"Are you not being sincere enough?" Li Banfeng cut his face again.
Ma Dingfu gasped with difficulty. "I truly don’t know. Ever since I arrived at Flying Eagle Mountain, Zhou Anju has been the Fortress Lord of Iron Gate Fort. I even heard that he led people to attack Flying Eagle Mountain; he was our sworn enemy. Until one day, our Head of the family called me back to the mountain and sent me to Iron Gate Fort. Only then did I learn that Zhou Anju was friends with our Head of the family. He said Lord Zhou of the Fortress was an extraordinary person, with an unfathomable cultivation level and unfathomable schemes, and told me to follow Lord Zhou’s orders from then on. Whatever Lord Zhou asked me to do, I did."
"Did Lord Zhou ask you to sleep with his wife?"
Ma Dingfu explained, "According to our Head of the family, Lord Zhou was an omnipotent person, and I have always respected the Fortress Lord. When I got to Iron Gate Fort, he made me his attendant, publicly claimed I was a practitioner of Home Cultivation, and even arranged a house for me. Initially, he valued me highly and discussed some confidential matters with me, until one time, he had a disagreement with Yu Hequan in the fort, and things changed."
"How did things change?"
"Yu Hequan was a Second Layer practitioner of Home Cultivation, freshly arrived at the fort. He was young and brash, speaking to the Fortress Lord without any respect. The Fortress Lord didn’t take it to heart, but Yu Hequan kept pushing his limits, and at one point, while speaking to the Fortress Lord, he even pushed him. Whether it was intentional or not, that push was quite forceful. The Fortress Lord took half a step back and almost fell. At that moment, I was the only one beside the Fortress Lord. No one else was present. The Fortress Lord simply laughed it off. But once we returned to his residence, Lord Zhou ordered me to kill Yu Hequan."
A group of practitioners of Home Cultivation listened, their eyes blazing with anger. Many among them recognized Yu Hequan; the young man hadn’t been at the fort long before he died. They had little affection for Yu Hequan, perhaps not even much of an impression of him. But they remembered the Fortress Lord claiming at the time that Yu Hequan had died because he left the fort without permission and was killed by bandits!
Some people spat at Ma Dingfu; others shouted insults.
Li Banfeng asked everyone to quiet down, as he still had important questions. "How did you kill Yu Hequan?"
Ma Dingfu said, "Lord Zhou said he understood Yu Hequan’s intentions—that speaking so disrespectfully was actually Yu Hequan’s way of trying to stand out, hoping to be valued by the Fortress Lord. He instructed me to deceive Yu Hequan, telling him there was an assignment from the Fortress Lord that required him to go outside the fort to handle it. Yu Hequan fell for it. As soon as he left the fort, he walked into my ambush, and I took his head right off. Later, I told everyone in the fort that he was killed by bandits.
"At first, I didn’t understand. Yu Hequan, that fellow, was quite loyal. Although he didn’t quite understand propriety, if disciplined properly, he could have been a useful person. Why did he have to be killed? But unexpectedly, after I killed him, Lord Zhou began to distance himself from me and no longer discussed confidential matters with me. I initially thought it was because Yu Hequan shouldn’t have been killed, that Lord Zhou regretted it and was therefore taking his anger out on me.
"After many days, I finally understood the real reason. The issue wasn’t with Yu Hequan; it was with that stumble. Yu Hequan wasn’t some high-level Cultivator. For him to be able to make Lord Zhou stumble... well, it made Lord Zhou’s cultivation level seem rather unclear, perhaps not so unfathomable after all. Yu Hequan was dead, and apart from me, nobody knew about this.
"Sometimes I also wondered, if one day I killed Lord Zhou, would the position of Fortress Lord then be mine? I only thought about it and never let it show, but I reckon he discovered my thoughts anyway."
Ma Dingfu looked up at Li Banfeng. "Hero, you’ve killed Lord Zhou and unseated me. From now on, you will be the Fortress Lord of Iron Gate Fort. I, Ma Dingfu, will listen to all your commands. I’d go through fire and water, willing to die a thousand deaths for you!"
Li Banfeng laughed. "Do you take them for fools, or do you take me for one? You expect me to spare your life just because you utter promises of going through fire and water and being willing to die a thousand deaths?"
"Hero, just tell me what to do! As long as you spare my life, I’ll do anything!"
"Alright, we’ll have a private chat in a bit," Li Banfeng turned to the group of practitioners of Home Cultivation. "Don’t just stand around. Sweep the fort. See if there are any more of Zhou Anju’s and Ma Dingfu’s followers. Round them up and deal with them.
"Get everyone out of the main residence. Give Zhou Anju’s Ladies and Maids some resettlement money and send them packing. They are never to step foot in Iron Gate Fort again.
"No one is allowed near the east annex. Do you even know which way east is? Once you’ve cleared everyone out, vacate the residence immediately.
"Then go check the main gate; make sure it’s securely shut.
"Next, go halfway up the mountainside. There’s a platform on the cliff. Check if there’s an ambush there.
"That platform will need guards from now on. You’ll take turns standing watch.
"When I say platform, do you understand me? Do you know how to get there?
"Damn it! Bring the roster! Send a group up there immediately. Don’t wait for Flying Eagle Mountain to attack while the fort is still undefended!"
「...」
Everyone dispersed to carry out their tasks.