After a brief rest in Yuzhou, Li Chi and his company prepared to head south to Jingzhou. Li Chi had judged that securing Jingzhou would keep them from being pushed about by others.

Jingzhou was in a particularly unusual position: to the south was Liangzhou, which bordered Yuezhou; to the southwest was Shuzhou, Yang Xuanji’s home base. To the east was Jingzhou, to the north was Yuzhou. The strategic importance of such a location was plain to see.

So while others were fixing their eyes on the capital province, Li Chi’s eyes were fixed on the province next door.

Just as the column was preparing to set out, an unexpected visitor arrived in Yuzhou — a peculiar visitor.

A city as large as Yuzhou had people coming and going in the thousands every day — who would pay heed to any one traveler?

Yet this visitor was so unusual that everyone who caught sight of him couldn’t help staring twice.

The carriage looked entirely unlike the horse-drawn carriages of the Central Plains. The cabin was more like a pavilion, with silk curtains hanging all around instead of solid wooden panels.

Pulling it were not horses but two large, powerfully built camels. Such creatures could occasionally be seen in the northern frontier; in Yuzhou they were essentially unknown.

There was only one person in the carriage, and yet it was loaded with jars of wine — evidently a genuine enthusiast.

Before even reaching the gates, the guards on duty stopped this person and asked for credentials. These he produced readily enough — but on inspection it turned out he had entered from the Western Regions.

From the Western Regions to Yuzhou was a journey of thousands upon thousands of li. A year’s travel, at the very least.

What astonished people most was that the first thing out of his mouth was whether Prince Ning was present — he had urgent business with Prince Ning.

The soldiers dared not delay on hearing that, and reported it immediately.

So not long after, this peculiar figure was led to the outer gate of the Plum Garden.

Once he stepped down from his carriage and stood before the garden gate, the man looked around for a moment, brow faintly furrowed, as if searching some memory.

He had a vague sense of having been here before, but he had traveled so many places it was hard to say for certain.

While he was still thinking, Yu Jiuling came out from inside the Plum Garden, took one look at the peculiar figure, and cried out, “Master!”

Calling out that word, Yu Jiuling was so excited she jumped.

The peculiar figure broke into a loud laugh upon seeing Yu Jiuling, lifted his wine gourd, and walked forward. “No matter who calls me master in this world, I won’t own it — but when you call me that, I accept.”

Yu Jiuling was simply overjoyed at this remark, as delighted as a child who had just received a teacher’s reward.

“Master, I’ve become incredibly capable. My pig-raising enterprise has flourished beyond anything.”

Yu Jiuling spoke while walking alongside him. “Just the pig farm at Qipanshan in Yuzhou alone produces nearly a hundred thousand fat hogs a year without even trying.”

The peculiar figure was, of course, Mister Li — who else could reduce Yu Jiuling to such fawning?

“A hundred thousand?”

Even that number seemed to startle Mister Li.

A man who had weathered so many of life’s upheavals, and he found himself genuinely astonished.

“That can’t be right…”

Mister Li muttered to himself as he walked. “At the level of development that exists now, producing that many hogs in a year is remarkably extraordinary.”

Yu Jiuling said proudly, “It’s all because Master taught well, and I learned well too. Under my personal guidance, they were able to raise the pigs so well.”

Mister Li said, “Once I’ve settled the business at hand, I must go and have a look at that Qipanshan of yours.”

In his mind, he was thinking: given the standard of things in this age, no pig farm could possibly be built on so large a scale.

And the greatest danger in pig farming was disease. Once it spread through, not a single head would survive.

Yu Jiuling warmly and enthusiastically led Mister Li inside. Halfway along, they came face to face with Su Ruye the Azure Dragon, who was strolling through the courtyard reading a book.

One look at Mister Li, and Su Ruye’s eyes lit up too.

But Mister Li shot him a sidelong glance. “You peeping voyeur.”

Su Ruye froze, then remembered that back in the Western Regions he had seen something he ought not to have seen. His face turned faintly red.

“Where is Prince Ning?”

Mister Li asked.

Yu Jiuling replied, “Prince Ning has gone to the military camp. Had he known Master was coming, he would have come out in person to welcome you at the gate — but I’ve already sent someone to inform him. He should be back soon.”

She asked, “Master, what brings you here so suddenly?”

Mister Li said, “Wait until Prince Ning arrives before I speak.”

Then he looked at Su Ruye. “You were right.”

Su Ruye paused again, and instinctively asked, “Right about what?”

Mister Li said, “Your intuition was correct. There is indeed something in this world that should not exist.”

Su Ruye’s expression went from blank, to shocked, to delighted.

“How do you know?”

He asked eagerly.

Mister Li said, “Because I encountered it.”

Yu Jiuling listened in complete bewilderment, but Su Ruye was clearly burning with curiosity.

About half a shichen later, Li Chi came rushing back, strode in one breath to the reception hall where Mister Li sat drinking tea.

The moment Li Chi saw him, he bowed at once. “Your student pays respects to the Teacher.”

That bow — including Su Ruye and everyone else present — gave everyone a start, except for Yu Jiuling and those close to Li Chi.

They thought to themselves: this peculiar figure had quite the reputation — even Prince Ning called him Teacher.

And this peculiar figure sat there perfectly at ease, not even bothering to rise, merely giving a casual nod.

“Teacher, what brings you back?”

Li Chi asked while walking over to pour tea for Mister Li.

Mister Li said, “Because I have found your destined tribulation.”

Those words, once spoken, shocked everyone even more deeply.

About half a shichen after that, the Zhenren Old Zhang, sitting to one side listening, wore an expression that grew heavier and heavier. He worked his fingers through calculations inside his sleeve, and the sense of unease in his heart grew stronger and stronger.

Everyone else was listening to Mister Li speak. Even Headmaster Gao was listening intently. It was only Changmei who noticed the change in Old Zhang Zhenren’s expression.

He had just opened his mouth to ask when Old Zhang Zhenren lowered his voice: “Come outside.”

The two of them rose and left. Outside the door, Old Zhang Zhenren said with a weighty tone, “I made an error in my calculations earlier.”

Old Zhang Zhenren asked, “Where did I err?”

Old Zhang Zhenren said, “I had calculated that Li Chi’s path to mastery of the realm would have several rises and falls — including one heavenly tribulation. When the Black Martial forces swept south and the frontier fell into crisis, with fighting so brutal and bloody, I took that to be the great tribulation…”

Changmei’s eyes went wide. “And it wasn’t?”

Old Zhang Zhenren gave a sound of agreement. “Listening to what Mister Li just said, I worked through the calculations once more carefully. I believe I was wrong before. The Black Martial forces are not Li Chi’s heavenly tribulation.”

Changmei was visibly tense. His whole life, his greatest concern was his little Diudiu. Hearing now that the tribulation was still to come, how could he not be worried?

Old Zhang Zhenren said, “I’ve thought it through carefully again just now. If Li Chi’s fate is to become master of the Central Plains, then his heavenly tribulation naturally lies within the Central Plains — it has nothing to do with foreign peoples. The matter of the Black Martial forces was me being too optimistic, too careless.”

Changmei’s feelings were extraordinarily tangled. He wanted to ask Old Zhang whether there was a way to avert the tribulation, but before the question was out, he saw Old Zhang Zhenren shake his head.

Changmei said, “Even you cannot calculate exactly what this heavenly tribulation is?”

Old Zhang Zhenren said, “I am not an immortal. There are no immortals in this world. If there truly were…”

He looked back at Mister Li sitting in the reception hall. “He is far closer to one than I.”

Changmei instinctively looked toward the interior, and fresh hope rose again in his eyes.

Old Zhang Zhenren said, “A person like him — appearing out of nowhere — there is surely something of great import, but it will certainly not be some calamity. And since he has come, there will certainly be a way through.”

Old Zhang Zhenren let out a slow breath. “And since he has come to find Li Chi, it means this way through lies with Li Chi himself.”

Sitting inside the hall, listening to Mister Li speak, the one whose inner world was not merely shaken but thoroughly overturned was not only Old Zhang Zhenren.

There was also Cao Lie.

Because what Mister Li was saying had demolished everything he had ever understood about the entire ruling class of the world he had grown up in.

Who was Cao Lie?

The young lord of the Cao family. The young master of the Shanhe Seal.

And what was the Shanhe Seal?

An organization that had once secretly controlled the economic lifelines of nearly half the Central Plains — that could even manipulate the entire court at will.

In Cao Lie’s eyes, the Shanhe Seal represented the ultimate extent to which wealth could control power.

Just as these thoughts were forming, Cao Lie heard Li Chi call to him. He snapped back to attention.

He looked at Li Chi. “What is it?”

Li Chi said, “Teacher has something to ask you.”

Cao Lie immediately sat up straight. He naturally held Mister Li in the deepest reverence — in his eyes, Mister Li was the sort of free-spirited transcendent recluse that wandered the clouds and wild.

He had met Mister Li before, during the trip to Cloud Mist Mountain.

“You were once the young master of the Shanhe Seal. Do you know when the Shanhe Seal was established, and who established it?”

Mister Li asked.

Cao Lie searched his memory carefully. His father had told him: the Shanhe Seal was under Cao family control, founded several hundred years ago by their Cao family ancestors, who joined forces with countless great merchants, and through so many years of development, finally built up the power to grip the realm’s vital arteries.

He told everything he knew faithfully. After Mister Li heard it, his brow also furrowed slightly.

He was deep in thought, so no one dared interrupt.

Mister Li murmured as if to himself, “The very emergence of an organization like the Shanhe Seal is deeply problematic. In an era such as this — even in an era several hundred years prior — such a thing should not exist. Not even the concept should exist.”

“The concept might exist, but an organizational capacity of that scale should not have appeared — it emerged far too early. That belongs to a different age entirely…”

Everything he said left everyone present completely at a loss. But once he had said it, he sank into thought again, and so no one dared to ask.

After a long silence, Mister Li said, “I had opened a small wine shop in the Western Regions, hoping to live freely and at ease, with no intention of entangling myself in the affairs of this world… but then I encountered two peculiar individuals in succession.”

He looked at Su Ruye. “One was him.”

Su Ruye, hearing himself mentioned, also sat upright.

Mister Li continued, “Su Ruye came first. When he told me those things then, I paid little mind — the world is vast, what strange figures haven’t I seen? People who could predict the future or stranger things still, I’ve come across before.”

“But over a year ago, I encountered another peculiar individual — a merchant, unremarkable in appearance. After entering my small wine shop, he paused for a moment, then paused again when he saw my brewed wine, then without drinking and without a word, simply turned and walked out.”

When Mister Li said this, Li Chi had already formed a hypothesis.

He asked, “Did Teacher encounter danger?”

Mister Li nodded. “That very night, a large band of assassins came to kill me. I killed most of them, then using preparations I had long made in advance, staged my own death in a fire and made my escape.”

He took a sip of tea, then said, “It wasn’t that I couldn’t kill all of them — it was that I knew, for what I needed to investigate, I would be of more use as a dead man than as a living one.”

Su Ruye, barely containing his excitement, said, “The wrongly-placed people — they truly exist!”

Mister Li let out a long, slow breath, and then said, in a strange tone, “I had always believed I was the wrongly-placed one. So from beginning to end I had been hiding away. Now it seems I may have been wrong from the very start. I am not the wrong one — my presence here is because someone wants me to clear away the wrong ones.”

He tapped a finger on the table. “This is my reason for being. So I have come.”

He looked at Li Chi. “Erase them. This world should not have them. Not a single one remains — only then can this world be made just again.”

Though no one quite understood, when Mister Li spoke of erasing them, they all felt something stir and surge in their blood.

—