The early-autumn rain came down, tapping against leaves just beginning to turn yellow.

On the sixteenth of the seventh month, at a residence in Xicheng County, Dai Mengwei, who had returned the day before to pay his respects to his ancestors, sat playing a game of chess with his student. He gazed toward the southern sky, momentarily lost in thought.

“…Teacher.” His disciple Pu Huiliang called out softly.

After a moment, Dai Mengwei came back to himself. “…Hm?”

“Teacher, it’s your move.”

“Ah.” Dai Mengwei set down a stone, and Pu Huiliang responded at once.

“Stealing half a day’s leisure from a busy life, and yet your mind is still full of one worry after another, Teacher.”

“In my younger years I was far too idle — only now, in old age, have I learned that idleness is no longer an option… What do you suppose is on my mind, Huiliang?”

“The matter of Chengdu, perhaps?”

“…Oh?”

Dai Mengwei picked up a stone between two fingers, narrowing his eyes. Pu Huiliang smiled.

“Word arrived yesterday that the Huaxia Army will be entering Chengdu by the end of the month. Yesterday was the Ghost Festival — something ought to happen soon, I’d think, and it seems it’s nearly time.”

The two of them had shared the bond of teacher and student for many years, and Pu Huiliang’s answer carried no particular restraint — of course, he was also well aware that his teacher appreciated quick and clever minds, and there was a hint of deliberate showing-off in his manner as well. Sure enough, Dai Mengwei narrowed his eyes and nodded.

“These past several days I’ve had you focus on the autumn harvest arrangements without bringing up the southwest at all — and yet it seems you haven’t set aside your studies there either. Go on, then — what do you think will happen?”

Pu Huiliang set down a stone, smiling. “The Jurchens have been driven back from the southwest, and the great trend of events is nearly set. What happens from here will be decided by this gathering in the southwest. Everyone is watching that region, preparing their own responses — but of course, there’s one possibility that can’t be ignored either. If Ning Yi were to suddenly die, the Huaxia Army would instantly become a prize that every faction under heaven would try to seize for itself. The odds of this happening may be small, but they can’t be dismissed.”

Dai Mengwei set down his own stone. “And what does this have to do with me?”

“A couple of months back, Teacher’s name resounded across the realm, and those seeking an audience, offering plans and strategies, came calling one after another without end. These days we’ve locked horns with the Huaxia Army directly, but those visitors are a different matter — among them there may well be those who genuinely harbor great righteous intentions, but it’s also possible, one can’t rule it out, that some are spies for the Huaxia Army… Your student had originally thought that sorting through such people would require a great deal of careful vetting, but now, thinking it over — I’m no longer so sure — perhaps there’s a more useful approach for a good number of them after all. Teacher… could you persuade them to go to the southwest instead?”

Dai Mengwei stroked his beard. His brows carried a look of bitter weariness — he always appeared stern by nature — and now he simply gazed calmly toward the southwest for a moment.

“When several dozen, even a hundred people all claim to harbor great righteousness in their hearts, if even one or two of them actually accomplish something, that alone would count as a good outcome. As for who can be put to use and who cannot — there’s no need to see it in such absolute terms either. The Huaxia Army opening its doors to recruit talent from outside shows Ning Yi’s confidence in his own ideas. As for our side, so long as the common people’s livelihoods improve and their days become bearable, more and more people will come to identify with us naturally. Many questions answer themselves in time. This is precisely why I’ve placed you out there, Huiliang — the common people are what matters most, above all else.”

“Your student understands Teacher’s painstaking intentions.” Pu Huiliang cupped his hands and nodded. “It’s only that after the Jurchens passed through, the people’s livelihoods have been devastated, the land left fallow, and there’s no shortage of suffering common folk in the world right now. This autumn’s harvest… I fear it won’t be enough to fill every gap.”

“The realm today faces two great enemies — the Jurchens on one side, the southwest on the other. Everyone has seen the sight of fallow fields and abandoned homesteads in the wake of the Jurchens; so long as we explain things clearly, that we’re all sharing in hard times together, people will understand. It’s only that you, your fellow disciples, and every official great and small out there must also hold to that same spirit of sharing hardship together — no faking it for appearances, putting on a show of serving the officials and the people while secretly funneling wealth back to your own households. That sort of thing leads to disaster. And when we encounter people like that, they must be put to death.”

Dai Mengwei spoke the words “put to death” calmly, without a trace of worldly heat in his voice, but Pu Huiliang knew well just how ruthless this teacher of his truly was. If anything, it was only over these past six months or so that he’d come to understand just how thoroughly decisive and merciless this teacher he’d followed for so many years could be when he truly moved to act. For decades the old man had lived quietly in Xicheng County, pursuing scholarship, with no need to reveal the full extent of his capabilities — it was only in the past two years that he had finally stepped forward to set his schemes in motion, drawing the entire realm, Jurchens and Huaxia Army alike, into his calculations.

Especially over these past six months, as his plans had come to their final, decisive stage, he had even sacrificed his own flesh and blood, ordering the deaths of men who were, like him, Han Chinese soldiers, without hesitation. His methods for dealing with corrupt officials in every region he’d taken over had likewise been coldly ruthless, embodying to the fullest the Confucian ideal of the sage within, the king without. And yet, precisely because of these methods, he had won no small measure of acclaim from the common people in region after region left in ruin, waiting to be rebuilt.

“Your senior brother Jinwen is in Zhuxi, eating, living, and sleeping alongside the common people there — his conduct has been excellent. This autumn we won’t be able to fill every gap, but at least we can patch up a good portion of them. Get through this winter and into next spring, and things should settle onto steadier ground. I’ve also reached an agreement with Liu Pingshu, arranging to purchase a batch of grain from him in advance. He has designs on the Central Plains — for now, let’s focus on securing what we have…”

As teacher and student talked, laying down stones all the while, the mention of Liu Guangshi brought a faint smile to Pu Huiliang’s face. “Liu Pingshu is a man of wide connections, well used to playing both sides. This time in the southwest, I hear he was the very first to step forward and open trade with the Huaxia Army, securing plenty of advantages early on. If someone does move against the Huaxia Army, I wonder what stance he’ll take?”

“Liu Pingshu’s mind runs in complicated directions, but he isn’t lacking in foresight either. The Huaxia Army standing firm certainly lets him profit — but at the same time, he wouldn’t mind in the least if the Huaxia Army lost its most formidable figure, Ning Liheng, along the way. When the time comes for every faction to carve up the southwest between them, he’ll still come out with the largest share regardless — that much won’t change.” Dai Mengwei paused here, gazing out at the curtain of rain outside. “In truth, after the Jurchens withdrew, with the land laid waste and refugees scattered everywhere, where exactly was it that escaped the disaster untouched? In the end, it was still the southwest…”

The old man sighed. “The land of Shu has always been blessed by heaven, a natural storehouse of abundance since ancient times. In this southwestern campaign, the Jurchen battle lines never even reached as far as Zizhou. The Huaxia Army has certainly suffered its own losses, but not a single grain has been lost from the great plain’s harvest. The southwest today — wanting Ning Yi to meet with misfortune is truly no easy task. But… if it could actually happen, then once the southwest’s accumulated wealth flowed out to every faction, not only would our own Han military strength and natural-philosophical learning flourish tremendously, but this winter, far fewer of the starving common people would have to die as well.”

The autumn rain fell steadily, pattering against the window, and the room fell silent for a moment. Pu Huiliang reached out and set down a stone. “In the past, it was always this or that unruly mob from the martial underworld, acting on nothing but a moment’s passionate impulse, who tried to oppose him. This time, your student believes, things will truly be different.”

He paused. “Judging by the timing, it should be soon now…”

…

The afternoon sun shone down over the Chengdu plain.

Along the road heading south out of Chengdu, a steady stream of travelers and carts came and went.

Coming down from a Daoist temple, You Hongzhuo walked at an easy pace along a flowing stream, a blade slung across his back and a bundle on his shoulder.

The vast plain stretched out ahead of him, seemingly without end, rivers and roads weaving forward together, with villages and farmland appearing here and there like a painting bathed in golden sunlight — even the travelers on the road seemed to carry more of a smile than those in the Central Plains.

The road itself was far more solid too, clearly the product of considerable care and effort — coming south all the way from Jin territory, the roads he’d traveled had mostly been rutted and uneven; this was the first time in his life he’d seen a road so smoothly maintained. Even in his childhood memories, he doubted the once-prosperous Wu Dynasty had ever put in this much effort to maintain its roads. Of course, he couldn’t be entirely certain of that either — it was simply a passing thought.

These days, when it came to things he couldn’t quite understand or work out, he’d grown into the habit of looking and thinking a little more carefully.

Back in Jin territory, he had done no shortage of chivalrous deeds, though chief among them had been serving, as an unofficial protector, to safeguard the safety of the Female Chancellor amid all manner of threats. During that period he had even crossed paths several times with the great hero Shi Jin, and had even received a personal audience with the Female Chancellor herself.

The Female Chancellor had originally hoped to persuade a number of trusted knights-errant to join her personal guard, and quite a few had agreed. But because of past events, You Hongzhuo still harbored doubts about all this business of “the court” and “officialdom,” unwilling to give up his freedom, and had declined. She hadn’t pressed the matter, and had even, in recognition of his past assistance, rewarded him generously with silver.

Once the situation in the southwest had begun to settle, the Huaxia Army had extended a broad invitation to visitors from across the realm to come to Chengdu, and You Hongzhuo had felt considerably tempted — but with the threat of Zonghan and Xiyin’s forces returning north still looming, he hadn’t been sure whether he should go. During this time he’d had a long conversation with the great hero Shi Jin, sparring with him privately as well; Shi Jin judged that the danger in Jin territory wasn’t great, and that You Hongzhuo’s own skill had already grown considerable enough that he needed further trials and insight to make a true breakthrough, and so urged him to make the journey to the southwest after all.

Just as one ought to read ten thousand scrolls and walk ten thousand miles, so too with the skill in one’s own hands. You Hongzhuo, upon first arriving in the southwest, had naturally come for the tournament, but from the moment he passed through Jianmen Pass, the endless stream of new sights and new scenes left him full of admiration. After staying several days in the city of Chengdu, he also began to sense the signs of all manner of conflict brewing beneath the surface: the impassioned rhetoric of the great scholars, the condemnation and cursing directed at the Huaxia Army, the bewilderment stirred up by its many heretical ideas — and, privately, within the martial underworld, more than a few knights-errant seemed to have already prepared themselves to sacrifice their lives for righteousness, coming here with the intent of assassinating that Inner Demon, Ning Yi…

You Hongzhuo had first come into contact with the Black Banner Army back in Zezhou, at the time when the Black Banner Army had orchestrated that great coup against Tian Hu, which had brought the Female Chancellor to power. He had witnessed then the Black Banner Army’s power to turn the world upside down at will, and had also witnessed the many tragedies that had unfolded amid that chaos. His impressions of the Black Banner Army at the time had been neither entirely good nor entirely bad. Like some great beast rolling about carelessly, it inevitably crushed no small number of ordinary lives beneath it without a thought.

Later, hearing of the Black Banner’s various deeds in the southwest, and of their first successful victory over the Jurchens, he had come to feel a growing sense of admiration and awe toward them, and it was with this same feeling that he’d made the journey here. Who could have known that upon arriving, he would find so many people voicing their discontent with the Huaxia Army, uttering all manner of dire predictions — and not a few of them, at that, deeply learned and widely read scholars.

Back in Jin territory, because of Lou Shuwan’s status as a woman, more than a few people had also fabricated all sorts of malicious rumors about her, yet even there, You Hongzhuo had still been able to clearly discern the Female Chancellor’s greatness and importance amid it all. Here in the southwest, though, when it came to this Inner Demon, he found himself unable to judge good from evil amid the swirl of rumors. Some said he was militaristic and reckless; some said he was swift and decisive; some said he broke down the old to establish the new; some said he was arrogant and unrestrained…

Fortunately, he wasn’t in any hurry to take sides, and simply watched the various developments in the southwest quietly unfold. After staying several days in the city of Chengdu, he applied for a travel permit and left the city, heading further south — the Huaxia Army, strange as it was, when asked what he intended to do outside the city, and told frankly by You Hongzhuo that he simply wanted to look around, sized him up for a moment and then stamped his permit without further fuss, only warning him twice not to commit any unlawful, wicked acts, or he would be dealt with severely.

Hmph, if I wanted to cause trouble, what could you possibly do about it!

Over these past several years, he had lost count of how many times he’d fought for his life, his skill advancing rapidly through those brushes with death, and he now held a fairly accurate sense of his own martial ability. Of course, since old Mister Zhao had once taught him to hold the rules in respect, he wasn’t the type to recklessly trample over public order and decency on a moment’s hot blood, however wild his private thoughts might run. And so, permit in hand, he set off on the road.

He traveled leisurely along the way. By that afternoon, he had come to the edge of a small grove, where he stepped in briefly to answer nature’s call, and coming out the other side down a small path, he caught sight of some activity up ahead.

Six men, weapons slung across their backs, stood by the roadside gazing out over the distant fields, one of them relieving himself at the roadside. Running into martial artists of this sort, You Hongzhuo had no particular wish to draw close — if he’d been an ordinary traveler it wouldn’t have mattered, but carrying a blade himself, he was worried his presence might arouse suspicion — and he was on the verge of quietly slipping away when their conversation, carried on the autumn wind, reached his ears.

“…When I left home, there were only five days’ worth of grain left. Even with… the master’s relief funds, this winter still won’t be easy…”

“…It’s all because of the Jurchens. Spring came and went and we couldn’t even get the seedlings in the ground…”

“…Look how well the rice grows around here — if only we could haul some of it back with us…”

“…The Huaxia Army only deals in trade, you know. How much can you even buy…”

“…Besides, the two sides have already torn things wide open now…”

“…A few days back, that scholar named Ren said the Huaxia Army only cares about business, not righteousness, not propriety, integrity, or shame… even if they took the realm, the ten thousand people would still suffer…”

“…If the one surnamed Ning dies, plenty of things could be settled. Right now this Black Banner in the southwest stands utterly at odds with everyone outside — it’s all over that old debt of regicide. Once that debt’s paid off, we’re all Han Chinese after all, all Huaxia people, and there’d be plenty to talk out and settle around a table…”

“…The one surnamed Ning isn’t easy to kill, though…”

“…That scholar Ren said the one surnamed Ning is hard to kill precisely because everyone before now has acted without any real coordination, never managing to combine their strength…”

“…Well, how could we possibly combine our strength? That one surnamed Ning is called the Inner Demon for a reason — if we really did try to coordinate, who knows how many traitors might be mixed in among us. One traitor and we’d all be dead…”

“…That’s exactly why Master Ren said we needn’t form any grand alliance at all — you and I, brothers, need only handle our own affairs. This time, coming to the southwest, he said there are countless people wanting that demon’s life, and even without any secret coordination among them, all it would take is one person raising the call and everyone else would rise to answer — but given the situation, we can’t all go after the demon at once…”

“…So what do we do, then?”

“…Master Ren offered a suggestion. He said the demon commands a vast army, but after the great battle his forces have been stretched thin everywhere. With so many righteous men now come to the southwest, all it would really take is three to five skilled fighters to assassinate the demon directly — as for the rest, they should think about how to draw the demon’s forces apart, distract and divide him. Master Ren said the demon cares most of all about his family, and his family is all in Zhang Village. We don’t know what everyone else plans to do, but so long as we take action ourselves — even just drawing off a unit of troops, keeping them tense and unable to lay hands on anyone — someone, somewhere, is bound to find their opening…”

“…If the demon dies, will the Huaxia Army really come to terms with the rest of us?”

“…All these years of trouble — hasn’t it all been stirred up by this one demon in the first place? In the past, when martial folk from the underworld came to kill him, it was always some little gathering here, some little gathering there, and every time they’d get rounded up all at once. This time it’s not just us martial folk anymore — how many of those famous scholars and well-read men in the city don’t want him dead too? Once the army enters the city at the end of the month, Chengdu will be sealed up tight as a bucket, and there’ll be no chance left for assassination at all — this has to be settled before the month is out…”

“…Brothers, all of us here have shared life-and-death loyalty for many years now. You’re the only ones I truly trust. Our travel papers say we’re bound for Jiading, but it’s no trouble at all to detour through Zhang Village along the way — no one will be able to stop us…”

“…Capturing the demon’s family to use as leverage would be ideal, but even if we can’t manage that, so long as we stir up enough chaos, there will be others who take up the task after us…”

“…Brothers, the Jurchens ravaged this land for years, and this life of ours is one we’ve already clawed back from death once. The Huaxia Army’s way is that those who follow prosper and those who resist perish — and today, in the city of Chengdu, countless well-read scholars have already said they cannot go on like this, and yet that demon still presses stubbornly ahead. He’s strong now, his army vast and well-fed — but what is a merchant, in the end? The stronger he grows, the more of our money, out here, he takes for himself… This trip of ours is for exactly this reason, and I’ll say no more of it. Someday our names will go down in history—”

“…Whoever’s coming with me, come. Whoever wants to turn back, turn back. Make your decision now.”

…

On the eastern streets of Chengdu, a group of scholars could be heard trading insults, the scene noisy and somewhat chaotic.

By the window on the second floor of a teahouse along the street, a grey-robed scholar named Ren Jingzhu sat sipping tea, discussing the whole scheme’s design and arrangement with the plain-featured, plain-named assassin Chen Wei.

“Doing this, the Huaxia Army is bound to catch wind of it too.” Chen Wei raised his teacup, watching the scene of scolding and shouting down below as he spoke.

“Let them catch wind of it — right now even I don’t know who’s going where, or even whether they’ll actually go through with it. But once the Huaxia Army gets word, they’ll have to prepare defenses — some men here, some men there — and what they can actually spare to guard Chengdu itself will shrink accordingly. Besides, we’re hardly the only ones with plans laid in Chengdu this time — the moment chaos breaks out, someone else is bound to answer the call.”

Ren Jingzhu popped a broad bean into his mouth. “When the moment comes and everything descends into chaos, who knows, maybe even that crowd down there brawling will seize the chance to join in the trouble too. You, Qin Gang, Xiao Long — all you need is to seize one opportunity. Though even I don’t know exactly where that opportunity will present itself…”

“Reckon it’ll be within the next couple of days?”

“Once the deadline passes, there won’t be a chance left at all.”

Chen Wei nodded, falling silent for a moment. “Guess who I ran into in the city.”

“Hm?”

“Wang Xiangfo. I’ve no idea who managed to lure him out of retirement… not many people here in Chengdu even recognize him.”

“Not surprising. Whoever invited Wang Xiangfo, my guess is it was Tie Yan.” Ren Jingzhu thought it over. “There are probably other experts here too, ones we know and ones we don’t. Anyone able to resist the pull of the tournament is very likely up to something.”

“A whole chaotic mess, and yet everyone’s aims all point the same direction. The martial world hasn’t seen anything like this in years.” Chen Wei laughed. “That scheming mind of yours has always operated in the shadows — this time we’ll finally get to see, between you and that Inner Demon, whose methods really come out on top.”

“I’m only doing what I can to give him some trouble. Right now he’s the one with shoes on and I’m the one going barefoot — even if I win, it won’t be a victory to be proud of.” Ren Jingzhu said this with a certain analytical detachment, but deep in his eyes there lingered a trace of pride, difficult to put into words. He was thirty-two this year, having spent years in the Jiangnan region taking contracts to plan assassinations; young as he was for the trade, he had already earned a reputation on the road as a man of devious brilliance — though compared to the world-renowned Inner Demon, his ambitions had always seemed somewhat smaller in scale. This time, having come to Chengdu at Wu Qimei’s request, he kept up a modest front, though deep down he carried a certain confidence of his own.

With the whole board thrown into such chaos, and no way to openly unite everyone in the same cause, with every faction forced to guard against every other even as they tried to coordinate, he alone had chosen instead to throw the entire situation into even greater disorder, believing that even with that Inner Demon holding down Chengdu himself, a mess like this would still give him a headache.

He raised his teacup. “I’ve done everything I can do. Here’s to you taking first place.”

Chen Wei raised his own cup, clinking it against Ren Jingzhu’s. “This time — for the whole realm.”

…

The sun sank westward, and at the Huaxia Army’s camp south of Chengdu, Mao Yishan led his unit into the base, signing his name on the entry roster.

The clerk recording his signature already knew him well, and seeing the troops he’d brought along, let out a whistle. “Commander Mao, come to make a name for yourself at the tournament this time? Look at the men you’ve brought with you—”

“Elite troops!” Mao Yishan jerked a thumb back over his shoulder. “Though this time it’s for a mission. You know my fighting style well enough — no good for one-on-one duels, not suited for the ring. If it’s real dueling you want, Wang Dai’s first-rate at it, and then there’s that Niu Chengshu crowd from the Seventh Army, and that Liu Muxia who says all he wants in life is to charge the front line and never make squad leader… tch, I remember him — now that’s a vicious one. And then there’s the crowd around Mister Ning, old Du and the rest — with them around, why would I bother stepping into any ring.”

He finished signing his name and rapped the table.

“Your skills really are… you can’t win with a smile, but get you angry and you’ll kill a man on the spot — only fit for the battlefield.” The clerk laughed, then leaned in and lowered his voice. “…They’re all here.”

“Huh?”

“Wang Dai arrived yesterday, he’s in camp right now. Niu Chengshu and his group, I hear they came into the city from the north the day before yesterday. Get into the city early and check around the guest house district — you should be able to find them.”

“Hey, then I’ll go find them for dinner tonight! Last time Niu Chengshu beat the daylights out of me at the tournament, this time he’s treating. You coming tonight…”

“Not today, I’ve got work to do here.”

“All right, I’ll go find that brute Wang Dai first, then…”

The men laughed and joked together. Within the city of Chengdu, the scholars’ shouting match still carried on, and Mao Yishan, out of uniform, entered the city with his companions in the light of the setting sun.

Chen Wei and Ren Jingzhu came down from the teahouse and went their separate ways; not far off, a burly man built like an ox squatted by the roadside eating candied hawthorn skewers, his face twisted up from the sourness, teeth bared — a child who happened to see this laughed, showing half a mouthful of white teeth, with no way of knowing what expression that same massive man wore on the battlefield when he said “killing should be a celebration.”

Wang Xiangfo was once again studying the profiles and stories posted on the board outside the tournament grounds. At the best-reputed noodle shop in the city, Liu Muxia, having finished a bowl of egg noodles, paid with a smile to the pretty young girl working the counter.

An old scholar named Guan Shanhai had his arms wrapped around a girl, the two of them puckering up for a kiss in some corner. Two streets over, in a market shop, Wen Shoubin was welcoming the newest friend of the day, preparing to begin another round of lofty discussion. Qu Longjun sat in the pavilion, watching the sun go down; Ning Ji, back in his courtyard, was clumsily mending a pair of trousers he’d accidentally torn.

The six knights-errant had already set out on the road toward Zhang Village, and You Hongzhuo, out of some sense of memory and nostalgia, followed along some distance behind them…

And there were countless more ordinary people besides — ordinary people with their ordinary desires, their various different aims, their own kinds of lives, this way and that. They crossed paths amid the surging crowds. Even brushing shoulders, in this moment that still felt, for now, warm enough — they had not yet come to any point of true intersection…