“How dare any of you be so insolent in my presence?”
Young Master Yu said this with a dark expression on his face.
“It is only that the times have changed. The authority of Great Chu has crumbled from within. Had I still been in Daxing City a few years ago, you would not be worthy of carrying my shoes.”
The purple robe on his body was his last attachment.
A man like Young Master Yu had been, just a few years ago, one of those at the very pinnacle of power in Great Chu.
His adoptive father was the Grand Eunuch Yuenzetze, the man second in influence only to Liu Chongxin — even common people knew that Liu Chongxin had been the true ruler of Great Chu in those days.
The emperor never left the palace. All affairs were put to the Chief.
Military authority and governmental power were largely in Liu Chongxin’s hands. Not just officials of the third rank and below — even first and second rank officials had to kneel and bow before Liu Chongxin.
A single Bailiff of the Inspector’s Office leading his men down the street was enough to make a fourth-rank general hurriedly dismount and salute.
A single Flag Officer of the Inspector’s Office could, on his own authority, have a county magistrate beheaded in the local area — and could even arrest and charge every person in the entire county yamen.
When people in the streets caught sight of an Inspector’s Office banner, they either hid immediately or dropped to their knees at the roadside.
Wherever the Inspector’s Office went, pandemonium followed — people’s hearts trembling with fear.
As the most favored adopted son of Yuenzetze, this Young Master Yu had once served as a Senior Officer of the Inspector’s Office — and the Inspector’s Office’s Senior Officer was the sole special exception in all of Great Chu, a position of the fourth rank that was nevertheless permitted to wear purple.
Zaoyunjian was so irritated by Young Master Yu’s words that he almost burst out laughing. Looking at that expressionless face, he smiled and said: “Since you yourself know that is all in the past, what pride remains?”
Young Master Yu slowly exhaled: “Those who show disrespect to the Inspector’s Office — kill them.”
Then he stepped forward.
There were hundreds of Tingwei Army soldiers here, plus two Senior Officers, and he showed not the faintest trace of fear.
At this moment, Zaoyunjian and Yu Hongyi had yet to register the wrongness of the situation.
A man who had hidden away for so long, suddenly emerging of his own accord — and doing so this brazenly — was plainly wrong.
But at this moment both Zaoyunjian and Yu Hongyi had only one thought: subdue him as quickly as possible.
Zaoyunjian drew his long blade and swept a slash toward Young Master Yu’s chest.
Young Master Yu’s body arched backward — his waist bent to an inconceivable degree, his body not toppling over yet leaning back until it was nearly parallel to the ground.
Had he bent both knees deeply, the difficulty would not have been so great — ordinary dancers could manage something like that. What made it remarkable was that his legs were barely bent at all.
Having dodged the slash, Young Master Yu flipped a short blade into his hand and cut toward Zaoyunjian’s abdomen.
Zaoyunjian rotated his body and evaded the cut, then stepped back in and brought his long blade down in an arc toward Young Master Yu’s back.
Young Master Yu dropped low — his head nearly touching the ground — and raised his foot behind him, landing a precise kick on Zaoyunjian’s wrist.
He was as though he had eyes in the back of his head, anticipating Zaoyunjian’s moves with uncanny accuracy.
Zaoyunjian’s wrist was kicked and he could barely hold his blade; his arm was thrown upward.
According to Little Zhang Zhenren’s reckoning, if high-level fighters were to be ranked, the Senior Officers of the Tingwei Army were at bare minimum second-tier fighters.
Zaoyunjian, Yu Hongyi, Fang Xidao, and Shang Qingzhu were all very young, with enormous room to grow — already at the upper reaches of the second tier, with every likelihood of ascending to the first tier in time.
But this world was vast. Among Great Chu’s hundreds of millions of subjects, how many hidden masters were there who never revealed themselves?
This world held so many temptations — and the shortcut to fulfilling those temptations was wealth and power.
And so the Inspector’s Office had gathered an enormous concentration of high-level fighters, far surpassing the Tingwei Army.
As long as one could hold even a minor position in the Inspector’s Office, life ascended to an entirely different level — with the common masses beneath one’s feet.
Those who had made their names in the martial world were therefore especially eager to join the Inspector’s Office. Those who could not join would rack their brains trying to demonstrate their loyalty to the Inspector’s Office, in exchange for the Inspector’s Office issuing them a patronage warrant.
Sects that held such a warrant rose considerably in status.
Young Master Yu was himself one of the most exceptional figures in the Inspector’s Office. Of the eighteen adopted sons that Yuenzetze had taken in, not one had risen by looks alone — those without ability were eventually weeded out.
As the strongest among the eighteen, Young Master Yu’s capabilities naturally commanded respect — and so he had every right to his arrogance.
Zaoyunjian’s wrist was kicked wide, his body rocking backward, and with such a glaring opening before him, how could Young Master Yu let it pass?
His body already pressed extremely low, he braced a palm on the ground and launched himself backward, his feet landing two rapid consecutive kicks to Zaoyunjian’s chest.
Zaoyunjian reacted with lightning speed — taking the first two kicks, he brought his left arm up to block further hits to his chest, while his right hand brought his blade slashing toward Young Master Yu’s lower back.
Young Master Yu had already anticipated the move, borrowing the momentum of the kick to roll forward.
Yu Hongyi stepped forward. Zaoyunjian waved her back: “Stay out of it!”
Youth and pride — who among the young didn’t have that?
Yu Hongyi raised her hand in signal, and the surrounding Tingwei soldiers immediately lowered the repeating crossbows they had already drawn to aim.
The Tingwei Army’s repeating crossbows were far superior to the standard-issue crossbows of Great Chu’s garrison troops.
Using blueprints provided by Li Xiansheng, Li Chi had improved upon Great Chu’s garrison crossbow design — giving the Ning Army’s repeating crossbows a faster rate of fire and a simpler mechanism for reloading and changing bolts.
Li Xiansheng’s universal genius was on full display in this as well.
Stung by the series of exchanges in which Young Master Yu had held the upper hand, Zaoyunjian’s fighting spirit rose. His long blade swept out in a wide arc showering silver light, pressing toward Young Master Yu once more.
Young Master Yu still wore that ghostly expression — his pallid complexion lending him an unsettling, almost sinister air.
As the long blade swept in, Young Master Yu spun in a full circle, flicking his short blade toward Zaoyunjian’s wrist.
Zaoyunjian abruptly released his grip and withdrew the hand — the short blade cut through empty air. In that instant, Zaoyunjian’s hand shot out and seized Young Master Yu’s wrist, while he kicked at the blade’s handle, sending the long blade spinning back to slice toward Young Master Yu’s arm.
Young Master Yu’s brow furrowed — finally some expression registered on his face.
He raised his knee sideways, using it to knock the long blade aside, then swung the knee back to drive into Zaoyunjian’s abdomen.
Zaoyunjian’s left hand pressed down, catching Young Master Yu’s knee, while his foot shot out in a side kick aimed straight at Young Master Yu’s midsection.
Young Master Yu twisted his wrist and wrenched free of Zaoyunjian’s grip; his short blade jabbed into Zaoyunjian’s thigh.
Zaoyunjian’s expression changed. His right leg was still mid-air — but his left foot also leapt off the ground, using a jumping kick to send Young Master Yu tumbling backward.
That move, Young Master Yu had not been able to predict.
Zaoyunjian ripped the short blade from his own thigh and drove it toward Young Master Yu’s chest. Young Master Yu touched a foot down and glided backward.
“Someone like you wouldn’t make Senior Officer in the Inspector’s Office.”
Young Master Yu had returned to that expressionless state — and it was precisely that expressionlessness that constituted the deepest contempt.
Zaoyunjian was a proud young man. How could he endure such contempt?
And so he drove forward, ignoring the blade wound in his leg to press close again, meeting Young Master Yu’s short blade with attacks of his own — slash after slash, fast as lightning.
Young Master Yu used his left hand to deflect continuously, each time striking Zaoyunjian’s wrist with precise accuracy.
Waiting for the right moment, his right hand suddenly seized Zaoyunjian’s collar, his foot swept Zaoyunjian’s leg, and with a one-armed throw he hurled Zaoyunjian into the air.
In midair, Zaoyunjian forced his body to twist, slashing a blade across Young Master Yu’s shoulder — cutting a deep gash that opened at once.
Young Master Yu glanced sideways at the wound on his shoulder. For the first time, what appeared to be a flicker of anger crossed his face.
Yu Hongyi called out: “He’s deliberately stalling for time — take him down quickly.”
Zaoyunjian made a sound of agreement, braced a hand on the ground, and swept both legs in a wide low arc at Young Master Yu’s lower body.
Young Master Yu gave a cold sound: “You only understand this now?”
He leapt upward, sweeping toward the courtyard wall. Yu Hongyi launched herself into the air and intercepted with a slash.
Just then, someone came running in from outside: “Yunbao Zhai is on fire!”
Young Master Yu struck Yu Hongyi’s blade away with his palm, using the recoil force to pivot and jump toward the outside of the courtyard wall.
But just then a flash of white swept past.
Two sleeves unfurled in midair, striking Young Master Yu full in the chest with a thunderous impact. Young Master Yu went flying like a kite with a cut string, his back slamming into the wall — and the wall itself burst open with the impact.
Young Master Yu’s expression did not change — but his eyes filled with fear.
When that white-robed figure had appeared, there had been no way to block, no way to dodge, and so he knew who had come.
He struggled up and squeezed through the hole in the wall, stumbling and staggering forward.
But he had not gone far before he saw, arrayed across the street in the darkness, the Tingwei Army black cavalry — like soldiers of the underworld.
Black leather armor, black cloaks, black warhorses — emanating in the darkness an aura that was suffocating.
Young Master Yu turned and bolted in another direction. He had barely gone a few steps before the air beside him suddenly erupted like a blast wave, and countless fragments of brick and rubble came pelting down upon him, sending him flying sideways.
A breath earlier, Ye Xiansheng had stood on the inside of the courtyard wall. Seeming to sense Young Master Yu’s position, he had simply pressed one hand against the wall.
The force released — and the wall collapsed, bricks flying in all directions.
Young Master Yu was pelted to the ground. The blow to his chest just moments before now made itself fully felt, the pain in his chest becoming unbearable — he could not hold it back, and a mouthful of blood sprayed from his lips.
Meanwhile.
Li Chi’s men had already surged into Yunbao Zhai — with a speed that left Yunbao Zhai’s people with no time to react at all.
How could they have known that several days ago, the surrounding residences around Yunbao Zhai had already been quietly filled with large numbers of Tingwei Army soldiers?
The fire had barely started before the Tingwei Army extinguished it in a manner that left onlookers gaping.
Each man came rushing in with a bag of soil. When they reached the burning structure, they each heaved their bag — and the burning building was, through sheer force, smothered.
It was clear the Tingwei Army had long since anticipated that Yunbao Zhai would be set on fire.
Li Chi pushed the door open. In that room with one corner already burned away, he found Han Huamei and the others, bound and tied.
These literary luminaries had every one of them gone pale with fear — terrified and helpless.
Had the Tingwei Army not managed to extinguish the fire in time, someone might have spread the story that Prince Ning had burned Han Dajia and the others to death in Yunbao Zhai.
The Inspector’s Office never left any loose ends. Human lives were, to its people, entirely worthless.
Whether Han Dajia or a common commoner — all were equally insignificant blades of grass.
When Han Huamei, trembling, looked up and saw Li Chi walk through the door in that moment, he could not help but burst into tears with a great sob.
—
Xingchen Lou.
Ye Xiansheng stepped forward, looked for a moment at Young Master Yu’s face, then reached out and grasped — pulling away a mask of human skin.
Beneath the mask, the face was still deathly pale. He was gravely wounded, yet showed not the faintest trace of fear. In his eyes, in fact, there was a faint, quiet satisfaction.
Liu Yanggong.
—