Green Mountain
Chapter 189 - 144、Whale Watching

Chapter 189: 144、Whale Watching

Breathing.

The soldiers chasing Chen Ji were far behind him now, and in the vast expanse of the world, it seemed only his breathing could be heard.

A gust of mountain wind suddenly howled past, and the last of the leaves on the dry branches of the trees flitted away from their twigs.

As Chen Ji ran, he couldn’t help but glance sideways. He saw gray dead leaves dancing in the sky, coming straight towards him before being whisked by the wind past him, reminiscent of rain in the Jianghu night and of certain people and events.

He couldn’t resist the urge to reach out to grab a leaf when, from the corner of his eye, a sharp black crossbow arrow shot towards him from behind, cutting through the wind and shattering leaves as it hurtled straight for Chen Ji.

The broken leaves scattered.

Chen Ji tilted his head slightly, allowing the crossbow arrow to embed itself in the tree trunk ahead with a thud, its tail feathers trembling ceaselessly.

He looked back and saw, not ten more paces away, a figure in black, solemnly tailing him with a crossbow in hand, moving incredibly fast.

On the forehead of the black-clad figure, the vermilion-painted seal script characters for "Yansheng" were inscribed; the eyes that glared out were blood-red.

He resembled a human but had the presence of a ghost.

Chen Ji thought of the yellow paper talisman that the fisherman had painted on the black canopy boat earlier; it resembled the symbol of Yansheng now on the assailant. He hadn’t expected the man to be able to draw talismans on human bodies too.

The black-clad assailant, seeing Chen Ji evade his sneak attack, immediately reached into his pouch to retrieve a strangely shaped hollow arrow and attempted to load it onto the crossbow.

Signal arrow!

Once the signal arrow was launched, it would emit a piercing shriek, surely attracting others – this black-clad figure must have accomplices nearby!

Chen Ji didn’t retreat but instead advanced, dragging his long knife with him up the slope while the black-clad figure continued to press forward unabated.

The two drew closer and closer, like two wild beasts charging at one another, their footsteps kicking up the fallen leaves from the ground.

The black-clad figure couldn’t load the signal arrow in time and instead bit it between his teeth. Raising the crossbow, he aimed at Chen Ji and pulled the trigger. With a bang, the bowstring vibrated wildly as the arrow shot forth.

Chen Ji’s long knife, which he had been dragging, suddenly swept upward.

Time seemed to slow down.

The sharp blade of the knife sliced precisely through the middle of the arrow, friction against the iron arrowhead sparking a dazzling burst of light, and then followed the wooden grain of the arrow shaft, cleaving it neatly in two!

The black-clad man’s expression didn’t change; he continued to move forward while rapidly pulling the trigger, intent on emptying all five arrows in the crossbow magazine!

Swinging his knife!

Swinging his knife!

Swinging his knife!

The knife in Chen Ji’s hands collided with the arrows mid-air, flaring like brilliant star fire.

Just as the black-clad man squeezed the trigger for the fifth time, the loaded crossbow unexpectedly jammed. He looked down to check the mechanism, and when he raised his head, he was astonished to see that Chen Ji had already dashed through the flying dead leaves and brought his long knife close!

The young man’s hair was whipped by the mountain wind as his cloak fluttered wildly.

In a single moment, his killing intent became long and resolute!

Death!

Chen Ji lifted his knife diagonally upward. As the blade reached his waist, he shifted from a one-handed grip to a two-handed one. The black-clad figure discarded the crossbow and drew his waist knife to strike down, but his blade barely touched Chen Ji’s knife before it snapped in response.

The knife swept from the lower left abdomen of the black-clad man, retracting from the right chest, a splash of fresh blood following the blade and splattering onto the nearby tree trunk.

The black-clad man froze, the signal arrow falling from his mouth.

He looked down at his wound in a daze, "Fine sword skill, better than mine..."

Chen Ji retreated breathlessly, planning to quickly withdraw from the battlefield.

The black-clad man slowly knelt down, pallid-faced, looking up to Chen Ji, "You wanted to attract the pursuit away from the Princely Heir and the Commandery Princess, right? But Mr. Feng is smarter than you; he’s already sent people to search the Military Town."

Chen Ji’s pupils contracted, his retreating steps gradually halted.

Was he being deceived?

No, there was no reason for the man to deceive him at this moment; even if he disclosed the truth, he wouldn’t live to convey it. The assailant hoped to use the lives of the Princely Heir and Commandery Princess to restrain him, preventing him from escaping peacefully and ultimately forcing him to return to the Military Town to save them.

The black-clad man knelt there, coughing up blood while laughing, "I’ve delivered Mr. Feng’s message. The decision is yours."

With that, the black-clad man collapsed with a boom.

Just as the black-clad man hit the ground, a crossbow arrow suddenly flew from behind a tree not far away. Chen Ji instinctively swung his knife to block it, and with a clang, for once, the arrow wasn’t split in two; instead, his long knife broke upon impact.

The crossbow arrow skewed off course, grazing past Chen Ji’s side and leaving a trail of blood.

Chen Ji, holding his broken knife, retreated down the mountain. After several breaths, he turned and fled without looking back.

On his way down the mountain, Chen Ji looked at the broken knife in his hand; only about three inches of the blade remained from the hilt, less than even a dagger.

The knife, originally taken from a soldier, was ultimately of poor make, failing when it mattered most.

Should he return to the Military Town? He could not.

That was Chen Ji’s most rational judgment.

Mr. Feng was inscrutable, and if he went back, he would surely be courting death.

Moreover, he had done all he could. If the Princely Heir and Commandery Princess still couldn’t escape, then all he could do in the future was to take revenge on their behalf, not to go back and face certain death.

Returning now would be meaningless.

"Right, it’s meaningless. No sane person would go back," Chen Ji muttered to himself, as if confirming something.

He rushed down the mountain frantically, covering several meters in a single stride, leaving any black-clad pursuers far behind.

But Chen Ji suddenly came to a stop, inertia making him slide several meters down the slope, kicking up a flurry of fallen leaves before finally halting.

He stood in place, looking up at the moonlit sky with a face that flickered in uncertainty.

The mountain wind surged like a tidal wave, whipping his strands of hair and sleeves backward with a rustling sound.

The next moment, Chen Ji stood on the mountainside, surveying the surrounding terrain, his mind racing with thoughts, calculating every move he was about to make.

Chen Ji slowly closed his eyes, subdued the stove’s fire within his body, and let the Ice Flow from his Dantian spread throughout his limbs.

Carrying a dark aura, he plunged from the heavens above and landed atop Qingshan. Before Xuanyuan could utter a word, he had already grabbed the Whale Blade and dashed toward the rugged mountain path: "Feng Huai, come, I’m in a hurry!"

Xuanyuan teased, "Another friend to save?"

Chen Ji did not answer.

In the forest, Chen Ji ran wildly down the path, the shining Whale Blade in hand.

Feng Huai roamed the mountainside, observing Chen Ji’s movements from the flank while looking for an opportunity to ambush and assassinate.

"Wait."

Feng Huai stared in shock at Chen Ji’s figure; he realized that this time, Chen Ji was not concealing his tracks as before, nor was he deliberately avoiding being encircled. He charged straight toward Feng Lie, the giant axe warrior at the foot of the mountain, dragging the lengthy Whale Blade behind him.

The bright gleam of the blade was like a falling star, streaking through the mountain gaps, plummeting repeatedly!

The Mountain Lord—a tiger indeed!

A shock went through Feng Huai’s heart; Chen Ji intended to shatter them one by one with utmost haste, giving them no chance for an ambush or a joint attack.

Feng Huai yelled anxiously, "Feng Lie, run! Do not face him head-on, don’t let him break through us one by one!"

The burly Feng Lie lifted his giant axe to flee, but suddenly, moved by an epiphany, Chen Ji roared, "Strive for power, victory forever!"

Xuanyuan was taken aback.

Feng Huai was startled: "Master."

He abruptly turned to look up at Xuanyuan on the mountain peak, but realized he could no longer discern Xuanyuan’s expression.

Feng Lie slowly turned around, axe in hand, his eyes lockingly extending across the space to Chen Ji, his fighting spirit surging like the dark tides against the rocks, a tumultuous tempest.

"Victory forever!" Feng Lie, bearing his giant axe, charged at Chen Ji. The two were like the most reckless and solitary beasts in the world, one on the mountain top, the other at its foot, clashing head-on.

The blade Chen Ji dragged raised bit by bit, the forty-one stove fires within his body roaring, and finally, he leapt high into the air, the blade whirling over his head as if his killing intent were climbing with the sharp edge to the sky!

In the heavens, there are three treasures—sun, moon, stars.

In man, there are three treasures—essence, qi, spirit!

Clang!

The sonorous clash of metal resounded throughout heaven and earth, like a deafening martial cry.

The force transmitted through the Whale Blade numb Feng Lie’s hands as his giant axe nearly slipped from his grasp.

He staggered backward several steps, and as he tried to advance again for battle, he found Chen Ji had passed him by like the wind, the back of the Whale Blade gliding across his neck, like water flowing smoothly.

From ultimate rigidity to ultimate suppleness, transforming at will.

Clean and decisive.

Feng Lie dropped his giant axe, slowly sitting down, but there was no anger or resentment of defeat on his face, only a naive smile: "Master, you’ve returned."

Chen Ji did not reply but turned and lifted the long knife shaped like a lance, pointing it at Feng Huai atop the mountain.

Before he could say anything, Xuanyuan’s resonant voice came down from the mountaintop: "No need to fight with Feng Huai any longer. You may take the blade with you."

Chen Ji breathed a sigh of relief and leaned on the brow-high Whale Blade, bending over to catch his breath.

Xuanyuan strode down the mountain, stopping a dozen paces away to gaze intently at him: "Why did you utter the words ’victory forever’?"

Chen Ji replied with a puzzled sound, "I don’t know why, at that moment I felt like shouting, and so I just did."

Xuanyuan looked deeply at him: "You’ve wrapped all your essence, qi, and spirit into one strike. I don’t recommend you going back into the fray just now."

Chen Ji shook his head: "It’s not possible, there are still people waiting for me."

Xuanyuan scoffed, "You seem to have a lot of friends nowadays."

After a moment’s breath, Chen Ji retorted sarcastically: "You seem to have none."

Xuanyuan’s black King Robe fluttered with the wind, looking down at Chen Ji with equanimity, a hint of mockery flashing in his eyes: "A king stands between heaven and earth, one vertical line cutting through the isolation that runs deep. Once a man becomes king, he will no longer have friends."

Chen Ji: "Then you are quite pitiable."

Xuanyuan laughed heartily: "That’s exactly what you once said to me!"

Chen Ji was stunned, "That’s impossible. I am not that kind of person."

Xuanyuan silently gazed into Chen Ji’s eyes without further word. With a gentle wave of his sleeve, he expelled Chen Ji from the Qingshan Dream Realm.

Below Qingshan, Feng Huai and Feng Lie returned to the battle formation, repeating the daily slaughter.

Above Qingshan, Xuanyuan, leaning on the Royal Banner, looked out at the surging clouds beyond the mountains. He suddenly thought that if that person back then had been the present Chen Ji, perhaps everything would have been different.

In the forest.

Chen Ji stood still, eyes closed, motionless.

A man clad in black, with the crimson character ’Yansheng’ on his forehead, quietly lurked behind him. Without a sound, he drew his waist knife and struck down with full force.

The next moment, Chen Ji suddenly opened his eyes, striking back with his blade; the brilliant knife light cleaved the black-clad man’s long knife, his head, and his torso in two.

...

...

After being on IV for two days, my fever subsided this morning. The doctor recommended surgery to remove the gallbladder, but my thought is to preserve it. I don’t want to be cholecystectomized, so conservative treatment with anti-inflammation drugs is the choice for now, and I am recovering and updating again. I may go to Shanghai for further check-ups in a while.