The bright moon streamed in through the latticed window. The candlelight swayed, and the moonlight swayed with it, so that every shadow in the room twisted and trembled. From the courtyard came the clear, rhythmic clack-clack of the great wolf’s four paws striking the ground.

The main hall fell into complete silence, the faces of those gathered wearing vastly different expressions.

“So it turns out — you came to Qingdun Garrison to set a trap!”

Linghu Zhan’s voice was bitter. “You used Kui Wood Wolf as bait to draw us here.”

Xuanzang regarded him in silence for a long moment. “It was not quite a trap. This poor monk knew you would come, and knew Kui Wood Wolf would come as well. I merely used myself as bait, so that four parties might collide — and from that collision, the truth would emerge.”

“Four parties? Who is the fourth?”

Linghu Zhan asked.

Xuanzang turned his gaze to Lin Sima. “Naturally, that would be this garrison commander.”

“I…”

Lin Sima staggered back several steps, his eyes filled with terror.

“Do you still wish to claim that you killed Lv Sheng in the Ghost Desert?”

Xuanzang asked.

Lin Sima’s legs gave out beneath him and he collapsed completely to the ground. He was a powerfully built, rough-hewn man, possessed of the strength to push aside four horses, the bravest warrior in three armies — yet now, with his blade right there beside him, he could not lift it.

Yu Zao laughed a cold, contemptuous laugh. “Since you already know who I am, you understand perfectly well that this matter cannot simply be dismissed. Unless you can slaughter every single one of us clean, the facts remain: you are a border general of Great Tang who privately permitted Hu merchants to smuggle goods, who colluded with others to harm the military inspector Lv Sheng, and who accepted fertile lands and fine mansions — crime after crime, offense after offense, more than enough to bring ruin upon your entire clan.”

“I did nothing wrong!”

Lin Sima’s eyes had gone blood-red. He sat on the ground, laughing a wretched laugh. “The Eight Great Clans have ruled Dunhuang for nearly a thousand years. Farm families till and tend their gardens, the cave-carvers chisel into the mountains and hollow out grottos, herdsmen pasture their cattle, horses, and sheep, and every other trade and craft has its guild — stonemasons cut stone, painters and sculptors make the murals, ironmongers, carpenters, and plasterers each keep to their own domain. For a thousand years, we poor common folk have lived exactly this way, every family, every household, every single person laboring in service to the clans — no one can escape this great net. When I was young, tending flocks on the hills above Ziting Township, I too once gazed up at the sky. I too once stood at the summit and looked down at the valley below. But what could I do? My family were nothing but the most wretched pot-menders, mending and patching cooking vessels from generation to generation. In Dunhuang, there has never once been a man of humble birth who could wear a robe of silk, who could enter the county school and lay a hand on a book.”

“That is your own fault for not working hard enough!”

Linghu Zhan said coldly. “Those who do not strive in youth will lament in old age. Books are open to anyone — our clans have never banned poetry and letters.”

“Not working hard enough?”

Lin Sima leapt to his feet, tore open his robe in furious indignation, and bared a chest crosshatched with scars. “I have fought on the frontiers of Great Tang for years, surviving countless brushes with death — and you call that not working hard? You have indeed never banned poetry and letters. But my household has three men. In the Central Plains, each man receives a hundred mu of allocated land. Here in Dunhuang, each household receives only sixty mu. Each mu of farmland yields two shi of grain, so a household brings in one hundred and twenty shi. After husking, the yield is seventy-two shi. Our family of six consumes forty-five shi a year. We owe six shi in rent. After everything, we can only put aside twenty-one shi of millet and wheat. Once we exchange for salt, vinegar, farm tools, and iron goods for daily needs, and keep reserves for famine, illness, and unexpected affairs, we still must pay two zhang of silk cloth and three liang of raw silk, serve miscellaneous corvée labor and special duties, and the government and the clans conscript men for canal works. An entire family toiling from dawn to dusk cannot keep up as it is — who would dare let their children give up work to study?”

Linghu Zhan was speechless for a long moment before he said, “That is not the fault of we Dunhuang clans — it is this way throughout all of Great Tang.”

“Yes!”

Lin Sima grew somber. “And so, once a person has looked up at the sky, he can no longer endure being lowly. This cage covers all of Dunhuang, covers all of Great Tang — since no one can break free, I had no choice but to find another path. When your Linghu clan came to me and offered me a fine mansion, fertile lands, and the rank of Assistant Commandant of the eighth grade lower, in exchange for selling out Lv Sheng — I agreed without a second thought. Ha ha—”

Lin Sima laughed that same wretched laugh. “Why wouldn’t I agree? That was the opportunity of a lifetime, the one I had waited for my whole life!”

Lin Sima erupted into frenzied laughter, the great hulking man laughing like a gleeful child.

“Garrison Commander Lin,”

Xuanzang sighed, “what exactly did you do as part of the scheme to frame Lv Sheng?”

Lin Sima wiped the tears from his eyes and smiled. “In truth, I did very little. Everything I told the Master earlier was accurate, except for the very end, where I concealed something. On that day, when we fled into the Ghost Desert, I only knocked Lv Sheng unconscious, bound him, and handed him over to Linghu Demao. I then burned a fellow soldier’s corpse, cut off the head to pass it off as Lv Sheng’s, and handed it to the authorities.”

“Handed him to Linghu Demao?”

Xuanzang fixed his gaze on Linghu Zhan. “You truly are audacious — daring to secretly imprison a top imperial examination graduate, the Recording Adjutant of Western Shazhou!”

“The Master has guessed wrong.”

Linghu Zhan said coldly. “Things have come this far, so I will conceal nothing. Lv Sheng was not held in secret by us. With the full knowledge and deliberation of the Prefect Du Yu and the Prefecture Chief Administrator, he was imprisoned in the dungeon beneath Dunhuang County, and a secret memorial was submitted to the imperial court.”

“Nonsense!”

Yu Zao cried out. “You clearly framed Lv Sheng, and used a charred corpse to fake his death — so how could you dare hand him over to the authorities?”

Linghu Zhan gave a cold smile. “Twelfth Young Miss, those are two separate matters. Whether someone framed Lv Sheng is one matter. Whether Lv Sheng betrayed the empire and collaborated with the enemy is another matter entirely. Had it been some ordinary Recording Adjutant of Western Shazhou who committed treason, it would have been manageable. But a man who passed both imperial examinations at the top — if he commits treason, even the Emperor himself cannot bear the humiliation. What our Linghu clan did was preserve the imperial court’s dignity. We provided a severed head and declared that Lv Sheng had been executed. As for the real Lv Sheng, he was handed over to the authorities for quiet disposal.”

Xuanzang suddenly understood. “So it was the Emperor himself who passed final judgment. Linghu Demao truly plotted with great cunning — by doing this, he not only extricated the Linghu clan from the affair entirely, but also utterly destroyed Lv Sheng’s name and honor.”

“It cannot quite be called the Emperor passing final judgment,”

said Linghu Zhan. “After the memorial was submitted, His Majesty did not reply with a single word — he simply held the document without acting. This, too, was within my father’s calculations. The Emperor could not bear this humiliation and chose to feign ignorance. Later, His Majesty stripped Du Yu and the others of their posts, but regarding Lv Sheng still in prison, he gave no word at all — clearly hoping that Lv Sheng would die of neglect in his cell, so that the matter would never be raised again.”

Yu Zao’s eyes filled with tears.

Xuanzang asked, “How did Lv Sheng later escape from prison and become Kui Wood Wolf?”

“I do not know.”

Linghu Zhan said plainly. “On the day of my wedding procession, he suddenly appeared on the main street, abducting people and killing. We went afterward to inspect the prison and found the iron shackles undone and two jailers dead beneath wolf claws. Whether Lv Sheng transformed into a wolf, or a wolf transformed into Lv Sheng, I truly do not know. But whoever they are, they are the enemy I must hunt down and kill.”

“When this lord dwelt in the Heavenly Court, I gazed down through ten million leagues of dust at the world below countless times. The living were like ants, here at dawn and gone by dusk. In the eyes of a celestial being, the span of one breath is your entire lifetime. Your grudges and vendettas seemed utterly laughable to this lord — sleep off a night’s wine and those grudges would dissolve with your lives, meaningless.”

From the courtyard came a sudden clack-clack, as though Kui Wood Wolf had arrived at the threshold of the main hall. Speaking in a human voice, the wolf said, “Master, how much longer must this lord wait?”

Li Chan shouted, “What do you want?”

“This lord came to seize the Heavenly Robe,”

Kui Wood Wolf said placidly. “In these past days, this lord has devised a method: the Heavenly Robe is an indestructible object that cannot be scattered or destroyed. If Xuanzang is burned to ash, the Heavenly Robe will naturally reappear. So, Master, come with this lord to Jade Gate Pass. I have prepared a Three Samadhi Fire platform, and you will be reduced to ash in an instant.”

“Don’t even dream of it!”

Li Chan erupted in fury.

Xuanzang stopped him and said calmly, “This poor monk has only one question, and then I will go with you to Jade Gate Pass — where is Lv Sheng?”

“When we reach Jade Gate Pass, this lord will let you see him,”

Kui Wood Wolf replied. “Just now, you were mistaken about one thing. The reason I did not kill you at Mogao Caves was because Lv Sheng gave the order that your life must not be harmed. However, I made him no promise about sparing you a second time. Xuanzang — will you come or not?”

“Very well. I will go with you.”

Xuanzang said.

Yu Zao and Li Chan cried out together in shock. “You must not—”

Even Li Chunfeng added his counsel, “Master, I heard of your name back in Chang’an — they called you the thousand-li colt of the Buddhist order, the one who carries the hope of Buddhism’s revival. You journey west beyond the passes to seek and confirm the Great Way. Why throw away a life of such promise in this place?”

Xuanzang smiled. “My thanks to Scholar Li. However, for this poor monk, stepping out of Chang’an was the beginning of the westward journey. Every calamity and ordeal along the way, every meal and every drink, is the rough and rugged terrain of the Great Way. I dare not flee from it. Moreover,”

Xuanzang gazed toward the doorway, his expression sorrowful. “In the past, Lv Sheng and I made a vow — to walk together and seek proof of the Great Way within our hearts. Our ways were different, and our paths were different, but the future world we wished to create together was the same. If he has fallen midway, I want to know why he failed, and why that path proved impassable. Only then will I know how my own path must be walked.”

“Whether as enemies or friends, whether good or wicked — this poor monk is grateful to each of you for adorning this vast world and making human life resplendent.”

Xuanzang regarded everyone with serene openness, bowed deeply, and pressed his palms together — his right hand immediately burst into bleeding where the wounds had been. Yet his face wore a gentle smile.

Xuanzang turned and walked to the doorway of the main hall. He had just reached out to push the door open when someone seized his arm. He turned — it was Suo Yi.

“Please wait a moment, Master. Let me open the way for you!”

Suo Yi smiled, pulled open the door, and stepped out, then gently drew the door closed behind him.

The door did not close all the way — it left a narrow crack. Looking through the crack from inside the hall, the white wolf’s body filled the view. Suo Yi seemed to be standing face to face with Kui Wood Wolf.

Suo Yi said something inaudible, and Kui Wood Wolf spoke back in human voice, its tone low and muffled: “Why must you do this?”

“There is nothing particularly hard about it.”

Suo Yi said. “This old man has spent his life immersed in the occult arts. Though I glimpsed the Way of Heaven, I used these things to read fortunes for people — studying birthmarks, calculating fate by bone weight, interpreting dreams, divining marriages — until Lv Sheng utterly demolished my arguments and I realized I had spent my whole life peering at heaven’s secrets only to make money from others. From that moment on, the great diviner of Dunhuang named Suo Yi ceased to exist. To die again tonight is nothing more than the death of an empty shell. Long ago, I did what I did to save you, cutting myself off from my own clan without ever expecting repayment. But today, I want something from you in return. I do not care whether you are Kui Wood Wolf or Lv Sheng — you must promise me one thing: let Master Xuanzang journey west to the Heavenly Bamboo Grove and seek proof of the Great Way.”

“What are you doing?”

Kui Wood Wolf roared in fury.

Everyone inside was startled. They pressed together to look through the crack in the door, and though they could not make out exactly what Suo Yi was doing, through the gap they watched Kui Wood Wolf’s great body slowly retreat — and then Suo Yi’s silhouette froze in the crack of the door. One of Kui Wood Wolf’s razor claws was lodged deep in Suo Yi’s chest. Suo Yi walked forward one step at a time, that terrible claw burying itself deeper and deeper into his body, until it had pierced clean through his heart.

“I will not promise you anything!”

Kui Wood Wolf roared.

Suo Yi’s mouth filled with blood. He glanced back through the crack in the door, then his body went limp. He pulled himself free of the wolf’s claw, and with a great gush of blood, fell to the ground. His face still wore a smile as he murmured, “The Image says: the lake submerges the tree — this is Great Exceeding. The noble person stands alone without fear, and withdraws from the world without distress.”

“Elder Suo!”

Xuanzang cried out, and was about to rush through the door when Lin Sima stepped in front of him.

Lin Sima reached out and took hold of a seven-foot Mo Dao blade from the side of the room, then sighed. “Master, Suo Yi was already a dead man — he sought death and found it. Tonight, there is one other man who must die, and that is this subordinate.”

“Garrison Commander Lin, you must not throw your life away!”

Xuanzang was alarmed.

Lin Sima struck the flat of the blade and said with sweeping resolve: “This subordinate has done many wrong things out of selfishness — tolerating smuggling, accepting bribes, framing Lv Sheng, colluding with mounted bandits — one after another, too many to count. Under Tang law, every one of them carries a sentence of beheading. But since I once looked up at the sky, how can I endure dying like a dog in some stinking prison cell?”

Lin Sima threw open the door and bellowed, “I am a border general of Great Tang — let me clear the western road for the Master’s journey!”

Kui Wood Wolf crouched in the courtyard, its enormous body standing in proud defiance. Beside it lay the body of Suo Yi.

Lin Sima swung his seven-foot Mo Dao and charged at Kui Wood Wolf with a great war cry. The blade’s arc flashed like a bolt of lightning. Kui Wood Wolf gave a cold smile, its body flickering away in an instant, reappearing behind Lin Sima, one razor claw slashing toward the back of his neck. Lin Sima twisted his body, reversed the blade, and cut at Kui Wood Wolf. With a thunderous clang, blade and claw collided, sending sparks flying. Both man and beast staggered back a step.

“What tremendous brute strength.”

Kui Wood Wolf said coldly.

Xuanzang, Li Chan, Yu Zao, Linghu Zhan, and Li Chunfeng all moved into the courtyard, watching the struggle with tense eyes.

Kui Wood Wolf’s form was elusive, swift as lightning, appearing and vanishing at will. Lin Sima’s blade was long, his arms were long, and his blade light crisscrossed in every direction — within a radius of a zhang and two chi, the empty air seemed saturated with the blade’s gleam, every inch of space shredded and demolished. The Mo Dao hacked into the surrounding desert poplars, walls, and wagons, and nothing that stood in its path was left whole; the fighting raised rolling clouds of dust and sent wood shavings flying in all directions.

Lin Sima bellowed with the joy of battle, and this corrupt, degenerate border general seemed to have summoned every last reserve of the fierce valor he had built over the years — one man with one blade hacking out a slaughter fierce enough to make a thousand soldiers scatter. Yet even so, he could not withstand Kui Wood Wolf’s divine arts and secret techniques. The wolf’s dark claws seemed to materialize from empty air at will, vanishing and reappearing, each strike tearing open another bloody gash on Lin Sima’s body, until in a matter of moments Lin Sima was drenched in blood, wounded from head to foot, and in some places the white of bone showed through.

Yet Lin Sima paid it no mind. He even laughed out loud, and burst into song — the military anthem of Great Tang: “Receiving orders, I depart from the sovereign; together we march against the rebel ministers. All sing ‘The Music of Breaking Formation’, and share in the peace together as one—”

The last syllable had barely left his lips when a flash of blood and light filled the air — a claw slashed through the dark, and Lin Sima’s throat was torn open. His head fell. The blood from his neck shot skyward. Only his headless body still gripped the Mo Dao, standing upright for a long moment before falling to the earth with a thunderous crash.

Xuanzang’s face was wet with tears. He still remembered: the song Lin Sima had sung was one composed by Lv Sheng long ago, written to a familiar melody after the Prince of Qin had swept aside Wang Shichong, words set to old music and sung in unison by ten thousand voices outside Chang’an to welcome back the triumphant soldiers — and so it had become the anthem of Great Tang’s armies.

At the hour of Mao, the sun began to rise. A red sun climbed above the desert, and the frontier city was bathed in blood. The bodies of those who had died in the night had not yet been collected; severed limbs and fallen corpses lay everywhere.

Linghu Zhan, Li Chunfeng, and the others stood atop the city wall in silence, seeing them off.

Xuanzang walked out of Qingdun Garrison, mounted a horse, and rode west with the morning sun at his back. Yu Zao and Li Chan rode behind him, their horses loaded with provisions, water, and wool blankets. In the distance, deep in the sandy desert, a great wolf crouched atop a horse’s back, waiting for Xuanzang.

Xuanzang turned his horse around. “Twelfth Young Miss, Li Chen — you two should turn back. This journey is certain to end in my death, and I cannot guarantee your safety.”

Yu Zao said quietly, “Master, I have never needed anyone to protect me. Even if I die, I want to see the truth with my own eyes.”

“Why put yourself through this,”

Xuanzang understood her feelings. “Jade Gate Pass is now a den of demons and monsters. Even if you learn the truth — what then?”

“My heart will not accept it otherwise.”

Yu Zao said. “I have prepared myself to face the most brutal truth. But if I do not see it with my own eyes, I feel I will wander this desert in circles forever. Life and death, compared to some things, are not the greatest matter.”

Xuanzang said nothing more, and turned to Li Chan. “And you?”

“I—”

Li Chan glanced at Yu Zao. “Master, in truth, these past days I have never quite understood — you brave mortal danger on this westward journey. What exactly are you searching for? Even if you find it, given the ten-thousand-li desert, what meaning is there if you cannot return?”

“Now I think I understand a little.”

“Oh?” Xuanzang grew genuinely curious.

“Master,”

Li Chan smiled. “I am not a fit son, nor am I a fit… young master of the household. Watching the family business decline, seeing my father worried day and night, I had not the slightest fighting spirit to share in that responsibility, and did not know what to do. But now I have fallen in love with someone, and I am willing to follow her to the ends of the earth. I do not know whether I will succeed or fail in the end, but I am willing to walk through whatever hardship and danger lies ahead, without regard for life or death. Because this makes me feel that I am still alive, that there is still blood in me capable of burning.”

Yu Zao gave a cold laugh. “This is the first time I have ever heard someone describe the frivolous pursuits of a pampered idler in such heroic terms…hmm?”

She suddenly caught herself and her brows shot straight up. “Are you talking about me?”

“Yes!”

Li Chan smiled, watching her steadily. “You are welcome to take out your blade and cut me down.”

Yu Zao flared with indignation, but was utterly helpless. She turned away from him in exasperated silence.

The three were about to spur their horses into a gallop when suddenly two retainers came supporting Linghu Zhan as he limped out of Qingdun Garrison. “Master!”

Xuanzang reined in his horse. “Commandant Linghu.”

Linghu Zhan pushed the retainers away and struggled over to Xuanzang’s side. “Master, might I have a word with you over here?”

Xuanzang dismounted and followed Linghu Zhan a little way apart.

Linghu Zhan lowered his voice. “Master, I have come to ask a favor of you.”

“Please speak.”

Xuanzang said.

Linghu Zhan stared into the distance at Kui Wood Wolf, his jaw set, his tone grinding. “Master, before I say it — I want you to know that I, Linghu Zhan, am not a cowardly man. By rights, I too should have done as that Lin Sima did: charge headlong even knowing I was outmatched, and die without regret. But… but…”

Linghu Zhan’s face twisted with a pain words could not express.

“This poor monk understands.”

Xuanzang said gently. “This poor monk goes precisely to put an end to Kui Wood Wolf’s menace, and does not wish to see anyone else die.”

“And yet I truly want to draw this blade…”

Linghu Zhan murmured. “Last night, there was supposed to be one more who must die, and that was me. When I set out, I swore an oath: either kill Kui Wood Wolf, or not collect the remains, not bury the ancestral bones. But in my current state, I dare not speak lightly of death.”

“I know.”

Xuanzang said. “Commandant Linghu — the dead are gone. But if the living cannot overcome greed, wrath, and delusion, cannot break through the obstructions of affliction, then they are no different from Kui Wood Wolf himself: born of self-attachment, falling into extreme error, turning endlessly through birth and death.”

“Afflictions… greed, wrath, and delusion…”

Linghu Zhan recited slowly. “Why is delusion also called an obstruction?”

“Delusion is also called ignorance. Delusion means foolishness — the mind of living beings is darkened, lost in confusion about both phenomena and principle. And so the Buddhist teaching holds: all afflictions arise necessarily from delusion.”

Xuanzang explained.

“Lost in confusion about phenomena and principle… lost in confusion…”

Linghu Zhan murmured to himself. “From the time Zhai Wen was abducted in the ninth year of Wude until now, I have been fixed on hunting down Kui Wood Wolf. In three years, I have crossed blades with him eight times. Everyone believes I loved Zhai Wen deeply and wished to avenge her. But do you know, Master — in truth, I met Zhai Wen no more than twice, and by now I can no longer even recall what she looked like.”

“Oh?”

Xuanzang was somewhat taken aback. “Was she not your wife?”

“She was!”

Linghu Zhan said bitterly. “Though the Linghu and Zhai clans have been close for generations, with many intermarriages within five degrees of kinship — both the Linghu and Zhai clans are Han aristocratic families of a thousand years’ standing, strict in ritual and propriety. Especially since the chaos of the Five Barbarians era, when foreign customs pressed in from all sides, our clans became even more rigidly observant of the old rites. Zhai Wen and I had absolutely no contact before our betrothal. The only two times I ever saw her were once when she was thirteen, at an Upper-Si festival purification ceremony by the irrigation canal, and once when she was sixteen, at the funeral of a Zhai clan noblewoman in my family’s compound. Our marriage was entirely arranged by our clan elders — they said that the Linghu and Zhai clans must be joined by marriage in this generation, and so we were to be wed.”

Xuanzang looked at him with compassion. For a child of an aristocratic clan, marriage alliances were an inescapable obligation. Since ancient times, the great noble houses had placed supreme importance on two things: marriage alliances and official appointments. The first was to maintain political power through rank and title; the second was to preserve the boundary between noble and common families through controlled intermarriage.

A noble clan was typically formed over hundreds or thousands of years. Even after a change of dynasty left them without political power, the tremendous force of social recognition meant they could sustain their prestige for generations without collapse. What truly endangered a noble house came instead from marriage — a noble clan must never marry into a family of mixed or common surname. The Northern Wei Registry of Clans explicitly stipulated: those who had risen from lowly origins — camp followers, entertainers, merchants and tradesmen — even if they possessed a genealogical record, were not eligible for intermarriage. Any who violated this rule would be struck from the aristocratic register.

The true unraveling of noble clan propriety had begun in the Northern Dynasties, when the practice of marrying daughters to common-born families of mixed surname — in exchange for extravagant bride prices — spread like a contagion, bargaining over daughters like merchants, even setting explicit prices. This directly caused the ritual decorum that noble clans had upheld for centuries to begin crumbling.

The Dunhuang noble clans faced an even more severe challenge. Situated on the frontier, where foreign customs flourished, some of the Hu people did not observe even the basic daily proprieties of Han custom, let alone clan hierarchy. In some of the villages near Dunhuang where Hu peoples had settled, the levirate marriage system still prevailed, whereby a widow would remarry her deceased husband’s younger brother or son.

To maintain their prestige as great noble houses, the Dunhuang clans were compelled to be even more rigidly observant of ritual propriety.

There was yet another consideration: Dunhuang sat at the crossroads of trade. From the Northern Dynasties through the Sui and Tang periods, great numbers of families of common and mixed surname had accumulated enormous wealth through commerce, or had abruptly risen to high office through a change of dynasty, and once these families established themselves financially or officially, they inevitably challenged the social position of the established clans. The former case was exemplified by the Lv clan of a century ago; the latter, by the current prefect Wang Junke. Thus, in Dunhuang — a region remote from the Central Plains, relatively isolated and semi-enclosed — marriage alliances among the noble clans were especially urgent.

“Although Zhai Wen and I were barely acquainted, and had not yet shared a wedding night, she was my formally betrothed wife. On that night, Kui Wood Wolf abducted Zhai Wen on the main street of Dunhuang — it was not only a supreme humiliation to the Linghu clan, but a supreme humiliation to me personally, Linghu Zhan.”

He continued, “Had she been killed on the spot it would have been different — her chastity would have remained intact. But she was abducted… A young and beautiful woman who is taken away — what she must endure, I think the Master can imagine very clearly. Last night the Master deduced that I killed those men to conceal the news of Lv Sheng’s appearance. That was certainly important — but as far as I personally was concerned, I killed them because they insisted on saying that Zhai Wen had been abducted by a man, rather than by a wolf!”

Linghu Zhan bit down heavily on the words “man” and “wolf,” and Xuanzang understood at once. For a noble clan’s honor and reputation, the distinction was indeed fundamental. To be taken by a wolf meant nothing worse than becoming its prey. To be taken by a man meant her chastity was compromised. Neither the Linghu nor the Zhai clan could bear such an insult.

“At the time, I truly panicked. My first thought was not whether my newly betrothed wife was alive or dead, but what others would think of me. I am not the eldest son, yet I was recognized from childhood as exceptionally talented, and the clan devoted its finest resources to cultivating me. At twenty-one I became Xuanjie Commandant of the eighth grade upper, at twenty-three I became Yihui Commandant of the seventh grade upper. My rank was reviewed each year, and I have since risen to Zhiguo Commandant of the seventh grade upper, Commander of the Western Frontier Garrison, with all of Dunhuang’s military strength under my hand. According to the clan’s plan, I would never be posted away to a distant office — I would guard the Linghu clan’s foundation in the Gua-Sha region. I grew up with everything going my way, and countless people envied me. I never contended with any of them — I always maintained the outward appearance of cold detachment. But inwardly, I cared desperately, because I could not tolerate anyone surpassing me, and I could not tolerate any blemish on myself that would make me the target of snide whispers and hidden mockery.”

Linghu Zhan spoke on and on, as though pouring out the accumulated grievances of a lifetime.

“But on that night, I was utterly ruined. I killed every servant and retainer who dared utter the word ‘man.’ I could silence the common people, but all Eight Great Clans knew the truth. Master — the shared humiliation of two families converged upon me alone. In the three years since, I painstakingly hunted Kui Wood Wolf, making myself appear ferocious and murderous, with the look of a killer on my face at all times — only to make everyone fear me enough that no one would dare speak Zhai Wen’s name. In these three years, I pretended to be deeply devoted to her, vowing to die to avenge my newlywed wife — only so that others would believe my motive was marital devotion, rather than the erasure of my own shame.”

Linghu Zhan suddenly covered his face with both hands as tears streamed down. His face still bore traces of blood; his palms turned a deep crimson. Xuanzang listened in silence, saying nothing. The Buddhist teaching holds: all afflictions arise necessarily from delusion.

“Everyone in Dunhuang knows that I love Zhai Wen deeply and passionately. And sometimes I wake in the dead of night and cannot help but feel a bitter taste in my own mouth, as though I am a blind man on a wild horse, galloping along the edge of a precipice.”

Linghu Zhan murmured, “Zhai Wen died before she crossed the threshold as my wife, and in truth the betrothal between the Linghu and Zhai clans was already dissolved. Yet because of my behavior, the two families must still maintain this false marriage alliance to this day. And I myself am trapped within it — I cannot have someone I love, cannot contract a new engagement, cannot take a wife and have children. In three years, I have hunted Kui Wood Wolf eight times, and each time returned empty-handed. In truth, I have been utterly exhausted, yet I am forced to keep up appearances in front of others — every time I hear the name Kui Wood Wolf, I must perform a rage-filled, impulsive fury.”

Linghu Zhan looked at Xuanzang with a wry smile. “Master, I have built my own prison.”

Xuanzang did not know what to say. Linghu Zhan was exceptional in both talent and intelligence, and saw his own situation with uncommon clarity — yet he had built this cage himself and locked himself within it. The Buddhist teachings can guide others, but one must also guide oneself.

“I have heard that Buddhism has a word — repentance: confessing past sins before the Buddha and one’s teachers, acknowledging and regretting them, in hopes of extinguishing that wrongdoing?”

Linghu Zhan asked.

Xuanzang nodded. “All evil deeds I have committed in the past have arisen from the beginningless greed, wrath, and delusion that dwell in body, speech, and mind. For all of this, I now repent.”

“For all of this, I now repent…”

Linghu Zhan recited the words quietly, his expression desolate and distant. “Then let the Master treat these words of mine as my repentance. As for the favor I wished to ask… when you go to Jade Gate Pass this time, could you ask Kui Wood Wolf on my behalf where Zhai Wen’s remains are buried? If I can find her bones and collect them, and bury her in the ancestral grave, that would be a way of laying to rest three years of pain.”

“This poor monk will certainly attend to it.”

Xuanzang nodded. “Only — this journey to Jade Gate Pass, the odds are nine in ten that I will be burned to death there. How could any news reach you?”

“If the Master receives word, draw a circle with white lime on the earthen wall beside the gate of Jade Gate Pass. Someone will come to find you.”

Linghu Zhan said.

Xuanzang understood at once — the Linghu clan had been fighting Kui Wood Wolf for so many years, and would naturally have planted informants. Xuanzang said nothing more, pressed his palms together in a hollow gesture, turned, and rode away.

Linghu Zhan stood in silence, his expression bleak and careworn. He turned and gave the order to his retainers. “Let us return to Dunhuang.”

After settling the aftermath at Qingdun Garrison, Linghu Zhan and Li Chunfeng led the members of the Exorcism Division along with the surviving retainers back toward Dunhuang. Linghu Zhan was eager to return and pressed a hard hundred li on the first day. By dusk, when the last light of the dog-watch hour faded, the earthen kiln relay station came into view in the distance.

They had set out with seventy retainers; barely forty-some returned, and together with the members of the Exorcism Division, they stretched out a long column of horsemen across the desert road. Li Chunfeng had been riding in the middle of the formation, but now urged his horse forward and drew alongside Linghu Zhan, their two horses traveling side by side.

“Commandant Linghu,”

Li Chunfeng said, “this subordinate failed to subdue Kui Wood Wolf, resulting in such heavy casualties. I feel deeply ashamed.”

“Scholar Li need not be so modest.”

Linghu Zhan was unconcerned. “I have fought Kui Wood Wolf for three years and know well his formidable power. You are the only person in all these years who managed to withdraw from a confrontation with him without injury, and without falling behind. Once you have mastered his techniques, it may not be impossible to subdue him.”

Li Chunfeng wore a mild, easy smile. “It seems you are not surprised by this outcome.”

Linghu Zhan’s eyes narrowed, and he fixed a wary gaze on Li Chunfeng.

“When we set out from Linghu Township, the Commandant spoke with sweeping passion — vowing never to return until the task was done, evoking the solemn sorrow of a man riding away never to come back. Yet after the failure, you rushed to return, eager as a homing bird. This I find genuinely baffling.”

Li Chunfeng’s words were sharp as a blade.

Linghu Zhan’s expression darkened. “Is Scholar Li mocking me?”

Li Chunfeng laughed and waved his hand. “Not at all. Commandant Linghu is a man who accomplishes great things — I have only admiration.”

“What do you mean by that?”

Linghu Zhan stared at him coldly.

“Because the entire engagement at Qingdun Garrison was a carefully laid scheme.”

Li Chunfeng said quietly. “Enough people have died now, the scheme has worked — naturally, the Commandant must hurry back to Dunhuang to take charge of the larger situation.”

Linghu Zhan yanked hard on his reins, and the war horse reared up with a long whinny, stopping abruptly. Li Chunfeng’s horse galloped on several zhang before he reined it around and turned back, so that the two horses faced each other head to head. The two men stared at each other in silence, something like wind and thunder moving between them.

The horsemen following in their wake also sensed the strangeness and gradually slowed, watching from a distance.

“In these years, the Eight Great Clans of Dunhuang have repeatedly failed to encircle and destroy Kui Wood Wolf. Just days ago, you even mobilized garrison troops to fight a great battle at Mogao Caves, and still failed to kill Kui Wood Wolf — and were disciplined under military law and stripped of the Commander of the Western Frontier post.”

Li Chunfeng spoke with calm composure, word by word. “So for your side, the only way to bring down Kui Wood Wolf is to deploy a full army. But deploying a full army is not something you decide — it is something Prefect Wang Junke decides. Wang Junke clearly had no intention of sending troops. So you had to force his hand. He had to be left with no choice.”

Linghu Zhan watched him in silence, saying nothing.

Li Chunfeng was unperturbed and continued. “Before this, the wolf disaster at Mogao Caves, though it caused no small number of military and civilian casualties, was not sufficient to compel Wang Junke to send troops — and so you planned this engagement at Qingdun Garrison. Kui Wood Wolf attacked Qingdun Garrison, slaughtered over ten garrison soldiers, and even the garrison commander Lin Sima died — that is a genuine and undeniable provocation against the military. If Wang Junke still fails to act, not only will the military officers of Western Shazhou refuse to accept it — the imperial court will not accept it either. Commandant Linghu — you rush back to the prefectural city in such haste because you intend to take command of the troops, do you not?”

“Scholar Li, you are indeed brilliantly perceptive. But what you have said is something I will never acknowledge.”

Linghu Zhan concealed his inner alarm and spoke with a composed expression. “You have pushed the matter this far — what exactly do you want?”

“Well put, Commandant Linghu.”

Li Chunfeng laughed aloud. “I came to Dunhuang on behalf of Consort Yin and Vice Director Yin, to subdue Kui Wood Wolf — a goal that aligns perfectly with your Eight Great Clans. I, Li Chunfeng, am newly entered into officialdom, and though my rank is low, I am not without ambition. If I can subdue Kui Wood Wolf and draw the attention of the entire court, what does it matter if I risk my life? But Commandant Linghu — I refuse to be a puppet in another man’s hands, thrown away for nothing!”

Linghu Zhan’s expression did not change. “What do you mean?”

Li Chunfeng gave a cold laugh. “The Kui Wood Wolf you described to me was nothing more than some mountain spirit or wild monster — nothing of such unfathomable power! In our recent confrontation, he demonstrated mastery of the Golden Elixir Way and thirty-six of the Heavenly Gang transformations. A demon of such magnitude cannot simply be subdued by someone charging in as unprepared as I was. The fact that my life was not lost at Qingdun Garrison is already a gift from heaven. So, Commandant Linghu — if you truly and sincerely wish me to subdue this demon, then be open and honest with me, and conceal nothing. If you only wish to use me as a tool, now that the battle at Qingdun Garrison is over and you have achieved your aim, I will simply withdraw and return to Chang’an. And if you try to set any further traps for me, that would be treating my teacher and my school as powerless and easily bullied!”

Linghu Zhan cupped both hands in a respectful salute and said with genuine sincerity: “Brother Chunfeng — I, Linghu Zhan, and the Linghu clan, have absolutely no intention of trapping or harming you. There may have been some misunderstanding in the middle, or perhaps a misjudgment of your abilities and our opponent’s. The other night, you withstood Kui Wood Wolf alone — truly remarkable, your arts are refined to the highest degree. Among all the sorcerers and masters we have engaged in three years, Brother Chunfeng, your abilities are without peer. Once we return to Dunhuang, I will personally speak to my father and the various clan heads, and treat you with the utmost sincerity, so that we may together overcome Kui Wood Wolf. I ask you, Brother Chunfeng, to lend us your strength.”

Li Chunfeng studied him intently, as though weighing the sincerity of his words.

“Our Eight Great Clans want only its death. The honor of slaying Kui Wood Wolf — let it belong entirely to Brother Chunfeng.”

Linghu Zhan said.

“Agreed!”

Li Chunfeng extended his hand. The two gripped each other’s hands, and all previous grievances dissolved in an instant.

Linghu Zhan’s spirits rose considerably. By now the whole column had arrived before the earthen kiln relay station, and everyone slowed their horses to walk toward the gate of the relay post.

They were about to enter the station and rest when a fast horse suddenly approached from the south. The rider wore Hu garb and a weimao veil on the head, with black gauze covering half the body, and was covered head to toe in grey dust. The horse came at speed, and a gust of wind lifted the gauze to reveal a very slight, slender figure — clearly a woman.

Linghu Zhan glanced over, and then stopped short. The rider caught sight of Linghu Zhan and her body gave a faint shudder; she galloped over, calling out, “Ninth Brother!”

The voice was clear and bright — unmistakably a woman.

Linghu Zhan glanced at Li Chunfeng. “Brother Li, please go inside the relay station and rest. I’ll go see what has happened.”

“Very well.”

Li Chunfeng nodded with a smile, and led the members of the Exorcism Division and the retainers into the earthen kiln relay station.

Linghu Zhan quickly urged his horse forward to meet her. The two horses drew together on the desolate relay road, and the woman lifted her gauze veil to reveal a face of extraordinary, unadorned beauty — though haggard — gazing at Linghu Zhan with soft, emotion-filled eyes.

“It is Tiao Niang, after all!”

Linghu Zhan was taken aback.

This woman was none other than the legitimate daughter of Zhang Bi — Tiao Niang.

Linghu Zhan quickly helped her dismount, and found that Tiao Niang’s entire body had gone rigid — clearly the result of long, exhausting travel.

“What has happened? Why have you come here?”

Linghu Zhan asked one question after another.

Tiao Niang looked at him with tear-filled eyes. “Ninth Brother — yesterday the beacon fires at Qingdun Garrison sent out an urgent signal, and military dispatches brought word of what happened to Dunhuang. Kui Wood Wolf killed so many people — I was terrified for you, and wanted to go to Qingdun Garrison to find you. By great fortune, I have met you here instead.”

“You—”

A pang of anguish gripped Linghu Zhan’s heart, yet he was utterly helpless.

Ever since Zhai Wen was abducted by Kui Wood Wolf in the ninth year of Wude, the Linghu and Zhai clans had publicly declared Zhai Wen dead, and in practice the betrothal between the two families was over. Linghu Zhan was the outstanding figure of the new generation of the Linghu clan, and could not possibly remain unwed. Even Zhai Chang had accepted the reality. The Zhang and Linghu clans had grown somewhat distant over the past few decades, but in recent years, as the Linghu clan’s power grew, Zhang Bi had developed an interest in a marriage alliance, and Tiao Niang had long harbored a tender regard for Linghu Zhan in her heart. Yet Linghu Zhan, still haunted by the shame of Zhai Wen’s abduction, continued to regard Zhai Wen as his wife — so Tiao Niang could only hide her feelings deep within.

Linghu Zhan was not unaware, yet could only disappoint her.

“Ninth Brother — you… you are wounded?”

Tiao Niang suddenly noticed that Linghu Zhan’s leg was limping, and that blood was seeping through the bandaging, and her beautiful face drained of color.

“Just a sword cut. It is not serious.”

Linghu Zhan said. “Did you come here on your own? Your identity cannot be made known — lower your veil and come inside the relay station with me to rest.”

“It is all right — I came from the family villa outside the city.”

Tiao Niang said. “Something terrible has happened in the Zhang clan. Father is so preoccupied right now that he has no time even for me.”

Linghu Zhan was startled. “What has happened in the Zhang clan?”

“You don’t yet know…”

Tiao Niang realized and caught herself, and her face filled with anger. “Ninth Brother — that Prefect Wang Junke has moved against our Zhang clan!”

Linghu Zhan was struck with alarm. He questioned her in detail, and his expression quickly became deeply grim.

It turned out that on the very night Kui Wood Wolf had killed people, the garrison soldiers at Qingdun Garrison had lit the beacon fires, and the deputy garrison commander had ridden through the night to Dunhuang with an urgent dispatch.

Garrison Commander Lin Sima had been killed, and the soldiers had suffered heavy casualties — this was a grave matter. Wang Junke had interrogated the deputy commander in detail.

The deputy commander did not dare mention the grievances between Lv Sheng and the various noble clans. But he did not dare conceal Lin Sima’s collusion with the bandits of Horse Mane Mountain, or his corrupt acceptance of money and silk through sanctioning smuggling. The Eight Great Clans’ scheme had succeeded: Wang Junke flew into a towering rage, dispatched garrison troops to Qingdun Garrison at once, and simultaneously ordered the Western Shazhou military forces to mobilize, making a show of preparing to exterminate Kui Wood Wolf.

Yet just as the Eight Great Clans were congratulating themselves and waiting for Wang Junke to send out his troops, Wang Junke struck suddenly — launching a severe investigation into the merchant convoys suspected of smuggling.

Since the founding of Great Tang, a frontier prohibition had been in force: not only were ordinary citizens forbidden to cross the passes, even Tang merchants could not pass the frontier to trade. The Tang Code stipulated: “Those who illegally cross the frontier passes shall be sentenced to two years of penal servitude.”

In practice, this handed the trade rights of the Silk Road entirely to Hu merchants, though restrictions on Hu merchant commerce were also quite severe.

Yet the enormous profits of commerce still attracted large numbers of powerful families to participate. Constrained on one side by the Tang Code, and on the other by the low social status of merchants — scholar-officials and their families were considered the refined stream and could not concurrently engage in commerce; families of merchants could not enter government service — many noble families tempted by the profits established merchant firms under the names of collateral branches, secretly formed joint ventures with Hu merchants, and let the Hu merchants move in and out of the passes along the Silk Road while the firms operated as domestic traders to receive and sell goods.

These great noble clans had entrenched themselves in Dunhuang for centuries, with influence spread across every sector of the Gua-Sha two-prefecture region. Every checkpoint and gateway, for instance, the Market Officer of Dunhuang County who oversaw all commercial transactions, was a member of the Zhang clan. Dunhuang was a vital hub of the frontier Silk Road, and commercial activity had always flourished there — the court had little choice but to look the other way. At the competitive sale at Mogao Caves, for instance, the Ferghana horses in the Li clan’s merchant convoy were of precisely this origin, and no one found it remarkable. But some noble clans had grown excessively greedy and secretly bribed frontier generals like Lin Sima to run outright smuggling operations — and this was behavior the court was determined to crack down on severely.

Now Wang Junke seized on the Lin Sima case as a pretext to launch a sweeping campaign against smuggling.

The Zhang clan bore the first and heaviest blow. The Zhang clan stood out for two reasons: first, the Dunhuang County Market Officer was a Zhang clan member; and second, the Dunhuang Zhang clan and the Gaochang Zhang clan shared the same ancestral line. Gaochang was the only Han Chinese kingdom in the Western Regions, its royal family bearing the surname Qu. The Zhang and Qu clans had long shared a bond of mutual dependence; some decades past, Gaochang experienced the Yihe rebellion in which the Qu clan lost power and fled into exile, and it was the Zhang clan that rallied to turn the tide, helping the Qu clan recover the kingdom three years later. The current Grand General Zhang Xiong now held command of Gaochang’s military forces. As a result, commerce between the Dunhuang and Gaochang Zhang clans was extremely close. Though the road northward along the Spear-Shaft Route passed through the small kingdom of Yiwu, Yiwu was too small and dared not offend Gaochang. In other words, once goods from the Dunhuang Zhang clan crossed the Tang border, they moved unimpeded all the way to Gaochang and Yanqi.

Among the Eight Great Clans of Dunhuang, the two that profited most handsomely from commerce were the Zhang and the Li clans.

“News of Garrison Commander Lin Sima’s smuggling at Qingdun Garrison gave Wang Junke the pretext he needed. His very first move was to arrest Market Officer Zhang Ke-zhi, followed immediately by the seizure of several Hu merchant and Gaochang Zhang clan trading firms. Through the account books and the trail of money flows, he directly arrested six chief managers from the Zhang clan commercial firm.”

Tiao Niang said. “Wang Junke is now interrogating those managers, determined to implicate our Zhang clan in the smuggling case.”

Tiao Niang’s face was a mixture of exhaustion, anger, and poorly concealed dread. Linghu Zhan watched her in silence, not knowing how to comfort her.

“Ninth Brother,”

Tiao Niang said, tears slowly gathering in her eyes. “I know — Wang Junke is acting with such fury because my father rejected his marriage proposal. I am the one who has brought disaster on my father, on our whole family. Father told me not to worry and sent me to the villa outside the city for safety, but… but my heart is genuinely terrified.”

Tiao Niang slowly wrapped her arms around Linghu Zhan, her tearful eyes looking up at him as though seeking comfort, seeking a promise. Linghu Zhan did not know what to say. Through the hazy veil of gauze, he looked out at the endless yellow sands, and for the first time felt helpless and lost.