The Visitors

Three days later...

A vast convoy entered Xuzhou City.

Armored soldiers and imposing cavalry cleared the way at the front, while burly household retainers and skilled martial artists guarded the rear.

At its center was a grand carriage drawn by four horses abreast, luxurious and extraordinary, all the more majestic for it.

Since ancient times, carriages and horses had been governed by rank: the Son of Heaven rode with six horses, feudal lords five, dukes and ministers four, senior officials three, scholars two, and commoners one.

A four-horse carriage was the privilege of dukes and ministers. This showed just how exalted the person inside was.

Inside the carriage, two men sat facing one another.

One was dressed as a scholar, refined and cultured, carrying an air of elegant learning.

The other was dressed as a warrior, clad in a Hu Suit and skilled in riding and archery. Every glance he cast carried grave authority.

The scholar lifted the curtain and looked outside. The streets were broad and level, carriages and horses flowed like dragons, people streamed like water, and cries of peddlers never ceased. Every shop was crowded with customers, and vitality and prosperity filled every corner.

The scholar narrowed his eyes, lowered the curtain, and turned to the warrior opposite him. "Shiji, have you noticed anything?"

The warrior remained calm and composed. "Teeming with life, with all things striving forth—a splendid scene of flourishing peace and prosperity!"

"Yes!"

The scholar nodded and sighed. "This place is no less prosperous than the Eastern Capital, perhaps even surpassing Jiangnan!"

With that, he looked outside again. "On the way here, what we saw beyond the city walls was land tilled by those who owned it, villages inhabited by those who lived there. No refugees on the roads, no starved corpses by the wayside. The people showed no signs of hunger. They lived and worked in peace, enjoying an age of tranquility."

"Such a thing..."

The scholar turned back and asked in a deep voice, "Doesn't it strike you as strange?"

"It certainly does."

The warrior frowned as well. "These past years, massive construction projects have drained the people's strength and wealth. Within the realm, the Grand Canal was dug and the Eastern Capital built. Beyond it, armies were repeatedly sent forth: Tuyuhun was destroyed, Goguryeo invaded. Taxes were raised time and again, while levies and corvée labor grew crushingly heavy. The people's livelihoods withered, rebellions sprang up everywhere, and beacon fires stretched to the heavens..."

The scholar smiled and took up his words. "And yet, beneath all this, there is still a place where people live and work in peace, where they are warmly clothed and well fed. Is that not strange indeed?"

The warrior frowned and asked in a deep voice, "What is the reason?"

The scholar shook his head. "I do not know for now, but I expect it cannot be separated from that man."

"That man?"

The warrior frowned and tentatively asked, "You mean that Divine Doctor Xu?"

"Precisely. Him."

The scholar nodded and muttered, "He was born a beggar, unable to fill his belly, battered by hunger and cold. Yet no one knows where he learned such unparalleled Medical Arts. Sixteen years ago, he cured the stubborn illness of Prefect Wang Bosheng's young son. With that, he gained a foothold in Xuzhou and opened the Bao'an Hall medical clinic."

"Over these sixteen years, he has traveled with a healer's gourd, saving the world. The great clans and renowned families of Xuzhou have all received his treatment. His Miraculous Hands Restoring Spring, his Medicine Cures Illness, made his reputation soar and amassed him great wealth."

"He has also accepted disciples far and wide. More than a hundred disciples and nearly a thousand students have all inherited the true teachings of his Medical Arts. Not only has Bao'an Hall within Xuzhou City expanded several times, but numerous branch halls have opened as well, blooming all across Xuzhou."

"Five years ago, he changed his ways yet again, holding free clinics on a grand scale, treating the common people and giving them medicine without taking a single coin. He won the people's hearts completely. Whenever the people of Xuzhou heard his name, none failed to praise Bao'an Hall for its miraculous hands and benevolent heart, and Xu Qingyang for rushing to the public good and loving righteousness!"

"Even more so, some have set up longevity tablets for him in their homes, offering incense day and night without cease. They call him a Bodhisattva descended to earth, a Buddha reborn, filled with Great Compassion and delivering all people from suffering..."

The warrior's brows drew tightly together as he listened, uncertainty and alarm rising faintly within him. "What is he trying to do?"

"Yes. What is he trying to do?"

The scholar sighed and muttered, "Treating people and giving out medicine, holding free clinics on a grand scale, restoring spring with miraculous hands, winning over hearts so broadly—Shiji, what does this make you think of?"

"The Late Han Dynasty!"

"Zhang Jiao!"

"The Yellow Turbans!"

"Rebels!"

The warrior's gaze sharpened, and he shouted, "That man clearly intends to rebel!"

Yet the scholar's expression turned stern. "Without proof, do not speak recklessly!"

"What proof do we need?"

The warrior asked in a deep voice, unable to understand. "Isn't what he is doing proof enough?"

"Yes and no."

The scholar shook his head and said in a deep voice, "In any case, before the situation becomes clear, we cannot rashly draw conclusions, much less act recklessly."

"Why?"

"Because I fear he truly will rebel!"

"..."

"..."

Silence fell. Neither spoke, and the atmosphere inside the carriage suddenly became oppressive.

Only after a long time did the warrior raise his head and say in a deep voice, "Xuzhou lies in the heartland of the Central Plains, a place every military power must contend for. If our Yuwen Clan is to accomplish great things, we must hold this place in our hands. How can we allow this man to entrench himself here?"

"Of course we cannot. Otherwise, why would Brother have requested an imperial decree to send you and me here to take office in Xuzhou?"

The scholar shook his head and said softly, "But the situation remains unclear, so we cannot act rashly. We must proceed step by step. This Xu Qingyang's origins are unknown, and his depths cannot be measured. His power has already taken shape. If we confront him head-on, even if our Yuwen Clan can win, we will pay a grievous price. Such a course would be exceedingly unwise!"

"Then what do you mean...?"

"Fan the flames and drive the wolf to devour the tiger!"

The scholar smiled, his voice chilling. "Though this man is extraordinary, he is ultimately of lowly birth. This realm belongs to the great clans. The Four Great Clans, the Five Surnames Seven Clans, and the Eight Great Clans—which of them has not endured for centuries, nearly a thousand years? With foundations so deep and strength so great, how could this man's accumulation of barely more than ten years compare?"

"His actions must have long since displeased Xuzhou's great clans. They have merely endured him because his wings have grown full, and because the former Prefect, Wang Bosheng, mediated between them. That was how they barely managed to coexist. Now that Wang Bosheng has grown old and left office, and you and I have been transferred here as the rulers of Xuzhou, all we need do is fan the flames. We will surely stir both sides into Dispute and Combat."

"When that time comes, we can borrow the strength of the great clans to uncover Xu Qingyang's true foundations, then make our plans and strike—achieving success in a single blow!"

"Splendid!"

Hearing this scheme, the warrior praised him with a light laugh. "Zhiji, you truly deserve to be the Chief Strategist of our Yuwen Clan!"

"Ha!"

The scholar laughed and accepted the praise. The atmosphere inside the carriage relaxed as well.

Just then...

"Hyah!"

The sound of galloping horses suddenly rang out, followed by movement outside the carriage. A servant lifted the curtain and presented a letter.

"Hmm?"

Yuwen Zhiji took the letter and read it, immediately frowning. "It is a letter from Brother!"

"Oh?"

Yuwen Shiji leaned over to look. "What is it?"

"..."

Yuwen Zhiji opened the letter and read through it. After a moment, he frowned. "Brother pursued the three men who fled with the Longevity Art all the way, but he was repeatedly intercepted by a Mysterious Force. Those three have actually escaped into Xuzhou, so he wants us to cooperate in intercepting them. We must obtain the Longevity Art."

"This..."

Yuwen Shiji was taken aback as well. "Chengdu and Invincible are both at Huaji's side. What abilities could those three possibly possess, to escape pursuit by the three great experts of our Yuwen Clan?"

"Their martial arts are merely ordinary. The key lies with that Mysterious Force. And besides..."

Yuwen Zhiji's expression darkened. "Those three came to Xuzhou because Brother wounded them with his Ice Profound Force. They have suffered grave injuries and are at death's door. They need medical treatment and medicine, so they should now be at that... Bao'an Hall!"

"..."

Yuwen Shiji fell silent.

"The Longevity Art must not be lost. Change our strategy!"

Yuwen Zhiji set down the letter. "Immediately send messengers in the name of the Yuwen Clan to invite the heads of Xuzhou's great clans to gather. Then take the military tally and imperial decree to the barracks and mobilize troops, in case unrest breaks out among Xuzhou's people. Brother is already on the road. Once he arrives in Xuzhou, we will act at once and destroy Bao'an Hall!"

"Yes!"