Li Chi’s group had not been able to withdraw from the Blue Province King’s royal manor according to plan, and so naturally the rest of the itinerary would have been impossible to follow either — all because of the person who had suddenly appeared.

Gan Daode’s strategist Xu Ru stepped out from the darkness, blocking the path ahead of Li Chi’s group, and raised a hand toward Li Chi, calling out: “Prince Ning.”

Had it not been for that “Prince Ning,” Li Chi might well have already struck out in the urgency of the situation.

That “Prince Ning” — under the circumstances of that night, in that kind of situation — had truly startled Li Chi. It had startled everyone else as well.

“Who exactly are you?”

Li Chi immediately asked.

“Come with me first. We’ll talk on the way.”

Xu Ru answered, then turned and walked away.

Li Chi’s group exchanged glances, and actually followed. Yu Jiuling and the others were somewhat hesitant, but Li Chi appeared to have not the slightest hesitation, striding forward, so Yu Jiuling and the others had no choice but to follow.

Xu Ru led the way in front. They quickly arrived at a secluded spot in the rear courtyard. Xu Ru pointed at a corner: “Clothes are over there. Change first.”

Li Chi went over first to look. Hidden there was a set of Slayer King Army uniforms.

“There’s no time to explain everything. I am not your enemy — at least not right now. As for whether I’m your enemy in the future, that’s not for me to decide.”

Xu Ru said: “After changing clothes, I’ll take you back to where you just were. If you try to leave the city tonight, you’ll certainly die. Yesterday, in secret, Gan Daode mobilized fifty thousand troops to stand guard outside the city — very few people know of this. Fortunately, I am one of them. So if you try to leave tonight, it’s certain death.”

Li Chi’s group again exchanged glances. Then Li Chi nodded: “Change clothes first, then we’ll see.”

Everyone moved swiftly, stripping off their outer garments and donning the Slayer King Army uniforms.

“All of you, follow behind me.”

Xu Ru gave the instruction, then led them back the way they had come.

All along the way they encountered many Slayer King Army personnel — generals and soldiers alike — and no one suspected Xu Ru. Xu Ru also appeared completely natural, issuing instructions to those commanding officers as they went. And so they made their way all the way back to the small courtyard where Gan Daode had been assassinated.

The courtyard at this point was under heavy guard. Xu Ru looked at one of the commanding generals and gave an order: “General Gao, take your men and surround the entire manor. Leave this place to me.”

The general surnamed Gao acknowledged the order and withdrew with his troops.

At this moment, the small courtyard held only Li Chi’s group, Xu Ru, and the bodies on the ground.

Yuan Jianli was nowhere to be seen. It was unclear whether he had fought his way out or broken through to somewhere else.

No sounds of battle were coming from nearby — perhaps he had truly made it out of this rear courtyard.

The fact that Yuan Jianli could leave this rear courtyard under those conditions was itself enough to demonstrate the man’s formidable strength. Had he not been injured from his earlier exchange with Li Chi, he might have gotten out even faster.

“Shortly, I’ll lead you out of the royal manor, and then to my quarters about three li from here where you can stay first. Then I’ll find an opportunity to send you out of the city, after which you can leave.”

Xu Ru slowly let out a breath, looked around to confirm no one would suspect them, then added: “I can give a brief explanation now. The details can wait until after we leave the manor.”

“First.”

He looked at Li Chi: “I surmised you were Prince Ning. I’ve never met you in person, but I believe my surmise is very accurate.”

Li Chi gave no expression of confirmation or denial.

“Second. Does Prince Ning truly believe Gan Daode was so easy to kill?”

Xu Ru smiled lightly, with a trace of self-satisfaction crossing his face.

“Gan Daode’s bladework and martial ability — within the Slayer King’s army, he is nearly without equal. Prince Ning severed Gan Daode’s head with a single stroke just now. Does that not seem too easy?”

Li Chi replied this time: “You put something in his wine?”

Xu Ru acknowledged: “That’s right.”

He looked around again and stood: “Stay here. Under no circumstances leave on your own.”

Then he spoke loudly: “Guard His Highness’s body well. Allow no one to approach at will!”

After this, he walked briskly to the doorway. The soldiers outside the door bowed upon seeing him. He called out again: “No one is to enter this courtyard. I have already assigned men to protect His Highness’s body securely. Stand guard outside the courtyard.”

Having said this, he quickened his pace and disappeared into the darkness.

Yu Jiuling lowered his voice and said to Li Chi: “Boss, do we really just follow his word? What if he’s gone to gather people? We won’t be able to get away.”

Li Chi said: “He has no need to be so elaborate. If he had calculated our withdrawal route, he only needed to station men there to block us. Why go to the trouble of bringing us back here?”

Yu Jiuling thought about it — that did seem right.

Gui Yuanshu said: “Who on earth is this person…”

He couldn’t help but recall that just a short while earlier, he and Xu Ru had been accusing each other in front of Gan Daode.

Xu Ru had said he was the spy from outside, Xu Ru had said Gui Yuanshu was the spy from within, and Gan Daode had said: is this really all you two can manage? You can’t catch the outsider, so you accuse each other of being traitors. You’re supposedly my right arm and left arm — can’t you show a bit more unity?

Thinking back on it now, that was rather ironic.

Both of them — left arm and right arm — and both actually spies.

Looking at it that way, it was remarkable that Gan Daode had survived as long as he did.

Li Chi said: “Whatever his origins, at the very least when it came to killing Gan Daode, he genuinely helped. When I moved, I could already see something was off with Gan Daode — that was absolutely not what someone who’d drunk too much wine looks like. He was most likely drugged.”

Gui Yuanshu thought back again: before the evening banquet began, Xu Ru had indeed said to Gan Daode — Your Highness, you may only eat the food before you, and only drink the wine I give you.

“Let’s wait and see.”

Dantai Yanjing said: “Though we don’t know who he belongs to, at the very least the objective was aligned. Perhaps it won’t be long before we understand.”

He paused, then looked at Li Chi: “That Yuan Jianli…”

Li Chi said: “Frighteningly strong. Though I didn’t lose exactly, it wouldn’t be possible for me to truly win against him either. He simply hasn’t fought as many battles as I have. If we’re speaking purely of strength, he far surpasses me.”

Then he smiled: “So I really am quite remarkable.”

—

Xu Ru had to leave — otherwise staying in one place too long would seem somewhat suspicious.

With such a tremendous upheaval having occurred, he naturally had to go make many arrangements and hold council with the commanding generals of the Slayer King’s army.

It was nearly dawn before Xu Ru returned — timing that he had likely calculated as well, being the darkest moment just before daybreak.

“Follow me.”

Xu Ru gave Li Chi’s group the instruction, then looked toward a nearby general: “Leave His Highness’s body in your custody. Remember — do not transfer it to anyone else under any circumstances. Otherwise you’ll lose your advantage.”

That man quickly acknowledged the order, and appeared to be deeply grateful to Xu Ru.

Xu Ru led Li Chi’s group out of the Blue Province King’s royal manor in open sight, then returned to his residence approximately three li away.

It was a compound that didn’t appear particularly distinguished from the outside. The courtyard inside was very clean, with no flowers or trees, the ground all paved in stone slabs.

“You can set your minds at ease now that we’re here.”

Xu Ru spoke as he walked: “Last night I made arrangements through the night, meeting person after person, sowing discord among the Slayer King’s commanding officers. It won’t be long before the Slayer King’s army fractures and they start fighting among themselves.”

After entering the room, Xu Ru sat down — evidently genuinely exhausted. Sitting down, he involuntarily let out a long breath.

A young book-boy came quickly to brew tea, pouring a cup for each of them.

Xu Ru instructed him: “Go prepare some breakfast. Don’t go out to buy it — cook at home as usual.”

Once the book-boy had left, Li Chi cupped his fists and asked: “Who exactly are you, sir?”

Xu Ru smiled: “Before answering Prince Ning’s question, I’d like to ask Prince Ning to answer a question for me first… How does Prince Ning think I surmised that you were Prince Ning?”

Li Chi had truly no way of guessing. He was no god who could pinch his fingers together and calculate all causes and effects.

Besides, if he were that divine, he’d just pinch Gan Daode to death directly.

Seeing Li Chi not answer, Xu Ru smiled again and asked: “Then what does Prince Ning think — among all the opponents in this world who understand Prince Ning best, who are they?”

Li Chi sat and thought carefully.

The opponents who understood him best?

At this moment, Gui Yuanshu suddenly thought of something. He looked at Li Chi and said: “When I arrived at Wulai City, knowing that the Slayer King’s army had gone to Jizhou and would certainly slaughter the Jizhou people, bringing great calamity upon them, I deduced that you would certainly come personally to Wulai City to kill Gan Daode… I could deduce it. Who else could deduce it?”

Hearing this, Li Chi involuntarily let out a long breath.

“Ah…”

He looked at Xu Ru: “Before I headed south, he had already sent someone to bring you a letter?”

Xu Ru, knowing Prince Ning had surmised correctly, nodded: “Before the Young Master left Dragon’s Head Pass, he had already deduced that Prince Ning would personally come to Wulai City to seek revenge. His letter said: the things other people don’t dare do in this world, Prince Ning will certainly dare to do.”

The actual words in the letter had been: *The foolhardy things in this world that others don’t dare do, Li Chi just does them.*

Li Chi took another deep breath, his feelings complex.

When he arrived at Dragon’s Head Pass, Zhuang Wudi told him Cao Lie had appeared there, and had left some gifts for Li Chi.

What had been in that box was the large volume of shadow financial operations — money houses and gambling dens — that Mu Fengliu had controlled, along with the locations of several silver caches.

It must be said that Cao Lie being able to leave these things for Li Chi was something Li Chi had never anticipated.

“Prince Ning.”

Xu Ru rose and went into the inner room. Shortly he returned with a letter envelope in hand.

He presented the envelope with both hands to Li Chi: “The Young Master sent me two letters in total. One letter was for me — I read it and have already burned it. The other letter is for you, Prince Ning.”

Li Chi took the envelope and offered a word of thanks.

He took out the letter and unfolded it to read. The letter was not very long, yet as he read it, Li Chi’s feelings grew extraordinarily complex.

*There are many ways to seek revenge in this world, but I know the stronger the method, the less effective it is on you.*

*I’ve been thinking all along about what I could do to make you feel bad. Thought it over and over, and there’s only one scheme that can make you feel bad forever.*

*You lack money. I’ve left you a large sum of silver at Dragon’s Head Pass. You couldn’t possibly not use it — because you urgently need vast sums of silver to comfort the people and expand your armies.*

*A person like you — you wouldn’t care where the money came from. As long as it’s put to the most appropriate use, you’ll use it.*

*I won’t kill you. That would be a very troublesome thing, and there’s a good chance I’d end up losing my own life in the attempt. There are still so many beautiful landscapes in this world I haven’t visited, and so many beautiful women waiting for my tender care. Why would I gamble my life? I only need to make it so that whenever you think of me, your heart aches unbearably.*

*I calculated that you would certainly go to Wulai City. I’ve arranged for someone to assist you in Wulai City — and when you get there, you’ll find that you’ve incurred another debt of gratitude to me, one debt upon another, always you owing me.*

*I know you too well. When others owe you, you feel nothing. When you owe others and can’t repay them, that’s when you truly feel wretched.*

*Ha ha ha ha ha.*

After Xu Ru waited for Li Chi to finish reading the letter, he said: “I serve under the Young Master. Whatever the Young Master commands, I will do my utmost to fulfill. Tomorrow, under the pretext of seeking auspicious burial grounds for Gan Daode, I will escort you out of the city. At that point, you may go freely wherever you wish.”

Li Chi looked at Xu Ru. After a moment of silence, he asked: “The Fourth?”

Xu Ru smiled and nodded: “My given name is Xu Youru.”

Li Chi made a sound of acknowledgment, looked down at the letter in his hands, and could not but admit — Cao Lie, you truly have seen through me.

You truly do know how to make me feel wretched.

—