"Your Highness, we're already within Great Ming territory. Should we avoid the main roads?" a cavalryman asked after saluting a burly man of about thirty.
"Good. We'll take the minor roads, skirt Great Ming's Capital City this way, then head south."
The burly man was Xiao Feng, Southern Courtyard Prince of Liao Kingdom. His formidable strength, his rescue of the Liao Emperor, and the fact that Liao Kingdom really had little territory had earned him a princely title despite his different surname.
He had once led Great Song's Southern Beggars' Gang. In eight years, he had developed it into Great Song's foremost gang, second only to the Northern Beggars' Gang.
Unfortunately, someone had exposed his Khitan identity, forcing him to resign as leader of the Southern Beggars' Gang. He had been investigating his origins ever since.
But a mysterious hand always lurked behind him. Whenever he uncovered a clue, the people connected to it died, including his adoptive parents and his martial arts teacher, Xuanku.
And everyone believed he had killed them. He had a mouth, yet could not defend himself.
He had also once had a lover, A Zhu, but a misunderstanding had led him to kill her by mistake.
She had promised A Zhu that she would take good care of her younger sister, A'Zi. But some time ago, because A'Zi practiced martial arts using poison and harbored vicious intentions, he had been unable to resist scolding her, and A'Zi had slipped out of Great Liao.
He had learned that Ding Chunqiu had captured A'Zi and apparently headed toward Dali. After that, there had been no further news.
He had come this time to find Ding Chunqiu, rescue A'Zi, and bring her back to Great Liao.
If he could not find him, he would go straight to the