Inside the second room, Li Banfeng and Tang Saber stood back to back against opposite walls.

Tang Saber was the first to speak. "The hour of the decisive battle is finally upon us."

Li Banfeng's expression was cold. "What is destined will come to pass. Such is fate."

Tang Saber swayed slightly as an indication of its agreement. "A thousand pieces of gold may be easily gained, yet a kindred spirit is not something one can find even in a lifetime of seeking.

"To cross blades beneath heaven with the foremost swordsman and test our skill upon the edge of fate, I could meet death a hundred times without regret."

Li Banfeng's eyes burned like torches, seemingly moved by Tang Saber's words.

"A pity," he said quietly, "you are no sword."

Tang Saber unsheathed himself in a clear ring of steel. "Though I am no sword, I am wreathed in sword qi."

The two faced each other for a while before Tang Saber asked, "Why haven't you drawn your sword yet?"

Li Banfeng answered, "The sword intent has long arisen in my heart."

"Ahh…" Tang Saber shuddered twice and dropped to his knees. "My lord, I have been pierced by your sword intent. I no longer have the strength to fight. Henceforth, I will serve you like a dog, like a horse, anything you wish!"

Li Banfeng frowned in clear disappointment. "Hey! I have told you many times. Don't yield that quickly. You have got to fight my sword intent properly!

Tang Saber said, "This humble servant has fought with all his heart, my lord, yet your might is beyond my reach. I am powerless to resist!"

However, Li Banfeng was not pleased with the explanation. "You have not uttered a single verse of battle poetry. How can you claim to have fought with all your heart?"

Tang Saber quickly argued, "My lord, poem verses are of little weight. It is the intent that truly matters."

Li Banfeng was about to start another round when a voice blared from the gramophone, "Husband dear~ The morning light is splendid and fair! Cease your play at home and get me some groceries!"

Feeling that his little wifey was going a bit too much this time, Li Banfeng went back to the main room and stared blankly at the gramophone.

Just a day ago, Li Banfeng had brought back five Spiky Swallower Beads. Each bead contained at least six and at most nineteen vengeful spirits.

The gramophone had devoured them all. Even so, she still wanted him to get groceries!

Is this even suitable?

Li Banfeng screamed inwardly.

"My dear wifey, I do adore you when you are rounder, yet should you not control your appetite a little…"

"Husband dear, oh husband dear, how cruel your words to this poor little wife!" The gramophone wailed with sorrowful melody, and a plume of white steam drifted forth, curling like a stage mist that filled the room.

The Arcane Crimson Lotus hastily shut the door to the second room. In the corner, Tang Saber crouched low, trembling like a leaf, too afraid to move.

Li Banfeng stumbled out of the Pocket Dwelling with his skin being burnt the color of a ripe tomato.

Today, he was heading to the New Land with Ma Wu.

Ma Wu had found a large lump of gluey clay there the night before. He hadn't brought an iron canister, so he couldn't take it back. Early this morning, he set out again to retrieve the treasure.

***

Inside a grand mansion in Wishpond Village, nestled within Medicine King Gully, Detective Daboinsky sat across from Zhuo Yuling.

The mansion was enormous, with three courtyards at the entrance and three more at the back. Yet, Daboinsky and Zhuo Yuling were the only two inside this huge mansion.

"Madam, may I inquire what urgency compelled you to summon me? I am in the middle of finding clues that can lead me to Li Banfeng."

Zhuo Yuling shook her head. "Forget Li Banfeng for now. The situation is urgent. You must save my daughter first."

Daboinsky fell silent. "From what I have gathered," he said at last, "Lu Xiaolan has already been rescued by Qiu Zhiheng, the chief steward of your Lu Family. She's sitting safely in their Lu Family's estate now."

Zhuo Yuling nodded. "That's exactly why I want you to rescue her."

Daboinsky paused for a moment before letting out a soft chuckle. "My dear madam, I sincerely hope you are not serious. Surely you don't expect me to set myself against the Lu Family."

Zhuo Yuling's eyes reddened. "She is my only child, and you are the only one I can rely on now. As long as you can get her out of that place, I will agree to any condition."

Daboinsky gave a long, patient sigh. "Madam, really. You don't suppose I would fall for that, do you? Be honest with yourself. Have you ever once told me the truth?"

Zhuo Yuling suddenly grabbed his hand tightly. "At least I was being genuine that night. I gave it all to you that night. Do you still not believe me?"

Daboinsky looked into her eyes and saw a single teardrop glimmering in her eye, trembling but refusing to fall. It held both her helplessness and misery.

He pushed her hand away and said with a smile, "Madam, let us be practical. If I am to rescue your daughter, what will my compensation be? And please, spare me the mention of those ten thousand silver dollars from before. Circumstances have changed, and such a sum would no longer be adequate."

Zhuo Yuling wiped away her tears. "One hundred thousand. I will give you one hundred thousand."

"That would be rather inadequate."

"Two hundred thousand."

Daboinsky paused in thought before saying. "Two hundred thousand silver dollars. In addition, three round-trip permits to the Outer Provinces and two to the Inner Provinces. No expiry dates."

Zhuo Yuling frowned. "The Outer Province permits are manageable, but the Inner Province ones are really…"

Daboinsky chuckled. "I am asking for merely two. If even that is beyond your reach, I fear your daughter cannot be saved at all.

Zhuo Yuling bit her lip. "I can get the silver dollars within three days. The travel permit to the Outer Provinces will take more than five days. As for the travel permit to the Inner Provinces, I will have to ask around first."

Daboinsky sighed again. "It would be best if you inquire about it soon. I have heard many in Medicine King Gully say that Li Banfeng was killed by Lu Xiaolan when he arrived. If Lu Dongliang hears those rumors, you know what will happen."

Those rumours had already reached Lu Dongliang's ears. Some had even appeared in the newspapers.

Zhuo Yuling had no idea where the rumours came from, but they were spreading rapidly across Puluo Province. Many already believed that Li Banfeng had been killed by Lu Xiaolan long ago.

***

In the Third Hospital of Yuezhou Province, He Jiaqing of the He Family lay on his bed.

At some point during his unconscious state, he sensed that no one was nearby and could not help but smile faintly once more.

***

Li Banfeng wiped the sticky spiderwebs off his face and peered around the jungle with great suspicion.

There were two thoroughly horrible things about trudging through a jungle. The first was the mosquitoes, which attacked like tiny, bloodthirsty brigands. The second was the spiderwebs, which slapped against your face as if the spiders themselves were trying to smother you.

Ma Wu's face was plastered with webbing as well.

"Webs are nothing," he said, spitting out a strand. "Just pray you do not touch an actual spider. No one knows how venomous the ones in the New Land might be."

Li Banfeng asked, "Do you remember where you found the gluey clay? How far away are we from it?"

Ma Wu nodded. "I remember the place well. We just have to walk five kilometers north. Finding the clay is the easy part. Getting it back is the hard bit, since the clump of gluey clay is rather big. If the Song Family discovers it, we'll be in trouble."

The Song Family was quite an extraordinary existence. They knew little about the New Land, but they still maintained a tight grip on its resources. If not for Ma Wu's discreet channel for moving the goods, everything they hunted in the New Land would be exploited by the Song Family, who would take the lion's share of the profit.

Li Banfeng sighed. "No matter what business we take on, we always have to hide from the Song Family. Are they really that unbreakable?"

Ma Wu shook his head. "Brother Li, the Song Family isn't just unbreakable. They are even tougher, because they have powerful forces backing them. As far as I know, the head of the Song Family, Song Jiasen, is their strongest cultivator. He is a level-three Martial Cultivator. He is strong, but not strong enough to secure the entire Blue Poplar Village."

Li Banfeng asked, "Then is it his family that's strong?"

Ma Wu shook his head. "Some people might earn cultivation progress through special encounters. However, to ordinary people, cultivation is ultimately something that takes time.

"The Song Family members are not particularly gifted. Song Jiasen has taken countless tonics, yet even in his early fifties he has only reached level three. His sons were no better. Song Zhigang, already past thirty, and Song Zhiyi, still in his twenties, were both still level-one cultivators.

"Then is it his subordinates who are powerful?"

Ma Wu let out a thin, chilly sneer. "He has only one level-four fighter, and even that fellow can't truly be called a subordinate. He's just someone that Song Jiasen had hired.

"With Greenwater City being so close to us, do you honestly think any decent level-three or level-four cultivator would choose to rot away in a little poor backwater like this?"

"Then what exactly keeps the Song Family standing?"

"The Song Family is backed by the Liu Family, and the Liu Family is backed by the Si Family. The Si Family, in turn, relies on the Lu Family, one of the four great families.

"Every year, the Song Family hands over more than eighty percent of its income to those families above it. With ties woven so tightly, their foundations run deep. That is how they have managed to keep Blue Poplar Village firmly under their control."

The Lu Family… the Lu Family again,

Li Banfeng thought.

It seems escaping them once and for all will be truly difficult.

After a short rest, the two set off again when a voice suddenly called out, "Bro, watch your step."

They both instinctively replied, "What is under our—"

As they answered, they blinked at each other, each wondering who on earth had just spoken.

Li Banfeng looked up and saw a massive cocoon slowly lowering itself from the tree. In that instant, he recalled his most terrifying experience in the New Land of Mount River Moon.

"Run!" Li Banfeng yanked Ma Wu by the arm and took off at full speed.

Behind them, a chorus of eerie voices drifted after them."Don't run! Did I guess right?"

"If I guessed right, you have to stay and play with me."

"And if I guessed wrong, then it's your turn to guess!"

𝘧𝘳𝘦ℯ𝓌𝘦𝒷𝘯𝑜𝑣𝘦𝓁.𝒸𝘰𝓂

The three voices chimed one after another, chasing them through the trees and pushing Li Banfeng to run even faster.

Struggling to keep up, Ma Wu panted, "What are those things?"

"Bagworm moths!" Li Banfeng shouted back.

"Bagworm moths? I-I've read about them somewhere…" Ma Wu tried to recall what he had read, but the details slipped away from him. And from what he did remember, the description in the book didn't seem to match what he was seeing now.

Before long, the giant willow tree ahead began to shake violently. Li Banfeng knew something terrible was about to happen.

"Reroute! Reroute!" Li Banfeng yelled.

Reroute?

Ma Wu thought. In a place where every step was a tangle of vines and thorns, how could a reroute be easily done?

While Li Banfeng was still searching for another way around, a plump, bright green figure came thudding down from the tree above.

"T-This is Lady Bagworm? The one you can never shake off?" Ma Wu stammered, suddenly remembering the description in the book. The plump, bright green worm looked almost exactly like the illustration he saw in the book.

A wave of despair washed over Li Banfeng.

Why do I have to encounter this thing again?

he howled in his heart.

Is there one of these monsters in every new land?

"Run! Faster!" he shouted, and the two of them bolted through the undergrowth with the giant green worm chasing after them.

"DON'T RUN. STAY. WITH. ME. My children like you and so do I."

Li Banfeng could not help but feel that this Lady Bagworm was a rather magical creature, strange in all the ways that mattered. He had only met such creatures twice. The one chasing him now looked exactly like the one he had encountered in the new land at Mount River Moon. They had the same body, the same way of speaking, the same lines, and even the same voice.He could not help but wonder if these creatures were mass-produced in some factory somewhere?

Lady Bagworm called out, "Stop running. If you do not want to play with my children, then play with me instead. I know so many games and so many positions."

After running for a long time, Li Banfeng spotted a fork in the path. If his sense of direction was right, the path to the left should lead back to Blue Poplar Village.

However, the instant he moved toward the left path, a thick clump of silk dropped down and blocked the way ahead.

It was exactly how he had experienced it last time. Lady Bagworm was never in a rush to kill. She would allow her prey to scramble about, but she would never let them leave the new land.

Ma Wu was at his limit. As a Hedonism Cultivator, his body was weak, and he gasped and coughed with every step. Still, even if he could not run anymore, he had to keep going.

Li Banfeng dragged Ma Wu along and ran with everything he had. Behind them, Lady Bagworm strolled after them at a leisurely pace.

"Don't you run~ Are you really abandoning me so heartlessly? Do you not even care about hte bond we once shared?"

What bond?

Li Banfeng cursed inwardly.

These Lady Bagworms all act the same! They like pretending like they know you well! Whether they are old or young, they all act the same!

Li Banfeng kept running, but Lady Bagworm's voice drifted after him again. "We played in the forest all day, remember? You killed three of my children, and I never blamed you. How could you forget me so quickly?"

Wait, what does that even mean? What is happening right now?

Li Banfeng's thoughts tangled into a muddled mess, and a sharp buzzing filled his head.

Lady Bagworm let out a soft sigh. "You really are a heartless man. Your friend was nothing like you. He and I made love for three whole days, and I bore him many children."

My friend? The one who can turn into a spider? Detective Daboinsky? He… had many children with you? Is that actually true?

No! Now is not the time to think about whatever happened to Daboinsky. I have a far more urgent problem right now.

So this Lady Bagworm is the very same one from the New Land of Mount River Moon? But how is this even possible? The New Land of Mount River Moon is more than a thousand li from Blue Poplar Village. How did this creature manage to come all the way here?