"Kill him, Jin." Zhen stood behind her, his hand on her shoulder. "For the soldiers who died in Wuchuan. Kill him."
Her hand trembled violently. The tip of her sword wavered inches from Xue Liulan's chest, but it didn't advance.
"Jin!" Zhen urged.
"Don't force me, Zhen." She gritted her teeth, her chest heaving. The choice was tearing her apart.
"Do it," Xue Liulan said coldly.
So this was the end. To die by her hand… perhaps it wasn't a bad way to go.
He closed his eyes, waiting for the cold steel to pierce his heart.
Murong Jin tightened her grip. She took a step forward, then spun, her blade slashing backward.
The thin edge grazed Zhen's throat, forcing him back three steps.
"Jin! Are you crazy?" he shouted.
"If I had killed him, then I would be crazy." She frowned, her sightless eyes fixed on him. "You are not Zhen."
Xue Liulan opened his eyes, stunned. She had turned her sword on a member of the Vermilion Bird Camp for him. What did that mean?
"Murong Jin." He stepped forward, shielding her.
"Take him alive, Xue Liulan." She lowered her sword and handed it to him.
"Hm?" He hesitated.
"He isn't Zhen." Her voice was certain. "I need him alive to find the others."
"Hahaha! Murong Jin truly lives up to her name. Even blind, you can see through a disguise." The man laughed, ripping the mask from his face.
"I am Qianmian—Thousand Faces. I have walked the jianghu for years, and no one has ever seen through me. You are the first. I am impressed."
She smiled faintly. "Your imitation was perfect. Even the voice. But you forgot one thing. Zhen has treated me like a sister since we were children. He would never force me to do anything. And he knows… killing Xue Liulan would destroy me."
"I see." Qianmian murmured. "Worthy of the leader of the Vermilion Bird Camp. A fatal flaw in my act."
"Capture him," she said, urgency in her voice.
"Don't worry." Xue Liulan spun the sword in his hand. He had held back before, fearing for her safety and thinking the man was Zhen. Now, he had no reservations.
Qianmian leaped onto the eaves, ready to flee. He had been exposed. The bounty wasn't worth his life.
"Leaving so soon?" Xue Liulan sneered. He flicked his wrist, his sword tip catching a stone on the ground and launching it into the air. Before it could fall, he struck it with the flat of his blade.
The stone shot forward like a bullet, striking Qianmian in the back. He froze mid-leap, his body paralyzed, and tumbled from the roof into a pile of hay.
"Good aim." Xue Liulan smiled, taking her hand. "Come. Let's find the others."
"Weren't you afraid I would really kill you?" she asked, a sly smile on her lips.
He paused. "Dying by your hand would have been a release. Better than your distrust."
He hadn't thought it was a trick. He had believed she wanted him dead.
"You said I didn't know I trusted you." She squeezed his arm. "Because I trusted you wouldn't break your promise, I knew that Zhen was fake."
"Who's there? Come out!" Xue Liulan suddenly roared, pulling her into his arms, his hand on his hilt.
"Sister Jin." A figure landed smoothly from the roof. "It's me."
"Yi? Aren't you on the Snow Mountain?"
Yi laughed. "I am the real Yi, not a fake like that Zhen." He watched Xue Liulan's hand warily. He knew the prince's skill. One wrong word, and he'd end up in the hay pile too.
"That Zhen didn't say he was fake either," Xue Liulan said dryly.
Another figure dropped from the eaves. A woman in white, her face veiled in silk, her eyes cold. She extended a hand toward Murong Jin. A pill lay in her palm.
"Impersonating Yi is easy. Impersonating the Divine Physician of the Snow Mountain… not so much." Her voice was cool and mocking.
Murong Jin tilted her head, then laughed. "You came down from the mountain? It seems Yi has quite the influence. Many have tried and failed to bring you down, but for this brat, you came."
"What choice did I have? If you waited another ten days, you'd be blind forever. With your temper, you'd be better off dead."
"Xue Liulan, this is the Divine Physician." Murong Jin pointed unerringly at the woman. "Don't ask her name. Besides Yi, no one knows it."
"Oh?" Xue Liulan looked at the woman with interest, then at the pill. "How long until she recovers?"
"Three days."
"You'll be able to see by the time we find Zhen." Yi took the pill and gave it to Murong Jin. "The Vermilion Bird Camp is safe. Zhen noticed he was being watched, so he sent me to find you."
"They're safe?" She let out a long breath. "Qianmian was hired. Yi, find out who hired him."
"You already know," Xue Liulan said softly as she swallowed the medicine.
"Guo Shangzhong. Who else?" She closed her eyes as a cool sensation spread through her body.
"It's going to be a war," Xue Liulan said, tapping his forehead.
"What?"
Before he could answer, Yi returned from the hay pile. "Dead." He spread his hands helplessly.
"Poison prepared in advance."
"Assassins always leave a way out." Xue Liulan nodded. "How many troops are at Chengguan?"
"About five thousand."
"Bring them here. And have the garrison troops enter Wuchuan."
"Ah?" Yi was confused. He hadn't seen any imperial troops leaving Chengguan.
"Li Yan's reinforcements should have arrived by now. Thirty thousand men. Enough to give the Turks a headache." Xue Liulan smiled, as if the enemy were already in his palm.
"You have a plan?" Murong Jin asked, worried.
"Heaven's secrets cannot be revealed."
That night, they stayed in the Murong residence. Yi and the physician went to find Zhen and the troops.
The moon was bright and flawless. Murong Jin leaned against Xue Liulan, drowsy. The events of the day, combined with the poison, had exhausted her.
"Murong Jin, did you really want to kill me today?" he asked, looking down at her.
"Yes. Why wouldn't I?" She kept her eyes closed, smiling like a fox.
"Oh? Then why didn't you?"
She pretended to think. "I thought about Qi'er. When he grows up, how would I explain it? 'Mother, where is Father?' 'Oh, I killed him.'"
"Ahem." He laughed. "Direct as always."
"Should I lie to him?" She snuggled closer. "So I thought it better to let you live."
"I'll have to thank our son properly when we get back."
They laughed together. Then, her laughter faded. She wrapped her arms around his waist, pressing herself against him.
"Xue Liulan, I will never distrust you again. Whatever you say, I will believe. Because I know… you have always been for me."