Across the rooftops,
a figure passed without a sound.
His clothes were ink blue, blending almost perfectly into the night. His presence was like dead wood and weathered stone; not one of the inner-energy martial artists watching the general store noticed him.
In just a few breaths, he slipped through the tight surveillance net and moved several miles away. There, he stood atop a tall building and watched in silence.
"Lord Chen Chen, the target hasn't stepped outside once."
Long Shi looked at the ranks of iron-armored soldiers before him. His breath caught, and he could barely breathe.
Five men made a squad, ten a section. There were more than a hundred men here, ten sections in all!
Apart from their commander, Chen Chen, the handsome young Black Ash, and the black-robed elder, all of whom had reached the consummate inner-energy realm, every section leader and squad leader had an aura no weaker than Long Shi's. The section leaders were even stronger than him, martial artists at the minor-achievement stage of inner energy!
And every last soldier had mastered body tempering. They were powerfully built men with bulging muscles.
The strongest section, the commander's personal guard, consisted entirely of ten inner-energy martial artists!
Chen Chen did not so much as glance at the one-armed leader of the Wild Wolf Gang.
He waved a hand. A scout in night clothes emerged soundlessly from beneath the eaves to one side.
Long Shi started. He had never realized anyone was there.
The scout moved with practiced efficiency and knelt on one knee. "General, the thief has not left."
"Good."
A faint smile appeared on Chen Chen's face. He turned to the black-robed elder, Qiu Di. "Elder Qiu, how do my Black Cloud Corps compare with Zhou Kun's Tiger Troops of the Tiger Den?"