Chapter 2: Sharpening Swords and Preparing for Battle

  "Yang Tian, Yang Tian!" Lei Meng had been guarding the Petrochemical Industrial Zone for a whole night and rushed to Héxī City as soon as it dawned. With a loud "bang", he kicked open Yang Tian's door.

  "Who's there!" Yang Tian sprang up from the large red sandalwood bed against the right wall, wearing black pants, his right hand grasping a short dagger, his face tense with vigilance.

  "Can't you hear my voice? What kind of spring dream is this! Your pants are all wet!"

  Yang Tian Shun patted his crotch with one hand, dry. He grumbled in his mouth: "Where is it? You're teasing me again!" After finishing speaking, he put down the dagger in his right hand and slowly got dressed.

  "Don't you think it's strange that I kicked the door open so early? Not too fast or slow!" Leiming hummed.

  "You've always done things that surprise people, I'm used to it. Besides, if it's really an emergency, you wouldn't be talking to me slowly and would have kicked the door open and run away already." Yang Tian continued to dress at his usual pace.

  Lei Meng walked two steps and sat down at a square table by the door, sighed and said: "Last night, the petrified zone was stolen!"

  "Caught someone?" Yang Tian put on his clothes and walked over with a Tang knife in hand.

  "No, he's gone." Lei Meng's face was calm. But Yang Tian, who had just heard the words, was not calm at all. He opened his mouth wide and shouted: "What! He actually ran away?! Those soldiers are useless!"

  Zhuā rén léi míng yě yǒu fèn, mà shì bīng yě děng yú mà tā. Tā lā cháng le liǎn, dào: "Rú guǒ chī shǐ yǒu yòng, jiù ràng nǐ chī shàng yī bǎ!"

  Translation:

  Zhuarong was also involved in the thunderous arrest and scolding of soldiers, which was equivalent to scolding him. He pulled a long face and said: "If eating shit is useful, then let you eat a handful!"

  Yang Tian felt something was off, how did the scolding end up on his head? He stepped forward and grabbed Lei Ming's shoulder, asking sincerely: "Did he let him run away? I don't mind. It's just a little information, not worth getting so worked up."

  Lei Meng pulled out a large-caliber handgun from his waist, scaring Yang Tian to jump back, thinking that this guy had been stimulated and was going to shoot him. Lei Meng didn't make any drastic movements, but lightly blew on the gun muzzle, bitterly smiling: "The problem is I couldn't even kill him with this thing, there were over 20 soldiers outside the door using machine guns and snipers, but he still managed to escape, leaving behind only a pool of blood."

  "What!" Yang Tian was shocked and took a step back, exclaiming in a low voice, "Is that human or ghost?!"

  Lei Meng lost his mind and recalled: "I fought him once. A very fierce battle. It was a complete exchange of injuries, should be one of the four people mentioned by Luo Ming senior."

  Yang Tian listened, feeling a headache, and stretched out his right hand. He rubbed his forehead and said, "This is too terrifying. What can we do?" After finishing speaking, he walked to the table and sat down heavily on Lei Ming's right side.

  "When the enemy comes, we'll defend; when the flood comes, we'll dam it. What else can we do?" Lei Meng put away his gun calmly. He shrugged and continued in a low tone, "I reckon that guy is also seriously injured, won't live long. We need to be prepared for retaliation."

  "How to prepare?" Yang Tian's spirit was lifted a bit, but he still felt weak and powerless, his opponent seemed too strong.

  "Lei Meng's eyes gleamed with a deep, mysterious light as he said in a low, ethereal tone: 'I think I'll spend the next two days crafting steel wire armor and high-powered bullets! I'm going to annihilate those who come!'"

  Yang Tian sat up straight. If that's the case, then there's some assurance. But immediately, his brow furrowed again: "What if they come over in these two days? What if they go around killing people?"

  "Absolutely not," Lei Meng said firmly. "The fact that the injured person can escape means they're only wounded, not dead. I estimate it'll take them about ten days to half a month to tend to their wounded, and they won't have time for us."

  "Alright, I'll have someone keep an eye on those houses." Yang Tian regained some confidence, "However, such a mastermind might be hard to tail."

  "I knew it, so I came looking for you." Lei Meng suddenly stared at Yang Tian, "How's that batch of dog training going?"

  "Heh heh, I've been busy lately." Yang Tian rubbed his head and smiled awkwardly. After arranging that matter, he had washed his hands of it and had long since forgotten about it.

  Yang looked down in embarrassment as Lei Meng glared at him, before he slowly said: "If there is, it's best. If not... I also have no way."

  Yang Tian was choked by the ridiculous words. If it were usual times, he would have burst out laughing, but at this moment, he didn't dare to make a sound.

  "Don't just stand there, finish eating and secretly send away important personnel like Yang Laozhang, Yang Erwu, and Huang Chu. Just the two of us can't win a fight, but we can still run." Lei Meng's voice was heavy as he gave the order, then stood up and slowly walked out.

  Yang Tian's heart was slightly bitter, the prosperous foundation he had built with great difficulty over seven or eight years might be handed over to others, this taste was not something ordinary people could endure. He raised his right fist and lightly tapped the table, also getting up and walking out the door.

  Lei Meng finished eating and rushed into the factory to make steel wire armor and high-powered bullets; while Yang Tian also quickly transferred Yang Fu, Yang Erwu, and Huang Chu...

  Three days later, Lei Meng produced two batches of high-powered bullets in the factory that could be installed on sniper rifles and handguns. Just as he was loading a few bullets into his handgun to go out and see the sunlight, test the gun, a crisp gunshot rang out, "Bang"!

  "Damn it! Thunder rumbled, and Luo Ming cursed loudly at the little bastards to stop firing wildly!"

  Lei Meng laughed and shouted: "Old friend, don't shoot!"

  After a while, Luo Ming suddenly appeared in front of Lei Meng, complaining: "Why is the defense so strict? If it weren't for my caution, this sole would have had another hole. Where's Yang Tian? How can he not be found after searching for two or three days? Has something happened?"

  Lei Meng said with a bitter face: "This is not what you said, something really happened." Then Lei Meng told him about the incident of someone sneaking into the factory area that night to steal information.

  Luó Míng was shocked and exclaimed: "How come their escaping skills are so fierce? What if they come again?"

  Lei Meng bitterly smiled and said: "I'm not afraid they'll come back to steal things, but I'm afraid they'll take revenge!" Then his eyes shone brightly as he looked at Luo Ming: "Are you here to help me?"

  Luo Ming stumbled and burst out laughing: "You're trying to get me killed!"

  "Aren't you familiar with them? You know them inside out." Lei Meng's eyes gleamed, and he suddenly had an idea, "Ah, I'll also call Wei Ming, just taking up my space without contributing is not acceptable."

  Lu Ming's face turned bitter as he said, "I came here looking for someone, how did I end up throwing myself into the tiger's mouth?"

  Luo Ming nodded in response. Lei Meng's face slightly relaxed, saying: "Afraid of implicating the innocent, Yang Tian sent the others to hide and will return in two days."

  "Alright then, since old man doesn't have anything to do anyway, I'll just keep you company and play with you." Luo Ming shrugged his shoulders, looking like he didn't care either.

  Lei Meng suddenly pulled out a handgun, his face showing delight as he said: "Come on, follow me to try it out!"

  "What's this?" Luo Ming was puzzled. Just now, Lei Meng said that the gun wound couldn't kill the opponent, so why try again now?

  Lei Meng Zixin said: "Just improved the bullet, power should be fine."

  Then, on a flat grassland behind the factory, they set up a half-inch thick steel plate. Lei Meng stood ten meters away and fired with a "bang". The steel plate made a "ding" sound and had an additional transparent hole the size of a small finger.

  The thunderous sound of gunfire was followed by a gentle puff of smoke from the muzzle, and he said with satisfaction: "Not bad!"

  Lu Ming opened his eyes wide and stared for a while, took a deep breath and said: "If this hit the body, even with the deepest internal strength, I'm afraid it would still leave a hole."

  He cast a sideways glance at Luo Ming and said with a pleased tone, "If it weren't for these things, I would have hidden them away long ago."

  Then, Lei Meng tried the sniper rifle at a distance of fifty meters and was still able to leave a hole in the steel plate. However, the barrel started to heat up, probably unable to fire continuously for many shots.

  Two more days passed quietly, and Yang Tian returned. Wei Ming was also invited over. Lei Meng had also made four sets of steel wire inner armor.

  At night, in the brightly lit office of the factory building, they met. Lei Meng simply arranged four back chairs around the long desk. On the desk were three sets of silver bright sleeveless steel armor and a large black revolver.

  Yang Tian sat on the left side of Lei Meng, who was standing, and smiled at Wei Ming, who had his arms crossed and a expressionless face, saying: "Master Wei, this time you must exert yourself even more, otherwise, I'm afraid that the Divine Martial Gate, which you have put so much effort into, will be left with no place to stand."

  "It's not fair. I only occupied one mu and three fen of land in Baima Town, but now you want me to work on the west bank of the river!" Wei Ming said with a look of unwillingness, pouting his mouth.

  White-haired Luo Ming sat on the left side of Wei Ming and explained, "Forget it, Wei Ming. After all, Lei Meng and Yang Tian have provided us with a peaceful place to develop: in Jin Yuan and Huang Tian, they won't let us set up an open school, how can we recruit good disciples?"

  "Hmph, Old Luo, if it weren't for you wanting to compete with our Shenwu Sect back then, would we have ended up like this?" Wei Ming was filled with indignation.

  "This isn't someone inciting discord, you also know that back then, the two of us in Jin Yuan and Hao Tian were so powerful that many people day and night thought about getting rid of us." Luo Ming replied with a wry smile.

  "Hmph!" Wei Ming turned his head away and refused to look at Luo Ming.

  Lei Meng and Yang Tian stared at each other in shock, having just heard such a secret for the first time. They were greatly shocked and also understood why they hadn't seen many sects like Youzong and Weiming, but had occasionally encountered high-ranking masters from these sects; the army was originally a place where experts emerged in large numbers, yet they hadn't let them encounter many...

  Yang Tian's eyes rolled around and he said: "The one who can stir you up should also be a powerful expert, which school is the strongest now?"

  "Ghost!" Luo Ming and Wei Ming exclaimed in unison, staring at each other with wide eyes.

  Luo Ming fell into deep thought, recalling the scene of that year. He slowly said: "I remember that it was the Shadow Gate's master who brought back my junior brother's corpse, severely injured and vomiting blood in front of me. He told me that the people of the Divine Martial Gate would kill anyone from the Heavenly Might Gate they saw. He was heavily injured by Tang San, the master of the Divine Martial Gate, while trying to save my junior brother. At that time, I was furious and ordered my disciples to launch a counterattack against the Divine Martial Gate. Thus, the brutal slaughter began..."

  "Wei Ming added: "I remember when the master and senior brothers protected me from hiding and killing, I was not injured, but many senior brothers died or were injured... Finally, the Shadow Gate appeared and killed. The master and senior brothers fought to death with several high-ranking members of the Shadow Gate, and the Shadow Gate retreated, but the master was also seriously injured and dying. Before he died, he told me that it was a good thing done by the Shadow Gate!..."

  "It was also because of the Shadow Gate's sneak attack that we woke up, and it was a treacherous plan!" Luo Ming's face was full of anger, and he continued to lament, "Later, I led the disciples of Tianwei Gate to surround and annihilate Shadow Gate, to avenge the scattered Shenwu Gate and its disciples... In the end, Shadow Gate was no more, and Tianwei Gate was also no more..."