Green Mountain
Chapter 154 - 112, Heavenly Horse Shooting Star_2

Chapter 154: 112, Heavenly Horse Shooting Star_2

They sized up Chen Ji in silence, sensing that the Executive Officer before them did not possess a high realm, yet his sword skill was of greater importance.

One of them said fiercely, "Kill!"

"Kill!"

The armored soldiers lunged again.

The alley was narrow, allowing at most four Elephant Armor Guards to attack Chen Ji at once. As one fell, another living soul would take their place.

One after another, the Elephant Armor Guards collapsed, and one after another, they joined the fray—until, at a certain moment, everyone suddenly realized there was no one left behind them to take their place.

In the alley, Chen Ji shifted and maneuvered like a rolling millstone, grinding all the soldiers to dust.

Time passed without measure, and Chen Ji, drenched in blood, backed into the alley’s white walls. Blood splattered everywhere, like a landscape painting of a myriad of red mountains.

In the alley, only the last soldier remained. Chen Ji advanced a step; the soldier retreated a step.

The soldier turned to flee, but after only a couple of steps, he saw Chen Ji hurl his long knife with all his might. The blade crossed several meters through the air and pierced straight through the soldier’s neck.

In the glow of the fire, Chen Ji leaned against the wall, bending over as he gasped for breath.

"Hiss!" He withdrew his hand, and in this hell on earth, the blood was scalding, as was the air, and the walls were burning hot.

Chen Ji stood up, looking dazed toward both ends of the alley, not knowing why he gagged a few times, then forced himself to rise.

After a moment’s thought, he threw the bodies into the sea of fire and turned to escape the alley, donning a set of leather armor.

...

...

The Alley and the fiery inferno were littered with corpses; everywhere one could see Elephant Armor Guards patrolling back and forth, hunting down the remaining spies.

Chen Ji, wearing leather armor, ran wildly towards the banks of the Luo River, his head lowered. Tonight’s affair wasn’t finished until he saw with his own eyes the death of Jin Zhu.

He dashed through the layers of alleys, the sound of the flowing water growing louder and louder.

When he emerged from the labyrinth-like alleys, he felt as though the world had suddenly opened up, and the air was incomparably fresh.

Chen Ji supported himself on the wooden railing by the riverbank, greedily breathing in the air while gazing far across at Mudan Bridge.

The morning mist was interwoven with the light of the fire, and just in sight, he saw Jin Zhu desperately fighting. He summoned the last of his strength to grab West Wind and Liu Tiao by their collars and hurled them forcefully into the crowd, sending them flying over and splashing into the icy cold waters of the Luo River.

With two splashes, West Wind struggled momentarily in the water before popping his head out and cried in agony, "Lord!"

On the bridge, Jin Zhu shouted fiercely, "Get out of here!"

Having said that, he no longer struggled, but stood still.

Liu Mingxian, draped in a black fox fur cloak, placed a copper hand warmer on top of the carriage and gently clapped his hands, "I never thought that the Spy Department’s Twelve Signs, being utterly conscienceless, would actually sacrifice themselves for others."

Jin Zhu sneered, "I am sending them to inform Lord Prime Minister, to request His Majesty to immediately dispatch the Longevity Army to eliminate the Liu Family!"

Liu Mingxian shook his head, "The one in Renshou Palace won’t bother with such unclear messes. He will just sit and meditate on his white crane bed, waiting for people below to fight a life and death battle before intervening. Only if you and I kill mercilessly will he sit securely. Over the years, this is how my Liu Family has been eroded away, bit by bit. I understand it better than you."

Jin Zhu fell silent.

After a moment, he abruptly sat down on the ground like a slab of hacked meat: "No use resisting. To the victor belong the spoils; there’s nothing to say."

Liu Mingxian inquired with great interest, "Would Lord Jin Zhu be interested in working for my Liu Family? You only need to write a letter cursing the Poison Minister and the court, and my Liu Family may spare your life."

Jin Zhu cursed loudly, "Your mother’s fart! You want me to curse the Prime Minister? Who do you think you are! Has the Liu Family run out of people, letting an ignorant and incompetent rich boy like you take charge? Where’s your father? Tell him to come and knead my legs!"

Liu Mingxian scoffed coldly, "Eunuch Party’s hound, kill him."

Shopkeeper Yuan calmly stated, "Prepare him with lime to preserve the body; I wish to send it back to the Jing Dynasty. Jin Zhu has killed many of our people over the years, the Military Strategist Envoy will surely appreciate his head."

Along the riverbank, from a distance, Chen Ji couldn’t clearly see or hear what Jin Zhu was discussing with Liu Mingxian.

He could only watch from afar as Zhang Guo’er approached to kill Jin Zhu, only for Jin Zhu to suddenly rise with severe injuries in a surprise attack, breaking one of Zhang Guo’er’s legs before collapsing back to the ground.

When another tattooed man approached Jin Zhu, Jin Zhu sprung another surprise attack, causing the man to spit out a mouthful of fresh blood before collapsing again on the bridge.

It wasn’t until the third attempt that Jin Zhu tried to repeat his trick, but being a beat slower, he was finally kicked over onto the ground.

This time, he truly had nothing left in the tank.

Liu Mingxian laughed in exasperation, "I’ve long heard that not a word from the Twelve Signs’ Jin Zhu is true, and today I’ve witnessed it for myself."

Jin Zhu no longer paid him any attention, simply closing his eyes and lying back down on the bridge, silent.

His fingers trembled slightly; even the most audacious could not face death without showing some change in their expression.

However, it was at this moment that Chen Ji suddenly saw, through the arch of the bridge, a black-canopied boat slowly approaching from the other side. A young man in white stood at the bow, his hands empty, yet he suddenly took the posture of a full-drawn bow!

In an instant, a white bow shimmering with bright starlight appeared in the air.

With a twang, the bowstring vibrated.

A meteor shot forth, trailing a long tail, heading straight for Zhang Guo’er, who had just stood up on the bridge!

The meteor traced a barely visible parabola in the dawn’s early light and fire, and in the blink of an eye—as quick as a snap of the fingers, or a single breath—it pierced straight through Zhang Guo’er’s chest as if it had eyes!

Thud!

Zhang Guo’er spat out a mouthful of fresh blood!

He looked down at the hole in his chest and muttered, "Damn it... Heavenly Horse!"

As his words fell, the figure at the bow, Heavenly Horse, drew his bow fully, and meteors with trailing tails surged forth.

Before the man in white, Heavenly Horse, even arrived, his arrows had already pierced through one Elephant Armor Guard on the bridge after another, with one arrow penetrating four men and still not stopping!

On hearing the words "Heavenly Horse," Jin Zhu’s eyes snapped open in excitement.

He suddenly sat up, looked past the railing towards the distant river surface, and burst out laughing, "Heavenly Horse is here, Heavenly Horse is here! All of you bastards are going to die for Your Lord!"

While he spoke, a meteor flew over Jin Zhu’s head, an arrow not aimed at anyone, rather a special way of greeting Jin Zhu.

The next meteor harshly penetrated through Manager Yuan’s thigh and, had Manager Yuan not dodged in advance, this arrow might have pierced his heart.

But Heavenly Horse did not give up; drawing his bow again with a twang, another meteor sped towards Manager Yuan’s chest at an incredibly fast pace!

Suddenly, Jin Zhu yelled out, "Wait, don’t kill him! I want Meng Ji to interrogate him!"

In an instant, the shooting meteor deviated ever so slightly in mid-air, grazing past Manager Yuan’s cheek, causing his hair to flutter violently as though a Heavenly Horse had whooshed by his face!

With a sullen face, Manager Yuan gave Liu Mingxian a glance, then turned and limped towards the river, plunging into the Luo River and swimming in the opposite direction of Heavenly Horse.

Jin Zhu called out urgently, "West Wind, Liu Tiao! Follow him for me!"

But no sooner had his words fallen than screams from West Wind and Liu Tiao arose from beneath the bridge.

Jin Zhu, cursing and swearing, stood up, ran to the stone railing, and leaned over to look down, "You two good-for-nothings, are you dead or what? If not, make a sound!"

"Not dead!"

Jin Zhu leaned on the railing, squinting his eyes and staring fiercely at Manager Yuan swimming farther upstream.

But at that moment, he suddenly uttered a quiet "Hmm?" and said, "Wait, who is that?"

In his line of sight, along the bank of the Luo River, he saw a young man stripping off his leather armor, diving into the water, and disappearing from sight.

Jin Zhu’s eyes widened, "Judging by the figure, could that be Chen Ji?!"