Fu Xuanmiao’s composed and unruffled demeanor gave Li Wu a sense of foreboding.
“What have you done to His Majesty?” Li Wu asked, his expression grim.
“Does it matter?”
“He is the Emperor of Great Yan — and more than that, he is my wife’s elder brother!” Li Wu said. “Are you saying this isn’t import—”
“She is my wife.” Fu Xuanmiao cut him off, correcting him.
“You seize people’s lives, you seize people’s power, and now you want to seize another man’s wife too?” Li Wu spat out the straw he had been chewing and fixed his gaze on that calm face behind the curtain of rain. “Fu Xuanmiao — have you no shame whatsoever?”
“…She was my wife to begin with.” Fu Xuanmiao looked at him coldly. “It was His Majesty himself, by imperial decree, who appointed me as the Prince Consort of the Princess of Yue. You are the shameless one — taking advantage of the Princess’s misfortune to break the imperially bestowed engagement and steal away the woman meant for another.”
“Didn’t you receive the Bai Family’s letter of annulment?” Li Wu shouted. “Who do you think you are? The Bai Family never recognized you!”
Bai Rongling, who had been keeping his head down and playing dead, suddenly found himself dragged into a conversation that was shooting sparks in every direction. His heart gave a violent lurch, and he dared not lift his head — he even drew his shoulders in tight, letting the rainwater pour through the gaps in his helmet and paste his eyelashes together until he could barely open his eyes. He looked exactly like a soaked quail caught in a downpour, paralyzed with fright.
Fu Xuanmiao’s expression darkened ever so slightly.
“The marriage was bestowed by His Majesty. If it is to be annulled, it should be His Majesty who annuls it. The Bai Family is nothing but a merchant house — what outrageous audacity, to dare annul an imperially granted marriage.”
If looks could kill, Bai Rongling was quite certain he would have died a thousand times over by now.
The icy gaze boring into his back felt as heavy as a mountain, leaving him unable — and unwilling — to lift his head.
“The Princess of Yue is inexperienced in the ways of the world. She is pure and naive at heart, and that is precisely why she fell for your scheme to drive a wedge between us. Once I have wiped out you rebels, I will speak openly and honestly with the Princess, and the misunderstanding will naturally be resolved.” Fu Xuanmiao said. “When that time comes, I will still fulfill the late Emperor’s dying wish and respectfully welcome the Princess as my bride.”
To this, Li Wu had only five words.
“You have no shame whatsoever.”
He looked at Fu Xuanmiao — a man of striking and distinguished appearance — with a mixture of revulsion and astonishment, and felt more certain than ever that his decision to disown the man as a relative had been absolutely correct.
He, Li Wu, would occasionally in the quiet of the night reflect on whether his conduct during the day had been too shameless.
But today, he had discovered there was someone even more shameless than him.
At least he knew he was without shame. The man standing before him had not even a trace of such self-awareness.
Looking at Fu Xuanmiao’s expression, he could tell that every single word Fu Xuanmiao had just spoken came from the bottom of his heart — not a sliver of guilt.
To be shameless to this degree — Li Wu, Li Wu, readily conceded defeat.
“The late Emperor long wanted to dissolve this engagement, but the palace coup happened first. His Majesty also wanted to dissolve it, but power had already slipped from his hands. The Princess of Yue had no wish to marry you — she saw through you as a bad person from the very beginning. And the Bai Family — they even sent a letter of annulment! Who in the hell told you not to act like a decent human being! Stop dragging others into this. I’m making it plain right here: from start to finish, this marriage was something only you — and you alone — have ever wanted to force!”
Li Wu’s words rang out with the force of stones striking the ground, his expression resolute and fearless. Not even the thunderous roar of the rain could drown out his voice.
Though Fu Xuanmiao sat sheltered inside the carriage, untouched by the wind and rain, the color on his face grew worse and worse.
“…They bewitched her.” He lowered his eyes and murmured softly, as though speaking to himself.
“Stop your damned self-deception!”
“They deceived her.” Fu Xuanmiao raised his eyes, his ice-cold gaze fixed directly on Li Wu standing in the rain.
“My lord!”
Fu Xuanmiao raised a hand to wave Yan Hui aside, lowered his head, and stepped out of the carriage.
Rain poured down in torrents, soaking through his wide sleeves in an instant. Water dripped steadily from the hem of his sleeves. Three vermilion-red marks on the back of his pale hand — wounds like cinnabar dots — looked all the more striking after being washed clean by the rain.
“Once you are dead, things will naturally return to how they should be,” he said.
“Dream on!” Li Wu shouted furiously.
Fu Xuanmiao looked at the fury in Li Wu’s eyes and said slowly:
“From the first moment I laid eyes on you at Jindai Pavilion, I knew you harbored the ambition to answer to no one. A pity that your ambitions were hampered by personal feelings, always unable to fully take flight. Hesitating before and behind, pulled in every direction — that is the greatest reason for your failure.”
“…I should have killed you long ago,” he said. “If I had killed you that day at Jindai Pavilion, none of what has happened today would have come to pass.”
“You’re wrong —” Li Wu said. “Even if you killed every last person in the world, Shen Zhuxi would still never fall in love with you.”
The color drained from Fu Xuanmiao’s face in an instant. That perfect, noble mask of an exalted young lord was peeling away from his face, inch by inch.
“Silence —” A cold and venomous voice forced its way through Fu Xuanmiao’s lips. “You are not worthy to speak the Princess’s name.”
“…In wisdom, the Princess is brilliantly gifted, with a memory that forgets nothing. In virtue and grace, she possesses a beauty that could rival heaven itself, with a heart as delicate and fragrant as orchid and iris. In wisdom, in virtue and grace — under all of heaven, there is no one who can stand beside the Princess. That she does not love me…” He spoke, drifting as though a wandering ghost. “Is only as it should be.”
“You are completely and utterly wrong.” Li Wu said with full confidence. “The person who can stand beside the Princess is standing right before you at this very moment.”
Fu Xuanmiao twisted his lips, letting out a quiet, contemptuous scoff.
“…You?”
“I used to be unworthy — ” Li Wu held his head high, meeting Fu Xuanmiao’s gaze with unflinching calm. “So I found every means possible to become worthy of her — rather than knowing full well I was nothing but a mangy dog, and therefore rushing to sink my teeth into every person who dared come near her!”
“You forbade her from dressing up beautifully. You forbade her from going out to make friends. You forbade her from feeling any longing for the outside world — wasn’t it all precisely because you knew you were unworthy of her?” Li Wu declared without mercy, his voice raised. “You knew you were unworthy of her, so you tried every trick possible to smother her light. For a grown man to sink to such filthy depths — what kind of man does that make you?! I called you a dog — but the dogs of this world would be offended by the comparison!”
“You —”
Fu Xuanmiao’s expression changed completely. A vast and overwhelming killing intent was surfacing from beneath that utterly hideous face.
“Then let us put it to the test…” he said, each word deliberate and measured. “Once I have killed you, it will be clear who is right and who is wrong. Move — seize these rebels!”
At Fu Xuanmiao’s command, every last soldier of the Fu Family Army surged into motion. Li Wu lowered his voice and shouted “Move!” as well — and the soldiers of both sides instantly crashed into one another, the sounds of fierce combat rising to drown out even the rain.
Li Wu had only one target. Fu Xuanmiao had only one target.
A sword and a saber collided heavily together, producing a sharp metallic clang. A pair of black satin boots and a pair of round-toed, high-shafted riding boots each stepped back — and twin curtains of rain splashed upward.
Though Fu Xuanmiao held a civilian post, he had led troops in battle for years, and had never once slackened in his martial training through summer heat or winter cold. In terms of both raw force and technique, he was not someone an ordinary person could measure up to.
In this first exchange, neither man had used their full strength — yet both had felt the formidable pressure transmitted through the other’s weapon.
“Let me ask you…” Li Wu’s overbearing gaze was fixed firmly on Fu Xuanmiao. “What have you done with the Emperor of Yan?”
“It is not what I have done to His Majesty, but what you have done to His Majesty.” Fu Xuanmiao said. “After tonight, all under heaven will know that His Majesty died on the road to Yangzhou — slain by Li Wu’s hand, in an assassination carried out from a thousand li away. Without the sovereign to speak of — will your rallying cry of ‘cleansing the Emperor’s side’ still hold any use?”
Li Wu’s expression became grave. He gritted his teeth. “…You would dare to kill even the Emperor?”
“The Fu clan has always been loyal and devoted to Great Yan. I am the sole surviving member of the Fu family’s main branch — how could I possibly wish harm upon His Majesty?” Fu Xuanmiao said. “As I said: after tonight, all under heaven will know His Majesty died at your hands.”
The blades pressed against each other trembled in mid-air, neither man willing to yield.
“When you set all of this in motion — did you ever consider that if you fail, your family will be buried alongside you?” Li Wu stared into his eyes.
Fu Xuanmiao’s focus wavered for just a single instant.
Li Wu seized that moment and drove his saber downward with force — Fu Xuanmiao’s sword barely halted before it reached his cheek.
He collected himself, and the gaze he turned on Li Wu was ice-cold and filled with hatred.
“…Your Highness’s jade pendant — where did it come from?”
Li Wu grinned. “The Princess has more treasures than I can count — how should I know which one you’re referring to?”
“…Once I have captured you, everything will become clear.”
“That won’t be going your way.” Li Wu’s gaze swept toward the surging river. At the far edge of his vision, three narrow, willow-leaf-shaped vessels were cutting through the curtain of rain, racing swiftly downstream. The blue phoenix banners stood proud at the prows, unbowed by wind or rain.
Fu Xuanmiao understood in an instant the audacity behind Li Wu having come to challenge him with only a few hundred men.
Only a sailboat running with the wind and current could outpace even the swiftest hooves!
Fu Xuanmiao wasted no more words on Li Wu. He pulled back from their standoff first, withdrew his sword, dodged the slashing blade coming his way, then immediately launched a ferocious attack at Li Wu.
Li Wu defended while retreating toward the riverbank.
Every soldier in leather armor was pressing as hard as they could toward the river’s edge.
Bai Rongling had the combat ability of someone who couldn’t even restrain a chicken, and had long since shown the good sense to fall back to the rear, to avoid being captured and used as leverage against Li Wu. He watched the situation anxiously with one eye while constantly glancing upriver with the other, praying that those three lifesaving vessels could move just a little faster — faster still.
With wind and rain both in their favor, the three ships drew close to the riverbank in the blink of an eye.
“Board the ships! Quickly! Quickly!” Dong Miji shouted from inside one of the cabins. Arrows fired by the Fu Family Army mixed with rain falling from the sky, forming a new curtain as they clattered and dinged against the ship.
Blue Phoenix soldiers who had drawn close enough to the ships rushed aboard through the hail of arrows — from time to time, someone was struck and fell into the water with a cry.
Li Wu and Li Kun held the outer perimeter, letting the others board first.
“Never mind the rest — today, no matter what it takes, we must capture these two assassins who murdered His Majesty!”
Fu Xuanmiao let out a furious roar, and the pressure bearing down on Li Wu and Li Kun redoubled. From somewhere unseen, a blade darted out at Li Wu, cutting across his hand, slicing through his leather armor and the garment beneath it, and a vivid red line instantly welled up.
Li Kun saw this and erupted in fury. He let out a roar, and his meteor hammer swung with a clang that caved in the skull of the soldier who had struck Li Wu with a sneak attack. White and red splattered across the ground, also fouling Li Kun’s meteor hammer. Without so much as a glance, he charged into the enemy’s ranks, and swung the chain hammer in furious arcs as he roared.
Countless screams rang out, flesh and blood flying!
The Fu Family Army fell like weeds before a scythe, cut down with no way to fight back.
“Your opponent is me!” Yan Hui — who had been hunched down with his hands over his head — charged toward Li Kun.
Li Kun was tied up by Yan Hui, and only then did the Fu Family Army manage to regroup and strike back. They loosed a volley of arrows at the Blue Phoenix soldiers boarding the ships, doing everything they could to prevent them from escaping by water. Li Wu and Fu Xuanmiao were once again locked in close combat, and after dozens of back-and-forth exchanges of attack and defense, Li Wu broke through Fu Xuanmiao’s guard and landed a saber blow on his right shoulder.
“My lord!” Yan Hui could not help crying out.
“Diao’er, board the ship!”
Yan Hui was powerful in martial skill, able to hold his own against the immense strength of Li Kun without falling behind — but a glimpse of that scene from the corner of his eye distracted him, and what followed immediately was a kick squarely to the chest.
Yan Hui spat a mouthful of blood into the air, then crashed heavily down into the mud. Unable to move, he watched as Li Kun’s silhouette leapt swiftly onto the ship.
“…He may have gotten away — but can you?”
Fu Xuanmiao’s expression was impassive. Gripping his sword, he launched another attack — blood ran continuously down from his right shoulder, and the raindrops falling from his cuff landed in the puddles below, spreading outward in ring after ring of red.
Li Wu suddenly smiled. “My life is cheap — a cheap life traded for the number one young lord under heaven. Worth it.”
He paid no heed to the sword thrusting toward him from Fu Xuanmiao, and brought his long saber sweeping straight at Fu Xuanmiao’s throat.
One aimed for the heart. One aimed for the neck.
It was a gamble on who dared to die together.
In the last instant before the ice-cold blade was about to meet warm flesh, Fu Xuanmiao’s expression changed. He scrambled to pull back, retreating several steps to try to evade that lethal stroke. And at that same moment, Li Wu turned without hesitation and charged at a nearby Fu Family Army light cavalryman.
Bad —
By the time Fu Xuanmiao had collected himself, Li Wu had already hauled the original rider off and was seated on the sturdy horse himself.
“Ride!” Li Wu drove his heels hard into the horse’s flanks, and the fine, stout animal shot forward like an arrow loosed from the bow, bursting out of range of the sword in Fu Xuanmiao’s hand.
“Archers!” Fu Xuanmiao’s voice was sharp and commanding. “He cannot be allowed to leave here alive!”
Arrow after arrow flew crookedly through the heavy rain toward Li Wu — whether any found their mark was impossible to say, as Li Wu’s silhouette gradually melted into the downpour.
Watching as the three small boats likewise vanished from the riverbank like a thunderclap, carried by wind and rain, Fu Xuanmiao’s gaze fixed on the direction in which Li Wu had seized the horse and fled.
“Pursue him.”