Steam Era: The Lord of 'Puluo'

Chapter 545 - 379: There Really is a Win-Win Solution

He Yuxiu fought for three days and effortlessly opened up the plot of land.

Li Banfeng hired a few people from Meng Yuchun’s territory to help He Yuxiu build a house. He also bought wine and dishes from the Cook to set up a table in the tent, celebrating He Yuxiu’s success.

He Yuxiu picked up a sheep’s head, took a bite, and praised continuously, "This Cook’s skills are truly excellent. Culinary Cultivation is rare these days. If it weren’t for the New Land, I’d really want to take him back to Greenwater City."

As a scion of a prestigious family, He Yuxiu might be rash, but she was not lacking in experience and could discern the origins of the food and drink.

Although satisfied with the meal, He Yuxiu frowned slightly at the wooden house that was being built. "Brother, do I really have to live here permanently?"

When outsiders were present, He Yuxiu called Li Banfeng ’Brother,’ as they had agreed.

Li Banfeng nodded. "You’ll have to stay for at least a few months."

He Yuxiu sighed. "When I was younger, I hated coming to the New Land. This place is always so dark, full of talking birds and beasts, but hardly any people to talk to. Stay too long, and it could truly smother a person to death."

Oil Peach, standing nearby, said, "Sister, if you have anything to say, just tell me."

He Yuxiu tapped Oil Peach’s nose with a smile but said nothing.

Knowing that He Yuxiu might have private matters to discuss with Li Baisha, Oil Peach found an excuse to leave the tent. He Yuxiu lowered her voice and asked, "Any news from Greenwater City?"

Li Banfeng had indeed received some information through Luo Zhengnan. "The bad news is that the Border Defense Envoy is still targeting the He Family, and their business is worsening by the day. The good news is that none of the other He Family branches have caused any trouble, so for now, there’s still peace within the family."

He Yuxiu nodded. "Haiqin is ruthless; he dealt with all the tough individuals from the side branches, making them obedient. But when a real crisis hits, they’re utterly useless—not a single one can take charge. Now that Haiqin is gone and Haisheng is in the Outside Provinces, if I don’t show my face soon, I’m afraid the He Family will be finished."

Li Banfeng said, "If you show up now, you’d fall straight into the Border Defense Envoy’s hands. Wouldn’t the He Family be doomed even faster?"

"Hiding in the New Land might not be safe either," He Yuxiu said, looking outside the tent. "I’ve seen quite a few Farming Cultivators, but never one as perverse as this. Just look at his plot of land—it doesn’t even look like New Land anymore."

Zhang Wanlong’s developed plot indeed didn’t resemble New Land. His one-li territory was crisscrossed with paths, crops grew lushly, and the land was well-ordered even before it was fully cleared.

「The next afternoon.」

Zhang Wanlong’s three-day period of breaking new ground came to a successful, and unsurprising, conclusion.

Li Banfeng brought food and wine into the plot to congratulate them, but they were too busy to eat just yet.

Zhang Wanlong had planted several acres of crops, not for human consumption, but exclusively for Strange Monsters.

Droves of Strange Monsters from Li Banfeng’s territory—Two-faced Sheep, Headless Oxen, Donkey-headed Maggots, and Eight-legged Rabbits—came one after another.

These Strange Monsters weren’t there to cause trouble; they were there to eat.

The crops Zhang Wanlong grew for them were non-toxic, harmless, and quite delicious. The sole purpose of feeding them these crops was so they would, while eating, produce the raw materials for Xiao Genzi’s Alchemy Juice.

Root no longer needed to search far and wide with a spoon and fork for gold; heaps of Golden Mountain were right before him, ready for use.

Carrying the food container, Li Banfeng sighed to himself. No matter how expert the Cook’s skills are, the fragrance of food and drink can never compete with the allure of the Golden Mountain.

Zhang Wanlong laughed. "Seventh Master, this isn’t a place for eating. Please wait a moment; I’ll prepare another spot."

A territory of one li wasn’t particularly large, nor was it small. Aside from the Golden Mountain and farmland, Zhang Wanlong had also created a special garden.

A dining table was set among the flowers, making this meal particularly enjoyable.

After a couple of drinks, Li Banfeng asked Zhang Wanlong, "With your skills, opening up another three to five li of New Land shouldn’t be a problem, right?"

Zhang Wanlong shook his head. "We didn’t come here to acquire land; we came for cultivation. If we open too much territory and the human energy doesn’t increase, wouldn’t that just be causing trouble for the local deity?"

His words made sense, and his actions were also faultless. After eating and drinking their fill, Zhang Wanlong and Root each went about their business. Li Banfeng walked around the plot of land. The crops in the field were all genuine, and the eggplant versions of "Zhang Wanlong" that had been grown before were nowhere to be seen.

Where had all those Eggplant People gone?

Just as Li Banfeng was about to leave the plot, he saw a few "Zhang Wanlongs" returning.

They carried baskets on their backs, filled with various kinds of herbs.

Li Banfeng looked at the real Zhang Wanlong and said, "It seems the good things you’ve grown can not only relieve boredom but also do quite a bit of work."

Zhang Wanlong shook his head. "They can only do rough tasks. Seventh Master, look at the herbs in this basket; eight or nine out of ten are unusable.

"They mistook long-leaved plants for short-leaved ones, and flowering plants for thorny ones. They finally found one ginseng correctly, but these blockheads don’t know how to dig up the root; they brought me back the leaves. What use is that?"

Still, they might have some use.

Li Banfeng repeatedly compared these grown "Zhang Wanlongs" and realized they were slightly different from the original, though it was hard to notice without careful observation.

"Can you sell me some of these seeds?"

"That’s easy!" Zhang Wanlong immediately took out a small bag of seeds and handed it to Li Banfeng.

Holding the seeds, Li Banfeng asked, "Do they all look like you after they’re grown?"

Zhang Wanlong laughed. "Seventh Master, you really know how to joke. If they all looked like me, what use would it be for you to grow them?

"What kind of fruit they become depends on whose blood is used for seeding.

"Before these seeds are planted, they need to drink a drop of blood. Whosoever’s blood they drink, the resulting fruit will resemble that person."

Li Banfeng said in surprise, "Just one drop of blood will do?"

"Just one drop of blood."

"How much for this bag of seeds?"

"Talking about money would be too impersonal. I want to be your friend; I’ll give you these seeds."

Li Banfeng shook his head. "I don’t take things from people without paying. If you won’t set a price, I can only return them."

Zhang Wanlong nodded. "You’re straightforward, Seventh Master. Since you insist on showing sincerity, I won’t ask for much. This bag of seeds for one thousand Ocean Dollars."

Considering what these seeds can do, a thousand Ocean Dollars isn’t expensive at all; it could even be called ridiculously cheap.

Li Banfeng said, "Isn’t that price too low?"

Zhang Wanlong smiled. "For anyone else, I might not sell them no matter the price. But you, Seventh Master, are different. Whenever you come to buy from me, seeds of this quality will always be this price."

"Alright, I’ll remember this gesture. I’ll take the seeds for now and bring the money tomorrow."

Li Banfeng took the seeds back to his Portable Residence. He took out one seed, placed it on the table, unscrewed the Blood-Thirsty Pendulum, and sprinkled a drop of blood on the seed.

The Phonograph picked up the seed with its needle and observed it for a moment, seemingly discerning something special.

"What a powerful technique; it could be of great use! Maybe it could, maybe it could..."

Perhaps it can do what? Li Banfeng didn’t understand why his wife was so excited.

His wife paused, then sang, "Hey, my dear, your little servant is just talking nonsense; you needn’t take it to heart."

Li Banfeng planted the seed in the plot He Yuxiu had cleared. Without Zhang Wanlong’s technique, it grew much slower. After more than an hour, the roots had just begun to sprout.

Li Banfeng went back to his Portable Residence to sleep.

「The next morning.」

He saw a cabbage over a meter tall had grown in the field.

How did it turn into a cabbage? Shouldn’t it have been an eggplant? Could the abilities of Eggplant People and Cabbage People be different?

Li Banfeng cut the cabbage open with a knife, and a man crawled out.

He Yuxiu had just come out of the tent to wash up when she saw the man. She nearly attacked on the spot.

She recognized him; he was a disciple from the Jiang Xiang Gang’s Soda Hall who had died at Li Banfeng’s hands. Before dying, he’d had a significant amount of blood drawn by the Blood-Thirsty Pendulum.

Fortunately, He Yuxiu was worldly and experienced. Seeing the split cabbage beside him and the man’s vacant stare, she realized he must have been spawned by those nefarious Farming Cultivation seeds.

"This is a good thing!" He Yuxiu examined the Cabbage Person from all sides and couldn’t help but exclaim, "It’s just like a real person!"

Li Banfeng nodded. "It truly is a good thing, provided it stays in our hands."

He Yuxiu touched the Cabbage Person’s clothes. "He’s even wearing a white gown. Brother Seven, did you prepare this for him?"

Li Banfeng shook his head. He hadn’t prepared any clothes for the Cabbage Person; the gown and pants had come with him from inside the cabbage.

He Yuxiu also noticed a problem. "This doesn’t feel like clothes. It feels more like Cabbage Patch."

Touching it felt unreal, but it looked flawless.

Li Banfeng slapped the "Cabbage Person’s" face with a Sickle, but the "Cabbage Person" had no reaction.

He knew no fear.

Li Banfeng then asked the "Cabbage Person," "What’s your name?"

The Cabbage Person did not answer; it seemed he couldn’t speak either.

Li Banfeng told him to move, but the "Cabbage Person" couldn’t understand the command.

He Yuxiu shook her head. "If this thing can’t move, then it’s really no use."

Li Banfeng thought for a long time, remembering his previous experience with the Watermelon People.

He sliced off two leaves of the cabbage and chewed on them.

The cabbage leaves were crispy and sweet but, like the watermelon, very astringent. The astringency made Li Banfeng break out in a sweat that smelled of cabbage.

The Cabbage Person turned its face towards Li Banfeng, seemingly responsive to him.

Li Banfeng called out, "Walk!"

The Cabbage Person slowly began to walk forward.

"Run!"

The Cabbage Person immediately quickened its pace.

"Kill!"

The Cabbage Person turned and charged at He Yuxiu. Besides Li Banfeng, she was the only other person present, and Li Banfeng smelled of cabbage, so the Cabbage Person wouldn’t target him.

Of course, He Yuxiu wasn’t afraid of this Cabbage Person; she punched its head into mush.

But the rest of the Cabbage Person’s body continued to claw at He Yuxiu. She raised her fist and thoroughly mashed the "Cabbage Person" into a Cabbage Patch. Even then, any remaining fragments of its body continued to struggle against her.

He Yuxiu shook the cabbage juice off her hands and said to Li Banfeng, "Brother Seven, we can’t underestimate these Cabbage People. One or two might be manageable, but hundreds would be real trouble. If there were tens of thousands, they could probably march through Puluo State."

Li Banfeng looked towards Zhang Wanlong’s plot, observing the thriving crops, and murmured to himself, "Indeed, it’s a problematic matter... but it’s also a very good thing."

「Back in the Portable Residence.」

Li Banfeng sat on the edge of the bed, lost in thought.

The Phonograph asked, "Hey, my dear, what’s troubling you now?"

Li Banfeng replied, "I don’t want to stay in the New Land forever, but some matters on the territory need careful handling. If anything changes, I need to be able to come back and check."

SIGH.

"My dear, you’re putting this little servant in a difficult position. Your territory is so remote—if you were to go to Greenwater City and something happened on your land, even if you sensed it, you couldn’t make it back in time.

"You don’t want to stay on your land, but you still want to manage things there. It’s tough to think of a way that satisfies both; this little servant really can’t come up with one," the Phonograph sang, its tone woeful.

Li Banfeng thought for a long time but couldn’t find a good solution.

If I sense a disturbance on the territory, can I use my consciousness to have the Portable Residence take me directly back to the plot? I could return, but the key couldn’t. Once back on the plot, I wouldn’t be able to return home for a while. I’m a Seventh Layer Home Cultivator now; I have techniques for settling down and enjoying one’s work. Staying away from home for a long time would severely impact my fortunes.

HUM!

The Portable Residence shuddered violently, and an aged voice rang in Li Banfeng’s ears:

"There is a way. Build a train station here."

"Of what use would a station be?" Li Banfeng asked, not understanding what the Portable Residence meant.

"If there’s a station, then I can stop," the Portable Residence replied.

"Where can’t you stop?"

"It’s different. Stopping at a station is a regular stop. Stopping elsewhere is a temporary stop."

"What’s the difference?"

"The difference is, for a temporary stop, the doors are locked. But in a station, the doors are open."

"So that means... wait a minute!" Li Banfeng had a sudden realization. "You mean, if I build a station on this territory, you could bring me here, and you wouldn’t have to lock the doors?"

"As long as it’s within the normal stopping duration, the doors will be open."

PS: The stopping duration is key!