Chapter 224: Outside the Graveyard Hill

It was still dark when Wu Yongchao heard a knock at the door. He opened it to find a beautiful young woman standing outside.

It was so late, and for a young woman so beautiful and sweet-smiling to suddenly appear and knock on the door… it was clearly… a painting.

This was a meticulous painting by Li Banfeng, designed to deceive ordinary people, and it would surely succeed. However, Wu Yongchao was a Level Four House Cultivator, particularly skilled in painting himself, so this trick was not quite good enough to fool him.

The young woman handed Wu Yongchao two burlap sacks and a letter. After reading the letter, Wu Yongchao asked her, "Where has the Fort Master gone? Why send you to deliver such an important message?"

The young woman covered her mouth and chuckled, but said nothing. Li Banfeng hadn't painted a mouth on her.

The next day, Wu Yongchao quietly left Iron Gate Fort with the two sacks and headed to a nearby village. Li Banfeng had clearly stated in the letter that the area was under surveillance; there were watchers all along the road from the fort entrance to the village.

This was a common tactic of the Jiangxiang Gang. Although Iron Gate Fort seemed peaceful, many people were watching its surroundings. It was just like the Yu Family Cloth Shop back then: nothing seemed out of place on the surface, but a branch of the gang was hidden nearby.

Upon reaching the village, Wu Yongchao changed into coarse cloth clothes, put on a worn felt hat, bought a wheelbarrow from a carpenter, and then went to a farm household to buy two sacks of rice.

As he pushed the rice back with the wheelbarrow, still more than five *li* from the fort, a man in a cloth shirt and a straw hat approached him, smiling.

"Brother, where are you off to in such a hurry?" the man asked.

Wu Yongchao lowered his head and replied, "I'm selling rice."

"How much per *jin*?"

"Three silver pieces," Wu Yongchao replied, deliberately quoting a high price.

"May I see the goods?"

Without waiting for Wu Yongchao to speak, the man in the straw hat pulled out a dagger and slit open a sack. He scooped up a handful of white rice and rubbed it between his fingers; the grains turned to powder.

"The white rice looks good, and three pieces of silver isn't expensive. I'll buy it," the man said, placing two silver dollars on the wheelbarrow.

"I'm not selling," Wu Yongchao said, shaking his head and picking up the money to return it to the man.

The man in the straw hat chuckled. "If you take the money, you've accepted payment. Once payment is accepted, the deal is done. It's too late to say you're not selling now."

"I'm just not selling to you!" Wu Yongchao retorted. Being a House Cultivator, he wasn't adept at arguing and disliked confrontation. He tossed the silver dollars aside and pushed the wheelbarrow forward.

The man in the straw hat suddenly extended his leg and kicked the wheelbarrow's wheel, shattering it. The wheelbarrow overturned, and the sacks fell to the ground.

Wu Yongchao's face flushed with anger. "You're bullying me!" he snapped.

"Young man, you shouldn't say that," the man replied. "You're selling rice, I'm giving you money to buy it, and you threw my money on the ground. So, who's bullying whom?"

Wu Yongchao took a fighting stance, ready to engage the man in the straw hat. The man in the straw hat let out a whistle, and more than a dozen people emerged from both sides of the road.

"Young brother, do you really want to fight? It's just a business deal; why be so serious about it?"

"I'll fight you all!" Wu Yongchao declared, and he began to struggle against the dozen or so people. His cultivation was higher than the others, but lower than the man in the straw hat. Under the assault of a dozen people, Wu Yongchao sustained minor injuries and used his "Homeward Bound Like an Arrow" technique to flee back to Iron Gate Fort.

This was Li Banfeng's instruction: he had to fight them, but he also had to preserve his own life.

The man in the straw hat removed his hat, collected the silver dollars, and chuckled. "He didn't want the money I gave him, and now he has neither rice nor money. He's lost out big time."

Someone nearby asked, "Hall Master, what should we do with this rice?"

"Keep it, don't you need to eat?" replied the man in the straw hat, who was Han Jinwei, the Hall Master of Huangtu Bridge.

Han Jinwei looked towards Iron Gate Fort and said to his subordinates, "See that? That kid's cultivation isn't low. He risked his life for two sacks of rice. Iron Gate Fort must be having a tough time; otherwise, they wouldn't be fighting bandits. They're probably running out of food inside the fort. If we keep them trapped for a couple more days, they'll surely fall in line."

Han Jinwei ordered his men to secure the grain and then continue their stakeout in a nearby farmhouse. They had rented this farmhouse. From the inside, the view was expansive, but from the outside, it looked inconspicuous. It was an excellent spot for surveillance and ambushes. Jiangxiang Gang disciples always managed to find suitable strongholds wherever they went; it was indeed a legitimate skill.

Han Jinwei told everyone, "Remember, we only want their resources, not their lives. I'm here to negotiate with Iron Gate Fort, so try to avoid an all-out confrontation with them."

A fortune-teller, wearing dark glasses and carrying a blind man's stick, walked along the path towards Iron Gate Fort. A man stepped forward and stopped the fortune-teller, asking, "What are you doing here?"

The fortune-teller smiled humbly. "I tell fortunes and interpret characters."

"Is that so?" Many members of the Jiangxiang Gang were formerly fortune-tellers and physiognomists. This Jiangxiang Gang disciple, Zhu Youduan, carefully observed the fortune-teller, noting that his tools seemed quite professional. "Where are you going to tell fortunes?"

"I heard Iron Gate Fort is up ahead; it's a good place for business."

"Business isn't good there now; they can't even afford food. You shouldn't go that way."

The fortune-teller smiled. "Thank you for the warning."

This was just a polite dismissal. Someone who had traveled so far for business wouldn't turn back just because of a single sentence. The fortune-teller continued walking towards Iron Gate Fort, but Zhu Youduan stepped forward and grabbed him. "I told you not to go, why aren't you listening?"

The fortune-teller panicked. "I'm just walking my path; how does that bother you? You're..."

Zhu Youduan slapped the fortune-teller. "Get lost. If you don't listen to my advice, it won't just be a slap next time."

The fortune-teller held his face and walked away.

After walking for a few *li*, he sat by the roadside, crying with a wronged expression. "What kind of nonsense is this? I'm just doing business, what's it to him? And he hit me..."

After crying for a moment, and confirming that the people following him had left, the fortune-teller touched his blind man's stick and used a hook to send a message to He Jiaqing.

"The Jiangxiang Gang has surrounded Iron Gate Fort. Should we strike before them, or wait until they succeed and then intercept?"

"The Jiangxiang Gang?" He Jiaqing chuckled. "Those scoundrels are joining the fun too. Who leaked the information?"

"They're preventing merchants from entering. If they keep up this siege, the House Cultivators in Iron Gate Fort will run out of food."

He Jiaqing's face showed disdain. "After all these years, the Jiangxiang Gang still uses the same old tricks."

"I want to talk to their leader. They slapped me, and they hit quite hard."

"Old Wan, with your cultivation, what haven't you been through? That despicable Lu Dongjun was annoying, but you survived him, didn't you? Let's not stoop to their level. Just observe their situation for now, and don't rush into action."

"As you wish."

Han Jinwei, the Hall Master of Huangtu Bridge, was sound asleep in the farmhouse. The Jiangxiang Gang was a mid-tier gang in Pu Luo Province, far stronger than Flying Eagle Mountain in terms of power. Han Jinwei knew Iron Gate Fort was easy to defend and hard to attack. He wouldn't assault the gate; he would only block the roads. Each House Cultivator household in Iron Gate Fort purchased their own food and supplies from outside merchants. House Cultivators disliked troubling others; if one household ran out of food, they wouldn't feel comfortable asking another. With this "scorched earth" tactic, Iron Gate Fort would surrender without a fight within a month.

Han Jinwei woke up feeling uneasy around six in the evening. He thought he heard some movement. Having spent many years in the jianghu, Han Jinwei was extremely cautious. He immediately went outside and discovered that the six subordinates who were guarding the courtyard were gone.

Something had happened!

The men were gone, and there were no bodies. He found traces of blood on the ground and a torn burlap sack. White rice was spilled all over the ground from the sack, and in the middle of the scattered rice lay a piece of white paper. He unfolded the paper and read two lines of text:

"To buy rice, you must pay.No money? Then your life is the price."

Han Jinwei was furious. His nose flared and the tip darkened as he sniffed the letter. He was a Level Five Body Cultivator, originally human, but capable of transforming into a wolf. Relying on the scent, Han Jinwei tracked out of the farmhouse, sniffing the trail all the way to the entrance of Iron Gate Fort.

The steam gate was closed.

Wu Yongchao stood on the lintel, looking at Han Jinwei, and chuckled. "You're here to pay for the rice, aren't you? Our Fort Master said two sacks of rice for six lives. The payment is nearly complete, so we won't bother with the change. If you don't have enough rice to eat, I can sell you some more at the old price."

Han Jinwei gritted his teeth at Wu Yongchao, his eyes gleaming green. He had no idea how Wu Yongchao had managed to kill six of his subordinates without his knowledge. Not only did Han Jinwei not know, but Wu Yongchao himself was also unaware; he hadn't killed anyone, he was only responsible for delivering the rice. He didn't know that Li Banfeng's key was hidden inside the rice sacks. At that moment, Li Banfeng was standing behind the steam gate, waiting for Han Jinwei to launch an assault.

Han Jinwei actually felt an impulse to gather his men and storm the gate. But he suppressed his anger. He knew Iron Gate Fort was prepared, and he understood the consequences of a direct assault on the gate. To become a Hall Master in the Jiangxiang Gang, Han Jinwei was capable of enduring this temporary setback. He left.

His departure didn't matter; Li Banfeng was content to engage in a long game with him.

That night, Han Jinwei ordered the brothers of each branch to be extra vigilant. If they encountered anyone from Iron Gate Fort, they were to kill them on sight, and even sleep with their eyes open.

Just keeping their eyes open would be enough?

Li Banfeng had long since familiarized himself with the nearby roads. He captured two Jiangxiang Gang disciples alive, interrogated them, and in a single night, gained a clear understanding of all the branch offices of the Huangtu Bridge Hall. Over the next three days, he visited each branch repeatedly, accompanied by several Level Four House Cultivators. After three days, every branch had suffered casualties, some losing five or six men, others two or three.

The fortune-teller, hidden in the shadows, relayed the news to He Jiaqing. He Jiaqing sneered. "This was not a problem that could be solved by mere vigilance. House Cultivators had a talent for being overlooked, making them impossible to guard against. A direct assault wouldn't yield any advantage, and a scorched-earth policy would be futile; Iron Gate Fort simply didn't fall for such tactics."

"Xiao Zhenggong, you've been in other provinces for too long and know too little about Iron Gate Fort. Sending someone like Han Jinwei here won't accomplish anything. However, these House Cultivators at Iron Gate Fort have changed; they're not quite like they used to be."

Ten days later, Han Jinwei wanted to leave. He had no choice but to leave; nearly half of his hall's brothers were gone. The House Cultivators from Iron Gate Fort went out daily to buy rice and vegetables, sometimes even deliberately flaunting themselves right under his nose. Each time Han Jinwei tried to intervene, he couldn't catch them, yet every night, some of his men were killed. If this continued, the Huangtu Bridge Hall would be ruined. Han Jinwei didn't dare to report to Xiao Zhenggong. He gathered his remaining brothers and prepared to withdraw to Huangtu Bridge.

Leaving wouldn't be that easy.

As they passed Flying Eagle Mountain, Han Jinwei suddenly heard a melodious song.

"Beyond the long pavilion, by the ancient road, green grass stretches to the sky.Evening breeze caresses willows, flute's melody fades, graves upon graves beyond the mountains."

Who was singing? Why was this song so irritating?

Han Jinwei's cultivation was high enough that he only felt irritation from the song. His subordinates, however, had insufficient cultivation. Level Three cultivators felt dizzy, Level Two cultivators squatted by the roadside vomiting, and Level One cultivators lay on the ground convulsing uncontrollably.

"Quick, let's go!" Han Jinwei realized they had fallen into an ambush and ordered an immediate retreat from Flying Eagle Mountain.

"Trying to leave? Not so easy."

Li Banfeng frequently visited Flying Eagle Mountain and was very familiar with the environment. He could bring his wife's power out of the house and knew exactly where to set an ambush. More than a hundred House Cultivators burst out from the forest, killing anyone they saw. They had plugged their ears beforehand and were unaffected by the song. With the strong support and cooperation of the Flying Eagle Mountain bandits, their combat prowess had been greatly honed, and their attack was now extremely steady and precise.

Stone figures, mud figures, and paper figures led the charge. Level Three and Four House Cultivators followed closely as the core force. Level One and Two House Cultivators weaved in and out, catching any who slipped through.

Less than ten minutes into the engagement, only Hall Master Han Jinwei, one deputy hall master, and one branch master from the entire Huangtu Bridge Hall managed to escape. All the remaining personnel were wiped out.

Li Banfeng stood at the foot of the mountain, continuing to sing. The line "graves upon graves beyond the mountains" felt particularly fitting. The souls of the deceased were gathered by Li Banfeng, and when no one was looking, he sent them all into his portable abode.

"Wifey, dinner is served!"

"Oh, my darling, you truly spoil your little servant. The dishes today are indeed excellent."

"My dear wife, from now on, remember the Jiangxiang Gang's kindness. Whether it's selling vegetables or delivering goods, their sincerity is beyond reproach."

In a village hut, the fortune-teller sent a message to He Jiaqing: "Iron Gate Fort set an ambush on Flying Eagle Mountain. The Huangtu Bridge Hall is likely gone."

"Iron Gate Fort took the initiative?" He Jiaqing frowned. "That doesn't sound like them. Something is fishy here."

"I think so too. It would be best to investigate inside their fort."

He Jiaqing pondered for a moment and said, "I don't think the Jiangxiang Gang will give up. Old Wan, continue to observe, and don't act rashly."

(End of Chapter)