The most powerful weapon a person has is their mind — and thinking is the process of forging that weapon.
When a wolf pack begins a hunt, they all think through their tactics. So if humans don’t think regularly, perhaps one day they will devolve to the point of being outwitted even by beasts.
Li Chi’s greatest strength was that his mind never stopped — even traveling along the road, his thoughts kept moving without pause.
This may also have been a form of natural ability. After all, being absent-minded is almost always a criticism — but applied to him, it was a kind of praise.
And most of those times he appeared to be staring blankly into space, his mind wasn’t truly empty either. How many moments of insight have come from exactly such blank staring.
It was from a passing thought — about Dachu Emperor Yang Jing, trapped inside Daxing City with all information cut off — that Li Chi made the connection to a possible problem within the covert operative network.
Gui Yuanshu asked: “Perhaps… we can act as though we’ve noticed nothing?”
Li Chi nodded: “When I said to suppress all intelligence coming through the Mountain River Seal’s channels, it was precisely because I don’t want this to become widely known. We can’t let them immediately realize we’ve found out.”
He moved to the window and looked outside: “Right now we don’t know how Han Feibao intends to fight us — but if we use this well, we can find out.”
Gui Yuanshu immediately understood.
This would need to be handled with skill. Every person they were facing was exceptionally shrewd — the slightest sign of contempt for the enemy could translate into the enemy trampling over them in return.
Tang Pidi had once said: *to make a convincing performance, you must prepare with sufficient thoroughness.*
“Make the arrangements.”
Li Chi turned back to look at Gui Yuanshu: “Deploy operatives toward Liangzhou to gather intelligence.”
Gui Yuanshu asked: “On the same scale as those sent to Shuzhou?”
Li Chi nodded: “That works.”
Gui Yuanshu turned immediately: “I will make the arrangements at once.”
“Among them may be some very, very powerful experts.”
Gao Xining said with some concern.
Even Mr. Li had appeared to have no great confidence in himself — which showed that Mr. Li understood the terror of the enemy.
So Gao Xining’s worry was well-founded. Because sometimes, when both sides were evenly matched in a direct confrontation, more shadowed methods would be employed.
If there truly was an expert to rival Mr. Li on their side, then the defensive arrangements — which had previously seemed absolutely impenetrable — would need to be entirely reconsidered.
The guard around Li Chi could be called top-tier — the top tier of the top tier, even.
Though Mr. Li had departed, Azure Dragon Su Ruye and Vermilion Bird Ni Huang were still present, and Elder Ye was still present, and the high experts of the Tingwei Army were all still there.
By any ordinary assessment, a protective arrangement of this caliber would leave even a supreme expert hard-pressed to find an opening.
But nothing was absolute. If among the enemy there was someone like Mr. Li — not only of overwhelming martial prowess but with unparalleled experience and insight, and a mind that no ordinary person could match — then there would be no defense against them.
Simply imagining it made the difficulty clear: if Mr. Li were the enemy’s man and wanted to infiltrate and assassinate Li Chi — how extraordinarily difficult would it be to guard against that?
After all, even the supreme Azure Dragon Su Ruye fell just the tiniest bit short compared to Mr. Li.
Black Tortoise Sun Guiyin had departed for Yanzhou, and might already be in the Bohai Kingdom — if he were still here, as an absolute fortress in defense, he would have been able to handle considerably more.
When it came to attack, Sun Guiyin was definitely not Su Ruye’s equal — but if he were guarding and doing nothing but defending, it would be no easy matter for Su Ruye to kill him.
A person skilled in defense must by nature be meticulous and calculating.
In truth, aside from Sun Guiyin, nearly everyone on Li Chi’s side was strongest in attack.
Li Chi himself was no different — the moment he moved, he became a different person entirely, no trace of any tendency to strike last remaining.
Once he moved, every strike went first.
Li Chi smiled: “No need to be so worried — if they truly had experts of that caliber, they would probably have made a move on me already.”
Though those were his words, Li Chi himself understood in his heart that among the enemy, it was not impossible.
Gao Xining turned and left. Once outside, she summoned the thousand-officers of the Tingwei Army, had them reassign their duty rotations, and changed the night watch arrangement from a minimum of one thousand-officer per night to a minimum of two.
Meanwhile, roughly four hundred li to the southeast of the Tuotuo River, the Yong Army was encamped in the open plains.
It was the second month. Unlike the north, where the ground was only just beginning to show a trace of green, the climate here was somewhat damp and cold — but everywhere the eye fell was lush and verdant.
The Yong Army’s speed of march had been considerably faster than Li Chi and the others had estimated.
Their estimate was that at most ten days from now, the Yong Army would reach the banks of the Tuotuo River.
In reality, if Han Feibao had not issued the order to make camp here, they would have reached the Tuotuo River’s banks the day before.
Han Feibao was young — twenty years old — with a tall, lean, powerful build: broad shoulders tapering to a narrow waist, that inverted triangle frame alone enough to make people feel a reflexive unease.
In Yongzhou, he was the man everyone knew as Yongzhou’s foremost warrior.
By legend, he was a child raised by mountain leopards — which had made him inherently ferocious.
Compared to the central plains, Yongzhou could be called a world unto itself, cut off from outside contact.
With its entirely highland terrain, riddled with ravines and gullies, even travel among local residents was not very convenient.
In the days of Dachu’s power, every year the Ministry of Finance would allocate grain and supplies sent to Yongzhou in relief.
Later, as Dachu’s corruption deepened, the supplies allocated by the Ministry of Finance would be divided up entirely before they even reached Yongzhou.
If the Ministry allocated ten taels of silver, they would already become six taels before leaving the Ministry itself; those six taels, passing through layer upon layer of graft at local level, would be gone before ever reaching Yongzhou.
This was a place with the least presence of all — so forgotten that when many people counted off Dachu’s thirteen provinces, the one they always left out at the end was Yongzhou.
Han Feibao was a battle commander who had grown up under exactly these harsh conditions — his style so ruthless that no one feared him, from the enemy to the ranks within the Yong Army itself.
His first battle had been at age fourteen: a local chieftain in Yongzhou declared separation from Dachu and refused to continue paying tribute to the Military Governor’s office.
When Han Feibao learned of it, he asked no permission from the Military Governor, took his three hundred personal soldiers, and marched nearly three hundred li in a single day and night. At dawn he burst into that settlement — and in less than half a shichen, he had the chieftain captured alive.
But he did not bring the man back. He captured him alive only so he could kill him in front of the settlement’s people.
He had the man bound to a post and gutted alive.
From that point on, Han Feibao’s name as a beast began to spread through Yongzhou.
By the time he was twenty and commanding the entire Yong Army, his name alone, in Yongzhou, could silence a crying child in the night.
Some said that the frontier soldiers of Yanzhou produced fine warriors — Dachu’s border army loved most to recruit from Yanzhou, and the men of Yanzhou were called Eastern Tigers for their ferocity.
Others said that compared to the savagery of Eastern Tigers, Yongzhou soldiers were Western Wolves — and fiercer still.
Han Feibao governed his army with extreme severity. His orders allowed not the slightest deviation, even in trivial matters — failure to comply meant heavy punishment.
Insubordination was never pardoned. Once, he executed every single person connected to an act of insubordination — ensuring no one would ever dare offend again.
Besides Han Feibao, the Yong Army had eight fierce generals, each one capable of charging through ten thousand enemies in battle. Each of these eight commanders led their own force — yet no matter how ferocious those eight forces were, none could match Han Feibao’s personal army.
The Geling Army.
There was a mountain in Yongzhou called Geling Mountain, atop which stood a temple said to be a sacred hall. The monks there were deeply revered.
Once, when the Yongzhou Military Governor was touring the region with his entourage, the local people did not kneel when they saw him — yet when they saw a single monk, they all prostrated themselves on the ground.
The Military Governor said nothing about this, though his expression showed his displeasure. Han Feibao, then seventeen years old, watched this, turned, and walked away without a word.
The next day, Han Feibao led the soldiers he had personally trained up Geling Mountain and slaughtered the sacred hall in a bloodbath.
He ordered every soldier to smear the blood of the dead on their own faces.
When that mob of killers descended the mountain, it terrified the local people utterly.
When the Military Governor heard, he flew into a rage and delivered Han Feibao a blistering public scolding — yet imposed no punishment whatsoever.
Han Feibao said at the time: “Whoever makes my foster-father unhappy, I will make sure they die without leaving a whole corpse.”
Though the Military Governor cursed him bitterly to his face, in his heart he was overjoyed — and from that point on, never doubted Han Feibao’s loyalty.
Perhaps precisely because of this, it never occurred to him, even in death, that in the end it would be Han Feibao who sent him to the afterlife.
To slaughter monks and destroy a temple — anyone else who committed such a fierce act would have gone to great lengths to cover it up. But Han Feibao was different.
He slaughtered all the monks in the sacred hall, ordered his soldiers to smear themselves with their blood, and came down the mountain looking every bit like demons and evil spirits.
He named this personal army of his the Geling Army — precisely to make people understand: whatever stood in the path of the Geling Army would be swept away in an instant. Gods who blocked the way would be slain; demons who blocked the way would be slaughtered.
At this moment, inside the Yong Army’s central command tent, Han Feibao sat with an expression of complete deference, listening to another man speak.
This man wore a long robe, half his face concealed by a black cloth, only a pair of eyes exposed — making it impossible to determine his age.
“Holy Master.”
Han Feibao bowed and asked: “You have come from far away and must be tired from the journey. Do you not wish to rest first?”
The man addressed as Holy Master gave a slight shake of his head: “There is no need. The fact that I came in person — you should know what it means.”
He moved to one side and sat down, looking at Han Feibao: “My senior brother thinks highly of Guan Tinghou, while I think highly of you. To this point, there is no final determination of which of you two will ultimately be chosen. It was I who insisted that you take this route to face the Ning King Li Chi directly — you should understand my meaning.”
Han Feibao lowered his head in reply: “Holy Master’s intention — your disciple understands. Destroying the Ning King Li Chi is the truly great achievement — far more important than breaking Daxing City. Whoever destroys the Ning King Li Chi will be the one who has taken first place.”
The Holy Master nodded: “Good that you understand. So do not be careless. This Li Chi… is very difficult to deal with.”
Han Feibao said: “Truly extraordinary — to have deployed his main forces to Jingzhou in advance. This person has remarkable vision. Yang Xuanji and his ilk cannot be mentioned in the same breath as Li Chi.”
The Holy Master said: “So I have prepared two strategies for you. First: direct attack — force a crossing of the Tuotuo River. With the Yong Army’s combat strength, facing the Ning Army head-on, you will not necessarily be at a disadvantage… Second: if you lack the courage, take the roundabout route through Liangzhou directly into Jingzhou. I will have someone arrange the elimination of Yang Xuanji — and you can take Yang Xuanji’s position.”
Han Feibao raised his head: “Your disciple chooses to fight.”
The Holy Master’s eyes narrowed — there must have been something like a smile on the part of his face that was covered.
“Guan Tinghou has certain advantages over you — his birth and background, above all. But that is precisely what I refuse to accept.”
The Holy Master looked at Han Feibao: “What does birth matter when set against real ability? Birth is nothing but a thin sheet of paper — one poke, and it tears through.”
Han Feibao said: “Holy Master, the approach your disciple has prepared is one that no matter how clever the Ning King Li Chi may be, he will never anticipate. Have no concern, Holy Master — this battle, your disciple is absolutely determined to win.”
As he spoke these words, an incomparable confidence was written across Han Feibao’s face.