Seeing Ge Junma’s corpse, He Caiyuan’s body trembled.
The Peddler laughed. "Are you upset? Your master is dead. Do you especially want to kowtow? You can do it; I’ll let you pass."
Tears streamed down from the corners of He Caiyuan’s eyes; he was truly heartbroken.
After a moment’s hesitation, he did not kowtow. Instead, heaving a long sigh, he said, "Lord Ge’s grace to this old one was as immense as a mountain. Now that he’s gone like this, it leaves me in agony, as if a knife were twisting in my gut!"
The Peddler sighed. "Such loyalty is rare. I should have let you see him one more time. But it’s not too late. That toad doesn’t move quickly. If you set off right now, you can still catch up with him on the Yellow Springs Road."
He Caiyuan wiped away his tears and shook his head. "With the gentleman gone, this old one has no more worldly concerns. From now on, I am willing to follow you, Your Excellency, at your beck and call, ready to serve."
The Peddler laughed audibly, slowly revealing himself from the shadows of the night, pushing his cart toward He Caiyuan.
With his status and strength, not to mention his profession of roaming far and wide, what kind of people hadn’t he encountered?
Yet, characters like He Caiyuan always managed to surprise the Peddler.
"First, tell me, how did this toad come to Puluo State? Who directed him here? I want to see who exactly has broken the rules."
He Caiyuan said, "This old one does not yet know the details."
The Peddler looked at He Caiyuan. "You don’t know anything? Then why should I keep you?"
He Caiyuan quickly changed his tune. "I’ve heard some rumors. Some say that Ge Junma mistakenly entered the Ink Shop due to an accident and was trapped by the Local Deity, unable to leave."
"Mistakenly?" The Peddler chuckled. "Accidentally left the Inner State and then just stumbled into the Ink Shop, is that what you mean?"
He Caiyuan was no fool; he knew this explanation wasn’t credible and quickly clarified, "These are just rumors. Please, Master, grant this old servant three days, and I will undoubtedly ascertain the truth of this matter."
A shiver ran down the Peddler’s spine.
Only a few sentences had been exchanged, and He Caiyuan was already calling him ’Master’ and referring to himself as ’old servant.’
"Do you truly wish to follow me?" The Peddler half-sat on his cart, idly playing with a rattle.
He Caiyuan lifted his long robe, knelt on the ground, and kowtowed to the Peddler. "This old servant wishes to entrust his life to you, Master!"
The Peddler nodded. "Alright. Your life, I’ll take it."
Chu Shaoqiang, standing nearby, saw everything clearly. He knew the Peddler would never spare He Caiyuan.
However, he hadn’t expected He Caiyuan to suddenly flip up the robe that lay on the ground.
Beneath his robe, two large characters were written in blood.
One character for "Net," and one for "Kill," shot swiftly towards the Peddler.
These characters had been secretly written by He Caiyuan while he was pleading with the Peddler for his life.
Chu Shaoqiang thought.
But this "Net" character was no ordinary net; each stroke was layered, nesting hundreds of minuscule "Net" characters within it.
To be able to write this "Net" character under the Peddler’s very nose demonstrated He Caiyuan’s skill. He Caiyuan deduced that the Peddler would surely first disperse the "Kill" character before dealing with the "Net" character. By then, hundreds of nets would spring open simultaneously, buying He Caiyuan a little time. With that precious moment, he hoped he might escape the Peddler’s grasp.
Watching the two characters fly towards him, the Peddler remained seated on his cart. Swinging the rattle left and right, he easily caught both characters.
Hundreds of nets sprang open at once, failing to entangle the Peddler but entwining the rattle instead.
The Peddler laughed; He Caiyuan wept.
He knew the Peddler was formidable, but he hadn’t imagined him to be *this* formidable.
With a flick of his hand, the Peddler swept away all the silken nets, revealing He Caiyuan’s bloodstains on the rattle’s drumhead.
"Is this your blood?"
He Caiyuan scrambled to his feet and fled.
The Peddler gripped the rattle’s drumhead with his left hand and its handle with his right. With a gentle twist, He Caiyuan’s entire body contorted like a pretzel and collapsed to the ground, motionless.
Sweat streamed continuously down Chu Shaoqiang’s cheeks. The Peddler looked at him and said, "Your turn."
Chu Shaoqiang stammered, "I don’t know why Ge Junma came to the Ink Shop. I received a message from the Inner State saying he was trapped here. If I could rescue him, the matter concerning Qiu Luoye would no longer be pursued."
"Is that truly all you know?"
Chu Shaoqiang nodded frantically. "I wouldn’t dare lie to you. Everything I’ve said is the truth. If you could spare my life, I would be eternally grateful. If you must kill me, please, I beg you, make it quick."
The Peddler approached Chu Shaoqiang, took out a linen cloth, shook it out, and wiped the sweat from Chu Shaoqiang’s face. "Look how frightened you are. This sweat, one can barely wipe it all away. Here, I’ll give you a bar of soap. Take it and wash up."
The Peddler extended his hand, and a bar of soap flew from the cart. He took it and sniffed. "Rose-scented. Try it."
With that, the Peddler stuffed the soap into Chu Shaoqiang’s mouth.
Chu Shaoqiang had no chance to resist; the soap slid straight down his throat.
The strong rose fragrance, mixed with foam, surged up his esophagus. Chu Shaoqiang dared not struggle, nor did he dare to spit out the foam. He stood there obediently.
"Go on, go wash your face." The Peddler waved his hand, and Chu Shaoqiang bolted.
The Peddler entered the forest and saw Li Banfeng bandaging his wounds with adhesive tape.
"This foreign gadget is useless; it only stops the bleeding. I have Snow Cream here. Let me put some on for you. The wound will heal faster and won’t leave a scar."
Li Banfeng snorted coldly. "When did you get here? Have you been here all along, just watching me get beaten up?"
The Peddler’s face turned serious. "How could that be? I just arrived!"
"How ’just’?"
"How many drumbeats did you hear just now?"
Li Banfeng recalled for a moment. "CLANG, CLANG, CLANG, CLANG. Four sounds."
"No," the Peddler shook his head. "It was CLANG! Then CLANG, CLANG, CLANG, CLANG! Five sounds. I struck once first, knocking that toad over, and then immediately came out to rescue you."
"Knocked it over with one CLANG?" "Besides, I was guarding the entrance the whole time. How did you get in?"
"Are you talking about that lake? It has more than one entrance. We still don’t know which one Ge Junma used. It must have been tough for that scholar to hold out inside for so long."
"You mean the Local Deity of the Ink Shop?" Li Banfeng had been meaning to ask about this. "How did the Local Deity become like that? Not distinguishing friend from foe, attacking everyone on sight?"
"You can’t ask me that," the Peddler said with a bitter smile. "I sold a pen, and it ended up being used like this. It pains me to see it too."
"You sold a pen?" Li Banfeng picked up his own Judge’s Pen. "This was given to me by someone else, not sold to me by you."
The Peddler shook his head. "I’m not talking about you. I’m talking about your Judge’s Pen."
"’You sold a pen to my Judge’s Pen?’" Li Banfeng frowned. "Can you be clearer?"
"You don’t understand?" The Peddler laughed. "Ask your Judge’s Pen. It can discern intent in three sentences and fathom a person’s heart in five. Let’s see if it can figure this out."
The Judge’s Pen beside him responded to the Peddler, "Guess my ass."
"Vulgar!" the Peddler exclaimed upon hearing this. "Spending too much time with this uncouth fellow has corrupted even the Erudite Scholar."
Li Banfeng held the Judge’s Pen. "He is the Erudite Scholar?"
The Peddler nodded. "Yes. He’s the foremost talent of the Ink Shop, born with a natural affinity for words. Murong Gui was originally a poor scholar. In his youth, he used his knowledge to build a fortune. Even when his cultivation level was only at the Earth Skin stage, he already held great prestige in the Ink Shop and founded a Great Clan Gate called the Moke Gang. At that time, the Local Deity of the Ink Shop was named the Drachma Calligrapher. His name was even used for the Gang. Far from being angered, the Drachma Calligrapher greatly appreciated Murong Gui and took him as a Disciple. The Drachma Calligrapher used special methods to allow Murong Gui to bypass the Inner State and reach Above the Clouds. He then entrusted the Ink Shop’s territory to the Erudite Scholar. After that, the Drachma Calligrapher vanished without a trace. From then on, Murong Gui became the Local Deity of the Ink Shop."
Li Banfeng looked at the Judge’s Pen. "Why didn’t you tell me about this sooner?"
The Judge’s Pen seemed to ponder for a long moment before replying, "Too long."
Li Banfeng asked the Peddler, "Why did Murong Gui turn into the Judge’s Pen?"
The Peddler sighed. "There’s a lot involved, and it would take ages to explain in detail. Everyone believed Murong Gui excelled at fathoming people’s hearts. If he guessed right, it was only natural; if he guessed wrong, it was a heinous crime. But tell me, no matter how skilled one’s methods, who can always guess with such accuracy? Even if one guesses correctly, who can handle every situation so perfectly? As the head of a family, he was blamed for any domestic troubles. As the leader of a Gang, he was blamed for any issues within the Gang. Once he became the master of a territory, everything that went wrong there was his fault. The Ink Shop is filled with scholars, and you know how scholars are with their words—indirect and hard to decipher. If even a minor issue arose, the condemnations by pen and word were relentless. Furthermore, the Ink Shop is a unique place. It must inspire the illiterate to want to learn, encourage those who can read to continue their studies, and push the learned to study even harder. Just maintaining the rules of the territory was exhausting enough. Add to that the burden of fathoming hearts, and Murong Gui simply couldn’t take it anymore."
At this point, the Judge’s Pen shouted, "The old scoundrel ran off!"
The Peddler said, "He’s talking about the Drachma Calligrapher. The day he left the Ink Shop, he was exceptionally joyful. After being the Local Deity for several years, Murong Gui changed. He completely changed."
Li Banfeng asked, "How did he change?"
The Peddler picked up the Judge’s Pen and wrote the character for ’Wisdom’ under a willow tree. The residence of the Local Deity materialized before them.
He led Li Banfeng across the frozen lake and into a pavilion nestled within a bamboo forest.
The "Local Deity" of the Ink Shop was currently in the pavilion. With the toad in the lake killed by the Peddler, he no longer needed to exert force over the lake’s surface. Yet, he was still at his desk, writing furiously, not words like ’Kill’ or ’War,’ but the three rules of the Ink Shop:
"The Blind Should Be Ashamed." "The Literate Should Strive." "All People Should Pursue Learning."
The Peddler pointed to the wall. "These are words left by Murong Gui years ago."
Li Banfeng looked up to see four large characters, their calligraphy bold and vigorous, their message clear: I REFUSE TO GUESS!
The Peddler raised his eyebrows. "He stopped guessing, stopped managing anything. There’s a saying in the Outside Provinces, ’letting it rot.’ You know it?"
Li Banfeng nodded. "I understand that one."
The Peddler continued, "Because he let it rot, many problems arose in the Ink Shop. I sold him a pen. This pen had a Spirit Attribute and could help him maintain order in the territory. I intended for the pen to help him share some of his responsibilities. But who would have thought that shameless Murong Gui would secretly join the Lazy Cultivator’s Taoist Sect? He used their methods to transfer the Literature Cultivator’s cultivation level to the pen. He turned himself into the pen, and the pen into the Local Deity. Disguised as a Magical Treasure, he circulated among the common people and escaped. My poor, fine pen! It diligently guarded this territory for so many years. Its Spirit Attribute remains, but its Spiritual Wisdom has been worn down to almost nothing. Now, it attacks anyone it sees, friend or foe alike. Luckily, it still recognizes me and hasn’t attacked me."
As he spoke, the Peddler patted this "Local Deity" with a look of heartfelt sympathy.
The "Local Deity" lifted its head, stared at the Peddler for a long moment, then opened its mouth and bit down hard on the Peddler’s hand.
"Let go! Let go, quick!" The Peddler kicked and struggled, finally yanking his hand free.
The bite was vicious, and the pain made the Peddler tremble.
Li Banfeng looked at the Judge’s Pen and asked, "How did you transfer your cultivation level to a pen?"
"HMPH!" the Judge’s Pen responded, then rolled over and went to sleep.
PS: The order of the Ink Shop is very important.