The Special Envoy's Order, Killing Intent in the Empty Woods

For the moment, it did not occur to Commander Xu that these men might have been bewitched by something.

For one thing, being swept by machine-gun fire just now had been a harrowing experience for him. Anxious and furious, his agitation boiling over, he had no time to think it through.

For another, although he practiced martial arts himself, he had a foster father like Eunuch Chen and knew something about sorcerers.

Even if Cai Shanjun still had his cultivation, and was given enough time, he could kill all several hundred of them.

But to say he could bewitch so many people at once was impossible.

If a person had abundant Yang Qi, it could drive ghosts away and cause all manner of spells to backfire.

People could be killed batch by batch, the numbers adding up over time, so the backlash suffered at any one moment was not very strong.

But bewitching every soldier present would mean using Mind Power to suppress two hundred strong, robust men at once. The difficulty was worlds apart.

All these men had just opened fire on the convoy. Surely they could not all have failed to recognize that car and their own commander?

So Wu Laoliu must have harbored rebellious intentions for some time and incited his men to revolt.

Well, well. What a fine fellow he was, that Laoliu.

He had plotted so secretly that not a sign had shown beforehand, and even after opening fire, he still shouted some high-sounding excuse.

You really did learn the essence from me, your big brother!!

"Wu Laoliu is already in my hands. All of you, put down your guns, and I can let bygones be bygones."

When Commander Xu was angry, it looked as though an azure dragon's claw covered the top of his head as he swept his gaze over the crowd.

His bulging veins were thick, and even on his temples and scalp, the outlines of his muscles were visible.

Thus, that "azure dragon's claw" appeared dark and ominous, yet blazing hot and ready to unfurl.

"Didn't you hear me? Put down your-"

Before he could finish, someone threw a turtle grenade at him.

Commander Xu, Wu Laoliu, and the others really had drilled these desperadoes well. At least they were eager to fight.

Now, in their eyes, the man gripping Wu Laoliu was part of the enormous wealth that had fallen into their laps.

Sixth Brother won't live anyway. For the brothers to get rich, make a contribution!

But before the grenade reached Commander Xu, a deformed car door came flying from more than ten meters away.

The two objects collided in midair, and the grenade exploded on the spot.

That only produced more fragments. Seven or eight nearby soldiers screamed and fell.

Several fragments also lodged in the back of Wu Laoliu's head and his back, and he pitched straight forward.

Commander Xu's figure, however, had already vanished from where he stood, charging into the fortifications on the dock.

Adjutant Zhou, who had just thrown the car door, charged over as well.

He was more cautious than Commander Xu-or rather, he cared less about saving face.

Whenever he had gone out on patrol these past few days, he had worn his full suit of armor. Now he could charge through the chaos even more readily than Commander Xu.

Boom! Boom! Bang, bang, bang, bang!!!

Gunfire rattled on, explosions sounded from time to time, and the dock descended into chaos.

Meng Daizong, however, had retreated behind the rear of the car, his face full of shock and uncertainty.

"How could his men revolt at a time like this? No, something's wrong!"

Meng Daizong was still carrying a birdcage. He lifted the red cloth covering it, but inside was not a bird-it was a mouse.

Dongying had many schools of ninja, with Kōga and Iga the strongest among them. Kōga excelled at using cats, while Iga excelled at using mice.

But during one period in history, Iga had held an overwhelming advantage and nearly wiped out its rival Kōga.

Although cats could catch mice, mice were smaller and more nimble. Once properly trained, they had even more ingenious uses than cats.

The mouse in Meng Daizong's hand was an excellent means of communication.

A sorcerer casting spells could easily interfere with things like landline telephones, but these mice could still sense one another.

If trouble arose at any of the nearby ferry crossings, large or small, he would know immediately and rush to their aid.

When the convoy had been heading toward the dock, the mouse had grown a little restless. But Meng Daizong had taken one look and seen that it was not a signal that any crossing needed reinforcements, so he had paid it little mind.

Now it seemed there must have been an unusual reason for the mouse's restlessness.

The brown-furred, red-nosed mouse squeaked frantically and jumped about, seeming to want to settle on a direction but unable to make up its mind.

"Your Excellency!!"

A black-clad ninja suddenly vaulted over the car roof and dropped to one knee. "When your convoy came over just now, you appeared to us as the target and a group of strangers."

"It wasn't until Xu Youjiang gave that great roar that we ninjas were jolted awake, but the other soldiers still seem to be trapped in the illusion."

Meng Daizong's heart jolted. "He really did bewitch so many people? What unorthodox trick is Cai Shanjun using?"

Fortunately, this method, when spread over a large enough area, seemed effective only against ordinary people. It had little effect on those who had undergone Aperture Opening.

Now that these ninjas had awakened...

Meng Daizong's gaze darkened. "Go help Xu and Zhou. Kill these soldiers as quickly as possible, until their morale collapses."

Without knowing how to break the spell, trying to explain more amid this chaos would only waste the opportunity to strike.

There was only one answer: kill.

Afterward, Xu and Zhou could join the ninjas in searching for the enemy.

"Squeak, squeak, squeak!!"

The mouse's cries grew more frantic. It flung itself against the edge of the cage, seeming to have settled on a direction, and squeaked without stopping.

"Wait!"

A thought flashed through Meng Daizong's mind, and he abruptly grabbed the ninja.

The enemy's unknown method had already clouded these ninjas' senses a little. If the enemy waited until all the soldiers were dead and then concentrated their strength on a small group, would the effect be stronger?

"Follow your mouse and kill."

All sorts of approaches burst into Meng Daizong's mind, each with its own advantages and drawbacks. With a thousand tangled threads impossible to unravel at once, he gritted his teeth and made his decision.

"No matter what the people you see over there look like, use every means at your disposal to disrupt whatever they're doing and kill them!"

The cage broke open, and the little mouse jumped out.

The black-clad ninja snatched it up and lunged toward the dimly lit road beside them. His figure suddenly vanished.

In the woods, Chu Tianshu swept his binoculars from side to side, but could not see where the ninja had gone.

He shifted the binoculars toward the dock. It looked as though a dozen or twenty black-clad figures had just vaulted out of the dock.

The moment they vaulted from the dock onto the road outside, they were briefly exposed, then vanished.

"It's not like that Jiaozhi sorcerer's method of turning directly invisible and creating false doubles."

Chu Tianshu recalled, "Are these ninjas' methods more like a chameleon's? So there's an opening when they change."

The ninjas of Dongying were said to have originally been servant guards trained by sorcerers, and should have been similar to those people in Jiaozhi possessed by leopard cats.

But their methods were subtler and more varied. According to Cai Shanjun, most ninjas did not need to call directly upon evil spirits to possess them. Instead, they mixed their own Mind Power with drugs to harness their bodies' potential.

For short periods, they fought like martial artists, but were more unpredictable than ordinary martial artists, and not as savage and difficult to control as those possessed by evil spirits.

Yet because they relied too heavily on drugs, their lives and deaths were held in the hands of whoever supplied them, and they were generally short-lived.

As for ninja masters, it sounded as though they rose from the ranks of ordinary ninjas and had a chance at a long life, but that was a lie.

From the very beginning, ninja masters did not follow the same path as ordinary ninjas. The two had belonged to entirely different classes from the start.

"At their speed, they should already have reached the edge of these woods."

Chu Tianshu collapsed the binoculars and tossed them onto the donkey cart. He spread his feet shoulder-width apart and quietly watched the woods.

Cai Shanjun was more adept with the Rainbow Cloud Flute than the people of Wu Clan Stronghold, but his use of it was still quite limited.

The effect of his flute playing spread far and wide and could bewitch a large crowd, but this kind of flute music could not be concentrated. Even if there were fewer people, its effect would not change.

Fortunately, with his old adversary Meng Daizong there, he had indeed made the decision Cai Shanjun wanted: sending the ninjas over first to wear them down, rather than taking a risk and waiting for the ninjas to join forces with Xu and Zhou.

As Cai Shanjun played the flute, a trace of worry appeared in his eyes.

The biggest problem now was that the ninjas should clearly have been divided among the different ferry crossings as well.

Yet the number of elite ninjas who had appeared at this large dock alone still exceeded Cai Shanjun's estimate.

Shopkeeper Ma stood guard beside the donkey cart, his hand forming a Mount Mao seal, his eyes closed and his body motionless.

Little Huo, Old Yu, and Zhong Jinqiu were stationed at different positions.

At the very front, Chu Tianshu suddenly chuckled.

Sunlight fell on the shadows of the trees. In the woods, there was no one.

The wind swept up fallen leaves. In the woods, killing intent suddenly descended!