Li Banfeng had a wonderful dream all night; in it, a goose feather seemed to be constantly tickling his ear.
Exiting the Portable Residence, he found it was noon again. Li Banfeng realized he desperately needed a way to tell time. Once he returned to Yuezhou, these matters would be simple to resolve; a smartphone could handle all of them. It was getting late, and he wondered if he could still buy a train ticket.
Li Banfeng stepped out of the Portable Residence and walked a few hundred meters down the main street when he suddenly felt a strange reaction in his body. He couldn’t quite describe the reaction. He scanned the streets for any vehicle—a horse-drawn carriage or a rickshaw, anything would do. As he looked around, he noticed passersby glancing at him from time to time.
he wondered.
The passersby held no malice; they were merely curious.
Indeed, the passersby meant no harm. They weren’t looking at his attire, but at Li Banfeng’s extraordinary speed.
He wasn’t running, merely walking with his hands in his pockets, strolling nonchalantly down the street. Yet, his feet moved in a way that ordinary people couldn’t comprehend, propelling his body rapidly forward. By the time Li Banfeng realized something was amiss, he had already reached the end of the street.
Watching the houses on either side of the street swiftly recede, Li Banfeng desperately tried to control his pace. He hadn’t intentionally exerted any force, nor did he feel the slightest fatigue. Yet, his legs seemed to be equipped with motors; without applying the brakes, they were unstoppable. Even when he tried to brake, controlling them was difficult. Li Banfeng could stand still, but the moment he took a step forward, he seemed to surge ahead with the speed of twenty strides.
he thought.
Despite his best efforts to restrain himself, Li Banfeng quickly reached the edge of Li Gou. He had intended to find a quiet place to get his legs under control. As he passed a large banyan tree, a yellow rickshaw parked beneath it caught his attention.
While he was thinking, his legs kept moving, carrying him another few dozen meters. Li Banfeng retraced his steps, returning to the Coachman. He stopped with difficulty and asked, "How much to the train station?"
The Coachman took a drag from his pipe, looked up, and chuckled at Li Banfeng. "Going to the station? Do you even need a ride?"
Li Banfeng stared at the Coachman for a moment. He recognized him. Monkey Qiu had hired this Coachman before—the one with the Fire Wheel. It was he who had taken Li Banfeng from the station to the Peddler’s location, a trip for which Monkey Qiu had paid a hefty fare of five hundred yuan.
The Coachman was right; the train station wasn’t far from Li Gou. With Li Banfeng’s current speed, he could reach it in the blink of an eye. But Li Banfeng didn’t know the way.
The Coachman stood up, pointing to the dirt road before them. "Follow this road north for three and a half miles, turn east and go another two miles, then continue north. In less than a mile, there’s a fork; take it and proceed for another two miles, and you’ll be at the train station."
Li Banfeng shook his head. "That’s too much trouble. I’d rather take your rickshaw."
The Coachman, a rolled cigarette now between his lips, said, "What’s so troublesome? You’ve already reached the First Layer of a Traveling Cultivator; surely you can find the way?"
Li Banfeng realized.
On Kuwu Mountain, dazed and disoriented by the poisonous mist, Li Banfeng had forgotten the Peddler’s warning: spend a day and a night in a perilous place, and a Traveling Cultivator will advance a level. Kuwu Mountain was indeed a perilous place. This meant Li Banfeng had passed the Traveling Cultivator’s trial and become a First Layer Cultivator.
he mused.
"Why didn’t I sense this yesterday?" Li Banfeng muttered to himself.
The Coachman asked, "When did you pass the First Layer trial?"
"The day before yesterday, on Kuwu Mountain," Li Banfeng answered truthfully.
The Coachman laughed. "Passed the day before yesterday and advanced today? That’s fast. Most people have to wait three to five days. Young man, you have good fortune. Hurry to the station."
Li Banfeng said to the Coachman, "I don’t feel like walking. Since you’re here with your rickshaw, why turn down business?"
The Coachman was stunned for a moment. "You insist on riding my rickshaw? Do you know my rates? Others charge eight yuan, but I’ll have to charge you two hundred."
"Two hundred, I’ll pay it!" Li Banfeng took out two hundred yuan in banknotes and handed them to the Coachman.
Li Banfeng sensed a certain connection with this Coachman; he was sure that spending these two hundred yuan was the right decision.
The Coachman felt the texture of the banknotes and grinned. "Alright. But I’m telling you, my rickshaw gets there in the blink of an eye."
"Can you go slower?" Li Banfeng made what seemed like an unreasonable request.
The Coachman understood Li Banfeng’s meaning. "Slower is possible, but the slower we go, the higher the price. Five hundred yuan for ’two digits’ on the clock. Do you agree?"
’Two digits’ referred to two numbers on a watch dial, meaning ten minutes.
Li Banfeng nodded. "Agreed."
The Coachman sighed. "When good fortune lands in your lap like this, you can’t just turn it away. Get in."
Li Banfeng boarded the rickshaw, and the Coachman, with a nonchalant air, began pulling it north.
Li Banfeng asked, "What level of Traveling Cultivator are you?"
He could tell this Coachman was a Traveling Cultivator. The first time he’d ridden with him, the Coachman had already displayed the abilities of one, though Li Banfeng hadn’t known the term ’Traveling Cultivator’ back then.
The Coachman didn’t answer directly. "For five hundred yuan, you want to ask about my cultivation level? Do you think that’s appropriate? Ten minutes will pass quickly; ask something else."
"Do Traveling Cultivators normally walk so fast?"
"Do I look like I’m walking fast now?" As he spoke, the Coachman moved forward step by step, at an ordinary person’s pace.
"Then why was I moving so quickly?"
"The way you were walking just now is called ’Wind Rises on Flat Ground.’ It’s an ability of First Layer Traveling Cultivators," the Coachman explained. "Those who have just reached this level can’t properly control the power in their legs. It takes some days of practice to manage it freely."
"How should I practice?"
The Coachman pointed to a manual water pump by the roadside. "Ever used one of these? Before, your walking was like vigorously swinging your arms to pump water with great effort. Now, you need to rein in your strength, so the stream of water that comes out is thinner than a hemp rope. Only then can you walk like an ordinary person."
Li Banfeng thought. "That sounds difficult to master."
"There’s a knack to it," the Coachman said. "Start by reining in the first wave of strength from your hips, moving forward slowly, bit by bit. Then, rein in the strength from your kneecaps, letting them follow your hips as you tentatively step forward. After that, it’s your ankles, and then your toes. You have to rein in the strength at each point, one after another. If your comprehension is good, you’ll get the hang of it in a day."
Li Banfeng gave a wry smile. "So, after advancing a level, I have to relearn how to walk?"
"Don’t find it too troublesome. At first, your walking won’t be smooth, and you’ll likely take a few tumbles. But once you master the knack, covering sixty to seventy miles in an hour will be no problem at all."
Li Banfeng thought,
"For a First Layer Traveling Cultivator, is walking twenty miles a day enough?"
"Not enough!" The Coachman shook his head repeatedly. "If you’re walking through ordinary places, you need at least fifty miles a day."
Li Banfeng mused.
"What do you mean by ’ordinary places’?" he asked.
"Streets and alleys—those are ordinary places."
"And what are extraordinary places?"
"Climbing mountains—the steeper, the better. Going into water is also good—the deeper, the better. In Lanqing Stockade, there’s a treacherous mud bog; if you can manage to walk two miles through it, that’s enough cultivation for the day. On Sheep Fork Mountain, there’s Knife Ghost Ridge. Walk a mile on that ridge, and not only will your cultivation for the day be sufficient, but you’ll also accumulate an extra day’s worth of time. The essence of a Traveling Cultivator lies in such perilous endeavors. The more dangerous the territory, the faster your cultivation level will advance."
Li Banfeng said with feeling, "On Kuwu Mountain, cultivation must also progress very quickly, right?"
The Coachman shook his head. "I advise you to stay away from that place. With all the comings and goings, the countless people who try their luck there, you have no idea how many have lost their lives on that mountain. To have come back alive is a testament to your good fortune. And your fortune is indeed good—you even survived exposure to Heavenly Light! When you have such luck, you should cherish your life. It’s not worth risking such a precious life for a mere bit of money."
"I also went to Kuwu Mountain to earn money. Money, in the end, is hard to come by," Li Banfeng said, his voice tinged with the weight of his experience.
The Coachman chuckled and shook his head. "There are plenty of ways to make good money. This rickshaw business, for instance, isn’t bad. Last time, I took that urgent job from you and earned five hundred yuan in one trip. Today, I took another fare from you and earned another five hundred yuan. I heard that this year, the Great Medicine Shops are only paying twenty-five yuan per stalk for Snake-Patterned Chrysanthemum. You tell me, whose money is easier to earn?"
Li Banfeng thought,
The Coachman laughed. "You people look down on this line of work, thinking pulling a rickshaw is demeaning. Well, I look down on you thrill-seekers who risk your lives so recklessly, thinking your lives are cheap."
Li Banfeng didn’t argue further about their respective professions. Instead, he asked, "How should I find suitable places for cultivation? Places that are somewhat perilous, but not excessively so?"
The Coachman answered curtly, "For perilous places, you must act according to your capabilities. For perilous people, you must keep a respectful distance. Kuwu Mountain is both a perilous place and teeming with perilous people—you shouldn’t have gone there in the first place!"
"How can I distinguish between perilous places and perilous people?"
"A Traveling Cultivator can sense peril. This is called ’Seek Fortune and Avoid Disaster,’ and it’s a Technique unique to First Layer Traveling Cultivators. It allows one to discern not only perilous places but also perilous people."
Li Banfeng’s eyes lit up. "So, a First Layer Traveling Cultivator has two Techniques?"
PS: November, the first day, Shala is asking for votes from all the readers.