Chapter 138: Dispersion

The river water in winter was ice-cold and bone-piercing, freezing Chen Ji's thoughts as if they were about to stop and become stagnant. The gloomy, cold river water seemed to want to surge into Chen Ji's body, freezing his heart.

The instant he leaped into the river, he lifted his head in the water and saw the sunlight cast onto the river surface. The light pillars formed by the Tyndall effect were like branching crystals, yet they had no temperature.

Someone wanted to use the opportunity of the Lu Hun Shan Zhuang literary gathering to kill Bai Li and Shi Zi Fu here, and then use the opportunity to frame the Dragon King Village bandits and disaster victims.

The opponent calculated very well, but failed to calculate Jing Wang's plainclothes patrol, and also failed to calculate a small medical hall apprentice.

Who wanted to kill Bai Li and Shi Zi Fu?

Yun Fei... or Jing Fei?

Chen Ji surfaced, swimming towards the opposite shore while turning his head to look back.

The fisherman on the black awning boat took off his bamboo hat and slowly unbuttoned his rain cape, revealing a sturdy physique.

The middle-aged man stood at the bow of the boat, like an experienced hunter, his eyes fixed on the river surface.

On that black awning boat, a yellow talisman paper was stuck, with mysterious and complex symbols drawn in cinnabar.

A gust of wind pushed the black awning boat, and it sailed very fast even without oars.

The wind blew the talisman paper, making a rustling sound.

But the talisman paper seemed to be nailed dead onto the boat awning and couldn't be blown off no matter how hard it was blown.

Bai Li, Shi Zi Fu, and Zhang Xia swam madly forward.

Fresh blood, life, and knife light stimulated their adrenal glands to burst, and their lips began to tremble with fear.

But as Bai Li swam, she suddenly felt something was wrong. She suddenly turned her head, and where was Chen Ji's figure behind them?

Only the killers biting knives were left, crossing the water.

Killing intent was evident on the black awning boat.

She shouted loudly: "Chen Ji, where are you?"

Shi Zi Fu also floated on the river surface, roaring angrily: "Chen Ji?"

But no one answered them, and their shouting voices seemed to sink to the bottom of the river.

Bai Li took a deep breath: "He went back."

Zhang Xia asked in surprise: "Went back? What do you mean? What's the difference between going back at this time and seeking death?"

Shi Zi Fu said gravely: "He must have gone back to buy us time."

Zhang Xia hesitated, she didn't understand what Shi Zi Fu meant. That medical hall apprentice, whom everyone said was a gambler, actually swam back to buy them time this time.

But she found that Bai Li and Shi Zi Fu never doubted from beginning to end that Chen Ji had drowned, or escaped alone.

Zhang Xia thought for a moment: "Then do we want to go back and save him or not? He can't possibly face so many killers alone!"

Shi Zi Fu made a gesture and was about to swim back, but Bai Li pulled him back tightly: "We continue to swim towards the opposite shore..."

Zhang Xia didn't understand: "Do you want to abandon him?"

Bai Li suddenly looked at her and said in a condensed voice: "If we don't go now, all the time he bought for us will be wasted."

Zhang Xia asked: "What if he is killed?"

Bai Li didn't answer, turned around, and struggled to swim towards the opposite shore.

The killers swam with knives in their mouths, and in the blink of an eye, they actually found that one less prey was in front of them.

"Find him."

The leading killer dived into the water to search.

The instant his line of sight entered the river water from the surface, Chen Ji's thin, calm face suddenly appeared in his eyes.

The killer was startled, and his heart seemed to miss a beat.

He hadn't even had time to take the long knife out of his mouth when Chen Ji reached out and grabbed his hair, roughly pulling the distance between the two closer.

A flash of knife light swept across in the water. Chen Ji's short knife cleanly and neatly cut open the opponent's throat.

Bubbles and blood surged out of the neck together. The killer only felt that the air in his lungs was already out of control and surged far away.

However, Chen Ji did not stop his hand. He instantly cut open the main arteries of the opponent's arms and then stabbed a knife into his heart.

A large amount of blood dyed the river water red and became turbid, making it impossible to see clearly what was happening here.

Chen Ji quickly withdrew his hand, turned around, and kicked the killer's chest with one foot, kicking the killer to the bottom of the river.

After death, a person will quickly sink to the bottom of the river, until three to seven days later, they will only float up due to the gas produced by the decay of substances in the intestinal tract.

When the killers on the river surface saw bubbles, they dived into the water together and swam towards this place.

They searched for Chen Ji's figure in the dense blood.

But when the bloody water was washed away by the river, there was no one left.

One killer turned his head and looked around, only to see Chen Ji clinging to the bottom of the fast-approaching black awning boat, his short knife chipping into the bottom of the boat along the grain of the wood, one knife after another.

Only then did the killer understand that Chen Ji's purpose from the beginning was to destroy the boat.

Among the people to be killed, this one was clearly the most inconspicuous.

But this one was the most troublesome.

Every time Chen Ji's short knife stabbed the bottom of the boat, it would chip off many wood chips.

He suddenly kicked hard with both legs and surfaced to breathe.

The instant he exposed his head, he saw a paper talisman flying towards him.

He suddenly dodged, and the yellow talisman paper, like a knife, cut a wound on his left arm.

Chen Ji ignored the official on the boat and resolutely sank to the bottom of the boat to continue chiseling.

He waited for several breaths and didn't see that official come down to chase and kill him.

Chen Ji suddenly had an epiphany, the opponent dared not rashly enter the water.

Bang bang. Bang. Bang.

Wood chips scattered.

However, before Chen Ji could chisel, the black awning boat actually stopped chasing Bai Li and Shi Zi Fu, but turned direction and sailed towards the more than twenty killers, bringing Chen Ji with it.

The killers sank into the water, took the long knives out of their mouths, and waited for Chen Ji to fall into their trap.

They were getting closer and closer, and the eyes of the more than twenty killers were cold and severe.

In the urgency, Chen Ji chiseled hard, and the short knife he brought out from the medical hall broke in the middle, the tip of the knife sinking towards the bottom of the river.

He suddenly turned his head and looked at the killers who were holding their breath and waiting.

The hair on his forehead and temples floated scattered in the river water.

The noon sunlight cast into the river water, like the glory of the last moment of life.

The killers saw Chen Ji suddenly stop moving.

Give up?

They found that the medical hall apprentice was unusually calm.

The killers were waiting for Chen Ji to deliver himself to the door, and Chen Ji was also waiting.

Waiting for an instant of roaring sound.

The next moment, the furnace fire in Chen Ji's body burned vigorously. One lamp, two lamps, three lamps... fifteen lamps.

Each lamp of furnace fire seemed to emit a roaring sound that only he could hear.

The roaring sound came from ten thousand years ago, crossing the river of time.

In these ten thousand years, vast splendor turned into mulberry fields, and mountains and rivers collapsed into plains.

The world shatters, I do not perish.

Chen Ji punched hard, smashing the hole he had chiseled in the bottom of the boat. One punch then blasted a crack in the shattered wood.

River water poured into the boat. He then left the bottom of the boat without hesitation, surfaced to take a breath, and immediately dived back into the river bottom, swimming towards the killers like an arrow.

As soon as they made contact, a killer swung his knife, but the blade of the knife just reached Chen Ji's front, and then was clamped between Chen Ji's palms. With just a light shake, he snatched the long knife.

Before the killer could react, the long knife had already swept across his neck.

Just when Chen Ji was about to kill again, he saw a yellow talisman paper shoot into the river water, straight like a blade.

He tried to turn his head to the side. The yellow talisman paper grazed his cheek, leaving a fine, dense wound, and blood oozed from the wound.

The yellow talisman paper's momentum did not stop and was actually nailed straight into the dark river bottom.

Chen Ji's heart was shocked, and he immediately swam towards the deep part of the river water, no longer lingering in the battle.

On the riverbank, Bai Li, Shi Zi Fu, and Zhang Xia stepped on the goose-egg stones and slowly waded ashore.

A cold wind blew, as if it blew into their bone seams.

They didn't walk but turned their heads to look towards the center of the river.

The scholars on the opposite bank of the river were just covering Jing Wang, killing and retreating towards the direction of Yi Chuan County city.

The scholars surrounded Jing Wang tightly. No killer could approach.

Jing Wang wanted to rush into the river, but was pulled tightly by a scholar.

Jing Wang shouted across the wide river surface to Bai Li, but they were too far apart, and Bai Li simply couldn't hear what her father was saying.

On the other side, Chen Wen Xiao ran madly towards the direction of Lu Hun Shan Zhuang alone.

Chen Wen Zong then carried Wang Dao Sheng, panting, following behind. No killer wasted time on them.

At this time, Zhang Xia asked doubtfully: "Look, why is that black awning boat stopped in the center of the river?"

Bai Li said softly: "Chen Ji!"

Zhang Xia looked at Bai Li in surprise.

Shi Zi Fu shouted loudly: "Look, that boat is tilting, it seems to be sinking."

"There is blood in the river water."

Bai Li pursed her lips and looked at this scene. It must have been Chen Ji who found a way to sink the boat.

But what about Chen Ji?

The blood in the river... is it Chen Ji's?

After waiting for a long time, Chen Ji's figure never appeared on the river surface, and her heart gradually sank.

Bai Li turned around and wanted to leave. Shi Zi Fu asked: "Where are you going?"

Bai Li wiped the water stains from her face and said stubbornly: "Go find the Qian Sui Army and report the enmity."

Shi Zi Fu took a deep breath, "Who are you going to find to report the enmity? We don't even know who wants to kill us."

As soon as the words fell, they heard the sound of water on the riverbank. The three people turned their heads at the same time, only to see Chen Ji wade ashore with a long knife in his mouth, breathing heavily, exhausted to the extreme.

Clang. The long knife fell on the goose-egg stones on the river beach.

Bai Li was startled at first, then quickly took two steps forward: "Chen Ji, are you injured?"

"I'm fine."

Chen Ji said: "Let's go quickly, we'll go towards Lu Hun Shan Zhuang. There are people from Dao Court and Fo Men there, I think the killers must not dare to mess around."

Shi Zi Fu looked at him and hesitated for a moment: "Your face?"

Chen Ji touched it. There was an inch-long cut on his face: "It's fine, a small injury."

Strangely, in less than half an incense stick's time, the wounds on his left arm and face no longer bled.

He suddenly thought of what he asked Xuan Yuan yesterday: What would happen if all the furnace fire ignited and turned white?

Xuan Yuan's answer: Undying and unextinguishable.

But if that was the case, how did his former self die?

At this time, Chen Ji turned back on the riverbank and looked towards the center of the river, only to see that official still standing quietly at the bow of the boat, staring at himself, not even minding the tilting of the boat.

At a certain moment, he had some doubts. When he was delaying time in the water, the killers did not divide their troops to chase and kill Bai Li and Shi Zi Fu, which did not conform to the killers' habits.

Unless, he was also one of the targets. Or, was he the true target?

Chen Ji turned around and left, "Let's go. This ambush is not over yet!"

On the opposite bank of the river, Hei Yun quietly walked out of the tree forest and looked at the now empty riverbank.

It looked at Chen Ji and the others turning around and leaving on the opposite side, hesitated for a moment, and used its claws to test the river water.

It was so cool.

Hei Yun had never been in the water, and it didn't know how to cross the river to meet Chen Ji.

But it knew.

Chen Ji now needed its molten flow to reignite the remaining fifteen lamps of furnace fire.

This was very important.

After thinking three times, Hei Yun still decided to be ruthless to itself and swim across the river to the opposite bank.

Just when it was preparing to go into the water, the sound of horse hooves rang out from behind, only to see Zhang Xia's red horse, 'Zao Zi', stepping into the water without hesitation and swimming across to the opposite bank.

Hei Yun's eyes brightened, and it lightly leaped onto Zao Zi's head and meowed: "Fierce, fierce."