Chapter 246: The Real Secret Passage

A knocking sound rang out. Chen Ji, sitting at the eight immortals table, looked towards the tightly closed room door. Wu Yun also stood up from the windowsill.

Chen Ji slowly stood up, gripping the whale knife tightly beside him. He calmly asked, "Who is it?"

The old procuress outside the door said with a smile, "Young Master, I've brought the silver, and I also want to buy some more news from you."

Xiao Man said, "Young Master, I'll open the door."

But at this moment, Chen Ji pulled her wrist and said firmly, "I'll go."

Saying so, he lifted the whale knife and slowly walked to the door. Using the end of the whale knife wrapped in gray cloth, he slowly lifted the door bolt.

The next moment, as the sound of the door bolt lifting open rang, the old procuress outside the door had already made her move.

Six bangs rang out. The old procuress shot six bone-piercing nails clamped between her fingers. Wood chips flew from the door, and the six bone-piercing nails pierced in from outside.

Six thuds.

Inside the room, Chen Ji blocked with his whale knife. The six bone-piercing nails in a row were all blocked on the whale knife's sheath.

He used force with his right hand and shook once. The gray cloth wrapped around the whale knife suddenly shattered into pieces, revealing the whale knife's original appearance. The bone-piercing nails also fell to the ground.

The old procuress was suddenly alerted in her heart. She hadn't expected the person inside to block all six bone-piercing nails.

Crossing her hands, she clamped three bone-piercing nails from her left and right sleeves respectively. Her arms drew afterimages like a Thousand-Handed Guanyin. Bone-piercing nails struck through the wooden door one by one, shattering it!

The originally intact wooden door instantly shattered, revealing a hole. But when the old procuress looked closely, there was no longer anyone behind the door.

The six bone-piercing nails she had just thrown were now nailed to the opposite wooden wall. Chen Ji, who should have been behind the door, had disappeared without a trace.

The old procuress did not rush in rashly. She stood cautiously in front of the door and said in a low voice, "I know the people beside you are ordinary folks. If you don't want to involve them, come out yourself."

The room was quiet, and no one answered.

Chen Ji held the whale knife and silently retreated to the edge of the window, slowly drawing the knife.

The next moment, Wu Yun meowed. Without turning his head, Chen Ji stabbed the whale knife behind the window.

The knife blade pierced through the white paper window and into the assassin lurking outside the window. Chen Ji drew the knife back, and the dead assassin fell from the third floor of the inn, hitting the inn's backyard with a heavy thud.

When the whale knife was drawn back, it brought a trace of blood, staining the window paper red.

Xiao Man stared blankly at this scene. "Young Master, you..."

Before she could finish, Wu Yun meowed again. "There are still four on the roof."

Chen Ji's mind was suddenly alerted.

He stepped onto the eight immortals table and jumped up, chopping a knife towards the roof. As the knife body reached the roof, pieces of gray tiles shattered, and house beams and dragon bones broke.

With a bang, a large section of the roof collapsed. One assassin was smashed hard into the room, while another assassin had his leg directly chopped off by this knife.

A muffled grunt came from the roof, and spurting blood followed the tiles down, pouring from the eaves and splashing into the inn's backyard.

In the corridor, the old procuress heard the sound and immediately kicked down the wooden door, intending to rush into the room.

The instant she kicked down the wooden door, a touch of snow-bright knife light suddenly appeared amidst the wood chips in the dim room. The old procuress kicked backward with all her might, barely dodging the whale knife.

Just as she was about to use her full strength and unleash all the bone-piercing nails in her body at once, she suddenly saw that behind the knife light, there was a hint of black hidden, like a bamboo leaf, or like a small sword.

It lightly floated out from behind the knife light.

The old procuress's body twisted strangely, as if broken, and she suddenly changed posture, dodging the sword seed's fatal strike.

Like a spider, she climbed up the corridor wall with her hands and feet, all the way up to the house beam. She coldly surveyed the surroundings, searching for the trace of the black short sword.

The old procuress was shocked and doubtful in her heart. That black short sword just now seemed to be what the legendary Wumiao Mountain Master cultivated...

Before she could think clearly, the sword seed flew towards her back like a spitting poisonous snake. It lightly wiped across her neck and then disappeared into the dark corridor.

The old procuress covered her neck and fell down from the house beam.

Her eyes stared straight at Chen Ji. "Sword..."

With a swish, the whale knife stabbed into her heart, cutting off the words she was about to say.

On the other side, the shopkeeper pounced out from the counter, his feet stepping on the stair railing. His body was as light as a swallow as he ascended.

Xiao Wu, standing by the counter, looked up and shouted, "Shopkeeper, what are you going to do?"

At this moment, the shopkeeper's heart was burning with anxiety. He had only one thought: to save people! "I'm going to the third floor. Xiao Wu, Xiao Liu, you two take weapons up to the roof and kill everyone from Red Sleeve Pavilion!"

Xiao Wu felt inexplicable. Just now, you said we run a black inn, and now you want to save people?

At this moment, the shopkeeper, stepping on the stair railing, leaped straight to the third floor. Just as he was about to enter Tian Zi Jia Number Room, he saw Chen Ji standing in front of the old procuress's corpse, holding a five-foot-long knife.

The shopkeeper was shocked in his heart. The old procuress was dead?

She just died?

He looked up and saw only Chen Ji coldly turning his head to look over, the knife edge slowly turning. "Shopkeeper, why are you here?"

The shopkeeper had bitterness in his heart that he couldn't express. He couldn't tell the real reason, only make up a lie to explain. "Young... guest official, I heard movement upstairs and immediately came to help."

Chen Ji was half-believing and half-doubting. "Is that so?"

The shopkeeper said sincerely, "Absolutely true! Our Longmen Inn has rules. No one can kill people in the inn. I thought this old procuress from Red Sleeve Pavilion might want to act improperly against guest official you, so I came to execute her. I didn't expect guest official's martial arts to be extremely good, and there was no need for me to act."

As he spoke, the sounds of Xiao Wu and Xiao Liu shouting and killing came from the rooftop. Several people were fighting on the tiles, killing from south to north and from east to west on the roof.

In less than the time it takes for an incense stick to burn, two people, one holding a kitchen knife, each carrying a corpse, leaped down from the hole in the room.

Xiao Wu limped to the corridor and threw a corpse at the shopkeeper's feet. "Shopkeeper, several Houtian realm low-level officials. Killed two, one ran away."

Chen Ji squatted down to check their breath, confirming that the two assassins were completely dead.

But the shopkeeper didn't let go and looked at Xiao Wu angrily. "What do I raise you for? How did one still get away?"

Xiao Wu scratched his head. "You instructed us late. If it weren't for you..."

The shopkeeper's face changed, and he hurriedly said, "I already told you not to let idle people come upstairs! Why did you have to let this old procuress come up?"

Xiao Wu said, "Ah?"

The shopkeeper continued, "Go, kill everyone in Red Sleeve Pavilion."

Xiao Wu was speechless with shock. "Now?"

The shopkeeper suddenly got angry. "Go quickly! You must give the guest official an explanation tonight!"

Chen Ji was doubtful. Could it be that Longmen Inn is really so rule-abiding? The old procuress from Red Sleeve Pavilion came to assassinate him. Not only did the shopkeeper immediately come to save him, but he also wanted to help him get revenge and kill everyone from Red Sleeve Pavilion?

Are other guests treated like this too?

At this time, Xiao Wu pointed to the hole in the roof of Tian Zi Jia Number House. "Shopkeeper, the roof is broken. Repairing it will cost quite a bit. How much do you think the guest official should compensate?"

"Compensate what compensate!" The shopkeeper twisted Xiao Wu's ear. "Go get a broom and help the guest clean the room. Quickly vacate Tian Zi Bing Number Room and invite the guest to rest there."

Xiao Wu shouted in pain, but in his heart, he was puzzled. In the past, if a guest broke a cup, the shopkeeper wanted to make them compensate until they were bankrupt before leaving. Today, the roof has such a big hole, but there's no need to compensate?

He secretly muttered bad luck and lowered his head with Xiao Liu to get a broom.

The shopkeeper smiled and squinted at Chen Ji. "Guest official, you will all move into Bing Number Room in a bit. Although that room is not as big as Jia Number Room, it is also fully equipped."

Chen Ji said thanks.

The shopkeeper changed the subject. "I heard you are the third son of the Chen family. Is that true?"

Chen Ji thought that this matter should not be hidden anyway, so he immediately nodded and admitted it.

The shopkeeper smiled even more kindly. "Guest official, you must have also heard the long ringing bell of Guyuan tonight. Jing Dynasty surrounds the city, and there must be a fierce battle here. How about you leave from our inn's secret passage and go to Feng Sheng State on the West Capital Road of Jing Dynasty to avoid the wind? We also have people there who will guarantee your safety."

Chen Ji became vigilant. He thought to himself that this shopkeeper was probably still coveting his wealth. "No need. I think I'll stay a bit longer."

Seeing his expression, the shopkeeper immediately secretly thought it was not good. "Guest official, did you see that black gauze hat in the stable... Actually, to be honest, the tunnel under the stable is not for leaving the city. The real secret passage is hidden behind my counter. Where I usually stand, just lift the wooden board. From there, you can leave the city. Xiao Wu will lead you through the underground palace, and it will only take one day to leave the territory of Guyuan."

Chen Ji was surprised and doubtful. Why would this shopkeeper reveal the biggest secret of Longmen Inn?

No, this is probably another scheme by the opponent.

He thought it over and over again, and finally shook his head and said, "Thank you very much for the shopkeeper's good intention. There's no need for the secret passage. I believe Guyuan City will not fall."

The shopkeeper was anxious. He was telling the truth, but why didn't anyone believe him? "You should leave quickly! You absolutely cannot have an accident in our inn!"

Chen Ji raised his eyebrows. "Hmm?"

The shopkeeper knew he had made a slip of the tongue and quickly turned and walked away. "Guest official, rest early. I guarantee that no one will come to our inn to commit murder from now on."

He walked down the stairs and let out a long sigh of relief.

Just then, the door curtain lifted, and Third Master appeared from somewhere.

Third Master glanced at the shopkeeper and walked towards the stairs without a word. But the shopkeeper quickly walked a few steps, pulled Third Master's arm, and said angrily, "If you don't believe this old man, you can say it directly. This old man can stop being a shopkeeper. This old man can also stop caring about the secret passage. This old man can want nothing!"

Third Master frowned. "What are you going crazy about?"

The shopkeeper took a deep breath. "I said, that year I surrendered to Jing Dynasty, it was General Wen Tao's intention. I killed some of my own people, but I had no choice. If I didn't kill them, the people of Jing Dynasty wouldn't believe me!"

Third Master stared at the shopkeeper. "The General never mentioned to us that he ordered you to lurk in Jing Dynasty."

The shopkeeper said helplessly, "The General didn't tell you all this, not because the General didn't trust me, but because the General didn't trust you all, afraid you would leak the news! Now, you clearly know that the person upstairs is coming to Guyuan, why are you unwilling to tell me?"

Third Master coldly laughed. "In the battle of Qu Wu Mountain, someone saw you at that time only ten plus steps away from the 'Yuan Zhen' banner. Why didn't you go kill him?"

The shopkeeper said angrily, "He is the commander of the Tian Ce Army. He definitely has Xun Dao realm experts beside him. How could I kill him? The General sent me to probe military intelligence, not to die!"

Third Master calmly said, "Second Brother, loyalty and righteousness are not spoken with the mouth, they are exchanged with life."

The shopkeeper opened his mouth, but finally waved his hand dispiritedly. "Alright, alright, alright. You are all heroes and good men of Ning Dynasty. I am a surrendered general of Jing Dynasty, alright?"

Saying so, he turned around and walked towards the backyard lonely.

Third Master said in a low voice behind him, "Only you and a few others know about that person upstairs. Don't let me hear you leak anything, and you cannot recognize him."

"No need for you to remind me."