Chapter 72

It was night, the time of Hai.

In the medical hall, everyone was in deep sleep. Only the main hall still had a beam of light. The flame of the oil lamp on the counter flickered, illuminating only a small patch of brightness. Chen Ji, with his sleeves rolled up, stood behind the red wooden counter. His hair was tied in a bun with a wooden hairpin. He was focused on grinding charcoal pieces into powder, then mixing it with the jar of high-proof baijiu he had once bought. He spread the mixture on the counter. He pushed the oil lamp a bit further away, quietly waiting for the alcohol, hydride, and oxide to volatilize completely.

While waiting for the volatilization, he gently fanned himself and looked up at the beam. On the beam, a small spider was slowly weaving its web. A moth flew into the web and struggled hard. The spider crawled towards the moth, unaware that on the edge of its web, a gecko was waiting.

At this moment, a voice came from behind him: "Why is there such a strong smell of alcohol in the room? Did you drink?"

Chen Ji stood up and turned around, looking at the suddenly appeared Yao Laotou with a laugh. "Master, you're not sleeping yet?"

"Did you divine and calculate that..."

Yao Laotou scoffed, "You're cooking for everyone again, putting on a sentimental show. I don't need divination to guess. Not only can I divine, but I can also use my brain."

"Oh."

Yao Laotou stood opposite him, casually looking at the charcoal powder on the counter. "Tell me, where are you planning to go?"

Chen Ji shook his head. "I'm not leaving. You might be wrong this time."

Yao Laotou was slightly stunned. He took out six copper coins from his sleeve and threw them on the counter. While interpreting the divination, he said, "Eh, you really aren't leaving. Why aren't you leaving?"

Chen Ji laughed. "Heaven creates chaos, move in danger, born towards death. Isn't this the divination image you calculated for me? I'm not suited for running away."

"Suitable for courting death. The Secret Office's Twelve Zodiacs of the southern Ning Dynasty are watching you. The Military Intelligence Office's Si Cao of the northern Jing Dynasty wants to kill you. Why stay here if you're not leaving?"

Chen Ji didn't reply. He just looked up at the spider and gecko on the beam again, wanting to see if the gecko had eaten the spider.

Yao Laotou followed his gaze and looked. "So this time, are you that spider, or that gecko, or are you that moth already fallen into the spider web?"

Chen Ji didn't answer. He just took advantage of gathering the already dried charcoal powder and picked up the copper scale to weigh the amount. He took out the previously purified and prepared sulfur, saltpeter, and white sugar, mixed them evenly, and poured them into a bamboo tube, then mixed in a small amount of iron pieces.

At this moment, Hei Yun drilled in through the window gap. In this heavy atmosphere, it first looked at Yao Laotou, then at Chen Ji, and meowed. "Just as you guessed, the golden pig has already found clues from the Crafts Supervision."

Chen Ji didn't look up. He carefully sealed the bamboo tube well, leaving a thin paper and gunpowder twisted into a fuse. Only then did Chen Ji place the bamboo tube on the counter and look up, laughing. "Master, I'm not a moth, nor a spider, much less a gecko."

He looked at the oil lamp on the edge of the counter. "I am that flame, a flame that doesn't belong to this era."

Chen Ji took a piece of cloth, wrapped three bamboo tubes in it, and tied it on his back. He waved at Hei Yun, turned around, and went out.

Yao Laotou stared at him for a long time. "How much ice flow do you have in your body, enough to absorb several ginseng roots?"

Chen Ji thought for a moment and said, "Six roots."

Yao Laotou walked to the medicine cabinet and pulled open the drawer. "Convert all the ice flow and then go."

Chen Ji's eyes lit up. It turned out that Master had bought ten ginseng roots early in the morning to leave for himself. "Thank you, Master."

"One ginseng root is thirty taels of silver, or three gold melon seeds."

Chen Ji's expression paused. "I thought you wanted to give it to me."

Yao Laotou laughed coldly. "If I give it to you, I won't be able to get by."

"Alright, I'll only exchange five roots."

Chen Ji counted twelve gold melon seeds from his sleeve and placed them on the counter, then took out thirty taels of silver from the apprentice dormitory... At this time, his hard-earned savings were only sixty-three taels of white silver left.

"Master, I'm leaving."

Chen Ji picked up five ginseng roots and transformed them into transparent crystal beads, feeding them to Hei Yun one by one. Carrying the bundle, he walked into the backyard, climbed onto the roof, and merged into the night.

By the apricot tree, Yao Laotou looked in the direction he left and casually threw down six copper coins. "Great misfortune."

A crow cawed.

Yao Laotou said impatiently, "You chose the path yourself, you walk it yourself. If you want to go, just go and see. I won't stop you."

At night in Zhenghe Street, there was only a charcoal cart pulled by two oxen, slowly heading towards the East Market. As winter set in, charcoal became a necessity. For example, the capital city distributes seven hundred and twenty thousand jin of charcoal to officials in the capital every year. The imperial palace used red basket charcoal, officials and nobles preferred West Mountain silver silk charcoal, wealthy families burned tung wood charcoal, and ordinary families used black charcoal. Without charcoal, winter was particularly difficult to bear. This was the best time for charcoal merchants. Charcoal burned well in the mountains and forests, was transported to Luoyang City's East Market by grain transport, and then sold from the East Market to every household. Carts came and went continuously every day.

The charcoal cart was different from ordinary ox carts; its four sides were sealed, but the top was open. The charcoal peddler driving the ox cart hummed little tunes all the way, seemingly unaware that in the shadow by the roadside, someone with a cat perched on his shoulder was waiting for him to pass slowly. When the charcoal cart passed the shadow, Chen Ji quickly walked two steps and lightly flipped into the cart body without a sound. The charcoal peddler noticed a slight shake in the cart body and turned back to look at the ground's stone slab road with suspicion, thinking he had rolled over a small stone. Seeing no abnormality in the cart wheels, he continued to hum his little tunes: "Step up one more step, marriage arranged by heaven. A call means a guest has arrived, light a lamp and come upstairs, tonight on the East Road, just make do."

Chen Ji heard that this was a little lewd tune spread in Red Clothes Alley... These peddlers earned money during the day and spent it in brothels at night, either gambling or whoring, never leaving. He smiled, hugged Hei Yun, and nestled in the dirty charcoal cart, closing his eyes, letting the charcoal cart take him towards the East Market's Red Clothes Alley.

The closer he got to the East Market, the more peaceful Chen Ji's heart became. He touched the short knife in his sleeve again and slowly closed his eyes, returning to the battlefield in his dream.

"Brother Feng Huai, what was the move you just did with the knife turning with your body called?"

"Xing Yuan."

"Brother Feng Huai, what was the move you just did, sticking the edge of your knife to the edge of mine and going against the trend upward, forcing me to abandon my knife?"

"Starfire."

"Brother Feng Huai, what is the move where you just chopped the back of my knife? This move made my wrist very painful, but it seems useless."

Feng Huai laughed shyly. "That move is called Wrong Gold. Originally, it should have broken your knife with one slash, but your knife was too good, so it didn't break."

The Pu Dao warrior Feng Huai's every knife trajectory, every advance and retreat step, all seemed art-like exquisite, impeccable. The opponent was like a heavy hammer, relentlessly smashing on himself, this piece of scrap steel, to forge it into shape. Chen Ji exchanged death after death for technique after technique.

Chen Ji had not yet fought with outsiders using a knife, so he didn't know if his skill was enough. He only practiced constantly, so that he could slowly approach Feng Huai's skill and then surpass it. At the beginning, Chen Ji would die twenty or thirty times in an hour. Now, he only dies about three or four times within an hour. At the beginning, his whole body was full of flaws. Now, both sides see a move and dismantle it, often within a hundred moves, neither side can find the other's flaws. Those knife techniques seemed to have been engraved in his bones ten thousand years ago, engraved into complex and exquisite patterns, being gradually awakened.

Chen Ji stood up straight again. "Again."

On the giant stone, Xuanyuan sat cross-legged, still wearing a black king's robe, only the gold threads embroidered with stars had changed, leaving only the Ziwei star section. Xuanyuan opened his mouth and asked, "You seem to be in a hurry."

Chen Ji said, "Indeed, I'm in a great hurry."

Xuanyuan said puzzledly, "Someone outside wants to kill you?"

Chen Ji calmly replied, "No, it's that I have someone I want to kill."

Xuanyuan burst into laughter. "No wonder the progress today is faster than yesterday. This time, you are suitable for practicing the knife! The knife is the gall of a hundred soldiers. Without the heart to kill, you can't practice the knife well! But I suggest you stop first, rest for a while, and then continue learning. Being tired will only make your heart agitated and irritable, which is of no help."

Chen Ji thought for a moment, then simply and decisively sat cross-legged on the ground. "Brother Feng Huai, you also sit down and rest for a while."

Feng Huai sheathed his knife and sat down, his posture as upright as an apprentice. The three people sat on the green mountain, with clouds surging beside them, like being in a fairyland, blessed by an immortal with longevity.

Chen Ji sighed, "Brother Feng Huai, your knife technique is really good."

Feng Huai wore light armor, looking around twenty years old, handsome and somewhat green. Just looking at his appearance, no one would think this was a knife expert. Hearing Chen Ji praise him, he smiled even more shyly. "It's all because you taught well back then. When we followed you to practice the knife back then, we also suffered quite a bit."

Chen Ji was astonished. "I taught? Then why do I feel that you chop me so excitedly?"

Feng Huai hesitated for a moment. "Who wouldn't be excited about this change?"

Chen Ji said calmly, "That makes sense. When you're not practicing the knife, be a little polite to me."

Feng Huai hurriedly responded, "Understood!"

Chen Ji suddenly asked, "Xuanyuan, if I die tonight, can you descend to the world again through my body?"

Xuanyuan gazed at Chen Ji. "Yes."

"Then if you really descend to the world again, can you help me kill someone?"

Xuanyuan laughed coldly. "Kill them yourself."

"Alright."

Chen Ji turned his head and looked at Xuanyuan who was looking down at him from the giant stone. "Then I want to discuss something. Can I borrow 'Whale' tonight?"

"No." Xuanyuan shook his head.

"But I want to kill someone tonight. Without 'Whale', other knives aren't very handy."

Xuanyuan laughed coldly. "Will the enemy discuss things with you? Can you discuss everything you encounter? I said, being smart is a good thing, but there are always big mountains in this world that you cannot bypass. If you want to take 'Whale', you must first defeat Feng Huai."

"Understood."

At this time, Chen Ji heard Hei Yun meow softly beside his ear. He propped himself up with the knife and looked at Xuanyuan. "There are still many things to do tonight. If everything goes smoothly, see you tomorrow."

Xuanyuan was silent for a moment. "See you tomorrow."

Chen Ji opened his eyes in the cart body. The charcoal cart had already slowly stopped outside Red Clothes Alley. The driver was humming a little lewd tune and happily walked towards Red Clothes Alley. He and Hei Yun quietly poked their heads out from the cart body, but suddenly saw a familiar horse cart stopped nearby. The next moment, the Prince's voice came: "How good is it to borrow the way from the medical hall? That Chen Ji has already set up the ladder, and the robes he flipped out from the back garden for me are all torn!"

Bai Li County Princess's voice immediately followed: "I just don't want to walk from the medical hall, is that okay?"

"Okay, okay, okay."

Chen Ji watched the two people jump off the horse cart and walk into Red Clothes Alley. He had the mind to stop the two people and tell them it was dangerous here tonight, but how could he explain why he was here? Watching the Prince and Bai Li County Princess disappear into Red Clothes Alley, Chen Ji hesitated for a moment, reached out of the cart body, wiped some charcoal powder, and rubbed it on his face.

"Let's go, Hei Yun. Let's climb onto the roof together."

***