At Taiping Medical Clinic, the commotion caused by the arrival of the Golden Pig left everyone silent.

In the apprentices’ dormitory, there was one person and one cat.

Wuyun whispered his findings: “We followed him south. He’s very vigilant; if anything seems off, he immediately stops to observe his surroundings, then deliberately creates diversions to mislead anyone following him. After four such maneuvers, he finally relaxed. In the woods near Tuoluo Temple to the south, he prepared a carriage and waited by the temple entrance. A short while later, I saw Liu Mingxian emerge from the temple and get into the carriage.”

Chen Ji was startled: “He’s Liu Mingxian’s coachman? He was also the one who picked up Master from the clinic to treat Old Master Liu!”

He thought for a moment, then said, “I suspect Liu Mingxian doesn’t even know that someone from the Jing Dynasty’s Military Intelligence Bureau is hidden right beside him. Otherwise, why would the Military Intelligence Bureau need me to liaise with Consort Yun?”

This coachman-officer, Si Cao, was perfectly positioned. He could not only track Liu Mingxian’s movements at any time but also eavesdrop on his conversations. All of the Liu family’s coachmen lived together, so if the others weren’t cautious, this coachman-officer could even find out where other members of the Liu family went, what they did, and whom they met. However, why would such an intelligent and cautious Si Cao risk exposure by coming to Taiping Medical Clinic this morning? Was he here to kill me?

Chen Ji recalled the conversation between the two officers. Manager Yuan had asked, “What are you doing here?” The coachman-officer replied, “What are *you* doing here?” Immediately after, Manager Yuan said, “Luocheng is under my jurisdiction now. You need to know your place.”

Chen Ji murmured to himself, ” ‘You need to know your place.’ In what context would someone say that?”

Wuyun raised a paw: “I know this one! The day before yesterday, after I brought a leading tabby cat under my control, it still wouldn’t obey, so I gave it another beating and told it to ‘know its place’!”

Chen Ji was stunned, a spark igniting in his mind. “So that’s it. Authority over the Luocheng Military Intelligence Bureau has changed hands. The coachman-officer used to be in charge of Luocheng, but now it’s under the new Manager Yuan’s jurisdiction, and the coachman-officer has been sidelined.”

With the change in power within the Military Intelligence Bureau, his uncle lost his authority after stepping down. As for the coachman-officer, he had mentioned several times that Chen Ji’s uncle had entrusted him with his care, so he must have been very close to the uncle. Naturally, he became an object of ostracization.

Chen Ji wondered, “But what was he doing at Taiping Medical Clinic this morning? Was he here to kill me?”

Wuyun’s expression turned serious: “He wants to kill you!”

“Not necessarily,” Chen Ji shook his head. Wu Hongbiao had previously claimed that the coachman-officer wanted to kill them to pledge allegiance, but Chen Ji had always had a doubt: The coachman-officer appeared extremely fierce. But… when the Jing Dynasty’s Military Intelligence Bureau suspected Chen Ji of betraying Zhou Chengyi, the coachman-officer never actually tried to kill him, no matter how much his subordinates accused him. The man did hang him upside down for interrogation, but after the questioning, not even a single scratch appeared on Chen Ji.

Chen Ji didn’t care what others said; he only paid attention to what they did. Based solely on these two points of doubt, the coachman-officer had never actually intended to kill him. Even if the coachman-officer had changed his mind and wanted to kill him to pledge allegiance, the timing was all wrong. Last night, Chen Ji and Liu Mingxian were both in the East Market, and the coachman-officer must have been there too, and noticed Chen Ji. If he had wanted to kill Chen Ji, there were plenty of opportunities last night. Why wait until this early morning to come to the clinic?

Therefore, he wasn’t there to kill Chen Ji. This made Chen Ji even more confused: “Then what was he doing at Taiping Medical Clinic this morning? What could have compelled such a cautious person to secretly come to the clinic while his employer was burning incense and praying? Was there some unforeseen change?”

Wait, was it because Manager Yuan had arrived? The coachman-officer wasn’t there to kill him; he was there to protect him! Chen Ji chuckled at his own deduction: “Why would he protect me?… But Wu Hongbiao is either mistaken or lying. I need to figure this out.”

“Wuyun, did Wu Hongbiao go out yesterday?”

Wuyun replied, “No, he didn’t. You didn’t bring him food yesterday, so I went back to the clinic, got two whole-grain biscuits from Uncle Crow, and took them to him. Don’t worry, I left them at his door while he was asleep; he didn’t notice me.”

“Drinking truly messes things up.”

At that moment, Liang Mao’er’s voice came from outside the window: “Brother, why didn’t you intervene just now?”

Liang Gou’er pursed his lips, sweeping with a bamboo broom, and said with his head down, “I told you I have three things I won’t help with, have you forgotten? I don’t help eunuchs’ factions, nor do I help those who oppose them.”

“But we’re friends,” Liang Mao’er’s face turned red with urgency: “We just watched the sunrise at the Drum Tower together this morning.”

Liang Gou’er scoffed, “Plenty of people have watched the sunset with me; am I supposed to help every single one of them? Don’t take what’s said while drinking seriously—that’s the rule of the drinking world!” Liang Mao’er, enraged, snatched the broom from him: “How did you become like this? You weren’t like this before!” Liang Gou’er mumbled, “Before was before, now is now.”

Inside, Wuyun looked at Chen Ji: “What just happened?”

Chen Ji was silent for a moment, then asked, “Wuyun, if your friend kept a lot of things from you, would you be angry?”

Wuyun thought for a long time: “I don’t know. You’re my first and only friend, so I don’t have experience with that. But I guess I would be angry.”

Chen Ji sighed inwardly. Princess White Carp had just stormed off, perhaps angry because they had all endured training together, drunk together, and watched the sunrise together. In her heart, she already considered them friends. So why would some people refuse to help a friend in need? Why would others hide so many secrets?

But Chen Ji had no choice; some secrets he could only keep to himself.

Wuyun patted Chen Ji’s hand: “I’m leaving now. There’s still a fight I haven’t finished; my subordinates are waiting for me.”

Chen Ji said, “Alright, just don’t get blood on yourself…” After Wuyun left, Chen Ji slowly closed his eyes, pondering the clues he had just gathered. If the coachman-officer truly hadn’t intended to kill him, then was Wu Hongbiao lying? What role did the coachman-officer play in this whole affair? He would have to probe further tonight.

Chen Ji collected the sixteen furnace fires, allowing himself to pass through the black sea of clouds and land upon it. In the past, Chen Ji detested this dream. The shouts of battle, night after night, felt like a nightmare—he couldn’t wake up properly or sleep soundly. But now he liked it here, not just because of the exquisite combat techniques, but also because he didn’t have to think about complex human relationships. There was no Military Intelligence Bureau, no Secret Service, no parents, and no uncle. Here, Chen Ji only needed to fight again and again, learning one technique after another, without having to think about anything else.

He turned and saw Xuanyuan, cloaked in a black royal robe, sitting on the edge of a cliff, leaning on a royal banner and gazing into the distance. Beyond the cliff, the battlefield was frozen, and clouds drifted lazily across the sky. Even Chen Ji’s mood became peaceful.

He sat silently beside Xuanyuan: “All these years, have you been watching all of this alone?”

Xuanyuan ignored him.

Chen Ji asked again, “Why are you in my dream?”

Xuanyuan glared at him: “In your dream? How presumptuous! This is *my* world.”

Chen Ji was speechless. So this isn’t a dream, but a real place?

Chen Ji suddenly asked, “Have you heard of the Forty-Nine Heavens?”

Xuanyuan looked puzzled: “What place is that? I’ve never been there.”

Chen Ji was now completely bewildered. It was one thing for the people around him not to know about the Forty-Nine Heavens, but even an “immortal” like Xuanyuan—did he not know about the Forty-Nine Heavens? Could Li Qingniao have been talking nonsense?

“Northern Continent Jambudvipa?”

“Never heard of it.”

“Then have you heard of a person named Li Qingniao?” Chen Ji asked.

“Never heard of him,” Xuanyuan shook his head: “I’ve seen ‘Azure Birds,’ but I’ve never heard of anyone with that name… What nonsense are you spouting?”

Chen Ji was confused. Did no one know about the Forty-Nine Heavens?

Xuanyuan stood up: “Don’t waste time. Fenghuai, give him a saber and have a good practice with him.”

The Pudaoshi named Fenghuai nodded: “As you command.”

“Wait, wait,” Chen Ji raised a hand and said, “But someone told me I shouldn’t train with a saber.”

Xuanyuan looked as if he’d heard the funniest joke: “Did you come all this way just to tell me jokes? You shouldn’t train with a saber? Someone told you not to train with a saber! Hahahahaha.”

Xuanyuan’s laughter boomed like a great bell, scattering even the clouds.

Chen Ji’s face darkened: “Is it that funny?”

Xuanyuan pointed at him from a distance, puzzled: “You used a saber before! Swords are the kings of all weapons, but sabers are their courage. Sabers are what suit you best! If you don’t train with a saber, what will you train with?”

“Perhaps sabers suited the old me, but now I want to train with a sword. The one teaching me said my current personality isn’t suited for sabers; it would ruin my foundation.”

“Your current personality… what he said isn’t entirely without reason,” Xuanyuan sneered, “But with your meager foundation, how can you ‘ruin’ it? After you’ve mastered the saber, you’ll have to train with swords, axes, spears, staffs, and hammers—every single weapon. If you can’t master them all, how will you know what methods an enemy might use to fight you? Once you’ve mastered everything, you’ll understand that all paths in this world lead to the same destination.”

Liang Gou’er said not to train, but Xuanyuan said to. Whose advice should he follow? Chen Ji chose to listen to Xuanyuan, because Xuanyuan’s realm seemed much higher than Liang Gou’er’s.

He looked at Xuanyuan: “If—and I mean *if*—I truly am the person you knew back then, what kind of saber did I use?”

Xuanyuan stared at Chen Ji for a long time, then suddenly raised a hand and drew a man-sized great saber from thin air: “Try this one.” The saber’s hilt was about two-thirds of its length, with the blade making up the remaining third. The hilt bore golden dragon engravings, and the blade was as white as snow. Xuanyuan tossed it through the air, and when Chen Ji caught it, he was nearly pulled off balance by the saber’s weight.

Chen Ji gripped the great saber with both hands and swung it a few times, immediately shaking his head: “No, I’m not used to this.”

Xuanyuan then drew a two-foot waist saber from thin air and tossed it to Chen Ji: “Try this one instead.” This saber had a fiery red blade, as if it had just been pulled from molten lava.

Chen Ji swung it a few more times: “No, I’m not used to this one either. It feels a bit awkward.” This awkward feeling was like someone accustomed to a particular pen suddenly having to use a different one, yet still wanting to switch back to the familiar one they were proficient with.

Xuanyuan glanced at him, then conjured dozens of sabers from thin air, arraying them suspended: “Choose. Pick until you find one you like.”

Chen Ji went to each saber, taking them down one by one to try gripping and swinging them. There were sleeve daggers, great crescent-moon sabers, straight-handled sabers, and scimitars. He carefully and meticulously compared the differences of each saber. Time passed minute by minute, but Xuanyuan did not rush him at all. This time, Xuanyuan was exceptionally patient.

Finally, Chen Ji stopped before a gleaming, narrow, long saber. The blade was three feet three inches long, and the hilt was two feet two inches. When propped on the ground, the hilt reached his collarbone. Chen Ji held the saber in his hand and asked curiously, “What’s this saber called?”

“Don’t you recognize it?”

“Should I recognize it?”

“Of course you should recognize it, because it is *your* saber,” Xuanyuan said calmly, “It’s called ‘Whale’.”

“Did I name it?”

“No, I did.”

Chen Ji fell silent. So, Xuanyuan had been waiting patiently all this time, without a word, just to see if he would pick this specific saber. And yet, among the more than fifty sabers suspended in mid-air, he hadn’t chosen one slightly longer or slightly shorter; it was precisely this one.

Chen Ji gripped “Whale,” feeling an inexplicable familiarity, as if he had found a long-lost friend. For a moment, he seriously considered whether he truly was the person Xuanyuan spoke of, and that Xuanyuan hadn’t mistaken him for someone else. This realization came very suddenly. Before this, although Chen Ji had apologized on behalf of his “former self” and tacitly accepted Xuanyuan’s speculation, he hadn’t truly believed it deep down. He had merely wanted to learn more techniques on this battlefield, to master combat and the path of the sword seed.

But now…

Chen Ji looked up at Xuanyuan: “Why is my saber in your hands? Did you kill me?”

Xuanyuan fell silent.

Chen Ji suddenly laughed: “Haha, why that expression? Even if you killed me, haven’t I come back to life? Oh, by the way, can I have this saber? Since you say this is your world, then this saber must be real, right?”

Xuanyuan glanced at him: “If you can defeat Fenghuai within three days, this saber will be returned to you.”

Chen Ji casually twirled the saber: “Then what are we waiting for? Come on!”

Xuanyuan looked at Chen Ji and said seriously, “Don’t think winning against the Great Halberdier in a single day makes you formidable. Bronze halberds are used in battle formations to counter charging warhorses; they have few variations and aren’t very flexible, making their weaknesses easy to exploit. Sabers are different. Only by defeating Fenghuai will you prove you’re qualified to fight in battle formations.”

Chen Ji asked curiously, “I noticed the Great Halberdier and the Pudaoshi you chose are dressed differently from the others. They’re not ordinary soldiers, are they?”

Xuanyuan cast a glance at him: “They are both my elite Tigers, the best in the army, and instructors for all types of weaponry.”

Chen Ji felt helpless. So, he was fighting against the most skilled individuals using their most proficient weapons. “I feel like you really want to teach me all the combat skills for battle formations,” he said.

Xuanyuan sneered, “Fenghuai, cut him down.”