Of all the martial traditions passed down across Central China, perhaps none was stranger than the Iron Shirt.

It existed in two schools: the inner-cultivation school, and the outer-hardening school. Lord Ye’s own technique, the Flowing Cloud Sleeve, was in fact inner-cultivation Iron Shirt — and there was a saying in the jianghu: *outer hardening protects the self; inner cultivation stands unmatched.*

The outer school could achieve imperviousness to blade and spear, while the inner school integrated offense and defense alike. By lineage, then, Lord Ye and the Bear Tiger Sect might be called distant branches of the same tradition.

“In a manner of speaking, though calling us ‘the same school’ is generous — when Central China’s martial world faces the outside, we’re all one family.”

To see a man of Liao Tinglou’s caliber reduced to a bandit of the Northern Wastes gave Lord Ye a pang he couldn’t quite suppress.

“How did Bear Tiger Sect’s people end up in the Northern Wastes?”

Liao Tinglou let out a long breath. “They didn’t. It’s only me.”

“Why?”

Silence.

Lord Ye didn’t push. Liao Tinglou deserved to die — the Blood Slaughter had conspired with the Black Martial forces to ambush Ning Army troops, leaving thousands dead. Not one of them could be spared.

But what Lord Ye couldn’t understand was why someone raised in the Bear Tiger Sect’s tradition — a man shaped by Elder Jin Tuoding’s teaching, imbued with that particular code of chivalry — would ever have made this choice.

Lord Ye waited. After a long silence, Liao Tinglou exhaled again.

He looked at Lord Ye, and spoke quietly. “I came to the Northern Wastes for my own reasons. It has nothing to do with my sect.”

“The chief and I weren’t close friends, but when I heard he’d fallen on hard times, I couldn’t stand by.”

He kept his gaze down as he spoke — as if in shame, or perhaps in awe. Lord Ye had done his sect a great kindness. He couldn’t bring himself to lie in this man’s presence.

“Lord Ye… I know this wasn’t right. But for those of us in the jianghu, isn’t loyalty supposed to come first?”

Lord Ye shook his head. “Loyalty isn’t first. Change one character: *righteous* loyalty is first.”

Liao Tinglou gave a small nod. He didn’t argue.

He lowered his head again. “Before I left Yanzhou, I formally withdrew from Bear Tiger Sect. Everything I’ve done since is on me alone — it has nothing to do with my teachers.”

“I understand,” Lord Ye said.

Liao Tinglou looked up again, and his eyes held a depth of gratitude.

“The chief had a hard life, and he was wronged. If he hadn’t been born with extraordinary luck, those bastards would have killed him long ago.”

“He did me great kindness. When I heard he was in trouble, I left the sect and went to help. And most of the men in the Blood Slaughter now — many of them came from all over to rescue him back then, just as I did.”

Lord Ye asked. “Who is Hansan Zhou?”

Liao Tinglou went silent again.

Lord Ye spoke calmly. “You should know — my lord has already unified Central China. The Northern Wastes will be reclaimed.”

“The Chu dynasty couldn’t hold the Northern Wastes, which is how it fell to bandits and Black Martial marauders. The Blood Slaughter conspired with the Black Martial forces — that is an unpardonable crime. Whatever connection you and I share, you are going to die. Hansan Zhou will die. Every member of the Blood Slaughter will die.”

“Your silence now won’t change what happens when our army sweeps the Blood Slaughter from the earth. My lord does not forgive those who betray their people by siding with the Black Martial forces.”

Liao Tinglou looked up sharply, as if he wanted to protest — but what was there to say?

Thousands of Ning Army frontier soldiers had been killed in the conspiracy between the Blood Slaughter and the Black Martial forces. That ledger was clear and could not be erased.

He was silent for a long time, visibly struggling.

Then, slowly, he spoke.

“Lord Ye — have you ever heard, fifteen or so years ago in the jianghu of the north, of a man called *Yi Sanzhou* — ‘Chivalrous Through Three Provinces’?”

The three-character name struck Lord Ye’s memory with immediate force — and with it came two lines he’d once heard:

*Three provinces, ten thousand li — righteousness leads the way.*

*Through blade and fire, first to step forward.*

He breathed out slowly, and spoke a name as if to himself.

“Xu Suqing.”

He could not have imagined it — the man so acclaimed for his bone-deep chivalry, revered across Jizhou, Yanzhou, and Qingzhou alike, had become Hansan Zhou, the dread chieftain of the Northern Wastes.

If this was truly him — then his reputation hadn’t simply been those of three provinces’ finest hero. Even across all the northern frontier, he could be called peerless.

In that moment, because of that name, Lord Ye’s thoughts scattered — fragments of something half-remembered, half-feared to confirm.

Liao Tinglou spoke again. “Do you know what happened — how he was framed?”

Lord Ye first shook his head, then nodded. “I’ve heard some of it, but I don’t remember the details.”

“It started in Youzhou, then moved to Yanzhou. It’s natural that Lord Ye wouldn’t know all of it.”

He paused, then continued.

“At the time, the chief’s name as the unmatched warrior of the northern frontier was so well established that Youzhou’s General Luo Geng sought him out.”

“The chief had no desire for official rank, so when Luo Geng sent men to him repeatedly, he refused every time.”

“The last messenger said: beyond the northern border, the Black Martial forces grow bolder by the year, raiding our borders repeatedly and inflicting heavy losses. It’s because the Black Martial forces created a cavalry unit called the Iron Floating Bastion — and our frontier army cannot match it. In engagement after engagement, we’ve been beaten.”

“Luo Geng wanted the chief to come and help train a cavalry force that could counter the Iron Floating Bastion — a heavy lance cavalry. He framed it as a matter of duty to the realm.”

“Because of that appeal, the chief set out for Youzhou. And it was in Youzhou that he first met the young Luo Jing.”

Lord Ye’s attention sharpened at the name. Liao Tinglou mentioning Luo Jing was not without reason.

Luo Jing — also called the unmatched warrior of the northern frontier.

“When the chief arrived in Youzhou, he found Luo Jing arrogant by nature — yet possessed of extraordinary talent and a genuine desire to learn.”

“So the chief trained the heavy lance cavalry while also guiding Luo Jing in martial arts.”

“Over more than two years in Youzhou, the Yan Cloud heavy cavalry — the ‘Iron-Clad Lancers of Yan’ — grew far more powerful than before. They could finally match the Iron Floating Bastion.”

“But it was at this point that Luo Geng began to want the chief dead. The Yan Cloud cavalry revered him far too deeply.”

Lord Ye understood.

The Yan Cloud Heavy Cavalry was Luo Geng’s creation — the great fighting force that made the Black Martial forces tremble. The Black Martial forces, in turn, had poured everything into forging the Iron Floating Bastion as a counter.

After losing to it repeatedly, Luo Geng had eventually heard of Xu Suqing and sent for him — though Xu Suqing’s repeated refusals had already bred resentment.

In time, thanks to Xu Suqing’s innovations in lance technique, the Yan Cloud cavalry won three consecutive engagements against the Black Martial Iron Floating Bastion — reaching a stalemate at last.

But Luo Geng’s desire to be rid of Xu Suqing only grew. The Yan Cloud cavalry’s reverence for Xu Suqing had begun to surpass their reverence for Luo Geng himself.

And so Luo Geng began to scheme.

He summoned Xu Suqing and told him that the渤海 raiders had struck Yanzhou repeatedly, badly depleting Yanzhou’s forces. Commissioner Zhou Shiren had made several requests to Youzhou for military aid, but Youzhou’s frontier army was stretched too thin against the Black Martial forces to spare any troops.

Could Xu Suqing go to Yanzhou and help Zhou Shiren train his forces? A task that would benefit the realm for generations.

Xu Suqing agreed without hesitation. But shortly after arriving in Yanzhou, he was accused of diverting military funds for personal gain.

The accusation came through Yanzhou’s Magistrate’s Bureau — and had naturally been orchestrated by Luo Geng and Zhou Shiren.

But the story didn’t end there so easily.

Zhou Shiren knew Xu Suqing’s standing in the jianghu. He was reluctant to stir up trouble, and equally reluctant to bear a vile reputation. So he simply had Xu Suqing sent back to Youzhou, along with a letter to Luo Geng.

The meaning was clear: the offense occurred in Yanzhou, but the man is yours — you handle it.

That letter earned Luo Geng’s private fury — he cursed Zhou Shiren comprehensively, ancestors and all. But Zhou Shiren couldn’t afford to defy Luo Geng, which was precisely why, when Yanzhou’s forces later moved against Jizhou, Zhou Shiren had to send lavish gifts every time he so much as passed through Youzhou’s territory.

It was also why Luo Geng, while pretending to be Zhou Shiren’s ally, had quietly knifed him in the back at every opportunity.

When Xu Suqing was returned to Youzhou, Luo Geng threw him in prison. This was an awkward situation: he’d set the plan in motion, and there was no taking it back. If he released Xu Suqing, the man would despise him — and Luo Geng knew exactly what Xu Suqing was capable of. All the armed soldiers in the Youzhou Military Commissioner’s compound couldn’t stop Xu Suqing if he came to settle accounts.

So release was impossible. But killing him in Youzhou was also dangerous — Xu Suqing’s influence over the troops was too great. It might shatter morale.

At this point in the story, Liao Tinglou paused.

He looked at Lord Ye. “Luo Jing’s martial arts — it wouldn’t be accurate to say the chief taught him. But with all the guidance the chief gave him, he was something like a teacher, wasn’t he?”

Lord Ye nodded, saying nothing.

“Yet after Luo Geng imprisoned the chief, Luo Jing never visited him once. Never begged his father’s mercy even once. A man who forgets a kindness like that — if I ever crossed him, I’d kill him. And if I couldn’t kill him, I’d die trying.”

Lord Ye was quiet for a moment. “General Luo Jing died in the south. He and the Chu Martial King Yang Jiju took each other out.”

At those words, Liao Tinglou’s face changed completely.

Isolated in the Northern Wastes, they received little news. He had never known that Luo Jing had died years ago.

Hearing it now, something inside Liao Tinglou seemed to hollow out — and for a long moment he couldn’t speak.

The truth was that after Xu Suqing’s imprisonment, Luo Jing had gone to his father to plead for him multiple times, and had also tried repeatedly to visit Xu Suqing — all of it blocked by Luo Geng.

Luo Geng was not the kind of man who would spare someone just because his son asked nicely. But with Luo Jing pushing to intervene, Luo Geng devised a plan to keep his son out of it — he sent Luo Jing off with a cavalry contingent to suppress bandits on the Jizhou-Youzhou border.

*(It was, incidentally, during that same period that Li Chi and his master the Elder Daoist Changmei had been traveling to Jizhou City — and they had happened to cross paths with Luo Jing’s returning column. At the time, Li Chi and the Elder Daoist couldn’t possibly have known what was unfolding in Youzhou. Even if they had — at Li Chi’s age then, there would have been nothing he could do.)*

With Luo Jing removed from the picture, Luo Geng had no more obstacles in Youzhou — but he still didn’t dare kill Xu Suqing there.

So he had Xu Suqing transferred back to Yanzhou. He wrote Zhou Shiren that although Xu Suqing was his man, the offense was committed in Yanzhou and should properly be tried there.

*He is as dear to me as a brother. Yet I respect the law above all personal feeling — no man may be spared the law’s reach on account of friendship alone. Old Zhou, if even I can hold firm, surely you cannot justify letting this man go simply because he is known to me — not with Yanzhou’s public trust and the law’s dignity at stake.*

When Luo Jing returned to Youzhou, Luo Geng told him he’d secretly released Xu Suqing.

—