Green Mountain
Chapter 91 - 73, Jianghu

Chapter 91: 73, Jianghu

Under the cover of night, the hues of Hongyi Lane were intensely vivid.

From one end of the alley to the other, lanterns were strung up in celebration, as if it were a wedding celebration each day and a dissipation of worries each night with drunken revelry, the whole building alive with beckoning red sleeves.

The Golden Workshop had made a name for itself by adorning its beams and columns in gold foil and gold powder amidst this vibrant red, its Qiannqiu Pavilion embellished with gems, dazzling and resplendent.

Such designs were commonplace in Jinling, but in Luocheng City, this workshop stood alone.

In a corner outside Hongyi Lane, Wu Yun slowly blended into the darkness, while Chen Ji quietly climbed the eaves with his hands, effortlessly jumping up to stand firmly atop.

With another light leap, he grasped the extending part of the roof corner, swinging himself onto the rooftop.

His right leg was injured and lacked strength, but thankfully with twenty-six stoves lit tonight, he could easily climb with the strength of his arms alone.

Chen Ji crouched down, quietly surveying the surroundings. Below, the crowd flowed like a river, and above, the gray hipped roofs were undulating like hills.

The ridges of the roofs were like mountain ridges, the side facing Hongyi Lane lit while the other side remained dark.

Assured of no presence, Chen Ji moved stealthily along the dark side of the roof, his steps light upon the gray tiles, cautious not to alert the people below. At least here in noisy Hongyi Lane, the slight sound of his footsteps was inconsequential.

He continued his journey, while his gaze frequently shifted across the ridge to the alley below.

On the roof in the gray tiles, Chen Ji paced through the night while in the lighted alley below, Princess Bai Li and the Princely Heir walked in their confliction, seemingly two parallel lines that would never meet.

He turned his head, watching the steps of Princess Bai Li and the Princely Heir, wondering where the Princely Heir was headed and desperately hoping it was not the Golden Workshop, which might be dangerous.

At that moment, he saw a vendor bustling back and forth with his carrying pole. Princess Bai Li stopped, picked a snack box from the pole, containing caramel mixed with plum sauce on small dishes, picking them with a bamboo stick as she walked and ate.

Among the crowd and red ambiance, Princess Bai Li and the Princely Heir, both clad in white, resembled two pieces of jade hidden in the turbulent stream of chaos, attracting extraordinary attention.

The next moment, Chen Ji heard the sound of tiles being shifted in front of and behind him.

He suddenly turned around, only to see two swordsmen in black, carrying long knives, mounting a ladder from below.

On the desolate rooftop, Chen Ji was taken aback, and so were the two swordsmen in black.

Was it the Spy Department or the Military Intelligence Department? The elite black-clothed men had climbed to the rooftop hoping to look down upon Hongyi Lane for surveillance...but had encountered Chen Ji!

Instantly, the two swordsmen silently drew their swords, one in front and one behind, stealthily advancing on the sloped gray tiles.

Chen Ji internally cursed his luck. When he had first climbed up, he feared someone else might have the same idea, which is why he made sure the rooftop was clear before ascending.

At the time, he had wondered why no one occupied such a perfect vantage point; the Military Intelligence Department and the Spy Department really lacked tactical awareness on such scale.

Little did he think that the other party hadn’t overlooked this location, but rather they were just late!

Below in the bustling red of song and dance, and above in the dark of the night, killing intent was stark; all three men refrained from shouting or speaking, as if fearing detection.

Chen Ji broke into a sprint, trying to ignore the pain in his leg and run normally, aiming to get out of the encirclement before the two black-clothed men could converge on him and trap him from both sides.

But these battle-hardened men saw through Chen Ji’s intentions, immediately altering their trajectories to cooperatively block his path.

The rooftop space was limited, and there was no retreat for Chen Ji unless he jumped straight off the edge.

He stood at the edge of the roof, considering the over six-meter drop, and especially his injured leg, thinking it through before ultimately retreating.

As he was pondering his next move, the two elite agents approached him, both swinging their swords in a cross strike!

The two long knives, like scissors, appeared to snip towards him, reflecting the red glow from the alley!

In the span of a breath, the sword skill embedded deep within Chen Ji’s bones as if awoken, resonated like the sound of a hammer forging, in his heart, as he swung two swift strikes in succession.

Chen Ji was quicker than the two swordsmen, despite striking after them, his sword moves flowed smoothly, natural like a deer darting through the forest.

With two clangs of metal, drowned by the noise of Hongyi Lane, one of the black-clothed men’s forged steel long sword broke, its broken blade clattering down the sloped tiles into a dim courtyard behind. The other swordsman’s blade, though not broken, was knocked out of his hand.

Chen Ji was startled, and the two elite agents were startled again.

All three of their pupils suddenly contracted as if they had just witnessed something unbelievable.

Gold Grinder.

Chen Ji had once asked Feng Huai about this technique that numbed the hands through vibrations along the blade; Feng Huai had answered, "Gold Grinder," a technique that cleverly finds flaws and breaks the opponent’s blade. Had it not been for the special material of the "Whale," it would have broken long ago.

Now, a Medical Hall apprentice, who should have been stumbling to escape the encirclement, reacted with the instinct honed by thousands of trials. With his first move against someone else using the "Gold Grinder," he had used a short knife from the Medical Hall, typically used for chopping herbs, to break one knife and fling another. If not for Chen Ji’s unfamiliarity with using Gold Grinder against others, perhaps both blades would have broken.

The two swordsmen exchanged a look, feeling an eerie sense of the night. Not only had they encountered a swordsman of such caliber on this remote rooftop, but why did this swordsman initially try to run and why was he even more shocked than them?!