Unraveling the Threads

Chen An and Li Yin were still lying prone on the ground. After the commotion in Li Yan's room, all had gone silent. After a while, they felt a chill run over their bodies, though it returned to normal moments later. Even so, they still did not dare rise.

Strategist Ji infiltrated Green Mountain Pass again and headed straight for the military camp. His purpose was to find the soldier who had spoken with Chen An at the camp gate yesterday afternoon, as well as the soldier stationed at the north gate who had told Li Yin, "Lord Li left the city more than two hours ago." It was easy enough to learn where these two soldiers were in the camp. Chen An and Li Yin were old hands in the army and knew both men. Under his close questioning just now, they had poured out everything they knew about the two soldiers like beans tumbling from a bamboo tube.

Before long, Strategist Ji arrived outside the camp. It was already the dead of night. The camp gates were tightly shut, and orderly patrol squads occasionally passed within. Yet in Strategist Ji's eyes, they were as good as nothing. He could come and go freely through a garrison camp housing hundreds of thousands of troops, let alone a camp of several tens of thousands inside this city. Not long after, a figure shot out of the camp like lightning. Had anyone seen clearly, they would have noticed that he carried one person in each hand as though they weighed nothing. In a blur, he drifted out of the camp.

Feng Chuang slowly woke, feeling cold all over. He opened his eyes and froze, as though he had sleepwalked. He was lying in what appeared to be a dense mountain forest. Moonlight filtered down through the treetops above him. He hurriedly turned his head. Everything around him was pitch-black, impossible to see clearly. He distinctly remembered conducting the usual full-unit training after dinner, then putting out the lights and going to sleep early. He had clearly fallen asleep in his tent, so how had he ended up in a forest outside the city?

He sat up and shook his head to clear it. This must be a dream. When he opened his eyes again, the scene before him remained unchanged. Even a battlefield warrior as brave as he could not help but feel afraid. He hurriedly pinched his thigh. It hurt. This was not a dream.

"You needn't keep checking. This isn't a dream. What you need to do now is answer my questions honestly. That is enough."

A sinister voice rang out from the darkness.

Feng Chuang felt a chill creep down the back of his neck. Turning around, he saw a tall, black-robed figure standing in the darkness some distance away.

"Who are you?" Feng Chuang asked, his voice trembling.

"You are not the one asking questions. I am. Do you understand? Remember this: if you lie when I question you, the consequences will be rather unpleasant." The voice was icy, devoid of even a trace of emotion.

"Yesterday afternoon, while you were on guard duty, did Li Yan, Strategist Ji's disciple, leave the military camp?"

Feng Chuang was stunned. He had not expected that this man had abducted him here to ask such a question. He hesitated, but did not dare refuse to answer. "Oh, yes. He came out not long after entering the camp."

Crack!

A shrill scream pierced the night in the mountain forest, startling roosting birds into flapping flight. At some point, the black-robed man had already closed in before Feng Chuang. With one reach of his hand, he snapped one of Feng Chuang's fingers.

Then, amid this continu—

—ing low interrogation, shrill screams rang out from time to time, accompanied now and then by desperate pleas for mercy.

Half a quarter-hour later, Strategist Ji struck Feng Chuang's forehead with his palm. Feng Chuang, whose face was already unrecognizable and whose body had scarcely any intact patches left, went limp and collapsed. Blood flowed from his seven orifices, yet his face bore a smile of release, as though death was the happiest thing that could happen to him.

Over that half quarter-hour, Strategist Ji employed countless inhuman methods, yet his question remained the same over and over: "Did Li Yan, Strategist Ji's disciple, leave the military camp?"

After half a quarter-hour, he had confirmed one thing: Li Yan had not left through the military camp.

Next, he bent down and awakened the other soldier. Before long, shrill screams once again rose through the mountains. By then, even the startled birds in the surrounding forest had long vanished without a trace. Only the night and cries like those of vengeful ghosts echoed without end.

Another half quarter-hour later, Strategist Ji struck that soldier's forehead with another palm. The screams stopped abruptly.

Ancient trees towered all around. Strategist Ji stood there and muttered, "Li Yan truly did leave the city, and he went out through the north gate. Yet the other camp guard said he never left through the camp gate. Heh heh, Hong Linying, what fine methods you have. There are only two exits from the military camp. Since Li Yan did not leave through the camp gate, yet appeared at the north gate, did you actually use the tiger tally to send him out through the military supplies grounds?"

Once someone left this city through the south or north gate, the only way to return was through those same two gates—out through one, back through the same one—unless he secretly entered the city through the north gate again. But that possibility was nearly zero. There was now no doubt that Li Yan had left the city yesterday.

He had left alone, without a horse, and in great haste. That showed he had also avoided Hong Linying. With the caution that had let that boy secretly practice handwriting behind my back, and with the ability to make Hong Linying use the tiger tally, his mind must be extraordinarily sharp. He was certainly not the sort to place his life in another's hands. I just do not know what method he used to shake off Hong Linying as well. Hmph, it seems Hong Linying was played for a fool by him too.

From this, it could be judged that he would not sneak back again. Doing so would only increase his chances of being caught. Tricks like "darkness beneath the lamp" depended on timing as well. With a mind like his, how could he fail to know when to advance and when to retreat?

With that, there was basically no need to search the city. I had originally planned to seize Liu Chengyong and Li Yan's fellow villagers for questioning, but it seems that will not be necessary. Li Yan is now hiding somewhere outside the city.

Had Li Yan and Hong Linying been present, they would have been shocked beyond measure. The matter they had planned for months had been deduced by the calm Strategist Ji to an eight- or nine-tenths certainty in merely half a night.

Strategist Ji's point of entry had been particularly well chosen. Although his conclusions included suspects such as Liu Chengyong, Li Shan, and Li Yu, he went straight for the key witnesses who had seen Li Yan.

After obtaining the answers he wanted, he followed the trail of reasoning onward. Bit by bit, the truth surfaced, and his other conclusions fell into place as easily as a knife cutting through bamboo. This saved him the time of finding and interrogating people one by one. Yet it also unknowingly saved the lives of Liu Chengyong, Li Shan, and Li Yu. Had Strategist Ji not calmed down, he might have gone after anyone he suspected. The fate of anyone he found was all but certain—he would not leave survivors.

"Then next comes that boy's destination. Li Family Village on Great Green Mountain? Heh heh." In the darkest hour before dawn, Strategist Ji's dark face had blended into the night itself, while his gleaming white teeth stood out with particular clarity.

His body flickered as he prepared to tear through the air and depart, but he immediately stopped again. He concentrated for a while, then muttered to himself, "No. Although Li Family Village might produce a 'darkness beneath the lamp' situation, gambling with one's life like that is far too rash. That is not something the boy would do. Among these conclusions, there are still two matters that might reveal his trail. First, why has Li Yan recently been buying large quantities of farming tools and clothing? Second, what is the purpose of Li Yan's recent large-scale planting of those flowers and grasses?"

He stood there without moving. Time passed bit by bit. Gradually, the eastern horizon began to brighten, and the mountain forest took on a hazy bluish hue.

At last, Strategist Ji stirred and shook his head. "Those farming tools and clothes truly seem to serve no purpose. Perhaps this is merely his way of soothing his state of mind. After all, Li Yan grew up in a mountain village and has a primitive reliance on—and desire to possess—farming tools and things from the city. But those flowers and grasses are rather strange. They may have something to do with his escape. As for exactly how, I will need to return and investigate." With that thought, he set off for the strategist's residence.

Meanwhile, the military camp inside the city had erupted into an uproar. Two soldiers had vanished overnight. Were they enemy spies whose identities had been exposed, causing them to slip away in secret during the night? Or had enemy agents appeared in the city and abducted them? For a time, tension filled the camp, and every unit watched the others warily. Among them, one man vaguely felt that this matter might be connected to Li Yan. That man was Liu Chengyong. Of the two missing men, one had carried out orders just as he had, while the other had also been one of the gate guards that day. Yet Liu Chengyong did not dare speak carelessly. He merely felt exceptionally nervous. He suspected Strategist Ji was behind it. Otherwise, with the camp's strict defenses, this was not something a few martial experts could accomplish, much less in complete silence. Thinking of Strategist Ji's unfathomable, ghost-and-god-like methods against enemies outside the city in the past, he became even more certain.

Hong Linying sat in the central command tent. The moment he received the news that morning, he had rushed over.

Looking at the generals in the tent, he spoke in a deep voice. "Seal the south gate—no entry and no exit. Strictly inspect the north gate. Conduct a thorough search of the military camp as well. Draw two large units from each camp and have them inspect every household in the city.

Tell the public that we suspect enemy spies may have infiltrated the city. Do not let word of the missing soldiers leak out. Understood?"

The generals in the command tent stepped forward in unison. "Understood!" Then they marched out in orderly rows. In an instant, only several advisers and Marshal Hong remained in the tent.

Marshal Hong looked at the advisers and waved his hand. "You should leave as well."

"Yes, Marshal."

After everyone had left, Marshal Hong stared blankly at the command desk for a while. "Heh heh, so you have made your move? You truly are quick. Since you already suspect it, then I shall comply with that boy's wishes."

Within the strategist's residence, in the inner valley, Strategist Ji had returned. Looking at the two men still crawling and kneeling there, a flash of killing intent passed through his eyes. He slowly walked before them and silently watched the two prostrate figures. After a moment, he swept his sleeve. "You two may leave."

Chen An and Li Yin had knelt for an entire night. Even with their constitutions, their minds had grown muddled. Hearing those words, they were startled awake somewhat and hurriedly kowtowed. Then they slowly and laboriously rose to their feet, supporting each other as they limped away.

What they did not know was that they had just taken a trip through the gates of hell. Strategist Ji had only spared them for the moment because they looked so wretched, and because his mind was occupied with other matters.

Strategist Ji paid no attention to how the two men returned. Looking at the various flowers and grasses that had been planted nearly up to the stone house, he began examining them closely. Then he followed the winding paths between them, walking and stopping, occasionally bending down to inspect something carefully.

Thus, morning gradually came, and the sun rose slowly. At that moment, Strategist Ji was crouching before a flower. It had been planted on the southern side of the valley, near the foot of the mountain. Compared to the stone house and the broad expanse of flowers and grasses, this place was extremely secluded. He had patiently searched every spot, and upon arriving here, he noticed that one flower stood slightly taller than those around it. This should have been ordinary enough—there was no fixed rule to the height of plants—but strangely, there was considerably more empty space around this flower than around the others. It was not a large empty patch, but upon close inspection, it differed somewhat from the rest.

Strategist Ji crouched before the flower and examined it first. He found that although it was taller, it seemed somewhat malnourished. That was odd. Tall flowers and grasses were generally lush and flourishing, but this one had sparse branches and leaves.

Seeing this, he reached out and dug several times at the flower's roots. The flower toppled over, as though its roots had not gone very deep. Once its main stalk had been turned over, a piece of silk was revealed beneath it. His spirits immediately rose. Spiritual power filled his hand as he grabbed for the silk, but as he lifted it, nothing unusual happened.

Once it was in his hand, he inspected it carefully. It was a small piece of black silk, folded into a neat square.