Chapter 150: Broken Knife

The mountain forest was filled with the scent of ash, and light, thin mist drifted through the trees. Two war horses stood alone, tied in a place where no one was, which felt particularly strange.

Chen Ji carried Bai Li along the rugged mountain road and walked towards the war horses. He saw that a cowhide water bag was still hanging beside the saddle, and the saddlebag contained a bag of fried ripe yellow beans.

Horses, water, food, all were here.

Chen Ji turned back to look behind him and suddenly asked, "Just now you all also heard Mr. Feng humming that song, has anyone ever heard of it?"

The Crown Prince shook his head. "Never heard it before."

Bai Li also answered, "It sounds more like a countryside folk song."

Zhang Xia thought for a moment. "Build, plan affairs, marry. Gen palace hidden chant, Kun palace reverse chant, Xun palace enter tomb, Zhen palace receive restraint, endlessly. This is the mnemonic for the birth gate within the Strange Door Eight Trigrams."

Chen Ji murmured, "Birth gate..."

He turned his head to see a line of small words carved on the tree trunk where the war horses were tied: 'Agreement effective.'

Zhang Xia also saw it. Curiously, she asked, "What does this mean?"

Zhang Xia looked at Chen Ji deeply. This line of small words was clearly written for Chen Ji.

At this moment, Chen Ji was thinking in his heart, the so-called agreement likely referred to what Mr. Feng had said to him previously: as long as he followed the other party's instructions, the other party could help him fulfill one wish.

Could it be that the other party leaving these two horses was a show of goodwill for recruitment?

But how could he possibly side with the Liu family...

The Liu family and the court were enemies and were sure to be defeated.

Chen Ji placed Bai Li on the ground, untied the water bag from the saddle, and handed it to her. "County Princess, drink some water."

The Crown Prince doubted, "What if it's poisoned?"

Chen Ji shook his head. "If that Mr. Feng wanted to kill us, he wouldn't need to be so roundabout."

As he spoke, Zao Zao had already stuck her head into the saddlebag, chewing the yellow beans inside with big mouthfuls.

Seeing this, the Crown Prince quickly reached into the saddlebag, grabbed a handful of yellow beans, and stuffed them into his mouth. With bulging cheeks, he sighed, "I never expected I, Zhu Yunxi, would fall to snatching food from a horse's mouth. Don't say, these beans are still fragrant when fried."

Chen Ji stood to the side and curiously asked, "Zhang Second Miss, do you have any other stories about Mr. Feng? After the palace examination, he vanished from the world. Could it be that no one saw him again? His parents?"

Zhang Xia thought seriously for a moment. "No one has mentioned this matter."

This instead made him more confused.

The Mr. Feng who had originally been clear in his heart became blurred again.

This Mr. Feng was like someone hidden at the bottom of a calm lake. When you wanted to touch him, you would first touch the surface of the lake. The surface of the lake would ripple, and together with the Mr. Feng at the bottom of the lake, you couldn't see clearly.

But why exactly did the other party mobilize troops like this?

Was it to kill the golden pig and the heavenly horse?

At this time, Mr. Feng was calmly descending the mountain, which didn't mean the golden pig and the heavenly horse...

U Yun in his arms let out a light meow.

Chen Ji, still holding Bai Li, suddenly looked towards the mountain, and his hand also reached towards Zao Zao's saddle, tightly gripping the handle of the whale knife.

Zao Zao turned her head to look at him, but was suddenly startled by his eyes and momentum, and took a few steps back.

Just these few steps allowed Chen Ji to naturally draw the whale knife from the saddle.

The next moment, the golden pig's voice came, seemingly complaining about the heavenly horse: "Earlier I told you to run, and you didn't. That Mr. Feng appeared beside Liu Ge Lao years ago and once faced Wu Xiu adult. Even Wu Xiu adult chose to avoid his edge at that time. What fun were you rushing to join? Look, he beat me to this bloody state..."

"That boy Chen Ji finally had a breakthrough... Just when I was about to return to the Seeking Dao realm. Can you not cause me trouble? What person???"

The golden pig, descending the mountain, stopped and looked towards Chen Ji and the others as if facing a great enemy.

After seeing Chen Ji's face clearly, he said in a bad mood, "Why are you all here? You scared me..."

Chen Ji also breathed a sigh of relief and slowly sized up the golden pig and the heavenly horse.

He saw that the heavenly horse was dressed in spotless white and was safe and sound.

The golden pig was covered in blood, with seven or eight wounds. Truly, when immortals fight, little ghosts suffer calamity.

Chen Ji hesitated and said, "Golden Pig adult, are you alright?"

The golden pig waved his hand casually. "I'm fine, just some minor external injuries. That guy surnamed Feng is more miserable than me."

Chen Ji hesitated and said, "Adult, Mr. Feng just passed by here. I saw that he was completely fine."

The golden pig was startled and immediately became nervous. "Where? Where is the one surnamed Feng?"

Chen Ji explained, "We were just hiding in the bushes and saw him go down the mountain. It was a bit strange. He left with Jiang Yan, but left behind two war horses."

"Did he go far?"

"He went far!"

The golden pig let out a sound of understanding, his body no longer tense. He sat down with a thump, slumping on the ground. "His mother. Why am I so unlucky, getting mixed up with you two."

Chen Ji puzzledly said, "Golden Pig adult, weren't you all just fighting? How did it end?"

The golden pig said in a bad mood, "I came from afar to save you. Do you still wish I'd die here?"

"No."

Chen Ji explained, "I was just curious. This Mr. Feng set up such a big trap. He mobilized over a thousand private soldiers, so why did it end so hastily?"

The golden pig explained, "Just now, he and the heavenly horse couldn't do anything to each other. I bluffed him, saying that the Dissolve Trouble Guard was on the way. Just then, a burning big tree happened to fall between us, so he used that opportunity to retreat."

Chen Ji pressed on, "What is Mr. Feng's cultivation path?"

The golden pig prevaricated, "Didn't see it!"

Chen Ji felt that something wasn't right.

Although the cultivation path was the biggest secret in the official world, they had clearly fought a life-and-death battle. With the heavenly horse there, Mr. Feng must have gone all out. How could it be possible not to see his cultivation path?

The golden pig's words must be hiding something.

Chen Ji asked, "Golden Pig adult, what are your plans next?"

The golden pig sat up, cursing, "I must quickly return to Luocheng with the heavenly horse to transfer the Dissolve Trouble Guard to raid this military town. Even if the Liu family in Yuzhou can cover the sky with one hand, this lid he cannot cover."

As the words fell, a snowflake floated down from the air and gently landed on Bai Li's hair.

She reached out to pick it, but the snow melted on her fingertip.

Chen Ji looked up. The sky above had become gloomy at some point.

The snow grew bigger and bigger, finally falling in goose feathers, even suppressing the mountain fire with this sudden heavy snow.

The golden pig stood up, turned, and went down the mountain. "Chen Ji, you all go to Lu Hun Manor to wait for reinforcements. I saw Jing Wang's Thousand Years Army mobilizing on the way here. When I go back, if I see the Thousand Years Army, I will definitely inform them of your whereabouts."

Saying that, he and the heavenly horse leaped and disappeared into the mountain forest.

Chen Ji supported Bai Li onto the war horse and turned to Zhang Xia. "Zhang Second Miss, I'll trouble you to ride with the County Princess and take good care of her."

Zhang Xia smiled. "Rest assured, you don't need to remind me."

All four mounted their horses.

Bai Li leaned weakly against Zhang Xia's body and said, "Chen Ji, write a poem."

Chen Ji smiled. "County Princess, how would I know how to write a poem?"

Bai Li softly said, "Write one."

"Really can't!"

Chen Ji pulled the reins and turned back, his gaze passing through the swaying wind and snow, looking at the devastation everywhere on the mountain.

After a long time, he finally turned back. With one hand gripping his knife and the other pulling the reins, he clamped his legs on the horse's belly, urging the horse into the wind and snow.

In the mountain forest, the golden pig, who was hastily descending the mountain, suddenly stopped, scattering the snowflakes one after another.

In an instant, a huge airflow shattered the original path of the wind and snow.

The heavenly horse stopped beside him and gestured with sign language: "What are you doing?"

The golden pig narrowed his eyes slightly. "This snow is too heavy. I'm afraid that by the time we come back, some traces will already be covered and not easy to find."

The heavenly horse puzzled: "What traces?"

The golden pig's answer was irrelevant. He gestured with sign language: "Have you ever seen an official have a breakthrough in battle?"

The heavenly horse naturally gestured: "Before I had my breakthrough, that night I crossed from the innate realm into the Seeking Dao realm, with Jiang Liu Xian."

The golden pig gestured again: "Then have you seen or not seen anyone who has a breakthrough twice in one night, in battle?"

Heavenly horse: Impossible, there are no records in the case file library of the Dissolve Trouble Building either.

Golden pig bit his teeth: His mother, I've been played by a pig eating a tiger.

Heavenly horse corrected: Playing pig eating pig.

The golden pig looked speechlessly at the heavenly horse.

He turned and changed roads, rushing up the mountain.

At this time, the heavy snow was like a cover, covering the mountain fire.

Only black charcoal and corpses remained in the mountain forest, emitting white smoke.

Winding all the way, the golden pig lowered his head searching for clues while going up the mountain.

The heavenly horse was very patient, following alongside without speaking.

He just frowned looking at his white boots stained with black ash.

He didn't know how long had passed when the golden pig suddenly said, "Found it."

Saying that, he squatted down and picked up a section of a broken knife from the ground.

He lifted the edge of the knife towards the sky and carefully examined the break point. "This is not a knife that was broken by ordinary cutting. If an ordinary iron knife cannot withstand the force and breaks, the break mouth will definitely be curved and irregular. While this one, the break mouth is neat, it was shaken broken by an expert."

Heavenly horse: So what?

The golden pig did not answer. He pinched the knife body and the knife handle, stood up, and continued searching on the ground with his head down.

After a long time, he found three broken knives on the ground, all with the exact same straight crack at the break point.

The heavenly horse's face also became solemn: Good knife technique.

The golden pig looked at the broken knives in his hand, his face gloomy and uncertain: "Could it be Liang family knife technique? Liang Gou Er is staying at the medical hall, it's possible he passed the knife technique to this boy. When you fought Jiang Liu Xian, did she display this kind of knife technique?"

Heavenly horse denied: No, Liang family knife technique is domineering, it only seeks knife intent, not skill.

The golden pig took a deep breath: "Then where did he, a small apprentice, learn this body of knife technique? Could it be Yao Tai Yi? Mother, I hit geese all day, but was pecked in the eye by geese. It's too embarrassing."

He recalled at this time the matter of himself suffering for three hours yesterday, which was clearly caused by the conflict of Chen Ji's two cultivation paths.

And Chen Ji clearly knew, yet still practiced Covering Clouds repeatedly to torment him.

What a cultivation path, he was forced to use Chen Ji to transmit it a thousand miles.

The golden pig gnashed his teeth: "Bastard."

The golden pig lowered his head, looking at the broken knife in his hand, always staring dead ahead.

Until a layer of white snow fell on his shoulders, he finally took a deep breath, bent down, dug a pit, and carefully buried the broken knives one by one in the black soil.