On the road, Ma Wu felt quite emotional. "I heard your conversation outside, and I think Old Master Qin is a good person, much more reliable than the Coachman."
Li Banfeng did not respond. "Brother, you go back to the mine first, and be extra careful on the way."
At the intersection, Li Banfeng ran to Nanqiao and soon found the entrance to the New Land.
The entrance to this New Land was just a mountain path. The Coachman was a Cloud-Traveling Cultivator, and Li Banfeng neither knew if he had really run off nor how far he could have gotten.
After chasing for over a hundred li, Li Banfeng saw the Coachman squatting on the ground, rolling a tobacco leaf to smoke.
"Brother, what are you doing here?"
The Coachman didn’t look up, knowing Li Qi had come. He was somewhat embarrassed. "Well, Old Qi, I left in such a hurry that I didn’t get to say goodbye to you. The pancake vendor must have told you everything, right? It’s just that I really had no other choice."
Li Banfeng asked, "What do you mean by ’no other choice’?"
The Coachman took a drag of his tobacco, spitting out some tobacco-flecked saliva. "It’s not for myself. I’m not afraid of losing my status. I’m doing it for Loess Bridge. I can’t let Loess Bridge become Old Land. That territory was left to me by my master, and I can’t let him down..."
Li Banfeng interrupted the Coachman. "If you come back with me now, I’ll take you to see that pancake vendor. I promise I won’t let Loess Bridge become Old Land. I won’t give him that chance. Do you dare to fight him?"
"Dare, why wouldn’t I dare?" The Coachman took another puff, his words full of vigor, but he did not stand up. "But if I have to go back, I need to bury the Contract Book. There are only a few places where I can do that, and that pancake vendor has calculated them all. He’s been quite accurate. If he digs up the Contract Book..."
Li Banfeng said, "I’ll have someone watch over your Contract Book, not letting anyone dig it out. Do you trust me?"
"I trust you, definitely," said the Coachman. "But this... we need to think long-term. We have to protect the territory and the Contract Book. Staying in Loess Bridge might not be an option, so... Old Qi, don’t rush, let’s discuss this more!"
Li Banfeng turned and left, not looking back.
Upon reaching North Bridge, Li Banfeng went to the pancake stall and said to Qin Bulou, "Make me a pancake, roll it thin and crispy."
Qin Bulou quickly made the pancake and handed it to Li Banfeng. "Seventh Master, you’re back?"
Li Banfeng nodded. "Why do you think I came back?"
"You’re here to go into business with me."
"Why couldn’t I have come back to settle accounts with you?"
Qin Bulou put down his spatula. "To be honest, I’ve been worried. The chance you came back to settle accounts is quite high because you have a unique temperament. Many things can’t be calculated in the usual way, and even if calculated, they’re not accurate."
Li Banfeng finished his pancake quickly. "Let’s find a place to talk first."
The pancake vendor led Li Banfeng back to his home, which was also Miss Qin’s home. Miss Qin came forward to greet him. "You’re Seventh Master?"
Li Banfeng nodded.
"I’ve brewed a jar of wine, and I’d like you to pass it to Master Wu," Miss Qin handed the wine to Li Banfeng. "Please tell Master Wu for me, I don’t want to linger over him. I only ask that the next time he comes, he removes the Emotional Root from my eyes."
The biggest characteristic of the Emotion Cultivation Technique is that it is hard to recognize. Li Banfeng asked Miss Qin, "Can you distinguish the Emotional Root?"
Miss Qin shook her head. "I can’t distinguish it, but I can deduce it. Master Wu and I are strangers, and I’m not a shameless woman. Almost all of me was swayed by a few words from him, so there must be some other trick. I can guard against things like Confusing Fragrance Powder. I’ve also seen quite a few Mental Cultivator and Literature Cultivator Techniques. The only thing I can’t defend against is probably the Emotional Root."
Li Banfeng smiled without answering, turning to Qin Bulou. "Loess Bridge has coal and mines. With your and your daughter’s cunning, it shouldn’t be difficult to operate it. Why must you come to me?"
Qin Bulou said, "Seventh Master, you know the reputation of Loess Bridge as well. Even if we do business legitimately from now on, the major families will not risk their capital here. They would even go out of their way to hinder us. If Seventh Master doesn’t lend us a hand, Loess Bridge will never have a chance to rise again."
Qin Bulou had calculated correctly again.
"The bad reputation is your own doing; you can’t blame others for that."
Miss Qin interjected, "Seventh Master, if we didn’t do this, Loess Bridge would have been finished."
Li Banfeng furrowed his brows. "What do you mean by that?"
Qin Bulou spoke to Li Banfeng, "Seventh Master, you just said my daughter and I are cunning; we’ll take it as a compliment. I want the Local Deity status only to ascend Above the Clouds. With such cunning, please tell me, why wouldn’t I go to the New Land and secure a Local Deity status there?"
"The Local Deities of the New Land have been detached from the mundane world for a long time. They’re even easier to outwit. But why do I insist on struggling in Loess Bridge against Deathgate Star and the Foreign Coachman? Both of their cultivation levels are above the Cloud Top First Layer."
Li Banfeng thought for a moment and said, "Is it because you want to absorb the Proper Land human energy after ascending Above the Clouds?"
Qin Bulou shook his head. "Seventh Master, during Deathgate Star’s time, the human energy in Loess Bridge had already dwindled. Places teeming with Strange Monsters might even have more human energy than here. Not only is the human energy here not vibrant, but the luck has also been ruined by Deathgate Star. Considering my own interests, out of a hundred choices, I wouldn’t choose this place even once. However, we have lived in Loess Bridge for generations; this is our home. I want to drive Deathgate Star away. A direct confrontation is not an option, so we had to make Loess Bridge continue to decline, pushing it to the brink of becoming Old Land, to force Deathgate Star to leave."