Green Mountain-Chapter 697 - 553: Arrival of the Twelve Zodiac

Inside the dim grain and oil shop.

The wound in Chen Ji's palm healed in an instant, and there was a crisp sound from his ribs.

Blood dripped to the ground, making a splatter sound one after another, then abruptly stopped. Inside Chen Ji's body, seven hundred and twenty bright yellow stove fires raged, burning the blood into white vapor that vanished into the air before it even touched the ground.

So this is the Mountain Lord.

So this is immortality.

Chen Ji once learned from Feng Huai how to be without flaws, how to live longer, how to hide, how to bear it all, but although those were the things he taught, they somehow didn't seem like his path.

Only at this moment did he feel he had truly let loose.

Han Tong squinted slightly: "What Official Gateway did you cultivate? I've never seen it before."

"As long as it works." As soon as the words fell, Chen Ji pounced again.

Han Tong slashed downward with a short knife, blocking Chen Ji's path, but when Chen Ji arrived before Han Tong, he did not hesitate to block the short knife with his arm, using his bones and muscles to clamp down on the knife's momentum.

Chen Ji crouched and smashed his right fist towards Han Tong's wound that had already been pierced by the sword seed, and with just one punch, the wound burst open again.

Han Tong also adopted a fighting style of life-for-life, ignoring the injury on his leg. With a flip of his wrist, he drew the blade out and slashed it across Chen Ji's chest and abdomen, leaving two intersecting blood marks.

Chen Ji clenched his teeth, disregarding his wound, and when he was about to strike Han Tong's wound again, Han Tong had already thrust the short knife into his left chest.

At the critical moment, Chen Ji turned with all his might, narrowly avoiding the stab to his heart, and retreated. The blood from the wound on his chest quickly filled his lungs, causing him to unconsciously cough up a mouthful of blood.

He leaned dispiritedly against the wall, struggling to catch his breath.

Han Tong calmly said while bandaging his reopened wound: "Kid, there's a chasm between Innate and Seeking Dao. This isn't a street-side wrestling match; you can't win just by gritting your teeth. Most things in this world are like that. Some actors endure ten years of their master's bamboo sticks and may not become stars, and some people study for ten years and may not top the gold list."

"Cao Yun is like that too. In good times, hundreds of boats race each other, and canal workers can earn ten years' worth of Silver in a year, but in bad times, porters stare at the river and may not find a livelihood to support their families. Kid, fighting desperately doesn't always lead to results. You have to go with the times."

Han Tong looked up at Chen Ji: "I still don't know what exactly you want to do. If you want to save Bai Li, you should wait until she's in Annan, wait until the Annan people relax to take action; if it's to earn huge credit and gain rank and title, then I suggest you change your target. People are like candles in the wind, lamps in the rain, extinguished with slight carelessness."

In the darkness, Han Tong's blood soaked the ground and seeped into the cracks between the bricks.

He tied up his wound and looked up, only to see that Chen Ji, who should have been dead, was leaning against a beam, slowly tearing off pieces of his clothing to wrap his hands and arms.

Blood streamed like a brook from Chen Ji's chest and abdomen, yet turned into white vapor in mid-air, not a drop hitting the ground, and then abruptly stopped.

A strange light flickered in Han Tong's eyes.

At this moment, Chen Ji coughed up the remaining blood in his lungs, allowing the white smoke to envelop him: "Once the Commandery Princess is taken to Annan, it would all be too late, there's no going back."

Han Tong said in a deep voice: "Haste leads to waste, patience brings safety, acting in haste saves no one and only risks your own life."

Chen Ji sighed: "Living so bitterly, what's the use of living longer?"

He stood up once more.

Han Tong squinted, observing Chen Ji in the dark: "Are you truly not afraid of death?"

Chen Ji took a deep breath: "Someone paid six golden melon seeds for my life, I won't allow myself to die before repaying this debt."

Han Tong sneered: "Six golden melon seeds? Your life isn't worth much."

"It's enough." Chen Ji pounced again.

But this time, Han Tong didn't step forward, instead he retreated.

He searched for flaws in Chen Ji through the dim light, suddenly realizing that Chen Ji had left both his middle and lower gates wide open, riddled with gaps.

But Han Tong had no desire to engage in a life-for-life fight with Chen Ji anymore, as trading an injury for Chen Ji's life was a loss.

In an instant, Han Tong pressed his palms together, conjuring a hundred and eight Prayer Beads out of thin air, as a golden Dharma Buddha figure appeared behind him, its visage solemn and majestic.

Ordinary people cultivate the Hidden Python Path, daring only to tattoo pythons on themselves for contemplation; daring to tattoo a god or Buddha is one in ten thousand.

The Buddha figure behind Han Tong, with eyes closed, suddenly opened them as Chen Ji approached, the golden eyes seeming to house a temple.

The Buddha spread its arms wide, then suddenly clasped them together.

Dang!

Bell sound!

In an instant, the copper bell rang out, shaking the ground and causing dust to fall from the ceiling.

Chen Ji was flung away by the invisible sound of the bell, slammed into the wall, and fell to the ground. His bones were shattered in the unstoppable vibration, and fine blood seeped from every pore.

Cracks appeared in the walls, and the roof began to tilt. Tiles fell like torrential rain, burying Chen Ji among them, with moonlight shining through the roof's holes onto the ruins.

The Dharma image of the Buddha gradually faded, and in that instant, Han Tong's previously full face turned gaunt and sunken, his eye sockets deepened as if his flesh and blood had been drained.

He looked at the ruins, which astonishingly gathered again. It seemed a beast was sealed beneath the ruins, a beast that died and came back to life repeatedly.

Han Tong looked surprised.

He picked up a short knife from the ground and walked toward the ruins: "I wonder if you'll still be alive if I cut off your head."

But before he got close, a dense sound of footsteps came from Luoma Market Street outside the grain and oil shop, Jin Zhu pointed at the shop and shouted, "Quick, it's that one, surround it!"

Han Tong suddenly looked at the ruins before him: "You really teamed up with the Eunuch Party."

He glanced at the wound on his leg and turned to escape through the narrow Fruit Alley toward the southeast.

The door of the grain and oil shop was slammed open by Jin Zhu, who looked at the empty shop and the wide-open back door, then turned to look at the pile of tiles in the ruins, hurriedly went forward to clear away the tiles with his hands, pulling out Chen Ji.

Jin Zhu wiped the blood from Chen Ji's face: "Don't die, brother, if you die, what am I supposed to do?"

Chen Ji pushed away Jin Zhu's hand: "Han Tong escaped through the back door, block him."

Jin Zhu was frustrated: "This isn't the time to care about that, what's wrong with you, how did I feel you were kind of dead before?"

Chen Ji looked at Jin Zhu and saw that the latter was drenched in sweat, even his clothes were soaked, as if he had just been pulled out of the water.

He struggled to get up, grabbed Jin Zhu's wrist with a reverse hand and asked in a deep voice: "Now is not the time to talk about this, has Brother Pao's message arrived?"

Jin Zhu hurriedly said: "It's arrived, as soon as I saw the message I acted immediately."

"Then that's fine," Chen Ji ran toward the back door:" Quick, follow me, if we don't catch Han Tong tonight, we'll never catch him again."

Jin Zhu watched his back suspiciously: "Clearly covered in blood, how does he act like nothing's wrong?"

...

...

There are hundreds of big alleys in the Imperial Capital, and small ones as numerous as cattle hair.

Han Tong darted out of Fruit Alley, into Mutton Alley, past the Jade Emperor Temple and into Jia Ge Alley. He disregarded the wound pierced in his leg by Chen Ji, limped and sprinted through the dark alley until he saw the golden top of Chongxing Temple from afar.

He only needed to escape another three hundred zhang, the reed marsh next to the Mountain and River Altar was his target, anywhere with water was his chance of survival. As soon as he entered the reed marsh, he could take the water route to bypass the Mountain and River Altar and the Heavenly Temple, and exit from the South Water Gate.

Once in the Canal, no one would find him again. That's why he chose the grain and oil shop to hide, because it was close enough to the reed marsh.

But as Han Tong passed the little alley in front of Chongxing Temple, he gradually stopped his steps. He stared dead at the end of the alley, ignoring how the wound on his leg burst open again.

There stood a figure in white at the end of the alley, with sword-like eyebrows and starry eyes.

Heavenly Horse. 𝚏𝗿𝗲𝐞𝐰𝚎𝕓𝐧𝚘𝘃𝗲𝐥.𝐜𝚘𝕞

Han Tong turned back, witnessing a small figure slowly emerging, blocking the mouth of the alley behind him. The person wore a wooden monkey mask, and from behind the mask came a cacophony of voices.

Treasure Monkey.

Han Tong looked toward Chongxing Temple, and saw someone standing in front of the monastery's Great Hall on the bronze incense burner, wearing a white dragon pattern mask, composed and calm.

Bai Long.

Looking even higher, Yun Yang in black stood at the edge of the golden roof of the Great Hall at Chongxing Temple, sitting beside him on the eaves was Jiao Tu, legs swinging in the air.

Jiao Tu's eyes smiled like crescent moons: "Leader Han, it's been months since we last met in Luocheng City, I really missed you, this time you won't get away."

"Counting Jin Zhu, six of the Twelve Signs have come, they do indeed hold Mr. Han in high esteem," Han Tong withdrew his gaze and said calmly: "Chen Ji delayed time, just for waiting for you all. Underestimated him, he even guessed exactly where I would escape to."