The Phonograph stood by the bed, first looking at the soundly sleeping Li Banfeng, then over at Hong Ying, who was standing before the vanity. Hong Ying found she couldn’t sit still; for the past two days, she had only been able to stand.
After a moment of silence, Hong Ying suddenly shouted, "You vile woman, how are you going to settle this account?"
"Settle? My husband has given you an advantage, and you dare to settle accounts with me?" The Phonograph was even more infuriated than Hong Ying. "If you were even a tiny bit useful, would I have needed to suffer so much last night?"
"What do you mean I’m not useful? Your madman can’t even tell a door from a window; how can you expect me to be useful?"
The Phonograph let out a cold laugh. "Even if he knew the difference, do you really think you could have succeeded?"
Hong Ying also chuckled. "If I couldn’t succeed, could you have? When we were alive, we were just fledglings who knew nothing but fighting. What are you bragging about?"
TSK TSK.
"Well, you’re right, you bitch. You could have been a Princess, but it was all delayed because of me. Do you hate me to death?"
"You wicked woman, I’ll tell you once more, my killing you had nothing to do with that! I killed you for tens of thousands of lives in the army, lives you never cared about."
"Bitch, what makes you think I didn’t care?"
"If you cared, why did you insist on fighting on?"
"Because I could win!"
"Win my ass! That Peddler has already arrived at the battlefield. What could you possibly fight him with?"
"I’m not afraid of him!"
"Stop talking rubbish!" Hong Ying exclaimed angrily. "Ask around, who wasn’t afraid of him back then? Even the tough guys from Inner State were trembling before him. How could you fight him?"
After a moment of silence, the Phonograph gnashed its teeth. "Why don’t you believe me? Why can’t you believe I could win?"
Hong Ying replied, "I do believe you. From the moment I stepped onto the battlefield, I followed you, and I believed everything you said! Three vanguards, two dead, only Yuan Showu is left. He ran away, saying he would rather beg for the rest of his life than fight again. Up to this point, I still believe you. I believe you can win, but even if you could win, what use would it be? It’s still a dead end!"
The two were about to argue further when the Phonograph suddenly noticed that Li Banfeng’s eyeballs had moved.
"Darling, if you’re awake, then get up quickly."
Li Banfeng opened his eyes. He had originally wanted to listen for a bit longer but hadn’t expected his wife to see through him.
"What exactly happened back then?"
His wife remained silent.
Hong Ying, huffing with anger, sat down on a chair and then, still incensed, stood back up.
"Sit down," Li Banfeng watched Hong Ying in surprise. "Sit and talk slowly."
"Sit? After what you did to me last night, how could I possibly sit?"
Li Banfeng scratched his head. He couldn’t remember doing anything to Hong Ying last night.
Li Banfeng got up and checked the Third Room. The room was still piled with Heavenly Spring Delighted Earth.
"This stuff hasn’t been taken to fix the station yet?"
The Portable Residence responded, "Have you chosen a suitable place?"
"I’m to pick the place? Can any place do?"
"Ordinary places definitely won’t do. You’ve been on a train; you know what a station looks like. The platform must be big, able to stop a train and hold passengers. But the platform can’t just let anyone in; there must be a wall to stop those without tickets from sneaking onto the train."
After some thought, Li Banfeng did come up with a location.
The Mountain-Uprooting Master’s mansion.
Since returning to New Land, Li Banfeng had yet to visit the mansion.
The Mountain-Uprooting Master’s mansion was built deep in the mountains without any entrances, surrounded by mountains on all sides. While this barrier certainly wouldn’t stop the Portable Residence, it did form a natural wall.
Li Banfeng approached a cliff and, using the Deep House Technique and borrowing the unrestricted access method from Hong Ying, he burrowed into the rock face.
Passing through the rock, Li Banfeng entered a tunnel, at the end of which was the Mountain-Uprooting Master’s abode.
The station couldn’t be built directly into the mansion, as there were still many blind guards inside.
This tunnel, over a hundred meters long, was an ideal choice.
Li Banfeng hid the key and entered the Portable Residence, asking, "How about this place?"
The Portable Residence sighed. "Who builds a platform in a tunnel?"
"The tunnel is great. No need to build a roof and no worries about rain."
The Portable Residence agreed. "Hide the key well, and for the next ten days, don’t let me leave this place."
Li Banfeng said, "Is it really necessary to hide the key? If you don’t leave on your own, isn’t that enough?"
The Portable Residence gave a bitter smile. "You think I don’t want to leave? If I could simply go, I wouldn’t be here anymore. It’s either following you or following the key; those are the only two paths open to me, and I don’t get to choose."
"What do you mean you don’t get to choose?"
The Portable Residence did not answer.
Li Banfeng hid the key and went to the Mountain-Uprooting Master’s mansion.
In front of the gate, there used to be two guard wolves, one of which Li Banfeng had killed. The other had now been promoted to steward of the mansion, so guarding the door wasn’t his duty anymore. Instead, a blind, headless ox was put in charge of the grand entrance.
The headless ox had no head, only a cleanly severed neck. Despite having no head, the headless ox possessed all its sensory organs. On its left flank was a gash connected to its stomach. This served as its mouth. There were also two holes on its back, which had been its eyes, but the Mountain-Uprooting Master had gouged them out. On each of its front hooves, an ear grew. Hearing the sound of footsteps approaching, the headless ox swished its tail and blocked Li Banfeng’s way.
"Who are you!"
Li Banfeng sized up the headless ox and asked, "Don’t you recognize me?"
"No, I don’t!" This headless ox truly didn’t recognize Li Banfeng. He had been sick with diarrhea and was not present the day Li Banfeng declared himself master of the house, so he had never heard Li Banfeng’s voice.
Li Banfeng didn’t bother arguing with the ox and simply walked around him.
To his surprise, the ox was extremely loyal. Knowing he couldn’t stop Li Banfeng, he immediately began shouting, "Someone come quickly! Someone is entering our mansion!"
The ox had a loud voice, and many in the mansion heard the call.
Mountain Wolf was the first to rush out, shouting loudly, "Who dares to make trouble here!"
Li Banfeng smiled and stepped forward to pat Mountain Wolf’s head.
With that pat, Mountain Wolf recognized Li Banfeng.
"You blind old ox, don’t you recognize our master? Hurry and apologize to the master!"
Hearing that the master had arrived, the old ox swished its tail as it came forward to apologize.
Mountain Wolf, sensing something amiss, bellowed at the old ox, "You dare swish your tail in front of the master? No manners! Now get out of here!"
The old ox hurried away, and Li Banfeng asked Mountain Wolf, "What rule did he break by swishing his tail?"
"The master may not know, but that old ox’s nose is on his tail. Just now, he was swishing it so vigorously. He must have been passing gas and was trying to waft it away!"
The mansion was well managed by Mountain Wolf, and the various Strange Monsters inside had grown fatter since Li Banfeng’s last visit.
Li Banfeng asked Mountain Wolf, "The food from the other Strange Monsters on the territory, is it more than before?"
Mountain Wolf shook his head. "To say something the master might not like, they’ve brought less food than before, roughly only half of what we used to get."
Li Banfeng couldn’t understand. "If they are bringing less food, why have you all gotten fatter?"
"Although it’s only half, it’s enough for us to eat. Back when the Mountain-Uprooting Master was here, we couldn’t even get a tenth of it."
Mountain Wolf had mentioned to Li Banfeng before that they could only eat the Mountain-Uprooting Master’s leftovers.
"Could the Mountain-Uprooting Master eat nine-tenths by herself? She’s not a Food Cultivator."
"Even if she couldn’t eat it, she wouldn’t let us have it. Around the mansion, there were many caves piled with rotten food. Even when it was spoiled, she wouldn’t let us eat it. She said we were lowly creatures, and it was our destiny to starve. Ever since I came to this cave and followed you, I finally had my first full meal. Master, I truly don’t know how to thank you..."
Li Banfeng said, "You don’t need to thank me. You earned this yourself."
Li Banfeng went down to the cellar and took out the Land Seal from the Contract Book.
He rewarded Mountain Wolf with a substantial amount of merit, and the others in the mansion also received rewards.
After leaving the mansion, Li Banfeng went to Meng Yuchun’s place and brought out the Land Seal. "I’m giving you half of the cultivation level here as your payment for these past few days."
Meng Yuchun repeatedly shook his head. "I owe you my life. It’s only right that I help you."
"It’s right for you to help me, and it’s also right for me to pay you when the job is done. That’s a separate matter. First, tell me about Bei Wushuang and Pan Dehai. Their territories are far apart. How did they come into conflict?"
"According to the Cook’s investigations, it seems to be related to the insect plague in Hai Chi Ridge."
The insect plague in Hai Chi Ridge was caused by the Insect Leader, and the Peddler had personally killed the Insect Leader to deal with it.
Meng Yuchun continued, "It’s said that Pan Dehai has vowed to take Bei Wushuang’s life. I’ve never dealt with the Local Deities of the Proper Land, but I know their ranks are high, and they have far more means than us Local Deities of the New Land. If they really start fighting, I’m worried we’ll be affected too."
Li Banfeng nodded. "This is indeed a concern. We must prepare early. Give the Cook some extra payment and have him bring back more information."
Meng Yuchun nodded. "If there’s any slight disturbance, I’ll light up the Boundary. How they fight is none of my business, but we can’t let them fight on our turf."
Li Banfeng lowered his voice and asked, "That technique you use to light up the Boundary, what exactly is it?"
Meng Yuchun frowned. "Why do you keep asking me about techniques? Techniques can’t just be shared with anyone."
"We’re at such a critical time!" Li Banfeng said with a serious look. "We’re on the verge of war, don’t you understand? If you know your enemy and yourself, you will win a hundred battles. Do you grasp that principle? I don’t even know what assets we have, and we’re still so cautious of each other. Tell me, how do you expect us to fight this war?"
Meng Yuchun paused to think, feeling that Li Banfeng made some sense.
"This is an Eighth Layer Technique of Home Cultivation, Close Doors and Shut Windows."
"What’s the key to the technique?"
Yuan Showu, the original Local Deity of Beggar Bay, was later defeated by Greenwater Beggar, and Beggar Bay has since been known as Greenwater Bay.