Chapter 119: A Drastic Change in Power Dynamics

Li Banfeng clamped down hard on his jittery legs while his wifey cheerfully explained the level-three technique.

"Ahhhhh-yaaaaa~ Husband dear~

"A level-one and level-two Homebound Cultivator has no techniques at all. They have only two characteristic abilities.

"The first one is Holding the Home Front. It means that the moment they step into their own home, their strength rises like a steady drumbeat.

"The second is Overlooked by All. Once they leave the house, every passerby looks past them, and no one pays them the slightest heed~"

At that moment, Li Banfeng’s feet were still trembling. To his horror, he could actually see his legs beginning to stretch, slowly and steadily, the way warm toffee gets pulled longer and longer.

"Those are techniques, but they are also gifts from your little wifey. Other Homebound Cultivators might not be able to use them."

This was the unique nature of being a Homebound Cultivator, and it was the reason others hesitated to fight them. Some of a Homebound Cultivator’s techniques were gifted by dwelling spirit, and there was never a clear pattern to predict or follow.

His wifey continued, "But level-three techniques are different. All the Homebound Cultivators under heaven share the same one. Its name is An Arrow Bound for Home. When a Homebound Cultivator feels the urge to return, their power rises sharply at once. How much it grows and how long the boost lasts both depend on your ability."

Li Banfeng slapped his thigh. "I can last a long time. You know that."

Pop...crackle~

The gramophone let out a mocking laugh. "An Arrow Bound for Home depends first on how strong my husband is, and second on how urgent his longing is. The stronger his cultivation and the more desperate his wish to return, the fiercer the surge will be, and the longer the technique will last."

"So that’s how it works. I will go test it now," Li Banfeng said. He shot to his feet and bolted outside. He could not hold it in for another second.

He wanted to run. He desperately wanted to run. In fact, if he kept his upper body perfectly still, his legs would probably tear themselves free and sprint down the road without his upper body.

The gramophone advised, "Husband dear~ A Homebound Cultivator must honor the time spent at home. At level one you must stay at least two hours a day. At level two at least three hours. At level three at least four. And now that you have reached level three, you must remain at home no fewer than five hours each day.

"Husband dear~ In the past, you were struggling to make a living so it made sense that you would come home early some days and late on others.

"This little wifey never complained. But now that you have reached level three, you must take these rules to heart.

"Your little wifey is easy enough to soothe, but the house itself is far more difficult to appease."

Li Banfeng gave a quick reply and hopped out of the Pocket Dwelling as if the floor had turned into hot coals.

In the outer room, a single dewdrop gathered on the Bronze Lotus. She wasn’t trying to spit at all. She was sweating in fright, and the cold bead rolled down her petal like a nervous tear.

Li Banfeng shot out of Blue Poplar Village and tore across the wilderness with no destination in mind. Only by running at full speed could he keep his legs from shaking uncontrollably.

As Li Banfeng ran, his thoughts spun in circles.

Those last reminders from the gramophone are important. A Homebound Cultivator has to keep the balance between himself, the house, and the dwelling spirit. If he stays away too long or spends too little time at home, the distance grows... and the house might even lash back.

If the Pocket Dwelling really wanted to punish me, would it act on its own... or work with my wifey to teach me a lesson?

Realizing that this question was unnecessary, he immediately dismissed the thought.

No, that is pointless. If my wifey wants to deal with me, she will never need the house’s help.

The real question is...

When can I finally stop running?!

Li Banfeng had been running for what felt like forever.

He tore out of Blue Poplar Village, crossed the wilderness, dashed through one small town after another, and covered more than a hundred li before circling back to the little wooden hut. Even then, he had absolutely no intention of stopping.

The moment he stopped, his legs started trembling all over again, shaking so wildly they seemed ready to sprint off without him.

He had underestimated this so-called backlash. If an enemy appeared right now, Li Banfeng would have almost no strength to fight back.

Unless he could break through to level two just by running, this was pointless. He would need to run fifty li every day for ten years to reach level two, and who knew how long he would have to run to fulfill that requirement.

How am I supposed to solve this problem?

Li Banfeng thought. He clamped down on the jittering in his arm and took out a freshly made Golden Essence Pill from his inner pocket.

There were thirty-eight pills in total, and each one represented one hundred days of cultivation.

Three thousand eight hundred days meant more than ten years of cultivation. If he swallowed all the pills, Li Banfeng could advance to level two and finally return to the level a Homebound Cultivator was supposed to be at.

Is it actually safe to gulp all these down at once?

Li Banfeng wondered.

Even stopping for just a brief moment made the urge to sprint surge back up. Li Banfeng had no choice but to run. It felt as if his legs were about to fly straight out of his hip joints.

𝕗𝗿𝕖𝐞𝐰𝗲𝕓𝐧𝕠𝕧𝗲𝐥.𝚌𝐨𝚖

It was not a trick of perception. His legs really felt like they were about to fly off, and Li Banfeng could hear his own joints grinding together with a terrible, crunchy protest.

Blood seeped down his thighs. His own skin had torn under the force of his muscles straining far beyond what they could bear. And it was not only his legs. Every joint in his body felt as if it was bracing itself to sprint on its own.

His left hand seemed eager to move east, his right hand was ready to fly west, and his neck felt as if it wanted to launch itself straight into the sky. His legs insisted on running and refused to do anything else. If he stopped for even a breath, it felt as though his entire body would rip itself apart in every direction at once.

I can’t go on like this. If I don’t take enough pills to reach level two, this backlash won’t get any better.

Even if I kept running aimlessly like this and dropped dead from exhaustion, my body would probably keep running on its own. If I ran into an enemy in this state, I would die for sure.

Should I go back home and take the pills there? No. That won’t work.

Li Banfeng could not let the gramophone find out that he was also practicing Wanderlust Cultivation.

The gramophone despised Wanderlust Cultivators, though he had no idea why.

If the gramophone ever learned that Li Banfeng was taking pills to level up in his Wanderlust Cultivation, it might try to stop him. It might even lose control on the spot and take his life.

Since he had started, he might as well go all the way!

He might as well take them now. If anything went wrong, he could always return to the Pocket Dwelling to detoxify.

When Li Banfeng came sprinting back to the wooden hut, Ma Wu walked out of his bedroom with a newspaper in hand. "Brother Li, guess what happened? The Lu Family..."

"Forget that for now. I can’t go to the new land tonight. Guard the door for me, and don’t let anyone in."

"Brother Li, what on earth happened? Why are you shaking like that?"

"Sh-shaking... shaking a little isn’t a big deal. It... it’s fine, isn’t it?" Li Banfeng’s voice quivered so wildly that his words fell apart before they even formed. Since explaining any of it would have been impossible, he simply clamped his mouth shut and gave up.

He dashed up the stairs, burst into the bedroom, spilled all thirty-eight pills onto the table, shoved the whole lot into his mouth, and washed them down with one enormous gulp of water.

Ever since he arrived in Puluo Province, this was the first time Li Banfeng had taken any pills.

The Golden Essence Pills slid down his throat one after another, smooth and effortless.

After all thirty-eight pills reached his stomach, Li Banfeng did not feel anything out of the ordinary.

He only felt that the urge to tremble was not as strong.

The backlash effect stopped. So I am now a level-two Wanderlust Cultivator? Did it take effect that quickly? And is a breakthrough supposed to be this smooth?

A surge of joy rose within Li Banfeng, but when he glanced down at his body again, he realized that something was wrong.

He was still trembling, every bit as violently as before. The only reason it felt weaker was far more alarming. He simply could not feel his body anymore.

He tried to lift an arm, but it hung there like a stubborn puppet string that refused to move no matter how hard he pulled.

Is the pill poison really this strong? I need to get back to the Pocket Dwelling and detoxify immediately.

But how am I supposed to explain this to my wifey? Should I say I suddenly went crazy and swallowed all the pills? Would she believe that? Actually... that does sound believable.

Since I already took the pills, I should just avoid mentioning the Wanderlust Cultivation and come up with whatever excuse I can. After all, what husband hasn’t told a little lie at home before?

Li Banfeng tried to pull out his key, but he could not. His hands had completely lost control.

I want to go home. I want to go home. I want to go home,

he muttered inwardly. Veins bulged beneath his skin, and his eyes turned bloodshot. Only the tip of his finger could still move, inching slowly as he reached into his pocket.

Using the level-three Homebound Cultivation technique, An Arrow Bound for Home, his overwhelming urge to return home surged through him, pushing his body to a higher state and briefly overpowering the effects of the pill poison.

He twisted the key, pushed the door open, and flung the key under the bed.

When he stepped into the Pocket Dwelling, he managed only two steps before collapsing onto the ground.

The moment he stepped into the Pocket Dwelling, the wish to return home was fulfilled. The urgency disappeared at once, and the surge of power faded with it.

Pop... crackle... pop...

Seeing Li Banfeng sprawled on the floor like a dropped puppet, the gramophone let out a shriek. "Husband dear, what happened to you?"

Li Banfeng could barely force the words out. "I took pills. Golden Essence Pills."

"Husband dear, why did you take those?"

"I thought they were nourishing, so I ate them."

"How many did you take?"

"Thirty-eight. I ate all of them!"

"Husband dear! You are a mad man. Do you have a death wish or something?"

A swirl of steam lifted Li Banfeng and set him gently on the bed. He lay there for a while, and under the circling steam, he slowly calmed down.

The pill poison was terrifying. It would be a long time before he regained full sensation in his body.

However, it was still far better than the cultivation backlash. Just before taking the pills, he had even feared that his body might tear itself apart.

Li Banfeng’s legs were still trembling, as if they were trying to detach themselves from him. Stil, he could see clearly that the trembling was no longer as violent.

Meanwhile, beads of dew rolled down one after another on the bronze lotus.

***

Ma Wu was downstairs flipping through the newspaper and thinking that today's news was indeed extraordinary.

The news had reported what was happening with the Lu Family. Lu Dongjun accused He Yuxiu of harming Lu Dongliang, and He Yuxiu insisted that Lu Dongjun wanted to murder his own elder brother and seize the position of family head. Both sides sang a different tune, and no one knew which one was lying through their teeth.

There was still no news at all about where Lu Dongliang had gone.

Ma Wu skimmed past the commentaries written by famous columnists. He couldn't be bothered with those as he cared far more about the small, barely noticeable stories tucked between the big ones.

The Ma Family had begun gathering funds from all over to activate a new land, which was odd. Even though the Ma Family had declined a bit over the years, they should not have needed to scrape money from so many places just to activate a new land.

Based on everything he knew about his father, Ma Wu guessed the real reason. The Ma Family wanted to quietly pull their money out of the Lu Family’s bank and tiptoe away from the storm before it exploded.

Another headline announced that Chu Huaiyuan, the second daughter of the Chu Family, had stepped forward to clarify the ridiculous rumor that she had murdered her husband. She then strutted into the Paramount Club to show her support for the Singing Queen, Jiang Mengting.

The second daughter of the Chu Family is at the Paramount Club again,

Ma Wu thought.

She has always coveted that place, but since it belonged to the Lu Family, she could never get her hands on it. But now... now is her chance.

The piece of news also revealed the Chu Family's stance. They clearly intended to leap straight into the middle of the brewing storm and snatch every benefit they could get their hands on.

As Ma Wu read the news, he felt his heart itch with anticipation.

The Lu Family was in shambles, and the power dynamics of Puluo Province were about to be reshaped. Ma Wu could already smell opportunity in the air!

A storm was brewing in Puluo Province. With the Lu Family caught in such turmoil, they likely had no attention to spare for Li Banfeng.

Thinking of this made Ma Wu worry about Li Banfeng again. He had just decided to head upstairs and check on him when a sudden knock sounded at the door.

When he opened the door, he found a middle-aged man dressed in a long azure-and-black coat and about fifty years old standing outside. His face was pale and clean-shaven, and he had round sunglasses beneath a wide-brimmed fedora.

"May I ask who you’re looking for?" Ma Wu asked politely.

The middle-aged man smiled. "The fifth son of the Ma Family! You are exactly the one I am looking for!"

A twitch of tension ran through Ma Wu, but he smoothed it over at once. "How should I address you?"

"My name is Yang Yanzheng and I serve as a steward of the Chu Family."

Upon hearing this name, Ma Wu immediately remembered Landlord Wei’s dying words.

It was this very Yang Yanzheng, a subordinate of the second daughter of the Chu Family, who had been ordering people to torment him all this time.

"And what brings you here?" Ma Wu asked, standing in the doorway with a calm, steady expression.

Yang Yanzheng smiled. "My lady’s birthday is this month, and she wishes to invite you. I have brought her invitation."

Ma Wu accepted the invitation, glanced over it, and let a faint smile slip across his face.

"Your lady still wants to invite me? I have already been kicked out from my family. With my current status, would it be suitable for me to show up at your lady's birthday party?"

Yang Yanzheng replied, "My lady believes that you have done nothing wrong and that you should not have suffered so much. She doesn't care what other people say. As long as you are willing to attend, the doors of the Chu Family will remain open to you."

Ma Wu froze for a moment, then suddenly asked, "And what if I refuse?"

Yang Yanzheng fell quiet for a long beat before letting out a soft sigh. "Young Master Wu, you have suffered quite a lot these days. You would not want to go through all of that again, would you?"

Author's Note

PS:Thank you reader 20220724175249537。

Second Miss Chu first appeared in the newspapers of Medicine King Gully. She was a level-two Ascetic Cultivator.