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

Lin Ji stood with his gun sheathed, blood seeping from the wound on his shoulder, but his expression remained calm.

He wiped the blood off his fingertip, brought it to his nose, and smelled it; sure enough, it had a faint, sweet, metallic taste.

Those damned Japanese even used poison.

The fact that this Hehuan inheritance could disrupt his mind at a crucial moment was something he had never encountered before. If he were to encounter a true master of the Transcendent Realm in the future, this half-second of distraction could be fatal.

"Grandpa Lin!"

Su Wanning ran out of the courtyard, her skirt hemmed up, her shoes stained with blood and black mud. Her eyes were red as she ran up to Lin Ji.

She clutched a crumpled handkerchief in her hand, reaching out but hesitant to touch the wound, her voice trembling with anxiety: "You're bleeding... are you alright?"

The young girl had endured many hardships and was no longer the refined young lady she had once been seen with. Yet, seeing the deep, bone-revealing knife wound on Lin Ji's shoulder, her heart still clenched tightly.

"A minor injury." Lin Ji said calmly, quickly pressing three acupoints around the wound with his fingertips. With a surge of internal energy, dark red poisonous blood seeped out from the wound, dripping onto the grass leaves and bubbling up with tiny white foam.

"Not many, they won't die for now." He said, looking up at the front gate of the courtyard. The shouts of battle were still deafening, with gunshots, the clash of weapons, and roars mixed together, several times more intense than on the west side.

Facing them was the provincial government's garrison, a large force armed with firearms. The Gu family's men were already outnumbered, and they would surely suffer if they held out for too long.

"Go back to the courtyard, I'll go help them."

Lin Ji left with a single sentence, grabbed his spear, and rushed toward the main gate.

His footsteps trod on the gravelly mountain path, his figure as swift as a gray shadow, and in a few leaps he circled around to the outside of the courtyard wall.

The situation on the front lines is indeed becoming increasingly tense.

Hundreds of provincial soldiers took turns firing their rifles, bullets hitting the earthen wall and kicking up clouds of dust as they rained down on the wall.

The Gu family disciples used the courtyard wall as cover. Their mechanical short knives were sharp in close combat, but they couldn't stop bullets from a distance. Two disciples had already been injured.

"Hold on! Even with the young master gone, we can't disgrace the Gu family!"

The squad leader roared, his knife chipping and chipping.

But there were just too many of them; several had already climbed over the wall and were about to break through the defenses.

Just then, a gray figure darted up the wall from the side.

The spear, like a dragon, plunged from top to bottom into the heart of the foremost soldier.

Lin Ji stood atop the wall, his spear sweeping across, the shaft crackling with powerful force as it felled a swathe of enemies. He shouted in a deep voice:

"Go back!"

His voice, imbued with hidden power, exploded in everyone's ears, making the eardrums of the soldiers in the front row ring.

"It's that old man! Shoot! Kill him!" the soldier in charge roared, and instantly more than a dozen rifles were aimed at Lin Ji on the wall.

Lin Ji, however, had anticipated this. He lightly touched the brick wall with his toes and suddenly darted to the side.

The bullet grazed past his robes and struck the earthen wall, creating craters.

He leaped into the crowd, unleashing his Six Harmonies Spear Technique, his spear tip specifically targeting the enemy's wrists and shoulder blades—places that, while not fatal, could instantly dissipate the opponent's strength.

The hidden force penetrated the body, and the person shot immediately dropped their weapon, collapsed to the ground, and lost most of their fighting ability.

With the full force of a peak-level Dark Force expert, these ordinary garrison troops were no match for him.

Amidst the flashing gunfire and screams, soldiers in the front ranks fell like wheat being harvested.

Upon seeing Lin Ji appear, the Gu family members were instantly invigorated, roaring as they pushed open the courtyard gate and rushed out.

The improved mechanical dagger is incredibly powerful in close combat; its spring-loaded blade easily pierces through military uniforms, splattering blood all over the wall.

Seeing that things were not going well, the leader in charge of the battle turned around and ran up the mountain.

Lin Ji's eyes turned cold, and with a flick of his wrist, the tip of his spear suddenly shot forward using the power of his waist and hips, and the Mountain and River Stabilizing Spear shot out with a "whoosh".

With a "thud," it pierced the lieutenant's back.

The other person staggered two steps, fell headfirst onto the gravel slope, and died on the spot.

When the remaining soldiers saw that their commander was dead, they instantly collapsed and fled up the mountain, crying and shouting, leaving their rifles scattered all over the ground.

The courtyard gate finally quieted down.

The ground was littered with corpses and scattered weapons, mixed with the pungent smell of blood.

The Gu family members, leaning on their knives and panting heavily, looked at Lin Ji with completely different eyes.

Previously, they were somewhat unconvinced, thinking the old man looked ordinary, but now they felt genuine awe.

This was no ordinary old man; he was clearly a ruthless killer.

"Clean up the battlefield, but leave two alive for questioning."

Lin Ji landed on the wall, his steps pausing slightly. The poison on his shoulder still lingered, and with the full force he had just used, his blood and qi surged, and that familiar heat in his dantian rose up again.

Li Shuwen slowly walked out, leaning against the door frame. His face was still pale, and his brows furrowed as he glanced at the mess on the ground.

"It's actually Heze's garrison." He kicked the military insignia on the ground, his voice deep.

"The Japanese have a clever plan: they use the government's soldiers as cannon fodder while they reap the benefits from behind the scenes."

At this moment, two members of the Gu family escorted over a prisoner, a trembling soldier whose trousers were soaked with sweat.

"Tell me! How did you know there were people here! And how many of you came in total?" The leader kicked him in the knee.

The soldier knelt down with a "plop" and stammered:

"It's...it's Commander He's order! The Japanese consulate said...that the number one rebel, Iron Spear, is hiding here, and there's a reward of five thousand silver dollars for his capture! We're just following orders, please spare our lives!"

"That's all? Are there any reinforcements coming?"

"Yes...yes!" The soldier swallowed hard, his face deathly pale.

"There's an artillery unit behind the mountain! The officers said... said if we can't take it, then... then we'll bomb this valley flat! They'll be there in... in half an hour!"

These words immediately caused an uproar in the courtyard.

Artillery? If artillery were to bombard us, this mud-brick shack would be as fragile as paper, and everyone would be buried here.

"Damn it, He Ze! He's really in cahoots with the Japanese!"

"What do we do? The young master hasn't returned yet, where do we go?"

The Gu family members were in a state of chaos, all their eyes turning to Lin Ji and Li Shuwen.

Li Shuwen coughed twice, clutched his chest, and looked at Lin Ji with a grave tone: "We can't stay here any longer. He Ze is serious. If we keep dragging this out, we'll all perish here."

Lin Ji nodded. The wound on his shoulder still throbbed faintly, and the burning sensation in his lower abdomen hadn't completely subsided, but his eyes remained as calm as a cold mountain pool.

"Retreat south, into the old forest. Heze's artillery can't push in, and the Japanese ronin don't dare to pursue too deep."

He glanced at everyone and said, "Pack your provisions, medicine, and weapons. Burn anything you can't take with you. We'll depart in fifteen minutes."

No one dared to delay and immediately turned around to pack their things. In the midst of the chaos, they finally found a pillar of support.

Su Wanning ran over clutching a small porcelain bottle; it was the antidote ointment she always carried with her.

She tiptoed to apply medicine to Lin Ji's shoulder, her small hands trembling slightly, but she bit her lip and stopped crying out in fear, though her eyes were red.

"Does it hurt?" she asked softly.

Lin Ji looked down at the girl's serious profile, her nose still smudged with soot, and shook his head: "It doesn't hurt."

The girl paused for a moment, then suddenly smiled, her voice soft yet firm:

"When we get out, I'll cook you some porridge, the thickest millet porridge I can make."

Lin Ji didn't reply, but turned to look in the direction beyond the mountains.

In the mountain breeze, the muffled sound of wheels rolling over gravel could already be faintly heard in the distance.

The artillery unit is coming soon.