The Overlord of Puluo

Li Banfeng knew that his wifey's singing could lure ghosts as Shopkeeper Feng had told him about it.

At first, he had wanted to bring his little wifey out to take care of the problem directly, but his wifey had refused, saying that a dwelling spirit wasn’t allowed to leave the house. She also reminded him that, as a proper married woman, she couldn’t be showing herself in public all the time. Buying groceries and such still had to be done by Li Banfeng himself.

His little wifey had recorded a vinyl for Li Banfeng. It was this very song called I Once Had a Love.

All the ghost servants were utterly entranced as they listened, seemingly unaware of Li Banfeng’s presence.

In truth, they weren’t so lost in the music that they didn’t notice him. Whenever Li Banfeng turned the gramophone a bit too fast, the ghost servants would immediately grow upset and cast a few sharp glares his way.

Operating the gramophone truly required skill. With one hand turning the winding handle, Li Banfeng used the other to unlock the Pocket Dwelling with his key.

From the open doorway of the Pocket Dwelling, the ghost servants heard an even lovelier voice, one far more beautiful than the tune played by the hand-cranked gramophone.

「 I had a love story to tell,And I sing it to the spring breeze.Please, spring breeze, ask for me,Why has he cut off all news of me~ ♪」

All the ghost servants turned their heads at once toward the Pocket Dwelling’s door, then followed Li Banfeng inside without a moment’s hesitation.

*** Zhou Yujuan suddenly jolted awake from her sleep and hurriedly shook Du Hongxi, the Wind Watcher at the Second Branch of the Medicine King Hall under the Jiangxiang Gang.

"Master, wake up! There’s noise downstairs. I heard the gramophone playing."

Du Hongxi rubbed his eyes and turned over. "So what if it’s playing? That thing goes off every day."

"Master, please don't sleep! I really heard noise downstairs!"

"Just let me rest for a bit, will you?" Du Hongxi groaned, pushing Zhou Yujuan back. "I’m all out of sauce, so quit wearing me out!"

Zhou Yujuan listened carefully for a while and realized that the singing from the first-floor hall had stopped.

Did I really hear it wrong? Zhou Yujuan thought. She rubbed her ear, which felt like something was blocking it, probably something Du Hongxi had left there earlier.

After confirming that she could no longer hear anything, Zhou Yujuan drifted back to sleep. But at that moment, Du Hongxi suddenly sat up.

"Master, what’s wrong?" Zhou Yujuan asked with concern.

"Nothing. Just going to take a piss," Du Hongxi said as he got out of bed.

"There’s a chamber pot under the bed," Zhou Yujuan reminded him.

"I’m not using that! It doesn’t feel right when I piss in it!" Du Hongxi said, leaving the room quietly. Zhou Yujuan was about to follow, but he shot her a glare that made her stop.

Obviously, he wasn't going to relieve himself. He had lost his connection with the ghost servants.

Du Hongxi had experienced losing contact with one or two ghost servants before and this usually happened because of battles or other disruptions. However, this was the first time he had lost connection with all of them.

At this moment, he felt so nervous. In fact, he was panicking. He didn’t tell Zhou Yujuan, nor did he tell anyone else what was happening as he didn’t trust anyone right now. Losing all his ghost servants meant that he had lost almost all his combat power.

He walked toward the end of the corridor, where two of his subordinates were stationed. His subordinates were cultivators with some level of skill, though it had been a few years since either of them had put their abilities to use.

When Du Hongxi was about to reach the end of the corridor, he suddenly felt something cold press against the back of his head.

Li Banfeng had aimed the iron ruler at the back of Du Hongxi’s bald head and asked softly, "Who’s inside this building?"

"There's…"

"Keep your voice down." Li Banfeng twisted the iron ruler and bored a hole into the back of Du Hongxi’s head. Du Hongxi’s entire body convulsed violently.

How did I end up in this situation? Du Hongxi thought. He had already cultivated to the second level of Nightfiend Cultivation, and his life had never been in such danger before.

With his cultivation, Du Hongxi could command his ghost servants to do many things. He could even refine a third-level ghost into his servant.

However, without his ghost servants, what could he do? The only thing left was to summon new ones.

Du Hongxi focused his mind and poured all his strength into summoning the wandering spirits.

Could there be wandering spirits nearby? There certainly were! In fact, there were plenty of them!

Wandering spirits were the one thing Puluo Province would never run out of.

Near the dancehall were two vengeful spirits. They had killed before and drunk blood. Though they possessed no cultivation level, they were vicious enough to be useful once summoned.

Li Banfeng pushed the iron ruler half an inch deeper into the back of Du Hongxi’s skull. "I asked you, who’s inside the building?"

Du Hongxi jolted. He hadn’t expected this bastard to be so ruthless, and he quickly answered, "My two subordinates."

Li Banfeng slowly twisted the iron ruler and asked, "What kind of subordinates?"

"They have been with me for more than ten years. They are men who can kill without blinking an eye." He sounded as if he were boasting, but in truth, he was only stalling for time.

At that moment, the two vengeful spirits sensed the Nightfiend Cultivator’s summons and began flying toward the dancehall.

Meanwhile, Li Banfeng twisted, poked, and moved the iron ruler inside Du Hongxi’s skull as he asked, "What Daoist paths do your two subordinates follow, and what is their cultivation level?"

Du Hongxi answered, "They are both Physique Cultivators at the first level."