After Mu Yan Mu Di finished speaking, Dong Qian Yuan stood completely rigid, as if his very soul had been torn from his body.

Ao Lou, who had driven the blade into Man Lai Ya Man, also froze where he stood — the mocking words he had just spoken to the old man came back now like a slap across his own face.

That old man had long been called Little Moon Lion Nation’s foremost strategist, and only now did they truly understand what genuine wisdom looked like.

Even Li Chi, after hearing Mu Yan Mu Di relay everything, couldn’t help glancing at the old man’s body one more time before giving the order to have the remains properly laid out.

All members of the Western Regions delegation — officials and merchants alike — were placed under guard. Not a single person was to leave.

Li Chi glanced once more at the Black Warrior lying on the ground, pointed at him, and then turned and walked away.

Not long after, in the main reception room of Qing Garden, Li Chi settled into a seat and took a sip of tea.

Xiahou Zuo followed him in and, entering the doorway, gave an immediate order: “Bring that Black Warrior in.”

By now Gan Luo’s spirit had been extinguished like a doused flame. Ning soldiers carried him into the room and dropped him on the floor.

His spine was broken. Not only had he lost all control of his upper body, he had no feeling in his lower body either.

As things stood, he could not even roll over.

That man called Dong Qian Yuan had struck with merciless force, reducing this extraordinarily powerful sword master to a complete wreck.

“The Black Warrior Khan-Emperor clearly doesn’t think much of you.”

Li Chi looked down at the man on the floor, a trace of regret in his voice.

“I watched you make your move. Your sword was fast — if I hadn’t made preparations in advance, I might have been forced to respond.”

*Forced to respond?*

Gan Luo’s spine was broken, but his mind was not.

When he heard those four words — *forced to respond* — his mind very nearly broke as well.

That one sword thrust of his, every ounce of power behind it — and to the Emperor of Great Ning, it was something that might merely have *forced a response*?

“The Black Warrior Khan-Emperor must know that killing me was never truly within your reach. Sending you here was only ever meant to make you play a supporting role in the Westerners’ performance.”

Upon hearing these words, Gan Luo felt a jolt run through him. His spoken Central Plains tongue was poor, but his comprehension was fine.

Xiahou Zuo said: “To your Khan-Emperor, you are worth less than those Westerners.”

“That’s a lie!”

Gan Luo called out on instinct, and the involuntary movement aggravated his wounds so sharply that a fresh sheen of sweat immediately broke out across his forehead.

Xiahou Zuo crouched down beside him and said: “Your Black Warrior Khan-Emperor is no fool. He knows perfectly well that there is no real chance of assassinating the Emperor of Great Ning — just as the righteous men of our Central Plains have for so many years gone one after another to the Black Warrior homeland to kill the Khan-Emperor, and yet none have ever found an opportunity.”

“He sent you here because the people of the Western Regions have always been scattered and divided. They needed someone representing the Black Warrior Khan-Emperor to apply pressure, to get them to cooperate with you. But in reality, the Khan-Emperor’s intent was to have you cooperate *with* the Westerners.”

“Once this assassination plot surfaced — whether successful or not — the armies of Great Ning would inevitably march west. That is what the Black Warrior Khan-Emperor was truly after.”

Gan Luo’s gaze wavered briefly but he said nothing more. Perhaps in that moment he had come to believe Xiahou Zuo’s words.

Xiahou Zuo continued: “The Black Warrior Khan-Emperor wants to use the Western peoples to drain Great Ning’s military strength. His deeper hope is that the war drags on for a long time — just ten years of it, he calculates, would mire Great Ning in a quagmire, causing our national strength to decline sharply and possibly never recover.”

“Because the Black Warrior Khan-Emperor knows clearly that though Great Ning is strong now, actually destroying the Western nations is beyond our power — and if the Western nations could truly unite and fight a prolonged war against Great Ning…”

Xiahou Zuo clapped Gan Luo on the shoulder: “So none of those Westerners deserve your sympathy. You’re the one to be pitied.”

That clap sent pain shooting through Gan Luo and a fresh layer of sweat broke out across his forehead.

Xiahou Zuo withdrew his hand and said, with a slightly apologetic air: “My apologies. I forgot you were seriously wounded.”

Then he clapped him again, harder than before. The pain drew an involuntary cry from Gan Luo.

Xiahou Zuo smiled pleasantly: “That first one was because I forgot you were hurt. That second one was deliberate.”

He rose and returned to Li Chi’s side: “When did Your Majesty arrange all of this?”

Li Chi replied: “When I dispatched Dantai back to the Western frontier.”

Xiahou Zuo was startled. “That early?”

Li Chi said: “When planning a great matter, is there such a thing as too early? The earlier the better.”

He looked toward the doorway. Jialou Nation’s Mu Yan Mu Di and Little Moon Lion Nation’s Dong Qian Yuan, along with the others, had already arrived outside.

And so the conversation with Xiahou Zuo ended there.

The Western delegates entered and offered their apologies to Li Chi — the events had, after all, caused something of a disturbance to the imperial presence.

Outside the door, Yu Jiuling and Ye Xiao Qian stood together. The two looked at each other for a moment and then both smiled.

“I can’t imagine what those Westerners were thinking.”

Yu Jiuling said with a grin: “Daring to even attempt an assassination of the Emperor inside Chang’an — do they have a lot of donkeys over there in the Western Regions?”

Ye Xiao Qian replied: “Now that you mention it, I’ve genuinely heard the Western Regions have a great many donkeys.”

Yu Jiuling said: “That must be what happened to their heads. All kicked by donkeys.”

Ye Xiao Qian: “When you put it that way — our side doesn’t have many donkeys, so if anyone wanted to get kicked by one, they’d have to line up and wait their turn. Over there with all those donkeys, two donkeys per person would easily cover it.”

Ye Xiao Qian: “No wonder the kicking turned out so thorough. Two donkeys per head.”

The two of them chatted on for a while, and conversation eventually drifted to the question of when exactly the Emperor had made all these arrangements.

Ye Xiao Qian had never considered himself a slow-witted man, yet at this moment he realized that what he had been able to see amounted to less than one ten-thousandth of what the Emperor had seen.

It had all begun when Li Chi dispatched Dantai Qi back to the Western frontier — that was when the framework of today’s outcome was already being laid.

Before Dantai Qi departed for the Western frontier, the venerable General Dantai Qi had come to Li Chi’s side.

How could Li Chi have failed to ask the old general about the situation in the Western Regions? And so Li Chi’s understanding of the various Western nations’ strengths and internal tensions had become thorough indeed.

There was no one in the world who understood those Westerners better than Dantai Qi — in consulting him, Li Chi had consulted precisely the right person.

The two strongest nations in the Western Regions were Little Moon Lion Nation and Jialou Nation — this was something Dantai Qi had informed Li Chi of long ago.

And after hearing about these two nations, Li Chi had drawn his conclusions.

Little Moon Lion Nation’s king, Bao Long Hua, was a man of ruthless cruelty — even his own brothers had died at his hand, and this was something even Dantai Qi had heard about.

As for Jialou Nation’s king, Le Ye Ku Xin, the only reason he had taken the throne was because he was the eldest son; in terms of ability, he was far inferior to Mu Yan Mu Di.

At the time, Li Chi had told Dantai Qi: when you arrive on the Western frontier, find a way to learn in advance who will be in each nation’s delegation.

If Little Moon Lion sends Dong Qian Yuan, and Jialou sends Mu Yan Mu Di, then it means both kings are looking to eliminate their greatest threats once and for all.

So Dantai Qi, upon reaching the Western frontier, had quietly arranged for Mu Yan Mu Di to be brought into Liangzhou City in advance.

As it happened, before this, Little Moon Lion Nation’s National Preceptor Man Lai Ya Man had already sent someone to make secret contact with Mu Yan Mu Di.

Both Dong Qian Yuan and Mu Yan Mu Di knew the reality of their situations clearly: to survive, they had no choice but to rely on the power of Great Ning.

This development had genuinely delighted Li Chi.

However strong Great Ning was, actually destroying the nations of the Western Regions was genuinely beyond its reach. So if the two most powerful nations of the Western Regions could be made to consume themselves from within — what a beautiful thing that would be.

Now in the reception room.

Li Chi looked at Mu Yan Mu Di and Dong Qian Yuan and said: “I will dispatch expert operatives from the Tingwei Offices to secretly protect you on your journey back, and will do everything possible to assist you in seizing your respective thrones. You both understand — having come this far, if you cannot take the throne, neither of you can possibly survive.”

Mu Yan Mu Di glanced at Dong Qian Yuan. Dong Qian Yuan gave him a nod.

Li Chi continued: “Both of you have come to Great Ning with genuine goodwill — that sincerity I have noted. In how I treat friends, I have always been genuine.”

He rose and spoke as he walked: “I have already dispatched orders to the Western frontier, calling on Great General Wang Tang Pidi and Western Frontier Commander Dantai Qi to coordinate with you.”

“After you quietly return to your homelands, Great Ning’s border forces will begin advancing westward, placing pressure on the Western nations as a whole.”

“Not one person from today’s gathering will I allow to leave. In due course, word will reach the Western Regions that all of you were executed for the assassination attempt against me.”

“As I mobilize forces to push westward, the Western nations will be compelled to commit their full strength in response — and in that moment, the two of you seizing the throne in your own lands will be considerably easier.”

Li Chi looked at Dong Qian Yuan: “You have your uncle Man Lai Ya Man’s secret preparations behind you — his disciples will give everything they have to help you.”

Then at Mu Yan Mu Di: “You yourself already hold authority and prestige within the military — once you return and raise your standard, people will answer the call.”

Li Chi said: “After the two of you take the throne, remember only this: be a genuine friend to Great Ning, and I will not shortchange you.”

Both men bowed in unison.

These matters were discussed at length, and by the time Dong Qian Yuan and Mu Yan Mu Di departed, the sky had already grown dark.

Li Chi let out a slow breath and looked at Xiahou Zuo, then extended his hand: “Pay up.”

Xiahou Zuo: “Pay what?”

Li Chi: “Our bet. Don’t try to wriggle out of it.”

Xiahou Zuo: “A bet? What bet?”

Li Chi: “Are you under the impression that I can’t dock your salary?”

Xiahou Zuo let out a sigh: “How did Your Majesty know that the golden-haired woman was not an assassin?”

In the room at the time, the three most attention-catching figures had been those three women, each with her distinctive hair color.

Xiahou Zuo had been thoroughly certain all three were assassins. But Li Chi had said the golden-haired woman was definitely not one — and on that, the two of them had bet nine taels of silver.

Now Xiahou Zuo was at a complete loss to understand it, and Li Chi smiled and explained: “That golden-haired woman had a small frame and snow-white skin — she didn’t look like a true fighter at all. Anyone who trained as hard as a real fighter would never stay that luminously pale.”

“Second, she and the Western lead delegate at her table had been exchanging glances throughout — clearly he had used this trip abroad as an excuse to bring his sweetheart along for the adventure.”

Xiahou Zuo sighed: “Your Majesty… truly has an illuminating eye.”

Li Chi smiled: “When you look at women, you only focus on how big they are. I focus on their eyes.”

Xiahou Zuo: “Is that because Your Majesty is afraid of the Empress, and is always stealing glances at her expression?”

Li Chi: “Ugh!”

Xiahou Zuo rose: “Your servant will take his leave first…”

Li Chi: “Leave the silver and all will be well. Leave without it, and tomorrow I’ll have御史台’s Gao Youlian scold you for ten straight days.”

Xiahou Zuo thought of that venerable official and his manner, and felt a chill run down his spine.

He turned back, retrieved the silver and set it beside Li Chi’s hand: “Your servant… accepts the loss gracefully.”

Li Chi: “Accepts the loss gracefully, my foot. If I hadn’t threatened you, you’d have tried to cheat even me.”

Xiahou Zuo: “……”

Li Chi picked up the silver and held it up before his eyes, apparently concerned it might be counterfeit.

Examining it intently, the peripheral edge of his vision — just behind those coins — caught sight of Gao Xining walking in with a cheerful smile.

Li Chi jumped. He moved to pocket the silver, but it was already too late.

—