“Splat—”

In the Prefectural Headquarters main hall, festooned with lanterns and colored banners, Li Qi also spat up a mouthful of blood, then immediately crumpled to the floor. Wang Lishe, Dong Jiang, and the others cried out in alarm, rushing forward with many hands to help him up and seat him on the couch.

“How can this be… how can this be…”

Li Qi sat on the couch in a daze, his gaze fixed and vacant. “Why did Junke betray me? Why?”

“Wang Junke is a treacherous man with a wolf’s heart and a dog’s lungs, fickle and faithless — Your Highness placed far too much trust in him!”

Wang Lishe said, his voice full of grieved reproach.

Li Qi continued to murmur: “Why did Junke betray me? Why?”

He suddenly stood up, drew the longsword from the weapon rack, and Wang Lishe was horrified: “Your Highness — what are you doing? You must not take your life!”

“I will not take my own life.”

Li Qi strode toward the doorway, his voice desolate. “I want to ask Wang Junke face to face — why he betrayed me. Otherwise I cannot die with eyes closed.”

Wang Lishe clutched him and pleaded: “Your Highness, this is no time for acting on emotion — we must think of a way to escape with our lives.”

“Report!”

Just at that moment, a messenger soldier ran in with a face full of agitation. “Your Highness — the Dunhuang troops have broken through the Prefectural Headquarters jail and gotten Niu Jinda and Cui Dunli out!”

“Crash—”

A tremendous sound: the great gate of the Prefectural Headquarters jail was rammed open, and Ma Hongda led his troops into the courtyard. Li Qi had not stationed heavy troops at the jail; the lone squad of armored soldiers there could not hold against Ma Hongda’s army and was dispersed in an instant.

Ma Hongda personally opened the cell doors, freeing Niu Jinda, Cui Dunli, Linghu Demao, Zhai Chang, and the others.

Niu Jinda had only been knocked unconscious; his injuries were not serious. He had barely recovered consciousness when he was released, and finding that the men who had come were Wang Junke’s trusted aide captains, he was utterly at a loss. As for Linghu Demao and the others, their hearts were already troubled — they had thought they were about to be taken out for execution.

Ma Hongda offered no explanation, but respectfully invited the two men to mount horses and brought them to the gate of the Prefectural Headquarters to meet Wang Junke.

“His Excellency Cui, you have suffered!”

Wang Junke quickly came forward and personally helped Cui Dunli down from his horse.

Cui Dunli looked blankly at him, then looked at the Dunhuang troops surrounding the Prefectural Headquarters. For a moment he did not know what to say.

Wang Junke then came before Niu Jinda and swept his robe aside, going down on one knee: “Old Niu — your brother is here to apologize.”

“You—”

The moment Niu Jinda laid eyes on Wang Junke, rage surged through him. He reached out and grabbed at the air — and found his hands empty, realizing he had no weapon on his horse. So he swung down from the horse, seized Wang Junke by the collar, and lifted him clear off the ground with one hand, swinging his fist at him.

Ma Hongda’s blade sang as he pulled it from its sheath and moved to intervene. Wang Junke bellowed: “Stand down! I ordered so many Suzhou soldiers killed to serve the court and paralyze Li Qi — it is only right that he should kill me for it! No one is to stop him!”

At these words, Linghu Demao and Zhai Chang were both taken aback. What? Wang Junke had defected to the loyalist side again? The clan heads were seized simultaneously by shock and joy, as though they had been pulled back from the brink of death by a mouthful of life-giving medicine; every one of them was overjoyed. Zhai Chang, Zhang Bi, and Yin Shixiong were moved to joyful tears.

Qin Gang also ran over to wrap his arms around Niu Jinda: “Your Excellency should hear my lord Wang’s explanation!”

“Prefect Niu,”

Cui Dunli also said, “it would be better to first hear what my lord Wang has to say.”

Though Cui Dunli’s official rank was lower than theirs, he held the authority of an imperial envoy — and Niu Jinda had no choice but to release his grip, flinging Wang Junke aside with force: “Speak.”

Wang Junke said to the assembled company: “Do all of you still remember when His Highness Li Qi came to Dunhuang on his circuit of inspection?”

“Of course we remember.”

Linghu Demao said.

The clan heads all nodded repeatedly. An autumn circuit inspection was in any case the established duty of the Guazhou Commander-General; Li Qi had first gone to Suzhou on his circuit before coming to Dunhuang, and the clan heads had gone to the state capital post-house to receive him.

“Li Qi sought a private meeting with me in Dunhuang, and in his words let slip an intent to rebel; he made considerable efforts to win me over. As I probed his thinking, I learned that he considered himself one of Crown Prince Jiancheng’s people, and that after His Majesty had ordered the deaths of Prince of Lujiang Li Yuan and Prince of Changle Li Youliang, he would sooner or later come for him as well. Somewhere he had heard that His Majesty had ordered Li Dayong to reinforce Ganzhou, and took this as evidence of being targeted. As it happened, His Excellency Cui had also come with a summons to have him return to Chang’an, and he became convinced that His Majesty intended to kill him.”

Wang Junke said.

Cui Dunli was suddenly enlightened: “No wonder — after taking me prisoner, he had me tortured for information about Li Dayong’s troop reinforcements to Ganzhou. To think he was this deeply given to paranoid suspicion.”

“Then why did you assist him in his rebellion?”

Niu Jinda was only half persuaded.

Wang Junke smiled bitterly: “Old Niu — he was the superior officer of both of us, a full Prince of the Second Rank, imperial blood and bone. He had only let slip some vague hints — what was I supposed to do? Was I to report him to the court on the basis of a few words of speculation? Moreover, His Highness the Prince of Linjiang had been managing the three prefectures of Guazhou, Shazhou, and Suzhou for three years — who knew how many eyes and ears he had? My secret memorial might never have reached the capital before he had me secretly done away with.”

Niu Jinda was speechless for a moment.

Zhai Chang quickly offered: “My lord Wang, there was absolutely no one in our Dunhuang aristocratic clans who colluded with Li Qi in this treasonous affair.”

“But at the time I did not dare be certain of that! And so I played along with his plans. To test me, he even wanted to take Yuzao as his son’s principal consort — thinking that would bind me to him and make it impossible to get off the boat. To put his suspicions to rest, I had no choice but to endure the humiliation and agree to giving my daughter in marriage to Li Chan. Only after that did he truly trust me.”

Wang Junke spoke fluently, his entire face radiating sincerity and suffering. “Though I knew Old Niu’s loyalty, Old Niu was all the way in Suzhou, and I had no idea how deeply Li Qi had penetrated there — I did not even have anyone to consult. I had no choice but to fight alone, holding up Great Tang’s fortunes here in Dunhuang.”

Cui Dunli was visibly moved, bowing with clasped fists: “My lord Wang’s heart, loyal to the marrow — this official feels deep admiration. Thinking back on it now, I can still keenly feel the helplessness and anguish you must have felt in those days.”

The tension in Niu Jinda’s expression also eased slightly.

Wang Junke let out a sigh: “At the time in Dunhuang I was truly helpless and anguished. I genuinely did not know who was Li Qi’s confidant and who had been bought over by him, so I had no choice but step by step to seize control of all the garrison captains’ military authority and hold it in my own hands.”

“My lord Wang placed too little trust in us!”

Linghu Demao said with a sigh. “If only you had spoken openly with us sooner, why would tonight have had to be so fraught with danger?”

“My lord Wang’s was the wiser course.”

Cui Dunli said evenly. “After all, the events of the sixth year of Wude were less than six years ago.” He paused. “Still, all the clan heads were steadfast in righteousness tonight, and I will naturally report this to His Majesty. The court will not be stingy with its commendation.”

The clan heads all felt a trace of awkwardness — they all knew he was referring to the uprising of Zhang Hu and Li Tong in the sixth year of Wude, when they had seized Dunhuang, killed the Commander-General He Ruohuaiguang, and sent the court a clear warning of the aristocracy’s power. Though the Dunhuang aristocratic clans and the court had subsequently reached an agreement, and the majority of military authority had been handed over, the court had not been completely without wariness.

“Fortunately, my secret investigation ultimately found no evidence of the Dunhuang aristocratic clans being in league with Li Qi’s rebellion. With the exception of the Li clan, who were mixed up in all kinds of mischief and in collusion with Kuimu Wolf, the other clan heads were all men of singular loyalty.”

Wang Junke had spoken in defense of the clans, but had stabbed the Li clan in the back. “But at the time the circumstances were what they were, and I had no other choice. One after another I secured Linghu Zhan, Zhai Shu, and Song Kai, fully taking control of the military.”

Linghu Demao and the others immediately broke out in a cold sweat, feeling wave after wave of retrospective dread; no one had expected Wang Junke to have harbored such intentions. If they had insisted on fighting him to the bitter end from the beginning, tonight’s situation would truly have been very difficult to resolve.

“At that point, Li Qi ordered me to bring troops to Guazhou to help him carry out the uprising. I had originally planned to take him down suddenly, but he had me station the main army south of the city, and would not let us enter. I had no other option. Then, unexpectedly, Kuimu Wolf abducted Yuzao, and I was able to bring five hundred men inside.”

Wang Junke said.

“Was the abduction real? Was it not your scheme?”

Niu Jinda asked. “And how did Dharma Master Xuanzang come to be involved?”

“Absolutely not my scheme.”

Wang Junke said with a bitter smile. “As for Xuanzang… this person — what exactly he was trying to do, I genuinely cannot tell. Perhaps he also saw that Li Qi intended to rebel, and did not want Yuzao to walk into a fire pit, and so devised a plan to save her.”

Niu Jinda nodded at this. He could accept this sort of explanation. For the protection Xuanzang had given him at the cost of his own life, he had always felt deep gratitude.

“Old Niu,”

Wang Junke looked earnestly at Niu Jinda. “I had no choice but to kill your Suzhou soldiers tonight. If I had not played my part to the fullest, Li Qi would never have trusted me or listened to me, and so…”

Wang Junke’s eyes reddened. “For your soldiers who died tonight, I will personally escort their remains and do honor to them myself, and petition the court on their behalf for recognition of their merit. If you are still not satisfied—”

Wang Junke took a saber from Ma Hongda’s hands, gripped the blade, and extended the hilt toward Niu Jinda: “You may take a single stroke and cut me down.”

Niu Jinda took hold of the hilt, and thinking of his mounted cavalry with whom he had shared life and death, could not hold back his tears. He finally let out a long sigh and threw the saber to the ground: “You are a meritorious official who suppressed a rebellion for the court. How could I kill you?”

Yet in his tone there was no full sense of release.

“Prefect Niu — all of this was the unavoidable necessity of extraordinary times. In time His Majesty will resolve things between the two of you.”

Cui Dunli said. “My lord Wang, please continue.”

“After taking down Old Niu, Li Qi’s guard was down as expected. I then volunteered and went to Ward Bing-Six, ostensibly to find the Suzhou fish tallies, and took Qin Gang into custody.”

Wang Junke glanced at Qin Gang.

Qin Gang clasped his fist: “General — after my lord Wang took me prisoner, he brought me to the command hall and explained in detail what was happening with tonight’s rebellion and his plan. At that time, hearing that you had been captured, I made up my mind without hesitation to cooperate with my lord Wang, handed over the fish tallies, and went along as a prisoner into the city.”

“Your injuries…”

Niu Jinda looked him over.

“I cut them myself, sir — how else was I to make Li Qi believe us?”

Qin Gang was unconcerned.

What followed was straightforward: Wang Junke had killed Dugu Da and seized both city gates in one stroke, surrounding Li Qi in the Prefectural Headquarters.

Niu Jinda looked at Wang Junke with a complex expression and suddenly landed a hard punch squarely in his abdomen; Wang Junke bent double with a grunt, doubling over like a shrimp.

Everyone was startled. Wang Junke straightened up in pain, and on his face there was actually an expression of joy: “Thank… thank you, Old Niu!”

“Ha ha ha!”

Cui Dunli burst out laughing. “You two are both officials who put down a rebellion. When dawn comes I will submit a memorial to the court commending you both. My lord Wang — give the order for the next step. Remember, Li Qi the traitor must be taken.”

“Simple.”

Wang Junke laughed, and made a beckoning gesture behind him.

Zhao Ping had already led soldiers to assemble eight trebuchets and siege ladders, and now pushed them into the plaza outside the Prefectural Headquarters, setting them up in a row along the surrounding wall.

“Load!”

At Zhao Ping’s command, the soldiers loaded stone projectiles into the trebuchet pouches.

“Fire!”

Zhao Ping roared, and the soldiers knocked out the wooden wedges holding the throwing arms. Over a hundred jin of stone projectile flew out and came crashing down on the Prefectural Headquarters.

These were the large trebuchets used for defending cities, each requiring more than ten men to operate. Since the range was relatively short, Zhao Ping had ordered the largest available projectiles loaded — each weighing a hundred and fifty jin. Eight fired in unison; in an instant the Prefectural Headquarters was smashed into a scene of devastation. The half-chi thick main gate and the gatehouse before it turned out to be no stronger than paper before the projectiles, collapsing in an instant, shattered to fragments.

The projectiles crashed into the surrounding walls, the rooftops, and the courtyards. Every strike caused horrific casualties. Some projectiles hit open ground and went rolling on, causing even greater carnage — the courtyard was packed with dense formations, and as the projectiles rolled through them, they cut paths of blood, snapping every bone and tendon of any person they touched.

“Load!”

Zhao Ping gave the order a second time, and the craftsmen and soldiers immediately reloaded.

Suddenly, from within the Prefectural Headquarters came the unified cry of many voices: “Wang Junke, hear me! I am Li Qi!”

Wang Junke raised his hand, and everyone fell silent to listen.

“Things have come to this point — why should you and I continue to shed more blood? This prince is willing to surrender. I ask only — do you, Wang Junke, dare to meet me face to face!”

The voices called out from within the Prefectural Headquarters.

“Tell him — why would I not dare?”

Wang Junke said coldly.

Ma Hongda had men cry out in response: “Why would he not dare!”

Wang Junke waved his broad sword; Ma Hongda and Zhao Ping led the main force and trampled over the rubble, crashing into the Prefectural Headquarters. In the courtyard of the Prefectural Headquarters stood several hundred men in neat rows, each face ashen and bedraggled.

“Throw down your swords, remove your armor!”

Ma Hongda called out.

Several hundred rebel Guazhou troops stared blankly as they threw down their spears and swords and stripped off their armor. Immediately, Dunhuang troops came forward, bound them in a line, and escorted them out through the gate.

Wang Junke invited the clan heads to wait at the gate, and went himself with Niu Jinda and Cui Dunli to the outer hall. Through the dimness they could vaguely make out Li Qi sitting upright deep in the main hall, with Wang Lishe kneeling at his side serving wine.

“The two of you wait here. Since he wants to see me, I will go in and see him.”

Wang Junke said.

“Be careful — this may be a trap.”

Cui Dunli hesitated.

“What if it is a trap?”

Wang Junke laughed heartily. “Right now my great army has the main hall completely surrounded. How many men could he possibly be hiding? And who could stand against the broad sword in my hand?”

Wang Junke raised his broad sword and stepped forward over the rubble of the courtyard, walking into the main hall.

The main hall was still adorned with festive decorations: red carpets on the floor, silk brocade hung on all sides, felt rugs and low tables set out on both sides, with fine wine and delicacies still on the tables. Yet in the short span of a few hours, the splendor had vanished, and a scene of decay and ruin had taken its place. Li Qi was dressed in the court garments of a prince — a tall ceremonial crown on his head, a purple outer robe embroidered with a great dragon motif, jade belt with gold hooks — sitting upright on a tiger-skin felt rug, drinking his wine one cup at a time.

Wang Junke stepped forward one step at a time to the center of the main hall, where he drove his broad sword — “thunk” — into the floor, and stood there, proud and unmoving, staring at Li Qi.

“My father, personal name Zhe, Prince of Jinan Commandery of Great Tang, and former Pillar of State of the preceding Sui; my grandfather, personal name Wei, the Meritorious and Fierce Prince of Great Tang, Military Commander of Shuozhou under the Northern Zhou; my great-grandfather, personal name Hu, Grand Progenitor and Emperor Jing of Great Tang, one of the Eight Pillars of State of Western Wei, Duke of Longxi Commandery.”

Li Qi did not look at Wang Junke, only taking wine from Wang Lishe’s hands and drinking it slowly. “I am a son of the Li clan — imperial blood and bone. I have served as Vice Minister of the Ministry of Justice, Commander-General of Xinzhou, Right Assistant Minister of the Southern Shanshan Circuit Executive Headquarters, and was elevated to the title of Prince of Linjiang Commandery. By the reckoning of the common people, I am that supremely exalted breed of dragon — the most noble bloodline in the world. And yet how have I been outmaneuvered by you? Wang Junke, I cannot fathom it.”

“There is nothing difficult to fathom.”

Wang Junke said evenly. “For soldiers and generals like us, who clawed our way out of the carnage of the late Sui — what is all this ‘imperial blood’ and ‘sons of dragons’? Not the slightest awe remains. We have slaughtered them all, more times than we can count — like butchering chickens and dogs.”

“So — from the very beginning, when you were enticing me into rebellion, you already had it in mind to use my life as the stepping stone to seize merit and glory?”

Li Qi said with a bitter taste in his mouth.

“Naturally.”

Wang Junke said without any pretense.

“Why do you harm me?”

Li Qi screamed in anguish.

“Because the world is at peace, and there is nowhere left to seize merit.”

Wang Junke said without any hesitation. “At the battle of Mingzhou, Luo Shixin overshadowed my achievements, and I have been overlooked and marginalized ever since. Qin Shubao was made Duke of Yi Kingdom; Cheng Zhijie was made Duke of Lu Kingdom; Li Ji was made Duke of Lai Kingdom; even Wei Zheng holds the position of Chief Minister — and I am still nothing more than an Earl of Pengze County, a fourth-rank Prefect. I am not reconciled.”

“Not reconciled…”

Li Qi repeated the words in a murmur.

“That is right — not reconciled.”

Wang Junke said. “This autumn and winter, the great campaign to annihilate the Turks will certainly commence. With it will come merit great as mountains and rewards vast as seas — how many will rise to become Dukes of full kingdoms? Yet I must sit out here in the great desert of the western frontier eating sand. I am even less reconciled to that!”

“And so you entice me into rebellion and use me as a stepping stone?”

Li Qi erupted in furious reproach. “Wang Junke — are you even human? Where is your conscience? With such cruelty — in the deep of night, when you lie awake, do you feel no shame? Do you not fear waking from nightmares?”

“Ha ha ha—”

Wang Junke laughed loudly. “Li Qi, a prince of the imperial household wants to lecture me about conscience? Have you ever eaten tree bark? I have. Have you ever eaten human flesh? I have. Have you ever crawled through a field of corpses stretching over hills for three days and three nights? I have. Have you ever drunk the dew off blades of grass? I have. Twelve years of war at the end of the Sui, and of every hundred people alive, scarcely one remained. I am that one who clawed his way out of among countless dead. And you want to talk to me about conscience! Good — once I make Duke, establish my great house, I will certainly talk about benevolence and righteousness. I will even talk about poetry and literature, and keep a few men of letters on retainer to trade verses with you. But not now. I cannot afford to dream, I have no time for shame. I must still rely on the blade in my hand and the horse beneath me to seize my glory and rise to the highest rank of honor in Great Tang.”

“So it turns out… it turns out you are a man driven entirely by desire and gain.”

Li Qi laughed until tears streamed down his face. “If that is so — why did you not simply rebel alongside me? If the Hexi region were truly divided and ruled, I could have given you all of that. The court’s highest title for a subject of foreign surname is Duke — I could have made you a Prince!”

“Rebel?”

Wang Junke found this absurdly laughable. “Are you still dreaming? Three or four prefectures of Hexi — could that sustain an independent state? In every dynasty and every age, how many separatist kingdoms in Hexi? Which of them survived? Hexi’s four prefectures have infertile land and only a few tens of wan household residents — military forces of only two to three wan men at most. If the court sent an army of one hundred thousand to attack, what could you use to hold them off?”

“But you yourself had worked out that the Turks and Tuyuhun would not stand aside and watch!”

Li Qi was truly unable to understand it — looking back now, Wang Junke’s strategy seemed to have had no flaw at all.

“The Turks?”

Wang Junke looked at him the way one looks at a simpleton. “Do you think today’s Turks are the same Turks as at the end of the Sui? The memorial Zhang Gongjin submitted was circulated by the court to you long ago — I wonder what you read out of it. The Turks are beset by enemies within and without, their national power greatly diminished. In this campaign, the court will certainly uproot them and crush them in a single decisive stroke. Kehan Xieli holding out until spring would mean he was formidable. His Majesty has never made an error in strategic planning — since you do not understand military affairs, simply trust in him. How laughable to think yourself clever. The fate that is yours today — you brought it entirely upon yourself.”

Li Qi stared blankly for a long while, then let out a string of wretched laughter and downed his cup in a single draught.

“You truly have gone to extraordinary lengths. If that is so — then all those stories about His Majesty intending to come for me were also you frightening me?”

Li Qi’s heart was dead and cold.

“You are the sort of person who lacks sufficient intelligence yet insists on considering himself clever. That is right — you were one of Jiancheng’s people. But His Majesty killed Li Yuan and Li Youliang in the first year of Zhenguan, and having then exiled you to Guazhou, why would he have killed you again? You were simply being eaten alive by your own guilty conscience and terrifying yourself into a broken courage.”

Wang Junke mocked him. “His Majesty dispatching me to Dunhuang, Niu Jinda to Suzhou, and Zhang Bi to Ganzhou — none of it was aimed at you. It was simply that His Majesty knew your abilities to be weak, and sent fierce generals to stand around you in a protective formation, to help you awe and hold the frontier.”

“Ganzhou… was there truly no troop reinforcement?”

Li Qi smiled in wretched anguish.

“None.”

Wang Junke said without any hesitation. “I was simply frightening you. In any case, it would take your emissaries twenty days to travel there and back to verify it, and I would have long since done away with you. And that is another thing — your emissary has already returned. Only I had him intercepted and killed.”

“So that is how it was.”

Li Qi laughed until he was bent over and in tears. “And your daughter — you gave her in marriage to my son, purely in order to lull me into complacency and win my trust?”

“What else did you think?”

Wang Junke said coldly. “If I had not agreed to the marriage alliance with you, how would you ever have trusted me, listened to me, and resolved to go ahead with the rebellion?”

“Did you consider whether she would live or die?”

Li Qi roared furiously. “Once she married Chan’er, she was of the Li family — she was Li family kin! When I rebel — what becomes of her?”

“She will not die.”

Wang Junke’s tone was indifferent. “In order to eliminate a traitor for the court, I endured the humiliation and sacrificed myself, not even stopping short of giving my daughter in marriage to the traitor’s son to win his trust. My daughter went so far as to enter the Li household, suffering silently and bearing the pain. In the end, father and daughter worked together on the inside to destroy the rebel in one stroke. How could the court possibly punish her? They would certainly bestow honors and titles in commendation.”

“And her happiness?”

Li Qi was in tears.

“Happiness? What sort of thing is that?”

Wang Junke said. “Power and position are what bring happiness in this world — without them, you are nothing but flesh on another man’s chopping board. What happiness can there be? Besides, she is a daughter of the Wang clan. What is wrong with her making some sacrifice for the rise of the Wang family name?”

“Father — is this how you treat your daughter?”

Yuzao’s voice suddenly rang out. Wang Junke started, and from behind the gauze curtain emerged Yuzao and Li Chan together, their faces filled with despair as they looked at him.

Li Chan walked silently to Li Qi’s side, took the wine jug from Wang Lishe’s hands, poured wine for his father, and placed it in his hands. Father and son gazed at each other with grief, in wordless silence.

Wang Junke looked at Yuzao, not a trace of shame on his face; if anything, he looked completely unruffled: “Twelve, your father promised you he would never ruin your happiness. Look — tonight, our family is the greatest winner of all. Is this not what you wanted — to be loyal to the court, to serve the nation? This is your greatest merit. Henceforth your loyalty and righteousness will be seen by the court, and spoken of and praised by the world.”

Yuzao felt a sudden surge of absurdity: “Father — this is not the kind of loyalty I wanted!”

“What need is there to distinguish between grades of loyalty?”

Wang Junke was unmoved. “Your father and Qin Shubao first joined Zhai Rang, then surrendered to Li Mi, then submitted to Wang Shichong, then joined Great Tang — and as long as you end up on the winning side, no one cares who you sided with before. The person you most admire is your Uncle Wei Zheng — who was on the side of the Crown Prince and actively argued for the execution of the Prince of Qin. After the Crown Prince’s death, he surrendered to the Prince of Qin, and the world still commends him for being loyal and forthright. Why? Because in a world of turmoil, everyone has no choice in the matter.”

Yuzao watched him, unmoved and unconcerned, and in her heart she felt a complete and utter despair. She looked at the father who had raised her from childhood, and felt she was looking at a demon.

“Wang Junke,”

Li Qi said, “I did not invite them here in order to reproach you. A child reproaching a parent for his faults — this is not something I am willing to do. I only wished to ask you to look at these two young ones. They are newlyweds who love each other deeply. I must die tonight — I only hope you will let them go, and grant them this wish.”

Wang Junke looked at him with a sardonic expression: “I kill you, but release your son. What would the court think?”

The last thread of Li Qi’s hope was cut away. He wept in desolation: “Chan’er — your father has wronged you.”

Li Chan’s expression remained composed as he filled his father’s cup: “Father, between you and I — no talk of who has wronged whom. You are a good man. A good father, a good husband, your father’s good son, and a good official to your people — but you are not a good king. May you be reborn in your next life free from the imperial household. And may you and I, in our next life, not be born father and son.”

Li Qi held Li Chan in his arms, weeping in anguish.

Wang Lishe straightened his robes and knocked his head three times in a formal bow before Li Qi: “Your Highness — your servant goes one step ahead to drive the carriage for you.”

Li Qi raised his head, tears streaking his face, and looked at him: “Zitu, Zitu — I was blinded by a ghost. But why did you also urge me to rebel? Your position is that of a minister and aide. I treated you as a brother — why did you not, at the moment of life and death, pull me back from the edge?”

Wang Lishe gave a wretched smile: “Your Highness, you treated me as a brother — yet I am your minister and aide. I come from the background of a household retainer, and my life, death, honor, and disgrace are bound to my master’s moods and whims. Whatever pleases the master above, those below must follow; only the merit that suits the master’s heart wins recognition. Your Highness wished to rebel, so naturally I said it was a good idea.”

Li Qi stared for a long moment, then broke into laughter.

“Yet in this life, encountering Your Highness — I was still far more fortunate than the great majority of retainers.”

Wang Lishe picked up a longsword from the ground. “May we meet again in the next life, Your Highness.”

Wang Lishe braced the hilt against the floor, pressed the sword tip to his chest and abdomen, and with a swift bow of his body, drove the blade through himself. He slumped slowly to the ground.

“Zitu… Zitu…”

Li Qi murmured, calling the name over and over, then suddenly gave a cough — and from his mouth and nose came flowing a black tide of blood.

“Father!”

Li Chan stared in stunned silence, then looked at the wine jug in his hand. Only now did he understand: the wine had been poisoned.

“Do not weep.”

Li Qi stroked his face. “Is this not how a king dies? Either the white silk, or the poisoned wine — did you think I could still be escorted to Chang’an and beheaded in the public square? Wang Junke would never give me that opportunity.”

“Well said, Your Highness.”

Wang Junke said, his voice flat and cold.

Li Qi convulsed again and again, clearly in great agony. He stroked Li Chan without stopping, unable to speak any longer, blood welling continuously from his mouth — yet in his eyes there burned an infinite tenderness and reluctance to let go.

Li Chan’s tears flowed: “Father is right — we are children of the Li clan and will not let ourselves be left for a small man to humiliate.”

Li Chan raised the wine jug to his lips and was about to pour it into his mouth, when suddenly before his eyes a flash of light — a sword tip shattered the wine jug. Li Chan felt his body pulled upward, dragged by the arm by Yuzao.

“Yuzao—”

Li Chan looked at her with an expression half-laughing, half-crying. “In this life we have no fate together. We will meet again in the next.”

“Hmph!”

Yuzao gave a cold laugh. “In the next life, where would I go to find you? We are already wed — you are my man, and I want you alive and well.”

She held her saber at the ready, cast a glance at Wang Junke, and said: “Father — since you have given me to him, from this day on my life and death are bound up with his!”

Yuzao gripped Li Chan’s arm and strode out of the main hall. Wang Junke stood there woodenly, fingers twitching, slowly tightening on the hilt of his saber. As the two brushed past him, Wang Junke suddenly twisted his body — the broad sword swept down at Li Chan with a flash of steel as swift and bright as a length of white silk. Yuzao turned and threw herself in front of Li Chan to take the blow; the tremendous force snapped her saber in two, and Wang Junke immediately flipped the blade — the flat of the great, broad sword smacked squarely into Yuzao, and the two of them went flying through the air together and crashed to the ground outside the hall.

Yuzao gave a great “urgh” and spat up a mouthful of blood. Li Chan cried out and snatched up a fallen spear from the ground, standing before Yuzao with the look of a starving wolf, glaring at Wang Junke as he stepped out of the hall one step at a time.

Behind Wang Junke, Li Qi sat upright and unmoving, blood still surging from his mouth and nose — and yet he was laughing, wildly, madly: “What a fine son! What a fine daughter-in-law! I have no more regrets!”

Li Qi pitched forward onto the table and moved no more.

Wang Junke turned back and shot him a contemptuous glance, then barked at the surrounding troops: “Kill them both!”

The soldiers looked at Yuzao, then at each other, unsure. In the outer courtyard, Cui Dunli and Niu Jinda were also taken aback; though they sensed there was reason behind it, they did not see fit to intervene. Niu Jinda gave Qin Gang and his men an almost imperceptible shake of his head, signaling them not to move.

The Dunhuang soldiers gripped their spears and pikes and closed in from all sides. Yuzao struggled to her feet and picked up a spear from the ground as well. The two stood back to back, ready to fight to the death.

The courtyard fell into a hush. At just that moment, a rhythmic clack-clack-clack came from overhead. Everyone looked up, and the sight startled them to the core: on the rooftop of the main hall of the Prefectural Headquarters, a great silver wolf was walking along the eaves, its green eyes burning like flames as they swept over the people below.

“Kuimu Wolf!”

The soldiers broke into an uproar. The soldiers had fought Kuimu Wolf to the death countless times in Dunhuang, each encounter more horrific than the last; they knew well what it was capable of, and panic immediately swept through them.

“You vile creature!”

Wang Junke blazed with fury. “I was just about to come kill you — and you deliver yourself to my door!”

“Wang Junke!”

Kuimu Wolf gave a human cry, vast and thunderous as the wrath of heaven. “Above one’s head three chi high, are there divine spirits watching? You scheme and deceive, luring others into rebellion, using a Prince of the Second Rank as a stepping stone to seize your glory — do you fear the thunder of heaven’s judgment? This divine one descended from the celestial court for this very purpose — to strike down those like you, who bring chaos upon the mortal world!”

“Nonsense. Li Qi chose his own ruin — I merely played along and won his trust. How can you call it enticing him?”

Wang Junke knew he could not allow Kuimu Wolf to keep speaking, and roared: “This demon creature helped Li Qi conspire with the Turks, to split apart Hexi! His crimes are unforgivable! Loose arrows — shoot!”

A row of archers rushed forward, bending their bows and notching arrows to shoot. Kuimu Wolf gave a cold laugh and did not move — and at just that moment, from among the rubble of the Prefectural Headquarters came several furious battle cries. Four Star Generals, clad in armor and wielding broad swords, charged into the archers from behind and began hacking them down, cutting through them like melons and vegetables.

“What manner of creatures are these!”

Niu Jinda blazed with fury, and with his double-bladed lance shot out like lightning, thrusting at one of the Star Generals.

That Star General hacked down at the double-bladed lance. A great metallic crash rang out, and the lance shaft shook violently. Niu Jinda let out a sound of surprise — the creature’s strength was extraordinary.

“Old Niu, be careful!”

Wang Junke raised his saber and joined the battle as well. “These are Star Generals — they do not fear concentrated stabbing, their strength is immense, but their fighting technique is crude.”

The two fought four Star Generals together. Meanwhile Kuimu Wolf leapt lightly down from the eaves and came to stand beside Li Chan and Yuzao.

“You have come at last!”

Yuzao’s expression was complex as she stared at him.

Kuimu Wolf spoke in human voice: “Follow me!”

Kuimu Wolf ran ahead; Yuzao and Li Chan followed close behind. Soldiers surged forward from all sides, and Kuimu Wolf opened his mouth and spat out a gust of black smoke; many soldiers who stumbled headlong into the smoke immediately crumpled to the ground. Ma Hongda and Zhao Ping both knew well that the only way to deal with Kuimu Wolf was to throw soldiers at him; they gave strict orders that no one was to retreat, and the soldiers had no choice but to raise their blades and spears and press bravely forward.

Kuimu Wolf’s body flashed as if struck by lightning, light blazing around him, and he vanished on the spot. The soldiers were still staring in bewilderment when the comrades behind them erupted in cries of alarm. They spun around — and were immediately terrified out of their wits: Kuimu Wolf had appeared in the middle of the crowd!

Wolf claws flickering, wolf shadow streaking, Kuimu Wolf broke left and surged right, carving a bloody path through the soldiers by brute force; with Li Chan and Yuzao in tow, he escaped through a gap in the Prefectural Headquarters wall and charged up the city wall ramp of the eastern city. Xuanzang came running along the wall from above and pulled the two of them up.

By now Wang Junke and Niu Jinda had joined forces and killed the four Star Generals, and led their army in pursuit.

Kuimu Wolf climbed the ramp, then suddenly turned back and opened his mouth: a spray of tiny sparks poured out, looking like scattered leaves, or like fireflies. Kuimu Wolf extended a wolf claw and raised it in midair; then, from thin air, a writing brush appeared in the claw. He dipped the brush into one of the tiny sparks, then began to write in the empty space.

He traced extremely arcane symbols, linking those sparks one by one, until in the space above the ramp they formed a barricade of light that sealed all four directions!

Kuimu Wolf flung the brush aside; as the brush flew through the air and rubbed against it, it burst into flames and was reduced to ash.

He stepped back two paces. A wolf claw extended — and from thin air another brush appeared. He drew a second barricade of sparks as before, and then a third. Only then did he let out a breath.

Kuimu Wolf looked utterly exhausted. He walked to the top of the wall and stumbled on a step, nearly falling; Xuanzang rushed over and helped him up. Kuimu Wolf propped himself up on all four limbs and said: “Let us go.”

The group ran at full speed along the narrow city wall.

Wang Junke was wary and ordered two soldiers forward to scout. The two soldiers raised their sabers and cautiously poked the tips at the barricade of sparks. The blade tips immediately picked up the glow — but nothing happened. One of the soldiers stretched out a finger and poked at the barricade; instantly he let out a shriek of agony, as that finger burst into flame.

“Aaah—”

The soldier screamed, trying to press his palm over the finger to smother the fire. To his horror, his palm also caught fire. At the same moment, the other soldier stared blankly at the tip of his raised saber — and found that a hole had been burned through the metal of the blade.

Those sparks, which looked so gentle and harmless, turned out to melt iron on contact with iron, and erode bone on contact with bone!

Everyone was dumbstruck. Wang Junke tried dousing water and covering with earth, tried everything he could think of, and could not extinguish the flames on the soldier’s hands. As the fire visibly spread up the soldier’s arms, the only recourse was a flash of a blade that severed both arms — just barely saving his life.

“Pour water!”

Wang Junke ordered. Immediately a soldier brought a bucket of water and splashed it over the barricade; but where the sparks had seemed mild and gentle before, the moment water hit them they erupted with a great burst of flame.

Everyone stared at each other in bewilderment. Niu Jinda suggested using shields to sweep them away. They tossed a shield at the barricade, and stood there slack-jawed: the shield passed straight through, and in an instant was sliced to fragments by the sparks, burning piece by piece!

On the city ramp, with a thousand-strong army behind them, they were all blocked and held back by these three barricades of sparks.