Several Home Cultivators looked at Wu Yongchao with resentment.
These were all people who had paid their money.
Wu Yongchao’s face was filled with shame as he avoided everyone’s gaze.
"Who killed him!" Old Hu Tou’s House Spirit was still howling.
Standing at a distance, Ma Dingfu looked back at the crowd and said, "Who’s familiar with Old Hu? Go and check on him at his house."
Wu Yongchao said, "I’ll go take a look. I know his House Spirit."
Looking at Wu Yongchao, Ma Dingfu said, "Comfort them well. Remember, you owe Old Hu a life."
「Two hours later.」
The Steam Gate opened.
Sui Donglan rushed toward the gate, but Li Banfeng held her back and offered her a cup of liquor. "Drink this, and come to Iron Gate Fort tomorrow to wait for me."
"The fort won’t open tomorrow! That Mr. Ma just said so."
"If it doesn’t open, then wait for me outside."
"What if I run into bandits?"
"Can’t you hide yourself a bit better?"
「Late that night.」
Wu Yongchao rifled through his belongings in his house, collecting all the scattered change. It amounted to a total of twelve Ocean Dollars.
Each family was supposed to pay thirty-six Ocean Dollars, and Wu Yongchao was far short with his savings.
He took out a few paintings he hadn’t been willing to sell before, mulling over how much they could be worth, when he heard an old man’s voice in his ear, "Kid, you can’t sell these paintings! You’ll need them when there’s a war!"
"I need the money now. I’ll... later..."
KNOCK! KNOCK! KNOCK!
Just as he was speaking, he suddenly heard someone knocking at the door.
Wu Yongchao’s brows furrowed slightly.
He approached the door and first looked through the peephole. He discovered that the person standing there wasn’t Ma Dingfu, but a man wearing a top hat.
Wu Yongchao opened the door and whispered, "How did you get in?"
Li Banfeng’s voice was even lower. "I never left."
"Impossible. Every time the fort closes, they always..."
"Let me in first. This isn’t the place to talk."
Wu Yongchao hesitated.
The old man’s voice came to his ears 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.
Once seated, Wu Yongchao returned to the previous topic. "How dare you secretly stay inside the fort? If the Fortress Lord finds out..."
"Let’s not talk about that first. When you went to Old Hu’s house, did you find out how he died?"
Wu Yongchao lowered his head, his face filled with shame. "This morning, Old Hu went out to dispose of waste and didn’t return for a long time. The House Spirit smelled blood outside the door. When it opened the door, it found Old Hu’s head placed on the doorstep. It’s all my fault..."
Li Banfeng interrupted him. "How early was it this morning? Before the main iron gate opened, or after?"
"Around six o’clock. The gate hadn’t opened yet."
"Then how did the murderer get in?"
Wu Yongchao pondered for a moment and said, "Since they can throw stones from the cliff, they must have sneaked into the fort from the cliff."
Li Banfeng considered the height of that cliff and the tools those people used.
"What cultivation level did Old Hu claim to have?"
"He said he was at the Third Layer."
"Didn’t you say he had cultivated for over fifty years? Just by enduring all those years, he couldn’t possibly be only at the Third Layer."
Wu Yongchao thought for a moment and said, "I remember once when he got drunk, he talked to me about his cultivation level. He said that when he was young, he and his House Spirit fought every day—ferocious, life-or-death battles. To avoid the House Spirit, he eventually moved to Iron Gate Fort. For some reason, his House Spirit followed him to the fort. They continued to fight for over thirty years. His cultivation level never progressed, and he ended up covered in scars. Later, when Old Hu got older and couldn’t fight anymore, the House Spirit granted him the Third Layer of cultivation, and they kept on fighting."
Li Banfeng felt even more acutely how fortunate he was to have met his wife; it 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 past, but the "Peddler" had asked, and he didn’t know how to refuse.
"I used to live in Greenwater Bay—not Greenwater City, but a village outside of it. I’ve always liked staying at home. My family was well-off and got me some Elixirs, helping me accumulate some Taoist Fate. They wanted me to train as a Martial Cultivator. But I didn’t want to learn martial arts, so I secretly began Home Cultivation with the Peddler’s help. My family thought I had no ambition and berated me every day, so I bought a house in Blue Poplar Village and moved out."
Li Banfeng nodded. "You’ve got a good eye for places."
Wu Yongchao gave a bitter smile. "How would I know how to pick places? If I had known what Blue Poplar Village was really like, I wouldn’t have been tempted by the cheap price to buy a house there. The only good thing about Blue Poplar Village was that the House Spirit came quickly. I hadn’t even been there a month before my House Spirit appeared."
Wu Yongchao continued, "I can paint and also do tailoring. I figured I could make a living with my skills. But I never imagined that doing business in Blue Poplar Village, I’d get swindled nine out of ten times!"
Li Banfeng was surprised.
"Tell me in detail, then. What about that one time they didn’t swindle you?"
Wu Yongchao gave another bitter smile. "Let’s not talk about it; it’s all in the past. Later, the House Spirit told me that place wasn’t fit for living. He mentioned a good place where honest people are never bullied. He said he had stayed there before and told me to go check it out."
"Was he talking about Iron Gate Fort?"
Wu Yongchao nodded. "The House Spirit was willing to come with me, but the house itself wouldn’t let us leave. The two of us fought with the house for a whole day and night before we managed to escape. We nearly lost our lives,"