On the twelfth day, Li Banfeng finally brought everyone to Meng Yuchun's territory.

It had rained heavily the night before, and Cao Zhigang's tent had leaked. He seemed to have caught a slight cold, so when he spoke to Li Banfeng, his voice was thick and nasal. "I don't think those hunters are getting any real benefit out of this. Who would want to become a landowner in a lousy place like this?"

Li Banfeng made the rule clear to everyone. "After the land activation succeeds, you will have to come back regularly to look after the land. That's the local land deity's rule, and it will be written into the contract."

Cao Zhigang said with a bitter look, "Master Qi, isn't that just making things difficult for us? Why don't we surrender now and count the land activation as a failure?"

"If you activate land here, surrender isn't an option. Both sides must keep fighting until one side is wiped out."

The hunters all panicked. "That won't do! If we can't win, then we can't win. We can't throw our lives away over this!"

Li Banfeng nodded. "I will discuss it with the land deity. This rule is a little too unreasonable."

When they arrived at Li Banfeng's plot of land, the giant toad was inspecting the mountain wolf’s and golden eagle's sentry posts. Li Banfeng was very satisfied and stuffed five pills into the giant toad's hands. "As long as you carry out your duties properly, you will get one every month. This is your deposit."

The giant toad puffed out its chest and raised its head. "With these words from Master Qi, not even a mosquito will fly into your domain!"

Buzz~

As it spoke, a mosquito really did fly up to them.

The giant toad flicked out its tongue and ate the mosquito on the spot.

With dozens of people suddenly arriving in the territory, Meng Yuchun soon hurried over.

Unlike the other land deities, she did not come over in the form of ghostly fire. She revealed her true form directly in front of everyone.

The group of hunters stared in a daze.

Where did this beauty come from? Is she an aberrant creature?

If all aberrant creatures looked like this, the hunters felt that they could create a legend like Master Wu's too.

Meng Yuchun opened her mouth to say she was the land deity, but stopped herself. After all, land deities would never reveal themselves before people so easily.

Afraid of scaring the hunters, Li Banfeng introduced her on her behalf. "This young lady is an envoy sent by the local land deity."

An envoy? There’s even an envoy for land activation here?

This was the first time the hunters had heard of such a thing. Still, since Master Qi had said she was an envoy, none of them questioned it. They crowded around Meng Yuchun and began introducing themselves one after another.

One hunter said, “Big Sister, I might not be good at much else, but I am definitely skilled at land activation. Back in Blue Poplar Village, if I call myself second-best, nobody would dare claim first place.”

Another hunter said, “Don’t listen to his nonsense. Master Wu is obviously the best at land activation in Blue Poplar Village. And I should be the one ranked below Master Wu!”

“They are both talking nonsense, so let me say something serious. I have been doing land activation for more than ten years, and I have never failed once.”

Cao Zhigang shouted, "What are you all doing? You can't even show one-tenth of the skill you bragged about, yet you boast like you have got twelve-tenths of it. Don't you feel ashamed?"

The hunters grumbled inwardly, but none of them dared talk back to Cao Zhigang.

Cao Zhigang stepped forward and cupped his fists. "Miss, I know a thing or two about land activation. Just tell me how much land you think is suitable."

Meng Yuchun asked happily, "Would a plot of five kilometers work?"

Cao Zhigang patted his chest. "You can count on me!"

The hunters were so frightened that they all backed away into the distance.

Five kilometers of land? Isn’t this just asking to die?

Even Li Banfeng was stunned.

"What? Why are you saying count on you?" Li Banfeng grabbed Cao Zhigang, then turned to Meng Yuchun. "We can't activate a five-kilometer plot. At most, we can manage half a kilometer."

"Only half a kilometer?" Meng Yuchun was clearly disappointed.

Cao Zhigang turned to Li Banfeng. "Master Qi, the land deity sent an envoy here, so we should follow her arrangements. That's what it means to follow local customs."

Li Banfeng stared at Cao Zhigang and frowned. Old Cao, what is going on with you?

Meng Yuchun was indeed quite beautiful, but Cao Zhigang had once been a support hook of the Lu Family and had seen plenty of beauties before. He should not have lost his head over someone pretty.

Li Banfeng pulled Meng Yuchun aside and lowered his voice. "I brought these people here, so they have to follow my arrangements. At most, they can activate half a kilometer of land."

Meng Yuchun thought for a moment. "That works too. Half a kilometer per person..."

"Not half a kilometer per person. Half a kilometer in total!"

"More than fifty people, and they can only activate half a kilometer in total?" Meng Yuchun refused to accept it. "Li Qi, are you messing with me?"

Li Banfeng was not messing with Meng Yuchun. These hunters had been recruited in a hurry, and most of them did not know one another. Since he was not sure how strong they really were, he wanted them to activate a half a kilometer of land first and see what they were capable of.

Meng Yuchun asked, "If we do it your way, who becomes the landowner?"

"It depends on who turns out to be the most capable and can take responsibility for this plot," Li Banfeng said. "The others won't have come for nothing either. I will give them the full payment of activating the land. And if someone really has the ability to activate a plot alone, we can make other arrangements then.

Meng Yuchun reluctantly agreed, but Cao Zhigang refused. No matter what anyone said, he insisted on activating a plot on his own.

Since Meng Yuchun was willing and Cao Zhigang insisted, Li Banfeng had nothing more to say.

As before, they kept the rules simple. Meng Yuchun drew the boundaries, and the trial of worthiness began on the spot.

After three days of fighting, both plots were successfully activated. The fifty-some hunters all had experience with land activation, so a half-a-kilometer plot was not difficult for them.

Cao Zhigang, however, really had a hard time. He had fought alone for three bloody days and suffered quite a few injuries.

Meng Yuchun admired Cao Zhigang all the more and praised him. "Among this group, you are the most capable."

The praise only made things worse. Cao Zhigang patted his chest again. "Miss, give me another one-and-a-half-kilometer plot, and I will show you what I am really capable of!"

Li Banfeng grabbed him. "Have you lost your mind?"

Cao Zhigang looked calmly at Li Banfeng. "Master Qi, I listen to you on all things, but let me have my way this once. I need to earn some respect in front of Miss Meng!"

Li Banfeng said, "You are risking your life just to make yourself look good?"

Cao Zhigang shook his head. "I don't care about my life anymore. As long as I can stay by Miss Meng's side from now on, I am willing to die here!"

Cao Zhigang was set on activating the land, and no one could talk him out of it.

The giant toad hopped closer to Li Banfeng. "Master Qi, I am afraid this man ate sweet snot."

Li Banfeng snapped, "Nonsense! Snot is obviously salty!"

"I am not talking about that sort of snot," the giant toad said. "This is a roaming aberration. The books call it a Heartbreak Slug."

"A roaming aberration?" Li Banfeng asked. "The roaming aberrations that don't fall under the land deity's control?"

Croak!

The giant toad puffed out its cheeks. "Croak! Master Qi, you are indeed right. Roaming aberrations aren't under the land deity's control and all of them are high-level creatures.

"Heartbreak Slugs are made from the souls of several Love Cultivators all stuck together. After drifting through the new land for who knows how many years, they stop looking like ghosts and turn into little slug-shaped things. They have a nasty habit of crawling into the nostrils of people who have feelings for someone.

"Little Bro Cao really does fancy Miss Meng, and now that sweet snot has got into him, this is going to be a troublesome business."

Li Banfeng looked over at Meng Yuchun. "Doesn't she know about this roaming aberration?"

"Croak. As far as I know, she would rarely come to the new land back when she was human, and she has been a land deity for less than a year. Sweet snot is a rare thing, so she really might not recognize it.

"Besides, once a Heartbreak Slug infects someone, the only real symptom is that they become disgustingly, hopelessly in love. Most people would just think he had fallen for her naturally. I only suspected Little Bro Cao had been infected because his voice sounded so nasal."

"Can this thing kill him?"

"That depends on him," the toad said. "Little Bro Cao has feelings for Miss Meng, but Miss Meng doesn't feel the same way. Even if we stop him from activating the land now, he will still waste away from lovesickness sooner or later."

Cao Zhigang's eyes remained fixed on Meng Yuchun. Li Banfeng asked the toad, "Can he still be saved?"

"Since Master Qi is asking, I am willing to give it a try. Whether it works depends on his own fortune. Master Qi, can you find a way to make him fall asleep first?"

Getting Old Cao to sleep would not be easy. He had fought in the new land for three straight days without closing his eyes, yet he was still frighteningly energetic.

Li Banfeng sent everyone else away and took out Ling Miaoying's music box. After winding it up, he adjusted the little figure on the turntable until it faced Cao Zhigang.

This was how Wifey had taught him to use it.

Li Banfeng flipped the switch. The little figure stayed still for a moment, facing Cao Zhigang as if locking onto its target. Then it slowly began to spin on the turntable.

The gentle piano melody drifted toward Cao Zhigang. Before long, his eyelids drooped, his head tilted, and he fell asleep.

Li Banfeng put away the music box. The giant toad hopped to Cao Zhigang's side and aimed its face at Old Cao's nose. Then it stretched out its tongue.

That tongue wriggled over Old Cao's nose, and the tip slowly split in two, rising like a pair of feelers. The feelers rubbed around his nostril for a moment. Then, from deep inside his nose, another pair of feelers reached out to meet them.

It was a slug! It really was that roaming aberration.

The slug wriggled outward bit by bit, as if it had no intention of leaving in a hurry. Throughout the whole process, the giant toad did not make a sound. Only after most of the slug had crawled out did the toad curl its tongue around the creature and drag it free from Cao Zhigang's nose.

Have they now succeeded? No! Old Cao had been saved, but the giant toad was now in danger.

Heartbreak Slugs were terribly good at finding a new host, and in the blink of an eye, this one could have crawled straight into the toad's nose.

Fortunately, the giant toad had been ready for it. With a sharp flick of its tongue, it flung the slug onto the ground.

If Li Banfeng had not heard the giant toad explain what this creature could do, he might have used Treading Through Ten Thousand Rivers and stomped it flat on the spot. However, even that might not have killed it. The slug was formed from the fused souls of several Love Cultivators. If he stepped on it, it might split into several smaller slugs and scatter off to harm other living beings.

Li Banfeng had made special preparations for this.

The moment the slug hit the ground, it sensed a woman standing before it. Her eyes shimmered with affection, and her face was full of soft, tender sweetness as she gazed down at the hideous little thing.

The slug did not hesitate. It charged toward the woman, sprang up, and burrowed into her nostril.

Li Banfeng gave the giant toad a pill as thanks, then signaled for it to leave as soon as possible.

The giant toad did not need to be told twice. It sprang into the distance with a few great hops, while Li Banfeng carried the Film Projector back into the Pocket Dwelling.

The woman had never been real. She was only an image cast by the Film Projector.

Once the Film Projector shut its lens, the woman vanished. The Heartbreak Slug lost its host at once and dropped to the ground with a wet splat.

Wifey was ready for it. A gramophone needle shot down and pinned the slug in place, while coils of steam wrapped around it like ropes. Then Wifey sang happily, "A Heartbreak Slug! Oh, this is good stuff!"

The two gramophone needles rose and fell with frightening speed, chopping the Heartbreak Slug apart in no time. Six Love Cultivator souls, some male and some female, shrieked in different pitches as they were sucked into the horn one after another.

When the steam finally dispersed, only a lump of mucus remained on the ground. Li Banfeng brought the Crimson Lotus over and said, "Eat."

The Crimson Lotus really did not mind. It swept up every last bit of mucus.

Li Banfeng sighed. "You really aren't a picky eater."

Whoosh~

Wifey sang, "Of couuurse she's not picky! This thing is truly rare, Husband dearrr. You mustn't let her eat it all, nooo. I left some spirit essence inside just nowww, so she has to make a spirit-bound item from it, ahhh!"

A spirit-bound item, Li Banfeng thought. What would be suitable for refining?

Li Banfeng looked over his weapons. The sickle was out of the question. It felt too good in his hand to reforge on a whim. The trowel was just as useful, so he would leave that alone too.

Which other weapon would be suitable?

Li Banfeng looked around the room and spotted the Glove trembling as it clutched the Tang Saber.

No matter how rare the Heartbreak Slug was, Li Banfeng was not about to reforge an enchanted artifact for it.

One pair of weapons had never felt right in Li Banfeng's hands.

The mandarin-duck battle axes were too complicated for him to use smoothly, so he placed them in front of the bronze lotus flower.

The bronze lotus flower seemed terribly wronged for a good long while before it finally, and very reluctantly, accepted the axes.

When the lotus bloomed, Li Banfeng noticed that the lotus seed refined from Ling Miaoying's body had already ripened.

He plucked the lotus seed and waited for a moment. Then, with a few crisp pops, six Golden Essence Pills came bursting out.

It seemed his talk with Crimson Lotus had been effective. At the very least, what came out this time were really Golden Essence Pills.

"Crimson Lotus, isn't this number a bit low?"

Author's Note:

P.S. Banfeng had been keeping count the whole time.