A Good Underling

Wu Yongchao led Li Banfeng to the residence of Fort Lord Zhou.

The residence of Fort Lord Zhou was located deep in the valley and was much larger than other House Cultivator. It consisted of a five-story Red Building, two three-story Deputy Building, and a large courtyard. There were also many smaller courtyards and Western-Style House- style houses nested around the courtyard.

Wu Yongchao said, "Every year we have to contribute money and manpower to repair the mansion for the fortress lord. Ma Dingfu and the others always say that the bigger the mansion of the fortress lord, the higher his cultivation level, and the better life will be for Iron Gate Fort."

Li Banfeng laughed and said, "Ma Dingfu is truly a good subordinate."

Lights came on in the main building, Wu Yongchao said in a low voice, "These should be the family members of the lord of the fortress."

Li Banfeng glanced at the number of lights and asked, "Isn't your fortress lord House Cultivator? He certainly has quite a few family members. Can the Home Spirit tolerate so many outsiders?"

Wu Yongchao said, "The fortress lord also warned us that House Cultivator should not start families, otherwise it would delay their cultivation. He set a rule that House Cultivator in Iron Gate Fort cannot start families."

However, he himself married more than thirty wives, a fact that many people find hard to understand.

But Ma Dingfu and the others said, "Don't apply the rules of the fortress lord to the fortress lord. The fortress lord is different from us."

The lord sets these rules for our own good; we don't need to worry about the lord's affairs.

Li Banfeng sighed again, "This Ma Dingfu is indeed a..."

Etc...

Li Banfeng heard Ma Dingfu's shouts through the Thread-Pulling Earring.

At least five other people shouted along with him, their voices sounding as if they were on a battlefield, at the moment of decisive battle between two armies.

One against five.

How is this technically possible?

Li Banfeng looked at Wu Yongchao and asked, "You just said how many wives the lord of the fortress has?"

"I think it was thirty-two or thirty-five, some say thirty-eight, I can't remember."

Zhou Anju had just died, Ma Dingfu used five of them at once?

It seems that Ma Dingfu, this subordinate, is not so loyal after all.

Li Banfeng asked Wu Yongchao to keep watch nearby while he quietly sneaked into the main building.

He wasn't familiar with the layout of the main building, but bringing Wu Yongchao along wouldn't help either, as Wu Yongchao wasn't familiar with it either; he knew nothing about the place except his own house.

According to Li Banfeng's speculation, most secret locations are hidden on the top floor, because far fewer people have been to the top floor than to the first floor.

The thing Li Banfeng is most worried about right now is that Fort Lord Zhou is not dead, or not completely dead.

He still can't figure it out. Luo Dagui was talking to Zhou Anju before he died. Even if Luo Dagui could change his voice, the two voices were not from the same source.

Luo Dagui's voice came from his own loudspeaker.

Zhou Anju's voice came from deep within the valley.

After searching three rooms on the top floor, Li Banfeng found the answer.

In the third room was a huge bellows phonograph.

A stack of records sat next to the record player.

The phonograph's horn is over a meter in diameter and is usually hidden behind the curtains. With some misleading decorations, it's impossible to see inside from outside the window.

Li Banfeng took the stack of records back to Portable Abode and had his Wife release them one by one.

"Cannon Head Luo, what brings you to my Iron Gate Fort?"

"We are all poor people, and you're asking for ten thousand silver dollars; we can't afford it!"

"Cannon Head Luo, you're ruthless enough. I, Zhou, am afraid of you..."

Li Banfeng understood completely.

No wonder that last sentence didn't quite fit the situation at the time; Luo Dagui clearly didn't do anything, yet Fort Lord Zhou said he was afraid of him.

Fort Lord Zhou used this record player to pre-record his own voice, and then used voice-changing techniques to impersonate Cannon Head Luo outside the valley, completing a back-and-forth dialogue with himself.

Why didn't he put the record player outside the valley and stay inside the fort to sing along?

One reason is that record players are larger than loudspeakers, making them inconvenient to move.

Another reason is that the situation outside the valley is complicated, and if I don't go, it will be difficult to deal with emergencies.

It's all a scam, a complete scam.

It doesn't sound very clever, but it fooled a group of novice House Cultivator of considerable skill for decades.

Who taught him voice-changing skills?

The voices of Fort Lord Zhou and Cannon Head Luo were completely different.

Besides using techniques, Zhou Anju should also have Spiritual Object or magical treasures for voice alteration.

Spiritual Object or magical treasures...

Spiritual Object that can change one's voice.

Whether Li Banfeng was overthinking it or not, he always thought of the Ling family whenever he encountered Spiritual Object with ever-changing appearances and sounds.

The thought of the Ling family immediately brings to mind the hook.

Am I being too cautious?

Li Banfeng pushed the windmill record player out of Portable Abode, turned the volume down to a very low level, and played a song called "Pretending to be Serious".

Ding-a-ling~

With a crisp snap, the hook broke.

Zhou Anju's record player really does have a hook!

This is an extremely ingenious hook, completely different from Lu Xiaolan's crude hook. If Lu Xiaolan's hook had broken, the sound would have been louder than a gunshot.

Could this really be related to the Ling family?

With the hook severed, Li Banfeng felt much more at ease.

He found many blank records in Zhou Anju's room and brought them back to his Portable Abode: "Wife, could you record a few more for me using his voice?"

"Hey, my lord, that's easy, Little Slave have two trays!"

Li Banfeng placed the two records on two trays respectively. The Wife compared Zhou Anju's voice and, following Li Banfeng's instructions, made several more records.

After Ma Dingfu finished his business, he called over the fortress lord's steward.

"Old He, tell the other ladies not to worry, I will definitely not treat them unfairly."

The butler readily agreed.

"In addition, I also plan to send two over to you. These are not the ones I left over. I think there are two ladies who are a good match for your temperament."

The steward quickly bowed and said, "Thank you for your kindness, Lord Fortress Master."

"The bandit stronghold will send someone over in a couple of days. Don't say what you shouldn't say, and don't ask what you shouldn't ask. You are the steward of the stronghold lord; the affairs of the stronghold have nothing to do with you."

"I know all that. Fort Lord Zhou has explained it before. Um..." The steward inadvertently mentioned Fort Lord Zhou and, fearing that the newly appointed Lord Ma would be displeased, quickly shut his mouth.

Seeing this Ma Dingfu laughed and said, "Old He, you're overthinking it. I'm not that petty. Tomorrow at the banquet, I still have to specially offer a toast to Fort Lord Zhou."

Don't be fooled by the fact that Fort Lord Zhou doesn't have much cultivation on his body; his inner cultivation is incredibly high. Over the years, I've been gradually brought up by him!

Let me tell you, physical cultivation is really no match for mental cultivation. Old He, don't be fooled by your five levels of cultivation. Do you dare to show any temper in front of Fort Lord Zhou?

Let alone the fifth level, even if an eighth level cultivator came, they would have to bow down and obey orders in front of our Fort Lord Zhou!

I have the utmost respect for Fort Lord Zhou!

Steward He nodded repeatedly. "Lord Ma has not forgotten our old friendship. It is a blessing for Iron Gate Fort to have a lord like you!"

Ma Dingfu laughed and said, "You can't say that yet. The matter isn't finished, so it's not proper to speak without proper justification."

For the banquet three days later, make a detailed list of attendees, noting who came, who didn't, and how much of a gift each person brought.

I'm not one to hold grudges, but there are some things I need to be aware of...

Li Banfeng squatted on the rooftop, wearing Thread-Pulling Earring, and heard every word clearly.

This Steward He is a fifth-level cultivator.

But it's unclear which sect he belongs to.

No wonder Fort Lord Zhou doesn't allow anything above the fourth floor to exist in the fortress.

Steward He is his strongest asset.

A cultivator at the fifth level is assigned to be a steward by a White Lamb?

Li Banfeng became increasingly impressed by the methods used to scam repairmen...

Wait, there's still a variable here.

According to Wu Yongchao, Fort Lord Zhou set a rule more than ten years ago that no House Cultivator with more than four stories are allowed in Iron Gate Fort.

More than a decade ago, Steward He was on the fifth floor.

What about now?

Could it be more than five floors?

It's hard to say.

That's strange. This Steward He is so capable, why doesn't Zhou Anju take him out to do things?

At the mouth of the canyon, if Old He had stayed with Zhou Anju, I probably wouldn't have been able to kill him.

There's a reason for this.

Three days later, the banquet was held at Iron Gate Fort. The steward, Old He, stood at the gate collecting gifts with an account book. Gifts worth more than one silver dollar were recorded in one book, and those less than one silver dollar were recorded in another.

Those who didn't come, were identified one by one from the Iron Gate Fort's roster. Once the fort's lord's identity was confirmed, Ma Dingfu would deal with them one by one.

I thought Wu Yongchao wouldn't come, but he actually did.

He gave a congratulatory gift of two silver dollars, and the butler even told Ma Dingfu about it.

Ma Dingfu sneered, "Now you're scared? Too late. Do you think two silver dollars can buy his life?"

"You mean to take action today?"

Ma Dingfu shook his head. "We can't let him spoil the fun on such a nice day. Let's wait two more days."

Old He repeatedly agreed, "I will do as the fortress lord commands."

Look how obedient this butler is.

Zhou Anju is really something; he just can't trust someone who's so obedient.

He's not taken out with him, and he's not even needed for murder; he's only made to guard the house. I really don't know what he's thinking.

As the banquet began, Ma Dingfu his glass in a toast.

The first toast was offered to the deceased Fort Lord Zhou.

"Fort Lord Zhou toiled and struggled his entire life for our Iron Gate Fort. He even gave his life for us."

Without Fort Lord Zhou, there would be no Iron Gate Fort. But we haven't even found all of Fort Lord Zhou's body yet. Just thinking about it makes my heart ache...

At this point, Ma Dingfu choked up, tears streaming down his face, unable to speak for a long time, "I... whenever I think about this, I... I..."

"You occupied my house, slept with my wife, and you even slept with five of them at once!" Fort Lord Zhou's voice suddenly rang out, echoing throughout the entire building and the entire Iron Gate Fort.

Ma Dingfu's hand trembled, and the wine glass fell to the ground.

All eyes were on Ma Dingfu.

Did he sleep with Fort Lord Zhou's wife?

He occupied Fort Lord Zhou's house?

The young House Cultivator found it unbelievable; Fort Lord Zhou was barely cold!

The older House Cultivator remained calm, believing it was reasonable for the new lord to take over the old lord's property.

The crucial question is, wasn't Fort Lord Zhou dead? Why is he suddenly speaking again?

Is this a manifestation of a spirit?

"Who, who is impersonating Fort Lord Zhou? You, you're framing me..." Ma Dingfu snapped out of his daze and quickly tried to defend himself.

Fort Lord Zhou's voice rang out again. "Little Pockmarked Boy, I told you to go up the mountain to get reinforcements, why didn't you go?"

"We've worked our butts off for Flying Eagle Mountain our whole lives, and now that I'm in trouble, you come here to steal my place? Don't you care about the rules of the mountain at all?"

"Who! Who's gotten into our fortress? Who's trying to frame me? Old He, go check it out!"

Steward He went upstairs.

Ma Dingfu was terrified. No matter how he tried to explain, everyone's eyes remained fixed on him.

Regardless of age, no one House Cultivator can remain indifferent.

Ma Dingfu slept with the former lord's wife; that can be ignored.

However, their collusion with Flying Eagle Mountain and their joint plot against Iron Gate Fort cannot be ignored.

Ma Dingfu held a banquet to gather us together, intending to coordinate with Flying Eagle Mountain to kill us.

We have no choice but to fight them to the death!

Li Banfeng was on the top floor of the building, operating the record player.

Li Banfeng was absolutely certain that Zhou Anju was from Flying Eagle Mountain.

Li Banfeng deduced that Ma Dingfu was also from Flying Eagle Mountain.

The Ma Dingfu was going to coordinate with Flying Eagle Mountain tonight to carry out a ruthless attack was fabricated by Li Banfeng.

But this fabrication is plausible and reasonable.

Separated by a large iron gate, Zhou Anju used a band of outlaws from Flying Eagle Mountain to intimidate Iron Gate Fort for decades.

The bandits of Flying Eagle Mountain are so useful, if you, Zhou Anju, can use them, why can't I?

Zhou Anju was still speaking, "Little Pockmarked Boy, the chieftain and the others have arrived. You've also gathered all the House Cultivator together. It's time for us to make our move."

Now is your chance to redeem yourself. If you succeed, I will forgive and forget everything you did before!

Ma Dingfu looked at the group of House Cultivator and shook his head repeatedly, saying, "This is a rumor; can't you tell?"

The House Cultivator don't know if this is a rumor or not.

They heard Fort Lord Zhou's voice.

They were terrified.

They were conflicted.

They were furious.

PS: Steward He has gone upstairs. This person is not easy to deal with. It's House Cultivator, and Ban Feng is a tough opponent.