Within these few northwestern counties, the Shuntian Cult had been spreading with extraordinary speed — especially after the Ning Army withdrew from Yanshan, with no force left to check its growth.

The cult had completely changed its approach. Rather than the earlier practice of bullying and coercing the common people, it had begun imitating Li Chi’s methods of winning popular support. Yet this imitation was surface-level only — the cult would never truly devote itself to nurturing the welfare of the people.

Even so, in times like these, the common folk were all the more easily deceived.

Even in a time of great peace and prosperity, if you first offer some tangible benefits and draw people in gradually, step by step, no small number of people will be taken in. The cult went even further: they proclaimed that upon joining, every new member would receive a free vial of the Hundred-Remedy Pill, capable of curing any illness whatsoever.

And if someone truly took the Hundred-Remedy Pill and their illness went uncured? That, the cult would say, was simply heaven’s will.

The cult’s people would proclaim that anyone who could not even be saved by the Hundred-Remedy Pill must have done something in their life that violated the Way of Heaven.

And who, over the course of a lifetime, had never done even one unkind thing?

Even if someone truly hadn’t, the cult would say: had the person perhaps cursed someone at some point? Or spoken ill wishes over another? Who could ever say for certain?

The Shuntian Cult’s military forces, though they could not be counted among the elite, had exactly replicated the pattern seen back in the days of the Eastern Mound Path — rapid expansion.

Their troops were composed of common villagers. This was precisely the reason Liu Ge had not yet launched a full offensive.

If it truly came to a battle, could Liu Ge’s disciplined and battle-hardened Ning Army not defeat a rabble of tens of thousands?

Liu Ge simply did not want to kill ordinary people — both because he could not bring himself to do it, and because he feared it would tarnish Prince Ning’s reputation.

Among all the Shuntian Cult’s forces, there was only one unit that could genuinely fight: the army that Ekema had trained and drilled.

This force numbered sixteen thousand men and was encamped roughly thirty to forty li west of Dingxian County.

Cross the river, walk another twenty-odd li, and the Shuntian Army’s camp would come into view.

Cheng Wujie and the others hadn’t planned to approach with any particular stealth — Ekema was their closest friend, and they felt there was no need for that.

But after crossing the river, they had barely walked a few li before the Shuntian Army’s scouts spotted them.

Before long, a mounted patrol of over a hundred riders arrived and seized all three of them, binding their arms tightly.

Cheng Wujie swore a blue streak the entire time, repeating over and over that he was Ekema’s sworn brother — but the mounted scouts naturally refused to believe him.

And even if they had believed him, bound up they would remain.

**One hour later. The Shuntian Army camp.**

Ekema came running in from outside at a quick pace. The moment he stepped through the door and saw the three bound men, his eyes lit up with genuine delight.

“How did you get here?!”

Ekema called out in joyful surprise, then immediately ordered, “These are my fellow villagers and closest friends — brothers I grew up with! Untie them at once!”

His subordinates rushed over and freed Cheng Wujie and the others.

“I told you!”

Xiao Liu went straight over and bumped Ekema hard with his shoulder. “Our good brother — how could he treat us like this?”

The shoulder-bump landed, and Ekema instinctively glanced at his soldiers.

A faint shadow passed over his face. Then he issued an order: “All of you — out. No one enters without my command. Go prepare good wine and good food. I intend to drink deeply with my brothers.”

Shortly, the wine and food were brought in.

Xiao Liu grinned and said, “Look at you, you scoundrel — you’ve actually made it to Great General.”

Ekema smiled, then turned to look back at the door behind him.

He rose, walked over, and pulled the door shut. Then, smiling back at Xiao Liu, he said, “Now that I’m already a Great General, if you’re going to keep manhandling me like that, it’s going to look bad in front of my men.”

Xiao Liu pouted. “You’re putting on airs now? Since when can’t we rough-and-tumble with each other?”

Ekema smiled and shook his head.

He looked at Cheng Wujie and asked, “Old Boss Cheng, have you all come to join my side?”

Cheng Wujie was just about to speak when the more perceptive Xiao Jiu nudged Cheng Wujie’s foot under the table.

Taking advantage of Cheng Wujie’s momentary pause, Xiao Jiu smiled and said, “The three of us were planning to go out and seek our fortune a bit. We had no idea you had already made Great General — we just happened to hear about it along the way and came to find you. As for joining up — that honestly hadn’t been the plan. We just missed you terribly.”

Ekema frowned. He looked at Xiao Jiu and asked, “And how exactly did you come to hear that I had become Great General?”

Xiao Jiu froze.

Cheng Wujie laughed heartily and said, “Who doesn’t know by now that you’re a Great General? Everyone we passed on the road was talking about it.”

Ekema’s eyes flickered for just a moment, and then he laughed softly. “What does any of that matter? Come — let’s drink.”

But after just those few exchanges, something in the atmosphere had shifted and soured slightly.

Though Ekema kept pressing drinks upon them, the occasional glances Xiao Liu and Xiao Jiu exchanged had taken on a guarded edge.

When the moment seemed right, Xiao Jiu smiled and said, “I truly cannot drink another drop — any more and I’ll be crawling out of here. Old Boss Cheng, we three still have a road ahead of us. We really cannot keep drinking.”

“Leaving?”

Ekema asked, “Didn’t you come to find me? Why the sudden rush to go?”

Xiao Jiu said, “As I already told you — we didn’t come specifically to find you. We are setting out to seek our fortunes.”

Ekema said, “Even if you didn’t come specifically for me, we haven’t seen each other in years. If you leave just like this, don’t you think that’s a bit much?”

Xiao Jiu feigned displeasure. “The way you’re talking — pushing and pressing like this — you’re a completely different person from before.”

Ekema forced a thin smile.

He stopped engaging with Xiao Jiu and looked instead at Xiao Liu, who was slumped forward on the table, playing drunk.

So Ekema’s gaze moved to Cheng Wujie’s face — and at that, Xiao Jiu’s heart seized.

He knew perfectly well what Cheng Wujie was like: blunt and straightforward, incapable of hiding things. Even sober he might just blurt everything out — drunk made it all the worse.

Xiao Jiu had already given Cheng Wujie a nudge under the table to warn him. Now he wanted to nudge him again, but just as he stretched out his foot, Ekema suddenly stood and came around behind Xiao Jiu, placing both hands on Xiao Jiu’s shoulders.

He smiled and said, “Look at Xiao Liu over there — still just as useless as ever, falling asleep the moment he drinks a little too much.”

Xiao Jiu gave an awkward laugh. “Yeah… he’s always been like that…”

Ekema looked at Cheng Wujie. “Isn’t that right, Old Boss Cheng?”

Cheng Wujie laughed stupidly. “True, true — that’s always been his way, drinks too much and then goes out cold every time…”

Xiao Jiu watched Cheng Wujie with anxious eyes — and then Cheng Wujie pitched forward and crashed off his seat, landing flat on his back with arms and legs splayed, and within moments was snoring loudly.

Inside, Xiao Jiu quietly exhaled.

He laughed and said, “And Cheng Wujie was just criticizing Xiao Liu — look at him now…”

Before he could finish the sentence, a sudden pain flared in his shoulder.

Ekema’s hands had tightened hard around it. He leaned down close to Xiao Jiu’s ear and murmured, “Those two, drunk or not — you seem to be remarkably clear-headed?”

Xiao Jiu quickly said, “Not at all — I drank more than either of them. I’m barely holding together myself.”

“Is that so?”

Ekema said, “You said just now that you want to go seek your fortune — where are you planning to go?”

“The Western Regions!”

Xiao Jiu answered immediately. “We agreed we’d head to the Western Regions and try our hand at trade, see if we can make some money.”

“The Western Regions? You came with nothing. What kind of trade could you possibly do in the Western Regions?”

Ekema’s hand shifted, coming to rest at Xiao Jiu’s throat.

Xiao Jiu’s body gave an involuntary shiver. To conceal it, he let out a sneeze at once.

Ekema said, “Why do you insist on leaving? We are brothers — we grew up together. If you all stayed and helped me, then no matter what I achieve in the future, you will each have your share. Silver, women — I can give you all of that.”

Xiao Jiu shook his head. “That won’t do at all — this was something we all agreed on together. I can’t just decide on my own. Let Cheng Wujie and Xiao Liu sober up first and then we’ll talk.”

“That’s fair.”

Ekema smiled and said, “Since everyone’s had too much to drink, you can’t set off right away anyway. How about this — stay for a couple of days. There’s no rush with the trade.”

Before Xiao Jiu could say a word, Ekema called out, “Bring my three brothers to their quarters.”

Shortly after, soldiers came in and carried Cheng Wujie and Xiao Liu out.

Ekema smiled warmly and said, “You’re still in good shape — do me a favor and look after them. I have military matters to attend to and cannot keep you company for now. We’ll carry on drinking tonight.”

With that, both hands left Xiao Jiu’s throat and came down hard in a firm clap on his shoulders.

Ekema turned and strode out of the room, issuing orders as he walked: “My three brothers need their rest — post extra men at the door. No one is to disturb them. If I find out their sleep was interrupted, I’ll have you all dragged out and executed.”

“Yes, sir!”

A chorus of soldiers acknowledged the order.

Xiao Jiu was led to the resting quarters. He glanced at those two lumps that had been tossed onto the earthen sleeping platform and let out a slow, quiet breath.

Just now, he had realized he no longer recognized Ekema.

The person was the same. The face was the same. The voice was the same.

But Ekema’s eyes — those eyes filled him with fear.

Thinking back on everything General Liu Ge had told them, Xiao Jiu felt a chill ripple through him, all the way up his spine and deep into his bones.

“Have they all gone?”

Just then, Cheng Wujie lowered his voice and asked.

The sound made Xiao Jiu jump — he had assumed Cheng Wujie and Xiao Liu were truly asleep.

Xiao Jiu got up, went to the window, and peered carefully outside. The doorway was lined with soldiers.

Perhaps they truly were trying not to disturb the sleepers, because none of them had positioned themselves too close to the room.

He came back and said in the lowest possible voice, “That fellow’s gone. There are people everywhere outside. Keep your voices down as much as you can.”

Cheng Wujie slowly sat upright, then let out a long sigh.

Xiao Jiu asked him, “You weren’t actually drunk?”

Cheng Wujie shook his head. “No. I was afraid I might say too much if I kept talking, so I played drunk. Pretty sharp of me, right?”

Before he’d finished, Xiao Liu sat up as well, rolling his neck with a crack.

He looked at Cheng Wujie and said, “So you were faking too.”

Cheng Wujie said, “I actually thought you were real…”

Xiao Liu sighed. “I don’t know why, but I’m scared of him. Not just a little scared — I’m very scared. Back when we were in the village, I never once felt anything like this.”

Xiao Jiu sighed. “So you two were both scoundrels the whole time.”

Xiao Liu said, “You two faked being drunk this time — next time it’s your turn to fake. Doesn’t that make us even?”

Xiao Jiu shook his head helplessly. “I think we ought to figure out a way to leave as soon as possible. Ekema’s eyes truly are frightening.”

Cheng Wujie said, “Let’s escape tonight. On the way in, I made sure to study their defensive layout. The defenses here aren’t nearly as tight as the Ning Army’s main camp back at Dingxian County. There must be an opportunity.”

Xiao Jiu nodded. “Then let’s all agree — the two of you owe me one.”

Xiao Liu laughed. “We owe you, we owe you. Next time you get to fake to your heart’s content — you can fake being dead for all I care.”

Cheng Wujie said, “Since we can’t go anywhere right now, with all those guards outside, we might as well actually get some sleep.”

Xiao Jiu said, “True enough. Let’s go ahead and get a proper sleep — the man won’t suspect us as much that way.”

Xiao Liu said, “The two of you are both going to sleep… sigh, you’re really not good people.”

The three of them looked at each other, and then all broke into quiet laughter.

Three fellows cut from the same cloth — all roughly equally carefree and thick-skinned.

They lay there, and after a moment Xiao Liu asked, “Are you two asleep? That was fake, wasn’t it?”

The other two couldn’t hold it in — both let out a laugh.

And had to keep it silent.

“If we just leave like this, won’t we be missing out? He’s our brother, after all — shouldn’t we at least get something out of it?”

Xiao Liu said, “When he comes back, we’ll ask him for something. That way he’ll suspect us less too.”

“Ask for what?”

“I say money.”

“That’s so common. I say, if we’re asking for something, ask for something exciting — something smooth and soft, gleaming white and translucent…”

Xiao Liu swallowed, pressing his lips together with a grin. “Jade. I’ve never actually seen a piece of jade in my entire life.”

“For crying out loud.”

Xiao Jiu curled his lip. “I had a whole feeling building up, and then you say jade.”

He looked at Cheng Wujie. “Old Boss Cheng, isn’t he infuriating?”

Cheng Wujie sighed. “If a storyteller told it this way, he’d get beaten to death on the spot.”

—