Another New Year had arrived. This time, far fewer people remained in Jizhou City to celebrate, and the household felt considerably quiet.

An empty, quiet New Year is always the ache that settles in the hearts of elders. Fortunately, both Changmei the Daoist and Gao Yuanzhang were no longer alone.

To have companionship in one’s old age — this, perhaps, was exactly what the saying described of those two.

Li Chi and Gao Xining had stayed behind to spend the New Year at Dragon’s Head Pass in the northeastern frontier. Tang Pidi and his troops were spending it in Yuzhou. And Xiahou Zuo’s family could not yet make the journey to Jizhou — they too remained at the northern frontier for the holiday.

In Yuzhou, Tang Pidi and his soldiers had no leisure for the New Year at all. The Heavenly Mandate Army of Yang Xuanji loomed just across the river, watching with predatory eyes.

Yang Xuanji’s senior general Chu Ping had led a hundred and fifty thousand troops in an assault on Yuzhou, only to suffer defeat and return in disgrace — which had caused Yang Xuanji’s plans to fall apart and forced him to pull back, turning his full attention to dealing with Tang Pidi.

Even so, Yang Xuanji was almost certain that Tang Pidi would not dare cross the river with a mere thirty to forty thousand men to give battle. But he still could not afford to let his guard down.

For this was Tang Pidi. Tang Pidi, who had never once suffered defeat. Tang Pidi, who — if you left him alone — was already thinking of ways to strike at you. Tang Pidi, who — even if you came at him — would still grant you the courtesy of preparing yourself to meet your end.

For the past two years, had anyone throughout the Central Plains failed to learn the name of Tang Pidi?

Even Prince Wu, locked in a standoff with Li Xionghu down in Yangzhou, had said: his only true rival was perhaps Tang Pidi alone.

—

On the banks of the Cangyun River.

Tang Pidi observed the enemy’s disposition on the southern bank. His expression was rather relaxed — for if he made no move to cross, the opposing forces absolutely would not dare come to him.

“General!”

A personal guard came running from a distance, his face lit with excitement.

“Reinforcements have arrived for us.”

Even Tang Pidi was momentarily taken aback. With Jizhou and Yuzhou both stretched across two fronts, where could reinforcements possibly come from?

He turned and asked: “Reinforcements from where?”

The guard said: “Scouts have just sent word back. From behind our main force, a large body of troops has appeared some dozens of li back — flying two sets of colors: one the Ning banner, the other the Soaring Eagle banner.”

At the words “Soaring Eagle banner,” Tang Pidi’s eyes widened.

“The Naran tribe?”

He immediately turned and mounted his horse, riding out to meet them.

Before long, halfway along the road, he met with sixty thousand iron cavalry from the steppe. Sixty thousand of the most battle-hardened light cavalry — warriors of the Naran tribe, rested and primed after years of careful preparation.

Because Li Chi had brought such stability to Jizhou, the herdsmen of the Naran grasslands had lived considerably better lives of late, and the tribe had grown with remarkable swiftness over the past few years.

The moment he caught sight of Tang Pidi, Borte Chinu burst into a grin and leapt from his horse in a single bound: “Elder Brother Tang Pidi!”

Tang Pidi dismounted just as quickly. The two ran toward each other — grassland men run warm, and Borte Chinu threw his arms around Tang Pidi in a firm embrace.

Several years had passed. Borte Chinu now looked to be a powerfully built man of the steppe — his jaw full of a thick beard, considerably heavier than before, built like a bull.

“How did you come here?”

Tang Pidi asked with delight.

“I received a letter from Elder Brother Ning King.”

Borte Chinu said: “Elder Brother Ning King said you were short of men here, and that the enemy had several hundred thousand troops — he was worried this battle would be far too difficult for you. So he sent someone to deliver a personal letter, saying if I was able to, he hoped I could come and help. Elder Brother Ning King was far too polite — he could have just called on me directly, no need for all that ceremony. So I immediately assembled sixty thousand Naran warriors and rode through the night to get here.”

As Borte Chinu spoke, Tang Pidi was also quietly reckoning back through the timeline. That would have been exactly when Li Chi was heading north to resist the Black Steel forces.

And yet what Li Chi was worried about was not himself — it was his good brother, Old Tang.

Li Chi had seen it: if Yang Xuanji wanted to march on Jingzhou, he first had to pin Old Tang in place, dead stop.

And Old Tang’s forces were stretched thin. Holding Yuzhou steady in the near term was one thing — but fighting a decisive battle against the Heavenly Mandate Army would be another matter entirely.

So he had written to Borte Chinu, asking him to ride to Tang Pidi’s aid.

Borte Chinu, who counted both Li Chi and Tang Pidi as elder brothers, had received the letter and immediately summoned the tribe’s cavalry from across the grasslands, gathered their arms and provisions, and ridden the entire distance from the Naran grasslands to the south of Yuzhou.

“Elder Brother Tang Pidi.”

Borte Chinu said: “Elder Brother Ning King wrote in his letter that someone might be trying to bully you while you were short on troops, and asked me to come help. Tell me — who’s been bullying you? I’ll go beat them!”

Tang Pidi laughed: “No one has bullied me exactly. It’s just that my capacity for doing the bullying has been somewhat insufficient. Though I do feel a little aggrieved about it.”

At this, Borte Chinu immediately broke into a booming laugh.

This was still the Elder Brother Tang Pidi he admired. Never the one to be bullied — and even when his capacity for dealing out punishment fell slightly short, he still felt wronged on his own behalf.

“Then we go bully them together!”

Borte Chinu laughed loudly: “Whatever force you were lacking — I’ll make it up for you!”

Tang Pidi laughed: “As it happens, I was just thinking about how to properly teach a lesson to the people who came looking for trouble with me. And then you arrived.”

He took Borte Chinu by the hand and walked back toward the main camp. With sixty thousand elite, battle-ready steppe cavalry arrived, Tang Pidi’s confidence grew solid immediately.

He did not say much. Outwardly, he still looked as though he were laughing and talking with ease — he was simply that capable of keeping his own emotions in check.

*Diudiu… you’re in such a hard spot yourself, and yet you’re still worried about something happening to me.*

“Hah…”

Tang Pidi let out a long, slow breath, and silently called out in his heart.

*Li Diudiu — wait for me. I’ll carve out a boundless expanse of territory and bring it to you!*

—

At the same time, at Dragon’s Head Pass.

Just like when he was small, Li Chi had a habit — when there was no one watching — of preferring to crouch somewhere elevated rather than to sit.

Others who saw it might laugh and call it rough country ways. But Old Master Zhang Zhenren, having caught sight of it a few times, was quietly moved.

Li Chi crouched atop the city wall and thought through his problems. He liked to think from high places. Perhaps it made him calmer.

Old Master Zhang Zhenren stood at a distance, chatting idly with the others, then turned his head, and could not help letting out a soft sound of admiration.

“Old Zhenren — are you thinking that our chief, even while crouching, is impressively striking?”

Yu Jiuling asked with a grin.

Old Master Zhang Zhenren shook his head: “The bearing of a tiger or a leopard.”

Yu Jiuling sighed: “Since Old Zhenren arrived, I feel the pressure mounting. The rice bowl I depend on is beginning to look alarmingly fragile.”

Dantai Yajing laughed: “Are you saying Old Zhenren’s flattery is better than yours?”

Yu Jiuling said: “I wouldn’t say better — but Old Zhenren carries an unusual standing. So the same flattery, coming from him, carries somewhat more force.”

Old Master Zhang Zhenren glanced at him sidelong: “None of you have looked carefully at how Li Chi crouches? In that position, no matter what sudden danger might arrive, he can respond immediately… You all see only that he prefers crouching to sitting and find it a bit rough and unrefined. But you don’t see that in facing danger, sitting is essentially the same as waiting to die. The time between being seated and getting to your feet is more than enough to cost you your life.”

“Moreover, you think he simply likes crouching at heights out of personal habit. You haven’t considered that from a height, with open space on all sides and an excellent field of view, nothing stirs within range without him noticing.”

Old Master Zhenren said: “That is the bearing of a tiger or a leopard.”

Yu Jiuling gave a firm nod: “I’ve learned something.”

Old Zhenren asked: “What have you learned?”

Yu Jiuling said: “I’ve learned that giving good flattery requires sound reasoning.”

Old Zhenren’s eyes narrowed. Yu Jiuling was already bracing to dodge — but when Old Zhenren struck, dodging was no use at all.

Old Zhenren feinted as though to slap Yu Jiuling’s face, drawing the reaction. The moment Yu Jiuling moved, Old Zhenren bent down, grabbed Yu Jiuling by the ankles, hoisted him upside down, then in one smooth motion whipped off his own waistband and strung Yu Jiuling — inverted — from the flagpole. The whole sequence flowed as cleanly as water.

Everyone watching Old Zhenren’s effortless technique unconsciously turned to look not at Yu Jiuling, but at Young Zhang Zhenren, Zhang Yuxu.

Young Zhang Zhenren gave a soft sigh: “You’ve all witnessed it now… I’d rather not revisit the memories. I’d really rather not.”

Old Zhang Zhenren looked at Yu Jiuling hanging there upside down, reached out and pried a brick from the city wall, and rubbed it between both hands. Dust crumbled and drifted down.

Yu Jiuling’s eyes went perfectly round.

Then Old Master Zhenren let his gaze drift meaningfully toward the vicinity of Yu Jiuling’s family inheritance. Yu Jiuling immediately felt a chill, and in vivid imagination experienced the sensation of said inheritance crumbling away in a similar fashion.

Old Zhenren gave Yu Jiuling a look that said *do you understand now?* Yu Jiuling nodded rapidly, his head bobbing like a pecking sparrow.

Old Zhenren set Yu Jiuling down. Yu Jiuling instinctively covered the relevant region with both hands.

Old Zhang Zhenren made a sound of mild contempt: “I’m not that crude. I was simply showing you…”

Old Zhang Zhenren opened both hands. The city brick had been rolled into a ball — quite a round one.

Old Zhang Zhenren continued: “I was simply showing you — anything can be rolled. I can roll two stones with my hands. I could replace yours with those, if you like.”

Yu Jiuling’s eyes went wide as saucers. Then his head — that small, quick head of his — began nodding even faster than before.

“Got it!”

At that very moment, a shout came from a distance. Li Chi called out — as though something had finally clicked into place. His whole expression visibly lightened.

Everyone turned to look at Li Chi. He leapt down from the battlement, hands clasped behind his back, and walked toward them. All eyes went to the smile on his face, and everyone knew: someone was likely about to have a very bad day.

“We’re going out to have a bit of fun after the New Year.”

Li Chi said this with a cheerful smile as he walked over.

The moment the word “fun” came up, Yu Jiuling forgot entirely about his recent ordeal and immediately asked: “Where are we going?”

Li Chi said: “I’ve always said — there’s a lot we can go without. The one thing we absolutely cannot go without is…”

He hadn’t even finished speaking when Yu Jiuling cut in: “We cannot take a loss.”

Li Chi made a sound of acknowledgment: “Qingzhou’s bandit chief, Gan Daode, came and bullied us. Naturally, we have to bully right back — take it straight to his doorstep.”

He smiled: “We’re going to Qingzhou for a visit.”

Dantai Yajing said: “But our forces are limited at the moment, and we’ve fought hard for so long. We need to rest and recover.”

Li Chi said: “It’s just us going for a visit. Not taking an army along for the visit. When I bring an army, it won’t be a visit anymore…”

He looked toward Old Master Zhang Zhenren: “The old elder cannot come along — please return to Jizhou.”

Old Master Zhang Zhenren sighed: “You’re not taking me along because you think I’m too old?”

Li Chi said: “The mountains are high and the road is long, a thousand li of travel, Elder…”

Old Master Zhang Zhenren said, with great seriousness: “I already have medicine.”

This left Li Chi and the others momentarily confused. What did being up in years have to do with *already having medicine*?

But the face of Tingwei Army Officer Zaoyun Jian went faintly pink. She turned her head and looked elsewhere, murmuring under her breath: *don’t look at me, don’t look at me.*

Old Master Zhang Zhenren looked over at Zaoyun Jian with evident appreciation: “I truly never imagined — it turns out the Tingwei Army really does have everything.”

Zaoyun Jian laughed awkwardly, genuinely at a loss for what to say.

Yu Jiuling made a sound of disapproval: “You Tingwei Army people really go too far — an old elder’s constitution can’t handle those medicines. Hand it over. I’m confiscating it.”

Zaoyun Jian: “Oh, come on…”

Old Master Zhang Zhenren laughed: “Qingzhou has a spirit isle. I’ve always wanted to go see it.”

Yu Jiuling: “Is it because the spirit isle has spirit maidens on it?”

Old Master Zhang Zhenren’s eyes narrowed: “Infinite Heavenly Venerable.”

Yu Jiuling was gone in a flash — faster than he had ever moved in his life.

—