Chapter 323: Chapter 43: The Peak Strike

Night was falling.

Suddenly, fine snowflakes began to fall again.

At this moment, Jiang Ning was walking on the soft, snow-covered road, surrounded by emptiness.

In such severe weather, even in the Inner City, few people were willing to go out.

“This winter, it will probably freeze people to death in the outer city!”

Thinking of the outer city made Jiang Ning sigh.

In his previous life in the north, every winter he used to see stray cats frozen to death in deserted corners.

Surviving the winter!

In times of underdeveloped productivity, it was always a matter of life and death.

That’s why Jiang Ning was very aware that this year, being a year of severe drought, even though the people around Luoshui County could irrigate their fields with water from the Luoshui River, the harvest would not be good.

Without a good harvest, surviving the winter would be extremely difficult.

And these were the people near the Luoshui River.

For those farther away, encountering such a year of drought without a water source for irrigation meant a real disaster, one that could displace people.

Along the way, Jiang Ning thought a lot.

After a long time, he shook his head, dispelling the clutter in his mind.

He knew this matter had nothing to do with him.

He couldn’t manage it either.

Not even the revered one honored by all officials could manage it.

In the face of natural disasters, human power was too trivial.

Now, he could only be glad that he had enough ability and strength not to have to struggle on the edge of life and death and poverty like the ordinary people in the outer city.

At that moment,

Jiang Ning’s ears twitched slightly.

“I was a bit careless just now and almost failed to notice the person secretly following me.”

At this, his alertness soared.

Jiang Ning was very clear that with his current strength and heightened senses, someone could follow him within a hundred meters without being detected.

This level of skill must be extraordinary, far surpassing any opponent he had previously encountered.

“Who is it?”

Jiang Ning wondered silently.

Ideas raced through his mind, various possibilities emerging.

“Could it be Liu Linmen?”

At this thought, Jiang Ning’s heart tightened.

Liu Linmen,

as he understood, was a master of the Fifth Grade Internal Strength Realm.

And had already refined his Inner Breath, though not yet to the level of Inner Breath Like Gang.

This person’s strength, in his estimation, might be comparable to Minghu.

“Is it really him?” Jiang Ning wondered silently, maximizing his senses.

In an instant,

sounds, big and small, within hundreds of meters became clear.

His sharp hearing scanned all movements like radar.

Then, the silhouette of the person secretly following him reflected in Jiang Ning’s mind.

It wasn’t Liu Linmen!

Jiang Ning silently shook his head, making a judgment.

Because based on the silhouette’s height, he found the person was half a head shorter than Liu Linmen.

Their physiques were too different; it couldn’t be Liu Linmen.

“If not him, then who could it be?” Jiang Ning continued walking forward, pondering silently.

On the other side,

the middle-aged woman had been trailing far behind Jiang Ning.

“I need to find a good place to make a move! Mustn’t make too much noise! Luoshui County isn’t safe now!” she thought silently.

Just then,

her expression slightly surprised.

Because she saw Jiang Ning, who had been walking on the main road, suddenly turn and dart into an alley.

“Good opportunity!” She quickly followed.

On the other side,

Jiang Ning entered the alley, blocking the view of the person secretly following him, and suddenly moved, conjuring wild winds around him, swiftly escaping amid the swirling snow.

…

Moments later,

“Not good!” the middle-aged woman entered the alley and her expression changed.

Because she had lost sight of Jiang Ning, and the snow-covered ground bore no traces, no footprints–Jiang Ning had vanished.

“Did Commander Jiang realize I was following him?”

“When exactly did he notice?”

Looking at the snow-covered ground that bore no trace, the middle-aged woman’s expression shifted.

Meanwhile,

Jiang Ning was now standing in a tall pavilion.

By this time, the sky had darkened, and quiet Luoshui County was shrouded in darkness, lit only by the star-like gleaming of numerous household lights.

With poor lighting conditions, even a martial artist’s vision was greatly limited.

But Jiang Ning, with his extraordinary senses, could still clearly see her face from hundreds of meters away.

“Is it her?”

Jiang Ning’s gaze sharpened as he identified the identity of the person who had been following him.

It was the same person who had been with Liu Linmen during the day.

“If it’s not Liu Linmen, then this person should not be of the Fifth Grade Internal Strength Realm level!”

“If that’s the case, then I’ll use you as my test subject!”

Jiang Ning watched the person in the small alley in the hutong, muttering to himself.

As he spoke, Jiang Ning also took out a longbow and an arrow from the Sumeru Ring.

Previously, when he had gone to Beimang Mountain to exterminate the Black Mountain Army, he had only tested the normal state of Wind Thunder Arrow Skill.

The Wind Thunder Arrow, mastered after three Break Limits, had not been tested.

One reason was due to the presence of many people, with two teams from the Inspection Office there, making it inappropriate to reveal too much.

Another reason was that the strength of that batch of Black Mountain Army was insufficient, their strongest being only equal to his own level of Martial Arts Seventh Grade.

With equivalent strength at the Seventh Grade, they were no match for him now.

He had merely tested the effects of Water and Fire True Strength on the leader of the Black Mountain Army and had easily killed him.