The Shiyuan Palace, viewed in the darkness, resembled a slumbering great beast — that vast complex of buildings silent and still.

This place had already lost its most fundamental meaning. Without the blessing of imperial authority, it held no more majesty.

Gao Xining led a squad of Tingwei officers threading their way between the palace halls. Every single one of the Tingwei at her side had mustered every last shred of alertness they possessed.

The Chief Tingwei personally leading an investigation — by all rights, there was nothing unusual about that. But if the Chief Tingwei was almost certainly going to be the future Empress, then when she personally led an investigation, how could her subordinates not give their utmost?

The Langyuan forces had already assembled outside the Shiyuan Palace, but before the Langyuan entered, the people of the Tingwei Bureau had to conduct a search first.

What made these Tingwei even more tense was that Prince Ning was also among their number.

Up ahead, the thousand-commander Fang Xidao made a hand signal, and the column immediately came to a halt.

In this pitch-dark palace city — once it had felt solemn and austere, but entering it at night like this, there was something distinctly eerie and foreboding about it.

Common folk often speculated about the imperial palace, wondering what kind of place it truly was.

Some said that within the palace there were countless wronged souls, gathered and unwilling to disperse, drifting out to wander every night.

Others said that every sealed and shuttered place in the palace harbored some frightening story, and one should never dare try to open them.

Yet when had the people of the Tingwei Bureau ever feared such things? A group of men brimming with vigorous, masculine spirit — what evil or malevolent force could possibly subdue them?

Who had ever heard of any strange or disorderly affair breaking out in a military camp?

Back when they were in Jizhou, Li Chi and his men had been marching to reinforce the northern frontier halfway through their journey, the column making camp to rest.

Someone said that out in the distant grassland there was a patch of earthen graves, and at night, white shadows could be seen drifting back and forth above them.

Upon hearing this, Li Chi had a colonel lead over three hundred Ning Army combat soldiers to perform a set of battle formation exercises right beside that graveyard.

Then those three hundred-plus soldiers drew their blades — a group of men who had cut down countless enemies on the battlefield, and the fierce killing intent on their blades was formidable indeed.

Li Chi said: don’t go frightening the ghosts — help clear away the wild grass growing over the graves instead.

And so those three hundred-plus combat soldiers used their broadswords to clear away all the overgrowth.

Someone remarked that if those white shadows had truly been some wandering lost souls, they were probably already thinking about finding a new place to haunt.

Fang Xidao went ahead to investigate first — it was only a wild cat — and so he waved a hand to signal all was well.

“They shouldn’t be inside the palace.”

Fang Xidao lowered his voice and said to Gao Xining: “If there were people hiding in here, we should have flushed them out by now.”

Gao Xining made a sound of acknowledgment, then turned to look back at Li Chi.

Li Chi said: “If they’re not hiding in the palace… there’s nowhere else in Daxing that could conceal them.”

Gao Xining said: “Should we pull the Languan back?”

Li Chi gave a nod: “Since they’re not hiding here, then pull them back.”

The subordinates immediately turned to relay the order. Most likely the Languyuan brothers would also find the whole affair rather anticlimactic.

The Eastern Palace.

Jiang Wei was sleeping when he was gently shaken awake by one of his men.

“My lord, there’s something not right about the commotion outside — it sounds like troops are being moved.”

Jiang Wei was startled by these words and immediately got up to go investigate himself.

His martial cultivation was not particularly exceptional, but measured by Li Chi’s way of classifying martial strength, he was still a second-tier powerhouse — perhaps not quite the equal of Master Ye, but not far off either.

He climbed up to the top of the high wall and lay flat, peering outward. Dimly and indistinctly, he could make out quite a number of dark figures beyond the wall.

After watching for a moment, Jiang Wei quietly climbed down from the wall, then hurried back to find Xue Lingcheng and the others.

“The Ning Army is searching the Shiyuan Palace — they may well extend their search to our location.”

Jiang Wei said: “We must split up and go our separate ways now. With any luck, some of us might manage to slip through.”

Xue Lingcheng shook his head: “Under circumstances like these, not one of us could possibly escape.”

Jiang Wei: “Are you actually thinking of fighting them head-on?”

Xue Lingcheng said: “Jiang Wei, I know what you’re best at — you always make use of others, and then you escape to save your own skin. Just like how you make others fight to the death while the credit falls to you.”

Jiang Wei said furiously: “At a moment like this, you’re still saying these things — do you find this amusing?”

“I do.”

Xue Lingcheng said: “Although I also fear death, and I also want to live to return to Shuzhou — since Prince Ning has already mobilized the great army, and no one can withstand an instrument of state power of this magnitude, since we’re all going to die anyway, we might as well do something of value.”

Jiang Wei was about to say something more when suddenly his neck went cold.

Without anyone knowing when, Shang Jiuying had appeared behind Jiang Wei, her sword already resting alongside his neck.

Shang Jiuying said: “Although I dislike Xue Lingcheng, he’s more dependable than you. A person like you… when it comes to selling out your own people, you’ve never been one to hold back, have you.”

Jiang Wei said furiously: “What on earth do you people want to do?!”

Xue Lingcheng said: “The only advantage we have right now is that Prince Ning doesn’t know how many of us there are, or who exactly is here.”

Jiang Wei said: “So splitting up to flee separately — isn’t that the most rational judgment?”

Xue Lingcheng shook his head: “No.”

He walked up in front of Jiang Wei and looked him in the eyes: “Do you know why we look down on you? It’s not entirely because of your poor origins either.”

“It’s also because a person like you can never be trusted with one’s life or death. Do you know what Lord Dou Qusheng said about you?”

“He said that if you were an enemy, you would be a most fearsome enemy — but if you were a comrade, you might be even more fearsome than an enemy.”

Xue Lingcheng gave a slight smile and placed his hand on Jiang Wei’s shoulder: “You have never fought desperately for your comrades — not even for your sworn brothers. I heard that in the very beginning, when you and Fang Biehan and Mo Lili were all struggling up from the bottom, you still had some conscience. True, you were mostly the one who put in the least effort, but at least there was still some brotherhood between you.”

“But the more splendid your brocade robes became, the less of a human being you became.”

He looked Jiang Wei in the eyes: “Today, since it has already come to this — be a man just once.”

Jiang Wei glanced sideways at the sword beside his neck and asked: “What exactly do you want to do.”

Xue Lingcheng said: “Actually, you and I both know — even if we split up and go our separate ways without betraying our comrades, it’s impossible for anyone to slip through.”

“So… rather than that, let us men be the ones to die. Let Miss Shang take her people and go into hiding. They are fewer in number, and slight of build — the odds of them slipping away are greater than ours. If they survive, there will still be a chance to turn things around.”

Jiang Wei: “I need to think about it.”

He suddenly twisted to one side, the knife in his hand thrusting straight toward Xue Lingcheng’s abdomen.

“Just as I expected.”

Behind him, Shang Jiuying kicked Jiang Wei off his feet, and the tip of her longsword pressed against Jiang Wei’s throat.

Xue Lingcheng said: “If you’re willing, I’ll give you a chance to betray me. If you’re not — then you die right now.”

Shang Jiuying looked toward Xue Lingcheng and said: “If you all die, I will do everything in my power to see the matter through.”

Xue Lingcheng said: “That will be your affair.”

He slowly exhaled a long breath: “Loyalty — Jiang Wei never learned it. I’ll teach it to him, but I can only teach him once.”

He reached out and pulled Jiang Wei to his feet: “You have no choice. Let’s go.”

Jiang Wei rose. He looked at his own subordinates — these were people he had recruited and selected from various corners of the camp, and in truth they owed him no particular loyalty to speak of.

“The Tingwei Bureau are our opponents, and they have always proclaimed their own loyalty.”

Xue Lingcheng said: “I am somewhat younger than all of you, yet my rank is higher than all of yours — so if today we are to show the people of the Tingwei Bureau the loyalty of those in our camp, I shall go first.”

He drew a deep breath, then gave the order: “Split into three groups. Break through in different directions.”

He looked at Jiang Wei: “You come with me.”

Jiang Wei’s eyes had already gone red, yet at this moment he knew he truly had no choice. So he clenched his jaw and gave a nod: “I am not going to die.”

Xue Lingcheng gave a slight shrug of his shoulders, then drew his blade: “If we can’t break through, settle it yourself. As for what fate awaits anyone who falls into the hands of the Tingwei Bureau — just think about what fate awaited Tingwei people who fell into our hands, and you’ll have your answer.”

He tightened his grip on the blade: “Move out!”

The camp people immediately split into three groups and charged off in different directions.

Jiang Wei, seeing that Xue Lingcheng was about to burst outward, grabbed him: “There’s no need to die for the sake of dying. We can make for the Shiyuan Palace — I saw just now that the Tingwei Bureau has only just searched the Shiyuan Palace. They won’t search it a second time.”

Xue Lingcheng gave a slight smile: “Then we’ll do as you say. It doesn’t matter which direction we charge — it’s all the same.”

Jiang Wei did not want to die. No one wants to die. The best choice was to make for the Shiyuan Palace.

Shang Jiuying watched the men depart. She drew a slow, deep breath, then turned to look at the eight women beneath her command.

“You saw, didn’t you — men, at certain moments, can still be depended upon. So we must also let men know that we can be depended upon as well.”

“Yes!”

The women responded in unison, their voices low and hushed, but firm and resolute.

“The training you endured was several times harsher than what the men faced — that is what it took to survive within the camp. Now is the time to put those skills to use.”

Shang Jiuying said: “Scatter individually. Conceal yourselves within this Eastern Palace. The Tingwei Bureau will come to search again — possibly more than once. However many of us survive, so be it.”

“Once the Tingwei Bureau withdraws, assemble here. Those of us who survive — come with me and see the matter done.”

“Yes!”

Her subordinates responded once more.

Shang Jiuying gave a wave of her hand: “Scatter.”

The eight women immediately dispersed in all directions. Each of them understood — this was quite possibly the most life-threatening game of hide-and-seek of their entire lives.

After her subordinates had scattered to all sides, Shang Jiuying drew a slow, deep breath. She looked toward a shadowed, darkened corner.

She had not been wrong. For a woman to survive in a place as ruthlessly competitive as the camp, the effort she had to put in was far, far greater than any man’s.

As she prepared to find her hiding place, Shang Jiuying suddenly recalled something she had heard others speak of before — about the massacre of those Tingwei officers in Qingmian County.

The situation they had faced at that time must have been much like the one she faced now.

She didn’t quite know why, but a line rose into Shang Jiuying’s mind unbidden —

Heaven’s way turns in cycles.