“Who are you!”

The person who had collided with Yu Jiuling shoved him away with one hand — apparently pressing down on their voice deliberately, so it was impossible to tell at first that it was a woman.

Yu Jiuling, having been shoved, felt a flash of irritation.

*If it’s a woman, forget it — but you’re just a man with a big chest. What are you being so arrogant about?*

So he shoved back: “And who are you!”

After that shove, Yu Jiuling froze.

He instinctively looked down at his own hand. For just that one moment, he thought he must be ill — otherwise, why would he be having such a full-and-rounded illusion?

“Show some respect!”

Dike Huaqing’s head bodyguard, Yuemai, hadn’t thought anything else of it at first — he had simply seen the black-clad figure shove the princess, and fearing for her safety, he moved to circle around in front of her and take up a defensive stance.

Yu Jiuling stood there staring at his own hand in a daze. Dike Huaqing stood there staring at her own chest in a daze.

In that moment, Li Chi felt almost as though he were superfluous — even the air seemed to have gone still, and he alone found it funny.

“What kind of people are you?”

Yu Jiuling’s reflexes were sharp. He only stood in a daze for a heartbeat before immediately saying, “To be prowling through Liangzhou City in black robes at night — you clearly aren’t up to anything good!”

Dike Huaqing peeked out from behind Yuemai and pointed at the black robes Yu Jiuling was wearing. “And I suppose you’re some paragon of virtue?!”

Yu Jiuling said, “Seeing as neither of us is particularly virtuous, and neither of us has suffered any real loss, why don’t we each take a step back — we’re nothing to each other, so let’s go our separate ways.”

“Bastard!”

Dike Huaqing cursed him soundly.

She was a princess — spoiled and indulged in her daily life, with servants always coddling and deferring to her. She had never encountered anyone as shameless as Yu Jiuling, someone who could actually say that neither of them had suffered any loss.

Her father had once come to Liangzhou City and spent many days with General Dantai Qi, talking with great pleasure and coming to regard each other as kindred spirits.

Upon returning home, he had spoken more than once of how General Dantai commanded his admiration — whether for his character, his learning, or his ability to lead troops.

The old Emperor had also said that lasting peace required maintaining tranquility, and that tranquility was what nourished and enriched the people.

So he had insisted on keeping good relations with Dachu, and insisted that his children and his court officials study Central Plains culture, even promoting it among the common people.

Dike Huaqing’s command of the Central Plains tongue was a little stilted in places, but the word *bastard* came out of her mouth perfectly clear.

Yu Jiuling’s first instinct was: *this big-chested scoundrel just cursed me, I absolutely have to curse back.*

A moment later, he came to his senses — this person was plainly no man.

So he reminded himself that he had more or less been the one to offend her first, and swallowed the retort.

But he wanted to leave, so how could Dike Huaqing let him? She burst out from behind Yuemai and swung a palm at Yu Jiuling’s face.

Yu Jiuling caught her wrist and said, “You cursed me, and I let it go — I didn’t do it on purpose. Besides, you were the one who shoved me first.”

Dike Huaqing, having her wrist grabbed outright, was actually startled for a moment. *This fellow’s martial arts are no small thing.*

She didn’t pause to reflect that if she had any honest self-knowledge of her own abilities, she wouldn’t have found this person’s reflexes remarkable at all.

In the palace, even though Yuemai had taught her himself, she was a princess — who would dare actually try to best her? Whenever she sparred, her opponents always let her win, and for the sake of her dignity, they lost as convincingly as possible.

After so long, she had come to believe her martial skills were rather impressive. When she reached out to strike someone in the imperial palace, whoever she hit naturally made a show of being unable to dodge.

Yu Jiuling had no intention of performing helplessness for her — which gave Dike Huaqing a small misunderstanding.

Dike Huaqing glared at Yu Jiuling. “Are you going to let go or not?!”

Yu Jiuling said, “I’ll let go — but don’t try anything again. If you do, I won’t bother being polite.”

Dike Huaqing said, “You let go first.”

Yu Jiuling released her wrist. Dike Huaqing immediately swung at him again — he had seen it coming, stepped back, and the blow missed once more.

Right at that moment, Yuemai got a clear look at the person Yu Jiuling had dragged along. By the faint light of the moon, he spotted the Feiyun emblem on the black-clad figure’s collar.

“Feiyun Crossing?”

Yuemai immediately pulled Dike Huaqing back, retreating as he asked, “Just who are you people?”

Yu Jiuling looked over at Li Chi and asked, “What did he say? Something about a belly?”

Li Chi shook his head. “I couldn’t make it out either.”

Just then Tang Pidi and the others came over as well, and the tense standoff between the two sides grew even more volatile — it seemed a fight could break out at any moment.

Tang Pidi walked to Li Chi’s side, glanced down at the unconscious Feiyun Crossing assassin, then looked over at Dike Huaqing’s group.

He asked, “Same gang?”

Li Chi said, “Doesn’t look like it — but they seem to know each other.”

Tang Pidi said mildly, “Take them and ask later.”

Li Chi nodded. “Fair enough.”

The two of them stepped forward, and Dike Huaqing still thought they were bluffing. *Central Plains people can be this reckless too — what do these two think they can possibly do?*

She didn’t know that if these two men made their move, it would amount to nearly a top-tier deployment.

“Hold on.”

Yuemai said, “You don’t know him?” He pointed at the Feiyun Crossing assassin.

Without waiting for Li Chi to answer, he continued, “These people are enemies of ours. They came looking for us, and we’ve been looking for them.”

Tang Pidi understood at once: this black-clad group hadn’t been shadowing the Ning army’s column — they had simply run into each other by chance.

Yu Jiuling caught on as well, and with a slightly smug air, pointed at the Feiyun Crossing assassin and asked Yuemai, “Want him?”

Yuemai nodded. “We would be much obliged if you good fellows would hand him over.”

Yu Jiuling pointed at Dike Huaqing. “If you want him, have that one come over and apologize to me.”

Dike Huaqing: “You arrogant wretch — you’re looking for death!”

In her fury she made to charge forward, only to be held back by Yuemai.

Yu Jiuling immediately crouched down, gripped the Feiyun Crossing assassin by the throat, and declared, “You make another move and I’ll choke him to death.”

At that moment, had the Feiyun Crossing assassin been conscious, there would probably have been one particular thing on his mind that he wasn’t sure was appropriate to say.

Yuemai again stretched out an arm to stop Dike Huaqing, whispering in her ear, “Your Highness, please don’t act rashly. These people’s origins are unknown, and they subdued a Feiyun Crossing Shenshe-rank assassin with apparent ease, which means their martial skills are clearly no ordinary matter — so it would be best not to make a move in haste.”

Seeing that they didn’t dare come closer, Yu Jiuling felt even more pleased with himself. Still gripping the Shenshe assassin by the throat, he pressed on, “Be good and come apologize, and I’ll hand him over to you.”

Yuemai said, “Would it be acceptable if I apologized on her behalf?”

Yu Jiuling said, “You won’t do — it’s not you who offended me. Each grievance has its source, each debt has its owner. Have her come and say it herself.”

Dike Huaqing said furiously, “I would sooner apologize to a dog than bow my head before you.”

Yu Jiuling said, “Fine. You’ve got nerve, I’ll give you that.”

He looked over at Li Chi and said, “Boss, let’s go.”

Li Chi and Tang Pidi exchanged a glance, then Li Chi nodded. “Back to the column. No more talking.”

Yu Jiuling nodded. “Understood. She says she can strike up a conversation with a dog — let her get on with it. Apparently she even wants to apologize to one.”

“Are you trying to die?!”

Dike Huaqing erupted. Had Yuemai not been holding her back, she would have lunged forward already.

“Wait!”

Seeing that Yu Jiuling’s group was about to leave, Dike Huaqing suddenly cried out: “Fight me — one round. If I win, you leave him here. If I lose, I’ll pay you!”

The moment he heard the word *pay*, Yu Jiuling’s eyes narrowed ever so slightly.

In his mind, that wasn’t money. That was the freedom of the open road.

Li Chi said, “We don’t need the money. Let’s go.”

Yu Jiuling said, “Who ever had too much money.”

He turned to face Dike Huaqing. “A fight’s fine — but let’s be clear first: no playing dirty just because you’re a woman, and if you lose you have to admit it. And another thing — if I win, how much are you paying?!”

Dike Huaqing wasn’t actually running entirely on impulse. She understood very well that capturing a Feiyun Crossing assassin was enormously important to them.

She needed to kill Sanding, and getting her hands on a Shenshe-rank assassin to force a confession would reveal exactly what the situation was around Sanding.

So after a brief hesitation, she said, “You name the price.”

Yu Jiuling looked down at the Shenshe assassin — a pathetic creature he’d knocked cold with one brick — and thought to himself that this scrawny excuse for a person couldn’t possibly be worth that much.

So he held up a finger toward Dike Huaqing, meaning one hundred taels would do. But before he could open his mouth, Dike Huaqing declared, “Ten thousand taels then! Ten thousand taels!”

The words left her mouth and Yu Jiuling was struck dumb. Yuemai, standing beside her, was struck equally dumb. He tried to hold her back, but it was futile.

Yuemai leaned close to her and murmured, “We don’t have anywhere near that much silver on us right now.”

Dike Huaqing brushed Yuemai’s hand aside and strode forward, saying as she went, “How do you know I’m going to lose to him?”

Her skills, she was quite confident in.

Yu Jiuling thought to himself: *I already caught your wrist — what exactly do you think you can do?* He had no worries whatsoever, and stepped forward to meet her.

Neither Li Chi nor Tang Pidi intervened — because they could both see plainly that this woman’s martial abilities were… sufficient to warrant Yu Jiuling’s attention.

The two of them came together in a flurry of blows, trading fists and feet back and forth.

To look at it, Dike Huaqing’s techniques were actually the more polished — there was a certain discipline to them, as well one might expect from being personally taught by Yuemai.

Yu Jiuling, on the other hand, had never really drilled his martial arts properly. Everything he had was in one word: speed. His footwork was fast enough, so he dodged everything.

They fought with a kind of bustling, lively energy that left the bystanders gaping — Tang Pidi lifted his head to look at the sky, feeling that he was wasting his time.

On Yuemai’s side there was a similar impulse to cover one’s face. He watched the princess’s rather amateurish attack and defense, then looked at Yu Jiuling, and thought: *as ugly as this looks, you can’t put it all on the other side.*

He looked over toward Li Chi’s group — they were a bit far to make out clearly — but somehow he sensed that the other side was thinking the exact same thing.

And so it went. After a considerable time, Dike Huaqing had thrown something like several hundred punches, and hadn’t landed a single one on Yu Jiuling.

Yu Jiuling was showboating on purpose — and because his opponent was a woman, he felt awkward actually doing anything to her.

So back and forth they went, and the fight dragged on quite a while, until eventually Yuemai felt genuinely embarrassed on everyone’s behalf and turned to bow his fists in apology toward Li Chi’s side.

Li Chi returned the courtesy, fists cupped — and the two of them stood there at a distance, faces unreadable to each other, yet somehow each seeing in the other’s expression a deep and profound remorse.

At last, Yu Jiuling seemed to decide that was enough. He stepped back with a measure of grace and said, “Your skills aren’t bad, actually. Let’s call it a draw.”

He wanted to maintain some dignity after all — he was a man and she was a woman, and to actually do anything to her would look rather unmanly of him.

Dike Huaqing had been fighting so long she was panting, drenched in a fragrant sweat, and not a single blow had landed — so she offered him a genuine word of admiration: “You’re pretty slippery too. I can’t believe you dodged everything.”

The two looked at each other, and both found the other rather agreeable all of a sudden.

Tang Pidi, hearing their exchange, tilted his head back even further than before — his neck was practically bent all the way back.

Yuemai, hearing their exchange, dropped his head to look at his own feet, bending so far over he was nearly doubled at the waist.

Only Li Chi stood there grinning like a village simpleton, clapping his hands, saying over and over: *now this is what they call meeting your match…*

—