The sound of gunfire and the dust of noon rippled through the streets and alleys of Fuzhou. Before long, constables’ alarm whistles rang out, signal flags waved atop the corner towers of the city walls, and the noise of large numbers of men and horses being mobilized rose up one after another.

Nearly half of Fuzhou stirred with the commotion.

Far and near, plenty of people from both the righteous and villainous sides of the martial world were startled by the uproar and came out to see what had happened. In Huaiyun Ward on the city’s east side, Ning Ji — for the moment best classified as a heterodox master of some renown — climbed onto a rooftop and gazed off into the distance for a while. Qu Longjun, dressed in a grey hemp skirt, stood in the courtyard holding a storybook she’d read half of. “What is it?”

“Not sure where… guns are firing… haven’t caught whoever it is yet, whoever’s causing trouble is quite skilled…”

It was as if a scorching summer wind had swept across the city.

That afternoon, somewhere between the hours of the Goat and the Monkey, a swift horse galloped down a sunlit street.

Arriving at the side gate of the Grand Princess’s residence, Yue Yun dismounted — dressed in a shabby short jacket, sporting a bit of stubble that at first glance made him look rather like a bandit — leaving the guards at the gate staring in astonishment.

“Y-Young Master Yue?”

“So, how about it, brothers, do I look manly enough now?” Yue Yun thumped his chest, striking the pose of a hairy-chested hero, prompting the guards to give repeated thumbs-up.

“Manly, very manly. Bold and dashing.”

“Young Master Yue’s the real deal!”

Amid the chorus of praise, someone led him inside to see his sister, Yue Yinping, who was currently in charge of security there.

They reached a small courtyard near one of the side halls, and only once Yinping emerged — clad in a crisp white long gown, a spear slung across her back — did the gatekeeper leave, stifling a laugh. Sure enough, the moment she laid eyes on her brother’s state, murderous intent flared in her eyes. “How many days has it been since you changed your clothes? How many days since you washed your face?” She reached to grab him and strike him.

The two siblings had grown up around their father’s army camp, and when there was fighting or intensive drilling, they too often went about looking disheveled. But once away from the camp, it usually fell to the elder sister to keep her brother in line. These past few years had been a critical period for the two of them to find spouses and settle down, and Yue Fei had asked that the two of them — mainly the brother, who needed the most looking after — at least manage to look presentable. So under normal circumstances Yinping oversaw Yue Yun’s personal hygiene and daily habits. But these past few days Yinping had been requisitioned by the Princess’s residence for security duty, leaving Yue Yun, still out running around the martial world, free of supervision — and one glance now made it plain he’d stopped looking like a proper person at all.

Yue Yun had grown up among a crowd of rough old soldiers since childhood, and his worldview seemed to have been shaped by the likes of Liu Dabiao. In this day and age, going ten or fifteen days without bathing or changing clothes was hardly a big deal — if anything, he felt this was simply restoring his true manly nature. By now he was thick-skinned enough that, seeing his sister worked up to the point of fury, he merely ran laughing in circles around a tree in the courtyard, and even after taking a kick to the backside didn’t get angry, only muttering, “Something’s happened, something’s happened…”

“Who doesn’t know something’s happened — didn’t you notice the garrison’s been reinforced today?”

“Not that, sis. Father arranged a matchmaking meeting between Xu Guisheng and Official Niu’s daughter, and after seeing her, Xu Guisheng turned the match down again.”

“…” Yue Yinping fell silent for a moment, then couldn’t help aiming another kick at him. “What does that have to do with me!”

“You know full well what Xu Guisheng’s thinking. He’s just waiting for the day you finally lose to him.”

As Yue Yun said this, his eyes darted toward his sister. Yinping frowned, at a loss for words.

The Xu Guisheng that Yue Yun spoke of was a personal guard of similar age to Yinping, serving under the Beiwei Army’s general — himself an orphan rescued on the battlefield against the Jin, much like Yinping and Yue Yun had grown up alongside as childhood friends, and someone Yue Fei thought highly of. In the time since Yinping had reached marriageable age, there had been no shortage of proposals from various quarters, along with admirers among her circle of friends, most of whom Yinping had dealt with through simple force. But someone like Xu Guisheng, who’d shared a bond with her since childhood and couldn’t be driven off by force, had always been something of a headache for her.

After Yinping had, half in jest, sworn an oath that she would only marry whoever managed to defeat her, Xu Guisheng had come to spar with her many times under the pretext of exchanging martial techniques. He was a capable hand on the battlefield, following Yue Fei’s command, but when it came to one-on-one spearplay, his skill and cunning simply couldn’t match hers, and he lost time after time. Yet he never grew discouraged, and every so often would cheerfully come find her again to ask for another lesson. Over time, most people had come to understand what was really on Xu Guisheng’s mind — even Yue Fei himself had personally raised the matter with Yinping — but though her bond with him ran deep, it wasn’t romantic affection, and in the end she’d never agreed to the match. Their relationship had simply continued on in that state.

Having grown up alongside his sister, Yue Yun knew exactly where her soft spot lay, and with a single line he doused her anger entirely, feeling rather pleased with himself. He went to the room beside the courtyard, scooped up a large ladleful of water, and gulped it down before coming back out to talk business. “The commotion at noon was a big one, sis. What’s the word over there?”

“Weren’t you out running around the martial world? Have you heard anything?” Yinping’s cultivation in breath control was quite good; she sat down on a stone stool in the shade of the trees in the courtyard.

“What would I hear — I’m a good person.” Yue Yun frowned slightly, scratching his cheek. “Everyone out there calls me Little King of Hell now — Little King of Hell Yue Yun! The bad guys all know me, and how many of them would dare pass me any tips… hm, I guess I hit them a bit too hard last year.”

“Then what’s the point of running around the martial world if you’re not actually getting anything done, just going out to play?”

“That’s not true, there’s been progress.” Yue Yun shifted over and sat down on the stone stool as well, leaning in close. “There’s a brother who’s very likely made it into the enemy’s ranks — we just haven’t been able to reach him these past few days, can’t confirm anything yet.”

“Hm?”

“That business at Yinqiao Ward…”

Yue Yun lowered his voice. He hadn’t given Yinping the full details of what he and Zuo Xingzhou had been planning, but he hadn’t kept it entirely secret from his sister either — so she knew part of it, without knowing the identity or the finer points.

“…And that’s supposed to make you useful?”

“Of course it’s useful.” Yue Yun nodded to himself. “But about what happened at noon — I heard there was an assassination attempt outside the Military Preparation Academy…”

“An attempt on Master Li’s life.”

“…Hm?” Yue Yun’s brow furrowed.

Yinping glanced around the courtyard, then said, “Master Li’s fine — Immortal Luo blocked the assassin. The people at the academy opened fire, they nearly launched a hot-air balloon, and the Ministry of Justice has sealed off two streets. But the assassin’s skill was extraordinarily high. According to Immortal Luo, his lightness skill was the most formidable part, and his hand technique looked like the Flowing Cloud Iron Sleeve style — and when he left, he even used a smoke-bomb of the exploding kind…” Yinping paused briefly. “Does any of that ring a bell for you?”

Yue Yun frowned, and after a while finally said, “…Jiangning, Jinlou Street?”

“Mm.” Yinping nodded. “Outside the Southwest, not many in the martial world favor that unconventional trick of using exploding bombs, and even fewer combine it with high-level lightness skill. That man struck suddenly in Jiangning, killed the envoy Liu Guangshi had sent, and threw the situation there into chaos. Later, He Wen went mad on his own and all of Jiangning fell into disorder, and everything got tangled together in the confusion — in the end no one ever found out who that man was. But according to word from the Ministry of Justice, Lord Tie says the combination of lightness skill and the Flowing Cloud Iron Sleeve closely matches the style of a heterodox master from years past — the monk they called Cloud Swallower. His specialty is the Iron Cassock technique, but his true trump card is his lightness skill. It’s said that Master-Uncle once moved against him personally, but he still got away. If it’s really him stirring up trouble in Fuzhou, this could get very thorny — if his skill hasn’t declined over the years, he’d rank among the true grandmasters of the martial world…”

“…” Yue Yun thought for a moment. “Could it be… one of the great clans hired him?”

“Possible.” Yinping said. “That man never had much in the way of principles back in his day — fond of pleasure, fond of women, thoroughly infamous, and always willing to go wherever there was profit to be had. Striking successfully in Jiangning would have earned him no small reward, which suits his sort well enough. And Fuzhou now is much the same — the great clans have money but lack manpower, which makes his reputation all the more valuable here. Still… there are some things that don’t quite add up…”

“What things?”

“The attempt at noon actually looked rather reckless, when you think about it. For someone of his caliber to just hide in a roadside carriage and go after Master Li single-handedly, then flee in full view of everyone after failing on the first strike — as far as assassinations go, that’s a bit foolish… Last year in Jiangning, that killing was far more impressive. He struck and succeeded right in front of grandmasters like the ‘Heaven-Measuring Ruler’ Meng Zhutao, the ‘Heaven’s Blade’ Tan Zheng, the ‘Monkey King’ Li Yanfeng, and the ‘Mount Tai Coil’ Jin Yongsheng. This time… if it really is the same man, it all just feels rather careless.”

“Recklessness is common enough in the martial world,” Yue Yun said. “Maybe a grandmaster like that doesn’t like taking orders from anyone. Or maybe he just struck on a whim to prove his own skill, or maybe he simply acted on impulse — any of those is possible.”

“But it’s also possible that Chen Shuangran and his people are using this to test the layout of the city’s defenses, to work out the details before making a real move,” Yinping said. “There’s something else you need to watch out for — you’ve been fighting your way through town, drawing far too much attention lately. If a grandmaster on par with Father or General Gao really has come to Fuzhou to kill someone and make a name for himself, you’ll be the first one he sets his sights on. I won’t be by your side, so you’d better stay alert.”

“Heh, that’d actually work out fine, sis — my lightness skill might not match his, but I’ve got thick skin and tough fles—”

Yue Yun was thumping his chest, about to gloat, when Yinping’s gaze suddenly sharpened, and without a sound she’d already raised her hand — the spear in her grip surging forward like a great python uncoiling, stabbing straight for his face. Yue Yun braced with his feet and hands and rolled backward in a tumble, slapping the stone table with one hand as he went, sending the tabletop and its base crashing to the side with a thundering crack. Yinping drew her spear back; Yue Yun scrambled up more than a zhang away, breaking into a cold sweat. “You’re trying to murder your own brother!”

“This is to tell you: when true masters clash, deciding life and death doesn’t take long at all — going for your vitals has nothing to do with how thick your skin is.”

“…Anyway, I can take care of myself, I came up through the battlefield…”

Yue Yun grumbled under his breath as he went to set right the stone table and stool he’d knocked over. Yinping sat off to the side, thinking for a moment.

“The attempt at noon shows the assassin really might be targeting Master Li, the Grand Princess, and others. Given that, I’m even less able to get away from Her Highness’s side now. Once you’re out there — first, go get yourself bathed and into clean clothes, make yourself look like a proper person again. And keep a low profile, mind you — don’t actually get caught and killed just to make a name for yourself. Neither Father nor I can afford that kind of embarrassment…”

“Yes, yes, yes.” Yue Yun set the stone table back in place. “I’ll never embarrass you two.”

Yinping shot him a glare, fell silent for a moment, and then, just as Yue Yun was about to leave, suddenly remembered something.

“Oh, right — speaking of Yinqiao Ward, there’s something I should mention.”

“Hm?”

“The day you two were putting on your act at Yinqiao Ward, by your own account, there was some young punk who didn’t know his place, who came looking to give you trouble afterward, trying to shake you down for money — right?”

“Yeah, that happened, but he’s just an idiot — I was being magnanimous, didn’t bother with him.”

“You’re the idiot!” Yinping glared at him. “I told the Grand Princess about it as a joke. She said, considering how you fought with someone at Yinqiao Ward and left blood all over the ground, and afterward went to pay compensation — the common folk of Yinqiao Ward would be too busy either respecting or fearing you to dare shake you down for money. That day we went to take a look at Yinqiao Ward ourselves. Beside the rice-cake stall there was a pair of young brothers — the shorter one looked flighty and mouthy, but his inner cultivation ran extremely deep. When our energies brushed against each other, we very nearly came to blows. That day, he was toying with you on purpose, my foolish little brother.”

“Uh…” Yue Yun frowned, thinking it over. “So this person… that day… he…”

“Not necessarily a bad person,” Yinping said. “Fuzhou’s been drawing all sorts of figures lately — righteous and heterodox alike from outside the city. It’s no strange thing for a few formidable ones to turn up among them. Someone with real skill choosing to set up a stall at Yinqiao Ward — at worst, he simply saw how full of himself you were and decided to have a bit of fun at your expense. That’s hardly malicious. I just happened to remember it, so I thought I’d let you know, so you don’t go around being dense and end up toyed with again without even realizing it, all pleased with yourself.”

“…Mm.”

The afternoon sunlight filtered down through the tree shade. Yue Yun stood there thinking for a moment, then replied in a low, muffled voice.

“…Got it.”

After that he was subjected to another round of instructions from his sister on bathing, changing clothes, trimming his beard, and the like.

Slinking out of the Princess’s residence with his head down, Yue Yun took a breath of the fresh air outside before mounting his horse and riding off, somewhat at a loss.

He hadn’t accomplished much during his time in Fuzhou lately. On one hand, the case of Zhong Erggui’s wrongful death still hadn’t seen much progress; on the other, everyone in the martial world now feared him, which meant he had little in the way of information to gather. Though Zuo Xingzhou seemed to have successfully infiltrated the enemy’s ranks, Yue Yun himself hadn’t taken part directly. Aside from being a bit freer now that he was away from his sister’s watchful eye, there really wasn’t much he could actually do.

Perhaps he could keep stirring up trouble, drawing a master like the Cloud-Swallowing Monk out to try to assassinate him. But thinking it over carefully, he still had some sense left. With a strategist like his sister at his side, plus a few more helpers, this sort of scheme to lure the snake out of its hole might work. But acting alone, drawing the assassination attempt of a grandmaster-level figure down on himself would likely bring nothing but embarrassment, and little else.

As for the troublemaking kid at Yinqiao Ward, he tucked the thought away in his mind, without paying it too much further attention for the moment.

Arriving back at the courtyard where he was staying, the servant on gate duty came to report that someone had called that afternoon, and finding him not home, had left a calling card.

Taking the card and looking it over, he found that the person who wished to see him was Zuo Wenxuan, of the Zuo family.

Yue Yun’s brow furrowed.

He knew something had happened.