Li Qitian’s good mood lasted the entire day. When they made camp in the evening, he was still in such good spirits that he ate four grilled flatbreads stuffed with meat. He even reminisced with Xiong Jinshui about the old days when he led troops into battle and couldn’t even get a sip of hot water, listening to Xiong Jinshui repeatedly express his heartfelt admiration for how difficult it had been for the Emperor to establish the dynasty.

However, when he was jolted awake in the middle of the night by searing heat, his good mood vanished completely.

Outside the tent was a sheet of orange-red firelight that had already ignited a corner of the snow-white tent. The air was thick with the acrid smell of burning. Li Qitian rolled over and sat up in one fluid motion, grabbing his riding whip and precious sword before rushing toward the tent entrance.

“Fire! Fire! Save the Emperor!” At the tent entrance, Xiong Jinshui hadn’t even noticed that the Emperor was already awake and was still shouting for help at the top of his lungs, his shrill voice becoming hoarse.

Li Qitian kicked Xiong Jinshui in the rear: “Stop your caterwauling. Come with me.” He then grabbed Xiong Jinshui by the collar and dragged him outside.

After all, he was the founding emperor who had conquered the realm on horseback. Naturally, he was different from those weak scholarly emperors who had sat securely on the throne for many years. A small fire couldn’t shake him in the slightest.

The air outside the tent wasn’t much fresher. An entire stretch of military tents had caught fire, and the flames had spooked the war horses. The horses were all tethered and couldn’t escape, so they were all neighing frantically.

Some soldiers were rushing to save their war horses, while others were frantically fetching water to fight the fire.

In front of Li Qitian’s tent, Pang Xiao was limping as he led people in directing the firefighting efforts. With his back to Li Qitian, he naturally couldn’t see that the man had already emerged. He took a copper basin of cold water that Ma Cheng handed him and poured it over his head, then turned to rush into the tent. As a result, he collided head-on with Li Qitian, nearly knocking him back into the tent.

Li Qitian was struck in the chest by Pang Xiao’s head, and for an instant couldn’t catch his breath. His vision went black, and if Xiong Jinshui hadn’t supported him from behind, he would have fallen flat on his back.

Pang Xiao looked up, his soaking wet hair still dripping with water. When he suddenly saw that Li Qitian was unharmed, he immediately called out joyfully: “Big brother! Are you alright?”

In his urgency, he had forgotten to address him as “Your Majesty” and directly called him “big brother.”

Seeing Pang Xiao still wearing his white sleeping clothes, soaking wet and in such a disheveled state, yet having been about to rush in to save him, Li Qitian felt a wave of confusion. Had he been overthinking things? Did Pang Xiao truly have no rebellious intentions? Especially that call of “big brother” – it brought back so many memories of the past, when they had supported each other as brothers, saving each other’s lives to achieve today’s wealth and honor. They had weathered so many hardships together – why couldn’t they share in prosperity now?

Li Qitian was lost in thought as Xiong Jinshui and Pang Xiao helped him stand straight.

“We are fine.”

“Wonderful!” Ma Cheng cheered, then said: “Just now the flames suddenly flared up, and when the Prince’s tent caught fire, he rushed out to save Your Majesty. Fortunately, Your Majesty has heaven’s protection and the gods’ blessing. But this fire came under very suspicious circumstances.”

The camp was in complete chaos. Soldiers were rushing to save the horses, others were going to the stream to fetch water for firefighting, and some were even taking off their outer robes to carry water to beat down the flames. With insufficient equipment, they could only make do this way.

Li Qitian gripped his precious sword and riding whip. With people protecting him on both sides, his heart settled considerably.

Thinking of the talk about some “fire dragon” in Jinggang, and seeing how a large section of the camp was now shrouded in flames and thick smoke, he felt a wave of revulsion.

He was the Son of Heaven, blessed by the heavens above. This great fire naturally couldn’t have been caused by him. Any talk of heavenly warnings was complete nonsense!

“Someone definitely set this fire deliberately!” Li Qitian said darkly. “Search for them!”

“Yes!” Ma Cheng clasped his fists in acknowledgment.

Tang Xiu brought over an outer robe for Pang Xiao: “Your Highness, your injuries haven’t healed yet, and you were running a fever on the road. Please take care of yourself.”

Pang Xiao was soaked through and shivering with cold, but he stubbornly tried to maintain face: “I’m fine.”

Li Qitian, remembering their past friendship, softened in his heart: “Zhixi, go change your clothes first.”

“Your Majesty, this subject is fine. This subject is strong and healthy, with no ailments.”

Li Qitian frowned: “If you fall ill, who will protect me? Won’t you even obey my decree?”

Pang Xiao stiffened his neck, wanting to argue further, but ultimately closed his mouth in dissatisfaction and followed Tang Xiu to find clothes to change into.

Li Qitian couldn’t help but think of how Pang Xiao had jumped up and argued with him the other day, showing the same disregard for authority and looking utterly detestable. Today he still seemed to be defying imperial orders, yet Li Qitian couldn’t bring himself to be angry.

Perhaps he really had been overthinking things?

Thinking carefully, it was all because of that fortune-teller Tianji Zi’s single prediction that had made him suspicious and gradually grow distant from Pang Xiao.

But when he thought of the people’s evaluation of Pang Xiao, and what the secret reports said about the common people’s love and respect for him, most importantly when he thought of how many men in the imperial army admired Pang Xiao, Li Qitian felt like he was sitting on pins and needles.

If Pang Xiao had rebellious intentions, he wouldn’t even need the tiger tally to deploy troops. He could just stand in front of the main camp, shout once, and hundreds would respond to his call. Previously only the Huben Army was like this, but now the Pingnan Army had also been won over completely by him.

Such a powerful and popular person, whose reputation even exceeded his own.

Regardless of whether he had rebellious intentions, as long as this person existed, he would always be a threat to the imperial throne.

Thinking of this, Li Qitian’s heart, which had been moved to some emotion by the rescue, hardened again.

“Every man for himself, or heaven and earth will destroy him.” He was only trying to preserve his throne, being wary of his sworn brother. It wasn’t like the previous dynasties where brothers killed each other – what wrong had he done?

While deep in thought, Li Qitian had been escorted to a spacious and quiet area by the stream.

Pang Xiao also came over after changing clothes, though because the fire had been so urgent, his luggage had all been burned to ash. He was now wearing coarse cloth short robes he had borrowed from some soldier.

Pang Xiao’s attendants and guards were all standing in the distance holding horses, and the frightened horses still showed signs of being agitated.

Li Qitian looked at Pang Xiao’s appearance, then searched around for Lu Heng’s figure.

“Where is Earl Zhongyi?”

Pang Xiao was startled by the question: “Your Majesty, this subject hasn’t seen Earl Zhongyi.”

“Replying to Your Majesty, this slave also hasn’t seen Earl Zhongyi.” Xiong Jinshui and Pang Xiao spoke in unison.

Li Qitian frowned.

Ma Cheng immediately said: “Could it be that… Earl Zhongyi and his wife didn’t escape?”

Now Ma Cheng was panicked. He immediately led people charging toward Lu Heng’s tent.

However, the tent had already burned to ash, and they couldn’t see any human remains inside. Nor could they spot Earl Zhongyi and his family anywhere in the crowd.

Ma Cheng’s face immediately darkened, and he reported this matter to Li Qitian.

Li Qitian’s anger flared, and he said in a low voice: “Go check if Earl Zhongyi’s horses and carriages are still there!”

Ma Cheng followed orders, and soon discovered that Earl Zhongyi’s carriage was still there, but the horses that pulled it were gone. Moreover, Earl Zhongyi’s entourage and family members were all no longer at the location.

Li Qitian ground his teeth and laughed coldly: “What a Lu Heng!”