The Ancient Yang Pass Road.

The carriages of the five great clans moved along the north bank of the Ganquan River toward Dunhuang City. The sandy wastes stretched bleak and desolate; the travelers were exhausted. Both people and horses were caked in dust, their spirits dark and dispirited. Behind the procession trailed more than a dozen ox-carts piled with dozens of corpses, the bodies covered in reed mats.

Linghu Zhan rode his horse up from the rear to catch up with the group — grimy and disheveled, his robe dirty and torn, his face and hands still bearing several bloody gashes.

Arriving beside a carriage, the driver quickly stopped. Linghu Zhan dismounted, took a water pouch from the horse’s flank, lifted the curtain, and climbed into the carriage.

Inside the carriage, Zhai Wen sat alone in quiet stillness, her gaze vacant.

“Have some water.”

Linghu Zhan held out the water pouch to her.

Zhai Wen silently took it: “Did you go to pursue and kill Fourth Brother?”

“Please set your heart at ease,”

Linghu Zhan said mildly. “Someone was there to receive him. We were ambushed. We suffered over forty killed and wounded. He escaped unharmed.”

Zhai Wen said nothing, and drank the water mouthful by mouthful.

“Are you trying to mock my uselessness, or celebrating his safety?”

Linghu Zhan gave a cold smile.

“Linghu Gentleman, many thanks for the water!”

Zhai Wen said properly. “I am now a woman of the Lv clan. Your presence in my carriage is improper and inconvenient. I ask you to leave.”

Linghu Zhan stared at her in fury, his eyes betraying a deep and abiding pain, yet he forced himself to be calm: “A woman of the Lv clan? Who served as matchmaker? Where is the marriage contract?”

Zhai Wen did not answer. Linghu Zhan said each word deliberately: “Your acceptance letter is in my residence, by the head of my bed — a long box of nanmu wood, two letters of formal script. In these past years, every time I felt I could carry on no longer, I would take them out and hold them in my hands until they are worn smooth enough to reflect my face. I told others, and I told myself — you, Zhai Wen, are the wife of Linghu Zhan. Even if I searched the entire great desert, I would find you. Alive or dead! Every time I felt I could not go on, I told myself you were already dead — all I had to do was find your corpse, bury you in the Linghu clan’s ancestral graveyard, inscribe on it the name Linghu née Zhai, and my prison of suffering would be over. But why did you have to come back? Why come back and let me sink into hell again, never to escape?”

“Are you blaming me?”

Zhai Wen’s expression remained cool. “Blaming me for being abducted on the road to your wedding? Blaming me for dragging you into this? Blaming me for not dying?”

Linghu Zhan was speechless. He could no longer control his emotions. He beat his head, letting out the trapped roar of a caged beast.

After a long while, Linghu Zhan raised his eyes, red with weeping, and stared at her: “Tell me — what should I do with you?”

“There is a corresponding offence under either the law of the realm or private discipline,”

Zhai Wen said. “If you have my marriage contract, even the Zhai family would have nothing to say. Whether you confine me or drown me in the river — whatever makes you comfortable.”

“Is your hatred for me that deep?”

Linghu Zhan said angrily.

Zhai Wen was puzzled: “How could this be my hatred for you? Linghu Gentleman, we have met only two or three times in our lives. Aside from that piece of paper tying us together, we have nothing between us — no connection, and no feeling. Linghu Gentleman, I do not love you. Nor do I hate you. We are strangers.”

“So much the better,”

Linghu Zhan did not erupt in anger — instead he grew calm. “If we have no connection, we can at least speak as two merchants conducting a purely commercial transaction.”

“What transaction do you wish to discuss?”

Zhai Wen asked.

Linghu Zhan reflected: “I hear you are wearing a garment of heavenly fabric?”

Linghu Zhan suddenly grabbed her arm. Zhai Wen tried to pull free but could not. Linghu Zhan gripped her smooth wrist firmly, and in that instant his palm was pierced with pain, blood immediately flowing. But Linghu Zhan endured the pain stoically and said nothing — though after only a moment, he could no longer bear the piercing agony and quickly let go.

Zhai Wen looked at him in puzzlement.

“Just as Mi Kangli described — formidably powerful.”

Linghu Zhan thought it over. “When did you put this heavenly garment on?”

Zhai Wen frowned: “What do you mean?”

“You were abducted on the nineteenth day of the eighth month of the ninth year of Wude. I investigated — Mi Laixing’s trading caravan left Dunhuang on the twenty-fifth of the eighth month, and was then ambushed and slaughtered by Kui Mulang in the White Dragon Mound Desert. At the speed of a trading caravan, it takes roughly a month to reach the White Dragon Mound Desert. Then Kui Mulang returned to Yumen Pass and put the heavenly garment on you. By this reckoning, it would be approximately a month and a half after you were abducted.”

Linghu Zhan fixed his eyes on her. “If you were not violated in those first one and a half months, then Kui Mulang could not touch you afterward. That is the case, is it not?”

Zhai Wen listened with a mixture of shock and contempt, and said coldly: “How would you know I was not violated in those first one and a half months?”

“I do not!”

Linghu Zhan said through gritted teeth. “I only need others to know it — and that is enough!”

Zhai Wen suddenly understood: “You are trying to… you want to—”

Linghu Zhan’s face was flushed with shame, yet he could not avoid saying it: “Precisely. Kui Mulang killed Mi Kangli, hunted Xuanzang, tried to seize the other half of the heavenly garment — he had not touched you, and wanted to break the spell of the heavenly garment. I only need the world to believe this, and it will be enough.”

Zhai Wen stared at him with deep shame and anger: “Linghu Gentleman, I am truly disappointed in you. You are unworthy of being called a man!”

Linghu Zhan’s spirit seemed broken: “Xuanzang said something — he said the gentry clans are too lazy in the way they maintain their interests. In fact, that is not quite right. During the Southern Dynasties, the Wang clan and the Sima clan shared the realm. But ever since the Sui and Tang, we gentry clans have lost our special privileges at court. What allows us to stand above the common families is the dignity and glory we have carefully maintained — the kind that makes those of humble birth feel awe and admiration, and aspire toward us. Do you know how much we sacrifice to maintain that dignity and glory? We rigidly follow the ancient rites of the Wei and Jin dynasties. Even in poverty, we look down on commerce and refuse to engage in trade. Any male or female family member who dares violate the ritual proprieties faces the full enforcement of clan rules. So Lv Sheng’s abduction of you was actually intended to humiliate my Linghu clan!”

Zhai Wen let out a quiet sigh. She was born of gentry, and naturally knew the tragedy of gentry sons and daughters.

“Since the Wei and Jin dynasties, if a widow remarried, or an unmarried woman eloped, the world thought nothing of it. But if a woman was abducted and violated — that absolutely could not be tolerated. You are wearing a heavenly garment, which is known to all. We only need to let people know that this heavenly garment was bestowed by a divine immortal, passed through Mi Laixing’s hands to reach you.”

Linghu Zhan said.

Zhai Wen stared at him, speechless: “You… how are you so utterly shameless?”

Linghu Zhan closed his eyes with a long sigh: “A man living in this world is like a declining gentry clan — he lives for dignity and honor. Once dignity is gone, how can he go on living under the gaze of others? What I am proposing to you is this transaction: you help me recover my dignity, and I let you live well.”

Zhai Wen stared at him silently, suddenly feeling a pang of pity for this man: “How would you want me to live?”

“In the Western Han there was a Ziyang Immortal named Zhou Yi Shan, who mastered the Inner Text of the Crimson Cinnabar and the True Scripture of the Cavern of Mysteries, and ascended in broad daylight. We would say that the Ziyang Immortal foresaw a divine spirit descending from the heavens to bring chaos, divined that you and I would face the calamity of a torn wedding bond, and so had a heavenly garment passed through the hands of Mi Laixing to protect your purity intact.”

Linghu Zhan said. “In any case, you truly do have the heavenly garment on you — the claim can be verified. I will first receive you into the Linghu clan’s secondary residence to recuperate, until everyone believes the story. Then you and I will formally separate, and I will escort you back to the Zhai family. If you are unwilling to return to the Zhai family, I will give you the secondary residence, and you may live freely. Neither of us need interfere with the other again.”

Zhai Wen said sardonically: “How painstakingly you have thought this through!”

Linghu Zhan said coldly: “Men of this world each have their own hardships. Some face the storm head-on, all for a career. Some scheme endlessly, all for wealth. Some press forward with everything they have, all for the ambition in their hearts. And I — all for recovering lost dignity! Never mind elaborate schemes — even if it means hacking through thorns and brambles, even if it means giving up my life, I would rather die than live without dignity. We have no feelings between us anyway. This is simply a transaction. Whether to do it or not — the decision is yours.”

Linghu Zhan turned and lifted the curtain to jump down from the carriage.

Zhai Wen suddenly laughed with bleak desolation, then slowly began to weep, sobbing out of control: “So this is the life you intend to give me!”

Ahead lay Dunhuang City.

In the opposite direction from Zhai Wen, Li Cheng drove a carriage, carrying the woman he loved, returning to Dunhuang City.

Outside the south and west gates of Dunhuang City, armies were massed in great numbers, military tents dense and numerous in every direction. The three garrison militias, three garrisons, and four major fortress watches of Shazhou had all been called up, totaling seven thousand five hundred men. Of these, the Shouchang militia and the Longlelai garrison primarily guarded the Tuyuhun direction at Yangguan. Wang Junke kept one thousand men and gave Linghu Zhan three hundred more to guard Dunhuang City. All others were mobilized.

Six thousand two hundred soldiers — coming from Shouchang County, from Longlele Township, from Xiaogu Township, from Xuanquan Township — converged on Dunhuang from all four directions in a steady stream. The conscripted laborers driven to transport armor, weapons, and provisions were twice that number. Large quantities of ox-carts and horse-carts loaded with military stores and silk were moving along the roads — it was as if the entire Shazhou prefecture had been stirred into motion.

As Li Cheng made his way along the road, he also saw column after column of unarmored private retinue troops. Asking around, he learned that Wang Junke had invited the Dunhuang gentry clans to join the expedition, with each of the eight great clans fielding fifty retinue troops under the command of their respective clan patriarch. Li Cheng and Yu Zao immediately understood — this was Wang Junke taking the gentry patriarchs hostage.

At the south gate, Wang Junke and Wang Lishe had already received the news and came out personally to welcome them.

It turned out that in the early hours of the previous morning, Yu Zao and Li Cheng had slipped away from the Prefect’s residence. Wang Junke heard that his daughter had run off again, and flew into a great rage — but when he heard she had gone with Li Cheng, he was not worried. By the afternoon, Wang Lishe had come to report that the bridal party sent by Prince Linjiang had arrived.

Wang Junke only then began to grow anxious, but with the mobilization of the garrison militia these past two days and the crisis at the western grotto, he was overwhelmed with affairs and had no time to search. Now, seeing Li Cheng and Yu Zao return safely, he let out a long breath.

“Where did you go?”

Wang Junke demanded sternly of Yu Zao.

“Lord Wang,”

Li Cheng smiled. “Yu Zao was feeling cooped up inside the residence, so I drove a carriage and took her out for a stroll. Now that we are about to be married, it won’t be easy to have such carefree and leisurely days once we’re wed.”

Wang Junke was taken aback, and quickly pulled Li Cheng aside, lowering his voice: “Does she know your identity?”

Li Cheng nodded: “I told her.”

“No objection?”

Wang Junke asked.

“She agreed.”

Li Cheng said.

Wang Junke let out a long breath. At heart he still hoped his daughter could find feelings for her future husband and have a good life. His face immediately broke into a wide smile. He clapped Li Cheng on the shoulder, praising him repeatedly.

“Young Lord,”

Wang Lishe smiled. “The bridal party sent by His Highness has arrived and is staying at the Dacheng Monastery. His Highness divined an auspicious hour: tomorrow at the third quarter of the youshi hour is the most auspicious time. We will proceed to the Prefect’s residence for the wedding reception at exactly that time, depart at the third quarter of youshi, and spend the first night at the prefecture road station.”

“So soon?”

Li Cheng was somewhat surprised. He had hoped to delay Wang Junke for a few more days.

“There’s no helping it — it’s such a long road to Guasha!”

Wang Lishe smiled. “The auspicious days for the wedding procession and the wedding ceremony itself were divined separately, with only four days between them, and the ancient Guasha road is three hundred li — even riding as fast as we can, it will take us three days.”

Li Cheng said “ah,” composed himself, and smiled: “Will Lord Wang personally escort his daughter to the wedding? Yu Zao has only one elder brother, who is currently still in Chang’an. If Lord Wang could personally escort her to Guazhou, she would certainly be more at ease.”

Wang Junke had no suspicion at this, and seeing Li Cheng show such concern for his daughter, could not help but be pleased: “You’re still young, saying such things. Where has a father ever personally escorted his daughter to her wedding? I will have Wang Junsheng escort her — Yu Zao has plenty of cousins from the Wang clan, so she will certainly not be pushed around.”

Li Cheng felt a stab of disappointment, knowing this excuse would not be enough to lure Wang Junke into Guazhou.

Just as he was pondering his next move, he heard Wang Junke say: “But we will be making the journey together all the same.”

“Ah?”

Li Cheng was surprised. “Why is that?”

“Because there is a beacon-fire urgent alert — Kui Mulang is reportedly fleeing north, and has already crossed the Eastern Spring Station. It appears he is heading toward Guazhou.”

Wang Junke said. “Your father also sent a letter saying the Turks to the north are restless and may be moving to invade Guazhou. With the great army already assembled and mobilized, it is a good opportunity to head east to Guazhou to lend your father a hand.”

Li Cheng’s heart sank. He feared exactly this — and now his father had sent an invitation letter drawing Wang Junke in. Was this not leading the wolf into the fold?

“Just focus on your wedding preparations with peace of mind. With the great army assembled now, only the Shouchang garrison is still missing — the road is somewhat long, but they should arrive in the afternoon tomorrow. Once you depart tomorrow, the great army will set out the day after, only about fifty li behind you.”

Wang Junke smiled. “Who knows — we might even make it into Guazhou City in time for a cup of wedding wine for my daughter.”

Li Cheng’s mind was in turmoil. He had no heart to say more, making the excuse of needing to escort Yu Zao back to the residence, and quickly went into the city.

Wang Lishe was already present, so of course there was no reason for Li Cheng to drive the carriage anymore. He immediately had a driver arranged. Li Cheng entered the carriage, and Yu Zao, who had not come out the whole time, had heard every word of the conversation with crystal clarity.

“What is Father’s plan exactly?”

Seeing Li Cheng come in, Yu Zao asked urgently.

Li Cheng let out a sigh: “Your father intends to use our wedding celebrations as cover to seize Guazhou by surprise!”

Yu Zao was startled and immediately alarmed: “What do we do then?”

“Do not panic, do not panic,”

Li Cheng reassured her. “Two days ago I already had Wang Lishe send someone ahead to Guazhou to inform my father. He will be on guard against it. Master Xuanzang and the others will also get there ahead of us. Do not worry.”

Though he said not to worry, the two looked at each other, and in their hearts there was only unending anxiety and sorrow.

He escorted her to the Prefect’s residence gate, and Li Cheng reluctantly took his leave. Yu Zao walked into the courtyard alone. From the inner courtyard to the rear residence, countless maids and servants were busy without pause. Yu Zao was to be married into a commandery prince’s household — the wedding ceremony was conducted at the level of a feudal lord’s rites. Every step and procedure, every style and color, was defined with painstaking and awe-inspiring precision.

The moment Yu Zao returned home, she was put in the hands of maids and attendants who took over. The principal wives of nearly all the eight great clans had sent their senior women to assist. These experienced matrons of great gentry households had each their own views on how things should be done — some quoted the Rites of Zhou, some the Book of Etiquette and Ceremonial, and one had even brought along the Gongyang Commentary on the Spring and Autumn Annals and begun citing it chapter and verse. Everyone argued together to no resolution, and through the entire night Yu Zao managed only a brief nap.

“The rites of a scholar taking a wife are timed for the dusk hour, and thus the name. Dusk is the time it must be, for yang departs and yin arrives: when the sun has set three watches of the water-clock, that is dusk.”

Three watches was three intervals of the clepsydra. The sun setting was the youshi hour. That is to say, from the third interval past youshi onward the ceremony could be called a wedding ceremony, and the wedding rites could be held.

Having been awake nearly the entire previous night, and after a full day of being fussed over and arranged today, Yu Zao was completely dazed — as if floating on a cloud, her head utterly empty. Yet there was a very strange feeling she could not put into words, as if she were undergoing a transformation. From that point forward, whether in identity or in her own heart, she would be an entirely different person. What kind of person she would become, Yu Zao could not figure out. She was a little frightened.

At this point, Wang Junke walked into the room, waved the maids and the various clan matrons out, and gazed blankly at Yu Zao. Yu Zao had already put on the ceremonial dress of pure silk with colored trim, sitting upright on the couch. Her long hair had been put up, adorned with an abundance of jade and pearl ornaments.

In Wang Junke’s eyes, the daughter before him suddenly seemed a little unfamiliar.

Wang Junke sat silently on a chair, father and daughter long without words.

“Do you still resent your father?”

Wang Junke asked.

“How would I dare.”

Yu Zao said lightly.

“Knowing you are to be married, I don’t know why — these past two days my mind has been full of the days at the Wagang fortress. You were only eight then, still wearing your hair in two childlike tufts. You used to run off to practice swordsmanship with Cheng Yaojin’s son, and your elder brother made you a wooden sword. But one time you stole an iron ring-pommel straight blade from a soldier, and wanted to fight Cheng Chuliang with it. In the end you cut yourself and sat on the ground wailing.”

Wang Junke sank into deep memory, his eyes reddening. “I scooped you up and ran to find Wei Zheng — he used to be a Daoist, so he knew medicine. He bandaged your wound while you kicked and struggled. He gave you a bronze clapper taken from Yuwen Huaji’s army and told you to strike it with a small drum mallet. You stopped crying at once. At that moment I found myself thinking — when you grow up, who will you marry? When you are hurt, when you cry, will there be someone to come and love you…”

Yu Zao sat woodenly, tears flowing: “Father — do you know what I think of when I remember the Wagang days? I think of Mother and Elder Brother. I cannot recall a single person from that mountain — no Cheng Yaojin, no Wei Zheng, no Yuwen Huaji. Those are your world of heroes and iron horses and burning glory — none of that is in my memory. What fills my memory entirely is the days when our family was together.”

Wang Junke said heavily: “After the wedding, the Young Lord will return to Chang’an, and you can return home to visit — go to Chang’an to see your mother and Yong’an.”

“Chang’an…”

Yu Zao smiled bleakly. “Can I still go back?”

Wang Junke frowned: “Why wouldn’t you be able to go back?”

Yu Zao struggled for a moment, but in the end revealed nothing, and said with bitterness: “Father — do you know what I am thinking on this day?”

“Hmm?”

Wang Junke smiled. “After today you and I will rarely have such a chance to sit together and speak freely. Your father very much wants to speak with you from the heart.”

“I am thinking,”

Yu Zao murmured, “from this day forward, I am no longer a daughter of the Wang clan. Whether the Wang clan flourishes or falls, thrives or suffers disgrace — all of that will have nothing to do with me. From now on I will take on a different surname, be removed from the genealogy, leave my own parents, and go to serve someone else’s parents. So — what was the purpose of you, Father, giving birth to me and raising me?”

Wang Junke’s gaze sharpened, his expression entirely unreadable, and he smiled: “Wait until you are a mother yourself and you will know — what parent can speak of repayment? Father will not conceal it from you: in marrying you into Prince Linjiang’s household, there is indeed the desire to raise the Wang family’s status. Sometimes when I think about it, I also feel a twinge of guilt. But seeing that you and the Young Lord have true feelings for each other, I am relieved. As for marrying into the Li family and no longer being a Wang daughter — you have absolutely no reason for such worries. Even under the laws of the court, it is impossible to sever the bond between a father and daughter.”

Yu Zao could no longer hold back, and said with bitterness: “Father — even now you are unwilling to speak honestly to your own daughter?”

Wang Junke still smiled: “I am not speaking my true feelings?”

“Not merely concealing your true feelings — but speaking outright falsehoods.”

Yu Zao stared at him, her face still wet with tears. “You brought this daughter into the world not simply to elevate the Wang family’s status — but to make her your instrument in one battle to seize a city, and another to seize a kingdom, and lay the foundations of a grand and enduring enterprise! So it is very much worth it — very much, is it not?”

Wang Junke looked at her steadily. Father and daughter stared at each other in a long standoff. Yu Zao seemed to hear something like a shattering crack in the space between them.

“You know?”

Wang Junke finally let out a long sigh. “Did Xuanzang tell you?”

“You knew?”

Yu Zao was somewhat startled.

Wang Junke said nothing. After a long while he spoke: “Yu Zao — do you know what power means to a man? Not just glory, but the intoxication of having everything in your grip. No matter whether it is the fate of millions of people or their every thought and desire — you can determine it all. Since I resolved to raise the banner of rebellion, I have felt an overpowering exhilaration. Whether it is Li Yan or the eight great clans, whether it is Xuanzang or an ordinary common person — all of them are controlled in my hands. I decide if they live — they live. I decide they die — they die. This is utterly unlike being a prefect.”

“To see others as ants to be crushed?”

Yu Zao asked.

“Not ants — fish in the palm of my hand.”

Wang Junke said. “Because of the mutiny a few days ago, the Military Affairs Secretary who controlled the beacon and relay stations was seized by me. The Dunhuang County Deputy Sheriff was seized by me. The Western Pass garrison troops were seized by me. Without my permission, not even a scrap of paper can leave Shazhou. Everyone is meat on a chopping block. This is what control means.”

“Father — for the sake of your ambition, are you truly willing to bring the Wang clan to utter ruin?”

Yu Zao wept.

“This is not because of my ambitions!”

Wang Junke said coldly. “This is the foundation for a thousand-year heritage I am building for the Shiai Wang clan! I clawed my way out of the Wagang fortress, struggled to survive in a chaotic age, and attached myself in turn to Zhai Rang, Li Mi, Wang Shichong, and then Great Tang. Every time they made a decision, it changed my fate. I do not want this! Not just for myself — I also do not want the fate of my descendants to be controlled by the hands of others! I want the Wang clan’s descendants to have one piece of land where their word is law, where what they say becomes the rules. I want the Wang family’s noble lineage — in my own lifetime — to be exalted to a rank comparable to princes and kings!”

“Is that not your ambition?”

Yu Zao wept and shouted. “What about Mother? What about Elder Brother? You rebel and raise the banner of treason — what happens to them?”

“Rest easy!”

Wang Junke said without expression. “They will absolutely come to no harm — otherwise what is the point of all this?”

“I was naive to underestimate you, Father. You have always planned for every contingency. Mother and Elder Brother will naturally be kept safe.”

Yu Zao wept. “But what about me? You push me into Prince Linjiang’s household, simply to seize Guazhou City! Have you thought about what my future will be? You and the Li clan will become enemies — I am a woman of the Li clan. You execute Prince Linjiang — I am the daughter of the man who killed his father… Oh, perhaps you will also kill Li Cheng? I become a widow, marry again, and again serve as your pawn to seize another city — is that it?”

“Silence!”

Wang Junke was provoked into fury. He raised his hand to strike her, then looked at the daughter before him dressed as a new bride. A sudden pang stabbed at his heart — and he could not bring himself to do it.

Wang Junke rose and walked toward the door. “Things have reached this point. Nothing can be changed now. Go to your wedding in peace.”

Reaching the doorway, he turned back. “Do not go thinking about ruining my plans. Wang Lishe sent someone to Guazhou to inform them a few days ago. I had that messenger intercepted and killed. No one can escape my control. Everyone must follow my plan — including you.”

Yu Zao broke into inconsolable weeping.

At the third quarter of the youshi hour, Young Lord Li Cheng arrived with a grand wedding procession to receive his bride.

According to the rites of Zhou, he wore ceremonial upper and lower garments of black and crimson, boarded a plain black undecorated carriage, followed by four secondary carriages. Behind these trailed the vast and imposing wedding procession.

Li Cheng held a candle in one hand and in the other cradled a large wild goose wrapped in crimson silk, the goose’s beak bound with five-colored silk thread. Step by step he walked into the Prefect’s residence.

The wedding reception rites were held in the main hall of the bride’s family. The entire main hall was screened off with fans and moveable partitions, and amid a festive riot of flowers, Li Cheng and Yu Zao performed first the goose-offering rite, then the hair-binding rite. The clan matrons of the great gentry houses kept the two of them occupied for a full hour. Then at last Li Cheng was able to take the crimson silk and lead his new bride out of the Prefect’s residence.

Li Cheng helped Yu Zao up into the wedding carriage. Before they had even passed out of the ward, a throng of neighboring ward residents crowded around them from all sides. They pushed forward a man with a good singing voice to lead the chanting of the Procession-Blocking Song. When the verses were finished, the crowd cheered and called out together, demanding food and wine from the hosts.

Wang Junke laughed heartily: “The storehouses of the Prefect’s residence are all thrown open — one jar of wine and one sheep for every household. Drink until you’re drunk, eat until you’re full!”

The sounds of praise and acclaim were deafening. The clamor went on for a good while before Li Cheng at last had the chance to drive his carriage and push through the crowd with his new bride.

Behind them the enormous wedding procession followed, streaming out through the south gate. It was already the curfew hour, but a wedding procession naturally came and went freely. The people of other wards who wanted some food and wine, however, found it inconvenient. As the wedding carriage passed each ward gate, people on the ward walls would call out and chant the Procession-Blocking Song. Wang Junsheng laughingly ordered people to deliver twenty jars of wine and two live sheep to each ward they passed through. This lavish gesture drew cheers from every ward they went by.

After exiting the south gate, they turned to the east side of the city by the Ganquan River, and crossed over on a wooden bridge. As the wedding carriage moved along the bridge, Yu Zao lifted the curtain. The great and ancient city of Dunhuang was shrouded in the evening light — like a cage enclosing all of heaven and earth. Then lifting her gaze forward, she saw the desert sands stretching on endlessly, without a horizon.

Yu Zao felt that life was a journey from one cage to the next. The only thing she looked forward to was what Lv Sheng had promised her — that he would come and carry her through the sky for just a moment. She thought to herself quietly: perhaps in a hundred years of human life — suffering, struggling, and scraping by — all of it existed just for the sake of one glimpse of the view beyond the sky.

A faint smile came to Yu Zao’s lips.

In that same nightfall, Xuanzang, Lv Sheng, Li Chunfeng, and Li Zhi mingled into a Li clan merchant caravan and, breaking through Wang Junke’s many layers of blockade, entered the Fish Spring station at the border of Guazhou. This Fish Spring station was the very place where Xuanzang had first encountered Lv Shi Lao and Li Cheng. A hundred and five li further east lay Guazhou.

Only now could everyone breathe a sigh of relief. Wang Junke’s reach did not extend into Guazhou territory. Once inside the Fish Spring station, they were safe.

Li Zhi had not made his identity known. He had the caravan’s manager inform the station master, and like ordinary merchants the group made camp in the poplar forest by the fish spring.

Xuanzang washed up briefly, and then a servant came to invite him to Li Zhi’s tent for a meeting.

Even on the road, a great family’s manner was on full display. Li Zhi’s tent was spread with a floor carpet, with a low eating table in the center laid with fruit, vegetables, wine and meat, cream cheese and flat wheat cakes — abundant and plentiful. Xuanzang, Lv Sheng, Li Chunfeng, and the others sat around the eating table. Behind each of them stood a servant in attendance.

Once everyone had finished a simple meal, Li Zhi said in a grave tone: “Following Lv Gentleman’s instructions, since we left Dunhuang two days ago, I have had messengers report the latest intelligence every three hours. At the youshi hour the day before yesterday, Young Lord Li Cheng and Yu Zao were wed. At the mao hour yesterday morning, the wedding procession left the prefecture road station. They will arrive tonight at the Wuqiong station.”

Everyone listened in silence.

“At the chen hour today, Wang Junke led a ceremony of oath and departed on campaign, heading east with six thousand six hundred men. This includes four hundred private retinue troops from the eight great clans, with the Li clan also providing fifty. Except for myself, the other seven clan patriarchs have all been swept along in the army.”

Li Zhi’s expression turned somewhat strained. “Today Wang Junke’s army marched sixty-five li and is camped tonight at the Qitou station.”

Xuanzang could not help but feel somewhat surprised. Wang Junke had already taken control of Shazhou’s beacon and relay stations — yet Li Zhi was still able to accurately track his movements and relay them in an unbroken stream. This demonstrated the formidable strength of the Li clan.

“Wang Junke’s marching pace is not particularly fast,”

Lv Sheng mused. “The Qitou station is only thirty-five li from the Wuqiong station — he is shadowing Li Cheng’s wedding procession?”

“Precisely,”

Li Zhi nodded. “From what we can see for now, Wang Junke intends to launch a surprise attack on Guazhou City while Li Cheng and Yu Zao are celebrating their wedding.”

“And the situation in Guazhou?”

Lv Sheng asked.

“Three days ago, the court messenger Cui Dunli arrived in Guazhou, conveying an imperial decree summoning Li Yan to court.”

Li Zhi said. “Li Yan acknowledged the decree and asked Cui Dunli for a few days’ grace, to finish the Young Lord’s wedding ceremony before complying.”

“So what is Li Yan’s actual attitude?”

Li Chunfeng asked in puzzlement. “Did Li Cheng not say he had already informed Prince Linjiang of Wang Junke’s rebellion? Yet Prince Linjiang’s behavior is quite strange — he not only sent a wedding party to marry Wang Junke’s daughter, but even ordered Wang Junke to lead troops to Guazhou to help him fend off the Turks. Is that not leading the wolf into his own fold?”

Lv Sheng shook his head: “Prince Linjiang may have a somewhat yielding nature, but he is not muddleheaded and incompetent. Having received word of Wang Junke’s rebellion, and still making these moves — it is very likely a strategy to lure the enemy in.”

Li Zhi nodded: “That is also how I see it. Prince Linjiang first sent people to receive the bride, to put Wang Junke at ease. Then he summoned him to Guazhou to repel the enemy. Wang Junke wants to take advantage of the wedding ceremony to seize Guazhou — and Li Yan in turn may be hoping to use this same opportunity to seize Wang Junke.”

Li Chunfeng drew in a sharp breath: “In other words, this wedding ceremony is the killing ground where both sides will clash. Whoever strikes first determines the outcome. And we — like moths flying into the flame — are about to plunge ourselves headlong into the middle of it?”

Lv Sheng said mildly: “We are indeed going to plunge in — but we are not moths.”

“Then what are we?”

Li Chunfeng asked.

“The current situation is like a game of elephant chess. Wang Junke and Li Yan are each the Senior General on the board, and they can command only the Heavenly Horses, Supply Chariots, and Six Armor Infantry. What we are doing is the hand that holds the pieces!”

Lv Sheng said.

“Brother Lv — what do you mean?”

Li Chunfeng asked in alarm. “This is a clash of armies ten thousand strong. Please do not take reckless risks.”

A mysterious smile appeared on both Lv Sheng’s and Li Zhi’s faces. In the candlelight of the tent, both of their eyes blazed with a fierce, burning light.

Xuanzang’s heart gave a sudden lurch. He cried out in involuntary disbelief: “You… you two are planning to help Wang Junke rebel!”

Lv Sheng and Li Zhi were startled at once, both fixing their gaze on Xuanzang. Their eyes turned grave.

For a moment the atmosphere in the tent grew heavy. Li Zhi waved the servants outside, telling them to stand guard at the tent entrance.

Lv Sheng smiled as he looked at Xuanzang — but there was not the slightest trace of a smile in his eyes. “What does the Master wish to say?”

Xuanzang drew a deep breath and stared at him: “This humble monk now understands. That day at the western grotto, when you openly stripped away the seven-tiered tower and let the observatory appear before thousands of eyes — that was not the final act of your revenge against the five great clans. Because, although the five great clans broke the laws of the court by privately studying celestial phenomena, the harshest punishment possible is only two years of imprisonment for the principal offenders, with the clan patriarchs implicated. That was not your goal.”

“And what is our goal, then?”

Lv Sheng looked at him with playful curiosity.

“Your goal was to deliver the evidence of their private study of celestial phenomena into Wang Junke’s hands, compelling them to submit to his control — to ultimately be swept along by him into rebellion!”

Xuanzang said gravely. “Wang Junke, rebelling with the territory of just one single prefecture, will certainly fail. When the court settles accounts afterward, it can use the charge of treason and rebellion to uproot the five great clans entirely. So your journey to Guazhou is not intended to help Prince Linjiang suppress the rebellion — it is to help Wang Junke seize Guazhou, to expand this rebellion and fully enrage the court. And only by doing so can the court’s hatred of the five great clans be brought to the point where they will be exterminated root and branch!”

Lv Sheng and Li Zhi looked at Xuanzang in silence. Li Chunfeng too was frozen in place. No one spoke for a long moment.

“The Master is truly one who sees through all things — seeing the human hearts and the world with perfect clarity.”

Lv Sheng said. “But you are a man who has left the secular world. You seek the Great Way of the Tathagata. Having seen through it, there is no need to say it aloud. Simply regard yourself as standing outside the heavens, watching from a distance as the joy and sorrow of the living beings in this world play out.”

Xuanzang stared at him, shaking his head with sadness: “This humble monk is still far from the Great Way. At this moment I am merely an ordinary person of this world, born of father and mother, eating the five grains. I too have love, and hatred, and compassion, and righteous indignation.”

“Is not the purpose of practicing the Way to escape the eight sufferings of this world?”

Lv Sheng shouted. “What is the meaning of the highest transcendence? The Sage puts himself behind, and thus he is found ahead; treats himself as outside, and thus his existence endures. You have walked the path of seeking the Great Way your whole life — you are different from ordinary people. My own path collapsed halfway through. I can only sink into this world of love and hate and kill my way to a life lived without regrets in this existence. But you are different!”

“Why am I different?”

Xuanzang asked.

“Do you think you are the only one who has seen through my plan? No!”

Lv Sheng pointed to the sky above and shouted. “There are the gods and Buddhas that fill the heavens!

There are the divine spirits of the sky above! My every action, my every encounter — they are watching me from overhead! But have they intervened? No! Because they have seen through the truth of this world — the mortal world is a cage imprisoning all living beings, nothing but suffering, free of joy, trapped in birth and death!

They silently watch as the tragedies of the human world play out, like watching sparks and flowers fall into the deep abyss of the stars. The lives of the divine spirits are long and full of solitude. They will hang white curtains across the sky, letting the joys and sorrows of the mortal world be projected onto the screen. This great curtain stretches from the Celestial Market Enclosure across the Purple Forbidden Enclosure all the way to the ecliptic where the sun travels — its extent is uncountable tens of millions of li. When the divine spirits of the sky grow bored, they invite their companions, sitting on shooting stars to watch, just as we watch acrobatics and performers on the stage. They flick their hands, and one scene cuts to the next. Ha ha ha — Master — the life-and-death struggles of countless people fail to hold their interest enough to wring out even a single tear! This is the truth! The truth of the mortal world, and the truth of the world above!”

Looking at Lv Sheng making his passionate, sweeping declamation, Xuanzang opened his mouth and found he did not know what to say. He suddenly understood why the personality of Kui Mulang had been born within Lv Sheng. Because the Great Way he had aspired to in his youth had already collapsed, and to become a demon, one needs a reason to declare war on the world. And this reason was that the world above and the world below were equally unbearable. The mortal world was not worth escaping from, and the Great Way was not worth seeking.

“No, Brother Lv — you are wrong.”

Xuanzang shook his head slowly. “This is the Fish Spring station. It was right here that I met Lv Shi Lao. The first time I saw him, he was chanting and performing a Dunhuang Tale. At that time the leaves of the poplar trees hung in the sunlight, and the snowmelt from the mountains flowed along the fish spring, and the waters still had fish swimming and flicking their tails. I sat with a group of travelers in a circle around him, listening with delight. The road through the sandy wastes was hard, and life was hard — but when we were tired, listening to a story, we were very happy. Our hearts traveled with the characters in the story — sometimes moved to tears, sometimes anxious, sometimes relieved, sometimes satisfied — it was never tedious. Because this world is full of wonder, and other people’s lives are full of wonder too. We hoped to become that kind of person ourselves.

“Later, I met Prince Linjiang Li Yan and Young Lord Li Cheng right here. They began telling me of their troubles — ah, great figures have the troubles of great figures, and common people have the troubles of common people. But no one had given up hope. Because that is what life is like — it is like crossing one mountain after another. When you cannot cross one, you feel exhausted and desperate. But when you grit your teeth and push through, standing at the summit, you find the barrier you struggled with was not so much after all. Then gritting your teeth again, walking a level stretch of road, and going on to cross the next. There is no way around it — life pushes you along with time, and you simply cannot stop moving forward. On your shoulders rest family, responsibility, and the pursuit of love and happiness.

“Look at this fish spring before you. It is snowmelt from the Qilian Mountains, gathering into a stream, flowing along until it runs dry in the sands. If this is a human life, then we are the fish in this spring. We call to our companions, traveling alongside those we cherish and those we love, flowing down from the mountain, taking in the scenery along the way, warmed by each other’s presence. Everyone will die. Everyone knows this river ends in the desert sands. And yet — do the fish refuse to swim this fish spring road? No. They will swim it to the end, only wishing to make this stretch of road free of regrets. So the Great Way of the Tathagata that this humble monk practices is not to sit on a shooting star and enjoy the dramas of joy and sorrow playing out on the celestial screen — but to stand on this shore, and guard these lives through their existence in this world.”

The tent fell silent as death. Lv Sheng hung his head, gripping a cup of wine, his knuckles white.

After a very long while, Lv Sheng returned to calm: “These words of the Master sound like the oath I once swore. What a pity — Lv Sheng still lives, yet has also died. Whether I am possessed by a demon wolf or not, the one thing I have left to do in this life is to live it to its end without regret.”

Li Zhi bowed deeply to Xuanzang, speaking sincerely: “We are all clear on the Master’s good intentions. But now the arrow is on the string and must be released. Wang Junke must rebel, and Guazhou City must fall. You are right — only by wounding the court will the five great clans be uprooted entirely. But out of respect for the Master, we can restrain the scale of this rebellion and do our best not to harm any more innocent bystanders.”

Xuanzang rose and said mildly: “But in this humble monk’s view, every blade of grass in this world is innocent. In that case, we are no longer fellow travelers. Brother Lv — this humble monk met you in the seventh year of Wude. Even though separated by a thousand li, we walked the same path in this humble monk’s eyes. From now on, this humble monk goes to walk the road to the Western Heaven. You go to walk your field of asuras. Farewell!”

Lv Sheng watched him quietly, his expression touched with a kind of sadness — but he made no move to stop him.

“Lv Gentleman,”

Li Zhi said gravely. “He absolutely cannot be allowed to leave — otherwise years of our planning will be ruined in an instant!”

“If the Master wishes to leave, it means our paths have parted here.”

Lv Sheng said mildly. “Years ago we already walked our separate ways. This is his heart’s conviction, and I am willing to honor it.”

“You—”

Li Zhi’s eyes blazed with fury. He called out: “Seize him!”

Several retinue members burst into the tent, holding broadswords and surrounding Xuanzang completely.

Lv Sheng erupted in sudden fury, stepping forward to stand before Xuanzang: “Lord Chengyu — the Master risked his life for me time and again these past days. You have seen it all. Without him, I could never have recovered my memories. If you wish to work with me, you will absolutely not harm him!”

“If you can control him, I will not harm him — but can you?”

Li Zhi was unyielding. “Master Xuanzang is the kind of man we all understand. He will never set aside his sense of justice for your sake. We have plotted for three years and paid an immense price — are you going to let him ruin everything?”

“Then let it be a matter of who wins and who loses.”

Lv Sheng murmured. “It is nothing more than a question of winning or losing.”

“But I cannot afford to lose!”

Li Zhi said through gritted teeth. “The lives of my entire Li clan are staked on this! I cannot afford to lose!”

“Then kill me!”

Lv Sheng said coldly.

“You—”

Li Zhi truly did not dare kill him. He drew from his sleeve a small bronze mirror, pointed it at Lv Sheng, and cried: “Capture!”

Lv Sheng froze: “What is this?”

“A magic implement that person gave me to control you!”

Li Zhi gave a cold laugh.

“Brother Lv — don’t look!”

Li Chunfeng called out. Several retinue members pressed their broadswords against his neck, and Li Chunfeng could say nothing more.

Lv Sheng glanced involuntarily at the bronze mirror. He saw his own face reflected in it — and then slowly, the face began to warp and distort, rippling like waves, and in an instant his own reflection transformed into the ferocious, savage wolf head of Kui Mulang.

Immediately Lv Sheng’s soul lost control. His eyes went blank and staring, with dim flames smoldering in them. In his ten fingers, terrible wolf claws appeared suddenly. He wheeled to stare at Xuanzang, a frenzied killing intent blazing in his eyes.

Li Chunfeng quickly eased aside the blade at his neck and smiled apologetically, pressing his palms together in a gesture of peace: “Brother Lv, Lord Chengyu — is this truly necessary? Is this truly necessary—”

Just as he circled around behind Lv Sheng, his hands suddenly held more than a dozen silver needles. His hand moved like lightning, and the needles shot like a downpour of rain, piercing the acupoints on Lv Sheng’s body. Lv Sheng’s body went rigid at once. He shrieked fiercely, but could not move for the moment.

Then Li Chunfeng gave his sleeve a flick. A yellow medicinal pellet flew out. With a crack it exploded in the air, and a pale yellow mist instantly enveloped the entire tent. Before Li Zhi and the others could react, they had already inhaled the mist and collapsed to the ground one by one.

Xuanzang also felt a sudden dizziness strike his mind. His body was just beginning to sway when Li Chunfeng caught him with one arm, and at the same time smeared something beneath his nose. Xuanzang felt a sharp and pungent smell enter his nostrils, sneezed loudly, and his mind cleared at once.

The whole sequence happened swift as a bird of prey in flight. In the single blink of an eye, Li Chunfeng had already immobilized Lv Sheng and put Li Zhi’s party of five to sleep. Xuanzang turned back and looked at Lv Sheng. Lv Sheng had not been affected by the sleeping drug — only his body was locked in place by the silver needles, unable to move. He was glaring fiercely at Xuanzang. Tufts of silver fur were beginning to push out from his skin and face.

“Let’s go — I can’t hold him for long!”

Li Chunfeng pulled him and made to run.

Xuanzang felt a pang of sorrow, but steadied himself. He pulled Li Chunfeng back: “Be calm.”

Li Chunfeng came to his senses. The two lifted the tent flap and walked out.

In the encampment, Li Lie was riding back and forth on watch with his people. Seeing Xuanzang and Li Chunfeng emerge, he waved at them from a distance in greeting. Xuanzang pressed his palms together toward him, then he and Li Chunfeng went to the post where the horses were tethered beneath the poplars. They untied two horses, swung into the saddle, shook the reins, and rode off at a gallop.

“Master—”

Li Lie was startled. He led his people charging after them.

Li Chunfeng gave a long laugh: “Brother Lie, hurry and go rescue your clan patriarch!”

Li Lie was horrified. He turned and sprinted toward the tent. Li Chunfeng burst into laughter, and side by side with Xuanzang spurred the horses forward, galloping down the ancient Guasha road.

The two had barely galloped more than a li when from behind came the sound of a bleak and bitter wolf howl. On horseback Xuanzang turned back. The full moon hung in the sky, its brilliance flooding everything. On the ancient road the sands shimmered with a silver glow.

There on a horizontal branch of a poplar tree by the fish spring, a massive grey wolf crouched. Beneath the light of the full moon, it cried out to the sky in mournful longing.