The Great Hero

Li Banfeng was deeply regretful over being short one corpse for Pill Refining.

He sincerely regretted it for a full minute, then began searching for the Home Spirit.

The Home Spirit was Li Banfeng's most urgent desire at present, without a close second.

With a Home Spirit, a House Cultivator could advance. This was the only possible way to resolve the gap between Travel Cultivator and House Cultivator, and it concerned Li Banfeng's very life.

Of course, having a Home Spirit also meant that Li Banfeng would have to live in this house from now on. Every day, he would need to travel a certain distance to maintain a traveler's cultivation, while also remembering to return home in time to preserve the foundations of House Cultivation.

It sounded deeply contradictory, but Li Banfeng believed he could find a solution.

What did a Home Spirit look like?

It should be humanoid, right?

They called it a spirit, after all. It had to be humanoid.

There were three tiled houses and one storage room in the yard. That storage room was the Hostage Room, and aside from a pile of firewood, there were no humanoid creatures inside.

He went to the eastern room. It held quite a few bottles and jars, as well as medicine pestles and clay pots.

This should have been De Cai's room. These were all tools for brewing poison.

Was the Home Spirit here?

Li Banfeng still saw no humanoid creature.

As he walked out of De Cai's room, Li Banfeng saw a humanoid creature.

"Benefactor, we haven't thanked you yet." Xiao Yeci looked at Li Banfeng cautiously.

Having just seen the way he killed people, Xiao Yeci still had lingering fear in her heart.

There was another person behind her. Her daughter, Lu Chunying, timidly poked her head out and glanced at Li Banfeng.

"No need to stand on ceremony." Li Banfeng had no time to deal with this mother and daughter. He went around them and headed straight for the tiled house in the middle.

"Benefactor, what are you looking for?" Xiao Yeci followed after him.

"I'm looking for my wallet. They took it," Li Banfeng said casually, brushing her off. "You two must have had plenty of things stolen too. Hurry and look. Once you find them, leave right away."

"Benefactor, you'd better not barge into this room. There's a Home Spirit inside."

She knew there was a Home Spirit in this room?

Li Banfeng did not hurry to open the door. Pretending to know nothing, he asked, "What was that you just said? Home Spirit?"

"A Home Spirit is a spirit raised by a House Cultivator. That old woman was a House Cultivator—Benefactor, you knew that, didn't you?"

"What's a House Cultivator? I didn't know a thing about it!" Li Banfeng continued playing dumb.

"A House Cultivator is a cultivation path that squats inside a house. Outside the house, they aren't all that formidable."

But inside their house, they're incredible. That old woman was already so old, yet she could still fight like that. Benefactor couldn't hurt her, and I couldn't talk her down. She should have been only First Layer, but inside her own house, even someone at Second Layer might not be able to beat her. That was all because the Home Spirit was helping her."

This woman seemed to have considerable experience. Li Banfeng endured his intense thirst for knowledge and asked without showing it, "What does a Home Spirit look like?"

"That's hard to say. Some Home Spirits look like water vats, some look like rice ladles, some look like roof beams, and some look like old yellow watchdogs."

Li Banfeng said in astonishment, "Are there any Home Spirits that look like people?"

Xiao Yeci thought for a moment. "I've never heard of that."

Li Banfeng stared at Xiao Yeci for a moment and asked, "Have you seen a Home Spirit before?"

Xiao Yeci shook her head. "No."

"You've never seen one, yet you're talking nonsense! You Mouth Cultivators are really going too far!" Li Banfeng no longer wished to bother with this woman.

Xiao Yeci's cheeks reddened. "Benefactor, Mouth Cultivator is an insult. Our cultivation path is actually called Literary Cultivators."

"Because we possess the Lotus Tongue Technique, people often call us Mouth Cultivators. Everything I told you just now was something I read in books."

Lu Chunying poked her head out from behind her. "My mother has read lots of books. My mother is very learned, and her mouth skills are incredibly tight!"

Li Banfeng answered casually, "Yes, so tight they're incredible."

So this woman was a Literary Cultivator. What skills did Literary Cultivators possess?

Before Li Banfeng could ask, the woman took the initiative to explain. "To cultivate our path, you have to read many books. Only after reading enough can you know what to say when meeting different kinds of people, and how to respond when encountering different kinds of situations."

Li Banfeng asked very seriously, "When you encountered that old woman, what response did you make?"

"Benefactor is making fun of me." Xiao Yeci lowered her head. "My Lotus Tongue Technique was actually quite good, but I'd never encountered a House Cultivator before, and I never expected that old hag to be impervious to both soft and hard tactics.

"But I did persuade her two sons. If not for that old hag, those two sons would definitely have let me go.

Her younger son was called De Mao. I still don't know where he is. He was the one who told me his mother was a House Cultivator, and said the Home Spirit was in his mother's room."

So she had coaxed the information out of De Mao. It seemed highly credible.

"Did he say what that old woman's Home Spirit looked like?"

Xiao Yeci shook her head. "He didn't dare say. He said the Home Spirit would hear him. He only said that it was an object that wasn't very large."

An object that wasn't very large?

Li Banfeng recalled the old woman's hairpin, then recalled that short knife.

If the Home Spirit was a similar object, could it be carried on one's person?

If it could be carried around, wouldn't the contradiction between House Cultivators and Travel Cultivators be completely resolved?

"If a Home Spirit can be carried on one's body, then even outside the house, a House Cultivator would still have the Home Spirit's protection. Wouldn't House Cultivators then be invincible beneath the heavens?"

"Taking a Home Spirit out of the house? That's something no one would dare do!" Xiao Yeci's eyes widened. "Benefactor, you really don't understand House Cultivators at all.

What even is a Home Spirit? Most House Cultivators don't know themselves. How could they dare take one outside?

"What would happen if they took it outside?"

"Some books say that Home Spirits are actually Evil Spirits. Within a House Cultivator's home, the Evil Spirit is shackled by iron chains. But once an Evil Spirit leaves the house, it has no chains.

Once those chains are gone, who knows what an Evil Spirit might do?

"I've never heard of a House Cultivator taking a Home Spirit out of the house. But I have heard of Home Spirits gaining power and running out on their own. Those Evil Spirits kill anyone they see. Several nearby villages were slaughtered clean.

"That House Cultivator took his entire family into hiding for more than a year, but in the end, he still could not escape death. Every last person in his household was killed by the Home Spirit."

Li Banfeng smiled. "It's good that they can't be taken outside. Otherwise, the next time I encounter a House Cultivator, I wouldn't know how to deal with them."

That was what he said aloud, but inwardly, Li Banfeng felt desolate. The conflict between House Cultivators and Travel Cultivators—two cultivation paths as incompatible as fire and water—truly could not be easily resolved.

No matter what, he would take over the Home Spirit first.

But before taking over the Home Spirit, he had to send this mother and daughter away. Li Banfeng did not want others to know his cultivation path, much less have an accident happen while he was receiving the Home Spirit.

Xiao Yeci said, "Benefactor, De Cai told me that everything they stole was kept in the cellar in the rear yard, not inside the rooms."

The three of them came to the rear yard. Xiao Yeci continued, "He said the cellar is beneath the big stone beside the well."

There really was a stone pedestal beside the well. Just as Li Banfeng was about to move it aside, he turned and looked at Xiao Yeci.

If I move this stone aside and she kicks me into the cellar, what then?

Xiao Yeci froze, then hurriedly explained, "Benefactor, I wasn't lying to you. Everything I said was the truth."

Whether she was telling the truth could not be verified for now, but Li Banfeng was very curious about one thing.

Why did I believe her?

Was this the skill of a Mouth Cultivator?

Xiao Yeci saw what was going on and hurriedly explained, "Benefactor, sometimes I can't control my Lotus Tongue Technique and use it without meaning to.

"Don't be suspicious. How about this? I'll move the stone aside, then I'll go down and bring the things up!"

This stone pedestal looked as if it weighed several hundred jin. Li Banfeng did not think this woman could really move it.

But Xiao Yeci was very confident. "We're all people with cultivation. Our strength surely can't be compared with ordinary people's. Benefactor, just watch. You won't need to help."

Li Banfeng stood to one side and watched. No matter what flowers she spat out, he had no intention of lending a hand.

Xiao Yeci lowered into a deep squat, spread her legs, tensed her buttocks, wrapped her arms around the stone pedestal, and drew a deep breath.

With her silver teeth clenched tight, her pretty face flushed scarlet. Putting every ounce of strength into it, she actually moved the stone pedestal aside.

There truly was a door beneath the stone pedestal. Xiao Yeci panted heavily. "Benefactor, I'll go down and take a look first. Chunying, stay up here and don't move!"

Li Banfeng did not stand on ceremony. He simply watched Xiao Yeci enter the cellar. Before long, she climbed back out. "Benefactor, there are quite a few things down there. I don't know which one is yours."

"You don't need to worry about my things. Take your own things and hurry up here!"

Holding a Willow Trunk, Xiao Yeci climbed out of the cellar. "Benefactor, all our belongings are in here. What does your wallet look like? I'll go back down and get it for you."

Li Banfeng lowered his gaze and looked Xiao Yeci up and down. "Why are you helping me?"

Xiao Yeci lowered her head. "Benefactor, you say that, but my daughter and I owe you our lives."

"You're doing this to repay a favor?" Li Banfeng did not believe her.

"It is to repay a favor, but... there's also something I want to ask of you." Xiao Yeci's voice grew softer and softer.

Li Banfeng's expression remained blank. "What is it?"

"My daughter and I are going to Inner Gully in Medicine King Gully. We don't know the people or the place, and the road is dangerous. We'd like to ask Benefactor to escort us for part of the journey."

"I won't!" Li Banfeng refused outright. "Inner Gully isn't far from here, only thirty-some li away. I can point out the road for you."

As he spoke, Li Banfeng drew a simple map on the ground.

Xiao Yeci looked at the map, then at Li Banfeng. With a pleading expression, she said, "This is our first time in Medicine King Gully. We've been walking this road with our hearts in our throats. Benefactor, please escort us for part of the way. We can pay you!"

"Not even if you pay me! I have to stay here and fight the Home Spirit to the death! You mother and daughter need to leave right away!"

Xiao Yeci was stunned. "Benefactor, you still want to fight the Home Spirit?"

Li Banfeng straightened his back. "What else? Should I leave this Evil Spirit here to harm the people of the world?

"You've read so many books, yet you still don't know what The Great Hero means?"

PS: Look at our Ban Feng's heroic heart and righteous gall! Esteemed readers, leave comments and vote!

(End of chapter)