Songhe Tower.

Li Chi had been sitting alone in the courtyard in a daze for a long while. No one disturbed him — he had said he needed quiet to think things through.

Because something was off about all of this. Someone seemed to be deliberately making things more complicated, as if guiding people toward a certain direction.

After a long time, Li Chi slowly rose to his feet.

Cao Lie had been watching from a distance the whole time. He’d noticed that when Li Chi was deep in thought, he seemed to completely cut himself off from the world around him.

“What did you figure out?”

Cao Lie asked.

“I’m hungry.”

Li Chi answered.

Cao Lie laughed. “Can thinking burn that many calories?”

Li Chi said: “Thinking doesn’t burn much, but it’s obviously very wasteful to leave here without eating when I’m at your place. I eat one meal here and save one of mine — when you count it all up, does that work out to me gaining three?”

Cao Lie: “How exactly do you arrive at three?”

Li Chi: “If I try my best to eat until I’m stuffed, I can save another meal of my own.”

Cao Lie couldn’t help but raise his hands and applaud.

In truth, Songhe Tower was only a very small part of the Cao family’s holdings in Yuzhou City — compared to the commercial empire the Cao family had once possessed, the annual revenue of this inn was practically negligible.

But Cao Lie was very fond of staying at Songhe Tower. No one knew why.

The real reason was connected to Cen Xiaoxiao — though Cen Xiaoxiao himself didn’t know why Cao Lie liked this place, because it was only related to him, not because of him directly.

The food came quickly. Li Chi noticed that no matter how lavish Cao Lie’s meals were, he had never once changed his tableware at Songhe Tower. The bowl, chopsticks, and dishes before him must have been his own personal set, kept for his exclusive use.

With Li Chi’s eyes, he could tell plainly: this set of tableware wasn’t particularly valuable. Compared to what everyone else was using, it was even slightly plain and inexpensive.

It also looked like it had some years on it, and even as Cao Lie used it, he was careful, as though afraid it might chip or get knocked about — so this tableware undoubtedly had a story behind it.

Li Chi was inquisitive — second only to Gao Xining in that regard.

Cao Lie noticed Li Chi noticing him, and he seemed to grow somewhat uneasy.

Which made things even more unusual. A man like Cao Lie — on a whim, he could have someone set up a large wooden tub right in the middle of the street and take a soak right there in public without feeling the least bit self-conscious about being stared at.

So Li Chi smiled. He felt certain that the story of these tableware pieces was the most important story of Cao Lie’s life.

“I’ll guess three times.”

Li Chi pointed toward Cao Lie’s tableware.

Cao Lie was taken aback for a moment, then gave a deliberate cold snort to signal his disdain for such a pointless exercise.

Li Chi said: “How about this — let’s wager one tael of silver. If I guess three times and get it wrong, I lose you one tael. If I guess right, you owe me.”

Cao Lie’s lip curled. He certainly didn’t care about one tael — he wouldn’t care about ten thousand.

He simply felt no one could possibly guess correctly.

So he fixed Li Chi with a look that said: do you think you’re terribly clever? And Li Chi gave Cao Lie back a look that said: then let’s find out.

Li Chi raised a hand and held up one finger. “First guess: a woman.”

Cao Lie took off his money pouch, carefully picked out a fragment of silver weighing about one tael, and tossed it to Li Chi. “Eat your food.”

Li Chi: “Of course.”

He caught the silver, tucked it away, and smiled at the corners of his mouth.

Cao Lie asked him: “Why haven’t you left Songhe Tower? I don’t believe you’re only here to mooch meals.”

Li Chi said: “What if that really is the reason?”

Cao Lie said: “I can send you the cook.”

Li Chi said: “Can you send me the whole of Songhe Tower?”

Cao Lie said: “In Yuzhou City, I have roughly twenty-five or twenty-six establishments like this under my name. All of them except this one I could bundle up and give you. This one — no.”

Li Chi: “Mm… an important woman.”

His first guess had been a woman — which had already surprised Cao Lie and given him something of a start, so he didn’t dare let Li Chi keep guessing. But this second comment — an important woman — was no harder to guess. A woman capable of making Cao Lie care was, naturally, an important woman.

So Cao Lie gave Li Chi a sideways glance but said nothing.

Li Chi turned to look at Cen Xiaoxiao, who was eating beside him, and lowered his voice. “Doesn’t any of this strike you as odd?”

Cen Xiaoxiao looked at his sister, then at Cao Lie: “Odd how? It’s been like this since I was little.”

Li Chi: “Ah!”

“Eat slowly.”

Cao Lie, apparently not having noticed Li Chi’s and Cen Xiaoxiao’s exchange, turned slightly toward Cen Xiaoxiao’s sister and said quietly.

Cen Jiaojia gave a small sound of acknowledgment, then pointed toward the far end of the table. “What’s that?”

Cao Lie said: “Jujube paste cake.”

Cen Jiaojia: “I want to try some.”

Cao Lie went and brought the jujube paste cake over. Cen Jiaojia picked up a piece, held it under her nose and sniffed. She seemed somewhat unsatisfied, but still took a small bite.

Chewing, chewing…

“Not good.”

She held out what remained to Cao Lie.

Cao Lie took it and was about to set it aside when Cen Jiaojia said: “Don’t waste it.”

Cao Lie immediately stuffed the jujube paste cake into his own mouth. He clearly didn’t enjoy the taste — it seemed to disagree with him — yet he frowned and swallowed every bit of it down.

“The blade is ready.”

Cen Jiaojia finally looked up once she was full, glancing at Li Chi and saying: “I put it on the table when I came in — that wooden case.”

Li Chi stood up at once. He had noticed it when Cen Jiaojia came in — she had been carrying a wooden case in her arms, and from the way she carried it, she looked completely at ease. So Li Chi had been wondering: she’d merged two blades into one, so how had it actually gotten lighter?

But he’d kept himself from looking the whole time, not wanting to seem impatient, not wanting to be rude.

The moment Cen Jiaojia finished speaking, Li Chi was already at the doorway, lifting the wooden case from the table.

And then something inside Li Chi shook.

The weight of this blade was staggering — just going by the feel of it in his hands, an ordinary man would have no way to wield it single-handedly. Yet from the case’s length, the blade didn’t appear to be any larger than before.

Such an impossible weight — and Cen Jiaojia had carried it here looking entirely unconcerned. Li Chi found himself reassessing Cen Jiaojia with entirely new eyes.

Cen Xiaoxiao had said his sister didn’t actually know martial arts — so was it purely physical strength?

Li Chi carried the wooden case back to the table. With great care, he opened it — and a wave of cold air poured out of the case. It seemed as though the blade’s icy light was reflected in Li Chi’s eyes themselves.

The blade’s form remained the silhouette of a regulation saber. Its length was roughly the same as the dark blade Li Chi had used before — the blade itself was even slightly shorter — but the hilt was now about an inch and a half longer.

The cutting edge ran like a channel of clear water. The flat of the blade was textured with a pattern of cloud-scales. Never mind the edge’s sharpness or the steel’s hardness — just the blade’s beauty alone was enough to make any man’s heart stir.

“Prince Ning, cut open your finger, and let a single drop of blood fall into the blood groove along the blade.”

Cen Jiaojia said flatly.

Li Chi thought: is this so extraordinary? Could this blade actually possess the mythical power of blood recognition spoken of in legends?

He had only rested his finger against the edge when the blade instantly opened a small, clean cut.

Li Chi hurried to let a drop of blood fall into the blood groove. He asked: “Is that enough?”

Cen Jiaojia: “It doesn’t matter.”

Li Chi: “??????????”

Cen Jiaojia said: “Tell me — is it fast?”

Li Chi: “??????????”

Cen Jiaojia had eaten her fill and slowly exhaled. “Blood recognition was something passed down from my ancestors — my father told me, and his father told him. But it doesn’t actually do anything. In the end, whoever takes the blade has it. Even so, the ritual still needs to be performed.”

Li Chi: “Mm… the ceremony matters.”

He lifted the blade — and found that the single drop of blood he had just let fall was already flowing down the flat of the blade. Not a trace of it remained; it was as though the blade’s surface were wrapped in a veil of mist.

Li Chi: “This…”

Cen Jiaojia: “I told you. It’s just a ritual.”

For any other noble lord, this might have been an explosive moment.

Imagine it: “My lord, your blade is finished. Come, perform the blood recognition.” The blood is dropped — and the swordsmith laughs: “See? It doesn’t absorb! Aren’t I impressive?”

Li Chi asked: “Has the blade been given a name yet?”

Cen Jiaojia said: “It’s your blade.”

Li Chi: “Then I’ll go home and ask my wife.”

Cen Jiaojia immediately looked up, a light coming into her eyes.

Cao Lie: “……”

—