Steam Era: The Lord of 'Puluo' Chapter 1214 592: Thousand Tael House (Part 3)

...

Cui Tiq stood on the hillside, watching Dou Jiyan's distant figure, muttering softly with a smile: "Beautiful girl, you are really beautiful, make sure to live well."

Bang bang clang!

He gently shook the rattle in his hand, his eyes showing a hint of regret and reluctance.

...

Dou Jiyan was a gambling cultivator, quick of hand and swift on her feet, and with Li Banfeng, they walked in the New Land for nearly a day, arriving at the Thousand Tael House.

Leaving the New Land, Li Banfeng saw a brick wall over two meters high, stretching endlessly on either side.

"Brother Seven, we've arrived at the Thousand Tael House."

"Is the Thousand Tael House a city?"

"It's not a city."

"Then why is there a city wall?"

"Brother Seven, this is not a city wall, it's a house wall."

What's the difference?

Walking along the base of the wall for a while, Li Banfeng saw two large doors, open, with people coming and going, five guards at the door, one responsible for registering destinations, one for checking documents, one holding a copper gong for sending alerts, and the remaining two holding weapons to handle unexpected situations.

"Brother Seven, these are constables I've hired, there are quite a few in the city."

Dou Jiyan walked to the door, where the five guards quickly paid their respects, but even she had to show a token to enter the Thousand Tael House.

The token is the credential for the Thousand Tael House, the contents of the token are simple, with Dou Jiyan's name engraved on the front, and the words "Thousand Tael House" on the back.

Li Banfeng looked at the token: "Just this piece of token, any blacksmith could easily forge it, right?"

"It's not forgeable," Dou Jiyan pointed to the guard responsible for inspecting tokens, "His name is Jin Jinliang, a disciple of my senior brother, a taste cultivator of considerable level, anything forged is hard to escape his eye.

The token seems simple, but the mold for casting the token was made by high-level literature cultivators and illusion cultivators, every stroke and character on it has its technique,

And even if one manages to forge a token, they cannot find shelter within the Thousand Tael House, the difference inside and outside the house is significant, outsiders find it hard to stay even for a day."

Li Banfeng looked at the constable inspecting tokens, he should be around sixty years old.

"This person has been cultivating for quite a few years, hasn't he?"

Dou Jiyan thought for a moment: "He mentioned that since he became a taste cultivator, it has been over thirty years."

"Taste cultivators have no medicinal powder, how did he enter the Taoist Sect?"

"My senior brother gave him some elixirs, said to have similar effects to medicinal powder, Jin Jinliang is extremely diligent, and in over thirty years, he has reached the Seventh Layer, proficient in the four great techniques of taste cultivation: Judgement, Attraction, Discussion, and Decision, his mastery in the Judgement Skill is especially admired by my senior brother."

Taste cultivation, with elixirs, layers, and similar skill techniques.

"Having reached this point, doesn't this count as being part of a Taoist Sect?"

Dou Jiyan sighed: "This is the rule in Puluo State, any Taoist Sect not recognized by the peddler doesn't count as a proper sect."

Li Banfeng looked back at Jin Jinliang: "He is your senior brother's gatekeeper, aren't you afraid he'll conspire with Ding Liusan against you?"

Dou Jiyan shook her head: "Don't doubt when using someone, and don't use someone whom you doubt, I trust his character."

Li Banfeng followed Dou Jiyan as they walked along the alley, with two rows of identical courtyards on either side, the layout within was exactly the same, one main room, two side rooms, one storage room, one outhouse, all buildings were identical in style, size, color, even the alleys between them were equally wide.

Li Banfeng walked for a full five miles, the scenery on both sides of the road continuously repeating without any change,

"No wonder they say outsiders find it hard to stay for a day, walking here for half a day and you'd get lost, are all these houses built the same to guard against outsiders?"

Dou Jiyan said: "Also to guard against locals."

"Guard against locals for what?"

"Gambling."

"Gambling?" Li Banfeng glanced into the courtyards, "Isn't the Thousand Tael House the largest casino in Puluo State? Aren't people allowed to gamble here?"

Dou Jiyan explained: "Those living in the Thousand Tael House aren't allowed to privately open gambling dens, that's the rule of the Thousand Tael House."

"Doesn't this place accommodate many gambling cultivators?"

Dou Jiyan nodded: "Aside from the hired constables and some merchants, the rest are all gambling cultivators."

"An entire house filled with gambling cultivators?"

Dou Jiyan corrected once more: "This isn't a city, it's a house, with tens of thousands of gambling cultivators living here."

Li Banfeng was deeply skeptical: "This number might be more than literature cultivators and martial cultivators, by this calculation, the first Great Taoist School in Puluo State should indeed be gambling cultivators."

Dou Jiyan thoughtfully calculated: "If accounting for incomplete cultivators, then indeed, the largest sect in terms of cultivators in Puluo State would be gambling cultivators."

"What does incomplete cultivators mean?"

"Cultivators who haven't consumed proper medicinal powder..."

As they were speaking, two constables dragged a woman out of a house, heading towards the gate.

The woman struggled and screamed the whole way: "I'm wronged, I wasn't gambling, I was just playing Pai Jiu with him for fun, we weren't betting money!"

Li Banfeng asked: "Aren't you going to inquire about it?"

Dou Jiyan shook her head: "There's nothing worth inquiring, since she broke the rules, she must be kicked out of the gambling house!"

Li Banfeng found Dou Jiyan's reasoning flawed: "You gather gambling cultivators yet don't allow them to gamble money, isn't that too difficult?"

Dou Jiyan said: "Not allowing private gambling dens, doesn't mean they can't gamble, they can gamble in the casino, there are thirty-six casinos in the Thousand Tael House, all established for this purpose, let me show you, then you'll understand."

The two walked more than two miles, finally seeing a building that looked different ahead.