Chapter 68: The Whale

Inside Taiping Yiguan, the arrival of the gold pig caused such an awkward scene that everyone fell silent and spoke very little.

Inside the apprentice's sleeping quarters, there was one person and one cat.

Heiyun spoke in a low voice about his findings: "We followed him all the way south. This person is very alert. If anything felt slightly off, he would immediately stop and observe his surroundings, then deliberately set a trap to lure the tracker in.

"Going back and forth, he pulled that trick four times. He finally let his guard down. In the forest near Tuoluosi Temple in the south, he took out a carriage and waited at the temple gate.

After a while, I saw Liu Mingxian come out of the temple and get into the carriage."

Chen Ji was surprised: "He's actually Liu Mingxian's coachman! The one who initially picked up the master from the medical hall to diagnose Old Master Liu was also him."

He thought for a moment before saying: "I guess Liu Mingxian doesn't know that there's a Jingchao Military Intelligence Department person hidden right beside him. Otherwise, why would the Military Intelligence Department still need me and Yunfei to connect?

This coachman, Si Cao, is placed in an excellent position. Not only can he know Liu Mingxian's whereabouts at any time, but he can also eavesdrop on Liu Mingxian's conversations with others.

Liu family's coachmen all live together. If the other coachmen aren't vigilant, this coachman, Si Cao, can even find out where other people in the Liu family went, what they did, and who they met.

But why would such a clever and cautious Si Cao risk exposure to come to Taiping Yiguan this morning? Did he come to kill me?"

Chen Ji recalled the conversation between the two Si Cao. Yuan Shouzhang said: "What are you doing here?"

Coachman Si Cao replied: "What are you doing here?"

Immediately after, Yuan Shouzhang said: "Luocheng is now under my management. You need to correct your position."

Chen Ji mumbled to himself: "'You need to correct your position.' Under what circumstances would someone say something like this?"

Heiyun raised a paw: "I know this! The day before yesterday, after I subdued a leading Lihua cat, it was still disobedient. I beat it again, and then I said 'correct your own position'!"

Chen Ji was stunned, a spark of realization flashing in his mind. "So that's how it is. There's been a major power shift in the Luocheng Military Intelligence Department. That coachman, Si Cao, used to be in charge of Luocheng, but now it's under the new Yuan Shouzhang's jurisdiction. Coachman Si Cao has been marginalized."

The power shift in the Military Intelligence Department, after his uncle retired, meant a major power fell to the side.

And that coachman, Si Cao, had mentioned multiple times that his uncle had entrusted him with his care, presumably having a very close relationship with his uncle. Naturally, he also became a target of exclusion.

Chen Ji doubted: "But what was he doing at Taiping Yiguan this morning? Did he come to kill me?"

Heiyun's expression was serious: "He wants to kill you!"

"Not necessarily," Chen Ji shook his head. Earlier, Wu Hongbiao said that this coachman, Si Cao, wanted to kill them to show loyalty, but Chen Ji had always had a doubt:

That coachman, Si Cao, looked extremely fierce.

But...

When the Jingchao Military Intelligence Department suspected he had betrayed Zhou Chengyi, no matter how his subordinates accused him, coachman Si Cao never laid a harmful hand on him.

The other party had indeed hung him upside down and interrogated him, but after the interrogation, he hadn't even gotten a scratch.

Chen Ji didn't care what others said, only what they did. Based on these two points, he doubted that coachman Si Cao actually harbored any killing intent towards him.

Even if coachman Si Cao had changed his mind and wanted to kill him to show loyalty, the timing was also wrong.

Last night, he was with Liu Mingxian in the East Market. Coachman Si Cao was certainly there as well and had noticed him.

If the other party wanted to kill him, there were many opportunities last night. Why wait until this morning to come to the medical hall?

So, the other party didn't come to kill him.

This made Chen Ji even more suspicious: "Then what was he doing at Taiping Yiguan this morning? What reason would lead someone inherently cautious to quietly come to the medical hall while his employer was burning incense and worshipping Buddha—was there some unforeseen circumstance?

Wait, it's because Yuan Shouzhang came.

Coachman Si Cao didn't come to kill me. He came to protect me!"

Chen Ji laughed at his own deduction: "Why would he protect me...? But, either Wu Hongbiao messed things up, or he's lying. I have to figure this out.

Heiyun, did Wu Hongbiao go out yesterday?"

Heiyun replied: "No. You didn't send him a meal yesterday, so I went back to the medical hall to find Crow Uncle and brought him two pieces of coarse grain biscuits. Don't worry, I put them at his door while he was sleeping, so he didn't discover me."

Drinking messed things up, ah.

At this moment, Liang Maoer's voice came from outside the window: "Brother, why didn't you make a move just now?"

Liang Gouer pouted, dragging a bamboo broom, and lowered his head to say: "I've already told you about my three 'don't help' principles. Have you forgotten—I don't help the eunuch faction, and I don't help those against the eunuch faction."

"But we're friends," Liang Maoer's face was red with anxiety: "We went to the Drum Tower to watch the sunrise together this morning."

Liang Gouer sneered: "Plenty of people have gone to watch the sunset with me. Do I have to help every single one? Don't take words said while drinking seriously. That's the rule of the drinking field!"

Liang Maoer angrily grabbed his broom: "How did you become like this? You weren't like this before!"

Liang Gouer mumbled: "Before is before, now is now."

Inside the room, Heiyun looked at Chen Ji: "What just happened?"

Chen Ji was silent for a moment and asked: "Heiyun, if your friend hides many things from you, would you be angry?"

Heiyun thought for a long time: "I don't know. You're my first friend, and my only one. I don't have experience in this regard—but I guess I would be angry."

Chen Ji sighed inwardly. Just now, Bai Li County Lord had left angrily, perhaps angry that: clearly, they had all endured scolding together, drunk together, and watched the sunrise together—she had already considered everyone friends in her heart.

But why were there still people who saw their friends in difficulty and were unwilling to act—why were there still people who hid so many secrets?

But Chen Ji had no choice. Some secrets he could only keep buried in his heart.

Heiyun patted the back of Chen Ji's hand: "I'm going. There's still a fight I haven't finished just now. My subordinates are all waiting for me."

Chen Ji: "Okay, don't get any blood on your body..." After Heiyun left, Chen Ji slowly closed his eyes and thought about the clues from earlier.

If coachman Si Cao really hadn't intended to kill him, then did Wu Hongbiao lie or not—what kind of role did coachman Si Cao play in this matter—he could only wait until the evening to investigate further.

Chen Ji gathered up the sixteen covers and the furnace fire, allowing himself to pass through the sea of black clouds and fall onto the green mountain.

Once, Chen Ji hated this dream intensely. Night after night, the sounds of killing were like a nightmare, making him unable to wake up and restless in his sleep.

But now he liked it here, not only because there were exquisite killing skills, but also because here he didn't need to think about complex interpersonal relationships.

There was no Military Intelligence Department, no Secret Agent Department, no parents, and no uncle.

Here, Chen Ji only needed to kill repeatedly, learn skills one after another, and didn't need to think about anything else.

He turned around and saw Xuanyuan wearing a black king's robe, propping up the king's flag, sitting on the edge of the cliff, gazing into the distance.

The battlefield outside the cliff was solidified, the clouds in the sky rolled and relaxed, and even Chen Ji's mood followed suit and became peaceful.

He sat silently beside Xuanyuan: "All these years, have you been watching all this alone?"

Xuanyuan ignored him.

Chen Ji asked again: "Why are you in my dream?"

Xuanyuan glared at him: "I'm in your dream... you don't deserve it—this is my world."

Chen Ji: "......"

So this isn't a dream, but a real place?

Chen Ji suddenly asked: "Have you heard of the Forty-nine Heavens?"

Xuanyuan was puzzled: "What kind of place is that—never been there."

This confused Chen Ji as well. It was understandable that people on his side didn't know about the Forty-nine Heavens, but even someone like Xuanyuan, an 'immortal', didn't know of their existence. Could it be that Li Qingniao was talking nonsense?

"North Jialuzhou."

"Never heard of it."

"Then have you heard of this person, Li Qingniao?" Chen Ji asked.

"Never heard of them," Xuanyuan shook his head: "I've seen 'qingniao', but I've never heard of someone having this name... What nonsense are you talking about?"

Chen Ji was confused. Could it be that everyone didn't know about the existence of the Forty-nine Heavens?

Xuanyuan stood up: "Don't waste time. Feng Huai, give him a knife and train with him properly."

The plain-bladed warrior named Feng Huai nodded: "Yes, sir."

"Wait, wait," Chen Ji raised his hand and said: "But someone told me, I shouldn't practice with a knife."

Xuanyuan acted as if he had heard a huge joke: "Are you specifically here to tell me jokes? You shouldn't practice with a knife—someone said you shouldn't practice with a knife! Hahaha."

Xuanyuan's laughter was like a large bell rolling out—even the clouds were scattered by the sound.

Chen Ji's face sank: "Is it that funny?"

Xuanyuan pointed at him from the air and said puzzlingly: "You used a knife before!"

Chen Ji: "And there's this—the sword is the king of a hundred weapons, the knife is the guts of a hundred weapons—the knife is most suitable for you. If you don't practice with a knife, what will you practice?"

"Perhaps the knife was suitable for the past me, but I want to practice the sword now.

The person who taught me said that my current personality isn't suitable for using a knife, as it would waste the foundation I've built.

Your current personality... he's not entirely wrong," Xuanyuan said mockingly: "But with just your little bit of foundation, how can you talk about 'wasting practice'—wait until you've finished practicing with the knife, then you'll need to practice with the sword, axe, spear, staff, and hammer.

If you can't be proficient in all of them, how will you know what means the enemy will use to kill you—wait until you've practiced everything, then you'll know the ways of this world, different paths lead to the same destination."

Liang Gouer said not to practice, Xuanyuan said to practice. Who should he listen to?

Chen Ji chose to listen to Xuanyuan, because Xuanyuan's realm seemed much higher than Liang Gouer's...

He looked at Xuanyuan: "If I'm really the person you knew back then, what kind of knife did I use back then?"

Xuanyuan gazed at Chen Ji for a long time, then suddenly raised his hand and drew a large knife the height of a person from the void: "Try this one."

The knife handle was about two-thirds of the length, and the blade was about one-third. The handle had a gold dragon pattern, and the blade was like snow.

Xuanyuan threw it from the air. When Chen Ji received the knife, he was almost pulled down by the weight of the blade.

Chen Ji held the large knife with both hands and swung it several times, then immediately shook his head: "It doesn't work, I'm not used to it."

Xuanyuan drew a two-foot waist knife from the void again and threw it to Chen Ji: "Try this one again."

This knife's body was red, as if it had just been pulled out of lava.

Chen Ji swung it several more times: "It doesn't work, I'm still not used to it. It feels a bit awkward."

This kind of awkward feeling was like someone who was used to a certain pen suddenly changing to another—but still wanting to change back to the one before—both could be used and were skilled, but it was the one before.

Xuanyuan glanced at him, and one after another, summoned dozens of knives from the void, hanging in the air: "Pick one, pick until you like it."

Chen Ji went to the front of each knife, one after another. He picked up each one and tried holding it and chopping—there were sleeve knives and daggers, curved large knives, straight-handled knives, and round moon-shaped curved knives.

He carefully and meticulously compared the differences of each knife. Time passed minute by minute, and Xuanyuan didn't urge him at all.

This time, Xuanyuan was especially patient.

Finally, Chen Ji stopped at the front of a snow-bright, narrow, long knife. The blade was three feet three inches long, and the handle was two feet two inches long. When propped on the ground, the handle reached his collarbone.

Chen Ji lifted this knife in his hand and asked curiously: "What is this knife called?"

"You don't recognize it?"

"Should I recognize it?"

"Of course you should recognize it, because it is your knife," Xuanyuan said calmly: "It is called Whale."

"Did I name it?"

"No, I did."

Chen Ji was silent. So Xuanyuan's patience and waiting were just to see if he could choose this one.

And on this green mountain top, there were clearly more than fifty knives hanging in the air. He didn't choose one that was slightly longer, nor one that was slightly shorter, but precisely this one.

Holding this knife, "Whale", Chen Ji felt an inexplicable familiarity, as if he had found a long-lost friend.

At a certain moment, he also seriously wondered if he was really the person Xuanyuan was talking about, if the other party hadn't mistaken him for someone else.

This shock came very suddenly. Before this, although Chen Ji had apologized for his "past self" and tacitly approved Xuanyuan's guess, he actually didn't believe it in his heart.

He only wanted to learn more skills in this battlefield, learn how to kill, and learn the methods of the sword.

And now...

Chen Ji raised his head and looked at Xuanyuan: "Why is my knife in your hand? Did you kill me?"

Xuanyuan was silent.

Chen Ji suddenly laughed: "Haha, why the expression? Even if you killed me, here I am, alive again! Right, can I have this knife? Since you say this is your world, then this knife is also real, right?"

Xuanyuan glanced at him: "If you can defeat Feng Huai within three days, this knife will be returned to you."

Chen Ji casually made a flourish with the knife: "Then what are we waiting for?

Come on!"

Xuanyuan looked at Chen Ji and said seriously: "Don't think that being able to defeat the giant halberd warrior within a day means you're powerful. The bronze halberd is used in battle arrays to cope with charging war horses. It's not very flexible and is easy to find its weaknesses.

The knife is different. Being able to defeat Feng Huai proves that you have the qualifications to kill in a battle array."

Chen Ji asked curiously: "I see that the giant halberd warrior and the plain-bladed warrior you selected are dressed differently from the others. They're not ordinary soldiers, are they?"

Xuanyuan glanced at him: "They are both my Tiger Guards, elite soldiers, and instructors in all kinds of weapons."

Chen Ji was helpless. He was competing against the most skilled person, using the weapon the other party was most skilled with: "How do I feel like you really want to teach me all the killing skills of a battle array?"

Xuanyuan gave a cold laugh: "Feng Huai, chop him."

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