Yuzhou City.

Inside the former Yuzhou Military Governor’s yamen, Li Chi and his people had gathered.

Li Chi had been in Yuzhou City for seven or eight days already, and had gained a general understanding of affairs throughout Yuzhou.

Not long after arriving in Yuzhou, Master Wu Naiyu came before Li Chi to confess fault and submit his resignation — because of the matters concerning Xu Ji and Yin Xin’an, Master Wu felt he had failed the Prince of Ning’s trust.

Master Wu’s words were sincere and earnest. After hearing him out, Li Chi’s reply was… dream on.

“We’ve already received four reports,” Master Wu said, looking toward Li Chi. “First Songxian County, then Dingyuan County, then Mou County, and then Denglan County.”

He spoke with some self-reproach: “We had already received General Tang’s warning, yet we still couldn’t prevent it…”

Li Chi said, “Is Master Wu asking to resign again?”

Wu Naiyu shook his head. “I won’t resign. I request permission to leave Yuzhou City. I want to root out these people with my own hands.”

Li Chi nodded. “That can be permitted.”

He rose and began to pace as he spoke. “Cao Lie and the others are in Dengzhou and Fengzhou dealing with a major case — they can’t return for the time being. Gui Yuanshu went to pursue the rebel army, so he won’t be back anytime soon. Zhang Tang has other arrangements…”

He looked toward Master Wu and said, “If Master Wu wants to root out those people with his own hands, then go root them out.”

Wu Naiyu cupped his fists and bowed. “I thank my lord for his indulgence.”

The Yin family’s rebellion was closely linked to Yang Xuanji, and these people had been dispatched by Yang Xuanji — so Master Wu’s desire to expose them himself also carried the meaning of washing away a prior humiliation. Previously his judgment had been correct: the rebel army in Fengzhou had tried to lure him into leading troops out of Yuzhou City, then seize it in his absence. Master Wu had ordered the troops to hold their ground, breaking the Wang and Xie families’ next step in their plan.

Yet there was one matter within all this that had not been raised openly, though Li Chi saw it with complete clarity.

If there had been no inner accomplices from the Wang and Xie families within the city, even if Master Wu had led his forces out of Yuzhou City, what confidence would the rebel army have had that they could easily breach such a formidable great city? A mere tens of thousands of rebels — even if Yuzhou’s defenders were nothing but regional garrison troops, constables, and militia volunteers, they still wouldn’t dream of taking it easily.

Li Chi had said Zhang Tang had other arrangements… and this was that arrangement.

The people within Yuzhou City who had colluded with Yang Xuanji were certainly more numerous than those in Dengzhou and Fengzhou combined, and they had undoubtedly colluded with the rebel forces in those two territories as well.

What Zhang Tang needed to do was dig these people out as quickly as possible.

For as many people as Li Chi had killed in Jizhou, he might need to kill even more in Yuzhou.

On the road here, the Elder Zhenren, Gao Yuanzhang, and Changmei the Daoist — those three old men — had once been chatting idly in the carriage, and the following exchange had taken place.

What is a hero?

Solitude, courage, resolve, genuine feeling — when all four merge into one, that is a hero.

What is a ruthless overlord? Remove “genuine feeling” from that definition.

What is Li Chi?

Elder Zhang Zhenren said… step one pace to the left and he is Li Chi the hero; step one pace to the right and he is not Li Chi the ruthless overlord — he is Li Chi the gravedigger.

If Li Chi’s desire to kill were truly roused, never mind the living — even the dead would be dragged out and killed again.

Master Wu cupped his fists toward Li Chi and said, “I will go prepare. I’ll leave the city tomorrow.”

Li Chi gave a sound of acknowledgment.

By the time he came out of the residence, night had fallen deep. Master Wu was not accustomed to riding carriages or horses; he always walked when returning home from the yamen.

Yuzhou City was actually somewhat larger in scale than Jizhou City, yet because of the development Li Chi had overseen in Jizhou over these past years, Yuzhou appeared behind in every respect.

The vast majority of streets in the city had no wind-lanterns burning through the night, so the vast majority of people dared not move about freely.

But Master Wu had never feared the dark. He had heard others speak of it — that the Prince of Ning Li Chi had once feared the dark above all else, so the Prince of Ning had made himself one with the dark.

Master Wu greatly admired this attitude of the Prince of Ning, this way of being.

His own view of darkness was different… he felt the dark was more real than the day.

Take people, for instance — Master Wu had always believed that people in the light were in their most dishonest state, while people hiding in the dark were the ones who revealed their true nature.

In broad daylight, in front of others, they would never easily reveal the jealousy, greed, cruelty, and every negative impulse harbored within.

But lurking in the dark, all of a person’s ugliness would be set loose.

You might not imagine it — a man of upright bearing and refined appearance might be the very demon who, by night, preys specifically on women walking alone.

And by day, as he walks in the street, everyone bows to him in greeting.

You might also never imagine that the one who, when danger came, not only failed to save you but shoved you away — was your closest sister.

And in the daylight, the two of you would still walk arm in arm, happy and laughing over a meal.

Master Wu had once said that most of people’s fear of the dark is performed. The difference between performing fear and not performing it comes down to whether one has a weapon in hand.

And so he lived harder than almost everyone else, because he saw too clearly.

It had rained all day, and now a fine mist still lingered. Walking along the stone-paved road, the sound rising beneath his feet brought a quiet calm to Master Wu’s heart.

He liked rain. He suffered from chronic insomnia, yet on every rainy night he slept with remarkable soundness — he did not know why, and had no intention of thinking about why, for once he started thinking about it, even rainy nights might no longer bring him sound sleep.

Yuzhou City had a curfew; after dark, there were almost no pedestrians to be seen on the streets.

He passed through two narrow lanes with no permanent wind-lanterns, then turned onto a main street where the light, though dim, at least made things somewhat visible.

And so Master Wu noticed, not far ahead, a man standing beneath an umbrella.

The man wore a long gown. Hearing Master Wu’s footsteps, he turned — but the umbrella blocked the light, and his face could not be seen.

Master Wu’s steps paused slightly, then he continued forward.

“You don’t seem particularly concerned?” the man with the umbrella asked.

Master Wu gave a sound of acknowledgment in reply.

The man asked again, “You’re not going to stop for a moment? There are times, after all, when one needs to stop.”

Master Wu walked on as he spoke. “I am a man who will not stop when walking in either of two directions — toward home, and toward the pursuit of light.”

The man with the umbrella was silent for a moment, then nodded in agreement.

Yet he had no intention of stepping aside. He said, “Then I shall have to reluctantly make you stop for a moment.”

Master Wu said, “If I stop for a moment, you may find your life comes to a stop.”

The man with the umbrella seemed to smile, and returned two quiet words.

“Not necessarily.”

Then he stepped toward Master Wu — a single step that brought him right before him. Master Wu’s eyes narrowed slightly. He had always been confident in his own abilities, but from that single step alone, he understood that what followed would likely be quite difficult.

The man raised his umbrella in his right hand. With his left palm, he struck down toward Master Wu’s chest.

Master Wu’s steps still did not stop. He too raised his left hand forward — yet it was not a palm strike, but a sweep of his sleeve.

The man’s palm and Master Wu’s sleeve collided — a dull thud.

Master Wu’s sleeve shredded to pieces, as though someone had hurled a stone into a flower bed full of butterflies and they all burst into flight at once.

But the man with the umbrella also stepped back one pace and looked down at his own hand.

There was a red point on his palm. It was painful.

In the very moment his palm had shattered Master Wu’s sleeve, Master Wu had drawn two fingers together and tapped once against his palm.

So Master Wu himself was taken aback — had it been anyone else, that tap would have destroyed the opponent’s hand completely.

“Very good,” the man with the umbrella said. Then he transferred the umbrella to his left hand, and Master Wu drew his left hand behind his back.

In the next instant, the man struck out with a palm — it appeared unremarkable, yet Master Wu’s expression grew uncommonly grave.

In the space of a breath, he conceived seven offensive techniques to counter this strike, and in that same breath, three defensive approaches.

But in the end, he still chose to strike palm against palm.

Thud.

With that blow, both men’s right-arm sleeves shredded simultaneously — so in that rainy night, still more butterflies took flight.

Both were sent sliding backward by the force of the exchange, the sound of their feet skidding across rain-slicked stone somewhat grating.

Master Wu’s palm was in pain, his wrist was in pain, his entire right arm was in pain, so much so that his right hand trembled faintly.

But he knew the other man couldn’t be much better off.

In the next instant, the man with the umbrella stamped his foot down — a flagstone immediately stood upright, and he drove his palm into it.

The stone came on like a mountain shifting sideways, reaching Master Wu in a flash.

This time Master Wu did not meet it palm-for-palm. He struck with his fist.

A single punch shattered the stone, and in the very moment the debris began to fall, he had already retracted his fist and turned it into a palm — he slapped forward, and a shower of stone fragments went screaming toward the man with the umbrella.

The man’s right hand swept left and right before him, so fast that all anyone could see before him was a blur of phantom hands.

Every piece of debris — deflected.

On the brick walls to either side, sharp clattering sounds rang out without cease — each deflected fragment had punched a small crater into the masonry.

He raised his umbrella slightly, revealing his face — a face with something of a smile.

Master Wu looked at him, then smiled in turn.

He said, “I’ve long been wondering when you would come find me for a match. I know you, and you know me — there was bound to be a bout like this.”

The man beneath the umbrella was Ye Zhangzhu.

Master Wu asked, “Well?”

Ye Zhangzhu gave a slight shake of his head. “I’d guess… it’s come down a little.”

Master Wu was momentarily taken aback.

Indeed — his martial skill had declined. The countless trifling affairs, the whole of Yuzhou City’s affairs pressing down upon him alone, military, administrative, and civil matters all at once — it had been many days since he had properly trained. There was never anything in this world that, once learned, required no further practice and yet never deteriorated.

“Yes… it has come down a little.”

Master Wu let out a sigh and lifted his head to look at the sky. The fine rain still fell; his mood had grown slightly cool — and so he needed a flask of warm wine.

Just then, Ye Zhangzhu pointed behind him at a small establishment still glowing with dim amber light. “I had someone warm some wine, and paid the innkeeper a little extra to stay open late. The old proprietor is an honest man — he’s still waiting.”

A short while later, inside that very small wine house, the elderly proprietor who looked to be about seventy personally brought out the warmed wine, along with four ordinary drinking dishes.

Ye Zhangzhu took out his money pouch and placed a piece of silver before Master Wu.

Master Wu smiled and asked, “What is this for?”

Ye Zhangzhu said, “By the rules you set, no wine house should still be open at this hour. Since he stayed open at my request, the fine should fall to me.”

Master Wu also took out his money pouch, added a piece of silver beside Ye Zhangzhu’s.

He said, “The rule was mine, and I broke it myself — I’ll add my share of the fine.”

The old proprietor stood behind his counter, watching those two men who were clearly figures of importance, and felt a warmth in his heart as though he too had drunk a flask of warm wine — and with the rain falling outside, it seemed all the warmer.

“It’s a good night for sleep in the rain — I won’t keep you long, since you’re heading out of the city tomorrow.”

Ye Zhangzhu poured Master Wu a cup of wine and offered it with both hands: “This cup is an apology.”

Master Wu took it but did not drink. He asked, “What do you mean by that?”

Ye Zhangzhu said, “Scholars have their pride, warriors have their pride — a man of both learning and martial skill has pride all the more. And so this cup is owed as an apology.”

Master Wu understood. He raised the cup and drank it off in one go.

Ye Zhangzhu was also going to leave the city with him — only he knew that Master Wu’s pride ran too deep, so if Master Wu knew Ye Zhangzhu was accompanying him on official business, there would be a certain displeasure — a feeling of being looked down upon, a feeling that the Prince of Ning doubted his ability to handle things alone.

But Ye Zhangzhu’s going was for the purpose of protecting Master Wu — that was Li Chi’s true intention.

Master Wu finished his wine, then suddenly laughed.

He said, “Those people… what terrible luck they must have.”

Ye Zhangzhu also laughed, and nodded. “Indeed… quite a lot of it.”

—