Everyone’s eyes had turned bloodshot from killing.

Suddenly, horn calls rang out through the endless sounds of battle, leaving echoes throughout the vast mountain range. Everyone couldn’t help but turn to look, only to see the Han father and son sitting high on horseback, slowly emerging from their iron-armored troops.

Inside the palace hall, Crown Prince Xiao Yizhao was being held in his mother Fu Rong’s arms. He pressed against the door, peering through the crack to see Han Shouye. He couldn’t help calling out “Uncle,” thinking Han Shouye had come to dine with him and his father and mother.

But he was quickly silenced by his mother’s hand covering his mouth. He vaguely felt his mother’s hand trembling. Looking up at her in confusion, he saw she wasn’t looking at him but staring straight through the door crack at the outside, her expression flickering with an emotion that frightened him. He swallowed hard and instinctively pressed closer to the door, his large dark eyes reflecting the countless torches outside and the endless mountains of corpses and seas of blood.

He saw his uncle clad in armor, surrounded by many armored soldiers, drawing his sword from his waist and pointing it at his father, saying, “Ziheng, you and I are uncle and nephew, connected by blood. Today, as long as you surrender and abdicate to me, issuing an edict of self-reproach, your uncle will spare your life. Hereafter, with noble rank and ministerial position, you’ll live a life of wealth and honor.”

A subject pointing his sword at the emperor—such supreme treachery made everyone’s hearts tremble. Fu Jiang flew into a rage, also raising his halberd toward Han Shouye, cursing loudly, “Han Shouye! You traitor, stop your wild words and quickly stretch out your neck for execution! His Majesty is merciful—how dare you take advantage of his kindness!”

Hearing this, Han Shouye let out a cold laugh, not even sparing Fu Jiang a glance, his eyes fixed tightly on Xiao Ziheng like a vicious wolf eyeing a piece of fresh, red meat.

Unlike the tense standoff covering the mountain, Xiao Ziheng appeared leisurely and confident. He even laughed heartily and asked in return, “An edict of self-reproach? May I ask the General—what crimes have We committed?”

Han Shouye’s sword edge flashed with cold light, and his tone was even colder than the blade. Across the door, Xiao Yizhao heard his uncle say, “You rule as a narrow-minded, harsh, and ungrateful sovereign, disregarding the achievements of the aristocratic families who aided the southern migration—in merely forty years, you’ve become ungrateful and treacherous, attempting to eliminate the aristocratic families’ influence. Is this not so!”

Inside the door, Xiao Yizhao couldn’t fully understand what his uncle was saying, but he had realized his uncle indeed intended harm toward his father.

Xiao Yizhao became somewhat frightened, quietly grasping his mother’s hand. Then he heard his father retort, “The General speaks so conclusively—why then, when the Shen and Qi families met disaster, was there no aid from the Han family? Yet you were first to devour and consume their assets. Speaking such words now—isn’t this false compassion when the rabbit dies and the fox grieves?”

Hearing this, Han Shouye was immediately choked speechless, then flew into rage: “You!”

Xiao Ziheng stood with hands behind his back in bright yellow robes, looking down on Han Shouye with undisguised contempt, his words ringing clearly: “We are ungrateful and treacherous? Or are you pushing your luck? Since ancient times, ruler is ruler, subject is subject, father is father, son is son—every dynasty has been thus. Only in Our Great Liang do subjects position themselves above their sovereign. What manner of logic is this?”

“Jiangzuo’s order has been chaotic for far too long,” the emperor’s voice echoed through the mountains. “Today We shall let you strike Us down here. Success and failure, victory and defeat—there are no second words. But if you fail, We shall have the heads of the entire Han clan, several hundred people, to restore the proper order between sovereign and subject. Do you dare or not!”

When the emperor rages, millions of corpses fall and blood flows to float shields.

This year marked the sixth year of Xiao Ziheng’s reign. He was no longer the young prince who had hidden behind a mask of romantic frivolity, but a calculating sovereign who had personally orchestrated the Qi clan’s destruction. Now standing beneath the magnificent palace with hands behind his back, his bearded face appeared especially seasoned and steady, inspiring immediate submission in those who saw him.

However, Han Shouye was not intimidated by such imperial majesty.

One who had already decided to overturn the chessboard would naturally no longer be bound by the game’s rules. Now that Qi Ying was dead and Xiao Ziheng’s support was gone, what great waves could he make trapped here alone? Today, Han Shouye had brought a full twenty thousand troops, while the Imperial Silver Guard numbered only five thousand. He refused to believe he couldn’t handle this mere stripling Xiao Ziheng!

Having made this decision, Han Shouye couldn’t be bothered to waste more words with Xiao Ziheng. With a sweep of his long sword, he was about to lead his subordinate generals to take his nephew’s head when he saw Xiao Ziheng’s eyes flash with sharp light. Then Han Shouye heard the sound of arrows cutting through air, and his son Han Feicong shouted, “Father, be careful!”

He immediately lunged forward, splitting the arrow shot at Han Shouye from behind with one sword stroke!

Everything happened in the blink of an eye!

Han Shouye’s warhorse startled, immediately rearing up on its hind legs with a long neigh. Han Shouye yanked hard on the reins to steady the horse, then hurriedly looked back—he saw countless armored soldiers suddenly appear from the forest a hundred paces away. Their leader wore military dress and held a red-wrapped great bow, exuding an aura of tempered steel—it was the current General of Chariots and Cavalry, Pei Jian!

Xiao Ziheng had hidden a reserve force!

Han Shouye and Han Feicong exchanged glances. Before either could speak, they heard Xiao Ziheng call out loudly, “Treacherous subjects rebel and bring disaster to Our state—all under heaven may execute them. Pei Jian! We command you to capture the Han father and son alive. As for the rest, those who surrender shall not be killed!”

The emperor’s voice rang like gold and jade, echoing layer upon layer through the mountains, momentarily like divine decree descending to earth. Young General Pei accepted the command with absolute determination. The soldiers hidden in the mountain forest now emerged one after another, their battle cries endless, chilling all who heard them.

Yet Han Shouye’s face showed little panic.

He laughed heartily, his laughter open and carefree as he shouted, “Xiao Ziheng! You think yourself clever, but you amount to nothing!”

With a sharp wave of his hand, Han Feicong signaled the aide beside him to shoot a flaming arrow into the sky. Bright light suddenly shot up into Mount Yao’s heavens, and immediately the sound of military clamor like mountain roars and ocean waves rose from below the mountain.

Han Shouye… had also hidden a reserve force.

Ridiculous! He was committing treason—how could he not be cautious? How could he not consider everything?

That Pei Jian had been merely a penniless minor commandant in Stone City ten years ago, yet somehow caught Qi Jingchen’s eye in the year Jiang Yong was killed. Qi Jingchen had secretly supported this minor commandant, later entrusting him with important responsibilities in the Northern Expedition, allowing him to achieve remarkable merit in the Battle of Jianshan Pass and nearly take the head of the now-deceased old Duke Yanguo of Northern Wei—truly becoming famous in one battle and shocking the world.

Over these five years, Qi Jingchen had openly supported commoners, and Pei Jian rose with the tide. In every war Qi Jingchen commanded, he would lead troops to the front lines, personally leading charges and repeatedly achieving merit. Though not yet thirty, he had already been promoted to General of Chariots and Cavalry, one of Xiao Ziheng’s most favored military officials, constantly eroding and dividing the military authority in Han family hands over the years.

He was clearly Qi Ying’s man—how could Han Shouye not guard against him?

Han Shouye had been laying this chess game for too long. He had thought of everything, even defending against others besides Pei Jian—for instance, the Qi family’s various branch members: Qi Feng, Qi Zheng, Qi Ting. Every military commander within five hundred li of Mount Yao, he had checked them all one by one—either planting spies beside them or transferring them to border regions in advance. Tonight, none could possibly come to ruin his great undertaking!

No oversights!

Everything staked on this one throw!

Mount Yao was vast, and in just a few brief moments the situation changed again and again, making everyone present feel dizzy.

Inside the palace doors, the young Crown Prince had understood that everything beyond the door crack was neither game nor jest—his uncle truly intended to kill his father. What lay before his eyes now was real mountains of swords and seas of fire, a human purgatory.

He couldn’t help beginning to tremble.

“Mother,” he cried, his small hands gripping his mother’s skirt tightly, “Zhao’er is afraid, Zhao’er is afraid…”

He dared not look outside anymore, turning back to throw himself into his mother’s arms. But his mother forcefully pushed him away, her hands gripping tightly on his small shoulders, forcing him to open his eyes wide and look at everything outside. Her cardamom-stained fingernails pierced him painfully.

“Zhao’er, look clearly,” his mother’s voice was cold and heavy, each word falling on one’s bones, “this is the path you must walk in the future. Even if living beings suffer, even through bloody storms, even if your own relatives raise swords to strike and kill you, you cannot retreat.”

“Like your father,” his mother’s long fingernails dug deeper into his flesh, “always stand there, never stop fighting, always go to the highest place.”

Xiao Yizhao trembled even more violently, unsure what it was from.

Was it because his mother’s tone at that moment particularly frightened him?

Was it because his mother’s sharp, long fingernails hurt him particularly badly?

Was it because he feared that for his entire future life he would have to face such terrible things like his father?

Or was it simply because… he saw that his father seemed about to be defeated by his uncle?

He was still too young—he simply didn’t know.

He only felt increasingly terrified, watching his father’s Silver Guard fall one by one, growing fewer and fewer. He saw the young general called Pei Jian come to his father’s side to protect him, cutting down several rebels who intended harm to his father with just a few sword strokes. But when he cut down one, a new person would take their place; when he cut down two, two new people would take their place… as if endless.

He saw his uncle laughing maniacally, he saw his father’s figure with his back turned appearing especially lonely, he saw his hands clenched tightly into fists behind his back, he saw Uncle Fu Jiang severely wounded, already fallen before their door, covered in wounds…

He saw more and more iron-armored people approaching his father, approaching the palace where he and his mother hid…

That general called Pei Jian had already killed countless rebels, already covered in blood from head to toe, yet still people ran toward the door. Their eyes glowed with vicious light, their swords stained with fresh blood, like man-eating demons come to take his and his mother’s lives!

His father was the most noble person in this world! His mother was the empress of the nation! He was the future emperor who would ascend the throne and inherit the great succession!

Why did these people want to kill them?

He was truly so afraid…

At this moment, Han Shouye, watching the defeated Xiao Ziheng, finally felt relieved. He laughed triumphantly, his laughter continuously echoing through the mountains. Before his eyes, he seemed to already see himself cutting off Xiao Ziheng’s head. He also saw himself donning bright yellow robes, ascending the supreme position to be kowtowed to by millions, with mountain cries of “ten thousand years.” He would make his Lady Yan the empress! He would let her and Li’er enjoy inexhaustible glory and wealth! He would make all the Han family elders who had once looked down on him open their eyes wide and see clearly who had ultimately brought infinite glory to the Han family!

But just then, he suddenly noticed.

The sounds of battle below the mountain had gradually subsided, slowly falling into silence. Yet increasingly bright firelight gradually rose from below the mountain path—countless torches moved together, illuminating Mount Yao’s dark night like daylight!

In that sudden, stark silence.

In that scorching firelight.

Everyone saw a figure slowly approaching from below the mountain path.

High cap and wide robes, phoenix eyes flowing with light.

Carrying not a trace of military bearing, yet inexplicably making people feel pressure like mountains.

Behind him stretched countless torches, making one instinctively feel he brought light. Yet those flames were also like hellish karmic fire that had burned countless wrongs and greed in this world, reducing them all to ash.

Similarly, it had mercilessly burned him as well.

He came from bottomless karmic obstacles.

Still like those tumultuous times of old—

Both like an Asura from Avici Hell.

And like a compassionate Buddha.

Author’s Note: Next chapter is the final chapter of Volume 4.