The Overlord of Puluo

Chubby Qin's qi and blood surged out of control. He had reached the limits of his body.

There was a very simple reason for that.

A Gourmandism Cultivator could rapidly convert food into vital nourishment, and a large portion of that nourishment would transform into new blood cells.

For older Gourmandism Cultivators, their slower blood production would balance things out, so it rarely caused problems.

However, Chubby Qin was still young, so he had a good blood production rate. The food transformed too quickly, and now his blood vessels were on the verge of bursting!

Zhang Liuze had once seen a Gourmandism Cultivator die from ruptured blood vessels. He should have been more cautious.

However, that had been more than twenty years ago, so Zhang Liuze hadn't thought of it beforehand.

"Brother, stop eating!" Zhang Liuze exclaimed quickly to stop Chubby Qin from eating any more. Then he turned to his men and ordered, "Go to the pond and catch some leeches!"

"What for?"

"Don't fucking ask. Just go!" Just after saying that, Zhang Liuze noticed Chubby Qin was still stuffing buns into his mouth.

Zhang Liuze grabbed him tightly. "Brother, didn't I tell you to stop eating?"

Panting, Chubby Qin said, "Brother Liu, with all these people watching, I'd rather die than fail to finish these ten kilograms of buns."

"As if I'll fucking let you do that!" Zhang Liuze growled, pressing Chubby Qin against his chair to stop him from eating.

Murmurs rippled through the crowd.

"What's going on?"

"His qi and blood are surging. He has to stop eating. If he keeps eating, he'll die."

"Look how red his face is. It might already be too late. Everything he's eaten has turned to blood. If he doesn't let some of his blood out, he's finished!"

"Isn't that easy to resolve? Just slice him open and let him bleed."

"Are you trying to kill him? It's not that simple! His blood and qi are raging within his veins. If the cut's too deep, he'll spray blood everywhere and die on the spot. Too shallow, and the wound will clot before it drains enough."

"Who could cut with the right depth at this crucial moment? If I were to give you a knife now, would you dare make the cut? Even a Medical Cultivator of a decent level might not have the skill for it."

"Brother Liu's right. The leeches are our only hope now."

As the crowd discussed Chubby Qin's situation, Chubby Qin's face turned from red to purple.

Zhang Liuze's eyes turned red with anger and anxiety. "Where the hell did they all go? I told them to just catch some leeches. Why are they taking so damn long?!"

Even if the leeches were brought over now, it would be too late.

Chubby Qin didn't even dare move in the slightest. Even one movement could lead to a vital blood vessel bursting, resulting in his death.

Li Banfeng stepped behind Chubby Qin and took off his suit jacket, using it to cover his right hand. He said quietly, "Brother, bear with it."

Then he pulled out the Blood-Soaked Pendulum and jabbed it into Chubby Qin's back.

The pendulum shifted from a shiny silver to red, from red to purple, and finally to a deep, ominous black.

Then Li Banfeng heard the pendulum say, "Master, I can't eat anymore."

He pulled the pendulum out, and the flush drained from Chubby Qin's face.

The Blood-Soaked Pendulum had drawn out his excess blood.

Li Banfeng put the pendulum away and checked the wound on Chubby Qin's back.

The wound was only two centimeters wide, and the blood clotted very quickly. It was nothing serious.

After resting for a while, Chubby Qin's complexion slowly returned to normal.

Zhang Liuze was still on edge. He had no idea what method Li Banfeng had used, nor could he be sure that Chubby Qin was truly out of danger.

Zhong Desong, the shopkeeper of Azure Pond Teahouse, had someone brew a pot of tea and offered a cup of it to Chubby Qin. "Master Qin, have some tea. It will help you calm your qi."

Chubby Qin waved it away. "I'd better not. My stomach's still uneasy."

Zhong Desong set the cup aside and glanced at the wound on Chubby Qin's back.

Li Banfeng had used his jacket to cover the pendulum earlier, but the wound hadn't escaped Zhong Desong's sharp eyes.

And of course, Li Banfeng noticed that. He lowered his voice and asked Shopkeeper Feng, "Who's that?"

"Zhong Desong, from Azure Pond Teahouse. You should recognize the name," Shopkeeper Feng answered with a meaningful smile.

Then Li Banfeng realised where he knew the name from.

He had seen that name on Shopkeeper Feng's list.

Zhong Desong was a Virtuous Adept of the second branch of Jiangxiang Gang's Medicine King Hall. He was a level-two Ascetic Cultivator.

Today is Chubby Qin's big day. Why would anyone invite a member of the Jiangxiang Gang?

Li Banfeng wondered that because he didn't know the full story.

Zhang Liuze had invited most of the banquet guests, including Zhong Desong.

He had known that Chubby Qin had a feud with the Jiangxiang Gang, but he had no such conflict with Zhong Desong. In fact, the two got along fairly well.

It was Zhang Liuze's way of giving Chubby Qin a way out of the feud, to help ease potential future tensions and prevent things from spiraling into a fight to the death.

After sitting for a while, Chubby Qin glanced at Zhang Liuze and said, "Brother Liu, my stomach doesn't feel too good."

"You ate too fast. Just eat slowly, and you'll be fine. You didn't advance this time, but don't get upset. Next time, we'll—"

Before Zhang Liuze could finish comforting Chubby Qin, he saw Chubby Qin reaching toward the pile of buns.

"I think… I'm hungry."

"Hungry?" Zhang Liuze uttered puzzledly.

It made sense that Chubby Qin was hungry. Everything he had eaten had turned into blood.

The pendulum had drawn that blood out, and that stimulated his body to speed up the digestion process. Chubby Qin was truly hungry again.

Zhang Liuze yelled, "Who's got a watch? Has time run out yet?"

A shopkeeper checked the alarm clock on the table. "Master Zhang, there's still a quarter of an hour left!"

Upon hearing that, Chubby Qin grabbed a bun and stuffed it into his mouth.

In less than ten minutes, every last bun was gone.

Afraid the buns might not be enough, he seized a roast chicken and devoured the meat in a few quick bites.

"Brother Liu, does that make the count?"

Zhang Liuze wasn't sure. Cultivation progress couldn't be seen by the naked eye, and he had no way of telling whether Chubby Qin had advanced to the next level. "Brother, what do you think? How do you feel?"

Chubby Qin rolled his shoulders and neck. After about ten minutes, both his shoulders visibly swelled, growing noticeably broader.

It wasn't just his shoulders;

his waist, abdomen, thighs, and forearms all increased in size. Except for his height, every visible part of his body had grown, making his frame rounder and fuller than before.

Zhang Liuze burst into hearty laughter. "My brother, you did it! When I advanced to your level back in the day, I got this fat too!"

Chubby Qin's heart swelled with joy as everyone cheered and congratulated him. At this moment, Zhang Liuze finally remembered the stranger who had saved Chubby Qin earlier.

Zhang Liuze approached Li Banfeng and asked quietly, "Friend, how did you save him?"

"It's an ancestral medical art, not something I can share freely," Li Banfeng replied with a small smile. Then he changed the subject. "Brother Liu, where did that Stomach-Clearing Powder come from? I'd like to get some myself to regulate my digestion."

Hearing that, Zhang Liuze let out a laugh. "Guess I couldn't fool you, friend. That powder came from a street-side medicine shop. It's nothing special at all. I only gave it to Chubby Qin to give him some confidence."

Li Banfeng smiled amusedly. It was just as he had thought.

The banquet lasted until the early hours of the next morning, when the guests finally headed home.

Li Banfeng left ahead of the others.

No one had noticed him when he arrived, and no one realized when he left.

That was the power of a level-two Homebound Cultivator. Most of those present lacked the cultivation to sense his presence at all.

However, one man hadn't overlooked him.

Li Banfeng walked down an alley, planning to find a quiet spot to open his Pocket Dwelling. Right then, he suddenly felt danger closing in.

He abruptly turned to look behind him and saw a man slowly approaching from the mouth of the alley.

The man appeared to be in his fifties, dressed in a changshan and wearing a flat-topped round hat. He held a teapot in his hands as he approached Li Banfeng with a pleasant smile.

"Qin Tianjiu calls you Brother Qi, and the shop assistants at Yu's Cloth Shop also mentioned a certain Master Qi. You must be Li Qi, aren't you?"