Sudden Wind on Flat Ground

Li Banfeng had beautiful dreams all night. In his dreams, there was always a goose feather tickling his ear.

When he left the Portable Abode, he discovered it was noon again. Li Banfeng realized that he needed some kind of timekeeping tool.

Once he returned to Yuezhou, these things would be easy to handle. A single phone could solve them all.

It was getting late. He did not know whether he could still buy a train ticket.

Li Banfeng stepped out of the Portable Abode and walked several hundred meters down the street when he suddenly felt a strange reaction in his body.

As for what exactly that reaction was, Li Banfeng could not say.

He searched the street for vehicles. A carriage would do, a rickshaw would do—any vehicle would do.

As he looked around, he noticed passersby occasionally casting glances at him.

What are they looking at me for?

A suit and leather shoes, topped with a bowler hat—I'm dressed quite respectably today!

The passersby bore him no ill will. They were merely curious.

Strange. How do I know they mean me no harm?

Why am I having so many strange reactions today?

The passersby truly meant no harm. They were not looking at his clothes, but at Li Banfeng's extraordinary speed.

He was not running. He was merely walking, his hands tucked into his pockets as he strolled carelessly down the street.

Yet his feet moved in a trajectory ordinary people could scarcely comprehend, carrying him swiftly forward. By the time Li Banfeng noticed something was wrong, he had already reached the end of the street.

I didn't mean to walk this fast...

Watching the houses on both sides of the street rush backward, Li Banfeng desperately restrained his steps.

He truly had not exerted any force of his own, nor did he feel the slightest fatigue.

Yet these legs of his seemed to have motors installed. Without hitting the brakes, he simply could not stop.

Even after hitting the brakes, they were difficult to control. Li Banfeng could stand still in place, but the moment he stepped forward, he seemed to charge ahead at twenty miles per hour.

This is not good. How come I can't even walk normally anymore?

Was this caused by the poisonous mist on Bitter Mist Mountain?

Was this a temporary symptom, or irreversible damage?

Though he tried his utmost to restrain himself, Li Banfeng still reached the edge of Inner Gully in a very short time.

He had originally wanted to find a quiet place to properly control his legs. As he passed a large banyan tree, a rickshaw beneath it caught his attention.

First, take the rickshaw to the Train Station. Buy a ticket, board the train, enter the Portable Abode, then train his legs.

As he considered it, his legs did not stop. He walked another several dozen meters before backing along the same route to the Carriage Driver. With difficulty, he stopped and asked, "How much to the Train Station?"

The Carriage Driver took a drag on his dry tobacco, raised his head, looked at Li Banfeng, and smiled. "You're going to the station. Do you still need to ride?"

Li Banfeng stared at the Carriage Driver for a moment.

He knew this Carriage Driver. Monkey Qiu had hired him before—the Carriage Driver with flaming wheels.

He was the one who had pulled Li Banfeng from the station to where the Peddler was. Monkey Qiu had paid a full five hundred for the fare.

The Carriage Driver was right. The station was not far from Inner Gully. At Li Banfeng's speed, he could get there in the blink of an eye.

But Li Banfeng did not know the way.

The Carriage Driver stood and pointed at the yellow dirt road before them. "Follow this road north for three and a half li, turn east and go two li, then head north again. Before you've gone one li, there'll be a fork. Go another two li, and you'll reach the Train Station."

Li Banfeng shook his head. "Too troublesome. I'd rather take a ride."

With a rolled cigarette hanging from his mouth, the Carriage Driver said, "What's troublesome about that? You've already reached the first level of Travel Cultivation, and you still can't find the road?"

Sure enough.

This bizarre speed had not been caused by the poisonous mist of Bitter Mist Mountain. It was the result of his Travel Cultivation rising a level.

Why had his Travel Cultivation risen a level?

Because Li Banfeng had spent a full day and night in a perilous place.

While on Bitter Mist Mountain, the poisonous mist had left him dizzy and muddleheaded, making Li Banfeng forget the Peddler's warning.

Spend a day and night in a perilous place, and a Travel Cultivator would rise a level.

Bitter Mist Mountain was a perilous place. This meant Li Banfeng had passed the test of Travel Cultivation and become a first-level cultivator.

His Travel Cultivation rising a level was a good thing.

But it could not rise too quickly, or he would suffer backlash from House Cultivation.

Yet there was nothing to be done about it. The Portable Abode could not produce a Home Spirit, so his House Cultivation could not rise in level. For some time to come, House Cultivation was bound to be suppressed by Travel Cultivation. All Li Banfeng could do was control the gap between the two.

"Why didn't I sense it yesterday?" Li Banfeng muttered.

The Carriage Driver asked, "When did you clear the first-level trial?"

"The day before yesterday. I cleared it on Bitter Mist Mountain," Li Banfeng answered honestly.

The Carriage Driver smiled. "You cleared the trial the day before yesterday and rose a level today. That's considered fast. Most people have to wait three to five days. Little brother, your fortune is pretty good. Hurry to the station."

Li Banfeng said to the Carriage Driver, "I can't be bothered to walk. Since you're here pulling a rickshaw, aren't you going to take a fare when one comes along?"

The Carriage Driver froze for a moment. "You insist on riding my rickshaw? Do you know what my fare costs? Other people's rides cost eight, but I charge two hundred."

"Two hundred. I'll pay it!" Li Banfeng took out two hundred in banknotes and handed them to the Carriage Driver.

Li Banfeng sensed a certain familiarity from this Carriage Driver. He was convinced these two hundred dollars had been well spent.

The Carriage Driver felt the texture of the banknotes and smiled. "Fine, but let me make this clear—I get there in the blink of an eye."

"Can you go slower?" Li Banfeng made a request that seemed highly unreasonable.

The Carriage Driver understood what Li Banfeng meant. "Going slower is fine, but the slower I go, the higher the price. Five hundred dollars for two digits. Do you agree?"

Two digits referred to two numbers on a clock face, meaning ten minutes.

Li Banfeng nodded. "I agree."

The Carriage Driver sighed. "A slab of fat delivered right into my mouth—I can't refuse it even if I want to. Get in."

Li Banfeng got into the rickshaw. The Carriage Driver pulled it and casually headed north.

Li Banfeng asked, "What level is your Travel Cultivation?"

He could tell that this Carriage Driver was a Travel Cultivator. The first time he had ridden in his rickshaw, the Carriage Driver had already displayed the abilities of a Travel Cultivator. Li Banfeng simply had not understood the concept of Travel Cultivators back then.

The Carriage Driver did not answer. "You want to ask about my cultivation with just five hundred dollars? Do you think that's appropriate? Two digits pass quickly. Ask something else."

"Do Travel Cultivators normally walk this fast?"

"Do I look like I'm walking fast?" As he spoke, the Carriage Driver walked forward step by step at the same speed as an ordinary person.

"Then why do I walk so fast?"

The Carriage Driver explained, "The way you were walking just now is called Sudden Wind on Flat Ground. That's a first-level Travel Cultivator's ability.

"Travel Cultivators who have just risen a level can't rein in the force beneath their feet. You need to practice for a while before you can use it freely."

"How should I practice?"

The Carriage Driver pointed at a hand-pumped well by the roadside. "Have you used one of those before? When you used to walk, it was like swinging your arms to pump water, glug glug. Now, you need to hold the force back, until the stream of water that comes out is a full ring thinner than hemp rope. Only then can you walk like an ordinary person."

A full ring thinner than hemp rope?

"This won't be easy to control."

"There's a trick to it. First, rein in the first layer of force at your hips, inching forward one step at a time. Then rein in the second layer at your kneecaps, stretching forward after your hips.

"Then come the ankles, and below that, the toes. Rein in the force layer by layer as you work downward. As long as your comprehension is good enough, you can figure out the basics in a day."

Li Banfeng gave a bitter smile. "After rising a level, I have to learn how to walk all over again?"

"Don't complain that it's troublesome. At the start, you won't walk smoothly, and you'll take plenty of falls. But once you learn the trick, walking sixty or seventy li in an hour will be no great matter."

With that speed, his basic daily cultivation of twenty li could be completed in under half an hour.

But the question was...

"For a first-level Travel Cultivator, is walking twenty li a day enough?"

"Not enough!" The Carriage Driver shook his head repeatedly. "If you're walking through ordinary places, you need at least fifty li a day."

Fifty li?

That was not much of a problem.

"What counts as an ordinary place?"

"Streets and alleys all count as ordinary places."

"What counts as an unusual place?"

"Climb mountains—the steeper, the better. Going into water works too—the deeper, the better. Lanqing Village has a muddy swamp. If you can walk two li through it, that day's cultivation will count as complete.

"Sheep Fork Mountain has a Knife Ghost Ridge. If you walk one li along that ridge, not only will your cultivation for the day be complete, you'll also save up a day's worth of time.

"The essence of Travel Cultivation lies in peril. The more perilous the place, the faster your cultivation improves."

Li Banfeng felt this deeply. "Cultivation improved quickly on Bitter Mist Mountain too, didn't it?"

The Carriage Driver shook his head. "I advise you to go there less. Going up and down that mountain, bit by bit, no one knows how many people have left their lives behind on it.

"The fact that you came back alive means your fate is good. Your fate truly is good—you even managed to endure after being exposed to daylight. Since your fate is good, you ought to cherish your life. Throwing such a fine life away for a few bucks isn't worth it."

"Going up Bitter Mist Mountain was also for money. Money, in the end, isn't easy to earn." Li Banfeng felt that keenly.

The Carriage Driver shook his head and smiled. "There are plenty of ways to make money easily. Pulling a rickshaw is a pretty good line of work. Last time, I took your urgent job and earned five hundred in one trip. Today, I took another job from you and earned another five hundred.

"I heard that all the major medicine shops are buying Snake Spot Chrysanthemums this year for only twenty-five dollars a plant. Tell me yourself—which one makes money more easily?"

By his reasoning, pulling a rickshaw really did make money more easily.

The Carriage Driver smiled. "You people look down on this line of work and think pulling a rickshaw is disgraceful. I look down on you desperate fools too. I think your lives are cheap."

Li Banfeng did not argue with the Carriage Driver about professions any further. Instead, he asked, "How should I find suitable places to cultivate? Places with some danger, but not too much danger?"

The Carriage Driver answered briefly, "In perilous places, act according to your strength. From perilous people, keep a respectful distance. Bitter Mist Mountain is both a perilous place and full of perilous people. You should never have gone there!"

"How do I tell perilous places and perilous people apart?"

"Travel Cultivators can sense danger. This is called Auspiciousness and Avoiding Calamity. It is also a technique only first-level Travel Cultivators possess. It can reveal not only perilous places, but perilous people as well."

Li Banfeng's eyes lit up. "First-level Travel Cultivators have two techniques?"

PS: It was the first day of November. Salad begged all honored readers for votes.

(End of Chapter)