The underground river.

Though the main force had not yet departed, sentries had been posted at intervals along the entire length of the underground passage. The passage was of critical importance — if the Black Wu forces also discovered it, the consequences would be severe — so it naturally needed to be heavily guarded.

And so when two figures came tumbling in through the exit, the Ning soldiers on duty were immediately on alert.

To say they came in would be misleading — they fell in. Neither managed to land on their feet; both crashed straight to the ground.

Crossbows were raised, blades drawn, soldiers closing in from all sides.

One of the two sat up and caught his breath. When he made out the Ning army uniforms in front of him, he paused — and then, inexplicably, smiled.

Both were disheveled and filthy, visibly crusted with dried blood. The smell of it still clung to them, which was why the Ning soldiers circling them were especially wary.

Before the soldiers could speak, one of the two addressed them first, in a peculiar tone: “Do you know who I am?”

The nearest soldier shook his head: “I don’t — who are you?”

The man smiled again: “It doesn’t matter whether you know me. All you need to know is: I’m about to hand you a very large piece of merit.”

With that, he fell back and lay flat on the ground, unmoving — completely spent. He seemed to have even grown too tired to say another word.

Several soldiers stepped closer. When the two had fallen in, they had brought several cloth bundles with them; the bundles had an odd shape.

One soldier used his blade to pry open one of the bundles. A human head rolled out.

Three days later. Blood Floating Tower’s camp.

The place had by now been transformed into the Ning army’s main encampment. The tens of thousands of Ning soldiers from the northern campaign had built a sprawling camp around it as their center — an impressive, sweeping sight.

The two who had come through the underground passage looked considerably more composed after three days of rest.

They walked back through the camp still talking and laughing, seemingly unconcerned about what lay ahead for them, entirely at ease.

When they were brought to the camp and handed over to the Tingwei accompanying the army for questioning, it was only half an hour before they were escorted before Li Chi.

Even Gao Zhen, who had met this man face-to-face before, failed to recognize him at first — one of the two was Xu Suqing, and the fact that Gao Zhen didn’t place him showed what state this person was in. The clothes were so dirty their original color was invisible; the hair a wild tangle; the face layered with dried blood and grime.

Which made the pair of eyes all the brighter for it.

“I won’t kneel to you — I can hardly be counted among the subjects of this new Ning state you’ve founded.”

Xu Suqing studied Li Chi, looking him over carefully — particularly his eyes.

“Not bad at all…”

Xu Suqing suddenly gave a small smile: “I’ve never seen what an emperor looks like, but something tells me an emperor who looks like you can’t be too bad. Compared to the Luo Geng and Zhou Shiren I remember — you’re considerably easier on the eyes.”

Those words didn’t much register with Li Chi, but Tang Pidi, standing at his side, furrowed his brow.

That single furrowed brow immediately drew Xu Suqing’s attention. He looked over, was silent for a moment — then looked as if something had clicked into place: “So it’s you.”

Because in the instant Tang Pidi’s brow had creased, Xu Suqing had felt a threat — the intuition of a supreme master.

Think about it: how many people in this world could make a single raised eyebrow carry enough menace to put him on guard?

There was no one in all of the world who could press down on a man with killing intent the way Tang Pidi could with a look. To be sure, in terms of pure skill, Li Chi was more than a match for Old Tang — but there was a quality of killing energy on Tang Pidi that Li Chi lacked.

That was the bearing of a man who had cut a bloody path back and forth across the entire Central Plains. Tang Pidi’s killing energy had not come from killing a handful of men — it had come from killing a million. He might scarcely be aware of it himself, but when his brow merely shifted — the force poured forth.

“You are very strong,” Xu Suqing said to Tang Pidi. “An opponent of your caliber — I never encountered one in the first half of my life. Ten years ago, I would have been delighted to seek your instruction. Now… I have no desire left for any of it.”

He threw the cloth bundle he had been carrying onto the ground: “Your men wanted to take it from me — I didn’t let them. I just let them see inside.”

The bundle came undone; a head rolled out face-down. Xu Suqing stepped forward and kicked it, and the face turned upward.

“This man — a prince of the Black Wu Empire — I believe his name was Kuoke Diyelan. I chased him for five days before I caught him.”

He kicked the head to within a foot of Li Chi: “With this, I’d like to propose a deal to Your Majesty.”

Yu Jiuling had been about to open his mouth — the entire reservoir of words stored in him was ready to gush out — but Li Chi raised a hand and stopped him.

Li Chi asked: “What deal?”

Xu Suqing pointed to the equally disheveled figure at his side: “This is my brother. His name is Gao Wukan. Of all of us, he was the cleanest — he has killed a great many people, but the ones he killed were mostly those who deserved it. Roughly. In any case, he is considerably cleaner than I am. So I want to use this head to buy another head — I am asking Your Majesty to spare his life.”

Gao Wukan’s expression shifted: “Chief — no more of this. We agreed: we came back here together, to die together. And whether I deserve to die or not — don’t I know that myself?”

He turned to Li Chi and bowed deeply: “Your Majesty, both of us came here with the intention to die. We only wanted to come back here before it ended. Otherwise, after killing Kuoke Diyelan, we could simply have run. The Chief and I — neither of us should outlive the other. Please don’t let him talk you into anything.”

Li Chi said, “Those who deserve death will die. It will not be changed because you killed Kuoke Diyelan. As for why you deserve death — you both know the reason.”

Xu Suqing: “One head of a Black Wu prince — not enough to buy my brother’s life?”

Li Chi: “Not enough. Whoever it is, and whatever they may be to you — to put it another way: if an ordinary Ning citizen, entirely clean and entirely undeserving of death, were to come before me holding the Great Khan of Black Wu’s head — I still would not trade it for that citizen’s death. And if the person deserved to die — even holding the Great Khan’s head would not buy them a life.”

“If that is so…”

Xu Suqing went still for a moment, and then he laughed: “That is well, then. The way I see it… the Central Plains will probably be just fine.”

Gao Wukan nodded: “It should be just fine.”

Xu Suqing turned to Li Chi again: “In that case — can I change the terms of the deal?”

In this moment, Tang Pidi’s anger was already rising. When a great general is even slightly angered, the consequences are what you would expect — bodies for a hundred li, and that on a mild day.

But Li Chi still gave Xu Suqing one more chance. He asked: “What do you want to trade for?”

Xu Suqing said, with complete sincerity: “As for me — I don’t care how I die. Any way is fine. But my brother — can he die a little more decently? Leave him a whole body?”

Li Chi nodded: “You both may have whole bodies. And — do either of you have family in the Central Plains? If so, tell me where, and I will send someone to deliver some compensation. I will also tell them that you died in battle against Black Wu forces, and that you served the Central Plains well.”

Xu Suqing went still. He looked instinctively at Gao Wukan. Gao Wukan nodded slowly: “Now that — that’s really earned something.”

Xu Suqing drew in a deep, slow breath and let it out heavily.

A moment later, he swept back his robes and knelt, bowing to the ground in the full ritual prostration: “Criminal Xu Suqing thanks His Majesty the Emperor of the Great Ning. May Your Majesty live long in blessing and peace; may the Great Ning endure for ten thousand generations.”

He rose, looked at Gao Wukan: “How do we go?”

Gao Wukan turned to Li Chi: “Your Majesty — could we die on a full stomach?”

He raised a hand and pointed at the wooden tower: “Let it be there.”

Li Chi said simply: “Good.”

He turned: “Nine Younger Brother — go get those two some food and wine.”

Yu Jiuling nodded: “Your subject obeys.”

He looked at Xu Suqing. After a moment’s silence he said: “If there’s anything you want to eat, just say it. I’ll see what I can do.”

Xu Suqing clasped his hands: “Good wine, hot food. I ask for nothing more.”

Yu Jiuling: “If you think of anything, tell me — I’ll do my best to find it.”

Xu Suqing: “You’re an odd-looking man, but your heart turns out to be decent enough.”

Yu Jiuling turned and walked away.

Half an hour later, inside the wooden tower. Looking at the table spread before them — considerably more generous than one might expect — Gao Wukan reached out and poured Xu Suqing a cup.

“Chief — not half bad, is it.”

“Truly not bad — those Ning army cooks must be better than the cook we had back in Blood Floating Tower.”

“I wasn’t talking about the food. I was talking about that Emperor.”

“Mm… I’ve never seen what an emperor looks like before. You either. But seeing him just now — this is what an emperor of our Central Plains ought to look like.”

“Yes… this is what it ought to look like. This is what it should have looked like, long ago.”

“Mm. Enough words. This food and wine genuinely looks good — I’m going first.”

“Chief — we are steeped in sin. That we should still have a meal like this before we go — does that count as some small measure of grace?”

“Grace isn’t because we’ve sinned deeply — grace is because alongside all that sin, we managed to kill the right people. Ha ha ha ha.”

Xu Suqing laughed, raised his cup, and drank it down in one.

One hour later, both men were found hanging in the wooden tower.

—