Flames roared in the night wind, their light shivering wild and fierce.

The moment Cheng Lie casually struck Xi Junyu to the ground and strode off, most of the Hundred Blades Alliance members present already understood: influenced by Ou Peng’s brazen defiance just now, this longtime underworld power broker of Jiangning had truly lost his temper tonight.

Though, in truth, whether his temper flared or not, the outcome would likely have looked much the same regardless.

A group had already charged out in pursuit of the reckless Ou Peng, the sounds of battle cries and screams spreading through the entire stretch of woods. Within the courtyard, someone let out a furious roar and charged at the already blood-soaked Ma Lin, only to be driven back amid a shower of sparks as Ma Lin’s blade cut him down. Su Tan’er, flanked by two guards, moved closer to her father and Guard Geng.

“Are you all right, Young Miss?”

“I’m fine.” Su Tan’er shook her head. “Though I have to say… Uncle Geng, it seems like whoever has the bigger blade tends to win, doesn’t it?”

Blood scattered across the courtyard in scattered flecks; Ma Lin, now surrounded, showed no sign of any way out, his blade swinging wildly to fend off the several men closing in around him, blood spraying from his body in a genuinely terrifying display. Su Tan’er still had one hand pressed tightly to the hem of her robe, but with her side clearly holding the advantage now, she found herself wanting to say something lighthearted to ease the tension coiled inside her, and so spoke this way. In the courtyard, the man wielding the narrow blade—Ma Lin—was proving less skilled than Cheng Lie with his heavier weapon; though the steel blade in Ma Lin’s grip was formidable enough, it fell short compared to Cheng Lie’s ancient, weighty blade.

Across the courtyard, Ma Lin screamed wildly, exchanging several blows with Cheng Lie. Guard Geng, himself a blade-wielder, glanced at the nine-ring broadsword in his own hands and laughed.

“Now that you mention it, most people wouldn’t be able to tell the difference just from looking at ordinary weapons—but once you’re dealing with something this size, it really is just as Young Miss said. That Ma Lin’s technique is fierce, and unusual too—when he first burst into the room a moment ago, he very nearly caught me off guard myself. But look at how heavy and thick Chief Cheng’s blade is, and yet he wields it with such effortless ease, every strike landing with steady, measured control, never straying into flashy or unorthodox moves—you can tell just from the composure of his single-handed grip. Ma Lin here has at most three more exchanges left in him before he’s finished…”

Su Tan’er naturally didn’t understand any of this, but she found herself listening attentively all the same—mostly because Ning Yi occasionally talked about such things at home. Thinking of Ning Yi, she turned to glance again at Xi Junyu, still lying beaten on the ground nearby.

He really should be killed…

As for what would happen to Xi Junyu, since she’d only learned the truth that very afternoon, there was no concrete decision yet as to how or when he’d be killed tonight. She’d never had to deal with such a weighty decision before, and assumed it would ultimately fall to her father to decide.

After all, she wasn’t made of wood and stone—when it came to Xi Junyu, she still held some genuine affection for him, something like the bond between mentor and student, or old friends. She was certain he would die tonight; but since someone else had already made that decision, Su Tan’er saw no need to dwell further on it herself. She hadn’t originally wanted Xi Junyu to know about her husband, because if he lived on knowing what he now knew, he would pose a real threat to Ning Yi. Now that he knew, he ought to be killed all the sooner—this was the first time tonight she’d truly begun considering the matter in these terms.

At the courtyard’s center, amid the fierce blaze of battle, Ma Lin was driven back blow after blow under Cheng Lie’s steady, relentless assault, forced into hysterical shouting as he retreated. Cheng Lie’s swordwork remained composed and controlled, striking down in unbroken succession; even head-on, Ma Lin found himself repeatedly forced backward with thunderous impact, sparks and blood scattering through the air, dust rising from the ground as his retreating footsteps carved deep furrows into the earth beneath him. The air had grown dry, and yellow dust now sprayed in every direction.

Just as Cheng Lie raised his blade and brought it down with a mighty roar, Ma Lin—along with his blade—was finally sent flying entirely off his feet, crashing violently into the wall at the rear of the courtyard, blood spraying from his mouth. At that very moment, the sounds of fighting on the other side of the wall suddenly intensified, and a figure came leaping over it, propelled by the momentum of a running charge, a great spear whirling through the air. This was Ou Peng, who had been fighting his way along the outer wall of the small courtyard, now vaulting directly inside.

“Old bastard!”

“There’s no escaping hell…”

A tremendous crash rang out as the spear whistled down. Cheng Lie’s hair and beard bristled with fury; roaring, he swung his blade upward to meet it. The two men seemed to hang suspended in midair for an instant before being thrown apart in a burst of scattered sparks.

“You dare charge in here!”

Cheng Lie fell back a step. Ou Peng’s blow had originally come slashing down from midair; before his legs even touched ground, he was struck backward once more against the wall. He kicked off with both legs and launched himself straight at Cheng Lie again, only for Cheng Lie’s blade to sweep him aside with a single motion. He’d barely landed when, amid the flickering firelight, a nearly golden arc of blade-light came crashing down upon him like thunder.

With a tremendous boom, another burst of sparks like scattered iron filled the sky; Ou Peng’s feet skidded three or four meters across the ground before he finally came to a stop, dust billowing up around him. By now the courtyard was surrounded by Hundred Blades Alliance disciples, but before he could even steady himself, he was already swinging his great spear to drive back the enemies pressing in around him, and turning his head, found Cheng Lie’s blade already bearing down on him again like thunder.

Because of Cheng Lie’s direct involvement, the surrounding Hundred Blades Alliance disciples held back from joining the attack together, instead falling back and shifting position along with the fighting between the two men. Cheng Lie’s swordwork was fierce and unrelenting; Ou Peng, too, was a tall, powerfully built man, and with one wielding a blade and the other a spear, the battle at the courtyard’s center looked like a great storm unfolding, breathtaking in its ferocity.

The fighting in the woods was still raging fiercely. In this brief span of time, everyone’s attention within the courtyard had become fixed on this duel; the Hundred Blades Alliance disciples, focused on containing Ou Peng and the badly wounded Ma Lin, failed to notice that the perimeter of their watch had drifted several meters off in one particular direction. It was precisely at this moment that a sudden, violent commotion erupted from one side of the courtyard’s exterior, closing in within moments.

BOOM—

Countless clumps of earth and brick fragments flew through the air as a large cart smashed directly into the earthen brick wall on one side of the courtyard. Two Hundred Blades Alliance disciples were sent flying nearly on impact, dust billowing up in all directions. This breach happened to fall right near where Xi Junyu was being held; a blood-drenched, powerfully built figure suddenly burst forward out of the dust, knocking aside a nearby Hundred Blades Alliance member and hauling Xi Junyu up off the ground. Two more figures then charged in as well; outside the breach, Hundred Blades Alliance disciples had already surrounded the men with the cart, and were locked in fierce combat with them—for now, the Alliance still held the advantage, with the breach nearly sealed off. But in this brief window, this group of perhaps fewer than ten men had managed to snatch Xi Junyu to safety.

Cheng Lie glanced back to find the entire courtyard’s attention now turned in that direction. The powerfully built, blood-soaked giant of a man wiped the blood from around his mouth, let out a hearty laugh, and slammed a heavy iron shovel down into the ground with a resounding thud.

“Come on, then. Who dares!”

Two seconds later, everyone in the courtyard surged toward him.

…

The battle stretched on, and at some point the center of the fighting began pressing toward the small courtyard, then extending further out toward the modest street market and fish stalls near Ten-Step Slope.

Not far off, on a small hillside, two carriages stood parked by the roadside, a man holding up a long tube, peering toward Ten-Step Slope.

“Whoa, how did it turn into a fight like this…”

By the look of it, this clash had drawn together several hundred combatants in total; a fight of this scale was more than enough proof of just how formidable the force behind Xi Junyu truly was. Ning Yi had originally assumed that, given the resources a family like the Su household could muster, crushing whatever small group stood behind someone like Xi Junyu would be as easy as crushing a grasshopper underfoot. But it now appeared this particular grasshopper wasn’t so easily crushed after all—this affair had clearly grown far larger than anticipated.

The night was still, and shouts of battle carried across the distance, audible even from here; occasionally, snatches of chaos drifted over, and Ning Yi found himself frowning… Meanwhile, on the side of Cheng Lie and the Hundred Blades Alliance, there was genuine astonishment at just how stubbornly resilient this group of outsiders had proven to be.

Just moments earlier, back in that courtyard, they had seemingly had these men fully surrounded—yet in the end, the intruders had still managed to force their way out through sheer brute persistence. Among them, Ou Peng’s skill was considerable, momentarily even matching Cheng Lie blow for blow; and they clearly had someone skilled in tactical coordination as well, because just as the group at the center found itself surrounded, those still fighting out in the small woods had already begun pressing toward the courtyard to converge with them. In the end, though the Hundred Blades Alliance held the numerical advantage overall, a portion of the intruders had still managed to fight their way clear.

Still, even granting that these men had proven a formidable force crossing into hostile territory, rescuing Xi Junyu had come at heavy cost; as they fought their way toward the small street market at Ten-Step Slope, they lost still more men along the way. By now, this remaining group of barely twenty or so men had Ou Peng at the front, the giant wielding the iron shovel bringing up the rear, and the already badly wounded Ma Lin positioned in the middle, still exchanging blows with the Hundred Blades Alliance members pressing in around them. Beside Ma Lin, Xi Junyu—himself struck by a blade at some point—was now speaking with a lean, gaunt-featured man.

“…Brother Jiang, this is my fault. I’ve brought everyone into this with me…”

“Our kind repays kindness with kindness, and grudges with grudges in equal measure. You did us a good turn once, and helping you was something we did willingly, with clear hearts. It’s a shame, though—this scheme was flawless from the start, and only now do we learn it had already been overturned from the very beginning. This Ning Yi is formidable…”

“He worked in shadow while I stood exposed. Now that I know who he is, if we’ve lost this round, we’ll simply find our way back next time…”

Even mentioning Ning Yi’s name now made Xi Junyu grit his teeth in fury, though even now, he still hadn’t quite grasped the full reality of it all. The man beside him, named Jiang Jing, was himself a man of considerable cunning, having taken part in the entire scheme and arrangement of the original assassination attempt. He now let out a cold laugh.

“Lost? That’s not so certain…”

“Hm?”

“In the end, brute force can always overcome cleverness! But this isn’t settled yet—let’s focus on breaking through first and see what happens after. Everyone, head south!”

“Kill!”

At the rear of the group, the shovel-wielding giant sent another man flying through the air with a mighty blow; ahead of him, Ou Peng’s spear whirled like a windstorm, single-handedly driving back four or five encroaching Hundred Blades Alliance members. Not far off, Cheng Lie reappeared in view, flanked by Su Boyong and his daughter, blade in hand, charging forward. Ou Peng flicked a projectile with one hand, sending it flying toward the two Su family members; Cheng Lie’s blade snapped out with a sharp CLANG, deflecting it.

Ou Peng burst into laughter.

“Listen well, you Su family scum! If we escape today, I swear we’ll return one day with reinforcements and wipe out your entire clan—to honor the souls of our brothers who’ve died and bled tonight!”

“Ha ha.” Amid the fighting, Ma Lin blocked an attacker’s strike. “Count me in too! Little Su family bitch, remember your Brother Ma here, ha ha!”

Amid the fighting, trading insults and provocations back and forth was itself a kind of tactic—words like these had already been hurled more than once tonight. These men were all desperate outlaws to begin with, with dozens of their brothers already dead or wounded; they had nothing left to lose, and among such men, sharp words tended to fly regardless of whether the target listened or not, provoking a whole chorus of curses in return.

“You Su family had better remember this…”

“So long as I’m not dead today…”

“If you dare…”

Jiang Jing, too, laughed and called out: “Tell that Ning Liheng—when I come back one day, he won’t be so lucky next time…”

“That little Su family bitch, remember this—when it’s your turn, I’ll make sure your husband’s right there watching…”

At some distance, Su Boyong’s hands gripped the armrests of his wheelchair so hard it creaked audibly. Guard Geng, his expression already dark with fury, charged toward the group. Su Tan’er understood they were provoking her deliberately, but found her face flushing with anger regardless. In any case, this remained fundamentally a chaotic underworld skirmish, lacking anything resembling a proper military-style encirclement; the Hundred Blades Alliance’s containment lines, for the moment, seemed unable to close off the escape routes fast enough.

At that very moment, on the road running alongside Ten-Step Slope, a carriage came racing in from the distance, recklessly crashing straight through the Hundred Blades Alliance’s loosely arranged defensive line.

A figure was shoved out from inside, and a voice cried out: “Hold your hands, whoever dares move against him—”

The carriage’s lanterns swayed wildly. What emerged from behind the pulled-back curtain was a man bound tightly in ropes, dressed in a scholar’s long robe—and behind him, several men dressed as Su household servants pressed steel blades against his neck.

The Hundred Blades Alliance members nearby, seeing the men’s Su household servant attire, weren’t immediately certain which side they belonged to. A moment later, the lanterns on the carriage were extinguished—but that brief instant had been enough for some sharp-eyed observers to catch a glimpse of the scholar’s face. Jiang Jing glanced over and suddenly burst out laughing. “Ha, it worked! It worked! Brothers, charge through!”

Xi Junyu thought his eyes must be playing tricks on him—the bound man in the distance looked unmistakably like Ning Yi. “Brother Jiang, that’s…”

“Ning Yi—ha ha, that’s my backup plan, arranged in advance. Once the results of the clan assembly came out, I guessed you’d been set up, so I put two plans into motion at once… It was already prepared beforehand regardless, but it’s proving quite useful right about now! Take a hostage, force them to let us through!”

Powerful as the Hundred Blades Alliance was, even if this group managed to break through the encirclement now, they’d still face a relentless pursuit afterward—nothing would prove more useful right now than a hostage. Everyone shifted direction at once, charging toward that end of the encirclement, with the already wounded Ma Lin laughing wildly as he pressed forward at the front. “That little Su family bitch—today I’ll show you what real pain feels like…”

Meanwhile, Cheng Lie was asking Su Boyong and Su Tan’er what exactly had just happened; only Su Boyong offered a few brief words in reply. The Hundred Blades Alliance members closing in from a distance seemed similarly puzzled, uncertain how to interpret the presence of Su household servants aboard that carriage. Watching the group charge inward, everyone maintained their encircling stance, and for a moment, the sounds of battle near Ten-Step Slope quieted somewhat.

Su Tan’er stood there, her entire heart sinking.

By her own training, as a merchant, she was supposed to remain calm—under any circumstances, one should stay composed, think clearly, and find a way to respond. Because no matter how panicked one became, panic solved nothing; when a problem arose, the only path forward was to solve it. But in this moment, she found herself nearly unable to breathe at all.

Her mind went utterly blank; her body felt as though it had been plunged into an icy cellar, her thoughts frozen solid.

The carriage, blocked from advancing further, came to a stop on the slope; the clash of weapons continued around it. Ma Lin, like a blade himself, charged straight toward the carriage, intending to reunite with his four companions aboard. Finally, his heavy blade cut down the last man blocking his path, and he walked up to the darkened carriage, turned his head to look at Ning Yi, bound and seated against the shaft, then turned back and raised his blade toward those below. “Hold, everyone! Anyone still dares close in, try it and see what happens!”

By now, Cheng Lie had already learned from Su Boyong just how important Ning Yi truly was—far more than simply a matrilocal son-in-law. At his signal, the disciples still advancing gradually stopped their approach. Jiang Jing spread his arms wide, standing halfway up the slope. “Ha ha, what can you possibly do now! I told you—we’ll be back to settle this!”

“This can’t continue—the longer it drags on, the more we’ll lose.” From a distance, Cheng Lie turned and spoke to Su Boyong. A moment later, Su Tan’er suddenly shook her head. “No! We can’t do this!”

Catching his breath for a moment, Ou Peng dragged his great spear and began walking up the slope, the others turning to follow him. The distance was no more than four or five zhang, but with so little light, those above appeared as little more than silhouettes. Ma Lin stood beside the carriage, the hostage seated on the carriage shaft.

Then, they saw the hostage stand up.

The motion was almost casual, understated—and yet it carried an impact striking enough to leave everyone stunned. How could a hostage simply stand up like that? Within the dark outline of his silhouette, the figure turned to face the crowd, raised a hand toward Ma Lin beside him, and a single point of red light flickered in the darkness.

BANG—

At barely half a meter’s distance, a burst of fire bloomed in the darkness like a blossoming flower, engulfing Ma Lin’s entire head within it, flesh and blood scattering outward in the same instant as the burst of flame.

The figure didn’t even have time to sway before the flash of light faded, and he toppled stiffly sideways to the ground.

Everyone froze in place.

The dark figure lowered his hand and bent down, pulling the rope binding his body loose.

The tremendous crack of the explosion still spread and echoed across the entire night sky, lingering long after.

“You all sounded like you were having such a good time talking about me over there…” He tossed the rope aside, spread his arms wide, and declared with unmistakable enthusiasm: “So I decided to come see for myself!”