Fierce Tiger Mountain Stronghold

Night slowly drew its curtain.

A carriage flying the Four Seas Merchant Guild's banner, escorted by more than twenty mounted guards, drove out of the city gates.

The black-armored soldiers exchanged glances. One of them removed his armor and quietly headed elsewhere.

"Long San has left the city?"

Within the lavish hall, Ding Feng frowned. "At this late hour, what is he going out for?"

A servant replied, "Our brothers inside said the injury on his left arm has worsened. He is returning to Yuejing to seek treatment from a renowned physician allied with the Four Seas Merchant Guild."

"Or perhaps he caused the Four Seas Merchant Guild such enormous losses that he was too ashamed to remain in East Spirit City."

He guessed.

"Hmph! He is harboring sinister intentions!"

Ding Feng looked toward Lu Hou, the Earth-Treading Tiger. "In my view, we might as well find an opportunity to kill him and wipe the slate clean."

"The Fierce Tiger Stronghold will not act."

Lu Hou raised his eyelids slightly. "You have lived in East Spirit for too long and do not understand the power of the Four Seas Merchant Guild. They hold the fort across the entire nation. They merely cannot spare more manpower for the moment, and they are also wary of Marquis Zhen Dong's wavering stance."

"Unless necessary, do not drive them into desperation."

Ding Feng snorted coldly and said no more.

No matter how much he currried favor, he could not persuade the Fierce Tiger Stronghold that a half-crippled man could scheme against them.

Under the dim light lay familiar pastoral scenery.

"I never expected Shopkeeper Long to be able to come."

Jiang Ding sat in a corner with his sword in his arms, somewhat surprised.

"The Four Seas Merchant Guild may have accepted it, but this half-crippled man has not." Long San said in a deep voice, "Young Master, if you have any backup plan, you may reveal it now."

Even now, he did not believe that the youth before him intended to charge into the Fierce Tiger Mountain Stronghold alone and kill his way through it. He believed Jiang Ding had summoned forces from the people behind him.

Jiang Ding shook his head, closed his eyes to rest, and spoke no further.

Long San also fell silent.

He would not fight anyone. If it meant dying, he would not go, nor would he send the guild's men under his command.

The carriage traveled for six or seven hours. Even though the cabin jolted terribly, Jiang Ding remained in a state of cultivation. His inner force circulated again and again, nourishing and tempering the eighty minute meridian branches, including the Twelve Meridians.

The Eagle's Takeoff Sword Art had reached the major completion realm. He could cultivate whether walking, sitting, lying down, or standing.

"Young Master, we have arrived."

Long San, who had been silent for a long while, lowered his voice.

Jiang Ding opened his eyes, and a faint white gleam flashed between his brows before vanishing.

Looking around, the sky had already turned pitch-black. In his ears came the rustling chirps of insects, occasionally mixed with wolf howls and the cries of apes. They had completely left behind the smoke and fire of human habitation.

After traveling continuously for six or seven hours, everyone, including Long San, was filled with exhaustion. They had long since dismounted and were leading their horses on foot.

"Young Master, the Fierce Tiger Mountain Stronghold lies somewhere within this area. I am absolutely certain!"

Long San said solemnly, "I simply do not know whether it is within ten miles or several dozen miles. I will wait here for Young Master for seven days. If I receive no fireworks signal after seven days, I will depart for Yuejing."

"Good."

Jiang Ding nodded. With a light tap of his toes, he leaped several zhang and landed atop the crown of a great tree. After a few more jumps, he swiftly vanished into the forest.

Long San said nothing more. He found a patch of high ground and made camp, silently chewing on cold dried meat.

"Third Master, are we really going to wait for him for seven days?"

One of the guild hands could not help asking.

"We wait."

Long San swept his gaze over the guild hands. "The merchant guild is weak in East Spirit Prefecture, and I do not know whether any among you brothers have been bought off. I have only one thing to say."

"Anyone—remember, anyone!"

He raised the gleaming longsword in his hand, his eyes scarlet and crazed. "Do not leave my sight. The same goes for eating, drinking, pissing, and shitting. Otherwise, do not blame me for disregarding brotherhood!"

"Rest assured, Third Master!"

The guild hands all shrank back their heads.

The pitch-black mountain ranges stood vast and wild.

Jiang Ding sat cross-legged within the shade of a hundred-meter-tall tree. At some point, his green robe had changed into leaf-patterned camouflage, blending perfectly into the shadows beneath the tree.

Of the four drones in the sky, one remained overhead to keep watch while the other three flew off in separate directions.

Scenes flickered past through his contact lenses. Most were utterly black images: forests where wilderness ruled the night.

Now and then, a point of light glimmered.

It was moonlight reflected from ponds and lake surfaces, as well as clusters of fireflies forming scattered specks of starlight. Occasionally, pairs of eerie green eyes appeared—the wolf packs within the forest.

He searched bit by bit.

He searched bit by bit.

Jiang Ding was extremely patient. His breathing remained even at all times, conserving his strength to the greatest extent.

More than thirty minutes later.

"Found... it!"

A point of orange-red firelight stood out sharply in the night.

That orange-red firelight drew nearer and nearer, and more and more lights came into view. When the drone flew overhead, a mountain stronghold perched upon sheer cliffs appeared before his eyes.

Sheer cliffs surrounded it on three sides, with only one road for the stronghold men to enter and exit, blocked by a high wall built of wood and stone.

Torches burned constantly atop the wall. The stronghold men carried sabers, spears, swords, halberds, and all manner of weapons. Many had powerful bows and heavy crossbows, though it was unknown where they had bought them. Their discipline was fairly orderly; even in the predawn hours, they maintained basic vigilance.

"Not simple. With this stronghold alone and two or three hundred stronghold men, even an army of ten thousand would never dream of taking it!" Jiang Ding muttered to himself, continuing to observe the arrangements throughout the stronghold.

He discovered that the barracks within the stronghold were neat and orderly. The trenches, ponds, latrines, storerooms, and other locations had all been arranged with great care—one horizontal, one vertical—and bore a certain distinctive style.

"It resembles..."

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

"An army!"

"That is right. These arrangements and the strict training of the stronghold men all carry the unmistakable style of an ancient cold-weapon army setting up camp. Was one of the Seven Tigers of the Fierce Tiger Mountain Stronghold once a military officer?"

Jiang Ding guessed.

At the stronghold gates,

A group from a horse caravan came up the mountain by some unknown trail. They threw down struggling cloth sacks from their saddles and shouted several words toward the stronghold wall.

The stronghold men hurriedly opened the gates, expertly took over, and untied the sacks.

"Mother!"

"Sir, my father has money! Please spare me!"

Inside many of the cloth sacks were children.

There were both boys and girls, mostly around their teens, though some were seven or eight. They wore all sorts of clothing: some were filthy beyond measure, some wore coarse homespun garments of farming families, while others were fair and plump at a glance, clearly born to wealthy households.

Their origins were exceedingly complicated, a sight that made the heart shudder.

"Those beggar children... were sent here."

Jiang Ding's expression was complicated.

After he had discovered the Wild Wolf Gang kidnapping little beggar children on Rotten Plank Street last time, he had stepped in to stop them. Long Shi and the others had not committed such offenses again. He did not know whether they had paid money to escape orders from above or done something else.

But he knew this was merely deceiving himself. If Rotten Plank Street had none, there were plenty elsewhere.

All he could do was comfort himself with the saying: when poor, keep oneself unsullied.

"I was not wrong. I truly am weak—how could I dare to help the whole world?"

Jiang Ding leaped down from the treetop, occasionally stepping on branches and borrowing force from the tips of his feet to jump onward. Soundlessly, he closed in on the distant cliffside stronghold. "However, since I have encountered it, I may as well be a little reckless."