Steam Era: The Lord of 'Puluo'-Chapter 609 - 423 Who Moved It?

The territory of Qiu Luoye was suddenly illuminated by a strong light, making the entire territory as bright as day.

Shui Yongquan shouted, "Heavenly Light! Quick, take cover!" He then transformed into Ghost Fire and entered the nearest wooden house.

The "Heavenly Light" he mentioned was obviously not the gentle Heavenly Light of the New Land but the fierce Heavenly Light of the Proper Land. Any Cultivator, regardless of their cultivation level, would be in great danger if bathed in the Proper Land Heavenly Light even once.

Qiu Luoye also took shelter inside a wooden house. Could a wooden house block the Heavenly Light?

It couldn’t block it completely, but it was much better than being directly exposed to it.

Li Banfeng, holding He Yuxiu in one hand and Ma Wu in the other, entered the wooden house.

Lu Chunying, carrying Xiao Yeci, entered the wooden house as well.

Juanzi shouted loudly, "This isn’t the Heavenly Light!"

Yang Yanzheng led Chu Er into the wooden house.

Zuo Wugang took Cao Zhida with him into the wooden house.

Old Hu held Stone and entered the wooden house.

Xiao Shan desperately yelled, "This really isn’t the Heavenly Light."

His shouts were in vain; everyone took cover nearby, except for the Three-Headed People who didn’t hide, for they were most familiar with the Heavenly Light.

This wasn’t the Heavenly Light; it was the sunlight of high noon.

The blame couldn’t be placed on Shui Yongquan or Qiu Luoye; they hadn’t seen sunlight for too long, and sunlight shouldn’t have appeared in the New Land either.

The thick, dark fog suddenly dispersed, and a vast portion of the territory was instantly engulfed by sunlight. This was even more abnormal than the Heavenly Light; even those like Li Qi, who usually lived in the Proper Land, couldn’t distinguish it in their panic.

Xiao Shan laughed, "Let’s bring out Seventh Master quickly!"

Mengzi frowned, "What’s so funny? Are you mocking Seventh Master? Unlike us, Seventh Master always gets to see the Heavenly Light. You’re not allowed to laugh when we see Seventh Master later!"

Juanzi, controlling her body, was about to enter the wooden house to call everyone out when the ground trembled, and she stumbled and fell.

RUMBLE, RUMBLE...

After a bout of shaking, the Three-Headed People fell to the ground one after another.

They were in relatively good condition. Li Banfeng and the others crammed inside the wooden house, swaying side to side, rolling around with the trembling earth, and several of them sustained head injuries that bled profusely.

Li Banfeng, relying on his foundational skills as a Traveling Cultivator, steadied himself. The sensation felt all too familiar, as if he had experienced it in the Outside Provinces.

What was the story with that Heavenly Light from before? And what was the cause of the current earthquake?

Li Banfeng looked at everyone. They were holding their heads, crouching, and rocking back and forth in the wooden house. Many had sustained external injuries, and quite a few were vomiting.

CREAK, CREAK, CRACK! The main beam of the wooden house was about to break.

The roof was coming down, and it seemed like the people inside were about to be crushed when He Yuxiu leaped onto the roof, stabilizing the main beam with her brute strength.

In the midst of the shaking, He Yuxiu also struggled to keep her balance, and Li Banfeng jumped behind her to support her.

The other wooden houses could no longer hold, and with a series of loud crashes, countless structures collapsed.

The earthquake lasted for nearly twenty minutes. There was a brief period in the middle that was relatively stable, with only minor jolts. Near the end, the ground gave a fierce shake, almost causing even Li Banfeng to lose his foothold.

This reminded Li Banfeng of something he had experienced in the Outside Provinces.

It felt like a subway encountering a malfunction and suddenly halting.

Everyone was thrown into disarray, and He Yuxiu shouted, "Quick, let’s go, the wooden house is breaking apart!"

Leave? The Heavenly Light was still shining outside, and all the people inside the house had cultivation levels. Even if struck by wood, at most they would be injured, but exposure to the Heavenly Light could lead to explosion.

Outside, Juanzi yelled, "Seventh Master, everyone, this isn’t the Heavenly Light, really, it’s not the Heavenly Light. Come out quickly!"

He Yuxiu glanced at Li Banfeng.

Li Banfeng nodded slightly.

He trusted Juanzi; to her, the Heavenly Light was a common occurrence.

Li Banfeng was the first to leave the wooden house, and everyone followed close behind.

After standing outside for a while, Li Banfeng realized that this indeed was not the Heavenly Light.

He had been too panicked before to tell the difference, but now that he was calm, he could see the distinction.

He had also been exposed to the Heavenly Light; the Heavenly Light was much brighter than this.

The light before his eyes was not much different from the noon sunlight in Greenwater City.

Noon sunlight...

Li Banfeng looked at Shui Yongquan and Qiu Luoye, who had just come out of the wooden house.

Qiu Luoye gave Shui Yongquan a look. "Old Shui, you scared us all with your panic. What Heavenly Light? Isn’t this just the sun coming out? But speaking of which, how long has it been since we’ve seen the sun?"

Shui Yongquan looked up and indeed saw the Sun hanging in the sky.

"Qiu Daxiang, has the sun come out for you?"

Qiu Luoye was silent for a moment before turning to ask Shui Yongquan, "Yeah, why has the sun come out?"

People with various injuries gradually walked out from the wooden houses.

Xiao Yeci wiped the blood from her face, looked up at the Sun, and said to Li Banfeng, "Benefactor, it’s sunrise, we’ve gained the Proper Land. According to the books, this land has turned into Proper Land."

Turned into Proper Land? How did it happen? Don’t they say it requires ten thousand residents? There aren’t ten thousand people here now, let alone long-term residents!

Before Li Banfeng could figure it out, he heard Qiu Luoye burst into laughter. "Sunrise, gained the Proper Land! I understand now. My territory has become Proper Land!"

Shui Yongquan was also happy. "My old brother, congratulations!"

Qiu Luoye quickly responded, "The same to you, the same to you!"

Shui Yongquan chuckled. "You’re right. It really is a shared joy. I need to go back to my territory to check. If you’ve seen the Sun, my place will surely be illuminated as well."

"Sure, with such a big Sun, maybe your territory has also lit up. Let’s go check it out together!"

The two old brothers happily went off. Because the last piece of wilderness was given to Qiu Luoye by Shui Yongquan, Shui Yongquan’s Border Line was very close to here.

In the blink of an eye, the two arrived beside the Border Line and saw a very tranquil small village.

There had just been an earthquake, and the villagers were also very tense. They stood by the Border Line, peering over at this side.

Shui Yongquan looked across for a moment and asked in a low voice, "Where is my home?"

Qiu Luoye stroked the beard on his chin. "Yeah, where has your home gone to..."

Shui Yongquan panicked. He didn’t know the origins of these villagers, but clearly, the other side of the Border Line wasn’t his territory.

He was about to rush over the Border Line when Qiu Luoye stopped him.

"No, you can’t go there! This seems to be the Border Line of the Proper Land!"

This time, Qiu Luoye was right. Just a few meters away across the Border Line, not even a blade of grass grew.

On his side, quite a bit of vegetation had also disappeared.

This was a sign of the Proper Land Border Line.

Shui Yongquan sprinted along the Border Line but couldn’t find his own territory, only coming across a rabbit that seemed dazed by the Border Line.

Shui Yongquan grabbed the rabbit and asked, "What did you see just now?"

The rabbit said in a panic, "I just saw the other side moving, moving so quickly! I don’t know what happened."

"Moving?" In his anxiety, Shui Yongquan still couldn’t understand. Qiu Luoye’s territory had turned into Proper Land, but how could his home move?

Qiu Luoye figured it out. "Old Shui, maybe it’s not you who moved. It’s me."

This remark woke Shui Yongquan up, and the two hurriedly walked to the northern border. When they arrived at the northern border, Qiu Luoye’s familiar old neighbors were also gone; only a forest was seen.

All the neighbors at the other borders had vanished, with traces of the Proper Land Border Line around them. Only the southeast corner led to the New Land, and even this piece of New Land was very unfamiliar to Qiu Luoye.

What in the world was happening?

Qiu Luoye looked at Li Banfeng.

Li Banfeng looked at Xiao Yeci.

Xiao Yeci shook her head. "This, I don’t know..."

This was indeed beyond Xiao Yeci’s understanding. Li Banfeng made a round along the edge of the territory, and the scenery around the border was also unfamiliar to him.

He found an opportunity to return to his Portable Residence and asked his wife.

HMM...

The wife pondered for a while and said, "Beloved husband, it’s always Shallow Land that turns into Proper Land. You’ve turned Deep Land into Proper Land; this Little Servant has never heard of such a thing. Could it be that the Deep Land moved by itself, ran next to Proper Land?"

The Portable Residence should know best about this, but Li Banfeng asked several times, and the Portable Residence did not respond.

The Phonograph said to Li Banfeng, "Husband, don’t bother our Old Man right now; he seems to be thinking about something. There are two urgent matters. First, we need to see what kind of neighbors are around. With a piece of territory suddenly squeezing in, they might not all be friendly to us. Second, we need to see how many Strange Monsters are left on the Border Line. Some of these Strange Monsters are low-level and haven’t seen sunlight in their entire lives. Such monsters are likely to cause chaos."

Li Banfeng left the Portable Residence, about to find Qiu Luoye, when suddenly he heard roaring sounds coming from the mountains and forests.

What could be making such a racket?

Li Banfeng hurried to the forest. Most other places were manageable, but this particular woodland could not afford any mishaps.

Qiu Luoye also arrived quickly, searched through the woods for a while, and found a Bamboo Joint Worm.

This Bamboo Joint Worm was not large, only a little over one meter long. In the New Land, it was considered a mild-tempered creature, but today was its first exposure to sunlight and it became abruptly aggressive, violently gnawing on the old tree trunk below it.

Angered, Qiu Luoye went up to tear the Bamboo Joint Worm apart. Unexpectedly, the old tree, wounded by the worm’s gnawing, also grew furious. Its roots surged, nearly ensnaring Qiu Luoye.

The old tree’s roots encroached upon those of other trees, and several other trees with Spirit Attribute also became enraged, their roots competing in growth.

As roots twisted and tangled, the creatures underground could no longer survive. In droves, mole rats, snakes, earthworms, and salamanders emerged.

These beings had never seen sunlight; they managed well hidden underground, but now exposed to the Sun, they instantly lost all reason and began gnawing on Qiu Luoye.

The situation spiraled out of control, and Qiu Luoye lost his patience.

ROAR!

He directly transformed into a Big Elephant, intent on flattening the entire forest!

Li Banfeng quickly stopped Qiu Luoye; this forest could not be destroyed, as beneath it was Li Banfeng’s station.

"Big Brother Qiu, there seems to be chaos over there too. Why don’t you check it out first? Leave this place to me to handle!"

A few dog-headed dragonflies had gone insane, charging into the farmlands. Qiu Luoye, gritting his teeth, said, "They should have been dealt with a long time ago! All these things bring disaster!"

This incident couldn’t really be blamed on either Qiu Luoye or Li Banfeng; they both thought that gathering ten thousand people would be difficult, assuming there was still plenty of time to handle the Strange Monsters.

If worst came to worst, they could negotiate with Old Shui to send these witless Strange Monsters to Old Shui’s territory. These creatures, lacking Spiritual Wisdom, wouldn’t rebel with Qiu Luoye, nor would they become future threats, and Shui Yongquan would likely accept them.

Who knew that as soon as the reclamation ended, the New Land became Proper Land, and now they didn’t even know where Old Shui’s territory was.

Food was essential for survival. Qiu Luoye couldn’t care less about the forest for now and rushed off to the farmlands first.

Here in the forest, Strange Monsters of all sizes were still in a frenzy. Li Banfeng was pondering how to calm them down when an object in his pocket suddenly nudged him.

It was an item he seldom used, a Music Box given to him by Ling Miaoying.

It was difficult to classify this item: Hong Ying called it a Spiritual Object, while his wife thought it had consciousness and should be considered a Magical Treasure.

The Music Box could move on its own, indeed a characteristic of a Magical Treasure, but it had never spoken.

Li Banfeng took out the Music Box and wound it up fully.

The figures on the Music Box began to move. Li Banfeng did not specify a direction, and the soothing melody spread outwards in all directions.

Before long, the forest quieted down; all creatures fell into a deep slumber.

Only Li Banfeng was unaffected; the melody he heard was different.

But merely putting these Strange Monsters to sleep didn’t solve the root of the problem. Once they awoke, they would resume the commotion, and if it continued like this, the station would become exposed.

Li Banfeng touched the frenzied Bamboo Joint Worm; the creature was sleeping so soundly it could have been dead.

This gave Li Banfeng a bold idea.

He looked at the Music Box.

The little figure on the Music Box looked up at him, a confident smile on its face.

PS: What exactly had Ban Feng thought of?