The sealed Huangji Palace had finally been opened — and the first to step inside was Shizi Lanxi.

Feng Wang lay quietly upon the royal bed. Those ink-black eyes had lost the sharp, brilliant gleam they once held; they stared somewhat dimly at the imperial yellow dragon canopy above the bed, the dragon’s body weaving in and out of swirling clouds, its head raised toward the nine heavens.

“Great King, Shizi has arrived.” The soft voice of an inner attendant reached his ears.

He turned his head. Lanxi was already standing at the bedside, his expression as placidly unfathomable as still, deep water, his face carrying that seemingly permanent, refined and elegant faint smile.

“All of you, withdraw.” Feng Wang instructed.

“Yes.” Every inner attendant and palace attendant quietly retreated.

“This son wonders what Father Wang has summoned me for?” Lanxi gave a slight bow.

“Sit down.” Feng Wang raised his hand.

“Many thanks, Father Wang.” Lanxi took a seat on the brocade stool at the bedside.

Feng Wang looked at Lanxi — quietly, steadily regarding this most clever and most formidable of all his sons and daughters.

“Are you satisfied now?” Feng Wang finally spoke.

“Satisfied?” Lanxi seemed somewhat puzzled, lifting his eyes to look at Feng Wang. “This son wonders what Father Wang is referring to?”

Feng Wang curled his lips with some effort into a smile. The wrinkles on his face had turned a pallid white. “There is no need to perform for me. Even if you could deceive all under heaven, you cannot deceive me. Do not forget — you are my son. No one knows a son better than his father.”

Hearing this, Lanxi smiled as well — a smile as light and unhurried as drifting cloud and mist. “Father Wang has too many sons. It is not necessarily possible to understand each one so clearly.”

Faced with these words that carried a faint note of disrespect, Feng Wang remained composed, looking at those eyes so remarkably like his own — so black, so deep. “Do you truly hate me so much? Does doing all this dissolve your hatred and lighten your resentment?”

“Hatred? Resentment?” Lanxi seemed puzzled and somewhat amused as he asked in return. “Father Wang, this son is kept busy enough showing you filial devotion — where would there be any room for hatred or resentment? Besides… as you know, the thing this son does best is making his own life comfortable and at ease. Why would I seek out my own troubles?”

Yet Feng Wang only fixed him with a steady gaze, as though trying to see through to the depths of his heart. After a long while, he shifted his eyes to look at the flying dragon embroidered on the canopy above, and said softly, as though sighing: “All these years… was it not that you… was it not that you wanted to avenge your mother?”

“Avenge Mother?” Lanxi, listening, seemed even more puzzled. His dark eyes looked at his father, carrying a trace of mockery — faint, but clear enough to be read. “Was it not that Mother was stabbed to death by an assassin in the Huangji Palace while trying to save you? And that assassin was long ago put to death by you with a thousand cuts. That vengeance was settled long ago!”

Feng Wang suddenly closed his eyes. It seemed as though he was recalling something — or perhaps avoiding something he could neither bear to see nor bring himself to see. After a moment, his voice, slightly hoarse, began: “I had thought you did not know. After all, you were only four years old at the time. Yet at four years old, you dared push your younger brother down a hundred steps of stairs. At that moment I began to suspect — could it be that you had somehow learned the truth? But you were a child of extraordinary intelligence, and I truly… could not bear to let you go. I thought, you were still so small — in time, perhaps you would forget. Besides, your fourth younger brother had been crippled by what you did, so perhaps your hatred might diminish as well. Only I never imagined that twenty-two years would pass and you would never once have forgotten. It seems you have been carrying this all along…”

He stopped abruptly at this point. His eyes shut tight. The hand hanging at the bedside clenched involuntarily, tendons rising against pale skin. “You… that day at the Xifeng Terrace, Ren Chuanyun’s shout blocked Feng Wang from saving me. You… could it be that you hated me so deeply? That you wanted to watch me die at an assassin’s hand with your own eyes? As for those princes — though they harbored treacherous intentions, with your ability, you could have kept them in check after ascending to the throne. The matter at the Xifeng Terrace need not have occurred at all. Yet you… by using their treacherous intentions, you swept all of them into it… Were you truly determined to eliminate every one of your kinspeople?”

By the end of these words his voice had gone so hoarse it was barely speech. His breathing was disjointed and rapid. His eyes suddenly flew open — the light in them blazing like the lingering glow of a scorching sun — and he looked at the person before him: this son of whom he was both immensely proud and perpetually wary and guarded against. “Those pieces of evidence — I know you have a great pile of them in your hands. If I had not dealt with them, if I had ordered your royal uncle to suppress this matter — you would have made it all public, is that right? If I had not acted, you would have let the outrage of all under heaven be the instrument of their deaths? Do you truly refuse to spare even one kinsperson? Is it truly that only you alone may reign supreme?”

He raised his hand, spread his fingers slightly — then let it fall back onto his chest, as though grasping at something, as though soothing something. “Back then… back then, my eighth brother said I was vicious of heart and ruthless of hand. But you… you far surpass even that. I… at least I never pursued anyone to the last, at least I always left some room. But you… if you insist on this course, even if you win all under heaven, you will be nothing but a solitary king with no one at your side!”

Having spoken so much in one breath, Feng Wang was already gasping. His eyes fixed tightly on Lanxi — an expression that seemed at once sorrowful and furious, wounded and pained.

Yet regardless of how cutting Feng Wang’s words were or how intense his emotions, Lanxi simply listened with tranquil composure, lowering his gaze to his own hands, his palm pressing tightly as though gripping something.

The room was still and quiet. There was only the sound of Feng Wang’s breathing.

“Has Father Wang summoned this son today simply to rebuke me?” After a long silence, Lanxi’s unhurried voice finally sounded. Looking at Feng Wang’s pale and exhausted face, he felt not the slightest stir within him — toward his own father, he could not summon even a thread of feeling, not even a shred of hatred. Yet somehow he felt nothing at all — as though facing a stranger. Was this or was this not one of the sorrows of this world?

“I have not long to live. This Fengguo will soon be placed in your hands. I hope you will stop here.” Feng Wang stilled his emotions, closed his eyes with a trace of weariness. His pale face held not a trace of color. “They are, after all, your blood kin.”

“Heh heh… blood kin… heh heh… yet I have never once felt that I had kinspeople!” Lanxi suddenly let out a soft laugh. He raised his head slightly, his bearing elegant and composed, yet in those dark eyes there was not a trace of laughter — only the cold clarity of a mountain peak locked in snow for a thousand years, silently freezing everything it touched. “All I know is that from the time I was small, there were many people who wanted my life. They were all around me. All of them — the very people called my kinspeople!”

At these words, Feng Wang suddenly opened his eyes. He looked at Lanxi and let out a soft sigh — but said nothing.

“Yet there is one point in which Father Wang has misjudged me. I have never hated anyone.” Lanxi looked at Feng Wang and gave a slight shake of his head. His expression carried a faint trace of what seemed like regret — whether regret over this mistaken assessment, or regret that he himself was incapable of hating anyone, was unclear. “At five years old I had already thought through this question. What difference does a father make? What difference do brothers make? In this world… no one has any obligation to treat you well. To treat you poorly is the natural order of things — after all, people are fundamentally self-serving. And so… those people, those matters — I saw through them long ago. I grew accustomed to it long ago…”

The tone was so unhurried, so devoid of even a thread of feeling, the voice as smooth and untroubled as a gently flowing current — flowing by without leaving a mark. He lowered his head, spread open his palm, and revealed a jade hairpin broken in two at the middle. The vivid green surface of the pin and the slender tip were both smeared with something dark — that was… dried blood, dried for a very, very long time.

“Father Wang should recognize this hairpin. As you know, this son has had a good memory from an early age — whatever passes before my eyes is never forgotten. This jade hairpin was not Mother’s possession, yet it was hidden within her hair.” Lanxi lifted the broken hairpin and brought it close to Feng Wang, as though to let him look clearly — or perhaps to let him catch the scent of the dried blood on the pin. “After Mother died, this son dreamed of her many times. She always held a bloodstained jade hairpin in her hand, looking at this son with eyes that wept blood tears… in such agony and sorrow… this son could find no rest, day or night.” As he spoke, he suddenly raised his head and fixed his gaze on Feng Wang’s eyes, curling his lips in a faint smile — thin and cold, those dark pupils as ice without warmth. “As you know — those who have a guilty conscience need only the slightest probing, and they will nervously reveal themselves.”

With that, he withdrew the jade hairpin, looking at its slender tip, his fingertip lightly touching the dark brownish dried blood on it — as though trying to wipe it away, yet also as though touching it with infinite tenderness and care. “This blood is Mother’s, is it not? Since Mother is not willing to rest in peace, as her son, I naturally owe her a measure of filial devotion. And so… this Fengguo — what does blood kinship matter? All these people have not only been strangers to me, they have been enemies seeking my life. What then is wrong with what I have done? Everything I have done, all of it, is nothing more than a small act of filial piety toward Mother — the only thread of familial warmth I ever possessed, in all this world, before I turned four — as well as… taking hold of what I want.”

Still those words came out gently, unhurriedly, with elegance, carrying not the slightest agitation and not a trace of indignation. He raised his eyes and looked at Feng Wang with a smile that was not quite a smile. “And so Father Wang need not think this son is acting out of any hatred or resentment — in this son’s eyes, such things are simply laughable. There is nothing in this world that can sway this son. What this son wishes to do, I do. What this son wishes to have, I take.”

Feng Wang quietly looked at his son sitting upright before the bedside — that bearing, that manner, that placid composure, those… heartless words. How much he resembled his former self.

“As for Father Wang believing this son has gone too far… what then of what your esteemed Queen Baili — and those filial and clever ‘princes’ of yours — have done to this son over all these years? Were those things not too far? Were those things not ruthless and venomous?” Lanxi continued, lowering his gaze to the jade hairpin in his hand, his fingertip lightly flicking its tip — yet it seemed to flick against Feng Wang’s very heart. “Father Wang — if this son had been even the slightest bit less clever, all these years, not even a hundred lives would have been enough!”

He raised his head to look at Feng Wang — who wore an expression that seemed either blank or without words to offer — and smiled with elegant composure. He leaned forward slightly, those ink-jade-like eyes fixed on Feng Wang without a ripple or a flicker of feeling, their gaze as cold as ice. “If you would say this son is ruthless and heartless — then what of you, Father Wang? Setting aside what happened back then — even in these years since, have you not known perfectly well what your queen has been doing? And in all that time, have you ever once intervened? Have you ever once reached out your hand to help this son?”

He shifted back slightly, settled with proper composure on the brocade stool, his smile growing ever fainter, his voice ever softer. Yet his expression remained free of hatred and resentment. His fingertip continued to trace the blood on the hairpin tip — as though trying to wipe away that dried blood, yet also as though touching it with infinite tenderness. “In this world there are so many heartless people — this son… heh heh… is simply one of them. This son merely wants to live well, to live properly — what wrong is there in that?”

“I have no right to lecture you. Yet…” The long-silent Feng Wang finally spoke. A trace of warmth suddenly welled in those ink-black eyes — he looked at his son with what seemed like both regret and helplessness. “This king’s entire life… all under heaven has praised him as ‘unrivaled in wisdom, capable of ordering heaven and earth.’ Yet this king has never forgotten that when he first ascended to the throne, his eighth brother once said: ‘deceitful and false-hearted, selfish and cold, ruthless and cruel.’ Though these years my eighth brother has never spoken such words again, this king knows — I have not been a good man. My entire life I have lived only for myself. Power, rank, fame, gain — on the surface it all appeared supremely glorious and magnificent. Yet… it is only at this moment that I realize how wretched a life I have lived. Xi’er — among all my sons and daughters, you are the most clever, and also the most like me. I do not wish for you to end up as I have — living to the very last and not knowing what you gained or what you held onto in your entire life…”

Feng Wang raised his hands and looked at them, fingers spread apart — nothing but a layer of pale skin over sparse, bony frame. These hands could not hold anything.

“My whole life… I possessed many beautiful women, and more than twenty sons and daughters. Yet I never placed them in my heart. I gave them noble standing, gave them boundless wealth and splendor — but never gave them my true heart. One who never treats others with genuine feeling — how could they ever receive genuine feeling in return? Xi’er — do you truly wish to walk my same path? Do you truly wish to leave this world empty-handed as I did?” Feng Wang shifted his gaze to Lanxi. In those eyes was something that could only be called tenderness and care. “Xi’er, to push others to the absolute extreme is to push yourself to the absolute extreme. Leave a little room. This is perhaps the one and only thing Father Wang is able to leave you — a word of counsel.”

“Heh heh… Father Wang, only now do you think to be a father?” Lanxi smiled lightly and softly, his dark eyes looking at his father with calm — looking at those dark eyes that mirrored his own. He finally reached out and gently closed his hand around those fingers, so thin only bone remained. “Rest assured. From this point forward, those clever sons of yours should also know to restrain themselves — and so they will be able to live to old age in peace. As you know, this son is fastidious in his habits and dislikes dirtying his own hands.”

“Xi’er, do you truly not hate Father Wang?” Feng Wang persisted in asking this one question.

Lanxi’s brow gave a faint lift. Why had this father of his — renowned for his wisdom — come to such a state today? Sentiment, remorse, worry… because of age and death? He gave a slight shake of his head. “This son truly has never hated you — nor anyone in Fengguo.”

“Without love, there is no hatred?” Feng Wang suddenly smiled — a smile of some desolation and emptiness. “All right, all right. You may go.”

“This son takes his leave of Father Wang.” Lanxi rose and offered a respectful bow — this would perhaps be the last such bow of his life.

“Mm.” Feng Wang gave a faint nod, his gaze carrying a trace of something like longing as he watched Lanxi turn and walk away.

Lanxi reached the doorway, then suddenly stopped. He turned to look at Feng Wang. “Father Wang, this son will not be like you. You went through your entire life without knowing what you truly wanted, and in the end could not hold onto anything. But this son knows exactly what he wants.” Those waveless dark eyes flared with a luminous brilliance in that instant. “This son wants to place this realm of ten thousand li beneath his feet — and the one who will walk alongside me through a hundred lifetimes of vicissitude, hand in hand through mountain of blades and sea of swords! Both of these, this son will seize.”

With that, he pushed open the door. A shaft of sunlight pierced through the bead curtain as it swayed.

“Are you so certain she will walk with you through a hundred lifetimes of vicissitude, walk with you through mountain of blades and sea of swords?” Feng Wang’s extremely faint and quiet voice suddenly came from behind him. “Can two rulers truly walk in step?”

The foot he had raised paused involuntarily. After a brief moment, he turned back, his face wreathed in warm smiles. “Father Wang, this son nearly forgot to tell you — that Queen Baili of yours… if you truly have any care for her… then best not let this son see her again. Mother… she still comes to visit this son from time to time.”

That smile as warm as spring wind, that refined and elegant bearing, that gentle tone… none of it could conceal the bone-chilling coldness in those dark eyes. Even Feng Wang, upon seeing it, could not help but feel a jolt through his very spirit.

He parted the bead curtain and stepped through the door. The stifling, heavy air rushed against his face. He brushed his sleeves lightly, as though brushing away the smell of medicine that had clung to him in that room. He raised his head. The blazing sun hung high overhead, its golden brilliance dazzling to the eyes.

“This Huangji Palace truly ought to be buried.” That murmur seemed as though spoken to someone within the wind. He spread open his hand, glanced at the broken jade hairpin in his palm — then with a flick of his wrist, sent it flying into the high roof beams of the Huangji Palace. It buried itself in the wooden beam, only a green speck visible. “Mother — farewell.”

In the fifth month of the eighteenth year of the Ren reign, Feng Wang passed away, and Shizi Lanxi ascended to the throne in the Zhaoming Hall.

In the middle of the fifth month of that same year, Huangguo’s king abdicated, and Shizi Huang Chao ascended to the throne.

At the same time, the Bai and Nan kingdoms launched renewed warfare against the Wangyu territories — and within no more than half a month, each had taken one city.

At the beginning of the sixth month, Huang Chao invoked the Xuanzun Order to summon all heroes under heaven: root out the decayed dynasty, end the age of chaos — cleanse all under heaven, build meritorious deeds!

These words, once spoken, drew a response from all those who had long since lost every last shred of faith in the Dong Chao Empire — those who wished to carve out accomplishments, those who wished to leave their name in history. They all flocked to his banner.

On the seventh day of the sixth month, Huang Chao issued a proclamation: Since the day I set my resolve, along a long and winding path, I have been fortunate to receive the wholehearted guidance and assistance of Young Master Yu Wuyuan, and it is only because of this that I stand where I stand today. I had intended to appoint him as Grand Chancellor, but his aspirations do not lie in high office — his heart belongs to the mountains and flowing waters. Today I appoint him as Royal Mentor. Let all citizens of Huangguo honor him.

With this proclamation issued, those who had remained somewhat hesitant now made up their minds entirely. If the Young Master Yu — who holds the world in his heart, who possesses the bearing of a Tianren — is willing to support Huang Wang, then what is there left for the rest of us to fear or doubt? And those who had in the past received his kindness, those who had wholeheartedly admired and followed Yu Wuyuan — all of them now pledged themselves under Huang Chao’s banner. In no time at all, an uncountable number of people from all nations and all regions came flooding toward Huangguo.

After Huang Chao issued this proclamation, Hua Wang of Huaguo also issued a declaration to all under heaven, forming an alliance with Huangguo — the two nations becoming one, jointly opening up a new and unblemished world.

At the same time, Fengguo’s new king, Lanxi, and Fengguo Queen Xiyun entered into a binding alliance in Fengguo’s capital, vowing the two nations to be as one, to advance and retreat together. They jointly issued a royal proclamation summoning all heroes under heaven: strike down traitorous ministers and rebellious villains, comfort all living people under the skies, and restore a clear and righteous world to all under heaven!

This proclamation drew a response from those who remained loyal to the Dong Chao Empire and felt contempt for Huang Wang and Hua Wang’s open act of betrayal, those who felt deep hatred toward the Bai and Nan kingdoms for repeatedly launching wars and repeatedly violating the imperial dignity — especially the common people of the Wangyu territories who had suffered most grievously from the ravages of war — as well as those people of learning and vision who wished to end this age of chaos and restore peace, and those men of aspiration who had turned over again and again the words “restore a clear and righteous world to all under heaven” and found meaning therein.

Though the Baifeng and Hei Fengguo kingdoms lacked the support of Tianren — the number one young master under heaven — the rumor that “Baifeng and Heixi” were none other than Feng Wang and Xi Wang spread ever more widely. The renown of the name “Baifeng Heixi” was in no way lesser than that of Yu Wuyuan. And beyond this, owing to Lanxi’s deliberate efforts in earlier years, the number of people throughout the world who had received his kindness was beyond counting — and so those who wished to repay that kindness, those who admired Bai Fengxi and those who admired Hei Fengxi alike, all made their way to the Baifeng and Hei Fengguo kingdoms.

On the eighteenth day of the sixth month, the weather was brilliantly clear — a blazing sun hung high in the sky, pouring its scorching radiance over all nine regions of the realm.

Wuyi Terrace in the imperial capital was the Huangguo ruler’s platform for conferring generalships. On this day, the king would conduct the ceremony of conferring ranks and reviewing the three armies. High atop the platform, banners rippled in the breeze, long spears stood like a forest, and not a sound was to be heard — yet from this stillness radiated a solemn and reverent atmosphere.

From the foot of the terrace to its summit stretched long, towering steps of several hundred levels. At this moment, in the distance, two figures could be seen running rapidly upward. Any veteran soldier would recognize this as the perennial “contest for position” performed every year. The experienced among those present stood bolt upright, yet every eye darted toward the foot of the terrace, and every ear was stretched to its utmost.

“You wretched woman, stop right there — there is absolutely no way I am letting you steal my position this time!” A man’s voice rang out with absolute shamelessness.

“Hmph, you stupid donkey — win against me first and then talk!” A woman’s voice shot back without the slightest courtesy.

“Wretched woman, I refuse to believe I cannot outrun you this time!” The man quickened his pace. That he could sustain such rapid speech while running at this speed was itself a testament to his formidable inner strength.

“Every single time you say the exact same thing — and every single time you lose. Useless blockhead!” The woman taunted, not slowing her pace in the slightest, always keeping exactly two steps ahead of the man.

“Wretched shrew — how dare you insult me! How dare you show insubordination! I will have Wang Brother cut you down!” The man issued his threat, pouring his full effort into chasing after the woman, yet unable at any point to surpass her.

“Who is above whom? Your brain is even more useless than an ox’s! In the ranking of ‘Wind, Frost, Snow, Rain’ you are ranked last — this lady ranks two places above you!” While basking in her triumph, the woman could not resist turning her head to stick out her tongue and make faces at the man behind her.

“Stop right there!” The man seized upon the instant she turned her head and shot his hand out to grab her left arm.

“Hmph — can you even catch me?” The woman twisted her wrist and slipped free of his grip like a darting serpent.

“Did I not just catch you?” Though the man’s right hand had failed to seize the woman, his left hand shot out and grabbed a fistful of her long hair.

“You despicable scoundrel, let go of me at once!” The woman felt a sharp pain at her scalp and immediately raised her left foot to kick at the man’s left wrist.

“Today this young master will claim the first position ‘Wind.’ After finally catching you, how could I let you off so easily?” The man retracted his left hand to dodge the kick and with his right seized a firm grip on the woman’s right arm.

“You want to claim the ‘Wind’ position? Keep dreaming. Wang said there will forever be only one Liefeng General in all of Huangguo. Be a good boy and stay in your last-place Leiyu General position!” Though her right arm was seized, the woman spun her body, extended her left hand, and seized the man by his collar. The two were now locked together — unable to advance, unable to retreat.

Behind them, a figure in pale blue came along at an unhurried, composed pace.

“Let go immediately, wretched woman! If you don’t let go, Snow Bodhisattva is going to catch up to us!”

“Rest easy — the other person is nothing like you — petty and useless, clinging to hollow prestige.”

“Wretched woman, what hollow prestige — this is genuine prestige! In every respect I am above you, so how can I allow a little woman to stand over my head? Today this young master will either take the Wind position or demand that the ranking be reordered as ‘Rain, Snow, Frost’!” The man continued moving forward step by step while simultaneously keeping the woman pinned so she could not move.

Yet the woman was clearly not one to be easily subdued. Her left foot hooked out and caught the man’s advancing foot, pulling it back. At the same moment her right foot shot forward a quick step. “You big blockhead — how do you like that? Dare you look down on women? You’ve lost another step!”

“Women ought to stay home, raise children, cook meals, and tend to their husbands, and they ought to be delicate, beautiful, gentle, and virtuous. Where has there ever been one like you — not only looking like a man, but actually coming to compete for position against men?” Seeing her advance another step, the man gave a hard yank — using brute force to drag her back one step.

“Hmph! ‘Woman’ this, ‘woman’ that — what is wrong with being a woman? This woman right here is far better than you, you wretched man!” The woman raised her left palm, forming a left hook punch aimed directly at the man’s chin.

“Hmph! What does that small, mediocre ability of yours amount to? Do you think your second-place ranking is truly deserved? Is it not simply that Wang Brother pitied you as a woman and let you have the second position!” The man twisted his body, released the woman’s right arm with his right hand, and reversed his grip, intercepting the punch.

“Hee hee… my small, mediocre ability truly amounts to nothing.” Hearing this, the woman instead broke into a light laugh. Then the fist the man held within his grip suddenly extended the little finger that protruded past his palm. A slight motion of the wrist, a neat turn of leverage, and she slipped free of his grasp. Those sharp fingernails, with what appeared to be an effortlessly light stroke — “But what about Feng Wang Xiyun? Do you dare say that woman amounts to nothing? You would have to kneel before her!”

As the words landed, the man let out a cry of pain: “You devious woman, you dared scratch my palm with your nails! I knew it — you wretched woman, you have always been jealous that my hands are better looking than yours!”

“Spare me your nonsense!” The woman gave a cold rebuke. “You look down on women, do you? I will use a woman’s unique weapon to give you a taste of what that means!”

“You vicious woman…” The man cradled his right palm, looking at the red line across it. Though not very deep, the pain was considerable. He kept blowing on his palm in relief, and meanwhile continued to loudly berate the woman. “Every time you use these underhanded, malicious tricks — even when you win, you win without honor! You are already like this — hmph, then that so-called Feng Xiyun must be even more vicious and treacherous. How else could she have such a great reputation!”

“Feng Wang — vicious and treacherous? Ha ha…” The woman laughed out loud at this, pointing at the man. “You are truly a frog at the bottom of a well! Such an unparalleled woman — one whom even Wang himself admires with nothing but praise — and you call her vicious and treacherous? Truly a man with eyes that cannot see, with the short-sighted vision of a rat. You will spend your entire life as nothing but the last-ranked Leiyu General!”

“Truly eyes that cannot see!” A voice, cold as ice, cut through the woman’s laughter, reaching the ears with clarity.

“Snow Bodhisattva, how dare you take this woman’s side?! You are a man — how dare you side with her?!” The man, hearing the voice, turned his head — and immediately burst into loud clamoring.

“Serves you right! That is what you get for calling someone else’s dream immortal vicious!” The woman smiled with cool detachment from the side.

“Dream immortal?” The man let out another strange exclamation. His gaze traveled from top to bottom over the figure before him — this person as cold as snow — and with some lingering doubt he said: “Does this ice person actually have feelings for someone?”

“The other person has far better taste than you — one glance was all it took to recognize the finest woman in all under heaven!” The woman mocked the man, then raised her head to look at the sky, seeming to sigh with boundless, wistful sorrow: “Xue Kong… Xue Kong… ah… in the end it turned out to be all an empty void after all. That person is to marry the Xi Wang of Fengguo!” With that she raised her sleeve to dab at her tears, as though overcome with desolation and grief — an expression that contrasted quite comically with her vigorous, valiant appearance in blue-green armor.

Xiao Xue Kong looked coldly at Qiu Jiushuang acting out this sorrowful display before him, yet said nothing. The snowy light in his eyes was sharp as needles, shooting out to prick the skin, and those pupils carried a faint tinge of blue.

“Ha ha… the snow person is actually angry!” The man at the side watched this and burst into exaggerated applause and laughter.

He appeared to be around twenty-three years of age, dressed in a golden-yellow suit of armor, his hair bound with a golden crown. His brows were sword-like, his nose proud, his complexion a rich bronze, and his build tall and powerfully striking. His only distinguishing feature was a pair of extraordinarily large eyes — when those eyes moved, their crystalline brilliance overflowed with a kind of soul-stirring appeal. Such eyes were colloquially called “peach-blossom eyes.” This person was none other than Huangguo’s Fourth Prince, Leiyu General Huang Yu.

Xiao Xue Kong’s eyes shifted and fixed steadily on Huang Yu. That gaze was like a snow sword, cutting through to him in an instant.

“Cough, cough… cough, cough…” Huang Yu was caught entirely off guard by that snow-eyed gaze. His heart gave a sudden leap. A breath caught in his throat, causing him to cough with considerable discomfort. “You… you do not have to startle me like that, all right? This… this young master is delicate in constitution and weak in health… cough… cough… if you startle me into falling ill, you will not be able to bear the responsibility!”

“Two lunatics!” After a brief moment, Xiao Xue Kong coolly dropped these words, then stepped forward and walked toward the Wuyi Terrace.

“What?! You dare call me a lunatic!”

Qiu Jiushuang and Huang Yu called out simultaneously, then simultaneously stepped forward in pursuit of Xiao Xue Kong, left and right, each reaching an arm toward him. Yet before their hands could touch that pale blue robe, a chill descended from the air above, and snowy light like rain swept in from all directions!

“Ah!” The two cried out at the same moment, then simultaneously threw themselves backward with all their strength. In midair, a flip and another backward leap of a full zhang — just barely evading that sweep of snowy light.

When the snowy light dispersed, a soft “ding” was heard — the sound of the Saosue Sword being returned to its scabbard.

“You snow person, you actually launched a surprise attack on me!” Qiu Jiushuang and Huang Yu called out again in unison, pointing at Xiao Xue Kong left and right. “You dare show insubordination!”

The two of them finished speaking, then involuntarily glanced at each other — and then both called out again: “Why are you stealing my words?!”

Xiao Xue Kong gave them each a cold look, then icily delivered one sentence: “Same reactions — you are a natural pair.”

“What?! Who is a pair with this sightless, arrogant, narcissistic, utterly incompetent man!”

“What?! Who is a pair with this coarse, vulgar, talentless, graceless, virtue-less, capability-less, supremely insufferable woman!”

The two cried out simultaneously once more.

“You… you wretched woman! You dare say this young master is sightless, arrogant, narcissistic, and utterly incompetent?! You… you wretched woman, with a mouth that venomous, you will never get married in your entire life!” Huang Yu pointed at Qiu Jiushuang and shouted, the amorous light in those large peach-blossom eyes now blazing with enough fury to incinerate every peach blossom they had ever held.

“And you are not the one who called this lady coarse, vulgar, talentless, graceless, virtue-less, capability-less, and supremely insufferable?!” Qiu Jiushuang’s face had at this moment truly acquired nine layers of frosty chill. Her gaze was as sharp as frost, light crackling from it, and her long fingers itched to transform into blades and run them through the man standing across from her. “A petty, thoroughly tight-fisted man like you will never get a wife in your entire life!”

“Hmph! Even if this young master cannot get a wife, I would never take a shrew like you!”

“Even if only you and that snow person were left in all this world, I would rather marry the snow person and freeze to death than marry a small-time wretch like you!”

The two fell into a spirited quarrel, refusing to yield to the other — while Xiao Xue Kong seemed to hear none of it. He raised his head to look at the sky. Not a single cloud — the vast blue expanse washed utterly clean.

Xiao Jian, do you have any other name? Something like Xue Kong, perhaps. Your eyes are like that stretch of blue sky above the snowfields — transparent and pure, very, very beautiful… You should not wear white like snow… you are suited for pale blue, like the color of the sky.

For a moment, as though in a trance, that vast blue sky reflected like a mirror, and within it appeared the image of that woman — long black hair drifting freely, a jade ornament at her temple like snow and like the moon, that teasing, uninhibited faint smile on her face, those star-bright eyes flowing with clear light… seeming so vivid, yet so immeasurably far away.

Snow fields and blue sky… transparent and pure… all of that would disappear now. From now on… the flames of war would burn through that blue sky, blood would stain and ruin those snow fields. Never again would any of it exist. Even that small thread of feeling from those days would vanish without a trace.

“What is this snow person spacing out about?” Huang Yu looked at Xiao Xue Kong standing there in a daze and asked.

Somewhere along the way, the two who had been quarreling had stopped.

“He is definitely thinking about that ‘snow’ something, ‘sky’ something, ‘blue’ something, ‘plain’ something again.” Qiu Jiushuang pursed her lips with indifference.

Huang Yu quietly moved to Xiao Xue Kong’s side and gave his sleeve a light tug, calling out to him in a low voice: “Snow person, what are you thinking about?”

“I am thinking about when you will marry me.” Xiao Xue Kong turned his head out of nowhere and said this.

“What?!” Huang Yu immediately jumped back a full zhang.

“Did you not once say you would marry me?” These words came out of Xiao Xue Kong’s mouth, yet his face remained as composed as frost and snow, his tone as cool as ice.

“That… well… that was… because… hmm… at that time I thought you were a woman, so… now… since you are a man, I naturally cannot marry you!” Huang Yu stumbled over his words, extending both hands as a barrier before him as though afraid Xiao Xue Kong might suddenly step closer. “Snow person — even though you are more handsome than every woman in Huangguo, almost as beautiful as that sister-in-law said to be the number-one beauty of the Dong Chao realm — I… even if only you and that wretched woman were left in all this world, I would still rather marry that wretched woman!”

“Ha ha… you pompous fool… ha ha… you finally got a taste of your own medicine!” Qiu Jiushuang stood to one side watching and burst out laughing. There was nothing in this world more satisfying than getting one over on this insufferable man. Yet no sooner had the thought crossed her mind than she called out immediately: “Even if only one man were left in this entire world, this lady still would not marry you!”

“Do you think I want to marry you?!” Huang Yu turned his head at once and glared at Qiu Jiushuang. “This is not my preferred course of action — is it not only because I have no other choice that I would resort to such a last resort?”

“Last resort?” Qiu Jiushuang’s eyes flew wide open. She stepped toward Huang Yu. “Marrying this lady would be a fortune you only earned after cultivating yourself for ten lifetimes, and you dare call it a last resort?!”

“You look at yourself — go find a mirror and have a look!” Huang Yu pointed at Qiu Jiushuang. “No figure, no beauty, no taste, no quality, no refinement, no elegance… in short, you are entirely without merit. And you still have the nerve to talk about ten lifetimes of fortune? You woman — not only are you wildly arrogant, you are also unbelievably thick-skinned!”

“Let us see who exactly has thick skin!” Qiu Jiushuang extended her hand and sent a palm strike straight at Huang Yu’s chest.

“As expected — crude and unrefined. Every time you run out of words, you start fighting!” Huang Yu dodged to the side, while retaliating with a palm of his own.

Qiu Jiushuang propelled her body upward, dodging the hit, then from midair launched both feet in a kick at Huang Yu’s shoulders. Huang Yu raised both palms, and partway through the exchange converted them from open palms to claws, shooting them directly toward Qiu Jiushuang’s feet.

Then suddenly Qiu Jiushuang retracted her feet and landed on the ground. A faint, thin cry escaped her: “Wang!”

“Wang Brother is here?”

Huang Yu hastily turned his head to look toward the foot of the long staircase. But the moment his head turned, the back of his neck went numb. His body immediately shot upward into the air. The long flight of steps began to fall away from him. In his ears rang Qiu Jiushuang’s triumphant laughter: “Go and receive Wang with full ceremonial etiquette!”

Then the pressure on the back of his neck released, and his body began to fall backward. In that instant he understood what had happened, and could not help but cry out: “Qiu Jiushuang, you wretched woman! You used a trick to ambush me!”

He squeezed his eyes shut, not daring to look at the green stone steps below. With his pressure points struck, this fall was going to be a hard one. Hmm — my poor body!

“Ah, you two are at it again.” The moment that gentle sigh rang out, Huang Yu felt what seemed like something supporting his waist, and then his body made a turn. Both feet found solid ground. When he opened his eyes, a person in a white robe like snow was standing before him.

“Wuyuan! Wuyuan! I knew you were the best person in all the world! You must have known I was afraid of pain, which is why you flew down from the ninth heaven to save me — is that not right? Wuyuan, Wuyuan, why were you not born a woman?!” Huang Yu extended his long arms and wrapped them around Yu Wuyuan in one swift embrace, his face wearing an expression of profound regret, those large peach-blossom eyes squeezing out two exaggerated teardrops with dramatic flair.

“Huang Yu.” Yu Wuyuan only called his name softly — and without any discernible movement, his body slipped free from within Huang Yu’s iron-grip embrace.

“Mm.” Huang Yu gave a great emphatic nod, those large eyes blinking not once as they looked steadily at Yu Wuyuan. “Wuyuan, what do you want to say to me?”

Yu Wuyuan shook his head, then raised a finger and pointed at what lay behind him.

Huang Yu turned to look — and immediately froze, jaw dropping, his face turning white in an instant. “Wang… Wang… Wang Brother!”

Down below, upon the long flight of stairs, the ceremonial procession was making its way up — royal canopies, inner attendants, and palace maids extending in a winding line.

“He… he… how did he get here so fast? I… I…” Huang Yu watched the procession drawing ever closer, the purple figure at its center growing ever more distinct amid the attendants surrounding it. For a moment he stood rooted to the spot, utterly incapable of moving.

“Are you not going to take your position quickly?” Yu Wuyuan could not quite suppress a faint note of amusement, yet at the same time gave an almost helpless pat to Huang Yu’s shoulder — snapping awake this prince who was incomparably proud before all others, yet the moment he found himself before his royal brother Huang Chao, became clumsy of tongue and hand, entirely without confidence.

“Yes… yes! I need to… I need to…” Huang Yu quickly turned around, only to find that ahead on the steps there was no trace whatsoever of either Qiu Jiushuang or Xiao Xue Kong. “These two characters — so much for comrades in arms!” With these words on his lips, his feet broke into a rapid sprint.