Wang Junke, drenched in blood, barged into Cui Dunli’s command tent with his cavalry blade in hand, only to find Hou Li’s hair disheveled, his Daoist robe filthy and crumpled as he slumped on the ground. Cui Dunli and Li Chunfeng stood at the center of the tent, silently waiting for him.

“Immortal Hou!”

Wang Junke’s face drained of color. He rushed to help Hou Li to his feet, and upon seeing no wounds on his body, let out a breath of relief. He glared furiously at the two men. “What is the meaning of this?”

“Nothing in particular.”

Cui Dunli said calmly. “This old Daoist has been acting suspiciously. I had him brought here for questioning.”

“Questioning?”

Wang Junke let out a cold laugh. “This is your idea of questioning? And Li Chunfeng — back in Guazhou, he was colluding with the traitors Li Yan, Li Chan, and Xuanzang, and then he fled without a trace. For Secretary Cui to so openly invite him into the tent — shouldn’t you give me an explanation?”

“Duke of Peng,”

Cui Dunli said solemnly, “Li Chunfeng and Xuanzang are no traitors. On the day Li Yan captured me, they had mistakenly believed you were plotting rebellion and had come to warn him — only to be seized by Li Yan themselves. These two men are loyal and righteous!”

Wang Junke glared fiercely at the two of them, said nothing, and moved to support Hou Li and leave.

“We cannot leave!”

Hou Li suddenly said. “Just now I was forced to reveal the matter of divining for Tiao Niang.”

Wang Junke’s hand trembled, nearly dropping Hou Li to the floor. He stared at him blankly for a moment, then let out a quiet, desolate sigh, slowly turned back, and fixed his gaze on Cui Dunli and Li Chunfeng.

“So your true target, in laying hands on Immortal Hou, was me all along!”

Wang Junke said with cold menace.

Li Chunfeng laughed. “Duke of Peng, your ambitions are truly admirable — you actually aspire to become a king of a different surname from the ruling house of the Great Tang!”

The moment those words fell, the tent fell into complete silence, as though soundless thunder and lightning were gathering in the air.

It turned out that after Cui Dunli had brought Hou Li in, the two of them subjected him to intense interrogation. Hou Li refused to confess to anything. In the end, Li Chunfeng employed certain means — he searched Hou Li’s person and found a porcelain box containing venomous gu worms still in the process of cultivation. Li Chunfeng picked out a few and made to stuff them into Hou Li’s nostrils. Hou Li was instantly scared out of his wits. He knew all too well what these gu worms were capable of — they devoured the brain’s marrow, laid eggs within the human skull, and to sustain them, the host would consume any flesh and blood, transforming a living person into a walking corpse.

Hou Li had no choice but to confess.

Hou Li had originally been a Daoist priest from Zhongnan. Three years prior, he had wandered to Dunhuang and happened upon Wang Junke conducting a Daoist ritual in honor of his ancestors. Hou Li pinched his fingers and calculated, divining Wang Junke’s ancestry going back three generations with perfect precision. Wang Junke was utterly astounded, as though he had encountered a heavenly being. Afterward, Hou Li left Dunhuang to continue his wanderings. Half a year ago, he returned to Dunhuang, and Wang Junke received him like a priceless treasure, installing him at Xuantong Monastery — the only Daoist temple within Dunhuang city — and providing for his every need.

Whenever Wang Junke encountered a difficult predicament, he would come to Hou Li to divine a solution. Hou Li was skilled in using yarrow stalks to calculate the workings of fate, and he had helped Wang Junke resolve countless difficulties. Through long acquaintance, Wang Junke eventually poured out his heart to him: the greatest wish of his life was to establish an aristocratic clan in his own generation, so that the Wang family’s descendants would shine brilliantly for generations to come.

Hou Li then performed a grand divination for Wang Junke, casting nine hexagrams in total using four hundred and fifty yarrow stalks. Each hexagram comprised six lines and eighteen changes. He spent three days and three nights exhausting all one hundred and sixty-two permutations, and at last wrested the secrets of fate from the heavens, divining the destined life paths of the Wang family for three generations hence.

Li Chunfeng reached this point in his account and laughed. “This old Daoist does have some genuine skill. Yarrow divination is exceedingly difficult — even during the two Han dynasties, few could practice it. Yet this man actually performed nine grand hexagrams simultaneously, stealing the secrets of heaven and usurping fate. Quite remarkable indeed!”

“However,”

Cui Dunli said coldly, “Duke of Peng, once a person’s destined fate has been divined and broken, they ought to observe the proper conduct of a subject for the rest of their life. To steal the secrets of heaven as you have done, forcibly supplementing your own fate, reveals a heart disloyal to the throne!”

Wang Junke gave a cold and menacing smile, but said nothing.

It turned out that according to the results of the divination, Wang Junke had been destined by fate in this life to receive the title of Prince — only his destined fate had been broken in his youth, making it impossible to restore fully in his own lifetime. Yet there was a way to fulfill it through his descendants. Wang Junke was immediately consumed by fervent excitement — he might still have the chance to be ennobled as a prince in this very life!

Prince, generally speaking, referred to the Prince of the First Rank and the Prince of the Second Rank among the nine ranks of noble titles. The Emperor’s brothers and sons were all ennobled as Princes of the First Rank; the Emperor’s close paternal kinsmen and the sons of the Crown Prince were ennobled as Princes of the Second Rank. Li Yan, for instance, was Li Shimin’s cousin on the paternal side, and his title was Prince of the Second Rank.

These were princes of the same imperial surname. There were also princes of a different surname.

Simply put, a prince of a different surname was someone not of the imperial clan who nevertheless received the title of Prince.

The Great Tang was exceedingly cautious about ennobling princes of a different surname. During the Wude reign at the founding of the dynasty, a few heroes of the late Sui period had been ennobled as such — Luo Yi of Youzhou had been ennobled as the Prince of the Second Rank of Yan, Du Fuwei of the Huai and Huai regions as the Prince of Chu, Li Gui of the Hexi Corridor as the Prince of Liang, and Hu Da’en, the Administrator of Documents under Dou Jiande, as the Prince of the Second Rank of Ding’xiang. But these ennoblements had merely been the appeasement strategy adopted by the early Tang to win over regional warlords. Subsequently, these princes of different surnames either died in battle or were executed. To this day, the court had yet to ennoble a single person of a different surname as a prince. Among those of the Zhenguan court with the greatest merit, Yuchi Jingde and Zhangsun Wuji had reached the absolute pinnacle of the subject’s rank — and yet one was only Duke of Wu state and the other merely Duke of Zhao state.

In essence, a dukedom was the furthest extent of what the court would bestow. Yet Wang Junke’s ambition was to receive the title of Prince!

“This Hou Li is truly fantasizing — he actually intends to augment the fortune of your son in order to supplement your own destined fate.”

Li Chunfeng, having been born into the Louguang school of Daoism, was naturally well-versed in such methods. “This reverse approach of supplementing a person’s fate is something I’ve never heard of before — yet it does have its logic. Your son Wang Yong’an is only twenty-one and has yet to enter official service, so his fortune is still in flux. According to Daoist Hou’s thinking, if Wang Yong’an’s destined fate could be supplemented to that of a hereditary prince who inherits his title, then his father — that is to say, you, Prefect Wang — would naturally be a Prince of the Second Rank.”

“This is no fantasy — it is clearly something that can be achieved!”

Hou Li was somewhat indignant, as though Li Chunfeng had insulted his intelligence. “Heaven, Earth, and Man arose from the separation of yin and yang. To supplement a person’s destined fate, one must first supplement their yin and yang. So I took the date and hour of Young Master Wang’s birth and traveled throughout the entire Hexi Corridor, searching far and wide for a woman whose eight birth characters would complement his. As long as such a woman could be found, the union of Young Master Wang and his wife would bring yin and yang into mutual balance, and the matter would naturally come to fruition.”

“And so you found Tiao Niang, the daughter of Zhang Bi?”

Cui Dunli demanded sharply.

“Ha! It took me a full six months of searching before I finally found her. Her destined fate is exceptionally fine — perfectly complementary to Young Master Wang’s. In this life, she is destined to be the consort of a prince!”

Hou Li said with a cold laugh. “Moreover, this is also a fortunate thing for the Zhang family. Although they are an established Dunhuang clan, they would barely count for anything among the Five Great Clans of Hedong. To form a marriage alliance with a prince of the Second Rank would naturally elevate the Zhang family’s standing among the great aristocratic houses.”

Wang Junke had pressed for the Zhang family’s daughter so insistently that he had not hesitated to go to war with the entire Dunhuang aristocracy over it. Cui Dunli and Li Chunfeng had long been baffled by his seemingly mad behavior, and only now did they learn it was all because he had been bewitched by this old Daoist.

“This is no bewitchment.”

Hou Li still possessed some skill, for he had apparently perceived the thoughts in both men’s minds. “Consider this: His Grace Wang Junke was originally only a County Duke, yet the moment his engagement to the Zhang daughter was announced — before she had even entered the household — he was immediately promoted to Duke of a State. Once the marriage is completed, who is to say he cannot be ennobled as a prince?”

Cui Dunli drew a sharp breath. The matter was indeed strange, and the factual outcome was exactly as Hou Li had divined. No wonder Wang Junke had been so fixated on Tiao Niang, to the point of risking his very life to rescue her.

Wang Junke fixed his gaze on the two men and said lightly: “Since both of you now know the full story, I will not conceal anything. It is Wang’s firm intention to receive the title of Prince in this life and establish the aristocratic clan of the Wang family of Shi’ai. Yet whether I have been ennobled as a Duke of a State today, or whether I am ennobled as a Prince in the future, it was all won through blood and battle, blade and spear — there is not the slightest disloyalty to the court in any of it. Why must the two of you press me so relentlessly?”

Cui Dunli frowned, about to speak, when he heard Li Chunfeng let out a cold laugh. “Was this dukedom truly won through blade and spear, or was it swindled away by manipulating Li Yan into rebellion?”

The moment Cui Dunli heard this, he knew things were about to go badly. Sure enough, Wang Junke was silent for a long moment, and finally let out a long sigh, raising his cavalry blade. “Those are merely the slanders of the traitor Li Yan on his deathbed — I never imagined you would actually believe them. You are both close officials of His Majesty’s inner circle, and since you have seen fit to suspect me first, then neither of you should leave this tent today. A Junior sixth-rank Liaison Secretary and a Junior eighth-rank Specialist in Exorcism dying in an army camp — I can still manage to cover that up!”

Wang Junke acted with extreme decisiveness and ruthlessness. The moment the words left his mouth, he swung his blade down. Li Chunfeng bent his finger and flicked out a cloud of powder. Wang Junke, knowing this man’s strange capabilities, immediately grabbed Hou Li and retreated several steps back to the tent entrance, then shoved Hou Li outside. Suddenly, Wang Junke froze in place. Outside the tent, Niu Jinda, Linghu Demao, Zhai Chang, Zhang Bi, and the others stood silently in a circle, their expressions complex as they looked upon him. Linghu Demao’s eyes were red, his teeth clenched in fury.

Wang Junke felt a chill wash over his entire body. He knew then — he had walked straight into a massive trap.

“Old Niu… Old Niu…”

Wang Junke stared at Niu Jinda in panic, crying out, “Who is it that has plotted against me?”

“Xuan’er,”

Niu Jinda let out a mournful sigh, “You were clever from the time you were small — cleverer than me, Shubao, and Yaojin combined. But how could you try to seize the ranks of princes and marquises through mere cleverness alone? To manipulate a Prince of the Second Rank into rebellion and steal the credit upon his corpse — that is neither benevolent nor righteous!”

“Nonsense!”

Wang Junke screamed in fury, “My dukedom was won blade by blade and spear by spear! In the Daye years, I rose in righteous rebellion against the Sui, joined the Wagang Army and campaigned east and west. After submitting to the Great Tang, thirteen of us broke through Wang Shichong’s force of ten thousand. At Tiger Cage Pass, one thousand men in a daring strike crushed Zhang Qing Te, one of Dou Jiande’s great generals. I held Mingzhou for five days and five nights against Liu Heita’s force of forty thousand. I crushed the Turks at Dunhuang and slew two thousand of the enemy. My merit is as vast as a mountain!”

“Xuan’er, you are wrong!”

Niu Jinda’s eyes were filled with tears. “You have always believed the court treated you shabbily, yet every past merit has been rewarded without exception. You have always believed yourself beneath others, yet you equally stand far above countless others. As for me — I was made a County Duke as early as the fourth year of Wude, while my own noble title is still only that of a Baron of Weicheng. So what? Each man has his own opportunity. There is no need to force what fate has not given. We simply earn it ourselves, blade by blade and spear by spear.”

“That is your stupidity!”

Wang Junke cried out. “You are exactly the kind of dull ox that knows nothing but to plod along, neck in a yoke, plowing the fields! I am not like that — nor am I willing to be! Do you know who I admired most in my youth? It was the great Wang clan of Taiyuan. In the chaos of war, I could not even eat my fill, while they rode fine horses in splendid clothing, composing poetry and essays. I clawed my way through the Sui’s collapse to become a fourth-rank Prefect, yet when I die, my son will only inherit the grace appointment of a senior eighth-rank? And my grandson, only a junior ninth-rank? No — I want my descendants to never repeat my fate in their youth. I want my descendants to enjoy glory and wealth for generation after generation, sharing in the dynasty’s fortune for as long as it endures! I want to establish the Wang family as an aristocratic clan that will endure for a hundred generations, undying and imperishable! What does it matter whether I use blade and spear or treachery and scheming? In this life, I will become the one and only prince of a different surname since the reign of Zhenguan!”

“He’s lost his mind — this man has truly lost his mind!”

Linghu Demao, by now knowing that his son had died at this man’s hands, hated him to the bone, gritting his teeth.

“Old Niu!”

Wang Junke leveled his cavalry blade with a ferocious expression. “The day I dared to slay a deity atop the Jade Gate Pass, I also dared to cut a man down in this army camp. You are my sworn brother — but do not, under any circumstances, try to stop me.”

“Inciting a Prince of the Second Rank into rebellion, harming an imperial envoy, killing my son, keeping a demonic Daoist to scheme your way to a princely title, harboring a disloyal heart — if Heaven does not punish you, the laws of the court will not spare you!”

Linghu Demao roared in fury.

Wang Junke glared at the crowd with bloodshot eyes. Seeing more and more soldiers surrounding him, every one of them wearing expressions of contempt — even trusted subordinates like Ma Hongda and Zhao Ping were looking at him as though he were a stranger — he gradually came back to his senses. He let out a sudden shout, cleaved two soldiers from their horses with a single slash, leaped onto a horse, grabbed Hou Li by the back of his collar and threw him across the saddle, then spurred the horse and galloped away at full speed.

Wang Junke’s authority and might were formidable, and he was known throughout the army as a supreme warrior. Without Niu Jinda and the others giving the order, not a single person dared to block him — they actually parted to open a path, letting him ride deep into the camp.

“Grand Duke Niu!”

Linghu Demao’s eyes were wide with fury. “Are we truly going to let this disgrace ride away?”

Niu Jinda exchanged a glance with Cui Dunli, when suddenly Zhang Bi let out a cry: “Disaster!”

Everyone looked, and saw Wang Junke gallop to a tent, slash it open with his blade, and barge inside. Then he dragged out a woman who had been bound hand and foot, threw her over the saddle of another horse, and rode off into the distance with her and Hou Li, vanishing in a cloud of dust.

That woman was none other than Tiao Niang — the very one who had just been rescued!

Zhang Bi broke into a sprint and gave chase.

Niu Jinda erupted in fury. “Wang Junke, you have gone too far!”

Niu Jinda immediately gave the order, leading the cavalry in a swift pursuit. Linghu Demao was overjoyed, shouting, “Honored heads of household — lend me your clan troops! If Wang Junke is slain, my Linghu family will repay the debt handsomely!”

Zhai Chang answered the call without hesitation. The other heads of household had also been frightened by Wang Junke’s string of cunning and ruthless maneuvers, and they all understood that he had to be cut down today — otherwise, the trouble he would cause would be endless. They immediately ordered their clan troops to combine forces and followed Niu Jinda and the others in pursuit.

Only then did Cui Dunli recover his wits. Seeing a smile on Li Chunfeng’s face, he was suddenly overcome with frustration. “Doctor Li, this was all your scheme, wasn’t it?”

Li Chunfeng said with a wry smile: “How would I have the ability to bring down a Duke of a State in an instant? There is naturally someone else at work!”

“Who?”

Cui Dunli asked.

Li Chunfeng smiled but did not answer. He took hold of a horse and rode off in pursuit.

Wang Junke and Hou Li, holding Tiao Niang hostage, fled in desperate rout. The three of them crossed the Shule River at a shallow ford and turned westward along the Shule valley. After riding at a mad gallop for over a hundred li, a continuous range of shadowy mountains appeared ahead. Lakes and meadows grew sparse, the valley narrowed, and the land was gradually swallowed by the Gobi Desert. The heaven and earth were desolate and harsh, stretching into a vast, tawny wasteland.

They rode on a while further, when what appeared to be a massive city suddenly materialized before their eyes.

Hou Li was startled and overjoyed. He urged his horse forward faster, and when he drew close, he stared in speechless astonishment — it was an abandoned city!

Dense clusters of ruined fortresses loomed before them: watchtowers, city walls, pavilions, houses, streets, temples, and even enormous statues of bizarre and striking forms — all of it utterly empty of human life. This city seemed to have been eroded by wind and sand for countless thousands of years; every trace of human craftsmanship had been stripped away, leaving behind only the raw look of rammed earth.

All three were struck dumb by the spectacle. They rode in silence through the city, which stretched on seemingly without end. The buildings rose and fell like waves in a great ocean, frozen in the moment of cresting. Thin whirlwinds on the sandy terrain spiraled upward into tall funnels that soared into the sky, roaming through the city like the grasping tentacles of some underworld inferno, devouring wandering souls. From within the city came intermittent sounds of howling — like the cry of wolves, like the weeping of ghosts, like the chanting of sutras, like the whispering of phantoms.

“What is this place?”

Hou Li murmured.

“According to what the people of Dunhuang say, to the northwest of the Jade Gate Pass there is a Demon City, also called the Dragon Mound. It is said that in ancient times, a hundred thousand demons and monsters occupied it, transforming the surrounding hundreds of li into a domain of demonic evil. Later, the heavens dispatched deities to descend and exterminate them, turning the hundred thousand demons and monsters into solidified stone statues.”

Wang Junke said in a low, solemn voice. “It is said that within the city, residual demon souls still roam, absorbing the vital energy of living people in hopes of being reborn.”

“If it were only demons and ghosts, this old Daoist would have nothing to fear — it’s people I’m afraid of.”

Hou Li said with a strained laugh. “Are we really going to pass through the middle of this city?”

“Some smuggling caravans say that passing through the city leads to Gaochang and Yanqi.”

Wang Junke pondered. “In three years in Dunhuang, I’ve never come here myself — I’ve only heard it from hearsay.”

The group rode along a broad street, with tall and strange buildings rising on both sides. The scorching sun cast grotesque shadows at their feet, and even the horses seemed reluctant to advance. Suddenly, Wang Junke reined his horse to a halt, staring fixedly at what lay ahead.

In the distance, a warhorse was slowly approaching — and Yu Zao rode upon it, blocking the middle of the street!

“Yu Zao——”

Wang Junke’s heart leaped with a mixture of shock and joy. Ever since Yu Zao had broken out of Guazhou City with Li Chan over ten days ago, he had not seen his daughter again. He never imagined that in this moment of ruin and desperate flight, they would meet here.

Yu Zao gazed at her father with grief-stricken eyes, and for a long time said nothing. Wang Junke was in a wretched state — his armor was battered, his first-rank purple official’s robe stained with filth, his hair unbound and disheveled, his whole body covered in dried blood. In Yu Zao’s memory, her father had always been composed and assured, as though nothing in the world could ever be too much for him.

Yet in the space of a single day, he had fallen from the absolute pinnacle of a subject of the Great Tang to the status of a rebel against the state, fleeing in desperate rout.

Then came the sound of more hoofbeats. Li Chan, gripping his long lance, rode out from behind a frozen stone altar, the two of them forming an angle that blocked Wang Junke’s path forward.

Wang Junke’s expression changed. “Yu Zao, you have come to stop me?”

“Father!”

Yu Zao wept. “Have you still not repented?”

“What is there for me to repent?”

Wang Junke roared in fury. “If you are truly my daughter, come with me! With the skills the two of us possess between us, whether we go to Gaochang, Yanqi, or even to the Western Turks — wherever we go, we can carve out a dominion for ourselves!”

“Father, is this the dominion you wanted?”

Yu Zao cried out in anguish. “To become a Duke, you did not hesitate to frame a Prince of the Second Rank and climbed to your position on top of his corpse! For the sake of your own ambitions, you did not hesitate to ignite a rebellion — in a single night, over a thousand people died in Guazhou City!”

“And what of it?”

Wang Junke cried out. “What is a single prince? Emperors themselves have died by the hundreds. Since the end of the Sui, who has not climbed to their position upon the bones of others? In the twelve years of chaos at the end of the Sui, tens of millions perished — who do you think killed them? Was it not the very people who now hold the most honored positions and the most glorious military achievements? This is the law of competition that governs all of heaven and earth!”

“You are still living in the age of chaos!”

Li Chan roared. “This is the Great Tang! The age of chaos is over! The realm is at peace, its strength growing day by day. Our parents’ generation sacrificed so much — and it was precisely their suffering that drove them to forge ahead with resolve, to build a golden age to last for a thousand years!”

“Ha ha ha!”

Wang Junke let out a long laugh, then spat. “What golden age, what age of chaos — the rules are the same! I refuse to believe that even in a golden age there is no scheming and strife, no struggle for power and gain. For someone of my background, the only rule for rising to the top is to climb over the corpses of those above you!”

Li Chan had no desire to say another word to him.

Yu Zao had given up all hope, and she wept. “Father, you are nothing but a remnant of the age of chaos, through and through!”

At that moment, another round of hoofbeats rang out. Wang Junke turned to look, and his heart sank at once. He saw Lv Sheng, Xuanzang, and Zhai Wen approaching on horseback from his side and rear, accompanied by five Star Generals, the three groups forming a triangular formation that hemmed him in completely.

Wang Junke looked out across the sinister and treacherous Demon City, and could not suppress a bitter sigh. He knew that Yu Zao and Li Chan alone could not have blocked his path — but with Lv Sheng and the five Star Generals added to the mix, there was absolutely no way for him to escape.

Wang Junke stared at Lv Sheng, gritting his teeth. “So it was you who plotted against me!”

“Yes.”

Lv Sheng admitted freely. “It was I who persuaded Li Chunfeng to convince Cui Dunli, and had Hou Li arrested.”

“How did you know about the relationship between Immortal Hou and me?”

Wang Junke asked.

Wang Junke had puzzled over this endlessly. His dealings with Hou Li had been kept in the utmost secrecy — Hou Li had only begun to appear in public a few days ago, after Wang Junke had been ennobled as Duke of Peng at Guazhou. He glanced at Hou Li, and suddenly froze. At some point without his noticing, Hou Li had quietly urged his horse forward, making his way toward Lv Sheng.

“Immortal Hou!”

Wang Junke cried out. “Are you also abandoning me?”

Hou Li laughed heartily: “Allow me to inform His Grace the Duke of Peng — this old one’s surname is not Hou, but Lv. And I am no Daoist priest of Zhongnan — I am a wandering physician!”

Wang Junke was completely dumbfounded.

Lv Sheng said with calm composure: “Three years ago, when you first arrived in Dunhuang, I had already made plans to use your strength against the aristocratic clans. So I had my kinsman Lv Li pose as a Daoist priest to win your trust.”

Wang Junke stared blankly. “Then why did Hou Li not come to find me until half a year ago?”

He still could not quite bring himself to believe it. For if this was all a scheme, it was one that had been laid far too long in advance. Three years ago, Hou Li had indeed made contact with him, but then left Dunhuang — and did not return until half a year ago. What had he been doing in those two and a half years?

Lv Sheng fell silent for a long time, exchanging a glance with Zhai Wen. Both of them wore expressions tinged with sorrow. Xuanzang suddenly felt a stirring in his heart, but he remained silent.

“There were naturally some unexpected developments in between.”

Lv Sheng let out a sigh. “But as fortune would have it, even though I could not use your hand to destroy the aristocratic clans, at least this remnant of the age of chaos has been brought to ruin.”

“So this means…”

Wang Junke looked at Tiao Niang in a daze. “That the claim about Tiao Niang being able to fulfill my son’s destined fate was also false?”

“False.”

Lv Sheng said. “Only your treachery and scheming were real. You used deception to manipulate Li Yan into rebellion, and you climbed to the rank of Duke on top of his corpse.”

“So that’s how it is… that’s how it is…”

Wang Junke felt as though the heavens had collapsed and the earth had split beneath him. Every force that had sustained him crumbled utterly away. A smile uglier than weeping spread across his face. “It cannot be! In this life I was destined to be ennobled as a prince of a different surname… I was meant to establish the Wang family’s aristocratic clan…”

“Father!”

Yu Zao wept. “The Wang family no longer exists. You manipulated someone into rebellion — that is tantamount to treason. You destroyed Mother; you destroyed Elder Brother. The entire Wang family has been shamed because of you.”

“Thud——”

Wang Junke tumbled off his horse and fell to the ground in a cloud of dust. He struggled to rise, but tripped and sat back down. His expression was blank and dazed, like a man who had lost his senses.

The onlookers watched in silence. There was no pity in their eyes. This was the end of the road for a hero of his age, the desperate straits of a predatory wolf.

Tiao Niang stepped down from her horse and walked toward him in silence. Wang Junke raised his head and grinned at her. “Tiao Niang, everything they said is lies! Do not believe them! Come with me — marry my son. I will carve out a princely title through battle and slaughter, and I will make you a princess——”

Suddenly, there came a soft sound.

Wang Junke looked down, staring blankly at his own chest. Then he looked up at Tiao Niang. Her face was expressionless as she drove a short blade into his chest.

Tiao Niang’s tears fell. “This strike is for Linghu Jiu Lang!”

She pulled the blade free, then drove it in again. “This strike is for my own life!”

Wang Junke smiled bitterly, and fell backward to the ground.

“Father——”

Although Yu Zao had known from the beginning that today would be her father’s end, seeing him die in this manner still shattered her heart. She leaped from her horse and ran to him, pushed Tiao Niang aside, and cradled Wang Junke in her arms.

Wang Junke stared up blankly at the sky above. Beneath that sky lay the Demon City’s sprawling fortress ruins. It seemed to him that countless years ago, a thousand cavalry were charging through — banners blotting out the sun, iron horsemen surging across the field. Countless stars of generals blazed to brilliance, and countless stars of generals blazed and fell.

“Is this Wagang Stronghold?”

Wang Junke murmured to his daughter. “No wonder I have dreamed of Wagang all these years — it turns out I never truly left. How wonderful…”

Wang Junke’s head tilted to one side, and his breath ceased. Yu Zao burst into sobs.

Li Chan walked over. Looking at his great enemy finally dead, he felt not the slightest satisfaction from his revenge — only boundless melancholy and sorrow.

In the setting sun over the great desert, the military horns of an army rang out with no warning — vast and mournful, as though sounding a funeral march for this once-undefeated god of war.

A cloud of dust rose from the Demon City, blotting out the sky, surging forward like a great wall of sand and wind.

As it drew closer, the faint shapes of iron cavalry and human silhouettes could be seen moving within the dust — it was Niu Jinda, Li Chunfeng, Cui Dunli, and the others, leading a great army forward.

Lv Sheng, Xuanzang, and the others did not move. They watched in silence. The army advanced to within a li and halted. Li Chunfeng dismounted and walked alone out of the military formation, making his way to the middle ground. He glanced at the corpse of Wang Junke in Yu Zao’s arms, then called out: “Has the traitor Wang Junke been brought to justice?”

Lv Sheng said calmly: “Many thanks for your assistance. Wang Junke is dead.”

“Zhan’er, let your spirit not depart — the traitor who wronged you has been brought to justice!”

From within the military formation came the sound of anguished weeping. Li Chunfeng turned to look and saw Linghu Demao clutching the blood-soaked helmet of Linghu Zhan, crying out in heartbreak.

“Tiao Niang, come quickly!”

Zhang Bi saw that his daughter was unharmed and was overcome with joy, shouting at the top of his voice.

Tiao Niang looked to Lv Sheng. He said gently: “Go!”

“Many thanks to Young Master Lv for helping me avenge my great grievance!”

Tiao Niang bowed to him and, wiping her tears, ran toward Zhang Bi.

Father and daughter embraced, both overcome with a torrent of emotions, weeping together in each other’s arms. Beside them, Niu Jinda, Ma Hongda, Zhao Ping, and the others felt a deep sorrow, sighing for a long, long time.

“Elder Martial Brother Lv,”

Li Chunfeng said, “Now that this matter has been concluded, the time has come to fulfill the agreement you made with His Majesty!”

Xuanzang started, looking at Lv Sheng in surprise. But Lv Sheng’s expression was unchanged, as though he had long known Li Chunfeng would come to seek him out. He looked at Zhai Wen, with a gaze full of yearning and anticipation, as though waiting for her to say something.

Zhai Wen, however, wore a blank expression and said nothing.

Lv Sheng said nothing either, and slowly walked forward.

“Dharma Master,”

Li Chunfeng called out from a distance, “Would you be so kind as to come as well? The last time at Guazhou’s drum tower, you wronged me — today I shall let you witness my true mission!”

Xuanzang gave a wry smile and followed Lv Sheng to stand opposite Li Chunfeng.

“The great army withdraw one li!”

Li Chunfeng turned and commanded.

Both Niu Jinda and Cui Dunli knew he was an imperial envoy bearing a secret edict. They immediately restrained the army and pulled it back.

On the wide road of the Demon City, the three men faced one another in silence for a moment. Then Lv Sheng said: “Read it.”

Li Chunfeng had not expected him to treat an imperial edict so casually, and gave a wry smile. He drew the edict from his sleeve, unrolled it, and read aloud: “By edict of the Secretariat: Zhai Wen, daughter of the Zhai clan of Dunhuang, has colluded with demonic forces, bringing disorder to the province. It is hereby decreed that the proper penalty be carried out — death by strangulation!”

Xuanzang was greatly shocked. He looked at Lv Sheng, but saw that his expression was perfectly calm, not the slightest trace of anger. He turned to look back at Zhai Wen in the distance. She was staring blankly at the fortresses in the distance, lost in thought, seemingly indifferent to everything happening around her.

“This is the first one,”

Li Chunfeng said. He then drew another edict from the brocade pouch, unrolled it, and read: “By edict of the Secretariat: Zhai Wen, daughter of the Zhai clan of Dunhuang, having fallen into the clutches of a demonic force, was granted a celestial garment by an immortal and protected by a divine being, her chastity preserved intact. She is hereby bestowed the title of Lady of Dunhuang County.”

Xuanzang was left entirely speechless — there were actually two edicts: one a death sentence, one a grant of life.

The title of Lady of a County was an honorific bestowed upon women, carrying the rank of senior fifth grade. The Emperor’s daughters were Princesses; the daughters of Princes of the First Rank were Commandery Princesses; the daughters of Princes of the Second Rank, or the mothers or wives of officials of the third rank, were Ladies of a County; the mothers or wives of officials of the fourth rank were Ladies of a Township.

Lv Sheng was silent for a long time. Li Chunfeng sighed: “His Majesty feared you might not honor the agreement, and so commanded me to bring two edicts. Choose one.”

“What is actually going on?”

Xuanzang asked.

Li Chunfeng said: “Dharma Master, you once said that I was working as an inside informant for Elder Martial Brother, cooperating with his actions, and that Lv Sheng intended to use my voice to convey his grievances to the court. You were not wrong — but you were not entirely right either. For two years ago, Elder Martial Brother Lv — ah, or rather, Kui Mu Lang — made contact with His Majesty through secret channels. At that time, His Majesty had also heard rumors of the Twenty-Eight Lunar Mansions descending to earth at Dunhuang. Kui Mu Lang put forward to His Majesty an offer that could not be refused: that two years hence it would return to the heavens, but that leaving Zhai Wen alone in the mortal world weighed on its heart. It said — so long as His Majesty was willing to protect Zhai Wen and allow her to live well in the mortal world, it was willing to exchange its own death for a divine miracle.”

Xuanzang already knew that Lv Sheng was approaching death, and naturally understood his profound attachment to Zhai Wen. He asked: “What divine miracle?”

“It said that the founder of the Li clan, the sage Li Er, was in truth the Supreme Celestial Patriarch of the Grand Way of the Primal Heavens — the Supreme Elder Lord — dwelling in the Tushita Palace in the Celestial Realm and wielding authority over all the heavens, such that even the Jade Emperor was subject to his governance. Yet the physical manifestation of the Supreme Elder Lord rarely appeared in the mortal world. It was willing, at the moment of its own dissolution, to invoke the Supreme Elder Lord to appear before all creation — to manifest, thereby glorifying the noble lineage of the Li imperial house.”

Li Chunfeng said.

Xuanzang suddenly understood everything. This was unquestionably an offer the Li Tang imperial house could never refuse.

The sage Laozi, also known as Lao Dan, whose personal name was Li Er, had originally been regarded solely as the founding patriarch of the Daoist school. From the Western Han dynasty onward, through its reverence for the teachings of the Yellow Emperor and Laozi, he was gradually deified. During the Eastern Han, when Daoism arose as a religion, Laozi himself came to be viewed as the embodiment of the Dao. In the time of Emperor Ming of Han, the Stele of the Holy Mother of Laozi declared: Laozi is the Dao itself. He was born before formlessness, arose before the Great Beginning, moved through the primordial substance of the Great Plain, drifted through the six voids, passed in and out of the dark and the obscure, and observed the undivided chaos before it separated, and gazed upon the turbid and the clear before they were distinguished.

It was Zhang Daoling who established the Way of Orthodox Unity and began to bestow upon him the honorific title “Supreme Elder Lord,” holding that “in dissolution his form becomes vital energy, in manifestation his form becomes the Supreme Elder Lord” — and that primal unity itself was the Dao.

In truth, when the Li clan raised its armies, it had already made use of the claim of descent from Laozi to rally support. The Daoist master of the Louguang school, Qi Pingding, had publicly declared as early as the seventh year of the Daye reign that “there shall come one of Laozi’s descendants to rule the world, after which our teaching shall greatly flourish.”

In the third year of Wude, a Daoist priest of Jiangzhou named Ji Shanxing had submitted a memorial stating that on Mount Yangjiao he had encountered an old man dressed in white, who told him: “Tell the Tang Son of Heaven that I am the Old Lord — I am your ancestor.” Li Yuan was overjoyed. He dispatched envoys to perform sacrifices, and had a shrine erected on Mount Yangjiao.

In the seventh year of Wude, Li Yuan himself journeyed to the Louguang Monastery on the Zhongnan Mountains to pay his respects to Laozi, addressed Laozi as his distant ancestor, and formally established that the Li clan were descendants of Laozi.

But as Kui Mu Lang had said, the physical manifestation of the Supreme Elder Lord rarely appeared in the mortal world. To this day, apart from Ji Shanxing, no one had ever claimed to have seen him. Ji Shanxing had exchanged this claim for the title-salary of a Court Gentleman, and many in the world suspected he had obtained his office through deceit.

If Kui Mu Lang could truly invoke the Supreme Elder Lord to appear in person, let alone merely protect Zhai Wen — the court would likely be willing to pay any price.

“It was precisely to carry out this transaction that His Majesty summoned me from the Zhongnan Mountains, appointed me as Specialist in Exorcism — the same school, the same official rank — as a way of expressing to Elder Martial Brother that the court was sincere in its desire to cooperate with him.”

Li Chunfeng said.

“So Elder Brother Lv had laid such an enormously elaborate scheme.”

Xuanzang gazed silently at Lv Sheng and extended his left arm. “Since that is so, why not remove the half-garment of celestial silk from my arm?”

“You figured it out?”

Lv Sheng said with a smile.

Xuanzang nodded. “Since arriving in Dunhuang, this poor monk has unraveled the greater part of the mysteries — but one thing I have puzzled over endlessly without solution: why did Ding Shouzhong, the temple warden of the Sacred Teaching Monastery, set his sights on this poor monk and plant that celestial garment on me? I went through one conjecture after another, rejecting each in turn, and never once thought to suspect you — because your every action seemed wholeheartedly focused on seizing the half-garment and breaking the celestial garment’s curse for Zhai Wen.”

“Then why did you eventually come to suspect me?”

Lv Sheng asked.

“Because every faction was completely unmoved by the celestial garment, as though they knew nothing of it whatsoever.”

Xuanzang said. “Later, I heard that Zhao Huishou, who had told the story of the celestial garment, died after falling from his horse in a drunken stupor. I then knew that the story of the celestial garment had been fabricated from start to finish. The tale of Mi Laiheng selling the celestial garment, of being ambushed in the Bailong Heap Desert — all of it was false. Even the man who claimed to be Mi Laiheng’s son, Mi Kangli, was an impostor. The whole thing was a scheme from beginning to end. And the reason for planting the celestial garment on this poor monk’s person was nothing more than because this poor monk was under the scrutiny of Dunhuang’s aristocratic clans — they wanted to witness the effects of the celestial garment firsthand.”

“As expected — nothing can escape the Dharma Master’s all-seeing eye.”

Lv Sheng smiled ruefully. Then, with a sudden sweep of his sleeve, he struck it against Xuanzang’s arm. Xuanzang felt something cold and penetrating seep into his flesh. He hastily rolled up his sleeve to look, and saw countless tiny black dots rising to the surface of his skin — each one a thread-thin worm! These worms seemed to have encountered a natural enemy; they burrowed out of the skin one by one and died the instant they met the light.

“That is——”

Li Chunfeng said in alarm.

Lv Sheng glanced at him. “These are the parasitic underworld worms that my master never managed to cultivate to completion. What the Dharma Master once saw in the jade box — that layer of gelatinous substance called the celestial garment — was in truth the eggs of these worms. Upon contact with the warm flesh of a living creature, they automatically burrowed in and hatched into worms. However, the growth period of these worms is a full half-year, and before they mature, they cause no harm to the host’s body. It is only once they are subjected to external stimulation that they secrete a toxin, stinging and injuring enemies.”

Xuanzang listened, his blood running cold. He had tested this celestial garment countless times and never imagined that it was in fact a colony of worms living inside his body!

Lv Sheng perceived his unease and smiled. “Dharma Master, there is no need for concern. I used medicine to draw them out. These creatures, being immature, die the instant they meet open air. Not half a single one remains inside your body.”

“Amitabha,”

Xuanzang murmured, “If you had died in an accident midway through, would this poor monk have been devoured by those worms?”

Lv Sheng laughed heartily. “Indeed — both the Dharma Master and I have been very fortunate. But I wonder, when did the Dharma Master first discover it was me?”

“In truth, I only realized it quite recently.”

Xuanzang said, slightly abashed. “A few days ago, after we escaped back to Dunhuang, your people sent agents to gather news about Zhai Wen. I heard a rumor in the marketplace: that after Zhai Wen had fallen into the demonic lair, the Daoist adept Zhouyi Shan of the Purple Yang school had divined that Linghu Zhan and Zhai Wen were fated to suffer a parting of the phoenix pair, and had therefore descended from the heavens to bestow a celestial garment upon Zhai Wen to preserve her chastity. It was then that I knew you were behind it.”

Lv Sheng was silent for some time, then nodded. “Yes. This was something I arranged — I had people guide the Linghu family into spreading this account. To save their own face, the Linghu family would naturally publicize it far and wide.”

“Since you had already reached an agreement with the court, and the court would be there to protect Zhai Wen — and since she had been bestowed the title of Lady of the County, meaning no one would dare show her disrespect — why go to the additional trouble?”

Xuanzang asked.

Lv Sheng sighed. “Dharma Master — there are matters of human feeling that even you do not fully understand! From the moment I knew my life was drawing to a close, I have spent years racking my brain to arrange a perfectly complete future for Wen’er. First, she must not follow me in death — she must live. Second, she cannot continue to live in the lawless den of the Jade Gate Pass. And last — she must live happily, not spending her days in grief and dejection. So I decided to send her back into her family.”

“Back into her family?”

Xuanzang was startled.

“Yes,”

Lv Sheng said. “Dharma Master, we who live in this world need more than just food and clothing. There are many other things that are essential — safety, reputation, kinship, and human connection. Only by returning to normal society can these be provided. The court could give her only adequate food, clothing, and physical safety. Yet she had been taken away by me for three years — in the eyes of the world, she had lost her chastity. And Dharma Master, you know that among these aristocratic clans, whose family codes and rites have been passed down for over a thousand years, the severity is far greater than among ordinary people. A woman who has lost her chastity — even if she returns to her family — what kind of fate would await her?”

Xuanzang naturally knew what a woman who had lost her chastity meant to an aristocratic clan. He only had to look at the three years of humiliation and revenge endured by Linghu Zhan, and at the frenzied hunting of Kui Mu Lang by the Zhai and Linghu families at any cost, to understand what bleak fate awaited Zhai Wen upon her return.

“But I will never allow her to face any of that.”

Lv Sheng turned his head and looked with tenderness at Zhai Wen in the distance. “I want Wen’er to return to her family and still be held in reverence by her family, still be honored and respected by the people, with not the slightest thought of disrespect in anyone’s heart. I want it so that after my death, she can still live happily — joyfully — until she grows old and dies peacefully.”

Xuanzang and Li Chunfeng stared at him wide-eyed, utterly stunned. They looked at Lv Sheng — this man who had calculated the fate of the world, shattered eight great aristocratic clans, destroyed Wang Junke, and maneuvered across the desert, playing the mightiest rulers of the Great Tang, the Turks, and the Tuyuhun as though they were pawns in his hand. And in the end, the one thing he was actually determined to do was, on the verge of death, to send the woman he loved back to her family?

Xuanzang thought deeply, and understood all the more clearly just how difficult this was. For what Lv Sheng was challenging was not ten thousand soldiers, nor an impregnable city, nor an emperor with boundless power — but the moral and ethical code that all the people of the world, over a thousand years, had upheld together.

This was the human heart — something that not even an emperor, for all his might, could change!

“So: I had the court give her safety, food, clothing, and honor. I used the celestial garment to prove her chastity. I used the bestowal by an immortal to create an aura of sanctity around her. And in the end, I shall use a divine miracle to make her the benefactress of all the aristocratic clans. Three years ago I took her away; today I send her back. My only hope is that in everything, nothing has changed.”

Lv Sheng sighed with deep feeling. “Before my death, everything has been arranged — not a single step has gone awry. But the one thing I cannot ensure is this: after I die, how long will it take her to find release from her grief?”

Xuanzang and Li Chunfeng were profoundly shaken.

“Dharma Master, I have laid everything bare for you today, holding nothing back — because if after my death Wen’er is not at peace, I hope you will use the Buddha’s teachings to open her heart. Birth, aging, sickness, and death; love’s separation; the meeting of hatred; the frustration of desire; the five aggregates of clinging — the eight sufferings of human existence, I have tasted them all one by one. And in the end, I have found that to have loved, and then to part — that is the hardest pain of all to relinquish.”

Lv Sheng’s eyes slowly reddened.

Xuanzang’s throat tightened. He spoke the one and only lie of his entire life: “I will. I will help her find enlightenment, and she will live free and unfettered — more joyful and happy than when you were alive!”

“Thank you, Dharma Master. How I wish I could have had a friend like you in this life!”

Lv Sheng clasped his hands in a deep bow, and tears at last streamed down his face. “In this life, I bid you farewell, Dharma Master!”

Lv Sheng flicked a finger, and the first imperial edict in Li Chunfeng’s hand suddenly burst into flame.

Lv Sheng walked slowly into the depths of the Demon City. Zhai Wen stood on the road, watching him through tear-blurred eyes. The two of them were no more than two zhang apart, yet it seemed as though boundless ages lay between them — forever out of reach.

At that moment, a great cry of astonishment rose from the crowd. Xuanzang looked up, and was instantly struck dumb with awe. It was the hottest part of the afternoon, the desert silent and still without a breath of wind — when in the sky above the depths of the Demon City, an endless array of magnificent and towering palaces suddenly appeared!

Those palaces rose and fell in layered grandeur, stretching on for what seemed like countless thousands of li. Phoenix halls and dragon towers soared to meet the heavens; jade trees and jeweled branches half-concealed the vault of blue sky. It seemed as though phoenix-drawn carriages were circling and soaring, and fish-dragons swirled in and out, now scattering, now gathering. The sun, moon, and stars moved among them, while immortals streamed through the air in their carriages.

The entire palace complex floated with no foundation beneath — as though born of primordial chaos, suspended in the void between heaven and earth.

“This is——”

It was not only Xuanzang — even Li Chunfeng was astounded, crying out in a trembling voice, “It is the Supreme Elder Lord! Where are the court painters? Bring them at once!”

In the distance, the great army fell to its knees en masse, prostrating themselves in reverence. The more than ten exorcism masters, exorcism craftsmen, and exorcism apprentices who Li Chunfeng had brought to Dunhuang clutched their easels and came sprinting forward in a panic. Attendants scrambled to set up the easels, hang the paper, and prepare the ink — and the court painters swiftly began sweeping their brushes across the page, capturing this magnificent spectacle.

And now it was clear — these were no members of the Bureau of Exorcism at all. Those Li Chunfeng had brought were in truth painters of the Academy of Assembled Worthies, personally commissioned by the Emperor!

Their purpose was precisely to paint a portrait of this celestial scene, a sight rarely seen in all the world, and to capture the true likeness of the Elder Lord himself!

At that moment, from the heavens above came the voices of dozens of immortals, crying out in unison: “Kui Mu Lang, Kui Mu Lang! You have missed your appointed hour by three days. The Celestial Emperor commands you to return to the heavens — you are to be punished by being sent to the Tushita Palace of the Elder Lord, to tend the furnace and stoke the fires!”

From the heavens, a heavenly figure slowly appeared — with features serene and indistinct, seeming to be a Daoist sage, seated upon a lotus dais, gazing in soundless contemplation at the heaven and earth below.

The voices of the immortals above continued to ring out: “Kui Mu Lang, Kui Mu Lang! You have missed your appointed hour by three days. The Celestial Emperor commands you to return to the heavens — you are to be punished by being sent to the Tushita Palace of the Elder Lord, to tend the furnace and stoke the fires!”

The sound was vast and resonant. As it descended into the mortal world, it transformed into the voices of countless living beings — the hoarse rasp of the elderly, the deep rumble of men, the clear melody of women, the bright ring of children — as though hundreds upon hundreds of voices were calling out together. For a time, the calls echoed throughout the entirety of the Demon City!

All present fell to the ground, tears streaming down their faces, uttering prayers as they gazed in rapture at the celestial realm and its hosts of deities.

Lv Sheng alone paid no heed. He continued to walk forward, one step at a time. Yu Zao and Li Chan came to meet him. Yu Zao’s tearful eyes looked upon him. “Lv Lang, must you truly go?”

Lv Sheng smiled at her with warmth. “Fish dwelling in the waterweed, their great heads tossing free. A girl with a lovely face — surely we must share good wine together. Big-headed fish — let us drink!”

Lv Sheng reached into the empty air and suddenly produced three cups, which he presented to Yu Zao and Li Chan. The two of them reached out with trembling hands to take the cups, and found them filled to the brim with wine.

Lv Sheng said: “Though I have tasted all eight sufferings in this life, I do not regret having made this journey — for it is because of you that I have glimpsed the marvels of the mortal world. Come — drink deep!”

The three of them drained their cups in one draught. The cups then dissolved into powder in their hands, falling through their fingers like grains of sand. If not for the lingering fragrance of wine in their mouths, it might have seemed no more than a dream.

“Yu Zao, Li Chan — you are now husband and wife. No matter how arduous the road ahead in this mortal world, you must face it together, hand in hand.”

Lv Sheng turned and walked away.

Yu Zao and Li Chan stood transfixed, watching his retreating figure as tears blurred their vision.

Zhai Wen had been standing silently by the roadside all along, weeping until she had become a figure dissolved entirely in tears. “Si Lang, I cannot bear to let you go!”

“Did we not agree on this?”

Lv Sheng took her in his arms and wiped the tears from her face. “For three years we have savored every joy together. We traveled the great desert, the snow mountains, the grasslands, and the kingdoms of the Western Regions; we witnessed the marvels of the world and the flourishing of all living things. Was it not all for the sake of this day?”

“That is not enough… that is not enough!”

Zhai Wen wept. “Three years is too brief — I want eternity!”

“All of this has already become eternity.”

Lv Sheng also slowly let tears fall. “Look — the small courtyard at the Jade Gate Pass is eternal in our memories. The celestial realm I summoned for you is eternal in the mortal world. And our story will be passed down from generation to generation, sung without cease for a thousand and ten thousand years hence.”

“But that is not us!”

Zhai Wen looked up at him, her eyes desolate with anguish. “That is not us! For the rest of my life I will never be able to touch you again. When I wake in the night, there will be no one to comfort me. When I am alone and lonely, there will be no one to keep me company. Even if I searched to the ends of the mortal world, I could find no trace of you.”

“Wen’er!”

All of Lv Sheng’s composure collapsed entirely. His voice broke in his throat. “I cannot bear it! Do not do this to me — let me die in peace. Will you not? What is destined to happen — why must you tear me to pieces with it? Go, Wen’er. Everything as we planned three years ago — go. Return to the family, and strive to live. Live more brilliantly, more joyfully, more happily than when I was here! We have paid such a devastating price — was it not all for the sake of the rest of your life?”

He cried out in a breaking voice, and pushed Zhai Wen toward the direction of the military formation. “Go! Go! Do not look back… go!”

Zhai Wen shuffled forward step by step, weeping in anguish. Lv Sheng, as though afraid he might relent, swept his hand through the air — and suddenly a brilliant firefly appeared in the void, like a shimmering five-colored dragon. Lv Sheng opened his mouth and inhaled, drawing that dragon into himself. He instantly let out a howl of anguish that shook the soul; the skin of his face and body began to crack apart, like the flanks of a volcano on the verge of eruption, as points and patches of fire broke through the surface.

“Si Lang——”

Zhai Wen burst into sobs. She stretched out her hand in grief, yet did not dare to touch him.

Lv Sheng also extended his arm. The two of them stood separated by only half an inch of space, yet could no longer make contact.

“Go!”

Lv Sheng struggled to say, “After I die, I will transform into a star in the heavens. When you miss me, look up to the sky. Remember — I shall be in the first lunar mansion of the Western White Tiger. I stand guard to the west of the Purple Tenuity enclosure. To my east is a star called the Southern Gate of the Army. To my north is the Mound mansion; to my south is the Wall mansion; and to my west is the most brilliant of all — the Celestial Granary star.”

He struggled to turn away, flames bursting from his body in blazing clusters. He staggered toward a high terrace within the Demon City, walking and turning back as he went, smiling at her with mournful calm: “…When your time comes, I will wait for you in the heavens. We will walk together to the Pavilion Corridor, and watch Wang Liang drive his chariot past. With every crack of his whip, a brilliant star will blaze into light, shining without end. Together we will watch the stars of the heavens die and fall, plunging into the lightless deep. Together we will walk the path of the sun, and walk the path of the moon. You will see the Moon Star sovereign, guarding his elixir of immortality for all eternity. You will see He Bo crack his whip and drive the sun onward into the distance. I will take you to see the Celestial Granary — there where the millet of heaven is stored, each grain steeped in starlight, gleaming with luminance…”

Zhai Wen watched through her sobs as his body cracked apart and he ran with all his strength, wailing from the depths of her heart: “I regret it! I regret it——”

Lv Sheng’s body shuddered violently. He paused, then turned back to her with a look of heartfelt consolation. “I do not regret it! Not until death!”

He laughed freely and ran, seeming utterly unburdened. He reached the far edge of the high terrace. In the reflected light of the desert sunset, his body became a silhouette of cracked and fracturing fragments. He spread his arms wide, and launched himself into the air.

From his lips came a great cry:

Slender at the waist and pointed at the tip — a broken old sandal in form, Sixteen stars arrayed around the sandal in clusters. Seven black stars of the Outer Screen cross beneath Kui, Seven stars below the Screen — Heaven’s mingling, dark and lustrous.

I — Kui Mu Lang — report for duty at my appointed hour!

— With a thunderous boom, his entire body burst apart, dissolving into tongues of flame that drifted like butterflies on the wing, like fireworks in their fullest bloom.

Heaven and earth fell into a vast and perfect stillness. All sound ceased. No one could tell how much time passed — before gradually, the celestial palaces above the Demon City began to fade and dissolve, until the sky held nothing at all.