Green Mountain-Chapter 646 - 503: Seeking Death

Si Caogui has left.

The Ning Dynasty wandered for twenty years, coming in a mess but resolute, leaving now full of doubt.

Shi San looked at the smoke screen before him: "Landlord, I just heard… are you old acquaintances?"

Mrs. Lu stood in front of the smoke screen: "More or less."

Shi San was stunned: "Either you are or you aren't. What does 'more or less' mean?"

Mrs. Lu turned and walked into Anfu Square: "Shi San, there are some people you've known for a long time, but many years later when you see them again, they have become unrecognizable. Such people are not old acquaintances, because the person you knew died many years ago. But this person just now hasn't changed in twenty years; he was like this twenty years ago, and he's still like this twenty years later."

When Shi San saw Mrs. Lu about to walk towards the sound of slaughter, he said worriedly: "Landlord, is your wound alright? Our medicine only stops the bleeding. Let's leave once the smoke clears. Don't get involved in this mess."

Mrs. Lu looked down at her abdominal wound: "It's nothing serious, it avoided the vital organs."

Shi San muttered quietly: "If the Third Elder knew you got hurt when he comes back from the Jing Dynasty, he would definitely find someone to vent his anger. Landlord, you never used to get involved in these messes, what's changed recently…"

Mrs. Lu replied calmly: "Repaying a debt."

"Huh?" Shi San didn't understand.

Mrs. Lu sighed softly: "Shi San, I've never owed anyone in my life. If someone gave me a bit of favor, I'd return it threefold. If someone lent me one tael of silver, I'd return it three taels. Only by not owing anyone can my heart be clean, otherwise, I can't even sleep peacefully. But now I owe one person too much, so much that I don't know how to repay it."

Shi San was taken aback: "Who do you owe?"

Mrs. Lu remained silent.

She once thought that as long as she left, she could keep Chen Ji away from conflicts his entire life. He wouldn't need to be rich or famous, as long as he didn't live a life of licking blood off the blade like her.

So she left the Chen family and never looked back.

But she realized she was wrong.

At this time, Shi San tentatively said: "Shopkeeper, do you still need silver? I still have some private savings I can lend you. You don't have to repay me threefold, just twice…"

Mrs. Lu cast a sidelong glance at him, and Shi San immediately shut his mouth.

Shi San hastily changed his words: "Whose debt did you owe? Let Deng huo help you repay it, and it'll be done quickly."

Mrs. Lu shook her head: "It doesn't concern you. Stay here and wait for me. Leave when the smoke clears."

Shi San became anxious: "How can that be!"

Mrs. Lu said coldly without looking back: "If you dare follow, you will no longer be part of Deng huo, go back to your Hu Family and be a wastrel."

Shi San stood in place anxiously scratching his head. When he raised his hand, he pulled at his wound, causing him to grimace in pain.

...

...

In the wine tavern, the sound of battle cries was deafening, the battlefield split into three: one with Chen Ji, one with Li Xuan, and Qi Zhenzhuo leading the remaining Yulin Army.

Chen Ji was alone on the second floor of the tavern, as eight Death Soldiers turned their arrows, still a dozen paces away. Only seeing him holding the Whale Blade in both hands, casting a flash of knife light.

The sound of clanging echoed as the blade met arrows, sparks flying, arrows shattered.

The Death Soldiers were about to load a second arrow when Chen Ji had already hurled the Whale Blade, pinning one Death Soldier to the pillar.

As the other seven Death Soldiers loaded their arrows, Chen Ji had reached them, pulling the Whale Blade from the pillar to slay horizontally, splattering the blood of two Death Soldiers on the spot.

When the Whale Blade was pulled out, the Death Soldier pinned to the pillar slumped down slowly. Chen Ji lifted the corpse by the neck in front of him, letting the arrows thud into the corpse's back.

The five Death Soldiers discarded their bows, drew their waist knives, and retreated step by step.

As the Death Soldiers retreated, Chen Ji pressed forward, carrying the corpse.

Just as he cornered the five Death Soldiers, the roof tiles suddenly shattered, and someone came from above with a sword, the sound of the blade humming, disturbing the mind.

At the critical moment, Chen Ji abandoned the corpse and jumped back, using the bright blade of the Whale Blade to see the ambusher, who had a black headband with a white "Chen" character embroidered on it.

It was indeed that Innate Official, Chen Guang, who had invited him to meet Chen Lizhi in the reed marshes.

Chen Guang pounced from the roof, Chen Ji twisted the blade, forcing it upward; the blade clashed with the sword, numbing his hands.

He turned and ran to the window. An Innate Official must be dealt with by an Innate Official, only Li Xuan can do it.

Chen Ji ran to the window and leapt out from the second floor.

Chen Guang followed without hesitation, jumping out the window. At this moment, a figure hanging upside down from the eaves suddenly fell and pressed a hand on Chen Guang's chest.

This palm thundered, the momentum terrifying. The clothes on Chen Guang's back suddenly shattered and flew apart, a mouthful of blood sprayed out, sending him flying back into the tavern.

After landing, Chen Ji rolled to a stop, kneeled on one knee and looked back, just in time to see "Princess Liyang" ambush Chen Guang, chasing him back into the tavern.

He paused slightly, turning to look at the carriage, seeing it shattered, as if there had been a skirmish.

He lifted his blade and charged back into the tavern, going upstairs, only to find Chen Guang already slumped in a corner, all Death Soldiers executed.

Chen Ji was stunned in his heart, having previously witnessed Aunt Ping's methods against Liao Zhong; he didn't expect Aunt Ping to be so fierce, even the Seeking Dao Realm Death Soldiers raised by the Chen family were no match.

He saw Aunt Ping's abdomen bleeding: "Is Aunt Ping injured?"

Mrs. Lu turned her head to him: "It's nothing. This person has lost five of his seven souls, only left with the strength to speak. How should we handle it?"

Chen Ji walked up to Chen Guang: "Where is Chen Wende?"

Chen Guang looked up with a wry smile: "Don't worry, you'll find out."

Chen Ji's heart skipped a beat. What kind of answer was that?

According to Chen Guang, Chen Wende wasn't trying to hide his whereabouts and would show up sooner or later... But what did Chen Wende want to do?

Chen Ji hesitated no longer, gripping the hilt of the knife with one hand and pressing the end of the handle with the other, he thrust the Whale Blade into Chen Guang's chest.

Mrs. Lu watched him quietly, watching as this young man didn't even blink as he ended Chen Guang's life.

Only when Chen Guang had breathed his last did Mrs. Lu ask, "When was the first time you killed someone?"

Chen Ji didn't answer rashly; he wasn't sure if he had killed anyone before coming to this world and could only reply ambiguously, "When there was no choice."

Mrs. Lu fell silent again.

Chen Ji pulled out the Whale Blade, shook his arm to flick off the blood, and remarkably, not a drop remained on the blade itself.

Mrs. Lu sighed in admiration: "Good knife."

Chen Ji looked up at her: "Aunt Ping, have you ever seen a Military Intelligence Department spy?"

Mrs. Lu nodded: "He got away. But don't worry, he can't even look after himself for the time being. I'm leaving... If anything happens, you can find me at Bianyifang Restaurant, I'll be there for a while."

Chen Ji spoke calmly: "So Aunt Ping just tells me your whereabouts, aren't you afraid I'll report you to the authorities?"

Mrs. Lu said meaningfully: "What I fear least now is exactly that. Until we meet again."

With that, Mrs. Lu leapt out the window, disappearing in the blink of an eye.

Chen Ji stood on the second floor of the tavern, contemplating. He couldn't tell who this Aunt Ping was in the world of lamp-lighting guests, saying she held a high position but didn't seem to command other lamp-bearers, saying she held a low position, yet she could oversee the Capital Territory.

He crouched down and ran his fingers over Chen Guang's sword.

When his fingers touched the sword's body, three sword seeds started to stir in the patterns. But now wasn't the time to nurture the sword; if the sound of heaven and earth resounded at this moment, someone would immediately guess that he was the Executive Officer of the Sword Seed Path.

Chen Ji stifled his thoughts, wrapped the long sword in cloth, and descended the stairs.

...

...

Elsewhere, Qi Zhenzhuo was the first to rush to the second floor of the tavern, but the Chen family's death soldiers immediately turned their arrows on him, forcing him back down the stairs.

Duobao looked at Qi Zhenzhuo beside him, "What should we do? We can't get up there."

Qi Zhenzhuo pondered for two breaths, went back to the first floor, lifted a square table, and charged back up to the second floor: "Make way!"

Upon reaching the second floor, Duobao and Li Cen both held up the square table, charging at the Chen family's death soldiers, while the rest of the Yulin Army followed, covering them like a wave.

The force of the arrows was heavy, piercing through the tabletop after just a few shots. In these few breaths, Duobao and Li Cen had already reached the death soldiers.

One of the death soldiers dropped his longbow, drew his waist knife, and slashed at the table.

As the Broadsword shattered the square table, the death soldier saw a brighter sword light pouring through the shattered wood.

Qi Zhenzhuo's sword slashed down from the death soldier's right shoulder, cutting out from his left ribs, blood splattering the scene.

"Break the formation!"

The Yulin Army behind Qi Zhenzhuo charged out in succession, scattering the death soldiers. The Chen family's death soldiers initially wanted to fight to the death, but upon engagement, they realized that almost every member of the Yulin Army was an Innate Official.

The Ministry officials in red official robes, whose positions were bought with silver, only in the Imperial Three Camps would they be willing to gather such a troop where everyone was an Innate Official.

In Anfu Square, the sounds of killing gradually ceased, leaving only a few severely injured death soldiers gasping on the tavern floor.

Qi Zhenzhuo said in a low voice: "Leave someone alive."

As he spoke, Chen Ji came upstairs with the Whale Blade.

Qi Zhenzhuo hurried to take credit: "Master, we took care of this ourselves."

Chen Ji responded with a simple: "Impressive."

He crouched down to pry open a death soldier's mouth, but didn't find a poison bag.

Chen Ji fell into thought. Earlier at Fragrant Mountain, every death soldier of the Chen family's second branch had poison bags sealed with white wax hidden in their molars, biting through them even when dying to avoid being interrogated by Meng Ji.

But this time, the death soldiers had their molars removed, indicating that they had long been prepared to carry poison but didn't bring it...

Why?

What was Chen Wende planning?

At this moment, in the long streets of Anfu Square, black smoke billowed, and the garrison soldiers from Weimo Square came to the rescue, only to be blocked outside the smoke screen. An infantryman attempted to approach the smoke wall, but was pulled in and torn apart by black hands from within.

The Hundred Households of the Guard turned pale, retreating in fear: "Don't get close, there's a monster at work!"

But in the next moment, the smoke screen unexpectedly dispersed on its own, leaving only a trail of blood on the ground.

The garrison soldiers hesitated, but a scholar stepped out from the crowd, alone, walked onto the long street and declared loudly: "Fu You Street Chen Family, Assistant Minister of Rites Chen Wende, secretly hoarded crossbows, bred death soldiers, intended to assassinate the Jing Dynasty Envoy. Today, I confess my crimes, surrender, and submit to arrest."

Chen Ji quickly came to the window, silently watching the thin figure on the long street, undoubtedly Chen Wende.

Qi Zhenzhuo beside him was puzzled and uncertain: "Why would he voluntarily come out to admit to a crime punishable by extermination of the nine tribes, what's Chen Wende playing at?"

Chen Ji's eyes remained calm: "Seeking death."