Republic of China era: A hundred-year-old still practicing martial arts? Is that right?

Lin Ji quickly circled around the forest slope.

He had an extremely accurate judgment of the terrain, and he always chose to take the hidden paths. He was incredibly fast and soon circled around to the front of the group of Japanese soldiers.

Ahead lay a narrow mountain pass with steep cliffs on both sides and only a narrow path in the middle, making it an excellent ambush location.

Lin Ji hid behind a large tree on the slope and drew the Mountain and River Stabilizing Spear from his hand.

The landscape patterns on the gun barrel gleamed coldly in the thin mist, and its heavy weight gave a sense of security.

He didn't rush to start, but first counted the number of people.

There were twenty armed soldiers, one officer, one fat translator, and two stretcher bearers, making a total of twenty-four people.

Everyone had bullets loaded in their guns, indicating that they weren't exactly lax in their vigilance.

But that's about it.

What would be a killing formation for an ordinary person was nothing more than twenty live targets for him.

The group quickly entered the mountain valley.

The scarred officer walked at the front, his hand on the hilt of his saber, looking around warily.

No matter how vigilant he was, he never imagined that someone would dare to ambush a squad of fully armed Japanese soldiers in broad daylight.

"Hurry up, we need to get to the next outpost before dark."

The officer urged him impatiently, uttering a couple of curses in Japanese.

Just then.

"call out!"

A sharp whooshing sound suddenly rang out!

Lin Ji's gun tip shot down the slope with lightning speed, leaving only a cold flash, heading straight for the face of the officer at the front!

"Enemy attack!"

The officer reacted quickly, drawing his sword to block the attack.

"clang!"

The deafening clang of metal against metal was so loud it hurt people's eardrums.

The officer felt his arm go numb, his hand instantly split open and bled, his military knife almost flew out of his hand, and he was jolted back three steps by the force of the gun, leaving shallow craters in the dust beneath his feet.

"Baka! Who are you?!" he roared in Japanese, both shocked and furious.

His response was a gray figure leaping down the slope.

Lin Ji, carrying his spear, landed steadily in the middle of the road, his back straight as a pine tree, his aura as heavy as a mountain.

He still had that same aged face, but his eyes were sharp as knives, sweeping over the Japanese soldiers present as if they were a group of dead men.

"Shoot! Kill him!" the officer roared in exasperation.

The soldiers hurriedly raised their guns and cocked them, but before they could pull the trigger, Lin Ji had already moved.

With the Shadow Chasing Technique activated, his figure moved so fast that only a blur remained as he weaved through the narrow ranks.

The tip of the Mountain and River Stabilizing Spear trembled, and each thrust was accompanied by a muffled thud and a scream.

"Pfft! Pfft!" Blood splattered one after another.

The soldiers in the front row didn't even have time to level their guns before the tips pierced their throats and they fell straight down.

"Scatter! Scatter!" The fat translator was terrified and screamed as he hid at the back of the line.

The soldiers were in complete disarray.

There was no room to maneuver in the narrow mountain valley; people were packed together, which only made things more difficult.

They wanted to fire, but were afraid of hitting their own men, so they could only wildly swing their bayonets and stab Lin Ji.

Lin Ji sneered and swept the gun barrel horizontally.

"Bang!"

The heavy gun barrel struck the two soldiers squarely in the chest, sending them flying like broken sacks, crashing into the stone wall, spitting blood, clearly beyond saving.

In just a short while, seven or eight Japanese soldiers had fallen to the ground.

The officer's face contorted with rage; he drew his sword and charged forward.

"I kill you!"

His swordsmanship was quite good, carrying the ruthlessness and cunning of Japanese swordsmanship, with each move aimed straight for vital points.

Judging from his appearance, he was probably trained and had the strength of the mid-stage of internal energy. With his sharp military knife, ordinary martial artists would be no match for him.

Lin Ji flicked the tip of his spear, blocking the military knife.

"Is that all you've got?" he said calmly, but his grip suddenly tightened.

The scarred officer felt a tremendous force travel down the blade, and the saber suddenly pressed down, almost striking his shoulder.

He gritted his teeth and tried to hold on, veins bulging on his forehead, but he couldn't withstand it at all.

Lin Ji twisted his wrist, and the tip of the spear slid along the blade, heading straight for his wrist.

"puff!"

The gun tip pierced the officer's wrist, and the military knife clattered to the ground.

Before he could scream, Lin Ji raised the tip of his spear and pierced his throat.

The officer's eyes widened, and he fell straight down, blood splattering everywhere.

With their leader dead, the remaining soldiers were completely thrown into a panic.

"Run!"

Someone shouted something, and the rest of the people turned around and tried to run out of the ravine.

Lin Ji would never give them a chance.

Gunshots flew, and screams echoed everywhere.

In just a dozen breaths, the Japanese soldiers standing in the ravine were gone.

The fat translator was so frightened that he collapsed to the ground, trembling all over, and his pants were soaked.

He watched Lin Ji approach step by step, kowtowing repeatedly.

"Grandpa, spare me! Grandpa, spare me! I was forced! I didn't genuinely want to work for the Japanese!"

Lin Ji looked down at him with icy eyes.

Such traitors are even more hateful than the Japanese.

Without a word, he thrust the tip of his gun forward, ending the fat translator's life.

After dealing with everyone, Lin Jicai walked to the stretcher.

Su Mingyuan was still tied up, with a rag stuffed in his mouth. He was completely stunned as he looked at the corpses scattered all over the ground.

He never expected that in the desolate wilderness, a complete stranger would single-handedly kill an entire squad of Japanese soldiers and rescue him. Lin Ji reached out and ripped the gag from his mouth, then used the tip of his spear to cut the rope binding him.

"Sir, it's alright now."

Su Mingyuan took a few deep breaths, slowly sat up with the help of the stretcher, and looked at Lin Ji with a face full of gratitude:

"Thank you so much, sir, for saving my life! I, Su... I will never forget this!"

Before he could finish speaking, he heard footsteps coming from down the slope.

Su Wanning ran out of the bushes, shouting as she ran:

"Mr. Su! Grandpa Lin!" As she ran closer, she saw corpses all over the ground.

She shrank back in fright, but seeing that Su Mingyuan was unharmed, she immediately smiled and said, "Mr. Su, I'm so glad you're alright!"

Su Mingyuan looked at her, somewhat puzzled: "Who is this young lady?"

"My name is Su Wanning." Su Wanning quickly pulled out the letter: "My sister, Su Wanqing, asked me to bring this letter to you!"

Su Mingyuan took the letter, opened it, and a look of realization appeared on his face: "So it's Wanqing's sister... Alas, to my shame, this old man can't even stand firm in the provincial capital anymore."

Lin Ji watched the two talking, but his gaze was fixed on the direction of the provincial capital.

The closer we get to the provincial capital, the more difficult the road becomes, and things are unlikely to be peaceful in the future.

But he didn't care.

When soldiers come, we'll block them; when water comes, we'll dam it.

"Let's leave here first," Lin Ji interrupted the two. "The smell of blood is too strong and could easily cause trouble. Let's find a place to treat Mr. Su's wounds, and then we can talk slowly."

Su Mingyuan nodded quickly: "The old man is right."

The three of them quickly tidied up, helped Su Mingyuan, and soon left the mountain valley.

Sunlight pierced through the thin mist and shone on the mountain road.

The corpses scattered on the ground will soon be eaten by wild animals in the mountains, and no one will know what happened here.