Chen Ji looked back.

Horses galloped, the sea of fire now behind them.

He felt as if he were back in Luo City at night, climbing over a courtyard wall using the ladder made by Yun Yang’s hands, then fleeing for his life with a group of secret agents, pursued by the Liu family.

From then on, he became a wanderer in the Jianghu, never to return.

Chen Ji galloped on horseback, holding the reins of another horse. Liao Zhong was bound tightly to the horse’s back with ropes, unconscious.

Lu Shi leaned forward on her horse, the black veil of her waimao occasionally lifted by the wind, revealing a scar across the bridge of her nose.

Chen Ji glanced back, seeing no Jie Fan Wei pursuing them, and couldn’t help but say to Lu Shi, “I’m sorry, I’ve dragged you into this chase.”

Lu Shi replied without turning her head, “It’s fine, it’s been years since I was chased like this, it’s somewhat novel.”

Chen Ji was silent for a moment: “Why are you helping me?”

He had already given the clues about Chang Jing to this Auntie Ping, and they had only known each other for a day. She could have simply left.

But she didn’t.

Lu Shi cast a sidelong glance at him: “In Jianghu, why ask so many questions?”

Chen Ji smiled unconsciously.

Jianghu.

These two words seemed inherently romantic, capable of explaining many sudden loves and concealing many inexplicable hatreds.

Chen Ji asked curiously, “Auntie Ping, what is Jianghu?”

Lu Shi seemed unwilling to answer the question, asking casually instead, “Was that Qiao Tu, one of the Twelve Zodiacs of the Secret Police Directorate, just now?”

Chen Ji, still galloping, replied, “It was her.”

“The other person on the roof must be Yun Yang, those two are always inseparable,” Lu Shi frowned and asked, “Why are you involved with the eunuch faction?”

Chen Ji fell into thought.

Yes, why was he involved with the eunuch faction?

He smiled and replied, “To survive.”

Lu Shi was slightly startled. She looked at Chen Ji, who was covered in blood, almost staining his gray clothes black.

She was silent for a moment: “Collaborating with the eunuch faction is like playing with fire. Those who come out of Wu Nian Shan are never truly good people. Especially the Twelve Zodiacs…”

This time, Chen Ji seriously countered, “Auntie Ping, there are good people among the Twelve Zodiacs too.”

Lu Shi was surprised; this was the first time Chen Ji had ever so seriously refuted her… But she didn’t know who Chen Ji considered a “good person.”

At this moment, the two of them could vaguely see the east city gate, but the guards on the city tower, seeing them galloping closer, immediately pushed the chains, closing the gate and dropping the portcullis.

The city gate rumbled shut, and the iron portcullis inside also fell.

Chang Ping County City was one of the northern strongholds in the capital region. Its city gates were extremely sturdy; once closed, they were impossible to force open, perhaps not even by cannons.

Inside the city gate, more than ten secret agents mounted their horses, drawing the crossbows from their waists and riding to meet them. Someone also took out a brass whistle and blew it hard.

Magpie, two sounds: Surround!

“Whoa!”

Lu Shi and Chen Ji simultaneously pulled on their reins. This road was blocked.

She looked around the street, then turned her horse into a small alley to the north: “This way.”

In the alley, there were bamboo poles set up by residents for drying clothes. Lu Shi crouched low to avoid the clothes on the poles, not forgetting to turn back and remind Chen Ji: “Don’t think about luring the pursuers away alone, I will definitely get you out of the city today!”

Chen Ji remained silent.

The two had only galloped a hundred zhang north when they heard the sound of approaching hoofbeats from the north as well.

They hadn’t even seen anyone yet, but they could hear the hoofbeats echoing off the white walls and gray tiles, dull and powerful like drums.

Lu Shi turned her horse east again: “This way!”

Chen Ji was just about to turn his horse west, taking Liao Zhong to draw away the pursuers.

Lu Shi angrily snapped, “When did you develop such a bad habit? Come here!”

Chen Ji grumbled and followed.

The two ran a few more streets to the east when they heard rumbling hoofbeats from the east as well.

Lu Shi reined in her horse, circling in the long street. She carefully distinguished the surrounding hoofbeats, spinning around three or four times but finding no way out.

They were surrounded on all sides, with the sound of brass whistles echoing in the distance.

Lu Shi gripped the reins tightly and said in a deep voice, “I’ll help you tear open a gap to the south in a bit. You take Liao Zhong and go south, don’t look back.”

Chen Ji said casually, “What about you?”

Lu Shi was silent for two breaths: “Once you’re gone, I have my own way to escape. There’s a mine tunnel in Chang Ping County that leads out of the city.”

Chen Ji grinned: “Then why don’t we both take that mine tunnel?”

Lu Shi was speechless.

At this moment, more than ten secret agents came chasing, pulling the triggers of their crossbows from a distance.

More than ten arrows shot towards Chen Ji, with one unexpectedly aimed at Liao Zhong.

The agents’ objective was very clear: even if they couldn’t kill Chen Ji, killing Liao Zhong was just as good. As long as Liao Zhong died, there would be no witness.

Liao Zhong must not be allowed to return to the capital for trial.

In the nick of time, Chen Ji leaped onto Liao Zhong’s horse, kicking away the incoming arrow for him. His own warhorse, however, was shot full of arrows and fell to the ground with a thud, raising a cloud of dust.

What to do?

The sword seed in Chen Ji’s Baimai trembled.

Suddenly, a shout came from another street to the south, like bandits descending a mountain to raid a village: “Did you get hit?”

Lu Shi was startled; this was someone asking if she was injured.

While dodging crossbow arrows, she angrily shouted back across the street, “Let them go! Or I’ll pull out your joss stick!”

Someone on the adjacent street laughed heartily, “How could I? Let’s make a big splash!”

Lu Shi told the person to get lost, or their friendship would be broken and they would no longer associate, but the other party didn’t care, wanting to make a big score!

Seeing that she couldn’t dissuade the newcomer, Lu Shi immediately stopped hesitating and shouted to Chen Ji, “Follow me!”

She turned her horse into the alley, heading south to rendezvous with her reinforcements.

The secret agents’ crossbow arrows converged on the two figures. Chen Ji’s blade flashed, deflecting the arrows with a clang as they fell to the ground.

As the two emerged from the alley one after another, they saw two masked men in gray clothes, wearing douli, fighting with the secret agents.

One of the slender gray-clothed men abandoned his horse and lunged at an agent.

The agent drew his saber to cut, but the gray-clothed man seemed to pull himself up in mid-air again, as if stepping on an invisible ladder, rising vertically like a spring onion in dry ground, leaping over the agent’s head and landing lightly behind him.

It was as if the two were riding on the same horse, without any awkwardness.

The gray-clothed man laughed heartily and patted the agent’s shoulder: “Brother, I’m behind you!”

The agent tried to stab backward, but the gray-clothed man drew a palm-sized hooked knife across his neck, and blood spurted.

The hooked knife was like a crescent moon, spinning rapidly in the gray-clothed man’s hand.

The secret agents’ hearts tightened. They raised their crossbows and shot at the gray-clothed man.

But their eyes blurred. When the crossbow arrows reached him, they all struck the agent who had been cut in the throat. The gray-clothed man was now hanging upside down under the horse’s belly, laughing at the agents: “Your grandpa is right here!”

This person’s movement technique was as exquisite as a gibbon’s!

The secret agents pulled their triggers again, but the gray shadow flashed and was back on the horse’s back: “Again! Again!”

Before the agents could pull their triggers a third time, another gray-clothed man galloped forward. He held a one-zhang-six-chi long ma shuo under his arm and charged into the secret agents’ formation!

The first agent in the path had no time to react and was lifted by the incoming ma shuo. The man shook his arm, flinging the agent’s body to smash into another agent, knocking him and his horse over.

The shuo was the primary weapon for cavalry charges, usable only by the truly brave.

A skilled warrior might not necessarily use a shuo, but one who used a shuo was certainly a skilled warrior.

The agents shouted urgently: “Xun Dao Jing! Don’t engage him head-on!”

The agents tried to steer their horses away, but the long street was only wide enough for two carts. How could they avoid a one-zhang-six-chi long ma shuo just by wanting to?

The ma shuo swept across like a steel whip, striking the agents and immediately knocking them all off their horses.

In just a few breaths, the two men had completely routed the more than ten secret agents.

The man with the ma shuo waved to Lu Shi: “This way!”

The two men tore open a gap through the secret agents, leading Lu Shi and Chen Ji further south through streets and alleys. Behind the four of them followed an unknown number of secret agents, like a giant black python.

As they passed through a small alley, a strong smell of alcohol assailed them.

The moment the horses entered the alley, their hooves struck the ground, splashing the accumulated alcohol, as if shattering a thin glass mirror.

The alcohol was instantly compressed and torn, the docile surface suddenly exploding.

The surface of the liquid violently swayed, and the reflections of the gray tiles, narrow alley, and horses instantly twisted and shattered.

After the four rushed out of the alley, the man holding the ma shuo took out a small fire stick from his懷, blew on the sparks, and casually tossed it behind him.

With a roar, a great fire, fueled by the strong燒刀子 (shāo dāo zi) liquor, engulfed the pursuing secret agents.

Amidst cries of pain, the agents retreated, desperately trying to put out the fire on themselves.

The sea of fire separated them.

Having shaken off their pursuers, the four went a few more streets south and entered another alley.

Lu Shi suddenly reined in her horse and asked coldly, “Why are you two here?”

The masked man in gray, holding the ma shuo, pulled his douli very low, as if knowing he was in the wrong, and said nothing.

Lu Shi growled, “Speak!”

The young, monkey-like gray-clothed man shrank his neck: “If you can come, why can’t we? In Jianghu, why ask so many questions!”

Chen Ji was astonished. This was the second time he had heard this phrase today. Earlier, Lu Shi had said it to him; now, someone else was saying it to Lu Shi.

Using Jianghu as an excuse was simply too convenient.

Lu Shi was furious: “What nonsense Jianghu! Do you even know what Jianghu is?”

The gray-clothed man stuck out his neck: “But we couldn’t just stand by and watch you suffer, could we?”

Lu Shi was about to scold them further when she heard the man with the ma shuo say in a hoarse voice, “Twenty years ago, when you got us drunk, you said Jianghu is the wind of the desert, the shattered blade’s edge, the throat-burning liquor. That is your Jianghu.”

Lu Shi was startled.

The man lowered his head, concealing his face with his douli: “Of the four of us who drank in that inn back then, only you and I are left. I promised someone I would protect you. He emphasized it repeatedly before he left. So, if we die, we die together; if we go, we go together. Otherwise, I’ll have no face to find him for a drink on the road to Huangquan. This is my Jianghu.”

Unrelated to fighting or social etiquette, everyone has their own Jianghu deep within them.

Lu Shi was silent for a long time, then a smile suddenly spread across her face beneath the black veil. She turned to Chen Ji: “Chen Ji, you just asked what Jianghu is… This is Jianghu. Wherever friends are, there is Jianghu.”

Jianghu is like the crimson cinnabar in an inkpad box, but you shouldn’t use a seal to politely touch it. Instead, you should dip your thumb in the cinnabar and with a flourish, smear it casually across a sheet of white Xuan paper.

That uninhibited, audacious streak of red is Jianghu.

The next moment, Lu Shi tore off Liao Zhong’s brown robe and threw it over the young gray-clothed man: “Give your horse to Chen Ji. You wear this robe and lie on your uncle’s horse, pretending to be Liao Zhong.”

The young man was dumbfounded: “Huh?”

Lu Shi said in a deep voice, “Do as I say.”

The young man reluctantly threw away his douli, revealing a rough, dark forehead and a messy topknot. He put on Liao Zhong’s robe and lay on the back of the other horse, muttering, “The younger generation always gets bullied by you guys. What kind of world is this!”

Lu Shi ignored him and turned to Chen Ji, her eyes behind the waimao’s black veil complex.

She earnestly instructed: “You hide here. After we lead the secret agents away, then go…”

The man with the ma shuo said hoarsely, “Go south. The garrison there won’t stop you.”

Chen Ji was about to shake his head.

But then he heard Lu Shi emphasize, “Go! Go back to the capital, go back and drink a few bowls of wine properly, and have a good dream! You have the ability to break through the siege, don’t you? You must have trump cards, and you must use them! Remember, don’t trust anyone. There are many people on this road who don’t want you to return. If the two of you die, then only the two of you die. But if the two of you return to the capital, many of your enemies will die!”

Chen Ji was silent for a moment, then respectfully clasped his hands: “We’ll meet again if fate allows!”

Lu Shi smiled brightly: “We’ll meet again if fate allows!”

With her words, Lu Shi and the two men, with two horses, left the alley. Lu Shi shouted, “Hya!”

The thundering hoofbeats drew the secret agents, who also changed direction and surrounded the three.

Chen Ji hid in the alley, silently watching the three figures disappear. This seemed to be the first time someone had helped him draw away pursuers. When the sound of hoofbeats faded into the distance, he took Liao Zhong and rushed out of the alley, heading south without looking back.