The courtyard fell silent, but Bailong did not leave.

Baohou asked in a low voice, “My lord, you’ve let them go just like that. How will you explain it to the imperial court?”

Bailong didn’t care. “It’s enough to explain to the Neixiang. There’s no need to explain anything to others. Strange, why is Xuanlong so slow?”

He held out his hand. “Give it here.”

Baohou obediently handed over the bamboo strips and the tattered bamboo paper. Bailong casually said, “Bamboo paper isn’t good for kites; it’ll tear with a gust of wind. Get some silk cloth instead.”

“Oh,” Baohou climbed over the wall to the next door. When he returned, he had a stack of colorful silk cloths in his hand, which were used to wipe the coffins in Ninghuangling.

The bamboo strips seemed to come alive in Bailong’s hands. In just a dozen breaths, he wove the outline of a monkey holding its child. Bailong picked up a red thread from the sewing box and threaded it through the needle’s eye.

Baohou watched Bailong make the kite with wide eyes. Just then, there was finally movement from the secret passage.

The secret agents leaped out one after another, holding their waist knives and vigilantly surveying their surroundings. When they saw Bailong sitting in the courtyard, they were shocked. “My lord, we’ve pursued a wanted criminal here…”

Bailong sewed the kite without lifting his head. “If you catch criminals at such a snail’s pace, they’ll have time to go home, eat, shower, change clothes, and then flee again.”

The secret agents knelt down in a panic. “This humble subordinate deserves death!”

Bailong ignored them and just picked up the red kite in his hand. “It’s done!”

He handed the kite to Baohou and finally looked at the secret agents. “Where’s Xuanlong?”

A secret agent whispered, “My lord is still behind.”

“Then wait for him.”

Half an incense stick later, Xuanlong leaped out of the secret passage with his arms hanging limp. The moment he saw Bailong, his face turned ashen.

Why was Bailong here?

Xuanlong made to bow, but Bailong casually waved his hand and teased, “I know your hands are inconvenient, so no need to bow.”

“Thank you, my lord.” Xuanlong bowed his head.

At that moment, a series of thoughts flashed through his mind, seemingly connecting all the events.

He had originally been misled by a clue and chased in the direction of Guyuan, but then he was called back midway by someone Bailong sent.

Upon returning, more than half of his trusted direct subordinates had been killed, and even he himself inexplicably ran into two Xundaojing officials, breaking both his arms. It was a heavy loss!

Looking back now, it was clear that Bailong had intentionally made him return, using others to punish him.

Xuanlong looked up at Bailong.

Bailong smiled. “Have you figured it out?”

Xuanlong hesitated for a moment. “I’ve figured it out, my lord…”

Bailong said indifferently, “I told you not to be hasty, but you wouldn’t listen. The scribes by His Majesty’s side have changed one after another, but when has the head of our Silijian ever changed?”

Xuanlong trembled. “This humble subordinate knows his mistake.”

The next moment, a divine-demonic resonance came from under Baohou’s wooden monkey mask. “Kill or not kill!”

Baohou turned to look at Bailong. “My lord, should those who betray trust be killed?”

The neutral, grand voice was like a booming bell, making the secret agents cover their ears and show signs of pain.

Xuanlong didn’t dare to look up. At this point, he was like a fish on a chopping block, at the mercy of others. “This humble subordinate knows his mistake!”

Bailong raised his hand to stop Baohou’s words and spoke earnestly to Xuanlong, “Don’t be quick to be a fair-weather friend. Someone once told me that in the capital, rules don’t matter, interests don’t matter; who you belong to matters. Xuanlong, considering your great achievements for the Neixiang, I’ll spare your life this time. Next time, you won’t be so lucky.”

Xuanlong heavily knocked his forehead on the ground. “Thank you, my lord, for sparing my life! Thank you, my lord, for sparing my life! This humble subordinate will go and kill Wu Xuange now, to give an explanation to my lord and to the Neixiang!”

Bailong shook his head. “Who can you kill with those hands now? Talk less nonsense and do more practical things for the Neixiang; that’s the proper way.”

Xuanlong dared not refute, only cautiously probed, “Is Chen Ji someone my lord planted in the Chen family?”

Baohou played with the kite while secretly glancing at Bailong. The other secret agents stood in the courtyard with their heads bowed, not daring to look up.

Bailong slowly stood up, looking down at Xuanlong with a sidelong glance. “When did it become your place to speculate about me?”

Xuanlong quickly said, “This humble subordinate has no other meaning. It’s just that after Wu Xuange left Changping County, he parted ways with me. He didn’t go to Guyuan but instead led a hundred Jiefanwei to guard outside the capital… Chen Ji must bring Liao Zhong back to the capital to clear his name. As long as they wait outside the capital, they’ll eventually catch him.”

A hundred Jiefanwei were certainly not something Chen Ji alone could contend with.

He would surely die.

Xuanlong’s question was actually very crucial.

If Bailong cared about Chen Ji’s life or death, it would mean that Chen Ji was very important to Bailong, from which Bailong’s true identity could be inferred. If Bailong didn’t care about Chen Ji’s life or death, it would mean that Bailong’s previous confrontation with the Crown Prince and the Jiefanwei was merely an attempt to use Chen Ji’s matter to thwart the Crown Prince and Wu Xiu.

Xuanlong tentatively said, “This humble subordinate will lead people to rescue him now…”

Bailong smiled, turned, and walked out. “My Secret Service isn’t the Chen family’s errand boy; why should I care about him? Everyone stay in Changping, clean this place up, and put out the fire, so the Imperial Censor doesn’t catch us.”

Xuanlong was stunned, unable to fathom Bailong’s intentions for a moment, unable to distinguish the truth from his words.

Bailong went out, mounted his horse, turned its head, and slowly rode towards the city.

After Bailong had gone far, a secret agent tried to help Xuanlong, who was still kneeling, but Xuanlong cast a cold glance at him, scaring the agent back.

Xuanlong rose on his own, letting the secret agent brush the dust off his knees. He watched Bailong and Baohou’s receding figures, his eyes as calm as a deep pool, pondering something.

In Changping County, Bailong slowly patrolled the streets, unhurriedly.

Baohou rode beside Bailong, and a hoarse voice from under his mask steadily said, “My lord, does the Neixiang know that you’re allied with Deng Huo? The Neixiang has always disliked the Jianghu, those who use martial arts to violate the law…”

Bailong cast a sidelong glance at him. “When did the Neixiang dislike the Jianghu?”

Baohou recalled, “The Neixiang once said he wanted to cut off nine-tenths of the chivalry in the world.”

Bailong said meaningfully, “Didn’t he leave one-tenth?”

Baohou was stunned.

Bailong burst out laughing. “None of you understand the Neixiang. The Jianghu he wants is one where falsehood is removed and truth preserved, where the dross is removed and the essence kept, and where all those who seek fame are killed.”

A woman’s voice from under Baohou’s mask asked, “My lord, are you really not going to save that boy? We can go for you; Xuanlong will never know. You said we are your friends, my lord.”

Bailong turned and stared at Baohou for a moment, then said casually, “No need. He has his own Jianghu.”

Chen Ji followed the official road south.

Liao Zhong was still unconscious, slumped over the saddle. Chen Ji, with two horses, rushed back to the capital at top speed, from dawn to noon, and then from noon until the sun began to set in the west.

Just as the outline of the capital appeared on the horizon, a line of dozens of people arrayed themselves on the official road, clad in coir raincoats and bamboo hats, dark and imposing like mountains.

Jiefanwei, Wu Xuange.

The Jiefanwei’s stern gazes were hidden beneath their bamboo hats, like knives sheathed.

Chen Ji slowed his horse, quietly looking at the “mountain” before him. A Jiefanwei took out a bronze whistle and blew an eagle’s cry. He looked back, and in the distance behind him, the sound of hoofbeats echoed, a dark line pressing in on the horizon.

Wu Xuange had set up an inescapable trap here, never intending for Chen Ji to return to the capital alive.

Chen Ji turned his warhorse back and forth on the official road, observing the surrounding terrain.

Over a hundred Jiefanwei.

He was alone.

Wu Xuange calmly and loudly said, “Minister Chen, stop making futile attempts and surrender. No matter how you struggle, the outcome will be no different.”

Chen Ji ignored him, slowly halted his horse, and silently looked up at the sky.

Sometimes, he didn’t know if it was an illusion or real. He always felt that the sky in the capital wasn’t as blue as in Luocheng, and the clouds weren’t white enough.

In short, it wasn’t pretty enough.

He should have gotten that maru…

Chen Ji silently lowered his head, using his left hand and teeth to tighten the bandage on his forearm.

The next moment, he spurred his warhorse, charging towards the dozens of people in front of him.

Wu Xuange stood his ground, quietly watching Chen Ji’s charging momentum, his eyes slightly narrowed. He suddenly drew his waist knife from under his coir raincoat, pointed it at Chen Ji, and shouted, “Kill without mercy!”

However, at that moment.

The sound of hoofbeats also came from behind Wu Xuange. He turned around and saw over fifty men in plain cloth clothing galloping towards them.

Dust on the official road rose into the sky behind the men.

These men came at an extremely fast speed. Only when they got closer did Wu Xuange clearly see that it was Li Xuan, Qi Zhenzhuo, Duo Bao, Lin Yanchu, and others.

The Yulinjun were imperial guards. Privately donning armor and carrying weapons outside the camp was a capital crime of treason. But Li Xuan and the others came in plain clothes, clearly having shed their Yulinjun identity.

Wu Xuange snarled, “Jiefanwei are apprehending a wanted criminal. All unrelated personnel, stand back!”

Li Xuan shouted, “Minister Wu, we are just passing by; our horses are spooked and we can’t control them. Quickly make way!”

Wu Xuange pointed his long blade, furious. “One more step, and you will be killed without mercy! Just a bunch of pampered soldiers, daring to challenge me, Wu!”

Qi Zhenzhuo again spurred his warhorse to accelerate, slowly overtaking Li Xuan. He roared at Wu Xuange, “Try it! My good head is right here; if you can take it, it’s yours!”

A hundred zhang distance was covered in an instant, and over fifty Yulinjun reached the front of the formation before Chen Ji.

Wu Xuange snarled, “I don’t believe they dare to harm Jiefanwei! Take them all down…”

Before he finished speaking, Qi Zhenzhuo, leading the charge, slammed into the Jiefanwei formation!

With a thunderous crash.

Two horses collided, both whinnying and falling to the ground. Qi Zhenzhuo leaped into the Jiefanwei ranks.

The Yulinjun warhorses behind him also did not stop, one after another colliding with the Jiefanwei’s warhorses, as if towering waves were crashing into each other, the formation becoming a tangled mess!

Both sides simultaneously chose to dismount and fight on foot. A Jiefanwei swung his blade, but Li Xuan clamped his hands onto the blade. “Let go!”

The blade in the Jiefanwei’s hand was actually pulled away just like that!

Li Xuan snatched the blade and charged into the formation, completely disrupting the Jiefanwei’s ranks. Xundaojing officials moved through the formation as if in an uninhabited land.

Behind him, Duo Bao and Lin Yanchu were unarmed, only able to grab the Jiefanwei’s blade-wielding hands and push the Jiefanwei to the sides of the official road.

Wu Xuange suddenly realized with a shock that the Yulinjun were forcefully pushing back the Jiefanwei to clear a path for Chen Ji.

He no longer paid attention to the Yulinjun but rushed onto the official road, intending to block Chen Ji’s path. But before he had taken two steps, Wu Xuange suddenly felt unable to move. He looked back and saw Li Xuan pulling his clothes from behind in the crowd.

Just then, Chen Ji, with two horses carrying Liao Zhong, arrived. He watched the Yulinjun fighting with the Jiefanwei on the official road, forcefully clearing a path for him. “You all…”

Li Xuan, still holding Wu Xuange, roared at Chen Ji, “Don’t worry about us! Go! Make a name for yourself today!”

Chen Ji was slightly stunned.

These were the words he had spoken to Li Xuan in Guyuan, now returned to him verbatim!

“Thank you!” Chen Ji sped through the battlefield without stopping.

Wu Xuange couldn’t break free from Li Xuan and furiously threw the long blade in his hand towards the hooves of Chen Ji’s warhorse. The long blade spun in the air, actually severing the horse’s front hooves.

Without its front hooves, the warhorse plunged downwards.

In the nick of time, Chen Ji supported himself on the saddle with both hands, leaped into the air, flipped over, and landed on Liao Zhong’s horse, riding away without looking back.