The Overlord of Puluo

Ma Wu bought more than twenty train cars’ worth of coal from the various coal-mine owners in Yellowclay Bridge and quickly freighted them out.

Coal from Yellowclay Bridge was cheap, but after adding the freight costs, there was hardly any profit left. However, Li Qi and Ma Wu had an agreement with the Border Control Office that cut their freight costs in half, so they still made a fair amount of money in the end.

Ma Wu did the calculations and made a suggestion. ”Old Qi, why don’t we just be middlemen? It’s a lot less trouble than digging the coal ourselves.”

Li Banfeng replied, ”We still have to dig the coal ourselves. We didn’t come here for this little bit of business.”

Ma Wu was only making a suggestion. The real priority was still to increase the human presence in Yellowclay Bridge.

The train had been repaired, the buyers had been arranged, and enough coal had been mined. Ma Wu swiftly made arrangements for the coal to be loaded onto the train and delivered.

By evening, twenty train cars had been filled. Ma Wu sat in the driver’s cab while the rickshaw driver pulled his rickshaw alongside the train.

Li Qi was not there, so the rickshaw driver asked, ”Brother Ma Wu, did something happen to Old Qi?”

”Old Qi originally said he was coming, but he had a couple extra drinks tonight and fell asleep. I could see he really was tired, so I didn’t wake him.”

The rickshaw driver nodded. ”Let him get some rest. It’s only one coal delivery. The two of us can handle it.”

Ma Wu looked at the rickshaw driver. ”Elder Brother, why do you insist on pulling your rickshaw alongside us? Wouldn’t it be better to ride the train?”

The rickshaw driver laughed. ”I feel more at ease pulling this. Don’t worry, I travel faster than you!”

The small train puffed out steam and took off. It passed through the Western Bridge and continued along smoothly enough. But when it reached the town, it suddenly slowed down.

Ma Wu asked the train driver what had happened. The train driver was covered in sweat but could not find the cause. The shovel he used to stoke the coal was nearly throwing sparks from how hard he was working, but the train simply would not pick up speed.

The rickshaw driver, who had originally been jogging alongside the train, had already slowed to a walk. Seeing that something was wrong with the train, he sensed danger. ”Old Wu, have your men repair the train as quickly as possible. We need to get out of this place as soon as we can.”

Shortly after, the train came to a complete stop. Ma Wu called for the Artificer Cultivators to repair the train. Meanwhile, the rickshaw driver pulled his rickshaw around and used Seeking Fortune and Avoiding Calamity to sense where the danger was coming from.

Little Chuan quickly found the problem. The beads of one of the locomotive’s bearings had fallen out, leaving the axle unable to turn. The train had basically been trying to move forward with the brakes on, so naturally it could not go any faster.

”Good thing we discovered it early. The main axle is fine!” Little Chuan reported.

He took a spare part from a train car and replaced the bearing. The train continued on its way.

However, just a while later, the steam boiler sprang a leak. The steam pressure instantly dropped, and the train could no longer move.

The rickshaw driver pulled his rickshaw to a stop and said, ”Brother Ma Wu, what did I tell you? I travel faster than you. Your train is just too useless.”

Ma Wu was already used to it. Nothing ever went smoothly when delivering coal in Yellowclay Bridge.

Still, there was an advantage to using a steam locomotive. When something broke, it could be repaired immediately.

Little Chuan climbed onto the steam boiler and found the leak. Relying on his cultivation, he endured the extreme heat and pressure of the steam boiler and simply sealed the leak with adhesive.

They added coal and water, and the train continued on its way. Yet, before they even moved another three hundred meters, the train cars uncoupled from the locomotive.

The rickshaw driver lowered the shafts and laughed. ”I’ve never liked this train. It isn’t fast, and it has no shortage of problems. There’s no need to hurry. Let the brothers give it a thorough check. If it really can’t move, I’ll pull the train there.”

The rickshaw driver was not bluffing. He really could pull the train, and he genuinely wanted to give it a try. With so many train cars, succeeding in pulling them would clearly be far more satisfying than pulling a rickshaw.

While everyone was inspecting the various train malfunctions, a gust of cold wind blew past, carrying a song. The music was beautiful, and the vocals were even better. After listening for a while, everyone became entranced, and in the blink of an eye, a large number of them had fallen asleep.

Ma Wu forced himself to stay awake and used his Hedonism Cultivator ability to encourage the people around him not to fall asleep. He was at level four, so among the Terreanean cultivators, he was already an intermediate cultivator. Influenced by his ability, several people around him actually managed to withstand the drowsiness.

While they struggled to stay awake, the rickshaw driver pulled his rickshaw, moving into action. He had already found the source of the singing.

It was a long-abandoned teahouse on the side of the street.

In Puluo, teahouses generally had young women who sang songs. Most played the pipa, some played the sanxian[1], and very few played the huqin because itwas simply too difficult to learn.

This young woman was one of those who played a pipa and sang. She was in the middle of singing a song called ”The Crow Paired with the Phoenix.”

The rickshaw driver stood at the entrance of the teahouse, quietly waiting for the song to finish before calling out to the young woman inside. ”Miss, you sing quite well. You’ve got some skill and real talent. We’re in a hurry to do business today, so we really don’t have time to listen. But once our business is done, I’ll come give you some business and have you sing a hundred songs in a row. I’ll give you one silver dollar for each song. How does that sound?”

The pipa abruptly fell silent.

The rickshaw driver let out a cold laugh. ”Miss, you seem to understand reason well enough. I’ll spare your life today. Don’t cause me trouble again.”

The rickshaw driver pulled his rickshaw back to the railway tracks. The train had been repaired. Those who had not fallen asleep were no longer drowsy, and those who had fallen asleep had all awakened.

Ma Wu asked the rickshaw driver, ”Did you find the singer?”

The rickshaw driver nodded. ”I found her. I gave her a few words of warning. She won’t dare come next time.”

”She won’t dare come next time...” Ma Wu looked into the distance. ”But what are we going to do about this time?”

Behind the locomotive, there was nothing but empty space. The twenty train cars’ worth of coal, along with the train cars themselves, had all disappeared.

***

Li Banfeng sat inside the Pocket Dwelling, opened his pocket watch, and calculated the time.

The Old Man coughed and said, ”No need to calculate it. You’ve already arrived.”

This was very unusual. When Li Banfeng was inside the Pocket Dwelling, the Old Man rarely reminded him of what was happening outside. However, the situation this time really did warrant a warning. If the Old Man did not warn Li Banfeng now, the house key would be difficult to find.

Before the small train carrying the coal departed, Li Banfeng claimed that he was drunk and pretended to fall asleep. In reality, he had not slept. He had hidden the house key in one of the coal cars and was traveling to the train station along with the small train.

Li Banfeng had thought these twenty cars of coal were very likely to be stolen, so he decided to go along with them and see exactly who stole the coal and where they would take it.

After the Old Man said he had arrived, Li Banfeng promptly stepped out of the Pocket Dwelling, only to fall into a body of water with a splash.

”That old bastard tricked me again!”

Then Li Banfeng pushed his head through the surface of the water. At first, he thought the Pocket Dwelling was playing another prank on him, but when he found the key in the water, he realized the Old Man had been right. He really had arrived.

This is the coal-laden river.

Li Banfeng had remained inside the Pocket Dwelling the entire time and did not know exactly what had happened, but he knew one thing for certain. The culprit had stolen the coal—all twenty train cars filled with coal—and then dumped it into the coal-laden river. This river, carrying large quantities of silt and slack coal[2], had become the culprit’s disposal location for the stolen goods.

After putting away his house key and wiping his face, Li Banfeng swam through the bone-chilling river to the shore. He took off his fedora, squeezed the muddy water out of it, and put it back on his head.

Then he patted the Tang Saber with a laugh. ”Brother, I understand what you were going through back then.”

The Tang Saber was deeply moved. ”My lord, they don’t dare come at us head-on, which proves they can’t beat us. But right now, we don’t even know who we’re supposed to fight.”

Nevertheless, Li Banfeng was quite confident. ”We’ll find them soon enough. Once we do, we need to strike as quickly as possible. They’re too calculating. We can’t give them time to prepare.”

After entering the Pocket Dwelling and changing his clothes, Li Banfeng asked the Old Man, ”Who was it that stole the coal?”

”Qi, I have my own rules. What’s inside the train is what’s inside, and what’s outside is what’s outside. Have you ever seen a train tell its passengers everything that’s happening outside?”

”But isn’t this your fault?”

”Why is it my fault?”

”If you had windows, I wouldn’t have to ask you. I could just look out the window myself.”

”If you can get some windows, that means you sure are quite capable!”

There really are train windows?

”Where am I supposed to get them?”

The Old Man snorted. ”Wherever you go, I follow. If you can encounter one, I’ll see it.”

”The problem is you have to give me some clues so that I know where to look.”

”Clues?” The Old Man let out a bitter laugh. ”If only I remembered what the clues were. I’ve even forgotten what a train window looks like.”

Li Banfeng lay in bed and rested for a while before the Film Projector came over to him.

”Director Qi, I have something to show you.”

”What is it?”

The Film Projector mysteriously headed to the eighth room, and Li Banfeng followed him.

”Aren’t you normally in the fifth room? Why have you come to the eighth room?” Li Banfeng asked.

”It’s best not to watch this footage in the fifth room.”

Li Banfeng smiled. ”What indecent thing did you film this time?”

The light behind the Film Projecter’s lens flickered, and the footage was projected onto the wall.

It showed a pile of coal. The pile of coal moved forward aboard the small train. From the coal pile’s perspective, the scenery on either side of the railway slowly receded. When the small train reached the town, it gradually slowed down, repeatedly stopping and starting. It appeared that a malfunction had occurred.

During one of the stops, a figure appeared by the roadside. They were of average build, dressed in a coat with a very long tail. The figure walked in a circle around the train cars.

I feel like I’ve seen this person somewhere before.

Li Banfeng watched carefully for a moment, then the clip plunged into darkness. Over a minute later, the visuals reappeared. Rippling water rushed toward the screen, and the viewpoint plunged into the river. Then the projection froze, and that was the end of the clip.

Looking at the Film Projector, Li Banfeng asked, ”Is this a scene from outside the Pocket Dwelling?”

”It should be.”

”How could you possibly have recorded a scene of something happening outside?”

After some careful thought, the Film Projector replied, ”Director Qi, you’ve always said that the young woman isn’t someone I imagined. I think you’re right.”

Li Banfeng’s cheek twitched. ”That young woman let you see what was happening outside?”

The Film Projector explained, ”I can’t tell you how it happened, exactly. At the time, she and I were filming a beautiful love story together. I was filming a close-up of her face, and in the reflection of her pupils, I discovered that scene of the coal. I had always firmly believed that this young woman was a character I had imagined. I thought it was artistic inspiration blossoming in my mind and being reflected into the young woman’s eyes.

”But that scene of the coal was so clear and vivid, yet it did not have the slightest connection to my thoughts. I realized then that it might be a scene of something happening in reality. So I secretly recorded it. No one knows about it, including that young woman—the young woman from the fifth room, who may actually exist.”

The young woman from the fifth room... Who is she exactly? Why is it that she can see beyond the Pocket Dwelling?

If this footage is real, then the pivotal clue lies with the man who appeared beside the train cars, the man with the long-tailed coat. He used some kind of enchanted artifact or spirit-bound item to send the train cars, along with the coal they held, into the coal-laden river.

Li Banfeng left the Pocket Dwelling and followed the railway tracks to the site of the incident. He searched around the railway tracks for a long time but found nothing unusual.

Just as he was about to leave, a scratch on the railway track caught his attention.

Was this scratch caused by the train malfunction? No. The scratch is clear and straight. It definitely wasn’t left by a train wheel. Someone left a mark here. The culprit must have chosen this location in advance and set up his enchanted artifact nearby for the theft.

Steam trains are affected by inertia, so it takes a certain amount of time to stop. Which Daoist path does this person belong to? How did they so accurately calculate the exact position to strike?

***

Li Banfeng returned to the mine and saw Ma Wu sitting in the miners’ shed, drinking alone in silence.

Seeing him, Ma Wu recounted what had happened. ”We had already seen that singing woman, yet Elder Brother—the rickshaw driver—went over to reason with her. She’d already attacked us, yet he still had the mind to reason with her. I really don’t know what to say about that. If Brother Qiu had been there, he’d have ripped out every bone in the woman’s body!”

Li Banfeng was quite dissatisfied with the rickshaw driver’s actions too.

He then asked, ”Did you find out who the woman is?”

Ma Wu shook his head. ”At the time, only the rickshaw driver went to negotiate at the teahouse. He didn’t go in. He just relied on his experience in the jianghu and talked to her from outside the door. But I suspect this woman is the Miss Qin those coal-mine owners mentioned. She’s the one pulling the strings.

”Her objectives are obvious. First, to control Yellowclay Bridge’s population and prevent the rickshaw driver from securing his position as the local land deity. Second, to control Yellowclay Bridge’s economy. All of Yellowclay Bridge’s coal business has to go through these coal-mine owners. Otherwise, there will be no way to freight the coal out smoothly.”

Li Banfeng had a few drinks with Ma Wu before finding an opportunity to return to the Pocket Dwelling.

Based on Ma Wu’s description, Li Banfeng was able to roughly reconstruct the scene. He took the Film Projector to the eighth room and wrote Ma Wu’s account down on a sheet of paper.

The Film Projector swept his lens over it, and the sheet of paper entered the Film Projector. Then the scene appeared on the wall.

The train stopped. Miss Qin began to sing. Most people fell asleep, while some desperately tried to stay awake. It was clear from this that Miss Qin was probably a Sleepbound Cultivator or a Dream Cultivator.

The rickshaw driver went to the teahouse and negotiated with Miss Qin. At that moment, Miss Qin had drawn the rickshaw driver to her physically and attracted the attention of everyone who was still awake. The person with a long-tailed coat then took advantage of this opportunity and used an ability to move all the train cars into the coal-laden river.

The train had to stop at a very precise location for two reasons: firstly, because this mysterious person was lying in wait nearby; and secondly, because the stopping point had to be at an appropriate distance from the teahouse. It could not be too far from the teahouse, or the people on the train would not be able to hear Miss Qin’s singing. Nor could it be too close. Otherwise, the rickshaw driver would not step away from the train, which would have left the mysterious person with no room to make his move.

His calculations are incredibly precise. This mysterious person is very likely a Calculation Cultivator. Is he Miss Qin’s subordinate? Or is he the real mastermind?

Li Banfeng said to the Film Projector, ”Reconstruct the entire sequence of events one more time. We need to come up with a combat strategy.”

The Film Projector reconstructed the entire sequence of events again. This opponent was extremely unusual, and they could not afford to miss a single detail.

His coat tail is very long... Hang on. That doesn’t seem to be a coat tail. It’s an apron! Where have I seen this apron before?

1. A three-stringed traditional Chinese lute. ☜

2. Fine particles and smaller fragments of coal. ☜