Fierce Tiger Stronghold

As night began to fall, A carriage bearing the Four Seas Merchant Guild's flag, escorted by over twenty guards on horseback, exited the city gates.

A black-armored soldier exchanged glances with another. One of them removed his armor and quietly slipped away.

"Long San has left the city?"

Inside a lavish hall, Ding Feng frowned. "Why is he going out so late?"

A servant replied, "According to our men inside, the injury on his left arm has worsened, and he's returning to Yuejing to seek out renowned physicians affiliated with the Four Seas Merchant Guild for treatment."

"Or perhaps he's too ashamed to remain in East Spirit City after causing such heavy losses for the Four Seas Merchant Guild," the servant guessed.

"Hmph! He's got ulterior motives!"

Ding Feng looked at Lu Hou, the 'Earth-Treading Tiger'. "In my opinion, we might as well find an opportunity to kill him and be done with it."

"Fierce Tiger Stronghold won't make a move," Lu Hou said, lifting his eyelids slightly. "You've been in East Spirit for too long and don't understand the influence of the Four Seas Merchant Guild. They are based nationwide, and while they can't immediately dispatch more manpower, they are also wary of Marquis Zhen Dong's wavering stance."

"There's no need to push them too hard."

Ding Feng snorted coldly and said no more. Even with his connections, he couldn't convince Fierce Tiger Stronghold that a half-crippled man would plot against them.

In the dim light, familiar pastoral scenery.

"I didn't expect Shopkeeper Long to actually come," Jiang Ding said, holding his sword as he sat in a corner, a hint of surprise in his voice.

"The Four Seas Merchant Guild may have resigned themselves, but I, a half-crippled man, have not," Long San said in a deep voice. "Young Master, if you have any backup plans, now is the time to reveal them."

Even now, he didn't believe the young man before him intended to attack Fierce Tiger Stronghold alone. He thought the youth had enlisted the help of some powerful background.

Jiang Ding shook his head and closed his eyes to rest, saying nothing further.

Long San also fell silent. He wasn't going to fight anyone. If it was a suicide mission, he wouldn't go, nor would he let his men go.

The carriage traveled for six to seven hours. Despite the bumpy ride, Jiang Ding remained in a state of cultivation, his Internal Force circulating repeatedly, simultaneously warming and refining the eighty small meridian branches, including the twelve main meridians. His Eagle's Takeoff Sword Art had reached great mastery, allowing him to cultivate while walking, sitting, or lying down.

"Young Master, we've arrived," Long San said in a low voice after a long period of silence.

Jiang Ding opened his eyes, a faint white light flashing across his brows. Looking around, the sky was completely dark. The sounds of rustling insects and occasional wolf howls and ape cries filled the air. They were far from the hustle and bustle of human civilization.

After traveling for six to seven hours, everyone, including Long San, looked exhausted. They had dismounted long ago and were leading their horses.

"Young Master, Fierce Tiger Stronghold is in this area. I'm absolutely certain!" Long San said in a deep voice. "I just don't know if it's within ten li or several tens of li. I will wait here for you for seven days. If I don't receive a signal fire after seven days, I will head to Yuejing."

"Alright."

Jiang Ding nodded. He tapped the tip of his toe, leaping several zhang. He stood on the treetop of a large tree and, with a few more bounds, quickly disappeared into the jungle.

Long San said nothing more. He found a high vantage point, set up camp, and silently gnawed on cold dried meat.

"Third Master, are we really going to wait for him for seven days?" one of the employees couldn't help but ask.

"We will wait," Long San said, looking around at his men. "The Guild's influence in East Spirit Prefecture is weak, and I don't know if any of you brothers have been bought off. Just one thing."

He raised his gleaming long saber, his eyes bloodshot and wild. "No one, remember, no one is to leave my sight, not even to eat, drink, or relieve themselves. Otherwise, don't blame me for disregarding our brotherhood!"

"Don't worry, Third Master!" The employees all flinched.

Dark mountains stood majestically.

Jiang Ding sat cross-legged in the shade of a hundred-meter-tall tree. His green robe had somehow transformed into a camouflage pattern of leaves, blending perfectly with the shade. Four drones flew in the sky. One hovered overhead for surveillance, while the other three flew off in different directions. Images flashed across his invisible lenses, most of them dark, the wilderness dominating the night forest. Occasionally, a flicker of light appeared.

It was the moonlight reflecting off the surface of the pond, along with the scattered specks formed by a large number of fireflies gathered together. Occasionally, a pair of emerald green eyes could be seen – those belonged to a wolf pack in the jungle.

Searching bit by bit, Searching bit by bit.

Jiang Ding was extremely patient, his breathing kept at a constant, even pace, conserving as much energy as possible.

After more than thirty minutes.

"Found... it!"

A small point of orange-red firelight was extremely conspicuous in the darkness.

This small point of orange-red firelight grew closer and closer, and more and more numerous. By the time the drone flew overhead, a mountain stronghold standing on a sheer cliff face appeared before their eyes.

It was surrounded by sheer cliffs on three sides, with only one path for the stronghold's guards to enter and exit, blocked by a high wall built of wood and stone.

Torches burned constantly on the wall, and guards armed with knives, spears, swords, and halberds, many of them with powerful bows and crossbows, bought from who knows where, maintained a relatively strict discipline. Even in the early morning hours, they maintained basic vigilance.

"Not simple. This mountain stronghold alone, with two to three hundred guards, even an army of ten thousand would not be able to take it!" Jiang Ding muttered to himself, continuing to observe the stronghold's layout.

He discovered that the barracks inside the stronghold were neat and orderly, and places like moats, ponds, latrines, and storehouses were all arranged with great care, in a pattern of horizontal and vertical lines, and with a certain special style.

"It's a bit like..."

Jiang Ding pondered for a moment in his mind, and an answer emerged.

"An army!"

"That's right. These arrangements, the strict training of the guards, all have the style of an ancient cold-weapon army setting up camp. Did one of the Seven Tigers of Fierce Tiger Stronghold come from a military background?" Jiang Ding guessed.

At the entrance of the stronghold, A group of people from a horse caravan arrived on the mountain from some small path. They threw struggling cloth sacks from their horses and shouted a few words to the guards on the wall.

The guards quickly opened the large gate, skillfully took over, and untied the sacks.

"Mom!"

"My lord, my father has money, please spare me!"

Inside many of the cloth sacks were children.

There were both boys and girls, mostly around ten years old, but some as young as seven or eight. They were dressed differently, some filthy, some in simple peasant clothes, and some plump and fair-skinned, clearly from wealthy families.

The origins were extremely complex and shocking.

"Those beggars... they were brought here."

Jiang Ding's expression was complicated.

The last time he discovered the Wild Wolf Gang kidnapping young beggars on Rotten Board Street, he intervened, and Long Shi and the others had not committed the offense again. He didn't know if they had paid money to get out of the demands from above or something else.

But he knew this was just self-deception. If they weren't on Rotten Board Street, there were plenty of other places.

He could only comfort himself with the idea of "the poor should mind their own business."

"I'm not wrong. I am indeed weak. How can I possibly help the whole world?"

Jiang Ding leaped down from the treetops, stepping on branches from time to time, using his toes to push off and jump, silently approaching the distant cliff of the mountain stronghold. "However, since I've encountered this, I might as well be a little unrestrained."