The Court of Judicial Review.

Dragging his thoroughly exhausted body back to the Court of Judicial Review, Gui Yuanshu felt as though the last several days had been some kind of dream. Even on the way back, he kept wondering whether he had been ensnared by some sorcery and everything he had witnessed these past days had been an illusion.

In the span of a mere ten days, far too many things had happened in Daxing City — not just for Gui Yuanshu, but for every single person in the capital. It had been as if the whole city had passed through a great fever-dream.

The moment he sat down after entering his quarters, it was as if his body surrendered every last ounce of its strength, with nothing left to ever bring him back to his feet.

“Got played?”

Jiang Qianneng set a cup of tea in front of Gui Yuanshu.

He had no choice but to hide temporarily in the Court of Judicial Review, and this was precisely one of Gui Yuanshu’s thorny dilemmas. Even if he caught up with Cao Du — then what? Would he throw both Jiang Qianneng and himself into prison to be executed alongside the others?

And besides — even if he caught up, did the Court of Judicial Review have the power to haul Cao Du back?

No, it wasn’t Cao Du, was it…

From the letter left behind, the false identity of “Cao Du” was plain enough.

Jiang Qianneng’s question — *got played?* — finally freed the words that had been bottled up inside Gui Yuanshu for a very long time.

“Oh, damn his ancestors!”

“His who?” Jiang Qianneng asked.

He looked at Gui Yuanshu and said: “Whatever you say, I won’t believe it was that chaotic little demon Cao Du.”

Gui Yuanshu let out a long sigh, raised his hand, and pointed north. “The one from Jizhou.”

“The one from Jizhou?”

Jiang Qianneng turned it over in his mind, and then it hit him all at once. His expression became something entirely worth seeing.

After a moment, he also sighed — and then began to laugh. “I have to say, that bearing, that style — in all the world, he is the only person I have ever seen who possesses it.”

“Without either of us noticing,” Gui Yuanshu said with a sigh, “you and I have both become accomplices of his rebel faction. And you can still laugh?”

“You’re the one who can’t laugh,” Jiang Qianneng said. “I’m already a fugitive wanted by imperial decree — what do I have to fear from adding another charge? One life either way. A few more crimes makes no difference.”

Gui Yuanshu fell silent. After a long, long while, his hand came down hard on the desk.

“Prince Ning, Li Chi — oh, damn his ancestors!”

Jiang Qianneng burst out laughing.

North of Daxing City, on the main road. A convoy that had been waiting outside the city received Li Chi, Gao Xining, and the rest of their party.

Once everyone had boarded their carriages, they set off heading north.

Yu Jiuling sat in his carriage, swinging his legs with the satisfied air of someone who had just stumbled across a tremendous windfall.

“Ninth Brother, what are you thinking about?” Dantai Yajing asked.

Yu Jiuling snickered. “Nothing, nothing. Just happy to be going home.”

“From that smug grin on your face,” Dantai Yajing said, “it’s obvious you’re lying.”

Yu Jiuling glanced to his left and right, then leaned close to Dantai Yajing and dropped his voice. “This trip may have been rushed, but in at least one regard I came out ahead of all of you.”

“How so?” Dantai Yajing asked.

“These past ten days,” Yu Jiuling said, “everyone else has basically been busy the whole time. Only me — I had the leisure to actually appreciate the scenery of the capital.”

Dantai Yajing immediately understood what “scenery” Yu Jiuling meant, and cast him a sidelong glance.

“Why are you looking at me like that?” Yu Jiuling said. “You’re just jealous, I can tell. Of everyone here, I was the only one who managed to tend to important personal business while carrying out official duties at the same time.”

“Have you forgotten,” Dantai Yajing said, “how many people have tried to kill you over the years?”

Yu Jiuling shrank back slightly. “Why are you getting worked up about it… Look, even if you didn’t get to tour the scenic wonders of the Dachu capital yourself, you should still be happy. You see, I’m happy because I accomplished what the chief assigned me. You should be happy too — for accomplishing what the chief assigned you.”

Dantai Yajing turned toward the other carriage and called out: “Chief! Can I castrate Yu Jiuling?”

Li Chi: “Take a cut for me while you’re at it.”

Yu Jiuling shouted back: “That thing — how many cuts can it even take?”

Li Chi said: “That thing can take as many cuts as you want — cut, cut, cut… cut. Cut the chicken.”

Yu Jiuling rolled his eyes. “You’re all just jealous of me. Every single one of you.”

After the banter had run its course, Yu Jiuling suddenly thought of something and asked Li Chi: “Chief, handing the Cloud Mist Map over to Jiang Qianneng — that won’t cause any trouble, will it?”

“If there’s trouble, it’s no real loss,” Li Chi said. “That thing deserves a cut too.”

He turned and looked back at the long string of carriages stretching behind him. Every carriage was loaded to the brim with silver.

The several hundred thousand taels sitting in that underground money house — including the two-million-plus taels moved out of Dachu’s national treasury — were now all in the convoy, being carried back to Jizhou. The feeling of riding home with all that silver was deeply, thoroughly satisfying.

By rights, he should have left some people behind to lie low in Dachu’s capital. But Li Chi had decided against it.

The danger was too great — and not because of Gui Yuanshu or Jiang Qianneng. The danger came from the Mountain and River Seal and the Cloud Mist Map.

People left behind might meet with unexpected misfortune. Besides, there were already agents who had gone completely undetected remaining there — that would be more than sufficient for gathering information.

“Chief, I think it would’ve been great if we could’ve taken in Gui Yuanshu and those four little darlings of his,” Yu Jiuling said. “He seems like an entertaining person.”

Li Chi smiled faintly and said with a hint of smugness: “Entertaining? He’s just alright…”

If Gui Yuanshu could have heard those words, one could only wonder what his reaction would be. Would he have let loose a torrent of profanity?

After being played completely around and around — and then being told he was “just alright”…

At that same moment. Daxing City. Shiyuan Palace.

Emperor Yang Jing stood at the window in a daze. He had been standing there for a good while, seeing no one, unwilling to speak.

It was as if overnight someone had savagely plunged several blades into this capital of Dachu, and the blood would not stop flowing.

If one said Dachu had not yet fallen precisely because the capital still stood — that the capital standing meant the roots still held — then now, several of those main roots of this great tree had been severed.

The Heroes’ Assembly that he had placed such hopes in had become a farce, exposing the court’s corruption in full, undisguised view.

“Your Majesty?”

The head eunuch Zhen Xiaodao called out softly: “The Chief Justice just sent word — the man called Cao Du from the Cao family has taken advantage of the chaos to flee the capital. His whereabouts are unknown.”

The Emperor turned and looked at Zhen Xiaodao. The blood-red in those eyes made Zhen Xiaodao’s heart seize with sudden terror.

The Emperor’s eyes were like those of a wild beast. The calm that showed on the surface was only the beast still restraining the savagery within.

After a long moment, the Emperor turned his head back and continued staring out at the window.

Zhen Xiaodao bowed, backed out of the Imperial Study in a crouch, and stood at the door. His heart ached with every beat.

These past few days, the Emperor seemed to have aged a great deal.

—

One and a half months later. Yuzhou.

After Li Chi heard Tang Pidi finish speaking, his expression shifted slightly.

Intelligence had arrived from Jizhou — agents operating in Yanzhou had uncovered a piece of extremely important information.

A rebel force had recently risen to prominence in Yanzhou with astonishing speed. They appeared to command enormous financial resources, which meant their soldiers were equipped far beyond the standard of ordinary rebel armies.

This force called itself the Mountain-Sea Army. It had two leaders of equal standing, known as the Twin Kings of Mountain and Sea.

One bore the title King of the Mountain’s Roar; the other, King of the Sea’s Surge. In less than a year, the two had gathered nearly a hundred thousand troops and were expanding aggressively.

Backed by their financial power, the Mountain-Sea Army was ferociously high in morale, sweeping all before them, and had already seized control of dozens of prefectures and counties in Yanzhou.

Moreover — Shen Shanhu’s younger brother, who had risen to become the chief of the Baishan Army, had been assassinated. The suspicion fell on the Mountain-Sea Army.

The Baishan Army was now leaderless, and was no longer a match for the Mountain-Sea Army. It seemed only a matter of time before even the Baishan Army’s territory would be taken.

Tang Pidi had not yet dared to tell Shen Shanhu this news.

With her temperament, if she found out, she would certainly rush back to Yanzhou to avenge her brother.

The situation in Yanzhou was complex, and Tang Pidi — stationed in Yuzhou — was in no position to march all the way to the far northeast to go to war with the Mountain-Sea Army.

Letting her go back alone would be more likely to end badly than not.

Tang Pidi finished speaking, and Li Chi understood at once what he meant.

“Leave it with me,” Li Chi said. “I was planning to head back to Jizhou anyway. I’ll look into the Mountain-Sea Army’s situation. But my guess is that those two are Lü Wuman and Mei Wujiu — the ones from the Mountain and River Seal who got away.”

Tang Pidi nodded. “My thinking as well. To build financial power that can recruit soldiers and rapidly expand a force — only those two have the means.”

“After I return,” Li Chi said, “I’ll find a way to avenge what happened to Miss Shen’s family. Just wait for word from me. As for her brother’s death — keep it from her for now.”

Tang Pidi gave a sound of agreement.

Li Chi then gave Tang Pidi a detailed account of everything that had happened in the capital. The two discussed their strategy going forward.

After resting and reorganizing in Yuzhou for two days, Li Chi and his party immediately set out for Jizhou.

The Mountain-Sea Army was growing rapidly in Yanzhou. Yanzhou would never be their long-term base — and even if Li Chi didn’t march against them first, when the time was right they would advance on Jizhou themselves.

Before they set off, Tang Pidi asked whether Li Chi needed to take some troops back with him. Li Chi shook his head and declined.

Tang Pidi’s concern was not without basis. At the moment, the only force blocking the route from Yanzhou into Jizhou was Zhuang Wudi’s army — just over twelve thousand men.

Fortunately, Xiahou Zuo was in Youzhou and could ride to reinforce Zhuang Wudi at any time.

Halfway back to Jizhou, Li Chi received more intelligence from agents who had ridden out from Jizhou to meet him.

“It’s him…”

Li Chi passed the letter to Gao Xining.

Gao Xining read the name written on the letter and turned it over in her mind, then recalled who this person was.

According to the intelligence, the reason the Mountain-Sea Army had swept all before them in Yanzhou without a single defeat was because the army had a strategist in its ranks who commanded as if guided by heaven itself — flawlessly calculating, never losing a battle.

This man’s name was Hu Buyu.

Gao Xining remembered: Tang Pidi had mentioned this person before, and had even tried to make contact with him.

Hu Buyu had once served under Luo Geng in Youzhou, but because his personality was too arrogant — and he had no talent for tact, with a cutting and abrasive tongue — despite having real ability, he had never found favor with Luo Geng, and in the end had left Youzhou feeling frustrated and unappreciated.

At one point Tang Pidi had sent someone to invite Hu Buyu to Jizhou. Hu Buyu had agreed, but then said he needed to delay for a while due to some family matters.

Exactly why he had ended up in the Mountain-Sea Army was unknown — as was whether he had always had some connection with the Mountain and River Seal.

But one thing was beyond doubt: this man had now become the most dangerous enemy the Ning Army faced in the north.

By all accounts, he possessed extraordinary talent — brilliant in strategy and peerless in the employment of troops. All of Yanzhou, a land that had always bred heroes, had no one who could withstand his advance.

Li Chi stared at that name and sank deep into thought.

—