Green Mountain
Chapter 329 - 269, Tiger Stripes

Chapter 329: 269, Tiger Stripes

Suddenly, streaks of patterns grew out as if rib bones sprouting from nowhere, tearing through muscles and fascia to carve out space, the pain penetrating the soul.

The price for these emerging patterns was the extinguishing of the bright stove flames covering Chen Ji’s entire body, once again, all at once. Molten Flow converged from his limbs and body onto the streaks, even his hair dried up along with it.

At this moment, a saber slash came from the right, and Chen Ji frantically retreated within the core of the Plum Blossom Saber Formation. His bodily strength fluctuated wildly, causing him to momentarily be unable to adapt, his legs involuntarily buckling.

There was another person swinging a saber at him from behind; all he could do was roll on the ground like a drunken rascal to dodge.

The attendants of Yuancao Hall couldn’t help but be stunned, all filled with shock and doubt: How could this young man, who had just climbed to the top of Chonglou and undergone transformation, now revert to his full-strength realm and yet roll on the ground with no semblance of a master fighter?

What exactly is the truth? Is it a pretense of weakness, or is he genuinely in such disarray?

Someone exclaimed in a low voice: "He is indeed crossing a tribulation to reach Chonglou; kill him now!"

But within that short moment, Chen Ji had fled through a gap he had kicked open earlier, his body covered in dust.

After rolling out of the Plum Blossom Formation, Chen Ji staggered to his feet and ran towards a hill-like pile of grain.

As the Yuancao Hall attendants came after him, he circled around the grain stocks to elude them. When the attendants attacked from two sides of the pile, he scrambled up the stacked grain sacks using his hands and feet.

Chen Ji, standing atop the "grain hill," started kicking down sacks at the approaching Yuancao Hall attendants while loudly yelling, "Wu Yun, keep eating!"

Wu Yun meowed in response: "No more!"

Chen Ji was slightly stunned—the ginseng is all eaten?

During this exchange, the Yuancao Hall attendants again came charging with their sabers towards the top of the grain hill, and as Chen Ji dodged, he slipped and rolled down the hill like a ball, landing on his back on the stone pavement.

"Die!" One of the pursuing Yuancao Hall attendants leaped from the top of the hill, his hands lifting the broadsword high above his head, bringing along a swooshing sound as he slashed down at Chen Ji!

Force overpowering Huashan!

Chen Ji propped himself up from the ground, but it was too late to dodge. This heavily forceful slash could likely split him in two.

But just at that moment, a shadow flashed by.

The attendant, hanging in mid-air, hastily searched for the shadow, and when he recognized it, he realized that it was a black cat that had appeared next to Chen Ji, touching him with its paw.

In an instant, it felt like a scorching torrent surged inside Chen Ji’s body, so intense that even getting a bit closer would cause one’s hair to dry and curl from the heat wave.

Yuancao Hall attendant’s saber finally descended, ferociously striking at the top of Chen Ji’s head.

Silence.

The air in the courtyard seemed to solidify for a moment, with no sound of slashing or blood splattering.

The broadsword, carrying the force of a thousand jun, was caught between Chen Ji’s hands, forcefully halted.

Yuancao Hall attendant snapped back to reality, glanced at Chen Ji, and saw his unflinching eyes behind his clasped hands.

Yuancao Hall attendant exclaimed in disbelief: "You..."

A tremendous force came through, forcing the Yuancao Hall attendant to release the handle of the saber. Staggering back, Chen Ji had already reversed the blade in his hands, chopping down across the attendant’s shoulder, cutting through his chest and belly.

The attendant incredulously looked down at his saber wound, then searched for the trail of the black cat. Turning his head, he actually saw the black cat agilely leaping about amidst the crowd.

Just then, Wu Yun effortlessly jumped to the wall and then pivoted on the windowsill launching an attack, slashing motions of his paws suddenly unveiling a majestic blade light, like a crescent moon.

The blade light passed through four Yuancao Hall attendants, literally splitting them in two!

The Yuancao Hall attendant in front of Chen Ji slowly knelt to the ground, his gaze returning to Chen Ji, filled with reluctance and disbelief, having never before witnessed such bizarre events...

After a moment, the courtyard quieted down once more, Chen Ji stood with his saber while Wu Yun crouched beside, quietly licking its paws.

A courtyard full of corpses.

Chen Ji lifted his clothes to look at the three stripes on his waist and abdomen, still feeling the over five hundred stoves burning inside him...

Even now, he was uncertain what these stripes really were, wondering why his master had never mentioned them?

Although Old Yao was harsh, he wouldn’t joke about serious matters. There must be reasons for his silence... but why the silence?

Could it be that only he could develop these stripes, unseen even by his own master?

Wait, the sword seed was still roving within the first stripe, at ease, as if it was inherently a part of the stripe.

With a thought from Chen Ji, the sword seed flew out of the stripe, and the thin-as-cicada-wing sword seed etched a "white" on the ground.

"Huh?"

Chen Ji was stunned; originally, he could only control the sword seed to fly straight back and forth, smashing directly, but now even writing was not a difficult task.

He summoned back the sword seed, which fluidly danced between his fingers, spinning without ever cutting them.

Strange.

Mountain Lord Sect’s Scripture and the Sword Seed Path were originally clear and distinct, unrelated to each other, so why could the Mountain Lord Sect’s Scripture help him grasp the Sword Seed Path?

Moreover, at this moment, sunlight scattered down, the sunlight that should have been used entirely for nurturing the sword seed, but some of it remained in two other stripes...

What does this mean? Could he possibly nurture new sword seeds?

This, perhaps, he could only ask Xuanyuan.

While pondering, cries and the sound of horse hooves gradually got closer in the distance.

Chen Ji awoke, he glanced back at the grain in the courtyard, turned around, and with Wu Yun in his arms, he leaped powerfully, jumping onto the eaves as if pulling out a radish from dry ground, no longer needing to leverage the eaves.

He stood on the rooftop looking towards the south, only to see the Jing Dynasty Iron Cavalry had already charged into the city, rampantly looting and killing, with the flames soaring into the sky.

People of Guyuan were being driven to escape towards the North, and at the city gates, endless streams of black Iron Cavalry continued to charge in, relentless.

Just then, a sharp whistling sound arrived, Chen Ji slightly turned his face to one side, a signal arrow aimed directly at his face, cutting off the hair by his temples, and still relentless in its path.

Chen Ji instantly turned his head towards the origin of the arrow, spotting an Iron Cavalry clad in black armor, sitting steadily on his horse, looking over from a hundred steps away.

Divine Archer of the Jing Dynasty!

Following the signal arrow shot, the black Iron Cavalry, as if receiving a signal, immediately sent out ten men, chasing the sound on their horses, attempting to surround and kill Chen Ji right there.

Chen Ji turned and ran, but the Jing Dynasty’s Divine Archer was relentless, continuously drawing his bow and launching arrows, tirelessly guiding the Iron Cavalry’s direction.

Chen Ji, while dodging the signal arrows, glanced back at the pursuers behind him.

He jumped into an alley to escape their sight, but the Divine Archer abandoned his horse, climbed onto a high platform, and overlooked the flat houses, continuing to guide others.

Chen Ji turned corners in the maze-like alleyways, and, upon turning at an intersection, he suddenly stopped.

A soundless Iron Arrow barely shot past him, piercing through the mud wall. If he hadn’t stopped in time, it would have pierced him.

This Divine Archer could actually predict in advance where he would appear; the arrow was shot before he even arrived.

Seeing that one arrow did not hit its mark, he loaded another signal arrow and shot it, using the sound of the arrow to guide the Iron Cavalry,

The Divine Archer is the soul of the Jing Dynasty Heavenly Strategy Army; they are the direction on this battlefield.

At that moment, Wu Yun said from within Chen Ji’s embrace, "Shall I go kill him?"

Chen Ji took a deep breath: "No need."

Gradually, ten members of the Heavenly Strategy Army wove a net on horseback, following the Divine Archer’s direction, swiftly tightening around Chen Ji, blocking all his paths.

But Chen Ji didn’t dodge or hide; he charged towards one of the Iron Cavalries.

In their encounter, the Iron Cavalry clad in Heavy Armor brought the momentum of wind and thunder, thrusting with his spear!

In an instant, the complexion of the Heavenly Strategy Army Iron Cavalry changed, only to see Chen Ji firmly grabbing the tip of his spear: "Get down!"

The Iron Cavalry on the horse was disarmed by Chen Ji, who used the spear’s butt to knock him off the horse.

With another turn, Chen Ji’s spear shot out, forcefully bringing down another Iron Cavalry who was rushing from behind, nailing him onto a nearby soil wall.

Chen Ji calmly turned his head, looking distantly towards the Divine Archer on the roof. This person was formidable, always pinpointing his location accurately.

But just because he could find him, didn’t mean he could keep him.