After daybreak, Zhang Xing and Li Ding made a brief inspection. Once they were sure there was nothing like a second Muscle-Tendon Change Classic, they headed down the mountain.
Strangely enough, no one had noticed them on the utterly bare summit, but the moment they descended, Bai Yousi's golden light flashed overhead. She landed and scolded the pair, then escorted them onward. After another hour or two, the three of them and their mule caught up with the main party.
By evening, the party had reached the Luo River plain. Another day later, the Eastern Capital-and especially Ziwei Palace, built along North Mang Mountain to its northwest-was already glittering within sight.
On the last day of summer, Zhang Xing and the others returned to the Eastern Capital, reunited with Black Sash Hu Yan, who had split off from them, reported the completion of their assignment, and prepared to part ways with Li Ding.
"What are you going to do now, Brother Li?"
At this point, Zhang Xing addressed him politely for once. "Where are you heading? Shall we have a drink first, to celebrate the two of us escaping that ordeal?"
"I'll have to pass." Li Ding gave a bitter smile, like a middle-aged man in a later age obliged to politely decline drinks on his family's instructions. "I need to report to the Ministry of War first, then go back to Shiniang and see whether she's been worrying herself sick waiting. Then I have to come back with money and bedding for my cousin, call on my other relatives in the Eastern Capital City, and think about collecting his body... Don't worry, Zhang Sanlang. I'll study that book, then come find you when I'm done."
How could Zhang Xing not understand that the man was now the relative of