Chapter 50: The Deadly Toll of the Clock

Li Banfeng suspected that Luo Yuni was sitting right beside him, perhaps even closer, so close that she might have been sitting right on top of him. In such a situation, it would be extremely dangerous for Li Banfeng if Luo Yuni tried to reach out her hand at him. What made it worse was that he could not sense any danger at all.

If this dwelling spirit bore no malicious intent, then everything would be fine. However, if she did harbor malice and he still could not sense it, that meant her cultivation was above his by at least two levels.

When he retreated far away, Luo Yuni looked very disappointed. "What are you still hesitating for? Do you really not want me?"

Once again, Li Banfeng shook his head. "I already said, it's not that I don't want you. I don't want this house."

Li Banfeng was telling the truth. He really wanted a dwelling spirit, but he would never say Luo Yuni's name while he was in this house.

Although Li Banfeng had not been in Puluo for a long time, he had heard the Peddler, Ma Wu, and Xiao Yeci speak about it. After witnessing how the old woman nurtured a dwelling spirit, he managed to piece together some of the principles.

From the principles he had pieced together, three crucial roles emerged: the Homebound Cultivator, the dwelling spirit, and the house itself. The cultivator could command the house, the house could restrain the spirit, and only through this chain could the spirit be subdued.

The key to taming a dwelling spirit lay in the cultivator's attunement with the house. The old woman was not talented and it took her a long time to be fully attuned with this house.

Li Banfeng was not yet attuned to this house, or at least he had not felt it. In this state, he doubted he could subdue such a powerful dwelling spirit. If he failed, the situation would be extremely dangerous.

He had not forgotten Lu Xiaolan, who had been trapped by a dwelling spirit in the He Family's old residence. Luo Yuni's brows eased, and an alluring smile returned to her face.

"You don't want this house, and honestly, neither do I. I have been trapped here for decades, and I grew tired of it long ago. You want that special house of yours, and I like it too. Take me with you. I will follow you. Once I enter your house, I will be yours. My abilities will serve you, and my body will be yours as well."

Take her inside the Pocket Dwelling? Will that really work?

Li Banfeng thought. In the end, he staked everything on this gamble!

The Pocket Dwelling is my territory. It now shares a strong attunement with me. If I light a candle, stare at the clock, sense that attunement, and speak her name, I will be able to subdue her.

The Pocket Dwelling is mine. I can enter whenever I want and leave whenever I want. If she tries any tricks, I will trap her inside the Pocket Dwelling! If I lock her up for a while, I will be able to tame her.

Li Banfeng took a deep breath, unfastened the short saber, and set it aside. For now, it would be far too dangerous to bring this saber into the Pocket Dwelling.

This was a strange weapon that Luo Yuni could wield, but he could not. If he brought it into the Pocket Dwelling and Luo Yuni turned hostile suddenly, this weapon would be the deadly threat.

On top of that, Li Banfeng made other preparations. He reached for the last Corrosion Pill he still had.

Luo Yuni was a ghost, and Li Banfeng had no idea of the methods to deal with such beings. If things went wrong, his only option would be to attack her true body, which would be the old pendulum clock.

The Corrosion Pill could not damage the clock's wooden casing, but it would cause great harm to the pendulum, dial, and inner springs and gears.

Aside from the Corrosion Pill, he armed himself with a sickle and a trowel. He strapped them to his waist, fixing each in the spot where his hand could reach quickest.

The shimmer of Luo Yuni's reflection faded from the pendulum as her soul slipped back into the old clock.

Once everything was ready, Li Banfeng took out the key, lifted the old pendulum clock with one hand, and entered the Pocket Dwelling as fast as he could. He then placed the clock on the floor temporarily as he turned to look for candles.

However, the strange thing was that the candle was no longer in the same spot and he couldn't find the matches again.

Am I forgetting, or has someone entered the Pocket Dwelling before?

Li Banfeng wondered as he hurriedly searched for candles. He needed light. Without it, he would not even be able to see the pendulum clock, much less stare at it.

Once again, Luo Yuni's face floated into view on the pendulum of the clock. However, this time, it was not a reflection. Luo Yuni was truly inside the clock, with the gears and springs visible behind her.

Her alluring smile slowly faded as her brows arched higher and her almond-shaped eyes lifted upward. The corners of her mouth curled into a hungry grin as she licked her lips. The last trace of color drained away, leaving her face corpse-white and hideously twisted.

Li Banfeng's line of thought was correct and he was also using the right method. Under normal circumstances, he would have been able to subdue the dwelling spirit, except that he had underestimated one thing—the gap in strength between them. It was a gap he could not overcome, not even in his own territory.

By common logic, a level-one Homebound Cultivator would only be paired with a dwelling spirit of the first or second level. It was just that Li Banfeng had been mistaken about one thing.

Luo Yuni's talent was extraordinary. Even before she became a dwelling spirit, her immense resentment had already turned her into a powerful vengeful spirit. Afterward, she spent thirty years cultivating and advanced to the sixth level. The strength of such a being was far beyond Li Banfeng's imagination.

Even so, a dwelling spirit was still a dwelling spirit. Luo Yuni remained bound to the house, which was still closely attuned to the old woman. Because of this, much of her strength lay beyond her reach.

Then why hadn't she killed the old woman herself? Had there not been cases of dwelling spirits turning on and killing their masters?

Li Banfeng had thought of this too, and from it he inferred that Luo Yuni was not being fully honest.

In truth, when Luo Yuni saw that Li Banfeng knew little about Homebound Cultivators, she wanted to use him to kill the old woman and then help her break free from her bonds. Most of what she said to gain his trust was true, yet to reveal this would mean exposing the one thing that could kill her, and she would naturally never do something like that.

From the words of Ma Wu, the peddler, and Xiao Yeci, the clues had long been clear. By analyzing them, Li Banfeng arrived at a rough conclusion.

For a dwelling spirit to kill its master, one condition had to be met, which was that the Homebound Cultivator's attunement with the house had weakened.

If a Homebound Cultivator neglected their house, the house would turn a blind eye to the dwelling spirit's rebellion, giving it the chance to kill its master. An example of this would be the very filthy cultivator that Ma Wu had mentioned.

If the cultivator had abandoned the house, the house would loosen its restraints and allow the dwelling spirit to revert into a vengeful spirit and recklessly hurt people in the house. The old hag had never gotten along with Luo Yuni, but she shared a very deep bond with the house and remained strongly attuned to it.

Luo Yuni was bound by the house. While the contract allowed her to hinder the old woman's cultivation, the house's restraints made it impossible for her to kill her.

Even if the old hag had died, the spirit would remain bound to the house. The contract would hold as long as the house existed, breaking only when another Homebound Cultivator took her place.

The house was the dwelling spirit's shackle, and there were only three ways to break free. The first was to grow strong enough on her own. Ma Wu had mentioned hearing about cases of dwelling spirits being strong enough to break free from a house's restraints.

Was Luo Yuni, with her sixth-level cultivation, capable of doing that? No. Not even close.

The second way was for someone to take the item holding the dwelling spirit out of the house. Yet once a dwelling spirit left the house, it would revert into a vengeful spirit, and few would dare attempt such a thing.

The third way was to destroy the contract, and this could be done with relative ease. If another Homebound Cultivator fixed their gaze on the item housing the dwelling spirit and called out its name, and the current cultivator in contract with that spirit raised no objection, the existing contract would be broken. As long as the dwelling spirit agreed, a new contract with the new cultivator would then be established. This was the method of transferring a dwelling spirit to another.

Luo Yuni had decided to go with the third method, which was to destroy the contract.

In the old hag's courtyard, if Li Banfeng gazed at the pendulum clock and called out Luo Yuni's name, the old woman certainly would not object to it, for she was already dead. Once the contract between Luo Yuni and the old woman was broken, Luo Yuni would be freed from the house's restraint. But since Li Banfeng had not yet developed an attunement with the house, Luo Yuni would not become his dwelling spirit. This meant that she could kill him on the spot.

Luo Yuni had been sitting behind Li Banfeng. Although her strength was constrained, if she seized one of his vital points, she could force him to say her name. Yet the moment she reached out, Li Banfeng ran.

Since being hard on him achieved nothing, she tried a gentler tactic. She kept coaxing Li Banfeng, hoping to make him say her name. At first, she believed it would go smoothly, but to her surprise, Li Banfeng was too wary and refused.

When one attempt failed, she tried a different one. Luo Yuni asked Li Banfeng to take her into his Pocket Dwelling, and this time she succeeded. The moment she left the old courtyard, she would be free.

With the Pocket Dwelling being strongly attuned to Li Banfeng, what would happen if he stared at the old tabletop pendulum clock and called out Luo Yuni's name?

In theory, as long as he fixed his gaze on the dwelling spirit and spoke her name while sensing his attunement with the house, she would become his. The logic was correct, but in reality, Li Banfeng would never succeed as Luo Yuni would never give him the chance to say her name out loud.

She now intended to kill him at once and claim the Pocket Dwelling for herself. Against the unrestrained attack of a sixth-level dwelling spirit, Li Banfeng would have no chance of survival.

The pendulum swung faster and faster. The minute hand pushed the hour hand forward until both pointed straight at twelve. If the bell rang twelve times in a row, Luo Yuni could then slice Li Banfeng into thirteen pieces.

Click, clack, clack!

The gears ground with a harsh metallic scrape. The minute and hour hands crept closer until they were about to overlap. The bell was about to ring. Li Banfeng rummaged frantically for a candle as Luo Yuni's smile deepened, appearing colder and more sinister than before.

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

A flare of light appeared as steam hissed and expelled.

Li Banfeng jolted—somehow the gramophone had started.

A sudden flare of light burst out as steam hissed into the air. The gramophone started on its own, and Li Banfeng jolted in shock.

How did the gramophone turn on by itself?

Luo Yuni didn't bother.

Dong!

The clock chimed for the very first time!

An invisible blade tore through the air toward Li Banfeng's back.

A chill shot through him and he flinched on instinct, but it was useless. The strike was too fast, moving at a speed his mind could not grasp. He could not dodge it.

Whoosh!

With a sudden hiss, the gramophone unleashed a jet of steam that dispersed the invisible blade with ease!

With bloodshot eyes, Luo Yuni glared at the gramophone.

What is this thing? A spirit? Does an item with a spirit dare to stop me? Who gave it the nerve?

Clang!

The clock chimed a second time.

In her fury, Luo Yuni unleashed a second attack. She struck at both Li Banfeng and the gramophone, determined to rip them to pieces.

Whoosh!

Steam burst forth and enveloped the old pendulum clock. The invisible blade faltered, failing to launch, and dissolved into the clock's body.

Click, clack, clack~

Luo Yuni was a bit surprised, but she could not bear to yield and launched another attack. The gears pushed with all their strength, trying desperately to chime again. However, the chime never sounded as the steam's unseen force jammed the mainspring of the clock.

Luo Yuni roared again and again, unwilling to stop as she gave it everything.

Click, clack, clack~

The spring reached its limit in an instant.

Hiss~

The gramophone answered with a mocking hiss, like laughter.

Snap!

The clock's mainspring snapped within the steam.

"AHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"

A wave of horror washed over Luo Yuni, and she screamed shrilly, as if every bone in her body had shattered.

Whoosh!

Another wave of steam rushed in, shattering the glass cover of the old clock and snapping the pendulum. As the dial tore away, the minute and hour hands twisted and melted under the heat. The brass frame collapsed, and its gears rattled as they scattered over the floor.

Crack! Crack!

Within seconds, the clock's wooden casing turned into a pile of splinters.

Everything happened too quickly for Li Banfeng to react.

Luo Yuni's wail hung in the air, as though she were being torn apart by unimaginable pain.

A thin curl of crimson smoke rose from the clock, carried into the gramophone's horn along with the steam.

Through the glow of the gramophone, Li Banfeng stared at the broken clock. His face was slick with sweat, and terror and shock left him speechless.

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

The gramophone stylus lowered onto the record by itself. A lively burst of drums and gongs sounded first, followed by the clear notes of a flute. Then the gramophone filled the air with a sweet song.

「 I'll walk you out to the edge of the village,

For there's something I must say.

Though a hundred flowers are already blooming

Lom-dee-dee-long, lom-dee-dee-long

But the wildflowers by the roadside~~~

Don't you pick them! 」 [1]

1. A song by Teresa Teng titled Do Not Pick the Wildflowers By the Roadside. You can listen to it

here

. ☜