Green Mountain
Chapter 344 - 284, Behead

Chapter 344: 284, Behead

The Li Family’s Official Gateway is named ’Feibai’.

So-called Feibai refers to the dry brush strokes of a calligraphy brush when it runs out of ink, beautiful as light clouds covering the sun.

At this moment, Li Xuan’s emaciated body somehow surged with energy, each sword strike swift as a phantom, like Feibai itself.

In the span of a few breaths, he advanced over ten steps. Like a reef, he firmly halted the Heavenly Strategy Army’s onrush, forcing them to split to the sides unwilling to collide directly with him.

Elsewhere, Chen Ji, with Zhang Xia behind him, charged on horseback towards Zhang Zheng.

The Heavenly Strategy Army accompanying Zhang Zheng saw Chen Ji’s lance thrusting forward and immediately slashed at the lance’s wooden shaft, intending to cut it off. No matter how tough the shaft, it was still just wood.

However, just as the blade was about to meet the shaft, Chen Ji gave a sudden shake with both hands, and the eight-foot lance vibrated into a flower, dodging the blade and thrusting like a serpent, piercing the opponent’s throat.

The lance was heavy; even a normal armored soldier would find it hard to handle smoothly, let alone manipulate it into such a flower.

Blood gushed from the Heavenly Strategy Army soldier, who died with eyes wide open. Chen Ji took the opportunity to cut the ropes binding Zhang Zheng’s hands and feet: "Seize a horse, and retreat behind me!"

Zhang Zheng quickly pushed the fallen soldier off the horse, mounted it himself, and retreated to Chen Ji’s side.

There was still one more person to rescue, Chen Wenzong.

Chen Ji suddenly turned, his gaze sweeping like a blade over the Heavenly Strategy Army, locking firmly onto the armored soldier holding Chen Wenzong. Before he could charge forward, the soldier, spotting his gaze, immediately dumped Chen Wenzong to the ground.

With quick reflexes, Xiao Man darted forward, picked up Chen Wenzong, and fled. Chen Ji, Zhang Xia, Zhang Zheng, Xiao Man, and Chen Wenzong finally regrouped, ignoring Chen Liqin and the others no matter how much Chen Wenxiao shouted, Chen Ji didn’t glance back.

Chen Ji turned to see Li Xuan’s back, realizing there was still a twenty-step gap between them and an eighty-step gap to Yuan Zhen.

Zhang Xia commented from behind, "He probably won’t have the strength to reach Yuan Zhen; he’s already a spent force, only relying on sheer will."

Chen Ji knew that without help, Li Xuan would surely die.

Should he assist in extracting him?

Or accompany him in fighting in?

He looked silently for two breaths before finally turning his horse around, leading the group away, going the opposite direction from Li Xuan. One going south, one north, they were destined to be different kinds of people.

Outside the battle lines, Zhou You watched from a distance, muttering, "Previous impressions didn’t suggest Li Xuan was so formidable. I thought Li Family’s ’Feibai’ name was an empty boast."

Hu Junxian replied calmly, "It was a show then, now it’s the real thing, entirely different."

Zhou You asked, "This person seems valuable. Should we try to recruit him into my Guyuan Border Army?"

Hu Junxian silently observed Li Xuan for a long time, "He’s brave but not cunning. Let him survive first."

Zhou You chuckled, "Old Hu, Guyuan needs people like me and him—brave but not overly thoughtful. The overly careful ones don’t last here."

He turned to look at Chen Ji breaking away, "What about that kid? Mr. Wang specifically sent a letter saying we must keep him in the Border Army, that he’ll become Guyuan’s pillar."

Hu Junxian glanced indifferently at Chen Ji, "He’s the kind Guyuan can’t keep."

"Enough talk; today we will annihilate the main force of the Heavenly Strategy Army, leaving them incapacitated for five years!" Hu Junxian issued orders, causing Guyuan Border Army and Elephant Armor Guards to press through alleys, using lives to plug gaps, trapping the Heavenly Strategy Army Iron Cavalry.

Even so, the Heavenly Strategy Army, elite among elites, could grind the advancing Guyuan Border Army into powder, even if unable to escape.

Zhou You hoped silently that someone could kill Yuan Zhen in the chaos. Capture the leader, and the Heavenly Strategy Army would fall into disarray, saving many border troops’ lives.

Many shared his thoughts, border infantry slaughtering fiercely yet frequently glancing towards the figure still advancing and the fleeing Chen Ji and company.

It seemed a stark contrast.

Breaking in faced different resistance than breaking out; soon, Chen Ji escaped from the Heavenly Strategy Army.

As the border infantry passed by them, they spat silently before continuing to charge forward.

Zhang Xia murmured apologetically from behind Chen Ji, "Sorry for dragging you down."

Chen Ji shook his head, "Without you, I wouldn’t have charged in. It was my decision."

Zhang Xia said nothing more.

Still,

Since the Guyuan situation was Bai Long’s long-planned ambush, considering Bai Long’s meticulous conduct, there would be no loose ends if he acted.

Why, with Bai Long’s arrival, were none of the other Zodiacs showing up?

Chen Ji looked around, but the familiar figures were absent; it was as if this time, Bai Long was truly alone.

Wait!

Chen Ji suddenly looked up!

...

...

Li Xuan was exhausted.

He only felt that the path towards Yuan Zhen was endless, layers of Heavenly Strategy Army like steps to the heavens, each step weighing a thousand catties.

The courage and strength he’d mustered gradually depleted.

Li Xuan glanced about blankly, and a spear thrust toward him. Instinctively, he parried it aside, reversing his grip to slash off the front hooves of a warhorse. The massive horse toppled, throwing the armored soldier towards Li Xuan’s blade, as if offering his neck.

Yet after killing one, there was always another, never-ending.

Li Xuan murmured silently.

Armored, wielding a halberd...

He wished to borrow strength once more, but this attempt was futile; even the strongest reach their limits!

At this moment, a meteor suddenly streaked across the night sky.

Li Xuan abruptly looked to where the meteor came from, seeing a figure in white, as pure as snow, standing by the eaves of a pavilion. The meteor, brilliant with a long tail, lit up the night sky, heading straight for Yuan Zhen’s face!

The Heavenly Horse of the Ritual Supervision’s Top Three Zodiacs!

Beside the Heavenly Horse, Jin Zhu, wearing a bamboo hat and straw coat, watched everyone below with a smile.

Li Xuan looked up at the meteor again, seeing it near Yuan Zhen. Yet Yuan Zhen stood unmoved, facing it directly.

With a bang, just as the meteor reached within a step of Yuan Zhen, it exploded into a dazzling dust of stars.

The hope that had just risen in everyone turned to despair again.

The bow in Heavenly Horse’s hand, formed by primordial qi, along with the arrows, remained within the realm of ’Magic’. Yuan Zhen’s second-rank official status plus the Imperial Decree from the Jing Dynasty Emperor made him invulnerable even to the Heavenly Horse.

Jin Zhu exclaimed, removing his bamboo hat in amazement, "You are just a step away from entering the Divine Realm, yet you can’t break his dynastic fortune?"

Heavenly Horse replied calmly, "Just a step away means not yet in."

Jin Zhu scratched his head, "Then what do we do? Should I melee him? I’m not going!"

Heavenly Horse said nothing, only quietly surveying the battlefield.

The next instant, he drew his radiant bow again and fired an arrow.

This time, the arrow was not aimed at Yuan Zhen but at Li Xuan. The meteor descended as Li Xuan staggered backward a step from exhaustion.

A Heavenly Strategy Army soldier charged forward, only to have the falling meteor pierce his chest. The heavy armor the soldier relied on seemed non-existent before the meteor, which took with it a spray of blood mist!

Startled, Li Xuan turned to the pavilion eaves, where Heavenly Horse calmly stated, "Advance, if you fail to break through, count it as mine. I’ll repay your life."

The voice wasn’t loud, yet it echoed through the sky.

Li Xuan roared, "Kill!"

Heavenly Horse drew bowstring to pierce through over ten Heavenly Strategy Army soldiers in front of Li Xuan in mere breaths.

Though second-rank official status repels evil, Li Family’s Feibai Gateway is not ’Magic’. Heavenly Horse forcibly carved a bloody path for Li Xuan, guiding him to Yuan Zhen!

Meteors rained in the night sky, unreasonably covering the Heavenly Strategy Army, allowing Li Xuan to advance another thirty steps!

Heavenly Horse suddenly declared standing on the eaves, "Jiao Tu, if you don’t act, I’ll kill you after!"

Below the eaves, at the balustrade, Jiao Tu covered her mouth with a laugh, "Oh my, Heavenly Horse, such authority! I never said I wouldn’t act, just didn’t want to steal your spotlight."

With that, she sat cross-legged on the floor, "Yun Yang, stand guard for me."

Yun Yang took out a stack of shadow puppets from her sleeve, scattering them around. Jiao Tu used her fingernail to slit open her brow; a black figure emerged.

In inky black armor, Jiao Tu held an Azure Dragon Crescent Blade larger than herself, smiling, "Heavenly Horse’s boast, this humble servant shall fulfill."

Her words fell, and she leaped several feet high, landing on a distant rooftop. This "Yin God" incarnation was as light as if weightless, covering three yards with each step, as if gliding over mountains and seas.

Jiao Tu bent slightly, dragging her blade forward.

Arriving at the long street where the Heavenly Strategy Army stood, she leaped again, raising the Azure Dragon Crescent Blade overhead as she descended before Li Xuan, her long blade crashing down!

With a roar, the blade struck the ground, massive dust, and sword energy flipping the Heavenly Strategy Army soldiers up and over.

"Lord Li, keep up! I’ll see you through!" Jiao Tu swung her Azure Dragon Crescent Blade into the chaos, cleaving the Heavenly Strategy Army down, their soldiers falling one by one before her sweeping glance!

Heavenly Horse assisted from afar, rendering the Heavenly Strategy Army helpless amid the chaos.

In that instant, Jiao Tu led Li Xuan forty more steps forward!

Only ten steps remained.

Li Xuan breathed heavily, nearly feeling his heart would leap from his throat.

Yet as he looked back at his ninety-step bloody path!

From afar, a single horseman galloped forward, the youth on it wielding a lance, passing by Li Xuan with a bellowing charge, "Go! Today to fame!"

Li Xuan spun abruptly, "Kill!"

Riding, Chen Ji thrust his lance towards the Chiliarch; the Chiliarch gripped the lance barehanded and lifted Chen Ji clear off the horse, flinging him aside.

Ultimately a mere Innate Realm level, Chen Ji could only be hurled against a wall.

Yet at that moment, the meteor shower arrived, blocking all escape for the Chiliarch, pinning him at the frontline.

Now, Jiao Tu rounded the Chiliarch, reaching the front of Yuan Zhen’s horse.

Within the Guard Camp, a disguised Grand Official acted, and as Jiao Tu swung her Azure Dragon Crescent Blade, the officer lunged, cleaving diagonally in one fluid motion.

This strike bore the full strength of the Official, inescapable.

The strike completed, Jiao Tu’s Yin God form dissipated into black smoke.

In that fleeting moment, a sharp sword flash emerged from the smoke, cutting like a dry brush across paper. The Near Guard Official felt a chill at his neck, blood spurting forth.

He helplessly watched Li Xuan pass by, leaping to slash at Yuan Zhen atop his steed!

Yuan Zhen, seeing the lengthy bloody path and the flying sword light, sighed in his heart.

Ah Guyuan.

A flash of the sword, and the head fell!