In a spacious courtyard room, Jiang Dali drank fiery liquor to his heart's content alongside five jin of sliced cooked beef.
The fragrance of alcohol filled the room, making the two scruffy, bearded bandits standing at the door sniff from time to time and swallow hard.
"Ha!"
Jiang Dali let out a drunken belch. Feeling that he was already about half-drunk, he took a couple more bites of beef to go with the liquor.
Drinking was no easy matter, and drinking a lot without getting drunk was even harder.
Drinking depended on one's constitution.
Jiang Dali naturally had an excellent constitution, so his alcohol tolerance was quite good as well.
However, he also knew that his current drinking capacity was still far short of the standard required for that future quest.
That heroic man was said to be able to drink a thousand cups without getting drunk. When he drank, he guzzled it by the jar.
If he wanted to catch that hero's eye, the first thing he needed was an exceptional capacity for liquor.
As he pondered this, Jiang Dali's lowered eyelids suddenly brightened. At last, he saw a new post about Black Wind Stronghold appear on the Jianghu Forum.
"Greetings, brothers and heroes. Is anyone else born near Mengyin County of Hui City, Huizhou? Hurry and save us! We were actually captured by a group of NPC bandits and locked up in their stronghold. We can't even kill ourselves now. What should we do?"
Jiang Dali looked at the poster's name—Central Plains Eyeing Cracks.
"Hm? I didn't expect there to be a capable fellow among the batch of players captured this time."
Jiang Dali was somewhat familiar with that bizarre name.
In his previous life, Central Plains Eyeing Cracks had truly become Golden Buddha Miao Renfeng's disciple, learned the Human-tier Martial Art, Miao Family Swordplay, and enjoyed a period of glory.
Unfortunately, once he found success, he became arrogant and stopped striving to improve. Before long, he was supposedly hunted down by his enemies and vanished without a trace.
While Jiang Dali's thoughts churned, quite a few players had already replied beneath Central Plains Eyeing Cracks's post.
Some players who had spawned in other cities and regions came over to reply and watch the spectacle.
Some expressed doubts, but other players imprisoned by Jiang Dali immediately replied with confirmation, dispelling many people's suspicions while also stirring up even more curiosity and schadenfreude.
"Hahahaha, you guys are really lucky. You were captured by the Great Mountain Lord of Black Wind Stronghold and brought back to the stronghold. This is a huge opportunity! We haven't run into anything like this."
"Be a decent person upstairs. Don't celebrate too soon. This shows that this Jianghu world is far more dangerous than we imagined. Even ordinary bandits know to capture us at the City God Temple resurrection point.
"Doesn't that mean that if we offend some powerful NPC in the future and get blocked inside the City God Temple and killed over and over, we won't be able to play at all?"
"Exactly, exactly. Black Wind Stronghold obviously sounds like just a small force from an early beginner village, yet it already knows to camp the City God Temple. If we provoke a major sect in the future, wouldn't that be a dead end?"
The players chattered away. Some found it interesting, while others felt worried.
They were all professional players who had entered during the closed beta. Many smelled danger in this news, though some were also astonished.
Mount Hua.
Inside a small courtyard on a minor peak of the North Peak.
A dignified man dressed in black-and-white martial attire was intently reading the post on the Jianghu Forum. His expression was surprised as he fell into thought.
"The native NPCs of this world actually know how to blockade the City God Temple? That's interesting. This is something we never managed to test before.
"It seems the secrets of this world are still well worth digging into. But I don't know whether this special case is some accidental misunderstanding, or whether the problem lies with this Black Wind Stronghold."
As he pondered.
The man turned and entered the house, ground ink, and wrote a letter. It read—"Deputy Hall Master Fengying, I hope you have been well. I do not know whether you successfully joined Lingjiu Palace. Lingyun has just learned that the bandits of Black Wind Mountain Stronghold in Mengyin County, Hui City, Huizhou know the secret of the City God Temple. Hall Master may have already taken notice."
Flutter, flutter—
A white pigeon was released and quickly disappeared into the sky.
Watching more and more players on the Jianghu Forum take notice of the post and learn of Black Wind Stronghold in Mengyin County, Hui City, Huizhou, Jiang Dali thought to himself that the stronghold had made a name for itself now.
If the experts from the official side saw this news, they would definitely take notice of his Black Wind Stronghold as well.
Perhaps some experts would come to probe and investigate the situation.
When that time came, it would be time for him to harvest another batch of leeks in advance.
Jiang Dali could not say that he hated or regarded all the strong people cultivated by the official side as enemies.
It was simply that their positions differed, and they were bound to meet with blades drawn.
For survival, and to prevent the official side from completely controlling this world, he had to do his utmost to suppress them in the early stages. Otherwise, he might not be able to suppress them later.
This was mainly because quite a few of the official side's strong people had entered this Jianghu world long before the closed-beta players.
Even Jiang Dali did not know who the earliest official powerhouse to enter the Jianghu world had been, nor when that person had entered.
However, he still knew the identities of some powerful official experts he had been familiar with in his previous life.
Seeing that there was nothing else worth noting on the Jianghu Forum.
Jiang Dali stopped paying attention.
At present, he had spotted quite a few familiar names on the forum. He wished he could immediately pull some of those outstanding leeks into the stronghold and cultivate them there.
But within his sphere of influence, Central Plains Eyeing Cracks seemed to be the only promising one.
The other professional players might not be bad either, but the Jianghu was a place where the waves washed away the sand.
So-called not bad merely meant they had the potential to become second- or third-rate experts in the future. Jiang Dali did not pay them much attention.
Seeing that the moon had risen high overhead and it was getting late.
The players who had been captured should all be panicked and unsettled by now. He had intimidated them enough.
Jiang Dali immediately left the courtyard and headed straight for the stronghold's dark prison.
The dark prison was damp and filled with all sorts of foul smells. Rats scurried everywhere. It was simply not a place fit for humans.
After a group of players had been thrown into the dark prison, many of them were tied up with their faces pressed against the damp ground covered in rotten water, so disgusted that they were about to vomit.
Yet their mouths were sealed with strips of cloth. They could neither vomit nor speak, and every one of them was miserable and despairing.
Was this playing a game? This was practically a game playing people.
Quite a few players logged off directly, unwilling to experience such disgusting torment.
But a small number of players did not flee from it. Instead, they kept waiting for an opportunity, observing their surroundings and hoping for a turn in their fortunes.
As professional players, some of them had sharp instincts.
They felt that since the bandits had not killed them, and had even prevented them from committing suicide, but merely captured them and imprisoned them in the stronghold, there had to be a reason.
Then, as long as they waited for that reason to reveal itself, perhaps it would be their chance to turn things around.
Therefore.
When they heard bandits in the dark prison passage respectfully calling out "Great Mountain Lord," the few players who had held on all perked up, their eyes lighting up.
"Men, drag Hu Ling out. Prepare the punishment."
After entering the dark prison, Jiang Dali merely glanced at the players and ignored them. He sat down in a grand chair, slapped the tabletop, and gave his orders.
Two bandits acknowledged the command and immediately went to drag Hu Ling over.
The players felt uneasy and curious as they secretly studied Jiang Dali.
In their eyes, although this Great BOSS of the stronghold wore an ordinary tiger-skin shirt, the bulging, powerful muscles beneath it gave off an impression of hardness, ferocity, and dominance, as though his entire body were filled with an indescribable sense of power.
Even sitting still, the intimidating aura he exuded was like that of a fierce tiger, impossible to ignore. Everyone began to harbor misgivings and abandoned some of their little schemes.
At that moment, the bandits dragged out the badly injured Hu Ling, who had been tightly bound, and propped him up.
"Heh heh heh. When our Great Mountain Lord asks you questions later, if you old bastard don't answer honestly, I'll let you have a taste of what spicy hot iron feels like!"
A bandit patted Hu Ling's face, grinning viciously as he began heating a branding iron.
The muscles in Hu Ling's face twitched. With a fierce but inwardly weak look in his eyes, he glared at Jiang Dali. "Villain, your good days are over. If you dare torture and kill me, your entire stronghold will be buried with you! Just wait!"
"Hm?"
Jiang Dali glanced at the bandit lackey beside him and slightly moved a finger.
The bandit lackey was quick-witted. He rushed forward and delivered several loud slaps, striking Hu Ling so hard that the skin on his face nearly split. He cursed, "Old bastard, show some respect. Our Great Mountain Lord is a man of standing, known throughout the Jianghu as Full of Courage. Do you think he can be frightened by you? Talk less crap, suffer less!"
"Ptooey!"
Hu Ling suddenly spat out a mouthful of bloody phlegm. His hair hung loose as he viciously glared at Jiang Dali and sneered. "Heh heh heh, Great Mountain Lord of Black Wind Stronghold? You probably don't know what formidable person you've offended, do you? You think you can run rampant through the Jianghu just because you have Inner Qi Realm strength?
"How laughable. You're a frog at the bottom of a well!
"I came on that person's orders to test you. Compared to him, I'm nothing but a minor lackey.
"Untie me now and speak to me politely, and I may still help you escape this calamity.
"Otherwise, just wait for death!"
"Oh?"
Jiang Dali's gaze turned cold. His brows lifted slightly as he stood and walked over to Hu Ling.
The two bandits immediately smartened up and held Hu Ling in place.
Hu Ling looked down his nose at him. "Heh heh heh, are you afraid now? Good. You should be afraid. Afraid—aaah!!!"
A shrill scream erupted through the prison, making the group of players shudder.
"Sizzle!"
Jiang Dali used iron tongs to press the red-hot branding iron viciously against Hu Ling's body. Wisps of smoke rose from it, as though he were grilling meat.
"AAAHHH—"
Hu Ling writhed in agony, struggling and crying out endlessly, snot and tears streaming down his face.
Jiang Dali said evenly, "Are you afraid now? Good. You should be afraid. I'll give you one more chance. Tell me, was Du Dajin the one who sent you?"
Hu Ling was still baring his teeth in pain. At those words, he broke out in a cold sweat and stared at Jiang Dali in disbelief.
"Y-you... how did you know? Since you knew, how dare you treat me like this?"
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