Xiao Zhenggong watched Big Head, the coin in his hand rolling across his fingertips.
Big Head was a fifth-tier Martial Cultivator. Though exceptionally gifted, in sheer strength he wasn't that much superior to Zhong Guoshu.
If Xiao Zhenggong wanted to kill him, it wouldn't take much effort; the coin in his hand was more than enough.
His tone suddenly softened, and he asked calmly, "Big Head, what are you really here to do?"
Big Head replied, "The captain sent me."
"You'd better be honest. The captain never told you to run to the hospital every single day. There's something else going on here."
Big Head shook his head. "I don't come to the hospital every day. I just dropped by today to take a look."
"I'm questioning you right now in my capacity as vice captain. You know the Dark Star Bureau's rules. If you don't cooperate, don't blame me for getting rough." Without Big Head realizing it, the coin had flipped between Xiao Zhenggong's thumb and index finger.
"I sent him," Captain Chen Changrui suddenly appeared at the doorway. "Zhenggong, put the coin away. Playing with a one-yuan steel coin so enthusiastically—if outsiders saw you, they'd think we couldn't afford to pay our wages."
Xiao Zhenggong pocketed the coin and said to Chen Changrui, "Right now, I suspect Agent Zou Guoming of secretly colluding with He Jiaqing and leaking bureau secrets. Asking him a couple of questions shouldn't be an issue, right?"
Chen Changrui chuckled. "No issue at all. Ask whatever you like. But asking here might be inconvenient, and some matters aren't suitable for outsiders to hear. How about we head back to the bureau and take our time with the questioning?"
Xiao Zhenggong gave a cold sneer. "No need. Everything that needed asking has been asked, and everything that needed seeing has been made clear. I'm just an outsider in the bureau anyway; say too much, and people only find you annoying."
With that, Xiao Zhenggong left the hospital room. Chen Changrui and Big Head lingered in the ward for a brief while before returning to the bureau together.
Come nightfall, Big Head went to Flower Lake Park and stepped into the newland.
Out on the wilderness, He Jiaqing sat beside a campfire and waved Big Head over to sit down.
He Jiaqing found Xiao Zhenggong's behavior utterly baffling. "Does that vice captain of yours always have such a temper? If he had actually killed me today, would your bureau let him off?"
Big Head replied, "The bureau wouldn't necessarily hold him accountable. Even if they did, it would probably just be a disciplinary reprimand at most."
"A reprimand?" He Jiaqing said in disbelief. "Does your bureau look down on me that much? Am I not considered an important figure?"
"You are an important figure, but Xiao Zhenggong's status is very special."
"What status?"
"From what I know, he's a balancer."
"What's a balancer?" That was a term He Jiaqing had truly never heard before.
"It's a bureau secret. During an operation once, Xiao Zhenggong killed a colleague on our team. That colleague had powerful backing—his father was a big shot. Yet the matter was simply swept under the rug in the end.
"To avenge his son, that big shot pulled many strings to investigate Xiao Zhenggong. Because I had participated in that operation with Xiao Zhenggong, I got dragged into it as well.
"Only through Captain Chen's strenuous efforts to protect me did I escape that storm. I could never make sense of it—Xiao Zhenggong was the one who killed someone, yet bore no responsibility, while I, a mere subordinate, took the brunt of the fall.
"Later, I learned from Captain Chen that Xiao Zhenggong is a balancer. That big shot couldn't touch him at all.
"A so-called balancer is a figure capable of balancing the relations between Puluo Province and the Outer States. Xiao Zhenggong's standing in Puluo Province is far from ordinary, though what it is specifically, I don't know."
"I know. He's the gang leader of the Jiangxiang Gang," He Jiaqing said with a slight frown. "Yet the Jiangxiang Gang can hardly be counted as a major gang in Puluo Province. Why do the Outer States hold him in such high regard?"
Big Head didn't know the reason either. "In any case, be extra careful from now on. Since he's set his mind on killing you, I'm afraid he'll look for another chance to strike before long."
"I'm not afraid of him. What worries me is you. He pinned that black pot on you right to your face, and your captain heard it too."
Big Head wasn't concerned. "The captain trusts me. He detests Xiao Zhenggong, so he won't suspect me just because of a few words from him."
He Jiaqing sighed. "It's my fault for dragging you into this."
Big Head shook his head with a smile. "Aren't I your brother? Why fuss over such things between brothers?"
He Jiaqing took out a Golden Origin Pill and a packet of medicinal powder, thrusting them into Big Head's hands. "Take these. Take the pill together with the powder; it's for increasing your cultivation."
"You mean boosting dark abilities?" Big Head shook his head and handed the pill back to He Jiaqing. "The bureau has rules. If your dark ability improves, you must report it to the bureau and explain the process and methods behind it clearly.
"I can't take this kind of medicine. I won't be able to explain the source of the breakthrough, and if the bureau finds out, I'll be severely punished."
He Jiaqing chuckled. "Do you report truthfully to the bureau every single time your abilities improve?"
Big Head felt this was completely natural. "Those are the rules. Concealing one's abilities is a very grave offense."
"You told me Xiao Zhenggong is a third-tier Combatant. Do you think he hasn't concealed anything?"
Big Head pondered for a moment. "He's a balancer; I can't compare myself to him. The bureau has special equipment that can test everyone's true ability."
He Jiaqing thrust the pill back into Big Head's hands. "Take it with confidence. There is no equipment in this world that can detect your true capability.
"Remember above all, both must be taken together. The pill is toxic, and the powder is to neutralize the poison. After taking them, get plenty of rest.
"The prospects and future your bureau promised you are all illusory. Only your own cultivation is real. That is something you must remember at all times."
***
Back in his hospital bed, He Jiaqing carefully sorted through the cause and effect.
In the past, the only person in the entire Jiangxiang Gang who caught He Jiaqing's eye was Luo Zhengnan.
He realized he had overlooked Xiao Zhenggong all along.
For the leader of a gang to come to the Dark Star Bureau and serve as a vice captain was inherently suspicious.
Previously, He Jiaqing had assumed Xiao Zhenggong merely wanted to use an Outer States post to whitewash his identity, given the Jiangxiang Gang's dreadful reputation.
Now, however, it seemed he had oversimplified matters.
The present situation had drifted considerably from his plans. Between Red Lotus and Zhao Xiaowan, he had to find at least one as soon as possible. If he continued to stall like this until the great families recovered their wits, all his previous efforts would go down the drain.
Xiao Zhenggong was indeed difficult to touch, so he could only look to an old friend.
*Banfeng, where have you gone?*
*You suffered through so much—are you just going to throw away such a massive family estate?*
*You wouldn't be able to bear it, would you?*
He Jiaqing felt along the buttons of his hospital gown, found the hook on the thread, and contacted Ling Miaoying.
"How is the newspaper office doing?"
"Things are pretty good. Eldest Brother left behind a solid foundation, so even though publication was suspended for so long, we've still managed to win back a lot of regular customers."
"Very good," He Jiaqing praised. "Publish a notice for me."
***
Li Banfeng sat in the Portable Abode, quietly watching the gramophone and Hong Ying.
Hong Ying had been steamed for a long time, and had listened to the wife sing two songs.
Li Banfeng thought both songs were very pleasant to listen to, but to Hong Ying, every single line of lyrics was like a whip, flaying her skin and tearing her flesh.
Even so, she refused to utter a single word to the wife.
Hong Ying was no spineless weakling. Mere torture had little effect on her, a fact the wife knew all too well.
Following Li Banfeng's suggestion, it would be better to simply devour Hong Ying's soul and hand her body over to Red Lotus for refinement.
Red Lotus strongly agreed with this, but the gramophone refused.
There were matters she insisted on getting to the bottom of. That obsession made her terribly irritable, to the point where she even refused to have machine oil applied.
Li Banfeng always felt Hong Ying's presence in the house made him uneasy. After all, he had tricked the woman using special methods, so whenever he looked at her, he felt a twinge of guilt.
Since he felt guilty, he tried to see her as little as possible. Li Banfeng was living very comfortably in Tiemenbao. Food, drink, and daily necessities were all delivered right to his door, and he could wander through the wild mountains and remote ridges at leisure, fulfilling his Journey Cultivator cultivation.
After dinner that day, Li Banfeng was in the house when Wu Yongchao came running in, drenched in sweat. "Fort Lord, I bought them!"
"Bought what?"
"The newspapers you often mention."
Li Banfeng had a habit of reading newspapers, but the Dwelling Cultivators of Tiemenbao did not; they cared nothing for matters outside the fort.
Wu Yongchao had noticed that Li Banfeng always bought newspapers to read and thought it was hard work, so today he had wanted to run the errand for him.
To buy the papers, Wu Yongchao had run dozens of li along mountain paths, skipped two meals, and gotten lost several times along the way—unaware that for Li Banfeng, this was merely a casual stroll.
It wasn't a major thing, but Li Banfeng appreciated the gesture. He hired Li Zhijuan, a Dwelling Cultivator with exceptional culinary skills, to cook several dishes and warm two pots of wine, treating Wu Yongchao to dinner.
While Wu Yongchao wolfed down the food, Li Banfeng flipped through the paper. One piece of news caught his attention.
The Ling family and the Ma family had joined forces to reclaim land in the newland.
For great families to reclaim land in the newlands was common enough, but the photograph accompanying the news bothered Li Banfeng considerably.
In the photo, Ling Miaoying and Ma Chunting posed together on a parcel of land. This plot lay within Qiu Luoye's territory; Li Banfeng had visited the area before, and it was less than three li from Zhengjing Village.
If they succeeded in reclaiming this land, it would be just as sickening as Lu Xiaolan's earlier land reclamation.
Perhaps even more sickening, because it involved the Ma family.
Zhengjing Village was the estate Li Banfeng had risked his life to carve out; he would not tolerate a threat from anyone.
*Ling Miaoying, are you deliberately trying to force me back?*
*Looks like I can't avoid you. In that case, I won't avoid you.*
Ma the Fifth had once said that the Ling family was a clan of Scrying Cultivators, and none of the three brothers was below the seventh tier.
Then let's count him as seventh tier for now.
I'm a fifth-tier Dwelling Cultivator and a fourth-tier Journey Cultivator. Added together, that makes ninth tier. A ninth tier has no need to fear a seventh tier.
The key problem was the Ma family.
What tier was Ma the Fifth's father?
He seemed to recall Ma the Fifth mentioning he was an eighth-tier Literary Cultivator.
Eight plus seven equals fifteen.
No matter, I can fight them in two bouts!
Li Banfeng knew tiers couldn't be added and subtracted so simply, but he had to rush back to Zhengjing Village. Even if he proved no match for Ma Chunting and Ling Miaoying, he had to put up a fight.
Even if he lost, Li Banfeng had nothing to worry about. On that turf, he had a way out—a retreat beyond anyone else's reach.
Before departing, he split the eight hundred thousand silver dollars into two portions: taking two hundred thousand with him, and leaving the remaining six hundred thousand in Tiemenbao under Wu Yongchao's care.
He trusted Tiemenbao, and he trusted this brother.
If trouble arose in the future, he could return to Tiemenbao to seek refuge.
And if Tiemenbao ran into trouble, they could use this money for emergencies.
Li Banfeng set out that very night, giving Wu Yongchao quite a scare.
"Fort Lord, I just stepped out to buy newspapers, why are you leaving? If I'd known, I wouldn't have gone..."
Li Banfeng looked at Wu Yongchao and urged, "No matter what, remember three things. Never forget them:
"Tiemenbao has only one Fort Lord, and his name is Fort Lord.
"Wherever he is, he is your Fort Lord.
"Whether he is dead or alive, he is your Fort Lord!
"Got it?"
Wu Yongchao remembered. All of Tiemenbao remembered.
Their Fort Lord was named Fort Lord. This flock of Dwelling Cultivators never forgot it for the rest of their lives.
***
Arriving at Peach Blossom Lake, Li Banfeng left his clothes in the Portable Abode first, jumped in stark naked, lingered at the lake bottom for a moment, and broke through the surface of the water, arriving upon a vast wasteland.
Returning to the Portable Abode and drying himself off, Li Banfeng was getting dressed when, unexpectedly, Hong Ying spoke up: "Did you just come in naked?"
The gramophone asked in astonishment, "Wench, you can see?"
Hong Ying sneered. "Can't see. Smelled it."
"You can even smell that?" Steam hissed from the gramophone as it snapped harshly, "Are you that starved for a man?"
"What's it to you if I am?"
"First tell me why you harmed me back then!"
"I won't say. Slay or flay me, do as you please."
"Wench, don't you go crying when you get beaten in a moment!"
The familiar scene was playing out again. Li Banfeng couldn't be bothered to watch, quickly returning to the wasteland. Following Old Yao's map, he sprinted all the way, reaching Qiu Luoye's territory in less than a day.
Arriving at the location shown in the news photo, Li Banfeng saw neither land reclaimers nor any glowing parcel of land.
What was going on?
Was the news fake?
Someone is setting a trap for me?
Li Banfeng wasn't surprised. The paper that published the report was the Ling family's newspaper.
Standing on the plot, he looked around. Hidden on her own parcel of land, Lu Xiaolan had already heard his movements.
"Mom, he's here."
Concealed in the woods, Zhuo Yuling asked Lu Xiaolan through the hook on her sash, "Is it the right time to strike?"
"No rush. He's walking in your direction. Wait until he enters the trap before making a move."
Li Banfeng walked toward Zhengjing Village. After taking a hundred-odd steps, a sudden mood struck him, and he began singing an old tune:
"Beat the drum fast and strike the gong slow, halt the gong and pause the drum to hear a song, of idle chatter I'll sing no praise, today I'll sing of the Eighteen..."
The rustic ditty reached Lu Xiaolan's ears. A searing pain shot through her eardrums, and blood trickled down her ear canals.
*You planted a hook here to scheme against me?*
*Count yourself lucky you didn't run into my wife!*
Chapter 234