In the night, amidst the heavy snow, Bai Li was no longer as lively as before. Her hair was disheveled, and her white clothes were stained with dust.

The apricot trees, the mountain fire, and the person who led her horse—all belonged to yesterday. There would be no more surprises tomorrow, and when she looked up again, there would be no need for light in her eyes.

Han Tong stood atop the mast, silently watching Bai Li from a distance for a long time. He hadn’t expected the Secret Service to use Bai Li to threaten him. Who had betrayed him?

Yun Yang held up a torch, illuminating Bai Li’s face so Han Tong could see more clearly: “Sect Master Han, in the spring of the 24th year of Jianing, you secretly appeared outside Prince Jing’s residence, took one look at the Princess, and left. On the Lantern Festival of the 25th year of Jianing, you secretly waited at the City God Temple, took one look at the Princess, and left. In the 26th year of Jianing… you’ve seen the Princess a total of twelve times. Seven of those times were on the Princess’s birthday, and the other five were on the Lantern Festival and Double Ninth Festival. Tell me, why is that?”

Han Tong’s pupils constricted. He had thought his visits to Bai Li were very discreet, but clearly, they hadn’t escaped others’ notice.

This wasn’t a case of someone betraying him. Even Ah Yun didn’t know when he had secretly visited Bai Li, and the young man who had schemed against him tonight certainly wouldn’t know either.

Yun Yang looked at Han Tong with a half-smile. The flickering torchlight illuminated half of his face brightly and half in shadow, making him appear particularly sinister. “Sect Master Han, our Secret Service monitors the entire realm; nothing can escape our notice. It’s only a matter of time before we apprehend you. How about we make a deal now to save the Princess’s life?”

Hearing Yun Yang’s words, Bai Li looked up blankly at Han Tong on the tall mast. She had told Chen Ji that this person had secretly seen her four or five times—those were the times she had noticed.

Yet, in corners she hadn’t noticed, he had secretly visited her so many more times.

Standing tall on the mast, Han Tong asked from afar, “Tell me, how can she be saved?”

Yun Yang replied with a smile, “Sect Master Han, your life for the Princess’s life.”

Han Tong was silent for a long time. “Do you think I’m that foolish? I have no connection to her. Has your Secret Service made a mistake?”

The next moment, Jiao Tu drew a short knife from her sleeve and cut a gash on Bai Li’s thigh. Blood immediately soaked her pant leg.

But Bai Li’s expression remained unchanged; she simply stared blankly at the river, as if she could no longer feel the pain.

Han Tong’s body twitched slightly, then stopped.

Jiao Tu turned to Han Tong: “Come down and swap places. You come with us, and our Secret Service will allow your people to take her away.”

Jin Zhu cast a cold glance at their backs. He knew these two were lying again; even as members of the Twelve Zodiacs, they had no authority to release the Princess, not even the Grand Chancellor.

He looked at Han Tong, unsure if Han Tong would surrender. Then he looked at the wound on Bai Li’s leg.

Just as Jiao Tu raised her knife again to cut Bai Li’s arm, her wrist was caught by Jin Zhu.

Jin Zhu said with a grim face, “That’s enough. The Princess is, after all, a member of the imperial family. The Emperor hasn’t even decided whether to kill them yet, so don’t take matters into your own hands.”

Jiao Tu shot him a sideways glance. “Are you trying to cause trouble?”

Jin Zhu sneered, “I just think you might be foolish enough to lose your Zodiac positions and your lives, so I’m kindly reminding you.”

Jiao Tu snorted and slowly retracted her knife.

Yun Yang looked at Han Tong again and called out loudly, “Sect Master Han, do you truly not want to exchange your life for the Princess’s?”

However, Han Tong simply watched Bai Li silently for a long time. Seeing the wound on her leg and her stubbornly silent expression, he dug his nails into his palm until blood seeped out.

But in the end, he did not exchange his life. He said grimly, “Do you think I’m that foolish? There’s no such thing as a life for a life; it’s just dying together. The Secret Service will certainly pay dearly for what it has done today.”

With that, he glanced at Bai Li one last time, turned, and leaped, plunging into the icy river water and disappearing.

Yun Yang and Jiao Tu were stunned, while Bai Li lowered her head slightly.

Jin Zhu said to Jiao Tu, “Aren’t you going to quickly bandage the Princess’s wound? Whose terrible idea was this? What connection could the Princess have with Han Tong?”

Yun Yang retorted coldly, “If there’s no connection, why would he secretly visit the Princess so many times? Do you truly believe they have no relationship?”

Jin Zhu countered, “Who is Han Tong? He’s a powerful figure who has dominated the martial world for years, with countless followers. How could he possibly sacrifice his life for a fleeting emotion?”

Yun Yang sneered, “Someone just broke into the prison and took the Prince; we don’t know where he’s hidden. You also saw that Han Tong secretly summoned a fast boat just now, clearly intending to send someone away. He was undoubtedly planning to send the Prince.”

Bai Li turned to look at Yun Yang. Prison break? The Prince? Who did it?

An answer surfaced in her mind, the same answer that always came to her instinctively. But while she had been certain before, she now dismissed it.

Jin Zhu feigned ignorance: “Han Tong merely summoned a boat. How does that connect to the Prince?”

Yun Yang gave him a sidelong glance. “Just wait and see.”

“Wait for what?”

“Wait for Zhang Zhuo, Master Zhang.”

The heavy snow made the roads slippery. The prefectural soldiers of Luocheng grumbled as they escorted provisions to the dock. Their ears and hands were freezing red, and their toes were numb with cold.

Someone grumbled quietly, “With such heavy snow, how good it would be to go home, have a few drinks, and cuddle with my wife and children by a warm *kang*. Why does the Prefect insist on transporting provisions today?”

“Exactly, with such heavy snow, wouldn’t it be better to wait until it stops? And we have to take such a long detour!”

“Stop complaining. The dock is just ahead. Let’s finish our duty quickly and go home to sleep… Quiet down, the Prefect is coming.”

Beside the provision convoy, the Prefect, dressed in a red official robe, rode on horseback. He wore a red fox-fur cloak over his shoulders and held a bronze hand-warmer. He looked anxiously at the brightly lit dock ahead, feeling that something was amiss.

Zhang Zhuo pondered for a moment: “Wait, halt the provisions!”

The prefectural soldiers turned their heads in confusion, only able to stop all the oxcarts.

Zhang Zhuo waved his hand: “No provisions will be transported today. We’re taking them back to the granary!”

The soldiers immediately erupted in murmurs, and a deputy general called out loudly, “Sir, we’ve been walking since dusk, and we’re almost at the dock. Why are we not transporting them anymore?”

Zhang Zhuo gave him a cold stare. “Perhaps you’d like to be the fifth-rank Prefect?”

The soldier shrank his neck. “This subordinate spoke out of turn.”

Zhang Zhuo waved his hand: “Go!”

Just then, laughter came from a rooftop: “Master Zhang, where are you off to?”

Zhang Zhuo looked up sharply to see Yun Yang and Jiao Tu standing on the eaves of a roadside building, looking down at the long provision convoy.

As they spoke, countless Jie Fan Guards emerged from the alleyways near the convoy, hands on their sabers, completely surrounding the provision transport.

The prefectural soldiers wanted to draw their sabers for a confrontation, but Yun Yang said nonchalantly, “Not many dare to draw a blade in front of my Secret Service.”

The soldiers’ expressions froze, and they sheepishly released their hands.

Zhang Zhuo said in a deep voice, “What, are you planning to hijack my provision convoy? Even the Secret Service cannot arbitrarily interfere with official grain transport! Article 7 of Volume 18 of our Great Ning Law states that anyone who interferes with or steals more than twenty-five strings of tax grain during transport shall receive one hundred strokes with a stick, be branded with ‘stole official money, grain, and goods,’ and be exiled three thousand *li*!”

Yun Yang said with a smile, “I know Master Zhang can recite our Great Ning Law backwards, so there’s no need to casually use it to intimidate us. We’ve received intelligence that this provision convoy might be harboring a suspect, Master Zhang. Since you know the law so well, do you know the crime of harboring a rebel?”

Jiao Tu sat on the eaves, asking with a giggle, “Master Zhang, will harboring rebels also lead to the extermination of your entire family?”

Zhang Zhuo stared coldly at Yun Yang. “You say I’m harboring rebels, but what evidence do you have?”

Yun Yang smiled. “Simple. We’ll just search the convoy and find out. Get to it!”

“Wait!” Zhang Zhuo glanced nervously at the grain carts, raising his right hand high to stop the Jie Fan Guards. “This is official imperial grain. I’d like to see who dares to act rashly!”

Yun Yang raised an eyebrow. “What, Master Zhang, won’t you shed a tear until you see the coffin?”

With that, he took out a Royal Command Tablet from his sleeve. “Master Zhang, do you know what this is? Our Secret Service, holding a Royal Command Tablet, can act on behalf of the Emperor, execute first, and report later!”

Zhang Zhuo said gravely, “It’s true you hold a Royal Command Tablet, but you cannot act with impunity. I recall you two made a major mistake recently, didn’t you? If you err again this time, I wonder if you’ll lose your Zodiac positions?”

Yun Yang and Jiao Tu exchanged glances, both with hesitant expressions in their eyes.

They weren’t afraid of exile or what the civil officials might accuse them of. It was the Grand Chancellor, who never gave anyone a third chance to make a mistake.

Seeing an opportunity, Zhang Zhuo quickly added fuel to the fire: “Since you two hold the Royal Command Tablets, you may certainly search the grain carts. However, if you find nothing, I will report your conduct to the Emperor. At that point, I fear your fourth-rank official positions will be difficult to keep!”

Jiao Tu covered her mouth and chuckled, “Master Zhang, why are you threatening us so nervously? The more you threaten us, the more I suspect there’s a criminal hidden in the convoy. Master Zhang, you’re only making things worse for yourself.”

Yun Yang waved a hand at the Jie Fan Guards: “Search!”

The Jie Fan Guards directed the prefectural soldiers to unload bags of grain from the carts and pile them in the snow.

But as time passed, all the grain carts were completely unloaded, and no one was found hidden on them.

Yun Yang paced back and forth on the eaves, agitated. He called out loudly, “Check if anyone is hidden inside the sacks!”

The Jie Fan Guards drew their sabers and pierced the grain sacks. As Jiao Tu turned, she suddenly noticed a sneer of derision on Zhang Zhuo’s lips and immediately felt something was wrong. “Wait, don’t stab anymore! The grain sacks are only so big; they can’t possibly hide a person!”

But it was too late to give the order. More than twenty bags of grain had already been pierced, and the grain rustled as it poured out, scattering across the ground.

Zhang Zhuo burst into laughter, stroking his beard as he said, “Gentlemen, are there any criminals in the provisions?”

Yun Yang and Jiao Tu lightly dropped to the ground. Jiao Tu called out loudly, “All prefectural soldiers, remove your helmets! Check them one by one to see if any rebels are hiding among them!”

Zhang Zhuo no longer feigned ignorance, saying languidly, “Go on, take off your helmets for the masters to see. Let them have a good look.”

Yun Yang and Jiao Tu didn’t trust anyone else, so they personally identified each prefectural soldier one by one, but there was no sign of the Prince.

Yun Yang whispered, “It’s over.”

His heart slowly sank to rock bottom. He felt as though nothing had gone smoothly since his arrival in Luocheng. Where had things gone wrong?

Jiao Tu asked doubtfully, “Could he have gone somewhere else along the way?”

Yun Yang snarled, “Search! We’ll turn over the entire city of Luocheng tonight if we have to, but we *will* find the Prince!”

The Jie Fan Guards retreated like a tide. Zhang Zhuo watched their backs coldly, calling out loudly, “Masters of the Secret Service, you might really not be Zodiacs after this one.”

In front of Tuoluo Temple, thirty-two monks chanted scriptures while carrying a massive Sumeru pedestal back into the temple.

They shook bronze vajra bells, their eyes cast downwards, as if everything happening in Luocheng that night had nothing to do with them.

Once inside the temple, the monks carried the Sumeru pedestal and the Statue of Avalokiteshvara into the Mahavira Hall.

A young novice monk closed the eight vermilion-lacquered doors of the Mahavira Hall, blocking out all the wind and snow.

At this moment, Zhang Xia, dressed in fiery red, emerged from behind a scripture curtain, raising a hand to direct the novice monk: “Release them.”

The novice monk looked at the elderly abbot, who waved his hand. “Do as she says.”

The novice monk put his palms together. “Yes.”

The novice monk went behind the Statue of Avalokiteshvara and opened the compartment normally used for ‘zang’ (ritualistic ‘stuffing’ or ‘enshrinement’).

When sculpting a Buddha statue, monks would first leave a hollow space at the back. During the consecration ceremony, the esteemed abbot would place seven treasures, eight auspicious symbols, sacred flowers and herbs, scriptures, jewels, five grains, and metal representations of internal organs inside before sealing it. This ritual was called “zang.” Normally, Tuoluo Temple used this method to transport gold, silver, and money, escorted by thirty-two official monks, ensuring complete security.

At this moment, the Prince, She Dengke, Chun Hua, Liang Gou’er, and Liang Mao’er were all hidden within. The enormous Statue of Avalokiteshvara actually concealed five people.

The elderly abbot said softly, “Second Miss Zhang, please take your friends and leave the city through the temple’s secret passage. From this day forward, our Tuoluo Temple no longer owes Benefactor Xu Shu any karmic debt. We hope he cultivates well, avoids worldly affairs, and returns to the Forty-Nine Heavens soon.”