Chapter 217: Senior Brother, Don’t Go!

Luo Dagui was Fort Lord Zhou? They are the same person? What kind of logic is that?

Li Banfeng had no time to think about logic. A group of enraged Homebound Cultivators surged toward him. With the severed head still in his grip, he spun around and bolted.

"Catch him!"

"Avenge the Fort Lord!"

"With how fast he is running, he must be a Wanderlust Cultivator. Not a single one of them is any good!"

Li Banfeng ran and ran and ran. Only after more than ten miles did he finally dare to slow down, glancing over his shoulder to make sure those furious Homebound Cultivators were nowhere in sight.

He plopped himself down on a hillside, still clutching Luo Dagui’s head. He stared at it for a long moment, then scratched his chin.

This makes no sense at all

, he muttered inwardly.

Luo Dagui was just talking to Fort Lord Zhou at the gate... so how did he turn into Fort Lord Zhou himself? What is the secret behind this?

And now those people think I killed their Fort Lord. How am I supposed to explain something I don’t even understand myself?

Oh! Right! I almost forgot. I got a witness.

Luo Dagui hadn’t noticed Sui Donglan hiding in the grass. His cultivation simply wasn’t up to it.

Li Banfeng, on the other hand, had the Threaded Earring. Nothing within range escaped his hearing... He even heard Sui Donglan wetting herself.

Immediately, he headed to Sui Donglan’s residence.

Seeing Li Banfeng, Sui Donglan smiled. "You’re here."

"I am," Li Banfeng said with a nod. "You saw what happened during the day, right?"

"During the day?" Sui Donglan tilted her head, looking puzzled. "What happened during the day? I have been at home the whole time, waiting for you."

Li Banfeng blinked. "What are you talking about? I mean Iron Gate Fort!"

"Iron Gate Fort?" she repeated, her eyes wide with curiosity. "What kind of place is that? Will you take me there? I want to go with you."

Has this woman gone mad?

Li Banfeng looked at Sui Donglan and let out a soft sigh. "I was planning to give you a cup of wine to remove the words on your face."

Sui Donglan smiled blankly. "What words? Are there words on my face?"

Li Banfeng shook his head. "Since you have already gone mad, I will leave them there. Take it as something to remember. Maybe one day you’ll come to your senses."

After saying that, Li Banfeng stood up to leave.

Sui Donglan dropped to the ground and clutched his leg tightly. "Peddler sir, you can’t leave! Please, have some pity on me!"

Li Banfeng let out a cold snort. "Pretending to be crazy in front of me? Do you really think I’d believe that? You saw everything that happened today, didn’t you?"

"I saw it!" Sui Donglan cried. "Luo Dagui is Fort Lord Zhou. I was so scared when I saw it that I almost became crazy!"

"Good. Since you saw it, come with me to Iron Gate Fort and explain everything clearly."

Sui Donglan shook her head at once. "Sir, there’s no way to explain it. Why would anyone there believe me? I am an outsider, and a swindler at that. Nothing I say will matter."

That was indeed the truth.

Li Banfeng let out a breath and stopped dwelling on it. If it couldn’t be explained, then so be it. Fort Lord Zhou, that swindler, was already dead, and Luo Dagui, the gun captain of Flying Eagle Mountain, was dead as well.

Everything that needs to be done was done. As for the rest, it would be up to fate. I just don’t know if this would implicate Wu Yongchao.

***

Wu Yongchao was implicated after all, though only slightly.

Ma Dingfu did not die.

He was the first to leap forward, jabbing a finger straight at Wu Yongchao. "You! You tried to open the main gate! You were letting that Peddler in! You are his accomplice! The two of you killed Fort Lord Zhou together!"

On and on he went, stacking accusation upon accusation.

Wu Yongchao, however, remained quite calm. "I heard someone fighting bandits and went to take a look," he said. "What’s wrong with that?"

"What’s wrong with it?" Ma Dingfu sputtered. "Everything is wrong with it! What right do you have to open the gate? What right do you..."

And then, quite suddenly, he stopped. His mouth hung open. Because a rather inconvenient thought had just occurred to him.

Zhou Anju... was already dead.

Wu Yongchao was a level-four Homebound Cultivator. Ma Dingfu was only a level-three Physique Cultivator. If they actually fought, Ma Dingfu wouldn’t have the upper hand. He might even lose his life.

And what about Fort Lord Zhou’s former subordinates? Couldn’t they back him up? For now... it didn’t seem like they could.

There was also Steward He, a level-five cultivator, but he stayed inside Fort Lord Zhou’s residence and never stepped out. That had been Zhou Anju’s order.

As for the others, they were all from Flying Eagle Mountain, and now they lay dead outside Iron Gate Fort.

Ma Dingfu insisted they were all men of Iron Gate Fort, killed by the Peddler. But that claim didn’t quite hold up. The wooden box with the loudspeaker was hard to explain, and so were the clothes they wore and the masks on their faces.

The whole situation was hard to explain, but Homebound Cultivators were easily fooled.

Ma Dingfu threw himself into cursing the Peddler with astonishing energy, shouting and ranting until his voice cracked, tears streaming down his face, his teeth grinding as if he meant to crush them into dust.

"Fort Lord Zhou died unjustly! This revenge must be taken!"

The Homebound Cultivators were swept up at once, their emotions bubbling over as they joined in the shouting, each one louder than the last.

Only Wu Yongchao did not join in. He was honest, but he wasn’t foolish. He was starting to connect many things in his mind.

The crowd had just brought Fort Lord Zhou’s body back and were about to prepare the funeral when, all of a sudden, a bright, rattling beat of a hand drum echoed in from outside the valley.

"Foreign soap! Snow cream! Silk scarves, handkerchiefs, sewing kits! Leather buckets, iron pails! Matches and candles! Foreign shovels..."

The Peddler came trundling along with his cart, humming cheerfully to himself, and passed by Iron Gate Fort just in time to see a large crowd rushing out.

The Peddler beamed at once, his eyes shining at the sight of so many customers.

"Ah! Business looks excellent today!" he said cheerfully. "What would you like to...

"What are you... what exactly are you trying to do?"

A group of Homebound Cultivators roared, "Catch him! Kill him! Quick, avenge the Fort Lord!"

"It’s not him! It’s his Senior Brother!"

"No matter who it is, they are all bad!"

"Be careful! His cultivation isn’t low!"

"Don’t be afraid! We Homebound Cultivators aren’t cowards!"

***

Li Banfeng made Sui Donglan choose. Either keep the words on her face, or endure an hour of pain on her face every day. Her past swindling wasn’t something he intended to let go so easily.

Sui Donglan begged, but it was useless. In the end, she chose to keep the words.

Li Banfeng handed her a cup of liquor and eased her pain.

Following the directions Wu Yongchao had given him, Li Banfeng found Peach Blossom Lake. He walked along the shore, circling half the lake before finally spotting the large rock.

He crouched by the edge and tested the water temperature with his hand, considering whether he should jump in.

He could swim, but he had no idea what lay beneath the surface.

His clothes weren’t suited for going in, and there didn’t seem to be anything like swimwear in his Pocket Dwelling either.

Should I wait a little longer? ...No, forget it. I can’t keep waiting. I have to go back sooner or later. And when I do, I’ll deal with Ling Miaoying. He ambushed me. I’m not letting that slide. His cultivation might be high, but there’s always a way to handle someone like him.

He glanced back at Iron Gate Fort, unease lingering in his chest. Just as he hesitated, a voice suddenly spoke right beside his ear.

"Senior Brother, where are you going?"

Senior Brother? Is he calling me?

Li Banfeng spun around and saw a man standing behind him, battered and bruised from head to toe.

Anyone who could approach him without making a sound was no ordinary person. Li Banfeng instinctively took two steps back.

"Who are you?" he shouted.

The man smiled. "Senior Brother, you don’t recognize me already?"

Li Banfeng listened closely to his voice. The man’s words came out slightly slurred, as if he were struggling to speak clearly.

"The Peddler? How did you end up like this?"

The Peddler laughed even harder. "Senior Brother? Shouldn’t I be the one asking you that?"

"Y-You should stop calling me that," Li Banfeng said, his face stiff with embarrassment. "There’s been a misunderstanding."

"The misunderstanding is enormous," the Peddler replied, nodding seriously. "So big it’s practically impossible to explain. But let’s put everything else aside first and focus on this matter of you bring my Senior Brother. Tell me! How exactly did you become my Senior Brother?"

As he spoke, he slowly rolled up his sleeves.

Li Banfeng’s instincts screamed that things were about to go very wrong. He quickly slipped a hand into his pocket.

The Peddler sneered. "DON'T YOU DARE! Don’t you dare take out that key. Others might not know your tricks, but I do."

"Wait, just listen to me," Li Banfeng said quickly. "I was actually doing a good deed—"

"Go on, take your time and explain," the Peddler cut him off. "You ruined my reputation and even pretended to be my senior brother. Let’s hear how you plan to talk your way out of this."

With that, he reached back and pulled a feather duster off his cart.

***

Half an hour later, the two of them sat by the lakeside, both bruised and battered.

Li Banfeng let out a long sigh. "With your cultivation, how did you end up getting beaten by a bunch of Homebound Cultivators?"

The Peddler gave a bitter smile. "They are ordinary people. Was I supposed to hit them for real?"

Li Banfeng rubbed his aching face. "You didn’t hold back with me though."

The Peddler glanced toward Peach Blossom Lake. "So? Heading back to Greenwater Bay?"

Li Banfeng hesitated. "I want to go back... but I also feel like I shouldn’t. I feel like I am done with the matters of Iron Gate Fort. They are honest people, but why should honest people get bullied? You interfered when it came to the plague at the Ridge of Bottomless Stomachs, so why aren't you helping the Iron Gate Fort?"

The Peddler let out a low chuckle. "The famine at the Ridge of Bottomless Stomachs was caused by the Insect Overlord. What kind of cultivation does he have? He acted against mortals, so I had no choice but to intervene.

"But Iron Gate Fort is different. That mess was caused by a group of swindlers. Low-level tricksters, nothing more. They fooled those people fair and square. How do you expect me to interfere in that?

"Zhou Anju relied on that iron gate and worked with the bandits of Flying Eagle Mountain. For decades, he deceived those Homebound Cultivators without anyone noticing.

"Go ask those Homebound Cultivators. Have they ever even seen the bandits from Flying Eagle Mountain? Do those petty thieves from Flying Eagle Mountain even dare to enter Iron Gate Fort?

"Homebound Cultivators are strongest when it comes to defending their homes," the Peddler continued. "Forget those petty thieves. Even if you sent the mighty Lu Family of Puluo Province, do you think they could take down Iron Gate Fort?

"It’s in the nature of Homebound Cultivators to ignore anything beyond their own homes, but this is ridiculous. A stray cat or dog barks a few times, and they treat it like a tiger."

"Zhou Anju fooled them once. What if another ‘Zhou Anju’ shows up and fools them again? How am I supposed to deal with something like that?"

"Maybe you can’t handle it," Li Banfeng said, "but what about the land deity? Won’t they step in?"

The Peddler snorted. "Why would the land deity care? As long as there are people living on the land, that’s enough. Swindlers are still people, aren’t they?"

Li Banfeng thought for a moment, then asked, "Does Deception Cultivation really exist?"

The Peddler fixed him with a sharp look. "Are you asking about Deception Cultivators... or Folly Cultivators? You didn’t run into any Folly Cultivators, did you?"

Li Banfeng shook his head at once. "No. I heard that path went extinct long ago."

"Good that you didn't," the Peddler said. "That’s one path you should stay far away from."

You are only telling me this now...

Li Banfeng thought. He quickly pushed the thought aside and changed the subject. "I was asking about Deception Cultivators."

"How should I explain Deception Cultivation to you?" The Peddler spoke in a low, thoughtful tone. "You could say it exists and you could say it doesn't exist."

"Can you be more straightforward?"

"To explain it clearly, we have to start from the origin of Deception Cultivation," the Peddler said. "Back then, in Puluo Province, there was a swindler who claimed he was a ninth-level Deception Cultivator. He made up an entire background for himself, complete with convincing explanations. Since no one can directly see a person’s cultivation level, his story fooled countless people.

"And it wasn’t just ordinary folk. Even many prestigious families were taken in. He built himself an estate, founded a large sect, and ruled over Puluo Province for decades without anyone exposing him."

"No one exposed him for decades?"

The Peddler let out a sigh, sounding almost impressed. "He had three principles, and they were quite something.

"Firstly, as long as he didn’t make a move, his cultivation was real.

"Secondly, as long as he made a move without being seen, his cultivation was real.

"Thirdly, even if someone saw him, as long as they couldn’t understand what they were seeing, his cultivation was still real.

"For decades, ninety-nine percent of people couldn’t see through those three principles. A handful did, after being deceived, but even then... they couldn’t speak of it."

"Why couldn’t they say it?"

The Peddler looked at him. "If you were a high-level cultivator and got tricked by a swindler with no cultivation at all, what would you say? You would claim you were careless. That you were caught off guard by his methods. Otherwise, how could you hold your head up in front of others?"

"If you know you have lost face over something like that, then you should just kill the swindler!"

The Peddler gave a wry smile. "That’s not how people are. Even after they realize they’ve been deceived, a part of them still hopes others will be fooled too. Watching someone else fall for it... makes it easier to swallow. That’s just human nature."

Hearing this, Li Banfeng fell silent for a long while.

The Peddler went on, "Those three principles, combined with smooth talk, schemes, manipulation, and mind games, along with accomplices and all sorts of tricks and props... make up the unique 'cultivation' of this Daoist path. If you say it isn’t a Daoist Path, those principles clearly work. The longer someone practices, the better they get at deceiving others. But if you say it is a Daoist Path... there’s no real cultivation behind it at all. So It's hard to really explain the existence of Deception Cultivators."

Li Banfeng felt as if a veil had just been lifted from his mind.

It sounded grand. Shocking, even. The sort of thing that made your ears perk up at once. And yet... no one had ever actually seen it.

Li Banfeng stared ahead, slowly piecing it together. Zhou Anju’s so-called "cultivation" wasn’t real in the usual sense, but it was frightening all the same. No wonder the man had managed to lord over Iron Gate Fort for decades without anyone catching on.

The Peddler got to his feet. "There are far too many swindlers in this world. Some of them... even I can’t tell apart. There’s no such thing as a perfect place. You get rid of one Fort Lord, and another will pop up tomorrow. If those Homebound Cultivators want to survive, they will have to rely on themselves."

Li Banfeng stood as well.

"Maybe," he said slowly. "But that doesn’t mean no one should help them. This isn’t over yet."

***

The Peddler had been right. Iron Gate Fort was already choosing a new Fort Lord.

And sure enough, Ma Dingfu, one of Fort Lord Zhou’s old subordinates, had naturally stepped forward to take the position.

Wu Yongchao couldn't quite accept this. He had no interest in becoming Fort Lord himself, but he couldn’t shake the feeling that Old Hu’s death had something to do with Ma Dingfu. He even began to suspect that the bandits from Flying Eagle Mountain might be connected to him as well.

The trouble was, he had no proof. And the others? They didn’t care. As far as the Homebound Cultivators were concerned, as long as someone took charge, that was good enough. Whether it was Ma Dingfu or someone else made little difference to them. So just like that, Ma Dingfu’s position was practically settled.

Even so, things had to be done properly. To make it official, Ma Dingfu still planned to hold a banquet and cement his position as Fort Lord.

Late that night, Wu Yongchao sat alone, struggling with whether to attend. If he didn’t go, he might be pushed aside in the future. But if he did... just the thought of seeing Ma Dingfu’s face made his stomach turn.

As he wavered, a knock suddenly came at the door.

Wu Yongchao peered through the peephole and saw the "Peddler."

"Listen to my explanation first! About your Fort Lord..."

"No need to explain. Come in first," Wu Yongchao said at once, opening the door. "I trust you!"

With that, things became much simpler.

"Do you know where your Fort Lord lives?" Li Banfeng asked.

Author's Note:

PS: When honest people are deceived, it isn’t their fault.