shoulder.

The phlegm punched through Wan Jinxian’s flesh and stuck fast in his shoulder blade.

Wan Jinxian clutched his shoulder and stumbled back. Then he used another Disease Nidus, sending Cedric into a high fever.

Cedric burned red all over, like a branding iron, which made him far too hot for Wan Jinxian to approach.

Then Cedric rubbed his chest and let out a long, satisfied burp. A burst of flame came with it and set Wan Jinxian’s clothes on fire.

Wan Jinxian began to panic.

The two of them fought by completely different rules, and Wan Jinxian could not make sense of Cedric’s methods at all.

Wan Jinxian’s method was to use disease to weaken Cedric first, then finish him off with a single strike once he could no longer fight back. That was the proper way for a Disease Cultivator to fight, and it was exactly what Wan Jinxian’s master had taught him.

Cedric, however, was doing the opposite. He used every disease Wan Jinxian threw at him and turned it back against him.

Wan Jinxian no longer dared to attack recklessly. Every Disease Nidus he planted in Cedric felt less like an attack and more like a gift to the enemy.

What other illness can I use to restrict him? Wan Jinxian thought.

”What’s your cultivation path?” Wan Jinxian asked. He was already preparing his killing move, but he just needed a little more time.

Cedric smiled. ”You still cannot tell? Senior Brother, I thought I had made it obvious enough.”

Wan Jinxian shook his head.

”I do not have any senior or junior brothers. There is only one disciple on this cultivation path. If I don’t kill my master, I can’t even complete my apprenticeship.

”So where exactly did you come from? You had better tell me the truth. This is Greenwater City, the territory of my founding cultivator. Pretending to be a disciple of this Daoist Path is an insult to the founding cultivator himself.

”Watch your tongue. Otherwise, you might end up dead without even an intact corpse left behind!”

Cedric shook his head. ”I have the utmost respect for the founding cultivator, and I don’t just say that with my mouth.”

With that, he pulled open the front of his shirt. Five large words were tattooed across his chest:

I LOVE THE FOUNDING CULTIVATOR.

Now’s my chance! Wan Jinxian thought.

Wan Jinxian suddenly closed in on Cedric. His combat skills were very good and better than Cedric’s. All he needed to do was scratch Cedric’s skin with a fingernail.

As long as the scratch made Cedric bleed, the Disease Nidus would get into his body. Before long, his limbs would go numb, and he would not be able to move. If things got bad enough, it could even kill him.

I can’t let this foreigner live. A Disease Cultivator cannot tolerate the existence of other Disease Cultivators.

Wan Jinxian succeeded. His fingernail sliced across Cedric’s skin.

Wan Jinxian’s fingernail sliced across Cedric’s skin.

He had done it. But although Cedric’s skin split open, not a single drop of blood came out. Instead, green pus sprayed from the wound and splattered across Wan Jinxian’s face.

A numb itch spread over Wan Jinxian’s face, and green blisters began swelling on his skin.

Cedric looked at Wan Jinxian and said seriously, ”I love the founding cultivator. I love him from the bottom of my heart. What about you?”