“Boom—”

A tremendous roar and a rising column of fire flared in from the edge of his vision, dazzling and bright, throwing the surrounding chaos into sharp relief. The great blade swung upward, already raised high in the midst of the girl’s charge. Ning Yi fired off a shot to one side, and at the same moment, another figure slipped soundlessly into the space between the two of them, cloaked in the firelight’s glow, their footsteps deceptively swift beneath an unhurried gait, cutting directly across Liu Xigua’s charging path.

The blade came sweeping down.

“Clang—”

The black-clad figure met the great blade’s edge head-on, raising the weapon held in their left hand; on impact, a crisp ringing sound rang out, followed by the force being deflected away with a thunderous release. Liu Xigua’s overlord blade technique had always relied on raw power and unbroken momentum, and this furious strike, born of rage, was very nearly at its absolute peak — yet even so, the blade visibly hesitated in midair before finally crashing down into the earth, sending grass and soil scattering violently in every direction.

The light and shockwave from the distant explosion finally rippled through at that moment, casting a faint glow over the outline of this figure who had suddenly appeared — a young woman dressed in black fighting attire, her long hair bound up, standing tall and straight, her gaze cool and clear, robes and hair stirring in the air. In her left hand, gripped in a reverse hold, was a plain, ancient-looking iron sword, not even drawn from its sheath. For an instant, Xigua’s eyes caught the light too, and then she dragged her blade back and struck again.

Her overlord blade technique depended on unbroken momentum and distance — a superficial weakness that others could recognize, and one she herself understood perfectly well. Ordinarily, though, few people even had the ability to stand in the way of her charge to begin with, and even in the rare case where something disrupted her momentum, denying her the room to maneuver, she had no shortage of follow-up techniques and killing moves prepared — arguably even more vicious than her ordinary overlord blade forms. Now, with her advance checked even slightly, she’d already reversed her grip on the hilt, meaning to overcome finesse with raw power, swinging the great blade up in an underhand arc. Another crack sounded through the air as the black-clad woman struck the back of the girl’s hand.

Crack, crack-crack-crack-crack—

For a moment, the sound of their exchange came like lightning strikes, one after another.

Xigua had charged in a straight line; the woman had simply stepped directly into her path. In the blink of an eye, the distance between them had closed to point-blank range. The great blade swept down, whirling wildly like a living python, while beneath Xigua, her footwork and the unrestrained blows of her Little Vajra Fist Combo poured out without reservation. The black-clad woman, by contrast, moved like a willow suddenly swaying in a great wind — their exchange came like lightning, and though her upper body shifted with each strike, her feet never retreated so much as half a step. In an instant, the blade’s edge spun and swept upward once more from behind, and the black-clad woman’s figure, like a bowstring drawn to its absolute limit, suddenly unleashed the fiercest blow yet against the girl wielding the great blade.

Whoosh—

The blade cut through empty air.

The great blade, dragging the girl along like the spinning blade of an electric fan, flew off several meters to one side, slicing through and toppling an entire tent. She rolled once across the ground, caught herself with one hand, and rose to a half-kneeling position, lifting her head.

All of this, in truth, had happened within the span of a few brief moments.

The wooden barrels struck by the two fire arrows never actually exploded — that explosion had instead come from a nearby wooden shed, where several horses, the mounts stabled closest to this area, had been kept. Just as Liu Xigua had charged forward, and Ning Yi’s shot went firing past Fang Shuchang’s side, the black-clad woman had already appeared before him. Her frenzied exchange with Liu Xigua had lasted barely two breaths before Xigua, blade and all, had gone flying.

Meanwhile, Zheng Qiming had been driven back by a single, simple sword stroke from the woman, and Ning Yi had already retreated several steps, glancing once at Xigua before heading toward a nearby warhorse. The horses in the shed had already been spooked into a panic, but there were, naturally, two others standing ready nearby.

The whole affair had erupted too suddenly, and Liu Xigua’s own mind was in turmoil; the group she’d managed to summon wasn’t especially large to begin with. Liu Tiannan had already left, and aside from Xigua herself, only Fang Shuchang, Zheng Qiming, and Qian Luoning remained. The long-haired woman in black, sword held sideways in one hand, had somehow positioned herself squarely in front of all of them. Her features were plain and unadorned, and she wasn’t especially old, yet those few simple sword strokes alone had left Fang Shuchang and the others with a feeling of being utterly outmatched — a feeling they’d likely only ever experienced before when facing Liu the Great Blade himself.

Even so, though Xigua’s earlier flurry of blows had looked as though she’d been driven back with ease, in truth she hadn’t been hurt at all. The woman before her was a cut above her in skill, but not by an overwhelming margin — it was only because Xigua had struck out in a fit of fury, her mind clouded and restless, that she’d come out at a disadvantage in such a short exchange. She braced herself with one hand on the ground now, then suddenly raised her head, gritted her teeth, and charged forward once more — this time straight toward Ning Yi. Ning Yi flung something and turned to run.

The object was the teacup he’d been holding a moment before — a splash of tea water flew toward her. Xigua raised her overlord blade with a sweep, batting the curtain of water aside; before her, an ancient, weathered blade was already thrusting in. She dropped low, sliding across the grass, swung the overlord blade back around, and struck furiously at the black-clad woman’s lower body, then planted both feet and lunged forward again with renewed force.

Fang Shuchang and the other two had already charged in by this point. Facing Liu Xigua’s seemingly reckless, life-or-death offensive, the black-clad woman found herself giving ground rapidly. The distance to the two horses wasn’t especially far by now; Ning Yi had already mounted one, snapping the reins, and pulled the other into a run alongside him. From the distant treeline, two more arrows came flying, aimed at cutting off Fang Shuchang and Qian Luoning’s path. Liu Xigua’s figure moved like a hunting leopard, already leaping forward to strike at the horse just beginning to gallop off, and the black-clad woman leapt as well, positioning herself in the way.

Clang—

The great blade struck the ancient sword, sparks bursting startlingly through the air; the black-clad woman used the rebound force to swing herself up onto the horse’s back, while Xigua, still gripping her great blade, dropped back down to the ground. The warhorse let out a long whinny; amid the scattered firelight in the distance, the nearest horses had already been spooked into scattering wildly. Yet even while still airborne, Xigua had already released her grip on the overlord blade. The instant her feet touched ground, she braced one hand against the earth and, without a moment’s pause, surged forward once more.

The warhorse galloped on, but behind it, the girl pursued with almost no lag at all, weaving around boulders ahead, tearing through a stream in a spray of water, racing across the grassland like the wind itself. Liu Xigua’s mastery of the overlord blade had always been built on exceptional lightness technique, and now, freed of her weapon’s weight, the speed beneath her feet actually exceeded that of a galloping horse. Jaw clenched, eyes burning with fierce intensity, her speed continued to climb — only a single arrow loosed from the treeline briefly slowed her down, but the archers hidden there soon had to turn and flee themselves, since Fang Shuchang and Zheng Qiming were closing in from behind, while Qian Luoning had split off elsewhere, clearly to rally the others.

The warhorse plunged into a small stretch of woods and burst out the other side; after crossing a short stretch of valley, it plunged once more into the forest ahead. Behind it, Xigua’s pursuit never once let up — she looked, in truth, like nothing so much as a leopard weaving through the trees, all speed and agile grace. On any ordinary occasion, Ning Yi might well have been happy to admire the sight, but right now, even he found himself at something of a loss for words. Beside him, the black-clad woman glanced back occasionally, then over at Ning Yi, unable to do much besides sigh at the complicated mess playing out with the girl chasing behind them.

At some point, a thrown blade came whistling in from behind; the black-clad woman deflected one with her sword, but a second one buried itself in the leg of Ning Yi’s horse. In an instant, horse and rider went tumbling; Ning Yi was thrown from the saddle, only to be caught by the black-clad woman and hauled back onto her own horse. The landscape blurred past; the wounded horse, meanwhile, slammed into a large tree beside them, flesh and blood bursting outward, and was quickly left far behind.

What had been one rider per horse now became two sharing a single mount, and the horse’s speed inevitably began to drop. Xigua closed the gap ever faster, and in the woods not far off, it seemed others were catching up as well. At one point, another thrown blade came flying in; the black-clad woman braced herself hard atop the horse, flipped down to intercept it, and in that same instant, the girl called Xigua came surging in.

The first exchange, palm against fist. The second, knee slamming against sheathed blade. By the third, the girl was practically airborne — the woman drove a fist upward, and Xigua planted her foot squarely on that very fist, launching herself into the air.

This time, Xigua had truly poured everything she had into it, yet her heart clearly wasn’t in continuing the fight. She spun around, swinging out with a hand — and in that moment, catching hold of the girl’s leg would have posed no real difficulty, but as her hand reached out, she still hesitated, just slightly. Having run the entire distance, the girl had already driven her internal energy to its absolute limit; her whole body seemed almost ready to steam with white vapor. Whether or not this pursuit succeeded, she would likely need a long stretch of recovery afterward, regardless.

In the end, she withdrew her hand, crossing both arms in front of her to block a ferocious punch coming in from the side. Xigua’s body launched skyward, soaring five or six meters into the air before finally landing some distance away, rolling once, and continuing the chase without pause.

The punch came in like a tiger’s roar; the woman raised both arms to block it. Her skill had always been top-tier to begin with, and since folding in something resembling the philosophy of Taiji, she’d reached an even higher plane still — transforming martial technique into something closer to the Way itself — yet even so, her footing still couldn’t hold steady. The two figures went flying several meters apart, tumbling and thudding across the ground, the fist-wielding figure sent flying even further; by the time the woman rose, Chen Fan, several meters off, had already tumbled like a rolling gourd and slammed into a tree before struggling back to his feet. At the same moment, the woman had already crossed swords with another opponent — after a few exchanges of blade against blade, she suddenly leapt back several meters. Facing her was Du Sha, longsword in hand; glancing over at Chen Fan, even he seemed reluctant to press the attack.

Fang Shuchang and Zheng Qiming had by now caught up on horseback as well. Not far off in the woods, another skirmish seemed to be underway. Chen Fan wiped away a trickle of blood at the corner of his mouth, staring at the woman before him with something close to disbelief, his gaze finally settling on her wounded ancient sword and its sheath.

“It can’t be — you’re… the one who’s with Liheng… that Iron Sword of Rivers and Mountains, Lu Hongti?”

Lu Hongti tilted her head slightly and smiled faintly. “Lu Hongti of the Lüliang Mountains — the Iron Sword of Rivers and Mountains was only ever a joke. I’d rather not cross blades with any of you. Shall we call this off here?”

Chen Fan murmured a sigh. “So formidable, and I never knew…” Fang Shuchang and Zheng Qiming frowned, unsure quite how to respond to her proposal of a truce, and instead turned to Chen Fan and Du Sha. “Where’s the Chief?”

“She’s…” Chen Fan pointed, frowning, in the direction Liu Xigua had run off toward. Lu Hongti walked that way, taking up a posture as if to block the path. “Perhaps it’s better, going forward, to let the two of them settle this themselves — don’t you all agree?”

The ambiguous nature of whatever existed between Ning Yi and Xigua was something everyone already had some sense of; though hard to confirm outright, Lu Hongti’s words here only made the whole situation seem all the more charged. At this point, the one with the most standing to weigh in was, naturally, Du Sha, while Chen Fan, standing nearby, could count both Ning Yi and Xigua as friends. Fang Shuchang and Zheng Qiming waited a moment, then, recalling something, leaned in and asked, “Chief Du, Chen Fan — how did you two know about this, and get here ahead of everyone else? We couldn’t find either of you earlier.”

That the two of them had arrived even before news of Ning Yi’s situation had reached the others struck everyone as strange. Chen Fan and Du Sha exchanged a glance and frowned. “We…” Chen Fan looked off in the direction Xigua had disappeared, hesitating slightly. “We were actually sent out by Liheng to handle something else, and then… we found some problems…”

…

The stars had dimmed, and a waning crescent moon hung like a brow, curved like a hook. As the warhorse burst free of the treeline and collapsed onto the grass, Ning Yi rolled a few times across the ground and got to his feet, pulling out his firearm and beginning to load it. Fields stretched out in the distance, and beyond them, a small village, a scattering of lights glimmering faintly.

The girl approached from that direction, a single blade in hand. Ning Yi raised his firearm. “That’s far enough.”

But the figure opposite him kept coming, gaze fixed and unwavering, movements almost mechanical, advancing at an unbroken pace.

Ning Yi sighed and finally lowered the firearm, drawing the war blade at his side instead. The girl, unmoved, kept closing the distance.

“You never finished…” she said. “What I asked you — you never finished answering.”

Ning Yi shook his head. “Haven’t I already said everything there was to say?”

“Was everything you told me a lie?”

Ning Yi didn’t answer, and her jaw trembled faintly, her eyes turning fierce as she pressed on.

“The things you told me — the things we were going to do together, within the Overlord Blade Battalion…”

“You’re nothing but a man who married in — there’s nowhere else you could ever have done any of that…”

“No one would ever have taken you seriously. You thought so much, said so much, and that’s exactly why I believed you. Was all of it a lie!?”

She suddenly closed the distance. Ning Yi’s gaze hardened, and his war blade lashed out in a flash, the internal power of the Six-Path-Breaking technique driven to its absolute limit in that instant — but the woman dropped low and dodged it entirely.

“My father was killed by the imperial court’s people. I told you that… I told you that myself!”

Ning Yi swung a fist; she batted it aside with ease, and he followed with another slash of the blade — but this time, the girl before him suddenly raised her head, fixed her eyes on him, and swept out with one hand!

A sharp crack — the blade shattered from Ning Yi’s grip, the tiger’s mouth of his hand splitting open, and the war blade sailed up into the night sky and vanished from view. The girl grabbed hold of his collar and pressed the edge of her single blade hard against his throat.

“So this is the blade that killed the Tang bandits!? Bloodhanded Butcher, is it, Bloodhanded Butcher — your skill is this poor—” As she spoke, she had already forced him back several meters, slamming him against a tree trunk with a thud, the blade’s edge pressed tight against his throat. “Your skill is this poor… how could you possibly have stopped me from killing you!”

Amid this fiercely restrained shout, Xigua had already broken into tears. She stared at Ning Yi, tears streaming down, her whole body trembling. Ning Yi pressed his firearm against her stomach, and she paid it no mind at all; but after a moment, he lowered his hand, perhaps sensing there was no point in it now. “Cough — there were things that needed doing. I already told you that…”

“You’re working for the imperial court…”

“Because your side can’t afford to keep dragging this out any longer.” Ning Yi looked at her. “Even if you’d kept holding out in Hangzhou, none of you would have come to a good end! But the north can’t afford to wait any longer either. Wait too long, and this whole nation — Liao or Jin, doesn’t matter which — will end up despised by everyone. The moment the fighting in the north wraps up, if they come south, it’ll be an absolute catastrophe!”

“What does the Wu Dynasty living or dying have to do with me!? My Overlord Blade Battalion…” Liu Xigua shouted, choked with tears streaming down her face, “is a rebellion!”

“The Wu Dynasty living or dying has nothing to do with me either! But when the Jin and the Liao come down from the north, it won’t just be the Wu Dynasty they’re after! If your rebellion could really succeed, I’d help you do it — but it can’t. That emperor sitting on his golden throne up north, you can kill him, I can kill him too. The Jin, the Liao — they’re not the ones who get to do the killing. Call him a beast, a pig, a dog if you like — but that’s still the honor of a nation at stake. You can strike your own face if you like, but you can’t let someone else do it — because if you do…” He paused. “…you tear the very backbone out of a whole nation…”

“So that’s why you’re going to help the imperial court?”

“That’s why I’m going to help Qin Siyuan!”

“I don’t know what you’re even talking about…” Xigua looked at him, her lips moving faintly. Beneath her usual fierce, unyielding expression — the one she’d force herself to hold even when she couldn’t hold it — something like genuine hurt finally surfaced. The blade was still pressed against Ning Yi’s throat, but it was clear now she could never bring herself to cut. She drew a difficult breath. “If you’re already… if you’re already one of the imperial court’s people now, if you already mean to help them — you could have left when the city fell. Why didn’t you?”

This was, likely, the very question everyone — herself included, all the way through this whole pursuit — had most wanted to ask. It was precisely because Ning Yi had sent his wife away and yet still stayed behind that everyone had come to trust him so unreservedly. Ning Yi looked off toward the distant trees, his lips moving.

“There were still things I hadn’t finished giving you. There were things I still needed to explain, things I hadn’t finished organizing yet. And besides… when you left the city, the crowd was a mixed bag — you have over five thousand people with you now. The court has two separate rings of spies planted among you. One of them I know about; the other, I don’t. The Overlord Blade Battalion’s name has, after all, already been flagged on the court’s books. They don’t have time to deal with you right now, but they will, eventually. How could I leave without clearing that out first…”

The girl’s gaze wavered. Ning Yi gave a mocking little laugh. “Those things Lü Jiang gave you — those were just letters I’d written personally, meant for emergencies when I couldn’t reach them directly. But ever since that business at Taiping Lane, I stopped placing any real hope in that pack of useless allies — infighting, jockeying for credit, shirking blame…”

“These past few days I’ve been looking into everyone suspicious within the ranks. At the third quarter of the you hour, Liu Luming secretly handed these things over to Lü Jiang, and half an hour later I followed that thread and found the men they’d planted among the refugees. Then I asked Chen Fan and Master Du to handle it — they should already be finished by now. If it hadn’t been a knife in the back, I’d never have been able to root them out. As it is… them dying cleanly is exactly what they deserve…”

Ning Yi finished speaking, looked at the girl before him, and let out a sigh. “Once this is done, you’ll all be able to shake off the court’s surveillance for a while, and get clean away from all this. That’s about all I can do…”

Xigua was still staring at him, but the killing intent in her eyes had drained away. A tangle of complicated thoughts churned in those wide eyes, tears spilling down. After a long while, she finally said, “I won’t let you off.” She pulled the blade away, released his collar, and stepped back two paces. “I won’t let you off…” Her voice was low, almost a murmur to herself.

She held the blade, turned, and walked a few unsteady, ghostlike steps, sniffled, then turned back, walking on while choking back sobs. She shifted position like this a few more times, before finally sinking down at the edge of the fields, facing the distant fields and village, wrapping her arms around herself, and bursting into tears, head bowed. The sound was uncontainable no matter how she tried to hold it in, and yet there was no way for her to go back now. This girl before him — for as long as she’d had any sense at all, she had always been fierce and unyielding, had never once cried, and no one had ever seen her cry, not once. But now, even she couldn’t hold back this feeling, couldn’t even quite explain to herself what it was.

Ning Yi sat down on the damp grass beside her. After a moment, he tentatively reached out and patted the girl’s shoulder, then let his hand settle there, trying to draw her in. Xigua let out a loud cry and turned toward him, sobbing loudly in his arms, then raised a fist and struck him hard on the shoulder. Ning Yi’s face turned green, and a second blow landed on his chest — she was still sobbing.

“My father was killed by the imperial court… Ning Liheng, my father was killed by the court’s people…”

She repeated this over and over, pounding at the man beside her there on the dark, star-strewn grass, and continued sobbing loudly in his arms, unable to stop for a long, long time…

…

It was deep into the night now, though it hadn’t rained. Ning Yi glanced up at the sky and stopped, together with Lu Hongti, before a run-down little shrine. Before long, Wenren Bu’er arrived to join them, accompanied by four men dressed in black fighting gear, two of them wounded.

“This is Chief Investigator Chen Yayuan, in charge of criminal investigation and intelligence matters across the Suzhou-Hangzhou region. When Hangzhou fell…”

Compared to ordinary court offices, the Six-Paneled Gate operated in a manner closer to that of the martial world. Though Chen Yayuan held the title of chief investigator, he surely held other official posts as well. Wenren Bu’er introduced him to Ning Yi, who cupped his hands with a smile.

“An honor. We were both in Hangzhou before, yet our paths never crossed — this is the first time we’ve properly met. I wonder, is Brother Chen any relation to Lord Chen Kailian of the Chen family in the capital?”

“That’s my father.”

“Ah, I’ve heard of him — an honor indeed, long admired from afar.”

This Chen Yayuan looked to be around thirty. Serving as an investigator for the Six-Paneled Gate was, by rights, hardly a glorious calling — even rising to chief investigator meant operating largely in the shadows, work most men of standing would avoid. It wasn’t clear what had led him into it. Ning Yi studied him for a moment.

“This all happened rather suddenly — fortunate that you gentlemen arrived in time. I heard that during the escape, a few people got caught up in the confusion and were killed — one of them named Liu Luming, I believe…”

Chen Yayuan’s gaze sharpened suddenly, fixing on Ning Yi — clearly caught somewhat off guard — but he quickly recovered with a smile.

“I did hear that this Chief Liu, quite the formidable fighter, ended up chasing Master Ning down single-handedly, and then let him go after all — I wonder if that’s true…”

Wenren Bu’er spoke up. “Gentlemen, we’re all on the same side here — let’s not let things sour between us…”

“You—”

Ning Yi’s firearm was already leveled at Chen Yayuan. The man froze for an instant, raising his blade to block — but with a tremendous crack, the shot tore through the fabric just below his heart, sending him flying backward, his stomach torn open. The men beside him drew their blades at once; Lu Hongti was already moving to meet them, and in an instant, two of them lay dead. The third turned to flee, but Lu Hongti chased him down within a few steps and killed him too. She looked with disgust at Chen Yayuan, still crawling backward on the ground, his stomach torn open, not yet dead, blood spilling from his mouth as he watched Ning Yi approach.

Wenren Bu’er stared at the scene, thoroughly stunned. Like Chen Yayuan, he’d never expected Ning Yi to strike so recklessly, without a second thought. “You… the Chen family holds real power. He… he may have gone too far this time, but this operation — he contributed a great deal too. He’s a capable man, how could you… how could you do this…”

Chen Yayuan pointed a trembling finger at Ning Yi. Ning Yi looked at him. “Which is exactly why — Chen Yayuan has given his life in service to the nation, laboring to his very last breath. I’m deeply saddened. When you told me about him, you said he was after credit and glory — well, wish granted. The greatest share of the honors for taking Hangzhou now belongs to him.” He spread his hands toward Chen Yayuan. “It’s yours.”

“But…” Wenren Bu’er still wanted to say more.

“He’s already dead.” Ning Yi declared this to the still-moving Chen Yayuan.

“This is, after all—”

“He’s already dead—”

Ning Yi suddenly roared this at the man before him, startling roosting birds into flight. His mood that night was clearly foul indeed. Wenren Bu’er rubbed his temples, falling silent for a long moment.

“Actually… what I mean to say is, using that firearm of yours on him wasn’t ideal. It would have been better if I’d killed him just now — with a blade, a sword, something no one could trace… now we’re going to have to dispose of the body and cover our tracks besides…”

“Ah, I got a bit carried away.” Ning Yi thought it over, then spread his hands toward the man again. “Look — he’s dead.”

This time, Chen Yayuan truly wasn’t moving anymore.

The night stretched on. From the woods came the sound of three voices talking.

“Disposing of bodies and covering tracks — you’re rather practiced at this sort of thing, aren’t you? You’re the professional spy here — do it properly. Hongti and I will head off first…”

“You could at least lend a hand…”

“I know a bit about it. I can help.”

“Miss Lu, so gracious.”

“This is disgusting…”

“…”

“Actually, what I really want to say is — this country’s in the state it’s in because there are simply too many people who think themselves capable, or actually are. If the north had a few more fools among their ranks, maybe they wouldn’t have lost so badly…”

“A most insightful observation, Brother Wenren.”

“Isn’t that exactly what Brother Ning was about to say?”

“I wasn’t going to say that. Though Hongti here can remember it — if the Wu Dynasty ever does collapse one day, it’ll be because we were surrounded by a whole team of godlike incompetents…”

“…Anyway, he’s already dead.”

“Heh heh…”

…

The forest lay quiet, starlight glinting like a thousand eyes; before long, rain began to fall, droplets gathering into rivulets, streaming through the woods, over the fields and hills, between the ancient city walls, washing away the chaos and smoke of war that had settled over this land. When the rain finally stopped, the wind swept through the trees, and along the horizon, the faintest hint of dawn’s pale light began to show. A day and a night had passed; soon, the sky would brighten once more…