Aoyama

Chapter 391 Seeing is Believing
Chen Ji joked, "So I'm actually worth this much."

When the forty-two assassins disguised as Jie Fanwei appeared, Chen Ji, Zhang Xia, and Zhang Zheng subconsciously thought that these people were after the Crown Prince and the Prince of Fu: no one else was worth such a large mobilization.

But it wasn't until the crossbow bolts were shot down from Yingluo Rock that Zhang Xia suddenly realized that these people wanted to kill Chen Ji.

Who would go to such great lengths to kill a mere centurion of the Imperial Guard?

Without time to think, the group quickly left Yingluo Rock along the narrow mountain path, and Baisonggang was just ahead.

Before they could even catch their breath, crossbow bolts rained down from the side of Baisonggang.

At the critical moment, Yangyang roared, "Yangfang, Yangxian, take the arrow!"

The two soldiers led by Yangyang rushed to the side of the group without hesitation, and wearing armor, they took more than ten crossbow bolts for them.

In an instant, the two men were riddled with crossbow bolts, but they gritted their teeth and continued to gallop on horseback without uttering a word, covering the others as they crossed the mountain path.

Fortunately, they arrived wearing the dark armor of the Long Live Army, so only the arrowheads could penetrate their skin and muscles after passing through the armor.

Sheep asked loudly, "Is something wrong?"

Yang Fang gritted his teeth and said, "It didn't hit any vital organs, so he won't die."

Just because you're not dead doesn't mean you're not in pain.

Qi Zhenzhuo looked at the arrows on the two men and put himself in their shoes. If Chen Ji had asked him to block the arrows, he would never have been so decisive.

At this moment, on the side slope of Baisonggang, there were still people hiding behind pine trees, shooting arrows in the dark, ready to chase and kill at any time.

Sheep looked up and saw that the path ahead was a difficult and rugged uphill road, which was hard for the horses to walk on.

Zhang Zheng asked breathlessly, "Discard the horse?"

Zhang Xia said firmly, "We can't abandon the horse! Abandoning it here is tantamount to suicide. Once we get past this mountain path, the road ahead is flat. Let's make it through!"

Qi Zhenzhuo looked back at the mountains and forests: "They will definitely chase after us. When that happens, we'll be sitting ducks as we slowly climb the hillside... Someone needs to stay down the mountain to buy time for the people coming up."

At this point, he turned to look at the arrows still embedded in the bodies of the Emperor's soldiers, gritted his teeth, and said, "I can stay behind to cover their retreat!"

Chen Ji said decisively, "No, you go first, Yangyang and I will cover the rear."

As soon as he finished speaking, Yangyang did not hesitate and immediately slowed down with him, gradually falling to the back of the group.

The two men slowly stopped their horses at the foot of the hillside and coldly swept their gazes across the slope of Baisonggang.

The trees growing on Baisonggang are not white pines, but smoke trees (Cotinus coggygria). In autumn, the leaves of the smoke trees turn red, which is the origin of the name "Fragrant Hills Red Leaves".

The assassins were very patient. They hid behind the trees, waiting for Chen Ji and Yang Yang to escape before they caught up with them. They remained locked in a stalemate, neither moving an inch.

However, the trunk of the smoke tree is not thick, and there are always places where its shape cannot be fully concealed.

Sheep's eyes scanned the forest and spotted an assassin hiding behind a tree, his right leg sticking out an inch from the trunk.

He immediately drew two arrows and drew the bowstring taut.

The first arrow tore through the outside of the assassin's calf, which was protruding from the tree trunk. The assassin involuntarily slumped to the side and let out a cry of pain.

In an instant, the second arrow arrived, piercing the assassin's throat, and the scream of pain came to an abrupt end.

Yangyang glanced sideways at Chenji: "How..."

Before he could finish speaking, he suddenly saw Chen Ji Kong draw the bowstring, and the bowstring of the Yang family's ancestral horn bow emitted a powerful humming sound.

Hearing the sound of the bowstring, the assassin behind the smoke tree immediately darted out, intending to counterattack while Chen Ji was reloading his arrow. However, it was only at this moment that Chen Ji finally nocked his arrow and pierced through the assassin who had darted out.

The arrow was so powerful that it pierced through the assassin, carrying his body and raincoat backward with it.

Yangyang scrutinized the evidence, then subconsciously asked, "You didn't actually kill that many people in Guyuan, did you?"

Hearing is unreliable, seeing is believing.

The Wansui Army, ruthless in killing, naturally knew how difficult it was to kill over a hundred Tian Ce soldiers. They encountered the Jing Dynasty cavalry head-on outside Chongli Pass, fighting for several hours until their swords were dulled and blunted. Even a Grand General at the peak of the Innate Realm couldn't possibly collect over a hundred heads; only a Grand General at the Seeking Dao Realm would have a chance.

When they first heard the Crown Prince's report of his victory, they laughed uproariously in the military camp, thinking that the Crown Prince had lost his mind and was making outrageous boasts.

But now, Yangyang scrutinizes Chen Ji and has taken the victory report seriously, otherwise she wouldn't have given him the ancestral horn bow: "It's strange. If it's true, why has the Crown Prince never come out to defend you? He just lets others ruin your reputation like this?"

Chen Ji calmly replied, "I don't know."

While using her gaze to intimidate the assassins in the mountains, Yangyang extended an olive branch: "Kid, how about joining my Longevity Army? The Imperial Guard is all pretty women; it's not suitable for you." Chen Ji looked up at the hillside and, seeing that everyone had already crossed it, immediately said, "Now is not the time to talk about this. You go first!"

Without further hesitation, Yangyang spurred his horse and charged up the hillside. When he reached the middle of the hill, he seemed to remember something and suddenly untied the quiver from his waist and threw it to Chen Ji: "You only have three arrows left, not enough. Use mine first, I still have three here."

Chen Ji caught the quiver in mid-air and stuffed it into the gap between his right leg and the saddle, the quickest place to draw an arrow.

Just as Yangyang was climbing the mountain, more than ten assassins hiding behind the smoke tree suddenly rushed out. They were wearing raincoats and straw hats, holding crossbows in their left hands and dragging long knives in their right hands, exuding a murderous aura.

"Kill!" someone shouted in a low voice. "Six arrows, six lives, trade them for him!"

However, before they could even reach the ruins, they heard bowstrings twanging one after another. The assassins charged forward, but out of the corner of their eyes, they saw their comrades being carried away by arrows, one by one.

In the blink of an eye, only four of the dozen or so people remained!

The assassin's pupils constricted sharply. More than ten arrows had already been fired—it was a trap! Just now, Yangyang deliberately said that Chen Ji only had three arrows left; it was clearly a trick she was using in collusion with Chen Ji!

The sheep on the hillside sneered, "Whose suicide squad are you? You're all brave but no clever, you can't take our lives. Let's have your leader come and take charge!"

As he spoke, he saw a flock of birds taking flight in the distance on the hillside, clearly indicating that more assassins were converging on this side: "Not good, run!"

After saying that, he climbed over the hillside and disappeared.

Without further hesitation, Chen Ji spurred his horse up the mountain.

As he urged his warhorse up the mountain, he turned back to draw his bow and suppress the assassins behind him, fighting and retreating simultaneously.

When he reached the mountainside, he saw more than twenty assassins in the distance, wearing raincoats that were covered with morning dew. As they ran, they shook the dew off the raincoats.

The two fastest among them looked up and met his gaze, their eyes beneath their straw hats filled with murderous intent.

……

……

Zhang Xia crossed the mountain and waited at the foot of the mountain. After a long time, Yang Yang finally came to join them.

Zhang Zheng looked up and saw that Yang Yang had left Chen Ji alone on the other side of the mountain. He was immediately shocked: "Yang Yang, why did you leave Chen Ji there alone to cover our retreat?"

Yangyang said irritably, "Zhang Zheng, you son of a bitch, isn't my life a life too?"

Zhang Zheng raised an eyebrow: "That's not what I meant, but you two covered the rear together, so why did you run here first?"

Yangyang sneered: "What's the big deal? Of course, the best way to cover the rear is to stay last. When our founding emperor was defeated and fled to Luoyang, he personally led his troops to cover the rear. The enemy general led three hundred cavalrymen straight towards him, but the emperor shot them from both sides, and the pursuers fell to the ground without a sound. Only then did the pursuers give up their attempt."

Zhang Zheng hesitated for a moment: "Yesterday I heard in the opera that Emperor Taizu was defeated in Ganzhou, and today I heard you say that he was defeated in Luoyang. How come he keeps losing... How did the Ning Dynasty come about?"

Zhang Xia looked up at the hillside and said calmly, "It's not surprising. Emperor Taizu suffered forty-one defeats in his life, experiencing forty-one great ups and downs. He only established the Ning Dynasty at the age of forty-five. Only those who can afford to lose can become emperors."

As he spoke, Chen Ji had already swooped down the mountain: "Hurry up!"

After he descended the mountain, Zhang Xia urged Zaozao to follow him: "Chen Ji, these people didn't just enter the mountain; they must have been lying in ambush here last night. Moreover, there are definitely more than forty-two of them."

The opponent came prepared and had no intention of letting Chen Ji leave Xiangshan alive... But who exactly is it that insists on killing him?
who is it?

If they don't even know who the enemy is, they can't even determine where to escape next.

Chen Ji lay on the horse's back, eyes closed in deep thought, letting the mountain wind whip his hair around.

When he opened his eyes again, he said in a voice that only Zhang Xia could hear, "It's the Crown Prince."

Zhang Xia frowned in thought.

Chen Ji continued to speculate, "Only those who went through the battle of Guyuan with you and me know that killing me is not easy. Only you know that I have truly killed hundreds of Tian Ce soldiers."

Of all those who wanted to kill Chen Ji, only the Crown Prince knew that killing Chen Ji would cost hundreds of lives.

Zhang Xia asked in a low voice, "Capture a few alive, keep them as evidence to take back to the capital and hand them over to the Hu family, and then bribe Meng Ji to interrogate them in a dream. The Hu family must be interested in pushing for the removal of the crown prince."

Chen Ji shook his head: "The assassins who dare to use this place will definitely not be able to find any clues. They may only know that they want to kill me, but they don't know why they want to kill me. They may not even know who is raising them... We need to capture them alive, but not now."

Zhang Xia pondered for a moment and said, "If there is an ambush, we can't continue towards Xianglu Peak. Yangyang and I will go back with you and leave through Hongye Courtyard. Perhaps there are the fewest pursuers there."

Chen Ji glanced back at the flock of birds circling in the sky, then suddenly turned his horse around and charged towards the 'Eighteen Bends Mountain Road': "We can't go back the way we came, follow me."

Zhang Xia didn't understand where he was going at first, but when she saw the direction he was heading, her eyes lit up.

(End of this chapter)