The skin beneath the dagger’s tip was so soft. The blade in his hand was so sharp.

Had he pushed forward with even the slightest force, he could have effortlessly pierced her throat — killed this woman who had lured him from being a sharp and disciplined warrior into a man besotted with tenderness, content to be a deserter.

And yet, the dagger’s tip could not pierce even a fraction of the way in.

The palm that gripped the blade seemed to still hold the warmth from last night — the lingering heat of that soft, supple skin.

He sheathed the dagger, released her, and rasped at her to leave his sight.

She opened her eyes and gazed at him, seeming to want to say something but stopping herself. In the end, she said nothing at all. With reddened eyes and bowed head, she walked out.

The man stood there for a long while, motionless, looking around that simple, humble room — a room that was nonetheless tidied and arranged with great care each and every day. At the head of the bed lay a neatly folded set of new clothes, and beside them, a new pair of shoes.

His own eyes had grown red.

In truth, as time had passed, his years of hardened experience in the rivers-and-lakes world, the killing and the strife, along with an instinct as sharp as any wild beast’s, had made him suspect her presence more than once. Yet each time, when he returned at dusk and was met by her smiling face, all his doubts would be smothered and buried.

He could no longer be the resolute warrior he had once been. He had deceived himself, becoming day after day a peddler wandering the streets and alleyways.

A dream must always end in waking. That moment had finally come.

The information from this place no longer needed to be relayed by him. The whole world already knew — let alone his superiors.

A shadow agent who had failed in his duty to this degree had no right to go on living.

He knelt on the ground, kowtowed to the empty air in apology, raised the dagger in his hand, and drove it toward his own throat.

……

Changping lay deep within the southern face of the Taihang Mountains. For a long time before all of this, it had been nothing more than an ordinary garrison town of strategically steep terrain, connecting east and west — not particularly noteworthy. But after Prince Qi declared himself Emperor in the Eastern Capital and set himself against the imperial court, the strategic advantage of this location became immediately apparent. Not only did it become the dividing line between the forces of east and west, but Prince Qi had also undertaken extensive fortification works, strengthening the city’s defenses and transforming it into the first line of resistance against any threat from the west.

After Xie Changgeng’s return, once the situation had settled, the very first thing he did was send his forces eastward.

Yet Xie Changgeng did not attack immediately. Instead, he temporarily stationed his troops at Jinzhou, no more than several hundred li from Changping.

The skies above Changping were thick with the shadow of impending war.

Once battle began, it would inevitably be a violent storm of a campaign — even though, for both sides, this was far from the ideal moment to engage.

The Hexi army had just endured half a year of bitter, bloody fighting and had taken considerable losses. What they most needed at this moment was a period of rest, not an immediate march into yet another distant campaign.

Sending an exhausted army on a long campaign was one of the greatest tactical blunders in the art of war. Even if they managed to take Changping against a fully prepared enemy, the cost would be devastating — and Changping was only the first pass. This battle, beyond venting one’s wrath, would be utterly pointless.

As a seasoned commander who had directed hundreds of large and small campaigns, Xie Changgeng understood this perfectly well.

And as for Prince Qi’s forces — though they had the advantage of rested troops holding a defended position, the prospect of Changping Pass being sufficiently prepared to withstand the assault of these elite Hexi soldiers within such a short time was exceedingly slim.

Considering the situation of both sides alone, while neither could claim a certain victory, for Prince Qi, whose foothold was far from secure, the last thing he could possibly want was an open, full-scale battle.

Xie Changgeng’s mother was in his hands — a very significant bargaining chip.

By all reasoning, Prince Qi should have made some move by now.

And yet, what puzzled Xie Changgeng was that, up to this point, he had received no news whatsoever relating to this matter.

His instincts told him that this abnormal silence could only mean one of two things: either Prince Qi was scheming some larger conspiracy, or something unexpected had occurred that he was not yet aware of.

Though his heart was burning with anxiety, and he worried day and night for his mother’s safety, Xie Changgeng was still patiently waiting for news.

He did not fight battles without a measure of confidence, and he would not squander lives in reckless bravado.

The reason he had sent his forces here was never to engage in immediate combat.

The sudden intervention of the Kingdom of Changsha had already thrown his original plans into complete disarray.

Prince Qi’s power had grown swiftly, while the bloody campaign in Hexi had left him considerably weakened. With one side swelling and the other diminished, this was not the right time to launch an offensive.

He was not in so great a hurry.

His true objective was to pressure Prince Qi into negotiating the terms of the hostage — and once he had a clearer picture of the enemy’s intentions, he would then formulate a rescue plan.

After garrisoning west of the pass for several days, Xie Changgeng soon received the answer to the riddle of Prince Qi’s unusual behavior.

Spies who had infiltrated the Eastern Capital sent back word. Through purchased intelligence, they had learned that while under detention, the Old Madam had fallen suddenly and gravely ill one night. Prince Qi had urgently summoned every skilled physician in the city to treat her, but afterward, none of those physicians were seen to emerge. Several days later, word came to light that the Old Madam had already breathed her last that very night.

Xie Changgeng’s mother had been seized by Zhao Xitai — a deed that had earned him tremendous credit in Prince Qi’s eyes. At the time, he was not in the Eastern Capital, having gone to the Kingdom of Changsha to offer condolences, and an old illness had flared up from the hardships of the road, delaying his return.

A hostage who was meant to be of great use had instead slipped through their fingers in this manner. Beyond his shock and fury, Prince Qi knew that if the news spread, it would provoke Xie Changgeng’s full and merciless retaliation. He therefore ordered the matter suppressed, had the body quietly disposed of in secret overnight, and immediately convened his subordinates to devise a plan of response.

That night, above the skies west of Changping Pass, dark clouds gathered thick and heavy, blotting out the stars and moon. From a distance, between heaven and earth, only the countless torches could be seen — like scattered sparks of starlight, illuminating the darkness above the entire encampment.

Tens of thousands of soldiers, each with a white band tied around their arm, stood in disciplined formation with weapons in hand. The atmosphere was gravely solemn.

Xie Changgeng, dressed in full mourning whites, emerged from the main tent.

Liu An and the other generals had been waiting outside for some time. When they saw him appear, they surged around him, raising their voices in urgent petition: “The soldiers are prepared! We beseech the Prince of Qin to issue the order at once! We will follow you unto death — take Changping, drive straight into the Eastern Capital, and avenge the Old Madam’s injustice!”

Among the four highest princely titles — Qin, Jin, Qi, and Chu — the Prince of Qin ranked supreme.

“We beseech the Prince of Qin to issue the order!”

Across the open wilderness, the cry of loyalty from the soldiers rose like a clap of thunder, surging up from the ground to fill the night sky.

From the moment yesterday when he had received word of his mother’s death, straight through until this very moment, Xie Changgeng had remained shut alone in his tent for an entire night.

His complexion had turned ashen. His eyes were red, the whites threaded with streaks of blood.

He stood on the open plain and gazed toward the west, in the direction of the pass.

At the horizon’s edge, the undulating ridgeline of the mountain range rose like a barrier erupting from the earth itself.

The debt of blood for his mother’s murder was as deep as the sea. So long as he lived even a single day, he would repay it — and not merely repay, but return it tenfold, and utterly destroy the entire clan responsible.

But not now.

He swallowed back the sudden metallic sweetness that surged up in his throat, drew his gaze away, and spoke slowly: “I will travel to the Eastern Capital and see if I can recover my mother’s remains. Strike the mourning rites here and maintain the appearance of the original position. Without my order, not a single soldier is to make any unauthorized movement.”

Liu An and the others, overcome with admiration and grief, knelt before him as one: “The Prince of Qin, take care of yourself!”

The torches in the camp were extinguished, and all around, stillness gradually settled in.

Xie Changgeng had just selected Liang Tuan and a retinue of attendants inside the main tent, preparing to set out under cover of night and take a roundabout route in secret to the Eastern Capital, when suddenly he heard the sound of running footsteps outside the tent.

Xie Changgeng turned. He saw Liu An burst in, his face ablaze with wild joy, waving a letter in his hand and crying out: “Prince of Qin! Good news! The Old Madam is not dead! She was rescued and taken away by the Imperial Princess of the Kingdom of Changsha! Zhu Liuhu has sent word — he says he is now escorting the Old Madam on the road back!”

Xie Changgeng paused. A sudden brilliant light blazed up in his eyes. He spun sharply on his heel and snatched the letter from Liu An’s hand.

Those around him watched as he read the letter, his silhouette motionless for a long moment. Every last person held their breath and waited.

After a long while, he raised his eyes.

“I am going out. Carry out my exact orders here!”

……

Xie Changgeng rode south day and night without rest. In just ten days, he arrived at the Taiping Post Station in Yingcheng, bordering Fuzhou.

At the post station, he finally saw his mother.

The Old Madam’s color looked quite well — far from the frail and withered state he had imagined. On the contrary, she appeared plump and rosy-cheeked. When he arrived, the Magistrate of Yingcheng was also at the post station, respectfully inviting the mother of the Prince of Qin to rest in his own residence.

When mother and son were reunited, with no one else around, Lady Xie began recounting the hardships she had endured over these past six months. She also cursed the Qi clan for their vicious scheming, and when she reached the most painful parts, she could not stop wiping her tears.

Xie Changgeng knelt and kowtowed before his mother, remaining on the ground for a long while, his voice thick with grief: “Your son is useless, and caused Mother to suffer such a terrible fright. Please, Mother, put your mind at ease. From now on, such an incident will never happen again.”

Having poured out all her sufferings, Lady Xie saw that her son looked travel-worn and haggard, his complexion dark and thin. Knowing that these past days must have been no easier for him, she was filled with a tender ache. She went to him and helped him up: “Mother is fine. Mother has a strong life. You needn’t worry. After getting out, all the way here, I have been well fed and well cared for, with people at each stop to receive us.”

Xie Changgeng helped his mother sit down, steadied himself, and asked her how she had ended up in the Kingdom of Changsha in the first place.

Lady Xie shook her head: “I don’t know how it happened either. I only remember that at first I was locked in a room — and apart from being watched day and night and not allowed to move about, I wasn’t made to suffer any great hardship. Then one day, a bowl of something was brought to me, and after I drank it, I felt drowsy and fell asleep. When I woke up, I had been loaded into a black carriage and was traveling day and night with no idea where I was being taken. When I was finally let out again, I was already in the Kingdom of Changsha, and I found myself in the presence of the Mu woman.”

“Mother reasoned with her and asked her to come back and live properly with you — she would still be our Xie family daughter-in-law. But she was completely unmoved and simply refused to listen…”

Lady Xie wiped her eyes and grabbed her son’s hand.

“Mother only learned on the way home that this Prince Qi had started a rebellion and declared himself Emperor. That Kingdom of Changsha is on the same side as Prince Qi. I heard that you had just divorced her not long ago, and that heir apparent had already come to propose marriage! Before, her brother was gone, and then that heir apparent came around again! Well — if she wants to climb higher by attaching herself to someone else, and refuses to come back, so be it. But the child she is raising at her side cannot be given up! Changgeng, Mother remembers it clearly, you told me yourself — that child is plainly your own son! But the Mu woman insists he is not yours, and has even convinced that child to believe it! You must go at once and bring my grandson back to me. He cannot be allowed to suffer for it in the future!”

Xie Changgeng was silent for a long moment, then lowered his voice and said: “Mother, the fault is mine. I should not have deceived you as I did. That child is truly not my own flesh and blood. It was only before that I —”

“Stop trying to deceive me!”

His words were cut short by Lady Xie, who began wiping her tears again.

“In the beginning, when you refused to listen to me and wouldn’t marry the Qi woman, I accepted it. But on this matter of my grandson, I cannot let you have your way! That child — the more I look at him, the more he resembles what you looked like when you were small!”

“If he is not yours, then have you lost your mind? Why would you be so good to him?”

Xie Changgeng paused.

“Mother hears that the Kingdom of Changsha has become a force to be reckoned with these days — even joining that Prince Qi in an assault on the capital. Surely you’re not afraid of Prince Qi? You have been enfeoffed as a prince as well! Mother was alone, that day I couldn’t overpower those stronger than me, and I had no choice but to come back first. You go and bring my grandson back to me!”

Xie Changgeng looked at his mother, whose expression was flushed and agitated. For a moment, he could not find any words.

He hesitated, offered a few soothing remarks, called servants in to attend her as she rested, and withdrew. He dismissed the Yingcheng Magistrate and his entourage, who had been waiting outside with deferential patience.

He then regarded coldly the man kneeling at his feet — Zhu Liuhu, the shadow agent he had placed in the Kingdom of Changsha two years prior, who had ultimately ruined everything for him.