Juanzi maneuvered her body, tending to the wounds of Mengzi and Xiao Shan.
They shared one body. Aside from the wounds on their faces, the remaining injuries belonged to all three of them. Cleaning them brought the same pain to each.
Mengzi was in great discomfort. "It’s because our hearts are not united. We’ve been bullied by Liang Zhenjiao to such a state, and there were people standing by, not even daring to lend a hand."
Juanzi sighed. "The Local Deity did show some mercy; otherwise, we wouldn’t know how many of us would have died." Mengzi remained silent.
Next to Juanzi sat a three-headed person. The middle head was an old lady, with a middle-aged woman to her left and a young girl to her right.
"Juanzi, this Local Deity didn’t show any mercy; he was quite ruthless just now," said the old lady, Ma Huifang, whom people usually called Aunt Fang.
All three of her heads were female, a rarity among the Three-Headed People. When Juanzi had gathered such individuals in Wuqin Village, attempting to settle them, this old lady had refused. Her understanding of certain matters was clearly more experienced than Juanzi’s.
Juanzi felt Ma Huifang was mistaken. "Aunt Fang, the Local Deity had the upper hand just now and suddenly pulled back; that was him going easy on us."
Ma Huifang shook her head. "Just now, fifty of us attacked him alone, and he still held the upper hand. What if another fifty joined? What about a hundred? Do you think he could withstand that?"
Juanzi still disagreed. "Aunt Fang, I have also been outside before. Local Deities are not alone; they have their own subordinates!"
"I know they have subordinates, but what kind are they? Earth Skin of one or two layers, at most three to five layers. Those ranked higher usually become Wandering Monsters. How many would willingly follow a Local Deity? Even if he called all his people out, could they hold us back?"
Juanzi paused for a moment. "Aunt Fang, what you mean is..."
"At this point, we have to fight back. You saw it too; when Liang Zhenjiao pushed us, we dared to resist. Although we didn’t win, we scared them half to death. Fifty people can intimidate the Local Deity; three thousand attacking together can kill him."
Juanzi furrowed her brows deeply. "This won’t do. We shouldn’t be doing this kind of thing!"
Aunt Fang frowned. "Then what do you think we should do? We’ve walked this honest path, only to be manipulated, deceived, and bullied. To what extent must we endure? We care about others, acting all prim and proper. Now we are about to starve to death; does anyone care about us?"
Juanzi shook her head. "I promised my benefactor that after we escaped, we would just follow the map all the way, and surely someone would take us in."
"But we have to be alive to make it there. Just yesterday, several more people couldn’t keep up and waited by the roadside, saying it was to rest their feet, but that’s waiting to starve to death!" Juanzi fell silent.
The middle-aged Aunt Fang to the left spoke up. "Juanzi, in my opinion, we should follow the map and continue searching for a suitable place. We can find some food along the way; these two tasks don’t conflict."
Juanzi understood what finding food meant—robbing. "But how does it not interfere? I don’t understand."
The younger Aunt Fang said, "Let’s head to the next place first and see if they are willing to take us in.
"If they’re willing to take us in, we say nothing more. We’ll have found a benefactor, and we can faithfully follow them and live our lives.
"If they don’t want to take us in, fine. We’ll ask them for something, at least some food. A prominent figure like Pan Dehai gave us food, so our request isn’t unreasonable.
"But if they won’t even give us food, and treat us with contempt like those Bird People from Wuqin Village, or deceive us like that Bird Person, Liang Zhenjiao, then we can’t be polite. We must fight if necessary and rob if necessary!
"Juanzi, you’ve been out in the world; you know how hard it is to find a way to survive! If we continue to be so honest, we’re surely doomed!"
Juanzi kept her head down and remained silent.
Next to her, Mengzi said, "Sis, I think Aunt Fang has a point. We need to get tough."
Juanzi shook her head. "We’re being chased by the Border Defense Envoy. If we start a fight with the Local Deity as well, we’ll be attacked from both sides. Wouldn’t our group of over three thousand people be finished?"
The older Aunt Fang shook her head repeatedly. "Girl, if only it were that simple to die a swift death! We’re already finished. Dying by the sword is better than starving!"
The middle-aged Aunt Fang said, "Juanzi, since we’ve escaped the City of Sinners, if we want to live on, we’ll have to change our mentality."
「 」
"Chu Er has changed, changed so much I almost don’t recognize her anymore," Ma Wu said to Li Banfeng as they walked on the road to Zhengjing Village.
Li Banfeng snorted. "How much could she have changed?"
"You’ll know when you see her. She’s really different from before."
"I don’t want to see her," Li Banfeng gestured dismissively and turned to call out to Zuo Wugang, "Tell the people in the back to keep up. It’s a muddy area, hard to walk."
Over seven thousand plots had been cleared in Qiu Luoye’s territory. Ma Wu had experience in land clearing, but clearing an entire Hundred Miles of Land and turning it into one family’s territory was a first for him.
It wasn’t just him; even if his father, Ma Chunting, were here, he wouldn’t dare to imagine such a thing.
"Old Qi, I still can’t believe it’s true. You must be truly mad to have accomplished such a thing! Back when the Lu Family and the Chu Family collaborated, they couldn’t even clear ten square miles of land."
Li Banfeng said, "That’s why I don’t understand it either. We managed this with three parts our own efforts and seven parts Qiu Luoye’s favor. But with the strength that the Chu Family and the Lu Family had back then, why didn’t the Local Deity let them clear this land? If they had cleared this land, both families could have definitely managed it. For the Local Deity, it would have been all benefit and no harm. Why didn’t they let it go and instead resort to killing Chu Shaoqiang?"
Ma Wu lowered his voice. "I only recently heard about this from my fourth brother. There seems to be a hidden story. Chu Shaoqiang’s death wasn’t just about the land clearing assessment; the Border Defense Envoy appears to have been involved."
Li Banfeng’s cheeks twitched. "The Border Defense Envoy meddles enough in the Proper Land; even in the New Land, they can’t stay out of trouble. Those bastards have their hands in everything."
"Let’s not discuss the Border Defense Envoy for now. Old Qi, I was thinking about this land last night and couldn’t sleep. If this land truly becomes Proper Land, what do you want to establish here?"
Li Banfeng smiled. "We’re the first batch of landlords; we can run whatever we want."
Ma Wu said, "I’ve specifically asked about this. The first batch of landlords holds an extraordinary status. The rule of shedding blood for protection still applies. With that kind of backing, no one will dare cause you trouble in your business endeavors."
Li Banfeng shook his head. "They are looking for trouble with us; the business is ours together."
"Old Qi, you fought for this territory on your own; I wouldn’t dare..."
"Without you supporting me in business, what capital would I have to compete? Let’s consider the future: to what extent can we manage this territory."
Ma Wu’s voice trembled slightly. "I don’t know what good fortune I accumulated in a past life to meet you in this one. Brother Seven, I believe that within our lifetime, we should be able to develop it into something as grand as Medicine King Valley."
"That won’t do. It has to be more prosperous than Medicine King Valley."
"If we put our backs into it, perhaps we might achieve Black Stone Slope."
"Black Stone Slope is also somewhat lacking."
"Could it be that you want to make it like Greenwater City?"
"It depends on our brothers’ abilities!"
Ma Wu was very excited, but the deeper they went into New Land, the more obvious the practical problems became.
Qiu Luoye’s area wasn’t Shallow Land, and it didn’t border any Proper Land.
A piece of Proper Land appearing amidst a sea of New Land—what kind of situation was that?
This was a situation Ma Wu couldn’t comprehend, and currently, nothing like it existed in all of Puluo State.
Would people really traverse mountains and waters to live in a city deep within New Land?
Such disheartening talk could wait. After all, they hadn’t finished clearing the land, and the matter of settling ten thousand people remained unresolved.
Upon reaching Qiu Luoye’s territory, Chu Er came to meet them. The one-mile and three-mile plots were already developed, and Chu Er was preparing to clear a five-mile plot. This required extensive preparation. Her face was covered in dust, and she was filthy. Li Qi almost didn’t recognize her, though Ma Wu found her quite a sight.
"Miss Chu, you’ve worked hard."
"Young Master Wu, that’s an overstatement," Chu Er smiled, turned to Li Banfeng, and said, "Brother Seven, it’s been a long time."
"Indeed!" Li Banfeng responded, ready to leave immediately.
Chu Er called from behind, "I have a couple of words I want to say to you alone."
Li Banfeng nodded. "Take your time talking."
Ma Wu stopped Li Banfeng and said, "Old Qi, Miss Chu wants to speak with you."
Li Banfeng, without a choice, followed Chu Er to a secluded area and asked, "What do you want?"
Chu Er lowered her head, a shy smile crossing her face, then slowly looked up, her eyes turned upwards, gazing at Li Banfeng. "Leaving just like that, tossing me aside at Bitter Vegetable Manor on my own?"
Li Banfeng was taken aback. "You went to Bitter Vegetable Manor for Bitter Cultivation. I’m not a practitioner of Bitter Cultivation, so what would I be doing there?"
"Because of you, Bitter Granny beat me countless times; how do we settle this score?"
"Go settle it with Bitter Granny. Why are you telling me?"
"So you’re the heartless one!" Chu Er started to tussle with Li Banfeng.
Ma Wu heard the commotion and came over. Chu Er quickly stopped and said with an ashamed smile, "Brother Seven, you’re too impatient."
Li Banfeng straightened his clothes and looked at Ma Wu. "You say she’s changed? In what way has she changed?"
Ma Wu failed to grasp Li Banfeng’s meaning. Chu Er had changed so much, yet Li Banfeng apparently hadn’t noticed.
Li Banfeng didn’t want to take another look at Chu Er and turned to leave.
Chu Er followed, her voice soft and delicate. "Brother Seven, your Second Aunt asked me to pass on a message. She said you haven’t visited her in a long time."
"Spouting nonsense again, where do I have such a Second Aunt..." Li Banfeng suddenly stopped. His attitude towards Chu Er softened considerably. "Well, uh, Miss Chu, please convey a message to Second Aunt. Tell her that after I’m done with this busy period..."
Chu Er shook her head. "Whatever you have to say, it’s better to tell her yourself. Second Aunt often tells me, ’debts must be repaid.’"
Li Banfeng laughed heartily. "The old lady is being too formal. It’s her own nephew; what’s a little debt?"
Chu Er continued, "Second Aunt also often says you lack Tempering and that you’d better not wait for her to come and get you."
Li Banfeng felt a chill run down his spine, pondering how to get Chu Er to relay a message to Bitter Granny, when he saw Qiu Luoye approaching.
He glanced at Chu Er and asked Li Banfeng, "Is she your sweetheart?"
"You’re embarrassing me." Chu Er’s face turned red, and she turned away and left.
Li Banfeng was very curious how she managed to pretend all that.
Qiu Luoye said to Li Banfeng, "Brother, trouble has arisen. Have you ever heard of the City of Sinners?"
Li Banfeng shook his head. He indeed hadn’t heard of it.
Qiu Luoye continued, "The City of Sinners lies within the territory of Three-way Fork and is inhabited by monsters. A group of them has escaped. These monsters have approached our territory, looking for trouble. I’ll handle this. If we can talk it out, we will. If not, we’ll fight. You take extra care with the land clearing; I won’t be able to focus on it for the next couple of days."
Qiu Luoye turned and walked away. Li Banfeng stopped him. "Big Brother Qiu, don’t be in such a hurry to go. I’m afraid bad things will happen if you go."