“Sworn brothers! Only a naive kid like you would actually believe that was a real oath of brotherhood. Ha! Seven brothers, not asking to be born in the same year, month, and day, but asking to die in the same year, month, and day. Do you even know what kind of people Luan Fei and Qin Xiang were? Robbing the rich to help the poor—where do you think all that silver they stole actually went? A sixteen or seventeen-year-old kid who’s heard too many stories from the roads of the martial world, thinking everyone was going to walk beside you through the rivers and lakes and become a great hero with you. Today I’m going to let you die with your eyes open!”

Kuang Wenbo’s voice carried down from the far end of the alley, and it left You Hongzhuo faintly stunned.

“Luan Fei and Qin Xiang, that pair of dogs—they were subordinates of the rebel commander Wang Juyun. Acting for heaven, robbing the rich to help the poor? Ha! You don’t even know, do you—the money we stole all went to fund other people’s rebellions! Across the Central Plains, how many groups like that do you think there are? Sworn brotherhood? That’s just so they can use your labor and make money off you! Heroes of the rivers and lakes? Go look at the street—of all those men with blades on their backs, how many don’t have someone standing behind them, blood already on their hands? Iron Arm Zhou Tong was once a boxing master at the Imperial Boxing Hall, under the court’s own command!”

These days, north of the Yellow River there were a few powers that had managed to establish themselves. First among them was the Tiger King, Tian Hu; second was General Li Xizhi, Pacifier of the East—both of these nominally submitted to Great Qi. Beyond them, the forces of Wang Juyun, who commanded a following in the millions, could not be underestimated either, standing as a third power alongside Tian Hu and Li Xizhi. Because he opposed both Great Qi and the Jurchen, his position carried more legitimacy in name, and many called his men a righteous army—though there were also those, like Kuang Wenbo, who called them a rebel rabble.

Seeing the stunned look on You Hongzhuo’s face, Kuang Wenbo raised his hand smugly.

“Look at you, little friend. Your parents died when you were just a teenager, you went out into the world and treated these people as your brothers—did they ever treat you as one? Of course you wanted it to be true, but unfortunately… You think you’re here for brotherly loyalty, for the bond of an oath—there’s no such thing. You think you’re here today to avenge a blood feud—there is no such feud. Wang Juyun calls his men a righteous army while secretly having them kill and rob, buying weapons and grain for his soldiers. Under his rule, men steal and women whore themselves out, and I simply couldn’t stand it! Rob and kill, kill and rob, and call it acting for heaven—bah!”

“If you want my life, fine—but only if we’re truly brothers, and whatever we steal, we split evenly. Or pay for my life with money. But our so-called elder brother Luan cheated us—had us risk our necks and never paid a single coin for it. Cheat me into risking my life, and I’ll take his life in return. You Hongzhuo, do you even understand this world? There are no heroes, no great warriors—that’s all just talk fed to people like you…”

“So that’s how it is…”

You Hongzhuo’s voice was low, murmuring with a sigh. He wasn’t tall to begin with, and now, hunched slightly forward, his dejected expression made him look even smaller. But it was right after saying those words that he reached back and drew the steel blade wrapped in the cloth on his back.

“Ah—!”

“How dare you!”

The young man’s roar rang out at once, mixed with the thunderous fury of the martial artists behind Kuang Wenbo. Among those three men behind him, one lashed out and grabbed—You Hongzhuo’s robe tore with a ripping sound in the air. The man had seized the cloth on his back, pulling it taut until it snapped; the half still attached to the sleeve had been sliced away by You Hongzhuo’s own blade.

Amid the shout, the youth charged forward like a tiger or leopard, straight at Kuang Wenbo. Kuang Wenbo was already in his thirties, a seasoned man of the martial world, and with his guard already up, he had no fear of a boy like this. He swung his steel whip to intercept. You Hongzhuo raised his long blade, closing the distance, then suddenly threw his arms wide and lunged forward with his whole body!

Mutual destruction!

Kuang Wenbo was a cautious man. After betraying Luan Fei and the others, even though only You Hongzhuo had escaped, he had never let his guard down—instead he’d kept men watching, day after day. He understood that boys like this valued loyalty above all else; if the boy had truly fled, so be it, but if he hadn’t, then only killing him soon would bring real peace of mind.

He had prepared for this, and had used words beforehand to wear the boy down, hoping to keep him from working up the fire for a righteous vendetta. But he hadn’t expected that when the moment came, the youth’s sudden attack would still be this vicious, this ferocious—the very first strike meant to trade his own life for Kuang Wenbo’s!

These past few days, after several conversations with Mr. Zhao, the youth had thought about many things, and had come to fear more things too—but that fear and reverence were, more than anything, a matter of reason. In this moment, though, the youth was still, in the end, that same boy who had once thrown his life away without hesitation. His eyes burned red, and in his headlong charge he met Kuang Wenbo’s strike without blocking, without dodging—he simply thrust the blade straight forward!

Either get out of the way, or die together!

Kuang Wenbo’s stance shifted to the side; You Hongzhuo brushed past his body. As Kuang Wenbo dodged, he swung the steel whip around in a follow-up strike, and it slammed into You Hongzhuo’s shoulder. His whole body lost its balance and he went tumbling forward. The alley was shaded and cool, and along the road there ran black filthy water, with a ditch still flowing with sewage. You Hongzhuo, in the moment, couldn’t tell how badly his shoulder was hurt—he was thrown forward by the blow and crashed face-first into the filthy water. Rolling over amid the black spray, he scooped up a handful of mud from the ditch and flung it at Kuang Wenbo and the others.

Not far from this ditch was a small vegetable market; the sewage had pooled here for a long time. The black water on top wasn’t so bad, but the mud and refuse beneath had been settling for who knew how long, and once stirred up, the stench was overwhelming and nauseating. The black filth made people instinctively recoil. Even so, a good deal of the muck struck Kuang Wenbo full in the face and clothes. Amid the spray, one of the men grabbed a hidden weapon and flung it—whether it struck You Hongzhuo or not was unclear. The youth burst out of the sewage, scrambled up onto a pile of junk further down the alley, and vaulted over a nearby courtyard wall.

One of the martial artists Kuang Wenbo had brought along was already scaling the wall after him, using his strength to vault over in a few quick motions.

On the other side was an ordinary household courtyard. You Hongzhuo fell straight into a chicken coop, rolled and staggered back up, and crashed through a bamboo fence set up in front of him. Feathers, straw, and splinters of bamboo flew everywhere. Kuang Wenbo and the others came pouring in after him, snatching up stones to throw. You Hongzhuo swung a wooden bucket back at them, which was smashed to pieces in midair by the steel whip. The owner of the house came bursting out, followed by a woman’s shrieking scream.

Four chasing one fleeing, all of it dissolved into a single chaotic tangle. You Hongzhuo ran on wildly, vaulting over yet another courtyard, with Kuang Wenbo and the others closing in ever nearer. He scaled one more wall, and ahead of him now was a street inside the city proper. Outside the wall stood a stall made of cloth stretched over a frame; You Hongzhuo, unable to react in time, tumbled down off the cloth canopy, landing on a crate as the stall collapsed with a clatter around him. Not far off, Kuang Wenbo climbed up onto the wall and roared, “Where do you think you’re going!” He hurled the steel whip; it grazed past You Hongzhuo’s head and struck a horse tethered by the roadside instead.

In an instant, tremendous chaos broke out across the street. The startled horse kicked another horse beside it, which reared and struggled, smashing a nearby stall to pieces. You Hongzhuo tumbled to the ground amid the confusion; the two masters behind him were already flying forward, and one of them kicked him square in the back. You Hongzhuo felt a sweetness rise in his throat but clenched his jaw and kept running with everything he had. The panicked horse broke free of its post and bolted along at his side and slightly behind him; his head was already buzzing, and he instinctively reached to grab its reins. His first grab missed. As he reached out a second time, up ahead a boy stood frozen in the middle of the road, terrified stiff by the people and the horse bearing down on him.

There wasn’t time to think. In that instant, he threw himself forward, shoved the boy toward a vegetable basket off to the side, and the next moment, the charging horse slammed into him instead.

You Hongzhuo went flying.

In that brief moment his body was airborne, there were cries from the crowd, and the pursuing masters were already closing in—but along the roadside, a figure surged forward like a storm. That person scooped the child up with one arm, and with the other seemed to snatch up a wooden pole, sweeping it out in a single stroke. The charging horse went tumbling off toward the side of the street.

The youth crashed to the ground, struggled once, but couldn’t rise again. His vision swam; hazily, he saw Kuang Wenbo and the others closing in, reaching to seize him. The man holding the child, wielding the long staff, stepped in to block them. “What do you think you’re doing! In broad daylight… I am a constable of Liaozhou…”

Had You Hongzhuo still been conscious, he might have noticed that the man who’d suddenly appeared possessed formidable skill—the strength in that single casual strike that had knocked away a charging horse put Kuang Wenbo and his men to shame by comparison. Yet despite his high skill, his words carried surprisingly little confidence. In the standoff among them all, soldiers patrolling the city arrived…

…

When he woke, the night had grown deep. All around him were sounds of every kind, faint and indistinct—cursing, screaming, cursing again, groaning… the smell of straw bedding, blood, and rotting flesh. A small window behind him told him the time of day and where he was.

Zezhou Prison.

During his flight through the streets of Zezhou, You Hongzhuo had gotten coated in a layer of mud, then covered further in filth, chicken feathers, straw, and the like—foul beyond words. When they’d dragged him in, constables had doused him with several buckets of water. He’d been briefly conscious at the time, and knew he’d been arrested as a suspected remnant of the Black Banner.

The turns his life had taken these past days had been chaotic beyond description; his thoughts were still sluggish, unable to grasp much of anything from his current circumstances—both past and future felt somewhat unreal to him. On the other side of the cell was another person, ragged clothes, covered in blood, letting out groans that set one’s teeth on edge. You Hongzhuo stared at him blankly for a long while before realizing this man might be a member of the Hungry Ghosts who’d been captured the day before, or some other day—or perhaps another Black Banner remnant.

He leaned against the wall and thought for a while, but his mind wouldn’t turn properly. After some unknown length of time, in the dim cell, two jailers came over.

One of them looked in at You Hongzhuo for a moment, confirmed he was awake, and unlocked the cell door with his companion.

“Awake, are you?”

You Hongzhuo gave a slight nod.

“When they dragged you in, you stank to high heaven! So then—what’s your situation? Family left back home? Anyone who could put in a word for you… anything of value?” The jailer rubbed three fingers together in a gesture. “Anything you want me to tell the officer?”

You Hongzhuo thought for a moment. “…Aren’t I a Black Banner remnant?… Set to be executed in a few days… what good would a word do…”

“Good! The officer took one look at you and figured you for a crafty one—a real troublemaker! Looks like you need a taste of some real authority to set you straight!”

As the jailer spoke, he hauled You Hongzhuo up and, together with his companion, dragged him out. You Hongzhuo’s wounds hadn’t yet healed, and that night he was beaten black and blue all over again. When they threw him back into the cell, he had already passed out…