Green Mountain

Chapter 530 392: Leading the Dragon (Part 2)

Chen Ji and Qi Zhenzhuo silently watched Yang Fang's sweat flow, even biting through a stick two fingers thick, without crying out in pain.

Qi Zhenzhuo softly said, "Master, I'm not as good as them."

"It's never too late to have this resolve," Chen Ji drew Qi Zhenzhuo's sword from his waist and turned to inspect the killer's corpse.

He waved Zhang Xia over, and the two stood side by side by the corpse.

Chen Ji glanced back at the crowd behind him and saw Mr. Liao folding his hands in his sleeves, staring intently at him.

He ignored it, carefully removing the bamboo hats of more than ten killers, revealing their faces.

Chen Ji said softly, "These killers might have been lurking around the Imperial Capital daily, have you seen them before?"

Zhang Xia studied their faces: "Never seen them."

Of course, Zhang Xia couldn't have seen everyone in the Imperial Capital, but if none of these more than ten killers had appeared before him, perhaps they just arrived from another place.

Chen Ji used his sword tip to peel off the killers' straw coats and clothing. Besides carrying a dagger, a hand crossbow, and a long knife, they had nothing else.

Chen Ji whispered, "In the capital, do the official artisans forge such weapons?"

Zhang Xia replied: "Most official artisans in the capital use laminated steel, rotary welding techniques for officers' swords and scholarly collections, ordinary craftsmen aren't allowed to make blades. These weapons use layered steel and are cheaper, should be brought in from outside the capital."

Chen Ji sighed, "So careful."

Zhang Xia curiously asked, "You want to trace it back and convict the Crown Prince?"

Chen Ji shook his head: "No, I just want to know where these Death Soldiers hide."

He carefully examined the killers: about forty years old, broad hands with thick knuckles, palms with horizontal thick calluses, perhaps skilled in dual blades.

Chen Ji looked at the killer's shoulder, thick callus on the right, less on the left, with several old scars.

Zhang Xia murmured: "Killer might have been carrying a shoulder pole all year round... Feet Tilting? Vendor?"

Chen Ji glanced at Zhang Xia, knowing he was learning, explained in detail: "It's not Feet Tilting or vendors. Smooth poles usually don't leave scars."

He sliced open the killer's pants and found dense dot-like blackish-brown scars from waist down.

Zhang Xia frowned: "What kind of scars are these?"

Chen Ji explained: "These are scars from forcibly pulling off leeches, leaving marks in the body."

Zhang Xia quickly questioned: "Farmers in paddy fields? No, if it's paddy farmers, scars shouldn't reach the waist; water chestnut pickers? No, they shouldn't have shoulder scars; porters in river routes? Yes, yes, porters, shoulder scars match."

Chen Ji chuckled: "Learning quick."

Zhang Xia exchanged a smile with him: "Not that difficult. I'll go back and send someone to quietly investigate the porters, see if there's any clue."

Chen Ji nodded: "Investigate."

He squatted, prying open the killer's mouth, inside was chewed white wax, the back molar was missing: "Wax pills to hide poison, fearing death after being shot, so swallowed poison to die."

Zhang Xia sighed: "To train so many Death Soldiers requires a lot of silver coin and at least ten years, must require ambition and patience."

Chen Ji looked again at the top of the Death Soldier's head, using his sword to pry open the hair, saw the front of the iron hairpin glowing bluish: "This is for killing and suicide... they fear not dying, but didn't poison the Crossbow Arrows out of righteousness."

This is the most illogical part.

Using so many Death Soldiers, facing the world's greatest injustice, yet no poison?

If Chen Ji were to assassinate the Crown Prince, he would surely smear the Crossbow Arrow with the strongest poison to ensure the Crown Prince would die from even the slightest scratch.

Chen Ji smiled at Zhang Xia: "Someone fears accidentally harming you. You're harmed by the arrow, you might not die, but if the Crossbow Arrow was poisoned, you surely would. The one who wants to kill me wants you alive."

...

...

In Mei Valley.

The Crown Prince and Eastern Palace close attendants stayed together, while Prince Fu was with Zhou Kuang, Five Armies Camp, separated by sixty paces with each staying within their bounds.

This distance was enough for attendants to protect their masters in case someone suddenly shot an arrow.

When Chen Ji returned, Prince Fu sat casually on a rock, waving and shouting, "That boy from the Chen family, come over here, I want to talk to you."

However, Chen Ji ignored him and went on to sit within five steps of the Crown Prince.

Mr. Liao glanced at him: "Young Master Chen, what is this…?"

Chen Ji solemnly replied, "Reporting to Mr. Liao, guarding His Highness the Crown Prince."

Mr. Liao said nothing.

At this moment, Yangyang came beside Chen Ji, blocking the line of sight between Mr. Liao and Chen Ji: "That young lad from the Chen family, it's time to return my family's ancestral bow to me."

Just then Zhang Xia also arrived, sitting beside Chen Ji: "Yangyang, you promised to compete with Chen Ji earlier. During this spring hunt, if you lose, you'll hand over the ancestral bow to him."

Yangyang widened his eyes in disbelief: "Axia, are you conspiring with him to cheat my family's ancestral bow? Where did we hunt?"

Zhang Xia glared at him: "Cheating? Don't you remember what you said? Are hunters not counted in the hunt? You killed nine people just now, he killed seventeen. Naturally, he won."

Yangyang became anxious: "This horn bow is made from the Five-Colored Divine Bull Horns my family hunted from the East Sea, even the bowstrings are made from their tendons, they won't dry out or crack!"

Zhang Xia remained expressionless: "In the East Sea, there is Liubo Mountain, stretching seven thousand miles into the sea. On it dwells a beast resembling a cow, with a dark body and no horns, with one leg, entering and exiting the water brings wind and rain, its light is like the sun and the moon, its sound like thunder, and its name is Kui. Tell me, where does the Kui cow get horns?"

Yangyang exclaimed, "Then I remembered wrongly, it's the Five-Colored Divine Bull Horn."

However, at this moment, urgent hoofbeats sounded again from afar.

Chen Ji looked sharply towards the steep mountain road of Eighteen Plates, could those Death Soldiers be returning? No, it's from the north… and the south too!

Death Soldiers coming from three routes, no chance of peaceful resolution, but he was right next to the Crown Prince, how could the enemy avoid the Crown Prince and kill him?

Chen Ji shouted lowly: "Protect His Highness the Crown Prince!"

He pulled Zhang Xia and Zhang Zheng back to the Crown Prince's side, while Zhang Xia intentionally or unintentionally blocked his view from Mr. Liao.

Prince Fu also couldn't bother with guarding the Crown Prince any further, immediately leading his men to ride over and join forces with the near attendants of the Eastern Palace.

The sound of hoofbeats came closer and closer, until Death Soldiers wearing straw coats and bamboo hats appeared at the edge of Mei Valley from three directions, crouching down and rushing downwards.

Yangyang glanced over hastily, calculating the numbers in silence: "Eighty-two people!"

He then turned back and looked to the side, with the attendants of the Eastern Palace and the followers of Prince Fu each fighting on their own, the army was in utter chaos with no unified command.

Yangyang angrily shouted: "The Longevity Army is here, listen to my orders! Eastern Palace guards the north, Zhou Kuang your men guard the east, Five Armies Camp guards the south, release arrows!"

The three factions steadied their minds and drew their bows to shoot as per Yangyang's instructions.

All present were elite, and no arrow missed its mark.

After the first volley, more than twenty Death Soldiers were immediately struck by arrows, falling from their horses if hit in vital areas, those not hit critically grit their teeth to pull out daggers stabbing at horse haunches, causing their steeds to gallop wildly without stopping!

This time, the remaining Death Soldiers hid beneath the crazed horses, quickly approaching, Yangyang's side had only time to shoot a second round of arrows before more than forty remaining Death Soldiers got within thirty steps.

In an instant, the Death Soldiers flipped back onto horsebacks, each wielding two hand crossbows, raising their hands to shoot dense clouds of crossbow arrows.

These Death Soldiers, the front sacrificed as shields, the rear wielded dual crossbows, aiming just to get within thirty steps!

Crossbow arrows poured down, the Mei Valley's delicate plum trees couldn't shield from the rain of arrows, leaving no place to escape.

At the critical moment, Chen Ji attempted to pull a warhorse over to shield from the rain of arrows: "Hide behind me…"

Yet before he finished speaking, he heard Zhou Kuang suddenly shout angrily: "Rise!"

Suddenly, Zhou Kuang tossed a length of rope onto the ground, and as he lifted it again, the fallen leaves on the ground were dragged up by an invisible force on the rope.

Within a hundred feet, the accumulated leaves moved on their own, and even the yellow waxy plums on the plum trees detached from branches, gathering towards the end of the rope.

Zhou Kuang lifted the rope and swung it skyward, the decades of fallen leaves from Mei Valley and the plum blossoms on branches followed the swinging rope, gradually taking the form of a dragon's head, body, and tail.

Zhou Kuang spun the long rope above his head, the dragon formed of leaves and plum blossoms seeming to be led by him, swirling as the rope moved.

The dragon body spun into a circle, firmly protecting everyone inside, shattering the crossbow arrows shot by the Death Soldiers one by one.

Chen Ji turned to Zhang Xia: "What is this?"

Zhang Xia calmly replied: "The Zhou family's ancestral official gateway. The Zhou family once fought alongside the founding emperor in battles, when they were defeated at Luocheng City, it was the Zhou family members who stayed behind with the emperor to hold the line. This official gateway was originally called 'Walking Rope,' but the founding emperor didn't like the sound of it and graciously renamed it 'Dragon Formation.'"