The shooting star flying from the distant horizon dragged a long tail, like a dazzling sharp blade, slicing apart the night sky and the dawn.
As it drew from far to near, Chen Ji's face was illuminated bit by bit by the shooting star's radiance, until the skylight became as bright as day.
This arrow from Tian Ma had forcibly shot through the Eight Gates Golden Lock Formation using brute strength!
Tian Ma.
Chen Ji had finally waited for him.
After the shooting star arrow shot through the talisman formation, it seemed to have grown eyes; it slightly altered its trajectory, heading straight for Mister Feng's face!
Mister Feng stood with his head raised and his hands behind his back, facing the arrow without moving an inch.
"Jiang Yan."
Jiang Yan pulled out several cinnabar talismans from his sleeve and threw them into the sky. After a brief pause in mid-air, the talismans flew straight toward the arrow as if they possessed sentience.
Six talisman papers flew out in succession, only then smashing the shooting star arrow into a handful of stars in the night sky.
"Truly beautiful," Mister Feng praised.
Chen Ji carefully sized up the other party.
This Mister Feng, dressed in a green shirt, had been sitting cross-legged for a long time without even a single wrinkle on his clothes. The other party was perfectly composed and his expression remained unchanged; he hadn't taken the matter of Tian Ma's arrival to heart at all.
It was as if whether Tian Ma came or not wouldn't change anything.
Calm.
This Mister Feng was far too calm.
At this time, Mister Feng looked at Chen Ji and asked with a smile, "Young man, I calculated the time. Tian Ma must have set off precisely at the very first moment you were attacked in order to arrive right at this moment. The Secret Spy Division is far away in Luo City. How could they know what was happening here, and why did they arrive so timely?"
Chen Ji also looked at Mister Feng and answered sincerely, "It should be that there is a traitor in the Liu Family who leaked your ambush plan to the Secret Spy Division. Mister Feng, you must thoroughly investigate this traitor. If they are not eliminated, I fear they will become a huge hidden danger."
Mister Feng put on a look of having suddenly realized: "So that's how it is. But you seemed to know that Tian Ma would come, which is why you worked so hard stalling for time."
Chen Ji's heart tightened: "I didn't know he would come. I just wanted to live for an extra moment, if I could."
Mister Feng smiled: "Then I have another doubt. The Top Three Ranks of the Twelve Zodiacs have esteemed identities and can mobilize the Twelve Directorates of the Inner Court and the Twenty-Four Yamen, with the authority to act first and report later. Why would such a figure come to save you?"
Chen Ji remained silent.
Mister Feng laughed: "Young man, the time I spent accompanying you to wait for Tian Ma earlier can be considered a slight respect for the mere one-tenth of chivalry remaining in the world. But for Tian Ma to run this far to save you proves that you are a very important person. I must kill you."
In the next instant, Chen Ji turned around and frantically ran in the direction the shooting star arrow had come from. Tian Ma was still far away; he had to stay alive before Tian Ma arrived!
Seeing him flee, Jiang Yan abruptly threw out nine cinnabar talisman papers. The cinnabar talisman papers hovered in the air for a breath, and then shot toward him like red-and-yellow-striped sparrows.
A huge mountain wind rose, and the talismans howled.
In the nick of time, Chen Ji focused his attention and turned to meet the attack. One slash, two slashes, three slashes... six slashes!
The snow-bright edge of the blade drew zigzagging white lines in the air, slicing open the cinnabar talisman papers one by one. The moment the blade's edge sliced open a talisman paper, the talisman paper would float down onto the rotting leaves like a deflated ball.
But Chen Ji only had time to swing six slashes; the remaining three had already shot right in front of him.
He twisted his body in place, trying his best to avoid his vitals. The seventh talisman paper sliced past his shoulder, and the eighth sliced past his waist, both leaving a bloody trail.
The ninth talisman paper flew past Chen Ji's ear, merely severing a lock of his hair. However, before he could breathe a sigh of relief, he saw that talisman paper unexpectedly change direction and fly straight back toward the back of his head.
The talisman drawn on this ninth talisman paper was completely different from the rest. The first eight cinnabar talisman papers were all foreshadowing; the ninth was the true finale!
Chen Ji looked back, wanting to raise his blade to block, but could only watch helplessly as the talisman paper came right at his face, in close proximity.
Whoosh!
A shooting star arrow flew over from the side, bringing with it a fierce wind and sweeping up dead leaves. It pierced through the talisman paper right in front of Chen Ji's nose, carrying the talisman paper along to nail it into a nearby tree trunk, turning into a handful of stars.
Chen Ji's cheeks stung from the fierce wind, and the strands of hair that had come loose from his topknot swayed incessantly.
He heard the sound of footsteps rushing toward him from the side. Turning his head, he saw Jin Zhu panting heavily, blocking his path in front, staring at Mister Feng as if facing a formidable enemy.
Chen Ji stood leaning on his blade and suddenly let out a long breath of relief.
This was his first time feeling a sense of mental relaxation upon seeing Jin Zhu... Recue had finally arrived.
Jin Zhu didn't look at him, but looked at Mister Feng and said with a fake smile, "Good evening, Mister Feng. Not sleeping at home at this late hour, but running out to kill people?"
Mister Feng smiled in response, "Good evening to you too."
The sound of footsteps crushing dead leaves came from the mountain forest. Chen Ji looked over. In the shadows of the woods, Tian Ma, dressed entirely in white, slowly walked out, stepping on the withered leaves. He stepped in front of Chen Ji and Jin Zhu, looking expressionlessly at Mister Feng.
Jin Zhu also breathed a sigh of relief...
Tian Ma made a few sign language gestures toward Mister Feng, and then coldly made a throat-slitting motion with his hand against his neck.
Mister Feng, however, laughed heartily. "I don't understand, I don't understand!"
Jin Zhu translated, "Tian Ma says, how about he treats everyone to a bowl of beef noodles, and we just let this matter go?"
Tian Ma looked back at Jin Zhu.
Mister Feng didn't know whether to laugh or cry. "Although I don't understand sign language, I also know that Tian Ma doesn't mean to invite me to eat beef noodles. At the very least, eating beef noodles doesn't require slitting a throat."
Jin Zhu laughed it off, "Just joking, just joking. Mister Feng, my Secret Spy Division is the pro-military guard of the Inner Court. Making an enemy of us is the grave crime of treason. If you continue this slaughter tonight, no matter how vast this world is, there will be no place for you."
Mister Feng waved his hand dismissively. "Don't use this matter to frighten me. As long as I leave the three of you in this mountain, who will know what I've done? Young man, the people you were waiting for have arrived, and the people I have been waiting for have arrived too."
As his words fell, sounds of dense iron hooves and clamor drifted up from the foot of the mountain. Everyone looked from afar, only to see over a thousand men holding weapons and torches, charging up the mountain.
Not only were there people in Longwang Valley at the foot of the mountain, but there were also over a thousand soldiers on the mountain holding torches, charging toward the halfway point of the mountain.
Chen Ji frowned. Did this Mister Feng plan from the very beginning to use him to bait Tian Ma and Jin Zhu into coming?
No, that's not right. How could the other party know that he could use the Cloud-Covering Path to summon Jin Zhu?
At this moment, Jin Zhu said to Tian Ma, "Hurry up and run, we can't charge a military formation of over a thousand men!"
Tian Ma stood motionless, staring fixedly at Mister Feng as if he were deaf.
Jin Zhu grew anxious.
He tugged at Tian Ma's clothes and lowered his voice, saying, "Are you crazy? This mountain is full of their men. Hurrying up and running away is the most important thing; don't unnecessarily drag out the fight!"
But Tian Ma ignored him, directly drew his bowstring to the full, and fired an arrow at Mister Feng and Jiang Yan respectively!
Jin Zhu completely lost his composure. Taking advantage of the chaotic battle, he turned around, grabbed Chen Ji, and ran.
Chen Ji looked back. Beside the bluestone, Mister Feng tilted his head to avoid an arrow, and then looked at him with a half-smile. There was no pursuit, no anger, only a smile that made one unable to see through him, unable to guess what the other party was thinking.
As the two fled, Jin Zhu turned to Chen Ji and asked, "Kid, did you have a breakthrough in the face of battle just now?"
Chen Ji suddenly realized that it wasn't just the Cloud-Covering Path; the Mountain Lord Pathway would similarly feed back cultivation base to Jin Zhu!
He gave a sound of affirmation. "I had a breakthrough, but I just don't know what realm I am considered to be in now."
A look of joy flashed in Jin Zhu's eyes, completely forgetting the pain of being tortured for three entire hours earlier. "Houtian Stage, you're almost touching the threshold of Xiantian. You're quite something, kid. Usually not cultivating, but once you do, you astound everyone!"
As Chen Ji ran, he asked nonchalantly, "How did Your Excellency know I had a breakthrough in the face of battle just now?"
Jin Zhu was startled and hurriedly tried to cover it up, "Mister Feng has arrived. If you didn't have a breakthrough in the face of battle, you definitely wouldn't have survived until now."
While speaking, he sized up the Whale Blade Chen Ji was carrying, then looked back at the talisman paper split in two on the ground.
A trace of doubt flashed in Jin Zhu's eyes, but after a moment of hesitation, he ultimately asked nothing.
Chen Ji asked, "Your Excellency, are we not going to care about Tian Ma?"
Jin Zhu gritted his teeth. "If he insists on his way and wants to seek death, why should I care about him? Facing a military formation, even a grandmaster of the Divine Path Realm would have to retreat three miles away. What is he trying to show off for? Let him die here, let's run!"
Chen Ji noticed that Jin Zhu's escape was a bit absent-minded; he would frequently look back toward Tian Ma's battlefield. However, they could only see flashes of shooting star light, but couldn't clearly see what was actually happening.
The two ran down the mountain and ran headfirst into a large group of soldiers rushing up to arrest them. Jin Zhu grabbed Chen Ji, turned around, and scrambled away holding his head.
The two continuously changed several directions, but it was useless; it seemed like there were enemies all over the mountains.
Jin Zhu complained, "Damn it, why did the Liu Family station so many private soldiers here... Wait, what's that sound?"
A clamorous noise came from down the mountain, as some soldiers were thrown into chaos and knocked off their feet by a sudden ambush.
Looking through the gaps in the trees, Chen Ji saw a massive black shadow knocking down one torch-bearing soldier after another under the moonlight, heading straight for the waist of the mountain!
The torches fell onto the dead leaves, igniting a massive mountain fire. Blown by the wind, it immediately spread up the mountain!
Jin Zhu was apprehensive and uncertain. "What's going on?"
Before Chen Ji could answer, frantic shouting came from within the firelight. "Chen Ji!"
Jin Zhu abruptly looked at Chen Ji. "The Commandery Princess's voice?!"
The voices of the Prince Heir and Zhang Xia also rang out together. "Chen Ji! Chen Ji, where are you?!"
Chen Ji rushed toward the firelight, but was grabbed by Jin Zhu. "Are you fucking crazy? This forest fire spreads faster than a person can run; what are you going to do?"
With a thunderous crash, a tall warhorse leaped into the air, crossing the sea of fire like a flying boat, and landed in front of Chen Ji.
Chen Ji looked up blankly. The Prince Heir, the Commandery Princess, and Zhang Xia were sitting on the horse, their faces blackened with soot and dust, while raging flames danced violently behind them.
Bai Li exclaimed happily, "Ah, Chen Ji, we finally found you! Quick, hurry and get on the horse, we've come to pick you up!"
Chen Ji asked blankly, "Didn't I tell you to escape immediately? Why did you charge all the way here?"
The Prince Heir laughed loudly, "How can we still call ourselves sons and daughters of the Jianghu if we abandon our friend?"
Saying so, he bent down and held out his hand. "Quick, get on the horse!"
Chen Ji turned to look at Jin Zhu. "Your Excellency..."
Jin Zhu took a deep breath and slowly retreated backward. "You kid, go with them. You'd better fucking get out alive, otherwise I'll have suffered a huge loss!"
Having said that, he turned and ran toward the direction where Tian Ma was fighting.
(End of Chapter)