The Xue Fútu camp.

Xiao Ting had been watching their chief for quite some time now. The chief sat in silence, and Xiao Ting watched him in silence. It wasn’t just the two of them — everyone had fallen into this terrible stillness.

No one knew how long it lasted before Xiao Ting finally broke and spoke first: “Chief, there’s no vengeance left to take.”

At that, Xu Suqing snapped her gaze toward him. “So we just let it go?”

Xiao Ting hurried to clarify: “I didn’t say that. Only… the people we wanted to kill are already dead. This time… this time—” He said the words twice and still couldn’t finish, because he saw Xu Suqing’s eyes — crimson red, burning with a hatred that had no end.

“You told me before that no matter what, you’d follow my lead. Didn’t you?”

Xu Suqing asked.

Everyone nodded. Xiao Ting said, “Chief, that hasn’t changed. But it’s my place to speak up when I think I should.”

Xu Suqing said, “Then I’ll arrange your fates. Whatever I decide, you won’t question it — but anyone who wants to leave may go. Those who stay say nothing more.”

Gao Wukan said, “Chief, we’re not going anywhere.”

Xu Suqing reached out and clapped Gao Wukan on the shoulder. “These past ten-odd years, I’ve been in your debt. After this is done, I’ll still be in your debt.”

Gao Wukan shook his head. “Between us, who owes whom what?”

Xu Suqing swept her gaze over the people around her, steadied herself, then spoke: “In ten-plus years on the northern wastes, what have we ever feared? What have we ever failed to do?”

“Ten years of your trust — this is the last time I’ll owe you. The very last.”

With that, she turned and walked away, leaving everyone standing there, unsure what to do.

She had barely gone when a bandit came sprinting through the camp gate, voice cracking as he shouted: “Hei Wu men! A great Hei Wu army!”

The cry startled everyone awake.

They had already suspected the Hei Wu might come for revenge over the deaths of Grand Swordmaster Daxin Tuonuo and Ye Fuzhi — they simply hadn’t expected it this fast.

Xiao Ting shouted at once: “Tell the brothers to ready themselves for battle — everyone assemble, now!”

Men scattered in every direction, running and calling out, and within moments the camp was in an uproar.

Xu Suqing heard the shouting before she even reached the wooden tower and turned straight back.

She led everyone to the camp gate and looked out. In the distance, a grey curtain of dust was rolling toward them like a sandstorm sweeping across the land, and within that dust the banners of Hei Wu blazed with a terrible clarity.

“So… so many of them.”

One of the bandits swallowed hard. The fear in his voice was unmistakable.

The Hei Wu soldiers were beyond counting — spread flat across the earth as far as the eye could reach, no end visible in any direction.

These bandits, lords of the northern wastes for years, felt the ground drop out from under them.

They had a force of several thousand. But against the army now appearing on the horizon, several thousand amounted to nothing.

It was as if the greatest rock on the wastes — the one no other rock could match — had always ruled here. Then suddenly a mountain appeared, and as it ground across the earth the very ground trembled, and even the wastes’ mightiest rock shook beneath its shadow.

When the Hei Wu army came to a halt, the dust rolled into the Xue Fútu camp like a true sandstorm had torn through. When it thinned, every person inside was coated in a layer of grit.

The Hei Wu cavalry had formed ranks outside the camp walls. The scale of that force defied description. Look left — no end. Look right — no end.

The bandits glanced at one another. Some shifted their blades from hand to hand as though bracing to fight, but that was only instinct — it was fear.

Shortly after, the Hei Wu cavalry parted to create a lane, and several dozen iron-armored commanders rode through. Behind them, a figure in gilded armor came forward at a measured pace.

He rode to the camp gate, then raised a gauntlet to push his faceplate up.

“Who is Hàn Sān Zhōu?”

Xu Suqing stepped through the gate. “I am.”

The rider was Kuòkědí Yèlán, a Prince of the Hei Wu Empire.

He looked her up and down for a moment, then smiled. “The Han King, personally ennobled by the Great Khan — I see the reputation is well earned. Truly impressive.”

At those words, the tight knot in their chests loosened slightly. The Hei Wu hadn’t come for blood.

“And you are?” Xu Suqing asked.

After Kuòkědí Yèlán introduced himself, he turned his gaze over the bandits inside the camp.

Frankly, he was disappointed.

Their fear was exactly like the fear he’d seen in every land his armies had ever conquered. They hadn’t knelt yet, but they were only waiting for the word. He was certain that if he commanded it right now, a good number of them would drop immediately, and those who didn’t would have rubber legs.

“I am here to see whether you — warriors of the Empire — are ready to fight for the Empire.”

Kuòkědí Yèlán remained on horseback and didn’t draw closer. Grand Swordmaster Daxin Tuonuo had died here, which meant this Xu Suqing was dangerous.

“It seems you are, indeed, ready.” He smiled. “Seeing your willingness to serve, I am pleased — and I am pleased on behalf of the Great Khan.”

Xu Suqing said, “Your Highness, if you have a command, please speak it plainly.”

She still hadn’t worked out what he’d come for. If not revenge, then what?

Kuòkědí Yèlán said, “I have come bearing good news.”

He nudged his horse and began to pace back and forth before the camp gate.

“To help ensure your victory against the Central Plains soldiers, I have brought you a generous supply of weapons and equipment — and a great deal of gold and silver.”

He waved a hand, and the ranks behind him split again. Through the opening, cart after cart began to roll out.

“You too are warriors of the Empire. The Empire does not shortchange those who serve it faithfully. These are gifts from the Great Khan.”

Xu Suqing clasped her hands and bowed. “We are grateful for the Great Khan’s generosity.”

Kuòkědí Yèlán said, “I bring the Great Khan’s gifts, and I bring my own goodwill as well.”

He looked at Xu Suqing. “I have great admiration for your people and wish to employ you, though I cannot bring everyone into my staff. So I have decided to select one among you to join my command — to serve as my advisor.”

He swept a glance over them. “I am told that among Xue Fútu there is a strategist by the name of Xiao Ting. Where is he?”

Xu Suqing stepped forward, as though she could no longer hold herself still.

Xiao Ting strode across her path to block her, then looked up at Kuòkědí Yèlán. “Your Highness, I am Xiao Ting.”

Kuòkědí Yèlán smiled. “You look like a man of wisdom. I have the deepest respect for those with sharp minds — and once you are at my side, you will see exactly how I treat such men.”

Xiao Ting replied, “Your Highness, I am better placed here within Xue Fútu. They need me.”

“No, no, no.” Kuòkědí Yèlán said. “They don’t need you. They need more weapons, more grain, more gold and silver.”

He waved a hand again, and his men unloaded several rows of crossbow carts from the wagons — visibly powerful things.

“Those are what they need. And you are what I need.”

He said, “Come with me. I will treat you well. When the battle is over, I will see you returned to be reunited with your friends.”

Xu Suqing said, “He can’t go.”

Kuòkědí Yèlán said, “What did you say?”

Before Xu Suqing could respond, Kuòkědí Yèlán raised a finger and pointed at the bandits nearest the gate.

In an instant, no fewer than a thousand arrows flew. The bandits had no time to react before they were cut down. The screaming began at once. A rough count suggested around two hundred had fallen.

Kuòkědí Yèlán leveled his riding crop at Xu Suqing and asked, “And why can’t he come to my side?”

As he spoke, his crop swung slowly sideways to point in another direction — and behind him, Hei Wu archers had already trained their arrows on wherever he gestured.

“He can go!”

Xiao Ting rushed forward. “I thank Your Highness for this honor, and I am willing to serve at Your Highness’s side.”

Xu Suqing blocked Xiao Ting. “You can’t go.”

Xiao Ting called, “Chief!”

Then his voice softened: “If I don’t go, he’ll take someone else. Chief — the business with that Grand Swordmaster isn’t going to be forgotten easily. If one of us going can buy the brothers some safety for now, what does it matter?”

Xu Suqing had barely opened her mouth when Kuòkědí Yèlán, seeming impatient, made another motion with his hand.

Another volley of arrows sheeted down. The bandits scrambled aside, but no one dared fight back — because what faced them was a Hei Wu force beyond all comparison, and everyone understood that any resistance now would end only in a massacre.

“Chief…” Xiao Ting said quietly, “a moment ago you said we’ve always followed your lead through the years. Now let me have one turn. Let me lead for once.”

He straightened his clothes and turned to face the people in the camp: “Brothers—”

He’d had no shortage of things to say, and the words had practically been at the tip of his tongue, yet now he stopped.

After a long silence, he simply clasped his hands in a bow and said: “Take care of yourselves.”

Then he turned and walked toward the Hei Wu lines. A Hei Wu soldier brought him a horse. Xiao Ting mounted, turned back once more, and bowed again to Xu Suqing and the rest.

Kuòkědí Yèlán laughed, and he mimicked Xiao Ting’s clasped-hand bow — and the gesture was nothing but mockery, an insult to everyone watching.

“Right, then. Carry the Great Khan’s gifts inside. Fight this battle well, and when it’s done, the Great Khan will have even richer rewards in store.”

With that, Kuòkědí Yèlán wheeled his horse and left.

The massive Hei Wu cavalry turned with him — rear becoming front — and at the sound of shouted orders, they gathered speed and rode away.

The wastes churned with wave after wave of dust. The Hei Wu soldiers had come out of the dust like demons, killed their fill, and retreated back into it.

Xu Suqing stood without a word. The expression on her face seemed frozen solid by the wind and sand.

Gao Wukan walked slowly to Xu Suqing’s side and stood with her for a long time. When the dust had finally settled and the Hei Wu army had vanished from sight, Gao Wukan quietly turned and walked away too.

Only Xu Suqing remained at the camp gate — like a long-dead post of wood on a wasteland that had long since given up any pretense of life.

—