abnabooks Chapter 135 The Reward at Dingjun Mountain: The "Roll Call" in the Night Fog
Chapter 135 The Reward at Dingjun Mountain: The "Roll Call" in the Night Fog
Chapter 136 The Reward at Dingjun Mountain: The "Roll Call" in the Night Fog
In the night in Tianjin, the salty wind from the Haihe River, carrying the chill of early spring, seeped straight into people's collars.
The back alley of the Chinese Theatre is a narrow, cramped dead-end alley.
Normally filled with coal ash and swill buckets, it was so quiet now that there wasn't even a stray cat in sight.
"Whoosh!" A black shadow, as elusive as a ghost, slid out of the inconspicuous little ventilation window on the second floor, like a weightless leaf.
He twisted his body strangely in mid-air, lightly touched the moss-covered brick wall with his toes, and then, like a huge swift, landed in the shadows deep in the alley.
Not a speck of dust was stirred up.
It was Lu Cheng, dressed in black for nighttime.
He leaned against the cold, blue brick wall, listening to the deafening noise and furious roars of the Japanese soldiers from the grand theater just a wall away, a mocking smile appearing on his lips.
Just then, the void in his mind trembled.
The familiar, ancient, golden characters, carrying an air of vigorous strength and overwhelming power, slowly emerged.
[Current Performance: Dingjun Mountain]
[Character: Veteran General Huang Zhong]
[Commentary: "An old general on the battlefield is worth two men. He remains unmoved even when Mount Tai collapses before him, and his voice doesn't tremble even when a foreign gun is pointed at his head. He repels the enemy with his righteous spirit, and preserves his integrity even with the power of the stage. He doesn't retreat until the play is over. This is the spirit of a national hero, the backbone of a great general!"]
[Overall Rating: Top Grade (Remained calm under pressure, intimidated the enemy)]
[Reward Received:]
【1. Ultimate Skill: Divine Arm Bow - Sharpshooting from Hundreds of Pace!】
(Note: General Huang Zhong was skilled at drawing a double-stone bow, hitting the target every time. This is the ultimate method of using concealed weapons and finger strength. Once mastered, the tendons in both arms become like a fully drawn bow, and the ten fingers become like springs. Within a hundred paces, even flying flowers and plucked leaves can pierce through metal and stone.)
【2. Passive Talent: Everlasting Youth】
(Note: It provides continuous and inexhaustible Qi and blood, greatly enhancing physical recovery speed, allowing one to maintain peak combat power even after three days and three nights of intense fighting. It also has a strong suppressive and self-healing effect on hidden injuries and toxins.)
"With the distribution of the reward, Lu Cheng felt his arms suddenly sink."
From shoulder to fingertips, two large tendons looked as if they had been forcibly stretched and tempered.
The feeling was unbearably tingling and numb, yet it was also full of explosive power.
He subconsciously stretched out his right hand and made a pinching motion in the air.
"Thud!"
Between his finger bones, a crisp metallic sound, like the bolt of an old Mauser rifle being pulled, was produced.
At the same time, a gentle, persistent warmth welled up in his chest.
The slight fatigue from singing and performing on stage and forcibly suppressing the burst of energy was swept away in a few breaths.
"What a master archer!"
A glint of gold flashed in Lu Cheng's eyes as he pulled out three copper coins from a hidden pocket beside his leg.
The ordinary ten-cash copper coin gleamed faintly in the dim moonlight.
"Since you guys like playing with guns so much."
Lu Cheng's gaze pierced through the darkness of the alley and looked at the main street outside, which had been blocked off by the Japanese military police.
"Then tonight, I'll show you what a gun that doesn't use gunpowder is."
"Quickly, block off all the roads! He can't have gone far!"
On the street, squads of Japanese military police in khaki uniforms, carrying glaring flashlights and leading barking dogs, darted around like headless flies.
The Japanese major who had just suffered a major setback in the private box on the second floor of the theater was now standing next to a sidecar motorcycle, his beard trembling with anger.
"You bastards! You can't even keep an eye on one of the opera singers among hundreds of people. You've completely disgraced the Imperial Japanese Army."
The major drew his command sword and slammed it hard against the nearby telephone pole, sending sparks flying.
"Search! Search every house, even if you have to turn this entire concession upside down, find that Lu Cheng, dead or alive."
Just as he was roaring.
A wisp of night fog, blown in from the Haihe River, enveloped the entire street.
The spring fog in Tianjin is as thick as milk; you can't see a person more than ten steps away.
The pale yellow glow of the streetlights shrank into blurry patches of light in the fog.
"Woof, woof!"
A German Shepherd that had been sniffing the air suddenly bristled as if it had seen a ghost. Its fur stood on end, it tucked its tail between its legs, and desperately tried to shrink behind the Japanese soldier who was holding the dog, whimpering.
"What's going on?!" The Japanese soldier was taken aback and pulled the bolt of his rifle.
A sharp yet subtle whooshing sound came from the depths of the thick fog.
There was no fire, no smoke.
The Japanese soldier felt a slight chill between his brows.
"Pfft."
A ten-cash copper coin, carrying a terrifying spiraling drilling force, sliced open his skull and embedded itself deeply between his eyebrows.
Not even a drop of blood had a chance to spurt out.
The Japanese soldier's eyes instantly lost their luster, and his body fell straight backward, crashing onto the bluestone slab with a "bang".
"Enemy attack!!!"
The soldiers nearby were terrified. They yelled at the top of their lungs and blindly fired their Type 38 rifles into the thick fog.
"Bang bang bang bang."
The bullets struck the brick walls on both sides, sending sparks flying, but they didn't hit a single ghost.
"Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!"
From within the thick fog, that piercing shriek, like the call of death, echoed once more.
This time, there are three.
"Pfft! Pfft! Pfft!"
Almost simultaneously, three Japanese soldiers who were firing wildly all had a burst of blood erupt from their Adam's apples.
They threw down their guns, clutched their throats which had been cut open by the copper coins, and gasped for breath. Their knees buckled, and they collapsed to their knees in a pool of blood.
"No firing indiscriminately. Take cover and find cover."
The major was so frightened that he quickly shrank behind the sidecar motorcycle, took out his pistol, and looked in terror into the thick fog by the light of his flashlight.
"Who is it?! Show yourself!"
There was a deathly silence all around.
The only sounds were the sound of blood flowing on the bluestone slabs and the twitching of the soldiers who were not quite dead.
Thick fog rolled in.
A tall and upright figure emerged slowly from the depths of the mist, as if taking a leisurely stroll.
He had changed from his moon-white long robe to black clothes for night travel, but his profound and imposing demeanor could not be concealed.
Lu Cheng.
His hands hung naturally at his sides, with a few copper coins between his fingertips.
"You—are you a human or a ghost?"
The major looked at Lu Cheng, who was unharmed, and then at his subordinates on the ground who had been killed without even seeing what the enemy looked like. His mental defenses completely collapsed.
"I said that."
Lu Cheng's voice came through the thick fog, ethereal yet clear as if it were right next to his ear.
"The play isn't over yet, the actors won't leave."
"Now, the curtain has fallen."
"I've come to see you off in your final moments."
Before he finished speaking, Lu Cheng flicked his wrist casually.
[Divine Arm Bow - A Hundred-Pace Piercing Arrow]!
Driven by the internal energy of the Grandmaster of Internal Energy, the copper coin's initial velocity actually exceeded the speed of sound.
"Bang!"
A visible white gas explosion ring suddenly appeared in the air.
The major only saw Lu Cheng's wrist twitch, and the next second, the Nambu Type 14 pistol in his hand broke in two with a clang.
A copper coin smashed through the steel barrel, and with its momentum, pierced through his right shoulder.
"ah!!!"
The major screamed, clutching his shoulder, and fell to the ground.
He stared blankly at the broken pistol lying on the ground.
Break the gun barrel with a copper coin?
Is this even within the reach of humankind?!
The remaining dozen or so Japanese military police had completely lost the will to resist.
In this thick fog, facing a living Yama who could kill from a distance and treated guns and cannons as nothing, they felt despair for the first time in their lives.
"Run! Run!"
Someone shouted something, and the remaining Japanese soldiers abandoned their armor and turned to run towards the main road.
"Can they escape?"
A cold glint flashed in Lu Cheng's eyes.
He used the Ghostly Shadow Step, his figure transforming into a black lightning bolt, instantly cutting into the fleeing soldiers.
No more hidden weapons were used.
For a master of transformation, every inch of his skin and every bone is the most deadly weapon.
"Bang! Crack!"
Lu Cheng weaved through the crowd.
Xingyi Bengquan!
Bajiquan Iron Mountain Lean!
Every seemingly gentle touch was accompanied by the shattering of bones.
He was like a tiger charging into a pack, leaving chaos and destruction in his wake.
The Japanese soldiers who took his punches and kicks had no visible wounds on the surface, but their internal organs had already been shattered into mud by that penetrating force.
In less than ten breaths.
An entire squad of Japanese military police lay in this dark and damp alley.
Annihilated!
Lu Cheng stopped in his tracks.
He was perfectly clean, and even his breathing was not disturbed in the slightest.
His passive talent, "Eternal Youth," kept his blood and energy flowing endlessly. This amount of exercise was barely even a warm-up. He slowly walked up to the major who was still groaning in pain on the ground.
"You—the Great Japanese Empire will not let you get away with this—" The major's face was deathly pale, and he cursed with venomous eyes.
"Yeah?"
Lu Cheng looked at him coldly and raised one foot.
"Go back and tell your Amaterasu Omikami that this land is called China."
"Thump!"
He stomped down.
The major's chest collapsed instantly, and his heart was shattered.
The sound stopped abruptly in the summer.
Lu Cheng didn't look at the rotting corpse again, then turned and disappeared into the thick fog.
Direction—Haihe Wharf.
Tianjin, French Concession, Dagu Road Wharf.
At the dock late at night, only a few dim yellow floodlights swept across the river.
A French-flagged riverboat is quietly moored beside the pier.
The boiler was already heated, and white smoke was billowing from the chimney, ready to set sail at any moment.
This ship was personally arranged by Yuan Baye, the underground king of Tianjin.
The atmosphere on the pier was extremely tense.
Shunzi and Lu Feng, along with dozens of members of the Qingyun Troupe and four veteran masters including Liu Wenhua who had been rescued, were anxiously waiting at the bow of the ship.
"Master Shun, it's been almost half an hour, why hasn't Master Lu arrived yet?"
One of the Green Gang leaders in charge of the rendezvous was sweating profusely, constantly glancing at Ling Li Huai.
"The Japanese concession is in complete chaos! Large numbers of military police are conducting a thorough search of the Haihe River. If we don't leave soon, and the water police patrol boats block our way, our entire ship will be fed to turtles!"
Shunzi gripped a large cleaver tightly, his eyes wide like copper bells, staring intently at the streets of the concession shrouded in thick fog.
"Shut up."
Shunzi growled, his voice trembling.
"My master said he would come, and he definitely will."
"Nobody's going to set sail until they see my master."
Lu Feng was even more decisive, drawing his single-edged sword from his waist and placing it across the gangplank of the pier, like a lone wolf protecting its cubs. Anyone who dared to take a step closer would have their throat snapped.
Supported by several apprentices, old man Liu Wenhua sighed.
"A true hero, they are all heroes."
"Brother Lu has sacrificed himself for us, venturing into danger all alone. If we abandon him and run away, would we even be human?"
Just then.
"Sound—!"
A piercing siren blared from afar, and several blinding beams of car headlights tore through the thick fog, heading straight for the dock.
"Oh no, the Japanese military police are coming after us."
The Green Gang's underling turned pale with fright.
Three trucks filled with Japanese military police suddenly braked outside the dock.
A hundred fully armed soldiers jumped off the vehicle, rifles with broken bayonets, and charged toward the pier like wolves.
"Baka! There they are! Surround them!"
A Japanese lieutenant, brandishing a dagger, pointed at the fireship and roared.
"Damn it, let's fight them!"
Shunzi's eyes were bloodshot. He roared and was about to grab his knife and smash it to pieces.
"Wait a moment."
Suddenly, a bland, uneventful sound rang out in the empty, desolate dock.
Everyone was stunned.
Shunzi and Lu Feng were startled and turned around abruptly.
Behind the three Japanese trucks, the thick sea fog was dispersed by a night breeze.
A figure dressed in black, with a tall and straight posture like a pine tree, had appeared there at some point.
With his back to the Haihe River, his two orders clasped behind his back, he quietly watched the hundred or so Japanese military police.
"Master."
"Brother Lu."
The people on the wrecked ship burst into shouts.
The Japanese lieutenant also noticed the strangeness behind him and turned around abruptly.
When he saw that young face without any disguise, Tong Kong's eyes instantly constricted to the extreme.
"It's that actor, Lu Cheng! Fire! Fire now!"
"With a clatter, hundreds of Type 38 rifles turned their muzzles in unison and aimed at Lu Cheng."
Lu Cheng did not dodge.
He didn't even use the "movie fan tracking" feature.
He simply raised his right hand slowly, extending his index and middle fingers.
"In Beiping, I used a big gun."
"In Tianjin, I'll teach you a new rule."
"Om one!"
Lu Cheng swung his right command stick sharply.
[Divine Arm Bow - A Hundred-Pace Piercing Arrow]!
This time, it wasn't three.
It is a...
The dozen or so copper coins meant for buying plain noodles were transformed into a deadly metal storm under the terrifying wrist and finger strength of the Grandmaster.
"Bang bang bang bang!"
More than a dozen white gas explosion clouds burst open in the air.
Those dozen or so copper coins moved at an extreme speed, too fast for the naked eye to perceive; one could only see a dozen or so distorted afterimages streaking through the air.
"Pfft! Pfft! Pfft!"
The dozen or so Japanese military police officers at the forefront didn't even have a chance to fire.
Blood burst forth from their foreheads, throats, and hearts.
That fragile body, before these copper coins carrying terrifying kinetic energy, was like paper, pierced straight through.
"ah!!!"
Screams echoed through the night sky.
one move!
More than a dozen people died instantly.
The Japanese lieutenant was terrified.
He looked at the fallen soldiers beside him, and at the man who hadn't even moved a step, and felt a chill creep up from the depths of his soul.
"Monster—he is a monster."
Lu Cheng did not stop the order.
As he walked forward, he wiped his hands on his sleeves and waist.
Locust stones, copper coins, and even pebbles picked up from the ground.
Once it reaches his command, it becomes the most deadly sniper rifle in the world.
"Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!"
Lu Cheng strolled leisurely, and with each step he took, several sharp sounds of air being cut rang out.
With each whistling sound, several Japanese soldiers fell.
Blood stained the concrete of the dock.
This was a one-sided massacre.
It is an art that takes the "accuracy" and "ruthlessness" of the Grandmaster of Transformation to the extreme.
By the time Lu Cheng reached the pier, more than half of the hundreds of Japanese military police who had initially appeared menacing had fallen.
The remaining dozens of people suffered a complete mental breakdown.
Crying and screaming, they fled in all directions like madmen.
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