Li Banfeng began rummaging through the shredded clothes on the ground, checking to see if he could find any enchanted artifacts or spirit-bound items.

Mentalism Cultivators had decent perception, but they were not skilled in direct combat. Since this one had dared to act as an assassin, he should have been carrying at least one offensive spirit-bound item.

To Li Banfeng's disappointment, after searching for a long time, he found nothing but torn scraps of cloth.

As an elder of the Pure Conduct Society, you don't even have a single decent item?

Li Banfeng couldn't believe it. He searched the scraps again, and this time, he finally found something. Amid the pile of rags, there was a yarn glove.

What kind of glove was a yarn glove? It was the kind of glove commonly used by laborers. This one was quite worn, stained with grease, and crumpled up among the scraps, making it hard to notice.

Is this an enchanted artifact? Li Banfeng wondered. It didn't look like one.

Li Banfeng gave the glove a few shakes. He didn't sense any spirit energy, but quite a bit of dust fell off.

Even so, he didn't throw it away. Wu Decheng was an elder of the Pure Conduct Society. With his status, there was no way he would be doing manual labor on a worksite, so carrying a glove like this made no sense.

Is it meant to hide fingerprints? Li Banfeng thought. Does anyone even need to do that in Puluo Province?

Even if someone wanted to hide their fingerprints, they would at least use a pair of gloves, and a newer one at that.

Li Banfeng brought the glove over to the gramophone. "Wifey, does this thing have any spirit essence?"

Wifey lifted the glove with the needle and examined it for a while. "No spirit essence. It's just a worn-out glove."

Is it really just a worn-out glove?

After thinking for a moment, Li Banfeng took the glove to the second room and brought it before the Crimson Lotus.

The Crimson Lotus showed no reaction.

Li Banfeng sat beside it and spoke gently, "Crimson Lotus, look at how thin you have gotten lately. Hurry and eat this. It will do you good."

Eat this? Are you joking? Do you think you should be stuffing every piece of junk into my mouth!

The Crimson Lotus still ignored him. Li Banfeng grew irritated and carried it into the main room.

"Wifey, this wench won't listen. I told her to eat the glove, and she refused. Let's discipline her."

"Heyaaaa~ Husband dear~ You are making her eat this glove?" The Gramophone let out two light laughs, then turned stern. "Wench, whatever my husband tells you to do, you do it. Since when do you get to pick and choose!"

As the Gramophone spoke, her steam coiled around the Crimson Lotus. The Crimson Lotus was not afraid of a fight, but she was in the middle of refining Wu Decheng's corpse. She was worried that something might go wrong if she tried to fight the Gramophone.

With no other choice, the Crimson Lotus spread its petals. From its core, a whirlwind surged forth, pulling at the glove as it tried to drag it inside.

The glove slid a few inches toward the lotus core, then suddenly leapt upward, slipping free of the whirlwind's pull.

The Crimson Lotus froze. The Gramophone stared in shock.

A simple yarn glove, completely devoid of spirit essence, had somehow slipped free of the Crimson Lotus's pull.

When it was pretending to be an ordinary glove, neither the Gramophone nor the Crimson Lotus sensed even the faintest trace of spirit energy from it.

"Heyaaa! Husband dear~ This thing's brimming with spirit essence!" The Gramophone blasted out a surge of steam to pin it down, but the glove slipped through the gaps like a living thing. It darted and twisted through the vapor, moving with startling speed and eerie agility.

Seeing this, the Crimson Lotus opened six of the seven apertures in its core, leaving the last one to continue refining Wu Decheng's corpse.

The six whirlwinds twisted like serpents, weaving through the air as they rose and fell, yet not one could catch the glove.

The Gramophone seized the moment and worked with the Crimson Lotus to drive the glove into a corner.

The glove had no way out. To its left were whirlwinds, and to its right was steam. After a brief standoff, the glove lunged to the right.

The Gramophone wifey used the steam to pin it down firmly. The glove kept wriggling, testing every edge, trying to find a way out, but the steam only grew thicker, sealing it in bit by bit.

Between being sealed by Wifey and getting swallowed by the Crimson Lotus... it had picked the better option. Since it could make such a choice, it could think. In fact, it was rather intelligent.

This was an enchanted artifact!

While reinforcing the seal, the Gramophone wifey asked, "What's your origin?"

The glove remained silent.

The Gramophone raised the temperature of the steam. "I asked you about your origin."

The glove let out a cold laugh. "You think a little torture will make me talk? Do I look spineless to you?" 𝙛𝒓𝒆𝙚𝒘𝒆𝓫𝙣𝓸𝙫𝓮𝒍.𝒄𝒐𝓶

Judging by the voice, it sounded like a middle-aged man.

The gramophone raised the steam temperature again. The glove gave another cold laugh. "I am an artifact of a Wanderlust Cultivator. My name is Windchaser!"

Wanderlust Cultivator.

Li Banfeng's eyes lit up.

"A Wanderlust Cultivator!" Wifey snapped. All three horns blasted out steam at once.

The temperature spiked sharply. The glove shrieked in pain. "What's wrong with Wanderlust Cultivators? Do you have a grudge against them?"

"Our grudge runs deeper than the sea!"

The Gramophone's voice turned low and ominous.

Li Banfeng quickly tried to persuade her. "Wifey, artifacts of Wanderlust Cultivators are rare. Why not let me keep it?"

"If you want to know the methods of Wanderlust Cultivators, you can learn everything from that wench Hong Ying," Wifey snapped. "We don't need another disaster around!"

The steam grew hotter by the second.

"Wait!" the glove shouted. "I still have something to say. I don't—"

The Gramophone wifey had no intention of listening. She only wanted to burn the glove to ashes.

Hong Ying laughed from the side. "Vile woman, your grudge is with me. Why drag others into it? Are you planning to wipe out every Wanderlust Cultivator in the world?"

"By killing one, there's one less Wanderlust Cultivator in the world!"

Hong Ying looked thoroughly pleased. "Vile woman, it's quite satisfying watching you go crazy with hatred, yet still be unable to do a thing to me. I am rather happy to see that pitiful look on you."

Sizzle~

The Gramophone's needle scraped hard across the record, tearing out a burst of static.

"Happy?" The Gramophone went quiet for a moment, then burst out laughing. "You bitch, this glove is your lover, isn't it? Trying to rile me up so I will let him go?"

"Rile you up? You think I would bother with that?" Hong Ying laughed. "If you are going to kill him, then do it. Do it fast. After that, watch me. If I feel even a hint of pain, you win."

"Do you even know him or not?" the Gramophone said through clenched teeth.

She stabbed her needle into the glove and dragged it back and forth, tearing at it. The fabric began to tear and was on the verge of falling apart.

Hong Ying said, "Of course I do. You mustn't kill him. Keep him here and question him properly. You might learn what really happened back then."

The Gramophone roared in anger. "Wench! You dare toy with me?"

Hong Ying laughed. "Vile woman, how have I tricked you? Kill him if you want, or don't if you don't. Either way, I will still be laughing. And when I see you hesitate, see you suffer... I will laugh even harder."

"Hah!" the Gramophone barked, and steam burst out from all three of her horns again.

Li Banfeng quickly urged. "Wifey, calm down. If you lose your temper, you will fall right into her trap."

Huff... huff...

The steam cooled at once. The horns, red-hot just moments ago, slowly returned to their normal color.

"Heyaaa~ Husband dear~ I was just playing with her. Why would I get angry? A mere glove isn't worth it."

"You're so magnanimous, Wifey. Let me see just how big your heart[1] is."

Li Banfeng ran his hand over the gramophone's casing. The gramophone giggled, and the needle loosened slightly, giving the glove a brief chance to breathe.

After laughing, Wifey turned back to the glove. "You said you had something to say. Go on."

The glove paused to catch its breath before slowly raising a finger toward Hong Ying.

"I don't know this spear..."

Hong Ying deliberately stretched out her words, "You say you don't know me. Doesn't that sound a bit too eager to deny it? How do you expect that vile woman to believe you?"

The Gramophone chuckled. "I believe him. I truly do, without the slightest doubt. Husband dear~ Artifacts of Wanderlust Cultivators are very rare indeed. However, this one, being extremely intelligent, should be a high-level one. With your cultivation level today, it will be hard for you to control it. It's best if you keep it at home for now and deal with it later on."

Li Banfeng's face went stiff. "Wifey, don't be so quick to trust him. He might not be a Wanderlust Cultivator at all. I will test him first."

"Husband dear~ And how exactly are you going to do that?"

Li Banfeng stared at the glove and asked fiercely, "Tell me. Do you know the abilities of Wanderlust Cultivation?"

The glove replied, "Which level's ability do you want to know?"

"Start with the level-five ability!"

The glove answered, "The level-five ability is called Passing Flowers on Horseback."

Walking around admiring flowers? What kind of ability is that supposed to be? Li Banfeng thought and scolded, "Don't be spouting nonsense! Do you think I am that easy to fool?"

The Gramophone said, "Husband, he isn't lying about this. Passing Flowers on Horseback is indeed a level-five ability of Wanderlust Cultivators."

Li Banfeng shook his head. "Knowing the name alone proves nothing. He could have heard it somewhere else. What does this ability, Passing Flowers on Horseback, actually do?"

The glove replied, "While moving at high speed, anyone you fix your gaze on will turn into a flower."

Li Banfeng froze. "The people you look at turn into flowers? Isn't that just a cheap trick?"

"That's not entirely wrong. The person you gaze at will have their flesh burst apart, like a flower blooming."

Just one glance and the person explodes?

Li Banfeng scoffed. "No wonder it sounds like you are making things up. If an ability like that were so powerful, wouldn't a level-five Wanderlust Cultivator be unbeatable?"

The glove wagged a finger. "It sounds powerful, but it depends heavily on one's cultivation level and talent. An ordinary level-five Wanderlust Cultivator could only use this ability to kill a Bleater. It might not work on a level-one cultivator at all.

"On top of that, it consumes a huge amount of energy. To kill someone with this ability, it would drain around seventy to eighty percent of a level-five cultivator's strength. Think about it. A level-five Wanderlust Cultivator has countless ways to kill a Bleater. Why would they use this ability?

"Out of ten thousand Wanderlust Cultivators, more than nine thousand wouldn't bother with it. At best, they bring it out to scare people. To put it plainly, it's just a decorative pillow. It looks nice, but it's useless."

Hearing this, Hong Ying let out a scoff. "That's because they don't understand how to use it."

Wifey sighed. "That wench Hong Ying really is one in ten thousand. Her stamina is incredible, and the energy drain barely affects her. She's especially skilled with Passing Flowers on Horseback."

Li Banfeng was shocked. "Then if she ever gets a look at someone..."

Hong Ying spat. "Bah! Shameless madman! Do I even have eyes?"

The Gramophone burst into laughter. "That's exactly why I destroyed your eyes back then! To defend against this ability of yours. Do you hate me for it? Hahaha!"

Li Banfeng glanced at the glove. "You could have picked up this ability somewhere else. That doesn't prove you are a Wanderlust Cultivator!"

Wifey said, "Husband's right. Let's see if he knows what makes the ability work."

Li Banfeng stroked the gramophone's casing affectionately.

The glove replied, "The key to using Passing Flowers on Horseback lies in 'riding' and 'viewing.'"

Li Banfeng asked, "Do you actually need to be on a horse to use it?"

The glove shook a finger again. "It has nothing to do with a real horse. Riding means walking very fast. When a Wanderlust Cultivator uses this ability, they must move at extreme speed so the target cannot see them at all. If even a glimpse of their figure is seen, this ability would fail."

Not even the slightest glimpse is allowed? Li Banfeng thought.

Li Banfeng frowned. "How fast would that have to be? Wouldn't it exhaust a Wanderlust Cultivator to death?"

The glove said, "That's why the ability consumes so much energy. The other key lies in 'viewing.' While moving at high speed, you must keep your gaze locked on the target, and your eyesight must be exceptionally sharp. Until the ability takes effect, your line of sight cannot waver at all."

Li Banfeng fell silent. I must move extremely fast while locking my gaze on the target. I will need sharp and focused vision. What does this mean? This ability is hard.

Li Banfeng continued, "Telling me a level-five ability doesn't prove you are a Wanderlust Cultivator. Tell me about the level-six ability!"

"The level-six ability of a Wanderlust Cultivator is called..."

As the glove spoke, he suddenly found a gap in the steam and tried to slip out, but the needle hooked it again.

"Wait, I will tell you..." Before the glove could finish, Wifey sealed it again.

"This artifact is far too cunning. Husband dear~ You really won't be able to control it."

"Is it really impossible to control it?" Li Banfeng was unwilling to give up.

The Gramophone said, "Husband, think about it. That old man fought you while carrying this artifact, yet he kept it hidden the entire time. Why didn't he just wear it?

"It's most likely because the glove wouldn't obey him, or because the cost of using it was too high. His cultivation wasn't any lower than yours, which only shows how difficult this artifact is to control.

"If you can't control an artifact, you shouldn't keep it on you. Not only is it useless, it might even bring disaster."

Wu Decheng had indeed fumbled around on his body earlier. He had likely been trying to summon this artifact.

The artifact was clearly difficult to control, but now that it was in his hands, there was no need to rush. He could take his time and find a way to draw out the level-six ability later.

1. The raw actually says belly. This comes from the Chinese idiom 宰相肚里能撑船 (zai xiang du li neng cheng chuan) , which literally means "a prime minister's belly can hold a boat." It describes someone who is extremely tolerant, broad-minded, and able to let things go without holding grudges. ☜