Liu Yingzhan did not feel particularly threatened by this kind of being surrounded. Even if he couldn’t fight both of them at once, couldn’t he simply leave?

Even if he couldn’t easily exit the city at this moment — couldn’t he hide?

His senior martial brother Jing Yanli was not the kind of man who would be stopped by a city gate. He calculated the time and felt it wouldn’t be long before his brother arrived with men.

“You Central Plains people,” Liu Yingzhan said. “Always finding small joys in miserable times. Always anesthetizing yourselves. The whole realm is nearly gone, the entire dynasty is collapsing — and look at you now, smiling like this. One tiny victory and your true nature comes out.”

Li Chi smiled. “Finding small joys in miserable times — I rather like that phrase.”

He asked Liu Yingzhan: “Do you know what small joy I’m planning right now?”

Liu Yingzhan pointed the wolf-tooth mace at Li Chi. “Just come. Show me what you’re worth.”

Li Chi smiled and said: “Worth measured in weight? Then you’ve already lost badly.”

He suddenly called out: “Shen Diao — charge!”

Liu Yingzhan’s expression changed at once. He immediately turned to face the falcon on his right. He recognized the bird — a saker falcon, talons like steel hooks that locked on and wouldn’t release, beak curved like a hook that severed whatever it caught. He turned swiftly to face it, hand already moving toward the crossbow at his back. Let the thing dare come at him and he’d shoot it dead.

Thud.

Shen Diao ran straight into him.

Five hundred jin of wild boar — the force of that impact was something considerable.

Liu Yingzhan was launched airborne, actually rotated once in midair, then landed hard. For a moment he couldn’t draw breath.

Shen Diao gave several pleased grunts.

Liu Yingzhan looked at Li Chi. His eyes were full of fury.

“You despicable little—”

“It’s called Shen Diao,” said Li Chi.

He pointed at Liu Yingzhan: “Dog — attack!”

Liu Yingzhan immediately looked in every direction. Where was a dog?

Then the Dog came diving down, leaving several gashes across Liu Yingzhan’s face with its talons before he managed to flail it away.

Blood covering his face, Liu Yingzhan looked terrifying. He glared at Li Chi. If looks could kill, Li Chi would already have been dismembered into eight pieces, nine pieces, ten—

“You Central Plains people — you never dare fight face to face! You win only by ambush! I hold you all in contempt!”

Liu Yingzhan roared.

The Dog let out a cry.

Liu Yingzhan gathered himself and stood, reaching for the crossbow — then discovered the crossbow had been broken when Shen Diao hit him. He hurled it at the Dog. The Dog, still circling above, gave no indication of descending — it called out once, which was apparently an order to its subordinate.

Thud.

Liu Yingzhan was airborne again.

Shen Diao trotted proudly around the prone Liu Yingzhan once, then looked up at the circling Dog with an expression of pure, naked flattery.

Liu Yingzhan was barely able to get up — but his fury carried him upright. That fool shouted “Shen Diao” and the pig charged. The falcon called out and the pig charged again.

A blade whistled through the air from behind Liu Yingzhan — straight and clean as a streak of light. It entered from the back, drove through his body, and emerged from his chest.

Zhuang Wudi walked forward without a word, pulled the blade out, and kicked Liu Yingzhan’s body over.

“We go,” he said.

Li Chi nodded. “I know.”

But going wasn’t simple. Both city gates now had their stones down. Lifting a drop-stone was no small undertaking. Without opening the gates, Li Chi and Zhuang Wudi could get out fine — the Dog was obviously fine — but the pig? That creature was around five hundred jin and most certainly could not jump a city wall.

“Good thing we’re both strong,” Li Chi said.

Zhuang Wudi could see where this was going. Before Li Chi could finish the thought, he was already shaking his head. “I won’t.”

Li Chi: “Come now. Be good.”

Zhuang Wudi: “Get away from me.”

—

Before long, Li Chi and Zhuang Wudi had called Yue Huanian out of the woodpile, and located Qiu Qingche and the others. Qiu Qingche was seriously wounded and needed a physician as soon as possible.

Li Chi found a group of young men with strong arms and led them up the ramp to the city wall. Using heavy rope, they bound Shen Diao securely and the group hauled on the rope together, lowering the pig over the side.

The creature showed no trace of alarm and may even have found it somewhat enjoyable.

After the pig went down, they lowered Qiu Qingche, then Yue Huanian, then Zhuang Wudi, then Li Chi, then the horses. The Dog then stood in line waiting to be lowered with the rest, apparently having no sense whatsoever that it could simply fly.

Li Chi told the townspeople: if Shengchang Grain Store’s people enter the city and ask what happened, regardless of what threats they make, say only that several dozen jianghu fighters protected the magistrate and fought their way out. Say nothing else.

At the base of the wall, Li Chi looked at Shen Diao, then looked at Zhuang Wudi’s horse, and smiled hopefully. “Would you want to trade for a bit?”

Zhuang Wudi gave him a flat look. His reply was three words.

“Don’t even dream.”

Li Chi, earnestly: “You’ve never ridden one, so of course you don’t know — riding a pig is far more comfortable than riding a horse. Why would I lie to you?”

Zhuang Wudi: “Stop talking nonsense.”

Li Chi turned to look at Yue Huanian and the others. “From here, head northwest. Avoid the people coming from Jizhou. About a day’s travel will bring you to Tang County. Find a physician there to treat the injuries, then buy a cart and head north. Follow the road all the way to Xinzhou Pass. Once you reach Xinzhou Pass, ask for Yu Chaozong — say that Li Chi sent you. He will take good care of you.”

“Yu Chaozong?”

Yue Huanian’s expression shifted sharply. He shook his head. “That man is a rebel.”

Li Chi looked at him. After a moment’s silence he said: “So are you now.”

Yue Huanian’s expression changed. Then came a long, defeated sigh.

“When you reach Xinzhou Pass,” Li Chi continued, “you’ll be able to help Yu Chaozong hold the frontier. The Black Wu forces haven’t retreated yet — the pressure on the pass is still severe. Stop using the word ‘rebel’ for Yanshan Camp. What they’re doing now, the court’s own people haven’t managed to do.”

Yue Huanian thought through it. He had no other option. He alone had no fear of death — but the people who had protected him were still here. If he insisted on his principles now, he would only bring about the deaths of those closest to him.

“Very well.”

Yue Huanian pressed his hands together and bowed to Li Chi. “My deepest gratitude for saving my life.”

Qiu Qingche’s chest pain made it difficult to bow properly. He gave Li Chi a nod. “I will not forget this great kindness. Not ever.”

Li Chi returned the gesture. They parted at the base of the city wall.

Then Li Chi and Zhuang Wudi, one on a horse and one on a pig, deliberately circled around and rejoined the grain convoy from behind — as if they had only just caught up.

Proprietor Su asked where Li Chi had been. Li Chi’s explanation remained the same: the pig bolted, he had to ride the horse to chase it down, nearly lost it.

When they reached the outside of Pingchang County, the drop-stone couldn’t be raised, and so the grain convoy couldn’t enter the city. The whole trip appeared to have been a wasted journey.

At that moment, Jing Yanli came forward from behind. He examined the sealed city gate and then looked up at the wall.

“Nobody moves. I’m going in to see what happened. Before I come back, not one person leaves. Anyone who does, I will personally kill.”

He said it once, then gestured. A large number of his men came quickly forward from behind him.

Someone handed Jing Yanli a pair of iron climbing hooks. He fitted them to his hands, planted his feet, and was already at over a zhang’s height in a moment. The hooked hands moved in rapid alternation — the motion looked completely effortless. He reached the top of the wall in a short time.

He secured a rope and threw it down. His men began climbing up in sequence.

Proprietor Su looked at Li Chi with an expression of puzzlement. Li Chi had already moved to a cart nearby and was lying on it, one hand kneading his own backside, apparently in some pain from the ride.

Proprietor Su looked at the pig again and felt that the thing must be extraordinarily uncomfortable to sit on.

Yu Jiuling leaned close and asked Li Chi quietly: “What happened? Where did you actually go? You were gone so long.”

Li Chi smiled. “It was complicated. But I made it back, didn’t I?”

Yu Jiuling heard these words and understood that the thing had been accomplished. He smiled at Li Chi. “Not bad. Back in time, nothing ruined.”

Li Chi asked: “On the way back I noticed — why is there one fewer cart than before?”

Proprietor Su was listening nearby. He heard nothing incriminating in the exchange — and the fact that Li Chi had actually noticed the missing cart reduced his suspicions further.

—

Northwest of Pingchang County.

Yue Huanian asked Qiu Qingche: “How are you holding up?”

Qiu Qingche smiled ruefully. “I’ll manage. Before today I thought my skills were enough to move through the jianghu — not at the top level, perhaps, but not second-rate either. After today I realize I’m… not even as good as that man on the pig.”

Yue Huanian said: “Truly — you cannot judge a person by appearances.”

Qiu Qingche thought about it and added: “Or a pig.”

He asked: “Sir — you are a court official, the head of a county. Are you truly going to Xinzhou Pass to put yourself under a rebel like Yu Chaozong?”

Yue Huanian looked at Qiu Qingche. After a long silence he said: “My family has served as officials for generations. My ancestor was Grand Chancellor of Dachu. My great-grandfather was the regional commissioner of Yongzhou. My grandfather was a prefect of Quzhou. My father was a deputy prefect of Lizhou. And I — I am the county magistrate of Pingchang.”

He asked Qiu Qingche: “Over these hundred-plus years, what do you see?”

Qiu Qingche sighed. “Officials who genuinely served the people, who were truly loyal to Dachu — their families grew poorer and their ranks fell lower with each generation. Because your family refused to make common cause with those men…”

Yue Huanian said: “Your ancestor served as a frontline general under the great General Xu Qulu, rising to Senior Fourth Grade rank. In the Western Territories campaign, your ancestor commanded that regiment of serrated blades that shattered the Western armies. And now—”

Yue Huanian let out a long, long breath and shook his head. “That man who rode the pig was right. What grounds do I have for putting on airs? I called Yu Chaozong a rebel — yet the people living under Yu Chaozong’s administration are living in peace and contentment. This world has been upside-down for a long time. Right and wrong have long since become unclear.”

He looked at Qiu Qingche and said: “We’ll go to Xinzhou Pass. If we can contribute something to holding the frontier, then this life will have had a worthy ending. I’m only a man of letters, but I still have something to offer for the sake of the people.”

Qiu Qingche nodded. “Wherever you go, sir, I go. We’ll go to Xinzhou Pass.”

—

Pingchang County.

Suddenly a great crash came from inside the city gate. The ground shook. Dust cascaded down the face of the city wall. A short time later, the gates were pulled open from within — the drop-stone had been laid on its side.

Jing Yanli came out from the gate, his expression dark. He looked at the people outside, was silent for a moment, then said: “Everyone come in. Not one person stays behind.”

His gaze swept across Li Chi. Li Chi was still lying on the cart, rubbing his backside, not looking in Jing Yanli’s direction at all.

And yet Jing Yanli had a persistent sense that this young man was somehow unusual. The bodies covering the streets inside — could it really have had nothing to do with this person’s unexplained absence?

Li Chi seemed to glance up incidentally, and then paused very slightly.

The man called Jing Yanli stood in the gateway, right hand gripping Liu Yingzhan by the hair — like a demon carrying another demon.