The sky had grown late; looking out from the solemn, towering Palace of Heaven’s Pole, the crimson clouds were gradually dispersing, and no breeze could be felt in the air. Situated at this pivotal center of power in the Central Plains, every rise and fall of authority here carried, in truth, a similar undertone.
The Tiger King spoke unhurriedly, giving Minister Hu Ying a few final instructions. After a moment of silence, he added, “For the sake of this matter, I even had Minister Lou thrown into prison…” His tone was far from light.
Hu Ying bowed and stepped forward. “Lou Shuwan cannot be trusted.”
“She and the Demon of the Heart share a blood feud — he killed her father, after all.”
“And yet Lou Shuwan was also the very first to establish ties with that demon. In a matter of such gravity, what feud over a father could not be set aside? Besides, given Lou Shuwan’s usual temperament… she is highly suspect.”
Tian Hu fell silent for a moment. “…I have my own judgment on this matter.”
With this exchange concluded, Tian Hu waved his hand, and Hu Ying took his leave, making his way out of the Palace of Heaven’s Pole. At this hour, the streets of Weisheng were thick with people; the Palace of Heaven’s Pole, built against the mountainside, offered from its windows a view of the city’s outline and the rolling hills beyond. As the man at the very center of power, having spent over a decade building all this, gazed out into the distance, in places within Weisheng beyond the reach of his sight, matters belonging to countless individuals were also unfolding, crossing and intersecting with one another.
The prison.
In any regime, a place bearing such a name was invariably a dark abyss — hidden at the very center of power, yet incapable of bringing anyone joy. The Great Jin regime had risen from a bandit rebellion, and its laws had been chaotic and disordered from the very start; every struggle within it had been settled purely by cunning and raw strength. Its prisons, too, were steeped in countless dark and bloody histories. Even now, though the name “Great Jin” had grown to surpass many others, the framework of proper order still had not been fully established, and the prison located in the eastern part of the city remained, in some sense, a hellish realm capable of silencing a crying child merely by its mention.
Amid the oppressive, foul-smelling air, screams occasionally echoed faintly from somewhere in the distance, reverberating through the prison. In the deepest recesses of the prison, where important figures were held, a woman in grey robes sat upright and composed on the edge of a simple straw-covered bed in one such cell. Slender of frame, with long fingers resting on her knees, her face had grown pale after days without sunlight, yet her gaze remained calm and detached — only her lips, pressed tightly together, betrayed a faint, deliberate tension.
This woman, named Lou Shuwan, had once been the greatest anomaly within the power structure of Great Jin — a woman who, against all odds, had earned the Tiger King’s deep trust and, in managing the domestic affairs of Great Jin, had come to shoulder half the weight of the entire regime.
She was ruthless by nature, strict in managing her subordinates, businesslike at court, and never showed favoritism to anyone. Amid repeated Jurchen invasions from the south, chaos and hardship across the Central Plains, and a Great Jin court rife with hedonistic imperial relatives demanding special privileges, she had, with the Tiger King’s backing, fought to preserve the agricultural and commercial systems of several key prefectures and counties, enabling these regions to keep feeding resources into the Tiger King’s regime as a whole. Over the course of several years, she had risen to the very pinnacle of power within the Tiger King’s court.
Nowadays, some called her the “Lady Chancellor,” while others privately cursed her as the “Black Widow.” To maintain the proper functioning of the prefectures and counties under her charge, she had on several occasions personally stepped in, using bloody and ruthless methods to root out troublemakers, agitators, and even the hidden forces behind them — and among certain people, she had also earned the reputation of “the Female Just Magistrate.” But by now, all of that had become nothing more than illusion.
In the dim recesses of the dungeon, voices and footsteps approached rapidly; before long, torchlight spread from around a bend in the corridor, accompanying the sound. Leading the way was Cai Ze, the Vice Minister of Justice who had of late frequently dealt with Lou Shuwan; he arrived with several prison guards, flanking a bloodied, disheveled, gaunt and tall man. As they walked, the man moaned and pleaded for mercy; the soldiers brought him to the front of the cell.
Lou Shuwan sat in the cell, watching this scene with cold detachment.
“Lady Lou.” Cai Ze clasped his hands in greeting. “See who I’ve brought you today?”
Lou Shuwan’s gaze fixed on the disheveled, gaunt man with his unkempt beard and hair. She remained silent for a long while. “Worthless trash.”
Cai Ze smiled. “Your elder brother says he wishes to confront you.”
“What kind of thing my brother is, the Tiger King knows perfectly well.”
Lou Shuwan’s reply was cold and indifferent; Cai Ze, seemingly at a loss for how to respond, pressed his lips together slightly and gestured to the side. “Open the door. Let him in.”
The man now being led forward was indeed Lou Shuwan’s elder brother, Lou Shuheng. In his youth he had been quite a handsome man, but years of excessive drinking and womanizing had left his body hollowed out, gaunt and wasted; and now, clearly having been tortured, his face bore several bruised swellings, his lips split, utterly wretched. Facing his sister in the cell, Lou Shuheng showed a slight cringing hesitation, reluctant even as he was pushed inside — perhaps out of guilt — but was finally shoved into the cell nonetheless. As his gaze met his sister’s cold stare, he flinched and looked away again.
Lou Shuwan stared at him for a moment, then turned her gaze to Cai Ze. “You call this torture? Minister Cai, don’t your men get fed? Doesn’t the court feed you people?” Her gaze then swept over toward the group of guards. “And you call this a prison? He hasn’t even had his wounds treated!”
“Lady Lou, your brother has testified that you had dealings with the Black Banner Army.”
“He’s worthless trash.”
“Young Master Lou, speak up.”
Lou Shuheng’s body trembled; one of the guards raised the scabbard of his blade and struck it hard against the cell’s post with a loud crack. Lou Shuwan’s gaze turned toward him, and inside the cell, Lou Shuheng suddenly burst into tears. “They’ll… they’ll beat me to death…”
Lou Shuwan’s expression showed a flicker of sorrow as she looked at this man who was her brother. Outside the cell, Cai Ze grunted. “Young Master Lou!”
“You had ties with Ning Liheng!” Lou Shuheng said this, paused slightly, then broke into tears again. “You, you should just admit it…”
Lou Shuwan only looked at him, tilting her head slightly. “You see, he really is worthless trash…”
“You, you had ties… you were in collusion…”
“Worthless trash.”
“I am not trash!” Lou Shuheng stamped both feet, raising his swollen, reddened eyes. “Do you know what kind of place this is, sitting there like that… they’ll beat me to death. Do you know what it’s like out there — they’re beating me, not you. You, you… you’re my sister, you…”
Lou Shuheng’s voice broke into sobs as he spoke, but at that moment, Lou Shuwan’s figure suddenly lunged forward, delivering a sharp, resounding slap that split open the corner of his mouth, blood and saliva trickling down.
The woman stood before her brother, her chest heaving with rage. “Trash! Worthless! Trash! As long as I’m alive, you have a chance at survival — if I die, you’re certainly dead. Such a simple truth, and you still can’t grasp it. Worthless trash!”
“I know that too…” Lou Shuheng shrank to one side; Lou Shuwan struck him again, another slap that sent him staggering back another step.
“I know that too…”
“Worthless trash.”
“It’s not you being tortured out there!” Lou Shuheng suddenly roared, his eyes red as he stared at Lou Shuwan. “I can’t take it anymore! You don’t know what it’s like out there—”
“Pulling out fingernails, cutting off fingers, breaking your bones, flaying your skin. I’ve seen more of this prison than you have—”
“But it’s me who’s being tortured!” Lou Shuheng’s eyes were red as he glanced back involuntarily at Cai Ze, then turned back. “You, you… you should just admit it, you have ways, get me out of here, I’m your brother! Or have Minister Cai go easy on me… Minister Cai, the Tiger King relies heavily on my sister… Sister, you have connections, you must still have connections, use your connections to get me out—”
Another sharp, heavy slap. Lou Shuwan’s jaw was clenched tight, nearly at the end of her patience. This blow sent Lou Shuheng reeling, stars bursting before his eyes as he slammed into the cell door. He steadied himself for a moment, then suddenly let out an “Ah!” and lunged at Lou Shuwan, shoving her backward, sending her stumbling and falling into the corner of the cell.
“I’m your brother! Go on, hit me! If you’ve got the guts, get out of here yourself! You filthy whore—” Lou Shuheng screamed, nearly hysterical. Over these past few years, riding on his sister’s power, he had indulged in drinking, whoring, and gambling, and had done more than a few disgusting, inhuman things. Lou Shuwan, at a loss for what else to do, had struck him more than once before, and each time Lou Shuheng had not dared to fight back — but this time, the pressures of the prison had pushed him past his breaking point.
“What are you pretending to be, pure and untouched? Ha! What are you pretending, so selfless and impartial! You’re a filthy whore! A whore who’s been ridden by a thousand men! How many men at court have slept with you, say it! I’m going to teach you a lesson today!”
Cursing, Lou Shuheng lunged forward, reaching out to grab at his sister. Lou Shuwan had already braced herself against the wall and stood back up; her gaze was cold and indifferent as she said, quietly, bracing against the wall, “Not a single one.” Then, suddenly, she reached out and seized the little finger of Lou Shuheng’s outstretched hand, and with a sharp downward wrench—
Crack—
“Aaaaaaaaaah—”
A bone-chilling scream echoed through the cell. With that single motion, Lou Shuwan had snapped her brother’s little finger clean off at the joint. In the next instant, she drove her knee straight into his groin, then rained blows down on his face with her fist; amid his screaming, she seized him by the hair and dragged him toward the cell wall, slamming his forehead against it once more with a heavy crack, splitting the skin and drawing blood.
Lou Shuheng clutched his groin, groaning on the floor. Lou Shuwan kicked him several more times, speaking as she did so. “Do you know why they don’t torture me, and only torture you? Because you’re worthless trash! Because I’m useful! Because they’re afraid of me! They’re not afraid of you! You’re worthless trash, you deserve to be tortured! You deserve it! You deserve it…”
She struck him like this for a while longer, but being a woman after all, she soon grew winded, retreating to sit on the edge of the broken bed, her gaze fixed on her brother, groaning on the floor — cold, indifferent, yet tinged with sorrow. She remained silent like this for a long while.
“Lou Shuheng… have you forgotten what you used to be like? Back in Hangzhou, with father and our brothers still alive… you thought yourself a man of ability, so full of spirit and ambition… a dashing man of letters, always surrounded by friends wherever you went, nothing you couldn’t accomplish, you’d even openly steal another man’s wife without shame… Look at what you’ve become now. The world has fallen into chaos! Someone like you… deserves to die, don’t you understand that, you were always meant to die…”
The cell was somewhat dim; by the time she finished speaking, her eyes had involuntarily grown moist, but she turned her face away, not letting anyone see it. Vice Minister Cai Ze, watching this scene unfold, felt a moment of awkwardness, and waved to the side, gesturing for the soldiers to drag Lou Shuheng away, clearing his throat as he did. “Ahem.”
Lou Shuwan looked toward him. “Minister Cai.”
“Er… Lady Lou, you also… ahem, shouldn’t beat a prisoner like that…”
“The sea accepts all rivers because it is vast; a cliff stands ten thousand feet tall because it desires nothing.” Lou Shuwan said quietly. “His Majesty values me because I am a woman — I have no family left, no husband, no children. I fear offending no one, and that is why I am useful.”
“…” Cai Ze licked his lips.
“I haven’t been sentenced to execution yet — perhaps that still means I’m of some use.” Lou Shuwan said. “My brother is worthless trash, but he is also my only remaining family, and my only burden. If you’re willing to show some kindness, spare him, keep him alive — I’ll remember this favor.”
“Er…” Cai Ze weighed his words carefully. “…It’s simply my duty.”
“…Thank you.”
The soldiers dragged Lou Shuheng away, and gradually the torchlight receded into the distance; darkness returned to the cell. Lou Shuwan sat on the bed, leaning back against the wall, looking rather exhausted. But after a moment, she made an effort, again and again, to bring clarity back to her gaze…
The interweaving of power, the rise and fall of those at the very top of the world — the cruelty of it all could not be captured even a fraction by the farce that had just played out in this prison. Most people could not begin to understand the far-reaching effects and influence of these countless events; even the small circle of those at the very pinnacle could not predict whether each of these matters would fade away in silence, or suddenly erupt into a towering wave.
Those outside that circle, of course, understood even less. In Zezhou city, You Hongzhuo, seventeen this year, had only just stepped into this complicated world of the martial arts, unaware that before long, he would come to experience and witness part of an enormous, world-shaking wave. At this very moment, he was walking through a corner of the Liang’an Inn, idly observing the goings-on around him.
The Liang’an Inn where the three of them were staying was neither large nor small, its lodgings arranged around two courtyards forming a two-story building in the shape of the character “日.” Each courtyard, front and back, had a large scholar tree, its leaves lush and green as a canopy. The inn housed many guests; with the weather hot, voices rang out noisily — children running about, husbands and wives quarreling, chickens and ducks brought in from the countryside darting chaotically about the yard as their owners chased after them.
You Hongzhuo felt no discomfort at such a scene. He had, in fact, first learned of the news about Wang Shitong and General Sun Qi’s arrival with his heavy forces from merchants talking loudly in the courtyard. There might well be two or three more figures from the martial world staying at this inn as well; You Hongzhuo observed them discreetly, without approaching to strike up conversation.
Being a country boy himself, he actually rather enjoyed this sense of chaotic bustle. Of course, he had his own matters on his mind as well. Night had already fallen, and lights were beginning to glow near and far across Zezhou city. After a while, Master Zhao came down from upstairs and patted him on the shoulder. “Heard what you wanted to hear?”
You Hongzhuo recounted the matter of Wang Shitong and Sun Qi in full. Master Zhao smiled and nodded. “No wonder. Look at the city gate — though there are inspections, they don’t forbid men of the martial world from coming and going, which tells you they’re not worried. If something serious were truly brewing, they’d seal the city, and no one would be able to leave.”
He looked at You Hongzhuo and offered a word of reassurance. “You needn’t worry about missing out on the excitement, either. With so many people gathered here, something is bound to happen eventually. Men of the martial world, after all, tend to lack organization and discipline — though the Great Brightness Sect is secretly orchestrating things behind the scenes, truly clever people, for the most part, wouldn’t dare act alongside them. If some reckless hothead with more skill than sense turns up, there might well be an attempt to break into the prison one of these nights. If you want to watch… well, you could rent a room near the prison.”
Master Zhao, judging by his own inclinations, assumed the young man was simply disappointed at missing out on the excitement, without mentioning that he himself rather enjoyed watching such spectacles too. Having said this, You Hongzhuo agreed, but after a moment, seemed to frown and said, “Elder Zhao, there’s something in my heart I can’t quite make sense of.”
“Young man, knowing that you can’t make sense of something — that in itself is a good thing.” Master Zhao glanced around. “Let’s go take a walk outside. Whatever it is, we can talk as we go.”