Throughout the city, gongs sounded and constables’ voices called out to guide people home; in some places flames lit up, in others blades clashed, and there were also people standing off in confrontation with Huaxia Army members in the streets.

At one bustling street corner, seven street performers from the greenwood drew out blades and spears, trying to incite the common people to join in rebellion. Huaxia Army soldiers surrounded them from front and back. Some of these greenwood men breathed fire, some did continuous flips, trying to intimidate the soldiers; when one of them drew dangerous throwing knives and hurled them, the Huaxia Army soldiers raised their shields and rushed forward together, then cast barbed nets to bind them one by one and knock them to the ground.

During this, a nearby Bamboo Registry storyteller came out to calm the crowd, vividly narrating the martial skills the men had used — none of which, he explained, ranked among the respectable schools of the martial world — while the technique the Huaxia Army used was the small-unit battle formation composed years ago by Iron-Armed Zhou Tong. By the time the men had been beaten down and chained up, the onlooking crowd applauded excitedly, then continued home as directed.

Several warehouses and government offices in the city were either struck, or the would-be troublemakers were caught midway through their schemes.

Naturally, some small pockets of chaos proved impossible to fully contain in the moment. Fortunately, since the greenwood knights-errant were also trying to win over the people’s hearts, there was no instance of anyone charging through the streets hacking wildly with a broadsword — had it happened, they would immediately have become the first targets of the snipers and gunmen stationed nearby. The common people at this time were remarkably simple-hearted; if a villain caused trouble and was struck down on the spot, blood pooling on the ground, that was seen as entirely just — and witnesses would even gain plenty of material for tea-time gossip afterward, likely to be admired by their listeners for it.

Ning Ji sprinted through the city.

After running two more streets, he was stopped by someone.

“Hey, hey hey hey two-two-two… that…”

At the street corner, a Huaxia Army soldier waved and ran down from the slope to the side — clearly recognizing him, but reluctant to call out his name directly. Ning Ji looked at the man, and once he came close, stopped too, eyes wide with delighted surprise — he’d found his people.

“Hey, hey hey, Nag the Bell… Crow’s Beak… Old Yao! You’re not dead yet—”

The Huaxia Army soldiers were operating in groups at this time, and clearly there were a few more of this man’s companions following behind him. Hearing this from Ning Ji, the man’s shoulders slumped a little — his name was Yao Shubin, an elite soldier who had once been enlisted into Zheng Qiming’s squad during the great war in the southwest, with fairly high martial skill, though his nickname reflected his rather naggy personality. After the battle at Wangyuan Bridge, Ning Ji had been kept behind by his father and elder brother through underhanded means, which was how he’d been separated from these comrades.

Bonds forged on the battlefield were true bonds; especially since Ning Ji was ruthless and highly skilled in his own right, he had never been treated as a burden. Yao Shubin walked over now. “Um, Second Young Master, what are you…” He glanced back at his companions behind him, evidently conscious that Ning Ji’s true identity needed to remain confidential.

“Dragon!” Ning Ji pointed to himself. “Long Aotian — Dragon Who Soars Through Heaven. That’s what I go by now… just call me Brother Tian.”

“Ah…” Yao Shubin was startled for a moment, and by then several of his companions had also arrived, so he introduced him: “This is… one of our own brothers, Long… Aotian. Just call him Little Long.”

“Whoa, that’s a good name…”

“Little Brother Long’s name has real presence…”

The soldiers were rather struck by the grandeur of the name. Ning Ji laughed and greeted everyone. “Hello, brothers, hello uncles, hello elders… we’re all on the same side today…” As he spoke, he pulled a token out from inside his robe. The men, who had initially taken him for just a boy — perhaps some young relative of Yao Shubin’s — were startled at this. “Whoa! Special forces!”

“I served with old Yao here, under Brother Zheng Qi, back in the war.”

Yao Shubin gave a suitable explanation for Ning Ji’s benefit: “His family has a martial arts background, quite skilled — and on top of that, he’s mainly responsible for military medicine, very good at treating wounds and illness.”

Hearing this, the group understood at once — during the great war in the southwest, manpower had been scarce, and though boys in their teens were generally kept off the front lines as much as possible, there had been exceptions. This fearsomely named “Little Long” was clearly from some martial arts family, and being skilled in medicine besides, made sense as to why he’d been brought along despite his age. Zheng Qiming had led a genuinely elite unit back then — no room for padding, and even those who got in would be worked to the bone — so this boy’s ability was clear to see; he hadn’t disgraced his impressive name.

The group was momentarily filled with respect, exclaiming over how impressive he was. Ning Ji then followed Yao Shubin toward a nearby slope — the ground here was somewhat higher, and there was a tower built beside a temple nearby, apparently requisitioned for the occasion. Seeing how well prepared things were here, he couldn’t help but ask, “Hey, Old Yao, when did you all get to Chengdu? How long have you all been preparing for this?”

“I arrived on the thirteenth. These preparations weren’t made by us — we’re just here to catch people. As for preparations, Chengdu’s been unsettled for a while now; they started preparing over a month ago, didn’t you know?… By the way, what have you been up to lately? Never mind, if you can’t say, I won’t ask.”

Asked this, Ning Ji rambled on for a while about his recent activities, and Yao Shubin nodded along. “Oh, Monkey and the others, eh… back then…”

Ning Ji waved a hand, cutting off his reminiscing. “Never mind that. How are you all set up here? Who are you going after? Bring me in on it…”

“How could we bring you in? You know the orders come from above — how could we just add people at will?… Hey, I should be the one asking you — you know how tense things are in the city tonight, and you’re running around in the city using lightness skills, leaping over rooftops — do you know there are snipers up there? If I hadn’t spotted you, you’d be running around the whole city with a squad on your tail by now.”

“No wonder I felt tense…” Ning Ji glanced at the tower nearby, then spread his hands innocently. “How was I supposed to know things were this tense — nobody warned me ahead of time. I wanted to come help…”

Yao Shubin frowned. “…You really didn’t know?”

“Well, it’s not that I had no idea at all — the whole city’s been buzzing about it, I figured something was bound to happen, and that the higher-ups must have prepared for it… but I’ve been busy lately, haven’t gotten around to asking specifically.”

“That explains it, then. Your own brother’s the one in charge of all the liaison work — you should’ve just asked him and you’d have been brought in from the start…”

“Huh?” Ning Ji’s mouth fell open. “Damn it… I’m going to have it out with him later. Where’s my brother right now?”

“He was in charge of liaison with all sides — he was the one leading us when we entered the city. As for the current situation, he’s probably holding things down centrally somewhere. As for exactly where, I…”

“I’ll go find him now… I’ll head to Moheh Pool, I’m sure I’ll find him there…”

Yao Shubin grabbed hold of him. “Second Young Master, you can’t run off right now. There are dozens of snipers in this city — what if one of them doesn’t recognize you and you go running around…”

“What kind of logic is that? Plenty of people are heading home right now, why can’t I go?”

“You’re not going anywhere regardless. The city’s too chaotic right now — if you leave, I’m the one who’ll have to answer for it.”

“Where is it chaotic around here? Wherever it’s chaotic, let me go there!” Ning Ji hopped in place, stamping his foot, then looked at Yao Shubin. “If you won’t let me go, fine, then bring me along — if trouble comes, I’ll help fight.”

Yao Shubin thought it over. “…That, well, might not be impossible… let me report it up the chain…”

“You’re all the same people, don’t try to fool me. My dad told me — whenever you want something not to happen, you just say you’ll ‘report it up the chain’…”

“This is only my first time actually reporting anything up—”

“Nag the Bell, are you trying to pick a fight with me! I get it now, you just don’t want me to leave, and you don’t want me having any fun either… All right then, let’s spar.”

“I’m not afraid to spar with you, but not tonight.”

“Why not?”

“We need to conserve energy — it’s going to be a long night. The orders from above are: no sparring with anyone tonight, if you run into a real outlaw, go straight for the guns. I’d love a proper duel too, but orders are orders…”

“You… I…” Ning Ji pointed at him, jaw dropping, then after a moment said, “Forget it then, no point talking to you. I’m going to Moheh Pool to beg for an assignment. So many people out on the roads — don’t you try to fool me, if I die it’s on you… now either you agree, or you let me go.”

“How can you be so unreasonable…”

Ning Ji tilted his head back, glaring, finger extended; Yao Shubin cocked his head, brow furrowed, hands on hips. The night wind blew leaves down from the trees overhead, drifting through the air as the two faced off on the open ground before the temple.

Finally, Yao Shubin gave in. “Fine, my bad luck tonight. Let’s do this together then — that’s settled. You’re on duty now, we’re moving together the whole time, no more running off on your own. A gentleman’s word.”

“Fast as a whip!”

The two men’s fists bumped in the air, and then they both laughed.

“You know, I really shouldn’t have run into you today. You’re the one taking the risk here, you know that?”

“Hey Old Yao, honestly I don’t much like working with you all. Facing an outlaw and going straight for guns? Is that something people even do? When it comes to a one-on-one duel, who are we afraid of!”

“The higher-ups say to conserve energy — look how many bad guys there are in this city, they’ve got to come out in waves, right? If we went for one-on-one duels with all of them tonight, how many of us are there, even counting you? Not worth it.”

“That’s a fair point — so they really will come out in waves?” Ning Ji’s eyes lit up, and he looked left and right.

“Mm, that’s the plan. First deal with the biggest troublemakers, the ones with the loudest reputations. Someone’s already gone to greet them over there — once that group’s dealt with, there might be others hoping to scavenge scraps, or thinking the Huaxia Army might get careless as the night wears on… could really happen anytime tonight… nothing we can do about it, but the higher-ups say — since it’s the outsiders who want to ‘introduce themselves’ to us, we should give them a proper introduction. Whatever tricks they’ve got, we’ll take them all in stride, and next time, fewer people will want to give this kind of ‘introduction.’ The whole realm will get to know us, too…”

Yao Shubin rambled on, and Ning Ji nodded. “The first wave of troublemakers — isn’t that Wang Xiangfo, Xu Yuanzong, Chen Wei, and the like?”

“Yeah, they’ve all got people assigned to them. That Chen Wei fellow hasn’t been located yet, so we need to watch out for him tonight. Xu Yuanzong, they said, was assigned to Wang Dai. As for Wang Xiangfo, Niu Chengshu and Liu Muxia and the others went after him.”

“Oh, I saw Wang Xiangfo… weakling… Niu Chengshu and Liu Muxia surrounded him, kicking him on the ground. That’s really overdoing it.”

“Well, when you put it that way, it is a bit much — five against one, who could withstand that…”

The two of them sighed and shook their heads in unison, then Ning Ji perked back up. “Never mind, forget it — there’ll be more bad guys coming, right? Let’s just wait for them…” He walked forward and began greeting the group, making small talk. “Hello brothers, hello uncles, hello sirs, we’re working together today, my name’s Long Aotian, just call me Little Long…”

Yao Shubin, looking helplessly resigned, followed along to introduce him properly.

Ning Ji’s excitement lasted quite a while…

The Milky Way flowed across the sky, signal-arrow fireworks streaking through the night like shooting stars; smoke rose several times over the city, and brutal fighting broke out here and there.

“I fight for the people of the Wu Dynasty—”

“This winter, many will starve to death—”

“You Huaxia Army only care about yourselves!”

“The crime of regicide can never be forgiven—”

“So long as Ning Yi is gone, we of the Han people can make peace, and this great realm need not stay torn apart — restoring the Central Plains would only be a matter of time—”

“You heroes, you men of valor, why must you follow that rebel devil? Look at the suffering common folk of this realm—”

Throughout the city, some were persuaded to turn back, some were cowed by the power of sniper rifles and dared not act rashly further — but on some streets, fighting broke out in earnest, blood spraying and bodies falling.

Xu Yuanzong and his brothers fought fiercely; by the end, only he himself, covered in blood, managed to escape across two streets, with Wang Dai and the others pursuing and encircling him, cutting him to pieces covered in wounds. He kept shouting without pause — first impassioned battle cries, then pleas and attempts to persuade the others. But he did not surrender.

“Old Wang, what’s he saying? Some of it I can’t quite follow…”

“That’s Hankou dialect,” Wang Dai said. “He’s beyond reasoning with. Kill him.”

The words had barely left his mouth when he surged forward. Xu Yuanzong swung his blade in attack; Wang Dai’s body flashed like lightning to one side, slashing his blade across the man’s ribs, then again across his back, a third strike to his left shoulder, and a kick that sent him flying. Xu Yuanzong was indeed of grandmaster caliber, with extraordinary vitality — drenched in blood, he still staggered and struck back, until finally a blade of light cut clean through his neck, and his head flew off.

Xu Yuanzong’s entire group, having fought and fled the whole way, was thus wiped out to the last man. In truth, for all their desperate fighting and refusal to surrender along the way, Wang Dai and the others had retained a measure of respect for them, and had made several attempts to persuade them to surrender. Wang Dai had done his best to conserve his strength too, hoping, where possible, to focus on capture rather than killing, to let more of them live. But by the time Xu Yuanzong reached his final moments, spouting nothing but rehearsed slogans, he had truly angered Wang Dai, who finally beheaded him with four swift strokes in succession.

“Idiot, feh!” Wang Dai sheathed his blade with a flick of his hand and spat, turning to look back at the trail of corpses behind him. “Such a fine group of men — why do they all have to be so thick-headed!”

…

“Magnificent heroes, worthy of song and tears—”

In a courtyard three streets away from where Xu Yuanzong had died, Huang Nanzhong clenched his fists as he spoke these words, then turned to Huang Jianfei, Huang Shan, and the rest of his household retainers. “Do you hear that sound? Those are the cries of our Wu Dynasty’s heroes. Tonight decides the fate of this entire realm. Even if you and I should die here, we will be remembered alongside those heroes, remembered by history, immortal between heaven and earth—”

The group nodded, blood stirred with fervor.

Elsewhere in the city, Guan Shanhai sat in his courtyard, listening to the various commotions outside, fists clenched, trembling.

“Just wait a little longer, a little longer…”

he murmured to himself.

…

The members of the Huaxia Army tallied up the incidents occurring throughout the city one by one, and after a little more than an hour since the first explosion, began compiling a preliminary, staged report.

“…The first wave of unrest occurred mostly within the first half hour or so, and after being swiftly suppressed, the chaos in the city began to subside. The enemy’s intentions and targets have started becoming irregular… but we expect a few more small-scale incidents tonight. It seems the resolute crackdown has already frightened off some of them — according to reports from our planted informants, quite a few of the greenwood groups who had secretly banded together have started discussing giving up on their plans, some of them before we’d even gotten around to warning them off…”

…

When members of the command staff went up to the watchtower to report to Ning Yi, the once high-spirited Second Young Master Ning Ji was busy interrogating an old woman who had come home late, carrying a jar of pickles. “I was over at my daughter’s picking things up, the jar’s heavy, so I stopped to rest a bit…”

Ning Ji checked the pickle jar — he thought it might be able to conceal gunpowder, but sadly, it couldn’t. “Where do you live?”

“Just up the slope ahead there.”

“All right, off you go then. Here, your jar.”

“Oh, thank you, young sir.”

Ning Ji’s face darkened, and as the old woman struggled forward with her jar of pickles, his shoulders slumped even further as he followed along behind her.

“Grandma, let me carry that back for you.”

“Oh, thank you, young sir.”

“…No need to thank me, it’s what I should do.”

…

“…Also, while carrying out its assignment, Team Sixteen discovered Ning Ji running loose in the city. To avoid unnecessary trouble, squad leader Yao Shubin kept him with them and has temporarily agreed to bring him along on the mission — this was reported up beforehand not long ago.”

“Ning Ji…” Standing on the tower, gazing idly around, Ning Yi paused for a moment, then thought it over — it was, after all, entirely in character; it would be strange if the boy weren’t running around loose. He took out the map. “Which area is Team Sixteen responsible for again…”

“Pine Pavilion.”

“Did anything big happen over there?”

“They caught a few people at the start. Once he arrived, nothing much seems to have happened. The operation to capture Wang Xiangfo was nearby, but according to the later report, Ning Ji wasn’t involved in that either… he really does have the luck of the gods.”

“…Never mind.” Ning Yi thought for a moment. “Let him be. It’s not the first time he’s tagged along on an operation anyway. Hmph, once September comes, I’m locking him up in school…”

The night wind blew steadily on, the stars and moon overhead gradually shifting position. On the open ground before the temple on the slope at Pine Pavilion, Ning Ji wandered about, by turns tense and bored, occasionally chatting with the others, sometimes climbing a tree to gaze into the distance, and once even climbing the tower to borrow a sniper’s spyglass to watch the excitement elsewhere.

He’d even walked the elderly grandmother home.

But he still hadn’t run into a single enemy.

“I feel like you’re doing this on purpose… Old Yao, you jinx, did you secretly say something you shouldn’t have…”

“I’m on duty too! This area just happens to be quiet! What am I supposed to do about it! Brother Tian!”

“I don’t care, I want to go somewhere else. I’m not staying here!”

“We already agreed — a gentleman’s word, fast as a whip. If you want to go back on it, go ahead, we’re brothers here, I won’t say anything about it. It’s just, I’m not one to gossip about people, you know…”

“Aaaaaaaaaaah—” Ning Ji cupped his face and glared, shouting in front of Yao Shubin, who shoved him away, finding it all rather funny. Ning Ji’s features were delicate; on the battlefield he killed without the slightest hesitation, his murderous aura formidable enough to frighten anyone — but when he had no killing intent on him at all, acting like this, he just seemed a bit foolish.

“Don’t be like this, Brother Tian. If you run off to somewhere else now, whatever needed fighting has probably already been fought — and who’s to say the moment you leave, something happens right here, right? Right now, the odds of trouble breaking out anywhere in the city are about the same everywhere. What matters is patience — sit tight and wait…”

Feeling that Yao Shubin’s words actually made some sense, Ning Ji suddenly found himself somewhat deflated.

Past the hour of Hai, something finally happened nearby. A few small-time thieves hoping to play hero tried to set fire near a house; a constable spotted them and sounded the gong immediately. Ning Ji and the others rushed over at full speed, closing in from both sides — by the time they arrived, two soldiers who had circled around from the other direction had already knocked the three petty thieves down with a punch and a kick each, and they lay curled up on the ground, writhing.

Ning Ji walked over and kicked one of the thieves in the back.

The hour of Hai gradually passed as well, and midnight approached. By now there were very few pedestrians left in the city; occasionally the sound of gongs and drums accompanying an arrest still echoed somewhere in the distance, growing as scarce as the hair on the heads of some of the senior researchers at the Institute of Natural Studies. Ning Ji finally gave up.

“I want to go home.”

“We’re on duty until tomorrow morning.”

“I’m going home, I’m off duty, I want to go back and sleep.”

“Oh, let me find someone to see you back — at your age, you really should turn in early…”

“Old Yao, you jinx, I’m going to remember this…”

“Once this is over, I’ll take you out for hotpot tomorrow, to make it up to you. This one’s on me — my bad luck, no enemies for you tonight, Brother Tian didn’t get to have his fun.”

As he said this, Yao Shubin couldn’t help laughing to himself.

Ning Ji didn’t want to look at his face any longer and turned to leave. Yao Shubin called over a constable to accompany him home. Ostensibly an escort, it was, of course, really a form of supervision — something Ning Ji was well aware of, but there was nothing he could do about it; he had, after all, agreed earlier to carry out the mission together, and Yao Shubin had genuinely taken on responsibility for him. If there was anyone to blame, it was those troublemakers in the city — the ones who’d talked such a big game beforehand could have formed an entire division just from those bragging in front of him, yet when it came time to actually act, hardly anyone dared; and of the few real villains who did show up, why couldn’t they have shown up while he was actually there to catch them…

Useless cowards! Gutless wonders! Not worth trusting—

He grumbled to himself the whole way, sulking as he made his way back to the small courtyard where he was staying. The accompanying constable, having confirmed he’d gone inside, waved and left. Ning Ji sat in the courtyard for a while, feeling utterly drained — he thought, if he’d known it would be like this, he might as well have gone to spy on Old Little Mean Dog instead, that would have been more interesting; over there, old Little Mean Dog, seeing the chaos in the city, would surely be spouting all sorts of shameless nonsense right about now…

But by this point he didn’t feel like going over there anymore either — mainly because the city really did have tight security from the Huaxia Army. He might be able to slip past a few experts here and there thanks to the advantage of surprise, but in a situation like this, if he ran around carelessly somewhere and was suddenly spotted by one of the Huaxia Army’s top fighters or instructors, that would be an awkward situation indeed. Getting beaten up by mistake would be the lesser evil — if he were judged a real threat and shot from a distance, it really wouldn’t be worth it.

He sighed to himself in the courtyard for a while, and hearing the faint stirrings from far off only added to his gloom. He went to the kitchen, took out some cold rice from the pot and ate it, then, with no heart left for practicing his martial arts, prepared to go to sleep.

He lay down on the bed, but with his stomach full from the food he’d just eaten, he got up again and went for a walk around the courtyard. By now, midnight had passed by a good margin — it was already technically the early morning of the twenty-first of the seventh month. The sky above was blanketed with stars, and at a certain moment, Ning Ji stopped in his tracks in the courtyard.

There was a stirring sound coming from outside.

It was the sound of several people’s cautious footsteps, and then, someone knocked at the door.

Ning Ji stood beneath the eaves and waited a moment. The knock came three times, and, his heart stirring with excitement, he walked over with heavy steps to open the door.

Someone was climbing over the wall, peering inside.

Ning Ji opened the door; outside stood a cluster of dark figures, the smell of blood hanging in the air. Two of them reached out at once, shoving Ning Ji’s shoulders, sending him staggering backward to fall to the ground. The fastest of them used lightness skill to dash rapidly into the inner part of the courtyard, checking whether there were others inside the rooms, and a blade was even thrust toward Ning Ji’s face.

A few familiar faces appeared among the crowd, one of them a burly, honest-looking man: “Little Brother Long, sorry for the intrusion — don’t go shouting now.” He then turned to introduce him to the others: “This is that young military doctor from the tournament, surname Long, given name Aotian. He’s been secretly selling army supplies to us — if this gets out, he won’t be able to escape blame either…”

Countless stars filled the sky above, twinkling as though with mischievous eyes. Ning Ji lay on the ground in the courtyard, arms flung wide, utterly unguarded. He was quietly savoring what was, so far, the most tense and thrilling moment of this whole summer.

The villains — had come after all…

This chapter was meant to be a modest three thousand-odd characters, since it happened to split nicely. But then someone told me a Gold Alliance member had shown up, so I just powered through in one go, and it happens to land right before midnight… Thanks to Gold Alliance member “Wind Clears, Clouds Fade” for the reward and support, thank you all for your support ^_^