The pillow didn’t hurt when hitting someone. Xie Wei caught it and put it back for her. Standing to one side, he raised his finger to press against his lips, laughing lowly in a muffled way.

This time Jiang Xuening finally didn’t dare dawdle anymore.

Gritting her teeth resentfully, she got up and hurried behind the screen to bathe. However, sitting in the bathtub filled with water, even though she clearly knew Xie Wei’s words just now were mostly in jest, she simply couldn’t forget them—they kept echoing in her head. For a time she felt even the cloth draped on the edge of the bathtub was filthy. Not only did this bath fail to wash her clean, it instead washed a heap of chaotic thoughts into her head.

After Xie Wei finished speaking those shocking and world-defying words, he was calm and unperturbed, composed and self-possessed. He even sat at the table under the window playing with a plain zither he had found a few days ago.

The zither was not a fine one.

But in this situation, having a zither at all was already the Celestial Teaching followers below being extremely perceptive in their flattery.

That night the two tossed and turned until the middle of the night before sleeping.

The next morning, Jiang Xuening stayed in bed as usual, continuing to sleep.

Xie Wei went out as usual to discuss matters with Wan Xiuzi and the others.

At the front lines, victories came one after another. For the Celestial Teaching, this was truly a great boost to their prestige and power. The followers in the branch altar were even more high-spirited in appearance. After all, as long as this prosperous south had been taken down, looking ahead it was merely a matter of advancing northward. That bunch of wine-sacks and rice-bags in the court, occupying positions without doing work—they had already been beaten into utter defeat before, throwing away helmets and armor, truly “unable to withstand a single blow.” In the future, even if they were stronger, they probably wouldn’t be much better.

Looking at it this way, directly taking the capital was no difficult matter.

By that time it would be the Celestial Teaching’s world, and they would be the masters of the new dynasty!

When the several branch altar masters spoke, their faces were literally glowing red. Though they remained polite toward Xie Wei, ultimately he could only be considered half a prisoner, and credit belonged to those at the front lines winning consecutive victories.

Who would admit this credit belonged more to Xie Wei?

Wasn’t it just drawing a deployment map?

When all was said and done, battles could be won—at root it was because the Celestial Teaching had countless followers, organized into an army with astonishing morale. Xie Wei’s little tricks were merely “icing on the cake”—good to have, but not so critical if absent.

Therefore, during discussions at the gathering, these people slapped their chests with palms like cattail-leaf fans, making them ring loudly. Between their brows and eyes they showed an air of looking down upon the world, only saying: “Sect Leader, rest assured! Since occupying Jiangsu and Zhejiang provinces, several tens of thousands more have come to join our army. Now wherever our Teaching’s banner goes, the people’s hearts follow. The court crumbles at the mere sight of us. Their momentum is exhausted, their fate is finished. In the future, Sect Leader will be the new master of all under heaven!”

Hearing this, Wan Xiuzi was naturally beside himself with joy.

Though he knew these words contained quite a bit of flattery, it was indeed true that tens of thousands had joined the army. It was also true that the court, having suffered defeats, had scattered morale. And who under heaven didn’t love hearing flattering words?

Xie Wei stood to one side with his hands in his sleeves. Hearing this, he made not the slightest comment.

When Heaven wishes to destroy someone, it first makes them arrogant.

Tens of thousands joining the army—so what? Fighting wars wasn’t as simple as eating. What ordinary commoners with proper livelihoods would willingly risk losing their heads to actively join the army? Most of these were probably refugees and mountain bandits, each with their own habits. If there were people to restrain them, they could gradually be organized for battle. But if there was no one to restrain them, or restraint was improper, Heaven knew what they would develop into.

However, since this group didn’t ask, he naturally wouldn’t take the initiative to mention it.

Since there was a pit ahead, just watching them jump down into it—why not take pleasure in that?

Last night he had already laid out his entire plan to Jiang Xuening. The progress over the next half month also almost completely matched his predictions.

After arriving at the Xuchang branch altar, more good news came from the front lines—

The Celestial Teaching army had taken down another city. This time there weren’t even significant casualties. Halfway through the battle, the defending soldiers couldn’t withstand the tide-like attacks and finally opened the city gates to surrender.

This battle boosted morale even more than the previous one.

The court had actively opened the city gates to surrender—what did this mean?

It meant the Celestial Teaching’s prestige had reached the level of making enemies submit without fighting. Completely crushing the court was merely a matter of sooner or later.

Because this battle consumed little, after only a brief rest without even catching their breath fully, they advanced forward again in a forced march to attack the next city.

Who could have anticipated such tactics?

That prefecture had no preparation whatsoever and received not half a hint of warning in advance. By the time people came knocking on their door, their hasty reaction was already too late. Prefecture officials were all arrested, paraded through the streets for public display, pushed onto the execution platform, and had their heads chopped off before the watching eyes of the city’s common people.

Therefore, they stayed in Xuchang for over ten days before moving to Nanyang. But after arriving in Nanyang, before even two days had passed, more good news came.

Upon hearing the news, the entire branch altar boiled over with excitement!

Even Wan Xiuzi couldn’t hold back. His face glowing red, he laughed endlessly, repeatedly praising how well they had done. Since the front lines had won again, rather than staying long in Nanyang, he directly set out for Runing Prefecture.

Having already learned Xie Wei’s entire plan, Jiang Xuening naturally couldn’t help but be nervous for him along the way, fearing Wan Xiuzi would choose to act before Xie Wei did.

Fortunately, Wan Xiuzi showed no movement all along.

However, upon hearing they were about to go to Runing Prefecture, her heart truly hung high in suspense—because Runing was precisely the place Xie Wei had already chosen to act. Victory or defeat hinged on this one move!

In the blink of an eye it was already the third month in Jiangnan. The season was renewed, willows swayed gracefully.

That afternoon, everyone set out for Runing.

Jiang Xuening and Xie Wei traveled in the same carriage.

Before and behind the carriage were all Celestial Teaching followers. Even the driver handling the carriage was a skilled hand from within the Teaching. The two didn’t dare brazenly say anything.

Xie Wei had taken a volume of musical scores to read.

Seeing him so able to maintain composure—even at this point still able to calmly read scores—Jiang Xuening couldn’t help but admire him: “You really can still read that.”

Xie Wei’s fingers lightly rested on the yellowed edges of the book. He raised his eyes to glance at her, smiled gently, and only said: “When great matters are at hand, one must have calm energy. You are quite restless.”

Jiang Xuening rolled her eyes.

Xie Wei knew this was her true nature inside. But even seeing her roll her eyes, he felt there was a kind of petulant charm to it, carrying an authenticity without pretense or affectation. His heart couldn’t help but feel tender. Not wanting to restrain himself, he reached out to pull her over to sit on his lap. Holding her slender waist that couldn’t fill one grasp, he kissed her densely.

In her previous life, Jiang Xuening wouldn’t have dared imagine she could be so intimate with Xie Wei—hugging and embracing as if it were ordinary. At the very beginning she naturally couldn’t avoid feeling strange and resistant. But unable to avoid it and not good to avoid it, after over a month, she gradually lost that initial wariness and discomfort, beginning to become accustomed to it.

It was like drinking wine.

The first few sips were harsh and unaccustomed, but after three or five cups down the belly, it would flush the face and go to the head. Dizzy and hazy, drifting and floating, not knowing what was what—one could even find from this intoxicated state a kind of pleasure where all worldly matters were excluded, and heaven and earth contained only the two of them.

Her sandalwood mouth was small, her tongue tip soft. Being held and teased by him, she couldn’t help but flush red.

After all, right now it was still daytime.

In the past it was always at night—no matter what, there was a layer of darkness as cover. But now you could see me clearly, and I could see you clearly. Moreover, the carriage curtain would occasionally be lifted by the wind at one corner, letting people see the running horse hooves outside and the hanging hems of the followers’ garments.

Even though Jiang Xuening had thick skin, she didn’t dare be wanton in such circumstances.

Seeing Xie Wei gradually showing signs of going too far, she couldn’t help but glare.

He suddenly laughed aloud, yielding to her. He slowly lowered his hands, only holding her in his embrace, back leaning against the carriage’s rear wall. His gaze turned instead toward the curtain that lifted at one corner from time to time. Yet deep in his pupils, he wasn’t as relaxed as he appeared.

Runing Prefecture was gradually approaching.

The sky was also gradually darkening.

Jiang Xuening lightly knitted her moth-like brows, wiping the lip rouge that had smudged at the corner of her mouth. She only thought that Xie Ju’an used to feel embarrassed doing such things earlier on and could pretend quite well—it was difficult for people to see through him. Now he was thoroughly familiar with the routine, treating it as ordinary as eating and drinking.

She secretly grumbled to herself, not really paying attention to Xie Wei.

After a moment she raised her eyes, only to see him lowering his head to untie the hidden blade at his wrist.

Ever since that night in Luoyang when he had killed people, this thin blade had been hidden away by Xie Wei and never again appeared before others. That day after using this knife to kill, he had added another deeper cut to the wound. When the Celestial Teaching collected the corpses, they weren’t investigating a case after all—they couldn’t easily see the difference in the wounds, only thinking they were all killed by the blade he had seized. Naturally they never suspected, so from beginning to end they didn’t know he still had such a blade on him!

Now seeing him untie the blade, Jiang Xuening’s eyelids jumped.

However, after Xie Wei removed the blade, he actually told her to extend her hand.

She didn’t understand.

But Xie Wei, pressing his lips together and lowering his eyelids, only pulled her wrist over and carefully and meticulously bound that thin blade to her wrist, saying: “When the time comes, the situation is unknown. If there’s chaos, I may not be able to look after everything comprehensively. After several years, if something unexpected happens in the secret chamber…”

A shadow covered the depths of his eyes.

He didn’t continue speaking.

Jiang Xuening suddenly felt somewhat dazed. Looking at him, then slowly lowering her head to look at the blade at her wrist, she slowly raised her hand to press on it. Yet like talking in her sleep, she asked: “Why give me a blade?”

Xie Wei felt her expression was somewhat strange.

So he answered first: “Having a weapon on your person is better than empty hands. In case of anything, it can be used for self-defense. Though you may not necessarily know how to use it, carrying it is better than not carrying it.”

Then he asked: “What’s wrong?”

In this moment, Jiang Xuening’s vision became blurred, tears falling pitter-patter.

In the previous life, Xie Wei had also had someone send a dagger.

It lay quietly on a lacquered tray.

The eunuch who came didn’t dare say a word more, only saying it was chosen and sent by Grand Tutor Xie for her. At that time, in the court and countryside, because Yan Lin frequently entered and exited her palace quarters, everyone censured her for being immoral, a femme fatale, endlessly harmful, saying she should be buried to accompany the late Emperor…

But what could she do?

Yan Lin bullied her, and she had no power to resist. Thinking it over, she finally managed to bribe a young eunuch at Qianqing Palace to let her in, as if grasping a life-saving straw, wanting to beg him for protection.

Even willing to debase herself, offering to warm his bed.

However, the very next morning she heard that little eunuch had been punished.

At dusk, someone sent the dagger.

Complete with sheath, inlaid with gemstones, quite exquisite. However, the setting sun was like blood, covering the cold blade tip—truly chilling to the bone.

Later when she used the dagger to kill herself as a burial companion, he and Yan Lin both stood outside the palace gate…

Seeing her cry, Xie Wei inevitably felt somewhat at a loss. He raised his hand to wipe away her tears.

But the tears seemed endless.

After quite a while she finally recovered. Burying her face in the crook of her arm, closing her eyes tightly, her voice hoarse, she slowly said: “I’m fine.”

Outside, the sunlight had slanted. The carriage wheels rumbled. Runing Prefecture had finally arrived.