the smoke depended entirely on the strength of her cultivation against Daboinsky's.
Daboinsky was clearly very confident with his own cultivation as he said. "Pray, do not trouble yourself with a futile attempt, Shopkeeper Yu. By the time your smoke floats to his face, his head will, in all likelihood, be in my hand."
Yu Nan glanced at the iron bell by the gate. She reached for it, intending to strike it and summon her people.
Daboinsky read her thoughts and shook his head. "Pray, do not stoop to such folly, Shopkeeper Yu. Once you step beyond your village, you and your lackeys are but ants beneath my heel.
"Is it not better to live? Truth be told, you have not known him for long. So just watch quietly and see him off upon his final journey. Tell me, is that not better?"
Yu Nan burned with anger, but what Daboinsky said was true.
Moments later, a figure emerged in the night. It was Li Banfeng. Yu Nan cried out, "Master Qi, don't come over!"
Daboinsky shook his head with a smile. "Alas, it is too late. Far too late."
Once Li Banfeng stepped into Daboinsky's line of sight, only two outcomes were possible.
The first outcome was that he might rush toward the Yu Family Village, only to be trapped in the webs and left helpless until Daboinsky killed him.
The second outcome was that he could heed Yu Nan's warning, stay away from the village, and still be killed outright by Daboinsky.
As it was, Li Banfeng gave no sign of hearing Yu Nan's warning and charged straight toward the Yu Family Village.
Daboinsky stepped forward and offered a greeting. "From the moment we parted, I knew we would meet again. I had not thought it would be so soon, my friend."
Li Banfeng shouted back, "Yes! We are friends!"
Daboinsky let out a sigh. "I have always thought the bond between us profound, greater than this clash of fate. I do most sincerely hope that, in another world, you shall yet remember me, my friend."
Li Banfeng shouted, "Do you hear that? He is my friend!"
Daboinsky froze. Who is he talking to? To Yu Nan?
Daboinsky turned his gaze to Yu Nan, and she appeared just as baffled. She too could not understand what Li Banfeng meant.
In his bewilderment, Daboinsky sensed another presence around Li Banfeng. The strange creature darted about. One moment it clung to a tree, the next it crawled across the ground, and then it drifted through the air as if it weighed nothing at all. It was very strong, and some of the sticky webs Daboinsky had set up snapped like threads of cotton.
What is this thing? Daboinsky wondered.
As Li Banfeng sprinted toward the Yu Family Village, a huge shape uncurled from a tree and dropped right in front of him, blocking his way to the Yu Family Village.
It also blocked Yu Nan and Daboinsky, cutting off their view.
They could no longer see Li Banfeng. All that stood before them now was a massive worm, glowing a bright emerald green.
Daboinsky blinked in shock and whispered, "Madam Bagworm Moth… this is bad."
Li Banfeng dodged left and right, circling and tricking the caterpillar through the long night. At last, he dashed back to the Yu Family Village.
He shouted loudly, "You all heard it! That man is my friend!"
The human face on the moth body turned and cast a glance at Daboinsky. "You two are friends?"
Daboinsky licked his lips nervously. "I… well… no…"
Madam Bagworm Moth turned her face back to Li Banfeng. "He says you are not…"
Li Banfeng had already pulled out the Hanxue Pendulum. He tapped the screw at its base, and a spray of blood shot straight into Madam Bagworm Moth's eyes.
It was the blood of a Hedonism Cultivator, taken from Geng Zhiwei and sealed inside the pendulum.
With a furious roar, Madam Bagworm Moth scrubbed at her eyes with long, slender feelers.
Seizing the moment, Li Banfeng slipped into the Pocket Dwelling and flung the key with all his strength. It soared nearly two hundred meters and landed on the roof of a cabin in the Yu Family Village.
Old Zhu had said this was Yu Nan's territory. If she let even a drop of her blood fall on the Yu Family Village, any intruder would be torn apart.
If people could not get in, then surely this moth could not either.
When Madam Bagworm Moth opened her eyes, she realized that Li Banfeng had vanished. She turned her face again to Daboinsky. "Where did he go?"
Daboinsky couldn't answer. When it all happened, Madam Bagworm Moth blocked his view, and he never saw where Li Banfeng went.
Madam Bagworm Moth then looked at him with a strange tenderness. "He killed my child. Why don't you be my child instead?"
Daboinsky stepped back twice, a nervous look flickering across his face. "He and I aren't really friends. We hardly even know each other…"
He had worked as a land-activator in the new land a few times before. From that experience, he knew what level Madam Bagworm Moth was. Beings like her were not to be easily provoked.
"If you don't want to be my child, then you can have a child with me."
A blush spread across Madam Bagworm Moth's cheeks, and ripples ran through her round body. Roused by the blood of a Hedonism Cultivator, she suddenly fell in love with Daboinsky.
Stepping onto his own strands of web, Daboinsky hurried backward while saying, "We may not… be a good match."