Chapter 3: Ambushed in Hexi

  Two months later, nearly two hundred soldiers of the special forces returned to the elite camp after failing the challenge, which greatly boosted the morale of the people in the elite camp and made the competitive atmosphere even more intense. Their training also became more proactive as they discovered that practicing internal skills made their strength greater and their reactions more agile. Wu Yu also successfully challenged another member of the special forces and returned to the special forces.

  Qin Hao's new recruits went through three months of training and finally passed the probation period, being transferred to Wujicheng to replace the elite camp soldiers.

  One afternoon, the sun was setting in the west, the sky was a deep blue, and there were a few flat grey clouds drifting across the horizon. There wasn't a single bird flying in the air, only the hot and humid wind. The trees and grass stood listlessly on the ground, occasionally swaying gently in the breeze before drooping again, waiting desperately for a savior to arrive. The late afternoon of a summer day was an unbearable moment.

  "Damn it! How did I end up bringing troops here to Wujij at this time!" Qin Hao cursed loudly as he rode his horse, turning his head to glance at the soldiers who were drenched in sweat and looked exhausted, their faces wooden. "We're just ahead of Wujij! Get some spirit into you!"

  Qin Hao led five thousand soldiers to escort the new weapon to Wujicheng. Fortunately, those heavy guys had carts to pull them, and Lei Ming's cart used an advanced pulley system. The repaired road was very smooth to walk on, and the cows didn't tire easily. However, when going downhill, someone still needed to control the brake, as it wasn't yet possible to achieve self-regulation of speed.

  They trudged on for another five or six kilometers under the scorching sun and finally arrived at the outskirts of Wujicheng when the sun was setting, where they were greeted by the entire Elite Corps in formation - of course, only they knew what this welcome was really about.

  After a pleasant handover ceremony, Yang Tian led the elite camp and special forces to head east on the third morning after Qin Hao's arrival. These soldiers had already practiced their martial arts skills and were now ready for actual combat; it was up to each individual to hone their skills further. Now, he was taking them to the mountains to train in new tactics, specifically strong and swift surprise attacks, and also planned to visit Yang Village along the way.

  As they are now considered martial artists, they walked much faster and by the afternoon, they arrived at the valley where the mountain was set on fire last year.

  Looking at the still lush valley, everyone involuntarily stopped to reminisce: If it weren't for meeting Lei Meng and Yang Tian joining the army back then, cleverly devising a plan, and being extremely brave, perhaps by that time they would have already returned home in spirit. There wouldn't have been the twists and turns of later entering Huatian, nor the development of the current four cities of Bairen. Not to mention becoming second or third-rate masters, becoming elite troops training in the wilderness.

  Yang Tian was thinking: If he had participated in the Jin Yuan army and lost, perhaps his spirit would have been crushed and he wouldn't have had the idea of joining the military and leading troops into battle again. Unfortunately, he and Lei Ming, although having some setbacks along the way, still managed to stand firm on this land and began to transform the world, not in vain for their mistaken arrival. However, whether this transformation is beneficial to private interests or to the people is hard to say, because powerful technology without matching ideology can easily be misused and lead to the destruction of civilization...

  The weeds had already grown into small trees, and from a distance, they looked like sparse green hair on the mountain; the unburied corpses, having been scorched by fire, had long since become brittle, and were weathered into white powder, hiding among tree roots and in thickets of grass, difficult to find. Is this what it means for the wheel of time to crush all things?

  Yang Tian sighed and ordered the whole army to advance.

  After leaving the valley, they rested on the spot because they were about to welcome special training: night march!

  Yang Tian divided the 2,000 elite soldiers evenly among Zhang Shan's four commanders, requiring them to train in the nearby mountains and forests according to plan, hiding during the day and emerging at night, launching surprise attacks...

  And he himself led a thousand special troops all the way east, he wanted to go back and visit Yangjia Village, as well as that mine.

  Yang Tian trained the special forces team in a relaxed manner, sweeping away the wild beasts in the forest as they headed east. Because their dry rations were limited, they had to rely on themselves for replenishment - and this was also one of the wilderness survival training projects.

  Three days later, they reached Yangjia Village. Yang Tian did not dare to let the main force enter the village, fearing that it would scare them away. So he ordered the special warfare team to ambush in the mountains and forests, and he took only Wu Mi and Liu San into the village.

  From far away, the sound of a dog barking in the village came: "Woof! Woof!"

  It seems that this dog is more vigilant than humans. Under the slanting sun, the village has not changed much, and it seems that they are still living relatively peacefully.

  Yang Tian walked a bit closer, looking at the familiar courtyard just fifty meters away, his heart racing with excitement: this house was still alive, someone was taking care of it, yeah, good, Old Man Yang was still around...

  He hastily caught up with two steps and suddenly heard a low sigh: "Alas, Yang Tian and Lei Ming these two children have not had any news, don't know how they are..."

  "I'm telling you, Iron Old Man, stop sighing all day long, it's annoying me to death!" a young man shouted impatiently. "My master is highly skilled in martial arts and is clever and brave, what problems could he possibly have? Just look at how powerful I am now, isn't that so?"

  Yang Tian waved his hand to stop Liu San, and he quietly slipped out of the courtyard gate, poking his head in from the side to take a look. He saw Yang Erwu wielding a Tang knife in the courtyard, making bold and powerful gestures as he practiced his moves. Old Man Yang was holding a piece of black ore in his hand, admiring it carefully.

  "Everyone is fine, it's all good!" Yang Tian's heart suddenly surged with excitement, and the corners of his eyes became moist. He gently wiped away the tears, then suddenly jumped out and exclaimed loudly: "Old Master, Second Uncle Wu, Yang Tian is back! Haha~" After finishing speaking, he stood at the gate of the courtyard, looking up at the sky and laughing loudly, imagining the two of them rushing over to hug him and cry.

  Who would have known, the two Wu Zis were scared and quickly withdrew their moves, holding their swords horizontally to defend against the newcomer, sizing them up from head to toe. Yang Lao Tou was shocked and turned his head towards the courtyard gate, how did someone suddenly appear? It seems that he's gotten old, and doesn't even know when someone has arrived.

  Looking at the handsome young stranger in front of her, thinking about the village dog's sudden barking earlier, Erwu had a bad premonition and couldn't help but get angry. She glared at him and shouted: "Who are you? Why have you entered our Yang family village? Impersonating my master!"

  "How dare you! You don't even kneel down when you see your master!" Yang Tian was furious. This disciple had gone mad, and he still dared to question him loudly? The two years of commanding troops had given Yang Tian an intangible air of authority, and his angry gaze made Yang Erwu take a step back.

  Yang Erwu felt ashamed of his retreat and shouted with a red neck: "No! Not! My master is not so tall, nor so handsome!" After a pause, he shouted again, "Dare to impersonate my master again, I'll kill you!" After finishing speaking, he took a step forward, the knife tip pointing forward, as if one word was wrong and he would stab straight ahead.

  Old Yang stood up, took two steps forward, and grasped the shoulder of Yang Erwu with his right hand - this young man was too impulsive - his eyes fixed on the youth with a sword behind him. Although they were different in height, he still looked somewhat like Yang Tian, so he asked suspiciously: "Yang Tian?"

  Yang Tian nodded slightly, with tears welling up in the corners of his eyes.

  "It's really you, Yang Tian!" Old Man Yang threw away the ore in his left hand, "You've finally come back, kid!" As he spoke, he rushed over.

  Yang Tian took a big step forward, excitedly embracing the old man Yang who was rushing towards him. "Grandpa!..." he shouted, his voice choked with sobs. In Yang Tian's memory, he had never been loved and cared for like this before, his mouth agape but unable to speak, tears streaming down his face...

  "It's good that you're back, it's good that you're back" Old Man Yang said gently patting Yang Tian's back, "Good child, you've grown taller, Grandpa almost can't recognize you." Old Man Yang was also choked with emotion, his eyes welling up with tears.

  He slowly pushed open Yang Tian, carefully examined his handsome face, and then chuckled: "Hmm, grown up. It's about time to get married."

  Excitement was swept away by this sentence, Yang Tian scratched his head and said: "Heh heh, still young, still young."

  "What a handsome young man! Many people should be eager to be his matchmaker, haha!" Old Man Yang stroked his beard and laughed loudly.

  Yang Tian is a big troublemaker, if it weren't for his body still being underdeveloped now and affecting his cultivation, he would have caused harm to others long ago.

  Yang Erwu stared blankly at the two embracing each other, chattering away, and only came back to his senses when he noticed that the person's outline was indeed Yang Tian, his own master.

  Then he threw away his Tang knife and rushed towards Yang Tian, shouting loudly: "Master! You're finally back! I thought you were dead..."

  Behind them, the Second Martial Son couldn't come out because when Yang Tian saw the Second Martial Son pounce over, his heart no longer had excitement, only a chill. He dodged to the side and let Yang Erwu pounce into thin air.

  "Men teaching men is unclear, be more serious!" Yang Tian's face turned stern.

  Yang Erwu saw Yang Tian stop, and hastily went forward to grab Yang Tian's left sleeve with both hands, crying and sniffling: "After Master left, the apprentice held the Tang knife and thought of him, one day is like three autumns..."

  Yang Tian, who was coolly leaning against the courtyard wall, saw that the handprint he had left on the wall years ago was still there. The hole made by the thunderbolt had been repaired. Suddenly, he found that his sleeve was wet and discovered that Yang Erwu was wiping his nose and tears with his own sleeve.

  Yang Tianyun exerted his strength with his left hand, and with a flick, he shouted: "Get out! I've only got this one set of clothes, and you're going to get it dirty!"

  Yang Erwu stood still after being swung back, chuckled and said: "I was momentarily excited and didn't notice, didn't notice." He also felt very embarrassed.

  Old Man Yang was overjoyed to see that, since Yang Tian was fine, the even more powerful Lei Meng should also be safe.

  He invited Liu San and the two of them, Yang Tian entered the house drinking tea and chatting about happy things to tell Yang Lao and the two of them. After they were delighted, he solemnly asked: "I don't know if Grandpa is willing to follow us to Baihe, the living environment there is better, the facilities are more complete, and the residence is more comfortable."

  "Great, great!" Old Man Yang burst out laughing, "This old body of mine also has a day to enjoy itself, haha~"

  "Hehe, I finally have a chance to go out." Yang Erwu's eyebrows also rose with joy.

  The next day, Yang Tian ordered the special warfare team members to carry half a bag of ore each, and took Yang Lao and Yang Erwu towards Wujijiang.

  Lei Meng is still in Hexi City, he wants to guide those talents to work, according to his idea, advanced ideas improve the social environment here, not to mention benefiting all humanity, but at least let the people of these three cities live a happier life, and also make himself feel more comfortable.

  At night, he and Mr. Wen sat under the candlelight in the city master's council hall, chatting idly. Mr. Wen stroked his beard and laughed heartily: "Lei Meng, looking at the development of these three cities and listening to your words on governance, I truly feel that I have learned something new every morning and can die contentedly every evening."

  Lei Meng's slightly furrowed brow relaxed, and he smiled wryly: "Alas, I've made Mr. Wen laugh. But to change the environment here so quickly, I'm afraid it won't be an easy task." He knitted his brow again, continuing, "Lately, I've caught wind of some unusual scents; it seems like a lot more people have been pouring into Hexi City. I fear..."

  "Haha, that's what they admire about Hexi's development, they want to come here to broaden their horizons!" Mr. Wen burst out laughing, interrupting Leiming's words.

  Suddenly, the sound of "whooshing" arrows came from outside, and the outer wall of the meeting hall suddenly burst into flames. Sharp arrows also shot through the windows and flew into the hall.

  "Enemy attack!" Lei Meng and Mr. Wen stared at each other in shock, how did someone suddenly surround the place?

  Lei Meng raised his knife and was about to rush out, but turned back to see Mr. Wen angrily drawing out his newly paired steel sword - was he going to fight to the death? No way, his martial arts skills were too poor, first escape then talk.

  "Follow me!" Leiming raised his left hand, and the arrow shots that were not as dense on this side of the window suddenly became intense, and when he stood firm on the ground, he found that the arrows were shooting towards him like rain.

  "Danger!" Lei Meng shouted loudly, drawing out his Tang knife and frantically waving it about, determined to block all the arrows. His heart was racing with anxiety; these arrows were nothing against him alone, but now that Mr. Wen had appeared, he would surely not be able to evade them.

  This is a fake escape route left by the sneak attacker on purpose! It's waiting for people inside the house to escape from here and hit them hard in the head!

  "Hmm...hmm..." Two muffled groans came from behind, and Lei Meng knew that Mr. Wen had been shot. He hastily asked: "How is it?"

  "Run quickly! Old man... uh!" The voice stopped abruptly.

  A clap of thunder rumbled in his heart, could it be...

  He turned his head to look, and saw that in the firelight, Mr. Wen was sitting on the windowsill with his right hand holding a sword, and there were still several arrows inserted into his body. Just looking at this for a moment, two more arrows shot onto his body, but couldn't provoke any reaction from Mr. Wen.

  Mr. Wen was killed, stabbed to death, right next to himself!

  "Ah! ~" Lei Meng shouted to the sky, in a state of grief and indignation. His internal energy surged through his entire body, as if the unblocked meridians had become even more smooth, but he didn't have the heart to pay attention to these things.

  His internal energy burst forth, a portion of it shooting out of his mouth as he shouted loudly, unintentionally forming powerful sonic waves that shot in all directions. The arrows flying towards him were shaken off one after another, and the archers on the walls first felt uncomfortable, then became deaf in both ears, with hot blood flowing out from their ears, followed by dizziness in their heads, before they fell off the wall. What a frightening sonic wave technique!

  "Fall back!" A low, loud shout spread throughout Hexi.

  The sound of a low growl, the thunder stopped and vented, with red eyes flashing, he disappeared in an instant, he wanted to kill people, killing these birds that raided Hexi!