Plan (Seeking Collection)

Chapter 16: The Plan (Seeking Collection~)

The border army camp, having suffered an attack, could barely withstand the assault of over five thousand bandits. Amidst a sea of flames, they scattered and fled.

With General Yuan Xiao leading a large contingent to campaign against the bandits, the Wu Li Army currently stationed at the camp had fewer than two thousand soldiers remaining.

Although the Wu Li Army had many martial artists, facing such a vast disparity in numbers, their efforts were ultimately futile, and they couldn't salvage the situation.

However, on the night of their defeat, two Centurions who had cultivated Internal Energy made a fierce move, ruthlessly killing dozens of bandits and even nearly threatening the bandit leader, Tuwahaer.

But faced with a massive cavalry force, even masters of Internal Energy dared not linger in battle and ultimately chose to retreat leisurely.

"Cough, cough!"

Tuwahaer, who had been knocked off his horse, was surrounded by many concerned individuals.

However, Tuwahaer merely wiped the blood trickling from the corner of his mouth, remounted his horse, and cast a wary glance in the direction where the two Internal Energy masters had separated and departed.

These two Internal Energy masters were Qian Hong and Guo Zhentong, the Centurions stationed at the camp. Their immense martial prowess had nearly cost the naturally strong Tuwahaer his life.

"Leader, are you alright?"

Tuwahaer shook his head, but then he chuckled, "These warriors of the Feng Kingdom are indeed not simple. They could threaten me even from such a distance."

The wise strategist among the bandits spoke up, "Those who can cultivate their martial arts to such a level are ultimately very few. You can't find many even in the entire Feng Kingdom, otherwise, the Feng Kingdom would have already conquered the Liang Kingdom!"

The bandit leader cast aside his recent displeasure and immediately ordered, "Send a portion of our brothers to hunt down the remaining deserters. It's best not to let any of these martial artists escape. The rest of my brothers will take all the supplies from the camp back to the Bandong Grasslands!"

"Leader, we've captured some prisoners!" a bandit reported, coming forward.

Tuwahaer grinned, his eyes flashing with fierce savagery, and he shouted loudly:

"The Tuwa Tribe does not keep prisoners! Kill them all, hahahaha!"

"Tuwa!!!"

"..."

Amidst the roars of the bandits, Tuwahaer and his men began to loot the camp's supplies.

For them, the nomadic bandits, supplies like salt, iron, grain, and cloth from the military camp were the most precious commodities. To obtain them, they would raid the surrounding countries every year, even at the cost of many casualties.

They rarely engaged in trade. Compared to resource-rich countries like Feng and Liang, a tribe with only livestock, trade was a losing proposition.

Therefore, they could only plunder!

As these bandits were frantically sweeping through the camp, some of them discovered that something was amiss.

"This is bad, the granary has been burned!"

As soon as these words were spoken, the leader Tuwahaer's expression turned grim almost instantly. He reined in his horse and quickly rode towards the source of the sound.

The next moment, this leader, possessing an undeniable aura of a formidable figure, arrived before the granary engulfed in roaring flames.

He looked at the scene, his face almost frozen.

"It wasn't a natural spread; it looks like arson," the bandit strategist sighed.

Immediately, his face filled with murderous intent, and he ordered, "Send another five hundred brothers to pursue the scattered deserters. They must be utterly annihilated!"

Grain was an extremely precious commodity for the nomadic tribes. Its destruction by fire naturally filled him with hatred.

In past raids, the defeated would voluntarily leave behind their grain and fodder; it had become an unspoken agreement. Only then would they not pursue the fleeing deserters too relentlessly.

Now, this fire had burned straight into his heart.

Meanwhile, in the Eternal Night World.

Li Qing, the perpetrator of the arson at the granary, was now carefully hiding the large quantity of grain he had carried.

He was almost exhausted, and transporting so much grain, even with his current martial arts training, was an immense burden.

Li Qing lay on a pile of grain sacks. Even if he ate ravenously, this stored food would last him a considerable time.

"If I'm frugal, I could eat for one or two years. I just wonder if it will mold..." Li Qing patted the grain beneath him, a satisfied smile on his face.

"Although it disrupted the original plan, it seems I'm free for now, right?"

Li Qing's original plan was to find a dead person with a similar build to his own in the Eternal Night World when the bandits attacked, to fake his death.

Then, he would throw the corpse into a furnace, and no one would recognize the face, making his departure legitimate.

Dying during a bandit raid was plausible; no one would suspect him, a mere blacksmith's apprentice.

Having left the military camp and secured enough food, he was temporarily safe.

However, there was one drawback: the place where he had transmigrated to the Eternal Night World. When he transmigrated back, he would return to the same spot.

Transporting such a large amount of grain had nearly exhausted him, so he didn't have the energy to escape to a suitable location to transmigrate to the Eternal Night World.

If he returned now, it would be to the granary, which was now a sea of fire.

"Sigh, calculating the time, if I spend a year in the Eternal Night World, then only four months will have passed on the other side. It will be close to winter..."

"That's actually a good time to return. I hope the place I return to won't have a granary rebuilt there."

Every military camp's granary was a heavily guarded location. This was why Li Qing chose to burn it down after leaving.

He not only hoped to cover his tracks of taking a large amount of grain but also hoped that a granary would not be rebuilt there.

He didn't want to face the risk of a heavily guarded granary being exposed after traveling back after a long time.

As for why winter was a good time to return, it was because every year during winter, many soldiers would return to the mainland of Feng Kingdom to visit their families, provided there was no war.

The grassland bandits would also choose to sound the gong to retreat and return to the Bandong Grasslands to spend the winter.

So, regardless of the future situation in Wangyuan City, the border in winter was considered a relatively empty place.

"Sigh, I'll have to spend a year in this harsh and cold land!"

Li Qing, having recovered some of his strength, jumped off the sack of rice and flour, patted the white dust off his pants, and continued to comfort himself:

"It's a good opportunity to thoroughly explore Obsidian City and calm my mind to practice martial arts. Hopefully, I can reach the level of an Outer Strength master soon."

In the past, he was constrained by being in the military camp and didn't have much free time.

Disappearing for too long would arouse suspicion from others.

So, every time he traveled to the Eternal Night World, he could never stay for long. He would always travel over in the dead of night and travel back just before dawn.

This was the first time Li Qing had stayed for a whole year.

He never thought of staying in this food-scarce, harsh land forever; he would eventually have to go back.

However, before that, he hoped to improve his martial arts as much as possible.

Seeking collection, seeking follow-up reads!!