Green Mountain
Chapter 179 - 134, Inn

Chapter 179: 134, Inn

Heavy, breathing.

Amidst the rugged mountain path, Chen Ji trudged through weeds and bushes, looking back three times for every step he took.

The previously close behind Feng Huai had disappeared without a trace, Fang Lie and that huge axe gone as well.

He gripped "Whale" tightly in his hand and suddenly abandoned the path to dive into the forest, concealing his body under the dense canopy shadows.

However, just as Chen Ji looked back again, a flash of sword light suddenly burst from the treetops in front of him, like a ribbon yanked from the Milky Way, cleaving down over his head.

The howling wind accompanied by a sharp screech.

Chen Ji instinctively raised his blade to block, but before he could fully lift it, Feng Huai’s sword tip had already stopped at the center of his forehead.

In silence, the sword tip did not fall.

Chen Ji breathed heavily, recalling everything that had just happened.

He did not know when Feng Huai had hidden in the trees, nor why Feng Huai could have guessed he would take this path, he only felt like a beginner in the game of chess, every move anticipated by his opponent.

Grass juice smeared on Feng Huai’s face, his body strapped with branches, the sword tip unflinchingly still, not trembling in the slightest, "Previously, Mr. Wang only let us fight on the mountain top to protect you, so that we would only compete in skill. But a real fight is not just about skill."

Chen Ji thoughtfully asked, "A fight?"

Feng Huai solemnly inquired, "What is a fight?"

Without waiting for Chen Ji to respond, he continued, "A fight is thinking what the enemy thinks, anticipating the enemy’s moves ahead of time, using everything at one’s disposal—mountains, rivers, trees, human emotions—to end the opponent’s life."

As he spoke, Feng Huai sheathed his sword and slowly retreated into the forest behind him, before fading into the shadows he softly said, "Teacher, this is all what you taught us back then, now it is my turn to teach you."

It was not until this moment that Chen Ji realized Feng Huai’s strength was not limited to his sword skills, and that the real fight had only just begun.

From noon till dusk, Chen Ji was assailed time and again by Feng Huai on this mount Qingshan, his opponent like a phantom, fully demonstrating his lifetime of learning with ruthless efficiency.

If he walked in the woods, he would be killed; by the river, he would be killed; even in the open ground, he would still be besieged and killed by Feng Huai and Feng Lie.

At times Feng Huai would stick to a tree like bark, or like a floating log in the river, whatever he imitated, he imitated perfectly, turning Qingshan into a vast ghastly mountain, terrifying to the extreme.

But this time, Feng Huai no longer took lives, instead withdrawing his hand just before the killing blow was struck time and again, leaving Chen Ji alone to recall all the details.

At one point, Chen Ji was walking in an open space, he looked back towards the summit.

Xuanyuan stood there, leaning on the Royal Banner, quietly overlooking him from the highest point, his face an indecipherable mixture of ridicule and sympathy.

...

...

"Chen Ji, wake up Chen Ji!"

Someone slapped Chen Ji on the shoulder, and he immediately stood up, instinctively swinging "Whale" in hand to the left!

At that instant, while he swung his sword and raised his hand, he was still in the dense forest shadows of mount Qingshan, but as his arm came down, he had returned to the sunset of Yichuan County, with nothing in hand.

Chen Ji hesitantly looked around, Mr. Wang, Bai Li, the Princely Heir, Chen Wenzong, a whole carriageful of people sat in the ox-cart, gazing up at him in astonishment, Bai Li’s hand which slapped his shoulder still hanging in mid-air.

The ox-cart had stopped, and right beside it was "Xiyin" inn, an old two-story wooden door building, seeming somewhat ancient.

Wang Daosheng scrutinized Chen Ji for a moment, then casually inquired, "Having a nightmare?"

Chen Ji hurriedly went along with it, "Yes, master, I just had a nightmare."

Wang Daosheng smiled and said, "Must be due to lack of rest. We will stay at this inn later, everyone should rest early."

At this time, several smiling helpers came out from the inn, "Several guests, please come inside."

Zhang Xia asked, "Do you have hot water?"

The helper hurriedly responded, "Yes, yes, it’s being heated in the backyard, but a pot of hot water costs two cents."

Zhang Xia nonchalantly said, "Do you have beans for feeding the horses?"

The helper replied with a smile, "There’s that too, your magnificent steed deserves the finest beans!"

Zhang Xia casually tossed the horsewhip to the helper, with a smile, "Good talker!"

The helper fumbled to catch the horsewhip, bowing and leading them inside with gratitude.

Before entering, Chen Ji instinctively surveyed the surroundings, scanning every nook and cranny, fearing Feng Huai might spring out from somewhere.

Bai Li curiously asked, "Chen Ji, what are you looking around for?"

Chen Ji came back to his senses, secretly laughing at himself for having developed a psychological shadow from Feng Huai’s assassination attempts.

The inn’s first floor was casually arranged with several square tables, a few groups of diners were eating, while the guest rooms were on the second floor.

Perhaps it was because Chen Ji’s nerves were too taut, but he had just stepped over the threshold of the inn when he felt that all the diners swept their eyes over him, intentionally or otherwise.

Chen Ji rubbed his forehead, wondering if his vigilance had led to a misunderstanding?

As he rubbed his forehead, he used his peripheral vision to scrutinize all the diners.

No, it was not a misunderstanding!

These people had wine on their tables, but no one had taken a sip, their eyes clear, their faces unchanged.

Most crucially, every diner had a short knife hidden inside their sleeves, others might not have noticed, but Chen Ji could.

He took a step forward and gently tugged on Wang Daosheng’s arm, "Master, this inn seems a bit dirty, let’s change to another one."

Wang Daosheng was taken aback for a moment, "Oh?"

The shopkeeper behind the counter hurried out with an apologetic smile, "Esteemed guest, you jest, there’s no better place than Xiyin Inn within ten miles. All the major merchants traveling from south to north who come to Yichuan County choose to stay here."

Chen Wenxiao turned his head to look at Chen Ji, scornfully saying, "You don’t have the life of a noble son, yet you’ve contracted a noble son’s illness. This inn is already quite decent, we don’t dislike it, yet you are the one to find fault?"

Chen Ji did not look at him but instead turned to Wang Daosheng, "Master?"

Wang Daosheng looked at him intently, pondered for a moment, and said, "Then let’s look elsewhere."

After speaking, he turned and left the building without any hesitation or delay.

However, as they walked along the long street for two miles, until dusk fell, they only found three inns.

And without exception, all three inns were fully booked, even the stables were housing people, mostly those going to observe the Literary Meeting at the Lu Hun Manor.

Chen Wenxiao complained, "Hurry back to Xiyin Inn, otherwise we won’t even have a place there! Chen Ji, if you’re feeling ill, do you have to drag everyone down with you? If you can’t even endure this much hardship, I think Doctor Yao has been too indulgent with you!"

Bai Li frowned, "Why do you have to speak so unpleasantly? Just now, that inn really wasn’t clean."

Just at that moment, Wang Daosheng suddenly turned to ask Chen Ji, "You didn’t want to change inns just because it was dirty, did you? Tell us the real reason."

Chen Ji hesitated for a moment but finally voiced his concerns, "In the inn earlier, many guests were carrying short knives, looking quite suspicious."

Chen Wenxiao suddenly burst out laughing, "It seems you’re not used to traveling far from home. What’s the problem with carrying knives?"

Prince Jing also smiled, "I thought it was something serious... These days, it’s normal to carry a knife when traveling far. Even if one doesn’t encounter bandits or robbers, one must guard against local tyrants who could exploit them."

Saying so, Prince Jing pulled a short knife from his sleeve, Chen Wenzong and Chen Wenxiao took out a short knife from their cloth bundles, and even Zhang Xia also drew a dagger from his boot.

Chen Ji: "..."

He had noticed that Prince Jing was carrying a knife but hadn’t thought that the others were as well.

Unable to think of a rebuttal, Chen Ji could only bow and apologize, "I’m sorry, I’ve been making a mountain out of a molehill."

Wang Daosheng shook his head, "No harm done, being cautious when away from home is never a mistake. This time, the Lu Hun Literary Meeting has attracted too many people from outside, and if we don’t stay at Xiyin Inn, we will indeed have to spend the night on the streets."

Chen Ji made an affirmative sound, "Then let’s stay at Xiyin Inn."

The group returned to the inn where the shopkeeper still greeted them with a smile.

Chen Ji looked around, the diners from earlier had disappeared without a trace.

He bowed to the shopkeeper, "We spoke out of turn earlier, I hope you won’t hold it against us."

The shopkeeper said cheerily, "What are you talking about? We can’t be in business and fear guests finding fault. Just rest assured and settle in, our Xiyin Inn is very clean."

Wang Daosheng asked, "Shopkeeper, how many guest rooms do you have left?"

The shopkeeper pointed to the second floor and said, "We only have one first-class room and one shared room left."

Chen Wenxiao raised his voice, "A shared room? When have we ever stayed in a shared room?! Shopkeeper, do we look like people who stay in shared rooms? Here we have..."

He was just about to mention that even Prince Jing was among them but was promptly stopped by Chen Wenzong, who politely asked, "Shopkeeper, I remember you saying there were many rooms when we first entered."

The shopkeeper replied awkwardly, "If you had decided to stay earlier, there were three first-class rooms available, but during the short while you were gone, more merchants arrived to stay."

Chen Wenxiao frowned, "I’ll go talk to them. Since they’re going to do business in Luocheng City, they should give us some consideration."

Yet, Wang Daosheng simply raised his hand to stop him, "It’s easy to adapt from frugality to luxury, but difficult to go the other way. A shared room it is, having a place to sleep is all that matters. Bai Li and Zhang Xia will stay in the first-class room, we’ll go to the shared room."

In those days, inns were like large compounds; the front building was for lodging, while the backyard was fitted with Horse Ties, a drinking horse pond, and piled with the goods of countless merchants.

There were few private rooms in the inns, and they were mostly shared rooms prepared for merchants and horse teams, with one room accommodating ten or twenty people. The inns typically named the rooms using the hierarchy "heavenly, earthly, profound, yellow," with heavenly indicating the best rooms and yellow denoting the most chaotic shared rooms.

Chen Ji looked towards the shopkeeper, "Shopkeeper, is there really no way to reallocate another first-class room?"

The shopkeeper shook his head, "Guest, there really are none available."

Chen Ji felt a weight in his heart.

All the guesthouses in Yichuan County were filled to the brim, and only Xiyin Inn still had rooms; this was most likely a setup for someone.

Therefore, if they were the last batch of guests, it meant that they were the ones being awaited.

But why could neither Prince Jing nor Wang Daosheng see it?

...

...

The shopkeeper led everyone upstairs to the door of the shared room and gently pushed it open.

The room was pitch black, and on the large shared bed capable of sleeping more than twenty people, several guests were already sleeping under their blankets, with snoring sounds rising and falling and the smell of foot odor wafting through the air.

Chen Ji spoke softly, "I apologize, master, it was my fault for delaying us, forcing you to stay in such a place..."

Before he could finish speaking, he saw Wang Daosheng and Prince Jing walk in as if nothing was wrong.

Wang Daosheng responded with a smile, "When leading soldiers in the field, the biggest wish is just to have a mat and a blanket, and the smells from those soldiers are countless times worse than this, it’s not a bother."

Prince Jing also laughed, "I’ve led troops too, not any less than Mr. Wang."

The night was deep and quiet.

Chen Ji lay on the shared bed, sleeping in his clothes without even a blanket on him. He kept his eyes closed but refused to sleep, silently listening to the incessant snoring.

Outside the window, the night patrol passed by, shouting "The weather is dry, be cautious with candles."

At that moment, rustling sounds arose in the room, as if someone was getting up.

Chen Ji slightly opened his eyes and saw Prince Jing quietly leaving the room.

Outside, someone whispered, "Please this way, the nobleman has been waiting for you in the backyard."