The goods were fully loaded onto ten large wagons.
They were pulled by the donkey-headed maggots unique to the newland.
Each donkey-headed maggot measured three meters long and crouched a meter and a half high off the ground. With a shout from the drivers, the creatures brayed in succession and wriggled rapidly forward, hauling the cargo behind them.
Ma the Fifth rode atop Yanzi at the head of the procession, flanked by Ah Qin.
Li Banfeng brought up the rear in a carriage, followed closely by Qianqian and Qiaocui.
As the convoy departed, Zuo Wugang watched from within the parcel, an uncomfortable tightness in his chest.
Escorting a convoy was known in underworld cant as "pulling a post," and it was supposed to be one of a guard's core duties.
Trouble had struck the newland, and by all rights, the head guard ought to have handled it in person. Yet for reasons unknown, Ma the Fifth had chosen not to use Zuo Wugang this time.
Returning to the wooden cabin, Zuo Wugang flopped down onto his bed to sleep. Cao Zhida and Zhen Jincheng had nothing to do either, so they had the cook fry up two dishes and sat together, drowning their sorrows in wine.
"Old Cao, at the end of the day, we're still outsiders. We risk life and limb for Fifth Master, yet he still can't bring himself to trust us."
"If we're talking about who treats us right, it's still Seventh Master. He was the one who recruited us, and I'll never forget that debt of gratitude."
"Still, Seventh Master and Fifth Master are true brothers. We're outsiders after all. If Fifth Master ever truly turns against us, Seventh Master won't take our side either."
The two men sighed and lamented for over two hours, drinking until they were dead drunk before finally turning in.
They slept away most of the day until a subordinate burst into the room, shouting, "Brother Cao, Brother Zhen! Several men broke into our territory and set fire to our warehouse!"
Zhen Jincheng and Cao Zhida jolted awake and rushed toward the warehouse to investigate. Before they could reach it, a man approached them with a smile on his face.
"Going to put out the warehouse fire, are you? Don't bother. That cargo belongs to Ma the Fifth, not your families. Throwing away your lives over it—how could that ever be worth it?"
Zhen Jincheng narrowed his eyes. "Who the hell are you?"
Cao Zhida ground his teeth. "Do you even need to ask? This bastard's the one who set the blaze!"
Both men drew their weapons and were about to strike when the man pressed his palm down soothingly. "Gentlemen, I'm only saying this for your own good. Ma the Fifth treats you as outsiders; he isn't worth risking your lives for. Wouldn't you say that makes sense?"
"What kind of dogshit sense..." Cao Zhida began, but midway through his sentence, he suddenly found himself thinking that the stranger actually had a point.
Zhen Jincheng's cultivation was slightly higher than Cao Zhida's. Rubbing his temples, he stared at the man. "You're a Virtue..."
"Good medicine tastes bitter to the tongue, yet it cures the disease; faithful advice grates upon the ear, yet it benefits the deed. My words might not be pleasant, but I truly have your best interests at heart. Whatever we do in this world, brothers, we have to put ourselves in each other's shoes. If Ma the Fifth treated you like flesh-and-blood brothers, walking through fire and water wouldn't be in question. But how does he actually treat you? Don't you know that best yourselves?"
Zhen Jincheng shook his head, still trying to resist. "It's our duty..."
"Duty? What duty is there to speak of? Isn't it just earning a living to get by? Staying alive to eat good food, staying alive to drink good liquor, staying alive to play with women—that's your real duty. If you throw your lives away, what will you have left? Once you drink the soup and cross the bridge into your next life, this one is over. Why still talk about duty?"
Cao Zhida and Zhen Jincheng had worked as guards their entire lives.
They had certainly grumbled, but they had never once abandoned their duty.
Yet today was different. The two men returned to their quarters, packed their bags, and decided to observe the situation before making their next move.
If nothing major happened on the territory, they would step outside and shout once or twice to show they had put in some effort.
If disaster struck the territory, they would flee immediately to ensure they weren't dragged down with it.
How could two reasonably well-known guards act like this?
Because they had run into a fifth-tier Virtue Cultivator, who had dragged their moral bottom lines down to the gutter!
Virtue Cultivators from the first to third tier excelled at looking down on others from a moral high ground. That technique was called *Emulating the Virtuous*; it established an ethical standard for their opponent, trapping them in self-restraint.
From the fourth to sixth tiers, however, a Virtue Cultivator gained an entirely different method: lowering the other person's moral bottom line. This technique was called *Estranging Hearts and Morals*.
Anyone afflicted by it would forget all moral scruples and act purely in naked self-interest.
The Virtue Cultivator shouted and preached as he went. Whenever any of Ma the Fifth's subordinates stepped forward to resist, he talked them down. When he encountered hunters, he tailored a different pitch:
"Loot! Hurry up and loot! Ma the Fifth isn't here, outsiders have breached the defenses, and this whole territory is about to collapse! Once the fire catches, everything will burn to ash!
"What are you waiting for? Do you really think you'll still be doing business with Ma the Fifth after today?
"Ma the Fifth is finished! He won't live to see tomorrow! Grab what you can—finders keepers! Slow hands miss out!"
The hunters' moral boundaries were likewise dragged straight to rock bottom. They began to plunder everything—cargo, cash, and even their fellow hunters. The entire parcel fell into chaos.
As he kept walking, the fifth-tier Virtue Cultivator crossed paths with Xiao Chuanzi.
Xiao Chuanzi carried a steam engine on his back. The furnace fire was roaring, thick smoke chugging from the flue pipe, and he brandished a steam hose in his hands, fully prepared to fight to the death!
The Virtue Cultivator urged, "Little brother, don't be reckless. Don't lose your head. Take my advice: you're just a hired laborer. The master pays wages, and you do the work. You don't owe him any favors, nor do you owe him loyalty. There's no reason to throw your life away for an employer."
Xiao Chuanzi shouted, "Fifth Master treated me with kindness!"
The Virtue Cultivator threw his head back and laughed. "Young man, the fact that you can say that shows just how green you are. You give labor, you earn a meal—what kindness do you owe him?"
"Fifth Master treats me differently!"
"Differently how? That's all nonsense! Hahaha..."
*Smack!*
A glob of sticky, viscous sludge flew straight into the Virtue Cultivator's open mouth.
He had been laughing boisterously with his jaws wide, intending to completely shatter Xiao Chuanzi's moral bottom line with ridicule.
He hadn't expected Xiao Genzi to serve him a spoonful of food, bypassing his moral limits and directly destroying his culinary standards.
The Virtue Cultivator spat repeatedly a dozen times, then glared up at Xiao Genzi, who had suddenly appeared on the roof. Enraged, he snarled, "You little bastard, are you tired of living?!"
Xiao Genzi held his ladle, entirely straight-faced. "What kind of talk is that? I gave you a bite to eat—why are you cursing at me?"
Zuo Wugang stood beside Xiao Genzi, looking down at the Virtue Cultivator with a scoff. "See? That's why they say he has no virtue."
The Virtue Cultivator looked up. "Oh, isn't this Head Guard Zuo? Your master thinks nothing of you—he wouldn't even let you pull the post—and here you are, shamelessly laying down your life for him?"
Zuo Wugang said to Xiao Genzi, "His name is Wang Qi. He used to be a flower-tongue broker on Iron Sheep Mountain. Not only is he rotten to the core, but his mouth stinks too. Genzi, give him another scoop in a bit to wash that foul taste out of his mouth."
Genzi actually dipped his ladle to scoop up another serving when a figure came hurtling through the air straight toward him.
Zuo Wugang lashed out with a kick, striking the assailant midair. The man crossed his arms before his chest to block the blow, flipped backward, and landed beside Wang Qi.
Zuo Wugang chuckled. "This one is Yu Dacheng. Same bandit outfit as Wang Qi. He's a body cultivator. Look at him, hopping and leaping around—nothing more than a toad."
A fifth-tier body cultivator paired with a fifth-tier Virtue Cultivator stood before Zuo Wugang, yet he showed not the slightest trace of fear. "Aren't you supposed to be three paragons? Where's that Mouth Cultivator, Du Shuping? Tell him to come out too. I'll deal with all of you at once to save the trouble!"
Wang Qi, the fifth-tier Virtue Cultivator, replied, "Ganging up on you would make our victory unchivalrous. I, for one, hold to martial virtue..."
Zuo Wugang laughed. "Genzi, feed him another bite later. Listen, Old Wang, if Du Shuping doesn't show his face, I'm making my move!"
Before the words faded, Zuo Wugang had already closed the distance to Wang Qi.
Wang Qi was a Virtue Cultivator and a full tier lower in realm; he was no match for Zuo Wugang. The body cultivator Yu Dacheng leapt forward, slamming his head toward Zuo Wugang's chest.
"All these years, and this toad strike is still the only trick you've got!" Zuo Wugang's boot slammed into Yu Dacheng's skull, knocking him back.
He stepped forward to deliver a follow-up kick, but rough, warty nodules erupted across Yu Dacheng's back just like a toad's as he crashed back into Zuo Wugang.
Those warts were hard, sharp, and laden with poison.
Zuo Wugang didn't dodge in the least, kicking straight through regardless.
In the hands of a Martial Cultivator, anything could serve as a weapon.
The shoes on his feet were weapons—exceptionally resilient weapons.
He was confident he could kick Yu Dacheng to death without giving the man a chance to retaliate. Such was the raw ferocity of a Martial Cultivator.
After landing several heavy kicks in rapid succession, a voice suddenly shouted from the distance:
*"Wearing out iron shoes in a fruitless search!"*
Zuo Wugang chuckled. "Du Shuping, you're here. That trick won't work on me."
*Riiip!*
Before Zuo Wugang could finish his sentence, his leather shoes suddenly burst apart, scattering in shreds across the dirt.
Du Shuping's technique had taken effect. By *wearing out iron shoes in a fruitless search*, Zuo Wugang's shoes had truly shattered.
The toad's venomous nodules pierced right into his bare feet, driving poison into his flesh.
Hopping back onto his heels, Zuo Wugang retreated two paces and stared in astonishment at the newly arrived Du Shuping. "You reached the sixth tier?"
Du Shuping smiled. "Didn't see that coming, did you, Old Zuo? Our brothers have suffered plenty at your hands in the past. It's time to settle the score."
Zuo Wugang gritted his teeth and nodded. "Save the idle chatter. Come at me together."
"Since Master Zuo has spoken, let's fulfill his wish!" Du Shuping called out to his two companions. "Come, let's send Master Zuo on his way."
Du Shuping was a sixth-tier Literary Cultivator, on par with Zuo Wugang.
The remaining two were fifth-tier—one a Virtue Cultivator, the other a body cultivator. Under a coordinated assault, they would claim Zuo Wugang's life in short order.
There was no point in weighing experience or tactics. They were all seasoned veterans of the underworld, and none lacked lethal methods.
Zuo Wugang knew he was likely finished today, but he didn't flinch.
He might be poor at making decisions, but he had never backed down from a fight to the death!
He had worked as a guard his entire life. He had slipped up, and he had lost face, but he had never abandoned his duty.
Tearing off a strip of cloth, he bound his calf tightly, straightened his spine, and faced the three men. "Come on, all of you!"
Just as the three prepared to advance, a voice called out from the rooftop above:
"Well done, Old Zuo! I knew I wasn't wrong about you!"
Recognizing the voice, Zuo Wugang looked up in disbelief. "Seventh Master?"
How was Li Seven back?
Hadn't he left to escort the goods alongside Fifth Master?
Li Banfeng was indeed back—or more accurately, he had never left in the first place.
To everyone on the parcel, Li Banfeng was merely a figure in a fedora and a thick beard, the brim pulled so low that his face was nearly impossible to see.
A hidden face made things easy, since Li Banfeng wasn't particularly good at painting faces.
He had simply painted a dummy to take his place on the convoy.
No one knew about this except Ma the Fifth, and even with Ma the Fifth, it hadn't been stated aloud.
On the chessboard, Li Banfeng had advanced his knight, signaling Ma the Fifth to move first.
He had kept his chariot back, signaling that he would stay behind to guard the base.
The knight advances, the chariot holds—that was the tactic!
The reason he couldn't speak of it openly was that he didn't know where the mole was hidden, and he couldn't risk leaking word.
He hadn't even dared stay inside his cabin for fear of being spotted, spending most of his time hidden inside the Portable Abode and emerging every half hour to check on the situation.
He had just stepped outside when he happened across these three bandits from Iron Sheep Mountain.
Li Banfeng looked at the trio and said, "I'm a man who respects martial virtue. I didn't ambush you from behind.
"Still, seeing how long you've been fighting, you must have burned through quite a bit of stamina.
"Taking you on right now would feel like an unearned victory. In the interest of fairness, I'll slash myself first!"
Du Shuping stared in shock.
Was this man out of his mind?
He turned to the Virtue Cultivator, Wang Qi. "Did you use a technique on him?"
Wang Qi shook his head. "No, I didn't even notice him until just now..."
Li Banfeng produced a blade, drew it across his palm, and let the blood drip down onto the earth.
"Take a good look, gentlemen. I'm injured too!"
Du Shuping, the sixth-tier Literary Cultivator, was the first to realize what had happened. "He's the landowner! Run!"
The three turned on their heels and sprinted at full speed, fleeing all the way to the edge of the parcel.
A curtain of water cascaded downward, sealing the perimeter.
When a landowner shed his own blood, intruders faced the retribution of the local spirit.
Yu Dacheng, the body cultivator, gritted his teeth and hurled himself outward. The instant he struck the water curtain, his body disintegrated into a shower of flesh and blood.
The cascading water was dyed faint crimson, scaring Du Shuping and Wang Qi half to death.
Shui Yongquan's voice whispered into Li Banfeng's ear: "Do you want them dead or alive?"
"Alive. I need to interrogate them and find out who sent them."
"Very well. If they were sent by those land reclaimers, let me know. I'll have to have a word with Qiu Daxiang about this."
Before the words had even settled, tens of thousands of water droplets erupted from the curtain and peppered Du Shuping and Wang Qi.
Every droplet tore clean through their bodies, riddling them into sieves.
Chapter 197