In the Roaming Dragon Society’s main courtyard, Dong Dongdong appeared to have been staring up at the sky for quite a while now — possibly because Cen Xiaoxiao’s aggravating question had struck somewhere deep inside him.
*Were you happy as a child?*
Qi Qiangqi walked over and gave him a pat on the shoulder. “So — when the time comes and you have children, choose their names carefully.”
Dong Dongdong nodded. “When I have children, I’ll give them a good name. Something refined. Something distinctive. Something that strikes out on its own path but still has flair.”
Qi Qiangqi turned it over in his mind, then murmured to himself: “Strikes out on its own path but still has flair, and your surname is Dong — this gets complicated. Dong Gebì?”
Dong Dongdong: “Could you go stand somewhere farther away?”
Cen Xiaoxiao, sitting in the courtyard pavilion and listening to the two of them, couldn’t help but burst out laughing.
He was sharpening his knives — his throwing knives. Along his belt, there were thirteen in total.
Qi Qiangqi said, “Your own name is nothing to brag about. What are you laughing at?”
Cen Xiaoxiao said, with some seriousness, “My name being what it is — that’s my father’s fault, not mine. If my descendants end up with bad names, that would be my fault. But I’ve already thought it through — for my descendants, eight characters, in rotation: ‘conquer all, all before us falls.’ Eight characters, cycling through the generations.”
Qi Qiangqi nodded in admiration. “That’s actually good.”
He turned his head to look at Dong Dongdong. “Then use those seven characters you said just now — ‘strikes out on its own path, has flair’ — seven characters in rotation. Sooner or later the cycle comes around to Dong Gebì.”
He lifted his head and looked up at the sky, murmuring to himself, “I don’t know why, but I’ve always had the feeling that if I have a son, ‘Great Sage’ would be a solid name.”
While they were talking, Cao Lie came in from outside, carrying an urgent dispatch, which he handed to Dong Dongdong and the others.
“Rushed up from Yuzhou — an urgent communication sent by Grand General Tang Pidi. He estimates Yang Xuanji will send a large number of operatives dispersed across Yuzhou to sabotage the summer grain harvest and disrupt local granary stockpiles.”
Cao Lie paused, then continued, “I’ve been thinking all along — if Yang Xuanji has any sense, he knows that the most effective way to tie down the Ning Army is still to cause trouble in Yuzhou’s rear. So he’ll definitely send people.”
He sat down on the steps and thought carefully for a moment.
“Let’s wait here in Fengzhou for now. There may be bigger fish coming.”
He looked at the people around him and said, “Tomorrow we’ll net all the fish in Fengzhou City at once — then wait for the ones swimming in from Jingzhou.”
Three days later. Approximately two hundred sixty li southwest of Yuzhou City.
This was within the jurisdiction of Denglan County. About fourteen or fifteen li from the county seat, there was a town called Nine-Mile Fragrance.
The town’s name came from the renowned wine produced there — also called Nine-Mile Fragrance.
It was a large town with a population of roughly three thousand, more than half of whom were engaged in wine-making in one form or another.
Buyers came from distant places throughout the year to purchase the wine, and so the townspeople lived in relative comfort.
The county magistrate had stationed people there to handle daily order and civil affairs. In terms of Dachu’s system of official grades, the town’s minor official could be called a ninth-grade official — though in practice he held no formal rank, received no imperial salary, and was funded directly by the county magistrate’s offices.
There was a granary in the town of considerable size, because the volume of grain needed for the constant wine production was large.
At this moment, at the granary’s entrance.
A young man who appeared to be in his mid-twenties stood there, waving his hand gently toward the ninth-grade official in front of him — who had already frightened himself to the point of wetting his trousers — and said in a mild tone, “Go on, go. Quickly.”
The ninth-grade official’s face had not a trace of color left in it. The trouser legs were still dripping. He had been genuinely terrified out of his wits.
Behind the young man, every person inside the granary was dead — all killed by this young man alone.
“Go on, don’t dawdle.”
The young man spoke pleasantly, amiably. Looking at his face, one would never feel anything but goodwill — his complexion was slightly dark, and he had the look of a sturdy, honest country boy.
But he was not. He was a retainer of the King of Heaven’s Destiny, and had given himself a name: Fourth in the World.
The ninth-grade town official, Yang Zheng, was not a timid man by nature. But anyone who had just witnessed what Yang Zheng had witnessed would have wet themselves.
Fourth in the World could see that Yang Zheng still hadn’t moved, and could roughly guess why.
He asked, in the same mild tone, “Are you afraid that if you go report this and bring people back, I’ll kill them too?”
Yang Zheng nodded reflexively.
Fourth in the World smiled. “You don’t need to be afraid. If you go report it, just bring back more people — isn’t that all?”
Yang Zheng shook his head.
Fourth in the World gave a soft sigh. “If you don’t go, then I’ll start killing the townspeople right now. The town has two or three thousand people — all your neighbors and relatives.”
Yang Zheng gritted his teeth. “Demons like you won’t come to a good end.”
Fourth in the World said, “Then hurry up and go find people to come deal with us. Go on — any later and there won’t be time.”
Yang Zheng turned and ran.
One hour later, the county magistrate’s office had mobilized every constable available, along with the county garrison soldiers, civilian volunteers, and martial figures from within the county seat — gathering over a thousand in total, who followed Yang Zheng toward Nine-Mile Fragrance.
“Sir.”
Yang Zheng said to County Magistrate Ding Qing: “They’re all highly skilled fighters. They’ve definitely laid an ambush in the granary waiting for you to bring troops in. Please be extremely careful.”
Ding Qing looked at his assembled force — over a thousand men. There should be nothing to fear.
He was told that early that morning, a group of men had stormed into the granary. The young one had ordered his subordinates to truss up everyone inside the granary and make them kneel in a row, facing Yang Zheng.
And then, right before Yang Zheng’s eyes, that demon-like young man had cut off each person’s head, one by one.
Even now, the image of that blade working back and forth across those necks refused to leave Yang Zheng’s mind.
“It’s fine.”
Ding Qing said, “I’ll proceed with care. As for you…”
He gave Yang Zheng a pat on the shoulder. He couldn’t think of what to say. What words could possibly comfort him after something like this? People he knew — friends and colleagues — had had their heads taken off one by one right before his eyes. That kind of image — a person never forgets it for the rest of their life.
County Magistrate Ding Qing led his forces forward at a rapid pace. Half an hour after they left the county seat, a contingent arrived at the county seat’s gates.
They wore black court uniforms. Even at a distance, the unit carried an air of cold and formidable efficiency.
The man at their head tossed a token to the garrison soldier at the gate. “We’re Tingwei Army operatives under Prince Ning’s command, sent to investigate whether any rebels loyal to the treasonous Yang Xuanji have infiltrated the area.”
The soldier hurriedly told him that the county magistrate had taken troops out just a short while ago. The Tingwei officer’s brow furrowed. “This could be a trap — a ploy to draw away the tiger from the mountain. Lead us to the county treasury at once!”
The garrison soldier’s face went pale with alarm and he rushed to escort the Tingwei unit to the county treasury.
He pointed. “This is it.”
The Tingwei officer gave a nod. “Thank you.”
Then drew his blade and severed the soldier’s neck. The head dropped to the ground.
“Burn it.”
His single command sent his subordinates — dressed in the costumes of Tingwei soldiers, counterfeit to the last detail — surging forward to set the treasury ablaze. The fire spread rapidly.
“Now, the granary.”
The man in command wheeled his horse and rode, the others close behind. Before long they reached the county seat’s granary.
They played the same trick again, producing a counterfeit token. “Tingwei Army operatives. There are enemy spies in the county setting fires. I suspect some may have already slipped into the granary — open the gate immediately so we can search!”
The truth was, no one in the county had ever seen actual Tingwei Army soldiers. The cut of the black uniforms these imposters wore wasn’t even accurate — it only roughly resembled the real thing.
Because these counterfeits had never seen actual Tingwei uniforms either — their costumes were based on rumor alone.
But the moment the Tingwei Army’s name was invoked, and the token produced, the granary guards opened the gate without hesitation.
The moment it opened, the imposters spurred their horses through, cutting down everyone they encountered, then put the granary to the torch. They withdrew immediately after setting the fire and came surging out through the county gates.
Nine-Mile Fragrance.
Fourth in the World stood at the entrance, watching a force approach in the distance — substantial numbers, he could tell — yet without the slightest trace of concern.
As the force drew close enough, he raised one hand and crooked a finger at them, then turned and went back inside the granary.
County Magistrate Ding Qing’s face had gone pale with fury. “What brazen insolence!”
He looked at County Deputy Liu Jujie. “Liu, this one’s yours.”
Liu Jujie had once been a Dachu garrison infantry captain — full sixth grade by official rank, which actually outranked the county magistrate’s position. But after being wounded and forced to leave the army, with no money to grease the right hands, he had been posted here as a seventh-grade deputy.
What choice had he had? He took the deputy post, which at least meant some income and a life for his family.
He and County Magistrate Ding Qing got on well — both were men of reasonably upright character — and so when the Ning Army had passed through, Grand General Tang Pidi had not removed the county magistrate’s staff. All of them remained in their posts.
“Be careful,” Ding Qing said.
Liu Jujie gave a nod. “Don’t worry.”
He turned to his men and called out, “As I’ve drilled you — tiered formation, sweep forward!”
“Yes!”
The garrison troops answered in unison and fell into formation, advancing in organized columns.
Once inside the granary, they hadn’t gone far before the headless bodies came into view, one after another — a sight too grim to look at directly.
“Animals!”
The fury burning in Liu Jujie’s eyes was almost visible. He rounded the row of buildings at the front and spotted the young man who had been at the entrance — there again.
Again he raised a hand and crooked a finger at them.
Liu Jujie unslung his bow in one motion, nocked an arrow, drew — and in an instant the arrow flew.
It covered the distance between them in a blink. Fourth in the World raised his hand, two fingers extending — and the arrow stopped dead in front of him.
Fourth in the World dropped the arrow on the ground, then turned and walked into the granary.
The garrison forces fell into their trained formation and began moving in, tier by tier, each echelon covering the one behind. The granary was large — large enough to conceal several hundred people without difficulty. So as the troops entered, they moved with extreme caution.
Then, not long after the forces were inside, a group of men in black appeared. The roughly sixty or seventy garrison soldiers left guarding the granary’s outer gate were cut down in moments. These men in black surged forward quickly, sealed the granary’s main gate with chains, and braced it shut with timber beams.
Moments later, columns of dark smoke began rising from the granary in billowing waves. They had set it alight — with the garrison force still inside.
Outside the gate, County Magistrate Ding Qing saw the black smoke climbing skyward and knew at once that something had gone wrong. He immediately spurred his horse forward.
And then Fourth in the World walked calmly out from inside — left hand closed around County Deputy Liu Jujie’s ankle, dragging him along the ground.
He flung Liu Jujie forward, then grabbed him by the hair and hauled him upright. His blade appeared at Liu Jujie’s throat, and then he looked at Ding Qing — and smiled.
Looking at that face, one truly saw nothing but the open, guileless features of a good-natured farm boy.
Ding Qing’s expression went to pieces. He drove his horse forward with all his might.
Fourth in the World’s blade swept across in a single motion. Liu Jujie’s head was lifted aloft.