In the darkness of night, Gao Xining came up the city wall carrying a cloak, and in the glow of the torches she spotted Li Chi at once, standing at the edge of the battlements.

She walked over and draped the cloak around his shoulders.

Li Chi smiled. Moments before, looking into the darkness, his eyes had held only darkness — but the moment Gao Xining appeared at his side, his eyes filled with light, brighter than any star in the night sky above.

“How long have you been up here?”

Gao Xining asked.

Li Chi answered, “I came before nightfall. It’s been about an hour and a half.”

Gao Xining said, “Then it must be something remarkable — otherwise, how could the cleverest man in the world need to think this long?”

Li Chi smiled and said, “I spent roughly half an hour on the matter at hand. The other hour I spent trying to come up with a line of sweet talk worthy of you.”

Gao Xining chuckled. “I know it’s made up, but I still want to ask — did you think of one?”

Li Chi said, “I didn’t. Because in all the words of this world, not one combination of them is worthy of you.”

Gao Xining began to put her hand on her hip.

She smiled and said, “Well then — shall I offer you a sweet line?”

Li Chi said, “Go ahead.”

Gao Xining said, “In all the words of this world, no combination of them is worthy of me — yet any words, however plain, spoken from your mouth, become exactly what fits me.”

And so Li Chi’s eyes began to glow again.

He asked, “You noticed I was troubled, and came up to make me smile?”

Gao Xining said, “When you left the Tingwei offices, I caught something melancholy in your eyes. Clever of me, wasn’t it.”

Li Chi said, “You see — that’s what just gave me a sweet line.”

Gao Xining smiled and asked, “What is it?”

Li Chi said, “The two things — missing you and resenting you — neither one can be hidden from you.”

Gao Xining: “Hmm… and why would you resent me?”

Li Chi said, “I resent that your beauty has conquered the cleverest man in the world, and there’s no escaping it.”

Gao Xining: “There can’t be many people in the world shameless enough to say things like this with a straight face, the two of us included — who else could possibly manage it… hahahahaha.”

She laughed, hand on hip.

Li Chi laughed. “So apart from the two of us — who else could be worthy of us two?”

Gao Xining said, “This place of Yuzhou has a bad influence.”

Li Chi asked, “Why?”

Gao Xining said, “Since you came to Yuzhou, you’ve had a mouth full of silver-tongued flattery. You’ve suddenly learned how to charm a girl.”

Li Chi sighed. “Only good enough to fool you. These are such clumsy lines — aside from a hopeless case like you, who else would consider this sweet talk?”

Gao Xining: “Hahahahaha… rubbish!”

Some distance away, Yu Jiuling, crouched on the wall, heaved a sigh. “Could you show some consideration for my feelings.”

Li Chi said, “I’d completely forgotten you were there. Had I known, I wouldn’t have let it affect me at all.”

Yu Jiuling said, “If you’ve got the matter sorted out, shall we go eat something? I’m starving.”

Li Chi said, “Didn’t you just eat?”

Yu Jiuling: “What did I just eat?”

Li Chi looked toward Gao Xining. “In all this world, even the most brilliant stars cannot outshine your eyes — and the reason for that is that they are lit by me, shining within them.”

He then looked toward Yu Jiuling. “Full now?”

Yu Jiuling: “Pfft…”

He hopped down from the wall and walked off with his hands clasped behind his back.

Gao Xining asked, “Did that last line mean — you are shining inside my eyes?”

Li Chi: “Just now catching on?”

Gao Xining: “Are you going bald? Is it the moonlight reflecting?”

Li Chi: “…”

Gao Xining walked along, then suddenly turned back to look at Li Chi. “So — is the moon going bald too?”

Li Chi: “You’d have to ask the Black Wu people.”

Gao Xining said, “Thinking about it that way — if the moon deity the Black Wu people revere and worship in awe is bald… you suddenly feel they must all be ill somehow.”

Li Chi said, “And female, at that.”

Gao Xining: “That’s…”

Li Chi: “What if you shaved your head? Then I’d tell the Black Wu people — I’ve already gotten your moon deity.”

Gao Xining thought about it and nodded. “And tell them — not only did you get her, you slept with her too!”

Li Chi nodded. “Exactly!”

Gao Xining: “We have to be ruthless with the Black Wu people!”

Li Chi: “Exactly!”

Some distance ahead, Yu Jiuling stumbled in his step… thinking to himself that he really shouldn’t have brought his ears along tonight — he should have left them back in the room.

—

Meanwhile, at the Pine Crane Tower.

Cao Lie sat going through the dossiers his subordinates had submitted — records of individuals flagged during the recent sweep, along with confessions obtained during interrogations.

This sweep had failed to capture the one called the Fourth in the World, but there had been no shortage of unexpected gains.

Before moving against the Zhou Trading House, Cao Lie had already identified several other trading establishments behaving suspiciously. The Zhou Trading House was the last place he had moved against.

Each of these trading houses had connections to Yang Xuanji’s side — and what shocked Cao Lie even more was that the problems in these establishments predated Li Chi’s southward march to Yuzhou entirely.

In other words, before Tang Pidi had led the army into Yuzhou, Yang Xuanji had already dispatched operatives to embed themselves inside the city, and had already established considerable networks there.

If that was the case — had the Fourth in the World’s entry into Yuzhou truly been mere coincidence, simply because he had stumbled into a fight with someone from the Sacred Blade Sect?

Perhaps he had always intended to come to Yuzhou City. The unexpected incident had not changed his plan.

Cao Lie raised his head and looked out the window.

A man of the Fourth in the World’s caliber coming to Yuzhou — there had to be a larger plan behind it. Without one, someone of his level had absolutely no reason to risk coming to Yuzhou at all.

He had been wounded by Master Ye outside the city walls, but someone with his capabilities could have fled without trouble. So why come running into the city?

He had inside contacts in the city.

The moment that thought struck him, Cao Lie immediately made to go and inform Li Chi — the Fourth in the World’s entry into the city might have been to move against someone specific.

“Cen Xiaoxiao.”

Cao Lie called out.

Cen Xiaoxiao came in at once from outside. “My lord — what is it?”

Cao Lie said, “Prepare the carriage. To the Prince of Ning’s residence.”

Cen Xiaoxiao could see the urgency in Cao Lie’s manner. He didn’t know what the young lord had figured out, but it was nothing good.

—

At the same time, inside a steamed bun shop in the city, the Fourth in the World pushed open his door and stepped out. In the room behind him the lamps burned dimly. The table held the remains of his meal. On the floor lay the shop owner and his wife.

The Fourth in the World closed the door carefully and let out a slow breath.

“Tasteless,” he muttered to himself. “No wonder dying doesn’t feel like such a waste for them.”

He raised his head and looked around. The sky seemed overcast — at some point clouds had covered the moon. In this troublesome season, rain always came quickly.

The Fourth in the World told himself he would need to move faster. He did not like rain.

Two quarters of an hour later, the Fourth in the World stood before the back gate of an ordinary-looking residence in Yuzhou City, raised his head to look at the sky, and felt a raindrop fall and land on his forehead.

He frowned and raised his hand to wipe it away.

He did not merely dislike rain — he disliked water, and even feared it. Ever since he had been chased as a child and tumbled into a river by accident, he had never been able to overcome that terror.

His nightmares were always the same: he was sinking in water, struggling with all his strength but unable to rise. And then, faintly, through the water, a hand would reach down and close around his ankle.

He would kick and thrash — to no avail. The hand would exert its force and drag him down. Force was relative, and as he was pulled downward, whatever held him rose upward, until a face — pale and bloodless — appeared before his eyes.

The Fourth in the World drew another deep breath. Then, in a single bound, he cleared the wall and dropped into the rear courtyard of the residence.

The compound had a front and back section, with a modest footprint. The back courtyard had a few sparse lanterns, and by their light it was clear the yard was bare of any furnishings or decoration.

The Fourth in the World moved forward, listening intently to the sounds around him.

His hearing was exceptional — one of the reasons he had surpassed other practitioners in his martial cultivation. While ordinary people could make only rough estimates from sound, he could hear with precise clarity.

But the infuriating thing was: tonight, there was rain.

As he moved forward, a dog in the rear yard began to bark — deepening the irritation in his expression.

He disliked water, and he disliked dogs. The former had nearly drowned him; the latter had always been an obstacle when he went about stealing things.

His childhood had not been particularly pleasant.

Several guards came hurrying forward with lanterns, quick-footed and alert. They spotted a dark shape in the rear yard, shouted out, and came running toward the Fourth in the World.

Lanterns swaying, footsteps rapid.

“Who goes there!”

One of the guards shouted loudly.

The back yard had only two or three wind lanterns, illuminating only a small area, so all they could see was a silhouette.

“If I might ask…”

The Fourth in the World said politely, “Is this the home of Magistrate Wu — Master Wu Naiyu?”

One of the guards demanded angrily, “Who are you?! How dare you intrude on a private residence in the dead of night!”

The Fourth in the World nodded. “It seems this is indeed the place.”

He continued forward. The guards raised their cudgels. The Fourth in the World paid them no mind whatsoever.

As he walked he said, “You are not worth killing. You would do well to step aside. Perhaps you could fetch Madam Wu to come out — that would be more useful than shouting and making a racket here, and it might even give her a chance to run.”

Zhuge Jingzhan had investigated and identified the man who had frightened off Fu Baiyu — that man was Yuzhou City’s chief magistrate, Master Wu Naiyu.

And so he had thought: there could be nothing more devastating to a man than learning his wife had been killed by the very killer he was pursuing.

The Fourth in the World had not come to Yuzhou City to hide. He had come on purpose.

It was only by sheer coincidence that he had gotten into a fight with someone from the Sacred Blade Sect — a fight that had left him wounded and also destroyed his guqin.

But none of that affected his capacity to kill.

He moved forward. The few guards recoiled before him — they could already feel the chilling aura emanating from the Fourth in the World.

“You aren’t fleeing, and you aren’t calling for help — so you might as well die.”

The Fourth in the World gave a mild sigh.

In the very next moment, however — something he had not anticipated: those few guards turned and bolted, straight through the inner gate connecting the two yards, running all the way back to the front section without stopping.

The Fourth in the World couldn’t help but feel a pang of pity on Master Wu’s behalf. The wages paid to these guards were wasted.

He too passed through the inner gate — and then he stopped.

The back yard had been dark. The front yard was dark too.

But the moment he stepped into the front yard, it blazed into brilliance. Countless torches were lit. The darkness was swept away.

The guards who had fled were long gone to the far edges. And the front yard was packed — dense rows of Tingwei officers in black brocade uniforms, regarding the Fourth in the World with flat, expressionless eyes.

The torches held by the Tingwei officers lit up their faces, lit up their black brocade robes, lit up the blades at their hips.

And lit up the young man standing at their head.

Li Chi stood with his hands clasped behind his back, calmly watching the Fourth in the World.

He had spent an hour and a half atop the city wall, and had finally worked out why the Fourth in the World would come into the city.

Cao Lie had pieced together his intelligence from interrogations and deduced a possible target. But Cao Lie had not yet had time to go and report to Li Chi.

Had Li Chi waited for Cao Lie’s report before making his judgment, he would have been far too late.

The Fourth in the World looked at Li Chi — and suddenly smiled.

“The Prince of Ning?”

He asked.

Li Chi did not reply. He simply continued watching with that same calm.

The Fourth in the World asked with genuine curiosity, “Are you a demon? How else would you know I would come here?”

This time Li Chi answered.

“I’m not a demon. I am skilled at catching demons — so I know how demons think.”

—