Green Mountain

Not only did Old Yao get up to inquire further.

Zhu Yunxi put down the knife in his hand, Liang Gou’er sat up straight, and Liang Mao’er nervously put down the pickled cabbage bun in his hand. They hadn’t heard any news about Chen Ji for a long time. The last they heard was that Chen Ji had married Zhang Xia.

That day, Princess Liyang asked Jiang Pan to fetch the best Jade Pot Spring from the wine cellar. Zhu Yunxi and Liang Gou’er celebrated from afar, drinking until they were unconscious. Even Old Yao made an exception and had a few drinks, sitting alone until dawn.

Princess Liyang, tipsy and confused, sat beside Old Yao talking nonsense all night, and surprisingly, Old Yao didn’t chase her away.

News of hometown and old friends is priceless, so much so that everyone asked Princess Liyang every day if there was any new news about Chen Ji.

Everyone originally thought that the next time they heard news about Chen Ji, it would be that he had a child or became a high official in the Ning Dynasty. They never expected that he broke into the Martial Temple Mountain Gate and stole the Holy Relic of the Weapon Master...

Liang Gou’er pondered for a long time, puzzled, and said, "Didn’t that guy just get married? Why isn’t he at home making babies and instead running off to the Martial Temple? Did his wife kick him out?"

Princess Liyang mocked, "What kind of wife did you marry to think like that? Even if Miss Ah Xia were fierce, she couldn’t have driven him from the Ning Dynasty Capital City to the Martial Temple. It must be that something happened in the Ning Dynasty that we don’t know about, and the news hasn’t reached me yet."

Old Yao impatiently said, "You drunks can gossip later; let’s talk about Chen Ji’s situation first."

Princess Liyang walked into the room: "The Tiger and Leopard Cavalry are after him now. He fought with Yuan Hengli Zhen, killed over a hundred Mo Blade Soldiers, and even left a scar on Yuan Hengli Zhen’s face. Three groups from the Twelve Central Forbidden Armies are chasing him, and the Right Martial Guard’s Marquis Changping, Yuan Xing, was very close to him, only a few steps away. Even the Tokyo Road is searching for him, and someone drew his likeness..."

The hearts of everyone in the room were stirred by her words.

Old Yao grumbled, "Stop leaving us hanging when you speak."

Princess Liyang went to the candlestick and burned the confidential letter from the Tokyo Road. The sudden flame illuminated her confident face: "Don’t worry, the Tokyo Road won’t spread his portrait outside. As long as he hides well, the Tiger and Leopard Cavalry and Central Forbidden Army may not find him."

Old Yao frowned, "He’s a stranger in this Ning Dynasty, and with the Jing Dynasty’s strict household registration, how can he hide?"

Princess Liyang laughed, "You still think of him as a child? In this year alone, he’s killed many and done so much, yet so many people in the Ning Dynasty wanted him dead and couldn’t do it. Hiding his tracks shouldn’t be a problem. In my opinion, escaping from Changbai Mountain was the hardest step, next would be leaving the Jing Dynasty. Now that he’s out of Changbai Mountain, he should be temporarily safe."

Old Yao frowned but said nothing.

Princess Liyang, feeling the effects of the alcohol, swayed as she said, "Oh right, there’s an old man with him. This old man seems to have some skill; otherwise, Chen Ji wouldn’t have been able to escape from Changbai Mountain."

Old Yao’s expression shifted: "What’s the old man’s background?"

Princess Liyang thought for a moment, "The Tokyo Road drew a portrait of half his face."

Old Yao asked deeply, "Where?"

Princess Liyang pointed to the candlestick, hiccupping, "Don’t worry, it’s already burned."

Old Yao remained silent for a while, then sighed, "I knew better than to let drunkards handle things!"

He started to head outside, but Princess Liyang held onto his arm: "Master, where are you going?"

Old Yao calmly said, "To find Chen Ji."

Princess Liyang, still groggy, asked, "Where to find him?"

Old Yao speculated, "To leave the Jing Dynasty, there are mainly four routes: Lushun Port, Yingkou Port, the Western Capital Road to Chongli Pass, and the Longyou Road to Guyuan. Longyou Road and Western Capital Road are too far; Lushun and Yingkou might be the best choices. But if it were him, he would probably want to take the Western Capital Road because he’s traveled it once before."

Princess Liyang shook her head, "No, no, no, I guess he’d take Longyou Road because he has friends there."

Old Yao continued out, "Whether it’s Longyou Road or Western Capital Road, you have to pass through Fengsheng State. We’ll go there to intercept him."

But suddenly Princess Liyang asked, "No, no, no, do you think he might come to Shangjing City?"

"Hmm?" Old Yao was puzzled.

Princess Liyang tilted her head in thought, "I was just thinking, someone like Chen Ji would sure want to go to Guyuan to see his friends. But then I thought, if he knew you were in Shangjing City, since he’s in the Jing Dynasty, he’d definitely want to come see you. I guess right now, he most wants to see you."

Old Yao chuckled, "He doesn’t know I’m in Shangjing City."

Princess Liyang pondered again, "That’s true... but what if he comes to find me too? I’m his friend after all."

Old Yao glanced at her sideways, "What kind of friend are you?"

Princess Liyang feigned anger and said: "What are you talking about? I have a life-and-death friendship with him and with Miss Axia."

"Moreover..." Her tone shifted with pride: "In the Ning Dynasty, he is my greatest support, and in the Jing Dynasty, I am his greatest support. If he wants to leave the Jing Dynasty, rather than struggling to find a path elsewhere, he might as well come to me. I have ways to send him back to the Ning Dynasty. Master, we stay in Shangjing City and use calmness to control the situation."

...

...

On the boundless snowy plains, Chen Ji, Old Ears, and Wu Yun lay side by side in the snow beside the official road, quietly observing the distant pass.

The pass was squeezed by two perilous peaks. Beyond the pass was a flat snowfield, only here did it suddenly tighten, and from the sides of the mountains, a narrow trail was pressed out. At this place, the court built a small Post City to review the coming and going people and collect goods taxes.

There was also a beacon tower on the gate tower, which could be ignited immediately in case of enemy presence, and the enemy situation could be transmitted across hundreds of miles via a series of beacon towers.

At this moment, over a hundred armored soldiers guarded the pass, and a flag embroidered with a golden axe fluttered atop the gate tower.

Old Ears whispered: "This place typically is filled with aimless infantry, but now it’s been taken over by the Left Martial Guard, presumably to catch you."

Chen Ji corrected him: "To catch us."

Old Ears pondered: "This pass is relatively simple; take some effort to climb over the nearby mountain and we can make it. But further ahead, the road may be harder to traverse, we’ll need proper household registration and a road permit, otherwise we won’t make it to Lushun."

Chen Ji suddenly said: "We’re not going to Lushun."

Old Ears was taken aback and turned his head to look: "Why not going to Lushun? Don’t you want to leave the Jing Dynasty?"

Chen Ji squinted his eyes against the sunlight reflecting off the snow, his lips cracked, he grabbed a handful of snow and stuffed it into his mouth to quench his thirst: "Everyone knows where to go to leave the Jing Dynasty, and naturally, the Jing Dynasty’s Central Forbidden Army and Tiger and Leopard Cavalry know as well. They might already be waiting for us at Lushun and Yingkou. We might as well head to Shangjing City; Princess Liyang owes me a favor, she might have a way to get us out."

Old Ears’ gaze wandered: "I’m not going to Shangjing City, back in the day, that place scared me to death, I even lost the sword seed there."

Chen Ji said calmly: "You dare to visit the Temple of Martial Arts, yet won’t go to Shangjing? After being away from home for so many years, don’t you want to go back and take a look, or are all your previous reasons just lies?"

Speaking of which, Chen Ji became suspicious: "Do you have other things you’re hiding from me?"

Old Ears lay back in the snow: "Anyway, I don’t know the way."

Chen Ji gritted his teeth: "I’ll find the way myself, if you don’t want to go, we’ll go our separate ways."

He goes to Shangjing not only to find Princess Liyang, but also to inquire from her if she has heard any news about Old Yao. After all, Old Yao took Mao’er, Gou’er, and the Princely Heir to the Jing Dynasty a long time ago, there should be some movement.

The two men and one cat lay for an hour, until twilight before heading to the snow mountain beside the pass.

Just as they climbed halfway up the mountain, Wu Yun suddenly raised its ears in Chen Ji’s arms and exhaled toward the front.

Chen Ji followed Wu Yun’s gaze and saw a fierce tiger standing silently in the distant mountain pass, quietly observing them.

The moonlight shone from behind the fierce tiger, Chen Ji could only discern its silhouette: "Is it the one from Changbai Mountain?"

Wu Yun meowed: "It is."

The fierce tiger slowly retreated behind a big tree, only revealing its head and staring at Wu Yun, looking more sneaky than possessing any kingly aura of a hundred beasts.

Chen Ji pondered for a moment and continued forward, but when the fierce tiger saw him approaching, it turned and ran into the mountains, disappearing within breaths.

Chen Ji reached the spot where the fierce tiger had hidden and found a spotted deer lying in the snow, its neck bleeding profusely, apparently recently hunted by the fierce tiger.

Old Ears stood beside him: "Is this a gift for us? It probably has been following us, knowing we haven’t eaten all day."

Chen Ji corrected: "A gift for me."

Old Ears rolled his eyes: "Now you’re clear about it."

He pulled a short knife from Chen Ji’s sleeve, swiftly gutted the spotted deer’s belly and extracted a bloody deer heart.

Old Ears cleaned the deer heart with snow and then sliced off a piece of meat, handing it to Chen Ji: "Deer heart is a good thing, in this wilderness we can’t make a fire, make do with eating it raw."

Chen Ji accepted the meat but didn’t eat it immediately, he quietly stared at the direction where the fierce tiger had vanished, and found it hadn’t gone far, stopping a hundred steps away and observing them secretly again.