The Grand General’s Residence, Liangzhou City.

When Dantai Qi had left the residence, his only intention had been to go and invite Li Chi and the others back — setting aside the identity of Grand General, and approaching as a father asking forgiveness from his son’s friends.

He hadn’t expected to stumble upon a scene like this — a scene that had nothing to do with him, yet seemed somehow to wash away the unpleasantness that had come before.

Dantai Qi and Dantai Yajing arrived just as the fight between Yu Jiuling and Dike Huaqing was at its most spirited. Neither of them had brought attendants. Li Chi and Tang Pidi noticed them arrive — but Yu Jiuling and Dike Huaqing, still in the middle of it, noticed nothing.

By the time the two combatants had finished, Dantai Qi was sitting on horseback with a rather complicated look on his face, at a loss for words.

Dantai Qi asked Dantai Yajing, “That one — is he one of your friends?”

Dantai Yajing nodded, then said, “The woman I don’t know.”

Dantai Qi said, “I know her…”

Father and son looked at each other, and an unspoken understanding passed between them: *well, fine — this way, neither of us has any grounds to laugh at the other.*

A moment later, Dantai Yajing, perhaps worried his father might form some mistaken impression of his friend, added, “He’s the weakest one.”

Dantai Qi nodded, his voice carrying a certain complexity: “She… is too.”

One hour later. The Grand General’s Residence.

Dantai Qi offered his solemn apology to Li Chi and the others for a second time — he had already done so very sincerely at the city gate.

That they followed him back was, in truth, easy to understand. Dantai Yajing was his son, and Dantai Qi was an elder to Li Chi’s group. After an apology this heartfelt, to still refuse to return would risk damaging the father-and-son bond — even becoming the spark that broke it entirely.

While the others fell to conversation, Dike Huaqing was taking a particular interest in Yu Jiuling. She asked him, “Who taught you your martial arts?”

Yu Jiuling said with a proud air, “Self-taught.”

To Dike Huaqing’s ears, those two words carried a certain flair, and her admiration for this man deepened another degree.

“Your skills are really quite good.”

Yu Jiuling said, “Your style is broad and sweeping — the manner of a true master.”

“Oh, it’s just passable, just passable.”

Dike Huaqing said, “Nothing much to speak of.”

The two of them went back and forth like that, trading what to any outside ear was excruciatingly awkward mutual flattery — yet to the two of them, every word was sincere.

On the other side of the room, Tang Pidi lowered his voice and asked Dantai Yajing, “Do you know much about this princess?”

Dantai Yajing shook his head. “Not really. Her father came to Liangzhou a few years back and stayed for a time — he and my father got on wonderfully. But she didn’t come with him. This is the first time I’ve seen her.”

Tang Pidi felt it was a little rude, but still couldn’t help asking, “Her country — it’s quite remote, isn’t it?”

Dantai Yajing: “Well…”

Tang Pidi sighed quietly. “By any measure, she is a princess — you wouldn’t think it would be quite like this…”

Dantai Yajing said, “It does seem like… possibly… she may have had a… somewhat limited… exposure to the wider world.”

He finished and then burst out laughing himself.

Nearby, Li Chi and Dantai Qi were deep in conversation. The longer they talked, the more Dantai Qi found himself curious about this young man — and the more his admiration grew. The way this young man spoke, the breadth of his knowledge — nothing about it suggested someone who had come up as a brigand. The longer they talked, the more Dantai Qi had to acknowledge that his own son was, in fact, a step or two behind.

After a long while, they returned to their appointed quarters and each rested for the night.

Mister Yan and Yu Jiuling shared a room. Lying on his bed, Yu Jiuling was obviously still basking in contentment, his mouth curved in a smile he couldn’t seem to close.

Mister Yan watched him for a moment, then sighed. “You carry a heavy responsibility now.”

Yu Jiuling didn’t understand. “What do you mean by that, sir?”

Mister Yan said, “You need to make it clear to that princess that a man like you doesn’t represent the men of the Central Plains. At the very least — don’t let her think you’re typical.”

Yu Jiuling said, “And why wouldn’t I be?”

Mister Yan considered this. Explaining it might puncture the confidence Yu Jiuling had only just found, so he shook his head and said, “Humility. Humility is a virtue.”

*That’s true enough*, Yu Jiuling thought.

“The princess seems quite taken with you.”

Mister Yan said, “In the sitting room, I watched the two of you exchange quite a lot. What were you talking about?”

Yu Jiuling smiled. “I told her many stories about the Central Plains jianghu — the various sects and schools. And I also told her: don’t go thinking I’m anything extraordinary. In the Central Plains jianghu, someone like me may look dashing and one-of-a-kind, but in truth there are countless such people. I’m just one ordinary soul among tens upon tens of thousands of jianghu heroes.”

Mister Yan said, “No, no — those tens of thousands of jianghu heroes have nothing to do with you. And you’re not ordinary either. You are one of a kind.”

Yu Jiuling couldn’t quite tell whether Mister Yan was complimenting him or teasing him — but he wasn’t going to think about it. He had no mind for whatever Mister Yan was saying right now.

He lay on his bed and replayed the moment of his bout with Dike Huaqing in his mind — his chivalry and bearing — thinking to himself: *well, that’s just the kind of man I am…*

Mister Yan sat watching the contented Yu Jiuling and at last understood what the old folk meant by a saying he’d heard all his life.

The old folk said: *who catches whose eye — that’s something you can’t explain. It’s fate.*

Yu Jiuling was one thing when it came to admiring beauty — visiting pleasure houses was his one and only indulgence — but admiring beauty without losing his heart: that had always been his nature.

Now, his heart was lost.

—

In the other room, Tang Pidi looked over at Li Chi and said, “Don’t you think there was something strange about what we ran into tonight?”

Li Chi nodded. “That so-called assassin wasn’t very strong. Whether their target was the fugitive princess or someone else, an assassin of that caliber would have had little hope of success.”

“A scout.”

Tang Pidi said, “Much like the scouts in our own army — mostly reconnoitering routes. Which means…”

He looked at Li Chi. Li Chi understood perfectly what Tang Pidi meant.

Li Chi made a sound of agreement. “Clear division of labor, thorough preparation — this may not simply be about eliminating a princess in exile.”

He smiled. “Which is why, in my earlier conversation with Grand General Dantai, I already gave him a word of warning.”

—

At the same time. The official relay station.

Sanding, the chief envoy of the Maoli Kingdom, heard the report his subordinate brought him and his brow furrowed slightly, his expression darkening by degrees.

A Shenshe third-tier assassin had gone missing — most likely seized by the Liangzhou army. He knew how strict the Feiyun Crossing’s code of silence was, yet he couldn’t help but worry.

If the information leaked, none of them would leave Liangzhou alive. Dantai Qi would not care in the slightest about his identity as an envoy.

He brooded for a moment and looked at the man seated to one side. From the time they had first found these people, through the entire journey here, several months had now passed — and in all that time, not a single person had ever seen this man’s true face.

Even Sanding knew only that this man was a Feiyun Crossing first-tier assassin, and a singular one even among the dozens of first-tier assassins.

He always wore a hat with a veil, obscuring his entire face — and no one could quite figure out how he managed to see.

“Nothing will go wrong.”

As if sensing Sanding looking at him, the black-clad man said in a level tone, “No one will extract anything from a Feiyun Crossing assassin’s mouth.”

“You’re that certain?”

Sanding still pressed him with a worried look.

The black-clad man said, “Since you engaged us, you should trust us.”

—

The following day, before dawn, soldiers from the Grand General’s Residence came rushing to report outside the Grand General’s door: the Shenshe assassin captured the previous night was dead.

Everyone came to examine the scene. The assassin was still bound to the pillar, tied thoroughly — his hands and feet could not possibly have moved.

Judging by the body, it appeared to be suicide by poison, yet he had already been thoroughly searched. There was no possible way anything could have been on him. With hands and feet bound that securely, the means by which he could have administered poison to himself was difficult to explain.

“Could it be that even inside the General’s Residence there’s one of their people?”

Yu Jiuling said this in a very low voice.

“Don’t say such things.”

Mister Yan shot Yu Jiuling a sharp look. Yu Jiuling immediately fell silent — but the people around them were already looking his way, many with unfriendly eyes.

“There isn’t.”

Dantai Qi spoke in a calm voice, but with absolute certainty. “My people — I trust.”

“It’s here.”

Tang Pidi pointed to the collar of the corpse. Li Chi went to look. Right there, precisely where the Feiyun emblem was embroidered, there was one very small opening. You would never notice it without looking carefully.

“Poison concealed inside — he lowered his head, bit down on the collar, and used his teeth to work the poison out from beneath the emblem and swallow it.”

Tang Pidi said, “These are ruthless people.”

Dantai Qi was silent a moment. “Dispose of the body. Don’t let word spread.”

He looked at Dantai Yajing, who nodded. “I’ll make the arrangements. Tomorrow the envoys from every nation will come to the residence for Father’s birthday celebration — if anything is going to happen, it will be tomorrow.”

Dantai Qi said, “They thought the assassin dying by his own hand would prevent any exposure — but they forgot: the fact that an assassin was exposed is already enough.”

—

At the same time. Outside the eastern city gate.

Kuokedi Xiuluoluo’s party had disguised themselves as a steppe merchant caravan and were lining up to wait for inspection. They had no particular concerns.

Most of the tribes of the steppe had submitted to Black Wu — even the mightiest among them, the Tiehu Tribe that had almost unified the steppe, had been compelled to submit as well.

So for Xiuluoluo and his group to obtain authentic steppe identities and documentation was no difficult matter. With his status as Black Wu imperial royalty, he could speak a single word to any northern tribe and who would dare refuse?

“This is good timing.”

Xiuluoluo said with a smile. “I just learned that tomorrow is Dantai Qi’s birthday. Envoys from every nation in the Western Regions are in Liangzhou City right now — this saves me the trouble of traveling to the Western Regions and calling on them one by one. Right here in Liangzhou City, Dantai Qi has prepared the negotiating table for me.”

Kanluoshi laughed as well. It really did feel like the will of heaven.

Their goal had been to travel to the Western Regions and call upon the rulers of those smaller kingdoms one by one, persuading them to form an alliance against Dantai Qi’s Liangzhou army.

And now here were all the envoys gathered in Liangzhou — a coincidence beyond coincidence.

“Once we’re inside the city, send someone to the relay station.”

Xiuluoluo said to Kanluoshi, “First go see the Maoli Kingdom envoy — that’s the easiest place to start.”

Kanluoshi lowered his voice. “Will the General not go in person?”

“We represent the Black Wu Empire.”

Xiuluoluo said, “If I notify them to come see me, yet I go to them myself, they’ll start thinking rather highly of their own importance.”

“And if they don’t come?”

“The Central Plains people have a saying: *kill the chicken to warn the monkey.*”

Xiuluoluo said, “If the Maoli Kingdom’s envoy doesn’t dare come — then let them all stay in Liangzhou City forever. Then send people to call on the other envoys, and tell them: those who don’t come die too.”

Kanluoshi still had some reservations. “If those envoys report us to Dantai Qi, we’ll be in serious danger ourselves.”

“They won’t dare.”

Xiuluoluo smiled. “Guess: are they more afraid of Dantai Qi — or more afraid of our Black Wu Empire?”

He said it and spurred his horse forward, and once inside the city said to Kanluoshi, “Tomorrow is Dantai Qi’s birthday celebration. Move quickly. I’d very much like to enter the General’s Residence and see for myself — this Grand General they call the Guardian of Dachu’s Western Frontier — just what manner of man he truly is.”

—