Chapter 211: Iron Gate Fortress

Li Banfeng stayed in the Suishenju for a full sixteen hours before emerging. This long stay was a result of careful deliberation.

Firstly, he was unsure if Ling Miaoying had placed any hooks on him, so his wife needed to clean him thoroughly. Fortunately, his wife found no hooks.

Secondly, he was unsure if Ling Miaoying would chase the train, or when the train would stop. If Ling Miaoying caught up to the train, or if the train stopped directly in Lushui City, and Li Banfeng appeared quickly, his situation would be no different from not having escaped; he would still be under Ling Miaoying's control. In terms of cultivation, Li Banfeng was far inferior to Ling Miaoying; there was also a significant gap in experience. Even in terms of magical artifacts, Li Banfeng didn't gain an advantage. Under Ling Miaoying's control, Li Banfeng would surely lose his life. The only thing he could rely on was the Suishenju, and staying hidden there for longer was the wisest choice.

But what if Ling Miaoying got on the train and picked up the key? Wasn't Li Banfeng afraid? He was, but fear was useless. If Ling Miaoying really found the key and wanted to pick it up, Li Banfeng couldn't stop her at all. So he prepared for the worst. If Ling Miaoying picked up the key, she would probably take it back to study. After studying for a dozen hours, she would surely be tired and store the key somewhere. It was 2 AM; Ling Miaoying was most likely asleep. This was the best escape opportunity Li Banfeng could think of.

When he emerged from the Suishenju, Li Banfeng found himself still on the train. This meant Ling Miaoying had not picked up the key. For Li Banfeng, this was a relatively ideal situation. Now he just needed to stay quietly in the carriage until the train reached its destination, then get off and find a way back to Lushui City.

During his previous train journey, Li Banfeng had not once drawn back the curtains to look outside. This was a rare opportunity, so Li Banfeng stood by the edge of the carriage, carefully admiring the scenery outside the window. There wasn't much scenery to admire; the night was deep and dark, revealing only the fleeting silhouettes of trees along the tracks.

After watching for a moment, the conductor nearby reminded him, "The train is entering a tunnel; lie down first." Li Banfeng quickly joined the conductor, lying down in the coal pile. When had this conductor arrived? Li Banfeng hadn't noticed him at all.

After the train passed through the tunnel, the conductor stood in front of Li Banfeng and asked, "Why are you on this train?" Li Banfeng thought for a moment and gave a very reasonable explanation: "I have a ticket!" He handed the ticket to the conductor.

The conductor looked at the ticket and returned it to Li Banfeng: "This isn't for this train."

"Really?" Li Banfeng looked carefully at the ticket, then at the train, and asked with a shocked expression, "What's the number of this train? Did I board the wrong one?" Li Banfeng thought his acting was very convincing, but it didn't impress the conductor.

The conductor said expressionlessly, "This is train 1151; you're supposed to be on train 1173. Moreover, this is a freight train, and you need to take a passenger train."

Upon hearing this, Li Banfeng quickly put away his ticket and repeatedly apologized, "This is my first time taking a train; I accidentally got on the wrong one. I'll get off immediately at the next stop."

The conductor's thoughts differed from Li Banfeng's: "If I let you reach the next stop, it would be a serious dereliction of my duty."

Li Banfeng pondered for a moment and said, "Then wait for a temporary stop, and I'll get off immediately."

"This train has no plans for a temporary stop."

"Then I'll trouble you to arrange a temporary stop."

The conductor still shook his head: "Arbitrarily arranging a temporary stop would also be a dereliction of my duty."

Li Banfeng frowned slightly and said, "Then what do you intend to do?"

"I suggest you get off immediately."

"If you don't stop the train, how do I get off!"

A whistle sounded, and an iron pole extended from the carriage. Li Banfeng was poked off the train by the conductor with the pole, falling into the woods beside the railway tracks. Before being poked off, Li Banfeng tried to resist, but failed. In Puro Province, do not offend the crew. Li Banfeng truly experienced this iron rule.

Where was this place? Li Banfeng patted the dust off himself and tried to determine his direction. He could discern directions, but Li Banfeng had no idea where he was.

Walk back along the railway? Li Banfeng had only taken a few steps when a strange chill suddenly came over him. Danger. The source of the danger was not difficult to determine. Ling Miaoying must suspect he was on this train, and she might be pursuing him along the route. Ling Miaoying didn't know where he got off. It was safer to get away from the railway as quickly as possible now.

Li Banfeng used his luck-seeking and danger-avoiding technique, traveling through the forest. He walked a long way, a whole night. The forest path was not easy to travel, and there were constant dangers. Li Banfeng, being new to the area, walked very cautiously. At dawn, Li Banfeng emerged from the forest, passed through a canyon, and finally saw signs of human habitation.

At the entrance of the canyon, eight exaggeratedly large gates were built. Each gate was five meters wide and eight meters high, opening from left and right, arranged in a line, embedded under four doorframes, blocking the entire canyon. Although not close, Li Banfeng could see that these gates were very heavy and made of sturdy material. How much manpower would be needed to push these gates open? What was behind the gates? A secret realm? Or a tomb? Or perhaps...

*Hiss, hiss*

What was that sound? Was the train chasing him? Was Ling Miaoying chasing him? Li Banfeng heard the unique puffing sound of a steam train and shivered all over. Looking around, Li Banfeng didn't see a train, but he saw the leftmost gate at the canyon entrance open.

*Hiss, hiss*

He didn't see the person opening the gate, only black smoke and white mist puffing from the gate panels. A steam gate? Such a structure existed? After two whistles, the gate fully opened. Li Banfeng walked a few steps towards the gate, sensing no danger. He needed to ask for directions and also see who was operating this steam gate. But when he walked behind the gate, he saw no person, only a giant grandfather clock.

The grandfather clock was two meters tall, with a huge pendulum swinging back and forth, reflecting Li Banfeng's entire body. Numerous gears extended from behind the clock face, driving large connecting rods that controlled the valves on the pipes. Li Banfeng had studied basic mechanics in college, and after observing for a long time, he seemed to grasp some clues. This clock had both a timekeeping and a scheduling function. It was 7 AM. When the time came, the clock's mechanical device automatically opened the valves, and the steam engine would drive the gate, opening it. High tech! Li Banfeng had stayed in Lushui City for so long and had never seen such automatic steam doors. The steam door was made very precisely; opening and closing required no human operation. There were limit switches on the door axis, and when the door opened to its position, the valves would close naturally.

But someone must be burning the boiler, right? Please don't tell me there are steam robots. Li Banfeng followed the direction of the smoke to find the chimney, and then the boiler room. Indeed, there were people burning the boiler in the boiler room. In total, there were five men: two adding coal, two adding water, and one recording temperature and pressure readings.

Li Banfeng walked to the door and asked, "Excuse me, gentlemen, what place is this?" The boiler room was very noisy. The men looked at Li Banfeng, seemingly unable to hear what he was saying. Li Banfeng shouted again, "Gentlemen, I'm asking for directions!" The men still couldn't hear clearly. They pointed to a sign at the door that read: "No Admittance." Li Banfeng turned and left. Asking for directions didn't mean he had to bother these specific individuals. In such a large village, who else could he ask? They were busy, so there was no need to bother them.

There were many houses in the village, very dense, and their styles were very similar: all two-story buildings, all with flat roofs, and each building had a large, dark iron gate. Judging by the area, each floor was approximately seventy to eighty square meters, totaling one hundred fifty to sixty square meters for two floors. The distance between buildings was also around five meters. How was this village built so uniformly? Perhaps Li Banfeng arrived too early; there were no pedestrians on the road. No pedestrians, so who to ask for directions?

Li Banfeng approached a building's entrance, knocked on the dark iron gate, and waited for a long time, but no one responded from inside. If this house didn't answer, he'd knock on the next. The next one also didn't answer. After knocking on a dozen houses in a row, finally, one showed some movement.

*Clatter, clatter*

On the iron gate, the cover of the peephole was opened.

*Clatter, clatter*

The person inside looked through the peephole for a long time, then opened a small window on the iron gate. "Who are you looking for?"

Behind the door stood a young man. Through the small window, Li Banfeng could see most of his face. His skin was very pale, as if he hadn't seen the sun in a long time. His hair was slightly long but neatly groomed, and his upper lip was dark with stubble, suggesting he shaved, but not very frequently. The man's appearance struck Li Banfeng as remarkably familiar. But the young man didn't find Li Banfeng friendly. His eyes darted around, trying to avoid Li Banfeng's gaze. It was clear he disliked strangers.

"I'm here to ask for directions," Li Banfeng said. "I'd like to know what place this is."

The young man replied, "This is Iron Gate Fortress."

Iron Gate Fortress? Was this Hou Sanfen Di? He had actually followed the train to this place. How was he going to get back now? Go to the station, buy a ticket? Li Banfeng had a travel permit, a round-trip permit for Heishi Slope and Lushui City. But would this be valid in Iron Gate Fortress? Even if it was valid, Li Banfeng wasn't too keen on going to the station; his experiences at stations since arriving in Puro Province hadn't been very pleasant. "Let's go back from Xindi," he thought. Old Yao's map had the location of Iron Gate Fortress marked.

"Excuse me, how do I get to Xindi?"

"Which Xindi are you asking about?"

Li Banfeng recalled the mark on the map: "I want to go to Taohua Lake Xindi."

The man thought for a moment and said, "First, leave the fortress, then turn right at the main gate, and go straight. Walk for about ten minutes, and there's a fork in the road. You'll see a big willow tree at the intersection; that willow tree is particularly large and easy to spot. When you're facing the willow tree, turn left onto the fork and keep going straight. Don't turn anywhere else, just keep going forward. After about half a day, you'll see Taohua Lake. Facing Taohua Lake, turn half a circle from left to right, walk to a large stone, jump into the lake, and at the bottom of the lake, you'll see Xindi."

He gave directions using relative terms like "front," "back," "left," and "right," rather than cardinal directions. Distances were measured in time, not miles or meters. Li Banfeng felt an increasing sense of familiarity with this person.

"Thank you." Li Banfeng took out a banknote and gave it to the man.

The man lowered his head: "I don't want money!" Easily shy, easily flustered—Li Banfeng felt as if he were seeing an old friend. He wanted to chat with him more, but the man opposite seemed reluctant to talk further. Li Banfeng pushed the banknote into the door crack and turned to leave.

The man called from behind, "Wait a moment!" Li Banfeng didn't wait. The man twisted open the door and chased out: "I don't want your money. I just forgot to tell you, if you can't swim, don't go to Taohua Lake; you'll drown."

Li Banfeng nodded: "Thank you, this money..."

"I don't want it!" This person was quite stubborn, displaying the unique obstinacy of a recluse.

He was turning to go home when he suddenly saw an old man driving a donkey cart into the fortress. The donkey cart was loaded with sacks. The young man walked over to the donkey cart and asked, "How much is white rice per catty?"

This old man was selling grain. "Two yuan fifty!" The old man stopped the donkey cart. The young man thought it was expensive but didn't say much. He rarely bargained when buying things. "Give me one sack."

The old man gave a sack of rice to the young man: "Fifty catties per sack, one hundred twenty-five yuan." The young man nodded, counted the money, and gave it to the old man. He paid first when buying things. The old man gave a sack of rice to the young man. The young man opened the sack and looked: "This rice has a lot of sand; can I exchange it for another sack..."

"They're all the same, why exchange!" The old man drove his donkey cart away. He was not good at negotiating when buying things, especially after he had already paid. These characteristics were too obvious, almost universal traits of every recluse.

Li Banfeng looked at the man and couldn't help but ask, "Are you a Reclusive Cultivator?" The man looked at Li Banfeng, said nothing, picked up the rice, and went home.

The old man driving the donkey cart smiled and said, "This is your first time in Iron Gate Fortress, isn't it? Everyone living in Iron Gate Fortress is a Reclusive Cultivator!"

All Reclusive Cultivators! Then this is a good place to stay for a couple more days. Ling Miaoying couldn't possibly know he was here, making this a prime opportunity to learn more about Reclusive Cultivators.