I am invincible, that's why I lie down. You're using your entire clan to rebel?

When those two words fell into the air, they were like a chess piece gently placed on a table, making no sound, yet already in its rightful place.

After saying those two words, Hu Yanlie didn't look up. He sat there like a tree slowly readjusting its posture.

Then he stood up, walked to the old wooden box about half a person's height behind the tent, bent down, opened the lid, and took out a roll of something wrapped in dark yellow leather, the edges of which were frayed.

He walked back to the low couch, placed the rolled-up leather on the low table in front of Qin Mu, and unrolled it.

Inside was a thick stack of paper, of varying sizes, some with curled edges, some folded repeatedly, and some with dried mud marks on the edges.

Once unfolded, the top part is a hand-drawn map. The charcoal lines have been worn away and are somewhat blurred, but you can still make out the rivers, mountains, and marks indicating the locations of different tribes.

Huyan Lie stood beside the low table, his fingers slowly moving along the lines, as if retracing a path he had walked many times before: "This is a map of the tribal distribution throughout the Northern Mang territory. The location of each tribe, the name of its chief, and the estimated strength of its troops are all on this map. This stack contains records of the royal court's movements over the past two years, summaries of correspondence between key figures, alliances and rifts between tribes, and even records of some generals privately selling weapons to the Northern Border. All of this is here."

He stopped, his gaze falling on the pile of papers: "These are things I've accumulated over the past two years. I haven't handed them all over; even my most trusted lieutenant didn't know these papers existed."

Qin Mu looked down at the rolled-up leather, his gaze slowly sweeping over the charcoal lines, as if he were putting those lines into a map in his mind in his own way, checking each point.

His gaze lingered on the map for a moment, then he reached for the first sheet of paper, turned to the second page, and slowly moved his eyes along the records.

He didn't read very fast, as if he was confirming the reliability of each annotation in his own way, verifying whether the lines and numbers matched the things he had seen along the way.

After a moment, he put down the paper, looked up at Huyan Lie, and asked, "Approximately how many soldiers are currently capable of fighting throughout the entire Northern Mang territory?"

Huyan Lie did not hesitate: "They are scattered across various tribes, numbering about 150,000. But in case of an emergency, they can be assembled within three days, numbering around 100,000. These are scattered along the borders and grasslands, not including the royal court's garrison and the Khan's personal guard. The Khan's personal guard numbers about 20,000, directly under the royal court and personally commanded by the Khan, and are not under the control of any tribe."

Hu Yanlie paused for a moment, as if rechecking the numbers: "His own directly commanded troops number about 30,000, plus the several tribes that have clearly expressed their support for him, totaling about 50,000. The Third Prince's officially commanded troops number only about 10,000, but his relationship with the Xuan Yin Sect is very deep. The people Su Shuang can mobilize, plus those tribes that secretly support the Third Prince, will not be much less than the Second Prince's total strength."

He paused for a moment, "And I—my direct troops plus this camp, about ten thousand. Adding those tribes that haven't yet made a clear statement, we can barely muster twenty thousand."

Qin Mu did not respond immediately after listening.

He made no comments or comparisons; he simply kept those numbers in his mind, as if waiting for them to fall to the ground on their own.

He picked up the second sheet of paper, then the third sheet.

The paper recorded the intermarriage relationships between several tribes, as well as the unspoken rift that occurred after a certain alliance broke down.

He saw a record about Northern merchants transporting ironware south via Fenglingdu, and another record about a tribal chief having private dealings with a Northern general. The threads were scattered on different pages, like chess pieces randomly placed on a chessboard.

After reading it, Qin Mu gently folded the paper and put it back into the rolled-up leather: "Very good. With these, things will be much easier."

He rerolled the leather. "These things will save me at least a month. You made the right choice."

Huyan Lie stood there without saying a word.

Qin Mu looked at Hu Yanlie: "You don't need to do anything right now. Just stabilize this camp and make sure no one outside notices anything unusual. When it's time for you to make your move, someone will naturally come looking for you."

He stood up, tucked the rolled-up leather under his arm, and walked toward the tent entrance.

The black wolf continued to follow quietly at his feet.

The moment the tent flap fell, Huyan Lie sat on the low couch, listening to the footsteps gradually fading away on the sandy ground.

He looked down at his hands, then at the hand still resting on the edge of the low table, his knuckles slightly white, as if he were slowly loosening something he had been holding for a long time.

He couldn't quite put his finger on what it was, but he felt that after the gust of wind passed, the candlelight inside the tent was more stable than before.

As Qin Mu stepped out of the tent, the night wind blew right through the campsite.

He stood still in the open space outside the tent, the hem of his gray robe fluttering in the wind before falling back down. The black wolf lay down at his feet, like a black stone slowly merging into the night. He turned his head, his gaze falling on the gray-white tent at the edge of the camp, slightly taller than the others.

Su Shuang was standing in front of the tent, seemingly having been there for a while. She didn't approach the main tent, nor did she go far; she stood in a spot where she could see the entrance but wouldn't appear to be waiting. She wasn't holding a sword, and her eyes, visible beneath the thin veil, were fixed on the direction of the main tent. Seeing Qin Mu emerge, she didn't move.

Qin Mu walked towards her, his pace unhurried, as if completing a pre-arranged task. He stopped about three steps away from her: "So, what's your decision?"

Su Shuang looked at him for a moment: "You came out faster than I expected."

Qin Mu didn't reply; he just stood there, like someone waiting for a question whose answer he already knew to be answered.

Su Shuang paused for a moment, as if confirming something she had pondered many times last night: "What do I need to do to see that road?"

"Follow me for a while first. Once this trip to Northern Mang is over, you'll naturally know which way to go. I'm not going to tell you everything about swordsmanship, but just give you the right things at the right time. As for where you end up on that path, that's up to you," Qin Mu said.

Su Shuang stood there, as if weighing the weight of those words in her own way. After a moment, she spoke: "I have one more condition."

Qin Mu looked at her: "What are the conditions?"

"The Xuan Yin Sect will not be disbanded. No matter what becomes of Northern Mang in the future, as long as the disciples of the Xuan Yin Sect do not provoke Great Qin, you cannot disband the Xuan Yin Sect for any reason."

Qin Mu did not hesitate: "Sure. The Xuan Yin Sect will still exist, and its territory will still be yours. But I will need your intelligence network. And from now on, any intelligence from the Xuan Yin Sect will have to go through my people first."

Su Shuang was silent for a moment, then said, "Deal."

When she said those two words, her voice was softer than before, like a pebble whose weight had been confirmed, finally falling from her fingertips to the ground. Then she turned her head slightly, her gaze falling on the main tent in the center of the camp, still lit by candlelight: "What do you plan to have the First Prince do?"

Qin Mu followed her gaze and glanced at her: "First, stabilize the camp and do nothing. Once your men relay the message back to the royal court, the royal court will naturally become uneasy. At that time, it will be much better for them to make a move than to take the initiative now. Go back and rest first; my men will come to find you early tomorrow morning."

Su Shuang didn't nod or ask any further questions. She simply turned slightly and walked towards the gray-white tent. She paused at the tent entrance without turning back. "Sixteen years. For the first time, I feel that the crack might actually be mended." With that, she lifted the curtain, bent down, and went inside.

When Su Shuang lifted the curtain, Hu Yanlie was sitting on a low couch.

In front of him was a bowl of tea that had stopped steaming, with a ring of wine stains still around the rim. He heard footsteps, but without looking up, he slowly pushed the bowl to the edge of the low table, as if making room.

Su Shuang sat down opposite him, her posture somewhat different from when she was with Qin Mu—she was more relaxed, like a stone finally put back in its place. She didn't rush to speak, but simply looked at the bowl of tea, as if waiting for him to speak first.

Hu Yanlie was silent for a moment, then spoke in a low voice: "He's gone."

Su Shuang nodded.

Huyan Lie's gaze fell on his own hands: "He just asked me a lot of questions: the distribution of tribes, military strength, and the rifts between tribes. I told him everything, pouring it all out like emptying a bag of old stuff that had been there for a long time."

Su Shuang didn't reply, but just listened quietly.

Hu Yanlie continued, "I spent two years collecting these things. For each piece of intelligence, someone paid the price. But I handed them all over without even a moment's hesitation."

He paused, as if rereading the sentence: "Because I know that even if I don't pay, he can get it from somewhere else. He asked only because he wanted me to tell him myself, to fill in that last bit of room for maneuver."

Su Shuang picked up the bowl of tea in front of her and took a sip. It was already cold, but she didn't care: "You did the right thing."

Hu Yanlie looked up at her: "You too, right? He contacted you."

Su Shuang put down her teacup: "He asked me if I wanted to go with him. I said I needed to think about it, but we've already reached a preliminary agreement. The Xuan Yin Sect won't disband, he wants a share of the intelligence network, and he'll show me that path—the path I've stood on for sixteen years, yet never stepped onto."

Hu Yanlie was silent for a moment: "Do you believe him?"

Su Shuang didn't answer immediately. She looked down at her blurry reflection in the teacup: "I don't need to believe him. I just need to know that he can indeed do what he says."

Huyanlie did not ask any further questions.

He sat there, looking down at his empty hands, as if looking at an old object slowly losing its weight. After a moment, he spoke, his voice even softer than before: "Sixteen years ago, when my father could still ride a horse, he told me something. He said that the land of Northern Mang was never protected by city walls. He said that what truly protects this land is the wind. The wind can blow over all obstacles, take away everything that should be taken away, and those who remain will naturally find their place."

He paused for a moment: "I didn't understand at the time. Now I think I understand a little better."

Su Shuang didn't reply. She just sat there, quietly listening to the night outside the tent slowly deepening. She didn't ask "Do you regret it?" or "What do you plan to do next?" She just sat there, like an old object finally put back in its place.

The tent flap was lifted again.

Yin Sutang stood at the door, as if she had been standing outside for a while, until the conversation inside the tent subsided before she reached out to lift the curtain.

Her gaze shifted between the two figures sitting on the low couch, then she lowered her head, not crossing the threshold, but simply standing at the edge of the curtain.

Su Shuang's gaze fell on her first.

Her gaze lingered on Yin Sutang's face for a moment, as if she were trying to confirm when she last saw that face and to confirm the span of those days.

Then she spoke, her voice low and devoid of emotion: "So it was you who brought him here."

Yin Sutang's fingers curled slightly at the edge of the curtain, but she didn't let go.

She lowered her head, as if she were tidying up a string.

Her voice was soft, but clearer than before: "His Majesty is very strong, and Northern Mang is no match for him. Rather than waiting for him to crush the royal court, we should choose a path that we can still walk on."

Su Shuang sat on the low couch, her gaze fixed on Yin Sutang's downcast profile.

She didn't interrupt, but waited for Yin Sutang to finish her sentence before speaking: "After you left the Xuan Yin Sect, I wondered if you would come back. I guessed you would return in a different guise, but I never expected you to bring the Emperor of Great Qin with you."

There was no anger or blame in her tone; it was as if she were stating something she had already confirmed, devoid of emotion, only confirmation.

Yin Sutang's fingers slid down from the edge of the curtain and hung at her side: "Sect Master, I didn't leave to betray you. I didn't leave to betray the sect either. I left because I saw that the path I was on was no longer viable, so I wanted to take a different one."

Su Shuang was silent for a moment, her gaze falling on Yin Sutang's dangling fingers, before she spoke: "How long have you been in the Xuan Yin Sect?"

Fourteen years.

"In fourteen years, you've gone from an outer disciple to an elder, faster than most people. But you've gone too fast, so fast that you haven't even had time to figure out why you're doing this."

Su Shuang's voice wasn't loud, but it was as clear as a thread, "When you left, I thought you were just tired. But now you're back, with the Emperor of Qin—tell me, are you doing this for the sect, or for yourself?"

Yin Sutang remained silent for a moment.

She stood there, as if reaffirming something she had repeatedly asked herself.

Then she raised her head, her gaze meeting Su Shuang's: "Both. His Majesty is very strong, so strong that I don't need to see him make a move to know that Northern Mang cannot stop him. Rather than waiting to be trampled, it's better to take a step forward while there's still another path to take."

Su Shuang stared at her for a long time before speaking, "Is this all you learned in your fourteen years at the Xuan Yin Sect?"

Yin Sutang didn't look away: "What I learned is to see clearly which wall will fall and which road can still be traveled."

The tent was quiet for a while.

Su Shuang sat on the low couch, her gaze fixed on the teacup that had gone cold, as if she were reaffirming something she no longer needed to confirm in her own way.

Then she spoke, her voice low: "You brought the Emperor of Qin to see me, which means you have already chosen the right path for the sect."

Yin Sutang did not deny it: "The path I chose, the sect leader may not choose. But I know the sect leader will choose it."

Su Shuang's gaze shifted slightly: "Why?"

Yin Sutang looked at her: "Because the sect leader and I have both been standing on that crack for a long time."