Old Zhang Zhenren had finally heard Zhuang Wudi’s story all the way to the end, which made him realize he was a man of considerable patience — patience he had never once shown his own disciples.

Then again, if any of his disciples told stories this badly, his patience would have expressed itself through a small cane.

Having heard the story in full, Old Zhang Zhenren could now more or less understand why Zhuang Wudi’s character had become so withdrawn.

No — not withdrawn. *Lonely.*

In Zhuang Wudi’s own words: he was simple-minded. Simple-minded people couldn’t hold as many people in their hearts as clever people could.

But once a simple-minded person did let someone into their heart, they never forgot.

Clever people could navigate every current, could make themselves at ease in any company. The simple-minded person only knew how to give quietly — and would never say a single unnecessary word.

“Mu Fengliu…”

Old Zhang Zhenren said: “Why, the moment you heard that name, were you certain you’d truly been deceived?”

At that moment, Zhuang Wudi looked at Old Zhang Zhenren with an expression that said: *so that’s how it is.* The old man found himself slightly baffled.

That look could also be read as: *so even Old Zhang Zhenren of Dragon Tiger Mountain isn’t as sharp as all that.*

“Because he was captured once,” Zhuang Wudi said. “The Tingwei forces caught Mu Fengliu — but he escaped.”

Old Zhang Zhenren shot him a look. “I didn’t know Mu Fengliu had been captured by your people. Why are you looking at me like I’m an idiot?”

“I didn’t know you didn’t know,” Zhuang Wudi said.

Old Zhang Zhenren: *”…”*

He looked at the man before him — who, without quite realizing it, had begun to speak considerably more than before — and thought: *This is actually a good change. A good beginning.*

Whoever that person was, Mu Fengliu included — they were the demon haunting Zhuang Wudi’s heart. Now that this demon had shown its true face, it would no longer hold Zhuang Wudi in fear or keep him on guard. A devil disguised as a good man, once unmasked, is in some ways easier to accept than when he wore the mask — easier to accept him as a devil, easier to accept him as an enemy.

“When I return, I will tell Prince Ning your story from beginning to end, exactly as you’ve told it to me.”

Old Zhang Zhenren smiled and said: “Though I believe the story doesn’t really need to be told — because Prince Ning has never once doubted you. He has always regarded you as an elder brother.”

Zhuang Wudi gave a quiet sound of acknowledgment, and his eyes grew slightly damp.

Old Zhang Zhenren said: “Even when I came, his repeated instructions to me were: whatever you do, don’t let Elder Brother Zhuang die defending Longtou Pass. Persuade him — the moment he judges that Longtou Pass can no longer hold, he must make the decisive call and withdraw to Jizhou.”

As he said this, Old Zhang Zhenren suddenly paused. Then he shook his head. “I can’t leave yet.”

Zhuang Wudi, simple-minded as he was, was not so simple that he failed to understand. Old Zhang Zhenren needed to stay and watch over him — if the battle truly turned desperate, his role was to persuade Zhuang Wudi to pull back to Jizhou City. That was the charge Li Chi had placed upon the old Zhenren.

“Zhenren should return to Jizhou as soon as possible.”

Zhuang Wudi said: “The moment the fighting starts, it will be a battle to the death from the very first day. That’s simply how it will go, from beginning to end… and so…”

“And so I certainly can’t leave.”

Old Zhang Zhenren said: “Prince Ning told me that if Elder Brother Zhuang wouldn’t listen to reason, I should knock him unconscious and carry him back. So of course I have to stay — waiting for the day I get to knock you out.”

Zhuang Wudi said: “Old man, knocking people out isn’t something someone your age should be—”

He hadn’t finished the sentence before Old Zhang Zhenren reached over and picked up a teacup. Holding it in both hands, he began kneading it back and forth. Zhuang Wudi watched, wide-eyed, as the teacup was worked into a lump of powder.

Old Zhang Zhenren released his hands. The powder sifted down in a soft shower.

Zhuang Wudi swallowed, at a complete loss for words to ease the awkwardness of the moment.

“With so many unruly disciples up on Dragon Tiger Mountain — if I didn’t have a little real ability, how would I keep the lot of them in line?”

Old Zhang Zhenren smiled. “So…”

Zhuang Wudi said: “So I’ll keep my distance from you.”

And then he actually got up and left. Quickly.

Old Zhang Zhenren found himself thinking: *this sealed jug of a man actually has a certain charm to him…* No — not a certain charm. A great deal of charm.

—

Seven days later.

Within the main host of the Shanhai Army.

Mu Fengliu listened as his subordinate finished the report, and his expression had turned somewhat grim.

For years he had traveled the length of the Central Plains, setting pieces in place without pause — large pieces and small, open ones and hidden ones. He had placed so many that he himself had lost count of the total, but he had never stopped, because this was his calling.

So when he had suddenly remembered the existence of Zhuang Wudi, the surge of elation he felt in that moment had been genuine.

If Zhuang Wudi could be used well, Longtou Pass could potentially fall without a single soldier lost.

And yet all nine men he had sent — one after another — had vanished without a trace, like stones dropped into a deep lake.

In his recollection, Zhuang Wudi was a simple man, an honest man — precisely the sort easiest to deceive.

“I was careless…”

Mu Fengliu muttered to himself. “If I had remembered him sooner, contacted him earlier — who knows what detail tipped him off.”

He had no way of knowing, of course, that the reason his plan unraveled was not because it was poorly constructed — but because Zhuang Wudi was firmly convinced that his cousin was even more simple-minded than he was.

“Sir.”

A subordinate asked: “If we can’t trick open Longtou Pass, and the young master’s plan hasn’t come together either, then perhaps we should…”

Mu Fengliu waved an irritated hand. “Don’t concern yourself with Cao Lie!”

His subordinates froze. Several men exchanged glances, wondering if the strategist had lost his mind.

Shanhe Seal had greatly diminished, and the Gate Master was dead — but they were still Shanhe Seal’s people, which meant Cao Lie was still Shanhe Seal’s young master.

For Mu Fengliu to say *don’t concern yourself with Cao Lie* was enough to shock everyone present.

Mu Fengliu immediately caught himself. His expression shifted, and he gave a rueful laugh. “The young master is young and doesn’t yet understand the ways of the world — he genuinely tries my patience. We who serve beneath him exhaust ourselves scheming on his behalf, and yet he feels it’s all beneath his dignity. But in truth, there is no brilliant figure in this world whose brilliance is not built upon things that couldn’t survive the light.”

His subordinates all relaxed, thinking that Mu Fengliu must simply be frustrated — hence the disrespect toward the young master.

To deflect their attention, Mu Fengliu deliberately changed the subject: “By the way — you said all the men sent to Zhuang Wudi disappeared, but he didn’t refuse to see them?”

“That’s correct, sir. Every man the strategist sent was able to enter Longtou Pass without difficulty — but we assume they were all killed by Zhuang Wudi.”

Mu Fengliu smiled slightly. “If he saw nine, he’ll see a tenth… He’s probably heard that story about the fool who could only tell the difference between one copper coin and a string of copper coins — so he’s decided to kill them one by one as they come…”

He turned and ordered: “Go find Badao and bring him here. Tell him to go meet Zhuang Wudi.”

Badao. On the Cloud and Mist Chart’s ranked list of killers — ranked third.

A subordinate acknowledged at once: “Yes, sir.”

Once they had all gone, Mu Fengliu exhaled heavily and told himself: *keep steady. Don’t lose control now.*

He knew he had already let a crack show — but those fools hadn’t noticed the detail.

For instance: the letter he had sent to Gan Daode, the great bandit of Qingzhou — at the time it was written, news of the Black Wu incursion shouldn’t have reached Yanzhou yet. It was early by more than a month at minimum. But a fool like Gan Daode would never notice. And even if he could, a man that greedy would never let his reason gain the upper hand over his greed.

They had come this far. He absolutely could not afford another lapse.

After years of moving through the Central Plains, he had long since become more careful and guarded than anyone else. But now, with success finally within reach, he couldn’t help but feel a certain excitement.

And a man couldn’t afford to get too pleased with himself — too pleased, and the cracks would show.

With that thought, Mu Fengliu again drew a long series of slow, deliberate breaths to steady himself.

As for Cao Lie — the reason he had begun to distance himself from the young master was simple: he knew that once Jizhou fell, Cao Lie would no longer be that important.

—

At the same time, in Western Capital City.

Cao Lie paced back and forth across the courtyard. But compared to his usual manner, today his steps were hurried and uneven, stopping and starting — the unmistakable outward sign of a troubled mind.

“Young master!”

Someone came rushing in from outside, moving fast.

“We’ve found something, young master.”

The young man who ran in was called Xixuan — one of Cao Lie’s personal bodyguards, exceptionally skilled in martial arts.

He reached Cao Lie and bowed: “The Tsunami King, Mei Yan, has used troop exercises as a cover to march his forces toward Jizhou. He clearly laid the groundwork long ago — for the past three months he has been moving units to the Jizhou direction in staggered deployments. The total number already dispatched in that direction now exceeds two hundred thousand.”

“Two hundred thousand?!”

Cao Lie’s eyes snapped open.

*Mu Fengliu!*

Cao Lie immediately demanded: “Where is Mu Fengliu?”

Xixuan said: “Since the day Strategist Mu said he was going to talk Mei Yan out of his desire to march, he never came back. He hasn’t seen any of us since. He only had word sent back saying that in order to manage Mei Yan’s ambitions, he might counsel him to attack somewhere else instead… Looking at it now, Strategist Mu — Mu Fengliu — had divided loyalties from the very start. He always intended to attack Jizhou.”

Cao Lie wanted nothing more than to give himself a hard beating.

He had trusted Mu Fengliu too much. So much that Mu Fengliu had been able to blind his eyes and stop his ears.

In that moment, Cao Lie suddenly found himself understanding something of the Dachu Emperor’s experience.

An emperor would have even more figures like Mu Fengliu at his side — men he trusted absolutely, men whose every word he took as truth — never knowing that every single thing they said was a lie.

Like Liu Chongxin.

Liu Chongxin was Shanhe Seal’s planted agent in the old Emperor’s household. Shanhe Seal had been pulling the old Emperor along like a puppet.

And now, as Shanhe Seal’s young master, Cao Lie understood from the inside what it felt like to be the puppet.

“How did this man ever earn my father’s trust in the first place…”

Cao Lie turned it over carefully in his mind, and realized: he had never known anything of Mu Fengliu’s origins.

His father, Cao Ziluo, had only ever told him that Mu Fengliu was a man of extraordinary ability — that Shanhe Seal’s network of underground money houses had grown so prosperous over the years thanks entirely to Mu Fengliu’s scheming.

“He has a problem.”

Cao Lie murmured to himself.

Xixuan thought: *Of course he has a problem — he’s already turned on you.*

Seeing the confusion in Xixuan’s eyes, Cao Lie said: “When I say ‘a problem,’ I’m not talking about loyalty. I mean this man’s origins are deeply suspicious. I suspect… he may have ties to the Black Wu people.”

The thought sent a chill crawling up Cao Lie’s spine.

If Mu Fengliu had already seized control of a great many of Shanhe Seal’s forces, those forces could very well become instruments of the Black Wu invasion into the Central Plains.

In other words — Shanhe Seal might be actively helping the Black Wu people invade the Central Plains.

For the first time, a genuine dread stirred in Cao Lie’s heart — not dread of any external enemy, but dread of someone from within.

And for the first time, he had lost his confidence in Shanhe Seal.

—