Martial Saint with Passives

Chapter 150: Chapter 104: Delivering a Message (2)

It turned out the man in black was a Scout, and he had gathered intelligence on a fortress to the west that guarded the farmlands.

In three days, Master Qi’s bandit army would attack that fortress.

This was Lin Yuan City’s most important stretch of farmland.

If it were captured and the grain shipments from other towns were cut off...

...then in the coming year, Lin Yuan City would inevitably face a severe famine!

Jiang Che frowned slightly. This bandit army was clearly no mere rabble; there was a high chance they would succeed in taking the fortress!

’No, I have to think of something.’

After thinking it over, Jiang Che came up with two options.

First, he could burn the camp’s provisions, preventing them from attacking.

Second, he could secretly go and warn the fortress.

’No, I can’t burn the provisions...’

Jiang Che rejected the first option.

Master Qi was no fool.

No matter how cleverly he pulled it off, the provisions had been perfectly fine.

For them to suddenly burn down right after he came to deliver medicine... it would be stranger if he *wasn’t* the first one suspected!

He could, of course, just abandon his identity as Hu Bugui, go back to being Jiang Che, and escape to Lin Yuan City.

But if he did that, he would lose track of the other five bandit armies’ movements.

And he would never find his parents.

Therefore, this option was completely out of the question.

As for warning the fortress...

Early the next morning, they were to return and report back.

And as for his three Horse Bandit subordinates—they might have seemed like his underlings, but he knew they were really spies Master Wu had assigned to watch him!

Once he returned to the mountain stronghold, there would be even fewer opportunities to get away.

So, if he was going to deliver a warning, it had to be now!

Fortunately, he had learned the fortress’s approximate location from the two men’s conversation.

After Master Qi returned to his tent, Jiang Che immediately slipped out of the camp under the cover of darkness. He used his Qinggong to its fullest, racing toward the fortress.

In less than an hour, Jiang Che arrived at the fortress.

Due to the recent, repeated attacks by the Horse Bandits, the fortress had bolstered its defenses.

Even at night, there was no shortage of patrols and sentries.

However, as long as he didn’t encounter a Force Integration Martial Artist, Jiang Che wasn’t worried.

He used his Shadow Tracing Step and quickly slipped over to the largest-looking tent.

’The Defender General should be in here.’

Jiang Che crept closer and peeked through a seam.

Inside, an aged commander in full armor was writing something by lamplight.

Though the man’s Qi Blood was fading with age, it was clear he was a Force Integration Martial Artist!

Great Chu was a nation founded on martial prowess; one was not qualified to become a Military Officer without first reaching Force Integration.

Therefore, it was perfectly normal for the fortress commander to be a Force Integration Martial Artist.

Jiang Che didn’t dare reveal himself. He rolled the note he’d prepared into a small tube, flicked it inside with a finger, and quickly melted back into the darkness.

Seeing something fly into his tent, the old commander was startled and shouted, "Who’s there?!"

A squad of his personal guard rushed in, but they found no one.

The old commander waved his hand, and the guards withdrew.

He picked up the note, unrolled it, and his expression changed the moment he read it.

The note not only laid out the plan for Master Qi’s troops to attack the fortress in three days but also detailed the specifics of his forces.

Much of the information matched the intelligence gathered by the Scouts the old commander had dispatched!

"This..."

The old commander’s mind raced. If this was true, the fortress’s current forces would be completely unable to resist the attack!

He had to request reinforcements from the city!

Outside the tent, Jiang Che saw that the old commander had finished reading the note and took the opportunity to slip away.

He couldn’t stay away from his own tent for too long. It would be trouble if someone noticed his absence and grew suspicious.

Jiang Che used his Flying Swallow Step at full power, moving at his top speed. Before long, he was back at the camp.

Switching back to the Shadow Tracing Step, Jiang Che moved through the darkness and quickly made his way back to his tent.

Seeing that the three Horse Bandits were sound asleep and everything was normal, he quietly returned to his bunk to rest.

Before he left, Jiang Che had quietly released a faint hallucinogenic poison. Even if they woke up, their minds would be muddled, and they wouldn’t know what had happened.

The next day, Jiang Che observed his surroundings carefully. Seeing that no one had noticed his absence from the night before, he finally breathed a sigh of relief.

After returning to the stronghold, Jiang Che continued to wait for his next chance to visit the other armies on the front lines.

「Several days later.」

Jiang Che was compiling intelligence from various sources, preparing his daily report for Master Wu.

He felt like he had become Master Wu’s personal secretary.

Suddenly, a man ran up, announcing that a messenger from Master Qi had arrived!

Jiang Che’s heart stirred. He knew this had to be news about the raid!

He hurried to meet the messenger.

’They probably failed to take it...’ Jiang Che mused.

He had seen the old commander read the note with his own eyes; the man should have been prepared.

But when he saw the messenger, the man was panting, clearly having run the whole way without stopping.

Jiang Che quickly offered him a bowl of water. The man was parched and drank it all in one go, spilling a good deal of it on his clothes.

He wiped his mouth and said excitedly.

"We took it!"

Jiang Che was shocked and quickly asked, "Took what?"

"The fortress guarding the western farmlands! We took it!"

Jiang Che’s pupils shrank. ’Didn’t I secretly send a warning? How could they have taken it?!’

After asking for the details, Jiang Che finally learned the truth.

As it turned out, when they attacked, the fortress was indeed well-prepared.

But they were simply overwhelmed by superior numbers and were taken in the end.

That old commander was killed by Master Qi.

’It seems Lin Yuan City didn’t send reinforcements...’

The fact that the fortress was so well-prepared proved they had believed his message.