Cao Lie’s behavior had the Horse Gang’s great figures genuinely disgusted. They were supposed to be the rough-and-tumble type themselves — yet somehow Cao Lie was rougher and more tumble.

Did Cao Lie care?

He’d spent years dealing with the jianghu. Few people understood it as well as he did.

And at this point, Cao Lie had stopped caring about anything at all.

The moment that General Gao walked in, everything became clear: this gathering was the endgame.

Yan Yusheng currently commanded over a hundred thousand men resisting Great General Tantai’s advancing forces. General Gao was one of his subordinates. That explained everything.

Horse Gang Chief Luo Jiuhong wanted Shu Province to flourish and prosper under the Prince of Ning’s rule. But a large portion of his own men had been bought out — they wanted titles and wealth from Pei Qi instead.

And at this moment, Luo Jiuhong’s own expression was growing steadily darker.

“General Gao,” Luo Jiuhong said, his voice low and cold. “I did not invite you.”

Gao Jinhong smiled pleasantly. “Chief, perhaps you’ve forgotten? You sent your Third Brother in person to the army camp to request an audience with Great General Yan — and that was not so long ago.”

Luo Jiuhong’s gaze snapped to Liao Feijiang.

About ten days prior, his Third Brother Liao Feijiang had claimed something had come up at home and he needed to return and deal with it. Luo Jiuhong had thought nothing of it — he’d even sent him off with extra silver and told him the Horse Gang would lend its full support if anything proved too difficult to handle.

Instead, Liao Feijiang had gone straight to the Shu Army camp to seek an audience with Yan Yusheng.

“Chief,” Gao Jinhong said cheerfully, “there’s no need to hide anything now.”

He held Luo Jiuhong’s gaze. “You are a man of great integrity. Our General and His Majesty already know: it was your own plan to use the Horse Gang as bait — to lure high-ranking Ning officers here, neutralize them, and break the Ning invasion in a single decisive blow. Truly a brilliant strategy.”

“Your loyalty to His Majesty, your service to Shu Province, your contribution to the war effort — all of it will be recorded in the histories. Your descendants for generations will take pride in it.”

Luo Jiuhong listened, then turned to look at Liao Feijiang.

Third Chief Liao Feijiang instinctively stepped back, frightened by the look in Luo Jiuhong’s eyes, his face going white.

He shouldn’t have spoken at all, but panic got the better of him and he rushed to explain.

“Elder Brother, I did this for the Horse Gang — for all our brothers. The Prince of Ning is an outsider, and Ning soldiers are brutal. We can’t throw away the lives of tens of thousands of our brothers. I was thinking of them. Of the people of Shu.”

Luo Jiuhong suddenly smiled. Which made everyone more afraid.

“I always thought you were just straightforward and shallow,” he said. “I see now I underestimated you.”

He began walking toward Liao Feijiang. Liao Feijiang backed away step by step.

“Even so,” Luo Jiuhong said as he walked, “your own abilities wouldn’t have been enough to arrange all this so thoroughly. Tell me — who in the family was helping you?”

“Elder Brother,” Liao Feijiang said, “you should understand — family looks after family.”

“Family looks after family?” Luo Jiuhong repeated. “When Pei Qi’s soldiers surrounded and attacked us — could you say that? When Mu Ying’s assassins killed our brothers these past years — when you attended their funerals — could you say that?”

“Elder Brother, times change—”

Before Luo Jiuhong could respond, Sun Zuoyi stepped forward and placed himself between the two. “Elder Brother. These are our own people. Whatever grievances there are, they can wait. Let’s settle the main business first.”

“And what is the main business?” Luo Jiuhong asked.

“We’re all here now,” Sun Zuoyi said. “The first thing to decide is the Horse Gang’s future direction. What your own people have or haven’t done — that’s not for us to interfere with.”

Second Chief Sun Jinjia said, “Elder Brother, the General is here and Milord Cao is here. Perhaps it’s time to lay everything on the table.”

Luo Jiuhong looked at each of them in turn, then smiled. “So you still want me to make the decision?”

They cupped their fists. “The Horse Gang has always followed Elder Brother’s lead. Now and always.”

Luo Jiuhong turned to Mo Xiyan of the Bear Gang. “Even you believe that, right now, I should be the one deciding?”

Mo Xiyan cupped his fists. “I’ve followed Elder Brother all these years and never wavered. That won’t change.”

“And if I act against your wishes?” Luo Jiuhong asked.

Silence.

Luo Jiuhong laughed, walked back to the seat of honor, and sat down. His eyes swept the room.

Then he smiled and asked Sun Zuoyi: “I’m getting old. I won’t be in charge much longer. If I were to step down as chief today — who do you think is most suited to succeed me?”

Sun Zuoyi said, “If Elder Brother steps down, the natural successor is Second Chief Sun Jinjia of the Tiger Gang.”

Sun Jinjia immediately said, “You would be far better suited — in prestige and seniority, no one comes close to you after Elder Brother.”

Luo Jiuhong’s out-of-nowhere question had suddenly made things complicated.

The reason: Liao Feijiang’s expression had gone white on the spot.

He surged forward. “How can you say such things? You go back on everything! You’re all small men!”

He stepped up to General Gao. “I arranged all of this. Every piece of it, from start to finish. How does it end up going to them?”

Gao Jinhong smiled mildly. “Who leads the Horse Gang is an internal matter for the Horse Gang. My orders are simply to come here and ensure justice is upheld and stability maintained.”

He glanced at Sun Zuoyi. “If Sun Zuoyi is willing to take over as chief, that would be a fine outcome.”

“You bunch of bastards!” Liao Feijiang swept his gaze around the room, jabbing a finger at each face. “You all know what you’ve been doing. And now that it’s coming together, you want the biggest share? You just want to swoop in at the last moment?”

Mo Xiyan tapped the table with his finger. “Are you forgetting me?”

Gao Jinhong glanced at him and smiled. “If the Mo chief were willing to take over, I believe even His Majesty would be very satisfied.”

Mo Xiyan let out a loud laugh. “And why is that? Because my father is the Governor of Meicheng?”

Gao Jinhong said nothing.

Luo Jiuhong spoke up. “It seems everyone here has what it takes to be chief. Since that’s the case — shall I designate someone?”

Sun Zuoyi and the others said: “We defer to the Chief.”

“Very well,” Luo Jiuhong said. “Then the question of the Horse Gang’s future — I’ll leave to the next chief to decide. I have neither the virtue nor the ability to lead these brothers any further.”

He sat back, fingers drumming on the armrest of the chair. “But before that, I’d like to resolve one internal matter, as Chief. Once it’s settled, I’ll step down on the spot.”

Everyone cupped their fists. “Please speak, Elder Brother.”

“My Fourth Brother You Yuren died a miserable death in this county town,” Luo Jiuhong said. “I want nothing more than to hand over the one who killed him, avenge my Fourth Brother, and then have done with the Horse Gang forever.”

Sun Zuoyi said, “Elder Brother, rest easy — I had no part in killing Master You. And I can guarantee no one in the Wolf Gang did either.”

Second Chief Sun Jinjia said, “I was with the Wolf Gang at the time, Elder Brother. You sent me there yourself to negotiate.”

Luo Jiuhong nodded, then looked at Mo Xiyan.

Mo Xiyan shrugged. “I know nothing about it. Looking at me won’t help. I may not have been on your side from the start, but murdering a sworn brother isn’t something I’m capable of.”

Luo Jiuhong then looked at Gao Jinhong.

“I was sent here to maintain justice,” Gao Jinhong said. “I couldn’t be the killer. And besides — this is a Horse Gang matter. Look within your own ranks.”

All eyes now fell on the remaining three.

Cao Lie. Ye Xiaoqian. And Liao Feijiang.

Cao Lie still looked loose and unconcerned. Ye Xiaoqian looked like he was watching a play. Only Liao Feijiang had gone the color of ash.

As everyone’s gaze fixed on him, Liao Feijiang instinctively stepped back, his hand closing around his hilt.

“What is this? When it was time to reach out to General Yan’s camp, none of you had the guts to do anything — I ran myself ragged making it happen. And now you’re going to sell me out?”

Luo Jiuhong asked quietly: “So it really was you who killed Fourth Brother?”

Liao Feijiang drew his blade. “Yes, it was me! We’re at this point — I’m not afraid to say it. I killed Fourth Brother. He came to meet with Ning agents. He deserved to die.”

He pointed at Sun Jinjia. “And him — do you think he’s clean? I killed Fourth Brother. He killed Fifth Brother!”

Sun Jinjia shook his head. “You’re wrong.”

Luo Jiuhong said, “You are wrong. Fifth Brother wasn’t killed by him. Fifth Brother was killed by me.”

Just then, Fifth Chief Qin Ke walked in through the door.

Qin Ke crossed to where Liao Feijiang stood, his eyes bloodshot and fixed on him. “Fourth Brother looked after you your whole life. How could you do this to him?”

The moment Liao Feijiang saw Qin Ke, his eyes went blank.

He stumbled back, terrified, then pointed at Gao Jinhong. “It was him! He told me to do it!”

“I never ordered anyone to be killed,” Gao Jinhong said. “I merely said that those who obstructed the greater cause should not be allowed to live.”

“You — all of you are the villains here,” Liao Feijiang said, his voice cracking, “and now you want to make me the only one?”

The hand holding his blade was shaking.

“Then so be it! I’ll take you all down!”

He lunged toward Luo Jiuhong — and Qin Ke seized him from behind, a single hand closing around the back of his neck.

With one arm, Qin Ke hoisted Liao Feijiang off the ground, then slammed him down onto the floor with a thunderous crash, the back of his skull cracking against the stone.

“For Fourth Brother’s life!”

Qin Ke’s roar shook the hall.

He snatched Liao Feijiang’s blade and drove it straight into his chest, through to the stone floor beneath.

Then, from his sleeve, he produced a length of rope. He looped it around Liao Feijiang’s neck, threw the other end over a ceiling beam, and hauled with both hands.

Liao Feijiang — not yet dead — was hoisted into the air.

—