The river water in winter was bitingly cold, chilling Chen Ji’s thoughts as if to halt them. The eerie, cold water seemed to surge into his body, intending to freeze his heart.

The moment he plunged into the river, he looked up from the water and saw sunlight penetrating the surface. The Tyndall effect created columns of light, like crystal spears, yet they offered no warmth.

Someone intended to ambush Bai Li and the Prince here, using the opportunity of the Luhun Villa literary gathering, and then frame the displaced people from Dragon King Village who had become bandits.

Their plan was meticulous, but they overlooked Prince Jing’s discreet visit and also a small medical apprentice.

Who wanted to kill Bai Li and the Prince?

Consort Yun… or Consort Jing?

Chen Ji surfaced, swimming towards the opposite bank while looking back.

The fisherman on the black-canopied boat removed his straw hat and slowly shed his coir raincoat, revealing an agile physique.

The middle-aged man stood at the bow, like an experienced hunter, his eyes fixed on the river surface.

A yellow talisman, marked with mysterious and complex symbols in cinnabar, was pasted on the black-canopied boat.

A strong gust of wind propelled the black-canopied boat, making it move swiftly even without oars.

The wind-driven talisman flapped noisily.

But the talisman seemed to be nailed firmly to the boat’s canopy, refusing to be dislodged.

Bai Li, the Prince, and Zhang Xia swam frantically forward.

Blood, life, and the glint of blades stimulated their adrenaline, making their lips tremble with fear.

As Bai Li swam, she suddenly felt something was wrong. She abruptly looked back—where was Chen Ji behind them?

Only the assassins, holding knives in their mouths, were crossing the water towards them.

Lethal intent was evident on the black-canopied boat.

She shouted loudly, “Chen Ji, where are you?”

The Prince also floated on the surface, roaring, “Chen Ji?”

However, no one answered them; their cries seemed to sink to the riverbed.

Bai Li took a deep breath. “He went back.”

Zhang Xia asked, startled, “Went back? What do you mean? What’s the difference between going back now and walking into certain death?”

The Prince said gravely, “He must have gone back to buy us time.”

Zhang Xia hesitated. She didn’t understand what the Prince meant. The medical apprentice, whom everyone called a gambler, was now swimming back to buy them time.

But she realized that Bai Li and the Prince had never doubted Chen Ji, neither that he had drowned nor that he had fled alone.

Zhang Xia thought for a moment. “Should we go back and save him? He can’t possibly face so many assassins alone!”

The Prince made to swim back, but Bai Li held him tightly. “We continue swimming to the other side.”

Zhang Xia asked, puzzled, “Are we abandoning him?”

Bai Li suddenly looked at her, saying in a low voice, “If we don’t leave now, the time he bought for us will be wasted.”

Zhang Xia asked, “What if he gets killed?”

Bai Li didn’t answer. She turned and swam forcefully towards the opposite bank.

The assassins swam with knives in their mouths, and in the blink of an eye, they realized one of their targets was missing from ahead.

“Find him.”

The leading assassin dove into the water to search.

The moment his gaze shifted from the river surface into the water, Chen Ji’s gaunt, calm face abruptly appeared before him.

The assassin was startled; his heart seemed to skip a beat.

Before he could even remove the long knife from his mouth, Chen Ji had already reached out and grabbed his hair at the temples, pulling the two of them violently closer.

A flash of a blade swept underwater. The short knife in Chen Ji’s hand cleanly and efficiently slit the assassin’s throat.

Bubbles and blood gushed from the neck simultaneously. The assassin felt the air in his lungs rush out uncontrollably, surging away.

However, Chen Ji didn’t stop. In an instant, he slit the major arteries in both of the assassin’s arms and then plunged the knife into his heart.

A large amount of blood dyed the river red and murky, obscuring what was happening there from anyone’s view.

Chen Ji quickly withdrew his hand, turned, and kicked the assassin in the chest, sending him to the riverbed.

After death, a person quickly sinks to the riverbed, only to float up three to seven days later due to gases produced by decaying matter in the intestines.

When the assassins on the surface saw bubbles, they all dove into the water and swam towards the spot.

They searched for Chen Ji amidst the thick blood.

But once the bloody water dispersed in the current, there was no one there.

One assassin turned his head to look around, only to see Chen Ji clinging to the bottom of the rapidly approaching black-canopied boat, his short knife methodically chiseling into the boat’s hull along the wood grain.

Only then did the assassin understand that Chen Ji’s objective from the very beginning was to destroy the boat.

Among the people they needed to kill, this one was clearly the most inconspicuous.

Yet, this one proved to be the most troublesome.

Every time Chen Ji’s short knife struck the boat’s hull, it gouged out numerous wood chips.

He suddenly kicked powerfully with both legs, surfacing to take a breath.

The moment his head emerged, he saw a talisman flying directly towards him.

He dodged abruptly, but the yellow talisman, like a knife, sliced open his left arm.

Chen Ji ignored the official on the boat and resolutely sank back to the hull to continue chiseling.

After waiting a few breaths, he didn’t see the official enter the water to pursue him.

Chen Ji suddenly realized that the other party dared not rashly enter the water.

Thump. Thump. Thump.

Wood chips scattered everywhere.

However, before Chen Ji could chisel further, the black-canopied boat stopped pursuing Bai Li and the Prince. Instead, it changed direction, carrying Chen Ji towards the more than twenty assassins.

The assassins submerged, removed their long knives from their mouths, and waited for Chen Ji to fall into their trap.

As they drew closer, the more than twenty assassins’ eyes were grim.

In haste, Chen Ji chiseled with all his might, and the short knife he had brought from the medical clinic snapped in half, its tip sinking to the riverbed.

He abruptly turned his head, looking at the assassins who were waiting with bated breath.

Strands of hair on his forehead and temples drifted in the river water.

The midday sun shone into the river, like a final glimmer before death.

The assassins saw Chen Ji suddenly stop moving.

Had he given up?

They found the medical apprentice to be extraordinarily calm.

The assassins were waiting for Chen Ji to walk into their hands, but Chen Ji was also waiting.

Waiting for a momentary roar.

The next moment, the furnace fires within Chen Ji’s body blazed fiercely. One, two, three… fifteen.

Each of those furnace fires seemed to emit a roaring sound that only he could hear.

The roar traversed the long river of time, coming from ten thousand years ago.

In those ten thousand years, vast lands turned into mulberry fields, and mountains collapsed into plains.

The world shattered, but I would not be extinguished.

Chen Ji punched fiercely at the hole he had chiseled in the boat’s hull. One punch blasted a crack through the splintered wood.

As river water poured into the boat, he unhesitatingly detached himself from the hull, surfaced for a breath, then immediately dove back to the riverbed, swimming like an arrow towards the assassins.

The moment they met, an assassin swung his knife. But as the blade reached Chen Ji, he clamped it between his palms, and with a slight shake, disarmed the assassin.

Before the assassin could react, the long knife had already slashed across his neck.

Just as Chen Ji was about to kill again, he saw a yellow talisman shoot into the river, as straight as a blade.

He forcefully turned his head, but the yellow talisman grazed his cheek, leaving a thin cut from which blood oozed.

The yellow talisman’s momentum did not cease; it plunged straight down, embedding itself in the dark riverbed.

Chen Ji’s heart jolted with alarm. He immediately swam deeper into the river, no longer keen on fighting.

On the riverbank, Bai Li, the Prince, and Zhang Xia slowly waded ashore, treading on pebbles.

A cold wind blew, seeming to penetrate their very bones.

They didn’t leave; instead, they turned to gaze towards the center of the river.

On the opposite bank, the scholars were covering Prince Jing, fighting and retreating towards Yichuan County.

The scholars surrounded Prince Jing tightly, leaving no gaps. No assassin could get close.

Prince Jing wanted to rush into the river, but a scholar held him back tightly.

Prince Jing shouted across the wide river to Bai Li, but they were too far apart, and Bai Li couldn’t hear what her father was saying.

On the other side, Chen Wenxiao ran frantically towards Luhun Villa.

Chen Wenzong, meanwhile, followed behind, panting, carrying Wang Daosheng. No assassins wasted time on them.

At this moment, Zhang Xia asked doubtfully, “Look, why is that black-canopied boat stopped in the middle of the river?”

Bai Li whispered, “Chen Ji!”

Zhang Xia looked at Bai Li in surprise.

The Prince cried out, “Look, that boat is tilting! It looks like it’s sinking!”

“There’s blood in the river.”

Bai Li pursed her lips, watching the scene. Chen Ji must have found a way to sink the boat.

But where was Chen Ji?

The blood in the river… was it Chen Ji’s?

She waited for a long time. Chen Ji’s figure never appeared on the river surface, and her heart gradually sank.

Bai Li turned to leave. The Prince asked, “Where are you going?”

Bai Li wiped the water from her face, stubbornly replying, “To find the Thousand-Year Army and get revenge.”

The Prince took a deep breath. “We don’t even know who to seek revenge from, or who wants to kill us.”

No sooner had he spoken than they heard splashes from the riverbank. The three of them turned simultaneously to see Chen Ji wading ashore, a long knife clenched in his mouth, breathing heavily, utterly exhausted.

With a clang, the long knife fell onto the pebbles of the riverbank.

Bai Li first paused, then quickly took two steps forward. “Chen Ji, are you hurt?”

“I’m fine.”

Chen Ji said, “Hurry, let’s go to Luhun Villa. There are people from the Daoist Court and the Buddhist Sect there; presumably, the assassins won’t dare cause trouble.”

The Prince looked at him, hesitating. “Your face?”

Chen Ji touched his face. There was an inch-long cut on it. “It’s nothing, just a minor injury.”

Strangely, in less than half an incense stick’s time, the wounds on his left arm and face had already stopped bleeding.

He suddenly recalled asking Xuanyuan yesterday: What would happen if all the furnace fires were lit and turned white?

Xuanyuan replied: Undying and unperishing.

But if that’s the case, how did his former self die?

At this moment, Chen Ji looked back from the riverbank towards the center of the river, only to see the official still standing silently at the bow of the boat, gazing at him, seemingly unconcerned even as the boat tilted.

At one point, he felt a flicker of doubt. While he was delaying time underwater, the assassins hadn’t divided their forces to pursue Bai Li and the Prince, which was unlike their usual methods.

Unless he was also one of the targets. Or perhaps, he was the true target?

Chen Ji turned to leave. “Let’s go; this ambush isn’t over yet!”

On the opposite riverbank, Wuyun quietly emerged from the woods, looking at the now deserted bank.

It watched Chen Ji and the others turn and walk away on the opposite side, hesitated for a moment, then cautiously tested the river water with a paw.

So cold.

Wuyun had never been in the water before, nor did it know how to cross the river to meet Chen Ji.

But it knew.

Chen Ji now needed the molten flow from its body to ignite the remaining fifteen furnace fires.

This was crucial.

After much deliberation, Wuyun decided to be hard on itself and swim across the river to the other bank.

Just as it was about to enter the water, hooves sounded behind it. It saw Zhang Xia’s reddish-brown horse, ‘Zaozao,’ stepping into the water without hesitation, swimming towards the opposite bank.

Wuyun’s eyes lit up. It lightly leaped onto Zaozao’s head and meowed, “How fierce!”