Chapter 72: Madam Bagworm Moth

A little after nine o'clock, Yu Nan led everyone to the Yu Family Village and Old Zhu hurried out to greet them.

As soon as everyone stepped into the Yu Family Village, Old Zhu mentioned that Li Qi came by.

"Master Qi came?" Yu Nan lit up with joy. "Where is he?"

"He said he would head into the woods to look around. It's been seven or eight hours."

Yu Nan's face tightened with worry. She could not understand why Li Banfeng would dare to roam the new land alone.

Wang Xuejiao said, "Boss, if you're worried, we can go into the forest and look for him."

Yu Nan shook her head. "The new land is too dangerous. If we rush into the forest recklessly, we may not find him, and we may not make it back alive. Li Qi is a Wanderlust Cultivator. He knows the way back. Let's wait and see."

Two more hours passed. After two days on the road, they could not fight the exhaustion and fell asleep.

Yu Nan could not sleep. She was pacing outside the log cabin when a middle-aged man in a tailcoat and fedora suddenly appeared before her. He took off his hat and bowed. "May I inquire if you are Shopkeeper Yu, from Yu Family Cloth Shop?"

Yu Nan froze. She did not know this man.

He smiled and said, "This humble one is a private investigator that goes by the name Daboinsky."

This man is clearly a local. Why does he have a foreign name?

Yu Nan wondered. She said, "Investigator, what business do you have at my Yu Family Village?"

"I am in search of a man by the name of Li Banfeng."

"I do not know this person. Try asking elsewhere," Yu Nan said, making it clear he should leave.

However, Daboinsky had no plans to leave at all. "I have made inquiries in other places. In this newly formed tract, there stand but few villages, and of them all, only yours received a visitor yesterday."

Yu Nan kept a pleasant smile, but a rapid beat pounded in her chest.

Through this private investigator's words, Yu Nan gleaned two key pieces of information.

The first information was that the Li Banfeng that this man was searching for could very likely be Li Qi. The second information was that this man was able to determine that someone had visited yesterday, which meant that he possessed some sort of special ability.

When he showed up here, he had already concluded that Li Banfeng was in the Yu Family Village.

Yu Nan did not plan to waste words with him. "Detective Dar... whatever your name is, we truly don't know this Li Banfeng you speak of. It's late. If there's nothing else, we won't keep you any longer."

Daboinsky smiled and said, "Shopkeeper Yu, since you have raised the matter, I too must make a request. I am, alas, a man of timid constitution and do not dare venture by night. If it is not an imposition, might I be permitted to remain within your esteemed house for but one night?"

Yu Nan's smile faded. "It is an opposition. The Yu Family Village does not let outsiders stay the night."

Daboinsky maintained his smile. "If lodging is not to be, then so be it. Might I, at the very least, trouble you for a cup of tea?"

Yu Nan pinched her smoking rod. "The well ran dry today. Because there is no water, I cannot make tea."

Daboinsky, still refusing to leave, said, "In that case, Shopkeeper Yu, might I at the very least request a smoke?"

Huff!

Yu Nan exhaled a plume of smoke that coiled around Daboinsky a few times and asked, "Detective, is this mouthful of smoke enough for you?"

The smoke was a warning from a Smoking Cultivator.

Daboinsky set his fedora back upon his head and arched his brows. "Shopkeeper Yu, am I to understand that you intend to choose violence?"

"Yes!" Yu Nan responded. The slim cigarette, slotted into the tip of her smoking rod, glowed more brightly, sending ash flying onto Daboinsky.

Daboinsky brushed the ashes from his coat with a helpless expression. "Shopkeeper Yu, such a course of action is most unwise."

And just like that, the ash was brushed away easily.

Clearly, the private investigator was at a higher level of cultivation than Yu Nan.

Yu Nan took out a dagger and pointed it at her palm. "This is the Yu Family Village and I am the master of this land."

𝘧𝓇ℯ𝑒𝓌𝑒𝑏𝓃𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘭.𝒸ℴ𝓂

She did not draw the dagger to fight Daboinsky but to cut herself. Her claim of being the master of this land was not just a warning. Her blood had the power to awaken some beings of this land, and those beings could end Daboinsky's life.

Daboinsky had spent years activating new land and knew its ways well. In this situation, he knew he could not keep pestering her.

He lifted both hands and lowered his palms in a calming gesture. "Pray, do not be angered, Shopkeeper Yu. I shall take my leave at once."

He then withdrew beyond the boundaries of the Yu Family Village.

Even so, he did not go far. Instead, he circled the two rows of cabins again and again, weaving spiderwebs among the surrounding trees.

Yu Nan knew the webs were meant to deal with Li Banfeng, but she could do nothing about it. Daboinsky was moving outside the Yu Family Village's territory, and if she stepped beyond those bounds, she would be no match for him.

Yu Nan stared tensely into the depths of the forest, unsure when Li Banfeng would return. Earlier, she had longed for him to appear at once, but now she desperately hoped he would not appear at all.

Seated beneath a tree, Daboinsky took out a harmonica and said to Yu Nan, "There exists a bond between Li Banfeng and myself, a bond I do not believe severed. Indeed, I am persuaded he shall return this very night."

Yu Nan let out a cold laugh and said with open scorn, "You are clearly a local, so why do you keep talking like a foreigner?"

Daboinsky smiled and said, "Shopkeeper Yu, a true gentleman is not defined by blood, for courtesy and grace transcend all nations. Do not think to rouse my temper with such scornful words. Such an attempt is useless."

"Permit me to remind you. Li Banfeng shall most certainly appear tonight. If he be your lover, remain here and await him. This may well be the last time you shall see him."

With that, Daboinsky lifted the harmonica and began to play. The sound carried a mellowness all its own, an easy, drifting lilt, yet to Yu Nan it rang only with killing intent.

After two tunes, Daboinsky put the harmonica away, rose to his feet, and gazed into the night. He adjusted his fedora and straightened his tailcoat with care.

He felt the tremor of the threads and knew at once that someone was drawing near.

Yu Nan immediately breathed out a plume of smoke, hoping to locate Li Banfeng's position and send him a warning. Yet whether she could successfully send a warning with the smoke depended entirely on the strength of her cultivation against Daboinsky's.

Daboinsky was clearly very confident with his own cultivation as he said. "Pray, do not trouble yourself with a futile attempt, Shopkeeper Yu. By the time your smoke floats to his face, his head will, in all likelihood, be in my hand."

Yu Nan glanced at the iron bell by the gate. She reached for it, intending to strike it and summon her people.

Daboinsky read her thoughts and shook his head. "Pray, do not stoop to such folly, Shopkeeper Yu. Once you step beyond your village, you and your lackeys are but ants beneath my heel.

"Is it not better to live? Truth be told, you have not known him for long. So just watch quietly and see him off upon his final journey. Tell me, is that not better?"

Yu Nan burned with anger, but what Daboinsky said was true.

Moments later, a figure emerged in the night. It was Li Banfeng. Yu Nan cried out, "Master Qi, don't come over!"

Daboinsky shook his head with a smile. "Alas, it is too late. Far too late."

Once Li Banfeng stepped into Daboinsky's line of sight, only two outcomes were possible.

The first outcome was that he might rush toward the Yu Family Village, only to be trapped in the webs and left helpless until Daboinsky killed him.

The second outcome was that he could heed Yu Nan's warning, stay away from the village, and still be killed outright by Daboinsky.

As it was, Li Banfeng gave no sign of hearing Yu Nan's warning and charged straight toward the Yu Family Village.

Daboinsky stepped forward and offered a greeting. "From the moment we parted, I knew we would meet again. I had not thought it would be so soon, my friend."

Li Banfeng shouted back, "Yes! We are friends!"

Daboinsky let out a sigh. "I have always thought the bond between us profound, greater than this clash of fate. I do most sincerely hope that, in another world, you shall yet remember me, my friend."

Li Banfeng shouted, "Do you hear that? He is my friend!"

Daboinsky froze.

Who is he talking to? To Yu Nan?

Daboinsky turned his gaze to Yu Nan, and she appeared just as baffled. She too could not understand what Li Banfeng meant.

In his bewilderment, Daboinsky sensed another presence around Li Banfeng. The strange creature darted about. One moment it clung to a tree, the next it crawled across the ground, and then it drifted through the air as if it weighed nothing at all. It was very strong, and some of the sticky webs Daboinsky had set up snapped like threads of cotton.

What is this thing?

Daboinsky wondered.

As Li Banfeng sprinted toward the Yu Family Village, a huge shape uncurled from a tree and dropped right in front of him, blocking his way to the Yu Family Village.

It also blocked Yu Nan and Daboinsky, cutting off their view.

They could no longer see Li Banfeng. All that stood before them now was a massive worm, glowing a bright emerald green.

Daboinsky blinked in shock and whispered, "Madam Bagworm Moth... this is bad."

Li Banfeng dodged left and right, circling and tricking the caterpillar through the long night. At last, he dashed back to the Yu Family Village.

He shouted loudly, "You all heard it! That man is my friend!"

The human face on the moth body turned and cast a glance at Daboinsky. "You two are friends?"

Daboinsky licked his lips nervously. "I... well... no..."

Madam Bagworm Moth turned her face back to Li Banfeng. "He says you are not..."

Li Banfeng had already pulled out the Hanxue Pendulum. He tapped the screw at its base, and a spray of blood shot straight into Madam Bagworm Moth's eyes.

It was the blood of a Hedonism Cultivator, taken from Geng Zhiwei and sealed inside the pendulum.

With a furious roar, Madam Bagworm Moth scrubbed at her eyes with long, slender feelers.

Seizing the moment, Li Banfeng slipped into the Pocket Dwelling and flung the key with all his strength. It soared nearly two hundred meters and landed on the roof of a cabin in the Yu Family Village.

Old Zhu had said this was Yu Nan's territory. If she let even a drop of her blood fall on the Yu Family Village, any intruder would be torn apart.

If people could not get in, then surely this moth could not either.

When Madam Bagworm Moth opened her eyes, she realized that Li Banfeng had vanished. She turned her face again to Daboinsky. "Where did he go?"

Daboinsky couldn't answer. When it all happened, Madam Bagworm Moth blocked his view, and he never saw where Li Banfeng went.

Madam Bagworm Moth then looked at him with a strange tenderness. "He killed my child. Why don't you be my child instead?"

Daboinsky stepped back twice, a nervous look flickering across his face. "He and I aren't really friends. We hardly even know each other..."

He had worked as a land-activator in the new land a few times before. From that experience, he knew what level Madam Bagworm Moth was. Beings like her were not to be easily provoked.

"If you don't want to be my child, then you can have a child with me."

A blush spread across Madam Bagworm Moth's cheeks, and ripples ran through her round body. Roused by the blood of a Hedonism Cultivator, she suddenly fell in love with Daboinsky.

Stepping onto his own strands of web, Daboinsky hurried backward while saying, "We may not... be a good match."