Tiemenbao was suddenly preparing to shut its gates.
Li Banfeng wasn't nervous. At worst, he could just stay inside Tiemenbao; he was bound to find somewhere to hide the key.
Sui Donglan, however, was scared out of her wits. Not even caring to cover her face, she sprinted toward the mouth of the canyon, her headscarf flying off in her haste.
By the time she reached the canyon mouth, it was already too late—the massive iron gate was shut.
Two men stood before the gate, shouting to the fleeing vendors, "Don't go out! Bandits from Feiying Mountain are here!"
At the mention of bandits, Sui Donglan sprinted all the way back to Li Banfeng's side.
"Master Peddler, we've run into bandits! What do we do?!"
Li Banfeng said nothing. He wanted to see what these bandits were made of.
There were two to three hundred households of Dwelling Cultivators in Tiemenbao, and as far as Li Banfeng knew, there were fourth-tier Dwelling Cultivators among them.
The fort lord was an eighth-tier Dwelling Cultivator. Just how formidable were these bandits that they dared attack Tiemenbao?
White mist hissed from the steam-powered iron gate. The man selling tobacco muttered under his breath, "They won't get in. This gate is vicious. Take one step near it, and the steam will scald your skin and flesh right off the bone..."
Before the tobacco vendor could finish, someone shouted from outside the gate: "Listen up, in there! I'm Luo Dagui, vanguard gunner of Feiying Mountain! Tell your man in charge to come out and talk!"
"Feiying Mountain's vanguard gunner! A seventh-tier Martial Cultivator!" Sui Donglan gasped, ducking under the eaves of Wu Yongchao's house in a panic.
The tobacco vendor was terrified as well, wheeling his cart of tobacco leaves under the eaves to take cover.
"Vanguard gunner"—bandit cant referring to the chief gunner of a mountain stronghold, the fiercest fighter beneath the stronghold chieftain.
Hearing that it truly was the bandits of Feiying Mountain, all the Dwelling Cultivators retreated into their houses. With nowhere else to go, the vendors all squatted beneath the eaves.
Li Banfeng stood where he was, listening intently to the voice outside.
What pathway was this? Was he a Martial Cultivator?
I'm over a hundred meters from the canyon mouth, and he's bound to be some distance away from it as well, yet his voice is still this loud?
Could this vanguard gunner have mastered a Lion's Roar technique?
Before long, another voice rang out from outside: "Gunner Luo, what brings you to my Tiemenbao?"
Upon hearing this voice, everyone's tension instantly eased.
The fort lord had spoken.
To the Dwelling Cultivators of Tiemenbao and the visiting merchants alike, the fort lord was their greatest backer, which was also why they willingly paid rent.
The vanguard gunner spoke again: "Our stronghold has taken in quite a few new brothers lately, and funds are tight. We'd like to borrow a little pocket money from you—not much, just ten thousand silver dollars. Are you going to pay up now, or should I come back another day to collect?"
At the words "ten thousand silver dollars," every vendor's brow furrowed.
What expression the Dwelling Cultivators wore, Li Banfeng couldn't see.
After a long silence outside the canyon, the fort lord spoke: "We are all poor folk. For you to open your mouth and demand ten thousand silver dollars—we cannot produce that."
"Then you won't lend it? Then you won't give us face?!"
"Gunner Luo, I consider myself an old acquaintance of your grand chieftain. In all things, reason must prevail. At the end of the year, I already presented your chieftain with a token of goodwill. To come collecting money again now is going a bit too far!"
"We received your year-end token, and we appreciate the gesture, but that's water under the bridge. Now is now, and we're talking about today's reason!"
"If that's how you want to talk, then try getting past this iron gate of mine first!" With an order from the fort lord, the massive iron gate hissed and wheezed as a cloud of steam billowed outward.
Gunner Luo laughed, his laughter dripping with mockery. "Lord Zhou, we know your gate is formidable, but we don't necessarily have to take the door!"
The moment his voice fell, over a dozen boulders plummeted from the cliffs flanking the canyon.
Each stone was enormous; seven or eight ordinary men might not even be able to lift one.
Two vendors' handcarts were smashed to splinters, and a gaping hole was punched through the roof of one Dwelling Cultivator's house.
Li Banfeng looked up at the clifftops hundreds of meters above, but not a single silhouette could be seen.
Gunner Luo yelled, "These stones are our greeting gift! Starting today, for every day I don't see those ten thousand silver dollars, I'll take one of your heads!"
The bandits outside the gate seemed to have left, but the iron gate remained shut.
The vendors trembled in fear, not daring to make a move. The Dwelling Cultivators all stayed huddled inside their homes, none stepping outside.
Before long, several of Fort Lord Zhou's subordinates knocked door-to-door, asking each Dwelling Cultivator for their stance.
Ten thousand silver dollars would have to be pooled together from every household.
With two to three hundred households in Tiemenbao, each person would have to pay thirty to forty silver dollars—an amount not every family could bear.
Fort Lord Zhou wanted to gauge everyone's opinion: fight, or make peace?
If they fought, they would stake everything against the bandits of Feiying Mountain.
If they sought peace, they would negotiate to see if they could pay a little less.
Wu Yongchao told the steward under the fort lord, "I want to fight. As long as battle begins, I'm willing to stand in the front row."
This steward was named Ma Dingfu. He jotted it down in a small notebook. "All right. Next house."
Using the Thread-Hook Earring, Li Banfeng listened to the commotion, his hearing stretching over two li away.
Dwelling Cultivators were indeed gentle by nature, but gentleness was not cowardice. From what Li Banfeng heard, over seventy percent favored fighting.
Unaware of the situation, Sui Donglan was still praying they wouldn't fight. "We can't fight... Whatever happens, we can't fight..."
Li Banfeng frowned. "What are you afraid of? You're not from Tiemenbao. No one's asking you to go out and fight."
"Master Peddler, you don't understand! Once fighting starts, that massive iron gate won't open again. We'll all have to hunker down here and can only leave once the battle is over."
Even better!
Defending their home base was precisely what Dwelling Cultivators did best. He wanted to see how the bandits of Feiying Mountain planned to breach the place.
By dusk, the massive iron gate opened.
Chug—hiss—
It was still only one of the side doors.
It was settled that quickly?
The steward, Ma Dingfu, hollered, "Twenty percent in the fortress wanted to fight, while eighty percent wanted peace! The fort lord is heeding everyone's will and has gone to negotiate peace with Feiying Mountain! All outsiders, leave! The fortress will be closed tomorrow for the day!"
Make peace?
Eighty percent wanted peace?
Did I mishear?
Or are there more people deeper in the fortress whose voices I didn't catch?
Just as Li Banfeng was growing suspicious, Ma Dingfu walked over and said to him, "Hey, brother, you've been doing business here. Have you paid your rent?"
"Isn't rent paid at the end of the month?"
"The end of the month has month-end rent, but entering the gates requires an entrance deposit. Everyone pays an entrance deposit the first time they come in. Even if you only sell here for a single day, the deposit cannot be spared. If you don't want to pay, you won't be walking out of here today."
Li Banfeng nodded. "All right, I'll pay. How much is the deposit?"
"Five hundred!"
"This is a one-time payment, right?"
"That depends on whether you're an honest businessman. If you conduct your business honestly, you only need to pay monthly rent from now on. If you're not honest, we'll have a different word with you."
Li Banfeng looked surprised. "You think I'm not honest?"
Ma Dingfu grinned. "I really do think you're not quite honest. You came here and barely sold anything, asking about this and that, meddling in all sorts of business."
Li Banfeng glanced at Sui Donglan. "Do you think she's honest?"
Ma Dingfu's face darkened. "I think you talk too much. Hand over the money, quick!"
Li Banfeng gave Ma Dingfu five hundred dollars and led Sui Donglan out of the fortress.
Walking along the road, pushing the cart, Sui Donglan looked at Li Banfeng with a hint of disdain.
"They asked for money and you just handed it over? And you call yourself the peddler's senior martial brother?"
Li Banfeng shook his head. "I didn't give it to him. I lent it to him. He'll have to pay it back."
"You only know how to bully people like me," Sui Donglan sneered. "Fort Lord Zhou of Tiemenbao dares to challenge Feiying Mountain. Would you dare lay a finger on his men?"
Li Banfeng raised an eyebrow. "He didn't challenge anyone, did he? Didn't he sue for peace?"
"Being able to sue for peace is already massive face! You have no idea how ruthless the bandits of Feiying Mountain are!"
"You've seen them?"
"Of course I have! The village I used to live in was wiped out by Feiying Mountain's grand chieftain, He Zhenlei. The village was picked clean, and more than half the people were slaughtered."
Li Banfeng paused in surprise. "How much gold and silver did your village have?"
"It wasn't about gold or silver. During autumn harvest, the bandits came to pillage grain. They demanded too much, and a few households refused to give it up. Things escalated, and the entire village was destroyed. That's why I say Fort Lord Zhou has good foresight—you can't play hardball with the folks from Feiying Mountain. Those bandits are reincarnated devils. When it's time to yield, you have to yield."
"What is this Fort Lord Zhou's name?"
"Zhou Anju! In a radius of hundreds of li, there's no one who doesn't know his name!" Whenever Fort Lord Zhou was mentioned, Sui Donglan's face filled with admiration.
Li Banfeng asked no further. He handed Sui Donglan a cup of liquor to drink. "Get some proper rest at home tomorrow. Come find me in Tiemenbao the day after. If you dare not show up, your face will keep hurting—hurting until you die."
Li Banfeng departed. Sui Donglan gave a cold snort, returned home, and scrubbed at the mirror for a long time, but couldn't scrub those two characters off her face.
I can't stay in Tiemenbao anymore. Once I figure out how to trick this fake peddler out of the antidote, I'll have to find another place to dodge my debts.
***
Returning to the Portable Abode, Li Banfeng reviewed what he had seen and heard today.
There were far too many contradictions between what he saw and what he heard.
The fort lord of Tiemenbao was an eighth-tier Dwelling Cultivator.
What did the eighth tier signify?
In Puluo Province, that meant either standing at the apex of a prominent clan or leading a major faction. Yet here he was, serving as a fort lord in Tiemenbao.
Perhaps it was because Dwelling Cultivators shunned the world and wished not to engage in strife, coming here to build a haven for fellow Dwelling Cultivators.
That was understandable.
But why bow his head to common bandits from Feiying Mountain?
Most of the people in the fortress clearly wanted to fight, yet he didn't dare, even fabricating a lie claiming that eighty percent wanted peace.
Could Feiying Mountain be so powerful that Fort Lord Zhou was forced to swallow his pride?
Feiying Mountain raised even more questions.
Their vanguard gunner was a seventh-tier Martial Cultivator, meaning their stronghold chieftain had to be at least seventh-tier as well.
A ruthless figure of the seventh tier, working as a common bandit?
And not a bandit like Rong Yeguang, who entrenched himself in the Old Land and dared challenge the great families—
Instead, he was the kind of bandit who raided villages and slaughtered commoners just to plunder some grain.
And yet such a band of bandits had scared Fort Lord Zhou out of his wits.
Li Banfeng asked the gramophone, "Wife, have you heard of a place called Tiemenbao?"
"I have. Quite a few Dwelling Cultivators yearn to go there. Does Husband wish to go as well?"
"I've already gone. I'm near Tiemenbao right now. Their fort lord is named Zhou Anju. Have you heard of him?"
"Zhou Anju? That name certainly sounds like a Dwelling Cultivator."
"He is indeed a Dwelling Cultivator, claiming an eighth-tier cultivation."
"An eighth-tier Dwelling Cultivator?" The wife was also shocked. "This humble servant truly hasn't heard of him. Dwelling Cultivators rarely show themselves; just because this humble servant hasn't heard of him doesn't mean he lacks genuine skill."
"Has Wife heard of He Zhenlei from Feiying Mountain?"
"I've heard of Feiying Mountain—it's a place. But I've never heard of He Zhenlei."
Li Banfeng asked the liquor gourd and the old teapot, but neither of them knew either.
Could such big-shot mountain warlords be known only around Tiemenbao?
***
That night, Li Banfeng climbed the cliffs of Tiemenbao along a mountain path.
The mountain path was treacherous; even as a fourth-tier journey cultivator, Li Banfeng found the climb arduous.
Halfway up the mountain, the terrain changed. A platform five to six meters wide hugged the cliffside, extending toward the interior of the canyon.
Li Banfeng understood. That band of bandits had stood on this very platform to hurl stones into the valley.
His deduction was correct: carrying poles, ropes, and crowbars were still lying on the platform, with several large boulders readied nearby.
Yet another thing baffled Li Banfeng.
For such a crucial platform, flanked by sheer cliffs above and below—obviously a natural watchpost—why hadn't Fort Lord Zhou stationed anyone to guard it?
As Li Banfeng sat on the platform pondering the reason, the earring suddenly whispered in his ear, "Master, there's movement."
Li Banfeng started. If he were discovered here, there would be nowhere to run; if worse came to worst, he would have to hide inside the Portable Abode.
Just as he was wondering where to stash the key, he realized the sound wasn't coming up the mountain—an argument had broken out down below.
"I won't pay this money! Let them come and fight me!" It was Wu Yongchao's voice.
"We won't pay!"
"We firmly refuse!"
Many voices shouted in agreement.
"Everyone agreed to negotiate peace earlier! Why are you refusing to pay now?" It was the voice of Ma Dingfu, Fort Lord Zhou's steward.
"Who agreed with you?! I want to fight! We all want to fight!"
"This was decided by everyone! If you don't want to pay, move out right away!"
"Why should we move? The land is ours, the houses are ours—you say move and we have to move?!"
"I've lived in Tiemenbao for fifty years! When I got here, Fort Lord Zhou hadn't even arrived yet! If trouble comes, we fight! Why let bandits walk all over us?!"
Li Banfeng sat silently on the platform, lost in thought.
He turned back to look once more at the tools on the platform.
Ropes, carrying poles, crowbars...
Moving a boulder clearly required many men and quite a few tools.
The caliber of these bandits from Feiying Mountain didn't seem all that impressive.
If bandits of such mediocre caliber could occupy the high ground so easily, what did that say about the caliber of this eighth-tier fort lord?
***
At Yuezhou Third Hospital, He Jiaqing lay on the hospital bed and chuckled. "We failed. Failed again."
Ling Miaoying explained, "I truly made thorough preparations. I just didn't expect..."
"It's fine. It doesn't matter. Put my friend aside for now. Focus first on running the newspaper office, stay vigilant against the Lu family, and put more thought into it. Thank you for your hard work, brother."
"Understood."
Ling Miaoying wiped away his sweat and cut off the communication.
He Jiaqing said it was fine.
Was it truly fine?
Chapter 214