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Chapter 63 The Thirty-Six Stratagems: A Surprise Attack is the Best

"That's fine." Chen Xuan hung up the call. "No one can trace this place back to us through just one phone call, right?"

To maintain secrecy, he deliberately drew the curtains and turned off all the lights in the store, so that the other party could only see the barcode scanner pointing at the camera.

That's right, this is experience he had figured out before – as long as the other party is a real person and their face can be clearly seen, the customer can make a transaction even if they are not in the store.

This time he used a covert transaction.

Although it results in a loss of performance points, it minimizes the information leaked from the ability shop.

"Don't worry, my encryption is absolutely unbreakable with current technology," Lin Qing assured him, patting her chest. Then, she asked with some curiosity, "But Mr. Manager, how can you be so sure you can meet his requirements? What if he doesn't need the Trust Voice?"

To be honest, she was quite nervous when she heard Chen Xuan ask the other party to state their needs.

“That’s how we show how powerful our mechanisms are,” Chen Xuan chuckled. “Besides, he can make any request he wants, and I’ll decide how to fulfill it. If he wants to be healthy, he can learn the Mind-Clearing Technique or become exceptionally sleepy; if he wants martial arts prowess, he can choose Baguazhang or alchemy. There’s bound to be one that suits him.”

This is the foundation of having inventory!
If it really doesn't match, he can borrow abilities from Spicy Village.

Lin Qing was speechless. "Alright... you really do have a knack for business. How are you going to get the goods now? Even if he has extraordinary abilities, he can't possibly smuggle a whole bunch of guns into the country."

"I have a way of dealing with this."

If Walter can concentrate the goods in one place, he can open a branch and move the goods back without anyone noticing.

The entire negotiation process went quite smoothly, and the other party's cooperation was within Chen Xuan's expectations. Walter was bound to cooperate with the Limit Agency according to the original historical trajectory, proving that he was not averse to this mysterious organization; moreover, now that the general public was aware of the existence of abilities, using abilities as bargaining chips was more attractive than money.

However, Chen Xuan still had a question in his mind.

He used historical information to establish connections with Walter Arms, and to guard against any unforeseen circumstances, he specifically stated in his business correspondence that the telephone was the only reliable means of contact, and all other channels were unreliable. However, from another perspective, Walter had undoubtedly aligned itself with the Weixian Agency, even if this Weixian Agency was actually Lin Qing impersonating someone else.

Is this the inertia of history... or rather, a predetermined fate?
……

……

Outside Jiufeng City, a large tent was bustling with people.

Li Tiexin, the commander of the left wing army in Cangzhou, sat in the head seat, watching the two groups of people below arguing fiercely.

"Prefect Jiufeng confirmed yesterday that Liu Shuyue is in the city. What are we still dawdling here for?" the Iron Cavalry General shouted, spittle flying. "Are we really going to wait for troops from other states to arrive before we just sit and watch them take a share of the spoils?"

This is also the view held by the pro-war faction.

"If we delay for another day or two, the royal army might arrive by then!"

"Everyone is ready and waiting for Lord Li's order!"

"Although Liu Shuyue has been expelled, she is still a disciple of the Lianyun Sect. If we send troops to attack the Liu family now, we should be careful that she defeats us one by one."

The opponents were actually those seemingly lawless rogue cultivators. Some of them wore long robes, trying to appear as refined scholars; others were bare-chested, no different from beggars on the street. If it weren't for needing to rely on the power of cultivators, Li Tiexin would have simply driven these unruly wanderers out of the main tent.

"Weren't you guys pretty bold before? Are you scared now that a few of your comrades have died?" one of the generals couldn't help but mock.

“At least we’ve fought her,” a rogue cultivator dressed as a Taoist priest said coldly, “while you haven’t even stepped through the city gates.”

"Alright, everyone, keep your voices down." Li Tiexin finally spoke, "I'd like to ask this gentleman..."

"My surname is Li, and I am Li Tianshi of Kunshan."

"Oh, Master Li, that Liu Xian... if Liu the bandit were cut by a sword or shot by a crossbow, wouldn't he also be injured and bleed?"

“That’s natural,” the Taoist sneered. “She’s not invulnerable to swords and spears. If she’s not on guard, even an ordinary farmer could kill her.”

"Then that settles it, doesn't it? We have five hundred crossbowmen and a thousand long-handled swordsmen in our army. If we swarm them, even if she has three heads and six arms, she won't be able to withstand it."

Li Tianshi's coldness intensified. "I understand the general's meaning, but what I want to say is, if even a farmer can kill her, are we inferior to a farmer? She won't just stand there and let you surround her. The Lotus Cloud Sect's talisman techniques are extremely profound; she doesn't call the shots on the battlefield. Let me be blunt with you all: without enough cultivators to restrain her, your attempts to besiege her won't be effective." Before arriving in Yunzhou, he also thought himself quite capable. Not only could he manipulate celestial phenomena, but he could also comprehend cultivation techniques from demons. In his previous battles with evil cultivators, no one could last five rounds.

So here he is.

If he could personally kill the disciple of the Lotus Cloud Sect, he would surely become famous, and might even be able to replace him as the new Immortal Master, since it is said that the sect only opens its mountain gate once every hundred years.

But after actually fighting Liu Shuyue, Li Tianshi realized it wasn't like that at all. It was a sneak attack launched by four rogue cultivators. Liu Shuyue was standing on the roof of the Liu family's main building, seemingly oblivious to their intrusion. The four attacked one after another, and each succeeded. She was pierced by a sword, strangled by iron chains, frozen into an icicle, and drained of her blood. Yet, Liu Shuyue remained standing on the roof, while the other three were decapitated with strange smiles on their faces.

He was the only one who escaped alive.

“General Li, the orders we received are not just to deal with Liu Shuyue alone.” The Iron Cavalry General clasped his hands and said, “If the Immortal Master betrays us, Nine Peaks City will also be our target. Since these cultivators are unwilling to confront the Liu family head-on, then we will stay away from the northwest. Sweeping around the outskirts should be fine, right? The brothers haven’t even made a single sale yet.”

“Not bad.” Li Tiexin looked at the rogue cultivators. “Now you all have no objections, right? The lambs from the outer circle can’t cause any trouble. Even if Liu Fei comes, you will have enough time to warn him.”

"I have objections."

A clear, crisp voice said.

"Who is it?" Li Tiexin looked around and realized that the voice seemed to be coming from outside the tent.

The curtain of the large tent was lifted, and a woman whose hands and feet were soaked in blood walked in.

Master Li was horrified. Who else could this be but Liu Shuyue? Even though they had only fought once, he was determined never to forget her face!
But how did she suddenly appear in the center of the army without warning? He had clearly set up a protective barrier around the area; any cultivator who intruded would—

Only then did he realize with a start that the barrier had been broken at some point!

How is that possible?! Although it's not difficult to detect one's own barrier, dispelling it silently is definitely not something one person can do alone!

"Be careful, she is—" Master Li's warning was only halfway through when he felt the world spinning! His head briefly flew up like a kite with a broken string before quickly landing back down.

The blood gushing from his neck immediately splattered red on the top of the tent.

"The bandit Liu has broken in!"

"Draw your sword! Draw your sword now!"

In the chaos, someone knocked over a candlestick, and the tent was immediately plunged into complete darkness.

Liu Shuyue advanced with her sword, each step a slash, each strike like a crescent moon illuminating the night sky. She had lost her Thousand Thoughts Sword, and her Heavenly Cloud Skill was still in the process of being rebuilt, so her fighting style wasn't as impervious as when she first left the sect. But after five years of training, her will was far stronger than before. Her body strictly adhered to the sect's daily training regimen, causing the blade to flash and dance, even in the pitch-black tent, she could precisely pierce the gaps in armor until she pierced flesh.

Even without relying on magic and profound skills, she is still an existence that others can only look up to.

Hearing the sounds of carnage and bloodshed inside the tent, Li Tiexin was terrified. He was used to ordering his men around while he stayed in the rear; he had never seen anything like this before! The moment the candle went out, he had already crawled under the table and desperately crawled forward, because he knew that the end of the long table was the exit of the main tent.

Fortunately, Liu Shuyue really didn't have time for him.

Li Tiexin scrambled out of the tent, shouting at the top of his lungs, "Enemy attack on the camp! Quickly, reinforcements are needed!"

However, no one responded to him.

A dozen or so soldiers lay dead, their bodies lying haphazardly around the main tent. Nearby, a large fire raged in the soldiers' encampment, thick smoke billowing into the sky.

He also heard countless shouts of battle, as if the attack on the camp was not by Liu Shuyue alone, but by thousands of troops from Jiufeng City!

Suddenly, a burly man burst through the fence and strode up to him. The weapon he held was not a standard-issue sword, but a simple wood-chopping knife.

Li Tiexin lost control and started cursing, "Who exactly are you people?!"

"The hunters from Spicy Village!" Fu Jiaolu cleaved the army commander in two with a single blow of his axe.

(End of this chapter)