“All these years, the one thought I have held in my heart is this — Dachu must be destroyed!”

Di Chi looked down, and even after so many years, even with his head lowered, the hatred in his eyes had not diminished in the slightest.

Three clans. Hundreds of people. Beheaded in the street.

Such hatred — nothing but death could extinguish it.

Li Chi and his men sat watching him, none of them saying anything, yet all of them could feel the towering rage inside Di Chi’s heart.

After a long silence, Yu Jiuling felt the atmosphere had grown rather oppressive and tried to shift the topic, asking the elder who had been bitten: “Your injury — nothing too serious, I hope?”

That elder was addressed as Second Brother. All these years, he was the one who had handled the feeding of the great pythons. He had never imagined that the creature would turn on him.

“It is nothing. And even if it were something, no matter.”

The elder’s name was Yan Jingzhong, and he had served as Di Chi’s deputy commander in those years.

“If that beast had killed me, it would simply have been heaven’s will.”

Yan Jingzhong was quite philosophical about it. He looked at Yu Jiuling with a grateful expression: “When we first arrived here, they were already here. I suppose they must have been creatures Yang Sheng kept many years ago. Yang Sheng has long since died, yet these things have passed down generation after generation. Even so, even if you hadn’t killed them, they would have died out eventually — only that one remained.”

Heaven only knows what possessed Yu Jiuling to blurt out: “With no equal-sized mate, could it not mate with a smaller one?”

And heaven only knows what prompted Gui Yuanshu to add: “Do you think they’d be compatible? The proportions simply wouldn’t work.”

And so the atmosphere became even more peculiar.

After a moment, Yan Jingzhong suddenly let out a laugh.

He continued: “These things have always been on the island. When we first found this island, we lost some people to them. Later, when we were hunted by the court and had nowhere left to hide, we came here instead, and coexisted with these creatures.”

Just then, Di Chi suddenly looked at Li Chi: “Your Highness Prince Ning — you are going to destroy Dachu, are you not? No matter what, you will destroy Dachu — is that right?”

Li Chi nodded: “Yes.”

Di Chi rose to his feet: “Come with me. I have a great gift to give you.”

Li Chi asked: “What is it?”

“Follow me and you’ll know.”

Di Chi called out to his old comrades: “Let us take Prince Ning to see the treasures Yang Sheng left behind.”

The group of elders answered in unison, just as they had in their soldiering days.

Di Chi led the way, talking as he walked: “Because his fellow disciple died on his account, he dreamed every night of that blood-soaked disciple standing before him, questioning him — so he fled the Great Zhou capital. But the man was incorrigible, and trading on everyone’s knowledge of his relationship with the Master, he enriched himself at every stop.”

They arrived at the entrance of a cave — at the base of the cliff face where the great hall had been painted.

Di Chi continued: “But later, the Master died. The Zhou Son of Heaven knew exactly what kind of man Yang Sheng was, and summoned him back — but Yang Sheng knew he would be killed the moment he returned, so he fled to this area of Jingzhou.”

He pointed toward the cave mouth, signaling Li Chi and the others to follow.

“Once here, not daring to show himself as the Master’s disciple, he devised a new scheme for swindling people out of their money — through the art of playing god.”

He talked as he walked: “He called himself the Patriarch of the Three Lives Cult, claimed to have lived for a thousand years, and gathered a great mob of disciples to run his fraudulent enterprise.”

“The painting on the cliff face was left from that time. Hundreds of years ago, he once held a grand Immortal Gathering at this place.”

Di Chi said: “He claimed he could summon immortals to descend, and could rid all who knelt in worship of illness and calamity. To demonstrate the immortal’s power, he said that within five days, a great hall would be built on this island.”

Li Chi, hearing this, already had a fairly clear picture.

Find a place like this — mysterious and secluded, perpetually shrouded in mist, naturally possessed of an air of the uncanny.

This kind of talk about expelling illness and warding off disaster would be particularly tempting to the wealthy.

Di Chi said: “He had gathered a great crowd of people at what I believe was then called something different near Weian County. He declared publicly that in five days, he would use his immortal arts on this lake island to turn sand into solid stone, and to conjure a celestial palace hall from nothing.”

Li Chi and the others understood now — that sandy beach had been Yang Sheng’s doing.

Di Chi said: “Not entirely — most of it was work we did later. One section of it was his original work, using glutinous rice water mixed with the island’s unique fine sand. No lime mortar needed; it becomes exceptionally hard on its own.”

“On that day, before a great crowd, he first walked on ordinary sand, scooping it up and casting it into the air to show everyone it was normal. Then he walked onto the patch of sand that had already solidified, poured a cup of wine over it, and invited people to inspect it — when the crowd saw the sand had turned to stone, they were all dumbstruck by this trick.”

“Then he turned and pointed toward this cliff face, declaring that the hall was complete — but the immortal’s attendant, Zhulong, was coiled upon the roof, and no one was to approach, only to observe from a distance, lest they disturb the immortal in meditation.”

This sort of deception was not particularly clever, yet it was remarkably effective at deceiving people.

They walked and talked, and deep in the mountain cave the passage suddenly opened into a vast cavern.

And then — everyone’s eyes went wide. Yu Jiuling gaped, unable for a moment to find the words.

The gold and silver jewels piled in that cavern — to call them mountains would not be an exaggeration.

Di Chi looked at Li Chi: “Your Highness Prince Ning, all of this I present to you. I ask only that you promise me one thing — when you storm the World-Origin Palace, take me with you. And if I do not live to see that day, take my ashes — and let me watch as the Yang imperial clan’s dynasty is extinguished.”

The wealth here had been accumulated over Yang Sheng’s entire lifetime. Its magnitude was almost beyond imagining.

Di Chi walked to one spot and lifted away a covering that had been placed over something — clearly added by them later, for the original cloth tarpaulin would long since have been beyond use.

Beneath that cloth was a row of wooden racks. On every rack rested a weapon.

Di Chi pointed to the item placed at the very front: “Yang Sheng’s most beloved treasure, the Azure Cloud Blade — a blade famed as the equal of the Master’s Sacred Blade.”

Di Chi sighed: “I never laid eyes on the Master’s Sacred Blade. Legend has it that both came from the same source — and the Azure Cloud Blade may even surpass it.”

Li Chi said: “The Master’s Sacred Blade… I have actually seen it.”

Instinctively, he glanced down at his own blade, Minghong.

Di Chi immediately asked: “Where is that blade now?”

Li Chi looked at Minghong again: “Roughly speaking… part of it is still alive.”

Di Chi did not understand. But Yu Jiuling and the others exchanged glances, each of them dimly filled with a sense of foreboding.

As Li Chi stepped toward the Azure Cloud Blade, Yu Jiuling could not restrain himself and offered a word of caution: “Boss, think this through carefully.”

Li Chi picked up the Azure Cloud Blade and weighed it in his hand. Something was flickering in his eyes: “I can’t quite help myself…”

Yu Jiuling: “Think it through, please, think it through very carefully.”

Li Chi: “Let me try giving it a tap.”

“A tap?”

Di Chi had not understood at first, but then he saw Li Chi already moving to draw his own blade, and immediately urged: “The Azure Cloud Blade is the sharpest under heaven. They say that when the Master originally had Yang Sheng forge a blade, Yang Sheng had an extra thought — he used the purest refined material to forge this Azure Cloud Blade for himself, then used slightly lesser material to forge the Sacred Blade for the Master…”

Before he could finish, Li Chi had already grasped the Azure Cloud Blade in his left hand, Minghong gripped in his right.

“Sharpest under heaven or not — try it and we’ll know.”

*Clang!*

Yu Jiuling and the others all covered their eyes.

Absolute recklessness. Truly, they had never seen a lord this reckless.

As that single clang rang out, Di Chi’s eyeballs nearly bulged from their sockets.

“Ah!”

The group of elders burst into a chorus of shocked cries.

A moment later, Li Chi looked at the Minghong blade in his hand — completely unharmed — then looked at the Azure Cloud Blade, which had snapped clean through, and let out a sigh: “Not worth melting down.”

Everyone stared at him as though looking at something monstrous.

Then they noticed that Li Chi’s gaze had already settled on the weapon placed farthest in — obviously the highest-grade piece in the collection.

He stretched out a finger: “What is that?”

“No!”

Di Chi’s voice was trembling: “That is a priceless treasure! That is the Zhou Son of Heaven’s Sword!”

Li Chi was already moving toward it.

Yu Jiuling could not take it anymore. He stepped forward and grabbed Li Chi’s arm: “Boss, don’t tap this one, please.”

Li Chi said: “What are you thinking? I’m just going to look. If it’s decent, I’ll bring it back as a gift for your eldest brother.”

Yu Jiuling exhaled. Everyone exhaled.

“What is this?”

Halfway across the room, Li Chi spotted a long box lying horizontally on a weapon rack. The box was damaged, clearly an old object.

“It is a serpent lance.”

Di Chi said: “Its origin is unknown — it was presumably something Yang Sheng acquired through his plundering.”

Li Chi opened the box. Inside lay a long lance, about one zhang in length. The lance tip was twisted like the body of a serpent, nearly two chi long.

“Xiahou.”

Li Chi turned to look at Xiahou Zuo: “This thing — I don’t know its quality. Do you think it could be tested against the Azure Cloud Blade?”

Xiahou Zuo: “…”

Li Chi looked at the two halves of the Azure Cloud Blade, then back at the serpent lance: “If the quality is comparable, let’s melt down the serpent lance and the Azure Cloud Blade together.”

Before they could continue, Dantai Yijing called out from not far away: “My lord, come look at this.”

Li Chi temporarily set aside his idea of testing the serpent lance against the half Azure Cloud Blade, and walked toward Dantai Yijing.

He saw Dantai Yijing holding a strangely made volume — evidently fashioned from some kind of hide, as it had suffered relatively little damage.

Li Chi took it and examined it. The cover bore four seal-script characters: *Baochuan Jiyao — Record of the Treasure Ship*.

He flipped through it — it was a method for shipbuilding, apparently written by Yang Sheng himself, accompanied by extraordinarily detailed diagrams.

According to Yang Sheng’s vision, he intended to build a magnificent treasure ship forty zhang in length, to sail out into the Eastern Sea.

Li Chi passed the volume to Dantai: “Bring this back. If our generation cannot build such a great ship to sail the seas, then leave it for those who come after. Sooner or later, we will set sail for distant waters and see the farther reaches of the world.”

Just then, a thought suddenly struck Li Chi: “General Di — is there much of that sand on this island? I noticed there are quite a few white stones as well.”

Di Chi replied: “Plenty. The whole back mountain is covered in it — everywhere you look.”

Li Chi broke into a grin, smiling in a way that baffled everyone around him.

He looked at Yu Jiuling: “Remember to send word to Adviser Lian when we get back. Tell him I’ve found the building stone for Chang’an — it’s a long way, but there’s a water route to transport it.”

The more Li Chi thought about it, the more delighted he became. If this material were used to build the northern stronghold city he had envisioned — it would be nothing short of wonderful.

Even if a trebuchet were to pound at it ceaselessly, there would be no breaking through those walls.

Li Chi let out a long, slow breath.

Delightful. How delightful.

—