Being a Late Bloomer in the Cultivation World

Meanwhile.

Seeing that his attack had missed and failed to kill the Divine Archer, Wei Tu, the giant with the iron hammer decided to retreat.

—As long as Wei Tu was alive, he would have to use at least half his concentration to guard against an arrow to the eye.

With a loud roar, he snatched up two Xiang Army soldiers and hurled them into the military formation. While the Military Officers were distracted, he charged toward the southeastern wall of Liu Family Castle.

The iron-hammer giant seemed clumsy, but he moved with extreme speed, darting back and forth across the courtyard like an agile pangolin.

Finally, the giant seized his chance. With a single leap, he landed on a corner of the wall, grabbed the roof tiles with his right arm, and prepared to climb over.

But just then—

A dozen or so Military Officers also seized the opportunity. Seeing that the iron-hammer giant was Exhausted, they immediately threw the Flying Tiger Claws they carried at their waists.

SWOOSH! SWOOSH! SWOOSH!

The Flying Tiger Claws shot through the air, entangling the giant’s legs and arms.

They even snagged the joints of his Profound Armor.

Then, the dozen or so Military Officers pulled with all their might. The iron-hammer giant, along with a small section of the wall, came crashing down, slamming hard onto the ground.

The Xiang Army soldiers formed their shield wall again, tightly encircling the giant. They thrust their long spears into his vital points.

In an instant.

Blood covered the ground.

The iron-hammer giant let out a choked cry as the soldiers riddled him with so many wounds he looked like a pincushion. He died a miserable death on the spot.

"He’s finally dead." Seeing the iron-hammer giant fall, the Military Officers breathed a collective sigh of relief.

Although they had not yet fully breached Liu Family Castle, they knew the iron-hammer giant had likely been their most troublesome foe within it.

If there were any other experts, they wouldn’t have just stood by and watched the giant fight alone, only to be worn down and killed by a mob of Official Soldiers...

"Press the advantage! Leave no remnants of Wuyun Tower alive!"

At that moment, a quick-witted Military Officer shouted and led his squad charging into the interior of Liu Family Castle.

He put on a great show of wanting to eradicate Wuyun Tower, root and branch.

"I’m going too."

The other sharp-eyed Military Officers saw this and understood immediately. That man had rushed into Liu Family Castle to snatch up loot.

According to the unwritten rules of the Official Soldiers,

after this victory, they had to give half of what they looted from Liu Family Castle to their commanding Military Officer; the rest was their own.

Seeing this, Wei Tu was no exception. He raised his Golden-Backed Saber and squeezed into the fray.

—Two years ago, he had gone into debt for his Forged Armor. He still owed Weii Fei and Wei Hong a total of eighty taels of patterned silver.

Relying on his meager salary as a Military Officer, it would take him nearly ten years of not eating or drinking to pay it all back.

As for skimming from the payroll or exploiting the soldiers at the Xiang Army Government Office, his rank as a "Capital Army Envoy" wasn’t high enough. At most, he received a bit of "Shut-up Money" each year.

Therefore, Wei Tu certainly wasn’t going to let this chance to get rich slip by.

There was no need to be sentimental about it.

...

「More than two hours later.」

The sky to the east began to show the pale light of dawn.

The Xiang Army soldiers reassembled outside Liu Family Castle.

Compared to the grim and solemn mood when they arrived, every Military Officer and soldier now wore a smile, each of them having "returned laden with spoils."

As a branch of Wuyun Tower, Liu Family Castle’s accumulated wealth wasn’t enormous, but for the Qingshan County Xiang Army, it was still a considerable sum.

"Seventy-two casualties, and one hundred thirteen Wuyun Tower Martial Artists slain. I’d call that a great victory."

County Captain Xu tallied the numbers and nodded to himself.

If it hadn’t been for the iron-hammer giant’s immense strength causing so much chaos, the Official Soldiers wouldn’t have suffered such heavy losses.

Then, County Captain Xu turned his gaze to Wei Tu and said, "Army Envoy Wei, you are our Capital Army Envoy, responsible for rewarding merits and punishing faults. You will be the one to judge the soldiers’ contributions and sins from this battle."

Qingshan County had a total of three Capital Army Envoys. One had remained in the County Town, while the other two had accompanied him to Siyang Town on this mission.

But compared to Wei Tu, who had performed two great deeds, the other envoy’s performance was unremarkable.

Letting Wei Tu judge the merits and sins would be accepted by the men.

As for the suppression from Prefect He—

County Captain Xu had already put Prefect He out of his mind. After more than two years, the Prefect’s influence had long since faded.

Besides, he wasn’t promoting Wei Tu this time, merely delegating some authority to him as a reward for his contributions.

"This subordinate obeys." Wei Tu wasn’t surprised by County Captain Xu’s decision. He cupped his fist in his palm and accepted the order.

County Captain Xu nodded, his gaze sweeping over the Xiang Army Military Officers and soldiers again. "Relay my order! We will temporarily station ourselves in Liu Family Castle and continue to hunt for the remaining fugitives from Wuyun Tower!"

Everyone was slightly surprised to hear this, but out of habit, they obeyed their Commanding Officer and accepted the order.

Their attack had been sudden, and they had surrounded Liu Family Castle so completely that not even a fly could have escaped alive.

How could there possibly be any Wuyun Tower fugitives left in Siyang Town?

Even if there were, they would have fled Siyang Town long ago, while the raid was happening.

But Wei Tu, standing to the side, saw the situation clearly.

Wei Tu thought for a moment. ’County Captain Xu is probably doing this to extort the Gentry of Siyang Town. Power not used is power wasted...’

Although his natural aptitude was mediocre, no different from an ordinary person, his knowledge was broader than that of the people in the County Town due to the information explosion of his past life, allowing him to see through County Captain Xu’s intentions.

...

「That night, at Liu Family Castle.」

Weii Fei came looking for Wei Tu, bringing a pot of good wine, a roasted chicken, and a plate of edamame to drink and chat.

"This time, your big brother here really struck it rich. I looted at least two hundred taels of silver!" Weii Fei said, his face flushed with excitement after a few cups of wine.

Although he was the adopted son of the Cyan Tiger Gang’s Leader in the County Town and considered wealthy, he actually had very little spending money of his own.

The fifty taels he had lent Wei Tu last time were actually from his adoptive father, who wanted to befriend Wei Tu and had used him as an intermediary to lend the fifty taels of silver.

Two hundred taels of silver—for an ordinary wealthy household in the County Town, that was about all the liquid cash they had, not counting fixed assets like land and houses.

"I didn’t do too bad either. Got about eighty or ninety taels," Wei Tu replied with a smile, picking up some food with his chopsticks.

After entering the Qi Sensing Realm, his movements had become much more agile than before. Never mind the ordinary soldiers; even the other Military Officers weren’t as quick-eyed and nimble-fingered as he was.

Therefore, even though he had fallen behind and entered later, he still managed to grab a considerable amount of money.

"Besides the money..." Weii Fei pulled Wei Tu closer, took out a worn-looking book from his robes, and whispered, "I pulled this Secret Manual off the iron-hammer giant."

"We’re sworn brothers. We’ll study this Secret Manual together."

Weii Fei said magnanimously.

"A Secret Manual?" Wei Tu was stunned. He then recalled that after the iron-hammer giant’s death, while all the other Military Officers were thinking about snatching valuables, Weii Fei had lingered by the giant’s body for a moment.

At the time, he had also wanted to "loot the corpse," but he had been too close to County Captain Xu, who was surrounded by his Personal Guard, making it difficult to make a move...

Later, when he finally had an opportunity, the iron-hammer giant’s body was already mangled beyond recognition. The soldiers had stripped it completely clean of any valuables.

He hadn’t expected that Weii Fei had the same idea and had managed to get to the giant first.