The opponent who was subdued after just one exchange with Li Yuangui was not tall, his face covered with a cloth, revealing only a pair of bright, clear eyes. Yet the expression in those eyes and the outline of his face gave Li Yuangui a sense of familiarity. He must have known this person—they had met recently.
With a twist of his wrist, Li Yuangui shifted his blade from a horizontal slash to a diagonal chop, cleanly slicing through the cloth covering the opponent’s face. As the fabric fell away, the face of a young man with large eyes, thick lips, and a ruddy-brown complexion was revealed.
“Sang Sai!”
The nephew of Sart Kang Su-mi, the Hu youth who had claimed to have already left Chang’an, was actually lurking in Gongren Slope with these mysterious black-clad archers, ambushing the Great Peace Palace Guard led by Yin Tuo.
At this moment, Sang Sai also seemed to recognize Li Yuangui, muttering in surprise:
“Li Shimin’s… brother?”
The two youths, roughly the same age, stared at each other in shock for a moment before Sang Sai turned and fled. If Li Yuangui gave chase and swung his blade, he could at least wound him. But remembering Kang Su-mi’s kindness toward him, he hesitated. Switching his blade to his left hand, he pulled out two stones he had picked up earlier and hurled them with force.
Both stones struck Sang Sai. The Hu youth let out a muffled groan, staggered, and nearly fell. That was enough. Li Yuangui took long strides forward, intending to knock Sang Sai unconscious with the hilt of his blade and interrogate him later.
But just as he flipped one of his blades to grip it by the back, a sharp whistling sound cut through the air—an arrow shot toward him at terrifying speed. Without thinking, he swung his blade, barely deflecting the arrow at the last moment.
Someone nearby shouted something urgently in a language he didn’t understand, but the voice seemed to belong to the same person who had earlier ordered the pursuit. Sang Sai suddenly changed direction ahead, running toward the archer who had shouted. Li Yuangui followed, but in the dim light, he could only vaguely make out the figure of a tall, burly man who was already drawing his bow to shoot at Li Yuangui again.
The night was too dark for Li Yuangui to confidently deflect a second arrow, so he ducked behind nearby cover. This meant he could no longer catch up to Sang Sai, but he refused to return empty-handed. Gritting his teeth, he steadied his breath, took half a step back, and from behind a tree, flung a streak of white light toward the tall archer.
It was the long blade he had just confiscated from Sang Sai. The man seemed not to have expected Li Yuangui to have a ranged weapon and only realized it when the blade was halfway to him. He hastily retreated, rolling to the side as the blade embedded itself into a tree trunk beside him with a sharp thunk.
Sang Sai let out a cry, his voice filled with panic.
Li Yuangui turned to look and saw that the Hu youth had run quite close to the tall archer but had been seized by a burly figure who had appeared out of nowhere. The figure held a blade in one hand and gripped Sang Sai’s neck with the other, unmoved despite the youth’s frantic kicking and struggling.
Amid the chaos of the wooded slope, two startled shouts rang out simultaneously—one furious and anxious from the tall archer, the other joyful from Li Yuangui himself: “Xinzhi!”
The burly man who had suddenly appeared and captured Sang Sai was none other than Yang Xinzhi. He tightened his arm, and Sang Sai’s struggles immediately weakened. The tall archer shouted “Let him go!” and charged forward recklessly. Li Yuangui also rushed to assist, but Yang Xinzhi raised his right blade and pressed it against Sang Sai’s neck. The tall archer froze, not daring to advance further.
Judging by this reaction… Sang Sai held a rather high status among these black-clad men?Two more figures emerged from the woods, both slender and delicate in stature, standing behind Yang Xinzhi without approaching. At a glance, Li Yuangui recognized them as Chai Yingluo and Wei Shufen dressed in men's clothing. How had these three come together?
The tall archer stopped and let out a long whistle. Rustling sounds came from all directions as over a dozen black-clad, masked figures came running to gather around. The tall archer spoke to Yang Xinzhi:
"Release him! Go your separate ways, don't make enemies!"
Though he spoke Chinese, his accent was thick and his phrasing awkward—clearly not a native of the Central Plains. Yang Xinzhi remained silent, but Chai Yingluo, standing behind him, gave a light laugh and responded:
"How carefree you make it sound. You assassins have been killing and setting fires in the forbidden garden for days, and now you think you can just slip away as if nothing happened? Do you truly believe the Great Tang has no one capable of stopping you?"
Killing and setting fires.
Li Yuangui suddenly understood. He realized where these people had come from.
On the night the Temple of Common Vocation caught fire, the guards had reported seeing arsonists. Later, a group had been active near the Purple Void Monastery, only to disappear after abducting Bao Nu, the leopard keeper, when discovered by Chai Yingluo's hunting leopard. The Garrison Guards had tracked them to no avail, speculating they had fled north across the Wei River and out of the forbidden garden. Yet who would have thought they had been hiding in the Palace Servants' Slope... Well, the area was vast and desolate, making it easy to come and go—indeed, a rather good hiding place.
But how had Sang Sai gotten mixed up with these bandits? And why did they seem to value him so highly?
Firmly restrained by Yang Xinzhi, the foreign youth struggled for a long while before panting heavily and speaking. His words were in a foreign tongue, completely incomprehensible to Li Yuangui, though his tone suggested commands rather than pleas for mercy. The tall archer listened for a while before rebutting a few words, his own tone growing anxious and indignant, as if pleading.
Sang Sai impatiently cut him off, speaking sharply—almost certainly reprimanding or issuing orders. The tall archer breathed heavily, seemingly at a loss. The masked figures gathered around him exchanged uneasy glances, their postures radiating frustration and helplessness.
"Drop your weapons and kneel in surrender," Chai Yingluo demanded calmly. "A full contingent of Garrison Guards has arrived. You cannot escape."
At her words, Li Yuangui pricked up his ears and indeed heard faint commotion from the direction of the Temple of Rebirth, as if a large force was approaching. Glancing back, he also saw the brighter torchlight from the south entering his field of vision.
Chai Yingluo and Wei Shufen must have entered the forbidden garden after him and Yang Xinzhi. Li Yuangui had initially hoped his brother-in-law and niece would bring reinforcements from the Chai household, but upon reflection, he realized that entering the palace grounds with private forces without imperial decree was tantamount to rebellion—something they would never dare. He had given up on that idea. Now it seemed Chai Yingluo had gone to fetch the Garrison Guard commander responsible for the forbidden garden's security... No wonder they had taken so long.
Given that this matter involved the Supreme Emperor of Great Peace Palace—a title that could now be directly read as "Consort Yin"—and the Crown Prince Li Chengqian and his consort of the Crown Prince's Palace, the Garrison Guards dared not take a single misstep. No matter how urgent the situation, the duty-bound general had to follow protocol, reporting and requesting instructions at every step. The advantage was that this approach was aboveboard and would resolve the matter once and for all when the imperial guards arrived. The disadvantage was... if Li Yuangui himself couldn't hold out until their arrival, then nothing else would matter.
The shrill cries and sobs of a young girl pierced the air.Li Yuangui's entire body stiffened abruptly. He thought he might have misheard due to his excessive concern, but the sound grew increasingly closer. Both Chai Yingluo and Wei Shufen turned their pale faces toward it in alarm, and even Yang Xinzhi, who had been wholly focused, shifted his iron-tower-like frame slightly.
A black-clad, masked figure dragged the Seventeenth Princess forward like handling a chick, covering the little girl's mouth with a large hand. Li Yuangui's mind exploded with fury. Without another thought, he drew his blade and charged forward recklessly.
Midway, a cold glint of steel flashed, forming an impenetrable wall blocking his path. By instinct, Li Yuangui would have ignored it—even at the cost of an arm or leg—just to rush forward and rescue his sister. But his martial-trained body reacted almost autonomously: halting, twisting at the waist, raising his arm to parry the incoming strike.
After several clashing exchanges, both sides retreated a step, evenly matched and unharmed. Yet Li Yuangui could only watch helplessly as the black-clad figure dragged his younger sister into their ranks, eliminating any chance of rescue.
"Seventeenth Sister!"
Only after shouting did he realize his mistake. The tall archer blocking his path let out a mocking laugh.
"Interesting!" said the skilled foreign warrior who could speak Chinese. "Your sister? Good. Talk... with our leader. You talk."
At that moment, Sang Sai added a few words. The tall foreigner nodded, gesturing for his subordinates to retreat deeper into the forested burial mounds with the Seventeenth Princess in tow.
Pale sunlight filtered through the treetops, offering no warmth.
Leaning against the broken stele of some long-dead palace maid, Li Yuangui felt as though his muscles and bones had dissolved, his fingers devoid of strength. This was unsurprising—he hadn't slept a wink the previous night, nor had he rested properly for days.
Sang Sai sat cross-legged on a felt mat opposite him, stripped of all weapons but not bound. There was no need—with both Li Yuangui and Yang Xinzhi present, the young foreigner wouldn’t dare act rashly. Yang Xinzhi, in particular, seemed all too accustomed to apprehending this little foreigner.
On the other side of the small clearing among the graves sat three young women—Chai Yingluo, Wei Shufen, and the foreign girl Fen Dui. The latter had been brought by Chai Yingluo from the Seventeenth Prince's Residence in the Great Peace Palace that morning.
Sang Sai wished to speak with Li Yuangui, but his grasp of Chinese was too rudimentary for meaningful conversation. The others, equally clueless about Sang Sai's foreign tongue, were at a loss until Yang Xinzhi recalled the gift Kang Su-mi had sent to the residence—the foreign girl who spoke fluent Chinese and likely understood the language of Sang Sai, the nephew. Once the night curfew lifted at dawn, Chai Yingluo made the trip to the Great Peace Palace.
They could have all returned to the Great Peace Palace or at least entered the temple for a warmer discussion. But Li Yuangui insisted that no outsiders should see Sang Sai. He still didn’t know the young foreigner’s true identity but sensed it went beyond merely being "Kang Su-mi’s nephew."
"This man is the son of King Sky Pillar of Tuyuhun and a nephew of the Great Khan’s queen, as close as brothers with Crown Prince Zun Wang. All Tuyuhun operatives in Tang are under his command."
Upon her arrival, Fen Dui’s first answer to Li Yuangui’s question revealed this string of information—though it wasn’t entirely shocking."The other night, someone broke into my house late at night, calling out 'Fen Dui' while searching for someone. Was it this lad looking for you?" Chai Yingluo interjected with a question. After exchanging a few words with Sang Sai, Fen Dui nodded in confirmation: "It was him."
The foreign girl explained further that Sang Sai had taken a liking to her while she was at Kang Sabao’s residence. He had asked Kang Sabao for her several times, but Kang refused and instead gifted her to Prince Wu. For some reason, Sang Sai believed she was at the Chai residence. On the night before their major operation, he sneaked in alone, hoping to find Fen Dui and take her away—of course, he failed...
At this point, Sang Sai suddenly spoke a string of foreign words to Li Yuangui, seemingly asking a question with great earnestness. Naturally, Li Yuangui couldn’t understand and looked to Fen Dui for translation. The foreign girl relayed:
"He’s asking, 'I heard Prince Wu is the younger brother of the Tang Emperor... and that the Emperor treats his brothers very poorly, very cruelly. Is that true?'"
Very cru—such blunt phrasing drew stifled laughter from those nearby. Li Yuangui instinctively wanted to refute but immediately thought of his elder brother and fourth brother... Well.
Seeing him remain silent, Sang Sai spoke again. Fen Dui translated:
"That young general who led troops last night—he’s the Tang Emperor’s Crown Prince, isn’t he? He’s also very bad, treating you cruelly. That much is obvious."
Indeed, the one who had appeared at Gongren Slope the previous night alongside Right Garrison Guard Grand General Zhang Shigui was none other than Crown Prince Li Chengqian himself. Presumably, after waiting in vain at Great Peace Palace for Yin A-Ta’s return, he had led his Crown Prince’s Palace guards to investigate. On the way down the mountain, he encountered Zhang Shigui, who had come to seek instructions, and thus joined forces to conduct a search.
As for Chai Yingluo and Wei Shufen, they had arrived slightly earlier. After explaining the situation to Zhang Shigui, Chai Yingluo anticipated the general would still have much to deal with, so she took Wei Shufen ahead to Wangsheng Temple. The signs of struggle on the road outside the temple were still fresh, with several bodies of Crown Prince’s Palace guards and eunuchs left unattended. As the two women examined the scene, voices emerged from the woods by the roadside. Following the sound, they discovered Yang Xinzhi, bound hand and foot with a gag in his mouth.
Yang Xinzhi was unharmed—he had been captured alive by the Great Peace Palace Guard under Yin A-Ta’s command. Though Yin A-Ta dared to kill Crown Prince’s Palace guards, he still hesitated to go too far against the son of a chancellor and princess, a Kuzhen Guard personally appointed by the Son of Heaven. After freeing him and finding a blade among the corpses on the road, Yang Xinzhi sprang back to life with vigor. The three then headed toward Gongren Slope, just in time to witness the fight between Li Yuangui, Sang Sai, and the tall archer, promptly intervening to capture Sang Sai.
After Sang Sai’s men retreated with the Seventeenth Princess in tow, Li Chengqian and Zhang Shigui arrived with the Garrison Guards to search the area. Not wanting to complicate matters, Li Yuangui stayed behind alone to handle the situation, instructing Yang Xinzhi to hide with Sang Sai and the two daughters of the Chai and Wei families.
He stayed mainly for Crown Princess Su Shi. The young woman, who had done her utmost to protect his younger sister, was badly injured and bleeding continuously, requiring urgent medical attention. Even the usually arrogant Li Chengqian panicked upon seeing her condition.—After all, this woman was his formally wedded wife, the future Empress of the Great Tang, and the mistress of the Crown Prince's Palace who attended to her mother-in-law daily at the Hall of Established Governance. If she were to lose her life so inexplicably, Li Chengqian would have no way to explain it to his parents—hurriedly throwing a few harsh words at Li Yuangui, vowing "I will investigate thoroughly," the Crown Prince left Gongren Slope with his wife.
Zhang Shigui, on the other hand, departed with the deputy palace supervisor of the Great Peace Palace, Yin Tuo. From Li Yuangui's judgment, Yin A'da's injuries—if he was indeed injured—were far less severe than those of the Crown Princess. He must have dropped to the ground during the first wave of arrows, later having three or five bodies of arrow-stricken guards piled atop him. Whether he feigned death or fainted from fear, a cursory examination revealed no significant wounds on him.
The night was deep, the place desolate, the ground strewn with chaos, and many wounded urgently needed care. No one had the time then to delve into the details of the incident. Li Yuangui told Zhang Shigui only that "a misunderstanding led to a clash between the guards of the Crown Prince's Palace and the Great Peace Palace, resulting in mutual losses," omitting any mention of Sang Sai and the group of black-clad, masked men. The Garrison Guards busied themselves clearing the battlefield, and Li Yuangui seized the opportunity to withdraw, reuniting with Chai Yingluo and the others to find another hiding place.
By dawn, Chai Yingluo had gone to the Great Peace Palace and brought back Fen Dui. The two women also carried some food, water, and blankets. The group was cold, hungry, exhausted, and grief-stricken. As they talked and ate, Sang Sai again emphasized his importance to Li Yuangui, stating that his father, King Sky Pillar, was the uterine brother of the current Queen of Tuyuhun, and that he himself had grown up alongside Crown Prince Zun Wang as brothers. After the Tang-Tuyuhun war broke out, to aid his people in resisting the enemy, Sang Sai volunteered to lead a team into Chang'an, collaborating with Kang Su-mi to turn the Tang capital upside down.
"And how do you plan to do that?" Li Yuangui asked him. After listening to Fen Dui's translation, Sang Sai answered without hesitation—a response Li Yuangui felt he understood directly, without translation:
"Assassinate the Tang Emperor, Li Shimin!"
...What a tempting target. Li Yuangui himself had often entertained similar thoughts lately. Hearing someone dare to voice it so boldly, he even felt a twinge of envy.
"Is Kang Sabao helping you with this?" he pressed. If that old Hu merchant had the audacity to guarantee such a thing to the young Tuyuhun prince, he was truly ruthless enough to devour a man without spitting out the bones.
Sang Sai shook his head somewhat dejectedly and babbled something to the effect that Kang Su-mi had advised him to take things step by step. The Tang Emperor's defenses were too tight; Tuyuhun and the merchant Hu lacked sufficient manpower in Chang'an to infiltrate the palace and assassinate the Emperor. They should first target something easier—for instance, killing the Emperor's father.
"Old Kang told me the Han have a strange custom: when the Emperor's father dies, they must halt the war," Sang Sai said cheerfully, completely oblivious to the change in Li Yuangui's expression. "He said the old Emperor lives on a mountain with few guards, making him an easy kill. Once the old one is dead, the Tang Emperor will recall his armies from the front lines. Our Dragon Steed Army can then pursue and strike, securing a great victory!"
In a way... that wasn't entirely wrong. Kang Su-mi wasn't entirely without conscience. Li Yuangui pressed further: "So how do you plan to kill the old Emperor?"Sang Sai rolled his eyes and gave him a shrewd look, replying that he wouldn’t fully disclose an assassination plan against a father to his son, even though he knew there was no love or respect between royal fathers and sons in Han lands—only hatred. In any case, he had already made meticulous arrangements and had many capable people to carry it out. The only thing missing was someone familiar with the old Emperor’s palace, who could come and go freely without suspicion—and now, heaven had delivered that very person before him.
“You think I would join your team and lead you foreigners to kill the Emperor—my own father?” Li Yuangui asked mockingly. Yet Sang Sai remained earnest: “You’ll receive benefits beyond your wildest dreams.”
“What benefits?”
“After killing the old Emperor, we are confident we can eliminate Li Shimin in a very short time,” the young Tuyuhun prince told him. “After that, Great Khan Fu Yun will need to install a new Han Emperor to rule the lands beyond the reach of our Tuyuhun cavalry. If you join us, that throne will be yours.”
#####This chapter includes images of the straight saber (Tang Saber) used by Li Yuangui. Please visit the author’s Weibo to view them. Search for the ID “Tang Chuan Daoyou Senlin Lu” on Sina Weibo. Welcome to discuss!
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