Green Mountain
Chapter 356 - 294, Mountain Master descends the mountain

Chapter 356: 294, Mountain Master descends the mountain

The armored soldiers of the Hu Ben army from the Jing Dynasty surrounded Lu Jin as he boarded a black sedan chair, which slowly headed toward Changbai Mountain.

Wu Hongbiao followed beside the sedan chair and softly said, "Sir, Jiang Tan has confessed in the Imperial Prison that the princely heir of Prince Jing from the Ning Dynasty has brought a pledge of allegiance northwards, intending to join our dynasty. The young man standing behind Doctor Yao earlier is the heir. Shall I recruit him? Prince Jing has been persecuted by the Eunuch Party, and the heir bears great enmity, which may be of significant use."

Lu Jin calmly replied from inside the sedan chair, "No need. Pushing too hard won’t yield good results. As long as he wants revenge, he will eventually come to us."

Wu Hongbiao hesitated for a moment, "Sir, should I send someone to bring Chen Ji here? He is alone in the Ning Dynasty, I’m worried about him..."

Lu Jin gently comforted, "You saw it upon your return as well, the court is in turmoil, and those who hate me are countless. In the past half month alone, there have been about twenty assassination attempts. If I bring him back, he would only join us in a dangerous situation. Let him stay in the Ning Dynasty for now; it will be at least a bit safer."

Wu Hongbiao bowed his head, "Understood."

Lu Jin smiled inside the sedan chair, "I know you are concerned about him. After this trip up the mountain, stay at the Temple of Martial Arts to focus on your cultivation. I will send ten pieces of Yang Green Jade to you; once you enter the Seeking Dao Realm, you can go south to take over Si Caoyi’s position. With you protecting him, I will feel more at ease."

Wu Hongbiao’s spirits lifted and he immediately bowed, his voice firm, "Yes."

Lu Jin suddenly asked, "Who are the two people beside the heir?"

Wu Hongbiao answered, "Although their hair and beards concealed their appearance, I still recognized them as Liang Gou’er and Liang Mao’er."

Lu Jin seemed slightly surprised, "Oh, it’s them."

The sedan chair arrived at the mountain’s base, and Lu Jin softly commanded, "Stop the sedan."

Once the sedan settled, Lu Jin lifted the curtain and began to slowly walk up the mountain.

Wu Hongbiao was taken aback, "Sir, why not stay in the sedan?"

Clad in a gray robe, Lu Jin responded without looking back, "Gods live on this mountain; men of the mundane world naturally must put away their arrogance."

Wu Hongbiao softly retorted, "Mountain Master Lu Yang has yet to ascend; he shouldn’t be considered..."

Lu Jin casually replied, "The Mountain Master hasn’t ascended because he hasn’t found the other Sword Seed Official in the world. Once found, he will naturally ascend the Forty-nine Heavens."

Wu Hongbiao asked, "Should the Hu Ben army follow, in case someone sets up an ambush along the mountain path..."

Lu Jin smiled, "No need to bring them, just select a few to follow me up the mountain. In the Temple of Martial Arts’ territory, no one can kill a court official."

He lifted the hem of his robe and walked leisurely, traversing through the snow, passing through the forest and frost, and climbing fourteen hundred and forty-two stone steps.

For an ordinary person, climbing the mountain is extremely exhausting, but Lu Jin never uttered a single complaint and did not need anyone to assist him, steadily walking from dawn to midnight, until he reached the gates of the Temple of Martial Arts.

A gate sign stood amidst the snow fog, inscribed with four large characters: The Pinnacle of the World!

The columns beside the gate bore unrefined couplets carved into them:

I am an outsider to the world beyond the heavens.

Seeing mountains and rivers, I am a free man.

Lu Jin stood still under the sign, without taking another step forward.

He took a deep breath, bowed deeply with cupped hands, and declared in a loud voice, "Today, Lu Jin of the Privy Council presents a grand gift, requesting the Temple of Martial Arts to descend the mountain to aid the society!"

...

...

The next morning.

Old Yao had rested for a night in Erdao Baihe Town and only started his journey to the mountain when the sky was bright.

However, as he reached the base of the mountain, he found that the Hu Ben army of the Jing Dynasty was still guarding there. As he and his companions approached, they eyed them warily, blocking the path up the mountain.

Old Yao approached the Hu Ben army with his hands behind his back and casually said, "Dare you block a guest of the Temple of Martial Arts?"

The Hu Ben soldiers exchanged glances and slowly gave way after a moment, allowing a narrow path for one person.

Old Yao walked through the Hu Ben soldiers without looking aside, and began climbing the stone steps up the mountain.

On the stone steps, Zhu Yunxi turned back to glance at the Hu Ben army and quietly asked, "Why did the person, who was cast out, quickly recover and immediately gain such immense power?"

Old Yao replied in a faint tone, "His standing among the youth of the Jing Dynasty is extremely high. It’s not surprising that he recovered. Some say that Lu Jin’s dismissal was not a true loss of power but a feigned loss to lure those secretly opposing them to reveal themselves, to then eradicate them completely."

Liang Gou’er raised an eyebrow, "Upon his dismissal, his wings should have been clipped by political rivals, and his close aides secretly harmed. Such a ruthless heart."

Old Yao sneered, "Without ruthlessness, would he have left his nephew in an enemy nation?"

Chen Ji had once promised Liang Gou’er in a letter that if he brought the letter to the Jing Dynasty and handed it to Lu Jin, he would surely see his wife, Jiang Liuxian. He naturally knew the relationship between Chen Ji and Lu Jin.

"No wonder the old man was sardonically mocking Lu Jin yesterday; this indeed was not commendable," Liang Gou’er wondered aloud, "He holds immense power in the Jing Dynasty, why not let Chen Ji return? It doesn’t make sense. Even if the Jing Dynasty is dangerous, could it be more dangerous than an enemy nation?"

Old Yao shook his head, "I don’t know."

As they were speaking, footsteps echoed from up the mountain.

Old Yao raised his head to see Lu Jin descending.

At that moment, Liang Gou’er suddenly pulled Zhu Yunxi and whispered, "Close your eyes!"

On the stone steps, Lu Jin in a gray robe slowly passed by Old Yao and his companions without exchanging a single word.

Following Lu Jin, Wu Hongbiao and a woman in purple clothes appeared. The woman carried a long knife, with a scar extending from her cheek to her ear, pierced by an arrow. The wound marred her otherwise delicate features with a hint of ruthless aura.

Snow, frost, narrow stone steps.

The woman in purple floated lightly like a snow demon from the mountains, not belonging to the mortal world. As she brushed past the others, her gaze calmly swept over each face, then looked towards the foot of the mountain.

Liang Mao’er turned to look at the woman’s back and just as he was about to speak, a hand covered his mouth.

He stared wide-eyed at his brother, but through the disheveled hair strands, he saw the calm, lake-like eyes of his brother, as if hiding a slowly closing clam.

After Lu Jin and his group had moved far away, Liang Gou’er slowly put down his left hand, his shoulders slumping.

Liang Mao’er impatiently said, "Brother, that’s sister-in-law!"

Old Yao turned back to look, "Is she the one who stole the Liang Family’s Saber Technique, Jiang Liuxian?"

Liang Mao’er hurriedly replied, "I’m certain it’s sister-in-law, no mistake."

Old Yao frowned, "Then why didn’t she recognize you?"

Liang Mao’er hesitated, "She left early; when she departed, I was still very young and very skinny..."

Old Yao nodded, "No wonder Little Dog told the heir to close his eyes, fearing that the opponent would notice the presence of someone inheriting the Liang Family’s Saber Technique."

He squinted at Liang Gou’er, "Weren’t you looking for her before, drinking like a muddle-headed fool every day, shouting ’Liuxian, Liuxian’ even in sleep at my medical hall, making me think the place was haunted. Now that you’ve found her, why not recognize her?"

Liang Gou’er looked at his empty sleeve, walking up the mountain alone, "I won’t recognize her."

Liang Mao’er caught up, anxiously beside his brother, "Perhaps sister-in-law has her own difficulties. Brother, you’ve longed for her for so many years; now that you’ve seen her, you should at least say a word. If she knew your current plight, she definitely..."

Liang Gou’er interrupted, "Say what? Say my arm is gone? Say my Du Meridian is severed? Say I miss her? Say I now need her pity?"

Liang Mao’er was speechless.

Liang Gou’er apathically said, "Mao’er, I am no longer someone from Jianghu, but she still is. We shouldn’t meet again, and if we do, we shouldn’t recognize each other."

As a teenager, he once thought that proclaiming his name would make him someone from Jianghu, destined to shine brightly.

But time passed, and it seemed he left nothing behind in Jianghu.

Liang Gou’er pulled out the letter Chen Ji had given him, "If I truly wanted to see her, I should have presented this letter to Lu Jin yesterday!"

Liang Mao’er quietly said, "Brother, if you really don’t want to see her, then why keep the letter?"

Liang Gou’er was stunned.

The next moment, he frantically tore the letter to pieces with his mouth and left hand and pulled out a scentless sachet from his chest, throwing it away.

Liang Gou’er continued walking up the mountain, his back lonely.

Liang Mao’er wiped his tears with the back of his hand, "Everything was fine before; how did it turn out like this."

Zhu Yunxi patted his shoulder, "Don’t cry; even Master Gou’er didn’t cry."

Old Yao sneered, "Who said he didn’t cry? He’s crying loudly in his heart, I can hear it even from a mile away."

The old man walked up the mountain and spoke lightly in the snow fog, "Actually, life shouldn’t have reunions. Sometimes a brief reunion isn’t a reward from fate but a punishment. Mao’er doesn’t understand this, Chen Ji doesn’t understand this; it’s okay, you are all still young. When you reach my age, you’ll understand."

After they left.

Someone walked through the frost-covered snow, making crunching sounds with each step.

Approaching the discarded sachet, the person bent down and carefully picked it up.

She gazed at the mountain for a long time, then turned and left.

...

...

They climbed the mountain from morning till dusk without speaking.

Reaching the mountain gate, Old Yao looked at the four characters "The Pinnacle of the World" on the sign, appearing somewhat stunned.

In the distance, between Dragon Gate Peak and Heavenly Gorge Peak, a waterfall poured down through a gap, resembling a white silk ribbon, its sound reaching miles away.

At that moment, the lake on the summit of Changbai Mountain suddenly roiled.

In the huts beside the Heavenly Pool, people heard the water’s commotion and rushed out to gaze at the lake, "Thirty years, and finally it’s here!"

"Quick, quick, after ten years of hard cultivation, it should be my turn this time!"

In an instant, a horizontal blade of three feet three inches flew out from the lake, heading straight for the sky.

After flying over a hundred feet, it darted toward the outskirts of the mountain.

The people of the Temple of Martial Arts shouted, "Damn, it’s given to an outsider again!"

Shouting, hundreds of people rushed out of their huts, looking at the blade’s direction while running down the mountain.

At the foot of the mountain gate, everyone watched the horizontal blade land in Zhu Yunxi’s hand and began to curse, "Who the hell are you..."

The curses abruptly stopped.

An elderly man in plain clothes exclaimed, "Mr. Yao?"

Old Yao looked at him, "Xiao Wu."

The middle-aged man respectfully bowed, "Mr. Yao, long time no see."

He noticed the others staring in bewilderment and quickly reminded them, "Do you want to get beaten? Hurry and pay your respects!"

The people of the Temple of Martial Arts hurriedly bowed.

Xiao Wu straightened up and hesitantly asked, "Mr. Yao, why are you here?"

Old Yao casually inquired, "Where is your Mountain Master?"

Xiao Wu replied with difficulty, "Mr. Yao, you come at an unfortunate time. Our Mountain Master left the mountain this morning."

Old Yao was taken aback, "Left the mountain? Where did he go?"

Xiao Wu explained, "Mr. Yao, last night we received news from Lu Jin of the Privy Council. The Military Intelligence Department heard the sound of martial arts in Luocheng City of the Ning Dynasty and found some sword ash along with it. It seems that the Sword Seed Path’s inheritor has finally appeared. The Mountain Master has descended the mountain to kill."