It was like a sleepless night — the noise and excitement carried on until dawn. Not long after the battle at Huochuan Ridge erupted, the various visitors up at Qingmu Stronghold learned, through one channel or another, more or less how the great battle had gone. What followed was a tangle of aftermath business — cursing and shouting spreading across the stronghold, and, amid it all, the restrained, carefully-contained celebration of the mountain folk.

Those who had been sent out returned little by little, only to be scolded, one after another, in turn. The residents of the stronghold now knew of the battle’s victorious outcome, and gathered excitedly and joyfully throughout the valley to watch this strange sort of triumphant return. What followed was a night of unending aftermath work — men and horses returning and regrouping, the results of clearing the battlefield — and amid the joy and celebration, faint sounds of weeping could still be heard drifting through…

This commotion continued until the eastern sky began to pale, and then it seemed to dissolve all at once, as if something had abruptly cut it off. In the early morning, dew dampened people’s clothes, and in the crisp air, everything felt quiet and open. Far off in the mountains, a pleasant haze was slowly dispersing. Stepping out of her room, Lou Shuwan felt strangely hollow inside.

Lou Shuwan sat by the perimeter wall, watching the residents of the valley below going about their morning routines. After a moment, Yu Yulin came out as well, gazing at the same valley view. They had both learned of the outcome at Huochuan Ridge the night before — an almost unbelievable result. Lou Shuwan simply couldn’t understand how six thousand men, facing a mere twelve hundred, could have been utterly routed in less than two hours. And yet, unbelievable as it was, she’d found herself unable to say anything at the time either — her mind kept circling back to Ning Yi’s words, to the slap from the night before, everything feeling hollow and empty.

As a military commander himself, Yu Yulin saw the whole situation far more clearly, and had thought it through more carefully as well. Though he too had found it hard to believe at first, after a night had passed, by this morning he’d worked through everything that needed working through.

Men under leaders like Luan Sanlang and Chen Zhenhai, however numerous, were ultimately driven by momentary bloodlust — the kind of force that could overwhelm a soft target by sheer numbers, but couldn’t truly carry out a real assault against a hardened position. Yet even so, the sheer speed at which six thousand men collapsed against twelve hundred could only be explained by the fact that Qingmu Stronghold’s forces possessed strength and fighting spirit that was, frankly, almost absurdly formidable.

The chaos after their return the night before had given Yu Yulin some clues to work with — because after the main force returned, there had still been groups trickling back in afterward, groups that got scolded especially harshly, yet every one of them was grinning from ear to ear, clearly not men who’d suffered a defeat.

They had simply charged too fast and killed too many men on the battlefield, gotten separated from their units, and then gone on happily circling through the mountains slaughtering more before finally making their way back to the stronghold. In conventional thinking, one might say the enemy was simply too weak — but in reality, everyone values their own life, and even the Wu court’s regular army would typically only dare press such a relentless pursuit against a completely unarmed enemy. A force with this kind of active, aggressive will to seek out the enemy — regardless of how weak that enemy happened to be — was, in itself, a genuine display of strength.

And the most frightening part of all was that, upon returning, they’d still been scolded for it, and would likely face punishment on top of that, with their squad leaders made to write self-criticisms. This proved that the leadership up in the mountains hadn’t let a small victory go to their heads the way an ordinary stronghold might — their ambitions clearly extended far beyond this one battle.

As far as Yu Yulin could see, there was no one else capable of shaping a single stronghold like Qingmu into something like this — no one but that Butcher Ning from the Secret Investigation Bureau.

He considered mentioning some of this to Lou Shuwan, but in the end held his tongue. He didn’t know the full history of grievance between the two of them, but he sensed that this whole journey through Lüliang had, perhaps, been doomed to yield nothing the moment Ning Yi got involved.

That morning, people gradually began arriving to pay their respects to the leaders of Qingmu Stronghold. Since the Blood Bodhisattva was injured, the second-in-command, Zheng Ashuan, came out to receive everyone and calm their nerves — although Lüliang had seen some minor friction recently, Qingmu Stronghold had managed to smooth things over, and its stance and terms toward those wishing to do business in Lüliang would remain unchanged; everyone would still be welcome.

After the friction of the previous night, and Qingmu Stronghold’s thunderous rout of Luan Sanlang’s assault, this outcome already counted as good news. Lou Shuwan had no intention of paying her own respects to the stronghold’s leaders, so it fell to Yu Yulin and Tian Shi to go in her place. After meeting with Zheng Ashuan, Qingmu Stronghold invited everyone to stay for breakfast. While waiting, Tian Shi slipped off toward the rear — Yu Yulin guessed he was probably trying to pay a visit to the Blood Bodhisattva — and Yu Yulin himself wandered a bit outside the hall, when someone approached along the nearby mountain path.

“General Yu, did you sleep well last night?”

He turned to look and saw it was Ning Yi, dressed in a white robe, approaching. In the morning air, his smile looked rather easygoing.

“Master Ning, what a coincidence, running into you here.”

“Not a coincidence at all — I came looking for you specifically, General Yu.” Ning Yi said with a smile.

Yu Yulin frowned slightly. “Oh? What instruction does Master Ning have for me?”

“‘Instruction’ is too strong a word. I came up this mountain hoping to make things a little better for Lüliang. There’s been some friction between us, but I’m not here to play the villain — I hope General Yu can understand that much.”

Yu Yulin nodded, cupping his hands, somewhat puzzled.

“I’d like to help bring about a deal with the Tiger King — on the condition, of course, that the Tiger King is willing to submit to the court and become part of our Wu realm…”

“Wait.” Yu Yulin waved a hand. “Surely Master Ning has already discussed this with Miss Lou…”

Ning Yi smiled. “Indeed, I’ve already presented all the terms to her. But grievances and old scores can sometimes cloud one’s judgment, and when it comes to business, I’d rather be the small-minded one first. This is a copy of what I gave Miss Lou. Don’t worry, the contents are identical. My suggestion is, when you go back, tell Miss Lou directly that I gave you a copy of this. You can even say that you suspected I might be trying to drive a wedge between the two of you, but you decided to be upfront about it anyway — that way, she can’t alter anything, and it saves everyone a lot of trouble.”

Yu Yulin looked at the envelope Ning Yi held out to him. He’d originally thought that if the two sets of figures didn’t match, it would mean Ning Yi was scheming against Lou Shuwan — but instead, Ning Yi was actually urging him to be transparent about it. This way, Lou Shuwan naturally couldn’t tamper with anything either — though it did leave him looking a bit petty himself for having suspected foul play. “This is only going to make Miss Lou resent you even more, isn’t it? Master Ning, what exactly happened between you two?”

“If there are grievances that truly can’t be resolved, and if she’s willing to speak of it, General Yu will hear about it eventually. If she’s not willing, then let it stay buried in her heart. But on the whole, I bear her no ill will, and I hope she’ll go on to live a good life.” Ning Yi cupped his hands. “I’ll leave the rest to you, General Yu. If this partnership comes together, it’ll be good for both our sides.”

“I understand.” Yu Yulin cupped his hands in return, feeling, to his own surprise, a certain admiration rising for this man who’d been his adversary just the night before.

After Ning Yi left, Yu Yulin ate breakfast in the hall, then headed down the mountain with a rather subdued Tian Shi, who’d been rebuffed elsewhere. Back at their own courtyard, following Ning Yi’s suggestion, Yu Yulin produced the letter — goodwill aside, what he actually said still followed the very script Ning Yi had taught him: that Ning Yi might well be trying to frame Lou Shuwan, and that he’d taken the initiative to hand over the letter himself. This way, Lou Shuwan would owe him a debt of gratitude as well.

Sure enough, after forcing herself to stay composed while checking the two identical sets of figures, Lou Shuwan sat there gripping the letter, her eyes reddening. Ning Yi’s move, in terms of the business itself, could be called a safeguard — but on a personal level, it amounted to a rather ungenerous assumption of bad faith on his part. Yu Yulin quietly put away his own copy of the letter and left; though this attempt had failed, he still genuinely admired Lou Shuwan’s capabilities, knew she had a real future working under the Tiger King, and was willing to extend her this favor. But when it came to her personal grievance with the man they called the Heart Demon, he had absolutely no interest in it.

Above all, if at all possible, he’d rather not make an enemy of this man they called the Heart Demon — there was something about him that felt like he had every angle covered, no matter what.

That same morning, quite a few people — including the Great Radiance Cult’s delegation — had already bid farewell to Qingmu Stronghold and headed back down the mountain. Given the previous night’s decisive victory, and the duel that had erupted in the great hall, out of concern for the Blood Bodhisattva, quite a few people in the mountains had already grown restless since the night before, itching with anger to take action against the Great Radiance Cult’s people. However highly Lin Zongwu thought of himself, even he wouldn’t linger long in such a precarious position — once he’d held onto enough face, he took his leave from Qingmu Stronghold openly and with dignity, while Ning Yi, who had no intention of bringing up his assassination plans for the moment, appeared all the more magnanimous by comparison. The two sides parted, in effect, as having concluded a “friendly exchange,” and sent the visitors on their way down the mountain.

The moment Lin Zongwu was gone, Ning Yi had people spread word throughout Lüliang about how the Great Radiance Cult’s leader had lost to the Blood Bodhisattva — after all, a man of such renown, marching up onto someone else’s mountain, only to slink away afterward claiming it was a draw — who would believe that…

There hadn’t been many witnesses to begin with, and the Blood Bodhisattva certainly hadn’t lost — with Lin Zongwu gone, who in Lüliang would dare speak the truth otherwise…

That afternoon, once things had settled down somewhat, what appeared at the training grounds behind Qingmu Stronghold was not a celebration, but a funeral, a round of self-criticisms, and the enforcement of military discipline.

After commending a number of soldiers for their valor in battle and presenting them with two catties of meat and a small iron medal each, what followed was the announcement of the list of comrades confirmed dead the night before. Some of the bodies had been recovered and laid out at the front of the square. Several company and squad commanders were then called forward to be caned — some of whom had just moments earlier been among those commended, receiving meat and medals of their own.

“…Yesterday’s battle, we won. Some of you fought with real courage, and we don’t want to erase that credit. But at the same time, yesterday’s battle was also a complete mess!” Han Jing, the stronghold chief best versed in troop training, stood on the wooden platform and spoke loudly, a set of notes tucked in his sleeve — written by Ning Yi and passed along in Hongti’s name — which he’d read over several times and now recited from memory in several places.

“…Winning is enough!? So what if not many people died!? Our brothers, our comrades — they could have died in far fewer numbers! Did any of you see how their families were crying last night, this morning? While everyone else was celebrating, they could only cry at home — and some of them even had to force themselves to smile. Fan Meng’s mother, from the Third Company — you all know her, always bringing you fruit during training. Last night she was looking everywhere for Fan Meng. This morning, when she saw the body, she cried and told me, through her tears, that the stronghold was safe now, that everything would be fine now… Was it really fine!? Her son is dead! He’s never coming back—”

Han Jing swung his arm as he shouted, his eyes already growing damp.

“Every single one of you only has one life. Every one of your brothers only has one life too. We grew up here in Lüliang — fighting to the death is fine, but the whole point of fighting to the death is to stay alive! Qi Qianjun, Zheng Ashi — why are they being punished today, when yesterday, in the thick of the fighting, they were among the fiercest fighters out there? Because as your commanders, they failed at their job! Because while we’re out there risking our lives, they don’t just have to think about fighting hard — they have to think about how to bring back as many of your brothers alive as possible, while still winning! That’s what makes them commanders. Qi Qianjun — tell me, can you look Fan Meng’s mother in the eye?”

Off to the side, the man named Qi Qianjun, bent over the bench, lowered his head and said nothing. After a moment, he spoke in a rough voice: “I was wrong. I accept my punishment!”

Han Jing turned back and drew a breath. “Of course, you’ll say this was your first real battle since training began, that some things you just didn’t have the experience to hold back on, that as long as you won, it was fine… but the truth is, we haven’t even faced a truly formidable opponent yet. Right now, north of Lüliang, there are over two thousand men roaming around — former Liao soldiers. You could handle men like Luan Sanlang easily enough — but against them? Can you really count on getting lucky again? Every single battle, we have to learn from it. Think back on the mistakes made yesterday — all of you, go back and think about it! How do we stay calm! How do we coordinate with the brothers around us! How do we make sure nothing like yesterday happens again! Tonight, every one of you will write a self-criticism, squad by squad — every single one of you needs to think about where you could have done better, say it out loud, and then we’ll bring it all together and go over it as a group…”

As the caning began, with the crack of wooden rods sounding out, Han Jing stepped down from the platform, rather pleased with his own speech. Cao Qianyong fell in behind him. “Fifth Brother, didn’t know you had it in you to talk like that — sounded pretty reasonable, though something about it felt a little off.”

Han Jing pulled the sheet of notes out from his sleeve. “Following what’s written here, damn it, even I thought I sounded a bit too refined for once. Third Brother, you think Fourth Brother would’ve been better suited to give this speech?”

At Qingmu Stronghold, the second and fourth chiefs handled administration, while the third and fifth focused on military affairs. Cao Qianyong took the sheet and looked it over. “Tch, this Butcher Ning… hey, you think this whole business between him and Hongti is going to cause trouble?”

“I heard about it too. Honestly, I don’t much care for that pretty-boy type, but I’ve got to admit, the man’s got real ability… that Lin Zongwu from the Great Radiance Cult, damn it, if I’d known better I’d have sent men after him the moment he left last night, nice and clean…”

The reason the two of them were having this particular discussion just now was that, ever since word of the previous night’s events had spread, Ning Yi’s name and the stories surrounding him had finally begun circulating widely throughout Qingmu Stronghold.

Originally, when Ning Yi first arrived at Qingmu Stronghold, he’d been an outsider. Even after his relationship with Hongti had been announced to the stronghold’s inner circle, there had still been a certain wall between him and them. If not for that wall, when the great crowd had come to pressure the stronghold, Qingmu Stronghold could easily have spread word that they, too, had a formidable ally in their corner — the Secret Investigation Bureau’s own chief, the man the martial world blanched at the mention of, Butcher Ning — and that Qingmu Stronghold’s development and military training had all been shaped under his influence… But because of that wall, his identity had never actually been used here.

Ning Yi had originally planned to take some time to break down that wall himself — but who could have known that after last night’s battle, things would slide in a direction no one had anticipated. The Great Radiance Cult leader had challenged the Blood Bodhisattva, and as their own stronghold chief, a woman at that, she’d ended up injured in the end — and in the final reckoning, it was the man she was set to marry who had held the situation together.

And in Lin Zongwu’s own mouth, their stronghold chief’s love story had been twisted into something utterly vile — spreading the slanderous claim that the two of them had a master-disciple relationship, a baseless, malicious accusation! Their own stronghold chief, humiliated to this degree — who the hell could stand for that!

As these rumors spread, Ning Yi’s true identity had finally been fully uncovered, and everything about Qingmu Stronghold’s past — his guidance on troop training, and now this latest business with the astonishing firearms he’d brought — all of it came pouring out. Because of all this, the wall that had once stood between him and the stronghold dissolved, within the span of a single day, into shared outrage on his behalf — and this Master Ning suddenly became the most talked-about guest at Qingmu Stronghold.

Even so, not many people actually got to see him in person.

That night, when Zheng Ashuan walked into the courtyard, he saw Ning Yi sitting by the bedside in Hongti’s room, peeling an apple. The scholar looked up and nodded to him; he nodded back and headed toward Liang Bingfu’s room.

As Qingmu Stronghold’s second-in-command, Zheng Ashuan looked like nothing more than an honest, simple farmer. His martial skill wasn’t particularly high, and as far as administrative ability went, he was only middling to above average — but through years of steady, dogged responsibility, he had gradually become something like the stronghold’s general manager. Walking into the room, he reported to Liang Bingfu on all the various happenings around Qingmu Stronghold. Given how busy the past two days had been, the report stretched on in fits and starts for quite a while. When he finished, Liang Bingfu smiled.

“I hear Shitou got a beating.” Zheng Shitou, commander of Qingmu Stronghold’s Fifth Company, was Zheng Ashuan’s own son.

Zheng Ashuan said, “He did wrong, so getting beaten is only right. When he came home today, he even said he was sorry to the brothers who died — said some of them didn’t have to die…”

Liang Bingfu smiled and shook his head. “Whatever else, winning is still a good thing.”

Zheng Ashuan said, “Him coming home safe — that’s the good thing.”

“Mm.” Liang Bingfu nodded, thought for a moment, then looked up. “Ashuan, brother, let me ask you something. What do you think of Liheng?”

“Uh… what do you mean, Brother Liang…”

“Ahem, ahem. What I mean is — Liheng’s come to the mountain now, and the crisis has passed. Going forward, the first thing he’s likely to get involved in is exactly what’s under your charge — the day-to-day affairs of the stronghold, arranging people to manage things, clearing land, repairing houses, that sort of thing. Do you feel that him stepping in like that might not sit quite right with you — or, well, that he might be taking over your authority…”

Ordinarily, this sort of thing could never be said outright, which was exactly why, once Liang Bingfu said it plainly, Zheng Ashuan’s expression shifted and he shook his head rapidly. “No, no, no, nothing like that. I know full well where my own abilities stand. Master Ning is a man of real talent — of course I wouldn’t feel…”

“Ashuan, brother, what I’m getting at isn’t really about that.” Watching Zheng Ashuan’s protests, Liang Bingfu waved a hand with a smile, coughing a couple of times. “When outsiders suddenly show up, none of us are ever entirely happy about it deep down — sometimes there’s bound to be a little friction lower down, a few thorns here and there. That’s only human, there’s no avoiding it entirely. Of course, I know your generosity of spirit, Ashuan — you’d never trip him up on purpose. But it’s not enough to just leave it at that. I want you to think about this from another angle.”

“Huh?”

Zheng Ashuan looked puzzled, not quite following what the old man meant. Liang Bingfu took a sip of tea, thought for a moment, then continued.

“Ashuan, brother — do you think… I’m a capable man?”

“Brother Liang, you’ve held things together here for so long — without you, Qingmu Stronghold wouldn’t even exist. Of course you’re capable,” Zheng Ashuan said.

Liang Bingfu shook his head. “You’ve got it wrong. In truth, I’m only middling in ability — nowhere near capable enough to matter much. The reason I’ve held on at Qingmu Stronghold this long is a matter of responsibility, that’s all. You know I came here from outside the mountains when I was young — let me tell you, out there, among the people who’ve had an education, there’s no shortage of truly capable men. Liheng, and that chancellor above him, Qin Siyuan — those are the ones with real ability. Ashuan, my time is running short…”

“Brother Liang, you…”

“No, no, listen to me. I know my time is running short. As for Qingmu Stronghold — once I’m gone, it’ll pass to Hongti, though in practice it’s you standing beside her, holding things up. We live right on this fault line, our fate uncertain from one day to the next — no one can say what the future holds. We think we’re formidable now, but who’s to say some storm doesn’t come along one day and sweep it all away again… Ashuan, brother, whether it’s you and me, or our children after us, having real ability ourselves is what matters most in the end. While Liheng is here, don’t just cooperate with him — get people to actually go learn from him…”

The old man swallowed, paused. “Master Ning, you see — he’s not a man confined to just this one corner of Lüliang. Think ahead. If your Shitou, your daughter, any of them, can pick up even a fraction of what he knows, it’ll serve them well for the rest of their lives…”

He trailed off, thought a moment more — Liang Bingfu was, after all, an old man now, and sometimes his thoughts couldn’t quite keep pace, drifting off into a blank stare before he spoke again. “The world out there — the people Liheng and his kind deal with, they’re all shrewd, sharp operators. I want Hongti to have a good life going forward, but who can say for certain — one wrong turn, and something might happen to this Master Ning too… So all of you, whenever you have the chance to learn, learn as much as you can. My own ability is limited, after all — there’s only so much I can teach you. Whatever you can pick up from Liheng, that’s Qingmu Stronghold’s road forward…”

Old men always want to leave something of themselves behind, and knowing their own abilities are limited, this old man’s thoughts, even now, still circled back to the future road ahead for Qingmu Stronghold. Zheng Ashuan nodded. “Brother Liang, I understand what you mean. Don’t worry.” Normally the two of them addressed each other casually, but this time Zheng Ashuan found himself using the more formal, respectful form of address.

The old man smiled. “One more thing. I hear the whole stronghold’s been talking about him…”

“Yes, because of Hongti getting hurt last night, Master Ning’s reputation has really spread now.”

“That alone isn’t enough. This is a good opportunity,” the old man said. “Last night, because of that Sect Leader Lin’s slander about the master-disciple business, Hongti’s grown a bit reluctant about the marriage…”

Zheng Ashuan blinked, startled. “That… how can that be…”

“So this is something you should go out and speak about too. This Sect Leader Lin — not only did he try to ruin someone’s reputation, he tried to wreck their marriage as well. Liheng has great affairs to attend to out there in the world, and to keep this slander from harming him, Hongti’s decided she doesn’t want to marry after all — our own Qingmu Stronghold has, in the end, been slapped across the face over this… You go out and say it just like that.”

“But the two of them… is it really…”

The night deepened. Back at the training grounds, the self-criticisms were still underway. Among the houses scattered through the valley, points of lamplight glowed with anticipation and quiet joy. In the small courtyard, in the old man’s room, the lamp still burned. Far, far off in the mountains, distant from Qingmu Stronghold, figures stepped out of camps here and there, gazing toward the direction of the stronghold, murmuring among themselves. They could no longer see Qingmu Stronghold’s lights from where they stood — and yet, somehow, in that direction, people couldn’t shake the feeling that some vast new force had broken free of its shell, and that no one could yet say what kind of power it might grow into.

Or perhaps — whether it would become an enemy, or a friend…

Somewhere among the distant mountains, a wolf’s howl rose into the night.