The Overlord of Puluo

The gates of Iron Gate Fort were about to shut. Li Banfeng wasn’t nervous. At worst, he could stay inside the fort. He was confident he could find somewhere to hide the key.

Sui Donglan, however, was terrified. She no longer cared about hiding her face and sprinted toward the gorge entrance. As she ran, her headscrap came loose and flew away.

By the time she reached the mouth of the gorge, it was already too late. The massive iron gate had slammed shut.

Two men stood before the gate and shouted at the fleeing merchants, ”Stop! Don’t run out there! The bandits from Flying Eagle Mountain are here!”

The moment Sui Donglan heard the word ”bandits,” she turned and ran straight back to Li Banfeng.

”Peddler sir, bandits are here! What are we supposed to do?!”

Li Banfeng said nothing. He wanted to see what these bandits were capable of.

There were two to three hundred Homebound Cultivator households in Iron Gate Fort. As far as Li Banfeng knew, there were even level-four Homebound Cultivators here.

The Fort Lord was a level-eight Homebound Cultivator. What kind of bandits would dare attack Iron Gate Fort?

The steam-powered iron gate spewed white mist. The cigarette seller muttered, ”They can’t get in. This gate is vicious. Anyone who steps too close will be scalded so badly their skin peels and their flesh rots...”

Before he could finish, a voice rang out from beyond the gate.

”Listen up, people inside! I’m Luo Dagui, Flying Eagle Mountain’s Spearhead and Rearguard. Tell your boss to come out and speak with me.”

”The gun captain of Flying Eagle Mountain! A level-seven Martial Cultivator!” Sui Donglan cried in shock and hurried beneath the eaves of Wu Yongchao’s house.

The cigarette seller was just as frightened. He pushed his cart along and ducked under the eaves as well.

Spearhead and Rearguard was underworld slang. It referred specifically to the mountain stronghold’s gun captain, the fiercest fighter under the bandit chief.

The moment they heard it was truly the bandits from Flying Eagle Mountain, the Homebound Cultivators retreated into their homes.

The merchants had nowhere to go. One after another, they scrambled beneath the eaves and crouched there, making themselves as small as possible.

Li Banfeng remained where he was, listening carefully to the man’s voice.

What kind of Daoist path is this? Is this really Martial Cultivation?

I am over a hundred meters from the gorge entrance, and he must be some distance from it as well... yet his voice is still this loud?

Could this gun captain have trained some kind of Lion’s Roar technique[1]?

Before long, another voice rang out from outside. ”Gun Captain Luo, what brings you to my Iron Gate Fort?”

The moment they heard it, the tension in the air eased at once.

The Fort Lord had spoken.

Whether they were Homebound Cultivators of Iron Gate Fort or small merchants passing through for business, they all saw the Fort Lord as their greatest backer. That was why they were willing to pay rent.

The gun captain spoke again. ”We have taken in quite a few new brothers at the stronghold, so things are a little tight. We would like to borrow a bit of money from you. Not much, just ten thousand silver dollars. Will you hand it over now, or should I come back another day to collect?”

At the mention of ten thousand silver dollars, the merchants all frowned.

As for the Homebound Cultivators, Li Banfeng couldn’t see their expressions.

A long silence fell outside the gorge before the Fort Lord finally spoke. ”We are all poor folk here. It is outrageous for you to just ask us for ten thousand silver dollars. We simply don’t have the money to give you!”

”So you won’t lend it, then? You are refusing to give us face?”

”Gun Captain Luo, I have some old ties with your chief. We should handle this with reason. At the end of the year, I already gave him a token of goodwill. It is a bit too unreasonable for you to come back now and demand more money!”

”We accepted that year-end offering and acknowledge the sentiment,” the voice said coldly. ”But that was in the past. What matters is the present. Today’s matters will be settled by today’s rules.”

”If that’s how you want to talk,” came the sharp reply, ”then try getting past my iron gate first!”

At the Fort Lord’s command, the great iron gate roared to life. A violent burst of steam exploded outward, surging into the air.

Luo Dagui threw his head back and laughed.

It wasn’t a pleasant sound. It rolled out low and heavy, thick with mockery, like he was already looking down on them.

”Fort Lord Zhou,” he said, still smiling, ”your gate is strong. We will give you that. But who said we have to come through it?”

The moment his words fell, more than a dozen huge rocks came crashing down from both sides of the gorge. Each rock was enormous, something even seven or eight ordinary men might struggle to lift.

Two merchants’ carts shattered at once. Wood splintered. Wheels snapped. Goods scattered everywhere. A nearby house took a direct hit. The roof broke open with a loud crack.

Li Banfeng raised his head and looked up. The cliffs towered hundreds of meters above. There was no one there. Not a single figure.

Luo Dagui shouted, his voice echoing through the gorge, ”These stones are just our greeting gift. Starting today, if I don’t see ten thousand silver dollars, I’ll take one of your heads for each day!”

The bandits outside the gate seemed to have left, yet the iron gate remained tightly shut.

The merchants trembled where they stood. None of them dared move. The Homebound Cultivators all stayed inside their houses. Not a single door opened.

Before long, several of Fort Lord Zhou’s men went from door to door. They knocked, they asked, they waited. Each household had to give an answer.

The ten thousand silver dollars would not come from one person. Every household had to contribute.

Iron Gate Fort had no small number of households. Two to three hundred families lived behind those iron gates, and now each one was being asked to contribute thirty to forty silver dollars. Not every family could afford such a sum.

So Fort Lord Zhou chose to hear everyone’s opinion.

Should they fight, or make peace?

If they chose to fight, then they would throw everything they had into a clash with the bandits of Flying Eagle Mountain.

If they chose peace, then they would sit down to negotiate, hoping to bargain the price down to something they could manage.

Wu Yongchao said to the Fort Lord’s steward, ”I want to fight. If it comes to battle, I’ll stand at the front.”

The Fort Lord’s steward, Ma Dingfu, barely reacted. He simply dipped his brush, jotted the answer into a small, worn notebook.

”Alright,” he said. ”Next household.”

Some distance away, Li Banfeng sat quietly, the Threaded Earring at his ear faintly glinting. Through it, the scattered voices of the fort gathered and reached him. His hearing stretched far beyond the walls, carrying murmurs from more than a kilometer away.

Homebound Cultivators were known for their mild temperaments. They preferred quiet lives, closed doors, and little trouble. However, mild did not mean weak.

From what Li Banfeng heard, more than seventy percent of them had chosen to fight.

Sui Donglan didn’t fully understand what was going on, but she was hoping that there wouldn’t be a battle.

”We can’t fight,” she said. ”We absolutely can’t fight...”

Li Banfeng frowned. ”What are you afraid of? You are not even from Iron Gate Fort. You won’t be the one fighting.”

”Peddler sir, you don’t understand,” Sui Donglan said. ”Once the fighting starts, that big iron gate won’t open again. We will all be trapped inside. No one leaves until it’s over.”

Good! So this is how Homebound Cultivators defend their homes... by staying inside, Li Banfeng thought. I would like to see how the bandits of Flying Eagle Mountain plan to break in.

By dusk, the great iron gate opened.

Huff, huff.

It was still only the small side door.

Is it over already? Li Banfeng muttered inwardly .

Just then, the steward Ma Dingfu raised his voice and called out, ”Twenty percent of the fort wants to fight. Eighty percent wants peace. The Fort Lord is doing what the majority wants. He has gone to negotiate with Flying Eagle Mountain. All outsiders must leave now. The fort will be closed for a full day tomorrow!”

Peace? Li Banfeng blinked. Eighty percent want peace? Did I hear wrong... or are there more people deeper inside the fort whose voices I didn’t catch?

Just as Li Banfeng was turning the matter over in his mind, Ma Dingfu walked straight up to him.

”Brother,” the steward said, ”you’re doing business here. Have you paid your rent?”

”Isn’t rent settled at the end of the month?”

”The monthly rent is one thing,” Ma Dingfu said. ”There’s also an entry deposit when you come in. Everyone else paid it the first time they entered. Even if you’re only here for a single day, you still have to pay.”

Li Banfeng nodded. ”Fine, I’ll pay. How much is the deposit?”

”Five hundred!”

”I only pay this once, right?”

”That depends on whether you’re an honest businessman,” Ma Dingfu said. ”Do your business properly, and you’ll only need to pay the monthly rent from now on. If not... we have other ways of handling things.”

Li Banfeng said in surprise, ”You think I am not honest?”

Ma Dingfu smiled faintly. ”I really do. You came here, barely sold anything, and spent most of your time asking questions and stirring up trouble.”

Li Banfeng glanced at Sui Donglan. ”Do you think she’s an honest person?”

Ma Dingfu’s expression darkened at once. ”I think you talk too much. Pay up!”

Li Banfeng didn’t argue further. He handed over the five hundred silver dollars, then left the fort with Sui Donglan.

As they walked along the road, Sui Donglan pushed the cart, casting Li Banfeng a look tinged with disdain.

”They ask for money and you just hand it over,” she said. ”And you still call yourself the Peddler’s senior brother?”

Li Banfeng shook his head. ”That’s not giving. It’s lending. He’ll have to pay it back.”

Sui Donglan let out a soft snort. ”You only dare bully people like me. Fort Lord Zhou of Iron Gate Fort dares to go up against Flying Eagle Mountain. His people? You wouldn’t dare touch them.”

Li Banfeng raised his brows. ”Go up against them? Didn’t he just go to make peace?”

”Being able to negotiate is already a huge favor,” Sui Donglan said quickly. ”You have no idea how ruthless the bandits of Flying Eagle Mountain are!”

”Have you seen them?”

”I have.” Her voice dropped, the disdain gone in an instant. ”The village I used to live in... it was wiped out by their chief, He Zhenlei. They looted everything. More than half the people were killed.”

Li Banfeng paused for a moment. ”How much gold and silver did your village have?”

”It wasn’t gold or silver,” Sui Donglan said, shaking her head. ”It was during the autumn harvest. The bandits came to take grain. They demanded too much, and a few families refused to hand it over. Things escalated... and the whole village was wiped out.

”You have to admit, Fort Lord Zhou has good judgment. You can’t go head-on against Flying Eagle Mountain. Those bandits are like incarnations of the King of Hell. When it’s time to yield, you have to yield.”

”What’s the name of this Fort Lord Zhou?”

”He’s called Zhou Anju. Within several hundred li around here, there’s no one who doesn’t know his name!” At the mention of him, Sui Donglan’s face lit up with admiration.

Li Banfeng did not ask anything more. He handed her a cup of liquor. ”Rest well at home tomorrow. The day after, go to Iron Gate Fort and find me. If you don’t dare to come, your face will keep hurting, until it hurts you to death.”

Li Banfeng left without another word.

Sui Donglan gave a cold snort and went back home. She stood before the mirror and scrubbed at her face again and again, rubbing until her skin turned red, yet the two characters refused to fade, as if they had sunk into her very flesh.

She knew she could not stay in Iron Gate Fort any longer.

Once she found a way to trick that fake peddler into handing over the antidote, she would have to leave at once and hide somewhere far away, where no one could come chasing her for debts.

***

Li Banfeng returned to his Pocket Dwelling and sat down, quietly sorting through everything he had seen that day.

The more he thought about it, the more it didn’t add up.

What he had witnessed, and what he had been told, simply did not match.

The Fort Lord of Iron Gate Fort was a level-eight Homebound Cultivator.

What did level eight represent?

In Puluo Province, someone at that level would either stand at the peak of a great family or rule as the head of a major faction. Yet here he was, merely the Lord of Iron Gate Fort.

Perhaps it was because Homebound Cultivators avoided the world and shunned conflict, so he chose this place to build them a quiet haven.

That much made sense. But then... why would a man like that bow his head to the bandits of Flying Eagle Mountain?

The majority in the fort clearly wanted to fight, yet Fort Lord Zhou did not. He even claimed that eighty percent wanted peace.

Could it be that Flying Eagle Mountain was so powerful that even someone like Zhou Anju had no choice but to endure in silence?

However, that only raised more questions about Flying Eagle Mountain.

Their gun captain was a level-seven Martial Cultivator, which meant their chief could only be stronger.

A ruthless figure at that level... and yet he chose to become nothing more than a bandit.

Not the kind like Rong Yeguang, who ruled the Old Land and dared to challenge the great families.

No. These were the sort who raided villages, slaughtered common folk, all for a few loads of grain.

And yet, this very group had managed to force Fort Lord Zhou to lower his head.

Li Banfeng picked up the gramophone. ”Wifey, have you heard of a place called Iron Gate Fort?”

”I have. Many Homebound Cultivators wish to go there,” she replied gently. ”Husband, you want to go there too.”

”I have already been,” Li Banfeng said. ”I’m near it right now. Their Fort Lord is called Zhou Anju. Have you heard of him?”

”Zhou Anju?” she repeated, as if testing the name. ”He does sound like a Homebound Cultivator.”

”He is a Homebound Cultivator, supposedly at the eighth level.”

”A level-eight Homebound Cultivator?” Wifey’s voice rose in surprise. ”This little wifey truly hasn’t heard of him.

”Homebound Cultivators rarely show themselves,” Wifey added softly. ”Just because I haven’t heard of him doesn’t mean he lacks real ability.

”Wifey, have you heard of He Zhenlei from Flying Eagle Mountain?”

”I have heard of Flying Eagle Mountain. It’s a place,” she said after a moment. ”But I haven’t heard of He Zhenlei.”

Li Banfeng asked the liquor gourd and the old teapot. They didn’t know either.

Could a bandit of that level... really be known to only the people around Iron Gate Fort? Li Banfeng wondered.

***

That night, Li Banfeng followed the narrow mountain path and began climbing the cliffs of Iron Gate Fort.

The way up was anything but easy. Even as a fourth-level Wanderlust Cultivator, he found the climb taxing, each step heavier than the last.

When he reached halfway up the mountain, the terrain suddenly changed. There was a platform here, about five to six meters wide, pressed tightly against the cliff and jutting out over the gorge.

Li Banfeng stopped and looked around, and understanding dawned on him. This was where the bandits had stood to hurl rocks down into the gorge.

His guess was right. Carrying poles, ropes, and crowbars lay scattered nearby, along with several massive stones already prepared.

And yet... something about it still didn’t quite make sense.

Such a crucial platform, with sheer cliffs above and below, was clearly a natural strongpoint. Why hadn’t Fort Lord Zhou stationed anyone here to guard it?

Li Banfeng sat on the edge of the platform, still turning the question over in his mind, when the earring at his ear suddenly whispered, ”Master, there’s movement.”

He stiffened at once. If he were discovered here, there would be nowhere to run. At worst, he would have to hide inside his Pocket Dwelling.

Just as he was thinking about where to conceal the key, he realized the sound was not coming from above.

It was coming from below.

A quarrel had broken out.

”I’m not paying this money! Let them come fight me if they want!” Wu Yongchao’s voice rang out.

”Not paying!”

”Absolutely not paying!”

Many people were shouting along with him.

”We already agreed to make peace earlier, so why are you refusing to pay now?” Ma Dingfu’s voice rang out below.

”Who agreed with you?” Wu Yongchao shot back. ”I want to fight. We all want to fight!”

”This was decided by everyone. If you don’t want to pay, then move out!”

”Why should we move?” another voice shouted. ”The land is ours, the houses are ours. You think we’ll leave just because you say so?”

”I have been at Iron Gate Fort for fifty years. When I first came, Fort Lord Zhou wasn’t even here yet. Whenever trouble came, we fought. Why should we let bandits bully us?”

Li Banfeng sat silently on the platform, lost in thought. He turned and looked again at the tools scattered around him.

The bandits from Flying Eagle Mountain didn’t seem all that impressive.

Ropes. Carrying poles. Crowbars...

Moving those massive rocks would take quite a few people, and no small amount of effort.

The bandits from Flying Eagle Mountain didn’t seem all that impressive. And yet, a group like that had so easily taken control of such a strategic point.

What would this reveal about the level-eight Fort Lord?

***

At Yuezhou Third Hospital, He Jiaqing lay flat on his bed. Then he gave a soft, breathy laugh. ”Another fail.. Another fail..”

On the other end, Ling Miaoying hurried to explain himself. ”I really did prepare everything. Every detail. I just didn’t expect...”

”It’s fine,” He Jiaqing said lightly. ”No problem. Leave my friend aside for now. Focus on the newspaper office. Keep an eye on the Lu Family. Think things through carefully. You have worked hard, brother.”

”I understand.”

Ling Miaoying wiped the sweat from his brow, said nothing more, and cut the connection.

He Jiaqing had said it was fine. But was it fine?

Author’s Note

PS: An invisible enemy is indeed very scary.

1. This refers to 狮子吼 (Shi Zi Hou), a sound-based technique that uses internal energy to project a powerful, damaging roar. It is a well-known martial art in wuxia, especially in Jin Yong’s The Heaven Sword and Dragon Saber. ☜