The Full Circle

The dark limestone cave was lit only by the faint glow of the entrance. Li Huowang, his skin charred black from head to toe, furrowed his brow as he studied the black-armored man before him—You Zixiong.

Through the man’s account, he had pieced together the rough outline of his story.

This man was a Military Strategist, a Strategist of the Four Qi. Now that the court of Four Qi had fallen, he was like a piece of duckweed without roots. He had probably followed the Grand Astrologer and come to Great Liang.

As for his connection to Anci Nunnery, Li Huowang had already inquired. They had only met by chance on the road. The front lines were short on pay, so You Zixiong had traded his sword for silver with the abbess.

And that silver… it was the very loot from the reeds island, the same stash Li Huowang had taken after killing the river bandits. Back then, he had used that island silver to buy Abbess Jingxin’s help against the Danyangzi who was hounding him.

Then the abbess had used that same silver to buy You Zixiong’s sword, and finally, for his own safety, she had given it to him as a weapon for the road.

Full circle. Everything had come back to the starting point. As if all of it was fated.

Listening to You Zixiong’s account, distant memories began to surface in Li Huowang’s mind. His expression grew complicated, a tangled mix of emotions swirling within him.

After a moment to collect himself, Li Huowang turned his attention back to the silent You Zixiong. “So you don’t know why the nuns of Anci Nunnery died either?”

You Zixiong gave a slight shake of his head. “I returned to camp right after I traded the Qin’e Sword for silver. I never left the camp after that. I had no way of knowing what happened in the rear.”

“Later, the Heavenly Calamity ended. Four Qi and the Later Shu started fighting again… and then…”

A flicker of pain crossed his face. “And then, Four Qi fell. I was ready to die fighting, to take as many of them with me as I could, but the Sitian Jian said, ‘Where there’s life, there’s hope.’ So those of us Strategists who survived, along with the officials from the Sitian Jian, had no choice but to follow him all the way to Great Liang.”

“The Later Shu Strategists must be formidable to have taken all of Four Qi.”

“Bullshit!” You Zixiong’s voice was thick with fury.

“Those damned officials! They sold out the soldiers on the front lines! Refused us food! Refused us silver! A pack of gluttonous good-for-nothings! They left us without clothes or food, forcing us to fight the Later Shu barbarians with our bare hands!”

“And them? They ended up colluding with the eunuchs in the palace! They opened the gates and sold the entire royal house to the Fa Sect!”

“What?!” The moment the words registered, Li Huowang’s pupils shrank to pinpricks. “What did you say? Four Qi fell because of the Fa Sect?”

“Of course! Who do you think could have gotten past the border forts with just the Later Shu barbarians? Even without food or silver! As long as a single man of the You clan was still alive, they wouldn’t have crossed a single step!” Having vented his fury, You Zixiong let out a long, heavy sigh.

“If the Later Shu had actually earned their victory by taking Four Qi, then our You clan would have accepted our defeat. But to have the Fa Sect swoop in and pluck the fruit at the last moment, every time I think of it, I can’t accept it!”

A clatter of chains rang out as the four long blades on You Zixiong’s back spun. With a sudden spin and a mighty whip of his arm, the four blades flew out, cleaving the nearby Fa Sect corpse into pieces.

“No, no, hang on a second.”

Li Huowang’s expression was extremely serious as he walked up to You Zixiong, speaking very deliberately. “I need to confirm one thing first. Four Qi was truly brought to ruin by the Fa Sect? Does that mean the entire Four Qi is now under the control of the Fa Sect, the same one that worshipped the Heavenly Calamity?”

“Of course. If this had been just an ordinary change of dynasty, why would the Sitian Jian have led us all the way to Liang?”

You Zixiong’s words sent Li Huowang into a momentary stupor. He had thought the Fa Sect, or rather, the Fa Sect that had come from the Great Qi, was only a moderate nuisance.

As long as the current emperor Gao Zhijian wasn’t incompetent, and with the combined strength of the Military Strategists, the Sitian Jian, and himself, given enough time, they could certainly deal with this problem. He hadn’t thought it had reached a matter of life and death.

But the news that the entire nation of Four Qi had been occupied by the Fa Sect felt like a blow from a club.

This was no small thing. This was the Fa Sect—the very sect that could turn ordinary commoners into fearless monsters!

By now, probably eight or nine out of every ten citizens of Four Qi had become followers of the Fa Sect. His experience with the Great Qi had already taught him the terror of the Fa Sect once it gained momentum.

A pressure as heavy as Mount Tai suddenly settled onto Li Huowang’s shoulders.

If Four Qi was occupied by the Fa Sect, they would inevitably radiate outward. Behind Four Qi was Later Shu, and behind Later Shu was Qingqiu.

If the Fa Sect were allowed to take Qingqiu as well, then the force that loomed before Great Liang would be a truly monstrous terror.

For the moment, Li Huowang completely forgot about the Void Nian that had just escaped. He turned and hurried out of the cave with urgent steps.

After Li Huowang left, the big-bearded man beside him spoke to You Zixiong. “You need to control that temper. This guy doesn’t seem like someone to mess with.”

“Do you think I’m still afraid of dying? If I’d had my way at the border, I’d already be dead!” You Zixiong’s demeanor slumped, becoming listless and lifeless as he shuffled out of the cave.

“The royal court of Four Qi is gone. What point is there in us Four Qi Strategists still being alive? I’m only clinging to life now for one reason—to kill every last Fa Sect member under heaven!”

The iron-banded cart wheels rolled forward unhurriedly. Yang Xiaohai, holding the reins, stared with some trepidation at the dense mess of footprints covering the road beside him.

“Good heavens, why are there soldiers running around everywhere? Is a war about to break out?”

“Pui pui pui, husband, don’t talk nonsense like that. What war would break out for no reason?”

Hearing his wife’s voice from inside the cart, Yang Xiaohai ignored the footprints and focused on driving. Every so often, he would pull out a sheepskin map to carefully confirm their current location.

“Xiumei, how much grain do we have left on the cart? We’re almost at Qingqiu. There aren’t many people there. It won’t be easy to buy supplies on the road.” Yang Xiaohai called out to his wife.

“Enough for now. There’s still a few hundred catties. That’ll last the two of us for quite a while. Oh, by the way, what are we going to eat later?”

Marrying a chef, Zhao Xiumei thought, was the best decision she had ever made in her life. Even if they had to sleep outside, Yang Xiaohai always found ways to keep things interesting.

“Eat?” Yang Xiaohai was mulling it over when he spotted a roadside stall in the distance. Peering at the sign, he announced, “Spicy Wontons.”

When the cart stopped near the stall, Yang Xiaohai saw that all the benches were nearly full. He quickly grabbed his wife and went to find a seat. “Chef, a catty of wontons, please! Two bowls!”

“Coming right up! Find a seat! It’ll be ready soon!”

The place wasn’t exactly remote. Yang Xiaohai scanned the awning and saw, besides some traveling peddlers and a scholar heading far away, a monkey tamer with three monkeys chained together, crouching on the ground and stuffing red-oil-stained wontons into their mouths with their fingers.

The patrons were wolfing down the wontons, the spicy oil fragrance wafting over. The hungry pair couldn’t help but swallow repeatedly.