The Azure Mountain

Chapter 113: Tian Ma's Meteors

Night.

High walls, grey tiles, bluestone paved small alley.

At the ends of the alley, over ten armored soldiers held sabers with a deadly aura, tightly blocking Chen Ji and the secret spy in the middle. Chen Ji moved his wrists, taking off the cloth strip from his mouth.

An armored soldier looked down at the uneven flagstone path, where the freshly severed hemp rope lay quietly, the cut extremely neat.

The armored soldier's expression abruptly changed. He slowly leveled the blade of his saber horizontally in front of him, sizing up Chen Ji in front of him with vigilance and seriousness.

That strike of his just now, which was originally meant to kill, unintentionally saved a person instead. The blade wasn't off by a single fraction of an inch, nor did it injure Chen Ji by a single hair.

That instant just now was extremely fast, others might not have seen it clearly, but he was very clear on where he wanted to chop.

Coincidence?

Impossible.

He slowly deflected the blade in front of him towards Chen Ji, and said to his colleagues in a low voice: "There is an expert."After saying that, he added another sentence: "The one who tied him up, is probably even more formidable!"

The armored soldiers slowly closed in.

In the narrow small alley, the secret spy attempted to break out of the encirclement several times but returned without any success. Moreover, he suddenly felt that these Elephant Armor Guards seemed to be intentionally targeting him; every time they struck, they went all out, exceptionally ferocious.

The Elephant Armor Guards pressed closer step by step, like a mountain bearing down, shrinking the space for the secret spy and Chen Ji to move. In just a few rounds of probing exchanges, the secret spy had already suffered a saber slash on his left arm and chest respectively, dripping with fresh blood.

The armored soldiers looked at each other, it seemed this person wasn't as formidable as they imagined either!

How bizarre!

Kill!

The next moment, the armored soldiers swung their sabers to chop again. While turning sideways to dodge the blade's momentum, Chen Ji asked in a low voice: "Where is the Secret Spy Division's copper whistle, call your colleagues over for support..."

Not even having a saber handle in his hands, Chen Ji only felt awkward everywhere while fighting.

Previously, he had been stalling for time, reluctant to get close to Peony Bridge, deeply afraid of being caught in the crossfire between the Liu family and the Secret Spy Division. He never expected that the Liu family was determined to see Jin Zhu dead, and had secretly brought in so many elites.

Just a single small alley had over ten people, how many must there be in this entire neighborhood ward?

Now wasn't the time to think about this, he had to escape first!

Chen Ji continued: "Hey, your..."

Before he could finishing speaking, he suddenly froze.

He saw the secret spy grabbing his clothes, actually using his body as a shield in front, attempting to charge out of the slaughter.

Just as the armored soldiers were about to pounce forward, they suddenly slowly stopped in their tracks.

However, Chen Ji was seen suddenly grabbing the back of the secret spy's long saber. With just a light flick of his hand, the secret spy involuntarily let go, the strange vibration transmitted from the saber blade like an electric shock.

Before the secret spy could react, the armored soldiers saw Chen Ji abruptly turn around. Holding the back of the saber with his right hand, he backhandedly pierced the tip of the saber diagonally into the secret spy's lung lobe.

The secret spy looked at Chen Ji in disbelief, his mouth only able to emit a "he he" sound of gasping for air.

In the dim alley, Chen Ji pushed the secret spy's chest with his left hand, and slowly withdrew the saber from the secret spy's lung lobe.

In the silence, he looked at the armored soldiers for a moment: "Did Lord Liu tell you guys to come save me? Take me away."

Seeing his calm demeanor, the armored soldiers felt he wasn't faking it.

Just as the other armored soldiers wanted to sheathe their sabers, one of the Elephant Armor Guards suddenly said: "Lord Liu never gave such instructions. Take him down! Tie him up first!"

Suddenly, flames flared up in the distance.

A raging inferno illuminated the entire neighborhood ward, as if someone with a palm stained in scarlet paint had casually wiped it across a black canvas, ruined yet glorious.

The firelight crossed the white walls and grey tiles, and the figures of the people in the small alley also swayed incessantly with it. Everyone felt the heat wave rolling over.

Breath.

Chen Ji swung his saber like a starry river hanging upside down. Light flowed on the bright, polished blade, as if the saber itself had ignited, sweeping up the fire.

The Elephant Armor Guard bearing the brunt of the attack raised his saber to block, but Chen Ji's saber was too fast. Before he could raise his hand, the saber had already chopped onto his shoulder.

The sound of leather tearing rang out. After slicing open the leather armor, this saber strike actually only left a half-inch deep wound on the armored soldier's shoulder, non-fatal.

Chen Ji frowned and retreated. He looked at the blade, and then looked at the other party's leather armor.

This saber in his hand was too far off from the one on Green Mountain.

The secret spy who had fallen to the ground early on was coughing up bloody foam, looking at this scene in despair, his eyes full of unwillingness. He really wanted to go tell Jin Zhu that this person indeed had problems. But he had no chance anymore.

The Elephant Armor Guard turned his head to glance at the wound, and said expressionlessly: "Able to cleave through elephant armor, is a Practitioner, but his cultivation realm won't be too high. Form a formation, kill him on the spot."

In the flickering firelight, the armored soldiers stepped over the fallen secret spy one after another. Their shadows swept across the secret spy's face one by one, like the last reflections before his death.

The raging inferno was continuously pressing closer. In the winter day, the flames connected into a sea of fire within Luo City.

The heat wave surged in the small alley, and even hair curled and scorched in the searing heat.

Chen Ji advanced instead of retreating. The instant both sides made contact, relying on the toughness of their leather armor, the Elephant Armor Guards fought with wide and sweeping movements, leaving no leeway.

However, Chen Ji no longer met them head-on. The blade of his saber was seen cutting through the gaps of the leather armor from bizarre angles, like an antelope hanging by its horns, ethereal and traceless.

With a '呲' sound, the tip of the saber swept past carrying a smear of fresh blood; blood splattered on the white wall.

The armored soldiers were startled by this saber strike and retreated backward one after another.

The injured person lifted his leather armor to check his injuries, only to discover to his shock that his underarm had been sliced open by a saber, blood flowing like a fountain.

Major artery ruptured.

At first it didn't feel fatal, but after three breaths, the armored soldier felt all the strength in his body flowing away like river water from open floodgates.

This saber strike shattered the confidence the leather armor bestowed upon the armored soldiers. The elephant armor they relied on to be brave could no longer block sabers!

Since both sidess were veterans of many battles, they naturally knew the level of this saber strike.

They silently sized up Chen Ji. They only felt the Practitioner realm of the person in front of them wouldn't be too high, but this saber technique was much more important than realm.

One of them said ferociously: "Kill!"

"Kill!"

The armored soldiers pounced forward again.

The small alley was narrow, at most four Elephant Armor Guards could encircle and attack Chen Ji each time. If one died, a living person would fill the gap.

One Elephant Armor Guard after another fell, and one after another filled the battle formation, until a certain moment, everyone suddenly realized there was no one behind them to fill the gaps.

Chen Ji shifted and maneuvered within the small alley, like a stone roller, crushing all the armored soldiers in this alley into pieces.

Unknown how much time had passed, Chen Ji was bathed in blood. Blood splattered on the white walls of the small alley, like a landscape painting where all the mountains are dyed red.

Only the last armored soldier was left in the alley. Chen Ji took a step forward, and the armored soldier took a step back.

The armored soldier turned and sprinted wildly, but after running barely two steps, he saw Chen Ji throw the long saber in his hand with all his might. The tip of the saber actually crossed a distance of several meters and pierced straight through the armored soldier's neck.

In the firelight, Chen Ji leaned against the wall with his hand, bent over, and began panting heavily.

"Hiss!" He withdrew his hand. In this purgatory on earth, the blood was boiling hot, the air was boiling hot, and actually even the walls were boiling hot.

Chen Ji stood up, looking blankly at the ends of the alley. For some reason he dry heaved a few times, and subsequently forced himself to stand straight.

He pondered for a moment, tossed the corpses one by one into the sea of fire, turned around, donned a set of leather armor, and fled outward.

...

...

The neighborhood ward and the sea of fire were full of corpses. Elephant Armor Guards could be seen patrolling back and forth everywhere, hunting and killing the remaining secret spies.

Wearing the leather armor, Chen Ji lowered his head and sprinted madly towards the banks of the Luo River. For tonight's situation, he had to see Jin Zhu die with his own eyes before he could accept it.

Passing through layer after layer of small alleys, the sound of flowing water drew closer and closer.

When he emerged from that maze-like alley, he only felt the world suddenly opened up, even the air was incomparably fresh.

Chen Ji clung to the wooden railing by the riverbank, greedily breathing while turning his head to gaze afar towards Peony Bridge.

The misty dawn and firelight intertwined. He just happened to see Jin Zhu, while fighting miserably in a sorry state, actually muster his last bit of strength to grab Xi Feng and Liu Tiao by their collars and ruthlessly throw the two of them out. They flew over the crowd and landed in the bone-piercingly cold water of the Luo River.

With two splashes, Xi Feng struggled in the water for a moment, popped his head out, and cried out heart-wrenchingly: "Lord!"

On the bridge, Jin Zhu said angrily: "Quickly scram!"

Having said that, he no longer struggled, slowly standing still.

Draped in a black fox-fur overcoat, Liu Mingxian placed his copper hand warmer on the carriage and clapped his hands lightly: "I didn't expect the completely unconscionable Twelve Zodiacs of the Secret Spy Division would actually sacrifice themselves to save others."

Jin Zhu snickered: "I'm sending them to deliver a message to the Inner Chancellor. Once the Inner Chancellor requests instructions from the Lord of Ten Thousand Years, he will immediately dispatch the Ten-Thousand-Year Army to exterminate your entire Liu family!"

Liu Mingxian shook his head: "That person in the Renshou Palace won't bother with this kind of messy nonsense. He will only sit cross-legged on his white crane couch cultivating the Dao, waiting for you people below to kill each other until one is dead and the other is alive before stepping in to mediate. Only when you and I fight ruthlessly can he sit securely. All these years, my Liu family has been encroached upon bit by bit just like this. I understand him better than you do."

Jin Zhu was silent.

After a moment, he simply sat on the ground like a piece of dead meat: "Not going to waste effort anymore, winners are crowned kings and losers are treated as bandits, there's nothing much to say."

Liu Mingxian asked with great interest: "Is Lord Jin Zhu interested in working for my Liu family? You only need to write a petition cursing the Poison Chancellor and the Imperial Court, and my Liu family can spare your life."

Jin Zhu cursed furiously: "Let out your mother's foul dog farts, wanting me to curse the Inner Chancellor? What kind of thing do you count as! Has the Liu family run out of people? How could they let an ignorant and incompetent second-generation heir like you take charge of the family? Where's your old man? Have him come over and massage my legs!"

Liu Mingxian sneered: "Eunuch Faction lapdog, kill him."

Beside him, Shopkeeper Yuan said calmly: "Cure him well with lime, I want to send him back to the Jing Dynasty. Over these years, Jin Zhu has killed quite a few people of my Jing Dynasty; presumably, the Military Strategy Envoy will definitely really like the head on his neck."

By the riverbank, Chen Ji was too far away to see clearly, nor could he hear what Jin Zhu and Liu Mingxian were conversing about.

From afar, he only saw that when Zhang Guo'er walked over to kill Jin Zhu, Jin Zhu actually braved his severe injuries to launch a surprise attack. After breaking one of Zhang Guo'er's legs, he fell and sat back on the ground again.

When another tattooed burly man approached Jin Zhu, Jin Zhu attacked again in a sneak attack. After beating the opponent until he coughed up a mouthful of fresh blood, he fell back onto the bridge again.

Reaching the third time, Jin Zhu wanted to play the same old trick again, but because his speed was a beat too slow, he was finally kicked flat onto the ground by someone.

This time, his oil was truly exhausted and his lamp had run dry.

Liu Mingxian laughed out of anger: "I heard long ago that there wasn't a single sentence of truth out of the Secret Spy Division's Twelve Zodiac Jin Zhu's mouth. Today I've experienced it."

Jin Zhu no longer paid attention to him. Preoccupied with his own affairs, he closed his eyes and lay down flat on the bridge, remaining completely silent.

His fingers trembled slightly. No matter how tyrannical a person was, facing death, it was impossible to truly remain completely unabashed.

However, right at this moment, Chen Ji suddenly looked through the bridge arch and saw, on the other side of the bridge, a small awning boat slowly approaching. Standing at the bow of the boat was a youth dressed in white, his hands empty, yet he abruptly assumed the posture of drawing a bow to the full!

In an instant, a white bow flashing with resplendent starlight materialized in the air.

With a 'peng', the bowstring vibrated.

A shooting star left his hand, trailing a long comet tail, heading straight for Zhang Guo'er who had just stood up on the bridge!

That shooting star drew an infinitely small parabola from afar in the misty dawn and firelight. In the time it took to snap fingers, take a breath, or blink an eye, the shooting star, as if it had eyes, pierced straight through Zhang Guo'er's heart!

Pu!

Zhang Guo'er violently expectorated a mouthful of fresh blood!

He looked down at the gaping hole in his chest and muttered: "Your mother's... Tian Ma!"

As his voice fell, Tian Ma, standing proudly on the bow of the boat, drew the bowstring to the full. Shooting stars, trailing their comet tails, arrived surging and resonating.

Before the white-clothed Tian Ma himself arrived, the arrows had already pierced the Elephant Armor Guards on the bridge one by one. After one of the arrows penetrated four people, its momentum still hadn't ceased!

Hearing the words "Tian Ma", Jin Zhu had already opened his eyes excitedly.

He abruptly sat up. His gaze crossed the railing and looked towards the distant river surface, laughing wildly: "Tian Ma is here, Tian Ma is here! All of you motherf... must die for me!"

While he was speaking, a shooting star flew over the top of Jin Zhu's head. This arrow didn't shoot anyone; it was only to use this special method to greet Jin Zhu.

The next shooting star ruthlessly pierced Shopkeeper Yuan's thigh. If Shopkeeper Yuan hadn't evaded in advance, this arrow would probably have pierced his heart.

But Tian Ma didn't give up. He drew the bow to the full once again. With a 'peng' sound, a shooting star raced towards Shopkeeper Yuan's heart at an extremely fast speed!

Jin Zhu suddenly yelled loudly: "Wait, don't kill him! I want Meng Ji to interrogate him!"

In an instant, the fired shooting star actually slightly changed its direction in mid-air, flying past Shopkeeper Yuan's cheek, causing his hair to violently flutter, as if a Heavenly Steed had whistled past his face!

With a gloomy expression, Shopkeeper Yuan glanced at Liu Mingxian, turned around, and limping, threw himself into the Luo River, swimming in the opposite direction of Tian Ma.

Jin Zhu said urgently: "Xi Feng, Liu Tiao! Follow him for me!"

But as soon as his voice fell, miserable shrieks from Xi Feng and Liu Tiao came from under the bridge.

Cursing and swearing, Jin Zhu stood up, ran to the stone railing, and poked his head out to look down: "You two pieces of trash who always fail and never succeed, are you dead yet? If you're not dead, make a sound!"

"Not dead!"

Holding the railing, Jin Zhu narrowed his eyes, viciously staring at Shopkeeper Yuan swimming further and further upstream.

But at this time, he suddenly let out a light sound of surprise: "Wait, who is that?"

Where his gaze reached, on the banks of the Luo River, a youth actually took off the leather armor on his body, fiercely dove into the water, and disappeared from sight.

Jin Zhu's eyes widened: "Looking at that figure, why does it look a bit like Chen Ji?!"

(End of Chapter)