The Overlord of Puluo

Once the door was shut, the Film Projector suddenly began trembling. ”Director Qi, I am scared. This might not be art anymore. I think I may have touched something evil.”

”Take your time, Brother. Tell me what happened.” Li Banfeng lit a cigarette and tucked it into the Film Projector’s film compartment.

A curl of smoke rose, and the Film Projector gradually calmed down.

”Director Qi, during the last battle, I took a beaded hair ornament from the enemy. I can’t really take the credit for it. Most of that belongs to Tang Saber. I kept the hair ornament. It was a fairly powerful enchanted artifact with a strong will of its own, so I gave it to the lady in the fifth room as a gift. I know I shouldn’t have done that. It was valuable loot and should have been handed over to you to decide what to do with. But I really only did it because...”

The Film Projector started getting worked up again, so Li Banfeng reassured him. ”It’s fine. We have plenty of enchanted artifacts at home. Don’t worry about it.”

The Film Projector continued, ”The lady in the fifth room really liked the gift. She told me a lot about herself, including her name and where she came from. She said her name was Su Lijun. She used to be quite wealthy, but a heartless man killed her. Her resentful soul was left wandering through an old house in the wilderness.”

Li Banfeng frowned slightly. The story sounded strangely familiar. If she says her name is Luo Yuni next, we are going to have a problem.

The Film Projector continued, ”Later, after all kinds of twists and turns, she ended up in this house and became trapped here. She was never able to leave again. Before she met me, she said she had never spoken to anyone else in the house. She said the reason we got along so well was because we shared the same obsession with art.”

Li Banfeng asked, ”You don’t believe what she said is true?”

”I do. I believe every word she said. Everything she told me was exactly what I had expected her to say.”

At this point, Film Projector started trembling again. ”She said her name was Su Lijun, and somehow, I already felt that was what her name should be. Even if she hadn’t told me, I think I could have guessed it.”

”You could even guess her name?”

”Yes! I really could! Her past was exactly the same as what I had imagined too. Even if she hadn’t told me, I could have pictured how she died.”

The Film Projector showed him a scene. The woman from the fifth room sat in front of a mirror, doing her hair. A man came up behind her, looped a necktie around her throat, and strangled her. At least it wasn’t the eye-gouging strangulation.

Li Banfeng said, ”Brother, isn’t this just the script you wrote for the lady in the fifth room? She’s following your script exactly, and you are starting to mix up the script with reality.”

”None of this was in the script! The scripts are all right here. You can check them yourself. None of these scenes are in them!”

The Film Projector opened his film compartment, and a large stack of papers flew out. Many of them had Li Banfeng’s handwriting on them. These were the scripts the two of them had written together.

”These scenes only appeared in my head. I never wrote them down, and I never told the lady in the fifth room about them. I am sure she isn’t someone I imagined. She really exists. But somehow, my ideas have somehow been planted into her mind. I know where those ideas came from. I once asked the Blood-Drinking Pendulum about her past, and she told me some fragments of her memories. I wanted to use those memories as material for a script. But before I even wrote the script, the movie had already been made!”

Li Banfeng still thought the Film Projector wasn’t thinking clearly. ”Maybe you told her about one of those scenes before. Maybe she was just acting out what you had imagined.”

”Director Qi, she’s not that obedient!” The Film Projector showed him another scene.

The woman from the fifth room was running through a field of flowers. She picked a small bouquet, breathed in their fragrance, and smiled sweetly.

The screen suddenly went black.

The Film Projector explained, ”I closed the lens cover. I was exhausted that day, so I fell asleep.”

Before he could finish, the screen lit up on its own.

The woman from the fifth room walked toward the camera with the flowers in her hands and her head lowered. When she reached the camera, she slowly raised her head. Her face was blank.

She tilted her head to the left, then she tilted her head to the right. She stared straight into the camera for a long moment. Then the corners of her lips slowly lifted into the faintest smile.

The screen went black again. The Film Projector said, ”I really was asleep at the time. I didn’t film this. She left this footage for me. I don’t know why she did it. I asked her about it, and she said she was only acting the way I had asked her to. She was lying. I never asked her to do this. Director Qi, you probably think there’s something wrong with my head, but I know I am perfectly sane.”

Li Banfeng patted the Film Projector. ”Even if there is something wrong with your head, you are still perfectly normal.”

”But something else isn’t normal,” the Film Projector said as he took the beaded hair ornament out of his film compartment. ”This enchanted artifact used to have a very strong will of its own, but now that consciousness is completely gone. She has become a pure spirit-bound item. She can’t even express herself anymore. That gave me a bold idea. What happened to this hair ornament might be the exact opposite of what happened to the lady in the fifth room.

When I first met her, her mind was almost completely blank. There seems to be some strange power in the fifth room. It can create consciousness, but it can also wipe someone’s consciousness away.”

Li Banfeng more or less understood what the Film Projector meant. He asked, ”Are you sure this power comes from the fifth room, and not from you?”

The image froze. So did the Film Projector’s thoughts.

After a long pause, the Film Projector answered, ”I am not sure. All I can say is that I shouldn’t have this kind of ability. I know quite a few people in our family have unusual pasts. Tang Saber, Judge’s Brush, and Glove were all important figures once.

”But I am different from them. Like the Sickle, I am a Selfborn Spirit. I call myself a Shadow Cultivator, but the truth is that I don’t even know what cultivation path I belong to. I can’t even explain where my abilities really come from.”

Enchanted artifacts generally didn’t like talking about their past. This was partly because of the restrictions of their contracts, and partly because it was simply in their nature.

The Film Projector had spoken so openly about his past because he was genuinely afraid.

Li Banfeng said, ”From now on, don’t go to the fifth room again.”

The Film Projector said, ”I know the fifth room is dangerous. I keep reminding myself not to go back. But I can’t control myself. I am shaping a soul. I can feel the fear, but I still can’t resist the temptation.”

Li Banfeng took out his pistol and placed it in front of the Film Projector. ”Do you recognize this gun?”

Of course the Film Projector recognized it. ”That’s Ling Miaoying’s gun.”

”This is a spirit-bound item, and an exceptionally pure one at that. I have tried communicating with it many times, but it’s never been able to respond. If you are so desperate to shape a soul, then shape one for it. Stop going to the fifth room.”

”Director Qi, this is one of your most reliable weapons. I don’t want to damage it...”

”It’s alright. I am giving it to you,” Li Banfeng said. He opened the Film Projector’s film compartment and removed every reel related to the girl in the fifth room.

The Old Man had been right. When it came to certain boundaries, the Film Projector really didn’t know where to draw the line.

”Come out with me tomorrow. I’ll buy you some more film.”

By the time Li Banfeng returned to the main room, everyone had finished eating. After devouring his share of flesh and blood, the Film Projector finally settled down.

He left the scraps for Crimson Lotus to clean up and headed toward the ninth room. On the way, he passed the fifth room once again.

A salty sea breeze brushed across his cheek. A faint glow seeped through the wall, as though a movie was about to begin.

Li Banfeng stared at the wall. He tipped up the brim of his hat, the corners of his mouth curling into a grin as his eyes lit up.

He asked, ”Want to come out and chat?”

The cold wind vanished, and the glow on the wall faded with it.

Li Banfeng pulled his hat brim low again and brought Crimson Lotus back to the main room.

”Glove, if you still won’t eat, there won’t be anything left once Crimson Lotus gets to the table.”

Glove was still going through Xiao Zhenggong’s clothes. ”Boss, I really don’t feel like eating. Missing one meal won’t hurt me, so please let me be.”

***

The next morning, Li Banfeng woke up and got ready to head out. The Gramophone called after him, ”Husband dear, take out the trash.”

By ”trash,” she meant Xiao Zhenggong’s clothes. Li Banfeng was just about to gather them up when Glove pleaded, ”Boss, don’t throw them away yet. Give me one more day to check them. You can toss them tomorrow.”

Li Banfeng sighed. ”What’s gotten into you? Maybe he really didn’t have any enchanted artifacts on him. He could have moved them somewhere else beforehand.”

Glove shook his index finger. ”Impossible. When you fought him last night, I could still smell the scent of treasure on him. If I got something like this wrong, how am I supposed to keep doing this job?”

Li Banfeng stopped trying to persuade him. Glove had his own temperament, and once he became fixated on something, there was no changing his mind.

Li Banfeng took the Film Projector with him and headed out. On the street, he casually bought a newspaper. It happened to be published by his own newspaper office, and the events at the Jiangxiang Gang’s main hall the night before had already made the news.

The headline was remarkably direct: ”Jiangxiang Gang Wiped Out, Xiao Zhenggong’s Body Gone Without a Trace.”

The article didn’t hold anything back. It said outright that Li Qi, Xiu He Yuxiu, and the others had turned the Jiangxiang Gang’s main hall into a bloodbath, wiping out one of Puluo Province’s major scourges.

Li Banfeng had told them to report it that way. He knew there was no hiding what had happened, so he figured they might as well get the news out.

That day’s papers were selling like crazy. Who could have imagined that the infamous Jiangxiang Gang would be wiped out overnight?

The article also mentioned the Flying General’s Battalion and included part of Yao Zhiyi’s confession. Li Qi intended to expose the whole conspiracy for what it was.

The morning papers had doubled their print run and still sold out. Li Banfeng bought a newspaper published by Shen Rongqing’s people, only to find that the Jiangxiang Gang hadn’t even made the front page.

He casually tossed the paper into a rubbish heap. ”That’s such a good business opportunity, you can’t even hold onto it. How are you supposed to stay in this business?”

Shen Rongqing had also heard that the Jiangxiang Gang had been wiped out, but she was still unsure whether to run the story. The news about the Flying General’s Battalion was especially troublesome, since it seriously contradicted what she had reported before.

She wanted to discuss it with He Jiaqing, but after trying all morning, she still couldn’t get hold of him.

Where did he go? Shen Rongqing thought. She was growing anxious. She still couldn’t decide what to do with the evening edition.

***

Li Banfeng went to the Wonderful Sound Gramophone Shop and bought every reel of film they had.

Ling Miaosheng poured him a cup of tea. ”Trader Li, could I ask you to stay a little longer? I have a favor to ask.”

Li Banfeng found that strange. Actually, he had been somewhat surprised by this question. He had known Ling Miaosheng for quite some time, but Ling Miaosheng had always kept a certain distance from him.

Ling Miaosheng took out a contract. ”Trader Li, I would like to leave the gramophone shop in your hands for a while. Of course, I am not asking you to do it for free. For starters, all the shop’s earnings during this period will be yours. If the business takes a loss because of poor management, I will cover it. On top of that, I have a gift for you.”

With that, Ling Miaosheng took out a hand-cranked gramophone. ”This is a spirit-bound item. I have always called it the Tracer. It can retrace some Spycraft Cultivator abilities. To put it in simple terms, it can reproduce part of what was left inside a hook. My two brothers planted quite a few hooks in my gramophone shop. At first, I had no idea what they were trying to do. It wasn’t until I got dragged into the mess that I asked an Artificer Cultivator to make this spirit-bound item for me. It’s a powerful tool against Spycraft Cultivators. I hope it can be of some help to you in the future.”

Li Banfeng asked, ”Why do you want to leave the gramophone shop to me?”

Ling Miaosheng said, ”I want to go searching for my art. The art that once belonged to me, but was lost. I know this might all sound absurd, but the last time we met, I told you a little about what happened to me in the Amikan Kingdom. Ever since then, some of the memories that were taken from me by force have kept resurfacing in my dreams. I left too many regrets behind there. While I am still alive, I want to go back and make up for them. If I fail, and if I die in a foreign land, the gramophone shop will become yours for good. It’s all written clearly in the contract.”

Li Banfeng thought for a moment and said, ”I am just one of your customers. Why do you trust me enough to hand over the business you treasure most?”

Ling Miaosheng smiled. ”I am not afraid that you would laugh at me for telling you this, but I did think about leaving this shop to someone more dependable. However, when I was going through everyone around me, I couldn’t find anyone more dependable than you. When no one else believed in me, you did. You were even willing to buy my gramophones. So when it came time to entrust these precious works of art to someone, I chose to trust you.”

Li Banfeng fell silent for a moment, then nodded and put away the contract. ”Until you come back, I will make sure no one lays a hand on your gramophone shop. And when you do, share the art you find with me.”

”It’s a deal,” Ling Miaosheng said as he removed his fedora, pressed it to his chest, and gave Li Banfeng a respectful bow.

***

Li Banfeng went back to the Pocket Dwelling and began studying the gramophone known as the Tracer. Ling Miaosheng had explained how to use it, but Li Banfeng felt like he understood it and yet somehow understood nothing at all. The principles behind the thing were a little complicated.

On top of that, the gramophone was a pure spirit-bound item and had no way to express itself, so Li Banfeng couldn’t communicate with it either.

Fortunately, wifey was now a master in Artificer Cultivator abilities and quickly figured out a few tricks for using the gramophone.

The couple kept studying the gramophone until late into the night. The white glove, meanwhile, stayed beside Xiao Zhenggong’s clothes and barely moved from the spot.

Seeing all the loose threads and wrinkles covering him, Li Banfeng thought Glove looked much older than before.

”Glove, you can’t keep this up. I am throwing Xiao Zhenggong’s clothes away tomorrow. It’s time to let this go.”

”I will let it go.” Glove looked as though all the spirit had gone out of him. ”Boss, I will listen to you. It’s over. I will just accept that I misjudged it.”

After saying that, Glove flopped down beside the Judge’s Brush and lay there motionless like an old rag. Li Banfeng was genuinely worried that Glove might give up altogether and just do nothing like Despicable Brush.

Late that night, while the whole family was fast asleep, the door to the main room suddenly opened a crack.

That should have been impossible.

Inside the Pocket Dwelling, no one except Li Banfeng and the Old Man himself could open that door.

Everyone else was still asleep, but Glove suddenly jolted awake and lunged toward the doorway.

”You thieving bastard! Where do you think you are going? I fucking knew something was wrong! You actually dared steal from me? I am going to beat you to death!”

At the sound of fighting, the gramophone’s flames instantly surged up.

Li Banfeng woke up as well. By the doorway, a white glove and a black glove were locked in a struggle.

Author’s Note:

PS: Xiao Zhenggong has a black glove. See Chapter 334 for details.