Steam Era: The Lord of 'Puluo'

Chapter 1014 543: Ghost King Steals the Peach (Part 4)

If you calculate it like this, Chu Er really is the most suitable candidate.

Every time he drank with Qiu Luoye, Li Banfeng felt delighted. They drank cup after cup, and quite a lot, but Qiu Luoye, hugging a leg of lamb, barely ate any of it.

"Big brother, eat," Li Banfeng said worriedly, "Is your body not fully recovered yet?"

"Fully recovered, long ago, I'm eating," Qiu Luoye replied, taking a bite of the lamb leg. He really didn't like eating it.

The fate of the New Land was decided, so Li Banfeng asked about Inner State affairs: "Big Brother Qiu, you said before that purebred Inner State people come in all forms, some look like chickens, ducks, geese, dogs, and some look like humans. If those human-like ones come to Puluo State, they might be hard to distinguish, right?"

Qiu Luoye waved his hand: "Easy to distinguish, they look human, but are covered in hair, and they're very large, at least as tall as that tree."

Li Banfeng glanced towards the courtyard, the tree Qiu Luoye talked about was at least five meters tall.

"So, any purebred Inner State person, we can recognize them immediately?"

"Definitely recognizable," Qiu Luoye spoke in a lower voice, though he had become the Local Deity of Proper Land, he was still very cautious about mentioning Inner State, "Listen, brother, in Puluo State, if you see a purebred Inner State person, don't rush to act, go straight to the peddler, the peddler kills every one he sees."

Li Banfeng said, "What if an Inner State person uses a Blinding Technique to hide his identity, making him look like a Puluo State person, what should be done then?"

"Such a method doesn't exist!" Qiu Luoye waved his hands repeatedly, "Neither Illusion Techniques, Mind Techniques, Disguise Techniques, nor any spell can transform Inner State people into Puluo State people, even if they resemble Puluo State people, any flaw can be spotted in an instant. Their bloodline is too different from ours."

Li Banfeng said, "Suppose there's an Inner State person who can become a Puluo State person and we can't detect any flaw, then what?"

"That's dangerous! Wouldn't that mean Inner State people are infiltrating us?"

"What consequences would arise if Inner State people infiltrate?"

Qiu Luoye put down the lamb leg: "What consequences exactly, I can't say. Back when my cultivation level was still at Earth Skin, I recall a purebred Inner State person transformed into a house, infiltrating a deserted village in Puluo State,

The deserted village was haunted, no one lived there for years, at first it was just one tiled house, one small yard, unnoticed in the deserted village, but within less than a month, the house turned into two,

There was an old fierce ghost in the village, her bones were there, so she couldn't move far, seeing something was wrong, she tried telling others, but people avoided her, who would believe her ghost story?

A few days later, the two houses turned into a quadrangle courtyard, which then transformed into a large mansion, at first it was just that one house transforming, eventually the entire village's houses transformed, scaring the fierce ghost into being a good ghost.

She knelt at the village entrance, pleading with passing travelers to take her bones away, but no one was willing to help her, until one day, a peddler passed by the village entrance, and the fierce ghost found her savior.

At the time, I happened to be buying ointment from the peddler, listening to the fierce ghost recounting the story, the peddler got angry, saying it was an Inner State person breeding here, and he pushed his cart towards the deserted village.

I wanted to follow to see the excitement, but the peddler wouldn't let me, instructed me to hide afar, and within half an hour, he came out, bringing the fierce ghost's bones along, telling her to leave quickly.

I was really curious, so after the peddler left, I took a look at the village, and found it was gone, every house gone, the foundations even scraped clean, I was so terrified that I never went back.

After hearing Qiu Luoye's description, Li Banfeng found the life forms of the Inner State more incomprehensible.

A house suddenly appearing in Puluo State is still within a preventable range, but how do you prevent an ordinary person appearing?

This matter needs to be reported to the peddler quickly.

According to Qiu Luoye's calculations, the peddler should currently be in Iron Gate Fort.

Li Banfeng was quite familiar with that place, he sprinted to Iron Gate Fort, and upon inquiry, found out that the peddler hadn't been there in the past two days.

"Brother, is it that the peddler hasn't come, or you haven't noticed him?"

Wu Yongchao couldn't promise since he seldom left: "Fortress Lord, don't be anxious, I'll go ask around."

After asking around, it turned out several Home Cultivators were also waiting to buy from the peddler, but they hadn't seen him.

Home Cultivators rarely venture far, so maybe the peddler didn't come near the fort.

Li Banfeng quickly contacted Luo Zhengnan, as Chen Weixin had previously caused trouble in Iron Gate Fort, Li Banfeng had asked Luo Zhengnan to plant informants there.

"Seventh Master, based on my calculations, the peddler should have reached Iron Gate Fort, I'll contact our people, please wait for my update."

Shortly after hanging up, Luo Zhengnan called back: "Seventh Master, we can't reach our contact!"

Li Banfeng frowned: "When was the last time you connected with them?"

"Yesterday I contacted him; some vagrant bandits were causing trouble near the fort but were chased off by Wu Yongchao's men, today there's no news."

"What's this brother's name?"

"His surname is Mao, called Mao Caoye, just over twenty, a Second Layer Martial Cultivator, usually disguises as a rice seller, does business daily at the fort but lives outside, in Dongjing Village."

The peddler was missing, and Luo Zhengnan's informant was missing too; were these two events connected?

Regardless of the connection, missing personnel couldn't be ignored.

Li Banfeng first went to Dongjing Village, found Mao Caoye's place.

Mao Caoye rented a room there, sharing a courtyard with the landlord, Li Banfeng asked the landlord first, who replied: "The young man was diligent, pushed his cart out early this morning, he should be selling rice."

Li Banfeng returned to the fort, summoned Wu Yongchao: "Brother, did you see Mao Caoye today?"

"Who is Mao Caoye?" Wu Yongchao looked puzzled.

"A rice seller."

"Male or female?"

"Male, just over twenty."

With that description, Wu Yongchao knew who he was, he often bought rice from Mao Caoye, Mao Caoye was easy-going, never short-handed in weight, so Wu Yongchao had a good impression of him but never knew his name.

"He came by this morning, around eight, many people were waiting to buy rice from him, by ten the rice was all sold out."

After selling the rice, Mao Caoye left the fort, where could he have gone?

A local old man selling rice told Li Banfeng, "He should have gone to the surrounding villages to collect rice, if none is around, he might have gone to Songling Village."

Songling Village wasn't close, Li Banfeng walked over twenty miles through the mountains, arriving at the village entrance.

The village was quiet, its households, fields and farmlands, not a single figure in sight.

Walking to a farmhouse entrance, Li Banfeng found someone in the courtyard. When he took a closer look, he realized he recognized the person.

"Ah Gui?"

Gui Jianchou, clutching his chest, sat in the courtyard, looking up at Li Banfeng.

Li Banfeng entered, asked Gui Jianchou: "What happened?"

Gui Jianchou, face pale, pointed to his mouth, gesturing he couldn't talk.

Next to him, a ghost servant, holding his chest with one hand, took out a piece of white paper with the other, writing four words: We are sick.

"What's the illness?"

Gui Jianchou shook his head, uncertain of the illness.

The ghost servant wrote again: This illness is contagious, speaking spreads it.

What kind of illness was this?

Li Banfeng hadn't figured it out, the ghost servant continued writing: Find City Master Sun, save us.

After writing, the ghost servant bowed to Li Banfeng.

Gui Jianchou, along with a group of ghost servants, bowed to Li Banfeng.

PS: Can City Master Sun practice medicine?