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

"Sir, Senior Li."

Beside the stream, near the temporary campsite where everyone had set up, the young man from the Gu family who had previously been somewhat disrespectful to Lin Ji walked over, clutching several items in his hand.

"We found a few things on the Japanese. Please take a look."

Gu Hu opened his hand, revealing several large silver notes, a secret letter sealed with red sealing wax, and a glass bottle containing white powder about the thickness of a thumb.

Li Shuwen took the glass bottle, ran his fingertips along the patterns on the bottom, and his brows suddenly furrowed.

He turned the glass bottle upside down, and there was a small character clearly engraved on the bottom.

"River."

"It seems the Jiang family has also gotten involved with the Japanese?" Li Shuwen's fingers tightened, gripping the bottle tightly in his hand. He looked at Lin Ji:

"The Jiang family is the largest pharmaceutical company in the provincial government. They have their own pharmaceutical factories and are an important support for He Ze's control of Guanghua. They are known as the three major families in the provincial government, along with the Gu family (arms and arms) and the Yan family (grain and supplies).

"Now that the Japanese have been found to be carrying the Jiang family's medicine, it can only mean one thing: the entire Guanghua is completely rotten." Li Shuwen barely managed to sit up and gestured for Gu Hu to open the secret letter.

The red paint was removed, revealing a letter filled with dense Japanese writing.

Seeing this, Li Shuwen's face showed disappointment.

"pity……"

"Senior Li...why don't you let Grandpa Lin take a look? I remember he can read Japanese." Su Wanning was walking over with a bowl of soup when her gaze fell on the crookedly written letter.

"Oh? Old Man Lin knows these things too?" Li Shuwen looked up at Lin Ji and handed him the letter.

"The longer you live, the more you naturally learn," Lin Ji said with a smile as he took the letter.

His gaze swept over the handwriting on the letter, and his brows furrowed slightly.

"Sir, what did the letter say?" Gu Hu's expression also turned serious upon seeing this, and he hurriedly asked, "Is there any news related to my Gu family?"

Although Gu Hu was a rough man, he had just understood Li Shuwen's analysis of the situation in the city.

If the Gu family doesn't collude with them, they will inevitably become the target of public criticism.

Lin Ji shook his head and closed the letter:

"It has nothing to do with anything in the provincial capital."

"This matter is probably far more important than anything else at Guanghua." He turned to look at Li Shuwen:

"This is a letter from home... It's mostly filled with his family's longing for him, but I saw something else in it."

"This Japanese man also has two younger brothers who are under the age of eighteen and are also coming to China soon. The letter also said that there are many families in Japan with similar situations to his."

"What?!"

Li Shuwen propped himself up on his arms and sat up abruptly. His wounds ached terribly, and beads of sweat appeared on his forehead, but he paid no heed to them. He stared intently at the letter in Lin Ji's hand and began to speak:

"They really dare to do that!"

"The organization intercepted a secret report six months ago, saying that Japan was overpopulated and had little land, and was suffering from constant disasters. They planned to send civilians to infiltrate China in batches."

"I always thought this was a smokescreen they put out, but I never expected... it was actually real."

"Cough, cough!" Li Shuwen coughed violently, so violently that blood seeped from the corner of his mouth. He looked up at the dense forest that blocked out the sky, his eyes filled with helplessness.

"This message needs to be relayed to the organization as soon as possible."

Lin Ji stroked the edge of the letter.

Have the Japanese already begun their strategic planning?

Do I... really have the ability to change the course of this world?

Lost in thought.

Lin Ji rubbed his fingertips together sharply, tearing the letter in two.

"Grandpa Lin..."

Su Wanning's voice sounded softly behind Lin Ji.

The young girl approached with a bowl of cooled herbal medicine and whispered, "Grandpa Lin... are the Japanese sending so many people here to take over our land?"

Lin Ji didn't hide it from her and nodded slightly.

Su Wanning looked at the ravine from which the pursuers had emerged and said softly:

"But now the officials and soldiers don't protect the people; instead, they help outsiders bully their own people. The authorities are in cahoots with the Japanese and Westerners. If the Japanese really come, will there be any place for us ordinary people to stay?"

Li Shuwen gazed at the dense forest in the distance, sighed heavily, and remained silent.

Su Wanning glanced at him but didn't ask any further questions.

the other side.

Gu Hu squatted on a rock not far away, took out a crumpled cigarette from somewhere, put it in his mouth but did not light it.

Two anxious young men from the Gu family leaned close to him and whispered:

"Brother Tiger, we've been out for three days and we know nothing about what's happening in the city. The Japanese have teamed up with He Ze, and now the Jiang family is involved too. Do you think they'll target our home? My wife and son are still there."

"Yeah, Tiger, how about... how about we sneak back home to check? We can come out again once we're sure everything's alright."

Gu Hu took the cigarettes off his hands and kept rubbing them together, his brows furrowed into a knot.

Before leaving, the young master repeatedly instructed them to obey the old man in everything and not to act on their own.

But now his family is all in the city, and this incident has happened there. How can he not be worried?

Torn between orders and family, this rough-around-the-edges man was truly in a dilemma.

He twisted the unlit cigarette into crumbs with his fingertips, and muttered:

"Wait a little longer! Let's see what the old man and Senior Li decide. Going back now would be like committing suicide."

The two exchanged a glance, their faces full of reluctance, but they did not refute it. They sighed, turned around, and walked away into the distance.

In the temporary camp.

The atmosphere was heavy and tense.

Everyone fell silent, with only occasional sporadic noises.

Sudden.

Lin Ji, who was half-closing his eyes by the stream, suddenly stiffened.

His drooping eyelids suddenly lifted, and he gripped the spear tightly in his hand.

Within his mind, his martial spirit surged violently, and the black and white jade pendant spun rapidly.

It's that aura!

It was the aura that had been hanging behind him before he entered the city.

Previously, due to insufficient cultivation level, Lin Ji could only detect a faint afterimage in his perception.

Now that he has broken through to the peak of Dark Force, his perception has been enhanced, and that aura is clearly imprinted in his mind.

That aura was sinister and twisted...

It doesn't feel like the presence of a living person at all!

Lin Ji carefully perceived it.

moment.

A chill ran up his spine.

In his mind, the outline of that aura slowly emerged.

The man wasn't very tall, probably a little over 1.6 meters.

She is a woman.

The moment Lin Ji confirmed the other party's identity, he felt a chill run down his spine.

Not a woman...

He sensed it.

The woman's neckline was very low, and she was pulling something out of the neckline and swaying it from side to side.

Another head.

A male head.

The facial features on its head are distorted, the corners of its mouth stretch straight to its ears, and a black arm as thick as a baby's arm extends from the side of its head, with nails curved like hooks at the end of the arm.

A putrid, slightly chilling stench seemed to seep into Lin Ji's nostrils, causing even him to feel a churning in his stomach.