For Prince Yu Yang Jixing, running into an interesting Daoist on the road and incidentally rescuing him was not a particularly significant event — so much so that he hadn’t even mentioned it to Xiahou Zuo. He simply hadn’t the time or inclination to bring it up, and it wasn’t that he considered it beneath mention — it genuinely hadn’t registered as something worth noting.

So Li Diudiu had no idea at all that his teacher had been injured, nor that his teacher had already been targeted.

Yet by a twist of fate, Prince Yu’s rescue of Changmei the Daoist had thrown the Sun family into a small panic.

What Prince Yu dismissed as nothing, the Sun family could not afford to dismiss.

Sun Qiu had spent several days looking grim and walking on eggshells, genuinely fearful that Prince Yu’s people would come to investigate the matter. After all, if the men who had been sent to capture Changmei were subjected to serious questioning, everything could be dragged out into the open.

After waiting several days without any sign of movement, the clutch around Sun Qiu’s heart eased somewhat.

His son Sun Rugong glanced at his father’s expression — a child of eleven or twelve, yet his face wore the look of someone well-versed in calculation.

“Father, it appears to be nothing more than a coincidence.”

Sun Rugong said, “Prince Yu’s people merely happened to pass by.”

“That should be it — otherwise someone would have come to our door by now.”

Sun Qiu said, “The men they brought back reported that those men addressed one among them as ‘Your Highness’ — could Prince Yu himself have already returned to Jizhou? If so, we’d need to tread carefully around the Xiahou Zuo matter, since the Prince would certainly look into it in detail.”

“So…”

Sun Rugong said, “This Li Chi must die even more urgently. Dead, there’s no one left to testify against us.”

Sun Qiu gave him a look. “Easier said than done — the Academy must certainly have skilled fighters protecting things now.”

Sun Rugong said, “They’d be protecting Xiahou Zuo. They absolutely would not be protecting Li Chi. Father, I’ve had men watching constantly — that Li Chi has been going out every day these past two days. He’s in disguise, but he was still recognized.”

“Where has he been going?”

“The market. Seems like he’s running some kind of small business.”

“Oh?”

Sun Qiu’s expression shifted, and he suddenly smiled. “He’s a student of the Four Pages Academy going off to do business — if that got around, the Academy wouldn’t be able to keep him either.”

Sun Rugong said, “We don’t have time to wait for that. Prince Yu should have already visited the Four Pages Academy by now, and should already have met Li Chi. Our time is running out.”

Sun Qiu rose and paced back and forth across the room, thinking for quite a while before saying, “We can’t risk using our own people for this again. I’ll have Old Xiao go to the black market first thing tomorrow.”

Sun Rugong nodded. “The black market will have no shortage of people willing to take this job. With all the rebellions beyond Jizhou’s walls, plenty of desperate fighters and martial world wanderers have fled into the city. Give them a bit of money and they’ll do anything.”

Sun Qiu said, “If Li Chi goes out of the Academy again tomorrow, he dies.”

The common people of Jizhou all knew there was a black market in the city, but they didn’t know where it was — never seen, barely even heard of. The black market’s location was naturally kept extremely secret.

Sun Qiu went to the doorway and called out, “Someone — fetch Old Xiao for me.”

Old Xiao was the head steward of the Sun household. The man had once been a solitary thief in the martial world, and later after committing a crime was caught by the authorities — people like that would naturally be put to death by law. But the great families of the city had a particular need for people like him.

Sun Qiu had years ago spent silver to buy him out of jail, using a street beggar as a scapegoat in his place. Old Xiao had been in the Sun household for seven or eight years now. With the Sun household’s backing, and a salary besides, his life was far more comfortable than his days as a bandit.

Before long, Old Xiao came running in from outside. He bent into a bow at the door: “Master — you called for me?”

“Yes.”

Sun Qiu said, “You’ve been in this household for seven or eight years, and I’ve always felt you’re someone who can be trusted with serious matters. Now is the time I need to rely on you. You should still have old acquaintances in the city’s black market — tonight it’s already too late, but go tomorrow and see whether you can find a few people with decent abilities.”

Old Xiao nodded, “Master, rest easy. I’ll go have a look tomorrow. Even if I find no old acquaintances, finding people willing to work for silver is no great difficulty.”

Sun Qiu said, “Don’t find ones with sloppy hands. I don’t mind spending money.”

Old Xiao quickly acknowledged, “Master, rest easy.”

Just then a servant came running to the door from outside and said, “Master — someone is knocking at the front gate asking to be received. He says it’s an urgent matter.”

Sun Qiu asked, “Who sent him?”

“He says he was sent by the Prefectural Governor.”

“Oh?”

Sun Qiu frowned. It was already well into the night — the Prefectural Governor sending someone at this hour. Could it be about the Xiahou Zuo matter?

With that thought he immediately gave the order, “Bring him in.”

The servant trotted back to the main gate, opened the side door, and outside stood a young man who looked to be in his mid-twenties, waiting patiently. Seeing the door open, he asked politely, “Is Master Sun available to see me?”

The servant nodded, “The Master is in his study waiting for you. Follow me — keep your steps light, so as not to disturb the Master’s family members’ rest.”

The young man replied with equal courtesy: “I know the etiquette.”

The servant led him inside and walked ahead, while the young man followed behind. As they walked, the servant heard a faint sound from behind — very soft. He turned to look, and found the young man in the process of putting on canvas gloves.

“What are you doing?”

“Meeting Master Sun — one ought to be respectful.”

The young man smiled, revealing white, even teeth. His smile was truly one of complete harmlessness, and even gave a sense of warmth and approachability.

A moment later, the door to Sun Qiu’s study was pushed open. Sun Qiu looked out — and his face immediately turned ugly.

The servant had arrived — only he was draped over someone’s shoulder, and clearly had no more breath left in him.

The young man entered, casually closed the door behind him, set the body down in a chair to one side, and seemed concerned it might topple, so he straightened it first.

“He told me to keep my steps light so as not to disturb Master Sun’s family members. I think I was light enough.”

The young man smiled pleasantly as he said this.

Old Xiao’s eyes had already narrowed. He stepped back one pace, positioning himself in front of Sun Qiu, a short blade sliding down from his sleeve into his grip.

Old Xiao looked at the young man and said, “Your nerve is really something.”

The young man raised a hand: “Shh… I’m supposed to be quiet, and here you are speaking so loudly. That’s not good.”

He seemed to suddenly remember something and said with an apologetic expression: “How rude of me — I forgot to introduce myself. My name is Jinzu — the pawn in chess, that character. His Highness sent me to let you know: the Sun family has some real nerve.”

Sun Qiu’s face had already gone chalk-white. He looked at Old Xiao and said, “Stop him.”

Old Xiao nodded, “Master, rest easy.”

He stepped forward, his short blade thrusting toward the young man’s throat — half a lifetime of roaming the martial world killing without count had made this strike precise in both force and speed, honed to the absolute limit.

But the young man didn’t even dodge.

Clearly the blade was about to go in — yet it stopped at a distance of roughly a chopstick’s width from the young man’s throat.

Old Xiao’s wrist had been seized by the young man’s hand — that was no hand, but an iron clamp.

The young man twisted his wrist. The short blade dropped free. He caught it and in the span of a single breath drove it into Old Xiao sixteen times, in the time it takes a person to inhale and exhale — this was in how short a span — and all sixteen thrusts were delivered in that time.

First strike: the throat. Second: the heart. Third: the temple… After the first strike the man would already be dead, yet he seemed unable to stop.

After the sixteenth thrust, Old Xiao’s body crumpled softly to the floor.

“Xiao Zhenlin — causing havoc in the martial world for twenty years already. I expected him to be a formidable fighter. Turns out he was just a waste.”

The young man stepped forward, glanced at Sun Rugong cowering behind Sun Qiu’s back, and showed him a genial smile: “You’re too young — I won’t kill you. But take this as a lesson, understand? People need to know their own limitations. What does the Sun family think it has, that it dares to provoke the Prince’s estate?”

Even as he spoke, his blade had slid horizontally through Sun Qiu’s throat, the tip emerging from the other side. A single drop of blood fell from the tip. Sun Rugong let out a terrified scream.

“You see that? Doing wrong things brings consequences.”

The young man did not pull out the blade. He released his grip on the handle, and Sun Qiu’s body toppled over.

He looked at Sun Qiu lying there, still struggling in sharp and desperate gasps, and said with genuine regret, “People truly must know their own limitations.”

His gaze shifted to Sun Rugong. After a moment of silence he said, “If you want to hold a grudge, you can direct it at your uncle. Your father forced your uncle to expel Sun Biehe from the family — your uncle knew your father intended to seize control of the family, so he voluntarily sought an audience with the Prince and told him the Sun family was willing to take responsibility for its wrongdoings: whoever committed the wrong, that person would be held accountable.”

“You see — your family betrayed someone in the Sun family, and that person in the Sun family betrayed your family in return. Doesn’t that feel terrible?”

The young man patted Sun Rugong on the face several times — slap, slap, slap — quite resoundingly.

“If you don’t want to die, don’t shout. Once you’ve counted enough time for me to have left, then you can shout. When the authorities arrive, you know what to say?”

Sun Rugong swallowed hard with great difficulty, then nodded: “I know — the household steward Old Xiao turned out to be a notorious bandit. Father caught him stealing from the household and berated him. In his fury, Old Xiao killed Father…”

The young man nodded: “Good child. So — how did Xiao Zhenlin die?”

Sun Rugong answered, trembling: “He was… killed by the household guards.”

The young man nodded again: “Even better. Can you guess whether I’ll kill you?”

Sun Rugong was shaking all over, his face as white as paper. Then came a soft sound of dripping — the young man looked down, and then laughed: “Did you wet yourself?”

Sun Rugong shook his head frantically, then nodded.

“Relax.”

The young man smiled and said, “I’m just teasing you.”

Sun Rugong’s expression had just barely started to ease — and the young man drove his fist into Sun Rugong’s temple. Sun Rugong’s body flew sideways, his head struck the wall, and he hit the ground — and stopped breathing.

The young man said, “I was just teasing you. How could I possibly not kill you? The Prince’s estate when it acts… leaves loose ends?”

He turned and walked out, pausing to close the door carefully behind him.

As he walked he was thinking — were these people out of their minds? They actually dared think of moving against the Prince’s people. If the Prince were so easily provoked, would he still be a Prince?

He exited the compound gate and boarded the carriage waiting at the door. Inside the carriage sat a middle-aged man in a long robe. Jinzu climbed in and bowed his head: “Uncle Su — it’s done.”

The middle-aged man addressed as Uncle Su nodded and said, “Move on. Next house.”

Jinzu smiled: “One house after another like this — we’ll be busy all night.”

Uncle Su half-closed his eyes: “I’ll sleep in the carriage for a bit.”

Jinzu shrugged: “You’re always this relaxed.”

Uncle Su said, “By the time you’re my age you’ll be relaxed too. With a capable young man like you to use, why trouble myself?”

Jinzu nodded: “That couldn’t be more reasonable.”

Uncle Su exhaled slowly and said, as if to himself, “The Prince is truly angry this time.”

Jinzu gave a sound of agreement: “When we were leaving the estate I saw those several consorts hanging there. Really gave me a fright.”