Steam Era: The Lord of 'Puluo' Chapter 1098 565: Civilization and Fabrication (Part 4)

But the Tang Sword was still excited and had never returned to its sheath.

Hua Manchun howled nonstop. He had plenty of methods to torture the women in the manor, but Li Banfeng's methods of torment were in no way inferior to his.

"Brother Li Qi, I really am telling the truth."

The Tang Sword rose again. Hua Manchun shouted, "Enough, what I collect on the mountains aren't rare birds and strange beasts, they're corpses."

"Whose corpses?"

"The people from my manor," Hua Manchun finally told the truth this time, "The thousands of people in Flower Fairy Mansion were all bought by me. Among them, quite a few had cultivation,

When those women with cultivation die, they're not buried in the village, but according to their different cultivation types, are buried separately in the surrounding mountains.

Baiming Mountain is specifically for burying Literature Cultivators, Cold Blade Mountain is for Martial Cultivators, and the other barren mountains are mixed burials for all kinds of Taoist Sects.

Every so often, I go up the mountain once, dig out the corpses that have rotted halfway, and use their remains to refine Medicinal Powder, so I can refine out the very same entry-level powders they took at the beginning.

As for the exact process, what kind of heat, what auxiliary ingredients, I can tell you all of it, as long as you spare my life!"

Li Banfeng recalled Lian Cui'er's description, then asked, "I heard you often kill people in the manor, especially the old and out-of-favor ones, always looking for an excuse to kill every now and then. What's the reason for that?"

Hua Manchun said, "Because I've got a bit of a bad temper."

The Tang Sword swept horizontally, splitting open Hua Manchun's belly. Hua Manchun clenched his teeth, stuffed the spilling intestines back in, clutched the wound and said, "I really didn't lie. Sometimes it really is because of my bad temper, and sometimes, it's because of business..."

Li Banfeng said, "By 'business,' you mean that whenever you're short of a certain Medicinal Powder, you kill a Cultivator of that particular Taoist Sect—something like that, right?"

Hua Manchun lowered his head and said, "Some people push the orders too hard; there's really nothing else I can do."

Li Banfeng ran a finger along the Tang Sword's edge and smiled. "In Puluo State I've seen plenty of wicked men, but ones as steeped in sin as you are, really aren't that many.

In your eyes, those women are just stock, raw materials? If the Peddler knew you were doing this sort of thing, he'd have you torn limb from limb."

"That's not how the reasoning goes," Hua Manchun shook his head and said, "Those women are people I pay high prices for every year. I don't buy them through anyone else; I buy them directly from their own hands.

I give them money, give them three days' time. They can spend it however they want. After three days, they willingly come to my manor, to serve as slaves and servants, and I can dispose of them as I please.

This isn't something I'm just saying. I signed a Contract Book with them. I'll take you to my place right now, and we'll look at the contracts and reason it out. Even if the Peddler were here, I'd still dare to argue this logic with him!"

Li Banfeng still didn't believe him. The Phonograph at his side said, "Husband, in Puluo State contracts are taken very seriously, and what he's talking about is indeed how things work in Puluo.

In Puluo, if someone willingly sells themselves, as long as everything is clearly written in the contract, no matter how they're sold, it's all reasonable and proper; even if they can be killed or butchered at will, there's no problem."

Li Banfeng shook his head. "Who would sell themselves like that?"

"They do. Every last one in my manor was sold that way," Hua Manchun gave an example. "Let's start with Lian Cui; you've met her already.

She's a Martial Cultivator, but she's a gambler. To pay off her gambling debts, she owed Zhang Gunli three thousand Ocean Dollars. Zhang Gunli said that if Lian Cui'er couldn't pay back the money, he'd have her flayed alive to go with his drinks.

If you've heard Zhang Gunli's name, you'd know he really would do it. If Lian Cui'er hadn't sold herself to me, there's no way she'd be alive today.

Every single Contract Book in my hands, they wrote themselves. I never forced a single word out of them. Brother Li Qi, if you want to play the chivalrous hero, I advise you to find someone else to cut down. On this matter alone, you can't kill me."

Li Banfeng fell silent for a moment, then smiled. "I never said I'd kill you over this. Start by telling me why you contacted people from the Outside Provinces to harm me?"

"Because He Jiaqing walked into my manor, and there's no way I could let him go. Before that I'd been mocked by you, and I was worried you'd stab me in the back, so I wanted to find a way to keep you tied up.

I really didn't expect people from the Outside Provinces to be so unreliable. They'd just said they'd keep you busy, and then you showed up in the blink of an eye."

"Which so-called high master from the Outside Provinces did you find? What made you think he could keep me tied up?"

Hua Manchun lowered his head. "I wouldn't call him a high master, but his rank is certainly high. I don't know exactly who he is. The one who helped me contact him is the branch office we Snowflake Beach have in the Outside Provinces, called the Ferry Gang."

"I've heard of the Ferry Gang. Chu Zikai is the Gang Leader."

Hua Manchun shook his head. "He's the Boat Master, but the Boat Master isn't the Gang Leader. If the Gang Leader goes down, the Ferry Gang falls apart. If the Boat Master dies, they just replace him with another.

Right now he's missing, and the Ferry Gang already has a new Boat Master, but the Gang Leader is still the same one.

When Snowflake Beach founded the Ferry Gang, we did it together with the Birch Tree Secret Cult. They work very much the way we do. They also have a chairman, but the chairman isn't the actual head. The one who truly runs the Secret Cultivation Conference never shows up in public."

"Who runs the Secret Cultivation Conference?"

"That I really don't know."

"Who is the Ferry Gang's Gang Leader?"

"That one, I don't know either."

"He's lying!" Meng De once again saw through Hua Manchun's lie.

Hua Manchun lowered his head and said, "I really can't say."

Li Banfeng picked up the Tang Sword. "Say it. If you don't, you're going to suffer."

Hua Manchun kept his mouth shut. Li Banfeng glanced at the Tang Sword. "You're in such a good mood today; open him a new orifice and let him be a woman for you once."

The Tang Sword was eager for just that, flaring with fire all over as it prepared to open a new orifice.

Hua Manchun gritted his teeth and forced out a sentence: "Don't be fooled by how civilized the people from the Outside Provinces look. It's all fabricated."

The moment he finished, Hua Manchun's face twisted violently.

The Phonograph shouted, "Husband, get away, leave him to Little Servant—this man's about to explode."

PS: So-called civilization is all fabricated—there are two people who've said this line. The previous one was Chu Zikai.

Honored readers, the results for "Lord of Puluo" have been steadily climbing throughout August. Thank you all for your tremendous support for Shala and this work, and for your encouragement and trust in Li Banfeng.

Tomorrow is September. I ask all of you dear readers to reserve your guaranteed monthly ticket for Ban Feng. Thank you once again.