Boom—

The morning sun slanted through swaying tree shadows, scattering shifting gold across the ground. In the southern part of Fuzhou, in the courtyard of an escort agency, figures whirled and clashed. Amid the twisting play of light and shadow, a man surrounded in the middle held his fists in a disciplined stance; every so often a blow landed and sent his opponent flying as though struck by a cannon.

It was not a large escort agency, and the fighters caught up in the brawl looked rather shabby—apparently one of the agency’s escort chiefs, backed by four underlings, was taking on this fist-fighter together. Around the small courtyard several other martial artists stood watching the bout.

Before long, all five had been beaten down.

The shadow of the great locust tree in the courtyard swayed, cicadas shrilled noisily, and the boxer looked around and called out, “I am ‘Iron Fist’ Ni Po, a native of Jizhou. I’ve long heard the name of the Flying Cloud Escort Agency, but having seen it today, it’s nothing much… Is there anyone else who’d like to come up and be schooled?”

Among the onlookers in the yard were some men of the greenwood who did not belong to the Flying Cloud Escort Agency. Someone shouted a few words at him, and Ni Po lifted his chin and answered, but for a moment no fight broke out—until, just as he was about to walk out of the yard, a thin man in a black cape, arms folded inside his robe, finally stepped forward.

“Chief Escort Mu of Flying Cloud is a good friend of mine. He simply isn’t here today…”

“Fine, so you’ll stand in for him…”

“That’s not quite—”

As the two spoke, the thin man had no wish to fight, but Ni Po was already close, and the moment their auras brushed against each other, the thin man’s hand flicked and both his blades came free, flashing like two shards of summer sunlight as they wheeled and slashed. For an instant it seemed sunlight itself leapt wildly about the courtyard. “Iron Fist” Ni Po roared and swung both arms, and a clanging, jangling clatter rang through the yard.

The next moment, with a crack, the double-blade wielder was sent flying, slamming into the wall behind him. Ni Po’s sleeves had been torn to shreds, exposing the precious gold-threaded soft armor beneath.

“Your swordplay isn’t bad,” said Ni Po.

“I thought… you carried no weapon…”

“Ha, today they came at me one after another, taking a bit of advantage over you. If you’re not satisfied, we can have a fair match some other day.”

“My skill falls short. No use trying again…”

“Heh, now that’s a real man…”

The two exchanged a few more pleasantries.

Had Ning Ji been present, he would surely have recognized that many of the men gathered at the escort agency were among the underlings who had once followed He Zhang to Yinqiao Ward. And at that very moment, across the street from the agency, on the second floor of a shop, a pair of eyes had also watched the entire fight unfold through the window.

Dressed like a young noble, Pu Xingui watched the outcome of the bout with an expressionless face. Across from him sat the so-called “Wenhou Sword,” Qian Dingzhong. Yu Hezhang stood respectfully to one side, his expression tense and mortified.

“Over the past year and more, you’ve spent so much silver, and this is the time you were told to bring some usable men, and you brought this pack of mongrels?”

“It’s just that… the young master arrived too suddenly. My most skilled man isn’t here, and, besides…” Yu Hezhang looked pained. “Besides… Master Pu also knows, Xu Nanjiang rose up at Tiger-Subduing Stronghold. He and I were originally on the best terms…”

“I arrived suddenly?” Pu Xingui slapped the table in front of him. “If the constables came for you one day, wouldn’t that be sudden too? What would you do then?”

“But… the young master could at least have told me beforehand, so my men below would know what was happening and could show what skill they had…”

Yu Hezhang was helpless. It was still morning when Pu Xingui had suddenly appeared and called him upstairs, and then “Iron Fist” Ni Po had walked into the Flying Cloud Escort Agency claiming to want a friendly bout of arms. The skilled men present likely hadn’t even understood what was going on, and it had all been rather embarrassing. He hesitated, then said, “Young master, I truly do have some capable men this time, but they aren’t here at the moment. If the young master wishes to test us, you ought to allow some time…”

“That double-blade fellow just now actually held up rather well,” Qian Dingzhong put in from the side.

Yu Hezhang nodded quickly.

Pu Xingui glanced at him. “I know this way of testing isn’t entirely fair, but given how things stand now, the men above want safety—better to miss a chance than to be set up. Old Yu, I know your worth. Do you truly have someone capable?”

“Yes.”

“How do they compare to this ‘Iron Fist’ Ni Po?”

“I don’t know where the young master found this Ni Po, but he’s genuinely formidable…”

“He isn’t mine,” Pu Xingui waved a hand.

“I see,” Yu Hezhang understood then. “The two men I have—either one of them, and this double-blade Li Lang wouldn’t even have gotten a chance to draw his blade.”

“…You truly have men that skilled?”

“Yes, only these two have rather bad reputations outside. It’s said that in Jiangnan they made a serious enemy of the Equality King, Shi Baofeng.”

“Oh? Shi Baofeng is widely connected and said to have a decent temper, able to befriend heroes across the realm. What grudge did these two make with him?”

“It should be… they violated a woman of Shi Baofeng’s household…”

“Well now—”

“With men of that caliber, I dare not order them about carelessly. They’re fierce.”

The group chewed over the gossip a while longer at the window. Pu Xingui then sent Yu Hezhang away, and once the man had left the room, Pu Xingui frowned at Qian Dingzhong. “That woman’s way of doing things is truly absurd.”

“She really is excessively cautious,” said Qian Dingzhong.

Having said this much, Pu Xingui rose from his seat, pulled open the door, and walked toward another room on the second floor of the teahouse.

Guarding the door of that private room was a stocky man in his fifties, lean of frame and dark-skinned—once a great pirate, now a steward following Chen Shuangran in her wanderings, named Chen Yan. After a glance, he let Pu Xingui and Qian Dingzhong in. By the window inside sat Chen Shuangran, her skin somewhat dark but her features rather fine—the so-called “madwoman.”

“Today’s outing has been… disappointing,” said Chen Shuangran, looking at Pu Xingui.

“You’ve been like this lately—suddenly saying you want to come, and the men aren’t even all here. How could it not be disappointing?”

“I only want to pick out some good men. And—safety.”

“There are good men, but how many have you actually picked out these past days?” Pu Xingui sat down and slapped the table. “I’m damned sick of you! Do you think real experts are dogs kept at home, waiting around for you to come knocking? You show up without any warning, and people aren’t even out enjoying themselves to find.”

“That’s exactly how it should be—real.”

“I really—” Pu Xingui’s finger trembled in the air. “I tell you, I really was a fool to believe your nonsense. You say you want to do something great, and you know that this time, dozens of households are converging on Fuzhou, and you still haven’t made clear what exactly it is we’re supposed to do—you just sneak around looking here and there, saying you want to pick good men… Chen Shuangran, who do you think you are? Zhuge Liang? Wu Zetian? Do you think the men below are all ants, all pawns? You think they can’t guess your scheme?”

Pu Xingui rapped the table. “I tell you, plenty of people are already saying privately that you, Chen Shuangran, want to do something great, but you’ve called everyone here only to use them as your smokescreen. They come, and you mean for them to cause chaos, and you never meant to share the gains with them at all, is that it!?”

Pu Xingui was suppressing his voice, growling low.

Across from him, Chen Shuangran tilted her head to look at him, a strange, cold smile at the corner of her mouth.

“…What gains are there to be had?”

“…Eh?”

“Master Pu, what gains are there this time?” Chen Shuangran said softly, each word deliberate. “I fight the court, wanting to topple this improper little dynasty. The great households fight the court for power over Fujian. As for the men below, aren’t they only here to make trouble for the court? Haven’t they already been paid, privately?”

“Paid—even if they’ve been paid, they don’t want to be kept in the dark!”

“What’s wrong with being kept in the dark? His Majesty wants to take a consort, Fujian is stirred up, every household is coming to Fuzhou to join the excitement, and every escort chief and greenwood man each household keeps is also coming to Fuzhou to seek a future. Kept in the dark, even if the authorities catch them, it’s nothing more than that. If they knew my true intentions, some would be frightened off, and some would run to the authorities to inform. These untrustworthy underlings, in the face of a great undertaking, are naturally meant to serve as a smokescreen. The clan elders and patriarchs of every region haven’t said a word about it—why is Master Pu in such a hurry?”

“You—”

“What you’re in a hurry about, Master Pu, is simply that I’ve stolen your thunder.”

“…”

Chen Shuangran’s tone was light and easy, and by the time she finished, Pu Xingui had nothing to say. After a moment he grunted and sat up straight at the table.

“Sister Chen, we’re both fellow wanderers with nowhere to turn. Let me say this plainly: for now I haven’t figured out what you intend, nor do I know which elders you’ve bewitched into believing your nonsense. But the strength of the Pu family, the strength of Alliance Leader Cao—these are still in my hands. If I don’t let you succeed this time, you won’t succeed either.”

Once he’d finished, her gaze turned to him, and the girl stared straight at him. Pu Xingui licked his lips and stared right back.

In Fujian, the true source of conflict with the imperial house was, at its root, the clans whose local power had been shaken. Some of these clan powers were resolute, some wavering; the more radical among them had already formed alliances, while many more, though watching from the sidelines, would not mind offering assistance—open or covert—should rebellion prove opportune.

This vast, loose alliance was the true foundation of the resistance.

And on the surface, Chen Shuangran and Pu Xingui were, for now, the public faces of the armed resistance. If things were managed well, the radical clan elders behind the scenes might well hand the credit—and the power that came with it—to the two of them.

Over the past month, Chen Shuangran had clearly gained support from many directions, while Pu Xingui, though he had chosen to lend his support from the start, still had no idea what she was truly plotting, and had become visibly impatient.

If, one day, a great cause were truly achieved and Chen Shuangran took the greatest credit, how could he, Pu Xingui, ever become emperor?

The girl’s gaze before him was chillingly cold, but he had tied his head onto his shoulders and taken up rebellion; he wasn’t one to be easily frightened. As the two stared at each other a while longer, a cold mockery surfaced in the girl’s eyes. “The elders behind me have already given their consent to my plan. Go ahead and make trouble if you dare—just be afraid you won’t live to enjoy the fruits.”

Pu Xingui only laughed, and suddenly reached out to grip the back of Chen Shuangran’s hand where it rested on the table. Chen Shuangran’s brow furrowed; she tried to pull free and couldn’t. In the room, Chen Yan and Qian Dingzhong both twitched into motion, then froze, killing intent flooding the air.

Pu Xingui said, “But this is your plan, not mine. The elders support you on the condition that you succeed. If it doesn’t succeed, Sister Chen, we’ll all die together.”

Chen Shuangran, her hand held fast, glared at him for a moment, then her leg shot out under the table and kicked his shin, while her other hand swung up and slapped Pu Xingui across the face with a crack. Only then did she pull her hand free, chair and all sliding backward. Pu Xingui didn’t seem to mind at all; the girl had grown up in a pirates’ den and had learned a fair bit of that rough temper, but her martial skill was genuinely poor. He took the slap with only a slight reddening of his face, and he grinned at her.

“You’re really beautiful.”

In this moment of turning hostile, he too showed something of the wild recklessness of a man with nothing left to lose.

Suppressed for that instant, Chen Shuangran fell silent, her expression softening somewhat, and after a while she picked up the teacup on the table and poured the tea over her own left hand, the one Pu Xingui had gripped. “We’re both men and women with nothing to lose. When it’s time for you to know something, I’ll tell you.”

“Then you’d better tell me soon. I’m narrow-minded and suspicious by nature. If I ever feel there’s no share left for me in this good thing, I won’t make it easy for you.”

“You’ll see soon enough.”

“…Hm?”

Chen Shuangran took out a handkerchief and wiped the water from her hand. Pu Xingui watched her, puzzled, and the group waited a while in the room.

Outside the window, carriages and pedestrians came and went, summer cicadas mingling their cries with the noise of people.

At the appointed morning hour, a warning signal-arrow sounded off to the left.

Before long, smoke rose on the right as well.

Pu Xingui stood and looked out the window for a while; a great many constables had begun pouring out through the city.

“This is—”

“The Li family’s academy, and the Grand Princess’s residence,” said Chen Shuangran calmly.

“Both at once…” Pu Xingui turned to look at her. “How many skilled men do you have under you, to attempt something like this?”

“Only testing the waters,” said Chen Shuangran, standing and gazing off into the distance. “Elder Brother Pu, I have capable men who came from the Six Doors. They know the patterns of the authorities’ responses, know the limits of their abilities. Once the alarm sounds, no matter how tight the defenses, chaos follows. The enemy stands in the light, I in the shadow. When the day comes for real action, I mean to kill, and I will succeed.”

“But if this forces the court to seal the city and conduct a full search—”

“His Majesty’s selection of a consort is imminent. With over a dozen great families now crowding into the city to compete, he means to make a show of prosperity and peace—how could he possibly seal the city? And as I said before, even if he did seal the city and search it, what then? Arresting some of the greenwood men who came into the city? They came to earn money, at most trading blows and comparing skills privately—they’ve broken no laws. How many could the court possibly deal with?”

“Then who… is your real target?”

“…My foolish elder brother…” Chen Shuangran turned her head, her lovely face fixed on him with an eerie look, then broke into a grin after a moment. “As long as there’s an opportunity… who couldn’t I kill?”

The distant alarms remained in chaotic uproar, seeming to prove that both sides had sent genuinely skilled men who, after much maneuvering, had still not been caught. Pu Xingui had no idea how Chen Shuangran had gathered such experts, but he had a vague sense of her intentions now, and even felt, in his heart, that if both sides had grandmasters like that Cloud-Swallowing Monk, this strike might well yield real results.

Chen Shuangran was unwilling to say more, so he threw out a few harsh words before finally leaving. Once downstairs from the teahouse, recalling his own performance that day, he began to feel rather pleased with himself. In the past, whenever he’d met with Chen Shuangran, her strange, unpredictable temperament had always kept his own presence suppressed, but this time he’d thrown caution to the wind, and his reckless bravado had finally let him win a round—especially when he’d gripped her hand and taken liberties with her, seeing the girl’s face flush with fury she couldn’t act on, which had truly set his heart racing.

Honestly speaking, in terms of looks alone, Chen Shuangran, though a fine-looking woman, was no more than that—an attractive girl. But the moment of subduing and conquering such a formidable woman was what truly ignited the fighting spirit in his heart, an experience he had never had before.

“Brother Qian, let me tell you,” he said to Qian Dingzhong, “with a woman like that, you can play along at first, but the moment you show your ruthless side and catch her off guard—that’s the most interesting part. Believe me, after today, she won’t forget me.”

Qian Dingzhong gave a proud smile in turn. “I understand that sort of thing quite well myself.”

…

The chaos in the distance continued to spread.

While Pu Xingui and Qian Dingzhong were leaving, Yu Hezhang, leading the men from the Flying Cloud Escort Agency, warily watched the distant commotion for a while, and once the chaos had died down somewhat, he gathered everyone in a room at the agency to explain, roughly, what the day’s “test” had been about.

The men who had followed Yu Hezhang to Fuzhou had never imagined there would be a test like this; some grew resentful, muttering curses.

“…Who was to know today would be about testing skills against experts?”

“…That man only said he’d come to smash up the Flying Cloud Escort Agency’s place. We could hardly all jump in together, could we…”

“…It’s also because Brother Xu wasn’t here.”

“…That man’s martial skill really was formidable…”

“…Had we known, we’d have gone all out from the start…”

The crowd talked over one another, and Yu Hezhang came forward to smooth things over. “What happened today wasn’t done right. Even the man above who’s in contact with me had plenty to complain about. He knows us—Brother Xu Nanjiang couldn’t make it this time through no fault of his own, and, well, who knows when they’ll come a second time. We’d best be prepared for next time.”

“Is it that ‘Iron Fist’ Ni Po again?” someone asked.

In truth, no one present among these heroes had much confidence they could beat the man.

“Brother Xu could probably hold his own against him…”

“Where did he even come from…”

The discussion went on, buzzing and chattering…

…

As the disturbance stirred up along the streets, in a small courtyard in Huaiyun Ward, Qu Longjun—having woken late due to a lack of sleep the night before—was sharing a late morning meal of rice porridge and soup noodles with Ning Ji.

Only recently awake, she wore a loose robe and, as always when at home, went barefoot; having only lightly washed her face, her bare complexion was fair with a touch of pink, looking rather cool and fresh.

And so he kissed her secretly.

She kissed him back.

He leaned in and kissed her softly again…

She did it again…

This childish back-and-forth repeated itself a few rounds, until the noise of the alarm signals outside grew loud enough that the two of them took their soup noodles and climbed up to the roof to watch the excitement.

“What’s going on?” Qu Longjun asked after watching for a while.

Ning Ji only shook his head.

“Nothing interesting—trouble for the little court.” He took the girl’s soft hand. “Let’s go back.”

Qu Longjun’s face flushed a little, and she followed Ning Ji down the stairs.

Though each had their own different pasts, at this moment the young man and woman had, in some sense, reached that stage of first blossoming love. All that day, even though they stayed shut in their room, it seemed there were endless things to say and endless things to do, so they said many childish things to each other and did many childish things, and of course, in the gaps between these things, they also seriously discussed some matters concerning Zuo Xingzhou.

Naturally, none of these matters—childish or serious—could possibly all be sorted out in a single day. By evening, neither of them much wanted to go out to work the stall. Ning Ji asked, “Who is Zuo Xingzhou, anyway?”

But in the end it was Qu Longjun who first got dressed in men’s clothing, then dragged Ning Ji along to sort out the goods—during which she was of course teased by him a while more, so that her face was still flushed red by the time they went out the door.

Fortunately, as the sunlight gradually faded and the lamps for the evening trade lit up her face, it only lent her more of a heroic air, which for a girl in her position might, if anything, add all the more to her allure.

Not long after nightfall, Yu Hezhang, bringing Meng Biao with him, appeared on the streets of Yinqiao Ward…