Beneath the bright moonlight of the fourteenth night of August, this manhunt just outside a small courtyard within Jiangning had already descended into complete chaos from the very start.

The black-clad figure caught in the encirclement swung the Peacock King Sword in broad, sweeping strokes, cutting down one “Undying Guard” member and sending him sprawling to the ground, darting left and right in an attempt to break free. The “Undying Guard” members tasked with the capture gave chase, while inside the courtyard, someone had already burst out wielding a spear — clearly the owner of the house, Miao Zheng.

The figure who had come rocketing in from the distance flew straight over the courtyard wall, then across the waterway, lunging directly toward the figure trying to break free. His movement technique was extraordinarily refined — this sudden burst of speed, combined with the “Undying Guard’s” encirclement, was meant to capture the enemy in a single decisive strike. But the black-clad figure had already been warned in advance; twisting sharply, blade and sword flashing, she unleashed the Peacock King Sword’s most lethal strike, and in the instant her pursuer’s headlong charge left him overextended, she cut back at him with the fiercest, most reckless slash she could muster.

By the waterway, You Hongzhuo leaped down from the rooftop, landing with a heavy thud directly on the underling holding the fishing net beside Kuang Wenbai. That underling and Kuang Wenbai had both been utterly focused on the scene ahead, and now, with a body weighing over a hundred jin suddenly dropping onto his back, the tremendous force drove the man’s face straight into the flagstones lining the waterway, bursting like a smashed watermelon — a gruesome sight.

This sudden disaster striking right beside him would have caught most people off guard, but Kuang Wenbai was an old hand in the martial world, and he immediately swung his single whip down toward the attacker. The figure rolled along the ground, sweeping past his legs — Kuang Wenbai, startled again, quickly stepped back, but the figure surged upward, and in the next instant, Kuang Wenbai felt a dull, ringing impact in his skull, a sweet taste rising in his mouth and nose, and his whole body was sent flying backward, crashing down into a heap of mud and broken tiles behind him.

With the underling smashed to the ground beside him, You Hongzhuo rolled past in front of Kuang Wenbai and rose with a single punch — an instinctive, well-trained reflex by now. The entire sequence happened faster than a single breath.

Back when the seven of them had sworn brotherhood in the Jin region, Kuang Wenbai’s martial skill had certainly surpassed You Hongzhuo’s own — but after all these years, his movements now looked almost childishly slow to You Hongzhuo’s eyes. He’d struck for the face on instinct, not wanting to injure him with the blade. Who would have thought that single punch would send the man collapsing straight backward into the mud and rubble — leaving You Hongzhuo, who’d been braced to strike again, momentarily stunned. He quickly turned, snatched up the barbed fishing net lying on the ground, and swung it in both hands, whirling it with a whistling sound as he charged forward.

“Chirp, chirp-chirp-chirp, chirp-chirp…”

There was no more room for hesitation now. You Hongzhuo raced along the waterway swinging the great net, whistling the old martial-world signal he’d once used back in the Jin region. Across the way, the figure wielding the Peacock King Sword was slashing through bamboo and wooden poles in her path as she fled at full speed, while the figure with the extraordinary lightness skill closed in from behind, momentarily slowed only by the severed bamboo poles scattered in his way.

The figure with the Peacock King Sword suddenly accelerated, leaping straight toward You Hongzhuo on the far side of the waterway.

By this point she had no other options left. The great net in You Hongzhuo’s hands was a weapon specifically designed to counter skilled martial-world fighters — its surface studded with barbs that would sink into flesh and instantly strip away any capacity to resist once someone was caught in it. If You Hongzhuo were an enemy, her leap would be nothing short of throwing herself straight into the net.

You Hongzhuo swung the net and cast it out toward this side of the waterway. He had trained specifically in this technique within the Huaxia Army — as the net spread wide, its lower edge rose just high enough to clear the leaping figure, while for the pursuers on the far side of the waterway, it fell like an impenetrable curtain sweeping down over their heads.

Quick as the thought came, the “Undying Guard” captain giving chase from behind snatched up a bamboo pole and hurled it at the net. The pole caught the net and sent it falling into the water, while the leaping figure released her long blade, her free hand reaching for the flagstone bank on this side of the waterway. You Hongzhuo rushed forward and pulled her up by the hand — and in that same instant, the enemy with the extraordinary lightness skill had already leaped across as well, his long blade slashing down toward the two of them.

You Hongzhuo pulled the woman forward, rolling with her, his own blade sweeping out in a feint. The woman’s combat instincts proved excellent as well — even as she was hauled up onto the bank, the sword still in her hand swept out defensively. The leaping enemy’s blade came down with only the faintest, sharp “ting” of sound — a telltale sign of his refined stealth-blade technique — but the strike failed to land cleanly. Seeing the man’s left hand snap downward, You Hongzhuo caught sight of a whip’s shadow suddenly slicing across the night sky, lashing down toward them.

Both You Hongzhuo and the sword-wielding woman instinctively dodged. The long whip whistled past on either side of them, striking the ground and sending debris flying in all directions.

You Hongzhuo cursed inwardly. This opponent held a blade in his right hand and a long whip in his left — given the man’s superb lightness skill and mastery of the whip, trying to retreat and put distance between them to escape would be foolish in the extreme. He closed the distance at once, blade flashing out.

Along the narrow riverbank, the man swung his long whip like a great serpent lashing sideways, smashing against the courtyard wall along the path, sending roof tiles clattering and shattering. His blade still managed to trade several exchanges with both You Hongzhuo and the sword-wielding woman as they pressed their attack. Across the waterway, the group of “Undying Guard” members were shouting as they closed in from both directions.

A long whip excelled at range — closing the distance meant fighting the enemy’s strength with one’s own weakness, and given the man’s lightness skill, any attempt to simply widen the gap and flee outright would be pure fantasy. After several exchanges, neither You Hongzhuo nor the woman could get the better of him, nor could he get the better of them — but with the “Undying Guard” members now bearing down from all sides, the man clearly felt victory was assured, and let out a laugh.

“Hah! Not bad for a couple of youngsters! This one is ‘Cold Crow’ Chen Juefang — and you are—!”

A cloud of lime powder erupted through the air.

You Hongzhuo shoved the woman back behind him and charged forward, blade raised, intent on ending the man’s life then and there.

The riverbank erupted into a haze of white powder. Chen Juefang’s blade flashed and his whip lashed out wildly in every direction, his cloak-wrapped body spinning like a man possessed, stumbling backward step after step until he finally staggered clear of the choking lime cloud. By the time he emerged, half his body was coated white, his cloak and clothing slashed to tatters, and several fresh cuts had appeared across his skin.

Seeing that he’d failed to kill the man outright within the cover of the lime cloud, the fierce figure let out a sharp cry, sheathed his blade, and retreated, fleeing together with the woman down a side alley.

“Cold Crow” Chen Juefang stood there trembling all over. Just moments ago he’d been certain of victory; now he’d nearly lost his life instead. Having taken several blade wounds to his body, he could no longer give chase. After a moment, his “Undying Guard” subordinates came rushing over, and he raised his blade with a flourish.

“Send up the signal — call everyone in! Even if we have to turn all of Jiangning upside down, I want them dragged out and brought to me—”

His furious roar cracked like thunder. It took a considerable amount of vegetable oil afterward to finally wash the lime powder from his body.

…

Signal flares shot up into the sky as the manhunt began, dotting the night above Jiangning.

You Hongzhuo and the sword-wielding woman fled through several dark alleys before pausing briefly beneath a bridge.

“Liang Siyi.” You Hongzhuo pointed at her, then at himself. “You Hongzhuo. We met once at Zhaode.”

She studied him for a moment after hearing his name, looked him over once more, then nodded, turning to look out from beneath the bridge. “I’ve heard your name before.”

“How did you two end up here?”

“How did you end up here?”

“There’s a Heroes’ Gathering going on. Came to see the excitement.”

“Mm.” The woman nodded, but kept her gaze fixed outside the bridge, unwilling to answer his question. Then, as if suddenly recalling something, she murmured, “Damn it,” and made to rush out.

You Hongzhuo grabbed hold of her hand. “It’s too late for you to go back now.”

She struggled against his grip, shooting him a sharp look. “What do you know about it!”

“That man called Miao Zheng, right?”

“…”

Her expression darkened, and she turned her gaze back toward the sky, which had begun to fill with commotion.

“If he can’t protect himself, there’s nothing you can do by going back.”

“Maybe there’s still a way.” Apparently swayed by his words, she finally sat down beneath the bridge, setting her long sword aside and stretching out her legs. In the faint light, You Hongzhuo could finally make out her face more clearly — she had a striking, spirited look about her, most notable for a scar running across the outer end of her left eyebrow, cutting through it and lending her face an extra edge of sharpness, and a certain hint of menace as well. She looked at You Hongzhuo again and said, “I heard about you a few years back — one of the key figures working for the Female Chancellor.”

You Hongzhuo, naturally, wasn’t about to sing his own praises. The woman continued, “I can’t tell you why I’m here.”

Her gaze was steady and honest. You Hongzhuo nodded. “I understand. It’s more or less the same old business. With the Heroes’ Gathering starting up, General Wang is an old hand from the Yongle era — the Great Illumination Sect, the Manichaean Sect, the Maitreya Sect, the Yongle Dynasty, it’s all really the same thing at heart. And that man Miao Zheng…”

He trailed off there, stopping himself deliberately. The woman named Liang Siyi shook her head noncommittally — the sharpness in her brow remained, but the earlier hostility had faded. You Hongzhuo asked, “Do you have somewhere to go?”

“I do,” Liang Siyi said.

“I’ll be staying at the Dongsheng Inn in the southern part of the city for the next few days. Not sure when I’ll be leaving. If you need anything, leave word there for someone named Chen San — I’ll help however I can.”

“All right.” Liang Siyi remained seated, looking as though she still needed to rest a while longer, and waved a hand toward the entrance. You Hongzhuo sheathed his blade and walked out. A few steps on, he heard her call softly from behind: “Thank you.” When he turned back, he saw the woman’s figure already bolting out from beneath the bridge, sprinting off in the opposite direction from him — likely still not entirely trusting him, wary that he might try to follow her.

You Hongzhuo smiled to himself. Seeing signal flares still going up all over the city, and the “Undying Guard” mobilizing in force, with gongs and drums sounding through the streets under the “Wheel-Turning King’s” control, he changed his appearance slightly and slipped off toward the busiest part of the district — hoping to check on how his fourth brother Kuang Wenbai was faring. By rights, that punch should only have knocked the man out cold, nowhere near fatal — but given how urgent the situation had been at the time, he hadn’t had a chance to properly confirm, and now found himself growing a little concerned.

If that single punch had sent the man’s skull cracking against a brick and killed him outright — his long-sought revenge finally achieved — he genuinely had no idea what he would do with himself afterward.

And so, after a good deal of quiet observation through the night, You Hongzhuo never did catch sight of Kuang Wenbai again. He did hear, however, that Miao Zheng, realizing the plot had been exposed, had fled with his family straight into “Yama King” Zhou Shang’s territory. That night, the two factions faced off in a tense standoff, nearly coming to blows.

Since no real fighting broke out even by the early hours of the morning, You Hongzhuo lost interest and went home to sleep.

…

Jiangning passed most of the night in uproar, only settling into peaceful quiet as dawn approached.

As the first hint of the fish-belly white of morning appeared on the horizon, on a hillside more than twenty li west of the city, the youth Long Aotian and the shaven-headed little monk had already woken up. The bald little monk practiced his forms by the stream, going through a round of morning exercises.

His boxing technique was quite refined — at his age, the focus was on nurturing internal strength gently, maintaining flexibility, and moderate stretching, much like what Long Aotian himself had once trained in as a child. It was clearly the product of careful instruction from a highly skilled master, though a few of the more overtly domineering elements in it left Long Aotian feeling that this master’s style lacked a certain proper, dignified restraint.

Currently playing the role of a low-key physician, Long Aotian felt that the training methods he’d once used to impress Lu Wenke and the other scholars wouldn’t quite suit this martially knowledgeable little monk. So instead, he simply ran through a set of “peerless martial arts” he’d learned from his father — “Radio Calisthenics” — leaving the little monk staring in open-mouthed astonishment.

“Brother Long, weren’t you doing the Five Animal Exercises?”

“Don’t understand it, do you?”

“Mm.”

“Of course not — what I’m doing is a peerless martial art. It’s only natural you can’t make sense of it… See, this jumping movement — it makes a person incredibly agile…”

Hup, hah, hup, hah…

Long Aotian jumped through the motions with great seriousness in front of the little monk, who watched with his mouth hanging open, finally raising both hands to clap, torn between admiration and bewilderment.

Breakfast was meat buns bought at a nearby market. He handed a few to the little monk, and after walking on a while, handed over a few more. Once the buns were finished, the two of them parted ways at a nearby fork in the road.

Though they’d hit it off right away, each still had his own business to attend to. The little monk needed to head to a temple outside the city to see if he could find lodging or a bite to eat there, while Ning Ji had decided to head into Jiangning a little early, eager to properly explore his own “hometown.” Of course, these were really just convenient excuses — the real reason was that neither of them knew much about the other, and while sharing a meal along the road had been a fine coincidence, there was no need to insist on traveling together any further.

Of course, if they happened to run into each other again inside Jiangning, they could always happily hang out together then.

“Wukong.”

As they parted, Ning Ji patted the little bald head and said, “From now on, if you ever run into trouble out in the martial world, remember to drop my name — Long Aotian. I promise you, no one will beat you to death.”

“Okay, hahaha.” The little monk laughed. He was good-natured and easygoing by nature, though not entirely naive to the ways of the world. He pressed his palms together and said, “Amitabha.”

The two of them set off down their separate roads, and after walking a little way, both turned back at the same moment to wave at each other, before finally striding forward on their way.

Having bid farewell to the little monk, Ning Ji walked on with a light, easy step, heading toward the rising sun, before breaking into a run. In less than half an hour, having crossed the winding road, the silhouette of the ancient city finally came into view.

Carried on the crisp morning breeze came the scent of osmanthus blossoms mingled with dew, sweeping gently across the open fields…