The Secret of the Boundary

Li Banfeng stood outside the cave, He Jiaqing stood inside. The two were separated by a wall, but neither knew who was on the other side or what their situation was.

He Jiaqing saw a halo of light on the ground and immediately recognized the House Cultivator's skill of Close Doors and Windows.

To be skilled in Close Doors and Windows, one must be at least an eight-story House Cultivator. House Cultivator on higher floors rarely venture outside. This new place Outer State and is a remote area. Who could this House Cultivator be?

The first thing He Jiaqing thought of was the Local Earth God of this new land.

He had been to this new land many times, and even helped Big Head build a place for cultivation, but He Jiaqing had never paid respects to the local Local Earth God. He never expected that Da Tou would actually come to visit him today.

Even if they come looking for him, he's not afraid. With He Jiaqing's cultivation level, he really doesn't need to fear a Local Earth God from a new place.

But this matter must be treated with caution. This Local Earth God, who was able to defend new lands in Outer State, must be no ordinary person.

Should we fight him?

He Jiaqing's leg had just been injured by the boundary line, and he was also suffering from Green Flower disease, so his overall condition was not very good.

If the opponent were from another sect, we could give it a try, but the opponent is a House Cultivator. His dwelling must be in this area. The closer to the dwelling, the stronger the House Cultivator's combat power, which makes him difficult to deal with.

Furthermore, House Cultivator have a certain degree of restraint against thieves, especially since most House Cultivator techniques are related to the Home Spirit and the house itself.

Even if it were stolen, it wouldn't be of much use, which would also be disadvantageous for He Jiaqing.

So we won't fight?

I've built up so much popularity over such a long time, and it must have been stolen by this Local Earth God. If I don't give him a shock, he'll definitely take advantage of me.

After some deliberation, He Jiaqing made up his mind to have a fight, but only to stop when the fighting was over, so as not to damage the harmony and to establish his authority.

With his right leg still inside the boundary, He Jiaqing had to endure the pain and pull his right leg out.

Having encountered the trap of Close Doors and Windows, this is the price that must be paid. If you cross the line, you'll be hit; if you cross the line, you'll be hit again. It's not just one leg; even if your whole body goes in, you'll have to come out.

Can't we just stay inside the boundary?

That would be a huge loss. The House Cultivator in the clouds would definitely use their Ninth Layer skills to Expand Territory. Fighting the House Cultivator in the boundary would be the same as fighting in the house. How much of an advantage would that give the House Cultivator?

He pulled out his right foot, another layer of flesh scraped away, He Jiaqing reached for the mechanism, preparing to open the stone door.

To gain the upper hand.

He Jiaqing felt another sharp pain in his foot when his fingertips didn't touch the mechanism. Looking down, he saw the boundary line suddenly appear behind him.

What's going on?

Are boundaries dynamic?

Cloud-based House Cultivator does indeed change the boundaries of Close Doors and Windows, as House Cultivator can expand the scope of those boundaries to some extent.

He Jiaqing once met a House Cultivator in the clouds whose boundary lines changed layer by layer, expanding from eight or nine feet to five or six zhang.

But the boundary changes take time. This House Cultivator outside the door is really something. He can change it in the blink of an eye and make He Jiaqing suffer another setback.

Without the slightest hesitation, He Jiaqing, prepared to suffer again, quickly retreated, jumped over the boundary line, stared intently at it, and shouted, "Hero outside the door, I concede defeat."

I'm not playing anymore.

Given his current state, He Jiaqing felt he couldn't possibly defeat the person outside the door.

Even if he could win, he couldn't fight to the death; he still needed to maintain a good condition to deal with Green Water Bow.

Li Banfeng stood at the door, and the voice inside sounded very familiar.

He Jiaqing tried to conceal his intentions while speaking, but Li Banfeng had known him for four years in college and wouldn't misunderstand some of the accent details.

There was no response from outside the door. He Jiaqing continued, "I found a place to stay on your property without informing you beforehand. I was wrong to do that. In a few days, I will definitely send you a token of my appreciation. If you are satisfied with it, then this matter can be considered settled for now."

The words sounded quite sincere, but Li Banfeng didn't reply. He abandoned his Close Doors and Windows ways and quietly left the desolate mountain.

The gloves popped out of his pocket and followed behind Li Banfeng, helping him clean up his footprints—this was the basic professionalism of a thief repairman.

Li Banfeng is pondering the current situation.

It turns out that everything in this cave belonged to He Jiaqing, including those special tools and the people he had collected.

Big Head is He Jiaqing's man, and he has become a double agent in the Dark Star Bureau.

He found a confidential document for He Jiaqing and sent it to the Tea Mountain Hotel. What exactly the document was is still unclear.

Big Head left the tools for storing popularity in the cave and asked He Jiaqing to retrieve them. The handover site was chosen to be this new location. Was this for the sake of secrecy, or because He Jiaqing also knew that this was a road leading to Pro State?

Is He Jiaqing from Pro State?

A series of questions arose in Li Banfeng's mind. He really wanted to go into the cave and ask He Jiaqing face to face to find out the truth.

Asking is useless; why should he tell you?

Li Banfeng had once speculated that He Jiaqing's cultivation level was at least at the Third Layer Above the Clouds, and that if he rashly entered the cave, he would probably lose his life.

He Jiaqing waited in the cave for nearly half an hour, and only when there was no more movement outside did he open the stone door at the entrance.

There were no traces left on the ground, and he wasn't sure where the Local Earth God had gone. Even if he were sure, he couldn't rashly follow him and anger the Local Earth God again, as the consequences would be unimaginable.

The button on his shirt vibrated, He Jiaqing received a message from Zhu Junlong: "Jiaqing, I've prepared everything. When are we going to visit Kang Zhenchang?"

Kang Zhenchang is the healer that Big Head was investigating, and he is currently the one who has a chance to save He Jiaqing.

He Jiaqing still had a lot of life left from the life he borrowed from Zhang Gunli, and his life was not in immediate danger for the next few days. After thinking for a moment, he replied to Zhu Junlong, "Wait a little longer, the time is not right yet."

"Then what do you think is the right time?" Dabo Ensi looked coldly at Xiao Zhengong. The afterglow of the setting sun shone through the window onto the ground. In the interplay of light and shadow, one could occasionally see spider webs swaying back and forth.

Xiao Zhengong appeared calm, but his heart was beating rapidly.

To say he wasn't afraid would be a lie. Dabo Ensi could hang him on a spiderweb at any time, drain his flesh and blood, and leave him to dry in the wind.

Dabo Ensi was furious. He obtained some special potions through some old acquaintances and helped Xiao Zhengong recover three levels of cultivation.

He spent a lot of money and connections on this, but Xiao Zhengong felt that three layers were not enough, and simply dismissed Dabo Ensi's remarks with the phrase, "The timing is not right."

When is the right time? Everyone knows the answer. Dabo Ensi used to be a level five body cultivator, but he has been cultivating diligently in recent years and has even gone to the Inner State to cultivate. His cultivation level has definitely reached level six, or perhaps even more.

Xiao Zhengong's idea was to wait until his cultivation level recovered to the seventh level before revealing the secret of the boundary. Only under such circumstances could he take control of the situation.

But Dabo Ensi didn't think that way. He didn't have the resources to restore Xiao Zhengong's cultivation to the seventh level, and even if he did, he wouldn't do it.

Xiao Zhengong was certain of one thing: as long as he didn't reveal the secrets of the boundary, Dabo Ensi's wouldn't kill him. He sipped his cigarette and continued flipping through the notebook, "There are some things I just can't remember, and forcing me won't help."

A wrinkle appeared on Dabo Ensi's forehead.

Six eyes emerged from his forehead wrinkles, all staring at Xiao Zhengong.

Xiao Zhengong pretended not to see it, but he was worried. He knew that Dabo Ensi was a body cultivator and a spider-man, but seeing his eight eyes, his previous confidence and composure were rapidly dissipating.

Dabo Ensi asked, "Have you forgotten your last name?"

Xiao Zhengong chuckled and said, "My surname is Xiao, do you need to remind me?"

"Say it again?"

"My surname is Xiao!"

"Say it again!"

"I—" Xiao Zhengong suddenly stammered.

Dabo Ensi raised his voice. "I'll ask you one more time, do you even know your last name?"

"I, I," Xiao Zhengong said with difficulty, "My surname is Yu."

"May I have your name?"

Xiao Zhengong then said, "My name is Yu Dacheng."

"Whose side are you on?"

"I am from Iron Sheep Mountain."

"Who's in charge here?"

"My husband used to be—"

"Let's not talk about the past, let's talk about the present."

"The First Boss is now Lu Xiaolan."

Dabo Ensi nodded. "Do you listen to the First Boss?"

"Listen."

"Will you listen to me?"

"Listen," Xiao Zhengong replied very seriously.

"Okay, just listen." The six eyes retreated back under the skin, and Dabo Ensi's forehead wrinkles healed.

Xiao Zhengong, whose gaze had been unfocused, suddenly snapped back to reality, looked up at Dabo Ensi's, and asked, "What did you just ask me?"

Dabo Ensi smiled and said, "It's nothing, just catching up with you. We're old friends, after all."

"Old friend—" Xiao Zhengong tried hard to recall his past with Dabo Ensi. In his memory...

The two of them didn't seem to have much interaction before.

Dabo Ensi asked gently, "Sect Leader Xiao, have you remembered the secret of the boundary?"

Xiao Zhengong quickly shook his head, then lowered his head and said, "No, not that fast."

Dabo Ensi laughed and said, "Then you'd better think about it quickly."

Xiao Zhengong flipped through the notebook, his eyes somewhat unfocused.

He will continue to delay, and his methods and routines will not change. This cunning, which is out in the open, is a unique characteristic of Xiao Zhengong.

However, Xiao Zhengong now lacks courage, and the humility and cowardice in his soul are still under the control of Dabo Ensi's.

Li Banfeng obtained the grease from the record player shop and returned to Yuezhou.

This stuff is indeed precious, and the record store doesn't have much stock. After calculating the quantity, the projector said to Li Banfeng, "If we want to visit every floor of the Dark Star Bureau building, we still don't have enough of this grease, but if we only go to a small part of the floors, it shouldn't be too much of a problem."

Li Banfeng dislikes procrastination and will take immediate action tonight.

He first looked at the duty roster, and the duty officer was Crabapple.

Li Banfeng had heard Tangyuan, who was a friend of the Crabapple, a fourth-level Dark Energy User, whose profession was a sleeper, and whose corresponding Daoist sect was Sleep Cultivator.

The Tangyuan is slightly older than a Crabapple fruit. It's considered a young person in the Dark Star Bureau, but a veteran in the Public Security Team. With such a person on duty, how can Li Banfeng's matter be handled easily?

That's easy.

At 11 p. m., Li Banfeng quickly glanced at the door of the duty room and saw that Crabapple was already asleep.

The practice of Sleep Cultivator involves sleeping, and through sleep, one can influence and control the people and things around them.

Crabapple can control her sleep time, and she can choose not to sleep during her shift. However, because she is a senior member, slacking off during work hours is a basic skill for a veteran member, just like she is now sitting behind her desk.

He appeared to be looking through documents, but he had actually been fast asleep for over an hour.

Li Banfeng brought the projector to the stairwell entrance. A few minutes later, the projector responded, "Seventh Director, go to the eleventh floor first. There are my kind in every stairwell. Walking less will save you a lot of oil."

Li Banfeng took the elevator to the eleventh floor and waited for ten minutes at the entrance of the stairwell before the projector reminded Li Banfeng that he could go upstairs.

After climbing the stairs to the twelfth floor, a black iron gate blocked my way.

Two lights were on the door. The projector first obscured Li Banfeng's figure with an image, then the gloves moved to the iron door.

After a moment of quiet searching, the iron gate opened a crack.

This is a guide from memory 1; before this, the Black Glove had opened this iron gate many times.

The projector shone a beam of light into the room through the crack in the door. The light flickered for a long time before the projector said:

"The Seventh Director, those of the same kind within have become friends."

The glove gave a warning. "Honey, be very careful, there might be traps in this house."

Li Banfeng activated his Golden Eyes Autumn Hairs, Discern Spiritual Sounds, and Hundred Flavors Exquisite, taking each step with extreme caution.

By the light of the projector, Li Banfeng could clearly see the neatly arranged document boxes on the shelf. As he scanned them, he saw a document box on the second shelf that read "Ruirong Textile Factory".

This is the file of Ruirong Textile Factory.

The Dark Star Bureau actually has files on the textile factory, but they won't let the Public Security Team look at them.

What's the logic behind this?

Li Banfeng picked up the file box and was about to flip through it when Gloves reminded him, "Boss, Black Glove wasn't looking for this when he came here."

The Black Glove originally belonged to Xiao Zhengong. Xiao Zhengong had also been to this archive room before. What was he looking for back then?

Is what he's looking for the same as what Big Head found?

Li Banfeng couldn't be sure; there were probably hundreds of shelves in this archive room. If he looked through them one by one, he didn't know how long it would take just to see the boxes.

Let's go see what Xiao Zhengong is looking for.

Gloves fumbled through the bookshelves from memory, and after half an hour, found the document box that appeared in his memory.

"What great luck! We found it so quickly!" The glove exclaimed with delight. "Boss, this is exactly what Xiao Zhengong is looking for."

The document box only had two words on it: boundary.

Boundary!

Li Banfeng came to Outer State to Balance Person, his primary goal being to find a way out for Pro State.

Pro State's territory is divided by a boundary line, and the technology to manipulate that line is controlled by Outer State, which means that Pro State's lifeline is also controlled by those Outer State.

Even though Li Banfeng believed that the strength of the Outer State was not greater than that of Pro State, if the Outer State ignored Pro State, the divided Pro State would not have the strength to resist the Inner State.

If a way can be found to completely break down the boundary, it would be like finding a way out for Pro State.

Li Banfeng, who had been quite calm, became somewhat excited. He opened the document box, opened the first document, and read the first line of text.

"The boundary of Pro State originates from changes in Dark Energy caused by the magnetic field. The connection between the magnetic field and Dark Energy is the key to controlling the boundary—..."

The document box is very large, and there is a lot of information inside. It would be difficult to read even a tenth of it in one night.

The projector was prepared in advance. He had the gloves unfold the documents and began to take pictures quickly. After taking pictures of more than ten pages, the projector stopped.

He opened the film room himself, pulled out a piece of film, and looked at it in front of the lens for a long time.

"This is impossible—"

Li Banfeng asked, "What happened?"

"I can't record it, there's nothing on the film." The projector was on edge; he shouldn't have messed up at such a crucial moment.

But Li Banfeng was not surprised by the comparison. "These materials must have used special materials, which made the film unable to be exposed to light."

Gloves sighed and said, "In the end, it's still because A'Ji is useless."

The projector was very anxious. "Let me think of another way, there must be another way."

This wasn't the projector's fault. Li Banfeng hid the key, opened the door of Portable Abode, and handed the document box to the record player.

"My dear Wife, can you memorize all of this?"

The Wife quickly flipped through each document, first praising them, then complaining.

"My dear husband, you've really found the secret of the boundary!"

My dear husband, this is not easy to learn. Please allow me to take a closer look.

"Hey, my dear husband, these people from Outer State have so much to say. They keep talking about magnetic fields and magnetic induction. These terms are so unfamiliar, and all these diagrams and numbers... my dear husband, they're not easy to remember!"

The Wife flipped through it again and again, while Hong Ying, watching from the side, grew anxious. "This messy stuff, written so densely, who can possibly remember it all?"

The record player said, "That's right, Yingying. I really can't remember it. Let's be quick and copy it down!"

Hong Ying was also a little troubled. "With so much writing and drawing, don't blame me if I copy it wrong."

The record player laughed, "Silly girl, how could I bear to blame you? If you had copied it wrong, I would have killed you on the spot!"

The record player dipped the stylus in ink and began copying.

Hong Ying picked up a pen and copied it down.

Li Banfeng was also quick; he wrote faster than the record player and Hong Ying. He studied in Outer State and had a better understanding of that Outer State.

The pendulum, the Dream Virtue, and the projector all came to help, but the Music Box was too slow and couldn't lend a hand.

The gloves were fast, but the number of characters they could recognize was limited, making copying extremely difficult.

The sickle, the Tang Blade, the teapot, and the Wine Gourd were not good at copying, so they helped with binding.

I spent a full five hours copying it, and barely managed to copy half of it.

At this rate, I won't be able to finish copying tonight.

The projector reminded him, "Seventh Director, we'd better leave the archives before dawn."

This is the important matter. Anyway, he can't finish copying it all tonight, and Li Banfeng doesn't want to be greedy. He organizes the copied materials once and will copy the rest next time.

But the gloves had some concerns. "Honey, this thing might not be in the same place next time we come."

Li Banfeng: "What do you mean?"

The gloves were hard to describe. "I vaguely remember that when the Black Glove came here, we always had to look for them. Sometimes we could find them in half an hour, and sometimes we might not be able to find them all night."

Li Banfeng understood what the gloves meant; the location of these documents was not fixed, and the document box might need to be moved next time he came.

This is a bit of a problem.

Hong Ying yawned. "I've copied so much tonight, let's just keep looking at it for now. We can talk about the other half another time."

The glove-wielder had a different perspective. "In our line of business, the biggest fear is uncertainty. If things go smoothly today, we might encounter problems next time."

Hong Ying said, "What complications could there be? Didn't you say that the guy surnamed Xiao has been there many times? He always managed to get away unscathed, so what is our Seventh Son afraid of?"

The gloved man shook his index finger and said, "The boss also said that Xiao Zhengong has been in Outer State for many years, and he knows how to handle certain things, but we don't!"

The crowd's constant arguing woke up the Judge's Brush lying on the shelf.

"Annoying!" The Judge's Brush flipped over, stood up from the shelf, and flew to the side of the document box.

"Ink!" At the Judge's Brush's command, the glove quickly went to grind the ink.

The pendulum paused, taken aback. "Why do you listen to him so much?"

The glove was also puzzled. "I just felt that he had a lot of presence just now."

"Paper!" Judge's Brush gave another order, and Tang Blade cut the paper and placed it in front of Judge's Brush.

"Turn the page!" Judge's Brush looked at the documents and instructed Hong Ying to turn the page.

Hong Ying retorted angrily, "You've gone too far! How dare you order me around?"

The record player smacked Hong Ying: "Listen to him!"

Helpless, Hong Ying turned the page with the Judge's Brush.

The Judge's Brush dipped his pen in ink, flicked the tip, and copied a page of documents.

Li Banfeng was stunned; this was even faster than a photocopier.

"You're using the Scholar Cultivation Technique, writing a thousand lines in one stroke?" Li Banfeng had seen Zhang Xiuling use this technique before, but Zhang Xiuling definitely couldn't write that fast.

Even if you found a literary master from the clouds, it would be impossible to write this fast.

"Hmph!" The Judge's Brush didn't bother to reply and turned to another page in the blink of an eye.

As Hong Ying flipped through the documents, she wrote with her Judge's Brush, and finished writing the remaining half of the materials in less than an hour.

After finishing writing, the Judge's Brush flew back to the shelf, and in a minute, he chose a suitable spot.

I lay down steadily.

Li Banfeng walked to the shelf and asked, "I remember the Peddler said that you gave all your techniques to that real brush, so how come you still know Scholar Cultivation Technique?"

"By!" Judge's Brush did not answer Li Banfeng's question, only saying the word "by".

What does "being" mean?

Li Banfeng thought for a moment and realized it meant exactly what it said. He took a newspaper and used it as a blanket to cover the Judge's Brush, and the Judge's Brush immediately fell asleep.

Hong Ying said angrily, "If we had known he was capable, why would we have put us through all this trouble?"

The record player sighed, "This worthless pen has put in so much effort, do you think it cost nothing? Who knows how he'll make his husband pay it back later."

Hong Ying retorted angrily, "Don't we need to invest anything? What do you mean we didn't put in any effort?"

The Judge's Brush angrily retorted, "Still making a scene!"

The family fell silent, Li Banfeng, carrying the document box, quietly left Portable Abode.

After putting the document box back in its original place, Li Banfeng left the document room and went straight back to his residence.

He had no desire to sleep and immediately began discussing the secrets of the boundary with his Wife. After a whole day of research, his Wife came to a conclusion. "Husband, this is not Work Method. In our Pro State, this definitely doesn't count as Work Method."

The first half of the document discusses the theory of electromagnetism. It can't be said that it's not Work Method at all, but my Wife doesn't know much about this kind of technology.

Li Banfeng had attended university, so he naturally understood some basic electromagnetism. However, he needed to explain some of the fundamentals to his Wife gradually.

After talking all day, Li Banfeng finally remembered something. "Our old man will definitely understand; we should show this to him first."

The record player said, "The old man has already seen it. We asked him if he had seen Mingbai, but he wouldn't say much. It's better for you to ask him yourself, sir."

Upon arriving at the third room, Li Banfeng asked, "Old Master, have you figured out the secret here?"

Portable Abode responded, "You figured it out, didn't you?"

"Is this how Outer State residents control the borders?"

"I think so."

Li Banfeng was somewhat dissatisfied. "Old man, why do you keep speaking in a mumbled way?"

Portable Abode Ju frankly admitted, "Because we're not sure, this thing looks somewhat similar, but it's not quite the same."

"Let's try making something using this method first?"

"Alright, Seventh Brother, you help me prepare the materials. Some of the materials aren't readily available, so you'll have to find Electric Cultivator to figure it out."

Luo ZhengNan still had to make a trip to Li Banfeng, who said, "Old man, please write me a list of ingredients first."

Dabo Ensi, holding the ingredient list, couldn't help but shake his head. "I doubt Pro State could possibly gather all these ingredients."

"There are quite a few things that we have to look for in Outer State." Under pressure from Dabo Ensi's, Xiao Zhengong finally wrote down this list, but the things were really hard to find.

Dabo Ensi made many marks on the list. "I've been to Outer State, and there are many things here that I've never heard of, and you might not even have them in Outer State. Are you sure you're not mistaken?"

Xiao Zhengong was very confident about this. "When I was in the Dark Star Bureau, I went to the archives more than ten times, each time only bringing out a portion of the data, which I then gave to different subordinates to rewrite into codes. Do you know how much effort I put into this? You actually doubt that I would make a mistake?"

Dabo Ensi was somewhat troubled. "Materials from Pro State are relatively easy to find, but materials from Outer State are not so easy to obtain."

"Looking for Lu Xiaolan!" Xiao Zhengong crossed his legs and poured himself a glass of wine. "She's lived in Outer State for so many years, she has a lot of connections."

Dabo Ensi glanced at Xiao Zhengong. These days, Xiao Zhengong's attitude had become much more humble, but judging from his current state, that arrogant air was about to return.

Should we ask him again to see if he still remembers his last name?

After careful consideration, Dabo Ensi abandoned the idea.

Let him be arrogant for a while; he'll be useless soon anyway.

Midnight, Black Stone Slope, Duan Shuqun, the general manager of Dongjing Stationery Company, had just walked out of the workshop.

Two days ago, we received a big order to rush out a batch of stationery to be delivered to Seven Autumn City. Duan Shuqun offered a generous reward and led the workers to work overtime until now, and finally the batch of stationery was completed.

The workers went home, and Duan Shuqun returned to his office to sort out the accounts. He had just sat down when he suddenly saw a man covered in blood jump into the room.

Upon closer inspection, Duan Shuqun realized that the person who had come was none other than He Jiaqing.

"Jiaqing, what happened to you?" Duan Shuqun stepped forward to help He Jiaqing up.

He Jiaqing waved his hand and backed away repeatedly. "Don't touch me, I have lesions on my body, and Green Water Bow is coming soon. Help me find a place to hide!"

PS: Yu Dacheng is one of the Three Heroes of Iron Sheep and appeared in Chapter 197.

Duan Shuqun, an important member of the Hand and Foot Alliance, first appeared in Chapter 326.