Chapter Fifteen: What Are We Waiting For? (First Update)

With the addition of Bear, the captain of Team G, the three members who had been circling the perimeter were naturally brought into the fold. The information Bear provided only further convinced Chen Hongxu that the breakthrough for this mission lay in the Kasuga Shrine.

The Kasuga Shrine’s ability to rival the Five Great Temples was indisputable, but their strength was also bolstered by the disharmony among the temples themselves. If the mission targeted any of the temples, there was no guarantee they wouldn’t temporarily unite against an outside threat. By choosing the Kasuga Shrine, however, there were no such concerns—everyone knew that the struggle for faith was always the most bloody and ruthless behind the scenes. The Five Great Temples probably wished nothing more than for this group to uproot the Kasuga Shrine, so that Nara would be left without a single Daoist shrine.

What’s more, Bear brought Chen Hongxu the first piece of good news in a long while: the grand priest of the Kasuga Shrine had been injured.

With all these factors in mind, now in control of this battered, makeshift team, Chen Hongxu decided to launch a raid on the Kasuga Shrine in a week.

He questioned Bear thoroughly about the grand priest’s techniques, then glanced at the growing number of defeated and demoralized personnel gathering around as time passed, and distributed tasks simply.

Those who had escaped death—these backup members and newcomers—were naturally proud and headstrong. They followed Chen Hongxu’s orders not only because Team G was so terrifyingly fierce, but also because he promised to take on the shrine’s ultimate force—the grand priest—himself.

Since someone was willing to bear the greatest risk, the others wouldn’t dare cross Team G at such a moment. Besides, Chen Hongxu’s arrangements, though not flashy, didn’t recklessly disregard their lives.

Looking at Bear’s calm face and the others already heading out to keep watch, Chen Hongxu patted Bear’s shoulder. “I’ll take care of your team’s grudge at Kasuga Shrine.”

Bear nodded, showing his yellow teeth in a broad, radiant grin.

Managing a team with complex motives was never easy, nor could Chen Hongxu cover every angle. What he truly controlled were Team G, Fan the Fool, and Gu Jisong.

Someone like Bear, once he truly submits to you, will remain loyal and never play tricks behind your back. Gu Jisong, greedy for profit, was even easier to handle; he only needed to know that Chen Hongxu’s strength was absolute and unchallengeable, and he wouldn’t dare harbor any ill intent. As for Fan the Fool, though Chen Hongxu couldn’t guess his true intentions, he could see the genuine respect in Fan’s demeanor. At this juncture, he certainly wouldn’t cause any trouble.

As his people left one by one, Chen Hongxu gazed down at the landscape and murmured, “Seven days…”

He chose this timing to better collect information, to ensure that Nara’s experts wouldn’t be able to return from Europe within that period, but most importantly, to await the awakening of the spirit of war.

…

A week passed in the blink of an eye.

The sky wept endlessly over Nara, rain pouring down like tears. Beside a Japanese restaurant in North District, two middle-aged men dressed in traditional ronin garb looked up defiantly at the sky, muttering to each other.

Across the street, a group of homeless men—clothes ragged, hair wild like bird nests, faces weary—squatted on the ground, their heads hung low.

Suddenly—

A thunderous roar cracked the sky, drawing the attention of the homeless men. They raised their heads, staring at the rain-shattered, broken letter G in the sky. Their faces, once listless, grew sharp and alert.

They exchanged glances, then lowered their heads once more, slipping their hands into their sleeves and hunching their bodies as they slowly walked toward the restaurant.

Meanwhile, on the mountain, Bear had just finished setting off the signal fireworks. He got up and nodded to Chen Hongxu.

Chen Hongxu narrowed his eyes, surveying the eager, ready crowd. Calmly, he raised his hand and pointed toward the Kasuga Shrine at the foot of the mountain, his expression cold but tinged with murderous intent, and declared, “Kill, kill, kill!”

Such a high-profile move would surely alert the enemy, but for those mission newcomers and backup members who had survived and hidden, this boldness gave them cohesion and a sense of dominance: We are about to act—where are you?

Unlike the headquarters of the Half-Bird Family, where gunfire spewed forth in an airtight metal storm, the Kasuga Shrine attack looked more like a street brawl. Most of the raiders charged downhill shirtless, bodies covered with dragon and tiger tattoos, faces fierce, wielding all kinds of bizarre cold weapons. It was hard to imagine these “refugees” dared to storm the Kasuga Shrine.

Arriving at the shrine’s gate, they found it wide open. Four shrine priests stood there, clad in loose robes and wielding samurai swords, their faces blank, as if prepared long ago.

In Chen Hongxu’s plan, the enemy’s readiness was expected. This was a battle of open strategy—a direct clash of strength, a display of overwhelming force. He had assigned only a few men to suppress the Half-Bird Family headquarters with firepower, not to kill, but to delay. He also sent some to keep watch on the Five Great Temples, just in case he had miscalculated. After all, Buddhism and Daoism in Japan were essentially one family, which would complicate matters.

After the signal had been sent for some time, Chen Hongxu glanced at Bear. Bear, pinching a communication device on his ear, nodded disdainfully. “The Five Great Temples have gone into full defensive mode. The people from the Ferry Family have even taken the chance to surround the North District’s police department, making things easier for us. And those who saw the signal and thought it was a general assault on the temples were intercepted by our people on the perimeter; more are arriving by the minute.”

Bear spoke quietly, but everyone present heard him clearly. Chen Hongxu tilted his head, smiled shyly, and muttered to himself, “Then what are we waiting for?”

Indeed—what were they waiting for? The crowd’s eyes gleamed green; once these underlings were taken care of, riches and glory would be theirs. What reason was there to hesitate?

Chen Hongxu’s words struck a chord, serving as a signal—the full-scale assault on Kasuga Shrine began.