A Fine Subordinate

Wu Yongchao brought Li Banfeng to Fort Lord Zhou's residence. Fort Lord Zhou's residence lay deep within the valley and was vastly larger than those of the other Dwelling Cultivators. A five-story vermilion building, flanked by two three-story wings, enclosed a spacious courtyard, around which clustered an interlocking assortment of smaller courtyards and Western-style houses. Wu Yongchao said, "Every year we have to contribute money and manpower to build the fort lord's residence. Ma Dingfu and the others always told us that the bigger the fort lord's dwelling, the higher his cultivation would be, and the better life would be for Tiemenbao." Li Banfeng smiled. "Ma Dingfu truly is a fine subordinate." Lanterns lit up inside the main building. Wu Yongchao lowered his voice. "Those should be the fort lord's family." Li Banfeng looked at the number of lights and asked, "Isn't your fort lord a Dwelling Cultivator? He has quite a lot of family members. Can his dwelling spirit tolerate so many outsiders?" Wu Yongchao said, "The fort lord warned us in the past as well, saying that Dwelling Cultivators shouldn't start families, lest it delay their cultivation. He laid down a rule that none of the Dwelling Cultivators in Tiemenbao could marry. "Yet he himself married more than thirty wives. Quite a few people couldn't wrap their heads around that either. "Still, Ma Dingfu and his lot told us not to apply the fort lord's rules to the fort lord himself. The fort lord isn't like us. "The fort lord made the rules for our own good, so his affairs aren't for us to worry about." Li Banfeng sighed once more. "This Ma Dingfu really is a..." Wait... Through the Thread-Hook Earring, Li Banfeng heard Ma Dingfu shouting. At least five others were shouting along with him. The sounds made it seem as though they were on a battlefield at the climax of a clash between two armies. One against five. Technically speaking, how did he pull that off? Li Banfeng looked at Wu Yongchao and asked, "How many wives did you say the fort lord had just now?" "Thirty-two or thirty-five, or some say thirty-eight. I can't remember clearly." Zhou Anju had only just died, and Ma Dingfu took on five at once? This subordinate Ma Dingfu didn't seem quite so loyal after all. Li Banfeng had Wu Yongchao keep watch nearby while he quietly slipped into the main building. He was unfamiliar with the layout of the main building, but bringing Wu Yongchao along wouldn't have helped anyway—Wu Yongchao didn't know it either. Aside from his own dwelling, he wasn't familiar with anywhere. Based on Li Banfeng's deduction, most secret places were hidden on the top floor, because far fewer people had been to the top floor than to the ground floor. What Li Banfeng worried about most right now was that Fort Lord Zhou wasn't dead, or hadn't died completely. To this moment, he still hadn't figured out how Luo Dagui had been in a dialogue with Zhou Anju right before dying. Even if Luo Dagui could alter his voice, the two voices hadn't come from the same source. Luo Dagui's voice had come from the megaphone horn he carried. Zhou Anju's voice had come from deep within the valley. After searching three rooms on the top floor, Li Banfeng found the answer. Inside the third room stood an enormous bellows gramophone. Beside the gramophone lay a stack of records. The horn of this gramophone was over a meter in diameter. It was usually concealed behind curtains, and with the addition of some camouflage decor, it was completely impossible to see what was happening inside from outside the window. Li Banfeng brought the stack of records back into the Portable Abode and had his wife play them one by one. "Vanguard Gunner Luo, what business brings you to my Tiemenbao?" "We are all poor folk. For you to demand ten thousand silver dollars with an open mouth—we cannot produce that!" "Vanguard Gunner Luo, you are ruthless enough. I, Zhou, fear you..." Li Banfeng understood. He understood everything now. No wonder that last line hadn't quite matched the situation back then—Luo Dagui clearly hadn't done a thing, yet Fort Lord Zhou had said he feared him. Fort Lord Zhou had used this gramophone to record his voice in advance, then used voice-altering techniques to impersonate Vanguard Gunner Luo outside the valley, completing a duet with himself. Why hadn't he placed the gramophone outside the valley while staying inside the fortress to perform the dialogue? One reason was that the gramophone was larger than the megaphone horn and unwieldy to move. Another reason was that the situation outside the valley was volatile; if he didn't go in person, unexpected complications would be difficult to handle. A fraud's conjuring tricks—they were all a swindler's tricks. It didn't sound particularly sophisticated, yet it had deceived a group of high-level Dwelling Cultivators for several full decades. Who had he learned his voice-altering technique from? The voices of Fort Lord Zhou and Vanguard Gunner Luo had shared not the slightest resemblance. Beyond relying on technique, Zhou Anju must have had a spirit item or magical artifact on him to alter his voice. A spirit item or magical artifact... A spirit item that altered voice. Li Banfeng didn't know if he was just overthinking, but every time he encountered a spirit item that transformed voice or likeness, he couldn't help thinking of the Ling family. And thinking of the Ling family always made him think of hooks. Am I being overly cautious? Li Banfeng wheeled the windmill gramophone out from the Portable Abode, kept the volume exceedingly low, and played a track of "Pretending to Be Decent." Ding-ling~ With a crisp ring, a hook snapped. There really was a hook on Zhou Anju's gramophone! This was an exceptionally delicate hook, completely different from the crude hooks Lu Xiaolan had used. If one of Lu Xiaolan's hooks snapped, the sound was louder than a gunshot. Could this truly have something to do with the Ling family? Having severed the hook, Li Banfeng felt considerably more at ease. He found a good number of blank records in Zhou Anju's room and brought them back into the Portable Abode. "Madam, could you help me record a few more based on his voice?" "Oh my, Husband, that's easy enough! This humble servant has two platters!" Li Banfeng placed two records on the two platters respectively. Matching Zhou Anju's voice, his wife cut several more records according to Li Banfeng's instructions. ... Once Ma Dingfu finished his business, he summoned the fort lord's steward over. "Old He, pass word to the other madams and tell them not to worry. I certainly won't treat them poorly." The steward repeatedly agreed. "Besides, I'm planning to pick two to send your way. These aren't my leftovers either—I think two of the madams have temperaments that truly suit you." The steward hurriedly bowed. "My thanks to the fort lord for his favor." "The stronghold will be sending people over in a couple of days. Don't say what shouldn't be said, and don't ask what shouldn't be asked. You are the fort lord's steward; matters of the stronghold have nothing to do with you." "I understand all that. Fort Lord Zhou gave instructions in the past, that..." Having inadvertently mentioned Fort Lord Zhou, the steward feared displeasing the newly installed Fort Lord Ma and hurriedly shut his mouth. Seeing this, Ma Dingfu laughed. "Old He, you're overthinking it. I'm not that petty. At tomorrow's banquet, I even plan to propose a toast specifically to Fort Lord Zhou. "Don't mind that Fort Lord Zhou had virtually no cultivation in his body—the cultivation in his mind was unimaginably high! All these years, he brought me up bit by bit! "Let me tell you, physical cultivation really can't compare to mental cultivation. Old He, never mind that you're a fifth-tier cultivator, did you dare show the slightest temper in front of Fort Lord Zhou? "Never mind fifth-tier—even if an eighth-tier cultivator came along, before our Fort Lord Zhou, they'd still have to bow their heads in obedience and play the servant! "My admiration for Fort Lord Zhou comes straight from the bottom of my heart!" Steward He nodded repeatedly. "Fort Lord Ma does not forget old bonds. Having a fort lord like you is Tiemenbao's good fortune!" Ma Dingfu smiled. "It's still too early to say that. The business isn't finished yet, so my title isn't official or proper. "For the banquet three days from now, draw up a roster. Record clearly who came, who didn't, and how much tribute they brought. "I'm not one to hold grudges, but one needs to keep score..." Crouched on the roof and wearing the Thread-Hook Earring, Li Banfeng heard every single word clearly. This Steward He was a fifth-tier cultivator. Yet it was unknown which pathway he belonged to. No wonder Fort Lord Zhou hadn't permitted anyone above the fourth tier in the fortress. Steward He was the strongest combat power at his disposal. A fifth-tier cultivator serving as a steward to a white lamb? Li Banfeng grew all the more impressed with the methods of a Deception Cultivator... Wait, there was another variable here. According to Wu Yongchao, Fort Lord Zhou had laid down the rule over ten years ago that Tiemenbao did not permit Dwelling Cultivators above the fourth tier. Over ten years ago, Steward He had already been at the fifth tier. What about now? Could he be higher than fifth-tier? It was hard to say. Strange. With Steward He so strong, why hadn't Zhou Anju brought him along to handle business outside? At the canyon entrance, if Old He had been by Zhou Anju's side, Li Banfeng might not have been able to kill him. There was a reason behind this. ... Three days later, Tiemenbao held the feast. Steward Old He stood before the gate holding a ledger to collect gifts. Those of one silver dollar or more were recorded in one book, while those under one silver dollar were recorded in another. Those who failed to show up were checked off one by one against Tiemenbao's roster; once his position as fort lord was secured, Ma Dingfu would deal with them one by one. It was assumed Wu Yongchao wouldn't come, yet he actually showed up. He presented a congratulatory gift of two silver dollars, and the steward went out of his way to inform Ma Dingfu. Ma Dingfu sneered, "He knows to be afraid now? Too late. Are two silver dollars enough to buy his life?" "You mean to make a move today?" Ma Dingfu shook his head. "On such a wonderful day, we can't let him ruin the mood. Wait two more days." Old He repeatedly agreed. "Whatever the fort lord says." Look how obedient this steward was. Zhou Anju was truly something else—a man this obedient, yet he just couldn't trust him. He didn't take him along when leaving the fort, nor did he use him to kill; he only had him watch the front gate. Who knew what he was thinking. The banquet began, and Ma Dingfu raised his cup in a toast. The first toast went to the late Fort Lord Zhou. "Fort Lord Zhou toiled for our Tiemenbao his entire life, worked himself to the bone his entire life, and gave his very life for us! "Without Fort Lord Zhou, there would be no Tiemenbao! Yet right now, not even all the pieces of our Fort Lord Zhou's corpse have been recovered! Whenever I think of this, my heart aches..." At this point, Ma Dingfu choked up, tears streaming down his face, unable to speak for a long moment. "I... whenever I think of this, I... I just..." "You just took over my house, slept with my wives, and slept with five of them at once, you bastard!" Fort Lord Zhou's voice suddenly boomed out, echoing through the entire building, reverberating throughout all of Tiemenbao. Ma Dingfu's hand trembled, and the wine cup crashed to the floor. Every eye in the room locked onto Ma Dingfu. He slept with Fort Lord Zhou's wives? He seized Fort Lord Zhou's house? The younger Dwelling Cultivators found it unbelievable—Fort Lord Zhou's bones weren't even cold yet! The older Dwelling Cultivators were relatively unperturbed; they figured that when a new fort lord rose to power, claiming the old fort lord's property as his own was reasonably standard. The key issue was, wasn't Fort Lord Zhou dead? Why was he speaking all of a sudden? Had his spirit manifested from the underworld? "Who... who is impersonating Fort Lord Zhou? You... you're framing me..." Recovering his wits, Ma Dingfu hurried to defend himself. Fort Lord Zhou's voice rang out again: "Little Ma, I told you to go up the mountain to bring reinforcements, so why didn't you go? "We worked our fingers to the bone for Feiying Mountain our entire lives. Now that something happened to me, you rush in to snatch my seat—do you have no regard for the mountain's rules anymore?" "Who! Who entered our fortress? Who is trying to frame me? Old He, go upstairs and check right now!" Steward He headed upstairs. Ma Dingfu was scared out of his wits. No matter how he tried to explain, everyone's gaze remained fixed on him. Whether old or young, none of the Dwelling Cultivators were indifferent now. Ma Dingfu sleeping with the former fort lord's wives could be overlooked. Colluding with Feiying Mountain to plot against Tiemenbao, however, could not. Ma Dingfu held a banquet and gathered us all together—was he planning to coordinate with Feiying Mountain from within and slaughter us? We have to fight them to the bitter end! Li Banfeng was on the top floor of the building, operating the gramophone. Zhou Anju was one of Feiying Mountain's men—of that Li Banfeng was completely certain. Ma Dingfu was also Feiying Mountain's man—that was Li Banfeng's deduction. That Ma Dingfu intended to coordinate with Feiying Mountain tonight to strike a lethal blow—that was Li Banfeng's fabrication. Yet this fabrication was entirely plausible. Across a massive iron gate, Zhou Anju had used that band of outlaws from Feiying Mountain to intimidate Tiemenbao for decades. Since the bandits of Feiying Mountain were so useful, if you, Zhou Anju, could use them, why shouldn't I? "Zhou Anju" was still speaking: "Little Ma, the stronghold chief and the others have already arrived, and you've gathered all these Dwelling Cultivators together. It's time for us to strike! "Right now is your chance to redeem yourself through meritorious service. If this succeeds, I won't hold your previous deeds against you!" Looking around at the gathered Dwelling Cultivators, Ma Dingfu shook his head frantically. "Someone is spreading rumors! Can't you tell?" The Dwelling Cultivators didn't know whether it was a rumor or not. They heard Fort Lord Zhou's voice. They were terrified. They were conflicted. They were enraged.