The corpse beneath the brocade covers was ice-cold, its bloody stench so thick it was nauseating.

Yu Zixi nonchalantly waved his hand, lifting the covers to wrap Li Denglong’s body tightly, leaving only his pale face exposed outside.

His eyes held a thoughtful expression.

Li Yuren was Li Denglong’s daughter?

An illegitimate daughter cast into the pleasure quarters, harboring resentment and using others’ hands to kill the biological father who had abandoned her.

It sounded quite reasonable.

Yet Yu Zixi frowned, feeling something was strange. If Li Yuren truly intended patricide, why hadn’t she acted in all these years? She had always avoided the Li family members.

Since she didn’t want to kill him personally, why did she stay in a place close to him where she could hear news of him daily?

Keeping his doubts to himself, Yu Zixi lifted the gauze curtains and looked through the wide-open door of the warm pavilion, vaguely seeing the two rows of guards still standing rigidly upright in the courtyard.

What? That fellow still hadn’t dealt with them?

Looking more carefully, their posture seemed a bit off…

Yu Zixi’s gaze wandered, and he saw the black-clothed servant returning from the courtyard, smiling at him.

Mm… he knew this fellow was fierce and ruthless – he’d never encountered anything that could make him suffer a loss.

Yu Zixi smiled slightly, turned over the corpse, and saw Li Denglong had a copper coin-sized black mole on his left ear. Without hesitation, he cut off the ear, wrapped it in cloth, and tucked it in his sleeve. Emerging from the gauze curtains, he had already changed into Li Denglong’s indigo dragon robe, discarded all jewelry, and rebound his hair, though the robe was a bit short. Yu Zixi sighed, “I’ll have to expend energy maintaining my bone-shrinking technique again.”

Qin Chang Ge glanced at him, saying, “Your bone-shrinking skills aren’t very good… presumably you lost your virginity too early.”

His expression couldn’t be seen clearly in the night, but Yu Zixi’s voice sounded somewhat distant: “Life’s pleasures must be seized in youth…”

Though these words sounded quite carefree, somehow they carried additional traces of world-weariness.

Qin Chang Ge pretended not to hear, tugging his sleeve: “While the outer courtyard people haven’t discovered anything yet, let’s leave quickly. Can’t you change clothes? Wearing Li Denglong’s robe actually makes you more conspicuous – anyone who sees it will call out.”

“Would you rather have me keep wearing that woman’s dress?” Yu Zixi stripped the outer robe from a guard while casting her a flowing glance. “Do you know I’m the Northern Campaign Commander? Wearing that in the army would be the most inauspicious thing possible. If I die on the battlefield, will you collect my corpse?”

“Good people don’t live long, but scourges last a thousand years,” Qin Chang Ge replied with unconcerned laughter. “You living a thousand years or so is no problem. What’s wearing a dress compared to that? How could it possibly damage your powerful aura of evil?”

Too lazy to bicker with her, Yu Zixi was about to put on the clothes when he suddenly heard a sweet call from behind: “Husband…”

Silently crying out in alarm, Qin Chang Ge and Yu Zixi’s gazes met, and Yu Zixi’s expression turned sharp.

Behind them, the Ninth Lady carried a tray with a bowl of bird’s nest soup still steaming with curling vapors. She approached gently and warmly, laughing with surprise: “Husband, why are you admiring the moon in this courtyard? Where is Sister Yuren?”

Earlier she had returned feeling resentful for a long while, but after much consideration still swallowed her anger. She had ordered the kitchen to stew bird’s nest soup, planning to nourish her husband’s body after his pleasure with another woman, and suppressing her dissatisfaction, personally brought it herself.

A wise woman doesn’t compete for favor – she competes for how to win her husband’s heart with gentle tenderness.

This was what her mother had told her when she was very young, and she had always remembered it.

The Ninth Lady approached gracefully, first seeing Qin Chang Ge who had also changed into guard attire, saying with confusion: “How are you…”

Qin Chang Ge showed her a toothy grin.

The Ninth Lady froze again, then turned to notice something wrong with the rigidly standing guards on all sides. Looking carefully, a sharp cry was about to burst from her mouth.

“Swish!”

With a great shout, the man swept his arm horizontally, sending curtain fabric flying with a whoosh. Filled with true force, the fabric became like an impenetrable steel plate, viciously carrying overwhelming righteous energy and killing intent, sweeping directly and horizontally across Qin Chang Ge and Yu Zixi at waist level.

In the stirred-up great wind, his shout was like thunder, shaking half the residence so it could be heard. “Seize them! They are spies!”

The change was sudden, leaving everyone frozen in place!

With a “whoosh,” Qin Chang Ge was “swept” far away!

Before she even landed, she had already grabbed backward with one hand. In the dim night, her fingertips showed dark red. Those dark fingers suddenly grasped the throat of a still-dazed household guard. With that one grab, the man wailed and died with a ghastly blue face. Qin Chang Ge smoothly lifted his entire body and swung it around, using him like a human club to smash whooshing toward the several people the man had brought!

She used no special techniques – just the simplest horizontal strikes and furious smashing, somewhat imitating Xiao Jue’s fierce fighting style. Those men were caught completely off guard and couldn’t attack Qin Chang Ge at all, because no matter how they struck, they could only cut off a leg or arm of their own companion, helpless against Qin Chang Ge who remained behind that person’s body. They were all forced to retreat repeatedly, and anyone who was even slightly touched by the ghastly blue corpse in Qin Chang Ge’s hands immediately turned black and collapsed convulsing.

Such rogueish, shameless, and venomous fighting methods naturally resulted in one-sided beatings. Before long, half of the dozen or so people present had died.

Vice General Zhang’s righteous energy attacked, sweeping across both opponents. The sinister and shameless number one fox Qin Chang Ge borrowed this momentum to break out, eliminate the minions, and leave the troublesome opponent for number two fox Yu Zixi.

With a whoosh, Yu Zixi was like a cloud of deep black, lightly brushing closely past the steel fabric!

Somehow he had already put on the tortoiseshell fingernails he’d worn while playing the pipa earlier. Laughing lightly, he casually made a scratching motion. With a ripping sound, the steel-hard fabric was instantly torn into countless fragments, leisurely covering Vice General Zhang’s head.

As the fabric pieces blocked Vice General Zhang’s vision, Yu Zixi’s tortoiseshell fingernails, gleaming with gorgeous yellow and black colors, were already viciously clawing toward the opponent’s eyes.

Rolling backward in a somersault, the opponent’s reaction was extraordinarily quick. As his body turned, a gleaming water-parting thorn had appeared in his hand, carrying the whistling sound of wind as it stabbed directly toward Yu Zixi’s brow!

In the distance, lanterns lit up one by one like starlight, while urgent but orderly footsteps converged toward this location in unison. Human shadows flickered vaguely, surging like a tide.

The Li family’s military law governance was indeed extraordinary.

Vice General Zhang’s water-parting thorn gleamed with cold light, as cold as the deep night’s chill wind.

Laughing lightly, Yu Zixi raised his hand. A silver light flew like a dragon from his palm, crossing the sky like a meteor. It struck aside Vice General Zhang’s water-parting thorn with a brush, swept past his left cheek, returned past his right cheek. Yu Zixi crossed his palms, the silver light twisted, instantly coiling around Vice General Zhang’s neck.

He laughed lightly, crossing his hands!

Vice General Zhang’s throat made rattling sounds as he desperately reached up to grab the silver band strangling his neck.

“Shoot!”

A sharp, urgent low shout rang out in the slightly misty dark night.

In the mist, pale golden light flashed like a golden cloud rising from the earth’s depths with a humming sound, instantly obscuring the deep black sky, bringing fierce airflow that tore through night’s dark mask, charging forward without return!

Yu Zixi jerked the silver band, directly dragging Vice General Zhang to use as a shield!

With a great roar, Vice General Zhang proved quite brave, actually disregarding the crossbow arrows attacking him and turning to pounce toward Yu Zixi.

This pounce pulled the silver band close, removing its strangling capability. Vice General Zhang hadn’t previously anticipated these two would be so formidable. Now that he knew he couldn’t escape today, he crouched low, desperately hugging Yu Zixi’s legs, determined to trap him in place for mutual destruction.

How could Yu Zixi be willing to perish together with him?

He kicked up with one foot, his indigo robe flying and rolling furiously with full power. Vice General Zhang had barely touched his leg when he was viciously kicked away, clearly about to meet the dense arrow rain!

A black shadow flashed in midair. Qin Chang Ge, who had just avoided that arrow volley, suddenly appeared, reaching out to pat Vice General Zhang’s back, laughing: “I’ll send you on your way too!”

Vice General Zhang’s momentum increased even more – his fate of being shot full of arrows like a hedgehog was already determined!

“Stop!”

A yellow shadow flashed with a deep shout. Someone shot out from the darkness like lightning, one hand grabbing Vice General Zhang while the other, dark as iron, pulled out crossbow arrows one by one. When those crossbow arrows met his unprotected hand, they responded as if meeting an iron shield, producing a series of clanging sounds before completely breaking and falling to the ground.

The crowd hesitated. Some arriving officers had already begun speaking sarcastically: “Lord Zhang, though you hold the title of Deputy Commander of the Palace Guards, I’m afraid you can’t command us regional generals, can you?”

Zhang Zhuo immediately threw the ear in his hand, hurling it directly at the speaker, sneering coldly: “Fine, I’m not qualified to command you. Then go consult with the general’s ear and wait for Xiliang’s great army to breach the city!”

He turned around, shouting sternly: “The general has certainly been assassinated. To protect Du City, we must capture those two! Anyone who wants to live, follow me!”

That general instinctively tried to dodge, then remembering this was the general’s ear, his heart turned cold. He hurriedly caught it, his face ugly as he was about to speak, when he saw Zhang Zhuo, who was mounting his horse, suddenly sway.

In the blazing torchlight, he turned his back to everyone and confusedly raised his hand. The hand that had been like refined iron moments before had turned a pale color.

With a thud, Zhang Zhuo groaned and toppled from his horse!

Everyone’s spirits chilled!

When had Zhang Zhuo been struck? This man, known as one of Su Capital’s three great masters and Palace Guard Commander, had unknowingly fallen victim to the opponents’ underhanded methods?

Looking again at Vice General Zhang whom Zhang Zhuo had saved, he still hadn’t been able to get up.

Two more of their formidable fighters had fallen!

Just as everyone was in confused panic, a tremendous explosion sounded in the distance, shaking the earth and mountains!

It seemed to come directly from outside the city gates!

Everyone suddenly raised their heads, gazing toward the main city gate where thick black smoke clouds were continuously rising, slowly spreading across the sky like a sinister and ominous face, carrying killing intent and cold laughter as it gazed down forest-coolly upon the panicked Du City.

Faint sounds of screaming drifted over, swiftly carried by wind laden with gunpowder smoke and fierce fire, rushing into everyone’s shocked minds.

“Xiliang is attacking the city!”

Horse hooves rang urgently on the long street, leaving those pursuit shouts and battle cries far behind. Qin Chang Ge and Yu Zixi rode their horses straight toward Baimei Tower.

They naturally heard the siege sounds from the city gates. Yu Zixi sighed with amazement: “Was His Majesty lying pressed against the Li family’s door crack spying the whole time? Otherwise how could he time it so precisely?”

“He was probably pressed against the city gate crack spying,” Qin Chang Ge smiled. “Seeing abnormal troop movements within the city, he guessed something had happened inside and naturally took the opportunity to attack.”

These two bold figures who knew no reverence for the Son of Heaven discussed with great interest. If Xiao Jue knew, he’d probably be angry enough to vomit blood. Here he was carrying his heart in his hands, sleepless and restless, not daring to let his gaze waver even for an instant as he stared fixedly at Du City, terrified that any mishap might trap these two inside. Seeing the slightest movement on the city walls, he immediately attacked, yet these two were still leisurely discussing which door crack he’d been peeping through.

Though these two spoke lightly, they were both veterans of many battles. How could they not know Xiao Jue’s hardship and difficulty? In the dark night, separated by high city walls, internal troop movements mostly occurred within the city, and positional changes on the walls weren’t obvious – actually very difficult to detect. That the siege could coordinate so timely showed what kind of exhausting mental effort and sleepless nights that person had endured.

Originally they had agreed that after succeeding and escaping danger, Qin Chang Ge would fire a signal arrow to notify Xiao Jue. They hadn’t expected that before they could fire it, Xiao Jue had already acted with divine accuracy.

Now the two only needed to quickly exit the city. Only by returning to the Xiliang main camp would their mission be truly accomplished.

Ahead was “Guests Welcome.” Qin Chang Ge didn’t plan to retrieve Li Yuren – that would only expose her identity. Once Du City was breached, she could escape in the chaos and wouldn’t be in danger.

The long street was empty. Citizens feared the fires of war and slaughter. Hearing the din of weapons and cannon fire, they only dared kneel before their household Buddhist shrines, burning incense and praying.

A white shadow suddenly flashed before their horses’ hooves.

The woman reached out to grab the reins, saying urgently: “You can’t go to Guests Welcome! With the Li residence in chaos, citywide searches have begun immediately. There are soldiers there, with three thousand militia surrounding the area. As soon as an alarm is raised, you’ll be trapped. People will emerge shortly – you also can’t gallop through the main streets like this.”

Qin Chang Ge and Yu Zixi exchanged glances, looking down at Li Yuren grasping the reins, asking quickly: “Does Miss Li have a good place to go?”

“Follow me! Abandon the horses!”

Without hesitation, they abandoned their horses. Qin Chang Ge and Yu Zixi followed Li Yuren through narrow streets and secluded alleys. Li Yuren was extremely familiar with the terrain, often finding hiding spots in places that were difficult to discover. They dodged three waves of searching troops along the way, winding and turning until they reached a civilian house in a small alley.

Li Yuren first looked around to ensure no one was present, then raised her hand to invite the two inside, hurriedly stepping forward to unlock the small courtyard. Qin Chang Ge stood behind her, smelling the woman’s subtle fragrance – mysteriously enchanting – and enjoyed sniffing it, tilting her head with a smile: “Miss, what place is this?”

“Can you see what place this is?” Li Yuren turned around, smiling strangely as she pointed with her hand.

Both their eyes lit up as they saw through the open door that across the small alley, separated by a flower wall, were the deep red and light blue, exquisitely carved flying eaves of “Guests Welcome.”

“Miss is truly familiar with the terrain. After all that confusing turning, we were completely dizzy, yet unexpectedly we’ve arrived behind the ‘Guests Welcome’ courtyard. How marvelous!” Qin Chang Ge praised sincerely.

“I once passed by here and discovered this house hidden behind a garden. Separated by just one alley from ‘Guests Welcome,’ but impossible to reach or see from the direct route. Preparing for a rainy day, I bought it. Finally it’s come in handy,” Li Yuren smiled, standing beside the two and raising her arm to point. “Look, once the searching soldiers pass by, you can directly climb the wall and take the official road straight back to the Xiliang main camp.”

Her long hair fell loose, her wide sleeves flowing. Her raised arm caused her sleeve to flutter slightly in the breeze, carrying a dark fragrance like the scent of paulownia flowers mixed with magnolia and pine needles – both elegant and enchanting, faintly dispersing.

“Yes…” Qin Chang Ge smiled. “Today we truly relied on you, Miss… How should we properly thank you?”

“Oh…” Li Yuren smiled, her smile profound. The shrewd efficiency she’d shown while leading them in escape instantly dissolved, and that ancient well-like gaze returned.

She spoke softly, as if chanting:

“Thank me with your lives.”

Volume Two: The Six Nations