Chapter 212: Assassination

"Young man, think quickly, what is that missing line?"

"We finally saw this poem, and you just had to forget one line. You've really kept us up all night."

The literati and scholars chattered incessantly, already pushing the matter of 'betraying Prince Jing' to the back of their minds. It was useless to force Chen Ji; it was impossible for him to recall the incomplete poem.

To them, a good poem with a missing part was like a beautiful woman with half her face veiled, making their hearts unbearably itchy. A poem titled "Breaking the Array and Defeating the Nation" seemed to be a straightforward, heartfelt 'powerful poem,' yet what it conveyed was the 'sorrow and indignation' and 'regret' of a grand ambition difficult to realize. When drunk, he was as if still that young general, inside the tent swords gleaming with cold light, outside the tent the sound of bugles continuously rising and falling.

Waking from a drunken dream, there were no longer soldiers beside him, no battlefield. His bowstring was untied and hung on the high cabinet, only gray hair remained.

Pitiable, lamentable.

Zhang Zhuo and Zhang Xia in the crowd looked towards Chen Ji.

Only the father and daughter knew that after Chen Ji left this poem for Prince Jing, he could no longer write even half a line of poetry in his entire life.

Zhang Zhuo stepped forward, patted his shoulder, and said in a low voice, "You've been through a lot."

Chen Ji smiled. "It's nothing." Zhang Zhuo's eyes shifted. "Did you really forget that line, or is the content of the poem taboo and cannot be written?"

Chen Ji said softly, "I really forgot."

Chen Ji wasn't lying; he wasn't good at literature to begin with. The poems he had given to the Crown Prince before were also given half a line at a time. It was already remarkable that he could remember most of this poem. Before writing it, he was still worried about writing a line incorrectly or misremembering one.

He really forgot.

At this moment, General Wang saw the crowd discussing poetry, stepped forward, and said coldly, "Could it be that Governor Zhang doesn't want to let me and Chen Ji speak alone?"

Zhang Zhuo didn't give way. "Impossible. General Wang, you want to unjustly accuse Chen Ji without distinguishing right from wrong. How do you propose to settle this matter?"

Chen Ji pulled Zhang Zhuo's sleeve. "Lord Zhang, let me chat with General Wang for a few sentences."

Zhang Zhuo glanced at him, waved his sleeves, and turned to the side. Xiao Man and Zhang Xia also moved further away.

General Wang walked closer, only a foot away from Chen Ji. He narrowed his eyes slightly and said in a low voice, "Youngster, you indeed react quickly."

Chen Ji smiled. "General Wang is too kind."

General Wang said in a deep voice, "The content of the blood letter is something you and I both know perfectly well. Do you think the Secret Spy Department will react in any way after hearing today's words? Once everyone knows that the blood letter isn't the poem you wrote, do you think you can still escape the infamy?"

Chen Ji slightly lowered his eyelids.

Currently, the Secret Spy Department was only announcing to the outside that Prince Jing had committed suicide out of fear of his crime, and the case was still under investigation.

As for the progress of the investigation and the evidence seized, it was all kept secret and not announced.

Originally, the Secret Spy Department wanted to use Consort Yun as supplementary evidence. As long as they could firmly establish the crime of Prince Jing's manor being connected to the Jing Dynasty and colluding with enemies to plot rebellion, then the crime would be solid. But now, the only people who could prove this matter were Elder Liu, who hanged himself, Consort Jing, who died by hitting a pillar, and Consort Yun, who had vanished like a human evaporation, her whereabouts unknown.

All evidence had become incomplete.

The White Dragon held Prince Jing's blood letter, but the content of the blood letter could only prove that after Prince Jing was framed and imprisoned, he once tried to have the Thousand Age Army rescue him for self-preservation. Even if this blood letter were taken out, in the eyes of the civil officials, it had no direct connection to the plot of rebellion. It was clearly the eunuch party persecuting loyal officials first, and Prince Jing defending himself afterward.

Therefore, the White Dragon directly suppressed the matter of the blood letter, treating this sealed blood letter as if it didn't exist. Prince Jing's rebellion case also became a cold case.

This was also why the White Dragon could help Chen Ji preserve the County Princess and prevent her from being executed immediately. At that moment, Chen Ji was also thinking about a problem: why would a meticulous person like the White Dragon make a mistake in the matter of framing Prince Jing and revealing the fact that Elder Liu hanged himself and Consort Jing hit a pillar? The White Dragon might have been on the scene; why didn't the other party save these two key witnesses?

Was it the White Dragon's intention, or did he really overlook it in his busy schedule?

If the White Dragon intentionally made this case a cold case, what was the reason?

As for the blood letter...

As long as the White Dragon still needed Chen Ji to infiltrate the Chen family, he would cover for him.

The biggest oversight of General Wang today was that he didn't know that Chen Ji had already pledged allegiance to the White Dragon and become the Secret Spy Department's 'Hai Dong Qing.'

Chen Ji raised his eyes to look at General Wang. "General Wang should take good care of himself. Those who sell out their masters for glory will have no good end." General Wang let out a cold laugh. "Young people are used to saying harsh words. It's useless. And you still have a few days left."

With that, he turned and left, entering the main hall to sit down.

Xiao Man finally dared to come forward and muttered in a low voice, "Young master, he slandered you! How can you just let it go like this?" Chen Ji smiled helplessly. "Otherwise, what else can I do? He is a Fifth-Rank military general in the Thousand Age Army. Although I am an illegitimate son of the Chen manor, what can I do to him?"

Xiao Man was indignant. "A Fifth-Rank general is a big deal? I dared to contradict him! Young master, why do you always get bullied...?"

At the table, Zhang Zhuo seemed to want to ease the atmosphere, constantly urging General Wang to drink and drinking himself into a stupor. By the time the drinking stopped, it was already evening. General Wang looked at Zhang Zhuo lying slumped on the table, swayed, and stood up. Supported by armored soldiers, he walked out to the carriage waiting outside the door. He turned his head and glanced deep into the Zhang manor. The guests had all dispersed, as if nothing had happened today. It was the same as before, calm and ordinary.

General Wang sat steadily in the carriage, let out a breath of wine, and cleared the drunkenness from his face. "Return to the camp."

The carriage slowly drove away, escorted by more than ten armored soldiers of the Thousand Age Army on horseback.

...The sunset sank in the west, as if drawing away the last warmth from the human world. Under the night curtain, the pavilions and terraces rose and fell continuously, and lamp after lamp also gradually extinguished.

Chen Ji sat silently on a gray roof ridge, and Wu Yun sat beside him, his ears perked up.

Under the moonlight, the empty alleys of Luoyang City, the eaves curved up like black waves rippling towards the distance. The human world seemed to be left with only this one person and one cat sitting there. Wu Yun meowed, "Xiao Man went back to Ming Quan Garden today and was sullen for an afternoon. Listening to you all talk, it seems that General Wang wanted to splash the dirty water of betraying Prince Jing onto you at the banquet?"

Chen Ji hummed. "Yes."

Wu Yun thought for a moment. "Why not expose him?" "There's no need," Chen Ji said calmly. "If he wants to show off his glib tongue, then let him. No matter what he says today, whether it's a thousand or ten thousand words, I can handle it. As long as he is willing to leave the Thousand Age Army camp, it's fine."

These days, General Wang had been holed up in the Thousand Age Army camp, surrounded by more than a thousand soldiers. It was more difficult to kill him than to ascend to heaven.

Before Chen Ji left Luoyang City, he had waited for this opportunity with great difficulty. This was the only chance. Wu Yun meowed, "They're coming."

From the distance came the sound of horse hooves and carriage wheels. The Thousand Age Army guarding General Wang was coming towards the south city gate.

Chen Ji drew two Emei daggers from his waist. "I'll go assassinate him. You wait for an opportunity in the dark. Remember, the one named Wang must die under an Emei dagger."

Wu Yun arched his back and stretched lazily. "I understand." The carriage got closer and closer, the gazes of the Thousand Age Army armored soldiers were like knives, vigilantly sweeping around. However, just at this moment, the fur on Wu Yun's back suddenly exploded. "Meow!"

Chen Ji looked into the distance in the moonlight and saw a ball of black smoke leaping agilely on the rooftops in the distance, like a cunning antelope running on the grassland, unobstructed on the undulating pavilion roofs, as if stepping on clouds.

A sheep's body, a human face, treading on black auspicious clouds, a blood-basin mouth tightly closed between its chest and abdomen. It was the first time Chen Ji had seen the glutton Wu Yun had mentioned. If he hadn't seen the scene of the other party eating people, he wouldn't have felt how terrifying this spirit strange was.

However, why would the other party appear here?

His gaze reached out, wanting to find the person controlling the glutton behind it, but looking around, he couldn't find where the other party was hiding. He couldn't even confirm whether the other party had come here or not. The next moment, he saw the glutton on the rooftop moving like wind and lightning, chasing after the Thousand Age Army from behind.

The black figure leaped up and pounced down from the rooftop.

The Thousand Age Army armored soldiers were riding on horseback, a shadow of gloom covered their heads. By the time they looked up, it was already too late. With a bang, the glutton hit the carriage squarely, splitting the wooden carriage and turning it into wood chips all over the sky.

General Wang in the carriage was caught off guard and was actually sent flying out of the carriage, smashing heavily against the brick wall by the roadside before falling to the ground.

Chen Ji murmured, "Fierce, fierce!" In the long street, the Thousand Age Army armored soldiers roared angrily, "Protect the General!"

More than ten armored soldiers rode forward, blocking in front of General Wang. However, what was unexpected was that the glutton didn't chase and attack again, but instead turned around and ran.

It was as if children were fighting each other, and one child kicked out a foot, took advantage, and just left. Kicking a foot was earning a foot. It just lightly leaped onto the rooftop, stepped on the gray tiles, and disappeared into the night among the undulating roof ridges. It was as if it came here only out of temporary interest, and when its interest was exhausted, it could happily go home.

Wu Yun: "Ah, this!" Chen Ji and Wu Yun crouched on the rooftop, stunned speechless. They didn't understand what was going on with this glutton for a long time.

Moreover, the other party first swallowed the supervisor watching Chen Ji's officials, and then ran over to hit General Wang's carriage.

To say this had nothing to do with Chen Ji was absolutely impossible.

Wu Yun meowed, "What do we do now?" Chen Ji said calmly, "Finish him off. Take advantage of his weakness and end his life. Remember, anyone who sees you make a move, don't leave a single one alive."

However, just as the person and the cat were preparing to rush down and kill, they saw another figure rushing towards them from the distance. The other party was dressed in black clothes, black pants, and a black hat. Their body was particularly thin, but their movements were like thunder.

The black-clothed person's actions were without hesitation, as if they had considered it a thousand or ten thousand times. The moment they saw the Thousand Age Army, they pounced down from the rooftop. An armored soldier of the Thousand Age Army drew his waist knife and chopped over, but the black-clothed person shortened their body and flashed under the horse's belly, fundamentally not getting entangled with the armored soldiers. All they wanted was General Wang's life!

Another Thousand Age Army soldier saw the situation and was suddenly furious, riding his horse forward. The warhorse raised its front hooves high and stepped down towards the black-clothed person's path. "Die!"

In the flash of lightning, the black-clothed person backed away, and at the same time drew out two Emei daggers from their waist. One of them was thrown out, piercing through the gap between the armored soldier and the warhorse, and nailing into General Wang's shoulder! General Wang let out a muffled groan. Wu Yun looked at the Emei dagger remaining in the black-clothed person's hand, and then looked at the two Emei daggers in Chen Ji's hand...

Chen Ji originally wanted to place the crime of killing General Wang on this person, but he didn't expect that the main culprit would come and kill him himself!