"Take care, Daoist."
Wu Di saw Wuzheng out the door of the room. Only after watching Jin Chuan escort the Canglong Temple abbot out of the courtyard did his expression darken.
Turning around, he looked again at the jar of red blossom honey sitting on the table, his eyes brimming with bewilderment and suspicion.
How had Wuzheng managed to get his hands on red blossom honey?
Had Fang Jing given it to him? Or had it been seized from Fang Jing's hands?
Had Zhou Wuji gone to Red Leaf Ridge or not?
It had been such a good plan—how had it failed? Could Fang Jing really have been so useless as to be killed by Zhou Wuji?
A flurry of questions flashed through Wu Di's mind, yet none offered an answer, leaving him thoroughly unsettled.
Jin Chuan returned, bowing respectfully with cupped hands as he asked in a low voice, "Banner Chief, are we really just releasing the villagers like this?"
"We must give face to the Daoist sects."
Wu Di lightly patted the fine porcelain jar of red blossom honey. This jar held around ten jin, so strictly speaking, he hadn't come out on the losing end.
Li Cheng'an had also visited him and delivered a thousand taels of silver, and Wu Di had promised to deal with the matter leniently.
Seizing this opportunity, he could wrap up the whole affair.
Stationed permanently in Siming County, he couldn't drain the pond to catch all the fish. Li Cheng'an was also a Rank 7 martial artist; pushing him too hard would be unwise.
When cornered, these countryside gentry were truly capable of anything.
As for Zhang Xinhu's thousand taels of gold, it seemed he wouldn't be getting his hands on it this time.
Wu Di was in no rush. As long as Zhou Wuji remained in Siming County, there would always be an opportunity to strike.
A mere Rank 8 Daoist—so what if his swordsmanship was formidable? Could he even withstand a single slash of his blade?
Even so, the matter still needed to be cleared up. He said to Jin Chuan, "Send two men to Red Leaf Ridge to see what happened..."
Just as Jin Chuan was about to speak, the hurried clatter of hooves suddenly sounded outside.
Jin Chuan hastily bowed to Wu Di for permission. Wu Di nodded; anyone daring to gallop straight into the garrison post had to be delivering an urgent dispatch.
Before long, Jin Chuan brought in an operative clad in iron uniform.
Following standard protocol, the operative stepped forward, saluted, and presented the secret report with both hands.
The dispatch was enclosed inside a sealed bamboo tube, its outer envelope stamped with sealing wax.
Wu Di unsealed the dispatch and read it through, then waved his hand for Jin Chuan to take the man away to rest.
Once they were gone, Wu Di read the dispatch twice more before folding it and putting it away.
Confidential dispatches always had to be archived; if anything happened in the future, they could be retrieved as evidence.
Jin Chuan returned a moment later, looking cautiously at Wu Di.
Wu Di said, "Nothing major. Centurion Zhang Yunfeng is leading a detachment to Siming County, ostensibly to wipe out the rogue soldiers. He wants us to make preparations."
"Wipe out rogue soldiers?" Jin Chuan's expression turned slightly odd, and he hesitated.
Several thousand rogue soldiers had flooded into Chunan Commandery for over a month now, causing immense havoc.
Local magistrate offices everywhere were lamenting incessantly, yet the Pacification Office had made no move all this time.
And now a Centurion was personally mobilizing to suppress the rogue soldiers?
Jin Chuan could not help feeling there was more to this than met the eye.
Wu Di shook his head. "With an opportunity present, it's only natural for the Centurion to want to claim some military merit. Someone must have leaked word to the prefectural city."
Earlier, Zhang Xinhu had told him that he could help him wipe out a unit of rogue soldiers to earn military merit.
Military merit yielded the richest rewards and was the quickest path to promotion.
Evidently, news of rogue soldiers hiding in the Siming Mountains had leaked out, drawing Zhang Yunfeng from the prefectural city.
Either the prominent clans of Siming County felt threatened and fled to the prefectural city to inform the authorities, or Wuzheng and his people had interrogated the captured rogue soldiers, gathered intelligence, and notified Yunlong Branch Abbey.
Regardless of which it was, it had little to do with him; the one who should be nervous was Zhang Xinhu.
If the branch abbey was behind this, and if they secured evidence from the rogue soldiers, they would certainly bring Zhang Xinhu to heel.
Wu Di pondered whether to send word to Zhang Xinhu to do the man a favor.
With both the branch abbey and Zhang Yunfeng involved, he wouldn't gain anything from Zhang Xinhu's destruction...
***
At dusk, on a hillside on the western slope of Mount Huamei, Wang Qi stood atop a boulder, gazing out over Siming County.
From this vantage point, one could overlook all of Siming County: the tall rammed-earth city walls, the county divided into four massive quadrants by two intersecting main avenues, and the houses nestled within like so many little boxes...
With Wang Qi's keen eyesight, he could even faintly make out carriages and horses moving along the streets.
To the south of the county, the river cutting through the mountains converged with the Jiuyuan River, its surging waters rushing downstream.
As the sun behind him slowly sank below the mountain peaks, heaven and earth abruptly dimmed.
Wang Qi turned his gaze toward the Daoist temple on the southern slope of Mount Huamei. He could see figures moving about the courtyard and wisps of cooking smoke curling upward.
He felt a touch of wistfulness. Rich in mountain resources, blessed with well-developed water transport, and surrounded by vast arable plains, Siming County was truly a fine place.
Wang Qi turned to look at Zhang Xinhu, several paces away. Clad in a black robe, Siming County's foremost expert held a five-foot saber in hand. With thick eyebrows, tiger-like eyes, and a dense beard covering his face, he exuded an effortless aura of overbearing confidence just standing there.
Wang Qi leaped down from the boulder. Despite wearing full steel lamellar armor, he made virtually no sound as he landed.
Seeing this, Zhang Xinhu couldn't help nodding in admiration. "Superb skill, Brother Wang!"
Movement in lamellar armor inevitably caused its plates to clatter. That Wang Qi could land silently meant his control over his muscles and tendons was absolute; upon impact, every ounce of force had been absorbed and dispersed by his legs, leaving the rest of his body completely motionless.
Military martial arts were notoriously straightforward, differing sharply from the intricate, delicate methods of the jianghu. That Wang Qi could achieve such refinement demonstrated that his martial arts were exceptionally pure.
Wang Qi paid no heed to Zhang Xinhu's praise. He said coldly, "You promised to send me grain, yet you cost me thirty-three brothers, and my own younger brother died. How do you propose we settle this score?"
"Brother Wang, talking like that is pointless. I traded grain for Zhou Wuji's head. You failed to deliver and cost me immense losses. If anyone should be settling scores, it's me settling them with you."
Zhang Xinhu said with a trace of disdain, "We are men of martial arts; bickering over trifles like a woman is beneath us. Your whereabouts have already leaked. The Iron Clothes Guards from the prefectural city will soon arrive to surround and wipe you out. Out of the bonds of friendship, I came to give you warning."
Wang Qi sneered. "You're just afraid that if we're caught, we'll give you up!"
Zhang Xinhu didn't deny it. "Indeed, that is a concern. So if you leave, it benefits everyone."
Pointing toward the south, he said, "Zhou Wuji, the one who killed your brother, is right inside that temple. When you leave, you can avenge your brother on your way out."
"And avenge your son while I'm at it?" Wang Qi countered.
"Naturally. Why else would I bother coming out here in person to say all this?"
Frowning his thick brows, Zhang Xinhu looked genuinely puzzled. "Aren't adults simply using each other? Why do you harbor such resentment over me using you? If you had no value to be used, why would I risk the extermination of my clan to collude with you? And when you approached me, was it not to use me as well?"
Zhang Xinhu truly could not comprehend it. Wang Qi was in his thirties or forties and held the rank of battalion commander; how could he still be so naive?
Wang Qi's face turned grim. He paused for a moment before saying, "If I help you kill Zhou Wuji, what's in it for me?"
He emphasized, "The temple is protected by incense and offerings, which doubles a Daoist's power within its grounds. Striking there means taking an enormous risk."
"Our Zhang family has merchant caravans in Chubei Commandery as well,"
Zhang Xinhu said, "Once the deed is done, you can cut across the Siming Mountains into Chubei Commandery. We can send men to meet you at Ganzhu Town. Only with the cover of a merchant caravan will you be able to enter the cities of Chubei Commandery."
Wang Qi fell silent. The terms sounded good on paper, but who knew if Zhang Xinhu was deceiving him?
If the Iron Clothes Guards were waiting for them at Ganzhu Town, they would be as good as dead.
Yet having come this far, he didn't have much of a choice.
Even without Zhang Xinhu bringing it up, he was determined to kill Zhou Wuji to avenge his brother.
All this talk had merely been to negotiate terms with Zhang Xinhu.
Zhang Xinhu added, "Canglong Temple has money and grain—precisely what you desperately need."
"Fine, we'll do it!" Wang Qi looked deeply at Zhang Xinhu. "I hope you keep your word."
"Tonight, I will host a banquet for the Pacification Office's Banner Chief, Li Cheng'an, and Yang Shuling to keep all the county's experts tied up."
Zhang Xinhu said calmly, "I believe the second watch will be the best time to strike..."
Chapter 49