"Chen Ji, do you have a prejudice against me?"
"No."
Zhang Xia's eyes widened. "Then why do you speak so nicely in front of the Commandery Princess, but you never give me a good look? I asked you if your cat eats food from strangers, and you said it eats strangers. Is that appropriate?"
Chen Ji leaned against a large tree, resting on his blade, remaining silent. The mountain forest descended into a deathly stillness.
Earlier on the mountain, there were occasional sounds of Mister Feng and Tian Ma fighting. The sound of tearing wood fibers as trees toppled one after another could be heard from far away.
But now, those sounds of fighting had also vanished.
The four of them looked at each other. Everyone's face was stained with burning ashes, looking as black as laborers who had just crawled out of a coal kiln.
The Prince Heir suddenly spoke up to ease the atmosphere. "Bai Li, let me wipe your face."
Saying this, he was about to use his sleeve to wipe, but Bai Li weakly blocked him and said indignantly, "You want to write the character for 'King' on my forehead again, don't you?"
Looking at each other, they burst into laughter as they locked eyes.
The Prince Heir looked left at Zhang Xia and right at Chen Ji, then suddenly sighed with emotion. "At any rate, we've all gone through life and death together. If there were any true barriers between us in the past, let's put them down."
Zhang Xia pondered for a moment, openly patted the dust off her body, walked up to Chen Ji, and said solemnly, "Sorry. I know you were angry earlier when I said 'human lives are more important than cat lives.' Looking back now, if Zaozao had been in the sea of fire, I probably would have tried to save it too. I'm sorry."
She shoved the oil-paper package into Chen Ji's hands: "You can eat them all."
Chen Ji looked down at the snacks in his hands, somewhat surprised by Zhang Xia's frankness. He stayed silent for a moment before saying, "Thank you guys for coming to find me as well. If you hadn't knocked away so many soldiers and crashed open this mountain fire, it's not certain I would have been able to escape alive."
Zhang Xia shook her head. "No need to say that. If it weren't for you leading us into the military town earlier, we would have frozen to death in the mountains long ago."
The Prince Heir didn't know whether to laugh or cry. "Stop, stop. Why are we taking turns being polite? It's giving me goosebumps over here... Where are we going now?"
Chen Ji took out a piece of snack and offered it to Wu Yun's mouth. "We need to head to Luhun Villa as soon as possible. Scholars gather there, and both the Daoist Court and the Buddhist Sect are present. Presumably, even if the Liu Family tracks us down, they wouldn't dare make a move there. Prince Heir, Second Miss Zhang, you and the Commandery Princess should mount the horse. I'll clear the way in front."
Zhang Xia looked troubled. "But Zaozao can't carry us anymore."
Chen Ji looked at Zaozao. He saw the jujube-red warhorse drenched in sweat, standing under the faint light of the winter dawn, steam rising from its entire body.
After intense exercise, horses would enter a state of high temperature and dehydration, making it difficult to recover. They would need a large amount of cold water to wash and cool down to avoid multiple organ failure.
Having carried three people up the mountain for so long, Zaozao was already a spent force. If it carried people any further, it would probably drop dead from exhaustion on the road.
Chen Ji looked at Bai Li again, somewhat hesitant.
Earlier, when the situation was urgent and Bai Li was groggy, he could still carry her on his back. Now that she was awake, it would be a bit inappropriate for him to carry her.
The Prince Heir hurriedly said, "I'll carry Bai Li on my back!"
Saying this, he bent low in front of Bai Li. Bai Li insisted, "Brother, I can walk for a bit myself."
The Prince Heir said with a smile, "You're still running a fever. You can't even stand steadily, how are you going to run for your life? If I don't bring you back in one piece, Dad will definitely string me up from the rafters and whip me for a year. Hurry, be good."
Bai Li softly murmured an "mhm" and leaned onto the Prince Heir's back.
Chen Ji suddenly thought that perhaps the Liu Family's treason really had nothing to do with Prince Jing.
The Liu Family wanting to capture the Prince Heir and Commandery Princess was nothing more than seeing how much Prince Jing cared for them, so they wanted to use their lives as bargaining chips.
If Prince Jing had colluded with the Liu Family long ago, the Liu Family would have entirely no need to do this.
The four of them walked down the mountain. As they walked, the Prince Heir's physical strength failed and he slipped backward. Fortunately, Chen Ji had quick reflexes and supported Bai Li's back, preventing the two from crashing to the ground.
Chen Ji said softly, "Prince Heir, let me carry the Commandery Princess. You are an ordinary person; you can't carry her very far, nor very fast."
The Prince Heir looked back at Bai Li in embarrassment.
Bai Li thought for a moment. She didn't offer to walk on her own again, but weakly said, "Brother, just let Chen Ji do it."
The Prince Heir sighed. "Alright..."
Chen Ji tied the Whale Blade to Zaozao's saddle. Supporting Bai Li's legs, he carried her on his back and walked steadily down the mountain.
Bai Li gently rested her head on his shoulder. "Chen Ji, thank you."
Chen Ji smiled. "What is there to thank me for? Didn't the Prince Heir say so? We are now companions who have shared life and death."
Bai Li gave an "mhm," and after a long time sighed with emotion, "I didn't expect we could survive. Oh, right, people say that you only know what your biggest wish in life is right before you die. Brother, Zhang Xia, did you guys have any wishes earlier?"
The Prince Heir laughed loudly, "I'm a bit greedy; I have two wishes. Earlier, in that iron-smelting workshop in the military town, I wished we hadn't encountered this ambush. That way, we'd probably be drinking all night in Luhun Villa right now. I heard quite a few remarkable women went there too..."
Chen Ji asked, "And now?"
The Prince Heir's smile gradually faded. "Now I want to quickly find a cultivation Pathway and become a Practitioner, otherwise I can't even protect my own little sister."
Chen Ji said, "Then you won't be able to be the Prince Heir anymore."
The Prince Heir said disdainfully, "Then I won't be. My dad is only forty-five years old. It'll be at least another twenty-some years before it's my turn to be Prince Jing. If he holds out long enough, maybe he can outlast me..."
Bai Li said angrily, "Aren't you cursing our dad to only live to his sixties? Hurry up and spit it out!"
The Prince Heir: "Ptooey, ptooey, ptooey!"
Bai Li looked at Zhang Xia. "Zhang Xia, what wish do you have?"
Zhang Xia, leading Zaozao by the reins, casually said while walking down the mountain, "My biggest wish right now is to prepare a large wooden tub and take a nice hot bath."
Bai Li pondered for a moment, then suddenly asked Chen Ji, "Chen Ji, earlier my dad said he owes you a favor and can agree to one request from you. Have you thought about what you want to ask him for now?"
Chen Ji smiled. "I want to ask Prince Jing to find the best craftsman to forge a scabbard for that blade of mine. At the time, His Highness was just speaking casually. If I were to demand an exorbitant price, it would instead make me seem like someone lacking tact."
Bai Li gave a soft "oh," and after a long time she spoke, "That's not difficult. I'll find someone to make this scabbard and give it to you."
Chen Ji was slightly taken aback. "Alright."
Speaking of the Whale Blade, the Prince Heir asked curiously, "Chen Ji, where did you get this blade from?"
Chen Ji answered with a smile, "I picked it up in the mountains. Because it was relatively handy, I brought it along."
The Prince Heir sized up the Whale Blade. He saw that the blade body was snow-bright without a trace of rust, and the golden tiger at the sword guard was remarkably lifelike. No matter how he looked at it, it didn't seem like an ownerless item from the mountains.
Just as he was about to press further, they heard Wu Yun let out a soft meow.
Chen Ji suddenly tensed his entire body, leading the Prince Heir and the others to hide behind a cluster of bushes. Zhang Xia didn't ask questions; instead, she led Zaozao to lie down.
Chen Ji whispered, "Absolutely do not speak."
In the next instant, Mister Feng strolled out of the mountain forest at a leisurely pace. Jiang Yan trailed behind him with a limp, leading two warhorses.
Upon seeing the two of them, Chen Ji's scalp instantly went numb, and his entire body felt as if plunging into an ice cavern!
He carefully scrutinized the mountain forest behind the two of them, but saw no signs of Jin Zhu and Tian Ma.
Dead? Or did they escape?
Chen Ji couldn't have imagined that after fleeing so far, they would actually run into them right here!
Did they pursue them all the way here, or was it really just a coincidence that they took the same path?
At this very moment, Mister Feng, humming a little tune, passed not far from them without even turning his head, seemingly not noticing them.
That little tune was somewhat strange: "Building, plotting, marrying, Gen palace Fu Yin, Kun palace Fan Yin, Xun palace entering the tomb, Zhen palace being restrained, endlessly regenerating..."
Chen Ji was suddenly puzzled. Weren't the other party here to hunt him down? Could it really be a coincidental encounter? Right, there weren't many paths on the mountain that could avoid the fire right now, so taking the same path was plausible.
Fortunately, Wu Yun's hearing and sense of smell far exceeded a human's, otherwise they would have bumped right into them!
He looked carefully and saw that Jiang Yan had a bloody hole in his left shoulder, which should have been pierced by an arrow from Tian Ma. But this Mister Feng had no wounds, and there wasn't even a single wrinkle on his green shirt.
Jiang Yan expressionlessly led the warhorses, as if the wound on his body didn't hurt at all, just like a puppet, exuding nothing but ice-cold killing intent from top to bottom.
Just as Chen Ji was about to look closer, he saw Jiang Yan sweeping his gaze toward the mountain forest, intentionally or unintentionally. He hurriedly lowered his body before the other party looked over.
Everyone held their breath, not even daring to breathe heavily, only feeling an incomparably heavy mountain pressing down on them.
It was unknown how much time had passed, but the sound of Mister Feng humming gradually faded away.
Chen Ji carefully peeked his head out from the bushes to take a look; there were no longer any figures outside.
He let out a long breath of relief and lowered his voice, "This Mister Feng looks like a weak scholar, but when facing him, there's an inexplicable sense of oppression. You have no idea what he's thinking, nor what methods he has prepared next."
Zhang Xia said, "I heard that this Mister Feng's real name is Feng Zhang. He was the runner-up in the Jianing eighteenth year's provincial exam in Jizhou. He comes from a humble background but writes excellent essays, and his green prayer papers are exceptionally brilliant. At the time, many people said he would definitely gain His Majesty's favor during the palace examination. But in the spring of the following year, he was ranked at the bottom of the third tier in the palace examination. From then on, he resigned from his post and vanished without a trace."
She continued, "In the course of six years, it was as if Mister Feng had evaporated from the face of the earth. When he reappeared seven years ago, he was already Elder Liu's chief strategist, holding supreme authority, and bafflingly had become a Practitioner."
Chen Ji sighed. "When making an enemy of this kind of person, one must be careful, careful, and more careful."
Having said that, he got up with Bai Li on his back and walked out of the bushes, intending to take a different small path down the mountain.
However, they hadn't walked far when they heard Wu Yun meow again.
Chen Ji stiffened and slowly turned his head. Only to see two warhorses tethered to a tree, boredly stamping their hooves... No one was beside the horses.
Mister Feng and Jiang Yan were nowhere to be found.
Chen Ji asked in a low voice, "Wu Yun, is there anyone else nearby?"
Wu Yun meowed. "No, only these two horses."
Chen Ji uttered a soft exclamation of surprise. Why did Mister Feng leave, but specifically leave the two warhorses here?
Was it because leading the horses down the mountain was too cumbersome... or had the other party discovered their tracks early on and intentionally left these two warhorses for them?!
(End of Chapter)