Chapter 137: The Assassin

In the withered and thin forest, Chen Ji sat cross-legged on the soft rotten leaves, muttering something.

“Immortal Daoists have no gods, accumulating essence and qi to become true. The wonderful sound of the Yellow Boy is hard to hear, the jade book and crimson simple red cinnabar writing…”

Wu Yun squatted on his head, craning his neck to look at the handwriting on the paper scroll, and asked curiously, “Can chanting scriptures summon reinforcements?”

Chen Ji didn’t stop, continued chanting for a while, then replied, “Not necessarily true that they can be summoned. This depends on the enlightenment of the reinforcements…”

Wu Yun was doubtful. “Then what if the reinforcements have no enlightenment?”

Chen Ji thought for a moment and said, “Then it depends on whether he can endure the pain!”

As long as the pain was long enough, the Gold Pig would definitely not be able to bear it and would come looking for him.

Chen Ji and his group had not hidden their tracks on this journey, and the matter of Wen Hui at Lu Hun Mountain Villa was also known throughout the world.

As long as the Gold Pig was in enough pain, he would certainly find a way to find him.

At this time, the prince’s shout came from afar: “Chen Ji, you weren’t carried away by a wolf, were you? How did you go for so long?”

Chen Ji stood up, pulled Wu Yun down from his head, and said softly, “Master’s divination is always extremely accurate. This time must be very dangerous. If I don’t call you, absolutely don’t rashly do anything adventurous.”

Wu Yun meowed, “Got it, got it.”

Chen Ji wrapped the wooden box in cloth again, tied it on Wu Yun’s back.

At this moment, the prince’s voice came again from outside the woods: “Chen Ji?”

Chen Ji glanced at the paper scroll in his hand again, memorized several sentences, and then finally opened his mouth to respond to the prince: “Coming, coming!”

When he returned to the official road, Chen Ji saw the scholars standing beside the ox cart, quietly listening to Wang Dao Sheng give a lecture.

Wang Dao Sheng didn’t mind who came to listen, whether they paid or not, he just calmly lectured to himself: “Investigate things, extend knowledge, be sincere in intention, rectify the heart, cultivate oneself, regulate the family, govern the country, and pacify the world. These are the eight items. And investigating things and extending knowledge is the foundation of the eight items.”

Seeing Chen Ji arrive, he said to the scholars, “We should set out.”

The scholars replied with a smile, “Listening to Mister’s lecture is like sweet dew pouring over us. Anyway, the ox cart doesn’t go fast, so Mister can continue lecturing, and we will follow behind the ox cart and listen as we walk.”

Another scholar said, “I heard that after the flood in Yu Xi, a group of disaster victims in Long Wang Tun turned into bandits, specializing in breaking into houses, robbing sheds, burning, killing, and plundering. There are many travelers. They probably don’t dare to cause trouble.”

Wang Dao Sheng nodded. “That’s also good.”

Chen Ji saw that these people were determined to follow and didn’t say much.

What he needed to do now was wait for the Gold Pig to arrive.

He jumped onto the ox cart and sat down. Bai Li handed him an ox hide water bag from the left side and said with concern, “Are you alright? Drink some water.”

Chen Ji finished chanting the Cover Cloud once, then took the water bag and said softly, “County Lord, if you really encounter the bandits they mentioned, you absolutely must remember to run towards me with the prince.”

Bai Li blinked her eyes and said casually, “Okay, but if we really encounter bandits, will you only save the two of us?”

Chen Ji thought for a moment and replied softly, “My ability is limited, I might not even be able to save the two of you, let alone others.”

Bai Li said “oh” and was silent for a moment. “Chen Ji, if we really encounter bandits, I mean the kind of very fierce bandits, if you can’t save us, just run away yourself. Your own life is important.”

Chen Wen Xiao, sitting opposite him, sneered, “You can still save people? County Lord, don’t be fooled by him.”

Bai Li rolled her eyes. “Wait until the bandits really come. It will be good if you don’t wet your pants.”

Chen Ji suddenly looked straight at Chen Wen Xiao and said calmly, “After you framed your own affairs onto me, were you so guilty that you couldn’t sleep at night? So you hoped everyone would hate me, dislike me, and despise me. This way, even if I refute you later, no one will believe me.”

Chen Wen Xiao’s face changed. “What are you talking about?”

After saying that, he felt his voice was a bit loud, so he quickly lowered it. “Don’t talk nonsense. There is black and white evidence pointing to you, what does it have to do with me?”

He still wanted to argue, but Chen Ji ignored him. Instead, he closed his eyes and silently chanted the Cover Cloud.

When he couldn’t remember certain parts, he would secretly take out the paper scroll from his sleeve to look at it.

Chen Wen Xiao looked at Chen Ji’s calm appearance and felt a stone pressing on his chest, making it hard to breathe.

When he wanted to sneer and satirize again, he hesitated to open his mouth.

Bai Li looked strangely at Chen Ji.

Frame?

At noon, the official road ran parallel to the Yi River outside Luo City. To the left of the ox cart was the glistening Yi River with sparkling waves, and to the right were undulating hills and forests.

On the Yi River, there were boatmen casting nets.

Jing Wang became interested, not caring about his driver’s identity.

He lifted the straw hat on his head and shouted loudly, “Boatman, did you catch any fish today?”

The weathered boatman, wearing a straw raincoat, replied loudly, “The market is not good today, only caught a few grass carp.”

Jing Wang laughed heartily. “Are these fish for sale?”

The boatman slowly steered the black-awning boat over. “Sell, ah, why wouldn’t I sell!”

Jing Wang turned his head and said with a smile to Wang Dao Sheng, “Mister Wang, the journey today is still relatively smooth. We should definitely reach Lu Hun Mountain Villa before sunset. Why don’t we stop for a bit? Roast some fish here? We might not be able to eat such fresh fish in the city, ah.”

Wang Dao Sheng replied in a warm voice, “Rarely… the driver has such elegant taste, then let’s stop here for a short while.”

The prince and Bai Li cheered, jumped off the cart, and stretched lazily. “Sitting on the ox cart all morning, my butt hurts.”

Zhang Xia also jumped off her horse, smiling as she took Bai Li’s hand. The two of them huddled together, whispered a few words, then turned and walked towards the forest.

Just at this moment, several cat calls sounded in the mountain forest. Chen Ji suddenly gripped the short knife in his sleeve tightly.

Chen Ji rushed a few steps ahead, pulling Bai Li and Zhang Xia back. “Don’t go, it’s dangerous.”

Zhang Xia was stunned. “What are you doing?”

Chen Ji didn’t look at her, but stared intently at the depths of the forest, pulling the two of them slowly back towards the riverbank.

Wu Yun said that it had seen over ten bodies in the forest, unburied.

The people who were killed were very strange. Beside them were scattered kitchen knives, hoes, and nail rakes.

Why were there over ten bodies here?

They were disaster victims from Long Wang Tun who had turned into bandits.

They were desperate and became bandits, ambushing here to rob passing merchants. But they were killed by others.

Who killed them, and why?

Chen Ji didn’t know any of this. He only knew there was danger in the forest.

As they retreated, Zhang Xia shook her arm, wanting to free herself from Chen Ji’s hand, but she heard Bai Li say, “Zhang Xia, listen to him.”

Zhang Xia no longer struggled.

When they silently retreated back to the riverbank, Chen Ji turned his head and looked at the boatman who had just docked. He saw the boatman carrying a bamboo basket and jumping off the boat. “Various lords, a total of eight grass carp. You can give fifty *wen* for one.”

Jing Wang was about to step forward to buy fish, when Chen Ji suddenly moved more than ten steps away and asked from a distance, “Boatman, how much do you usually sell one to the fish vendor for?”

The boatman was stunned for a moment. “Usually, usually sell for forty *wen* per tail.”

Chen Ji asked, “Don’t you weigh by the *jin*?”

The boatman smiled. “Right, right, right, weigh by the *jin*. I misspoke.”

The next moment, a scholar following suddenly pulled Jing Wang back and whispered, “It’s assassins.”

After saying that, the six scholars simultaneously broke the cages on their backs. There were no books inside, only two eight-chop knives fell out.

The six scholars ignored the others, only firmly protecting Jing Wang.

Chen Ji was stunned. So these scholars were here to protect Jing Wang.

But since these people were here to protect Jing Wang, then who were this boatman and the people who killed people in the forest?

The boatman no longer pretended. He pressed two fingers to his tongue and blew a whistle.

The six scholars suddenly turned their heads.

But they heard the sound of footsteps stepping on rotten leaves from the mountain forest, and indeed, dozens of people rushed out.

Zhang Xia looked at Chen Ji in surprise. If this person hadn’t stopped them just now, she and Bai Li would have probably directly run into this group of killers.

But the question was, how did Chen Ji know there were people ambushing in the forest?

The killers in the forest rushed towards the six scholars.

As soon as the two sides engaged in battle, a scholar was seen bending down to meet them.

The scholar’s eight-chop knives flew up and down, showing over ten knives in two breaths, aimed at hand tendons, foot tendons, thigh arteries, and finally the neck.

Each knife left no room for error, brutally cutting the first killer into a bloody mess.

The scholar’s blue shirt was stained with blood. He slowly lowered his stance and brought the knives in front of his eyes, his cold gaze looking through the gaps between the two knives at the dozens of killers in front of him.

An expert!

Killing the first person with thunderous means was only to intimidate and break the enemy’s courage.

This chapter is not finished, continued in the middle…