Chapter 44: Lend It to Me

With his hands and feet bound by iron chains, Li Banfeng was thrown into the so-called prey room. This room was nothing more than a small hostage room where they kept their captives. This family made their living by drugging people and then hurting them.

Earlier that day, before Li Banfeng was caught, a mother and her daughter had already fallen into their trap.

The mother's name was Xiao Yeci. She was about twenty-two or twenty-three and wore a long changshan robe. Even though her face was covered with dirt and wounds, her striking features and beauty still stood out. Her brows, in particular, gave her the calm, refined aura of a scholar.

Her daughter, Lu Chunying, was about twelve or thirteen. She was dressed similarly as her mother, but she didn't emanate the aura of a scholar.

When Li Banfeng was thrown into the prey room, the girl grew curious and reached out to touch him.

Her mother, Xiao Yeci, quickly pulled her back and whispered over and over in her ear, "Nan'nan, don't touch anything. Listen to me. Don't touch anything at all."

The prey room was small, barely seven or eight square meters, with a pile of firewood in the middle. Li Banfeng was thrown onto the left side of it, while Xiao Yeci held her daughter and stayed on the right, trying to keep as much distance from him as possible.

The night grew darker, and nearly an hour passed. The girl slept in her mother's arms, while Xiao Yeci tried to stay awake, but her eyelids grew heavy and she kept dozing off.

Meanwhile, Li Banfeng had regained some strength. With the mother and daughter asleep, he held the key in his teeth and turned it little by little.

Click, clack, clack.

The key pushed back stiffly, showing it had already connected with the Pocket Dwelling. However, with his neck stuck at an awkward angle, turning it three full times with just his mouth was really hard.

With his wrists locked in iron chains, Li Banfeng couldn't move his arms. He had no choice but to work the key with his teeth and tongue, turning it bit by bit. His teeth tapped against the head of the key, making faint clinking sounds

When the little girl, Lu Chunying, opened her eyes just a slit and peeked at him, Li Banfeng quickly pushed the key back into his mouth and glared at her fiercely while thinking,

Nosy little girl! What are you staring at me for?!

Lu Chunying was so scared that she looked away at once. Nevertheless, because of that single glance, all his efforts earlier had been wasted.

With the poison still in his system, he had almost no strength left. He was about to spit the key out when he noticed the little girl peeking at him again.

Looking again!

Li Banfeng thought. This time, he glared at the little girl even more fiercely, as if he were about to devour her alive.

Lu Chunying quickly turned her head away, but after a moment, she couldn't resist sneaking another glance. To her shock, the man was gone. He had been right there a moment ago. How did he vanish so suddenly?

"Mom, that man, he—"

"Stay still, don't say a word," Xiao Yeci said in a sleepy murmur. "Nan'nan, just listen to me. As long as we do as I say, we'll be fine."

Li Banfeng returned to the Pocket Dwelling, spitting the key into the pile of firewood before entering. He lay down for a moment before he started retching violently, vomiting all the food he had eaten the night before along with a mouthful of bile.

Then his body began to convulse, sweat gushing out with a foul, bitter stench that almost made him feel like vomiting again.

Both the sweat and the vomit carried the toxins his body was expelling.

His body was quickly forcing the poison out. This was the ability of a Homebound Cultivator. However, unlike the time at Mount Bitterfog, he was not only expelling the toxins by vomiting, he was also sweating it out.

Why is the method different this time? Is it because the poison itself is different, or has my body upgraded its way of detoxification?

Li Banfeng wondered. He wanted to wipe the sweat from his face, but his hands and feet were shackled, leaving him unable to move.

Beads of sweat trickled into his eyes, making the corners sting with sharp pain.

No! I have to break free and wipe this sweat away before it poisons me again! But how can I possibly break these chains?

Currently, Li Banfeng had recovered some of his strength. He wanted to snap the iron chains, which were thicker than hemp rope, with brute strength, but the idea was ridiculous.

Are there tools in the Pocket Dwelling? Yes! A pair of pliers and a wrench I bought for fixing the gramophone!

The tools were kept in the cabinet under the gramophone. Li Banfeng crawled over. Though his arms and wrists were tied, he could still move his palms. With great effort, he pulled out the toolbox and worked at the chains with the pliers for a long time. But even after he tried to cut the chains with the pliers for a long time, the chain remained the same.

The tools meant for repairing a gramophone were too fine. It was not suitable for such rough work. Sweat streamed down his face. His eyes swelled shut from the burning pain, and he could no longer force them open.

Am I going blind?

When Chu Yunlong was made into pills, his clothes had been torn to shreds and left scattered across the floor. Li Banfeng hadn't cleaned them up back then. And now, he just wanted to rub his eyes against a scrap of cloth on the floor. He searched the floor for a long time but couldn't find a single piece.

He crawled to the bed and rubbed his eyes against the sheet, but it did nothing. Instead, the sweat only smeared across his eyelids, making the burning pain worse.

Water! I need to find water! I must clean my eyes asap!

Li Banfeng had a water bucket that he would keep by his bed. Whenever he had the chance, he would fill it to the brim. The water was always clean. He would usually drink from this bucket and use whatever that was left to wash up on the next day.

Where's the bucket?

Li Banfeng thought as he searched. At last, he found it by the bed and plunged his head inside. Yet, even when his forehead touched the bottom of the bucket, he didn't sense even a drop of water.

Empty? That's impossible! I remember leaving it full! Evaporated? How could it vanish so quickly?!

Li Banfeng felt so anxious, and the more anxious and nervewrecking he was, the more he sweated.

Is there another way? Is there? Yes! As long as I can break free from these chains, there will be a way.

Suddenly, he recalled something and started wriggling across the floor like an earthworm, moving around by memory. Eventually, he wriggled to the corner of the room.

As he turned, he touched the spectacle case lying in the corner.

Thank goodness it's still here!

Li Banfeng exclaimed inwardly. He strained every muscle, opened the case, and took out a Corrosion Pill.

A sharp pain stabbed his palm, but he ignored it and pressed the pill to the iron chain. At once, the metal began to corrode.

He endured for several seconds, then erupted with a burst of strength that snapped the chains around his hands. He rubbed the Corrosion Pill back and forth along the iron, and before long, every shackle binding his body broke apart.

Once he broke free, his palms split open, and blood mixed with rust trickled out. Li Banfeng was purging the toxins. His eyes still burned fiercely. He put the Corrosion Pill away, ignored his bleeding hands, and hurried out of the Pocket Dwelling.

The moment he stepped outside, the gramophone popped and crackled with steam. The record began to spin, and a song drifted out.

It was the Wandering Songtress, but with the lyrics changed.

「 From the earth's far end to the rolling sea~

Sweat may fall, but fear not...

If it stings your eyes, it will pass in a while~

My love, your bright eyes will always shine and smile. 」

Li Banfeng went back into the prey room, moving with light, silent steps. He endured the pain as he forced his eyes open and pulled the key from the firewood pile.

He glanced around, studying the layout of the prey room. One door was secured with a lock, and a small window with iron bars opened toward the back courtyard. Then he caught the sound of running water outside the window.

Water!

Li Banfeng's heart leapt with joy. He opened the Pocket Dwelling once more, and with one foot inside, he tossed the key out.

When he stepped out of the Pocket Dwelling again, he was already outside the prey room, in the backyard. A well stood there, and the old woman's second son was beside it, drawing water while sharpening his saber.

The second son was almost done sharpening the saber. He wanted to draw another bucket of water to wash it clean. Just as he pulled one up, Li Banfeng snatched it away.

"Let me borrow this water, thank you." Li Banfeng even bowed as he spoke, then conveniently grabbed the man's knees and flipped him into the well.

He plunged his head into the bucket, and the cool water soothed the burning in his eyes. Only then did he realize he had been too tense. The perspiration was nowhere near as harmful to the eyes as he had feared.

After rinsing, most of the pain eased. He dumped the bucket over his head and let the water wash away all the sweat.

As Li Banfeng washed his face, the second son climbed out of the well. Clinging to the rim, he silently fixed his gaze on Li Banfeng's back.

The second son was a Martial Cultivator, a driven man who refused to accept defeat. For over a decade, he had run this business with his mother and brother, and never once had a hostage tricked him.

How could I have let my guard down and failed to hear a single step?

the second son thought. He had no intention of calling for his mother or his brother. He meant to take advantage of Li Banfeng's seeming carelessness and kill the hostage with his own hands.

When Li Banfeng set the bucket down, the second son braced his arms on the rim of the well and prepared to leap out.

Li Banfeng spotted the saber lying on the ground, the one that the second son had freshly sharpened. He lifted it from the whetstone, turned, and said, "Let me borrow this blade as well."

With that, he turned and slashed the second son's throat as the man leapt out, then shoved him back into the well. He plunged into the water and floated to the surface, staring up at the sky through the opening.

He couldn't make sense of what had just happened. He had never thought a Wanderlust Cultivator could strike so quickly, or that Li Banfeng would attack without the slightest warning. While he believed Li Banfeng was focused on washing his face, Li Banfeng had been watching the well the entire time.

He wanted to call for his mother and his brother, but blood filled his mouth and water flooded his nose. He couldn't make a single sound.