Green Mountain
Chapter 335: Lord of War 275

Chapter 335: Lord of War 275

A dim corridor, a man, a cat, a blade.

The Tiance Army armored soldiers in the corridor silently observed Chen Ji and the black cat on his shoulder, Wu Yun, their faces filled with uncertainty. Just now, when the immense flash of blade light cleaved down from the rafters, they had all thought there was an Executive Officer lurking above. They never expected it to be... a black cat.

How could it be a cat?

And how could a cat unleash sword energy?

Xiao Man stared at Wu Yun in a daze, muttering, "Young Master, Wu Yun’s become a spirit..."

Wu Yun cast her a glance, then slowly swept her icy gaze across the scene, finally landing on the armored soldier wielding the Heavy Sword. She softly meowed, "Be careful; he’s formidable."

Chen Ji panted, saying nothing. Anyone daring to personally lead a unit to capture the Crown Prince alive must indeed possess overwhelming skill. Yet even after lying in wait with Wu Yun for so long, seizing the perfect opportunity, they still failed to kill him.

But if he couldn’t be killed... he must be killed!

In this world, there were three practitioners of the Mountain Lord Sect’s Scripture. If news about Wu Yun’s abilities were to spread, the last Mountain Lord would undoubtedly come for them.

At this moment, the Heavy Sword Armor Soldier spoke, "That vile creature is..."

Wu Yun, perched on Chen Ji’s shoulder, let out a meow.

The Heavy Sword Armor Soldier frowned. He could distinctly sense that the black cat was speaking to him. "What nonsense is this beast saying?"

Chen Ji replied calmly, "It said you should address it as Heavenly Master Nine Heavens Yingyuan Universal Thunder!"

The next second, Wu Yun leapt lightly, landing back on another rafter and darting to the left. Meanwhile, Chen Ji swung his Whale Blade horizontally at the Heavy Sword Armor Soldier, charging to the right.

As Chen Ji’s Whale Blade descended, the Heavy Sword Armor Soldier raised his sword to block. However, contrary to expectations, no metallic clash rang out.

Chen Ji had only feigned the attack. In the instant the soldier blocked, Chen Ji propelled himself off the wall, leaping over the soldier’s head and attacking the Tiance Army armored soldiers behind him!

The Heavy Sword Armor Soldier countered with an upward strike, but it was as if the Whale Blade had anticipated this. Instead of reaching Chen Ji, the man’s own strike sent Chen Ji hurtling even farther away!

In their silent harmony, man and cat wreaked havoc. Xiao Man glanced left and right, yet no one thought to consult her on what to do! After hesitating for a moment, she ultimately decided to bypass the Heavy Sword Armor Soldier and join Wu Yun instead!

Xiao Man attacked from the corridor, while Wu Yun launched sneak attacks from above. Unexpectedly, their synchrony was impeccable. The slashing light from the rafters fell at cunning angles, leaving the Tiance Army armored soldiers completely at a loss.

A Monk Soldier used his comrade’s shoulders to leap toward the rafters, grabbing onto a beam with one hand while surveying both directions, searching for Wu Yun’s trace.

But as he turned his head, he was greeted by the sharp, cold gleam of a crescent moon-shaped blade.

The Monk Soldier, holding the beam with his left hand, struck out with his right, shattering the blade’s light. But on the dim beam, Wu Yun’s pitch-black fur reflected not a single fragment of light. Try as he might, the Monk Soldier simply couldn’t locate her!

A sinking feeling filled his heart—this black cat was inherently an assassin!

As he turned back to retreat into the corridor, he noticed Wu Yun had wordlessly perched on the very beam he was holding, staring down at him.

Not a single sound.

Wu Yun raised her paw, a gleam flashing by. The Monk Soldier was decapitated, his body plunging from the beam and startling Xiao Man below.

...

...

At the other end of the corridor.

Among the dense, shadowy throng, Chen Ji swung the massive Whale Blade with unrestrained ferocity. However, its length of five feet and five inches made it cumbersome in the cramped space.

Reversing his grip, he drove the blade into a Tiance Army soldier, pinning him to the wall, and promptly snatched the dagger strapped to the man’s waist.

Another soldier swung a blade at him. Chen Ji stepped in, grabbed the attacker’s wrist, and sliced across the tendons with the dagger.

Before the soldier could react, Chen Ji hauled him forward by the wrist, the dagger in his hand flickering like a serpent’s tongue. Two quick thrusts—one pierced the heart, the other the throat.

By the time the soldier’s broadsword, dislodged by the severed tendons, fell from his hand, Chen Ji had already kicked its handle mid-air.

With a hiss, the broadsword shot out, embedding itself perfectly in the abdomen of an armored soldier.

The Tiance Army soldiers’ hearts froze. In Chen Ji’s hands, the dagger moved like a living creature; compared to it, their own broadswords now felt clunky and sluggish.

Chen Ji seized another armored soldier, pulling him backward by the neck while stabbing the dagger into the man’s lower-back spleen. Silent and cold, his gaze swept over everyone else.

The Heavy Sword Armor Soldier, seeing Chen Ji avoiding him deliberately, sneered, "All strength has its limits! Your hands gripping the blade are trembling, and your steps are faltering. How much longer can you keep this up?"

Beads of sweat dripped from his chin. Panting, Chen Ji replied, "As long as I can hold on, I will."

With that, he shoved the armored soldier in his grip forward and turned back to re-enter the fray!

The tower-like soldier hefted his Heavy Sword and strode after him, but Chen Ji, retreating as he fought amidst the horde, grew more distant with every step.

The Heavy Sword Armor Soldier simply smirked, taking a slow and deliberate pace as he awaited Chen Ji’s inevitable exhaustion.

A heartbeat.

Chen Ji’s heart drummed violently, blood pumping through his veins, creating a rustling noise in his skull.

A breath.

His lungs, filled with frigid air, burned painfully in protest.

He had lost count of how many lives he’d taken that day. All he recalled was that the killing had started around midday and persisted until the sun sank into the horizon.

Sunlight streamed through the uneven windows of the guest quarters, casting alternating patches of brightness and shadow across the corridor. Amid these flickering light and dark transitions, Chen Ji fought his way backward, his movements growing sluggish, his strength waning. He found himself barely maintaining any defense, unable to strike back.

Perhaps... he should take a nap. Sleep, and it would all be over.

He once believed he could always wield the blade with calculated precision—every slash prepared, its angle, speed, and power refined to perfection.

Life, like his teachers had preached in school, was a sequential staircase. First grade was crucial; so was second grade; third grade, too; and on and on it went. Every step mattered, every step couldn’t falter.

Yet Liang Gou’er, after watching him wield the blade, had once told him he wasn’t suited for swordplay.

But what was the "Tao" of the blade?

Liang Gou’er had said, "When your goal becomes merely self-preservation, you’ve already abandoned the blade."

In the next moment, Chen Ji let out a furious roar, enduring a gash to his thigh as he reversed his hand and drove the dagger into his opponent, exchanging injury for life.

He staggered and stumbled down the corridor, summoning the last dregs of his strength, enduring seven wounds to claim three lives.

In an instant, the Tiance Armor Soldiers found themselves paralyzed, seeing a Chen Ji riddled with vulnerabilities yet somehow invincible. Every apparent opening ended with their comrades’ untimely deaths.

The Heavy Sword Armor Soldier, furious at their hesitation, bellowed, "Scared already? Cowards! Step aside!"

The soldiers parted, and the Heavy Sword Armor Soldier stepped forward, swinging his massive blade in a deadly arc toward Chen Ji from five paces away.

The sudden flash of his sword cut through the throng like a gale roaring through a canyon.

Chen Ji, desperate, pulled another soldier as a shield. With a resounding crash, he and his unwilling shield were sent flying to the ground.

Cough.

Chen Ji shoved the corpse off himself, turning his head to spit out blood.

Sword Qi surged wildly.

The tower-like soldier approached with heavy, deliberate steps, dragging the Heavy Sword behind him. Gritting his teeth against his injuries, Chen Ji hauled himself to his feet and stumbled away.

But the corridor was circular, and soon he caught sight of Xiao Man locked in combat... and the Whale Blade still embedded in the wall.

Chen Ji halted abruptly, his fingers brushing over the hilt of the Whale Blade.

So... this is the end.

As thoughts flickered in his mind, the Heavy Sword Armor Soldier swung his massive blade once more.

Just as that blade was raised overhead, a fiery resonance awakened in the markings on Chen Ji’s waist.

As the Heavy Sword descended, the markings ignited with a radiant hum. A Sword Seed shot forth, skimming along the wall straight toward the soldier.

Chen Ji pulled the Whale Blade from the wall, bracing one hand on the blade’s back while the other gripped the hilt tightly, raising it vertically to block the relentless sword wind.

Another deafening boom resounded, propelling Chen Ji backward, leaving him sprawled and immobile.

But mere steps away, the Heavy Sword Armor Soldier let out a muffled groan!

Clutching his shoulder, blood pouring out, the soldier realized that if he hadn’t dodged in time, that would’ve been a fatal strike. But just now... wasn’t that—

A Sword Seed!

His face twisted in shock as he stared at Chen Ji. "Who are you?!"

Flat on the ground, Chen Ji gazed blankly at the rafters above. "Who am I..."

For a moment, even he couldn’t answer.

He was Chen Ji—a high school graduate who’d stumbled into this world, accidentally rising to the role of an Executive Officer, and somehow entangled in a mess of love and vengeance. But... was that the real answer?

Once, Xuanyuan had been his friend. Feng Huai and Feng Lie had called him ’teacher.’ Someone had risked everything to smuggle him down from the Forty-nine Heavens. How could he only be a high school student?

But who, exactly, was he?

Suddenly, the markings at Chen Ji’s waist seared painfully, as though molten lava coursed across his torso, branding his flesh with fiery patterns.

The boiling heat of the markings, finally unshackled, surged into every nerve and limb.

The gashes littering his body began closing before his very eyes, leaving only faint scars. His pallid face bloomed with fresh vitality and red hues.

Power.

The strength that had drained away surged back, flooding through him. Each marking—an extra life.

Planting the Whale Blade into the floor for support, Chen Ji slowly rose to his feet.

The Heavy Sword Armor Soldier roared once more, "Just who are you?! How do you wield the Sword Seed Path?!"

Chen Ji didn’t respond, his mind lost in deep thought as the roar of blood in his veins became a resounding battle cry within.

Heaven and Earth rise with me; all things are unified with my being.

He was the Mountain Lord;

He was the Lord of War.

With resolve sharper than steel, victory upon victory!

Bending low into a charging stance, Chen Ji dragged the Whale Blade as he sprinted toward the Heavy Sword Armor Soldier with incredible ferocity.

The soldier’s eyes bulged with fury as he raised the Heavy Sword high, slashing it down with devastating force. Chen Ji sidestepped to the corridor’s left, evading the raging gust of the sword wind and closing the distance between them!

Clang!

Heavy Sword met Whale Blade, the clangor ringing out like explosive thunder.

Chen Ji abruptly released his grip on the Whale Blade’s hilt, sliding past the soldier’s side. The impact between their weapons left the blade spinning like it had sprouted wings, trailing behind Chen Ji before circling to his opponent’s back!

Timed to perfection, Chen Ji grasped the hilt mid-air, swinging horizontally with devastating power!

In response, the soldier twisted his sword upward just in time, the thick, iron Heavy Sword deflecting the strike yet again...

But as the soldier regained composure, he suddenly noticed a thin, razor-sharp black Sword Seed piercing straight toward his heart.

Shhk. The Sword Seed pierced through his body, leaving a deathly silence in its wake.