“I’ve been away from home too long — how could Father have fallen ill on the grasslands?”

Tang Pidi led Tang Qingyuan toward the main camp, asking questions as they walked.

Although his father had some old wounds, his father was a martial artist, his body far sturdier than an ordinary man’s. It was only after staying with his father on the grasslands until he had nearly fully recovered that Tang Pidi had felt at ease to leave.

Tang Qingyuan glanced at Tang Pidi, seeming to want to say something but holding back.

“Speak.”

“Alright… it’s possible — he missed you too much.”

Tang Pidi’s footsteps stopped. Those words were like a dagger piercing his heart.

“I have been an unfilial son.”

Tang Pidi lowered his head. That kind of pain was something no one could truly understand.

“Father said that you, Elder Brother, are saving the world, and saving the world can also be called performing filial duty toward all under heaven — so it is not unfilial, but rather the greatest filial piety.”

Tang Qingyuan continued: “Father also said that performing filial duty for one old man is not worth mentioning compared to allowing all the elderly people in the world to enjoy their twilight years in peace. The former is a small and trivial matter, while the latter is something that will leave a name in history.”

Tang Pidi only let out a low hum, but said nothing more.

“Elder Brother.”

“Hm?”

“While I was on the grasslands, Father taught me martial arts for several years. Can I join the army?”

“You can. Come to my personal guards’ camp, and start as a squad leader of ten…”

Before Tang Pidi could finish speaking, Tang Qingyuan shook his head: “Let me go under another general instead — and moreover… I don’t want others to know that you are my elder brother.”

Tang Pidi was stunned. This young man who seemed somewhat introverted had such a firm and unyielding side to him.

“Please, Elder Brother, grant me this.”

Tang Qingyuan bowed deeply.

“Alright…”

Tang Pidi said: “You may go to General Luo Jing’s command and serve under his orders. I’ll make the arrangements.”

“There’s no need.”

Tang Qingyuan said: “If Elder Brother goes to inform General Luo, I will still receive preferential treatment. Father said that a man must stand on his own two feet. On his deathbed, Father taught me — don’t let the mention of Tang Qingyuan make people think of him merely as Tang Pidi’s younger brother. Instead, when Tang Qingyuan is mentioned, let people think of him as a remarkable man.”

He looked at Tang Pidi and said sincerely: “In a moment, Elder Brother, just say that you have already sent me off. I will go to General Luo’s side on my own to enlist.”

After saying this, Tang Qingyuan bowed again.

This young man — so stubbornly unyielding.

“Then — don’t go to Luo Jing’s army.”

Tang Pidi said earnestly: “As it happens, I need to send someone to Prince Ning with a letter. You take the letter and head to Jizhou… no, head directly to Dragon Head Pass. I suspect Prince Ning will most likely be holding the line there. Once you’ve delivered the letter to Prince Ning, remain with him. Yanzhou is currently being invaded by foreign enemies — if you want to rely on yourself, that side is more suitable.”

“Agreed.”

Tang Qingyuan showed no reluctance whatsoever.

He only asked a single question: “Where should I go to collect a military uniform?”

Half an hour later, a ten-man scouting unit had assembled in the main camp, awaiting Tang Pidi’s orders.

In the formation stood a new soldier who had been temporarily added to their number. The other scouts were all unfamiliar with this newcomer and had no idea of his background. But the fact that he had been placed in this scouting unit was itself enough to indicate he possessed the capabilities of a qualified scout.

Tang Pidi walked to the front of the formation and drew out a letter, handing it to the squad leader of ten, Fang Xianlian: “This is a letter that you are to deliver personally to our lord. Take your unit and head to Dragon Head Pass in Jizhou. If our lord is not there, inquire as to his whereabouts.”

Fang Xianlian bowed: “Understood!”

Tang Pidi looked over at Tang Qingyuan, but the young man simply stood there with a look of calm composure, his brand-new military uniform fitting him perfectly.

“Move out.”

Tang Pidi waved his hand.

“Yes, sir!”

Fang Xianlian replied, leading the ten-man unit to mount their horses.

Tang Pidi had wanted to say a few more words, but he noticed Tang Qingyuan give him a slight shake of his head, so he turned to Fang Xianlian instead: “All of you take great care. The road ahead is not safe.”

“General, rest assured — we will present the letter to our lord in person.”

Fang Xianlian saluted, wheeled his horse, and set off.

The ten-man unit left the city of Suzhou and pressed northward. To reach Dragon Head Pass as quickly as possible, each man rode with two horses.

“Little brother.”

Fang Xianlian was curious and called out to Tang Qingyuan: “Where are you from? How is it that you were suddenly assigned to my unit?”

Tang Qingyuan answered: “I’m from north of the frontier. It took me nine months to travel from there all the way to Suzhou. It’s probably because I’m familiar with the conditions beyond the frontier that the Grand General arranged for me to go to that area — I should be useful there.”

The reason was perfectly sensible, so Fang Xianlian thought nothing more of it.

“Have you trained in martial arts?”

Fang Xianlian asked.

Tang Qingyuan replied with the same calm and upright manner: “For a few years.”

Fang Xianlian let out a sound of acknowledgment. A young man who had lived beyond the northern frontier and had managed to travel alone from there all the way to Suzhou — nine months, arriving safe and sound — was in itself enough to show that this young man was no ordinary person.

They had been traveling for a month without encountering any disturbance. Each day seemed like a repetition of the last — ride, rest, ride, rest, over and over again.

In one month, they had already passed through Qingzhou from Suzhou. This pace was nearly three times that of an ordinary traveler — a journey others would take three months to complete, they covered in one.

Fang Xianlian had intentionally been testing this young man’s endurance, only to discover he had clearly underestimated him.

First, when it came to horsemanship — every one of these scouts was a master rider, and all of them had been rather confident in their abilities. Yet they found that the young man sat in the saddle far more naturally than any of them. Even when these seasoned scouts felt the strain of exhaustion, he remained with the same placid expression, not uttering a single word.

Then there was his patience — he never once proactively asked to stop for food or water, and not a single complaint ever escaped his lips.

“Up ahead should be Liaocheng.”

Fang Xianlian checked the map, combined with what he had learned from asking locals along the way, and made his assessment — they were not far from leaving Qingzhou.

Past Liaocheng lay the border with Jizhou. Traveling another half month or so to the northeast from there would bring them to Dragon Head Pass.

“Let’s push on a bit farther today. The official road is flat and safe. We’ll ride until midnight, then rest, and aim to camp south of Liaocheng. At first light, we’ll enter Liaocheng for an early meal, then continue on.”

Fang Xianlian gave the order, and his men all affirmed it — while the young man, as introverted as ever, simply gave a nod.

They pressed on through half the night, stopping to rest only at the hour of Zi. Fang Xianlian slept for three hours before rising. The sky was still dark.

It was now deep into the twelfth month. In the north, darkness came early and dawn came late. At this hour, they were in that darkest stretch just before first light.

“Get everyone up.”

Fang Xianlian gave the order and looked around: “Where’s Little Tang? Why don’t I see him?”

One of the scouts said with some embarrassment: “Little Tang felt sorry for me having to stand watch alone. An hour ago he came to me and offered to take my turn for a while. I thought there was nothing much to worry about, and I let my guard down — and ended up falling asleep.”

Fang Xianlian shot him a fierce glare: “And you call yourself a veteran soldier!”

He shoved the scout aside: “Go find Little Tang and bring him back. We’re about to move out.”

The scout, burning with shame, rushed off to look for him — running to the spot where he had been posted last night, only to find Tang Qingyuan was not there. The spot was a bed of dry straw, and if a person had been hiding there for an hour, it should have shown clearly.

But the straw had evidently been tidied up — there was no sign whatsoever that anyone had been hidden within it. The men searched the surrounding area at length, and even as dawn broke, they found not a trace of Tang Qingyuan.

“What’s this?”

Another scout discovered a small strip of cloth tied to a small tree not far away.

“Go tell the squad leader, quickly!”

The scout shouted immediately.

The introverted one — the young Tang who had never been willing to say more than necessary — had left without a word.

It was a baffling thing. If he had gone with some purpose in mind, he should not have chosen this moment to leave. And if he had gone with no purpose at all, he equally should not have chosen this moment to leave.

“He may have spotted something and went after it without time to wake us.”

Fang Xianlian said: “Full unit splits into two groups, front and rear supporting each other. I’ll take the lead. Xue Fuzhi, you take your five-man group at the rear.”

Having given his orders, he mounted his horse and set off in the direction where Tang Qingyuan had left the strip of cloth.

They pursued for two hours. At intervals, they kept finding more strips of cloth — these were clearly left by Tang Qingyuan — yet no one could understand why he had suddenly vanished, nor what could have drawn him away.

After pursuing past noon, they were forced to stop for a rest, eat a few mouthfuls of dry rations to restore their strength. The horses also needed to feed.

“Squad leader, something feels off to me.”

One of the scouts looked at Fang Xianlian and said: “This Little Tang has been off from the very beginning — suddenly shoved into our unit, and nobody knows anything about him.”

Another scout nodded: “It’s not that I suspect him of ill intent. It’s just that his temperament is too strange. On any ordinary day, if you say ten sentences to him, he might not reply with even three. So is it possible he really just left on a whim?”

Fang Xianlian’s expression darkened with irritation: “Since when did you learn to suspect your own comrades? He was a man the Grand General personally assigned to us. Doubting him is the same as doubting the Grand General.”

The scout who had spoken dared not say another word, only lowering his head to eat his rations.

“What’s up ahead?”

The fire-team leader Xue Fuzhi opened the map to check, but the map was crude — it only roughly traced out the route of the official road and the towns along the way. Out-of-the-way places like this would never appear on a map.

“We must be near the sea now.”

One of the scouts said: “I’m from Qingzhou, and my family lives by the sea. I know this smell in the wind very well — the sea can’t be far.”

“The sea?”

Fang Xianlian paused in thought, then gave his orders: “Xue Fuzhi, you rest here with your men. I’ll take my group ahead and keep searching. Unless you hear a signal from me, don’t follow.”

With that, Fang Xianlian gestured and his men remounted their horses, ready to continue searching.

But at that very moment, someone suddenly emerged from the trees not far away.

Every scout almost simultaneously leveled their repeating crossbows at the figure — because the person coming out of the woods was clearly not one of their own. The clothing looked like that of ordinary commoners.

The first person to emerge saw the Ning army soldiers and was startled, instinctively raising his hands and dropping to his knees. The person behind him saw him kneel and dropped to his knees as well.

Behind those two, Tang Qingyuan stepped out.

Slung across his back was a large bundle of long blades — a rough count suggested somewhere between twenty and thirty of them. In his other hand he held a length of hemp rope, and tied to it was a string of heads. Having been dragged all the way there, those heads were all caked with dirt.

“Squad leader.”

Upon seeing Fang Xianlian, Tang Qingyuan finally broke into a small smile.

“What happened?!”

Fang Xianlian leaped down from his warhorse and demanded, his voice carrying a sharp edge.

No matter what the reason, leaving formation without permission was a violation of military discipline.

“I woke early last night and truly couldn’t sleep, so I swapped shifts with Brother Wang for a while. Not long after, I heard people talking on the official road — their voices were very low, and they were moving quickly. People who travel in such haste through the dead of night are almost always worth suspecting. So I followed them.”

Tang Qingyuan pointed to the two men kneeling on the ground: “They’re from the Sang nation. There’s a ship waiting at the coast for them.”

He drew out a rolled piece of ox-hide from within his robe: “They had drawn a map of Liaocheng.”

Fang Xianlian looked at the two kneeling captives, then looked at the long string of heads.

He swallowed with some difficulty: “You did all this… alone?”

Tang Qingyuan remained utterly composed: “Yes.”

—