Chương 180: Chapter 181: Their Weak Point

Leo was sitting on a stone bench near the wheat terraces when Mike found him.

"Kid, we've got a problem." Mike dropped onto the bench beside him, breathing hard from the flight.

"The laborers we hired for Gustav Mountain are getting squeezed. Stonehaven cultivators showed up yesterday. They're telling our people to pack up and leave." Leo's jaw tightened. He'd spent three days convincing himself that Stonehaven wasn't his fight. That he couldn't save anyone without becoming more powerful. That the smart play was to focus on what he could control. And now they'd brought the fight to him anyway.

"They know what we've seen," Leo said.

"Inside the fog." Mike blinked.

"What?"

"We're witnesses. We've been inside Scatterstraw's field. We know what they're doing to their disciples." Leo stood, pacing along the terrace's edge.

"They can't let us keep building relationships out here. Every ally we gain is another faction that might actually listen when we..."

"Leo." Mike held up a hand.

"I don't think this is about the fog." Leo stopped.

"They're going after our saltpeter."

"Your what?"

"Saltpeter. For the gunpowder." Mike pulled a folded map from his storage ring, spreading it across the bench.

"The whole point of Gustav Mountain is the cannon, right? Big stupid overwhelming firepower. Metric tons of gunpowder. Three ingredients. Charcoal, sulfur, saltpeter." He jabbed at the map. Red marks clustered around locations Leo didn't recognize.

"Charcoal and sulfur, we've got coming out of our ears. There are forests and volcanic deposits everywhere. Stuff cultivators literally step over because it's worthless to them." Mike's voice picked up speed.

"That's our whole advantage. We're turning garbage into firepower. Mercury into gold."

"And saltpeter?"

"That's the problem. The weak point of our supply chain. Saltpeter is scarce and hard to get. Back on Earth, nations fought wars over it." Mike scratches his jaw.

"Arthur won't admit he was in any of the wars because that would make him, you know. Ancient. But he gets weird about our supply..." He caught himself rambling and shook his head.

"Point is, we found a source. A good one." Mike reached into his storage ring and pulled out a familiar jade token Leo'd handed over for safekeeping. The Beast King identity token.

"Thanks to you, actually." Leo slipped the identity token into his storage ring. Good to know it was useful.

"Bat guano," Mike explained. Leo nodded like he knew what that meant.

"The bats were... look, spirit beasts get territorial about weird stuff. They kept asking why we wanted it. Whether this was some kind of scheme to harm them. Arthur had to wave your token around for like an hour before they'd even negotiate." Mike rubbed his face.

"He kept saying 'official requisition business' in this voice. You know the voice." Leo knew the voice.

"Anyway. We got the guano. But you can't use it raw, you have to process it, extract the saltpeter, and it smells. Bad. The cranes won't let us do it anywhere near their territory. So we set up a guano factory at a T1 spirit vein about twenty miles out. Nobody fights over T1 veins anymore, so we figured it'd be quiet."

"The cultivators of Stonehaven want to cut off our saltpeter supply?" Mike exhaled.

"Yeah. They show up every day. Harass the laborers." His jaw tightened.

"Yesterday one of them told our foreman that the mountains are dangerous. Lots of ways to get lost going back home." Leo looked out over the terraces. Mike thought this was about guano. But Leo had spent the last three days learning what Stonehaven was really selling. Contaminated T4 soil. The saltpeter harassment wasn't random. It was a message. Back off. Stop forming alliances with beast clans. Stop building up your forces. Or we make your life very difficult.

He'd wanted to become more powerful before confronting Stonehaven. Reach Gold Core. Upgrade his team. Establish enough power that the sects would have to listen. Instead they were trying to kill Gustav Mountain before it could matter. If he let them win this, they'd push harder. Test another boundary. Take another piece. Whatever guano was, it was his guano. Stonehaven wasn't taking it.

The two of them immediately set off for the guano factory. They flew east from Skyhome, following the valleys that wound through the Savage Mountains. Leo pushed Sunshifter hard. He had until three o'clock before practice, and today was T4 day. The one time a week the league let teams use Nascent Soul tier qi for practice. Leo did not plan to miss it. Twenty minutes out, Mike raised his fist. Leo slowed. Mike was already descending toward a clearing in the forest below.

They touched down on a carpet of fallen leaves. The trees here were so large, their canopy so thick, that only scattered patches of sunlight reached the forest floor.

"What's wrong?" Leo kept Sunshifter hovering at knee height, ready to launch.

"We need to walk from here."

"Walk?" Leo looked at the dense forest stretching ahead.

"Mike, the factory is still miles away."

"I know." Mike stepped off his sword and stored it in his dantian.

"But we can't fly in."

"Why not?" Mike rubbed the back of his neck.

"The war's changed things. Spiritual qi is scarce now. Spirit veins are being seized, requisitioned, fought over. A lot of cultivators are facing regression." He paused.

"Using qi 'wastefully' has become... politically incorrect." Leo stared at him. Mike gestured at Sunshifter.

"If someone sees you cruising around on that thing, burning T3 qi like it's nothing, while they're rationing every scrap of spiritual energy just to stay alive..."

"They'll think I'm an asshole." Mike nodded.

"Which is a problem, because the only cultivators willing to work for us are the desperate ones. If they think we're exploiting them while living like kings..."

"Wait." Leo held up a hand.

"What do you mean desperate?" Mike suddenly found something very interesting to look at in the canopy above.

"Mike."

"Hmm?"

"Why are our workers desperate?" Mike exhaled.

"We're paying poverty wages. Barely enough to maintain cultivation. A day's work for a day's worth of spiritual grain." A day's worth of spiritual grain was one Tael, the minimum a Foundation Establishment cultivator needed to maintain their cultivation without regression. A year of that was 365 Tael, or twenty bushels. They were paying their workers just enough to not die. Just enough to show up tomorrow. Not a single grain more.

"That's slavery with extra steps," Leo said.

"I thought we had millions of bushels of wheat."

"We do. But Vivian says we need to stockpile for the zombie invasion. Every bushel we spend on wages is one less bushel we have when the Corpse Eternal breaks free." Mike spread his hands.

"She has a spreadsheet, Leo. A spreadsheet."

"We're exploiting desperate people."

"We're paying market rate." Mike's voice went defensive.

"Look, I don't love it either. But some operations are paying half a T2 spiritstone for a full day's work. Half." Leo stared at him. A Foundation Establishment cultivator burned one T2 spiritstone's worth of qi every day just existing. Half a spiritstone meant the workers were running a deficit. Losing ground with every shift. And people were taking those jobs.

"How is that even possible?" The words came out hoarse.

"Who would agree to that?"

"People who are already out of options." Mike looked away.

"A Foundation Establishment cultivator might be over a hundred years old. If a 140 year old regresses to Qi Refining, they instantly die of old age. Working at a deficit buys them time. Maybe something changes. Maybe the war ends. Maybe they find a better job." His shoulders dropped.

"We're paying double the worst rate. That's... supposedly pretty generous." Leo didn't feel generous. He understood now why flying openly was a problem. But he still didn't want to walk.

"Mike, I have practice this afternoon. I have crane songs to record. I can't spend three hours trudging through forest every time I need to visit the factory."

"I know. But we don't have a choice." Leo looked at the trees. The forest was dense, but not impenetrable. Gaps opened between the trunks. Paths wound through the undergrowth. If you were precise enough, you could thread the needle.

"I have an idea." Reading on this site? This novel is published elsewhere. Support the author by seeking out the original. Mike's expression shifted to wariness.

"Leo..."

"We fly through the trees."

"What?"

"Low altitude. Under the canopy. No one above will see us. No one on the ground will be able to track us." Leo grinned.

"Problem solved."

"Leo, that's insane. The trees are packed too tight. One wrong move and you'll..." Leo stepped onto Sunshifter.

"Take your time, Mike. I'll head over first." He shot forward into the forest.

Mike watched Leo disappear into the trees.

"Oh, come on." He pulled La Ferrari Eclipse from his dantian and stepped onto the blade. Leo had already opened a significant lead. His sword's glow flickered between the trunks. Branches whipped past in his wake. Mike gritted his teeth and followed. The first thirty seconds were rough. Trees came at him faster than expected. He had to bank hard around a massive oak, nearly clipped his shoulder on a low-hanging branch, and felt his heart rate spike every time a trunk materialized from the shadows.

But then something clicked. His body remembered. Years of military flight training. Combat insertions through hostile terrain. Mike leaned into the sword. His movements smoothed out. He started anticipating obstacles instead of reacting to them. The trick, he realized, was following Leo's movements. The kid was threading the optimal path. All Mike had to do was mirror him. Simple. A grin spread across his face. Leo twisted through a narrow gap between two pines. Mike went wide.

Leo banked hard right around a boulder. Mike turned right early. Leo executed a casual barrel roll.

"Why didn't I think of this earlier?" he muttered.

"All those hours wasted walking when I could have just..." The branch came out of nowhere. Leo hadn't done the barrel roll for style. The branch caught Mike across the ribs before he could react. The impact wrenched him sideways, his grip on La Ferrari Eclipse breaking, his body spinning out of control. He saw the oak coming. Had just enough time to think this is going to hurt before he slammed into it chest-first.

Mike's body folded around the branch like a towel over a clothesline, momentum arrested instantly, his feet swinging up past his head. For one frozen moment he hung there, arms spread, eyes wide. Then he fell Branches broke beneath him. Leaves exploded outward. A bird screeched in outrage as he tumbled past its nest. He hit the forest floor with a thud that sent small animals scattering in every direction. A squirrel appeared on a branch overhead. It chittered at him. Mike was fairly certain it was laughing.

"I'm fine," he announced to no one.

"Everything is fine."

Leo smelled the factory first. Sharp. Acrid. His eyes watered.

"What in the..." He stepped off Sunshifter and stored it in his dantian. The factory couldn't be far now. Twenty minutes later, Leo revised that assessment. The smell had gotten worse. Exponentially worse. Ammonia. Rot. Something sulfurous that burned the back of his throat. And underneath it all, an earthy funk that he suspected was the guano itself. Whatever it was. He breathed through his mouth. It didn't help. Now he could taste it. Fifteen more minutes of trudging through undergrowth.

The smell intensified with every step. Leo started to wonder if his nose would ever recover. He crested the ridge and looked down at the guano factory. The clearing sprawled across three acres of stripped earth. At its center, massive wooden pits held mounds of dark material soaking in murky water. Workers in cloth masks shoveled fresh loads from wheeled carts into the pits, stirring the foul mixture with long poles. Nearby, trenches lined with ash and straw drained into collection basins.

The brown liquid that emerged fed into iron kettles suspended over roaring wood fires. More workers tended the flames, skimming dark scum from the surface with flat ladles. Rows of shallow wooden trays covered the clearing's far edge. White crusts formed along their edges, and workers with flat scrapers collected the product into ceramic jars. The whole operation looked like a medieval nightmare designed by someone who hated their neighbors. No wonder the cranes refused to let them process guano at Skyhome.

One of the laborers glanced up as Leo approached, then looked past him. Toward the tree line. He paused mid-stroke. Leo followed his gaze. Four outsiders lounged near the clearing's edge. Pale blue robes, silver trim, not a speck of guano on any of them. These must be the cultivators of Stonehaven that were harassing his workers. One of the cultivators spotted Leo. He nudged the young man beside him. The young man looked up. He wore robes of pale blue silk, embroidered with silver thread at the cuffs.

A folding fan dangled from his belt. His hair was immaculately arranged. Everything about him screamed money and status and the absolute certainty that the world would arrange itself around his convenience.

"You there." He rose from his crate with theatrical grace.

"State your purpose." Leo stopped. He was still trying to get enough oxygen through his clenched teeth to form words.

"I'm Leo Chen. I work with Mike Ross."

"Ah." He folded his arms.

"So you are the one." The other three cultivators stood up. Lackeys, clearly.

"The legendary Leo Chen." The young man's smile widened.

"Your companions have told us much about you. I am Qin Pengfei, outer disciple of the Heavenstone Sect."

"The Heavenstone Sect," Leo said.

"What's that?" Silence. One of the lackeys stepped forward, outraged.

"You... you have not heard of the Heavenstone Sect?" His voice climbed half an octave.

"The supreme power of Stonehaven? The unified might of thirty-seven lesser sects, consolidated under the banner of Lord Grayscroll himself?"

"No." The lackey sputtered.

"This one has eyes but fails to recognize Mount Tai!" A second lackey shook his head gravely.

"The Heavenstone Sect controls Stonehaven and all surrounding territories. Our outer disciples number in the tens of thousands. Our inner disciples command resources beyond mortal comprehension." Leo looked at Qin Pengfei. Pengfei had produced his folding fan at some point and was waving it slowly beneath his chin. He seemed content to let his lackeys do the exposition.

"I see," Leo said.

"And you're here because...?"

"Because this territory falls within our sphere of influence." Pengfei snapped the fan shut and pointed it at Leo.

"Your little operation has attracted attention, Leo Chen. The wrong kind of attention." By now the laborers had drifted over from their stations. They formed a loose semicircle at the clearing's edge watching the confrontation with wary eyes. Qin Pengfei's gaze swept over Leo from head to toe.

"This one must confess some disappointment." He tapped the closed fan against his palm.

"I expected more from the legendary Leo Chen." The laborers flinched. Every single one of them. A collective recoil, like the name itself had reached out and slapped them across the face. One man actually stepped backward. Another made a warding gesture with his fingers. Leo looked at them. They looked anywhere but at him. He sighed. Arthur. Mike. Kevin. All three of them had been running their mouths. He didn't know what they'd said, but judging by the way the laborers reacted, it hadn't been flattering.

"What exactly," Leo said slowly, "have my companions told you about me?"

"That you are ruthless." Pengfei circled slowly, examining Leo like livestock at auction.

"That you show no mercy to those who cross you. That the last man who questioned your authority was found three provinces away, missing several internal organs." Leo stared at him.

"They said that?"

"The older one. Arthur. He speaks of you with great respect." Pengfei's smile turned sharp.

"He says that when Brother Leo gives an order, wise men obey. Unwise men disappear." One of the lackeys leaned toward the other.

"I heard he killed a Gold Core with his bare hands."

"I heard he feeds his enemies to spirit beasts," the second lackey whispered back.

"Alive." Leo opened his mouth. Closed it. Arthur had been using him as a boogeyman. Of course Arthur had been using him as a boogeyman. That was exactly the kind of thing Arthur would do. Probably Mike and Kevin too, waving his name around like a threat whenever they needed leverage. No wonder the laborers kept glancing at him nervously. Leo felt his eye twitch.

"You seem quite ordinary." Pengfei tilted his head.

"A Foundation Establishment cultivator of middling advancement. No visible scars. No killing intent. If not for your reputation, I would mistake you for a scholar." Leo reached into his dantian to pull out his Sunshifter, but stopped. Sunshifter was a T3 flying sword with T5 forbidden formations. One strike would atomize Pengfei and his lackeys and probably set the guano vats on fire. But a crowd had gathered. If Leo pulled out Sunshifter now, what would they think? That the rumors were true?

That he was exactly the kind of ruthless enforcer Arthur had described? He could already see the headlines. Wealthy young master bullies sect disciples with expensive spiritual weapon.

"Let me be clear about something." Leo stepped forward.

"Whatever my companions told you about me, they may have... exaggerated." Pengfei's eyebrows rose.

"But they were right about one thing." Leo let his voice drop.

"I don't like it when people use my name without permission. And I really don't like it when my subordinates spread rumors about me behind my back." He glanced toward the forest.

"In fact, when Mike gets here, I'm going to talk to him about that." Pengfei's smile faltered.

"A talk?" The tree line exploded. Mike came through face-first, hit a root, and went down hard in the dirt. When he pushed himself up, Leo saw his face. Bloody. Bruised. One eye swelling shut. His robes were torn in three places, and twigs stuck out of his hair at angles that suggested violent impact with multiple trees.

"Leo!" Mike wheezed.

"I'm sorry I'm late..." He gestured vaguely at the forest behind him. Leo stared. The workers stared. Qin Pengfei stared.

"Senior Brother." One of the lackeys tugged at Pengfei's sleeve. His voice had gone very small.

"Did he..."

"What?" Leo held up his hands.

"No, I..." Pengfei took a step back.

"You..." His face had gone pale.

"You did this to your own subordinate?""'I didn't touch him." Leo turned to Mike.

"Mike! Tell them I didn't hit you." Mike was too busy groaning to respond. The laborers exchanged glances. One of them leaned toward another and whispered something. Leo caught the words "teaching a lesson" and "deserved it."

"I can hear you," Leo said. The laborer went very still, then turned back to his station. Within seconds, the crowd disappeared. Nobody wanted to be caught slacking when the big boss had come.

"Senior Brother." A lackey whispered loudly.

"I heard his flying sword contains T5 forbidden formations. They say he leveled Crimson Lotus City alone." Leo's head snapped toward him. The lackey flinched. Leo hadn't destroyed Crimson Lotus City. Lord Shattervow had destroyed Crimson Lotus City. He was tired of this nonsense where everyone blamed him for everything.

"I'm going to have a talk with Ironhorn too," Leo muttered.

"This has to stop." The clearing went quiet. Everyone in earshot simultaneously stopped breathing. Qin Pengfei's fan slipped from his fingers.

"You..." His voice came out strangled.

"You would threaten Lord Ironhorn?"

"I said talk," Leo said.

"I said I was going to talk to him." The color drained from Pengfei's face. He turned to his lackeys. The lackeys turned to each other.

"The rumors," one of them breathed.

"They're all true."

"This one..." Pengfei's voice cracked. He cleared his throat and straightened.

"This one refuses to let you brutalize his brothers as you have brutalized your own!"

"I didn't brutalize..."

"We shall withdraw!" Pengfei grabbed his lackeys by their collars and began backing toward the tree line.

"But know this, Leo Chen! The Heavenstone Sect does not forget! We shall return when..." He bumped into a tree.

"... when circumstances are more favorable!" They fled. Leo watched them go. Then he turned to look at Mike, who had managed to sit up and was now picking twigs out of his hair.

"Mike." Leo crouched beside him.

"You need to tell everyone what actually happened." Mike paused mid-twig.

"What?"

"Tell them I didn't beat you up." Leo gestured at the laborers, who were trying to look productive and busy.

"Tell them you did this to yourself."

"Sure." Mike raised his voice.

"Everyone! I want you to know that Leo didn't do this to me! I did this to myself! By accident!" The laborers paused. They looked at Mike's face. The blood. The bruises. The eye swollen nearly shut. They looked at Leo. They went back to work faster than before.