Under One Person: The Puppet Immortal in the Tang Sect

These imposters were all carefully selected from the Divine Machine Alliance. Not only did they look similar, but they also imitated each other's speech and mannerisms perfectly.

Two months later, the 37th Regiment was completely in Cui Ming's hands.

With this unit in hand, Cui Ming began to do something else.

The war in Northeast China was at a stalemate, and the Japanese army was consuming huge amounts of supplies.

On the Kwantung Army side, large quantities of supplies were transported from the mainland every day and then distributed to various units.

Although the 37th Regiment was only a garrison unit, it also had its own supply quota.

Food, medicine, clothing, and ammunition were distributed on time every month.

Some of these supplies were secretly intercepted by Cui Ming.

The intercepted supplies were transported to the interior of the country through secret channels.

The Eastern Kingdom's army there desperately needed these: food to feed the soldiers, medicine to treat the wounded, clothing to ward off the cold, and ammunition to replenish their supplies.

The price of the exchange was some local specialties from within the Great Wall.

Tea, silk, porcelain, and some intelligence.

These items were sold through the Shenji Alliance's channels, in exchange for more supplies and money, further boosting trade.

Over time, a secret trade route was established.

The Japanese high command was unaware that a portion of the supplies they had painstakingly transported were flowing into the hands of the enemy.

The person who started all of this was sitting in the command post of the 37th Regiment, drinking tea and looking at reports.

At night, Cui Ming went to the underground laboratory.

Bai Lian was staring blankly at the purple crystal.

For the past month, he has conducted countless experiments and filled a thick notebook with notes, but progress has been slow.

"Master."

Upon seeing Cui Ming enter, Bai Lian stood up.

"Take a look at this."

He picked up a transparent talisman with intricate patterns drawn on it.

Cui Ming took it and noticed a faint purple light flowing across the talisman.

"This is?"

"I channeled the purple energy into the blank talisman."

"The results showed that it could remain stable within the talisman without dissipating. Moreover..."

He took out a jade tablet engraved with an array and affixed the talisman to it.

The purple light from the talisman immediately surged into the jade tablet, and the array patterns on the jade tablet suddenly lit up.

"This... seems to activate a formation?"

Cui Ming was somewhat surprised.

Bai Lian nodded.

"That's not all..."

He formed a mudra with his hands and chanted incantations.

The jade tablet shone brightly, and a cloud of purple mist surged out from it, condensing into a blurry shape in the air.

The shape was vaguely that of a beast, with four legs and a tail, but its facial features were indistinct.

It lingered in the air for a moment before finally dissipating into smoke.

Cui Ming stared at the dissipating mist, and a thought suddenly flashed through his mind.

"Shikigami".

Bai Lian was taken aback.

"what?"

Cui Ming's eyes lit up.

"Shikigami in Onmyoji!"

“Look at the way this energy flows, from the talisman to the jade tablet, and then from the jade tablet to summon the beast form... It’s exactly the same process that Onmyoji use to summon shikigami.”

Bai Lian thought about it carefully and nodded.

"It does look similar. But the energy source of a shikigami is the onmyoji himself, while the energy source of this thing is a crystal."

Cui Ming was silent for a moment, then suddenly smiled.

"I see."

"The purple energy of the Cursed Association is essentially a kind of 'shikigami power'."

Those so-called gods are actually just turning themselves into shikigami (spirits/spirits).

Bai Lian listened, but only vaguely understood.

"What about Omikami?"

Cui Ming thought for a moment.

"Omikami may be the origin of these shikigami."

Just like the relationship between Onmyoji and Shikigami, Omikami is the master, and the master is the servant.

The gods obtained the purple energy by signing a contract with the Great God, exchanging their physical bodies for power.

He looked at the purple crystal, a cold glint in his eyes.

Chapter 253 Osaka Division

Lushun, the base of the 37th Regiment.

To facilitate movement within the 37th Regiment, Cui Ming is currently using the identity of "Yamashita Akira," the cousin of General Yamashita Hōbu.

This allowed Cui Ming to run rampant in the 37th Regiment.

After all, with the 37th Regiment commander backing him, most Japanese soldiers were eager to curry favor with Cui Ming.

Moreover, things have been getting better and better for the 37th Regiment lately, and everyone is making some money.

This is all thanks to the commander's cousin!

So, when Cui Ming came out of the basement where he was researching purple energy...

The Japanese soldiers patrolling the area all bowed and greeted him respectfully.

Back at his lodgings, Cui Ming washed his face and sat down at the table to review the accounts from the past month.

When he first took over the 37th Regiment, his only purpose was to infiltrate the Japanese forces and make it easier for him to gather information about them.

But to his surprise, he discovered that the Japanese army's internal material management was surprisingly lax.

With the 37th Regiment now stationed in Lushun, Cui Ming's mind immediately started to work.

They began smuggling supplies from within the Japanese army into the Eastern Kingdom through the Shenji Alliance.

But to his surprise, the smuggling business went much more smoothly than he had anticipated.

At first, it was just small-scale activity, intercepting some supplies and transporting them to the interior of the pass to exchange for some gold, silver and valuables.

These items were either consumed within the regiment or sold through the Shenji Alliance channels, and the money was used to purchase more supplies for smuggling through the Japanese Osaka Division.

But soon, problems arose.

Too many supplies were intercepted, and the accounts in the warehouse didn't match up.

No matter how shrewd you are, you can't conjure up supplies out of thin air.

Once the higher-ups investigate, the truth will definitely come out.

As Cui Ming was pondering how to solve this problem, Qianmian pushed open the door and entered.

"Master, I have good news."

A smile graced his face.

"The Osaka Division has arrived."

Cui Ming was taken aback.

"The Osaka Division?"

"Correct."

A document was handed to Qianmian.

"They heard that our brigade has been making a lot of 'extra money' lately, so they sent an inspection team to see if we can cooperate."

Cui Ming took the document and quickly browsed through it.

The Osaka Division, officially the 4th Osaka Division, was one of the most unique units in the Japanese Army.

Most of the soldiers in the division came from Osaka and the surrounding area, and Osaka has been the commercial center of the island nation since ancient times.

The soldiers who made up this unit were mostly merchants and vendors recruited from Osaka.

Therefore, the Osaka Division was rife with commercialism.

Whether this unit is good at fighting is unknown, but they must be proficient in business.

Cui Ming flipped through the documents, which stated that the inspection team was led by Division Staff Officer Sawada Ichiro and was expected to arrive in three days.

After reading it, Cui Ming smiled.

"Oh, this is a God of Wealth delivered right to our doorstep!"

......

Three days later, the delegation arrived in Lushun.

Sawada Ichiro was a middle-aged man in his forties, slightly overweight, with a friendly smile always on his face.