A large boulder jutting out from the mountainside—enormous, shaped like a steamed bun.

The hunter stood on it. As Li Chi walked over to him, he seemed not yet to have recovered.

The moment Li Chi had told him he shouldn’t make claims he couldn’t back up, the man still hadn’t shaken free from the shock.

Yet as Li Chi drew right up beside him, the hunter smiled.

“You shouldn’t make claims you can’t back up either,” he said.

At some unknown moment, the top of this great boulder had gained another occupant.

Directly behind Li Chi, a broad blade had been laid across his shoulder.

It seemed that with the slightest willingness, a gentle draw would be enough to cut Li Chi’s throat.

The hunter said, “Now can you see who’s the one making claims he can’t back up?”

Li Chi smiled. “You.”

The hunter glanced at the blade resting on Li Chi’s shoulder—and then noticed it wasn’t resting there at all.

It was being held there.

When the blade had appeared, Li Chi’s left hand had closed around the spine. The blade was locked in place as if gripped by iron tongs.

So the blade only appeared to be poised to slice Li Chi’s throat with ease.

In truth, it couldn’t be withdrawn, let alone drawn forward.

Li Chi’s right hand had been hanging at his side—but it had now reached back behind him without him turning around.

And from his right sleeve, a steel spike had slid out and was now pressed to the throat of the man standing at his back.

The tip had already broken the skin slightly. A single drop of blood was making its way slowly down the spike.

“Not everyone has the ability to make claims freely,” Li Chi said.

He pulled left—the blade slid into his hand. Half a breath later, it rested on the hunter’s shoulder, in the moment before the hunter could draw his own weapon.

Li Chi said, “Now—shall we have a proper conversation?”

The man behind him said, “I can tell you’re not from Jieshi Prefecture.”

Li Chi asked, “How?”

The man answered, “You don’t want to kill people.”

Li Chi said, “That’s nonsense—if the only proof of my identity were that I didn’t want to kill people, you’d have figured that out long ago. I didn’t kill your people when they were hiding in the trees, even though it would have been no great difficulty.”

The man nodded. “I had already concluded it then. But I didn’t want to come out the worse.”

Li Chi suddenly laughed.

Those words—how familiar they felt.

He returned the blade in his left hand, tossing it lightly backward. Dantai Yajing, standing in the distance, caught it.

Li Chi turned to look at the man at his back. A young man, probably in his mid-twenties.

Skin noticeably dark—the mark of years under sun and wind.

A solid build, muscular frame, comparable in physique to Dantai Yajing. In appearance, though, there was no comparison. This was an entirely ordinary face—and truly, in this world, the number of people who could rely on their looks was never very large.

In the Jizhou side of things, the top three who could get by on their faces were all in the Ning Army.

One sentence—”I didn’t want to come out the worse”—had made Li Chi curious about this person.

The young man was studying him too. In his gaze, Li Chi saw a particular kind of light.

And so Li Chi sighed inwardly.

*Damn it.*

*Another one conquered by my striking appearance.*

Li Chi said, “You’re probably not He Dengke.”

And then he watched as the light in the young man’s eyes grew brighter and brighter.

“You’re… you’re Li Chi?”

The man asked the question with stunned delight.

Li Chi was taken aback. He hadn’t expected anyone to recognize him out here.

“How do you know who I am?”

The young man was clearly growing agitated; his words stumbled over each other.

“You don’t know me—but I know you.”

“I’m a disciple of the Four-Page Academy in Jizhou,” he went on, his excitement mounting. “Only a few years older than you. I was in the same graduating cohort as Xiahou Zuo.”

Li Chi’s delight matched his. “Then you’re my senior apprentice brother.”

The young man quickly protested, “You mustn’t address me that way—you’re already the honored Prince Ning.”

Li Chi said, “Never mind what I am—you’re still a fellow disciple.”

“My name is He Shanxue,” the young man said. “He Dengke is my elder brother. He’s the county magistrate of Gaogāng County. I’ve been here working for him.”

Truly unexpected—to encounter a classmate from the Four-Page Academy in a place like this.

He Shanxue was a few years older than Li Chi, and had been notably reserved during his time at the Academy. His family background was not distinguished, so he never stirred up trouble, and his temperament ran quiet.

After completing his studies, he had left Jizhou to return home, intending to use Gao Yuanzhang’s letter of recommendation to seek opportunities in the capital, Daxing.

But soon after arriving home, Prince Yu led troops to attack Anyang City. His family, worried about the risks of crossing the river at that time, urged him to delay—and the plan was shelved.

After that, the world kept shifting. The capital remained out of reach.

His elder brother He Dengke happened to be serving as magistrate in nearby Gaogāng County, and He Shanxue had come to join him.

“I apologize for the trouble just now,” He Shanxue said. “We thought it was raiders from Jieshi Prefecture.”

He looked at Li Chi. “Yes—the ones impersonating you. That fake.”

Li Chi smiled. “I’m here this time specifically to deal with that false Emperor of Men. That’s why I came to pay He Dengke a visit. Is he on the mountain?”

The hunter let out a sigh. “That would be me.”

—

An hour later. The main hall of the mountain stronghold.

He Dengke, a county magistrate nearing forty, swept aside his robe and bowed deeply before Li Chi.

Li Chi quickly raised him to his feet. “He Dengke—there’s no need for that.”

He Dengke said, “Your Highness Prince Ning, you are the Emperor-appointed lord of Jizhou. As an official under Jizhou’s jurisdiction, this is proper.”

Li Chi said, “By that reasoning, you shouldn’t be bowing to me at all—I’ve heard that the false version of me has also been granted a royal title by the Emperor. By that logic, if you met him, you’d have to kneel to him too.”

He Dengke paused, genuinely not having considered this.

Li Chi guided him down with a hand on his arm. “Let’s just sit and talk. You’re the elder brother of a fellow apprentice—which makes you my elder brother as well.”

He Shanxue said, “Brother, I told you—Prince Ning is different from the others. He’s a man of genuine character. Warm and kind, faithful and upright.”

Standing behind them, Dantai Yajing thought: see, this is what outsiders think…

Anyone who truly knew Li Chi would never say that.

He Dengke asked, “And this gentleman?”

Li Chi introduced him. “His name is Dantai Yajing. He’s the son of Liangzhou General Dantai Qi, and is currently serving with me in Jizhou.”

The moment He Dengke heard the name Dantai Qi, his expression shifted once again.

Dantai Qi’s reputation throughout Dachu was formidable—he was the guardian of the northwestern frontier. The Dantai clan, generations of nobles and military commanders who had held the western frontier for ages; simply invoking the family name commanded respect from anyone.

He Dengke quickly bowed toward Dantai Yajing. “I pay my respects to General Dantai.”

Dantai Yajing quickly reached out to steady him.

—

Another hour later, and Li Chi had learned the full story of Jieshi Prefecture from the He brothers.

This man, Chang Xing, was a merchant by origin—a shrewd man who had built considerable business throughout Jieshi Prefecture.

When uprisings began spreading across the land, Chang Xing realized that no matter how large his business grew, it would mean nothing if rebel forces overran him. His personal guard force, totaling two or three hundred men, couldn’t offer any meaningful resistance.

And so he made the most consequential decision of his life.

He spent lavishly to hire a collection of men with poor reputations in the martial world, and bribed officials in Jieshi Prefecture to hand over a large number of death-row convicts and serious offenders.

Within half a year, his forces had expanded to over a thousand men.

What followed revealed the ruthless streak in Chang Xing’s character.

Using the death-row convicts he had purchased from the authorities, he led an assault on a county seat, killing every official in the county administration.

Every coin he had spent buying men, he took back—but kept nothing for himself, distributing it all among the hardened fighters.

The fighters, having tasted the reward, began raiding other county seats.

Out of fear of being struck down by roving bandits and rebels—Chang Xing had built himself a force of roving bandits and rebels.

Over the next two years, Chang Xing’s forces snowballed. They reached over ten thousand men.

By this point, no one in Jieshi Prefecture could check him.

It was at this moment that he heard the legend of the Emperor of Men from Jizhou.

The day he heard it, Chang Xing knew: here was an extraordinary opportunity—a chance to rise even higher.

Having gathered all this information, Li Chi formed a new assessment of Chang Xing.

“Many people already know that Chang Xing is no Emperor of Men,” He Dengke said. “But a great many people’s interests are now bound up with his.”

He continued, “In the beginning, he dared to strike the county administration but not the local gentry families. Later, as his power grew, those families began deferring to him, quietly lending their support.”

“These people know full well he’s no Emperor of Men—yet they spare no effort in proclaiming that he is.”

He Dengke sighed. “They simply want their share of the spoils. Not long ago, the Emperor granted Chang Xing the title of Lord of the Northern Frontier and issued a decree ordering him to attack you…”

He paused. His expression darkened somewhat.

He was a legitimate court official, a local administrator. He had watched nearly all of this absurd spectacle unfold before his eyes—and the depth of his disappointment in the court, the Emperor, and Dachu itself would not be difficult to imagine.

“But Chang Xing only agreed on the surface. He knows perfectly well how difficult Jizhou is to attack. A man like him also understands the Emperor’s true intent.”

“Outwardly, he accepted the title of Lord of the Northern Frontier with theatrical enthusiasm and announced his intention to march on Jizhou.”

“But in reality, before the imperial envoy had even arrived, he was already constructing a great city.”

He Shanxue, standing to the side, said, “The administrative center of Jieshi Prefecture is a city called Dongye City—built into Dongye Mountain, its layout shaped by the terrain.”

“Over this past year, he has been building on a massive scale, constructing a ring of tall, solid walls around Dongye City.”

“Dongye City is large enough to garrison over a hundred thousand troops. It is no longer simply a mountain city—it is an enormous, impregnable fortress.”

On hearing this, Li Chi thought: Old Tang, oh Old Tang—I may not be able to make it back to Jizhou for the New Year as you specified.

When you’re all celebrating at home, please give a thought to this poor wretch who can’t return.

It’s all your fault.

A great fortress built into the mountain, with more than a hundred thousand defenders…

With the twelve thousand Ning Army troops Li Chi had brought, the chance of taking Dongye City by force was essentially zero.

Li Chi let out a long, slow breath.

He Shanxue, still energized, looked at Li Chi. “Your Highness, you’ve come to assault Dongye City, haven’t you? To eliminate those brutal and lawless rebels?”

Li Chi laughed sheepishly. “Yes…”

He Shanxue laughed aloud. “Excellent! Chang Xing and his lot have been asking for punishment for a long time. Their evil deeds are beyond counting. Now that you’ve come, their reckoning has arrived.”

Li Chi thought: Senior apprentice brother, when exactly did you come to trust me so completely?

He Shanxue asked with excitement, “Your Highness, how many troops did you bring?”

Li Chi smiled. “Ha ha ha ha ha… let’s not talk about that.”

He asked instead, “Is there anyone here who has been to Dongye City?”

He Shanxue said, “I have! I was just there, in fact—sneaked in to have a look not long ago.”

Li Chi asked, “In your estimation, how many men would it take to capture Dongye City?”

He Shanxue said, “I know the Ning Army is formidable—I’ve heard much of your reputation. But to breach walls like those, the minimum would be a hundred thousand troops.”

Li Chi nodded. He looked at Dantai Yajing.

Dantai Yajing let out a quiet sigh.

What Li Chi read in Dantai Yajing’s expression was… *turning back now might be the only way we make it home in time for the New Year.*

—