Steam Era: The Lord of 'Puluo'

Liu Liangyi made up his mind to take revenge on Ma Wu, but he didn't act immediately.

Unlike Liu Changyu, Liu Liangyi had to consider every aspect before taking action.

Firstly, the attack must be successful. The traces left by a Nightmare Cultivator were too pronounced. It was easy for the other party to find evidence. To erase all traces, there couldn't be any survivors at the scene.

This wasn't difficult for Liu Liangyi, as he had sixty Ghost Servants. As long as they trapped Ma Wu and encircled him, they just needed to kill. This would ensure not a single survivor could escape.

Secondly, he had to guard against Techniques and Magical Treasures.

The Ghost Servants' bodies could become tangible or intangible at will, which indeed gave them an advantage in battle. However, they were also restrained by some Taoist Sect Techniques.

Lust Cultivation had some Techniques that could subdue Lost Souls. However, a practitioner had to be at least at the Third Layer to use them.

Did Ma Wu have a cultivation level of the Third Layer?

Liu Liangyi wasn't sure.

According to Liu Liangyi's speculation, since Ma Wu was able to kill Song Jiason, his cultivation level couldn't be low.

Besides Techniques, there were also Magical Treasures that subdued Lost Souls.

Did Ma Wu have any Magical Treasures that restrained Lost Souls?

He had one in the past.

He had a mangy dog-skin coat. It was dirty and greasy, and wearing it made him look like a begging vagabond.

As long as he put on this dog-skin coat, any ordinary Lost Soul that he touched would instantly have its soul and spirit disperse.

Now that Ma Wu had been expelled from his family, was that dog-skin coat still on him?

Liu Liangyi didn't dare to bet on it. If that coat was still with Ma Wu, not only would the Ghost Servants be unable to kill him, but Liu Liangyi would also lose a significant number of them.

These sixty Ghost Servants were the result of many years of Liu Liangyi's painstaking Tempering. Losing one meant that the Liu Family's combat power was diminished. If he couldn't kill Ma Wu and lost all his Ghost Servants instead, that would be a loss Liu Liangyi couldn't afford.

To be absolutely sure, Liu Liangyi decided to deploy paper dolls.

Ghost Servants could attach themselves to the paper dolls. This would avoid direct contact with Ma Wu. Even if the paper dolls were destroyed, the Ghost Servants could calmly escape and attach to another doll.

As the Ghost Servants moved back and forth within the paper dolls, Ma Wu wouldn't be able to find a target for his Techniques. They could then wear him down until he collapsed from exhaustion.

It was the right approach, but it had its difficulties in execution.

Liu Liangyi hadn't used paper dolls in many years. One Ghost Servant could control at most five paper dolls. Sixty Ghost Servants could control three hundred paper dolls. This was like using his own cultivation level to control a small army. Liu Liangyi felt a bit overwhelmed as he was getting older.

After much thought, he decided to use forty Ghost Servants to control two hundred paper dolls, leaving the remaining twenty to protect him.

Thirdly, he needed to ensure secrecy.

Deploying so many paper dolls couldn't be detected by anyone.

They must not be noticed by Ma Wu's people. Even his own people couldn't leak a hint of it.

Did Liu Liangyi trust his own people?

He didn't.

He couldn't even trust his closest accountant, Hu Juncai.

After decades of reigning over the Green Forest, he trusted no one but himself.

He decided to go to Blue Poplar Village alone. However, he couldn't go in the next two days.

He had heard that someone was coming near Blue Poplar Village.

If that person appeared, it was best not to cause any trouble. Otherwise, there would be serious problems.

CLANGING AND CLINKING!

"Soap, Snow Cream, matches, wax, iron shovels! Come take a look, come have a gander! A cart full of good things for you to choose!"

The Peddler parked his cart by the roadside. He had barely shouted twice when Li Banfeng led three men charging over.

Li Banfeng had heard the Peddler was coming these days. He'd had someone keep an eye out for news and had finally caught up with him.

Li Banfeng was a regular customer. Even though he wore a top hat and sported a Big Beard, the Peddler recognized him at a glance.

Seeing his regular customer, the Peddler pushed his cart to leave, not wanting to do business with Li Banfeng.

Li Banfeng stepped ahead to block the Peddler. "I'm buying the entry-level medicines!"

The Peddler stared at Li Banfeng for a moment. "You want to buy entry-level medicines? You still dare to buy entry-level medicines?"

He has already been initiated into two Taoist Sects; buying more medicines would be courting death.

Li Banfeng shook his head. "It's not for me. It's for my two brothers who want to buy them."

Behind him were Ma Wu, Xiao Chuan, and Xiao Genzi. They were road workers. They were absolutely loyal to Ma Wu and had secretly saved money to buy elixirs in the past, accumulating Taoist Fate. Seeing their potential, Li Banfeng had brought them to be initiated.

Ma Wu said with a cheerful laugh, "Could you please show us what Medicinal Powders you have today?"

The Peddler looked disdainfully at Li Banfeng, then turned to Ma Wu. "You just want them to be initiated, right? It's fine to bring these two, but there's no need to bring him along."

Li Banfeng was quite dissatisfied. "I'm also here to buy something. You're a vendor; how can you pick and choose your customers?"

"You're the one for sale, you bastard!" The Peddler spat at Li Banfeng and turned to Xiao Chuanzi and Xiao Genzi. "I brought a lot of Medicinal Powder today. Which Taoist Sect do you two want to choose?"

Xiao Chuanzi was still hesitating when Li Banfeng made a suggestion. "Choose Lust Cultivation to practice with your young master. It would be convenient."

Xiao Chuanzi shook his head. "I think that profession has no future."

Ma Wu kicked Xiao Chuanzi. "Who the hell are you calling futureless!"

Xiao Chuanzi said to the Peddler, "Actually, I wanted to practice Literature Cultivation."

The Peddler laughed. "Ambitious! Do you love to read books?"

Xiao Chuanzi answered seriously, "I love to read books, but I'm illiterate."

The Peddler frowned. "If you're illiterate, what would you do with Literature Cultivation?"

Xiao Chuanzi lowered his head and said, "I just wanted to learn to read."

Ma Wu said to the Peddler, "Give him the Literature Cultivator's Medicinal Powder. I'll teach him how to read."

The Peddler shook his head. "That's nonsense. Do you think learning to read is easy? How many years have *you* been learning? Don't you have any idea?

"After initiation into Literature Cultivation, one needs to read a book every day. If he's illiterate, what will he read? If the daily cultivation isn't completed, isn't that just waiting for death?"