Zhang Yuehui sat in the carriage, draped in the night, quiet as a statue. He remained unmoved by the swaying of the carriage body and the dancing light and shadows.

She left.

This woman was truly heartless.

He closed his eyes, feeling the jolting over this land, each rise and fall bringing pain to his wounds. But strangely, he felt somewhat detached—neither dejected nor disappointed, only accepting.

He knew of her and Luo Ci’s plan, but he hadn’t exposed it. He had even specifically hinted to Luo Ci not to tell Nanyi, fearing he might not think of that.

When he was closest to her, when they had the greatest possibility of being together, he chose to let go.

Self-deception was a painful thing. A person could deceive millions of others, but could never deceive themselves. He clearly knew that when she had been willing to leave with him to save Xie Queshan, he had already suffered complete defeat.

It was he who insisted on forcing the issue, refusing to give up until he hit the Yellow River. He had thought the discord between them would appear on Nanyi’s side, but in the end discovered it was he who couldn’t get past this barrier in his own heart.

He wanted her to be free and happy—so how could he first deprive her of the right to choose freely?

But perversely, he also didn’t want to be a magnanimous good person. Wasn’t he a bandit? Having already stolen her away, yet wanting to play the gentleman—wouldn’t that be laughable?

He didn’t want to say to her face: “Go do what you want to do—I’m willing to give up.”

Then have them hold hands and gaze at each other with tear-filled eyes, all melodramatic.

He was an out-and-out bad person—he wouldn’t bother himself with the Bingzhu Bureau’s mess. Only this way would everyone think he was still that selfish person, and only then could she leave without any burden.

He also wasn’t putting on any saint’s act—he simply didn’t want her anymore.

Right, didn’t want her anymore.

A tear slid from the corner of Zhang Yuehui’s eye, and he laughed self-mockingly. Though no one was watching at this moment, he still nonchalantly raised his hand to wipe away that tear.

He actually felt somewhat relieved.

And not just about Nanyi—perhaps in his heart’s deepest depths, he didn’t want to see the Bingzhu Bureau lose.

From a practical standpoint, if the Bingzhu Bureau won, it could slow the Qi people’s pursuit of him… There were also some other indescribable emotions, faintly entangling him.

Like the plum rain vapors that crossed the river and moved north, bringing the humidity of the capital and homeland, penetrating every pore into people’s hearts.

He wanted to ignore it, but couldn’t withstand the inner torment.

At this moment of letting her go kill Yajiu, in all the countless midnight dreams of his remaining years, his conscience wouldn’t have to be tortured by this moment’s standing aside and watching.

It seemed he was fulfilling her, but actually she was also fulfilling him.

But he also knew that killing Yajiu was as difficult as ascending to heaven. He respected the fate she chose, even if in the end she sacrificed herself for her ideals, even if she died…

Even if she died.

Zhang Yuehui’s fists clenched tighter and tighter, veins throbbing at his temples as he desperately suppressed his surging emotions.

If she died, that was her choice and had nothing to do with him anymore, didn’t it?

The Nirvana Plan, the day itself.

Several black horses swept through the dense forest. The riders were Yajiu and his subordinates, who had been rushing day and night back to Li Du Mansion.

He had discovered important clues in Qingzhou—the Bingzhu Bureau in Li Du Mansion was manufacturing large quantities of gunpowder.

He no longer had time to send word to Wanyan Puo far away in Jinling. He had to return to Li Du Mansion at the fastest speed to report.

But several days of heavy rain had caused landslides, with fallen boulders blocking Yajiu’s group’s path. Taking a detour would add several more days to their journey. Yajiu made a quick decision to turn back to a nearby village and hire villagers to immediately clear the mountain path.

Because of this, Yajiu stopped for a while at a small tea shelter outside the village.

Three workers in the tea shelter were busily working front and back. The heavy rain was severe, the shelter roof was leaking, and two men were making repairs, not bothering to attend to customers, only carelessly serving a few pots of tea.

Yajiu’s group was extremely alert and wouldn’t drink anything from outside, only sitting silently waiting for the mountain path to be cleared.

The three workers were clanging away fixing the tea shelter, but unexpectedly the more they fixed, the more it leaked. They seemed to have damaged something, and with a crash, the entire tea shelter split open from the middle. The accumulated water on top instantly poured down, soaking the customers sitting inside.

The workers were stunned and hurriedly came forward to apologize, trying to wipe away the water stains with towels in their hands.

Yajiu happened to be lost in a tangle of thoughts and didn’t react in time. This change was both sudden and unexpected, and when those three workers surrounded him, he felt only fury.

But in that instant, those three people drew weapons hidden in their sleeves and finished off his two subordinates. Though Yajiu’s martial arts were superior to the others, he was caught off guard by the sneak attack and fell into disadvantage, but immediately reacted, pressing against the table to flip and roll, retreating three feet away.

A sharp sound came from overhead as an agile woman launched a sneak attack from the shelter roof. Her sword light, combined with rapidly falling raindrops, cleaved downward. In the critical moment, Yajiu forcibly blocked the sword with his arm and backhanded to disarm the woman.

Immediately after, crossbow bolts shot toward Yajiu. He barely managed to protect his vital points, though he inevitably took arrows in his body.

Nanyi knew Yajiu was difficult to deal with—these were only meant to first weaken his strength. The last two death warriors also emerged from hiding, and several people began entangling with Yajiu in combat.

Luo Ci had given her five death warriors for her to command. She didn’t dare fight head-on, only first creating a landslide on their necessary path to block Yajiu’s route, then taking over this tea shelter for a day to ambush Yajiu.

Even with complete advantage, the leader of the Black Crow Battalion was still terrifyingly formidable.

…

Bodies lay scattered on the ground. Yajiu was exhausted, but he still slowly stood up.

Finally… were they all thoroughly dead?

This had been a fierce battle. The blade in his hand had been chipped from chopping, but in the end, he still won by a slight margin.

He was the leader of the Black Crow Battalion, the most formidable warrior under Wanyan Puo. It wasn’t so simple to make him die.

Yajiu dragged his heavy steps outside when suddenly his ankle was grabbed.

Looking down, he saw that woman still had breath. She was already severely wounded, but still used her last bit of strength to hold onto his departing footsteps.

“Don’t even think… of returning to Li Du Mansion!”

Heavy rain tore open a corner of the sky’s curtain, countless raindrops like sharp arrows competing to rush toward the earth.

Yajiu had an illusion that this wasn’t a woman’s final struggle, but that from the cracks of the ninth heaven came a divine command.

This command could not be disobeyed and would ultimately be fulfilled.

This illusion startled Yajiu’s heart. He immediately raised his blade and chopped down viciously, wanting to press this dying person thoroughly into hell—

…

Li Du Mansion.

Sky-covering dark clouds concealed the sunrise. Night faded from all things, immediately followed by a layer of oppressive grayish-white climbing up.

Wangxue Dock had become like a huge silent cage.

Madam Gantang finally awoke. In the last scene of her consciousness, the Yucheng Army’s long-cultivated plan had been made public—the situation had reached its worst point. She sat up in terror, afraid that when she woke she would face a world that had already collapsed.

But all she saw was a narrow woodshed. The severely wounded Tang Rong was resting against a pile of firewood, their hands somehow clasped together.

Madam Gantang was startled and hurriedly released her hand.

Tang Rong was awakened by her movement, struggled to sit up straight, and moved closer to her.

This approach made Madam Gantang’s heart flutter, as if something were plucking at boundary strings. She remembered the scene before she fainted—his frenzied expression when trying to save her. She didn’t dare think about the meaning behind this. When she tried to speak, her throat was terribly hoarse and couldn’t produce a complete syllable, so she could only move aside.

Tang Rong glanced toward the door, and only then did she see guards standing outside. Even slightly loud conversation inside would be overheard. Tang Rong probably wanted to say something to her, which was why he had moved closer.

Only then did Madam Gantang stop avoiding him, allowing him to lean over and whisper in her ear with an extremely low voice: “Madam, the confession was false.”

Madam Gantang was stunned, beginning to understand somewhat.

Had Tang Rong given false intelligence to save her, or was this originally a bitter stratagem?

She reached out to touch the wound on Tang Rong’s shoulder, opened her mouth, but still couldn’t make a sound, only looking at him with questioning and confused eyes.

Tang Rong understood her meaning. Though his face clearly showed he was enduring pain, he still answered meaningfully: “It doesn’t hurt.”

Madam Gantang tremblingly exhaled, her anxious heart finally settling down somewhat.

This meant there was still a chance of victory.

She also thought of Xie Queshan’s reaction last night. Could it be that he was also cooperating in this performance?

Could it be that he was…

Countless strange moments from the past surged into Madam Gantang’s mind. She didn’t dare believe it, yet she believed without hesitation.

She covered her face with her hands, overcome with mixed grief and joy, and suddenly began sobbing.

At this time, Xie Queshan was at Wanyan Jun’s mansion.

He had almost shamelessly followed Wanyan Jun, actively offering him strategies and advice. Fortunately, Wanyan Jun’s mind was entirely focused on annihilating the Yucheng Army. He wasn’t actually skilled at leading troops in battle and needed someone to discuss with.

Xie Queshan had already helped Wanyan Jun plan the deployment on the ship, placing as many soldiers as possible aboard.

But unexpectedly, Wanyan Jun suddenly pointed at the sand table and said: “Reduce the personnel at each location to one-tenth. Can the mission still succeed?”

Xie Queshan was shocked: “Why is this? The Yucheng Army is one of the few elite forces of the Yu Dynasty. With fewer people, I fear we won’t have a chance of victory.”

“I’m afraid this is the Yucheng Army’s strategy of luring the tiger away from the mountain. If all personnel are deployed to the ship, Li Du Mansion’s internal forces will be weak. What if they turn around and attack the military camp? The city must also have sufficient forces guarding it. Otherwise, if we gain the ship but lose the city, that would be more loss than gain.”

Xie Queshan’s heart sank. Wanyan Jun was meticulous in his thinking. Even though they had deceived him, it was difficult for him to act completely according to their expectations.

If the forces on the ship were only one-tenth of what they had envisioned, then all this effort to blow up the ship would be wasted labor.

But Wanyan Jun’s attitude was resolute. If he persisted in persuading, it would appear highly suspicious.

The arrow was already on the bowstring and had to be released.