Outside Luocheng, at Guangji Temple.

At midnight, inside Jiexu Hall of the temple, a wooden floorboard was pushed open. She Dengke was the first to poke his head out of the tunnel, and then he was startled. Candles were lit in Jiexu Hall, and two temple guardian monks were meditating in front of the Shakyamuni Buddha statue. Hearing the movement, the two monks simultaneously opened their eyes to look, then just as simultaneously closed them again, as if detached from all worldly concerns, paying no mind to She Dengke.

She Dengke had initially been somewhat afraid upon seeing the two monks, but once they closed their eyes, he quickly said into the tunnel, “Come up quickly.” The Prince, Liang Mao’er (carrying Liang Gou’er on his back), and She Dengke (leading Chunhua by the hand) all emerged from the tunnel.

She Dengke replaced the floorboard, then turned and quickly led the group past the guardian monks, who did not glance at them again. The Prince, bringing up the rear, suddenly asked dejectedly, “How are we going to leave Ning Dynasty?”

She Dengke replied, “By sea.”

The Prince sighed softly, “The sea…”

She Dengke asked curiously, “Prince, what’s wrong?”

The Prince lowered his head and said, “We once said at the medical clinic that we would go see the sea together.”

She Dengke and Liang Mao’er were both startled. That day, Old Man Yao had even scoffed that if they were exiled, they could go see the sea together. While their current situation wasn’t true exile, it was hardly any better. Old Man Yao’s words had come true.

But two people were missing from their group: Chen Ji and Bai Li. It was as if they were forever left behind on this land, through spring and summer, autumn and winter.

The Prince whispered, “How can we rescue Bai Li? She’s still in the eunuch faction’s hands.”

She Dengke replied with difficulty, “Prince, I’m afraid we can’t rescue her. Look at Brother Gou’er’s condition…”

The Prince thought for a moment, “I still have a few friends.”

She Dengke shook his head, “Chen Ji said that the moment something happened to the Prince’s Estate, all your friends went into hiding.”

The Prince murmured, “Then how do we get out to sea?”

She Dengke explained as they walked, “Miss Zhang told me there’s a small pier right outside Guangji Temple where a boat is currently docked. We’ll go to Jinling first, then change boats and pass through Zhenjiang, Jingjiang, and Nantong. From Qidong, we’ll take the sea route around to the northern Jing Dynasty and disembark at Lushun.”

The Prince, still feeling down, casually asked, “Will this route work?”

She Dengke explained, “Miss Zhang said the Xu family has always used this sea route for trade with the Jing Dynasty, so you’ll definitely make it. At the Qidong pier, Zhang family loyalists will be waiting to meet you.”

Outside the gates of Guangji Temple, the Prince suddenly stopped, as heavy snow fell on him. “Us? You… aren’t you coming?”

She Dengke hesitated. After a long pause, he finally mustered his courage. “Prince, I’m sorry, but it’s too dangerous to follow you all. I’ve never even left Luocheng since I was a child. Now, if I go to the Jing Dynasty, I’m worried that once I get there…”

The Prince asked softly, “What if the eunuch faction pursues you?”

She Dengke looked down at his toes. “The eunuch faction probably doesn’t know I participated in the jailbreak. At most, they might try to apprehend Chunhua, but she’s not an important figure; if she lives a plain life on the farm every day, the eunuch faction won’t recognize her. I’ve discussed it with my family; tonight, I’ll go live with my Fourth Uncle in Mianchi and work in the fields with him.”

As he spoke, She Dengke took Chunhua’s hand. “Once the crisis passes, I’ll use the silver from the cement dividends to buy a few acres of paddy fields and live a peaceful life with Chunhua.”

The Prince hummed in acknowledgment. “That’s good. I just don’t know how to repay you.”

She Dengke added, “Prince, you don’t need to thank me; I was going to rescue Chunhua anyway… I’m just the son of a common laborer, unlike you. I can’t withstand great storms.”

Silence fell upon the group.

The Prince forced a smile. “Since you’ve discussed it with your family, then go quickly.”

She Dengke backed away step by step towards the gate. “Then we’ll be going, Prince, Brother Mao’er, Brother Gou’er. Please take care.” Having said that, he led Chunhua out of Guangji Temple.

Just as he stepped over the threshold, the Prince suddenly raised his hand and called out, “She Dengke!” However, She Dengke, holding Chunhua’s hand, heard the Prince’s voice and paused for a moment, but continued walking forward without turning back. The Prince slowly lowered his hand. “…Thank you.” The next moment, he raised the back of his hand to wipe the corners of his eyes, then looked up at the night sky and sniffed.

Liang Mao’er looked at the Prince. “Prince, let’s go too.”

“Alright.”

The remaining three started towards the pier. Outside the temple gates, from a distance, they saw a wupeng boat docked at the river pier.

However, there was another person by the wupeng boat. Tianma stood in the snow, dressed in white, like an exiled immortal. Yet this god-like figure was known as the deadliest agent of the Secret Police.

The Prince instinctively turned around, intending to return to Guangji Temple for help. But as he turned, he saw the temple gates suddenly close, shutting the three of them out. The Prince saw Tianma make several hand gestures from a distance, but no one could understand them.

They stared at each other from afar.

The Prince suddenly said, “Brother Mao’er, Brother Gou’er, you two should go. I’m the one they want to kill; this has nothing to do with you.”

Liang Gou’er chuckled. “At a time like this, what’s the point of running? If we die, we die. At least we won’t be alone on the road to the Underworld. Among everyone from the Prince’s Estate and the medical clinic, you’re the only one who can hold his liquor. Mao’er, listen to me, put me down, and you go.”

Liang Mao’er stubbornly said, “I’m not leaving.”

But at that moment, a scoffing laugh came from behind them in the heavy snow. “How touching. If future plays don’t include this dramatic scene, I won’t watch them.”

The Prince spun around, only to see Old Man Yao, his back hunched and hands clasped behind him, slowly walking past them in the heavy snow.

“Physician Yao!” The Prince was startled.

Old Man Yao ignored him, simply waving his hand at Tianma as he walked. “Go back; there’s nothing for you here.”

Tianma hesitated for a moment, then made a few more hand gestures.

Old Man Yao responded cheerfully, “He’s full of tricks and lies all day, and he still can’t control me. These people are entrusted to me by an old friend; no one can touch them. Go back to the capital. If the Grand Minister asks, just say I took them.”

Tianma nodded, clasped his hands in a salute, turned, and strode away.

The Prince was stunned.

Old Man Yao walked to the boat’s edge, looked back, and asked, “Aren’t you getting on the boat?”

“Coming, coming,” the Prince and the other two quickly boarded the boat. Liang Mao’er helped Liang Gou’er sit inside the wupeng and then took up the oar. The sound of water splashing came from the boat. The small wupeng boat slowly sailed into the distance.

Old Man Yao stood at the boat’s edge, speaking to the Prince behind him without turning his head. “Prince, you haven’t forgotten what the Prince told you at the medical clinic the day he fell ill, have you?”

The Prince shook his head. “I haven’t forgotten.”

Old Man Yao said calmly, “The Prince used his life to ensure our entry into the Jing Dynasty. This path is arduous; have you truly considered it? I’m old and somewhat soft-hearted. If you really want to back out, now is still the time.”

The Prince shook his head. “I won’t back out, but what about Bai Li?”

Old Man Yao casually replied, “That depends on their fate.”

The Prince asked hopefully, “Can you perform a divination?”

Old Man Yao chuckled. “My disciple is someone who doesn’t believe in fate; divination is useless for him, Heaven won’t take him. Prince, the road ahead is long, and you might not be able to return. Say goodbye to the Prince.”

Having said that, the old man turned, ducked his head, and entered the wupeng, leaving the Prince alone standing at the boat’s edge, gazing at the river. The Prince suddenly burst into tears, kneeling at the boat’s edge. He kowtowed three times towards the north, bidding farewell to his birth father and his homeland.

Heavy snow fell on the water’s surface, making a rustling sound. It turned out that when the world was silent, falling snow also had a sound: desolate and profound.

The Prince suddenly picked up a wooden oar and wrote in the water:

In youthful days, time stretched long,
Wine flowed freely through red lanes.
Power became brick walls, profit became tiles,
Guests and friends filled every tent.
Waking, I lament the brevity of days,
Twenty turns in a grand dream.
Suddenly I find companions are often many,
But true hearts are only two or three.
Alas, on this lonely boat, listening to the snow,
I sit and watch the world stretch far away.

The Prince wrote the first, and also the last, rough poem of his life. No one saw the poem; it remained hidden in the dark river, carried eastward by the great river.

He rose and moved into the boat, kneeling before Liang Gou’er. “Please, Master, teach me the Liang Family Blade Arts!” The Prince of Jing, who had lived his first half in luxury, was now filled with the essence of the blade.

Liang Gou’er leaned back inside the wupeng, remaining silent for a long time before asking hoarsely, “Why do you want to learn my Liang Family Blade Arts?”

The Prince whispered, “To carry on my father’s will and slay immortals.”

“Can you endure hardship?”

“Yes.”

“Do you dare to kill?”

“I dare!”

Liang Gou’er laughed heartily. “Good, good, good! Then I shall pass on the Liang Family Blade Arts to you. It’s just that my Governing Meridian is severed, so I’m afraid I won’t live to see the day you slay immortals. If one day you truly can slay an immortal, then tell them for me, ‘You’re nothing but a bunch of pathetic curs, not even worth my master’s little finger.'”

The Prince said earnestly, “Alright.”

Liang Gou’er said emotionally, “Call me master.”

The Prince prostrated himself on the boat and kowtowed nine resounding times. When he looked up again, he said, “Master, it’s a pity there’s no wine or tea.”

Liang Gou’er chuckled, picked up a gourd dipper nearby, and tossed it to the Prince. “For those who wander the Jianghu, flowing water can also serve as wine.”

The Prince turned, scooped a dipper of river water, and handed it to him. Liang Gou’er gulped down a mouthful and shouted, “How refreshing! You’re much more straightforward than that kid Chen Ji!”

Old Man Yao glanced at him. “Don’t court death.”

Liang Gou’er pursed his lips and said nothing. He didn’t know Old Man Yao’s cultivation level, but someone who could simply wave a sleeve and make Tianma leave was certainly not simple.

Old Man Yao took a small wooden box from his bosom and extracted a white, blood-stained pill from it. “Prince, swallow this. This Life Feather Pill can aid your cultivation.”

The Prince was startled. “Life Feather Pill? Why don’t you keep it for yourself? Your lifespan…”

Old Man Yao smiled. “It’s fine. Taking on a good disciple before I die leaves me with no regrets.”

“Chen Ji, he…”

“His path is harder than yours.”

Dawn.

The snow stopped, and the sky was clearing.

Chen Ji rode his horse back to Anxi Street. Prince Jing’s Estate already had white seals pasted on its gates, and scattered white papers flew noisily in the wind outside.

Arriving at the entrance of Taiping Medical Clinic, he pushed open the main door. “Master, I’m back!”

However, the clinic was already empty. Chen Ji walked inside. “Master?” “Master, where are you?” “Master…”

Chen Ji stood in the courtyard, looking around blankly. The small Taiping Medical Clinic was desolate and quiet; its lively spirit was gone… Everyone had left.

He walked to the apricot tree and removed the red ribbons tied to its branches, one by one. The Princess’s ribbon was the first, wishing for peace, joy, prosperity, and no worries. Chen Ji then unrolled Liu Quxing’s ribbon, which read ‘May Master live long and healthy,’ followed by She Dengke’s, which read ‘May Master live ten thousand years.’ In his ears, he seemed to hear the laughter and playful banter from that day under the moon. In a daze, he seemed to see She Dengke and Liu Quxing chasing each other around the apricot tree again. But with another blink, the people of old times were all gone.

Memories are like that; they only punish those who dwell on the past.

Chen Ji turned, grabbed the remaining strong liquor from the clinic, walked out the door, swung himself onto his horse, and galloped towards the Drum Tower. As he galloped, he drank from the liquor and turned his head to look at the distant sky.

Upon reaching the Drum Tower, Chen Ji slipped a silver peanut to the guarding soldier, then ascended the tall structure step by step on its wooden stairs. He sat on the railing, holding the liquor jar, swaying precariously in the cold wind as if he might fall at any moment.

With drunken eyes, Chen Ji looked beside him. “Liu Quxing, what do you want to do in the future?”

Someone in the wind replied, “I want to inherit my master’s mantle and become an Imperial Physician!”

Chen Ji laughed heartily. “Good, from now on, you are Prince Jing’s Imperial Physician!”

He then asked loudly, “Liang Mao’er, what do you want to do in the future?”

Again, someone in the wind replied, “I want to acquire a few acres of land.”

“Good, I’ll give them to you tomorrow!”

Chen Ji asked again, “Prince, what do you want to do in the future?”

“I want to be a great knight-errant! I’ve only just realized that reading those classics is useless. From now on, I’ll read whatever page the wind blows open, and tear up any page that’s hard to read! Beat the drum!”

Someone in the wind said with feigned anger, “Brother, have you thought this through? If you strike that drum, the soldiers guarding the Drum Tower below will be exiled to the army!”

“Then I won’t strike it.”

The sun came out. Chen Ji looked up, only to see a red sun slowly rising at the end of the world. The sky was cloudless for thousands of miles, and its orange-red light gradually shone on his solitary figure.

Like a flower in a mirror, the moon in water, a dream in the human world.

In the morning sun, Wuyun lightly walked along the wooden railing. It climbed into Chen Ji’s arms and looked up. Chen Ji stroked its fluffy head, his gaze fixed on the distant horizon.

Wuyun meowed and asked, “Chen Ji, what are you doing here?”

“Marking the boat to find the sword.”

Volume Three: Marking the Boat to Find the Sword, End.