Firmament Sword

When the brothers returned to the Xu Mansion, all the servants immediately bustled about, preparing a welcome feast for Xu Luo.

During the feast, Huangfu Chongzhi asked Xu Luo, ”Third Brother, is His Majesty... really sending you to your fiefdom?”

Xu Luo nodded. ”Yes. What is it?”

Huangfu Chongzhi said with great concern, ”Your fiefdom is on the Northern border. If there weren’t a war, it would be a fine place indeed. I’ve heard it’s rich in resources, the soil is fertile, and there’s a great river full of prized fish. It’s an excellent fiefdom, by all accounts. The Sixth Prince even asked His Majesty for that territory once, but His Majesty refused, using the excuse that the bandit problem was too severe...”

”Bandits?” Xu Jie’s eyes narrowed as he spoke in a low voice, ”Is His Majesty planning to send Third Brother to deal with the bandits?”

”That’s exactly what it looks like!” Little Fatty chimed in. ”Especially with the war effort in the North so strained right now. If a bandit infestation breaks out on top of that, life for the common people in the North will be incredibly difficult.”

”But dealing with bandits should be the Military Department’s job! We’re empty-handed. His Majesty isn’t giving us troops or funds, so what are we supposed to use to fight them?” Little Fatty frowned and grumbled, ”His Majesty is being too vicious...”

Xu Luo smiled and shook his head. ”Don’t talk nonsense. That place is my fiefdom. Even if His Majesty does intend for me to deal with the bandits, it would be perfectly normal.”

As Xu Luo spoke, he couldn’t help but think of the scheme he had laid out long ago. ’I wonder how much they’ve accomplished by now?’ he thought.

...

「In a small town in the northern Cangqiong Kingdom.」

Tang Yong, Li Yu, and the brothers Yuan Ren and Yuan Yi were sitting in a small tavern, drinking.

Watching the gloomy weather outside, Tang Yong picked up the large bowl in front of him, took a gulp of wine, and grumbled, ”This damn weather completely ruins my mood.”

”Boss Tang, a brute like you gets his mood affected by the weather?” Li Yu teased, taking a sip of his wine.

”Nonsense! I’m not allowed to dislike the weather?” Tang Yong glared at Li Yu. ”Li Xiaoyu, speaking of which, do you think the Young Master will get a bigger official post now that he’s back in the Imperial Capital? If he does, our chance for revenge will be one step closer!”

”Who knows? The Young Master performed great deeds in the South, so by all rights, His Majesty should reward him handsomely. However, I’ve heard a rumor these past couple of days that the Young Master wiped out a branch of the Wei Family in the southern city of Hongcheng. I don’t know if it’s true, but if it is, that’s fantastic news. Still, it probably won’t do the Young Master himself any good.”

Yuan Ren chimed in, ”The Young Master is always measured in his actions. He must have had his reasons for doing something like that.”

Li Yu nodded. ”Naturally. I’ve never met anyone as clever as the Young Master.”

”And righteous,” Tang Yong added, taking a big swig of wine. He mumbled, ”If not for the Young Master’s magnanimity, my corpse would have rotted away by now. I’d hardly be sitting here drinking with you lot.”

”Regarding what happened back then, we can now be almost certain that we wrongly blamed General Xu,” Yuan Yi said. ”If not for the Young Master, I’m afraid we all would have done something foolish.”

”Heh, doing something foolish is one thing. The real fear is dying a muddle-headed ghost, unable to face our brothers in the afterlife,” Li Yu said, glancing outside. Raindrops had begun to fall.

”Is it about time?” Yuan Ren also glanced outside.

A blinding flash of lightning suddenly split the sky, followed by a startling clap of thunder.

CRACK!

It was as if the very world trembled.

Yuan Ren stood, grabbed a long saber from the table, donned a wide-brimmed conical hat, and was the first to walk out.

Yuan Yi, Tang Yong, and Li Yu followed, dressed in nearly identical attire.

The richest man in town was surnamed Zhang. The townsfolk all called him Wealth Master Zhang.

Few people knew the full extent of Wealth Master Zhang’s fortune, but he was known for being charitable, funding projects like repairing bridges and paving roads. He did many good deeds, so everyone in town held him in extremely high regard.

The small town was situated on the Cangqiong Border, adjacent to the Northern Mountain Range. Resources were abundant, and Adventurers frequently passed through, so the residents’ living conditions were quite good.

Wealth Master Zhang kept a low profile and rarely appeared in public. In fact, very few people knew that this man, who had lived here for years, was actually the son-in-law of the Imperial Chancellor, Wei Feng!

Wealth Master Zhang’s given name was Zhang Danian. In his youth, he had studied at the True Martial Academy in the Imperial Capital, where he had secretly pledged himself to a young lady from the Wei Family born of a concubine.

Originally, Zhang Danian, with his common and rather humble background, would have had no chance of marrying a young lady from the Wei Family. He lacked the status, even if she was the daughter of a concubine.

However, he once had a chance encounter with Prime Minister Wei Feng. After being called over for a long, private discussion, the young Zhang Danian became a son-in-law of the Wei Family.

Of course, very few people knew about this. Aside from a handful of people in the Wei Family, no one else knew such a person even existed. As for the whereabouts of a concubine’s daughter, that was something no one would bother to care about.

After graduating from the True Martial Academy, Zhang Danian returned to this small northern town and began to build his business. In just a few short years, it grew to a massive scale. Most of the Adventurers who passed through the town had some form of connection to the Zhang Family.

Lately, Zhang Danian had been in a foul mood, all because of a letter he had received some time ago.

Only he knew its contents. After reading it, Zhang Danian had burned the letter. From that day forward, he smiled less and less, often locking himself alone in his study and refusing to see anyone.

This included his wife, whom he normally cherished and respected... the daughter of the Wei Family concubine.

Zhang Danian paced back and forth in his study, unable to rest. He could not believe that his own father-in-law, the man he respected most, the current Prime Minister, would ask him to do such a thing.

True, he had done many things for his father-in-law in secret over the years. He had amassed wealth through various means and even spied on the Northern Army. He had done it all.

Although he knew these acts were wrong, he was a son-in-law of the Wei Family, branded with their mark. That was an unchangeable fact. Besides, he had privately rationalized that these tasks were no big deal. He had heard of the tense relationship between his father-in-law’s faction and the military; helping him suppress the military’s power seemed only logical.

But this time, the letter from his father-in-law ordered him to complete a mission—a mission that robbed Zhang Danian of his sleep and appetite, leaving him so terrified he was at a complete loss.

This wasn’t a matter of difficulty. It was a matter of daring!

To put it simply, this was a power struggle among the elites. To put it more bluntly, this was tantamount to treason!

Zhang Danian knew he was no saint. Though he had built up a good reputation by repairing bridges and paving roads, he had also done his fair share of dirty deeds in private. But none of it had ever crossed his moral bottom line.

But this... this was far too grave!

’Could it be that Father-in-law is being pushed into a corner at court?’ Zhang Danian wondered. He knew very little about court politics; most of what he heard was just common gossip.

And worse, he couldn’t discuss it with anyone—not even the wife he so deeply respected.

His father-in-law himself had given him that explicit order.

”Either you disappear from this world without a trace, or you work for me, and I will give you my daughter’s hand in marriage!”

Those were the first words the all-powerful Prime Minister Wei had spoken to Zhang Danian when they met all those years ago.

Zhang Danian had agreed to work for Prime Minister Wei with almost no hesitation. He didn’t want to die. He wanted to marry the young lady from the Wei Family. He loved her dearly!

That reason alone had been enough.

In the years that followed, although he held no noble title or famous reputation, he had become the de facto authority in a radius of hundreds of miles.

He lived a life of affluence, his family had risen because of him, and in the eyes of his neighbors, he was still just a charitable, wealthy young man!

”What am I going to do?” Zhang Danian muttered to himself.

Just then, a knock came at the study door. A gentle female voice called out, ”Husband, are you in there?”

Zhang Danian snapped out of his daze. ”Is that you, my dear? Come in.”

The door opened to reveal a beautiful young woman. She was holding an umbrella, from which rain dripped onto the floor. DRIP. DRIP.

The young woman set the umbrella aside and walked over to Zhang Danian, her expression gentle. ”Husband,” she said softly, ”you’ve been so on edge lately. Is there something troubling you?”

Zhang Danian walked around his desk and took his wife’s soft, pale hand. Even after several years of marriage, he had never grown tired of her.

The young woman’s face flushed slightly. ”We’re in the study,” she whispered.

”Heh.” Zhang Danian went to close the door, then pulled his wife into a tight embrace. Inhaling the scent of her hair, he murmured, ”My love, if I were to do something that would enrage both gods and men, something that would make the entire world despise me... would you... stop loving me?”

”Why are you suddenly saying such things? What could you possibly do to enrage gods and men? Why would the world despise you?” The young woman hugged his waist and said gently, ”All I know is that my husband is a good, charitable man!”

”A good man?” Zhang Danian smiled bitterly. ’Your father...’ he thought, ’he’s the one who won’t give me the chance to be a good man!’

”There now, my love. It’s nothing, don’t worry. I will always be by your side,” Zhang Danian sighed, speaking slowly.

The young woman’s cheeks flushed crimson. With a playful little huff, she fled the room.

Zhang Danian watched her graceful figure disappear, a silent smile on his lips. He sat back down in his chair and opened a desk drawer. Inside was a large package. He stared at it blankly for a long time before finally sighing and muttering, ”Tens of thousands of lives... Do I really have to do this?”