Chapter 369

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**Beacon Fires Amuse the Lords**

A lone rider led the way, hot desert winds buffeting him. The knot of his cloak gradually loosened, and it drifted down into the yellow sand, revealing a striking, brightly colored python robe.

Behind this eunuch, two thousand elite cavalry from Sword Pavilion lagged a full *li* behind him. The Liyang Dynasty had an explicit ironclad law, clearly carved on the Dragon Tablet: no eunuch was allowed outside the palace! After the Liyang Dynasty settled the Spring and Autumn period, exceptions over the past decade were few and far between. One instance was when Princess Suizhu infiltrated Beimang; the chief eunuch in charge of the Imperial Stables died not long after returning to the palace, ensnared by his own red threads. The time before that, he went to retrieve the Emperor’s illegitimate son, Zhao Kai. Even with the Emperor’s direct order, it cost him half of his favor. Mobilizing the two thousand hidden cavalry behind him, loyal only to the imperial family—a quiet move by the Emperor on the grand chessboard of the world—cost him the remaining half of his master-servant bond. Yet, Han Shengxuan, the first powerful eunuch whose real name was largely unknown to both court and common folk, felt no regret and gave no thought to the Emperor's supposed heartlessness.

Han Diaosi, "Human Cat," was greedy for power; otherwise, he wouldn't have held sole authority for so many years. But he knew for whom he was greedy. When the Emperor was still the weakest prince, Han Diaosi pledged his life to him. Once the prince ascended the throne and his lineage grew, Han Shengxuan initially chose Zhao Kai, the son of the gentle woman whom Han Shengxuan called his "First Master." Han Shengxuan had eaten meals she personally cooked; she never once treated him as a despised eunuch. "The world may mock me, Han Shengxuan, for a time, but I will mock them for a lifetime. Yet, if she respected me even an inch, I would respect her a hundred *zhang*." Since she died early, Han Shengxuan repaid her kindness to Zhao Kai. Han Shengxuan was uneducated and illiterate. Human Cat never spoke of national laws or human sentiment; Emperor and Prince Zhao Kai were his only rules. Han Diaosi only followed these two "family rules" his entire life.

Galloping furiously, Han Diaosi saw a dense formation of cavalry ahead. The old eunuch, carrying no weapons, raised his hands and twirled two strands of white hair hanging from his temples. His hands were covered by a dense network of three thousand red threads. Once he sliced through this formation of traitors cultivated by Beiliang, he could hand them over to He Yan, who was following behind. Han Diaosi could have easily killed the Grand Eunuch of the Directing Palace Bureau who went to Sword Pavilion to obstruct his troop movements. However, Human Cat bore no ill will towards the Empress and didn't want to embarrass his "little master" later, nor completely fall out with her prematurely. So he let the grand eunuch follow him to Sword Pavilion to find the good-for-nothing Ruan Dacheng.

His lone horse charged at the three thousand mighty cavalry without slowing down. He even had the leisure to say with a smile, "Black Monk, don't let our disciples die here. Otherwise, I, this old servant and First Master, will tear you, the Second Master, to shreds even if it costs me my life."

On the opposing side, cavalry general Wang Zhi felt no ease or comfort, even facing Han Diaosi's lone rider. Not only had he guessed the old eunuch's identity, but he also knew what he was doing: treason! Wang Zhi lowered his head and touched a blade he had treasured for years, which he could finally unsheathe. The three thousand personal cavalry behind him recognized no one, not even Ruan Dacheng, the commander of Sword Pavilion. After years of fighting and honing their skills, rolling in the corpses of friends and foes, they had even forgotten the Zhao Emperor. His father had been stationed at Sword Pavilion as a garrison commander by Grand General Xu years ago. Before his death, he had gathered a thousand trusted men. In Wang Zhi's hands, it took ten years to add two thousand cavalry. Three hundred of these had slowly infiltrated Sword Pavilion from Beiliang, most of them boys aged fifteen or sixteen. Last year, eighty more arrived in one go. In Liusha, a desert region in the Western Regions, eight hundred *li* from Jianmen Pass, Wang Zhi first met that "human butcher" whose achievements had overshadowed his lord for too many years. Wang Zhi knew that soon he might need the blade his father had treasured: the Beiliang Blade.

Wang Zhi tilted his head, spat fiercely, and silently drew his Beiliang Blade. A thousand cavalry uncharacteristically retreated, while two thousand began to charge. This was an interception, sacrificing countless lives to block a top-tier expert of the Zhixuan realm. Wang Zhi still dreamed of becoming a historically renowned regional governor, a grand general who could deter the great desert. He would surely regret dying here, but having been born into the Wang family, following in the footsteps of his father, a former Beiliang veteran, he had no regrets.

Plum Wine spear in hand. The man, who did not drink alcohol, took a water skin from his waist and drank from it, tilting his head back. Some said he was the general most capable of turning decay into wonder since the advent of large-scale cavalry battles, an invincible force in cavalry engagements of a hundred thousand or more. Even the current Emperor lauded him as "White-Robed War Immortal," incomparable among all civil and military officials, excelling in both.

In the Liyang Dynasty's military, who ranked first in martial prowess? Previously, most claimed Grand General Gu Jiantang was superior. However, after two consecutive battles against Beimang's Hong Jingyan and the Bronze Man Patriarch, he became the undisputed new "Spear Immortal," subtly surpassing Gu Jiantang, whose blade skills had reached transcendence.

Chen Zhibao stopped his horse and looked back. A small, scattered troop of cavalry followed, their warhorses exhausted from the long pursuit. He saw the sword-wielding woman leading them, her body covered in dried blood. A bitter smile flashed across Chen Zhibao's lips and vanished. He turned his horse around and lightly tossed his water skin to her, but she did not catch it.

They were fifty paces apart.

Chen Zhibao chuckled, "An interception like this, without considering stamina, even two thousand cavalry might not be enough to stop me."

The woman, who hadn't closed her eyes for two days and nights, said coldly, "The six hundred Iron Pagodas dispatched by Dian Xiongchu and the eight hundred crossbowmen sent by Wei Fucheng are all dead. How impressive. They were all wearing Beimang armor."

Chen Zhibao said nonchalantly, "Why kill them? They weren't rebelling. They just happened to appear in the Western Regions."

Xu Weixiong steadied her breathing.

Chen Zhibao showed no haste to move. He reined in his horse and stopped, one end of his long spear pointing at the yellow sand beneath his horse's hooves. "I didn't expect you to come. Otherwise, I wouldn't have gone to this extra trouble."

Xu Weixiong scoffed, "Are there still battles you, Chen Zhibao, haven't predicted?"

Chen Zhibao said calmly, "I did predict it, but I didn't want to admit it. For some reason, whenever I imagine the scenarios I least want to happen, they always do, without a single exception."

Xu Weixiong asked directly, "Are you truly going to rebel against Beiliang?!"

Chen Zhibao tilted his head slightly and retorted, "Who said that?"

Xu Weixiong refrained from speaking further, breathing softly, as the ancient sword on her back trembled ceaselessly.

Chen Zhibao still showed no sign of raising his long spear, not even an inch. "When I was young, I didn't want my father to die for my foster father, but he went without a word, taking sixty-two Chen family disciples to cover the retreat. He still went. The second time, I didn't want the Crown Prince to refuse going to the capital to become a wealthy consort, but he didn't go. Last time, I didn't want him to return alive from Beimang to Beiliang, but he survived. This time, I didn't want to see you, but you came."

Chen Zhibao finally raised his Plum Wine spear slightly. "Over the years, I did nothing. I wanted my foster father to slowly die of old age as the King of Beiliang. Now, I still don't want to be that disloyal and unfilial rebel. That's why, even though I knew the Crown Prince traveled three times, I still stood by. And this last thing I didn't want to happen seems to have occurred again."

Chen Zhibao bent down, took a spearhead from his scabbard, and fitted it onto the incomplete Plum Wine spear. As he lowered his head, the man in white slowly said, "I know that the maid named Qingniao from Wutong Courtyard is the daughter of Wang Xiu, the Spear Immortal. I also know that the Instantaneous Spear was left in the armory. She was trained as a death warrior, specifically to kill me in the future; I'm perfectly clear on that. Xu Weixiong, since you are the 'Death Warrior A' who has been hiding for over twenty years, I, Chen Zhibao, will let you die today. After all, the last man you see before you die will still be me."

"I will take your body to Xishu and make you the Princess Consort of Shu for ten years."

This cavalry troop, carrying the silver flask that was destined to overturn the existing power structure of the Western Regions, unexpectedly halted its westward march. Their resting place was located between Sword Pavilion and Liusha, and behind the cavalry troop was Iron Gate Pass, as recorded in the *Spring and Autumn Geographical Records*. Established by the Great Qin Empire, its cliffs were like ax cuts, and its rocks the color of iron. This pass controlled a twenty-*li* long steep gorge upstream of the river, a crucial passage from the Western Frontier over the mountains into the Eastern Frontier. Whenever a Central Plains dynasty's situation stabilized, it would manage the lands north and south of the Tianshan Mountains, and Central Plains armored warriors would inevitably pass through here. Every time hooves pounded westward, it symbolized the flourishing power of the Central Plains dynasty; every retreat eastward signified the fragmentation and collapse of the Central Plains during the Spring and Autumn period.

Prince Zhao Kai boarded the carriage, sitting in the driver's seat, with the Golden Talisman General guarding him. When he saw an old monk in black, covered in dust, sweeping in from the north, he smiled brightly. It was his Second Master, the Sick Tiger Yang Taisui.

The gaunt old monk, seeing Zhao Kai safe and sound, was greatly relieved. He didn't say a single word to this disciple who was likely to revere Buddhism and suppress Daoism, interrupting the process of "destroying Buddhism." He merely exchanged a respectful bow with the Six-Bead Bodhisattva, then silently turned and headed east.

Less than half a *li* away. Xu Fengnian, with a saber and a sword, galloped directly towards Iron Gate Pass. Any prince could travel to the Western Regions to accumulate achievements and build prestige for a future ascension to the throne. Any prince could also be appointed King of Shu to sever the hidden connections between Beiliang and Nanzhao. However, no prince could achieve great merit and also become King of Shu, then subsequently rely on crushing Beiliang to ascend the throne. Moreover, this prince was Zhao Kai, whom Li Yishan's strategic plan had marked for certain death!

An old monk swept forward, poised for collision. Using a great Buddhist divine power, he continuously whispered secret words to Xu Fengnian, the hereditary King of Beiliang, who was on his horse: "Anyone can die; this old monk can die, the Red Sect Dharma King can die, all two hundred and sixteen attendants can die. Only Zhao Kai must not die! This old monk can escort Zhao Kai back to the capital, then go to the Beiliang King's Residence to beg for punishment. If you insist on killing Zhao Kai today, who carries the Emperor's decree and is blessed with destiny, do you know what the consequences will be?"

The old monk floated towards him.

"To hell with your consequences!"

Xu Fengnian, who usually remained calm even against enemies, suddenly had bloodshot eyes and roared in fury: "Yang Taisui, you are the first one I'll kill today! Do you still remember the White Robe Case in the capital back then?! I'd rather die while training my blade than be a useless King of Beiliang later, all so I can personally slaughter you bastards!"

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