Li Chi rode back from the frontier without allowing himself the slightest delay along the way. He had made the arrangements for the mass exit from the city, yet he still had no peace of mind. Whether the escape had actually gone smoothly, he could not know — he had to get back and see it with his own eyes before he could settle his nerves.

The place on the road where he had encountered Zhuang Wudi was called Youxian Town — a name that meant “there is an immortal,” though there was no immortal to be found in this world, nor in the next, which is why during these years of war and upheaval, the town had found no protection from anyone.

Li Chi arrived back a full half-month later. Along the road he had caught snippets of news.

After his defeat at the hands of Huangjia’s Seventh Leader, Yanshan Camp’s Sixth Leader Xilizi had taken his several hundred remaining troops and seized a county seat. Before he had even found his footing, Huangjia’s men tracked him down. Huangjia dispatched troops to attack, forcing Xilizi to flee again — this time heading in a northwesterly direction.

When he reached Youxian Town, Li Chi could make out the encampment from a distance. Some of the tension left his chest.

Gao Xining saw the dust-covered young man coming home. She snapped her fingers — and Shendiao and Gouzi went bounding toward Li Chi.

Shendiao circled around him in rings; Gouzi landed on his shoulder. Gao Xining stood in front of him.

Finding Shendiao’s circling an annoyance, Gao Xining shoved it to the side. Shendiao watched her with a deeply aggrieved expression.

Finding Gouzi an annoyance too, she pointed toward Shendiao, and Gouzi immediately flew over and perched on Shendiao’s back.

Li Chi said: “Those two are like a pair of scorned women.”

Gao Xining leaned close to Li Chi’s ear and said in a very low voice: “They saw *my man* and ran faster than I did. As a properly jealous person, I propose we eat them.”

Li Chi froze. Then his eyes slowly, gradually widened.

He asked Gao Xining: “What did you just say?”

Gao Xining said: “Eat them!”

Li Chi said: “The part before that.”

Gao Xining: “Ran too fast?”

Li Chi said: “The part before that.”

Gao Xining gave a sly little laugh. “That part needs to be said quietly. Here — come closer.”

Li Chi duly tilted his ear toward her. Gao Xining bit his earlobe — he wasn’t sure whether it was the softness of her lips or the tip of her tongue that barely grazed the lobe, but that faint, light contact sent a shiver through him.

Then Gao Xining clasped her hands behind her back and walked away — as though she hadn’t a single crime to her name.

Li Chi reflexively rubbed his ear, grinning like a fool.

General Liu Ge and the others came forward and clasped their fists in salute. “Chief — do we march on Yanshan right away?”

Li Chi shook his head: “There’s no hurry. Yanshan Camp is easy to defend and hard to attack, and their numbers far exceed ours. Charging straight in is not the right approach.”

Liu Ge said: “The more pressing issue is grain. When we left the city, the grain we brought with us is nearly exhausted. If we don’t find a solution soon, everyone will go hungry.”

Li Chi smiled: “There’s a way. We’re not far from Xinzhou City at this point, and Xinzhou City is currently garrisoned by Yanshan Camp troops.”

Liu Ge said: “Xinzhou should be easier to deal with.”

Li Chi said: “No fighting necessary. I’m going to send someone to present himself at Xinzhou City — and as soon as he appears outside the walls, the gate will open and the grain problem will solve itself.”

Liu Ge asked: “Who is this person?”

Yu Chaozong, seated in a wooden wheelchair not far away, smiled and said: “It can only be me.”

Liu Ge blanked for a moment, then smiled sheepishly — he had completely forgotten about Yu Chaozong.

If the Yanshan Camp garrison at Xinzhou saw that Yu Chaozong was still alive, they would open the gates without question.

So the group made a brief reorganization and set off for Xinzhou.

About two days later, they arrived. Li Chi led his men to escort Yu Chaozong to the city gate. The garrison soldiers were initially alarmed to see a large army approaching, and even more bewildered upon seeing Yu Chaozong. Apparently some deliberation took place atop the wall — but in the end, the gate opened.

The unit entered the city. Li Chi had Liu Ge strictly restrain the troops: they must not come into conflict with the Xinzhou garrison at this moment.

Though the Xinzhou garrison numbered only around two thousand, and in a real fight they might not hold out for long — Liu Ge’s household troops outnumbered them and beating the Yanshan Camp’s two thousand would have been difficult to lose — Li Chi had no intention of touching those two thousand men, let alone taking them away. Xinzhou was a small city, but it still served as a foothold. If the Yanshan Camp could not be taken, this place could serve as a temporary base.

After resupplying with grain and provisions at Xinzhou City, Li Chi and his people set about discussing how to take back the Yanshan Camp.

The Yanshan Camp commander in Xinzhou was a man named Zhao Xu — an old hand in the Camp, whose respect for Yu Chaozong far exceeded anything he felt for Huangjia.

Zhao Xu reported that someone from the Yanshan Camp had come by not long ago. He had found it suspicious, because the visitor claimed to have been sent by Second Leader Zhuang. The visitor had told him to bring all his troops back to the Yanshan Camp — which struck him as highly irregular, so he had refused.

Now, at last, it made sense: the Yanshan Camp had been thrown into turmoil long since, and Huangjia had been trying to consolidate all the outlying forces back into the stronghold — he evidently had no intention of holding Xinzhou or Daizhou.

“He felt insecure,” said Yu Chaozong. “So he wanted to pull all the scattered forces back around him. His perspective is narrow.”

Xinzhou and Daizhou — while neither was absolutely essential to hold, they functioned as the Yanshan Camp’s two forward outposts. An enemy advancing on the Camp would be slowed by them first, and even if they fell, they would provide advance warning.

“Commander.”

Zhao Xu said: “Now that you’ve brought us back together, if you lead us straight back up, the brothers won’t follow Huangjia anymore. Give the word, and the men in the stronghold will open the gates and come out to meet you.”

Yu Chaozong shook his head: “The men garrisoning the stronghold itself are all from Huangjia’s faction. Their lives are bound to his. It won’t be that simple.”

He looked at Zhao Xu: “You need to remember: I have decided to hand the Camp over to Li Chi. From now on, he is your chief — and you are all to follow his word.”

Li Chi was about to speak, but Yu Chaozong shook his head: “If you push back again, you’re abandoning the other brothers in the stronghold.”

Li Chi said nothing.

Yu Chaozong said: “Right now, Huangjia doesn’t know we’re in Xinzhou yet. So if we want to retake the stronghold, we can actually use Zhao Xu’s men.”

He looked at Li Chi: “Have Zhao Xu send word back saying that after careful deliberation, he’s concluded Xinzhou is too isolated to hold, and he’s decided to return to the stronghold. Huangjia shouldn’t be suspicious.”

Zhao Xu’s eyes lit up: “Commander, this plan is brilliant!”

Yu Chaozong said: “Have you forgotten?”

Zhao Xu froze, then understood — the commander was no longer the commander. Li Chi was.

Yu Chaozong looked at Li Chi: “Do you think this can work?”

Li Chi nodded: “It can.”

Yu Chaozong said: “Have only Zhao Xu return with his personal guard. Leave his troops garrisoning Xinzhou. Have General Liu’s men change into Yanshan Camp uniforms, go back to the stronghold with Zhao Xu, and take down Huangjia with swift, decisive force. Once he falls, the others won’t dare resist.”

Li Chi nodded again: “That works.”

Once the plan was settled, Yu Chaozong drew Li Chi aside for a private conversation. The two of them sat facing each other in a pavilion in the courtyard.

Yu Chaozong accepted the hot tea Li Chi poured for him, looked at him for a moment, and said: “You — what do you consider to be your greatest flaw? Do you know?”

Li Chi said: “I have far too many flaws. None of them stand out — they’re all equally prominent.”

Yu Chaozong smiled slightly: “Your greatest flaw is believing that your own abilities are more limited than they are.”

Li Chi’s hand stilled over the tea. That statement seemed to strike something in him.

Yu Chaozong said: “You’re reluctant to take over the Yanshan Camp because you think it would be better off in my hands — that I’m more capable than you, more effective, that I can bring more people to a better life, and you’re afraid you won’t be able to do the same.”

Li Chi gave a somewhat helpless smile and said nothing for a moment.

Yu Chaozong said: “Yu Chaozong is not omnipotent. Yu Chaozong is not as formidable as you imagine. I am simply a man who fights for his own private ends — and every man in this world who fights is fighting for private ends, just like me.”

He looked at Li Chi: “You alone are not fighting for private ends.”

Li Chi opened his mouth. Yu Chaozong said: “Be quiet.”

Li Chi closed his mouth.

Yu Chaozong continued: “Have you ever considered — someone like me: do we fight for the realm?”

Li Chi started to speak again. Yu Chaozong said: “Be quiet.”

Li Chi: “Mm—”

Yu Chaozong said: “Just listen. Someone like me — regardless of differences in background or methods — when it comes down to it, are we fighting for the realm? No. We’re fighting for the dragon robe. The dragon robe and the realm — they are not the same thing.”

He exhaled slowly, a note of exasperated sorrow in his voice directed at Li Chi: “I won’t force your hand. But if it truly comes to that — if only my death will make you willing to take over the Yanshan Camp — then…”

He looked at Li Chi as he said this. Li Chi stared back in shock.

Yu Chaozong said: “You may say something now.”

Li Chi said: “Elder Brother — how could you entertain such thoughts? You tend to your health. I will take the Yanshan Camp.”

Yu Chaozong said: “And once I’ve recovered, you’ll give it back to me?”

Li Chi could not respond.

Yu Chaozong said: “I knew you were thinking exactly that.” He paused, then continued: “What you lack is the spirit of someone who answers to no one but themselves. I fall short of you in every way, so there is nothing I can truly teach you — but I’ll leave you with one thing: the day you truly grasp what it means to answer to no one but yourself, that will be a blessing for all under heaven.”

Li Chi said: “That’s quite the hat to place on my head.”

Yu Chaozong said: “Be quiet.”

Li Chi: “Mm—”

Yu Chaozong said: “Consider someone like me — half a lifetime spent in battle for the sake of wearing a dragon robe, with no way of knowing how many people I’ve saved, but the people who’ve died for my private ambitions number beyond counting. And if I already fall short, think about Luo Geng, think about Zhou Shiren, think about all the military commissioners across this land.”

He glared at Li Chi: “Which one of them is better than me?”

Yu Chaozong let out a disdainful sound: “And if I can’t measure up to you — can any of them?”

Li Chi drew a long breath. After some time, he sighed: “Elder Brother — the way you put it, I’m starting to feel rather good about myself.”

Yu Chaozong laughed out loud. After a moment he said: “What I really wanted to say — all I wanted to do was tell you sincerely: from this point on, how many brothers in the Yanshan Camp can be saved is your responsibility. After today, I won’t appear in public again. I want to take this opportunity to spend more time learning from Gao Yuanzhang. You probably don’t know this — my greatest dream, once upon a time, was to study at an academy…”

Li Chi said: “Then wouldn’t that make you my junior at the academy, Elder Brother?”

Yu Chaozong said: “We are brothers. Don’t concern yourself with who is senior and who is junior — let such matters of rank go.”

Li Chi said: “Elder Brother is magnanimous.”

Yu Chaozong said: “You should be magnanimous too… Gao Yuanzhang and I have spoken twice now, and we found each other’s company deeply congenial — and felt the mutual regret of two people who should have met long ago. So he has decided that between the two of us, we shall regard each other as peers.”

Li Chi: “？？？？？”

Yu Chaozong said: “Why are your eyes telling me something I can read perfectly clearly?”

Li Chi said: “What do my eyes seem to be saying, Elder Brother?”

Yu Chaozong said: “Your eyes are asking me: is the reason we won’t address each other as senior and junior because you want to be the grandfather?”

Li Chi let out a long, pained sigh.

Yu Chaozong said: “We keep our own reckonings separate.”

He paused — then with an expression of perfect, serene benevolence, said: “But however you look at it, I am two generations your senior. So you had better listen when I speak.”

Li Chi said: “Did you and Gao Yuanzhang happen to drink together…”

Yu Chaozong said: “Nonsense. My body isn’t up to drinking yet. Though Gao Yuanzhang was in high spirits, so I encouraged him to have a cup.”

Li Chi: “…”

—