Iron Furnace Stockade!

"Spring Creek Village in the Northern Ridge? In any case, let's go there!"

Tang Jie finally made up his mind. He would go to Spring Creek Village and find out exactly what had happened.

I wonder whether the person who left the letter is still there. Tang Jie was slightly worried. The other party had said they would wait for him in Spring Creek Village for several days, but when that person left the letter, he had still been in the Black Rock Mountain Range. It would take several days just to travel from the Southern Ridge to the Northern Ridge.

Whether that person was still in Spring Creek Village was a question in itself.

Tang Jie sighed. He had only just returned, yet he had already run into something like this. Hadn't Tang Tianhao gone to see his mother? What had happened in the meantime?

There was nothing for it. Not long after returning, Tang Jie hurried once more toward Spring Creek Village in the Northern Ridge.

Although Tang Jie traveled at full speed, by the time he arrived outside Spring Creek Village, five days had already passed.

Spring Creek Village was an extremely remote little settlement in the Northern Ridge. Tang Jie had only managed to reach it by asking for directions along the way, and by the time he arrived, it was already afternoon.

But Tang Jie's expression changed when he caught the charred smell drifting from afar.

Following his gaze, he saw that Spring Creek Village no longer existed. All that remained were broken walls and ruins, the earth blackened, and several half-burned logs still smoking.

Spring Creek Village seemed to have suffered a fire not long ago, leaving behind a scene of utter devastation.

"Wuwuwu... Those beasts! Those damned beasts! You absolutely can't let them off!"

At the village entrance, a man dressed like a villager, half his face burned into a bloody mess, clutched the hand of a middle-aged man and wailed.

The middle-aged man wore a constable's uniform and had a saber at his waist. Several others dressed the same way stood behind him.

The middle-aged man showed an expression of pity and said, "Don't worry... We've already reported this matter to Flying Phoenix City. I'm sure Flying Phoenix City will soon send troops to suppress those bandits!"

"What happened here?" A voice rang out. Everyone turned to look and saw a tall young man dressed in black.

Tang Jie was puzzled by what had happened to Spring Creek Village, and he also wanted to learn the whereabouts of the person who had left the letter, which was why he had spoken up to ask.

The middle-aged chief constable glanced at Tang Jie. Seeing that he had an extraordinary bearing, he let out a long sigh and said, "The bandits of Iron Furnace Stockade on Iron Furnace Mountain did this. They collect protection fees from the surrounding villages and towns. Spring Creek Village refused, so they suffered this calamity. Nearly everything was burned down, people were killed, and others were abducted. In short... those bandits are utterly devoid of conscience!"

A group of bandits had done this?

"Then why don't you wipe them out?" Tang Jie asked in confusion.

At this, one of the constables behind the middle-aged chief constable could not help saying, "Do you think it's that easy? Iron Furnace Stockade has more than two thousand bandits, all of them well-armed and mounted. Iron Furnace Mountain, where the stockade stands, is even easier to defend than attack. To take it down, we'd probably need at least ten times as many elite soldiers. How could the magistrate's office in our little town gather that many?"

Another young constable clenched his fists. "We've reported this to the larger cities above us, but the roads are far and moving troops is difficult. Not to mention that Iron Furnace Stockade won't be easy to capture. Besides, they can technically be considered law-abiding bandits. As long as people pay a little protection money, they don't attack. That's why those larger cities are all unwilling to get involved."

Iron Furnace Stockade was a powerful band of ruthless bandits, numbering more than two thousand and occupying Iron Furnace Mountain, a place easy to defend and difficult to attack. Taking them down might require ten times their forces. In such a remote area, there simply were not enough troops, while the other major cities feared biting off more than they could chew and ending up covered in trouble, so none of them wanted to interfere.

"Law-abiding? They killed most of the more than one hundred households in Spring Creek Village, abducted every woman, and burned the village down! You call that law-abiding?"

The villager shouted furiously, leaving the constables speechless.

"Have any outsiders, especially women, come to your village recently?" Tang Jie asked the villager.

Tang Jie felt that the person who had gone to Qingshan Temple and left him the letter was very likely a woman. The handwriting had been exceptionally graceful and delicate, so it should have been written by a woman.

"This... How would I know? Even if someone came, they were either killed by the people from Iron Furnace Stockade or abducted. Only a few people from our village survived." The villager began to sob, crying as though his heart were breaking. "My wife was taken by them. She might already have been killed!"

It was indeed pitiful to see such a grown man crying like this.

Tang Jie watched the scene and sighed. Helplessly, he said, "All right... Stop crying. Do you know where Iron Furnace Stockade is?"

"You... Why are you asking that?" The man from Spring Creek Village wiped his tears and asked suspiciously between sobs.

"I'll go to Iron Furnace Stockade and help you rescue your wife. If... she's still alive. While I'm there, I'll look for someone."

Tang Jie spoke in a deep voice.

According to the man from Spring Creek Village, most of the villagers had been killed, while the women had been abducted. The person who had left him the letter might have been a woman, and might therefore have been taken by the people from Iron Furnace Stockade.

Of course, the possibility was extremely small. Tang Jie had simply been unable to suppress his compassion after seeing the devastation of Spring Creek Village.

The man stared blankly at him. Tang Jie said he would help him? But he was only one person!

The middle-aged chief constable beside them said, "Young man, perhaps you know some martial arts and have a heart full of hot blood, but don't throw your life away. Those ruthless bandits from Iron Furnace Stockade are no laughing matter!"

Clearly, the middle-aged chief constable took Tang Jie for the sort of young martial artist who had learned a little kung fu, wandered the world, and believed himself capable of anything. Wanting to uphold justice was fine, but he should at least know his own limits.

"Are you going?" Tang Jie asked the man.

"I am!" The man gritted his teeth. Although he did not believe Tang Jie had the ability to rescue his wife from so many bandits, the magistrate's office could not be relied upon. In his eyes, Tang Jie was his only lifeline, and he had to cling to it with all his might!

"Then lead the way."

Tang Jie spoke and left with the man, who had wiped away his tears.

"You're really going? I warned you already. If you die, don't blame anyone else!"

Seeing the two departing, the middle-aged chief constable hurriedly shouted after them. But Tang Jie and the villager paid no heed, leaving him to sigh repeatedly, helpless to do anything.

On the way, Tang Jie learned that the villager from Spring Creek Village was named Liu Ergen.

"Iron Furnace Stockade is just ahead!" It was not until dawn the next day that the two reached the foot of a barren mountain. After traveling all night, the utterly exhausted Liu Ergen pointed ahead.

A steep mountain path lay before them. It was so narrow and precipitous that two horses could hardly pass side by side. At the end of the path stood a mountain stockade built of stone.

This was Iron Furnace Stockade. Its roads were narrow and it was easy to defend but difficult to attack. No wonder the local magistrate's office—and even several major cities—were unwilling to touch this mess.

At least ten thousand soldiers would be needed to have any chance of taking Iron Furnace Stockade, and even then, they would inevitably pay a devastating price!

Another day begins—please vote for me! I finally managed to write two thousand words for my backlog today. O(∩_∩)O~