The two of them soon exited the East City Gate and walked for another two miles or so before Luo Jiang stopped. "You can go now. I wish you a long life."
"Many thanks, Great Immortal! Thank you for sparing my life!" The scrawny old man bowed repeatedly to Luo Jiang. Once he saw Luo Jiang walk away, he waited until Luo Jiang had blended in with the crowd entering the city before turning and scurrying off.
Luo Jiang did not enter the city. He purposely dawdled, following the crowd, but once he saw the scrawny old man depart, he turned around and left as well. He had left a trail of spiritual imprint on the old man, so there was no need to worry about him escaping.
He could sense the imprint moving and stopping intermittently, sometimes even doubling back. *This damn old man is quite cunning,* he thought to himself. *He’s clearly worried about me following him.*
More than two hours later, as the sky began to darken, the spiritual imprint finally started moving quickly toward the northeast corner.
"The old man has pretty good footwork; he can still run this well at his age." Sensing the speed of the imprint, Luo Jiang guessed the old man was using a movement technique. While it couldn't compare to his Wind-Riding Technique, it was several times faster than an ordinary person’s running speed.
Luo Jiang was in no hurry. He gripped two spirit stones, cultivating as he walked, following the old man’s route. By the middle of the night, the moving imprint finally came to a halt.
After another half-hour or so, the imprint began to move again, though only within a very small range. By the time dawn approached, the imprint moved once more.
Feeling the imprint heading his way, Luo Jiang noticed a small mound nearby, ducked behind it, and waited for the old man to arrive.
As the first ray of sunlight appeared in the east, Luo Jiang saw the scrawny old man driving a horse-drawn carriage loaded with firewood. Beneath the wood, in the carriage bed, were six large wooden crates. Two of them were filled with large gold bars—at least two or three hundred of them. Three others contained jewelry and jade, and the last was filled with neatly stacked, sealed rolls of silver dollars, all covered by a canvas tarp.
The scrawny old man had two M1911 pistols tucked into his waist, and a small box filled with ammunition sat on the carriage shaft.
He looked like an old man coming into the city to sell firewood, but the depth of the carriage's ruts in the road revealed the heavy cargo he was carrying—hardly the weight of mere firewood.
"Where did this damn old man get a carriage? It looks like there's quite a haul here. It’s perfect that he's delivered it to me without me having to put in the effort. It’s time for you to go join your partners."
Luo Jiang thought to himself as he activated the spiritual power he had left inside the old man.
With a dull thud, the old man collapsed headlong from the carriage.
Luo Jiang emerged from behind the small hill, tossed the firewood off the carriage with a wave of his hand, and revealed the tarp. With another wave, he gathered the tarp and the six large wooden crates into his ring.
Minutes later, Luo Jiang drove the carriage—now filled with firewood—toward the city, leaving behind a pile of ash that was quickly scattered by a gentle breeze.
Less than an hour into the journey, he heard the sound of motorcycles on the road ahead, followed by the roar of truck engines.
Luo Jiang quickly steered the carriage to the side of the road, intending to kill the Japanese soldiers once their motorcycles drew near. But just as he stepped down from the carriage, he heard gunfire erupt in front of him.
"Bang! Bang! Bang!"
"Rat-tat-tat-tat!"
"Boom! Boom! Boom!" The sound of grenade explosions followed immediately.
"Ambush! Prepare for combat!" a Japanese voice shouted.
Luo Jiang quickly pulled out his rifle and sprinted toward the sound of the gunfire.
Rounding a bend, he saw a group of people on a small hill by the roadside firing at the road, some throwing grenades at the trucks. Two motorcycles had already been overturned, with several Japanese corpses lying on the ground. A truck was tilted to the side of the road, and a dozen Japanese soldiers were scrambling for cover to return fire.
Just as it seemed the Japanese were about to be finished off, the sound of more engines came from afar. Five trucks sped toward them, and the machine gunners on the hoods began firing at the hill.
The moment Luo Jiang saw the reinforcements, he realized this was a Japanese trap: using the motorcycles and the first truck as bait to lure the guerrilla force out before ambushing them with reinforcements.
He raised his rifle and fired at the lead driver. "Bang!" A flower of blood bloomed on the driver's chest. Instinctively, the driver slammed on the brakes.
The truck jerked to a violent halt. The machine gunner and the soldiers on board were thrown about by the inertia, heads crashing into metal, some even being tossed from the vehicle. The truck behind it couldn't stop in time and slammed into the rear, bringing it to a standstill as well, filled with the screams of injured soldiers.
The remaining three trucks stopped in time. The soldiers jumped out and, under the command of a Japanese lieutenant, began to flank the hill.
Seeing this, Luo Jiang knew the resistance fighters couldn't withstand the Japanese assault. Not wanting to let the Japanese annihilate them, he immediately used his Wind-Riding Technique. With a few leaps, he landed in the middle of the Japanese troops. His spiritual short sword, fueled by his spiritual power, flared with a blade of energy over five feet long. A single swing severed the bodies of more than thirty soldiers.
After two more swings of the spiritual short sword, the remaining Japanese soldiers were all dead. The last one, a lieutenant, stood frozen. Having never seen anyone kill like this—it was simply too fast—he stood rooted to the spot, clutching his command sword, unable to move a muscle.
Luo Jiang saw the lieutenant dazed and, without a second thought, flicked his hand, sending an invisible blade of energy to sever the man’s neck.
He walked over, picked up the lieutenant’s command sword to examine it, then reached out and snatched the watch from the man’s wrist.
"You bull-nosed little Taoist, you can already project sword energy? How did you cultivate that?"
The Little Monk Xingshan ran over. He had been with the guerrilla force ambushing the Japanese, never expecting it to be a trap. If Luo Jiang hadn't intervened, their losses would have been catastrophic.
Watching from the hill as Luo Jiang decimated the Japanese with his short sword—the blade of light over five feet long—he was completely awestruck. He hurried down from the hill to meet him.
"So it’s the little bald donkey, Xingshan. Why are you here? This sword isn't bad; take it. I’m off to the city to buy grain, and there’s a carriage over there—you can have that too."
Seeing the ambushers approaching, Luo Jiang had no desire to interact with them. He tossed the Japanese command sword to the little monk and turned to sprint away.
"Hey, hey, hey! Don't go, bull-nosed little Taoist!" The little monk shouted as he saw Luo Jiang leave.
"Little Master Xingshan, is that the young Taoist from the Tianyun Taoist Temple? We’re lucky he helped us today, otherwise we would have been in real trouble."
"Yes! That’s the bull-nosed little Taoist. I didn't expect him to be able to manifest sword energy already. It seems I need to work harder, or he’s going to leave me further and further behind."
Little Monk Xingshan muttered to himself, offering only a perfunctory reply to Captain Liu Haidong, his mind lost in deep thought.
Captain Liu didn't disturb him. He didn't understand much about martial arts and had no time to train, preoccupied as he was with growing his force and scrounging for more weapons and ammunition.
He turned to direct his men to finish clearing the battlefield, set fire to the trucks they couldn't take with them, and led his force away.
Luo Jiang re-entered Beiping City and returned to the quadrangle courtyard in Willow Alley. While finalizing the property deed, he had learned that this two-courtyard compound was indeed located there.
He was now a man of property. Having a two-courtyard compound in Beiping City meant he had a place to stay whenever he came to the city, sparing him from wandering the streets.
Inside the courtyard, he tidied up the other rooms, packing away everything except the furniture, planning to take the items outside the city to burn. If the Japanese came to inspect the property and found clothing or other items in unoccupied rooms, it would only lead to troublesome questions.
He claimed the main room for himself, cooked a meal in the adjacent kitchen, and once full, returned to his bedroom. He placed a spirit stone to set up a spirit-gathering array and sat cross-legged to cultivate.
When the sky turned dark, he opened his eyes and checked his watch—it was past six. He lit an oil lamp, went back to the kitchen to heat up the leftovers from lunch, and after a full meal, drank a cup of hot water.
Seeing it was seven-thirty in the evening, he prepared to set out. He had originally intended to deal with those high-ranking Japanese officials yesterday, but the business with the scrawny old man had delayed him. He would just have to finish it tonight.