After his master and senior fellow apprentices left, Luo Jiang practiced martial arts every morning, chopped wood and hunted on the mountain, and sat in meditation at night. He followed the inner cultivation formula his master had taught him, though he had yet to generate any inner force. After a few days passed in this manner, Luo Jiang gradually grew accustomed to living alone.
One day, while chopping wood deep in the mountains, he caught a wild rabbit in a trap and found five pheasant eggs. Happy, he shouldered his firewood and carried the rabbit, looking forward to a hearty meal when he returned.
Just as he reached the halfway point, he saw thick smoke and flames rising from the direction of the Taoist temple. Fearing that the temple was on fire, he abandoned his firewood and ran down the mountain as fast as he could.
Over half an hour later, Luo Jiang reached the back hill of the temple, only to realize the temple itself was safe. The fire was actually in a village located beyond two small hills. This realization brought him a measure of relief.
Even so, he felt compelled to check on the village, which was known as Liugezhuang. It had a population of three to four hundred, and the villagers often came to the temple seeking medical help for their illnesses and injuries.
The Taoist temple offered knowledge in many areas: medicine, divination, feng shui, Bagua, talismans, Yin-Yang and the Five Elements, astronomy, geography, and martial arts. Whenever the nearby villagers suffered from common ailments or felt troubled by supernatural occurrences, they would come to the temple to worship the Three Pure Ones and seek healing. The uncle and senior apprentices at the temple would treat them and drive away evil spirits, never asking for payment. Because of this, Tianyun Taoist Temple was held in high esteem by the locals. The villagers would often show their gratitude by bringing local produce or game, and the temple accepted whatever they offered without complaint. Even those who were too poor to bring gifts were treated just the same.
When he arrived at Liugezhuang, he was stunned by the sight before him. Houses were burned to shells, and dozens of corpses lay scattered across the village streets. Among the dead, he recognized Grandma Liu, Grandma Zhang, Old Man Wang, and Old Man Li. He also spotted the bodies of over a dozen children, including Gou Dan’er, Little Shitou, Da Niu, Er Dan, and Chou Huo.
These victims had all been struck in vital areas, bearing bloody holes that his experience told him were caused by bayonets and bullets. The blood had long since drained from their bodies, leaving dark, stagnant pools on the ground.
"Who did this? Which bastard committed such an atrocity? They are nothing but animals—even children and the elderly were spared no mercy!"
"Is anyone still alive? Say something!"
Luo Jiang shouted in grief and rage, searching the entire village, but he found no survivors. The houses had collapsed, and even the well in the center of the village was choked with over a dozen bodies, nearly filled to the brim.
The carnage was unbearable. His voice grew hoarse from calling out, but not a single soul remained. Realizing they were all dead, he knew he couldn't leave them exposed to the elements, lest they trigger an epidemic. He found a shovel in one of the houses and dug a large pit in a hollow outside the village, dragging the bodies of the villagers into it.
While moving the bodies, he noticed a scarcity of young men and women—only a dozen or so were among the dead. He couldn't tell if they had escaped or been taken away. He didn't dwell on the question, wanting only to lay the villagers to rest. He worked until sunset before finally burying them.
After burying the villagers, Luo Jiang recited the Sutra of Rebirth and other scriptures, vowing to avenge them. He then dragged his exhausted body back to the temple.
In the days that followed, Luo Jiang was haunted by nightmares of the corpses, often waking up in a cold sweat. This drove him to train even harder, determined to master his skills so he could track down the killers and seek vengeance. Every night before sleep, he would recite the Cleansing Heart Mantra to find peace.
Through his persistent efforts, several days later while meditating, he finally felt a sliver of inner force rise within his Dantian. Overjoyed, he followed the inner cultivation formula his master had imparted, directing this trace of inner force to flow through his meridians and acupuncture points.
After one complete cycle, his whole body felt incredibly refreshed. Thrilled, he stood up and practiced his boxing, feeling significantly more powerful than before.
In the days that followed, he combined his martial arts training with his inner cultivation, even attempting to use his inner force to enhance his ability to chop wood and hunt. He discovered that the inner force not only made the wood-chopping less strenuous but also allowed him to approach game silently. With his newfound power, his daily chores became effortless, and his diet improved as he was able to secure meat every day.
Nourished by the meat, his body grew strong. He could now carry a hundred pounds of firewood all the way from the mountain in one go, without feeling tired or needing to slow his pace. This further motivated him to practice his inner cultivation, and he extended his nightly meditation sessions, running several cycles before resting. The next day, he would return to the mountain full of vigor.
Another half-month passed, and a biting north wind blew all night. He knew winter was coming. His woodshed was stocked with enough fuel to last the season, and he had plenty of game, but his grain and salt were running low. He decided to head to the city to replenish his supplies.
The next morning, he took several silver dollars, tucked a short sword into his waistband, shouldered a basket, and set out from the temple toward Beiping City.
He had accompanied his senior apprentices to Beiping City several times before, so he wasn't worried about getting lost. Once off the mountain, seeing the wilderness deserted, he unleashed his lightness skill and dashed toward the city. Since developing his inner force, he had practiced the "treading on snow without a trace" lightness skill in the mountains, finding that even rugged paths felt like level ground.
As the inner force in his Dantian grew more robust, his lightness skill became faster and his leaps higher—what was once a one-meter jump had now become a leap of over three meters.
Tianyun Taoist Temple was about a hundred miles from Beiping City. In the past, when he traveled with his seniors, they would leave at dawn and not return until sunset; by the end of the trip, he would be so exhausted that his seniors had to take turns carrying him. Sometimes, if they were lucky, villagers with horse carts would offer them a ride. The villagers, knowing they were Taoists from Tianyun Taoist Temple, were always hospitable, but his seniors, for the sake of their own cultivation, would refuse and insist that only he take the cart.
Two hours later, feeling his inner force depleting, Luo Jiang slowed down, switching to a steady pace while running his cultivation formula to restore his energy. By noon, he caught sight of the city walls of Beiping in the distance. Another half-hour of walking brought him to a checkpoint on the main road. On both sides, machine guns were mounted on sandbags, and a dozen soldiers in mustard-yellow uniforms stood guard, checking those entering the city.
Among them were two short soldiers, barely over 1.4 meters tall—slightly taller than him—with sturdy, robust builds. They wore steel helmets and held rifles tipped with bayonets. On their belts were two leather pouches about three inches in size.
Luo Jiang had never seen such soldiers or equipment before. However, he recognized the Hanyang-made rifles carried by the other soldiers, having seen plenty of them among the Red Army ranks.
As the villagers reached the checkpoint, they were searched. When one man was found carrying a wood-chopping knife, he quickly explained, "Commander, I’m just a woodcutter from a nearby village, not a guerrilla."
"Just leave the knife here; you can have it back when you leave," the soldier searching him said, ready to let him pass. But the two short soldiers suddenly roared, "Baka! Die!"
Before the words had faded, one of the short soldiers thrust his bayonet into the villager's chest.
"Pfft!" The sound of the blade piercing flesh echoed.
"Ah..." The villager screamed, blood gushing from his chest as he collapsed and began to convulse.
"Run! The devils are killing again!" the people in line screamed, scattering in all directions.
Luo Jiang, standing in line, witnessed the scene. Upon hearing the shouts, he realized these short soldiers were the Japanese invaders—the "devils." Recalling his master and seniors had gone down the mountain to fight them, and seeing them kill so indiscriminately, his anger boiled over. With a sudden burst of speed, he drew his short sword.
A flash of white light streaked through the air. The devil soldier's throat was slashed, and blood sprayed forth. With a dull thud, the soldier collapsed, dropping his rifle. He clutched his throat, gasped for a few moments, and then fell still.
"Baka Yaro!" Seeing his companion killed by a boy, the other Japanese soldier shouted and charged with his rifle.
Before he could even take a step, Luo Jiang arrived, his short sword slicing through the second soldier's throat.
"Bang! Bang!" Two gunshots rang out. Two bullets grazed Luo Jiang's scalp, shattering the hairpin holding his hair in place, leaving it to hang loose.
With his vision obscured by his hair, Luo Jiang sensed danger and immediately rolled on the ground. A dozen bullets whistled over his head.
"Bang, bang, bang..."
"Rat-tat-tat..."
Rifle and machine-gun fire rained down on his position. He felt a sharp pain in his left arm and realized he had been hit. Fortunately, his small frame and his timely rolling saved him from a fatal wound. Ignoring the pain, he peered through the curtain of his hair and saw he had rolled in front of the sandbags. The Japanese machine gunner was standing up, trying to track him down to finish him off.
A flash of white light from Luo Jiang's sword darted out, slashing the gunner’s calf.
"Ah!" The Japanese soldier shrieked. The sharp blade cut through his trousers, severed the flesh of his calf, and even sliced into the bone. In agony, the soldier dropped his machine gun, clutching his bleeding legs and wailing.
With a graceful, agile flip, Luo Jiang reached the soldier and, before he could react, pressed the short sword against his throat.
"Drop your guns! Or I'll kill him!" Luo Jiang stood up, holding the soldier hostage. The Japanese soldier was taller, providing a shield for Luo Jiang's body, though he was so badly injured he could barely stand.
Seeing their comrade held at knifepoint, the dozen puppet soldiers immediately threw down their weapons. The machine gunner on the other side of the road, seeing the puppet soldiers surrender, reluctantly threw away his machine gun and stood up from behind the sandbags.
Seeing that they had all disarmed, Luo Jiang walked toward the crowd of puppet soldiers, still holding the Japanese soldier. When he was just a few paces away, he slashed his sword across the hostage's throat, then immediately used his lightness skill to flash through the crowd. He drove his short sword into the chest of the other machine gunner, then employed his "Dragon-Roaming Steps," moving like lightning as his sword flashed repeatedly, cutting the throats of the puppet soldiers one after another.
"Thud! Thud..." In a matter of seconds, all dozen puppet soldiers were dead, clutching their throats as they fell to the ground.
He killed the puppet soldiers because he had seen them stand by indifferently while the Japanese soldiers slaughtered the villagers, showing no pity. Since they had chosen to be lackeys, they had to face the consequences.
Once the checkpoint was cleared, Luo Jiang searched the bodies. He quickly found a dozen silver dollars—likely stolen from the villagers—and stripped a wristwatch from one of the Japanese soldiers' wrists. He opened the leather pouches on the soldiers' belts and realized they were ammunition pouches.
Nearby, he found two wooden crates about half a meter wide. Expecting grenades, he opened them to find cans of food. Since he was short on supplies, he used the puppet soldiers' belts to strap the crates to his back.
Since the checkpoint was several miles from the city, the Japanese soldiers within Beiping couldn't see what was happening. As for the dozen gunshots, they were common enough in those times and didn't last long, so they failed to draw any attention.
Luo Jiang picked up one of the machine guns to inspect it. Not knowing the model or the type of ammunition it required, he tossed it aside. Instead, he grabbed two Japanese rifles and one Hanyang-made rifle, collected some ammunition, and finding he could still carry more, he picked up another machine gun, turned around, and headed back.