As the hour approached mid-afternoon, the sky over the city had gradually begun to brighten. The afternoon wind had died down, and as far as the eye could see, the city was gradually growing quiet. Outside Zezhou city, a group of several hundred desperate refugees had charged Sun Qi’s army camp and been slaughtered, most of them killed. When the sunlight pushed through the clouds and mist and poured down from the sky, on the slopes outside the city, soldiers were already cleaning up the bloodstained battlefield in the sunlight. In the distance, some of the refugees blocked outside Zezhou could also see this scene.
A small number of survivors were tied together in a long line and taken into the city. At the city gate, information gatherers hurried about, describing this scene to the common folk gathered in the city’s many teahouses.
Self-organized militias and volunteer groups were also gathering and patrolling in various places, trying to do their part in the chaos that might come next. At the same time, on another level, Lu Anmin and some of his subordinates rushed back and forth, lobbying the various officials involved in Zezhou’s affairs at this time, trying to save as many people as possible and cushion the disaster that was surely coming. This was the only thing they could do, and yet as long as Sun Qi’s army controlled this place, and there was still rice standing in the fields, how could they ever stop the harvest?
Just as animals behave when disaster strikes—sensing danger and, within the limits of their ability, struggling in whatever way they can—so too did the people here each choose their own way to resist as best they could.
Ning Yi walked along the street with Fang Chengye, watching all of this from near and far—the tension amid the grim atmosphere, the unease beneath the people’s forced calm. Would the Black Banner really come? Would those starving refugees stir up chaos within the city? Even if General Sun suppressed it in time, how many people would still be caught up in it?
Children chased each other running through the filthy vegetable market; a woman, perhaps a mother, watched from a doorway not far off.
“…The situation in the south is actually fine. Conditions in Tibet are a bit harsher—Guo Yaoshi’s remnants went there, as you know. We’ve had some friction with them, but they don’t dare provoke us. From Tibet to the Miao territories of southern Hunan, we have three bases in total. These past two years, internal reform and consolidation have been the priority—it’s very important that everyone, top to bottom, is of one mind… Also, in the past I involved myself too much. It could rouse morale, sure, but for real internal development, we can’t rely on just one person. I want them to genuinely come to believe in certain ideas themselves, to think more, think deeper. What kind of future do they actually want?… So my staying out of the picture for a while isn’t necessarily a bad thing…”
“So these past few years, teacher, you’ve…”
“Given lectures when things are quiet. You’ve had a few batches of fellow disciples brought in, one after another, to discuss the future of the Huaxia Army with me. Slogans alone aren’t enough—the program needs to be detailed, the theory needs to withstand scrutiny and calculation. The matter of the ‘Four Peoples’—you all must have discussed it several times by now.”
“Nationhood, civil rights, livelihood, and public enlightenment—I’ve discussed it with Uncle Zhan Five and the others several times. Nationhood, civil rights, and livelihood are relatively simple, but public enlightenment… for a while it seemed there was nowhere to even begin.”
Ning Yi turned to look at him, frowning with a smile. “Your mind is sharp—you really are a clever monkey, being able to think of these things is no small feat… Public enlightenment is a fundamental direction, connected to the study of natural science and to ways of thinking in all areas. In the south, it takes natural science as its banner, promoting it first. In the north, for public enlightenment, we need a different approach. We can say that whoever understands the two characters for ‘Huaxia’ has already opened their mind to enlightenment—this, after all, is just a starting point.”
Fang Chengye thought for a moment, still somewhat hesitant, but finally nodded. “But these past two years, they’ve been investigating too fiercely. The old methods of the Bamboo Registry can’t be used openly anymore.”
“After this business is done, we can start moving again. Tian Hu has been unable to hold back, and we’ve waited a long time. This is a perfect chance to make an example of him for others…” Ning Yi said in a low voice, then smiled. “By the way, you grew up around here, didn’t you?”
“Two streets over was where my parents lived, while they were alive. After they passed, I came back and sold the place. This area around here, I used to come often before I turned ten.” Fang Chengye spoke while maintaining his usual carefree expression, greeting an uncle by the roadside to help conceal Ning Yi’s identity somewhat, before the two continued walking. “Uncle Li Seven, who ran the inn, used to look out for me quite a bit. I came back to see him a few times afterward, and even chased off some troublemakers for him. But he’s a timid, cautious man—even if things turn chaotic in the future, he won’t develop into someone worth relying on heavily.”
Ning Yi patted his shoulder, and after a moment said, “Have you thought about what it will be like when things turn chaotic here?”
“I have…” Fang Chengye was silent for a moment, then nodded. “But it won’t be worse than when my parents died, will it?”
Ning Yi looked at him. Fang Chengye lowered his head slightly, then raised his eyes again, now firm and resolute. “Actually, teacher, these past few days I’ve thought about whether I should warn the people around me to leave here early—just an idle thought, of course, I wouldn’t actually do it. Teacher, if trouble comes to them, whether it has anything to do with me or not, I won’t say it doesn’t. Let’s just say it does. They want peace, and everyone wants peace. The starving refugees outside the city want to live too, don’t they? But I am Black Banner, and I must do what I need to do. When I attended your lessons back then, Tang Minjie once said something that might well be right—people’s positions are always determined by where they sit. I think the same way now. Once you’ve chosen where to sit, womanly kindness will only ruin more things.”
Ning Yi’s gaze grew calm, but he shook his head slightly. “That way of thinking is dangerous. Tang Minjie’s view is wrong—I said so long ago, though I regret I never explained it thoroughly enough at the time. He went out on a mission last year and used methods too ruthless; he was disciplined for it. It’s understandable not to regard the enemy as human. But to not regard the common people as human, to use vicious methods against them—that is not right.”
“He…” Fang Chengye was stunned for a moment, wanting to ask what had happened, but Ning Yi only shook his head and did not elaborate. After a moment, Fang Chengye said, “But is there truly an eternal, unchanging truth of right and wrong? In the matter of Zezhou, what is right and wrong for us is, in the end, different from what is right and wrong for them.”
Ning Yi shook his head. “No. It is, in fact, exactly the same.”
They turned out of the vegetable market and walked forward; the Grand Luminous Sect’s temple was already close ahead. At this point, monks and disciples of the Grand Luminous Sect were guarding the streets outside. When Ning Yi and Fang Chengye approached, someone came forward first to greet them and led them in through a side gate.
Fang Chengye was of course not surprised that their own side had people planted within the Grand Luminous Sect as well. Compared to the pseudo-Qi and Tiger King factions, which at least still had some semblance of a system despite their large-scale recruitment drives, the Grand Luminous Sect—an underworld organization that welcomed all comers indiscriminately—deserved to be riddled through like a sieve with infiltrators. Having operated in secret for a long time, he had only now truly come to understand just how significant the Huaxia Army’s repeated rounds of internal rectification and discipline really were.
As they proceeded, more and more underworld figures appeared around them. Past the back gate of the Grand Luminous Sect, the temple’s front courtyard ahead was thick with gathered heroes of the martial world—from a distance, there had to be at least a thousand of them. The person guiding them led the two up to a monk’s chamber on the second floor; the crowd gathered in the corridor made way for them. The two stopped by a railing, surrounded by all manner of martial world figures, men and women alike—only standing among them did it feel strangely charged, likely because these were all Black Banner members Ning Yi had brought along.
This corridor overlooked a corner of the martial arts training ground below, already packed with people. In the center of the ground ahead, two groups were clearly facing off against each other, the whole scene like something out of a stage play. Someone approached and spoke to Ning Yi in a low voice.
“Shi Jin found out about the Grand Luminous Sect’s plot to collude with the Tiger King’s inner circle this time, and led the heroes of Chifeng Mountain here to expose it publicly. Rescuing Wang Shitong is a pretext—what the Grand Luminous Sect really wants is to use this opportunity to win everyone’s loyalty, and it might well put people in real danger in the process… However, there’s a problem on Hero Shi’s side—the informant they’d found has just recanted his testimony, claiming he was coerced by Shi Jin and the others…”
After finishing this explanation, the man stepped back. Fang Chengye, filled with doubt, couldn’t help but murmur in a low voice, “Teacher…”
Ning Yi looked ahead and patted his shoulder. “In this world, there are eternal, unchanging truths about right and wrong. There are two of these truths. Understand them, and you can basically understand all matters of right and wrong in the world.”
Though he wasn’t looking at Fang Chengye, his words continued without pause, calm and gentle. “The first of these two truths is called ‘Heaven and Earth are not benevolent.’ It means that what governs everything in our world is an unchangeable, objective law. In this world, as long as something conforms to that law, anything can happen; as long as it conforms to that law, anything can occur—it will not shift even the slightest bit because of our hopes and expectations. Its calculations are the same as mathematics—strict, not vague or ambiguous.”
“And the second truth, which forms the basis for judging right and wrong, is that all living things have their own inclinations—let’s call it, ‘all things have spirit.’ The world is bitter, and you may hate it, but one thing never changes: as long as you are human, you will feel warmth toward good things, feel happiness and satisfaction; you will feel joy, and when you see something positive and uplifting, you will feel positive and uplifting emotions. All things have inclinations—this is the second unchanging truth. Once you understand these two, everything becomes just a matter of calculation.”
Then Ning Yi’s words slowed, as if to emphasize the point. “A living being with inclinations, existing in a world without inclinations—understanding the basic rules of this world, understanding the basic nature of people, and then calculating accordingly to arrive at a result that as much as possible satisfies our inclinations toward warmth and positivity—this is the noblest use of human wisdom. But the reason I emphasize these two points is that we must see clearly: the result must be positive, but the process of calculation must be cold and rigorous. Anything that departs from these two things is wrong; only what conforms to both is right.”
Almost in a whisper, speaking each word deliberately, Ning Yi finished this passage, then raised his hand and pointed toward the training ground ahead. “You see, all things have spirit, so every person is struggling in the direction they believe is good for themselves. They use their own wisdom to reason out how the world will develop, and then act in ways they believe will make things better. But heaven and earth are not benevolent—whether the calculation is correct has nothing to do with whether you are kind, whether you are passionate, or whether you hold some grand and noble purpose. If it’s wrong, bitter consequences will surely come.”
“That is why heaven and earth, being without benevolence, treat all things as straw dogs; the sage, being without benevolence, treats the common people as straw dogs. To set aside all sentimentality, all wishful thinking, and calculate in order to truly achieve what is genuinely positive—that is the closest we can come to being right. So you can calculate for yourself: can the innocent, good people of Zezhou right now actually achieve a positive, good outcome in the end…”
…
Heaven and earth are not benevolent, yet all things have spirit.
…
And so every person strives in the direction they believe to be right.
On the training ground, Shi Jin stood holding his staff, tall in stature, imposing in bearing, standing firm between heaven and earth. In the verbal exchange just before, the men of Chifeng Mountain had not expected the informant’s betrayal—right there on the training ground, the man had stripped off his clothes to reveal a body covered in scars, which had put them at a severe disadvantage.
But Shi Jin kept his eyes half-closed, unmoved by any of it.
Ever since surviving that great battle where he had joined Zhou Tong in the assassination attempt on Nian Han, he had thrown himself into an unending struggle against the Jurchens. Even during the years when the whole realm hunted down the Black Banner Army, Chifeng Mountain had been one of the few righteous armies to openly fight the Jurchens most fiercely, and through this he had built up a formidable reputation.
But what had driven him to this point was not that hollow fame. Ever since Zhou Tong’s final night of personal instruction, he had fought and killed on the battlefield for nearly ten years, and his martial skill and will had long since become as solid as rock. Aside from the collapse of Chifeng Mountain due to internal strife, and the deaths of innocent brothers-in-arms, nothing in this world could shake his resolve any longer.
Ten years on the battlefield of sand, cultivating the Way through martial arts—at this moment, in the path of martial arts, he had become a true, genuine grandmaster.
If Grandmaster Zhou were here, what would he do?
Lin Zongwu had already stepped down onto the training ground.
“…Although there have been many misunderstandings, this humble one has long admired and respected Hero Shi… The situation today is complicated, and Hero Shi likely does not trust me. But with so many people gathered here, I cannot simply let them disperse like this… Then let us settle this by the rules of the martial world—let our skills speak for us.”
Lin Zongwu raised his hand, carrying with it a commanding, oppressive presence like wind and thunder.
“One on one!”
The once-young knight-errant, the Nine-Dragon Tattoo, now the towering Dragon King standing firm between heaven and earth, opened his eyes. At that moment, it was as if lightning flashed.
…
“Very well.”
…
On the training ground, wind and thunder crashed together with a thunderous roar, and a duel that surpassed the limits of martial artists began—