"Wait a moment." Yuwen Tong suddenly halted.

"Marshal?" Yao Yi was confused.

"It was after receiving Yuwen Qi's message that Zhao Fugui came to Tanyang with the intention to rescue him. How did Yuwen Qi send out the message at that time?"

Yao Yi widened his eyes and immediately replied, "I'll go and ask him right now!"

Seeing Yao Yi returned, Zhao Fugui, unaware of what Yao Yi's intent was, narrowed his shoulders.

"How did Yuwen Qi send that message to you?" asked Yao Yi, a cold expression on his face.

Zhao Fugui had already made his cross on the confession document. In the knowledge that there was no way back, he answered without any misgivings, "Second Young Master did it by means of a snake he kept, which has received special training and is able to smell a certain sort of strange, unique odor."

Snake? Yao Yi asked in a suspicious tone of voice, "What kind of snake?"

"A very small snake. It can slither a very long distance. Second Young Master always carries a bamboo tube with him, which is used for containing that snake."

"So you have something that gives off the odor that can lure the snake to you?"

Zhao Fugui nodded, unfastened a sachet from his belt and handed it to Yao Yi.

Yao Yi did smell a weird odor and reached out his hand to take it.

But Zhao Fugui withdrew it. "This odor is not strong but very lingering. It can last about people who touch it for a very long time. I don't know how, but the snake can detect it. If you touch this sachet and that snake by any chance finds you, Second Young Master will definitely lay suspicions on me. And, you must not tell Second Young Master what I just informed you of. Otherwise I'll be dead before I could do anything for Marshal."

Yao Yi coldly gave a snort and left.

After walking out of the place, Yao Yi reported to Yuwen Tong what Zhao Fugui had just told him.

Yuwen Tong recalled what Ling Zhang said that day, amusement gleaming in his eyes. 'Ling Zhang has a pretty keen sense of smell.'

"So be it."

Yao Yi gave a bob of his head.

...

The next morning, Ling Zhang, like the day before, went to the guards' yard to check the security guards' progress in their training.

After the previous day's training, they were significantly more proficient in the formation and indeed didn't let Ling Zhang down.

"Young Master." Liu Yi walked over.

Ling Zhang inclined his head. "Come with me."

Ling Zhang brought Liu Yi back to his dwelling. Liu Yi had been to this place many times, but he had not had a single occasion to visit here recently. As a result, when he stepped into the courtyard, he couldn't help but secretly sigh in sentiment.

"You should know what I want to ask you about," Ling Zhang, who had no intention of beating around the bush, observed straightforwardly after the two of them sat down.

Seeing Ling Zhang had a calm face with no trace of anger, Liu Yi actually felt a sense of great relief.

He had really feared that Ling Zhang might directly send him packing.

"I've indeed been keeping something back from you, Young Master, but I'm only doing this because I have to. By your leave, I'd like to explain it to you in detail."

"Go ahead." Ling Zhang flicked a bland glance at him. 'What do you think I brought you here for? Tea?' he thought.

Liu Yi let out a soft cough and hurriedly said, "When I was a child, a kung fu expert instructed me in martial arts, so I learned some moves. Since there's something sensitive about the background of that kung fu expert, he exhorted me not to disclose his whereabouts. That day, when we were sparring with the Marshal, I concealed part of my strength because I was uncertain about Marshal's identity and worried that I might bring trouble to that kung fu expert if I performed the moves he had taught me."

"That's it?" Ling Zhang was somewhat surprised. 'It's as simple as that?'

Liu Yi inclined his head in a sincere manner. "It's as simple as that. I'm really not hiding anything else. What I once told you is also true. I didn't lie to you, Young Master. It's just that I really cannot disclose anything about this kung fu expert. He's my benefactor and I cannot do anything that might endanger him, but I can guarantee that he had never crossed the path of anyone of Ling family, and I will never do anything that might cause Ling family or Young Master harm."

"What about your visit to Tanyang? Did it have anything to do with this kung fu expert?" asked Ling Zhang.

Liu Yi replied in an embarrassed tone of voice, "The kung fu expert did mention that bandits were a terrible scourge in Tanyang. He said that it was a pity he had to live in seclusion due to his past. Otherwise he would have come here to do something for Tanyang people. It was after hearing his remarks that I had the intention of coming to Tanyang."

Liu Yi didn't seem to be lying. And Ling Zhang's observation during these days also suggested that Liu Yi harbored no evil intentions.

Ling Zhang believed that there was an eighty-percent chance that he was trustworthy. As regards the other twenty percent, it was because Ling Zhang wanted to stay wary and observe Liu Yi for a longer time.

"Since that's the case, I won't push you, but if you do anything against the interest of Ling family and I find out, I will not let you get away with it."

"I understand, Young Master. If that happens, you may punish me in whatever way you deem necessary."

"Young Master, I wonder if I may take the liberty of making a request," Liu Yi suddenly added.

Ling Zhang looked at him.

"May I ask if Young Master will go to the capital city with the Marshal?" asked Liu Yi.

"That's true. What do you have in mind?" Ling Zhang believed that it was unnecessary to keep his plan to go to the capital city secret from him.

"May I have the honor of going there with you, Young Master?" Liu Yi looked at Ling Zhang, an expectant look on his face.

Ling Zhang's forehead corrugated in a frown. "You want to go to the capital city?"

Liu Yi gave a bob of his head. "I want to go to the capital city to look for someone. Before I left Yan Zhou, I promised that kung fu expert that I would go to the capital city to look for an old friend of his for him if occasion arose. Actually, my original plan was to ask for a leave of a month half a year later and pay a visit to the capital city."

"Is it of great importance?"

Liu Yi thought for a few moments and then inclined his head. "I think it means a lot to the kung fu expert. Given that he had never implored me to do anything for him, it must be very important."

After pondering over it for a while, Ling Zhang replied, "You have to allow me some time to think about it."

"Thank you, Young Master," said Liu Yi.

Later that day, Ling Zhang went to see Yuwen Tong and told him about the explanation of Liu Yi.

"Kung fu expert? What kind of Kung fu expert?" asked Yuwen Tong.

Ling Zhang shook his head.

"Then what do you think? You want him to go to the capital city with us?"

"I'm still considering. Actually, I don't see that there's any harm in letting Liu Yi go to the capital city with us. The only thing that concerns me is whether what he's going to do will bring any influence on us."

After all, even he himself would be a total stranger in the capital city.

"Then let him go with us. You actually have made a decision already, haven't you?" Yuwen Tong looked at him.

Ling Zhang slid a sideways glance at him. "Yes, Mr. Know-it-all."

He had indeed already made a decision. Since he was still slightly uncertain of the allegiance of Liu Yi, he believed that he might as well take Liu Yi with him to find out exactly what it was that he intended to do. At least it would be better than leaving him in Tanyang –if anything bad happened, he wouldn't be able to help, given the long distance between Tanyang and the capital city.

"If this matter really bothers you so much, why not just send him packing?" Yuwen Tong made a suggestion.

"You are not helping. If I really have him leave, you will definitely tease me again." Ling Zhang refused to fall for his trick.

Yuwen Tong chuckled, "When did I ever tease you?"

Ling Zhang shot him a dark glance. 'What a nuisance!'

'Having Liu Yi leave is simple, but what would others think of me if I fire him for such a petty thing? Those security guards, Wang Dashan in particular, wouldn't they be bitterly disappointed by it? I didn't put so much effort into training them for fun,' he thought.

Moreover, Liu Yi was actually competent in his work. Ling Zhang didn't have the heart to fire him.

"What about you? Why did you release Zhao Fugui?" Ling Zhang asked him.

Yuwen Tong gave him a sketchy account of the matter concerning Zhao Fugui but skipped the part about Yuwen Zhi's attempt to pair him off with the niece of Zhen shi.

"I got the goods on him. He has no choice but to follow my orders."

"A base man like him might double-cross you. You've got to be careful," observed Ling Zhang. He held a deep dislike for Zhao Fugui and his likes. The sight of any of them always jogged his memories of what happened in his last incarnation. 'Maybe the one who took some men to Tanyang and ridiculed my family in my last life was Zhao Fugui's father, that man named Zhao Laifu or something,' he thought.

"You may rest assured that I'll take over all affairs in Yuwen family after I return to the capital city. Previously, since I was defending the border area, I couldn't be bothered to take a personal interest in the matters at home. Now that we are going to live in the capital city for a long time, I definitely won't wink at family matters any longer."

"You are going to live in the capital city for a long time?" Ling Zhang was thrown into a trance of surprise. 'Why does Yuwen Tong want to live in the capital city for a long time?' he wondered.

Yuwen Tong inclined his head. "Yeah. At least I'm not going to leave the capital city before our wedding day, unless there is another war. But theoretically, the Wan Kingdom wouldn't wage another war during the next few years."

Ling Zhang was sent speechless with astonishment.

'Why is Yuwen Tong so sure that we'll get married?

And about the war, why is he so positive that the Wan Kingdom wouldn't wage another war? There has been numerous frictions and also frequent battles between the Great Yue and the Wan Kingdom in the past. There has never been any long periods of peace.'

"How can you be so certain that the Wan Kingdom won't wage another war?"

Yuwen Tong gave a mysterious smile but didn't answer the question. "Some day you'll know."

Strangely, Ling Zhang had a sneaking suspicion that Yuwen Tong must have done something covertly.

...

Another day passed and the date for Jia Yin's execution arrived.

Many residents congregated around the chopping block at the entrance of the food market, waiting to see Jia Yin be beheaded.

Ling Zhang and Yuwen Tong were sitting near the window in a private room on the second floor of a nearby teahouse, which happened to be a good vantage point for watching the execution ground.

Jia Yin was escorted to the place of execution, skinny, in striking contrast to the image of a rich man that he was ten days ago before being imprisoned. Clearly, this ten-day-long wait for death had cost him all his vital energy. He scarcely had enough strength to keep his balance, staggering along the way.

The color of his face was a deathly white twined with sickly blue, which was, for all intents and purposes, identical with that of a dead man's face.

When Jia Yin was escorted to the chopping block, he still didn't utter a word, staring vacantly at the ground.

"It is said that after Jia Zhong died, he kicked up a stink, spat out a mouthful of blood and ended up like this," said Yuwen Tong.

Ling Zhang blandly responded "Um", thinking that Jia Yin got his just deserts.

Apart from Jia Yin, other members of Jia family were also escorted to the execution ground. They were here to watch the execution. After Jia Yin died, they would be escorted to a defense works construction site near the border, where they would spend the rest of their lives.

On their arrival at the execution ground, they burst into tears. Fang shi was wailing the hardest, but none of the onlookers nearby felt any sympathy for her.

At Wuzheng (12:00), Jia Yin was beheaded.

Fang shi passed out and was carried into a prison wagon to be sent to the border, along with all other convicted members of Jia family.

Jia Yin's corpse was collected and then casually thrown to a mass grave.

Thus, Jia family was consigned to oblivion, leaving no traces of its existence whatsoever in Tanyang.

Jia family had been eradicated and Zhang Chong had died. Ling Zhang's remaining enemies were those who, adding to the misfortunes of Ling family, had carved up Ling family's assets. All those people used to be Zhang Chong's lackeys and were the next ones to be eradicated. As regards how to deal with them, Ling Zhang had already had a plan.

Yuwen Tong and Ling Zhang left the teahouse. While leaving, Ling Zhang unintentionally noticed two men, who had been hiding among the crowd, leave the scene. The figures of the two men were very familiar to Ling Zhang. One of them was the patriarch of He family, and the other the patriarch of Zhou family. The two men appeared panic-stricken, unable to disguise the fear on their faces.

Yuwen Tong glanced in the direction Ling Zhang was looking and asked, "Who are they?"

Ling Zhang replied, "Zhang Chong's lackeys. Since Zhang Chong's dead and Jia family ended up like this, they got scared."

Yuwen Tong lost his interest in the two men after hearing this and withdrew his gaze. "Let's go. You're still recovering."

...

In the small town in Yan Zhou, Yuwen Qi, who had been waiting in the inn for quite some days, was informed of Zhang Chong's death before Zhao Fugui and the other two, whom he had been expecting, could return to report.

It threw him in astonishment that Zhang Chong had met his end only a couple of days after his leaving Tanyang. He also heard about Dai Cheng's presence in Tanyang, which also greatly perplexed him, since he had been in this town all along but never seen any armies pass by. He specially made some inquiries and was told it had been through a passage in the Grand Mang Mountain that the army had got to Tanyang.

"Zhang Chong had been hiding such a secret route. It seems that the Sixth Prince had long ago made preparations. What a pity..." Yuwen Qi didn't finish his sentence, secretly muttering that the Sixth Prince and those on his side had been so unlucky. 'They'd been concealing this trump card so well yet Yuwen Tong still found it and destroyed it.'

'This matter would definitely cause quite a stink in the capital city. What's been keeping Zhao Fugui? Why is he still not back after such a long time?' He wanted to return to the capital city immediately to take a look.

Yuwen Qi had just privately complained about Zhao Fugui's not coming back in time when the next moment Zhao Fugui and the other two men showed up.

Surprisingly, apart from Zhao Fugui and the other two men, he also saw Xie Shi, Yuwen Tong's bodyguard!

"You–You!" Yuwen Qi was filled with anger and anxiety.

Zhao Fugui, face full of depression, didn't dare to look at Yuwen Qi. The other two men were also keeping their heads down.

"Second Young Master, I brought word from Marshal that if you don't take your men and go back to the capital city right now, he'll make sure you never get back." Xie Shi threatened him in a flinty tone of voice.

Yuwen Qi flied into a temper. How dare a mere bodyguard talk to him like this!

"Son of a bitch! Who do you think you are? How dare you threaten me!"

"This is the Marshal's order. If you've got a problem with it, please go and talk to the Marshal."

"You think you can scare me by mentioning Yuwen Tong's name?!" thundered Yuwen Qi after overturning an inn stool with a hard kick.

Xie Shi coldly looked at him and folded his arms across his chest, saber in hand. "Second Young Master, please hurry and start packing."

After panting with gritted teeth for quite a while, Yuwen Qi furiously turned around and abruptly slapped Zhao Fugui hard across the face, reprimanding, "Start moving, good-for-nothing! You want me to do it myself?!"

"Ouch!" Zhao Fugui let out a pained cry and, frightened out of his wits, hastily went upstairs to pack.

No matter how reluctant he was, Yuwen Qi didn't really dare to challenge Yuwen Tong's authority. Though barely able to forbear to kill people due to extreme rage, eventually he was still forced into leaving the town.

Xie Shi followed them and didn't leave until they were out of the town, which infuriated Yuwen Qi to such an extent that he nearly vomited blood.

When they were far away from the town, Yuwen Qi kicked Zhao Fugui off his horse and thundered, "What the fuck is wrong with you?! Why did you lead Yuwen Tong's man to me?!"

Zhao Fugui was trembling all over from the pain caused by the heavy landing, but he still rose to his knees in the knowledge that his young master's question was not to be ignored. Head hanging, hate and ferocity glinting in his eyes, he replied in a loud and tearful voice, "Second Young Master, it was all because of that wild-card Ling Zhaowen! We were tricked by him real bad!"

Zhao Fugui skipped the part where he had been coerced into disclosing the secrets and signing the confession document, and told Yuwen Qi about Ling Zhaowen's threatening to put them in jail.

"That Ling Zhaowen was very arrogant. He was fully aware of our identities but refused to show us a shred of respect, laying ill-concealed humiliation and total disregard on Yuwen family. It was outrageous!"

Yuwen Qi's face was livid with rage. "It was not Yuwen family but us, people of secondary Yuwen family that he was humiliating! Ling family are nothing but a bunch of uneducated country bumpkins. I'll have them know just because they have Yuwen Tong at their back doesn't mean they get to scorn secondary Yuwen family. They should have peed on the ground and looked into it to find out what they look like!"

"Young Master, what should we do?" asked Zhao Fugui, weeping.

"We return to the capital city," replied Yuwen Qi through gritted teeth. "Since Ling family have such a strong death wish, my father's fury will befall them."

"Yes!" Zhao Fugui secretly felt a sense of relief and hurriedly got on his horse.

After they left, Xie Shi showed up again, a shallow frown on his face.

Xie Shi returned to Tanyang, reported Yuwen Qi's remarks to Yuwen Tong and then observed, "Marshal, Second Master would probably do something to harm Ling family. We have to take precautions."

Yuwen Tong had a cold expression on his face all along.

Yao Yi and a couple of others exchanged glances with one another, all looking somewhat worried.

"Yao Yi, send word to the Shadow Battalion and tell Qi San to dispatch a team to Tanyang. They are to keep their identities secret protecting Ling family covertly."

"Yes, Marshal!"