Chapter 33 Assault Party

The next few days passed in a flash.

During this period, Uncle Ye spent most of his time processing whatever herbs and plants he had stored up, and the rest of his time was spent either chatting with his fellow workers or setting up his store at the marketplace.

As for Lu Tianzi, he stayed in his room all day.

If not for the demon attack, he might have still followed Uncle Ye to the marketplace to further consolidate his knowledge on herbalism. However, now Lu Tianzi had nothing on his mind other than achieving as high a unification rate as he could, so as to prepare for his transition to the Essence Condensation realm.

It was only during meal times that he would exit the room to have his food with the Ye family.

Ye Xiangyuan also started to hang out more with Gong Shengjie, which left a bitter taste in Uncle Ye's mouth. But he knew that there was nothing he could do to stop the youngsters.

On this day, Gong Shengjie had invited the Ye family for lunch at the prestigious Eternal Spring Hall. Uncle Ye had declined initially, but under Ye Xiangyuan's repeated persuasion, he finally relented.

As a person whom Gong Shengjie was trying to win over, Lu Tianzi was naturally invited as well.

"So, what is the special occasion?" Lu Tianzi asked as he sat down at the table filled with various delicacies.

"Brother Zhanyuan really loves to joke. Do I even need a reason to treat you guys to a meal?" Gong Shengjie answered with a smile.

Lu Tianzi knew that there was no point in asking further. Along with the rest, he began to indulge in the fine cuisine prepared by the famous chefs of Eternal Spring Hall.

Riding on Gong Shengjie's influence, they were able to dine comfortably in a private room, and the waitresses paid extra attention to their needs as well.

"It has already been a few days since the demon attack. Does Brother Shengjie know the progress of the investigation?" Lu Tianzi asked casually after they were finally done with the meal.

Ever since the other day, he had already gotten used to addressing Gong Shengjie as his brother.

"This…" Gong Shengjie downed a cup of wine before subconsciously letting out a smile. "I am not sure about the results of the investigation itself. But I did hear of some exciting news."

"Oh? Do share," Lu Tianzi prompted curiously.

"This is supposed to be classified information for now, so I will have to bother you not to spread it," Gong Shengjie whispered. "The news is that an assault party is being put together at the moment. We are intending to strike back at the demons!"

"What?" Uncle Ye exclaimed out in shock.

"Strike back at the demons?" Lu Tianzi frowned immediately. "Is this Hu- Is this the City Lord's instruction?"

Gong Shengjie nodded, "Apparently City Lord Hu received reliable information that the demon leader is going to be away for a while. City Lord Hu thus passed down orders for an elite team of the strongest warriors to strike at the demons, so that they will finally know what we are made of!"

Lu Tianzi's frown only deepened upon hearing that, but he could see everyone from the Ye family feeling otherwise. Uncle Ye, his wife, and Ye Xiangyuan, all of their faces lit up with pride upon hearing the plan!

"What is it? Is there something you are worried about?" Gong Shengjie could not help but ask upon seeing Lu Tianzi's contrasting expression.

Lu Tianzi naturally could not tell Gong Shengjie that he was worried about the possible backlash from the Scarlet Moon Kingdom.

At this moment, all he could feel was disbelief!

Here he was hoping that the conflict would not escalate too soon, and yet Hu Yuanbo actually decided to go ahead and push forward the schedule!

Was Hu Yuanbo an idiot? Or did he have something else up his sleeves?

No matter what, it was not like Lu Tianzi would be able to stop this on his own.

So Lu Tianzi immediately dropped any idea of that.

But if he could not stop them, then he might as well try to get as much out of the situation as possbile!

"Brother Shengjie, do you know if the warriors for the assault party are already selected? Or if it is possible to join them without drawing too much attention to myself?" Lu Tianzi decided to just be upfront about it.

"What?!" everyone seated at the table unanimously shouted.

"Uh…?" Lu Tianzi could only let out an awkward laugh as he saw the looks of incredulity being directed towards him.

He thought that he had already revealed part of his strength to most of the people at the table anyway, so Lu Tianzi definitely was not expecting such a huge reaction.

"What are you saying, Ah Zhan? Do you want to join the assault party?" Ye Xiangyuan exclaimed in shock.

"Brother Zhanyuan, it's not that I am underestimating your capabilities, but this is different from just casual fights in the city!" Gong Shengjie's voice was solemn. "It is a fight against demons! You can lose your life from this!"

Uncle Ye merely looked on with a frown. He was the only one here who understood that Lu Tianzi was more than capable of facing demons in battle, yet even he could not help but worry for the youngster.

"I understand the danger involved, but it would also be the best way to hone my skills. However, there would be a problem if my identity is revealed. After all, I don't want to attract too much attention to myself," Lu Tianzi tried to continue probing Gong Shengjie. "Regarding this, does Brother Shengjie have any ideas?"

"This…" Gong Shengjie hesitated as his mind raced.

He was trying to bring Lu Tianzi to his side as a capable subordinate, but what good was a dead subordinate to him?

On the other hand, if he did not help out Lu Tianzi, and Lu Tianzi managed to find someone else to help him, then Gong Shengjie might just lose this potential subordinate to another man!

If that were to happen, then all the time and effort he invested up to now would go up in smoke as well!

"If Brother Zhanyuan really wants to do this, then I do have a way…" Gong Shengjie finally made up his mind.

"Don't even think about it! I won't let you do this!" Ye Xiangyuan's clear voice broke the silence in the room.

"Sis Xiangyuan, I am really not as weak as you think. Whatever those warriors in the assault party can do, I can probably do better!" Lu Tianzi could only try to persuade her this way.

"But…!" Ye Xiangyuan could not find the right words.

"Enough, Yuan'er. We are not martial artists so we will not understand his determination to help the city," Uncle Ye sighed.

Uncle Ye knew how this young man had given up on the path of cultivation to become a worker, all so as seek a way of contributing more to Ivory Rock City. With that, it could be seen how much love and dedication he had towards the city. Thus it was not surprising that he would want to join the assault party upon hearing about it.

"Martial artist? Ah Zhan is…?" Ye Xiangyuan's eyes widened in surprise.

Not just her, but her mother was shocked as well. But seeing the other men in the room remaining calm, they realised that everyone else already knew about it.

At this point, Ye Xiangyuan finally stopped objecting, and could only bite her lower lip in frustration. Uncle Ye's wife patted her daughter's shoulders in consolation, her eyes similarly full of worry.

"Thank you, Uncle Ye," Lu Tianzi nodded gratefully at the middle aged man.

"Don't thank me! I am against this as well!" Uncle Ye harrumphed. "I just don't want you to live your life with any regrets!"

Gong Shengjie's plan was simple enough, giving Lu Tianzi two options.

The first option was to join the assault party using an alias. With Gong Shengjie's influence, it would not be too difficult to bring Lu Tianzi into the team as long as he had the capabilities to back it up. But that would also mean that he would be subjected to the scrutiny of the rest of the party, which might end up defeating the purpose of using an alias.

The second option was to sneak out of the city. Once again, that would be possible with Gong Shengjie's help. That way, he could follow the assault team on his own, maybe even joining up with them at a certain point. This option would place him in far greater danger, but it would also reduce the chances of his identity being exposed.

Depending on his priority, Lu Tianzi could choose the option that he preferred.

That said, everyone at the table unanimously voted for the first option.

After all, between keeping your life and keeping your identity hidden, it was obvious which was more important!

But unknown to them, Lu Tianzi had already made his decision the moment he heard the options.

The second option!

While Lu Tianzi was still wary of the dangers posed by wild beasts, he simply could not afford to show his face to the assault party.

The people in the Workers District did not know him well, and even Cui Zhenghao was the same, thus it was easy enough to mask his identity from them with just a piece of cloth covering his eye.

However, it was a completely different matter when it came to martial artists who had been training together with him at the Ivory Rock Martial Academy!

Gong Shengjie had no idea who the other members of the assault party would be, and Lu Tianzi simply could not afford the risk of being discovered. Otherwise, not to mention assaulting the demons, he would probably be the first to be assaulted!

Of course, he was not going to reveal his decision to the Ye family. If he did, it would just be asking for another session of heated discussion.

Lu Tianzi tactfully waited for the lunch to adjourn before looking up Gong Shengjie once more.

Gong Shengjie was naturally stumped by Lu Tianzi's decision, but eventually decided to help him out regardless. After all, Gong Shengjie was the one who came up with the suggestion in the first place.

He could only pray in his heart that Ye Xiangyuan would never get to learn about this. Or else, he would never hear the end of it from her!

As the date drew nearer to that of the assault party's operation, Lu Tianzi started to learn more details about the actual plan through Gong Shengjie as well.

Though it was said to be an assault party, their main objective was actually just to use guerrilla tactics to harass and take down any groups of demons that strayed out of the safety of the fortress.

The assault party was split into three different teams, each operating independently in order to spread the demons' attention over a larger area. This was decided so as to increase the efficiency of their guerrilla tactics.

Going through the names of the members passed over to him by Gong Shengjie, Lu Tianzi was dumbfounded!

There were not many of his peers from Ivory Rock Martial Academy since most of them were still at Primary Essence Building realm and below. However, some of the names included the instructors of the martial academy!

On top of that, the main group was unexpectedly even led by Hu Shenwei himself!

These people definitely had powerful perception capabilities that were impossible to deceive with a mere piece of cloth.

With such a line up prepared, how was Lu Tianzi supposed to do this without revealing his true identity?!