The Ning Army did not let its guard down simply because the Black Wu forces had withdrawn — they maintained sufficient vigilance for the next half-month.

Li Chi knew he had to leave Beishan Pass. Inside Jizhou, rebel forces were still running rampant. He had held the gates against the foreign enemy; now he had to go and stamp out the enemy within.

In the short term, the Black Wu people could not possibly mount another large-scale southward push, which meant new recruits could be called up to defend Beishan Pass. Li Chi decided it was time to make good on the promise he had given to every soldier under his command.

But that decision left more than a few of his generals uneasy.

Xiahou Zuo looked at Li Chi, sensing that the other commanders found it hard to say what needed to be said — so it fell to him.

“If we send all the soldiers home to rest, then…”

He said, his voice carrying a note of worry: “What force do we have left to fight the Qingzhou rebel army? We just received a military report — the Qingzhou rebels have already left Jizhou, and by the direction they’re heading, they’re making for Longtou Pass. Seven or eight chances in ten, they plan to link up with the Shanhai Army rebels in a pincer attack on Longtou Pass from inside and out. If we stand the men down right now, we’ll have no way to go to Brother Zhuang’s aid in time.”

Li Chi gave a quiet sound of acknowledgment. “I know. But a promise made must be kept. These are the rules of military discipline I set, the rules of conduct I laid down. No matter what capacity I spoke those words in — as Prince Ning or as a commanding general — to go back on one’s word would be a betrayal of every soldier and officer under this banner.”

Xiahou Zuo moved to argue further. Li Chi shook his head.

“They have fought long enough. Every one of them is completely spent. If I march them another thousand li to Longtou Pass to fight again, that is not a battle — that is me leading them to their deaths.”

The words pressed Xiahou Zuo’s protest back down his throat.

Everyone fell into silence, because Li Chi was right.

Even if Li Chi did lead this Ning Army — soldiers who had already been locked in grinding battle with the Black Wu forces for months — all the way to Longtou Pass, could they win?

Setting aside the Shanhai Army on the far side of Longtou Pass, just the Qingzhou rebel forces numbered three hundred thousand strong. And this was nothing like fighting the Black Wu — fighting the Black Wu had been a static defense, with the city walls and passes to anchor them. Fighting the Qingzhou Army would be open-field battle on flat plains.

Soldiers already driven to the very edge of exhaustion, marching thousands more li to Longtou Pass… one could easily imagine what would await them against three hundred thousand rebel troops.

Even accounting for the Qingzhou rebels being far inferior in fighting ability compared to the Black Wu, they would be more than enough to annihilate whatever Li Chi brought.

“Leave it to me.”

Li Chi said: “In the meantime, there are other tasks for all of you. Xiahou — go and call up the new recruits who were assembled. These are the troops Commissioner Lian brought into Jizhou. They came with willing hearts. Draw from among them, and putting together a force of over ten thousand men is no problem. You will train them personally and keep them garrisoned at Beishan Pass.”

Xiahou Zuo nodded. “Understood. I’ll see to it.”

Li Chi continued: “One more thing. Do not mention the situation at Longtou Pass to any of the men. Let them go home and rest easy.”

Xiahou Zuo gave a sound of assent.

Li Chi turned to Gao Xining. “You’re going back to Jizhou as well.”

Gao Xining looked at him without saying a word. The expression on her face was already the most resolute of answers.

Under her gaze, Li Chi felt his position crumble. He knew there was no moving her.

Gao Xining said, her voice firm: “Do not think of me only as your woman. I am also the Chief Tingwei of the Tingwei Army. Wherever Prince Ning goes, the Tingwei Army must follow.”

Li Chi could only relent.

“Dantai.”

Li Chi turned to Dantai Qi. “I have an important task for you.”

Dantai Qi straightened. “Give your orders.”

Li Chi said: “Ride back to Jizhou as fast as you can. Once you’re there, consult with Master Yan. Do everything possible to raise volunteer militias throughout Jizhou. Of the hundred and fifty thousand men who came from Yuzhou — any who are willing to stay, keep them. But be selective: only able-bodied young men. Once they’re organized, no matter how many you have, lead that force to Longtou Pass.”

Dantai Qi knew the situation was urgent, and he did not hesitate for a moment. “Understood. I’ll pack my things and depart immediately.”

Li Chi clapped a hand on Dantai Qi’s shoulder. “I’m sorry for the trouble.”

Dantai Qi replied: “What trouble? Just riding back and forth. Could that possibly be harder than fighting the Black Wu?”

Li Chi smiled slightly. “The Qingzhou rebels may look formidable in number, but they won’t be harder to fight than the Black Wu. I’ll set out for Longtou Pass ahead of you — hopefully I can get there before the rebels do.”

He clasped his hands to the assembled commanders: “We’ve dealt with the Black Wu’s southward invasion. Now we have to deal with the rebels. Once that’s done, Jizhou will have at least several years of peace and stability. So we have to give it one more fight.”

Everyone clasped their hands in return and replied in unison: “We await Prince Ning’s command!”

—

At the same moment, in Yanzhou.

Outside Longtou Pass, roughly seven or eight li from the Shanhai Army’s main camp, stood a small village — a village that no longer had any inhabitants.

Most of it had been burned to the ground. The charred ruins of its houses gave off a desolate chill, and the remains of slaughtered villagers could still be seen.

Such carnage was the Shanhai Army’s doing — specifically, the work of the one their ranks called the Tsunami King, Mei Yan.

Finding camp life tedious, he led his personal guard out every day to prey upon civilians. The nearby villages had already been ravaged thoroughly, so he began ranging farther afield. Wherever he went, man and beast alike suffered.

A column of several dozen riders entered the small village. The sight before them left Young Lord Cao Lie’s face drained of color.

The anguish he felt in that moment was something no one else could comprehend.

Cao Lie had known about the Mountain River Seal since childhood. His father had always been grooming him as his sole successor.

And so, from a very early age, Cao Lie had held firm to one conviction: the Mountain River Seal posed no real threat to the Central Plains — was not a plague upon it.

What the Mountain River Seal sought was profit. And in order to sustain that profit, it naturally had every reason to preserve the stability of the Central Plains. His father had told him all of this with his own mouth when Cao Lie was still young.

His father had once said with pride that the Mountain River Seal had in fact played no small part in keeping the Central Plains secure.

And because of this, even as Cao Lie grew old enough to know better, he had still held onto the belief that the Mountain River Seal had in some sense always been playing the role of protector of the Central Plains.

But now, he knew he could no longer deceive himself.

Mu Fengliu was using the Mountain River Seal’s power and influence — very possibly to open the door for the Black Wu to march into the Central Plains. Once the Black Wu forces crossed the passes, that would be a true extinction-level catastrophe for the people of the Central Plains.

The rebel armies tearing apart the land were nothing — nothing — compared to the Black Wu.

The Black Wu’s armies could plow through the entire Central Plains the way a farmer plows his fields.

Because the Black Wu knew perfectly well that if they were to seize the Central Plains and consolidate their rule, the fastest and surest method was to kill until every person in the Central Plains was too terrified to resist.

What the rebel armies had done — how could any of it compare to the wholesale massacre and annihilation the Black Wu would surely carry out?

This was why Cao Lie was in such anguish.

The Mountain River Seal had become the greatest threat to the Central Plains. This was something that he, the Young Lord of the Mountain River Seal, could not accept.

There was no justification left. No excuse. Nothing that could let Cao Lie keep deceiving himself.

“Young Lord…”

One of his subordinates called out softly, evidently reading the change in his expression.

Cao Lie slowly exhaled and turned to give his men their orders.

“Find somewhere to make camp. Send people to infiltrate the Shanhai Army’s ranks by whatever means necessary. Dig up Mu Fengliu’s location for me.”

He gave the order, then wheeled his horse and turned back.

A short distance on, Cao Lie’s horse came to a halt. He did not turn around. His voice, low and heavy, came one last instruction: “Do what you can to bury the bodies of the dead here without leaving any trace…”

A subordinate sighed: “All of this is Mei Yan’s doing.”

Cao Lie shook his head. “It’s mine.”

With those two words, he spurred his horse forward.

His subordinates dispatched men to see to the burial — which was no small risk. If the Shanhai Army’s people discovered that the bodies had been buried, they might immediately send forces to search out whoever had done it.

At present, the escort force Cao Lie had with him was not large. Even if every man was a skilled fighter, they could not withstand a full military encirclement.

In the past, Cao Lie would never have given such an order — it was plainly not rational.

Half a day later, in the mountains roughly twenty li from the Shanhai Army’s camp, Cao Lie’s group stopped to make camp.

Beyond Longtou Pass lay a range of mountains. The pass itself sat at the mouth of the range: to the west the terrain gradually leveled off; to the east, mountains stretched unbroken in every direction.

This position was well-concealed and not easily detected — a site Cao Lie had selected himself.

He found a high point and stood there, training a telescoping lens on the Shanhai Army’s camp below. He could make out Shanhai Army soldiers moving back and forth through the encampment at the foot of the mountains.

“No discipline at all.”

Cao Lie murmured almost to himself: “Mu Fengliu is deep and calculating — unsurpassed in scheming. But he is not a man who knows how to lead troops. The man who truly knows how to lead troops in the Shanhai Army is Hu Buyu. But the way the rebel forces are scattered and disorganized now — clearly Hu Buyu has no real power.”

He turned to his subordinates: “Any news yet on the man I asked you to find?”

A subordinate replied: “There is. We’ve located him.”

Cao Lie gave a sound of acknowledgment and looked back toward the Shanhai Army’s camp.

“Mu Fengliu… you want to borrow my strength to break the Central Plains. Then let me show you — not all of the Mountain River Seal’s strength is yours to take.”

—

About a hundred li from this place, in an unremarkable little village, in an unremarkable ordinary house.

The men Cao Lie had sent stood in the courtyard, none of them daring to move carelessly. Their bearing was exceptionally deferential.

Inside that courtyard, there was an unremarkable-looking middle-aged man, mending a broken toy wooden horse.

Inside the house, his wife watched the visitors with a tense expression, holding a little girl who looked no more than two or three years old in her arms.

She had always known this tranquil life would be broken one day. But she had no power to stop it.

The middle-aged man — who had nothing particularly remarkable about his appearance — finished mending the little toy horse. A look of quiet satisfaction crossed his face.

He smiled, held the wooden horse up so his wife and child inside could see it. The little girl broke into laughter immediately and reached out her arms to her father.

The middle-aged man turned a calm gaze on Cao Lie’s subordinates and said evenly: “None of you are a match for me. I will not kill you. Do not come here to disturb me again.”

One of them lowered himself in a bow. “Blade Emperor, sir — this time it is truly different… Our Young Lord has run into difficulty and is asking for Blade Emperor’s help. As for Blade Emperor’s retirement from the Seal — it was only because the Young Lord once pleaded with the Gate Master on your behalf, and only then was it permitted…”

He did not dare say more, and lowered his head even deeper. “There is a traitor inside the Mountain River Seal. He is in collusion with the Black Wu, trying to bring them south. A rebel army may be about to besiege Longtou Pass. The traitor has also arranged for the Tyrant Blade to be sent to assassinate Longtou Pass’s commanding general, Zhuang Wudi. If that happens…”

He had not yet finished speaking when the middle-aged man’s brow furrowed slightly. “You need not say more.”

Those men dared not say another word.

The middle-aged man walked into the house with the small wooden horse, took the child from his wife’s arms, and kissed her on the cheek.

His wife looked at him. Slowly, she shook her head.

The middle-aged man smiled gently. “You know.”

His wife’s eyes glistened with tears threatening to fall. She looked at her husband for a long time, then slowly nodded. “I know.”

The middle-aged man said: “I’ll go and come right back. Trust me.”

Then he looked toward the door. “If it had been anyone other than the Young Lord who sent people to find me — no matter who came — I would kill them. But this time… he must have truly run out of options before he would come looking for me.”

He passed the child to his wife, smiled at her with warmth, and said: “It is only a few days’ wait. When I come back, I’ll bring new clothes for the two of you.”

With that, he stepped outside. “Let’s go.”

Cao Lie’s subordinates were overjoyed. They bowed quickly. “Many thanks, Blade Emperor. Regarding the target — please ask me, and I will give you every detail.”

The middle-aged man walked on, his voice unhurried and even. “Name.”

Cao Lie’s subordinate answered: “Mu Fengliu.”

The middle-aged man gave a quiet sound of acknowledgment and continued forward.

Cao Lie’s subordinate hastened to ask: “Is there anything else Blade Emperor wishes to know?”

The middle-aged man said: “That is enough.”

—