Chapter 215: Half Truth
The next day, Iron Gate Fort was sealed shut. Li Banfeng went around gathering information about the surrounding area.
There were many villages around Iron Gate Fort, inhabited by humble farmers living simple lives. He encountered two level-one Agrarian Cultivators, but the rest were not cultivators.
Li Banfeng discovered the location of Flying Eagle Mountain, which was more than ten kilometers away from Iron Gate Fort. The bandits there had a notorious reputation; they were seemingly even more infamous than the bandits of Iron Goat Mountain. Whether it was the Stronghold Chief He Zhenlei or the Gun Captain Luo Dagui, they were prominent figures that struck fear into the locals.
This group of bandits had many "achievements." From the villagers' accounts of the bandits, one word stood out to Li Banfeng—"ruthless."
Every year, the bandits took more than half of each village's grain. If there was even slight resistance, it was common for them to massacre the entire village.
This was different from most bandits in Puluo. Ordinary bandits would not go as far as slaughtering the residents living near their base. They would even maintain good relations with nearby villages so they could look out for each other if something happened.
For vicious bandits like those of Flying Eagle Mountain, hadn't any powerful influential families or clans come to suppress them? Of course, there had been!
The largest local force was the Iron Gate Fort. Three hundred households of Homebound Cultivators lived there, making up a considerable force.
Fort Lord Zhou Anju had once gone alone to Flying Eagle Mountain and fought He Zhenlei. The battle had ended without a clear victor.