Rain. The Jiangning prison.

As the sounds of slaughter spread the initial chaos further, the unrest that had taken hold was now beyond anyone’s control.

Jailers, prison-breakers, escort soldiers, thieves, thugs, bandits, innocents, rebels—every kind of person was still locked in combat inside and outside the prison; some had already broken free and begun causing trouble in the surrounding streets. Inside the prison, the guards and soldiers with slightly higher combat ability who still had some fight left in them had been cut off and isolated in scattered pockets. Since the Liangshan men’s main goal this time was to break out the prisoners, they weren’t particularly committed to killing everyone, which was the only reason resistance had managed to hold on this long.

As for some of the rebel leaders under Fang La who had been freed by the Liangshan men—having endured humiliation at these soldiers’ hands throughout their imprisonment—the moment they got out of their cells, they fought with a vicious enthusiasm. But in the end, they didn’t want to risk being recaptured either, and after a burst of killing, they kept their wits about them and moved quickly to withdraw from the prison along with the Liangshan men.

At one side of the prison, the fight between Li Kui, Yang Xiong, and the young officer had grown nearly white-hot—no one else could even get close to the fray. The young officer, alone against Li Kui and Yang Xiong with only his iron spear, felt as though his life hung in the balance every passing moment; yet like a rope stretched to its absolute limit, though it seemed on the verge of snapping at every instant, it never quite crossed that dangerous edge. His spearwork wasn’t flashy or unpredictable, but every thrust, every sweep, every block and parry was sharp and seasoned; the clash of iron spear against twin axes and serrated blade sent up a shower of sparks.

Most of the men on Liangshan were far from good men, but Li Kui, fierce and straightforward by nature, had at first only wanted a one-on-one duel. That was why he alone had faced off against the young officer at the start, with Yang Xiong merely watching from the side. But after a bitter exchange, the young officer’s spear technique only grew stronger the longer they fought—just as it had earlier against four opponents at once—his iron spear striking with wide, sweeping force that all but overpowered even Li Kui’s brute strength. Only then did Yang Xiong join in, the two of them together finally managing to press down the young officer’s ferocity.

Yet even so, the young officer’s spearwork remained both offense and defense in one; even walking the razor’s edge of injury at every moment, he still managed to land the occasional lethal strike, unsettling both of them. Among Liangshan’s ranks, both men’s skills were top-tier—perhaps only Lu Junyi, Lin Chong, Wu Song, or Lu Zhishen could claim to stand slightly above them, and even then, the outcome of a real fight would be far from certain. No one could have guessed that a mere military officer standing before them could possess such extraordinary skill.

Even so, the combined force of Li Kui and Yang Xiong was enough to keep the young officer pinned down, while the rest of the Liangshan elites broke through the wooden bars beside them to open the cell doors. A number of rebels loyal to Fang La were held in these cells as well; once the doors opened, they left at once, some snatching up weapons to go help against Li Kui and Yang Xiong. These men had been mid- and low-ranking commanders under Fang La, and their skill wasn’t bad either. But the young officer’s temperament was just as unyielding; seeing the prisoners behind him trying to flee, he shouted, “No one leaves!” and, even while under attack by two master fighters, still tried to block their path with his spear. Naturally, this achieved little—Yang Xiong’s serrated blade caught his hand and drew blood at once, but almost in the same instant, he lashed out with a savagely precise thrust straight at Yang Xiong’s face, leaving a bloody gash across his cheek.

The young officer was finally held in check. By now the situation wasn’t really suited to a prolonged fight for the Liangshan men’s purposes; seeing that they couldn’t take the officer down, Yang Xiong and Li Kui finally withdrew. The young officer gave chase and, in passing, speared to death one of Fang La’s commanders who was lagging behind, but seeing the chaos all around, he gave up the pursuit.

Most of the Liangshan men and Fang La’s chieftains had by now already fought their way out of the prison; the ones still inside were bandits either too confused to grasp the situation or simply too caught up in the bloodshed, still surrounding and grinding down the last of the struggling soldiers and jailers. The young officer swept forward with his spear, cutting his way through, knocking down every nearby bandit with a single thrust each, and in short order gathered a group of a dozen-odd men around him.

With the main body of Liangshan men gone, resolving the remaining danger nearby proved relatively easy; by the time he’d fought his way out to the prison gate, those still with him were mostly wounded. The unrest outside had already begun spreading through the city; there seemed to be some stirring at the government office as well, but the constables and patrolmen inside the city were probably not much of a fighting force—likely to be scattered the moment they crossed paths with the Liangshan men. The young officer, taking stock of the situation, wrapped a strip of white cloth around the wound on his arm and said, “They can’t have gotten far yet—if we press the pursuit now, we might still catch up with them!”

Fierce and brave as he was himself, the others, having narrowly escaped with their lives, had no desire to risk themselves again. Someone said, “These Liangshan bandits came prepared, and we’re all wounded. Just leave it to the Jiangning garrison…” The young officer wasn’t anyone’s direct superior; in the chaos of the fighting, the officers had either been scattered or killed, and there was no one left in command who could order these men to risk their lives. The officer looked around, gritted his teeth, raised his long spear, and set off alone through the pouring rain, following the trail.

Even now, plenty of prisoners were still stirring up trouble in the rain nearby, some fleeing in every direction, but the officer paid them no attention at all. Just then, several figures came rushing over from a side road; the man in front, tall and lean, knocked down two men in the span of a moment, then took stock of the state of the prison and of the officer charging past, and came forward to meet him. “Officer Yue—it is Officer Yue, isn’t it? Do you remember me… What in the world has happened here?”

The officer, whose surname was Yue, looked him over for a moment. “Officer Wenren…”

The man was none other than Wenren Buer, currently in Jiangning. He remembered this young officer from the fall of Hangzhou, where the man had fought with tremendous bravery; the two had crossed paths a couple of times since. Wenren Buer knew that it was largely thanks to this man’s efforts inside the city that Hangzhou’s gates had opened when they did, and so he treated him with considerable respect, quickly explaining what had happened in the prison. As it turned out, once the Hangzhou campaign had been settled, the veteran general Xin Xingzong had assigned a squad of soldiers to escort prisoners north, and had also asked Officer Yue to carry a letter north along the way. He had simply come along with the escort party—he wasn’t actually their commanding officer.

The explanation was brief, and as the group prepared to set off in pursuit of the Liangshan men, two horses came galloping through the rain—one in front, the other trailing far behind, carrying a woman. The two riders cut off Wenren Buer’s group, and the woman turned out to be Yuan Jin’er, who had come looking for Wenren Buer. She quickly told them about the attack on the Su family.

As it turned out, although Yun Zhu hadn’t brought Jin’er along with her to the Su residence, Jin’er had secretly followed not long after. Waiting outside, she never saw Yun Zhu come out, but she did witness the chaos and killing unfolding within the Su estate. Anyone else in her position would have had no idea where to find help so quickly, but Wenren Buer had, after all, assigned people to protect both her and Yun Zhu. She’d found them and had originally been headed to the Consort’s residence to look for Kang Xian or Lu A’Gui, only to run into Wenren Buer along the way instead.

What truly worried Jin’er wasn’t just the disaster at the Su residence—the most serious matter of all was that Yun Zhu still hadn’t made it out…

…

Just as Ning Yi had said, there was no time to worry about anything else. Once chaos had broken out within the Su estate, of course, no one had any attention left to spare for a woman who had come in from outside. In the pouring rain, several courtyards near the Su family’s main hall had already descended into utter chaos; the many members of the Su household who had managed to regroup there were gathered together—children crying, the wounded groaning, everything in disarray. The retainers had set up a makeshift defensive line along the courtyard walls and managed to scrounge up a few bows and crossbows, which could threaten some of the Liangshan intruders at close range, but fighting continued to break out dangerously all around, with black-clad men occasionally charging in, cutting down one or two people before being driven back by the combined efforts of some of the younger Su men.

Su Yu leaned on his cane, shouting from the doorway there while driving some of the more timid young men forward with blades and spears in hand to fight. Though he was truly an old man, he still carried an air of authority—though anxiety was, of course, visible in his eyes as well. Some people had made it here; many others still hadn’t. He counted them in his mind, and every so often he would grab hold of someone to ask: “Where’s Yunfang… and your seventh uncle? Has anyone seen them, did they get out?”

This same kind of questioning was happening everywhere across the courtyards right now—women asking after their husbands and children, men searching for their parents and family. Every so often someone would suddenly stand up, grab a blade or spear, and shout, “Come and fight me, then!” charging at a black-clad man who had broken in. Amid the chaos, Su Yu also caught sight of Su Tan’er standing in the crowd nearby. She had given birth only recently and should still have been resting through her postpartum recovery, but now her whole upper body was soaked through, and she stumbled unsteadily as she walked.

“Have you seen Xiao Chan, or Juan’er…” Most of the people she grabbed hold of were maids and servants; a few could offer some clue, but most simply shook their heads.

Su Yu went over and pulled her back under the eaves. Seeing it was him, Su Tan’er froze for a moment, then nearly burst into tears. “Grandfather…”

Su Yu studied her for a moment before asking, “Where’s Liheng?”

“He—he was spotted, he drew those men away… and then… then… I don’t even know where he is now…”

“Spotted?” Su Yu didn’t quite understand. He looked around and asked, “Where’s your child?”

“Xiao Chan is carrying him—we got separated on the way, I thought they’d already made it here…” She paused, then steadied herself and said, “Grandfather, it’s Xi Junyu.”

“What?”

“It’s Xi Junyu. He’s brought Liangshan bandits here for revenge.”

“…I understand.” After only a brief moment’s hesitation, Su Yu had already grasped the situation. He gripped his cane tightly with both hands, striking it hard against the ground twice. “Tan’er, listen to me carefully. You need to find a way to get out of here. I’ll have Steward Geng and the others come to you shortly, to escort you out—bring as many people as you can, Wending, Wenfang, any of them will do. The most important thing is that you and Liheng survive! We’re still inside the city walls—they can’t kill every last one of the Su family, but he will absolutely try to kill the two of you. As long as you and Liheng live, the Su family can still avenge this someday. You… how good is Liheng’s skill, really? Can he dodge them if they come after him? Is there any way to get word to him to run?”

Su Tan’er froze for a moment. “He… he won’t run…”

“A wise man knows how to read the situation—surely in circumstances like these, he’ll be able to see clearly what’s at stake… Is there any way… to have Steward Geng’s men protect you while you go find him… he—”

Just as Su Yu was speaking, a gunshot rang out somewhere in the distance—from afar it sounded almost like a single firecracker in the rain, but Su Tan’er turned her head at once, staring blankly in that direction. “But… he won’t run, and I have no way to reach him either…”

“Grandfather has heard of these Liangshan bandits too—they’re outright rebels. Surely Liheng can’t actually beat men like that…”

“He can’t beat them, but the way things are now, how am I even supposed to find him…” Su Tan’er’s voice broke as she raised the back of her hand to her mouth. By now the courtyards for several dozen paces around were already surrounded on all sides, and elsewhere too, those black-clad men were still killing at will. The dim, driving rain and the high courtyard walls seemed, right now, like mountain ranges blocking her path—she had no idea what kind of fight Ning Yi might be caught up in over there, and the sense of danger pressing in from every direction felt thick enough to choke on.

Just as her grandfather had said, in that instant, Su Tan’er found herself almost hoping Ning Yi would simply run and escape on his own. But in her heart she also knew it was impossible. He was her husband—mild-tempered and unassuming as he seemed most days, once something he truly cared about was at stake, he was simply incapable of the kind of person who would retreat or give up easily. He was exactly the kind of man who, even in the worst of circumstances, would claw his way through with everything he had; as long as there was hope, there was still a chance to turn things around. He would never be the kind of man who could come back to avenge his family only after they were all already dead.

A man like that was formidable, admirable—and he was her husband. She loved him, deep in her heart, loved him more than she could say. And it was for exactly that reason that she understood, in her heart, that circumstance was often stronger than any person, and that against overwhelming odds, struggling usually accomplished nothing—more often than not, it simply meant tearing yourself bloody until you lost your life. Her husband’s skill wasn’t extraordinarily high; every fight he’d ever been in had been a battle fought at the very edge of life and death, and even his victories came at the cost of injury. But this time, unlike even the crisis at Hangzhou, Xi Junyu had come with careful planning against a man with none—and having watched so many of her own family already die, she found herself truly afraid. She hoped, with everything in her, that her husband wouldn’t stubbornly keep fighting and searching for an opening. If it was at all possible, she hoped he would simply run.

Just as this thought flickered through her mind, lightning suddenly split the dim, rain-soaked sky, and the sounds of slaughter seemed to grow even fiercer amid the rolling thunder. And somewhere off to the side of the Su estate, beyond where her eyes could reach, in a place wrapped in darkness and killing intent, Ning Yi was, at that very moment, fighting a battle for his life with nothing but his own two hands—searching, in the midst of this thick and heavy darkness, for a single thread of hope…