Li Banfeng had no time to think about logic now, as a group of angry Home Cultivators were charging at him. Carrying Luo Dagui’s severed head, Li Banfeng ran for his life.
"Catch him!"
"Avenge the Fortress Lord!"
"He’s running so fast, he’s obviously a Traveling Cultivator! None of those Traveling Cultivators are any good!"
Li Banfeng ran for over a dozen li and finally shook off the group of Home Cultivators.
Sitting on the hillside, Li Banfeng looked at the severed head of Luo Dagui in his hand, carefully sorting through his thoughts.
Luo Dagui didn’t know Sui Donglan was hiding in the bushes because his cultivation level wasn’t high enough. Li Banfeng had the Silk-pulling Earrings and could even clearly hear the sound of her relieving herself.
He went straight to Sui Donglan’s residence.
Seeing Li Banfeng, Sui Donglan smiled and said, "You’ve come."
"I’ve come," Li Banfeng nodded. "Did you see everything that happened during the day?"
"During the day? What happened during the day? I’ve been at home all day, waiting for you to come."
Li Banfeng blinked. "What are you talking about? I’m talking about the Iron Gate Fort incident!"
"Iron Gate Fort? What place is that? Would you like to take me with you? I want to go with you."
Li Banfeng looked at Sui Donglan and sighed softly. "I originally planned to give you a cup of wine and remove the characters from your face."
Sui Donglan, with a blank smile, said, "What characters? Do I have characters on my face?"
Li Banfeng shook his head. "Since you’ve gone insane, let’s leave those two characters with you as a keepsake. Maybe you’ll come to your senses in the future."
After saying that, Li Banfeng stood up and left.
Sui Donglan fell to the ground and immediately hugged his legs. "Sir Peddler, you can’t leave! Take pity on me!"
Li Banfeng snorted coldly. "Pretending to be mad? You think you’re very convincing? You saw everything that happened during the day?"
"I saw," cried Sui Donglan. "Luo Dagui is Lord Zhou of the Fortress! I was scared out of my wits when I saw it."
"Good that you saw. Come on, follow me to Iron Gate Fort and explain the situation."
"Sir, it’s no use. Why would Iron Gate Fort believe my words? I’m an outsider and a deceiver. What I say doesn’t matter."
Wu Yongchao did face some repercussions, just a little.
Ma Dingfu hadn’t died. He was the first to come out and accuse Wu Yongchao. "You wanted to open the gate! You intended to let that Peddler in! You were his accomplice! You killed Lord Zhou of the Fortress together!"
He strung together a series of accusations. Wu Yongchao only rebutted with one sentence, "I heard someone fighting bandits, so I wanted to go out and have a look. What’s wrong with that?"
"What’s wrong? There’s plenty wrong with that! Who gave you the right to open the gate? Why..." Ma Dingfu’s voice grew softer and softer.
Wu Yongchao was a Fourth Layer Home Cultivator, and Ma Dingfu was a Third Layer Body Cultivation practitioner. If they really came to blows, Ma Dingfu wouldn’t gain any advantage and might even lose his life.
There was Steward He, who had Fifth Layer Cultivation. He was staying inside Lord Zhou of the Fortress’s house, but he never left; that was an order from Zhou Anju. The other subordinates were from Flying Eagle Mountain, and they were all lying outside Iron Gate Fort.
Ma Dingfu adamantly claimed these were all people of Iron Gate Fort, killed by the Peddler. However, the wooden box with the Big Horn was hard to explain, as were their clothes and the masks on their faces. Although things were hard to explain, Home Cultivators were easy to deceive.
Ma Dingfu focused his efforts on cursing the Peddler, crying until tears filled his eyes, grinding his teeth in rage.
"Lord Zhou of the Fortress died so wrongfully! This vengeance must be taken!"
The emotions of the Home Cultivators were stirred up, and they began cursing along with him.
Only Wu Yongchao didn’t curse. He was honest but not stupid; many things were slowly connecting in his mind.
They collected the body of Lord Zhou of the Fortress and were about to make arrangements for the funeral when they suddenly heard the sound of drums coming from outside the valley:
"Soap, Snow Cream, silk scarves, handkerchiefs, sewing kits, leather buckets, iron scoops, foreign matches, foreign wax, foreign iron shovels..."
The Peddler, pushing his cart, passed by Iron Gate Fort and saw a crowd rushing out.
The Peddler was thrilled. "Today’s business is going to be good! Would you like to buy some... What’s this? What do you want to do?"
A group of Home Cultivators roared, "Grab him! Kill him!"
"Quick, avenge the Fortress Lord!"
"It’s not him, it’s his senior brother!"
"Whoever it is, they’re no good!"
"Be careful, everyone! His cultivation level is high!"
"No need to be afraid! We Home Cultivators aren’t cowards!"
Li Banfeng gave Sui Donglan a choice: either keep the characters on her face or suffer an hour of facial pain every day. In any case, her previous deception couldn’t just be overlooked.
Sui Donglan pleaded to no avail and eventually chose to keep the characters.
Li Banfeng gave Sui Donglan a cup of wine, relieving her pain.
Following the route indicated by Wu Yongchao, Li Banfeng found Peach Blossom Lake. After walking around half of the lake, he found the large Stone.
He touched the temperature of the lake water, contemplating whether to jump in.