Courtyard House: Time Traveler Not Yet a Ghost

In the desolate mountains outside Fengtian City, He Damin quietly meditated for three days. His purplish-gold elixir slowly rotated in his dantian, like a miniature sun, continuously supplying pure innate true qi to his limbs and bones, while also nourishing his yang spirit. The Soul Refining Banner floated within the Yin Yin space, absorbing the large number of souls harvested during the Fengtian Armory operation, and in turn generating even purer soul power.

The operation three days ago, which nearly emptied a large arms factory, was incredibly costly, but the gains were equally astonishing. Now, not only has his soul power fully recovered, but his Yang Spirit is also more refined, and the systematic and complex knowledge of arms technology in his mind has been initially organized. More importantly, the nascent "Soul-Forging Arms Factory" within his small world, under the control of the split-soul puppets carrying the engineers' memories, has begun to attempt basic equipment debugging and component trial production.

"Fengtian is just the beginning." He Damin opened his eyes, the golden light in them subdued, deep as a pool.

The Northeast, a land that the Japanese had been controlling for over a decade and known as "Manchukuo," had long been transformed into a massive war resource supply base. In addition to the Fengtian Arsenal, there were steel mills in Anshan, coal mines in Fushun, iron mines in Benxi, ports and shipyards in Dalian, aircraft manufacturing plants in Harbin, secret warehouses scattered throughout the region, grain storage points, mining equipment... These were the very bones and flesh that supported the ambitions of the Japanese Empire.

Now, what He Damin needs to do is to pull out these tendons and bones one by one, and devour these pieces of flesh and blood one by one.

He stood up and walked out of the cave. It was early morning, and the mist had not yet dissipated over the hills of Liaodong. With a slight thought, his spirit left his body.

In an instant, a pure golden humanoid figure, identical to his original form, appeared beside him, radiating a warm yet majestic aura. The Yang God glanced at his original form and nodded slightly. Then, golden light rippled across the Yang God's body like water, and his form began to rapidly change and shrink!

With a soft crack of bones, wings sprouted, sharp claws took shape, and eyes gleamed like lightning.

In the blink of an eye, the golden human figure was gone, replaced by a magnificent eagle standing proudly on the rock! It was larger than an ordinary eagle, its feathers a dark gold that shimmered with a metallic sheen in the morning light, its eyes sharp and cold, exuding an air of dominance.

This is the initial application of the Seventy-Two Transformations of the Earthly Fiends—transforming into an eagle. Although one cannot truly possess all the innate supernatural abilities of an eagle (such as the ability to truly soar thousands of miles and have keen eyesight, which still requires one's own cultivation), flying and scouting in this form, its speed, altitude, and stealth are far superior to those of human form or astral projection, making it especially suitable for large-scale reconnaissance in the vast daylight sky.

The golden eagle (He Damin Yang Shen) raised its head and let out a clear and penetrating cry. With a flap of its wings, it stirred up a strong wind and shot into the sky like an arrow. In the blink of an eye, it turned into a tiny black dot in the sky that was almost imperceptible.

His main body set up a simple concealment spell at the cave entrance, sat cross-legged, and closed his eyes to concentrate. Most of his main consciousness was already connected with the Yang God Azure Eagle, sharing everything that those sharp eyes saw.

The eagle soars thousands of meters in the sky, its streamlined body lifted by the air currents with almost no effort. He Damin (the eagle) looks down at the vast land below.

This is Northeast China in 1943. From the air, the land is cut into irregular squares by crisscrossing railway lines. The black rails, like blood vessels, connect industrial towns billowing smoke. On vast plains, neat farmland has not yet turned green, appearing desolate. Near those towns and transportation hubs, one can often see large-scale factory areas, warehouse complexes, barracks, and the fluttering Japanese flag.

His gaze swept across the area like the most sophisticated scanner.

Anshan. Below stretches a vast steel complex, dozens of miles long, with blast furnaces dotting the landscape, their chimneys spewing out thick, yellowish-black smoke that blots out the sky. On the dedicated railway line, trains laden with ore and coke rumble in and out. Within the plant area, massive blast furnaces, open-hearth furnaces, and rolling mills resemble a steel jungle. He Damin can even see the blazing firelight reflecting off the steel furnaces, illuminating half the sky.

Fushun. The massive open-pit coal mine, like a black scar on the earth, stretches hundreds of meters deep, with winding transport tunnels along its edges resembling a maze. Huge electric excavators, coal trains, and associated coal liquefaction plants and power plants constitute a vast energy base.

Dalian. Along the azure bay, the harbor is lined with masts, where cargo ships and warships are moored. In the shipyard, several 10,000-ton cargo ships and smaller warships are under construction or undergoing repairs. On shore, there are supporting machinery factories, warehouses, and naval facilities.

Pingfang District, Harbin. A heavily guarded factory area, surrounded not only by high walls and electric fences, but also by a large amount of anti-aircraft firepower and patrolling fighter jets. The factory buildings are massive, and the outlines of aircraft being assembled can be vaguely seen. This is the "Manchuria Aircraft Manufacturing Company," the most important Japanese military facility in Northeast China.

Changchun (Xinjing). As the "capital" of the puppet state of Manchukuo, the city was well-planned with neat streets, and Japanese-style buildings were mixed with traditional Chinese architecture. The headquarters of the Kwantung Army, the puppet Manchukuo "State Council", the "Central Bank" treasury, and several large material storage warehouses were clearly visible in the eagle's eyes.

More numerous were medium-sized warehouses, armories, fuel depots, and grain storage points scattered throughout various railway hubs and strategic locations…

The eagle circled over the vast northeastern sky for an entire day. He Damin, using his Yang Shen ability combined with his powerful divine sense scanning, essentially drew a precise strategic resource map, imprinting the locations of important industrial facilities, warehouses, defensive forces, and transportation routes below deep into his soul.

He even "saw" several special warehouses and research institutes marked "top secret," hidden deep in the mountains or underground, with a level of security far exceeding what was visible on the surface.

As the sun began to set and the eagles returned to the mountains where the caves were located, He Damin already had a clear "harvest list" in his mind, sorted by region and priority.

The Yang spirit returned to his body, and the golden light faded. He Damin opened his eyes, a cold, sharp glint flashing in them.

"Then let's start tonight."

Night fell as promised, enveloping the Northeast.

The first night, in the Anshan and Fushun area.

At midnight, in the core area of ​​the Anshan Ironworks, during the tapping interval of Blast Furnace No. 3, the furnace workers were conducting maintenance. Suddenly, all the Japanese supervisors and technicians on duty simultaneously stiffened, their eyes glazing over, and they were immediately taken over by a pale golden split soul. They expressionlessly walked towards various key control points—the power distribution room, the pump room, the blower room, the crane control panel…

Almost simultaneously, the Japanese guard camp on the outskirts was swept by an invisible cold current. A large number of soldiers who were on guard duty or patrolling suddenly froze, their souls quietly frozen by the "soul-locking and spirit-fixing" effect of the [Netherworld Chains].

Then, the most important large blast furnaces in the factory area, the latest steel rolling production line, the special alloy smelting electric furnace, and the supporting German-imported heavy machine tools began to vibrate slightly under the action of an invisible force, and then, along with their bases and some auxiliary facilities, disappeared in large sections! Only huge foundation pits and broken pipes were left in the place.

The ore mountains and coke piles in the raw material yard, as well as the steel ingots and steel plates in the finished product warehouse, were also quickly emptied.

The entire relocation process was efficient and quiet, with only the low hum of steel being "cut" by an invisible force drowned out by the inherent noise of the factory at night.

At the Fushun coal mine, the focus wasn't on the cumbersome mining equipment (those could wait), but on the mountains of high-quality coal that had already been mined, and the key equipment for the mine's power plant and coal liquefaction plant. The same scene played out: guards were immobilized, technicians had their memories read or were possessed, and tens of thousands of tons of coal and core equipment evaporated in the night.

As He Damin's spirit departed with the banner during the darkest hour before dawn, Anshan's steel production plummeted by 70%, and Fushun's coal reserves were largely depleted. Meanwhile, within the small world, the scale of the "raw material zone" and the "energy zone" exploded.

The second night, the warehouse complex in Dalian and southern Liaoning.

The night air in Dalian Port was salty and briny. The port's warehouse area, docks, and naval repair yard became his targets. A 5,000-ton cargo ship, two destroyers undergoing repairs in the dock (though incomplete, their equipment and artillery were valuable), along with the large cranes, loading and unloading equipment, and several warehouses filled with strategic materials such as rubber, copper, and petroleum products, were the focus of He Damin's attention.

He even dived underwater and used his divine sense to "scan" and attempt to collect the wreckage of some sunken ships underwater in the port (which may contain usable metal), as well as special weapons such as torpedoes and depth charges stored in the naval warehouse.

On the same night, several medium-sized munitions depots and clothing and food warehouses along the South Manchurian Railway in southern Liaoning were also ransacked. The Japanese soldiers guarding the warehouses often only felt an irresistible drowsiness, and when they finally regained consciousness, the warehouses in front of them were already empty, with only the open doors and neat traces on the floor inside, as if the supplies inside had never existed.

The third night, Changchun and the central transportation hub.

The night in Changchun was exceptionally quiet, but the strict security of the puppet Manchukuo "capital" was nothing to He Damin. He moved about as if he were in an empty place, visiting the underground secret archives of the Kwantung Army Headquarters (collecting a large number of maps, plans, and codebooks), the valuables vault of the puppet Manchukuo Central Bank (collecting gold, silver, and antiques), and three large comprehensive supply warehouses on the outskirts of the city.

He also made a special "visit" to the puppet Manchukuo "Imperial Palace," but he had no interest in the puppets and decorations inside. He simply picked up a few pieces of jade and porcelain that looked very old.

Key logistics hubs and supply depots along the Changchun-Yangtze and Harbin-Dalian railways, such as Siping, Gongzhuling, and Tieling, were systematically raided. Large quantities of supplies supporting troop movement, including grain, medicine, tires, gasoline, and horse feed, were confiscated.

The fourth night, Harbin and northern Manchuria.

The aircraft manufacturing plant in the bungalow district was of paramount importance. He Damin spent even more time there. He not only seized several aircraft assembly lines, a large quantity of aircraft engines, precision instruments, aluminum materials, and special steel, but also took away some design drawings and test data of the Japanese's latest fighter jets (such as the "Hayabusa" fighter jet) from a secret research room within the factory. Under the influence of the [Soul Banner Domain - Underworld Illusion], the Japanese air force ground crew and anti-aircraft units guarding the factory fell into a brief and chaotic state of mutual suspicion and hallucinations, and were completely unable to organize an effective resistance.

Japanese intelligence agencies and special warehouses located in some Russian-style buildings in Harbin were also not spared.

The fifth night, the sixth night...

The operation expanded to more remote areas. Grain depots in the Heilongjiang River basin, timber processing plants and small military outposts in the Xing'an Mountains, hidden naval oil storage caves on the Liaodong Peninsula... He Damin, like a tireless ghost, traversed the night across Northeast China. The speed of the Yang Shen and the storage efficiency of the Soul Refining Banner allowed him to sweep across multiple targets within a range of hundreds of miles in a single night.

His methods were becoming increasingly refined. Against small groups of Japanese soldiers, he would often directly use Soul Locking or Underworld Illusion to create chaos; against skilled workers, he would first extract their key memories before dealing with them; and against warehouses, he would quickly identify and collect resources based on their type and importance. The number of souls and blood beads within the Soul Refining Banner surged again, and resources within the small world piled up like mountains, categorized and sorted, filling nearly 80% of the hundred-square-kilometer Yang-Yang space!

In each operation, he would deliberately leave some "living prisoners"—Japanese soldiers who had been immobilized but recovered by dawn, or who had survived hallucinations. They carried fragmented and terrifying memories, spreading horrific stories of "ghosts," "demons," and "supplies disappearing into thin air," causing increasingly severe panic and morale collapse among the Kwantung Army and the Manchukuo Army.

Of course, such a large-scale and high-frequency anomaly could not be completely kept from everyone.

The Kwantung Army headquarters went on high alert the day after the attack in Anshan, but faced with this incomprehensible attack, all their routine precautions and investigations proved utterly ineffective. They could only continuously reduce their forces, strengthen the defense of the remaining core facilities, and frantically request reinforcements from Tokyo, while also accelerating the transfer of supplies from the Japanese mainland and the Korean Peninsula to fill the gaps. However, these efforts were insufficient to address the immediate crisis.

The Eighth Route Army's anti-Japanese forces in Northeast China, as well as the underground Communist Party members, keenly sensed this strange "divine retribution." Although they didn't understand why, they realized it was a period of extreme weakness for the enemy, and took the opportunity to intensify their attacks and sabotage, further exacerbating the chaos under the Japanese puppet regime.

After harvesting for more than ten nights in a row, He Damin finally stopped.

It wasn't because he was tired, or because all the "fruits" in Northeast China had been picked. On the contrary, there were still many targets worth pursuing.

Rather, it's because the anode space of the small world is really almost full.

At this moment, he stood in the small world, gazing at the astonishing "material empire" he had created single-handedly.

Weapons and ammunition are piled up like a continuous mountain range, steel and coal form a black plateau, grain and cloth are like a golden ocean, precision equipment is neatly arranged in a special area, and precious metals and antiques gleam in the treasure vault... The originally well-planned areas have become somewhat "overflowing" due to the recent massive influx, and some resources have even piled up in the reserved "future development zone".

"There's not enough space." He Damin frowned slightly.

For a Golden Core cultivator, a small world of one hundred square kilometers is already the limit. To continue expanding, unless his cultivation level breaks through again, or… he finds other methods to expand the space.

Furthermore, the continuous high-intensity operations and memory acquisition, although replenished by the Soul Refining Banner, also required a brief period of mental rest and digestion. The industrial knowledge and Japanese secrets that had been seized also needed time to be further integrated and absorbed.

He looked towards the Yin-Yang space. Around the Soul Refining Banner, the number of newly condensed blood beads and pure souls had reached a terrifying figure, far exceeding what it had been before. The six light holes in the nascent form of reincarnation also seemed to have accelerated their circulation slightly due to the passage and refinement of a large number of souls.

"It's time to go back," He Damin thought to himself.

Returning to the Yanshan Forbidden Realm, I will consolidate my cultivation, digest my gains, organize resources, and plan my next move. Perhaps it's also time to consider how to handle the massive amount of crucial supplies and intelligence for the anti-Japanese forces. Simply storing them in my small world has rendered them inanimate. How to transform them into a greater weapon against the Japanese requires careful planning.

Moreover, the exploitation of Northeast China has already shaken the foundations of the Kwantung Army. The next step: continue to cultivate the Northeast and completely cripple its war potential? Or turn their attention back to the interior, to North China, Central China, or even… farther away?

He Damin's true form opened his eyes on a barren mountaintop on the northeastern border, gazing southwards towards the interior of the Great Wall, and then looking towards the northeastern heartland.

"Let's go back first. Then...we'll do another big deal."

His figure flickered, transforming into a faint phantom, disappearing into the darkness before dawn, and sped off towards the Yanshan Mountains.

Behind him, the Northeast, which he had ravaged for half a month, was now plunged into a vast, chaotic abyss of shortages and terrifying legends. The "paradise of benevolent rule" that the Kwantung Army had cultivated for ten years was now riddled with holes.