Someone like Fu Baiyu had ten thousand methods of killing — and ten thousand methods of escape.

Even against a supreme fighter like Magistrate Wu, he could extricate himself in the nick of time.

Let alone within Yuzhou — even within the whole of the Central Plains, in a one-on-one encounter, the number of people who could escape from Magistrate Wu with their life intact was vanishingly small.

Yet this time, he had apparently not foreseen it at all: that he would be cut down by someone using such a savage and brutal method, with a killing strike before a single word was exchanged.

This was something that defied every established pattern.

In Fu Baiyu’s way of thinking, even if he found himself surrounded and trapped, the other side would not kill him immediately. They would try to capture him alive, to force out of him the whereabouts of his associates, to force out whatever other plans were in motion.

Under those circumstances, he would still have had a chance to break free.

But he had encountered Li Chi — a man who had never once followed any established pattern.

—

On the other side, outside Magistrate Wu’s compound.

The Fourth in the World fled at maximum speed to the main street, looked left and right. From the left came the faint, intermingled sounds of hoofbeats and footsteps. Without hesitation, he drove to the right.

In this moment he had not yet considered whether someone had deliberately arranged for him to choose the right.

He was not particularly worried about what would happen to him. As long as he could break out of the encirclement, he could force his way into any house he pleased — and in a city as vast as Yuzhou, however many of the Prince of Ning’s people there were, finding him would be no easy matter.

But barely into his run, something felt wrong. He noticed on the rooftops along both sides of the street — dark-clad figures appearing at intervals.

These figures made no move against him. They seemed more like they were giving him free passage — almost like contempt.

He had no choice but to keep going along the main street, for he was certain there were plenty of archers in the darkness taking aim at him.

After running a stretch, the Fourth in the World suddenly understood: there were no pursuers coming because this route had been carved out deliberately, just for him to run along.

So it was not long before he saw strange things ahead: the wreckage of a carriage, the wreckage of a person, and one person who appeared entirely unharmed.

Li Chi was sitting on that wrecked carriage, waiting. This route had indeed been designated exclusively for the Fourth in the World.

Whichever direction the Fourth in the World had chosen to flee, archers — a great many archers — would have had him in their sights. This road was the one Li Chi had drawn for him.

Seeing the Fourth in the World reach him at close range, Li Chi raised one hand and gave him a small wave.

The Fourth in the World could only stop. He looked carefully — and then laughed. “So that’s how it is…”

The Prince of Ning inside Magistrate Wu’s residence had been a false Prince of Ning. The one before him now was the real one.

That false Prince of Ning had stood before the torches and told him directly: I do this because I am afraid the torchlight will make my face clear to you.

So the Fourth in the World couldn’t help but laugh at himself.

Sometimes you think you have calculated everything — a flawless plan — only to realize you have been standing all along on someone else’s chessboard, where even which direction you move is being guided by someone else’s fingers.

Li Chi asked, “Was it you who killed my Centurion?”

The Fourth in the World shook his head, then looked again at the ruined shape on the ground and pointed. “That was.”

Li Chi nodded. “I’m fond of the word ‘was.'”

The Fourth in the World said, “I’m not.”

Li Chi asked another question: “Was this person a friend of yours?”

The Fourth in the World said, “Not my friend. My friends don’t come in two halves.”

Now it was the Fourth in the World’s turn to ask: “Did the Prince of Ning personally kill him?”

Li Chi made an affirmative sound.

The Fourth in the World said, “You kill very messily. You are genuinely not suited to be a professional assassin.”

His asking this was not idle talk — he had a purpose.

As he asked, he scanned his surroundings. Strangely, no one was closing in. Which led him to conclude: the Prince of Ning intended to take him on personally.

And so he smiled again — because he appreciated self-confident people. The people he had killed over the years were mostly self-confident people. Everyone who had ever fought him believed themselves invincible. He was different: after killing so many supposedly invincible people, he still believed himself to be only the Fourth in the World.

The Fourth in the World moved toward Li Chi. “If the Prince of Ning plans to handle this himself, that’s not a bad option for me either. What if I manage to kill you?”

Li Chi said, “Have you ever been a king?”

The Fourth in the World was puzzled. “Of course not — what do you mean by that, Prince of Ning?”

Li Chi said, “You haven’t been a king. Let me show you. Come and watch how it’s done — though you’ll likely only get to see it once.”

The Fourth in the World: “????”

After saying this, Li Chi rose and stepped away from the wrecked carriage. He said nothing further — he simply turned and walked away.

This left the Fourth in the World deeply puzzled. Not one step this Prince of Ning took had been within what he’d anticipated.

The sign of Li Chi planning to handle this personally was that no one around was closing in. Yet Li Chi turned and simply walked away — what signal was that?

The Fourth in the World stopped trying to read the signal. Li Chi had turned and walked away — he turned and walked away too.

He swept toward another street. In the moment he crested a rooftop, his eyes snapped wide.

On the street behind the building, dense formations of Prince of Ning’s infantry soldiers lined the road from end to end.

Countless crossbow carriages poised and ready. From beyond those crossbow carriages — arrows thick as a downpour.

He had barely cleared the rooftop before the first volley launched, and he had to twist his body, whip out a guqin string, drive it into a tree for leverage, and swing wide — while behind him the volley tore through the air he had just occupied.

The Fourth in the World fell to a rooftop on the other side, barely steadied himself, and the second volley arrived — faster and more ferocious.

The rooftop erupted in a cacophony like rain hammering banana leaves.

The Fourth in the World sprinted across this row of rooftops. Everywhere he looked, every street seemed to host a moving river of fire.

This was what it meant to be a king.

One man’s command — ten thousand men moved.

To deal with the Fourth in the World, the Prince of Ning Li Chi had mobilized at minimum five thousand soldiers of the Prince of Ning’s army. That was only the number the Fourth in the World could see.

“Deeply honored.”

The Fourth in the World muttered to himself, and launched again across the rooftops.

But ahead there were no more rooftops — he had reached the southernmost edge. Before him was open ground. Across it rose the towering walls of Yuzhou City.

A flicker of joy passed through the Fourth in the World’s eyes.

He landed on the open ground and moved quickly forward. In the midst of his sprint, the far side of the ground suddenly bloomed into a sea of fire.

When the torches blazed to life across the open ground, he saw regiment after regiment of infantry arrayed in formation.

And ahead of them — at minimum, over a hundred mounted crossbow carriages.

So it turned out he had even more reason to feel honored.

“Oh, damn…”

The Fourth in the World swore.

Before him, the heavy crossbows unleashed with a thunderous roar.

Behind the mass of heavy crossbows came arrows — dense as a violent downpour.

—

At the Tingwei offices.

Li Chi sat in the courtyard before a small fire he had lit. In his hand he held a skewer of steamed buns he was slowly rotating over the flames.

Yu Jiuling came over carrying two jugs of wine and sat down beside Li Chi.

Li Chi glanced at Yu Jiuling and asked with a smile, “A question just came to me — if right now it wasn’t just the two of us here, but several others were here too, and you only had two jugs of wine — how would you divide it?”

Yu Jiuling thought for a moment and asked, “Are they our friends?”

Li Chi said, “It doesn’t matter. Anybody.”

Yu Jiuling said, “One jug for you, the other jug left on the table.”

Li Chi: “Just like that?”

Yu Jiuling said, “Yes, just like that. The remaining guests can reach for it themselves — but every time they reach I’ll bare my teeth at them.”

Li Chi: “…”

Yu Jiuling laughed and took up a skewer of buns to toast over the fire alongside him.

Just then, Gao Xining came out of the house with Magistrate Wu’s wife, Su Xiaoxu. The two of them had been chatting inside for a while, and apparently felt stifled enough to come out to the courtyard.

Gao Xining asked, “Any news back yet?”

Li Chi shook his head, then held out his wine jug to Gao Xining.

Gao Xining glanced at the other jug. Li Chi also looked at the other jug. Yu Jiuling bared his teeth.

Gao Xining asked Li Chi, “Did you ask Ninth Sister that question about having too many guests but only two jugs of wine?”

Li Chi nodded.

Gao Xining asked, “What did Ninth Sister say?”

Li Chi pointed at Ninth Sister — who was baring her teeth.

Gao Xining gave a gentle sigh, looked at Ninth Sister, and said in a tone of solemn instruction, “Next time anyone asks you a question like that, ask them back — *is there no cup?*”

Yu Jiuling blinked — then turned and bared her teeth at Li Chi.

The sound of hurried footsteps came from outside the gate. A squad of Tingwei officers filed quickly into the courtyard, came to a halt before Li Chi and the others, and bowed in unison.

Behind them, several Tingwei officers of centurion rank entered, carrying between them a length of cloth.

Li Chi swept his gaze over them and asked, “Was the person captured?”

Centurion Fang Xidao answered, “Not exactly captured, my lord. It was more… barely retrieved.”

Li Chi paused — and then understood. He rose, walked to where the centurions held the cloth, and looked down.

Then he turned his face away.

Gao Xining and Su Xiaoxu began to move toward them. Li Chi waved a hand. “Don’t come over. Not a pretty sight.”

Not a pretty sight was putting it mildly.

Never mind a single person — even a full-grown elephant, hit once by that many heavy crossbows and that many arrows, would look like this. And it had not been just once.

As for calculations —

If a single arrow could shave off a small piece of flesh, how many arrows would it take to shave all the flesh clean?