Chapter 246: The Real Secret Passage

*Dong, dong, dong*, a knocking sound rang out.

Sitting at the eight immortals table, Chen Ji looked towards the tightly closed room door. Wu Yun also jumped down from the window sill.

He slowly stood up, gripping the whale knife tightly beside him, and calmly asked: "Who is it?"

The old procuress outside the door said with a smile: "Young master, I have brought the silver, and I also want to find you to buy some more news."

Xiao Man said: "Young master, I'll go open the door."

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

Saying so, he lifted the whale knife and slowly walked to the door. He used the end of the whale knife wrapped in gray cloth to slowly lift the door latch.

The next moment, as the sound of the door latch lifting open rang out, the old procuress outside the door already struck through the door.

*Bang, bang, bang*, six sounds were heard. The old procuress's fingers held six bone-piercing nails which shot out from the gaps, wood chips flew from the door, and six bone-piercing nails pierced through from outside.

*Doh, doh, doh*, six sounds.

Inside the room, Chen Ji held the whale knife in front of him. Six bone-piercing nails in a row were all blocked on the whale knife sheath.

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

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

She crossed both hands, her fingers clamping three bone-piercing nails from her left and right sleeves respectively. Her arms moved like a thousand-handed Guanyin, drawing afterimages. One by one, the bone-piercing nails struck through the wooden door, shattering it!

The originally intact wooden door instantly shattered, creating a hole. But when the old procuress looked closely, where was the person behind the door?

The six bone-piercing nails she had just thrown were exactly 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. She stood cautiously at the door and said in a low voice: "I know the people beside you are ordinary people. If you don't want to involve them, come out yourself."

Inside the room was completely silent. No one answered.

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

The next moment, Wu Yun let out a *meow*. Without turning his head, Chen Ji stabbed the whale knife backwards towards the window.

The knife blade went through the white paper window, piercing 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 sound.

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

Xiao Man stared at this scene: "Young master, you..."

Before her words fell, Wu Yun let out another *meow*: "There are still four on the roof."

Chen Ji's mind was startled.

He stepped on the eight immortals table and leaped up, chopping upwards with the knife. Where the knife body reached, piece by piece gray tiles shattered, and the house beam's main supports broke.

*Boom*, a large section of the entire roof collapsed. One assassin was thrown hard into the room, and another assassin had his leg chopped off by this strike.

A muffled groan came from the roof. Blood followed the tiles and flowed down, pouring from the eaves, splashing into the inn's backyard.

In the corridor, the old procuress heard the movement and immediately kicked the wooden door into pieces, wanting to rush into the room.

The instant she kicked the wooden door shattered, in the dim room, a flash of snow-bright knife light suddenly appeared between the wood chips. The old procuress kicked backwards with force, barely dodging the whale knife.

Just when she was about to use all her strength and shoot out all the bone-piercing nails in her body, she suddenly saw that behind the knife light, there was still a trace of black, like a bamboo leaf, or like a sword,

Floating lightly, it appeared from behind the knife light.

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

Like a spider, she used her hands and feet together to crawl up the corridor wall, all the way up to the house beam, coldly surveying her surroundings, searching for the trace of that black short sword.

The old procuress was shocked and doubtful in her heart. That black short sword, it seemed to be cultivated by the master of Qu Wu Mountain, mentioned in legends...

Before she could think clearly, the sword seed flew over her back like a poisonous snake spitting its tongue, lightly brushing across her neck, then disappearing into the dark corridor.

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

Her eyes were fixed on Chen Ji: "Sword..."

*Chi*, 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 behind the counter, stepping on the stairs' handrail with his feet, his body light as a swallow ascending to heaven.

Xiao Wu, beside 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: "Save

people! I'll go to the third floor. Xiao Wu, Xiao Liu, you two take weapons and go up to the roof and kill all those people from Hong Xiu Pavilion!"

Xiao Wu felt inexplicable. Just now you were still saying we run a black inn, how did you change your mind and want to save people?

At this time, the shopkeeper stepped on the stairs' handrail and leaped straight up to the third floor. Just as he was about to rush into the Tian Zi Jia Hao room, he saw Chen Ji holding a five-foot long knife, standing in front of the old procuress's corpse.

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

She just died?

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

The shopkeeper felt an unspeakable bitterness in his heart. He couldn't tell the real reason and could only make up a lie to explain: "Young... guest official, I heard movement upstairs and immediately hurried to assist."

Chen Ji was half-believing, half-doubting: "Is that so?"

The shopkeeper sincerely said: "It's absolutely true! Our Long Men Inn has rules. No one is allowed to kill people in the inn. I thought this old procuress from Hong Xiu Pavilion might want to do something improper against you, so I came to execute her. I didn't expect guest official's skills to be so excellent that I wasn't needed at all."

While speaking, shouts and kills from Xiao Wu and Xiao Liu came from the roof. Several people were fighting on the tiles, killing from south to north, from east to west on the roof.

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

Xiao Wu limped to the corridor and threw the corpse at the shopkeeper's feet: "Shopkeeper, killed two of those Houtian realm petty officials, one ran away."

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

But the shopkeeper wasn't giving up. He looked at Xiao Wu and said angrily: "What's the use of raising you? How did you still let one run away?"

Xiao Wu scratched his head: "Your instructions just now were late. If it weren't for you..."

The shopkeeper's face changed, and he quickly said: "I told you earlier not to let idle people go upstairs. Why did you let this old procuress up?"

Xiao Wu: "Ah?"

The shopkeeper continued: "Go, kill everyone inside Hong Xiu Pavilion."

Xiao Wu was shocked: "Now?"

The shopkeeper suddenly became angry: "Still not going quickly? Tonight, I must give guest official an explanation!"

Chen Ji was doubtful. Could it be that Long Men Inn really follows the rules so strictly? The old procuress from Hong Xiu Pavilion came to assassinate him. Not only did the shopkeeper immediately come to save him, but he also wanted to help him take revenge and kill all the people from Hong Xiu Pavilion?

Do other guests receive this kind of treatment?

At this time, Xiao Wu pointed at the broken hole in the roof of the Tian Zi Jia Hao room: "Shopkeeper, the roof is broken. It will cost a lot of money to repair. How much do you think it's appropriate for the guest official to compensate?"

"Compensate what!" The shopkeeper twisted Xiao Wu's ear: "Go get a broom and help the guest clean the room. Quickly vacate the Tian Zi Bing Hao room and ask the guest to go in and rest."

Xiao Wu cried out in pain, but he was puzzled in his heart: In the past, when a guest broke a cup, the shopkeeper hated it if they didn't compensate until they were bankrupt before leaving. Today, such a big hole was made in the roof, and there's no need to compensate?

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

The shopkeeper squinted his eyes and smiled at Chen Ji: "Guest official, you will all be staying in the Bing Hao room later. Although that room is not as big as the Jia Hao room, it is still fully equipped."

Chen Ji said thank you.

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

Chen Ji thought this matter probably couldn't be hidden and immediately nodded and admitted it.

The shopkeeper's smile became more harmonious: "Guest official, in the evening

You also heard the long ringing bell of Gu Yuan. The Jing Dynasty has surrounded the city. There must be a fierce battle here. How about you leave through our inn's secret passage and go to Feng Sheng State on the Jing Dynasty's West Capital Road to avoid the wind? We also have people there who can guarantee your safety."

Chen Ji became vigilant. He thought that this shopkeeper was probably still coveting his money: "No need, I want to stay a bit longer."

The shopkeeper saw his expression and immediately thought it was bad: "Guest official, did you see the black official hat in the stable? In fact, 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. You can leave the city from there. Xiao Wu will lead the way for you through the underground palace, and you can leave the boundary of Gu Yuan in just one day."

Chen Ji was surprised and doubtful. What was with this shopkeeper? Why would he spill the biggest secret of Long Men Inn?

That's not right. This is probably the other side's new scheme.

He thought about it again and again, and finally shook his head and said: "Thank you very much for the shopkeeper's kindness. There is no need for a secret passage. I believe Gu Yuan city will not be broken."

The shopkeeper was anxious. Why did no one believe him when he was telling the truth? "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 around and walked away: "Guest official, rest early. Below is guaranteed, and no one will come to our inn to commit murder again."

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

Just then, the door curtain lifted, and Third Master came from who knows where.

Third Master glanced at the shopkeeper and walked towards the stairs without a word. But the shopkeeper quickly walked a few steps and pulled Third Master's arm, saying angrily: "If you don't believe me, just say it directly. This old shopkeeper won't do it. This old man won't care about the secret passage either. This old man doesn't want anything!"

Third Master frowned: "What are you talking about?"

The shopkeeper took a deep breath: "I said before, when I surrendered to the Jing Dynasty that year, 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 the Jing Dynasty wouldn't believe me!"

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

The shopkeeper said helplessly: "The General didn't tell you this, not because he didn't trust me, but because he didn't trust you, afraid you would leak the news! Now, you clearly know that this one upstairs came to Gu Yuan, why are you unwilling to tell me?"

Third Master let out a cold laugh: "In the battle of Qu Wu Mountain, someone saw you were only a dozen steps away from Yuan Zhen's banner at that time. Why didn't you go kill him?"

The shopkeeper said angrily: "He is the Great Commander of the Tian Ce Army. There must be 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: "Old Second, loyalty and righteousness are not spoken with the mouth, they are exchanged with life."

The shopkeeper opened his mouth, and finally waved his hand dejectedly: "Fine, fine, fine, you are all heroes and good men of the Ning Dynasty, I am a surrendered general of the Jing Dynasty, alright then?"

Saying so, he turned his body and walked sadly towards the backyard.

Third Master said in a low voice behind him: "Only a few of us know what's going on with that one upstairs. Don't let me hear you leak anything, and don't acknowledge each other with him."

"No need for you to remind me."