Five Parts Truth

The next day, the Iron Gate Fort Fortress was sealed off, and Li Banfeng went around scouting the surrounding area.

There are many villages around Iron Gate Fort, inhabited by simple farmers. We encountered two Farming Cultivators, but the rest had no cultivation.

Li Banfeng found out the location of Flying Eagle Mountain, which was more than 20 miles away from Iron Gate Fort. The bandits on the mountain were very famous, even more so than those on Iron Sheep Mountain. Both the chieftain He Zhenlei and the gunman Luo Dagui were feared figures in the local area.

This band of outlaws had quite a few "achievements," and through the villagers' accounts, Li Banfeng focused on the word "ruthless."

Every year, they would take more than half of the grain from each village, and if anyone disobeyed, the entire village would be massacred.

This is different from the practices of most bandits in Pro State. Ordinary bandits do not kill the surrounding residents, and may even maintain good relations with neighboring villages so that they can help each other if something happens.

Why don't powerful families come to wipe out bandits like those from Flying Eagle Mountain?

Have!

The most powerful family in the vicinity is Iron Gate Fort, with three hundred House Cultivator living together; this family is indeed quite powerful.

The fortress lord Zhou Anju once went to Flying Eagle Mountain alone and fought a great battle with He Zhenlei, and the two sides were evenly matched.

Zhou Anju once led more than a dozen of his men to fight He Zhenlei at the foot of the mountain, but was defeated and returned home.

According to local villagers, the reason why Fort Lord Zhou fell from House Cultivator for extended periods of time.

That's true, but Li Banfeng still felt that something was wrong.

He asked an old farmer, "Brother, did you see Fort Lord Zhou and He Zhenlei fighting with your own eyes?"

The old farmer shook his head and said, "This is a battle between gods; how could I dare to watch?"

"If you didn't see it, why are you describing it so clearly?"

"This matter has long been known in the vicinity of Iron Gate Fort. Those two battles were earth-shattering, and everyone in the vicinity knows about them!"

Fort Lord Zhou is a hero, but he can't withstand the ruthlessness of those villains. Even Iron Gate Fort couldn't defeat them, let alone us ordinary people.

It sounds earth-shattering, but I've never seen it before.

Li Banfeng had a strong urge to go to Flying Eagle Mountain and see what was going on.

But if this chieftain is really a cultivator at the seventh or eighth level, wouldn't going up there be suicide?

Let's take another look.

You can always find someone in the know to find out the details.

The next day, the Iron Gate Fort opened, and Li Banfeng entered again. Ma Dingfu shouted at the gate, "Business is good, hurry up and do it! We'll close in two hours!"

Li Banfeng asked Sui Donglan, "What time do you usually close?"

"It's 7 p. m., and they're closing so early today. It seems the matter at Flying Eagle Mountain hasn't been resolved yet."

Rice sellers, oil sellers, and vegetable sellers went door-to-door doing business, but it wasn't so easy for cloth sellers, general merchandise sellers, and tobacco sellers to do business.

Flying Eagle Mountain demanded 10,000 silver dollars. Most people in the fort hadn't paid, but they needed to prepare the money. If they were pressured too much, they would have no choice but to compromise, since the House Cultivator couldn't easily move.

A woman who sells cloth came to Old Hu's house to collect clothes. Old Hu was a tailor with pretty good skills, and this woman had been ordering from him for many years.

Old Hu didn't lock the door today; it was ajar.

The fabric-selling woman didn't dare to barge in; she knew House Cultivator didn't like letting others into the house. She stood outside and called out, "Old Hu, are those two cheongsams finished yet?"

An aged voice came from inside the house. "Who is it?"

Is this Lao Hu?

The sound is off.

"It's me! Xiujuan, I've come to get your clothes!"

"Who is it?"

"Me, me..." Xiujuan took two steps back.

A cold wind blew in, and a thick fog rose in the dark corridor.

In the thick fog, Lao Hu's head slowly floated to Xiujuan's front.

"Oh my god!" Xiujuan screamed, scrambling and crawling away from Lao Hu's room.

Several House Cultivator who had come out to buy things surrounded him and saw that Old Hu's head was still hanging in mid-air.

An aged voice echoed in the room, "Tell me, who killed him..."

Li Banfeng wanted to go in and take a look, but Wu Yongchao stopped him. "Don't go, the Home Spirit might go crazy."

Home Spirit without its owner is likely to turn into Evil Spirit.

Moreover, this Home Spirit is special.

"Old Hu has lived in Iron Gate Fort for over fifty years, and this Home Spirit has been with him for even longer. Now that Old Hu is gone, this Home Spirit is probably going to..."

"Who is it?!" Before he could finish speaking, the Home Spirit roared repeatedly, and the entire house trembled.

Fifty years.

The House Cultivator who arrived even earlier than Fort Lord Zhou yesterday was him.

Ma Dingfu ran over and shouted to the group of vendors, "Go! Go! Something's happened here, we're about to close down."

It's closing time again.

As the vendors ran towards the door, they suddenly heard a loud siren.

Woo-hoo, woo-hoo~

Before anyone could run out, the steam door closed first.

Not long after, a shout came from outside the door, "Fort Lord Zhou, I'm here again. I said yesterday that if I don't get the ten thousand silver dollars, I'll take one of your lives every day. You've received your heads, haven't you?"

Fort Lord Zhou shouted sternly, "Luo Dagui, don't push your luck!"

"I didn't bully you; these are the rules I stated beforehand!"

As soon as he finished speaking, a loud crash was heard, and several stones fell into the valley.

Another House Cultivator was vandalized, and all the vendors squatted on the ground without saying a word.

They were waiting for Fort Lord Zhou's response, but Fort Lord Zhou said nothing.

Luo Dagui, the gunner, shouted, "Gentlemen, I'll come back tomorrow. If I still haven't seen ten thousand silver dollars, I'll give you another generous gift!"

After saying that, Luo Dagui left.

The crowd waited for a long time, but dared not move.

Ma Dingfu glared at the crowd and roared, "Arrogant! You're all so arrogant! Why don't you go out and fight him? Now look what's happened, someone's been killed!"

Several House Cultivator looked at Wu Yongchao with resentment.

These are all people who have paid money.

Wu Yongchao looked ashamed and avoided everyone's gaze.

"Who killed him!" Old Hu's Home Spirit was still roaring.

Ma Dingfu stood at a distance and looked around. Then he turned to the crowd and said, "Who knows Lao Hu well? Go and check on him in his room."

Wu Yongchao said, "I'll go take a look. I recognize the Home Spirit of his house."

Ma Dingfu looked at Wu Yongchao and said, "Pacify him properly, and remember, you owe Lao Hu a life."

Two hours later, the steam gate opened.

Sui Donglan rushed towards the door, but Li Banfeng stopped her and gave her a cup of wine. "Drink this, and come back to Iron Gate Fort to wait for me tomorrow."

"Iron Gate Fort won't be open tomorrow! That guy surnamed Ma just said so."

"Don't open the door, just wait for me outside."

"What if we encounter bandits?"

"Couldn't you have hidden it better?"

Late at night, Wu Yongchao rummaged through the drawers and cabinets in the house, taking out all the loose change he usually had, and managed to scrape together twelve silver dollars.

Each household had to pay thirty-six yuan, which was far beyond what Wu Yongchao's savings could afford.

He took out several paintings he had previously been reluctant to sell, calculating their value, when he heard an old man's voice beside him. "Young man, you can't sell these paintings; you'll still need them during the war!"

"Now is the time when I need the money, I'll wait until later..."

Bang bang bang~

Just then, someone knocked on the door.

Wu Yongchao frowned slightly. At this time, there would be no outsiders left in Iron Gate Fort.

Could it be that Ma Dingfu is here again to collect debts?

He arrived at the door, opened the peephole, and found that the person standing at the door was not Ma Dingfu, but a man wearing a top hat.

Peddler!

Wu Yongchao opened the door and asked in a low voice, "How did you get in?"

Li Banfeng lowered his voice even further. "I didn't leave at all."

"Impossible, every time the gates of the fort are closed, they have to..."

"Let me in first, this isn't the place to talk."

Wu Yongchao was somewhat perplexed.

The old man's voice came again. "Let him in, he's a good man."

Wu Yongchao led Li Banfeng into the living room, looking around several times before closing the door.

After the two sat down, Wu Yongchao asked about what had happened before, "How dare you secretly stay in the fort? What if the fort lord found out...?"

"Let's put that aside for now. Did you find out how Old Hu died when you went to his house?"

Wu Yongchao lowered his head, looking ashamed, and said, "This morning, Old Hu went out to take out the dirty soil, and he hasn't come back for a long time."

Home Spirit smelled blood outside the door. When she opened it, she found Old Hu's head lying on the doorway.

It's all my fault...

Li Banfeng interrupted Wu Yongchao: "How early this morning? Before the big iron gate opened, or after it opened?"

"Around six o'clock, the iron gate was still not open."

"How did the murderer get in?"

After a moment's thought, Wu Yongchao said, "The fact that they could throw stones from the cliff means they must have sneaked into the fortress from the cliff."

Li Banfeng considered the height of the cliff.

Think about the tools those people used.

A person of this caliber climbed down from the cliff and killed a House Cultivator at his doorstep.

"What level of cultivation does Old Hu have?"

He himself said it was three stories.

Only three floors?

How is that possible?

"Didn't you say he's been cultivating for over fifty years? Just accumulating years of experience wouldn't get him to the third level."

Wu Yongchao pondered for a moment and said, "I remember that time he was drunk and talked to me about cultivation."

He said that when he was young, he and Home Spirit fought every day, to the point of life and death. Later, in order to escape Home Spirit, he moved to Iron Gate Fort.

For some unknown reason, his Home Spirit chased him to Iron Gate Fort again, and the two continued fighting for over thirty years. His cultivation hadn't improved, and he was left covered in injuries.

Later, Old Hu got old and couldn't fight anymore, Home Spirit gave him three layers of cultivation, and the two continued fighting.

Are there other types of Home Spirit?

Li Banfeng increasingly felt that meeting his Wife was an extremely lucky thing.

Why did you come to Iron Gate Fort?

Wu Yongchao lowered his head. He was reluctant to talk about his experiences, but Peddler had asked, he didn't know how to refuse.

"I used to live in Green Water Bay, not Green Water City, but a village outside the city."

I've always preferred staying at home since I was little. My family was well-off, and they got me some elixirs and accumulated Dao Affinity, hoping I would learn martial arts cultivation.

But I didn't want to learn martial arts, so I secretly went to Peddler's House Cultivator to practice. My family thought I was useless and nagged me every day, so I bought a house in Blue Poplar Village and moved out.

Blue Poplar Village?

Li Banfeng nodded. "You have a good eye for picking places."

Wu Yongchao smile and said, "How could I be picky about locations? If I had known Blue Poplar Village was such a place, I wouldn't have bought a house there just because it was cheap."

The only good thing about Blue Poplar Village is that the Home Spirit appear quickly. I moved there less than a month ago, Home Spirit has already appeared.

Yes, it will definitely happen soon; the place is full of dead souls.

Wu Yongchao continued, "I can draw and I can also do tailoring. I thought I could make a living with my skills, but I never expected that I would be ripped off nine out of ten times when I tried to do business in Blue Poplar Village!"

"Scammed nine times?" Li Banfeng was very surprised. The villagers of Blue Poplar Village were so simple and honest, yet they had scammed him nine times.

"Tell me in detail how they let you go that time?"

Wu Yongchao said with a wry smile, "Let's not talk about it anymore, it's all in the past. Later, the Home Spirit told me that this place was not a place to live."

"There's a good place that never bullies honest people. He's lived there before. I should go check it out."

"Is he referring to Iron Gate Fort?"

Wu Yongchao nodded and said, "The Home Spirit was willing to come with me, but the house wouldn't let us leave. The two of us fought the house for a whole day and night before we escaped. We almost lost our lives."

The Home Spirit is very good to me, really very good. I came to Iron Gate Fort, settled down, and the Home Spirit guided me in my cultivation.

He said Iron Gate Fort had changed, it wasn't the same as before, but it was still bearable.

He said I was talented, but too honest. After more than ten years of training, he helped me reach the fourth level.

That's the unpredictable thing about House Cultivator. If you encounter a compatible Home Spirit, your cultivation will grow extremely fast. But if you encounter an incompatible Home Spirit, your cultivation may stagnate for decades.

Old Lady Han is one example, and Old Hu is another.

"What is the highest level of House Cultivator among the hermit cultivators in Iron Gate Fort?"

Without hesitation, Wu Yongchao replied, "Four stories. No higher, or we can't stay in the fort."

"Who made this rule?"

"This is Fort Lord Zhou's rule. He said that Iron Gate Fort will leave food for House Cultivator who are not capable, while those House Cultivator go out and make their own way. They can't stay here forever."

That's outrageous.

Combat power above the fourth level is extremely rare and valuable, yet this fortress lord doesn't even want it.

Perhaps the experts have a different perspective.

"It's not good for House Cultivator to move. Even if he's reached the fifth level of cultivation, can you force him to leave?"

Wu Yongchao shook his head and said, "There's no need to force them. Those who House Cultivator houses are people who care about their reputation. We never cause trouble for others. If they say they want to leave, we'll leave. At worst, we'll fight back against our own houses."

Two years ago, Old Wang, who lived diagonally across the street, reached the fifth level of cultivation. The fortress lord personally came to his door to persuade him to leave, and he agreed.

He fought the Home Spirit and the house for three whole days, finally dying inside. He told me, "Rules are rules, there's nothing to complain about."

Li Banfeng understood.

Not all House Cultivator are unsuited to life outside, but those House Cultivator come here all want to escape the disturbances of the outside world. Their personalities are among the simplest of House Cultivator.

Despite the hardships of life, there are far fewer unnecessary conflicts here. Although the merchants may exploit these honest people, it is still much better than letting them lose everything outside.

This castle lord had a complete grasp of what these House Cultivators were thinking!

"Do you know what's going on up that cliff?"

Wu Yongchao shook his head and said, "The top of the cliff is the mountaintop, what else could it be?"

No wonder he's said to be talented; he's not even familiar with the environment of Iron Gate Fort.

Do you usually go out?

"You mean the room door, or the big iron gate? We usually don't go out through the big iron gate..."

According to Wu Yongchao, other House Cultivator were in a similar situation, rarely going out or moving around, rarely communicating with each other, and trying to keep their distance from everything outside.

Before he could finish speaking, the knocking on the door started again.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

Wu Yongchao looked at Li Banfeng.

What are you looking at me for? If I'm right in front of you, how could it be me who's doing this?

Wu Yongchao wanted to go to the door to take a look, but Li Banfeng stopped him.

He gestured for Wu Yongchao to remain silent.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

"Are you asleep? It's me, Ma Dingfu. I've come to talk to you about money!"

Wu Yongchao tried to open the door again, but was stopped by Li Banfeng once more.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

"What, you're fast asleep? Let me tell you, don't play dumb. You owe Old Hu a life. I'll come find you again tomorrow!"

Ma Dingfu is gone.

Wu Yongchao was filled with shame.

"This is all my fault. I'll sell the house and make sure I raise the money no matter what."

Li Banfeng stared into Wu Yongchao's eyes and said, "Brother, this isn't your fault, not at all from beginning to end."

Remember this: from this moment on, unless you hear me knocking on the door, you are not allowed to leave the house, not even for a moment!

PS: Li Banfeng saw five parts of some things, but the remaining five parts are hidden under the mask, and Li Banfeng will personally uncover them!