When darkness fell, everyone in the forest would have the illusion of being trapped in a deep abyss.

The world outside might still be faintly lit by moonlight, but the darkness of the forest was a fortress no moonlight could breach.

At the forest’s edge, An Xiaozhuang stood on a fork in a large tree, watching the open country beyond.

The wild grass out there grew almost to a person’s height. In such deep darkness, spotting someone drawing near was genuinely difficult.

Fortunately, tonight there was no wind. If the grass swayed in a strange way, that could serve as a clue.

But this was nighttime — anything more than a short distance away, you couldn’t see even an abnormal movement in the grass.

Right now, roughly fifty *zhang* from the forest’s edge, someone was crouching in the grass and watching the treeline.

Fang Biehan knew the Bureau’s capabilities. If they were hiding here, there would certainly be an outer ring of hidden sentries.

His Flag Officer Deng Yuanqu crept up beside him without a word, waiting for the General’s signal.

Fang Biehan raised his hand and pointed at a tree at the forest’s edge, then took the spyglass that a subordinate passed him.

In the faint breeze, leaves trembled gently — nothing to indicate whether anyone was hiding in the tree.

But at that moment, An Xiaozhuang noticed something.

The instant Fang Biehan raised the spyglass, the faintest glimmer of reflected light — almost imperceptible — was caught by An Xiaozhuang’s keen eyes.

He immediately slid down the far side of the tree and sprinted back to the camp deep in the forest.

“Quickly — enemy approaching!” An Xiaozhuang’s voice was low but extremely urgent as he roused the sleeping Bureau agents.

Guiyuanshu and the others were immediately on their feet. “How close?”

“Already within fifty *zhang*. Everyone move quickly.”

Guiyuanshu gave a low order: “Fall back to the second position.”

Every Bureau agent and Intelligence Division member moved at once — like leopards slipping through the night forest, bodies low, they withdrew.

Fang Biehan’s people crept toward the forest, inching forward until they reached where Guiyuanshu and the others had made camp. Fang Biehan raised his hand: halt.

He checked the surroundings. The grass was flattened in places. No camp tents, not many other traces — but clearly something was wrong.

“Light a torch.”

Fang Biehan gave the order.

Jiang Wei came up from behind. “Lighting a torch now — won’t that tell them we’re here?”

Fang Biehan said, “They’ve already withdrawn.”

His men lit the torches and illuminated the area. After examining it, Fang Biehan found many footprints and impressions where people had lain.

“How did this happen?” Jiang Wei’s expression darkened. “Did someone leak the information?”

Fang Biehan shook his head. “There shouldn’t have been. My men never left my sight.”

Jiang Wei said, “Your men didn’t leave your sight — what about the others? Could someone else have passed the information?”

Fang Biehan said, “No one outside our group knew today’s plan, so it can only mean the enemy had very sharp instincts.”

Jiang Wei shook his head. “Impossible. In darkness like this, there’s no way they could simply and easily spot us.”

Fang Biehan repeated: “My men were in my line of sight the entire time. I won’t suspect my own people.”

Jiang Wei looked at him, then turned and walked back.

Shortly after, the Curtain Camp force returned to Qingmian County. As they entered the branch office compound, they saw a crowd of soldiers gathered in the courtyard. In the main hall, Yan Xilai was drinking wine. Jiang Wei’s expression turned ugly.

He quickened his pace into the hall. Yan Xilai saw Jiang Wei arrive and immediately rose to greet him.

“Senior Advisor.”

Yan Xilai bowed.

“What fine spirits you’re in, General Yan,” Jiang Wei said, looking at the wine and dishes on the table, his eyes turning cold. Yan Xilai heard the chill in his words and hastily offered some explanation.

“My men have been watching the enemy who infiltrated the town all night, and just came off duty. Everyone was exhausted, so I thought a drink would help them recover.”

Jiang Wei said, “Everyone is exhausted — or just you?”

He asked, “You said you were watching the infiltrators. What did they do?”

Yan Xilai said, “Senior Advisor, that… it’s not really convenient for me to explain. This is our ongoing task. You’ve arrived in Qingmian County unexpectedly, without orders from the Military Governor — I genuinely can’t disclose anything to you.”

Jiang Wei’s eyes narrowed. “Are you saying I’m overstepping?”

He reached into his robe and threw a tablet to Yan Xilai. Yan Xilai caught it, looked at it, and his face changed instantly.

The tablet bore a tiger’s head on the front and the words *shǐ lìng* — Command of the Envoy — on the back.

This tablet carried immense authority. Whoever held it was the Military Governor’s personally dispatched agent on official business — as if the Military Governor himself were present.

“Please forgive this subordinate.” Yan Xilai immediately returned the tablet with both hands.

Jiang Wei asked, “Can you tell me now where exactly the people you’ve been watching are?”

Yan Xilai said, “In truth… nothing was found. After they entered the town, these people seemed to make no moves at all. My men were deployed at every key point in strict watch, yet no one was seen approaching. So they’re probably still lying low, not yet acting.”

“Oh?”

Jiang Wei’s expression was growing uglier by the moment. He walked up close to Yan Xilai and looked into his eyes. “General Yan — has any of your men left the county without authorization?”

“No — absolutely not.” Yan Xilai immediately said. “My people are all in town watching for the enemy. No one has left the town.”

“Is that so?”

Jiang Wei turned to Fang Biehan. “Bring him out!”

Fang Biehan made a gesture. Two of his soldiers shoved a figure in black forward; a kick sent the man crashing to his knees.

Jiang Wei pointed at the figure in black. “Does General Yan recognize this person?”

Yan Xilai’s face changed at once. This person was indeed one of his subordinates.

He hadn’t known what Fang Biehan was taking a force out to do — he’d worried it was some major operation that Fang Biehan was deliberately keeping from him.

If there was credit to be had, Fang Biehan might try to take it all for himself.

He and Fang Biehan were not of the same faction. Fang Biehan was a close friend of the now-dead Central Marshal Mo Lili. Yan Xilai was affiliated with the other Central Marshal, Dou Qusheng — and Dou Qusheng and Mo Lili had always been at odds.

The web of connections involved was far too complicated.

Mo Lili, Fang Biehan, and Jiang Wei had known each other from the beginning. All three came from humble origins.

Mo Lili was the most driven, the kind of person who would sacrifice even himself to complete a mission. A man like that naturally didn’t make many friends in the Curtain Camp — he was no good at currying favor either, so his relationships with his superiors were only so-so.

Think about it: if his connections had really been good, would the task of rescuing Yang Jing from Jingzhou — a near-suicidal mission that everyone else was desperate to avoid — have ended up falling to him?

Dou Qusheng and the other two Senior Advisors had always gotten along well. Those two were from Shu Province’s established families, and they all looked down on Jiang Wei.

When the Military Governor Pei Qi originally designated the Central Marshal to lead the mission to Jingzhou to retrieve Yang Jing, it was Dou Qusheng.

But then certain complications arose, and Mo Lili ended up going to the capital Daxing in his place.

Jiang Wei hadn’t been in Meicheng at the time. By the time he returned, Mo Lili had already left with his force.

He waited and waited — and what came back was the news that Mo Lili had died in battle.

The moment Mo Lili died, the other two Senior Advisors immediately petitioned to appoint Xue Lingcheng as a new Central Marshal.

Xue Lingcheng was Dou Qusheng’s nephew. With that move, all the real power in the Curtain Camp shifted to Dou Qusheng’s side.

Next on their agenda, of course, was squeezing out Jiang Wei and Fang Biehan. Even if Jiang Wei and the others hadn’t been trying to avenge Mo Lili, they would have been eliminated anyway.

“He…” The moment Yan Xilai saw his subordinate captured, he knew it was bad. Jiang Wei and Fang Biehan were in the same camp — they would definitely use this to make things difficult.

“I don’t know what he went out to do.”

Yan Xilai walked up to the figure in black. “You — whose subordinate are you? Which Flag Officer’s man?”

The man in black instinctively glanced at a Flag Officer standing behind Yan Xilai, and was about to speak when Yan Xilai drove a kick into his face.

The kick was so hard the man couldn’t speak — his mouth full of blood.

“How many times have I told you all — with a great battle imminent, no one is to leave Qingmian County without my order!”

Yan Xilai turned back to the Flag Officer. “Why did your man go slinking off on his own?”

The Flag Officer’s face went white. *It was Yan Xilai himself who told me to have someone secretly tail Fang Biehan* — now Yan Xilai was asking *him*? What was he supposed to say?

“As a Flag Officer, you dare defy proper discipline!”

Yan Xilai bellowed his orders: “Take him into custody. No one is to interrogate him without my order!”

“Yes!”

Yan Xilai’s subordinates moved to drag the prisoner away. Fang Biehan took a long sidestep and blocked them.

“General Fang — what do you mean by this?” Yan Xilai said. “I’m disciplining my own subordinate who made an error. Is General Fang interfering?”

Jiang Wei smiled faintly. “He’s the same rank as you. He can’t interfere.”

He stepped up in front of Yan Xilai. “But I can.”

Jiang Wei looked Yan Xilai in the eyes. “You are a General Flag Officer who colluded with Prince of Ning Li Chi’s agents, deliberately leaked our operation, and allowed the enemy’s infiltrators to escape cleanly. General Yan, you are not going to be able to explain this away.”

“Senior Advisor!” Yan Xilai said. “You can’t fabricate accusations against me. I’ll look into this myself — if there’s a problem, I’ll report it to the Central Marshal.”

Jiang Wei said, “Do you think Dou Qusheng’s backing means you can do as you please?”

He said sharply, “Arrest this man!”

Yan Xilai immediately drew his blade. “You wouldn’t be settling a private grudge, would you?”

Jiang Wei’s eyes narrowed. “Then why don’t you tell me — what private grudge?”

Before Yan Xilai could answer, Jiang Wei turned to the Flag Officer. “You only need to answer this: was this man sent by General Yan? If you lie, I can’t save you. If you tell the truth, I can keep you alive.”

The Flag Officer was shaking with fear. Under that enormous pressure, his voice trembling: “Yes… yes, General Yan told me to have someone follow General Fang.”

“You’re full of — !” Yan Xilai roared and swung his blade at the Flag Officer’s throat.

Fang Biehan moved suddenly. He grabbed Yan Xilai’s wrist, twisted it sharply, and with his other hand pushed the back of Yan Xilai’s neck forward.

Yan Xilai’s own blade sliced hard across his own throat.

An instant later, blood misted the air.

Jiang Wei swept his gaze over the assembly. “You all witnessed it. Yan Xilai colluded with Prince of Ning Li Chi’s agents. When it was exposed, he tried to kill me and General Fang to silence us. I will report the full truth to the Military Governor. When anyone comes to inquire, answer truthfully.”

Yan Xilai’s subordinates were all dumbfounded, staring at each other, unsure what to do.

Shortly after — in the study.

Fang Biehan poured a cup of tea and handed it to Jiang Wei. “What we’ve done will probably not end well for either of us.”

“No,” Jiang Wei agreed softly, then quietly added, “Mo Lili was my friend.”

Fang Biehan let out a slow breath. “Yan Xilai was just the first. Even you’ve been willing to give up everything — what have I to fear?”

Jiang Wei gave a bitter smile. “You’re mocking me again.”

He looked at his teacup and said, “If I hadn’t kept climbing and climbing all these years, how would I have been in any position to protect the two of you? But now that I’ve climbed to Senior Advisor, I still couldn’t protect you…”

Fang Biehan said, “It shouldn’t have been him who went. He was maneuvered into it — and so he died over there. We knew Mo Lili too well. We knew that once he accepted a mission, he would see it through no matter what — even if it killed him. We knew him — but so did they…”

Jiang Wei said, “So our time is short. I have to get back. Handle things on this end yourself.”

He rose, and clapped Fang Biehan on the shoulder. “One word of advice — I shouldn’t be the one to say it, but: once we’ve avenged Erlí, get away if you can.”

—