Mission assignment

Early the next morning, on the second floor of the Archive Hall, old case files covered half the desk, the smell of paper dust mingling with stale ink.

Yi Yang sat by the window reading the files. There was nothing else to do.

He had just turned to the next page when Sun Hao's flustered shout suddenly rose from downstairs.

"Sir, someone's here to see you!"

After shouting, Sun Hao thundered up the stairs and poked half his head into view, his round face tense and his forehead sweating.

"Sir, it's Tang Hao-Patrol Captain Tang."

Yi Yang closed the file.

Tang Hao.

The rotten snake Zhao Gang had mentioned had finally slithered to his door.

He rose and went downstairs to see what was happening. Three men had already entered the Archive Hall through the first-floor doorway.

The man in front was in his early thirties, powerfully built, with broad shoulders and a thick back that stretched his coarse black clothes taut.

His face was coarse too, with prominent brow bones and a broad nose. Half a smile rested at his lips without reaching his eyes.

Those eyes swept around the Archive Hall like a butcher choosing meat-critical, dismissive, with a hint of a master inspecting his storeroom.

Two Patrol Captains stood behind Tang Hao.

One was in his forties, with a bitter-looking face and slumped shoulders. He clutched a Command Token, looking as though he had spent half his life in debt. His name was Zhang Li.

The other was twenty-seven or twenty-eight, with a round face and a short beard. His clothes were neat and his saber polished, but his stance was stiff, and his fingers kept brushing toward the hilt. His name was Zhu Yuanshan.

Huang Yushu had been copying case files beside the shelves. At the sight of the three men entering, his back straightened at once.

Sun Hao was worse. He even swallowed his yawn, looking just like a schoolboy caught red-handed by his teacher.

Tang Hao saw Yi Yang and spread his smile a little wider. "Old Man Yi, taking it easy?"

Yi Yang walked to the desk and gathered his sleeves. "If the Archive Hall weren't quiet, would we be grabbing sabers and fighting cultists every day?"

Tang Hao chuckled twice under his breath. "Funny you should say that. As it happens, there really is an assignment for you today."

He took a dispatch order from inside his clothes and slapped it onto the desk.

The paper trembled, and Sun Hao's eyelid twitched with it.

Yi Yang picked up the order.

It stated that the Heaven Patrol Office had received reports of suspected Nine Evil Sect remnants hiding in Stone Bridge Abandoned Village outside Cloud Pattern Town. Patrol Captains Yi Yang, Zhang Li, and Zhu Yuanshan were ordered to accompany disciples from the Thundercloud Martial Arts Hall to eliminate them.

After reading it, Yi Yang set the paper back on the desk.

Tang Hao stepped closer, speaking as casually as if ordering a hired farmhand to fetch water. "No need to bring your squads. Just the three of you."

"The Thundercloud Martial Arts Hall people will do the main fighting. You'll guide them and lend a hand."

"Their disciples are young, after all, and don't know the roads. Our Heaven Patrol Office has to send a few people to lend some weight to the affair."

Yi Yang listened to the assignment with lowered eyelids. Normally, dedicated clerks and administrators delivered such orders.

For Tang Hao, a Patrol Captain ranked thirteenth, to bring the order to the Archive Hall personally was clearly abnormal.

Yi Yang raised his eyes and glanced at Tang Hao.

Tang Hao was watching him, with probing curiosity and gloating hidden in that faint smile.

Yi Yang coughed twice and stooped a little farther.

"These old legs are slow. I'd hate to hold them back."

Tang Hao raised a hand and clapped his shoulder.

It was no light blow. An ordinary old man's shoulder bones would have ached for hours.

Yi Yang merely let his body sway, putting on exactly the right show.

Tang Hao smiled. "Relax. With the Thundercloud Martial Arts Hall experts holding the line up front, you can just follow behind and pick up the scraps."

"These days, when credit's delivered right to your mouth, you might as well take a bite."

With that, he turned and left without bothering to see whether Yi Yang would obey. Apparently, he knew Yi Yang could not refuse.

Zhang Li and Zhu Yuanshan exchanged glances and followed.

Yi Yang stood in the doorway, watching the three head toward the Martial Arts Yard.

Before they had gone far, however, Zhang Li stopped.

Rubbing his hands, he glanced toward Tang Hao. Only after seeing him walk farther away did he steel himself and return to the Archive Hall entrance.

"Old Man Yi."

Yi Yang looked at him.

"Something to say?"

Zhang Li gave a bitter smile. His face looked even more bitter, like bitterroot steeped for three days.

"Old Man Yi, haven't you heard about the big news?"

Yi Yang looked at him in puzzlement. "There are plenty of files in the Archive Hall, but little gossip. What big news has there been lately?"

Zhang Li lowered his voice. "You don't know? In a few days, the higher-ups are sending an important figure to the Yunlin County branch."

"An important figure?"

"Someone at the Patrol Director level."

At those words, Sun Hao drew a sharp breath beside them, and even Huang Yushu's writing hand stopped.

Patrol Director.

That position was not one just anyone could hold. At the very least, it required an expert in the inner qi realm.

Zhang Li continued, "Apparently, he's coming to consolidate all the forces in Yunlin County and wipe out the Nine Evil Sect completely."

"The county's martial arts halls, powerful families, gangs-every martial artist who might be useful will be screened."

"Especially young talents. Anyone who catches his eye can join the Heaven Patrol Office's regular personal guard directly. That's a far better future than muddling along in a martial arts hall."

Yi Yang tapped the corner of the dispatch order.

"So the Thundercloud Martial Arts Hall people came early."

Zhang Li nodded. "Exactly."

"They want to polish their records before the big man arrives. Rack up a few achievements fighting the sect, so their names look good when the roster's submitted."

At this point, the bitterness on his face was nearly spilling over.

"But the credit belongs to them, and the hard work belongs to us."

"And if something goes wrong, we carry the blame too."

He took out his Command Token and waved it.

Thirty-one.

Then he pointed toward Zhu Yuanshan's retreating figure.

"Old Zhu's thirty-two."

Zhang Li looked at Yi Yang's waist next.

"And you're thirty-four, Sir Yi."

"The three of us are among the lowest-ranked Patrol Captains in the entire Cloud Pattern Town branch."

"Who else would they send on a thankless, backbreaking job like this?"

Sun Hao could not help cursing. "Isn't that just bullying?"

Zhang Li glanced at him.

"In the Heaven Patrol Office, even bullying follows procedure. There's a dispatch order and a red seal. What can you say?"

Yi Yang folded the dispatch order and tucked it into his clothes.

"How many people did the Thundercloud Martial Arts Hall send? How strong are they?"

Just as Zhang Li was about to answer, Zhu Yuanshan returned as well.

The round-faced man heard the question and answered promptly.

"Five."

"The leader's Liao Xu. He's at the qi-blood third level, with the sinew tempering realm perfected. The Thundercloud Martial Arts Hall's senior disciple. He's excellent with a sword. Apparently, he fought Black Blade Gang members in the county town and came away none the worse."

"There's also Song Wu, another qi-blood third level."

"Most importantly, there's Yi Zhanzhi."

At that name, Zhu Yuanshan glanced at Yi Yang, apparently recalling the rumors around town, and hastily adjusted his wording.

"He's also at the qi-blood third level. He only broke through recently, but he has considerable standing-Hall Master Mu Fenghai's Personal Disciple."

"The other two, Zhao He and Shen Qingyue, are both at the peak of the qi-blood second level."

Zhu Yuanshan patted his chest, sounding considerably more relaxed.

"Don't worry too much, Sir Yi. Apparently, the strongest Nine Evil Sect member there is just one administrator at the qi-blood third level."

"We have three at the qi-blood third level and another two at the peak of the second level. We're on solid ground."

"We won't get any credit, but at least our safety's assured."

At the name Yi Zhanzhi, Yi Yang's eyelid twitched, but he quickly controlled it.

Tang Hao's abacus beads were clacking furiously.

He was throwing Yi Yang into the Thundercloud Martial Arts Hall's game.

And Yi Zhanzhi was there too.

The Yi Family's feud with Yi Yang was already no secret in town.

If something went wrong on the battlefield, who could untangle the truth?

Cultists killed him. A blade accidentally struck a Heaven Patrol Office officer. The Patrol Captain was old and reacted too slowly.

Any one of those could go into the case files.

Tang Hao could kill with a borrowed blade and do the Yi Family a favor along the way.

Two birds with one stone. A finely calculated scheme.

Seeing that Yi Yang had no more questions, Zhang Li and Zhu Yuanshan tactfully left.

The Archive Hall fell quiet.

Yi Yang went upstairs, shut the door, and sat back at his desk.

Outside the window came the swish of fists and feet cutting through the air and the shouts of young Patrol Guards in the Martial Arts Yard.

It was lively indeed.

His fingers tapped slowly against the desktop.

Tang Hao, the Thundercloud Martial Arts Hall, Stone Bridge Abandoned Village, Nine Evil Sect fiends.

Several threads had tangled together. They looked chaotic, yet there was a sense that someone had deliberately twisted them into place.

Yi Yang murmured, "Tang Hao, oh, Tang Hao. Your abacus clacks loudly enough. I just wonder whether you have enough beads."

Evening came.

Yi Yang changed into ordinary clothes, threw an old blue-green robe over them, and hung the Heaven Patrol Office Saber at his waist.

Outside the town's western gate, Zhang Li and Zhu Yuanshan were already waiting.

Zhang Li carried an old bundle, bulging with what was probably a generous supply of dry rations and wound medicine.

Zhu Yuanshan said little. He stood beside the road with his hand on his saber hilt and his toes turned outward, ready to spring into action.

When Yi Yang arrived, Zhang Li sighed.

"Let's go. The sooner we leave, the sooner we return. This old man still wants to get home for some hot porridge."

Yi Yang glanced at him.

"You're only in your forties, and you're calling yourself an old man?"

Zhang Li pulled a long face. "Spend enough time at the bottom of the Heaven Patrol Office rankings, and you age fast. Other people train to build their qi and blood. I train to build wrinkles."

After holding back for a while, Zhu Yuanshan blurted out, "Brother Zhang, your wrinkles are growing in quite an orderly pattern."

Zhang Li glared at him.

"With a mouth like yours, you belong in the Archive Hall copying files, not roaming the martial world."

Yi Yang walked at the rear, his back slightly bent and his steps slow. He truly looked no different from an old man dragged along to make up the numbers.

Dusk pressed down on the treetops, and insect calls grew denser on either side of the mountain path.

The evening wind brushed the grass, raising a faint rustle.

Zhang Li chattered all the way, saying he had once wanted to be a hero who vanquished demons and defended the righteous path. Later, he had discovered that heroes died quickly, while collecting a monthly salary was the true righteous path in this world.

"When I was young and foolish, I always thought that with a blade in hand, the world was mine."

"Then I took three blade wounds, lay in bed for two months, and attained enlightenment."

"What is the martial way?"

"Staying alive to collect next month's salary. That's the martial way."

Zhu Yuanshan kept nodding as he listened.

"Makes sense."

Listening from behind them, Yi Yang almost laughed aloud.

Zhang Li might be bitter, but his bitterness was very down-to-earth.

Half an hour later, the three reached a clearing deep in the mountain woods.

Five horses were tethered beside the trees, their hooves pawing restlessly at the dirt.

The five Thundercloud Martial Arts Hall disciples had already been waiting for some time.

The young man at their head was twenty-four or twenty-five, tall and slender, with a stern face and a narrow-bladed longsword hanging at his waist.

He stood with his shoulders and back straight and his aura steadily contained. The other disciples unconsciously arranged themselves around him.

Liao Xu.

The Thundercloud Martial Arts Hall's senior disciple.

Beside him stood Song Wu, thickset and burly-armed, with a broad saber on his back and a savage, unapproachable air about his features.

Farther to the side stood Yi Zhanzhi.

His new martial uniform was crisp, a long saber hung at his waist, and his chin was slightly raised.

The young man's qi and blood brimmed with vigor. The sharpness in his expression could not be contained. Like a freshly honed blade, he seemed eager to flash his edge at everyone he met.

When he saw Yi Yang, his pupils contracted slightly, and a trace of disgust appeared at the corner of his mouth.

But he immediately looked away, moving quickly, as though he did not want anyone to know they were acquainted.

As though he had spotted a stone by the roadside and felt even one more glance would be beneath him.

Yi Yang ignored him too.

The other two were a man and a woman.

The man, Zhao He, was on the thin side, his eyes carrying the arrogance of a martial arts school disciple.

The woman, Shen Qingyue, wore her hair in a high ponytail and held a short sword. As her gaze swept over the three Patrol Captains, her brows furrowed slightly.

Liao Xu spoke, his voice brisk.

"You're the three Patrol Captains sent by the Heaven Patrol Office?"

Zhang Li cupped his fist.

"Zhang Li, number thirty-one."

Zhu Yuanshan cupped his fist as well.

"Zhu Yuanshan, number thirty-two."

Yi Yang was the last to cup his hands.

"Yi Yang, number thirty-four."

Yi Zhanzhi finally turned toward him. His voice was quiet, but sharp enough to sting.

"Number thirty-four?"

"The Heaven Patrol Office really lets just anyone become a Patrol Captain these days."

The evening breeze swept over the dry grass in the clearing.

The bitterness on Zhang Li's face deepened, and Zhu Yuanshan's fingers settled against his saber's hilt.

Liao Xu glanced at Yi Zhanzhi. He offered no reprimand, merely saying, "Zhan Zhi, that's enough."

Yi Zhanzhi withdrew his gaze, his tone airy.

"I'm just worried someone will drag us down."

Yi Yang patted the dust off his sleeve and said unhurriedly, "Don't worry."

"These old legs are slow. If danger really comes, I won't be able to outrun you."