Zhuge Yuan

Inside the brightly lit palace, Li Huowang’s pupils trembled as he stood before the coiled-dragon pillar.

He first looked down at the spine-sword that had begun moving on its own, then turned his gaze to Zhuge Yuan beside him.

He had suffered many wounds before, but none had ever hurt as much as this one.

“So you even had a contingency plan! You never trusted me! Are you really the same Zhuge Yuan who would give up his own life to save me?”

“You tell me to steady my heart? But you’ve always seen me as the Red Center of the Zuowandao! How am I supposed to steady my heart with that!”

As he spoke, the corner of Li Huowang’s mouth twitched. His expression twisted as he raised his fist and began slamming it against his own skull.

“Brother Li, I had no choice. Too many lives in Great Qi depended on me. I couldn’t afford to bet everything on you. I could stake my own life for you, but I couldn’t stake the lives of everyone in Great Qi!”

Li Huowang glared at him, fury burning in his chest as he charged at Zhuge Yuan.

The moment his right fist clenched and swung toward him, Zhuge Yuan’s head became solid.

Thump!

Zhuge Yuan’s head snapped back. The punch sent him stumbling.

When he steadied himself again, a bruise already darkening his face, he let out a soft sigh. His voice was low as he spoke. “In my entire life, I have never done anything that weighed on my conscience—except this once. For the sake of Great Qi, I deceived you. I deceived my sworn brother. That is not the conduct of a gentleman. When you do wrong, you must bear the punishment. So I, Zhuge Yuan, am willing to atone with my death.”

Li Huowang, who had been burning with rage just moments before, suddenly froze. He watched as Zhuge Yuan’s body began to flicker, growing dim and bright by turns.

“What—what do you mean by that? I’m telling you, this isn’t over yet! You still owe me an explanation! You’re not going anywhere!” Li Huowang’s face contorted in pain as he clutched his head. Zhuge Yuan’s body began to solidify again.

“Brother Li, as a Heart-Element, these phantoms are not good for you. They bring only harm, no benefit. It would be best to dispose of them as soon as possible.”

“If you wish to make the illusions around you disappear, perhaps you can help them let go of the obsessions in their hearts. Once their obsessions are gone, the illusions will naturally fade as well. Take me, for example. Or Jiang Yingzi from before.”

With these words, Zhuge Yuan’s body grew exceedingly thin. Even as Li Huowang desperately tried to hold onto him, it was to no avail.

“Brother Li, if you cannot tell whether you are Red Center or Li Huowang, remember to go where Li Huowang belongs. Accumulate more of Li Huowang’s memories. That might help suppress Red Center.”

“Brother Li, I once wanted to find out what Doumu Taiyin hoped to gain by altering your past memories. But please forgive my incompetence—I was never able to figure out why they did it. You should set aside that cultivation technique for now. Wait until you understand it better before you try again.”

Having said all this, Zhuge Yuan’s body had become nearly transparent, on the verge of vanishing completely.

“Wait! Wait for me!” Li Huowang hunched forward slightly, bright red blood dripping from his nose onto the floor.

Zhuge Yuan solemnly straightened his scholar’s robe. He leaned forward, raised his clasped hands before him, and gave Li Huowang a deep bow.

“Brother Li, take care of yourself!”

With that, Zhuge Yuan’s body disappeared completely. Not a single trace remained.

Li Huowang stood dumbly, letting his hand fall from his head. His eyes remained fixed on the spot where Zhuge Yuan had vanished.

After a long, dazed moment, he began cursing wildly into that empty space, crying and shouting all at once.

Gradually, his angry shouts subsided. He stood in the place where Zhuge Yuan had just been, staring blankly. What was going through his mind at that moment, only he himself knew.

Half a stick of incense later, Li Huowang suddenly moved. He turned and walked toward the spine-sword.

But when he reached it, he saw that the purple talisman on the sword’s hilt-head had been re-applied. The peach-wood talismans and flesh that had been extending from the blade had all retracted, turning it back into an ordinary-looking spine-sword.

Li Huowang’s hands trembled as he lifted the purple talisman. This time, however, the spine-sword showed no change at all. It seemed to have died along with the phantom Zhuge Yuan.

A flurry of footsteps erupted. From outside the hall, a group of people with Supervisory Heavenly Office tokens at their waists rushed in, weapons drawn and expressions grim.

“Erjiu! Erjiu!” The woman who had traded the spine-sword with Li Huowang earlier now wore a terrible expression. She and her people surrounded him in a tight circle.

“What the hell is going on here! Where is the State Preceptor? Why has the Emperor turned into a woman? Who killed our eunuch spy?”

Li Huowang shook his head numbly, his expression dull. He bent down, picked up the sword, and pushed past her, heading for the exit.

When the others moved to block him, Li Huowang swung the spine-sword abruptly and tore through the very air, vanishing into a fissure at an astonishing speed.

Boom! A clap of thunder made Gao Zhijian, who was slurping noodles in the inn’s main hall, jolt in fright.

Bowl in hand, he stepped out of the inn and saw the sky above the Great Liang imperial palace thick with dark clouds, purple lightning lancing down in rapid succession.

“What’s happening at the Great Liang palace?” Even he, who didn’t understand much, could tell that the color of those lightning bolts was wrong.

Just as he was thinking this, the sound of hooves rang out. Soldiers with military command flags on their backs galloped down the wide streets, frantically beating brass gongs as they rode.

“By order of the State Preceptor’s office! Curfew in the capital! Curfew in the capital! After two sticks of incense, anyone on the street will be executed!”

The announcement sent a wave of panic through the crowd. Everyone who had been leisurely strolling just moments before now scattered like ants in a disturbed nest.

Street vendors abandoned their stalls without even packing up, sprinting for home.

Gao Zhijian had no idea what was going on, but he hurried back into the inn with the flow of the crowd, still holding his bowl.

The moment he was inside, the terrified waiter slammed the door shut, barred it with a table, and began whispering with the other frightened patrons.

“What’s going on? Why a curfew in broad daylight? Is Qingqiu attacking?”

“Can’t be. I saw lightning over the palace just now. Is His Majesty performing some kind of ritual?”

“Hey! You trying to get yourself killed? Don’t say things like that!”

“It’s fine, it’s fine. Our Emperor doesn’t punish people for what they say.”

The people of the capital moved fast. Before even one full stick of incense had burned, there wasn’t a single soul left on the streets.

In the tense atmosphere, Gao Zhijian peered through a small hole in the paper window, watching the empty street outside. “Is this curfew connected to Brother Li? Should I go out and take a look?”

But he hesitated. Searching blindly like this, he’d probably run into the Great Liang soldiers before he ever found Li Huowang.