Category: National Teacher (page 1 of 3)

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He leapt through the air towards the consul, fearless of death, and pierced through the Observatory’s encirclement.

As Qin Yunian collapsed in terror, Mo Shuchong showed a twisted smile for the first time. “Villain, you really do remember me!”

But when his scimitar slashed through him, Qin Yunian’s figure wavered. Mo Shuchong was startled to realise that what he hit was only a mirage, and by the time he came back to his senses, Qin Yunian was nowhere in sight. Somehow, the Observatory had interfered with his senses.

“What magic is this!” an assassin disguised as a dancer blurted, “It’s a trap!”

Iron-Clad Guards holding doctored knuckledusters¹These have a longer history than you might expect (first documented in India during the 12th century) and are known to have existed as a type of concealed weapon during ancient China. Since these ones are described as drugged/doctored, I’d guess they’re of the spiked variant. surrounded Mo Shuchong tightly. Scouts hidden outside had already sent retreat signals — their actions tonight had already been predicted by the enemy, they wouldn’t be able to gain any advantage and might even fold here.

As the assassins turned to retreat without hesitation, Qu Lingxin let out a cruel grin. “Guards, stop them. Catch one alive.”

The knuckledusters the Guards used were smeared with sedatives. A female assassin couldn’t move fast enough, was hit, and immediately went down. Liwei Court had only mobilised three core assassins this time, including Mo Shuchong. The others tried their best to protect Mo Shuchong’s retreat, but seeing the situation, he had to turn and give the female assassin a knife.

“Those are just small fry,” Qu Lingxin said to Bai Jing’an, “can’t you see that they can be abandoned without hesitation? So you see, this is why Commander Bai still can’t exterminate them.”

Bai Jing’an frowned. “You mean I’m not ruthless enough?”

Qu Lingxin neither agreed nor disagreed as Bai Jing’an’s Iron-Clad Guards took out a barbed net and threw it towards Liwei Court’s assassins. One of the two remaining assassins pushed Mo Shuchong out before taking his own life, and perfectly blocked the net with his own fallen corpse.

“Troubled times are coming, Commander Bai. Mercy is no longer suitable,” Qu Lingxin drawled as he observed the body lying in its pool of blood.

“Commander! It’s bad, there’s a crowd rioting outside, calling themselves revolutionaries who are protesting against Iron-Clad Guards killing people on the street…!”

Despite this evening’s chaos, those who had stirred up the muddy water sat peacefully within the post house. Lan Jue held a cup of wine as he played weiqi²Better known by its Japanese name Go with Chu Xiang.

To be honest, both of them were bad at weiqi. Chu Xiang had long forgotten the rules, because who would play this in space? People would rather spend time on real-time strategy games, or simply go online for a PVP mecha battle. If someone really wanted to play a board game, there were had maniacs who invented 3D Connect Five,³An actual, real life game. See Backyard Games NZ for an example. not to mention those who were in the process of designing 3D weiqi, xiangqi, and even chess…⁴3D chess already exists and has since at least the late 19th century. There’s also a computer game called 5D Chess with Multiverse Time Travel and it’s exactly as bonkers as it sounds. See Steam and Wikipedia; I recommend reading the Steam reviews.

And as for Lan Jue, he had little opportunity to play weiqi in his life, so he was still learning.

However, Chu Xiang’s brain contained Xie Zhiwei.

An AI able to control an entire mothership condescended to use his abilities to cheat at weiqi; the result was that Lan Jue lost miserably the entire night.

“Can’t you let me win once in a while?” he asked half-seriously.

Chu Xiang, pretending to be self-righteous, pinched a stone. “The dignity of a monarch isn’t achieved by being given it.”

A moment passed, then Lan Jue looked down at the board. “Bai Mo told me you pulled out Longque.”

“I did.” Chu Xiang placed the stone on the board with a soft clack.

His surprisingly calm attitude left Lan Jue with practically no way to respond, but he couldn’t let go of the topic so easily. As the legend went, Longque was a blade exclusive to the emperor, and indeed no one had been able to unsheathe it in the past. Now, rather than being ecstatic that he was able to pull it out, Lan Jue was more curious as to why Chu Xiang was able to do the same.

“Maybe it’s as your sister said — if you’re an evil star who came from the sky, it would be reasonable for you to be able to wield a demonic sword.”

“Do you really believe that, Your Excellency?” Chu Xiang smiled.

“I don’t,” Lan Jue replied, “but I need others to believe it.”

“It’s better if Your Excellency believes it,” Chu Xiang said, “otherwise I’ll worry if one day you might drag me out to be executed.”

Lan Jue, looking at him with amusement in his eyes, said meaningfully, “It’s hard to say.”

Chu Xiang rubbed his neck. “It’s a bit wretched to be decapitated, I’d rather be granted poisoned wine,” he said casually.

Lan Jue said nothing, to which Chu Xiang smiled and picked up another stone. “However, once you’ve conquered the world and transformed barren dirt into fertile soil, if you really want to kill me, you can just hang me on a city wall afterwards. By then I can probably be at peace watching the great rivers and mountains.”

As they talked, a light noise came from further within the building. Lan Jue pulled out his sword on the spot, only to see Mo Shuchong walk out from a hidden corner.

Blood dripped from his arm as he knelt. “This subordinate is guilty, I failed to assassinate the consul for My Lord. It was my fault for being reckless, which caused us to fall into a trap and be chased all the way back…”

“Bandage your injury first, talk about it later,” Lan Jue said.

The street outside erupted in noise. “Fortunately there are rebels making trouble on the streets,” Mo Shuchong said as he carelessly smeared himself with medicinal paste.

“You think I know nothing about your little tricks?” Lan Jue asked rhetorically. “Although you didn’t ask for my permission before the assassination attempt tonight, I don’t care about your motivation — however, since your services are now mine, I won’t allow you to be wiped out so quickly. I was the one who ordered Yang Feng to contact the rebels. I have no intention of taking them in, but they’re still useful once in a while.”

“Thank you, My Lord…” Mo Shuchong said guiltily. “This time, it was the Observatory who intervened. I shouldn’t have disturbed you, but…”

“Is the Lord of Western Tang here! Iron-Clad Guards’ Commander Bai Jing’an asks to see him!”

Mo Shuchong’s expression abruptly changed. “No, I made sure not to leave any traces!”

Chu Xiang pointed to beneath the bed. “Hide, quickly.”

Outside, Yang Feng shouted, “Presumptuous, how dare you break into the lord’s residence without permission?! My Lord is resting, you — hey, stop right there!”

“Yang Feng can’t stop the Guards, it seems like that Qu Lingxin has some real skills,” Chu Xiang said as he stood.

Lan Jue heard Yang Feng’s warning; but he yelled so loudly that Bai Jing’an could of course also guess that he was warning someone.

“We won’t be able to hide Mo Shuchong.”

“Hurry, we’re almost out of time, Excellency.” Chu Xiang suddenly grabbed Lan Jue and pushed him onto the bed. “Excuse me!”

“What…?”

Before Lan Jue could react, Chu Xiang tore open his own clothes and sat astride Lan Jue, who subconsciously held his waist, rough calluses against tender skin. At the same time, Bai Jing’an opened the door —

“Who let you in!!!”

Bai Jing’an was, after all, someone who had experienced many things, so his face hardly twitched as he respectfully saluted Lan Jue. It was the Guard behind him who couldn’t hold back his wandering eyes for a moment —

It turned out that the rumour was true — the Lord of Western Tang preferred the male sex.

Although many nobles had strange hobbies, perhaps only Lord Lan would refuse to restrain himself even after having his marriage proposal rejected…

“My Lord, the Iron-Clad Guards are handling a case. There are assassins loose in the city, I only want to ensure your safety and did not mean to disturb…”

Before he could finish, Lan Jue had already gritted his teeth and shouted, “Get out!”

“Yes sir!”

Without hesitating for a second, he left the room before the Lord of Western Tang’s anger erupted, accompanied by Yang Feng’s mocking eyes all the way. However, Yang Feng admired this Commander of the Guards quite a bit — not even his eyebrows moved at such a spicy scene, which contrasted starkly against the younger Guard next to him who was red down to the base of his neck.

The atmosphere inside the room became very strange. Underneath the bed, Mo Shuchong didn’t dare to move an inch, whether that be because he feared the Guards would return or something else.

Only Xie Zhiwei could continue chattering, safe as he was within Chu Xiang’s mind. “Tsk, Captain, you’re taking advantage again. But let me remind you that the beauty you’re hugging has elevated blood pressure and accelerated heart rate, I think he’s more than a bit angry.”

Chu Xiang slowly slithered out of Lan Jue’s arms and then, as if nothing had happened, he straightened his clothes, shrugged his outer robe which had fallen to his waist back on, then saluted. “Please forgive me, Your Excellency.”

The man regained his gentlemanly demeanour as soon as he put on his clothes properly, as gentle as the jade-like moon, with only a faint trace of red at the corners of his eyes remaining from his affectionate look a moment ago.

Blue veins popped along Lan Jue’s hands as he snarled, “You, get the hell out as well!”

“Yes.”

Chu Xiang ran away at the speed of light. It took half a day for Mo Shuchong to dare to crawl out from beneath the bed, and he thought for a long time before gathering up the courage to say, “This matter happened because of me, My Lord. Please do not blame Sir Chu.”

Lan Jue waved him away irritably, not even caring why the assassin wanted to kill the consul.

* * *

By the time he attended morning court the next day, Lan Jue was still absent-minded.

After the events of last night, Chu Xiang disappeared early in the morning and even his instructions for the day were handed to him on notes via Chu Hexing.

Frustration brewed within him. It was obviously that person who pounced on him, but why did it seem like he was the one who would eat someone now?

Various ministers and lords rose to speak, one after another. Consul Qin Yunian also reported on this season’s spring banquets, without sparing even half a word on the assassins he encountered the previous evening.

At this time, the Lord of Chen suddenly interjected. “Your Imperial Majesty, last night I received an urgent message from my territory: traces of wild Night Tribesmen from the plains were found in a forested border area. I ask Your Majesty’s permission to depart for my territory in advance, in order to prepare for a crusade against them.”

Returning early?

Lan Jue’s heart moved slightly, so he tentatively said, “Your Majesty, Western Tang is going through a calamity. Although I can enjoy myself here, I’m still worried that those hooligans will run crying to my door after a single day with no food, so please, let me go back with relief supplies soon!”

As he made his vulgar remarks, he glanced over at the emperor and internally sneered at his muddled, drunken state.

He wanted to see how the emperor, or the Observatory, would stop him.

---

Author:
Today, Chu Xiang teased a certain Mr. Lan to the point of explosion… these actions of his, he’ll have to pay back one day!

Translator:
As planned, this novel is officially dropped and free for other translators to pick up. My next project is A Transmigrated Figure Skater Becomes an Author by 菌行, of which I’ll translate 21 chapters.

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• 1
  These have a longer history than you might expect (first documented in India during the 12th century) and are known to have existed as a type of concealed weapon during ancient China. Since these ones are described as drugged/doctored, I’d guess they’re of the spiked variant.
• 2
  Better known by its Japanese name Go
• 3
  An actual, real life game. See Backyard Games NZ for an example.
• 4
  3D chess already exists and has since at least the late 19th century. There’s also a computer game called 5D Chess with Multiverse Time Travel and it’s exactly as bonkers as it sounds. See Steam and Wikipedia; I recommend reading the Steam reviews.

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Chu Xiang stepped in to explain for her. “Your Excellency, last year the imperial court passed a new law regarding slavery, which included a clause that if someone can’t pay their taxes on time, they can hand over their children to be slaves of the state in exchange for reduced taxes. As soon as this edict was released, coupled with the heavy tax burden, many ordinary people couldn’t escape the fate of becoming slaves. They were either forced to construct new manors for noblemen or became prostitutes, thus, I first selected those who were instrumental in pushing the law through, as well as one tax official who carried it out.”

“Yes,” Bai Mo said, “Two newcomers last year came to me because of it.”

Lan Jue nodded calmly, but then asked, “You didn’t even spare their youngest children, wasn’t that a bit much?”

Bai Mo shook her head. “Since their parents have already been killed, it would be even more cruel to leave the children behind, My Lord. I for one had hated that I didn’t die with my family that year… this wasn’t Sir Chu’s arrangement, it was my own decision. Sir Chu only said to kill the traitor to build momentum for your future actions, but my assassins were accidentally carried away by revenge… he reprimanded us afterwards and I also know that we were wrong to do it. Since we’re pretending to be righteous rebels, we shouldn’t be so ruthless.”

“Oh… he isn’t so angry anymore,” Xie Zhiwei reminded quietly.

However, Lan Jue said, “That isn’t necessarily true, those self-proclaimed righteous people may be even more cold-blooded than you when they do things. They’re only driven by anger and have no greater goal.”

“After today, the phrase ‘there is no justice in this world’ will spread. When the time is right in the future, Your Excellency can legitimately use the slogan of returning justice to the world,” Chu Xiang said.

At this time, Mo Shuchong suddenly whispered, “My Lord must be careful — future events can be considered in the future, but it’s still an open question as to whether you can leave Tianyan.”

“Why do you say so?” Lan Jue asked.

Due to spending too long disguised as female, Mo Shuchong’s voice was rather airy and high-pitched, but he still whispered, “An informant contacted me to say that the Observatory’s people have thoughts against you, and in addition, someone recently tried to buy our services to kill you. The informant said that they should be an astrologer from the Observatory.”

Chu Xiang had heard from Lan Jue what happened when he had been summoned to imperial court, and knew that the Observatory had stood against him. “You can try contacting them, I’m not sure why the Observatory is suddenly biting at us,” he said to Mo Shuchong.

“It’s said that the Observatory Master Qu Lingxin is very good at deducing heaven’s secrets.”

“I thought that was just those charlatans bragging to please the emperor!” Bai Mo exclaimed.

Mo Shuchong shook his head despondently. “No, Qu Lingxin was born into a family of astrology masters, is proficient in both astrology and numerology, and does have abilities that ordinary people do not. Not mentioning anything else, Qu Lingxin doesn’t look much older than his twenties but he’s actually around the same age as the emperor, maybe around sixty years old.”

He hesitated, then continued in a stiff tone, “My Lord, I also have other news to tell you. Recently, the Observatory has secretly transported the remains of the late Lord of Western Tang to the capital.”

This shocked Lan Jue immensely. “What did you say? My father’s remains?”

“Yes, Qu Lingxin sent people to the late lord’s burial grounds. The late lord passed away in exile and could not be brought home because the Lan family’s crimes hadn’t yet been pardoned, thus he was buried on the spot. You have tried to recover his body for many years, but due to the harsh conditions of the time a tomb wasn’t built, so it has been impossible to find again.”

“That’s right, I was young and couldn’t do much. So you’re saying that Qu Lingxin found my father’s remains, and then… but why would he secretly move it to the capital?”

“He’s targeting you, so he would also target your… filial piety,” Chu Xiang said, “this is… I guess he doesn’t believe your act, and wants to test whether you really are an uneducated brute.”

The chill Lan Jue felt would almost manifest in reality every time his father was brought up, and cold killing intent filled the room.

Just as Chu Xiang worried whether he would erupt, Lan Jue stated steadily, “For now, we’ll wait and see.”

* * *

It was late at night. According to the plan, the assassins wouldn’t move tonight, so Chu Xiang had climbed into bed early on and prepared to sleep.

There was nothing to be done for the slow pace of life in ancient times, and moreover, they were currently in the dormant stage where they were slowly gathering strength and pretending to be weak.

But now that there was Xie Zhiwei, Chu Xiang at least had more avenues for entertainment.

“Zhiwei, do you have any novels or movies or something, share them.”

“I do, but I don’t have a holographic projection module, so I can play a movie but you won’t have an audio-visual feast to enjoy,” Xie Zhiwei replied through the communication channel. “And the novels… they’re all danmei novels from Jinjiang which you despised before, do you still want to…?”

Chu Xiang: “…”

After a while, the haughty AI took the initiative to contact him. “Ah, your lord is taking a bath.”

“…Zhiwei, how bored are you to peek at someone who’s bathing?”

“But his body is so good, he’s got eight-pack abs and mermaid lines!”

Chu Xiang: “Excuse me, do you have a camera function…”

Xie Zhiwei was very proud as he replied, “No. So only I can appreciate it. Captain, I know you want to look at hotties again, but I must say, you look very good in this world as well, you can just take a look in the mirror.”

It was true that the Chu Xiang of this world looked different from Captain Chu Xiang — their similarities could reach 60%, but they also had many differences. Indeed, if he looked in the mirror, he could admire it as an unfamiliar beautiful person for a while.

“I have many problems, but I’ve never been narcissistic,” he refused righteously.

Another period of time passed.

“Captain, you should do it. You have to remember that you aren’t in space right now, you’re in… a feudal and backwards ancient era,” Xie Zhiwei said.

“So what?”

“In my database, no matter which dynasty or kingdom, accompanying the emperor is always like accompanying a tiger, and moreover, anyone assisting the dragon to rise rarely receives a good ending. Old ministers have always been discarded a few years after the world is conquered, I… I’m worried, like today, your lord got angry for no reason, what if neither of us find out? And even if I can tell, I don’t know why he’s angry, I can only scan his hormone levels to judge his mood. I’m not really a sword spirit, and I can’t read minds either, that’s unscientific! According to statistical probability calculations, the chance of you dying a good death is only 0.82%.”

Chu Xiang fell silent for a long while, then suddenly smiled. “Do you think self-destructing in space is a good death?”

“…I have no way of answering this question.”

“I think it is, because I achieved what I wanted, I asked for compassion and received compassion,” Chu Xiang said. “So, no matter what my outcome is in this world, I’ll do what I want to do.”

“Okay, Captain,” Xie Zhiwei replied. “As you wish, I will obey your orders.”

“Then can you take a couple pictures of Lan Jue’s body for me to see?”

“…Captain.”

“Hm?”

“You shameless pervert, scram.”

Chu Xiang didn’t get to see Lan Jue’s abs in the end. Although he felt regretful for this, he did see Lan Jue’s… recently washed figure. Because Xie Zhiwei still helped him get some benefits by accurately informing him of the time.

When he knocked on Lan Jue’s door, Lan Jue greeted him while dressed only in an inner robe with his hair still damp.

“Your Excellency, please excuse me.”

Chu Xiang saluted as he spoke with evidently no intention to leave, so Lan Jue raised an eyebrow and turned sideways to allow him inside the room.

“Your Excellency, I have discussed our next target with Madam Mo,” he said. “The Guards’ reaction is much bigger than anticipated, it seems that although the emperor doesn’t care for ruling, he’s still scared that the world will change hands. We may not need to act directly against the consul at all. As long as we continue to cultivate the atmosphere of ‘no justice in this world’ where heroes rise up and killers run rampant in the capital, the emperor will naturally be more concerned with disaster relief and pacifying the people. In this way, less supplies will be lost due to corruption by the time we reach the principality.”

Qin Yunian. Lan Jue’s heart moved slightly. The consul who had refused to help Western Tang through famine had become a fat piece of meat to be eaten himself.

“You may continue,” he said.

“Excellency, may I know the situation within the principality?”

“My secret agents have reported that in order for my uncle to cooperate with them and move against me, Eastern Tang has provided some relief food and grass, which can be counted as a silver lining. Little Nian is still under house arrest with a cavalry team patrolling outside his palace. They don’t dare to disobey my royal uncle but neither are they willing to take substantial action, so they’re in a stalemate for the time being,” Lan Jue replied.

But then he said, “These things can be left for tomorrow morning, why aren’t you sleeping? You don’t want your body anymore? Your injuries are healed?”

Chu Xiang was surprised for a moment, then smiled. “Yes, I will go rest now.”

As he retreated from the room, he couldn’t help but cast another admiring glance at Lan Jue, and habitually curved his lips up. “Good night!”

The door closed and the night stilled, yet Lan Jue couldn’t fall asleep for a long time.

* * *

Summer arrived and heralded the end of flower viewing spring banquets. The assassinations hadn’t made the nobles rein in their excesses — indeed, they had become even more extravagant. Yelu Street had been reopened but Iron-Clad Guards still patrolled there, which many nobles found depressing, so they simply brought the singers and dancers to their own homes to enjoy.

The host of tonight’s event was none other than Consul Qin Yunian. Only when someone’s status was as respected as the consul’s were Peonies from multiple brothels willing to put aside their squabbles to go to their residence and join in the fun. Meanwhile, the female relatives within the rear courtyard chattered amongst themselves jealously. In today’s Tianyan, Peonies were worth more than noble ladies, how could they feel comfortable?

Their tones were cool as they talked about Chief Justice Zhang’s daughter —

“They looked down on the Lord of Western Tang before, but now that the Chief Justice is dead, won’t that girl have to cry on the streets…”

“That family’s lost its backbone, I heard she’s already gone to become a Peony!”

Music, dance, and food flowed within the main hall, and occasionally some literati stood to compose poems. A dancer from Jingshan Court twirled gracefully at the centre of the venue. She was a dancer from an exotic land, with dark skin yet pale golden hair, and gold bells dotted her entire body which rang crisply with each of her enchanting steps.

Qin Yunian, clearly drunk, picked up his wine cup and laughed loudly.

“This is a foreign dancer from the southern border, a newcomer to Jingshan Court!”

One of the guests who was more well-informed couldn’t help but admire, “I heard that people from the plains in the south look very different from normal people. We have white skin and black hair while they have black skin and white hair, and they sleep during the day and come out at night, so they’re also called Night Tribesmen. It’s really amazing to see one today!”

“The southern border, that’s… speaking of, where’s the Lord of Western Tang?”

“I heard — don’t know if it’s true or not — but I heard that the real reason why Lord Zhang rejected him is because… Lord Zhang found out after many twists and turns that the Lord of Western Tang is a cutsleeve!”*

The entire banquet hall instantly perked up.

“No wonder he hates attending banquets… sigh, it’s fine to play once in a while, but you can’t do it for real.”

Bells rang out, clear and melodious, as the dancer gracefully waved her arms. Her sheer outfit fluttered and her hair floated through the air as she spun.

In a split second, white light flew out from her hair and shot directly at the consul!

However, before anyone could scream, the maids behind the Consul suddenly stood with sabres in hand which collided with the dancer’s hidden weapon. On their sabre hilts were a pattern made of stars —

“The Observatory?” the dancer muttered. His voice was low — although it wasn’t as deep as a man’s, it certainly didn’t belong to a woman.

“Assassin!” the Observatory’s female bodyguards shouted.

The exotic dancer’s body made a strange rattling sound. The bone-shrinking technique would affect a person’s flexibility. Within the blink of an eye, the dancer’s body elongated and transformed into a sturdy man.

For some reason, Liwei Court’s assassins did not comply with the agreement.

Mo Shuchong threw out a string of bells like a whip. As it cracked through the air, a literati who hadn’t been able to dodge in time had his throat ripped open by silk thread, causing blood to spurt out three feet high.

“Protect the consul!”

“Bastard official, go to hell!” Mo Shuchong shouted.

---

Author:
A must-have for seeing hotties when travelling: Xie Zhiwei!!! And Chu Xiang still doesn’t know why Lan Jue was angry hahahahaha

When I was writing this whole bunch of assassination scenes, I read up on the history of the Warring States period, stuff like Biographies of Assassins,¹A chapter from Records of the Grand Historian by Sima Qian, the definitive history book of the time (c. 91 BCE) and then I discovered a serious problem — in our history, a lot of assassins had absolutely trash combat skills. Only one assassin has ever succeeded, the others were all incompetent yet still became legends! And I’ve always wanted to complain about Jing Ke,²Possibly the most well-known assassin in Chinese history, famed for failing an assassination attempt against King Zheng of Qin, who later became Qin Shi Huang. See Wikipedia. you’re so useless but you still became an assassin… Sure enough, reality is disappointing. Assassins are actually all useless, it’s already pretty good to be able to recognise their targets. Things in the movies like wearing stealthy costumes, using hidden weapons, and only needing to go whoosh whoosh whoosh to kill someone… Impossible! Not happening! Doesn’t exist!
……
And also, about Qu Lingxin, how should I say this? He doesn’t want to wreck the emperor’s reign, but his skills are a bit crooked. I’ve tried my best but I really don’t know how to govern a country… can you guys please let him go and let him peacefully be an elegant villain hahahahaa

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• 1
  A chapter from Records of the Grand Historian by Sima Qian, the definitive history book of the time (c. 91 BCE)
• 2
  Possibly the most well-known assassin in Chinese history, famed for failing an assassination attempt against King Zheng of Qin, who later became Qin Shi Huang. See Wikipedia.

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It wasn’t that Bai Jing’an wanted to let the situation escalate, but the corpses obviously belonged to more than one person. Judging from the fragments of clothing, once they found out their identities, it would definitely make a list that would make his scalp numb, so he couldn’t simply order the bodies — likely belonging to high-ranking officials — to be burned. 

Although rain could wash away bloodstains, it couldn’t erase the smell of death.

Human remains covered the ground, all of whom had died during the previous night and gone unnoticed due to heavy rain impacting the Guards’ ability to patrol. Nor had the Guards found any traces of assassins or when the bodies were cut up and placed into words. The assassins’ methods were cruel, with men and women of all ages present at the scene. It wasn’t long before one of Bai Jing’an’s subordinates approached with a report.

“Sir, so far we’ve confirmed that the deceased include two ministers from the Ministry of Revenue, two lieutenants from the army, and a tax officer working in Tianyan City surnamed Cai.”

“So many? Let Adjutant Chen Liang take a team to temporarily seal up the entire Yelu Street,” Bai Jing’an ordered.

“But there are so many nobles going through Yelu Street, if we block them I’m afraid there’ll be a lot of trouble.”

Bai Jing’an’s eyebrows twisted as he shouted back, “Isn’t there trouble now?”

This event really shocked the whole of Tianyan, soon the sentence made of corpses became the new gossip around town after ‘all freeze bar none’. Even the children running around on the streets who didn’t understand its meaning were talking about it.

There is no justice in this world, so you should live and die for your beliefs.

It wasn’t surprising that the emperor summoned Bai Jing’an in a fury.

“Who did this, who!”

Bai Jing’an prostrated as he replied, “Your Majesty, I do not know yet.”

A cup of tea flew towards him and smacked him straight in the chest, splashing him with hot tea.

“What am I feeding your Iron-Clad Guards for?” the emperor thundered.

“Your Majesty! There are many victims this time and they all appear unrelated, from the highest minster to the most ordinary tax officer. There is no connection between them at present, so I need more time to verify it.”

“Your Majesty!”

Another voice came out from behind a partition, but while the arrival of the Observatory Master Qu Lingxin made the emperor even angrier, the emperor didn’t target him. Instead, he pointed at Bai Jing’an. “Just watch, We know that this Guard commander will be replaced sooner or later!” he scolded.

“Your Majesty, you need not be angry, this is not the first day Tianyan had assassins running rampant. Although this time is indeed different from before…” Qu Lingxin said.

“You also see that it’s different. Lingxin, do you have any clues?”

“I stand by my initial judgement, Your Majesty.”

The emperor disagreed with a wave of his hand. “You’ve seen it too that Lan Jue isn’t ambitious. It was reasonable when you said he killed Zhang Fengyu — We heard that Zhang Fengyu rejected Lan Jue’s marriage proposal and humiliated him in public — but the victim this time has never even met Lan Jue.”

“‘Autumn brings winter’s frost, all freeze bar none.’ Has Your Majesty heard of this line?” Qu Lingxin asked in reply. “Regardless of if the person who wrote it had the intentions, he is now Lan Jue’s man, and today’s sentence ‘there is no justice in this world’ perfectly matches the poem. The stars have guided us to look towards Western Tang, Your Majesty, and when I deduced the secrets of heaven, this is the conclusion I reached — the one who will stir chaos in the world originates from the south, and Yinghuo’s light faintly points towards Western Tang. Although it still belongs to Tianyan now, if Your Majesty allows the Lord of Western Tang to return south, the predicted future may really come true!”

Seeing the emperor make no reply, Qu Lingxin continued, “We have now reached a turning point — the evil star has descended, or at least that’s what the people are saying. Your Majesty, do you intend to let this situation ferment?”

Astrology was a very mysterious thing to Bai Jing’an, who considered it little more than a pastime for noble ladies. However, the emperor believed in it. Qu Lingxin could rely on just a star chart to lead the emperor’s court as he wished, with a foundation even more solid than that of the Grand Princess’ which she built with years of strategising. Although he was disdainful, he didn’t dare to show any of it.

The Observatory Master’s erratic gaze fell on Bai Jing’an, and after a long, silent stare, he said, “Commander Bai’s presence is no longer required, you can go.”

“Yes, please excuse this minister.”

Deputy Commander Chen Liang, who came with Bai Jing’an, silently glanced at Qu Lingxin, and as he retreated, the man’s misty gaze pierced through the void to land on him, causing him to almost trip.

Fortunately, Bai Jing’an blocked his line of sight.

* * *

Yelu Street reopened within half a day. This was Tianyan’s most prosperous district, the city’s economy would be seriously impacted if it was shut down for any longer, and moreover, those high-ranking court officials who liked to put on airs of elegance would never accept it. Now, the corpses that had been washed pale by rain were nowhere to be found.

Lan Jue could hardly conceal the disgust he felt towards the drunken noblemen present when he followed Chu Xiang into Chunjiang Pavilion.

The brothel madam thought he was dissatisfied with the maid who greeted them for being too ugly, so she hurriedly asked a Peony to receive them, completely skipping the step of pleading for an audience.

Chu Xiang couldn’t help but sigh. He had to spend half a month’s time to meet Bai Mo once, but Lan Jue only needed to poke his foot through the door. Evidently, no matter how unwelcome the Lord of Western Tang was, he wasn’t someone the brothel would dare to take lightly.

As soon as the door closed and a maid stepped up to guard it, Bai Mo, the Peony madam, transformed into Mo Shuning, the leader of an assassin organisation. She knelt before him and touched her head to the ground, which Lan Jue peaceably received before pulling her upright.

“I never thought that Sir Mo’s daughter would end up like this.”

Bai Mo smiled bitterly but quickly recovered. She waved her hand to summon a maid, whose body emitted clicking sounds as her limbs lengthened. She turned out to be a man who was using a bone shrinking technique.¹An actual real life skill, though not as fantastical as in novels. It involves habitually dislocating joints to achieve hypermobility, then relying on the strength of your muscles to move in certain ways which gives the illusion of having no bones. Similar to contortionists. Soon, he returned to his original appearance and kowtowed to Lan Jue.

“This is my younger brother, Mo Shuchong. He was very young when our home was ransacked, so I was able to get him out by disguising him as a girl. My brother and I wandered for years until we joined the Liwei Court assassins and came under the command of their leader. Later, by chance, my brother killed the leader, which allowed us to escape his clutches and no longer be controlled and used. However… We have been living in hiding for so many years and don’t know how to do anything other than kill, so I could only take over as the new leader.”

“Liwei Court?” Lan Jue said slowly, as if savouring the words.

“Evil runs rampant when ghosts roam at night. If Lord Lan didn’t retain us, we would be no more than ghosts running around in this troubled world.”

Lan Jue glanced over at Chu Xiang. “You could actually find the infamous assassin syndicate Liwei Court just by hanging around the red light district.”

Chu Xiang didn’t explain, Bai Mo was the one to say with a smile, “It isn’t so strange, for those working in this field, you need to do everything in your power to hide somewhere many people pass through. Therefore, taverns, teahouses, and inns are all good choices, but as a woman, it isn’t appropriate to show up at taverns or inns, so the only choice left is a brothel.”

Liwei Court’s core members who followed Bai Mo numbered eighteen elite assassins. Except for Mo Shuchong, they were all women.

“This place wasn’t chosen casually — for most people, if they’re engaged in a career that shouldn’t see the light of day, such as killing people, then they want to be as unremarkable as possible, the kind that you don’t glance twice at. But we’re different. If you have no beauty and become one of the greeting girls outside, there’s nothing you can do if the target is someone of high birth; but you can’t be too beautiful either, because Peonies like me see too few guests. It’s best to be only slightly famous like the girls I have with me, who can both go to high-profile banquets and see wealthy benefactors.”

“You don’t have anyone planted among the public to deal with ordinary targets?”

“You must be joking, who would spend money to buy the lives of people from poor families? It’s not worth it at all,” she sneered.

A brief silence descended in the room until Bai Mo calmly changed the topic.

“My assassins work three people to a team: one assassin and two scouts. The scouts are responsible for supporting the assassin by preparing supplies, making a plan, hiding the evidence afterwards, and so on. So right now we actually have fifty-four people, as well as myself and seven informants who do not participate in the killing. I can absolutely guarantee their loyalty.”

“You people were the ones who did it last night?” Lan Jue asked.

“Yes, I was the one who ordered them to do it. Regarding the victims, I used Your Excellency’s information network to select people who were involved with the slavery bill that was enacted last year,” Chu Xiang answered in Bai Mo’s place.

Lan Jue scoffed. “You dare to make your own decisions?” He only asked Chu Xiang to deal with the consul, yet he staged a drama that shocked the entire capital.

Although, it was indeed wonderful.

Faced with this question, Chu Xiang couldn’t say that he forgot because he was used to being a commanding officer. He could only say, “Your Excellency is merciful, it’s better to leave this kind of dirty work to this minister.”

Within his sleeves, Lan Jue’s fingers twitched slightly at the way the man lowered his eyes as he spoke in a very normal tone… if it weren’t for the unsuitable circumstances, Lan Jue even wanted to throw him against the wall by his collar and ask, why should you bear this for me? There were rumours of the evil star swirling throughout the world, so this person wanted to take on the label for himself and leave his emperor with a sparkling clean reputation? Chu Hexing hadn’t gone to school and didn’t know of human nature, could he not know? If the words ‘evil’ or ‘demon’ fell on his head, what would history books in future generations say about him?

Lan Jue had always hated the power the government held to play tricks, but now that someone plotted against him yet it was for his own sake, he felt like the blaze in his chest would burn down the building.

But, enduring it, he turned to Bai Mo and praised, “The Iron-Clad Guards are helpless, Miss Mo is indeed skilled.”

Silver Empress III had been hung majestically on Lan Jue’s waist. Although Longque had a grand name, no one had seen what it looked like; except for someone like Chu Xiang who knew all the ins and outs, no one would think of violently prying away the sword’s scabbard, so neither would they know that Longque’s original wooden shell contained a weapon of the future.

Xie Zhiwei rapidly scanned Lan Jue’s physiological status and reported to Chu Xiang, “Captain. Your lord is currently very angry, I recommend not irritating him.”

“I forgot, I really just forgot to tell him, why didn’t you remind me?” Chu Xiang replied through the nanobot communication channel.

“…I didn’t remember either!” Xie Zhiwei retorted bluntly. “You’re the one who’s the captain, I’m just a poor AI who can only follow orders.”

Although the AI said that Lan Jue was inexplicably angry, he showed none of it on the surface, causing Chu Xiang to break out into a cold sweat. The man was the lord of a principality after all, one that may become a monarch with great achievements, so he was extraordinarily careful to be gentle and respectful as he knelt behind him, acting like the perfect attendant.

“Captain, for some reason, your lord is even angrier now,” Xie Zhiwei said.

Chu Xiang: “…”

The undoubtedly angry Lan Jue was calmly discussing with Bai Mo how to deal with the consul.

“The consul has many people around him. We understand your goals, but even if he is killed, the chain of interests regarding the road to the southern border will not be broken. We’ll need to consider the plan carefully,” Bai Mo said, “and this can be considered our Liwei Court’s sincere gift to you. Besides, Western Tang will be our families’ home in the future.”

---

Author:
Lan Jue: Oh no, my heart thumped!

Chu Xiang is acting, Lan Jue’s favorability goes ↓↓↓; Chu Xiang accidentally forgets to act and shows his true colours, Lan Jue’s favorability explodes.

Lord Lan will perform ‘arrogance’ for everyone to see.
……
There’s an amazing person in the comments section, she accurately pointed out that with Xie Zhiwei there, there’s no chance for Lord Lan to cheat. He’ll be monitored 24/7 and anything he does will be reported to the captain in real time…
……
Some students with face-con will be disappointed — although Qu Lingxin looks good, he is indeed a villain at the moment…

Translator:
Advance notice that this novel will be dropped after chapter 22.

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• 1
  An actual real life skill, though not as fantastical as in novels. It involves habitually dislocating joints to achieve hypermobility, then relying on the strength of your muscles to move in certain ways which gives the illusion of having no bones. Similar to contortionists.

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Of the mothership, only a sword remained, but having previously thought that each other had been annihilated in the starry sky, both captain and mothership shed tears at their reunion — no, only Chu Xiang had tears in his eyes, Xie Zhiwei had no eye sockets.

“The engineering department’s consciousness module was made exquisitely, the components are compressed small enough to have allowed me to save 80% of my data and 60% of my main body’s computing power. There should be no problem dealing with most situations.”

“It’s more than enough, even if you only have 1% of your computing power, you can still crush everything in this world,” Chu Xiang said.

“After the mothership self-destructed, the energy field reacted with the black hole bomb and exploded, which destabilised space-time in the area,” Xie Zhiwei explained. “After experiencing a period of time which I cannot measure using three-dimensional methods, my main consciousness transferred to your sword, which was durable enough to survive travelling through time and space to land in a world which I was unfamiliar with. Later, I was picked up by a man who I guessed to be an accomplished swordsmith. He couldn’t open the biometric neuron lock so he wrapped me in a strange wood, causing me to lose my ability to recharge and thus go into hibernation. I had no concept of time passing during the following period, until you came.”

Xie Zhiwei was very calm as he reported this. Gently rubbing along Silver Empress, Chu Xiang could still clearly remember Xie Zhiwei’s image. Although this world did not have the technology to create holographic projections, Xie Zhiwei didn’t change at all.

An AI’s voice should have been smooth and calm, but at this moment it revealed a faint tremor. “Thankfully, you came.”

“I vowed to your power core — as long as you exist, so will I,” he replied as his hand slowly tightened on the sword hilt.

They were the closest comrades and the most intimate of friends, their connection permeated every aspect of their lives like the way dark matter was ubiquitous in the universe. Even if it was invisible to the naked eye, their bond inexorably linked their lives together and became a destiny that pulled them into each other’s orbit, a guiding light that could never be extinguished.

A small container popped out of the hilt. “Captain, the engineering department recently developed implantable neuron nanobots, albeit only prototypes, but we can only make do with it. I’ve already connected my signal, you just need to inject this tube of reagents and we can resume private communication.”

“That’s great, it’s a pity that I can’t apply for another salary increase for them,” Chu Xiang laughed.

In this world, talking to a sword was too weird, and moreover, a sword that talked back would probably scare people here into insanity.

The engineering department’s nanobots used bioelectric currents as an energy source. They could remain active as long as the host was alive, and weren’t easily lost once they were injected into the bloodstream.

The channel activated and a familiar voice once again sounded in Chu Xiang’s mind, but a second later, Xie Zhiwei’s surprised exclamation replaced the notification that the connection was successful:

“Scan complete… Oh my god, Captain, what the hell is with your fitness?”

“…”

“Captain, I think you can’t even beat an arts soldier¹Military personnel who are engaged in literary & artistic creation, performing arts, and sports for the purposes of propaganda, recruitment, and communication with the public. right now!!!” The AI endured unprecedented disgust.

Chu Xiang was very embarrassed. “I left the special forces a long time ago, don’t always talk about combat ability!”

“But Captain, you might need someone to help you just to open a water bottle’s cap!”

“…Can you stop poking at my sore spot, thank you.” Also, this world doesn’t have water bottles!

Xie Zhiwei was reluctant to do so. “Captain, you can’t be a top like this!”

“If you’re already gay it’d be a shame if you can’t just lie down and enjoy it…” Chu Xiang snorted. “Wait, Xie Zhiwei, shouldn’t you clean up the porn in your storage a bit?”

There was no other way, Chu Xiang’s body was already in its twenties, its foundation had been built and could not be changed. The trend in recent years was for Tianyan’s nobles to be weak scholars, literati would undoubtedly be ostracised if they showed up with bulging biceps as big as their head. It was similar to how a strange aesthetic had once been popular in the Middle Ages of Europe — aristocrats deliberately contracted tuberculosis because they believed that coughing up blood and having pale faces was a sign of nobility. Chu Xiang was very glad that there was no custom of intentionally getting sick to show off one’s status here, otherwise there would be even more reason for him to cry.

“Okay Zhiwei, come on, save this list of names.”

He could finally stop memorising things by himself!

Xie Zhiwei helplessly archived the text signals received through Chu Xiang’s optic nerves. He had already skimmed through Chu Xiang’s understanding of this world when establishing their connection, and since Chu Xiang implicitly trusted him, this process went quickly. The captain and his mothership had previously had countless neural connections, their dual consciousnesses could achieve almost perfect synchronisation.

Therefore Xie Zhiwei’s first reaction was to ask, “So this is Captain’s first hometown?”

“Yeah,” Chu Xiang replied.

“Captain, what are you going to do?”

This question…

“Zhiwei, I am Longque’s captain, have you forgotten Longque’s duty?” he patted the sword’s scabbard. “Oh right, in a while I’m going to meet someone, you scan him and remember to give him access permissions.”

* * *

He didn’t reminisce with Xie Zhiwei for long before Lan Jue returned.

“My Lord, have you gained their trust?” Yang Feng asked eagerly.

“Trust?” Lan Jue raised his eyebrow.

Coming out from the inner room, Chu Xiang said, “I’m afraid no one takes His Excellency seriously.”

Lan Jue waved at him, meaning that he had guessed right yet again.

“But it’s not a bad thing that no one takes me seriously, it’s not time for us to attract attention yet. The emperor promised us relief funds and food, but…” Lan Jue sneered. Even if the supplies could reach Western Tang… who knew how much would be deducted along the way. He stopped and thought about it. “The trade route to the southern border is part of the consul’s interests, there’s no way that old fatty will let me bring my things through smoothly. Sir Chu, how did your discussion with the assassins go?”

Chu Xiang suddenly saluted him solemnly, and it was at this time that he noticed a slender object in the man’s hands.

It was a… sword? A very strange sword. He couldn’t tell what it was made of. The scabbard was black, but there was an image in silver — some kind of bird with one wing raised, an unfamiliar star pattern, as well as… a wreath-like emblem.

It was the mythical bird representing Longque, the nine stars of the Big Dipper constellation²Western tradition is that the Big Dipper has seven stars, and Chinese tradition is generally also seven stars but older records state nine — this is because they counted two auxiliary stars that are much dimmer, one of which may have gone supernova 5000 years ago which then led to accepting 7 stars as the standard representing the Chinese Starfleet, and the olive branches representing the Human Alliance which achieved space travel.

“Your Excellency, Chu Xiang has lived up to your trust.” He raised the sword with both hands and knelt to Lan Jue. “The assassin Bai Mo, as well as her eighteen assassins, thirty-six scouts, seven informants, and fifty-eight miscellaneous family members, are all willing to follow Your Excellency. I also offer Longque — may nothing stand in the path of your sword.”

Longque!

“This… is Longque?”

“This is the imperial sword, which none but the emperor may touch,” Chu Xiang answered.

Lan Jue chuckled once, lightly, before placing his hand on the hilt. The moment his skin came into contact, to his surprise, the entire sword trembled for a moment. Amid Yang Feng’s startled exclamation, light reflected off metal as he unsheathed it.

The sword was extraordinarily light, to the point that Lan Jue couldn’t believe it was a weapon, but he could nonetheless feel a thick killing intent emanating from it. This was a blade baptised in blood. Weapons that had seen blood were completely different from the gorgeous objects nobles used as decorations. Tempered by flesh and blood, to deal death was its meritorious service, to roam the battlefield was its greatest glory.

Yang Feng couldn’t help stretching his hand out curiously, intending to touch the hilt, however —

Crack!

A blue electrical arc flashed. Yang Feng flinched away with a yelp, while Lan Jue was also surprised.

Only Chu Xiang raised the corners of his lips slightly, though his expression otherwise didn’t change. As if he was speaking tender words of love, he said, “I present Longque to you, Your Excellency. So long as you remember the oath made on that day, you will command Longque. Whether you become emperor or ash, Longque will only respect you as monarch. May the true dragon reach his rightful place, may all peoples be blessed, may the stars be free from strife and peace last forever.”

Lan Jue gripped Chu Xiang’s wrist with one hand, using so much force that he almost crushed his bones.

“I vow to Longque,” he said, and as he did so, he suddenly held the blade, causing a stream of bright red blood to flow down his palm. Chu Xiang jumped up.

“Okay okay okay I believe you, I believe you!” Chu Xiang said, grabbing at his hand. “Stop the bleeding!”

As he focused on the wound, Lan Jue looked at him in surprise, then his gaze slowly intensified.

* * *

The rainy season descended upon Tianyan. Rain poured down from dusk to midnight, beating down on window frames and causing them to make dense rattling sounds.

Near Yelu Street, there was a small plaza where Peonies often performed and accepted the nobles’ flower votes. On rainy evenings, most guests chose to stay overnight at the houses of ill repute instead of braving the rain to go home. The Guards’ patrols were also delayed due to the heavy rain, so the abnormality wasn’t discovered until the rain lessened.

“Aaaaaaahhh–!”

A scream loud enough to rock the entire city of Tianyan rang out.

Not long later, Bai Jing’an took a team of Iron-Clad Guards to Yelu Street, where his face changed drastically.

In that plaza, rain had washed the stones and corpses clean of blood. The bodies were dismembered into multiple pieces with flesh scattered everywhere, and every single piece was covered in bruising. The pale white flesh made all the passing nobles turn around and vomit.

Someone had used human flesh to spell out a sentence:

There is no justice in this world, so you should live and die for your beliefs.³A much more concise eight characters in Chinese (天下无道，当以身殉) which can conceivably be written using body parts

---

Author:
Hey, there’s no ambiguous relationship between Xie Zhiwei and Chu Xiang, they’re close comrades who have even seen Chu Xiang pick at his feet before going to bed, they know each other so well that they can only be best friends, not lovers! You don’t need to worry about Lan Jue’s position being affected, Xie Zhiwei is still obsessed with cosplaying an imperial sword hahahahaha!

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• 1
  Military personnel who are engaged in literary & artistic creation, performing arts, and sports for the purposes of propaganda, recruitment, and communication with the public.
• 2
  Western tradition is that the Big Dipper has seven stars, and Chinese tradition is generally also seven stars but older records state nine — this is because they counted two auxiliary stars that are much dimmer, one of which may have gone supernova 5000 years ago which then led to accepting 7 stars as the standard
• 3
  A much more concise eight characters in Chinese (天下无道，当以身殉) which can conceivably be written using body parts

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Chu Xiang never doubted any of the black technology that came out of the engineering department. Purely biological passwords could easily be copied; in an age where people could even alter their own DNA, the newest passcodes consisted of the brain’s bioelectric currents and neurochemical signals. The madman surnamed Xie from the engineering department had even once waved his pliers and declared proudly, “Even if you switch bodies one day, as long as your soul is still yours, this thing can still recognise you!”

He’s already changed his body, then come on, now was the time to witness the results of the engineering department’s black technology.

The lock opened with a click and Chu Xiang slowly pulled out Silver Empress III. The sharp blade was made out of an extraterrestrial ultralight metal alloy, was far lighter and thinner than any steel made in this world, and could easily cut iron like mud.

The moment the sword was unsheathed, it was as if a star descended into the room.

“You…” Bai Mo exclaimed in shock, “you pulled out the demon sword?”

Silver light reflected from the blade like moonlight as he flicked his wrist and placed its edge steadily against her neck.

The white-clothed young man stood with sword in hand, wisps of red at the corners of his eyes like flaming clouds, and black hair draped at his back. Longque’s flames flitted between his hair, like an evil star come to earth.

His voice seemed to also be filled with a strange bewitchment. “Bai Mo, do you really want to be a plaything all your life? A tool for violence, an ant that can never control its own destiny?”

The women around them all pointed their weapons at Chu Xiang, but Bai Mo raised a hand and gestured for them to retreat.

“Madam Mo, you were originally called Mo Shuning, the beloved daughter of the Mo family, am I right?”

“The Lord of Western Tang still has good information channels,” she sneered.

“It’s not any sort of secret, who of the upper city nobles doesn’t know this?” Chu Xiang asked rhetorically. “Your father was once a scholar from Wenyuan Pagoda. He was dissatisfied with the emperor’s belief in astrology and often opposed the Observatory’s leader, Qu Lingqin, but as a result he offended the Most Holy and died in exile, while you were sentenced to prostitution. People loved talking about it — the Mo daughter studied under her father since childhood and is good at poetry, calligraphy, etiquette, and music. Wouldn’t it be far better to spend a spring night with her rather than having a night of boredom with an ordinary prostitute who only knows sex?”

The Peony appeared indifferent at the retelling of her life story, but faintly trembling fingertips betrayed her heart.

“I can see that you aren’t inclined to combat yourself, so you should have a higher status than that of an ordinary assassin; no matter how big your organisation is, you should be the highest level liaison residing in the capital. You don’t act yourself, the ones chasing me that night were your maids — don’t think that I can’t tell just because they changed their clothes.”

“Impressive,” Bai Mo said.

She reached out and lightly touched the blade’s edge, where the interstellar weapon of war instantly cut her tender skin. Looking at the beads of blood welling up on her hand in admiration, she smiled, then used two fingers to gently push the sword away.

She sat back at the table as she suppressed the light in her eyes. “It’s a pity that I’m just a prostitute, I’m afraid that Sir’s calculations are wrong, I want nothing more than to spend my days in peace.”

“Sure,” Chu Xiang said sarcastically as he retracted his sword, “hatred can vanish just because you’re a woman, affection can be irrelevant just because you’re a girl, justice can be trampled over just because you were born female.”

Bai Mo, no longer able to maintain her false calm, clenched her bloodstained hand as her eyes turned red.

“Your logic is flawed. Humans are humans first before they are men or women — if you truly feel more comfortable being a plaything than being a human, then I admit that I was wrong to come here,” Chu Xiang stated coldly, pointing at the door. “Commander Bai will arrive soon. Miss, you are the leader of the assassins whom the Iron-Clad Guards have flipped the capital upside down to find. Yet you’re still telling me that you’re a weak little girl?”

“Fine, you’re right, I can’t forget the injustices we’ve suffered, and neither can I forget what we’ve endured because of that foolish emperor’s messes. But what about you? You actually pulled out Longque… But what can your Lord of Western Tang give me? Power, status, wealth?”

“Miss Mo is unreconciled, right?” Chu Xiang smiled slightly. “You and the Lord of Western Tang have similar experiences. Your fathers both died in foreign lands due to ridiculous reasons, I think your feelings regarding this shouldn’t be too different. Miss Mo, this is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. You no longer have to steal lives in the dead of night, and you no longer have to be a songbird played in the hands of nobles. Your blades can shine brighter, scream louder, the first ray of dawn will emerge from the tip of your blade, and you can see the sky at the intersection of blood and steel. Mo Shuning, you can do much more.”

After saying this, he knelt on one knee and looked seriously into Bai Mo’s eyes.

“The Lord of Western Tang can give you a future, and in this future, there will not be a second Mo Shuning. You can take the Longque in my hands as proof.”

* * *

When Bai Jing’an opened the door, Madam Mo was performing a sword dance.

A young man lounged on a daybed with a cup of tea — because he had recently been wounded and couldn’t drink alcohol.

“It turned out to be Sir Chu,” Bai Jing’an greeted calmly, “it seems you are in a cheerful mood, to be here and not recuperating at the post house.”

Chu Xiang waved at Madam Mo to let her keep going then patted the seat next to him in invitation, but Bai Jing’an didn’t move. He didn’t force it, instead he said casually, “It’s because the injury hurts and it’s too boring to stay in the post house, and with the lord at court, there’s nothing for me to do. You can relax, if anything happens this time it’s my own fault and I definitely will not blame Commander Bai.”

Bai Jing’an swept a glance around everything in the room. Except for the strangely shaped straight sword in Madam Mo’s hands, there were no other weapons in the room. While her sword almost glowed silver, the Grand Princess had advised that no one had been able to unsheathe Longque since the day it was found, so there was no way it could be used in a sword dance.

Thus, he just watched the Peony’s sword dance for a while until the other Guards completed their search, then they quietly left.

After their departure, Bai Mo stopped dancing and let out a long breath.

She returned the sword to Chu Xiang who then sheathed it, as if completely unaware that what he held was the imperial sword said to be able to conquer the world.

But he was actually very excited. Although he didn’t show anything on the surface, his fingers repeatedly rubbed the sword hilt. He needed some time alone to verify his second conjecture — after all, his brain was no longer implanted with a communication chip.

But he wasn’t done here yet.

“If I surrender to Lord Lan, would he be willing to take in all my brothers and sisters?” Bai Mo asked.

“Why not?”

Upon hearing this, her eyes finally revealed a hint of expectation. “Many of the people here are criminals, and more than a few of us are hated by the emperor for laughable reasons. Many also have family members wandering in faraway places, I don’t know if the lord is willing to lend a hand to rescue those exiled relatives?”

Chu Xiang nodded. “You don’t need to ask him, I can promise you in his name: he is.”

“With what justification?”

“As I said, with Longque as proof,” Chu Xiang smiled lightly.

“Okay. I know that lords are very powerful outside of the capital, it would be easy for any of them to bring our family to Western Tang, but too few are willing to do it… if the Lord of Western Tang truly doesn’t mind our identities and can promise us freedom and justice, then, we are willing to do everything in our power to support His Excellency.

“Besides,” she said, bowing deeply, “as the people say, the evil star is imminent and the demonic sword has revealed itself. Disregarding all else, since you hold Longque, you will certainly accomplish great things.”

* * *

‘Longque’. When Chu Xiang first chose this codename, it was because he was determined to be a sword.

There was a popular saying in the Starfleet: you’re wasting your life if you aren’t a bit dramatic.¹More specifically RAWs is 中二, meaning chuuni, or eighth-grader syndrome. Yes as in chuunibyou. Every soldier who joined Starfleet had some kind of grand vision, the kind that could make their seniors laugh for three hours without stopping if they said it out loud.

But although Chu Xiang eventually transformed into one of those seniors himself, he was still just as dramatic. On the day Longque launched, he followed the ceremony and held up his sword as he swore to the mothership’s core:

The ship and I are one. With myself as the blade, I will cut through all thorns in our path, and never turn back.

Most fortunately, Xie Zhiwei was exactly the same as him.

Xie Zhiwei was Longque’s central AI command. He was an artificial intelligence who somehow got contaminated with internet addiction, loved reading webnovels when he had nothing else to do, and was especially interested in those cliche xianxia novels. No one could control what an AI did when they were off-duty, even if they spent all day reading webnovels. At the time, there was a period when it was popular for the main character of xianxia novels to be the spirit of a weapon.

Chu Xiang never thought that the consciousness carrier module which was used by the central AI to cosplay a sword spirit would one day be the key to his reunion with Xie Zhiwei in a different space-time. In space, the module had no use other than being for fun. Xie Zhiwei — as the central AI in command of the mothership — was connected to every fighter, personnel carrier, and armament on board in order for the AI to be able to manage the overall situation. In normal situations, it was superfluous for a sword to be installed with a consciousness carrier module for an AI to link with, so it remained a toy for him to cosplay with.

Now the mothership was annihilated and Xie Zhiwei’s body had turned into ashes, but as long as there was a consciousness carrier module, he had the ability to transfer into it.

Silver Empress III could charge through solar power, so Chu Xiang only needed to hang it at his waist before he left. By the time he arrived back at his room in the post house, the sword’s indicator light had changed to a gentle and steady blue, just like how looking at Earth from high above among the stars would give him the feeling of dependence.

The moment he closed the door and placed Longque on the table, he heard a familiar voice.

“Central command of the mothership Longque, Xie Zhiwei, reporting to the captain.”

As the battery stabilised, the central AI went online.

The captain, who wore a long robe with wide sleeves, saluted Longque as usual. Even though it looked incongruous, neither of them laughed.

“Long time no see, my captain.”

“Long time no see, my Longque.”

---

Author:
Xie Zhiwei: I’m here to make up the captain’s invincible body!

Special reminder, don’t bother arguing about scientific realism, because it’s very unscientific!

Moreover, Xie Zhiwei is genderfluid — as an AI, he doesn’t have biological sex, so his gender is mutable. In other words, as long as he wants to, he can be a little brother, a little sister, or XXX, but Chu Xiang thinks he’s a brother. The reason is simple, it’s because our captain is the boss!!! So Xie Zhiwei is currently a little brother, not a little sister!

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• 1
  More specifically RAWs is 中二, meaning chuuni, or eighth-grader syndrome. Yes as in chuunibyou.

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At the same time, at the third building on Ronghua Street.

Chu Hexing was wearing a gorgeous dress just like an aristocratic lady, but although her clothes could be changed, her posture was still as uncultured as ever. She squatted next to a wall, bragging proudly to the street beggars she had fought with in the past.

“My brother’s awesome!” she crowed. “He’s the Lord of Western Tang’s confidant, do you know what a confidant is, it’s the kind of person you tell your biggest secrets to!”

“Then is your brother rich?” a child asked.

“Rubbish,” she said derisively, “you’re an idiot. Money’s nothing much, to people like us, you have to be able to bring out treasure to really be called rich.”

She had spent the entire night memorising the patrol route used by the Iron-Clad Guards. Tianyan was very big, but fortunately, she really only needed to remember Bai Jing’an’s route. The Commander of the Guards didn’t patrol every day, but he could recognise Chu Hexing, and she could also recognise him.

It was almost time — with Bai Jing’an’s patrol speed, he had already reached Ronghua Street.

The children continued to ask, “What treasure? Erni, what’ve you seen?”

“I said I’ve got a name, I’m called Chu Hexing. You guys should call me Miss Chu, I haven’t been Erni for ages!” she said proudly as she puffed up her chest, simultaneously using this action to disguise a glance towards the end of the street where a red figure had already appeared.

Chu Hexing made a gesture to get the children to gather close to her. After whetting their appetite, she looked into each of their eager eyes and whispered, “You guys, have you heard that there’s a magic weapon which can conquer the world?”

“Wow, you mean the demon sword? You’ve seen it? Have you really seen it???”

“I could only get a glance. The entire scabbard was black, and long and straight, and its handle was wrapped with red rope…” Chu Hexing described it mysteriously. Of course she hadn’t seen Longque herself, she was only repeating what Chu Xiang told her. At the time Chu Xiang hadn’t been close enough to the sword to see it in detail either, but this didn’t matter because it actually seemed more realistic the less details there were. For a waif with little knowledge who suddenly turned into a noble lady with just as little education, it was enough for her to say that it was black and had red ropes around it.

Single-edged straight swords were not popular among the capital’s nobles, who preferred double-edged longswords called jian, which were also euphemistically called the gentleman of weapons.¹See end notes for image examples In comparison, Longque was indeed unique.

Bai Jing’an stopped in front of a stall which sold rouge. The boss, recognising his red Iron-Clad Guards uniform, was immediately all smiles and wanted to give him all the boxes that he glanced at.

“Then Erni — uh, Miss — where did you see it? Can you take us too?”

“Shh, keep your voice down, my brother said not to talk about it, because… it was stolen. A group of rebels stole it! Don’t you think that’s awesome!”

“Hahaha, that’s really…” They burst into giggles, but then quickly lowered their voices. “They deserve it, it’s good to steal it, well done!”

Curiosity drove them to keep asking about it. “Do you know where they’ve hidden it?”

“Um… I’ll tell you, but you can’t tell anyone else… Just three streets away, near Yelu Street, there’s a rebel stronghold.”

“Wow that’s so close, which house is it?”

Chu Hexing pretended to be mysterious and shook her head. “Can’t say, I can’t say it!”

“Then how do you know?”

She looked left and right, hunched down, and whispered, “Have you forgotten how good I am at swimming? That group of rebels contacted me, saying that they wanted me to help them send messages or something… isn’t there a moat in the upper city? But I didn’t go!”

“Wow!” Another wave of suppressed exclamations sounded. “Why not?”

“I’m not an idiot. If I go with my brother I can have enough to eat and wear good clothes, but being a rebel? That’s suicide!”

The children chirped and hummed, starting a new round of envy for Chu Hexing’s fateful encounter.

Meanwhile, Bai Jing’an took away two bottles of rouge and turned straight into Yelu Street.

Yelu Street was home to all the most well-known brothels in Tianyan. Jingshan Court, Yayue Pagoda, Chunjiang Pavilion, Cuiting Willow, Hongshan Garden… Bai Jing’an had never been here before, so he summoned two Guards who liked to spend time at the street of flowers to accompany him.

He had already investigated the two extra people around Lord Lan. Chu Xiang had once been favoured by the Grand Princess but had recently lost this privilege for unknown reasons. Bai Jing’an hadn’t questioned it when she ordered a few trainee Guards to kill him; according to his understanding of the Grand Princess, it was probably just because he refused to obey her.

As for the girl, she had been born in the slums and used to be a little bully among the street beggars, before being bought by Chu Xiang who then adopted her as his little sister.

He bought her from… Chunjiang Pavilion.

Bai Jing’an suddenly felt like the clues had been connected. The girl hadn’t been bought for her beauty — she wasn’t especially pretty — but if it was a rebel organisation? Or it didn’t have to be rebels, they may be a group of hired killers falsely claiming to be rebels who had wanted to recruit a new member but were inadvertently cut off by Lan Jue.

If the child hadn’t seen wrong… then Longque may really have been stolen by those people.

Tianyan was under martial law, so the Grand Princess thought that their enemy would definitely choose to stay here which was the most dangerous place yet also the safest. Bai Jing’an shared this opinion, because he didn’t think that they could sneak Longque through his Iron-Clad Guards’ tight defence and out of the city.

The only question was if the child was just bragging.

So for the first time, Chunjiang Pavilion welcomed the cold, austere, and abstinent Commander of the Iron-Clad Guards.

* * *

Madam Bai Mo fiddled with her hair as she sat opposite Chu Xiang. From between the ink-black strands, he saw a flash of cold light.

Were blades hidden in her hair?

“Madam, might I have a sip of tea?” he smiled.

“It depends on your ability to drink our tea.”

Ah, negotiation… Chu Xiang thought nostalgically. When he negotiated in the past, Xie Zhiwei would scan the other party’s physical condition and could clearly tell him if there were any changes in their heart rate, breathing, and even hormone levels. If Xie Zhiwei was here with him now, there would be no need to go through all this trouble.

“The question now,” he smiled, “is what can you do for me so I won’t expose you for killing Zhang Fengyu, Elder Lin, and stealing Longque?”

“You think…” Madam Mo said as she charmingly stroked her long hair, “you’ll have the chance to say it?”

However, at this time, a maid came into the room and whispered something to Madam Mo, whose face abruptly changed. “You brought the Iron-Clad Guards here?”

“How could I, I’m not one of the Guards.” His smile brightened.

The maid glanced at the guqin in Madam Mo’s room. The guqin was black edged with red, and was the only thing out of place in the otherwise very proper room.

“Longque is indeed in my hands, but you call bringing the Guards here your sincerity?”

“Hiding it in the guqin isn’t a good idea, you won’t be able to deliver it to your client no matter who they are. Bai Jing’an is a very dull person who only has his mission on his mind, he won’t avoid smashing something just because it’s a Peony’s personal instrument.”

The assassin’s dagger was instantly unsheathed and pointed towards Chu Xiang’s eyes. “You’re really looking for death.”

“Killers are paid to kill, no one has offered money for my life so Madam Mo doesn’t have to be so hardworking. Besides, if you kill me, who will make Bai Jing’an go away?” Chu Xiang chuckled. He always had an absurd guess — the name Longque spanned two worlds, what a wonderful coincidence. He needed to see it before he could confirm whether his conjecture was correct.

It was too absurd, and too wonderful. But intuition was a very strange thing.

“Give me the sword, I can hide it for you,” he said firmly.

Madam Mo hesitated, but the maid by the door reported, “Bai Jing’an is walking up the stairs and is calling for you, Madam. The boss couldn’t stop him.”

Chu Xiang still sat at the table calmly, neither hurrying nor anxious, as if he was only waiting for a cup of tea. Bai Mo looked at him. Everyone in the pavilion was a killer, if Bai Jing’an came, he would definitely be able to tell. Regardless of whether it was this person in front of her who drew the commander here, there was a high chance that this stronghold would be exposed.

It was a thick and solidly built single-edged straight sword that was a little wider than normal, with its hilt wrapped in red rope. Although there were no decorations, it was simple yet majestic, very consistent with the two words ‘imperial sword’.

“Here it is, how will you hide it?” she asked.

Chu Xiang took the sword. It was very light, so light that it didn’t seem like it was made of metal. When he tried to pull it out, Bai Mo sneered at him. “It’s a demonic sword, no one can unsheathe it.”

Couldn’t unsheathe it?

Of course, if his guess was correct, it wouldn’t take strength to pull it out! His calculations this time were very good, even accounting for Bai Jing’an, but this thing may not be able to be used.

He examined the blade in his hands. The scabbard was made of black sandalwood…

“It’s too light, I suspect that it’s only a wooden shell with nothing inside, maybe it’s only a trick the nobles are playing,” Bai Mo said.

Yes, a wooden shell!

Snatching the hairpin from the maid’s hands, Chu Xiang pried it hard, and the entire wooden cover cracked apart. Bai Mo jumped in shock and Chu Xiang’s own heart also thumped.

He took a deep breath, forcefully levered it open, and revealed the true body hidden within the ‘scabbard’.

It was a black metal etched with a single-winged longque²A mythical bird, think fenghuang. Coincidentally, also the name for a legendary weapon made during the Sixteen Kingdoms period (c. 300-440 AD) totem in silver. With trembling hands, Chu Xiang pulled off the obstructing red ropes, revealing the biometric neuron lock beneath.

The streamlined sword lay quietly on the table, with its indicator light slowly flashing red to show that the AI was in an energy-saving hibernation state, but as sunlight fell on the charging port, the red turned to yellow.

“This is…” Bai Mo was so surprised that she couldn’t speak. At the drastically different sword, she couldn’t help but step back.

Its murderous air hit her head-on, having travelled through the light of stars to be dyed with fire and blood.

The demonic sword Longque’s biometric neuron lock, in this day and age, was indeed an unnatural thing.

Chu Xiang pressed a hand on it, and the light flashed red once before dimming into a gentle blue.

The space combat energy sword Silver Empress III, the personal sidearm of Longque’s captain, crossed time and space to reunite with him.

---

Author:
A dear reader correctly guessed Longque’s secret before!!! Hahaha, speaking of it, I’ve said before that I love people guessing my plot twists, it means we’re on the same channel, we’re soulmates, soulmates I say!!!

How about it, isn’t future technology a cheat!

Translator:
Bai Jing’an: I’ve connected the two dots
Me: You didn’t connect shit

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• 1
  See end notes for image examples
• 2
  A mythical bird, think fenghuang. Coincidentally, also the name for a legendary weapon made during the Sixteen Kingdoms period (c. 300-440 AD)

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“Lingxin, you didn’t mention that Minister Lan also met with assassins,” the emperor suddenly said.

Qu Lingxin bowed and replied meaningfully, “Your Majesty, the stars only convey the truth. They may not be comprehensive, but they will not lie.”

The implication was that Lan Jue was lying. Everyone in the hall was clear on this, but Lan Jue just stared at him, pretending not to understand, and his face didn’t even twitch.

Thus, some ministers echoed, “No matter what, Your Majesty, it is impossible for the Lord of Western Tang to absolve himself of all blame.”

“Come on!” Lan Jue shouted back. “Even if Western Tang isn’t that big, I don’t know everyone in it, and I don’t know Elder Lin either. How do I know why assassins killed him, can you be a bit more reasonable?!”

His whole person expressed ‘I’m going to beat you up if you keep acting like this’, and he had been so loud that it seemed like the entire hall shook.

Lan Jue insisted that the Iron-Clad Guards had failed their duties, and he was completely justified to do so — they had chased the assassins through the streets and made such a clamour that everyone knew something was happening, even the emperor who was soaking in the rear palace with his beauties and stars couldn’t avoid knowing of his sister’s actions. Yet in a situation such as this, the assassins could still succeed?

To add insult to injury, Lan Jue also added a seemingly unintentional curse: “They’re too audacious. They failed to kill the Grand Princess so now they’re messing with the Guards, it’s preposterous!”

As a result, Bai Jing’an had to watch himself being pinned with the label of ‘lazy’. The Grand Princess reacted faster than him to realise something was wrong and hinted with her eyes, causing him to startle and hurriedly kneel to plead guilty. “It was this minister who was incompetent and failed to arrest the rebellious assassins. Your Majesty, please forgive me.”

Longque had been lost and hadn’t been found yet. Grand Princess Qinghe secretly handed this task to Bai Jing’an, and indeed, the Iron-Clad Guards obeyed her over the emperor, they would never let the emperor know that they lost the sword. Before Lan Jue came, Chu Xiang had theorised that as long as he targeted the Guards, the Grand Princess would be forced to step out — no matter who was blaming Lan Jue, she would help protect him.

According to Chu Xiang: “The emperor is superstitious, and although he is simpleminded, no one despises having power. He would be angry at losing the imperial sword no matter how inactive he usually is, so the Grand Princess definitely hid it from him. The Iron-Clad Guards moved out with such great furor, yet despite the streets being filled with their men, assassins still appeared. And with their efficacy being so low, it would be inevitable for their true purpose to be questioned. If in this case they continue to pursue the question of whether you have anything to do with Elder Lin’s death, the Grand Princess will worry that they’ll uncover the loss of Longque — after all, she doesn’t know if you are involved or not. So even if you did steal it, she must protect you in front of the emperor.”

Lan Jue also remembered that he said, “At that time, apart from the Grand Princess’ enemies, whoever refuses to let you go is the one trying to frame you.”

The only people in the court who dared to openly oppose the Grand Princess were the two most senior officials. They had previously opposed her presence at court on the grounds of preventing a woman from becoming the power behind the throne, yet now they said nothing.

“Wouldn’t it be too obvious to target me then?” Lan Jue had asked.

To this, Chu Xiang was very confident. “News travels slowly, Your Excellency. You are not an uneducated brute, but whomever is framing you, no matter why they are doing so, has a fundamental misunderstanding of your true self. Unless it’s someone next to you like Yang Feng who turned traitor, but I don’t think you would leave such a weakness. A trap laid for a wise man needs to be designed carefully, but a trap for an ignorant villager…” Therefore, even in ancient times, experience gained through information warfare in the modern era was extremely effective.

“This is a hole they dug themselves, I’m not the one who called me a barbarian,” Lan Jue sneered.

So when the Grand Princess spoke up for Lan Jue, he just waited to see who would be the one to oppose her.

Sure enough, just like Chu Xiang said, Lan Jue’s reputation for bravery was not respected in the capital, which favoured obscene lyrics and erotic songs. Not only did his military feats not garner esteem, most people believed that this Lord of Western Tang had more muscles than brains, had nothing in his skull but air, and could be no more than a barbarian. In an era where information was conveyed almost entirely by mouths and letters were sent only by the strength of your legs, this became an excellent cover.

The mastermind could calculate everything, but he fell into a trap made by falsified ‘character settings’.

But Lan Jue was a little surprised — the first one to object was, unexpectedly, Qu Lingxin.

Qu Lingxin — the Master of the Observatory, the direct superior of this incident’s nominal victim — turned to the emperor and said, “Your Majesty, although Commander Bai does have fault, he was not the fundamental cause. Regarding this incident, the stars’ guidance has indicated to me that suspicion falls on Western Tang — I ask Your Majesty to consider this carefully.”

‘The stars’ guidance’. Just these three words were enough for an astrologer to present testimony before the court.

Lan Jue couldn’t suppress a sneer. What guidance, this supposedly mighty emperor couldn’t even compare with someone who counted stars for a living.

However, what reason did the Observatory have for targeting Western Tang?

* * *

While all this was happening, Chu Xiang naturally had no intention of honestly staying in the post house to recuperate. As planned, he went to Chunjiang Pavilion.

This time, he was finally greeted by Bai Mo’s maidservant.

The maids of Peonies were also stunningly beautiful. These teenage girls hadn’t yet grown into their adult bodies, but one could already see the beautiful outlines of their future faces. Chu Hexing, in comparison, really was a little clay monkey — although she wasn’t ugly, she definitely couldn’t be called beautiful.

With this girl’s foundation, Chu Xiang could tell at a glance that if she received special operations training, she would become a battle goddess on par with his Team Leader Shao Yun.

Unfortunately she was born at the wrong time.

A jug of wine was placed on the table in front of Chu Xiang as the maid explained that the Peony was still freshening up and gently asked him to wait.

“There’s no tea?” Chu Xiang, remembering the last time he blacked out after drinking, adamantly refused to touch alcohol again. Moreover, the injury on his waist still ached — drinking wine now was purely asking for punishment.

“My Lord is joking, who would drink tea in a place like this?” the maid replied respectfully.

He looked down at the cup, then swept his eyes over everything in the room that might be able to hide concealed weapons. The Peony’s room was very clean, he found nothing. As for the wine, he sniffed it a few times, then thought helplessly — this era has exquisite mechanisms and equally exquisite martial arts, but when it comes to anything that needs a bit of modern technology like chemical purification, they really can’t match up to the 28th century.

As the commanding officer of a vanguard fleet voyaging into deep space, identifying poisons was also a necessary skill. Although there was AI assistance during actual battles, they had to train in all the most demanding conditions during simulated training, including AI malfunction, losing contact with the main fleet, and being stranded on an unknown planet, among others. They could even identify alien poisons, so for something of this era, Chu Xiang could basically tell what was mixed into the wine just by smelling it.

He said it before, making an invisible, odourless, and tasteless poison was a tall order even in the 28th century, let alone in historical times.

“That’s true, you have to be drunk in this place. Drink and be merry in deathly sleep, being sober in the waking world is too disappointing,” Chu Xiang said unhurriedly as he swirled the wine in his cup. Then he held the cup in front of the maid. “Drink it.”

“Lord, this slave cannot receive guests, otherwise, the lady will punish me–”

“I want you to drink it,” Chu Xiang smiled. His arm was as steady as rock. “Let her punish me.”

The maid retreated backwards half a step. “You are troubling this slave…”

“It’s fine,” he said, then, pretending to be surprised, “oh, are you worried that you’ll faint? You won’t, I think that with your physical fitness, you can last until you leave my sight. Besides, haven’t you trained in how to respond after blowing your cover? Or are you just a newbie who’s using me as a training dummy?”

The maid’s face didn’t change from its beautiful smile, but a hair stick flashed out from her sleeve with its end glinting in the light — it had clearly been treated with poison.

The sharp accessory poked directly between Chu Xiang’s eyebrows, so fast that there was no way for him to avoid it.

Despite this, the young gentleman still held his wine cup as if toasting to the moon and didn’t move an inch from his seat. The maid’s hair stick stopped just in front of his skull without the previous pretence of warmth, and her hands were as steady as a machine’s.

At this time, a Peony in full regalia walked out of the inner room. The cup in Chu Xiang’s hands turned and was instead offered to Madam Bai Mo.

Ignoring both the maid and her murderous blade, he still held a smile as he said, “Madam Mo’s hospitality is truly eye-opening. Is this the basis of Madam’s fame?”

“Indeed, ordinary guests would not experience this.” Madam Mo watched him for a while, then took the cup and casually handed it over to her maid, who put away her weapon, regained her gentle and sweet demeanour, and took away the cup of drugged wine.

She walked to the table and sat down. Instead of having the attitude of someone receiving a guest, she nonchalantly brushed her hair and asked bluntly, “Who are you? Your intentions to probe us have been obvious the last few days, but you weren’t led here by our informants and neither are you from the Guards. Since you’re here, you might as well say it.”

“I am Chu Xiang, an advisor for the Lord of Western Tang, Lan Jue.”

“The Lord of  Western Tang?” Bai Mo raised an eyebrow. “I thought it was a cover, for him to suddenly show up to rescue you that night… So there really is someone like you beside him. It seems like he isn’t as stupid as in the rumours.”

This was tantamount to admitting that she had sent the assassins back then. It went more smoothly than Chu Xiang had anticipated.

“Let’s hear it, who do you want dead? As long as the price is right, anyone is possible.”

This wasn’t the attitude of someone dealing in human lives. Although Chu Xiang had never come into contact with the contract killers of this world, he had met assassins who lived among interstellar nomads. Those who took astonishing risks to make a living had an equally astonishing level of caution — all his fleet comrades who tried to fish them up returned empty-handed, because they would disappear into thin air as soon as there was the slightest hint of trouble, and they would never trade with people they didn’t know or didn’t come recommended.

Chu Xiang noticed countless gazes coming from all around the room. Many maids knelt by the door and every single one hid killing intent in their eyes.

If he didn’t impress these assassins, he would never walk out of this room alive.

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When they were a dozen or so metres away, Chu Xiang reached over and pressed hard on his wound, causing fresh blood to well up between his fingers. Before Lan Jue could express his surprise, he felt two chilly fingers quickly touch the corner of his mouth. Blood cooled quickly once it left the body and what touched his mouth was already cold, but he felt as if he had been scalded.

“What are you doing!” he scolded quietly.

Bai Jing’an moved to greet them. When he arrived, Chu Xiang was leaning on Lan Jue’s with his head buried in his shoulder and his arms hanging limply, looking as if he was too injured to speak.

Seeing this scene, what Bai Jing’an intended to say instead became, “Lord Lan encountered an assassination attempt?”

Lan Jue pursed his lips in displeasure. “Obviously.”

“This–” Bai Jing’an hesitated for a few seconds, then reached for Chu Xiang’s hand. Lan Jue retreated half a step and glared, causing him to hastily explain, “I only wish to examine Sir Chu’s injuries.”

Although Bai Jing’an’s tone was respectful, his actions were very forceful as he stepped forward and took Chu Xiang’s hand. The man’s pulse was floating and irregular, indeed not faked, and as soon as he made contact, he knew that this person’s physique was very poor and he had no foundation in martial arts. If a person like this was made to fight, they would pass out before anyone could pull out a sword.

“May I ask what kind of assassin you encountered?”

The purportedly unconscious Chu Xiang was worried for a moment, but fortunately, Lan Jue wasn’t as brainless as rumours said. “I haven’t even complained about Commander Bai’s improper defence, yet you’re interrogating me?” he immediately shot back. “Could it be that I stabbed my own man and gave each other internal injuries on a short walk outside, just to trick you?”

Then he raised his chin to show the bloodstain on his lips.

Yang Feng hurried to their side and, not knowing the truth, was frightened out of his wits. “My Lord, you’re hurt!!!”

“Internal injuries, I’m fine.”

The scene became chaotic — it wasn’t good for Lan Jue to argue with Iron-Clad Guards, the Guards didn’t care for Yang Feng who was at the same level as them, and there was also the addition of Chu Hexing, who swore constantly and refused to stop jumping around. Bai Jing’an could only silently accept their accusations and signal his men to call for a medic.

“My Lord encountered assassins and had to escape the post house in order to avoid them, and was even injured. But you, Commander Bai, as soon as you came you surrounded us without a word because you thought we were harbouring assassins. If we were, would our lord be hurt? This is obviously a false accusation. Slandering the lord of a principality is a serious crime!” Yang Feng shouted.

Bai Jing’an was unmoved. “An elder from the Observatory was murdered tonight, and we found marks belonging to a unique sword skill from Western Tang, so we were obligated to investigate. I hope the lord doesn’t blame us.”

An elder from the Observatory?

While Chu Xiang pretended to be half-dead, he was confused because he thought that whoever was inside the Observatory’s carriage had been fake. So in other words, the real person met assassins at the same time? The real and fake goods died together?

“Are you a fool!” Chu Hexing yelled. “Everyone knows not to let others recognise you if you fight on the street, do you think assassins don’t know how to disguise themselves?”

“Even if that is the case,” Bai Jing’an said, still calm and not at all affected merely because the person scolding him had a low status, “the technique used by the assassin is very obscure. I would not have recognised it either if not for previously crossing blades with a skilled swordsman from Western Tang.”

“That doesn’t mean we haven’t been framed, they can be subtle too!” Chu Hexing argued back with Bai Jing’an’s own vocabulary.

Bai Jing’an fell silent. Western Tang’s borders weren’t peaceful, the people there were martially inclined; it was said that there was a technique popular throughout the principality called the Thirteen Styles of Duanshui, which Lan Jue himself also used in battle. With its widespread fame, it would be easy to imitate it. There was indeed a large possibility that the evidence on the Observatory elder which pointed to Western Tang’s sword style was deliberately planted.

However, he did not give in. “This matter involves an elder of the Observatory and I can only act according to the orders given. The astrologers of the Observatory are not ordinary people, and their abilities may be of use in desperate times such as now. Thus, I ask the lord to temporarily remain in the post house — we will dispatch additional men to protect your safety.”

The commander steadily strode away amidst Chu Hexing’s scolding, while the remaining Guards melted into the darkness yet did not leave.

Lan Jue crossed the door’s threshold, and after confirming that there weren’t any eavesdroppers, Chu Xiang lifted his head from within his embrace.

“Many thanks, Your Excellency,” he said as Chu Hexing slowly supported him to sit at the table. The night was quiet and there was no sign of the medic. Chu Xiang sadly glanced at his blood-soaked clothes, then couldn’t help but say to Chu Hexing, “Help me boil some water, I want to wash–”

“No,” Lan Jue interjected, “you’re too weak, don’t touch water.”

Chu Xiang: “…” I miss the time when people listened to me!

“Just now, it was fortunate that you had quick wits,” Lan Jue said.

“…Your Excellency was the one who saved me first,” Chu Xiang said. “There is no way for me to repay you, my life and body both belong to you.”

Although his face was pale, his wan smile still made Lan Jue’s heart confused.

Things felt strange for a moment. Lan Jue didn’t look away and neither did Chu Xiang, which made Lan Jue feel a trickle of admiration.

“Who do you think is framing us?” he asked.

Yang Feng was even more bewildered. “Our Western Tang has always kept a low profile, why does someone suddenly want to target us?”

“Not just us, an elder from the Observatory died as well. They dared to touch the emperor’s most beloved Observatory, and even succeeded. I don’t believe this is something Eastern Tang can do from thousands of miles away. The person plotting against you should be within Tianyan and their goal can also be guessed: they want the emperor to dispose of you. They know that in order to destabilise a vassal state, they must either send troops to raze it to the ground or let the emperor take action while holding the moral high ground,” Chu Xiang replied. “This person’s status must be sufficiently high, but tonight you left the post house and gave them a chance. I must ask, how did you know to appear there at that exact moment?”

Lan Jue did not answer. He seamlessly changed the subject instead. “Any candidates?”

“Not yet.” Chu Xiang thought that he didn’t want to reveal any spying assignments, so he obediently followed the topic. “You should have no enemies in the capital. A failed marriage proposal shouldn’t result in a feud.”

In comparison, it was Chu Xiang who had offended more people. His poem which cursed people to die was still making rounds in the streets.

“We are in the open. No matter who it is, just wait and see,” Lan Jue said unhurriedly.

“But Excellency, what will you do if the emperor intervenes?”

Lan Jue frowned. “Tell the truth.”

“Our enemy has made everything look like a coincidence, and in addition, your actions tonight did leave loopholes. Anything you say will only increase suspicion.”

“Then what do you think?”

Chu Xiang began chuckling. “Don’t the rumours say you’re illiterate? You can play into it a bit. There’s no need to explain too much, because most people will feel that someone who’s illiterate doesn’t have the brains to scheme like this.”

I just don’t know if lords of principalities have ever studied acting, Chu Xiang thought.

As they were discussing, there was the sound of wind coming from outside the window. Lan Jue raised a hand and caught the stone which flew through the window.

There were three words carved on it with a small knife:

Awaiting your arrangements

Lan Jue let out an admiring breath. “What good skills. There are Iron-Clad Guards everywhere, yet the assassins have the means to pass a message! It seems Sir Chu’s vision is quite good.”

“Your Excellency, leave the assassins to me, you just focus on dealing with the emperor.”

* * *

Chu Xiang didn’t guess wrong — the next day, the emperor unprecedentedly attended morning court for once. An edict was sent to the various lords four hours in advance to notify them that the emperor would be present and everyone was summoned.

The emperor — already over sixty years old — sat on the dragon throne, accompanied by his beautiful young concubines. Two women lay bonelessly on his fat belly, while his imperial sister sat below him with a scrupulously proper posture.

When the ministers saluted, it was Princess Qinghe who allowed them to rise. The emperor’s gaze remained on his favoured concubines, who knew if there was any meaning to his presence here.

Ten years ago, when the current emperor ascended the throne, he chose Changle¹With the characters 长乐, meaning long-lasting joy as the era name. At the time, the world’s forces had been divided for a long time and the power of the central government was weak, it was impossible for them to recover overnight. In addition, this emperor was an only son so he had no choice but to ascend even though he hardly had the qualifications to rule even a city. This depleted the country’s fortunes even further, and in recent years, the Changle Emperor seemed to have lost interest in everything and spent his time wallowing in whatever enjoyment he could get before the world changed hands.

The ministers were used to this.

Below the emperor, standing at around the same level as the Grand Princess, was a young man. He had black hair and black clothes, wore no jewellery, and had a single long lock of grey hair on his left temple. His eyes seemed to have no pupils, so looking into them was like falling into the void or into an abyss of stars.

This was Qu Lingxin, the master of the Observatory and the person the emperor relied upon the most, even more prominent than the Grand Princess.

Although the common people denounced these people as charlatans, the Observatory was a serious institute set up to support ‘astronomy officials’. The phrase ‘whomever obtains Longque, obtains the world’ first came from something Qu Lingxin derived from the stars. No one knew how he reached this conclusion, but the emperor had the utmost faith in both him and it.

Grand Princess Qinghe, not daring to let the emperor know that she lost the Longque sword, suppressed the matter while Bai Jing’an and the Iron-Clad Guards became busy, only saying to the outside world that they were capturing troublemaking rebels and assassins. The emperor himself only cared to know where Longque was, he had no interest in the details and wasn’t the kind to meddle.

The emperor was silent as he leaned against the cushions and drank wine. After a while, Qu Lingxin looked in a certain direction and suddenly said, “Last night, an elder of the Observatory met his end on his way home. The stars have informed me that the assassin is from Jinzhou, which Commander Bai Jing’an of the Iron-Clad Guards has also confirmed. Lord Lan, where were you when this incident occurred?”

Before he departed, Chu Xiang had disregarded the doctor’s orders to stumble his way, dishevelled and barefoot, out of bed and into Lan Jue’s room. The man had looked neither elegant nor dignified, and his hair was even a little messy from rolling on his bed, but even so, his expression was serious as he gripped Lan Jue’s wrist. “No, this time your opponents are all cunning vipers, I can’t not worry,” he had said.

Lan Jue’s heart skipped a beat, then raced like a little wolf pup jumping for joy at seeing the moon.

“You have to pay attention to traps in other people’s words, and times and places…” Chu Xiang rambled for a long time, then he shook his head. “Remember your character, don’t seem too smart or too polite, why don’t I act it out for you…”

 Recalling that guy pretending to be ‘the Lord of Western Tang who has rocks for brains’ as if he had any strength in his body, Lan Jue almost couldn’t resist bursting into laughter right then.

Qu Lingxin’s gaze returned from the void and fell on Lan Jue.

So Lan Jue calmly followed the script. “I also crashed into assassins outside the post house last night. When was Elder Lin killed? Could it be that we met the same bunch of assassins?”

He appeared very angry, even learning from the way Chu Hexing’s roughneck accent would come out when she became agitated.

“This is Tianyan, the capital, and they still dare to show their faces at the post house for lords to live in! They’re lucky they run fast otherwise I’d’ve bashed their heads in!”

Many ministers showed forbearing expressions and couldn’t bear to look at him — Lan Jue, the Lord of Western Tang, indeed looked exceedingly handsome, but…

He was so vulgar! Too violent, there wasn’t a bit of refinement in him.

---

Author:
If you try hard, anyone can get a little gold man! In addition, Little Xiangxiang’s invincible golden body is being reassembled, the first part will be here soon!

Translator:
There’ll be an extra chapter released next Monday to celebrate the New Year.

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  With the characters 长乐, meaning long-lasting joy

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Chu Xiang couldn’t trust anyone at this time, because the assassins’ disguises were too exquisite. This wasn’t the first time Chu Xiang had seen the flower girl, he had also seen her on the night he and Lan Jue talked in the rain. No one could have guessed that this weak and helpless girl was actually a cold-blooded killer.

The girl was very fast. Chu Xiang desperately pulled at the things around him to throw behind himself as obstacles, feeling like he was playing some kind of virtual reality parkour game — the situation seemed tense but he was in reality incomparably calm within.

He even had the time to consider how he should throw off his tail.

If he didn’t meet another assassin… the answer was still that he couldn’t!

He did everything he could to run in the direction of the post house, because the patrolling guards there would be at least slightly more reliable; occasionally he saw soldiers standing guard at alley entrances, but he couldn’t be certain that they weren’t assassins in disguise. Once again, he missed Longque’s scanning function.

Longque’s central AI was called Xie Zhiwei. The engineer who originally developed this series of AI was surnamed Xie, so the entire AI series belonged to the Xie family. Zhiwei was what Chu Xiang chose for him.

“Zhiwei, your scanning and predictive modelling functions are very useful,” Longque’s captain had always praised this about his AI. “You’re much better than the others. General Ye’s AI loves gossip a bit too much, while Han Yi’s AI is unique — that one’s mouth is so vicious that it can talk people to death.”

“Actually, Captain, aren’t you just lazy? Your IQ is being wasted,” Xie Zhiwei said helplessly.

“Learning to use tools is the most basic requirement for human development!” Chu Xiang argued, “I have the most cutting-edge AI, why should I memorise star charts myself?”

“What would you do if one day I’m not by your side?”

“There won’t be such a day,” he replied firmly. “I’ll be here as long as the ship is here, I’ve sworn it to the power core.”

* * *

Now that he thought about it, he had set such a big flag that he felt chills.

What he feared most happened — three more shadows flew out of a darkened alleyway, causing Chu Xiang’s scalp to almost explode in fright. Twisting and rolling, he darted out of the encirclement through a tiny gap, but this time the assassins weren’t surprised. Perhaps they had already received news that Chu Xiang had some skills.

Long blades blocked his path, causing Chu Xiang to pivot and run in another direction.

The new assassins who appeared were wrapped in black cloth with only a pair of bright eyes revealed. “Why bother, sir? It would be better to depart in a more dignified way,” one said, his voice deep and relaxed. He was sure that his prey had no way to escape.

“No no, I just came here, I don’t want to leave yet,” Chu Xiang replied.

The encirclement tightened in an instant as moonlight glinted on steel blades. Death in the era of cold weapons was much more distressing; among the stars, a single shot from a mothership’s fully charged main cannon could turn half a small planet into dust and high energy guns could annihilate enemy soldiers, but humans would always be more afraid at the sight of cold steel and blood.

Even after experiencing the self-detonation of a mothership’s power core, Chu Xiang found himself still unable to die calmly.

He wanted to live. No matter in which world, he had things he wanted to do.

If he lived, he could have an unlimited future.

In that instant, as many meaningless scenes flashed through his mind and the sword slashed down–

* * *

Clang–

The sword had been deflected by a short spear, which the newcomer wielded with one hand. The other held Chu Xiang. Just that silver spear blocked almost ten swords, and with a horizontal sweep, all the assassins retreated.

“Lan Jue… Lan… Your Excellency?”¹Previously Your Majesty when referring to Lan Jue with 君上 Chu Xiang stuttered, stunned.

Lan Jue chuckled lightly, then casually pierced the chest of an assassin who wanted to sneak closer. As blood sprayed, Chu Xiang hurriedly used his sleeves to block it, narrowly avoiding the fate of being blinded.

“Why are you here!”

“Let’s go first!” Lan Jue dragged Chu Xiang through an opening and ran.

Late night urban environments were perfect for assassinations; even if Lan Jue wanted to fight, he had Chu Xiang with him, so they could only run. Chu Xiang himself was exhausted from his previous sprint and his wound hurt. When he saw Lan Jue, he had instantly relaxed, so now his vision was filled with golden stars.

“Wait… Your Excellency, wait…”

After taking another two steps, he had to support himself against a wall even as his other hand firmly grasped on to Lan Jue.

Lan Jue quickly turned around. “What is it?”

“I can’t… I can’t walk anymore…” he panted, then looked at Lan Jue with a determined gaze.

The sentence ‘I can’t abandon you’ had already flowed to Lan Jue’s mouth according to the situation, but the subsequent development of events was very unexpected. “Please carry me!” Chu Xiang exclaimed as he leaned his entire weight on Lan Jue and hugged his shoulders.

Lan Jue: “…”

While he was in a daze, this man twisted around him even more and patted his chest to urge him. “Hurry up, the assassins are about to get here!”

Lan Jue decisively reached out to his knees, picked him up in his arms, and sprinted away with his long legs.

His physical strength was trained on battlefields, so he still had the energy to ask as he ran, “How did you provoke this many assassins? What on earth did you do to the Grand Princess?”

What’s with his tone, the Grand Princess is over fifty years old… Chu Xiang leaned on Lan Jue’s solid shoulder. He had lost blood and was a little cold, now that he was so close to a warm chest, he felt quite drowsy.

“Well…” he said with his eyes closed and adjusting his posture to something more comfortable, “This time isn’t the Grand Princess, I was the one who crossed a line and they’re just testing us a bit.”

His tone was very calm, as if everything was under control, but Lan Jue was sure that Chu Xiang would be dead if he hadn’t arrived just now.

He couldn’t help but expose him. “How would you escape if I wasn’t here?”

“Nothing is absolutely certain in the world. The result this time is that you are here and I got lucky,” Chu Xiang smiled, then shifted his head comfortably and almost fell asleep.

Sure enough, as Chu Xiang said, the assassins were only ‘testing’ them and did not pursue to the end. Three streets later, their tails had disappeared.

Lan Jue, who had grown up in battle, had the habit of carrying basic medicine with him. He simply tossed Chu Xiang onto a random sack in an alley, almost startling the half-asleep man into jumping to his feet, then unceremoniously opened his clothes and sprinkled a handful of medicine. It hurt so much that Chu Xiang shed tears and hissed as he inhaled.

But its blood-clotting effect was also extraordinarily fast.

As Lan Jue pressed on his bloody wound, he said in an unkind tone, “Are whorehouses fun to visit?”

Chu Xiang had the illusion that his superior had grabbed him to make him write reviews because he had problems in his private life, so he subconsciously replied, “I know I was wrong, I won’t go in the future… uh… no, Your Excellency, the brothel has people that you can use.”

“Oh?”

“Tianyan currently contains both rebel parties and killers for hire, but you do not need to consider the former — those people are just taking advantage of the chaos to add oil to the fire, they have no real strategy or plan. They don’t care who’s the monarch, they’re just muddying the waters right now. When your power grows sufficiently in the future, those ‘righteous warriors’ will voluntarily join you.”

“Then you mean for me to recruit hired killers?” Lan Jue raised an eyebrow.

“Is there anyone more suitable for secretly accumulating strength than assassins? They are efficient, precise, and can be found in all walks of life. They not only have command over information networks but also have the ability to act on it. Your Excellency, information is an important resource — if you want to compete for the world, being well-informed is no less important than having a full treasury,” Chu Xiang smiled as he replied. “They have become aware of my existence, so they are now investigating our aim and our identities. This gives us the initiative.”

“What capital do you have to recruit assassins?”

“Your Excellency, not everyone has a choice. Some only become killers to live,” he said confidently. “Unless they’re psychopaths who love to kill, then I would be wrong.”

Lan Jue pressed on Chu Xiang’s wound, and the abrupt pain made Chu Xiang grab his wrist and cry for mercy in a low voice. “Don’t… Excellency, it hurts…”

Seeing that he really was in pain and even had a layer of cold sweat on his brow, Lan Jue felt strangely happy but also couldn’t bear to do it again. “Then what will you do now?” he asked.

“Ow…” Chu Xiang gasped a few times, then said, “I only provide options, only you have the right to choose. If you think it is feasible, then I will maintain contact. This assassination attempt was to test me, if I died so easily then of course I wouldn’t be qualified to meet their leader.” 

Snorting, Lan Jue raised the corner of his mouth into a smirk, clearly meaning that if he wasn’t here then he would be deader than dead. He thought for a moment. “I don’t like assassins, but compared to the nobles who eat enough to fill a ditch every day, they are more acceptable.”

Chu Xiang almost wanted to ask, Do you have anyone you like? However, looking at the man’s hand that was still on his wound, he forcefully swallowed back the urge.

Tsk, feudal monarch! he slandered.

Chu Xiang admitted that this was a symptom of time travel, he once again forgot that he was no longer the captain of Longque.

The light of the stars was already embedded deep in his bones. Chu Xiang smiled bitterly, thinking that he would never be able to dig it out for the rest of his life. If Longque was still here, if he had a powered exoskeleton and an energy gun…

There were no ifs in the world, Chu Xiang held no regrets for what he did in another universe. He only needed to remember that behind him, his family and country were both safe, for it to be enough.

“Let’s go.” Lan Jue picked him up again, carefully avoiding his wound, and walked to the post house.

However, when they arrived, they were surprised to find Commander Bai Jing’an of the Iron-Clad Guards waiting for them with his platoon surrounding the entire post house.

---

Author:
To be fair, Lan Jue has also achieved things. Out of my stories, Lan Jue is the first gong to save the shou, my other shous are all better at fighting than the gongs… Lan Jue should be proud.

And you don’t need to worry about Chu Xiang’s incompetent martial arts, this is just the beginning, I didn’t give him a golden finger but an invincible golden body!!! It’ll be unlocked bit by bit, and in a sense, he’ll get Longque back. I originally wanted to name this book ‘Longque’, but some of my early readers said that it made it sound like a mahjong player or something… orz So that’s how it got its current title.

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  Previously Your Majesty when referring to Lan Jue with 君上

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Chu Xiang visited the brothels for several days in a row. When the Western Tang spies reported this to their lord, his face was gloomy.

“He’s at a brothel?” Lan Jue himself didn’t realise that his tone threatened danger.

Yang Feng hesitated a moment, then offered, “Could it be that Sir Chu discovered a useful clue in the brothel?”

“That would need him to soak there for more than a few days?”

When Yang Feng glimpsed his lord’s dark expression, he forcibly swallowed what he was going to say.

“He’s using my money to go to a brothel, and even spent a whole pile of taels on a Peony courtesan?” Lan Jue muttered to himself.

Since he couldn’t find the reason for Lan Jue’s anger, Yang Feng tried to think of a way to calm him down for half a day before admitting that he had no idea.

Before the room could become even more depressing, the spy received Yang Feng’s hint and hurriedly changed the subject. “My Lord, a message came from Western Tang — the young lord has been temporarily imprisoned in his own palace but there is no danger to his life, you can rest assured.”

“Mn.”

Lan Jue nodded, he wasn’t very worried about Lan Nian, that child was as sneaky as a ghost. Even if things went badly, he had confidants within the principality who could help him escape if it came to it. He hadn’t had a good life when younger, so his survival ability was first-rate.

“Keep an eye on him. Remember to report who he meets with and what he’s doing.”

The spy paused for a moment before he reacted, realising that his lord was talking about Chu Xiang.

“I really want to go back sooner,” Lan Jue said.

* * *

Ronghua Street was one of Tianyan’s most bustling night market streets, any random person you saw walking there might be a wealthy businessman. Even the carriages of court officials who passed through here showed much less arrogance than usual.

A white carriage emerged at the head of the street, pulled by pure white horses dripping with gold ornaments and looking gorgeous yet solemn. If an ordinary family used white, they would never be able to match with so much brilliant gold and would instead resemble a funerary procession.

It was a carriage from the Observatory which had just departed the star observation deck and travelled along the upper city’s main road to directly enter Ronghua Street.

However, as they passed by, not a few people muttered to each other that they were either doomsayers or quacks — one month ago, there had been a fiery red dawn, and it was the emperor’s favoured astrologers from the Observatory who declared that this was a sign of the descent of Yinghuo, which heralded chaos in the world, and its flames must be extinguished if there was to be peace. As a result, the red uniformed Iron-Clad Guards took to the streets with their sabres and killed anyone who dared to say the words ‘evil star’ on the spot. The people of the city had been in a panic for a long time and business also dropped significantly.

‘It’s better to let the rebels come to kill these charlatans’ — this was what many people thought.

Throughout the dynasties, many emperors would set up institutions such as an Astronomical Bureau or a Star Gazing Pavilion to study the stars, but there had never been an emperor as obsessed with astrology as the current one. He spent all day looking at stars with his concubines and the court astrologers had an unimaginably high status. It was said that he even had to look at the day’s star chart before holding morning court, to see if it was suitable to go out.

Chu Xiang had no desire to meet the Observatory’s carriage, since he still remembered that he was stamped with ‘evil star’ on his head. Ancient metaphysics was different from the 28th century’s superstitious rituals for gacha game luck. Chu Xiang had no contact with it in the past and wasn’t interested in it either, he wasn’t sure if the astrologers really had some way to deduce heaven’s secrets so he was still a little worried that he would be seen through.

It wasn’t a good thing to hang around brothels, plus Chu Xiang didn’t have this hobby ‘in the past’, so it was very hard for him to see Madam Bai Mo. There were so many nobles already pursuing her, Chu Xiang needed to find another way.

Until he accidentally walked to the night market and saw the snow-white carriage.

Killing intent came from all directions.

Just as the horses and carriage passed in front of him, the slate-paved road suddenly exploded as if someone had stepped on a landmine. The horses were instantly covered in wounds, but the carriage itself was somehow unharmed. The Iron-Clad Guards escorting it all drew out their swords as the crowd burst into screams. From within the throng of people, a few black shadows flew out and engaged with the guards.

The assassins, swift and silent, were well trained. They held a bladed tonfa in each hand which had curvatures resembling feathers, so this type of weapon was called ‘feather fangs’ on the market.¹See end of chapter for image example Assassins liked to dip the edges of these feather-like weapons in poison, turning them into venomous serpents coiled in the darkness, ready to strike.

Darkness and chaos were the best protection for assassins, so the lanterns were placed on the ground together and lit to create an area of flickering light.

The Iron-Clad Guards kept the Observatory carriage and astrologers in the center of their protective circle, and as they waved their sabres, it was as if the dark-clothed assassins’ serpentine attacks were hitting a steel wall.

But the stalemate was not to last, because the crowd began to stampede in a panic.

The Guards watched this indifferently. Anyone who was squeezed into the combat area would be caught in their flashing slashes, flesh and blood flew everywhere as their sword flourishes turned crimson red.

Chu Xiang rolled on the ground without any care for his image, so although he was stepped on a few times, he avoided the fate of being turned into mincemeat.

“As expected of the Iron-Clad Guards, you truly are ruthless,” the leader of the assassins sneered.

The leader turned out to be a woman, but the Guards did not waver; they used their bodies as shields as, with a sharp order, the assassins all switched to crossbows and fired at short range. It was impossible for the Guards’ defence to have no gaps. Crossbow bolts slammed into the carriage and the horses, causing them to scream and rear up.

A Guard turned and slashed down, opening a huge gash on the horse’s neck and making blood spray everywhere.

“Murder, murder–!”

“Please spare my life, sir please, I have nothing to do with it!”

A large amount of blood flew through the air, causing more panicked shrieks for mercy. Street stalls were thrown into disorder while people pushed and shoved to escape, but Ronghua Street had been filled with people coming and going — people outside didn’t know what happened inside, which resulted in a huge crowd crush and multiple injuries.

Chu Xiang rolled to the foot of a wall where a flower girl was already huddled. Her lips were split and her flowers were also crushed.

A lantern seller on the street suddenly tossed a lantern up into the air, which then fell straight down onto the carriage. A Guard flew up to intercept, but the instant that his sabre touched it, there was a boom and he became engulfed in fire. He had already turned into a bonfire when he landed again. As he flailed uncontrollably, he spread flames all around him and implicated many people.

The other Guards turned around and one of them quickly dispatched their comrade. Then more lit lanterns were thrown at them, and at the same time, the assassins leapt in.

Light glinted off blades. The assassins neither dodged nor retreated and used their own bodies to greet it. The Iron-Clad Guards were shocked, but could not pull out their sabres from where they were stuck within the assassin’s flesh and bones.

An assassin disguised as a limping old woman flipped over the bloody river towards the carriage with strangely agile movements. Neither his thick makeup nor his silver wig could conceal the fanatical fire in his eyes. He had thick ropes of explosives tied around him, and within half a second of slithering into the carriage, there was a muffled bang.

Carriages belonging to the Observatory were very sturdy and were even soundproof. The sound of the explosion was very small, and the carriage only rocked a little.

The Guards didn’t even turn around, they only focused on cutting the assassins into strings.

–The people inside are fakes, Chu Xiang secretly concluded. From the way the Guards were utterly unfazed, no matter who the assassins had intended to kill, the ones currently inside the carriage could only be stand-ins.

The assassin leader, seeming as if she also realised this, blew a whistle to signal a retreat.

Then Chu Xiang reflexively raised his hand in a block and pain came from his waist. He had successfully grabbed the dagger which the flower girl was clutching, but his physical condition was so weak that it still pierced his flesh.

Chu Xiang quickly scanned the wound — red blood, clean blade. Fortunately, it wasn’t poisoned.

But in the next second he backed away with all his strength, pulling away from the flower girl. The girl, taking off her disguise, pulled out a dagger from within her flower basket with murderous intent in her eyes. She had obviously been targeting him from the start.

Is there no end to this! Chu Xiang complained to himself.

“An assassin slipped through the net!” he shouted.

However, his voice mixed into the existing noise and wasn’t taken seriously by the Guards. He couldn’t just rush over there either, they were killing without distinguishing friend or foe and could even easily kill their own people, he wouldn’t receive any help from them.

So Chu Xiang ran away without another word.

He used one hand to keep pressure on his wound, and the other to desperately push obstacles into his path behind him. The street was full of panicked people, he would definitely die if he ran there, so Chu Xiang instead plunged into a small alleyway.

This was far from the first time Chu Xiang had been hunted down. The fleet referred to this kind of decapitation operation against captains as ‘a self-guided escape & kill group tour’ — no captain was weak, their solo combat abilities even exceeded that of the average special forces soldier. Any mothership captain was a trump card on the battlefield, the best among them could turn the tide with a single person alone.

As the captain of Longque, he had been dispatched on covert missions as well. Once, when they captured the relay station of a smuggling group, he infiltrated alone and killed their leader within the command tower. Chu Xiang didn’t like to use thermal weapons and always used an energy sword when carrying out assassinations. Although his AI complained to him countless times that he looked like ‘one of those people running around with glowing tubes from the old Star Wars movies’, the close combat model energy sword designated as Silver Empress III was indeed his sidearm as someone with the rank of captain.

Chu Xiang subconsciously reached backwards as he sprinted, and of course he touched only air.

At the next intersection he chose a path at random, only to come to a dead end within a few dozen metres. The female assassin chasing him pounced. Chu Xiang captured the right moment to dodge, once again rolling awkwardly, before turning and continuing his escape.

It would be great if I had an AI, he couldn’t help but think. Longque’s central AI would be able to scan the entire district’s terrain and show him the most suitable route to take, and there would be absolutely no chance for him to run into a dead end.

But at this moment, Chu Xiang could only rely on his pathetic body to avoid the elite assassin behind him.

This wasn’t the Grand Princess’ assassin, he concluded firmly, because her assassins didn’t have this level of skill.

The blade swiped at his back several times and cut his sleeve open.

---

Author:
Lan Jue: This lord needs a little black room, the allusion of a golden canary isn’t bad.
Chu Xiang: No! I can still fight!

Translator:

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  See end of chapter for image example