From the Qin Dynasty onwards, he eked out a living among the heavens.

Chapter Seventeen Aftermath

Han Fei watched Xu Huang's figure disappear at the end of the corridor, then sat there for a long time. The words spoken in the hall earlier still echoed in his mind: Ji Wuye, the Four Fiends of the Night, the Four Battlegrounds, Qin's eastward expansion—each one felt like a stone striking his heart. But what surprised him even more was Xu Huang's last words to Nongyu: "I'll take you to a place where you can survive without wielding a sword." He had known Xu Huang for so long, and he had never seen him say such a thing to anyone.

After seeing Wei Zhuang and Nong Yu off, Zi Nu returned to find only Han Fei remaining in the hall. He was still sitting in the same spot, holding the long-cold teacup, his gaze fixed on the hastily drawn map of the seven kingdoms on the wall. The charcoal lines appeared rough and glaring under the lamplight; the state of Han was surrounded by Qin, Zhao, Wei, and Chu, like a chess piece squeezed into a corner.

"Aren't you leaving yet?" Zi Nu stopped at the door and walked in.

"Sit a little longer," Han Fei said without looking up.

Zi Nu walked to the table, removed the cooled tea leaves, and poured a fresh pot of hot tea, placing it beside him.

"The tea has been changed. Turn off the lights when you leave."

After she finished speaking, she turned and walked out. Han Fei suddenly spoke up: "Miss Zi Nu."

Zi Nu stopped and turned to look at him.

"I've thought about everything Brother Xu mentioned today." Han Fei picked up the cup of hot tea, but didn't drink it, just held the warm cup. "I've thought about how powerful Ji Wuye is, how deep the Nightfall's foundation is, how unreliable my father is, and how strong Qin is. But thinking about these things and having them said to my face are two different things."

Zi Nu did not respond.

"He said Korea doesn't have time. Five years, ten years, and they still won't even have time to see the fruits of their labor." Han Fei lowered his head, his voice very soft. "Actually, I knew. I knew it the day I came back from Sanghai. It's just that I used to tell myself that as long as I was fast enough and smart enough, I could win the game before time ran out. Today he made me realize something: the game itself is not something I can choose."

He put down his teacup, the bottom of which made a soft tapping sound on the table.

"But he said something else. Only when illusions disappear can you see the real path."

Silence. Then he laughed, not his usual gentle and refined laugh, but a bitter laugh of something being picked up again after being dissected.

"Since the illusions are gone, let's start with what we can do."

Zi Nu watched him from the doorway. After a moment, she took out a stack of extremely thin silk pieces from her sleeve, walked back, and placed them on the table.

"This is the intelligence gathered by Zilanxuan over the past few months. It covers four lines: military, finance, palace, and espionage. You can choose whichever you like. It includes personnel changes under Ji Wuye, the recent grain and iron inflows and outflows of Feicuihu, and the rotation of Xueyihou's border troops."

Han Fei took the silk scroll, looked down and flipped through it, his gaze lingering on one page. On that page was written a name: Stone Tiger, also known as Emerald Tiger, the man who manages wealth under the cover of night.

"I'll take these back and look at them." He stood up and tucked the silk pieces into his sleeve. After taking a couple of steps, he looked back at the map on the wall, then raised his hand and gently traced the border between Han and Qin with his fingertip. The charcoal mark spread into a small patch of grayish-black mist.

He didn't wipe it off. He just glanced at it and then stepped over the threshold.

Zi Nu watched him leave, then turned and extinguished the lights in the hall. She didn't immediately return to her room, but instead walked to the window and glanced towards the backyard. Just moments before, when she came out of the side hall to refill tea, she had inadvertently caught a glimpse of that scene in the backyard: Nong Yu clutching Xu Huang's collar, her forehead pressed against his chest, moonlight bathing them both. She didn't approach, nor did she speak; she simply stood behind the pillar for a moment, holding the teapot, before silently retreating back inside.

She had known this day would come. From the moment Xu Huang handed her the Purple Lightning Sword Box and said, "Give this to Nongyu for me," she knew. Nongyu was someone she had raised herself; she was cleaner, more tender, and needed someone to protect her even more. And that person had arrived. Very well.

Zi Nu set down her teacup, the bottom of which made a very soft, crisp sound as it tapped on the table. The moonlight was bright outside the window, and she stopped thinking about it.

On the same night, in a river bend on the outskirts of the city.

When Xu Huang pushed open the wooden door of the courtyard, a thin layer of moonlight shimmered on the river. He didn't light a lamp, but walked to the stone platform in the courtyard and sat down. The stone platform was empty, with only a few unused pieces of refractory stone piled in the corner. The river murmured gently, and the night breeze blew through the woods, carrying the fresh scent of early summer grass and trees.

He sat in the courtyard for a moment, his mind stirred, and his soul connected with the Mountain and River Map. In a flash of light, he stepped into the world depicted in the map.

On the volcanic plateau, the subterranean fire still burned steadily in the bronze crater. Jidu's sword rested on a sword rack in the center of the ironwood platform, its jet-black blade reflecting the red glow of the subterranean fire. He walked to the rack, reached out and grasped the hilt, lifted it, and flipped his wrist to draw the sword horizontally. The seven-foot-three-inch jet-black blade gleamed with a deep, dark red under the firelight; its spine was thick and heavy, its edge concealed.

He held the knife, but didn't swing it; he simply watched it quietly for a while. Then, with a flick of his wrist, he placed Jidu back on the knife rack, turned, and sat down on the old wooden stool beside the ironwood platform. The hum of the subterranean fire was steady and deep, like the heartbeat of this small world.

His words at Zilan Pavilion during the day were the most he had spoken since arriving in Xinzheng. The Four Fierce Generals of the Night, King An of Han, Han Fei's personality, the four battlegrounds, Qin's eastward expansion—he peeled back the layers of Han's predicament. Han Fei understood. The Ninth Prince, after being shattered, did not succumb to despair, but instead raised his head and asked him, "If it were you, what would you do?"

Han Fei followed the path of Han Fei. His path was not in Xinzheng.

But Nongyu, the woman who held the Purple Lightning Sword Box and whispered "I'll go with you" in his arms—from this moment on, her path is his path. He will fulfill every promise he made to her. If the quicksand collapses, he will protect everyone she cares about. Zi Nu, Han Fei, Wei Zhuang—not one will be missing.

Xu Huang closed his eyes, his mind sinking into the innate true energy circulating within his body. The hum of the earth fire was deep and steady, like a silent clock, measuring the unknown time for this small world.

The next day.

Before dawn, the lights in the main hall of Zilanxuan were already on.

As Zi Nu descended from the second floor, she saw a figure standing in the center of the hall. Han Fei, dressed in a black official robe of the Minister of Justice, with neatly gathered cuffs and a bronze seal at his waist, was looking up at the map of the seven kingdoms on the wall. Sometime later, he had added a few lines to the map with charcoal, marking the names of the Four Fiends of Night at the four corners of the Korean territory: Bai Yifei in the north, Shi Shanghu in the center, Chao Nu Yao in the west, and Suo Yi Ke in the east.

"Are you going to court?" Zi Nu approached and glanced at his official robes.

"I haven't had a proper dressing since taking office." Han Fei turned around, his smile as gentle as ever, but a rare look of seriousness in his eyes. "Today I have a case to raise in court. The grain tax accounts for last year's autumn harvest in Nanyang County don't match up, and the accountant is an old subordinate of Ji Wuye. It's not a big deal, but it'll keep them busy for a while."

"Throw a pebble in first, and listen to the splash."

"I'm just afraid his reaction will be weak." Han Fei smiled, cupped his hands in a respectful bow, and turned to walk towards the hall's door. As he reached the doorway, his gaze lingered for a moment on the map on the wall. Xu Huang's hastily drawn lines were still there, with Korea in the center, surrounded by powerful neighbors on all sides. He didn't wipe them away. He simply glanced at them and then stepped over the threshold.

Zi Nu stood by the window, watching the figure in the black official robe gradually disappear at the end of South Long Street. The morning light was pouring down from the eaves at the street corner, dyeing the entire street's bluestone slabs a pale gold.

Soft footsteps echoed down the stairs. Nongyu descended, carrying a stack of sheet music and the paulownia wood sword case in her arms. She walked to the zither table, placed the sword case aside, and began to arrange the pieces for today's practice. Her movements were no different from usual, but a very faint, soft light appeared between her brows and eyes. It was a very light light, like the thin halo of morning light filtering through window paper—not dazzling, yet captivating.

"Did you sleep well last night?" Zi Nu walked over.

Nongyu looked up, her gaze meeting Zinu's for a moment. She didn't answer immediately, but gently placed her hand on the sword case, her fingertips tracing the wood grain. The movement was very light, but Zinu noticed that before, when Nongyu touched the sword case, she would only lightly touch it with her fingertips, as if confirming that something precious was still there. Now, her fingers lingered on the wood grain longer than ever before, as if she were caressing something that belonged to her. Not borrowed, not temporarily stored, but hers.

"I slept well. With the Purple Lightning sword beside my pillow, I felt at ease."

Zi Nu reached out and gently stroked the surface of the sword case. The wood grain was warm and smooth, just as it had been when she first saw it at the riverside mansion. Her gaze lingered on Nong Yu's face for a moment; the soft light was barely concealed, but it couldn't escape Zi Nu's notice. She had watched Nong Yu grow up; she knew better than anyone when the girl laughed, when she cried, and when she was hiding something. And now, what Nong Yu was hiding wasn't something, but a person.

"What did he say when he gave you this sword?" Zi Nu asked.

Nongyu's fingertips paused on the wood grain. She remembered the warmth of his palm in the moonlight in the backyard last night, the light yet steady kiss he gave her between the eyebrows, his words, "I'm here for this," and "You didn't abandon them; you went ahead for them." She wouldn't say these words to anyone, but Zi Nu was asking about the sword, and the sword was just a facade, as were the words.

"The young master said that this sword has no killing intent, no murderous aura, it is just a pure sword, just like me. He also said that the zither is a soothing sound, and the sword is a protective weapon, they do not conflict."

Zi Nu looked at her. Nong Yu spoke calmly, but her ears were slightly red, and her fingertips lightly circled the wood grain of the sword case. It wasn't the awkwardness of being questioned, but rather an unconscious recollection of something. Zi Nu saw this but said nothing, only gently pushing the sword case back to Nong Yu's side, her movements extremely light, as if she didn't want to disturb anything.

"Since there's no conflict, let's play a piece today."

Nongyu nodded, her fingertips falling onto the strings. A few clear, resonant notes spread in the morning light, short and clean, like the first greeting of a new day. Zinu stood by the window for a moment, then turned and walked towards the stairs. When she reached the top of the stairs, she paused for a moment, without looking back.

Nongyu's arias continued, one after another, unhurried and gentle, with an added layer of subtle tenderness compared to usual. It was a subtle difference that only those accustomed to Nongyu's playing could discern; it wasn't that the melody had changed, but that her state of mind had. Before, her music was like a mountain spring, clean and clear, yet also solitary. Now, where that spring flowed, there was a steadfast bank.

Zi Nu continued upstairs. She knew that from this day forward, things would be different. Nong Yu was no longer just the zither player belonging only to Zi Lan Xuan; there was someone else in her heart, and that person was someone she could entrust her heart to.