Forces in Motion

Though only half a night had passed, the intelligence report still contained a detailed account of the battle.

General Xu was most concerned with three details.

"From beginning to end, this spearman killed every Fierce Tiger Gang member with a single thrust, including Gang Leader Yang Long?"

"Not once did the spearman have a companion? He was alone!"

"Apparently, a mysterious expert accompanying Yang Long fought the spearman. But no one knows how it ended." General Xu was deeply shocked, then quickly calmed down and began to analyze the situation.

There was no doubt that this mysterious spearman was extremely powerful, most likely a First-class Expert.

If he was a Second-class Expert, then he was among the very strongest of them.

At the very least, General Xu wasn't confident he could kill Yang Long with a single move.

"Even Meng Qiang, Jiang Dongque's bodyguard, and Guan Zishan of Dongye County couldn't possibly be this powerful." General Xu grew increasingly wary.

Hengyun Sect ruled over nearly a hundred prefectures.

Every prefect had two Second-class Experts and more than ten Third-class Experts protecting him.

Meng Qiang was the personal bodyguard of Jiang Dongque, prefect of Li City Prefecture, and one of the strongest Second-class Experts.

Guan Zishan, meanwhile, was the patriarch of the Guan clan, the greatest lineage in Li City. At his peak, he had been a First-class Expert, known as Li City's "Number One Expert." But as he neared eighty, his physical condition had steadily declined. Now he was only at the peak of the Second-class level physically, though his strength remained formidable.

In terms of individual strength, this mysterious spearman could sweep all of Li City!

Who could he be?

"There are a few First-class Experts in Nanmeng Prefecture, but only a handful are skilled in spear techniques. Could he be an outsider?" General Xu felt the situation was an absolute headache.

He was one of the top figures in Li City.

But Nanmeng Prefecture was one of the three prefectures occupied by Hengyun Sect, and it was full of powerful people. A mere garrison general of a prefecture like him didn't even rank among them.

"Why did this expert wipe out the Fierce Tiger Gang alone?" General Xu could feel a headache coming on. "Was he coming after me?"

There had been too little time and too little information, and half the Fierce Tiger Gang's leaders were dead.

There was nothing he could use to analyze the situation.

"Whatever the reason, Yang Long is dead, and the Fierce Tiger Gang has fallen apart. Controlling Li City will be even harder now." General Xu frowned.

He was the one behind the Fierce Tiger Gang!

It was a vicious dog he had raised, one he used to bite any faction in Li City that refused to obey him, great or small.

"Steward Xu," General Xu called.

Clang—

The door opened, and Steward Xu entered respectfully in his purple robe. "General, what is it?"

"Report this to Sect Headquarters at once. Ask them to investigate whether any First-class Experts have been active around Li City in Jiang Province recently," General Xu said in a low voice.

"Yes." Steward Xu cupped his hands and withdrew respectfully. The door closed again.

"Liu Ye," General Xu called again.

"General." A burly man with raised temples and a fearsome aura stepped out from behind the screen.

"You and Zhu Hong will lead two hundred-man units to the Nine Cloud Mountain area. Bring the Fierce Tiger Gang's three remaining leaders back to Li City. I want to question them." General Xu's voice was icy. "But if they dare resist, kill them without mercy!"

Once the Nanmeng Army mobilized, every soldier rode a tall horse and wore heavy armor.

Two hundred men might seem like a small force, but once they charged as one, even an infantry unit of a thousand Martial Masters would struggle to stop them. An army of tens of thousands of refugees would be scattered in an instant!

"Understood," the burly man said solemnly.

Compared with the oppressive mood at the Garrison General's Mansion, the Prefect's Mansion was filled with celebration when the news arrived.

"Congratulations, Prefect! Our congratulations!"

A bodyguard offered his congratulations. "With the Fierce Tiger Gang scattered and Xu Shouyi having lost an arm, Li City will belong to you from now on."

"Silence! Li City belongs to Hengyun Sect. I'm merely serving as its governor." Prefect Jiang Dongque reprimanded him, though anyone could hear the delight in his voice.

Who in the Prefect's Mansion didn't know about the feud between the prefect and the garrison general?

The two sides were at each other's throats!

"The Fierce Tiger Gang has long been a thorn in the side of Li City's people. Now they've finally been eliminated, but the surviving members are still a threat." Jiang Dongque said solemnly, "Protecting the borders and keeping the people safe is the City Guard Army's unavoidable duty. Officers, heed my command: deploy the Left and Right Camps at once to root out the Fierce Tiger Gang's remaining forces. Bring their leaders in alive."

The three thousand soldiers of the City Guard Army were divided into the Left, Middle, and Right Camps, each a thousand strong.

"Yes!"

"Yes!" The City Guard Army officers stood up, all of them excited.

Fight the Fierce Tiger Gang at full strength? The City Guard Army hadn't wanted to. Even if they won, they would suffer heavy casualties. Why bother?

But a Fierce Tiger Gang whose leader, Yang Long, was already dead? That was a living merit badge!

The City Guard Army officers filed out one after another.

"Prefect, are we not going to search for the mysterious spearman?" asked the tall, red-armored swordsman quietly.

"Brother Meng, I've already reported this to the sect, and I'll order notices posted throughout the region, warning everyone to be on guard against this mysterious spearman," Prefect Jiang said with a smile. "As for anything more?"

"First-class Experts can leap several zhang into the air. Cliffs and high walls can't stop them."

"They can hold their breath and stay underwater for nearly half an hour, and cross a great river as easily as stepping over a stream."

"They have seemingly endless stamina. They can cross mountains and sheer cliffs as if walking on level ground, traveling a thousand li in a day." Prefect Jiang shook his head. "This mysterious expert has never appeared before. He probably isn't from Li City. If he has no family or friends tying him down and is alone and determined to hide, then we can do nothing to capture or recruit him. The sect will have to send experts here."

Prefect Jiang saw the situation clearly.

Whoever the mysterious expert was, his first priority was to seize this chance to strike at General Xu.

"Understood." Meng Qiang nodded slightly.

He had only been reminding Jiang Dongque.

As a personal bodyguard assigned by the sect, his only duty was Jiang Dongque's safety. He wouldn't interfere in Jiang Dongque's decisions.

...Not even half a day later.

Inside a quiet room on the sixth floor of Stellar Tower in Li City.

"What did you say? This mysterious spearman may be a local from Li City?" The purple-robed, middle-aged woman stood up in shock.

"That's right!"

The Middle-aged Man in Black Robe quickly continued, "After receiving the news, we immediately sent a team to investigate Nine Cloud Mountain. Then, at the site of the battle inside the Fierce Tiger Gang's stronghold, we found throwing knives made by a blacksmith from Stellar Tower."

"And according to the surviving gang members, the spearman was using the Flowing Light Silver Snow Spear—the one sold just yesterday."

"Moreover..."

"The customer who bought the spear yesterday also purchased detailed intelligence on the Fierce Tiger Gang." The Middle-aged Man in Black Robe said, "Very few people ever buy intelligence about that gang, so I remember it clearly."

The purple-robed woman nodded slightly.

"After putting together all the evidence, we believe there's a seventy percent chance this customer used Bone Shifting to buy weapons from Stellar Tower in separate batches, then went straight to Nine Cloud Mountain and started the battle that night," the Middle-aged Man in Black Robe said. "An expert like this should have a suitable weapon of his own. Why would he suddenly come to buy one?"

"There are only two possibilities. First, he didn't want to reveal his identity, so he used a purchased weapon to disguise himself. But why come to Stellar Tower? That would expose his movements too."

"Second, he didn't have a suitable weapon to begin with."

"After analyzing everything, we've concluded there's a fifty percent chance this mysterious spearman lives in Li City and has never revealed his strength before," the Middle-aged Man in Black Robe said solemnly. "If that guess is correct, he's very likely under thirty and has been cultivating alone all this time."

"Investigate!"

"Use every resource at your disposal to find him!" The purple-robed woman said gravely. "A First-class Expert under thirty? If that's true, and he hasn't joined any sect, Stellar Tower must do everything in its power to recruit him."

"This will be a great achievement!"

The Fierce Tiger Gang had been wiped out, but the upheaval was far from over. The various powers in Li City were secretly maneuvering against one another, frantically gathering information.

Every faction wanted to uncover the truth and find the mysterious spearman.

However...

Even when intelligence about Wu Qiming was submitted, it was quickly dismissed. No one paid it any attention.

No one could imagine that fourteen-year-old Wu Yuan was the terrifying spearman.

Wu Yuan knew nothing about these upheavals and paid them no mind.

Inside his private training room at the Martial Academy, the door was locked tight.

"What does this token have to do with the Chu Jiang Empire?" Wu Yuan turned the token over in his hand, repeatedly leafing through the pile of books before him.