Immortals of the End Times

Chapter 53: Rescuing People in Chishui - An Unexpected Turn of Events
As Zhao Wuji, a stranger wearing a bamboo hat and black brocade clothes, walked into the wine shop.

The destitute, starving people around the wine shop either looked wary or had greedy eyes.

Zhao Wuji narrowed his eyes slightly, and the moment he stepped into the wine shop, his True Realm spiritual senses spread out like a spider web.

Within a radius of a hundred feet, there was only the faint scent of starving people, but there was no trace of Xiaolin and his companion.

"Not inside the wine shop?"

Zhao Wuji looked at the rather nervous waiter who came forward at the wine shop and asked about the whereabouts of Xiao Lin and the other two.

"You, you're the adult Brother Lin was talking about?"

Upon hearing Zhao Wuji's description, the waiter's eyes lit up, and he was no longer nervous. He immediately said, "Brother Lin and the others have been captured by the Wajin Gang."

"The Wajin Gang?"

Zhao Wuji frowned. After some questioning, he learned that the Wajin Gang was the largest gray-area force within a hundred miles of the Chishui Town coastline.

It is said that the White Bone Sect, which the Wajin Gang is backed by, is a demonic sect that even the Yu Kingdom's government troops could not eradicate.

Now that the two countries are at war, these thugs are even more unscrupulous.

The town's dilapidated state is a result of the frequent raids and plundering by the Wajin gang, which has led to a shortage of grain for brewing in this once-famous brewing town.

Zhao Wuji asked a few more questions.

The tavern clerk only knew that Xiaolin and the others had been captured by the Wajin Gang eight days ago, apparently because the Wajin Gang wanted to get something from them.

Other details, such as the location of the Wajin Gang's headquarters and the experts within it, were completely unknown to the crew.

The more questions were asked, the more the wine shop owner behind them began to give them meaningful glances, his expression turning sour.

Zhao Wuji's eyes swept over the shopkeeper with lightning speed. Even through the bamboo hat and veil, the shopkeeper felt as if two sharp knives were stabbing at him. Startled, he quickly turned and went to the kitchen.

Just then, a rapid sound of horses' hooves suddenly came from outside the town, causing the ground to tremble slightly.

People on the street outside the liquor store were startled and scattered.

"They're here, the Wajin Gang." The waiter's face was also ashen as he turned to look at Zhao Wuji.

But in the blink of an eye, Zhao Wuji was gone.

The waiter was taken aback. What kind of adult was this? How could he escape even faster than him?

Suddenly, a faint, mosquito-like sound rang in his ears.

"For your own safety, don't mention that I was here."

The waiter was taken aback, looking around, but could only hear the voice and not see the person. He immediately felt a sense of awe, realizing that the person Brother Lin mentioned was indeed a master.

Zhao Wuji hadn't actually left; he had simply used an invisibility spell to conceal his presence when no one was looking.

Since Xiaolin and Yewu had been captured by the Wajin Gang, and it seemed that the Wajin Gang was also interested in the drinks that Xiaolin and Yewu were looking for, he decided to go with the Wajin Gang to their hideout.

Let's see if Kobayashi and his companion are being held captive in their hideout.

Since this group of people are interested in the buried wine, it's unlikely they would kill Kobayashi and his companion immediately; they would probably need their help to find the wine.

"I've already been careful enough by using magic to conceal myself. Although the Wajin Gang is backed by the White Bone Path, there shouldn't be any White Bone Path cultivators hidden within the gang, right?"

Zhao Wuji stepped out of the tavern and stood on the street to observe. He saw horses kicking up clouds of dust that swirled up into the sky like a whirlwind, revealing seven or eight powerful knights, each with a fierce aura, who began to plunder everywhere.

It was called looting, but it was more like the townspeople had been plundered countless times, and they had to hand over the little surplus food and savings they had managed to scrape together.

These people didn't kill anyone; they seemed more like wicked servants who came to collect rent.

He observed secretly for a long time but did not see any experts. After the invisibility spell wore off, he did not continue to use it.

Soon, the knights of the Ganwajin gang, carrying their supplies, rode away like the wind.

He immediately used his agility to keep up with them from a distance.

After following them for dozens of miles, the knights galloped along the banks of the Red River and finally entered a mountain. Zhao Wuji followed like a gust of wind and soon saw a precipitous mountain stronghold in the mountains, a place that was easy to defend and difficult to attack, complete with a watchtower, clearly displaying the posture of a mountain king.

He made a hand seal and used a wisp of yin energy to cast an invisibility spell, swaggering into the mountain stronghold.

His spiritual senses spread out, and all the surrounding auras were brought into the range of his spiritual perception.

Suddenly, he detected several powerful auras.

One of the auras was so strong that it astonished him, and he quickly withdrew some of his spiritual senses.

"This Wajin Gang actually has a Grandmaster of the Returning to Truth Realm? That's completely unreasonable."

Zhao Wuji was somewhat taken aback.

Grandmasters of the Returning to Truth Realm are not like cabbages lying on the roadside; there are only five of them in the entire Xuan Kingdom's imperial palace.

Although there are many masters in the martial arts world, those at the level of Grandmaster of the Returning to Truth Realm are almost all renowned figures like the previous generation's Thief Saint. How come one of them is suddenly hiding in this small gang?

"Could they be from the White Bone Sect?"

Zhao Wuji frowned and became alert, continuing to use his spiritual sense to detect the surrounding aura. Before long, he sensed the auras of Xiao Lin and Ye Wu, but did not detect any stronger auras.

He immediately breathed a sigh of relief.

Although a Grandmaster of the Returning to Truth Realm was powerful, he had killed one before, but he felt something was amiss.

With a swift movement, he vanished like a gust of wind while in stealth mode, heading straight for the stilted house on a cliff where Xiaolin and the other person were imprisoned.

The Wajin Gang's method of imprisoning people was also unique: they would lock people up in bamboo houses on cliffs.

Those inside are unlikely to escape, and those outside who want to go in and rescue them would need to possess extraordinary lightness skills to fly down with them, or climb up a high ladder like the food delivery boy.

However, this height was nothing more than flat ground for Zhao Wuji.

He darted forward like a wisp of smoke, casually crushing the iron lock.

The figure slipped through the door and instantly reappeared.

Xiao Lin and Ye Wu, who were being held captive in the bamboo building, only saw a blur before Zhao Wuji's figure suddenly pushed open the door and flashed in, then quickly closed the door again.

"what?"

Startled, Ye Wu instinctively gasped, then immediately covered his mouth with his hand.

Kobayashi, who was standing to the side, was also astonished, but quickly recovered and said with a mixture of surprise, fear and worry, "Sir, how did you suddenly find this place? It's very dangerous here."

Zhao Wuji smiled calmly, his tone even yet conveying composure and confidence, "Since I've found this place, it means it's not too dangerous. How did you two get captured and brought here while searching for wine? Do the Wajin Gang need you to help them find wine?"

"Sir, that's not how it is."

Xiao Lin's expression suddenly became very strange, a mixture of shame, embarrassment, and a hint of fear. He said, "The wine has already been found by Wajin. When I followed Ye Wu to the place where the wine was dug up back then, we were discovered and stopped by their people."

But the people who tried to stop me weren't very strong, and I escaped with Ye Wu. I immediately wrote to you afterward.

Then, I went back alone and found that they had already emptied most of the liquor. Before I could even write to you about it, we were captured by the Wajin Gang's experts.

Zhao Wuji was also taken aback upon hearing this.

He thought that Xiao Lin and his companion had found the old liquor, only to have it stolen by the Wajin gang.

Unexpectedly, the Wajin Gang got there first.

"Now that they've found the wine, why are they locking you up?"

As Zhao Wuji asked the question, he suddenly sensed a powerful aura looming over him like dark clouds.

Accompanying this was a woman's chilling, icy laughter.

"Locking them up was naturally a way to lure you, their master, here, huh? Hehehe. You really came. Your strength is astonishing."

(End of this chapter)