Originally, Ian Song planned to rob the government treasury in Ningwu City tonight, but since Lone-Blade Gideon invited him to a banquet, he had to postpone the plan until tomorrow night.
The Blackwind Mountains have hundreds of peaks, and Lone-Blade Gideon occupies the tallest and largest of them all—Sunrise Peak.
The path up Sunrise Peak is steep and treacherous, easy to defend but hard to attack. Henry Dunn has led troops against it several times, only to be repelled each time.
Of course, Blue Dragon Stronghold became the leader among the 108 bandit lairs not just because Lone-Blade Gideon is a first-rate fighter, but also because Blue Dragon itself is incredibly powerful.
First off, Blue Dragon Stronghold alone has over two thousand rank-and-file bandits, while Clearwind Stronghold barely has eighty—there’s simply no comparison.
Second, besides Lone-Blade Gideon, Blue Dragon Stronghold has six sub-bosses, all of whom are peak second-rate fighters.
As for third-rate fighters, there are even more—at least a hundred.
This time, Ian went to the banquet not with Lily Qi, but with Burt "Bull" Bolton.
After several days of training, Bull Bolton looked noticeably stronger and sturdier.
You can actually see Sunrise Peak from Clearwind’s mountaintop, but for an ordinary person, it would take more than an hour to get there.
So, after finishing afternoon training, Ian set out for Sunrise Peak with Bull Bolton.
After about half an hour, the two of them had reached the mountainside of Sunrise Peak.
Here, a seven- or eight-meter-high wall had been built, completely blocking the path up the mountain. With a few dozen archers or just by hurling rocks down, even thousands of troops would struggle to break through.
Henry Dunn has attacked the mountain several times, and each time, he’s lost plenty of men right here.
"Stop right there! What are you doing here?"
The bandits on the wall looked down at Ian and Bull Bolton from above.
"I’m Ian Song, chief of Clearwind Stronghold. I received an invitation from Chief Lone-Blade and have come for the banquet," Ian called up to the bandits on the wall.
Guarding this spot was a minor Blue Dragon Stronghold captain named Zack Zhu, whose martial arts barely reached third-rate. He glanced down at Ian, then said playfully, "Oh, so you’re the chief of Clearwind. Just wait a bit—I’ll have someone come open the gate for you soon."
But after a full five minutes, the iron gate still hadn’t opened.
Just then, another group arrived, climbing the mountain. Unlike Ian, who brought only Bull Bolton, this group had more than thirty people, led by a middle-aged man in armor.
Drawing on Shawn Steele’s memories, Ian quickly recalled who this man was.
His name was Logan "Blood Wolf" Xiao, chief of Blood Wolf Stronghold, commanding over two hundred bandits. He himself was a second-rate fighter.
Blood Wolf spotted Ian and strode over, half-mocking, "So it’s the young chief of Clearwind—wait, no, you’re the main chief now. Why are you just standing here and not going in?"
"Good to see you, Chief Blood Wolf. I’m just waiting for the folks up there to open the gate," Ian replied with a smile.
Blood Wolf immediately understood. Zack Zhu was notorious for his greed; anyone wanting to pass had to pay him silver, or he’d just leave you hanging outside.
"Brother Zhu, it’s Logan Xiao from Blood Wolf Stronghold. Mind opening the gate for me?" Blood Wolf called up to the wall.
"Ah, Chief Blood Wolf! No problem, no problem," Zack Zhu appeared atop the wall, beaming, but made no move to open the gate.
"Here’s a little silver for you to buy a drink!"
Blood Wolf tossed a piece of silver up to the wall. Zack Zhu snatched it out of the air and stashed it away, his grin growing even wider. "Open the gate for Chief Blood Wolf!" he shouted.
Creak.
The iron gates swung open quickly. Blood Wolf glanced at Ian, "Chief Ian, I’ll go ahead!"
With a wave, he led his dozens of men through the gate in grand procession, heading up the mountain.
"Let’s go too!"
Ian said to Bull Bolton, then stepped toward the iron gate. Just as he was about to enter, two bandit underlings appeared at the entrance, blocking the way.
"You two wait your turn!"
"Why… can’t we go in… now?" Bull Bolton stammered.
The two underlings sneered, clearly expecting a bribe: "You can’t go in, so just wait over there!"
With that, the two retreated inside, planning to shut the iron gate again.
Just then, Ian spoke up: "Wait a moment."
"What do you want now?" the two underlings asked impatiently.
"Here’s a little something for you two to buy some wine—do me a favor, brothers!" Ian said, holding out his fists as if he were offering something valuable.
Seeing this, the two underlings broke into smiles. "If you’d done this earlier, you could’ve gone up already." They both reached out their hands.
The next moment, Ian opened his fists and flipped his palms over, dropping a single copper coin into each of their hands.
Seeing it was just a copper coin, the two underlings exploded with anger. "Damn, are you treating us like beggars? Giving us so little!"
Ian grinned, "You’re mistaken. I usually give beggars two copper coins—you two are only worth one each!"
"What’s going on here?"
Just then, Zack Zhu came down from the wall.
"Boss, this kid is messing with us—he wants to get in with just two copper coins!" the underlings quickly complained to Zack Zhu.
Zack Zhu’s face darkened as he looked at Ian. Every other stronghold chief paid at least a couple taels of silver to get in, and this kid was trying to get through with two copper coins—he wasn’t happy. Sneering, he said, "So you’re the chief of Clearwind, huh? Well, let me be clear: unless you pay ten taels of silver, you’re not getting in today."
"You should’ve just said so—you want ten taels of silver? Here you go!"
As he spoke, Ian pulled out a ten-tael silver ingot and tossed it lightly toward Zack Zhu.
Zack Zhu was overjoyed and reached out to grab the silver, but just as his hand was about to touch it, the ingot suddenly sped up, whizzing past him.
"Ow!"
A scream rang out—the silver ingot had smashed into Zack Zhu’s mouth, splitting his lips, and bounced back into Ian’s hand.
"What’s the matter? You can’t even catch the silver? Let me give you another chance!"
Ian smirked and tossed the silver again, once more sending it floating toward Zack Zhu.
That last hit had split Zack Zhu’s lip and knocked out his two front teeth.
Seeing the silver coming at him again, Zack Zhu flew into a rage. "You dare mess with me, kid? I’ll kill you!"
With a roar, Zack Zhu threw a punch at the incoming silver ingot.
Whoosh!
Just as his fist was about to hit the silver, it suddenly curved aside, dodged his punch, then shot forward and smacked him right on the nose.