Chapter 184: Zuo Qianwei

Morning light filtered through the forest. Birds called softly, their songs lingering over crumbling walls and ruined courtyards. Moss mottled the old trees. In the sunlight, two groups of people stood facing one another, inside and outside the yard, each gripping their own weapons.

“Minister Min.”

The small courtyard’s gate leaned askew. At the entrance, a figure on horseback—wearing a dark-green outer robe with leather armor beneath—flung back his cloak, dismounted, and walked into the courtyard, his boots patterned with yellow designs on a green sole. He cupped his hands in greeting.

Behind him, four long sabers with broken tips caught the morning light, cold and snow-white, forcing the seven guards inside, who were protecting a gray-haired old man in their midst, to retreat a few steps.

“All of you, stand aside. If you truly resist, which of you could stop him?”

Min Changwen pressed a hand to one guard’s shoulder. With lips tightly pursed, he parted the guards and stepped forward, shaking out his wide sleeves as he returned the salute.

“Zuo Qianwei. It has been a long time.”

On the other side, Zuo Zhengyang raised a hand, signaling the men under his command to put away their weapons. He also let out a quiet breath of relief—so long as blades were not crossed, this was the best possible outcome.

The two regarded each other for a moment before Zuo Zhengyang spoke first.

“Minister Min, you are a high-ranking official of the court. Why did you suddenly abandon the capital and flee, causing His Majesty great fury? I have long known your character. You would never do such a thing without grave reason.”

Amid the sound of weapons being returned to their sheaths, Min Changwen nodded. He gestured for Zuo Zhengyang to sit with him on a nearby stone bench, sighed, and lifted his gaze toward the tree trunk mottled with patches of moss.

“Zuo Qianwei, you know that demonic beings roam this world, do you not?” [TL_Note: Qianwei refers to a ranked officer within the imperial guard system]

“I do. Back then, outside Zhou Zhen’s residence, I encountered a spirit creature at night. I personally severed a fox’s tail.” Zuo Zhengyang set the slender blade at his waist against the corner of the table. His hand paused, and his gaze abruptly fixed on the old man across from him.

“Is Minister Min saying that demons have appeared in the capital, and that you were forced to flee the city because of this?”

Recalling the disturbance of that night, the old man closed his eyes and drew in a deep breath.

“More than one. Minister Gong of the Ministry of Revenue has already met with misfortune.”

Zuo Zhengyang’s brows knit together. With a sharp motion, he rose to his feet, his gaze sweeping across the two groups who watched each other warily. He waved a hand, but his voice dropped to a low, restrained tone.

“Impossible. When Zuo left the capital, I personally saw Lord Gong heading to court.”

“Then do you think this old man is lying to deceive you?” The elder rose as well, his gaze calm and unruffled as it met Zuo Zhengyang’s. “Zuo Qianwei and I have known each other for many years—have you ever seen me conduct myself without integrity?!”

Seeing the old man’s tone and expression, Zuo Zhengyang clenched his fists for a long while, then finally nodded.

“I believe Minister Min!”

As he spoke, he seized the saber at the corner of the table, turned, and shouted at the dozen or so subordinates he had brought into the courtyard, “You remain here and protect Minister Min. I will return to the capital personally and ascertain the truth!”

“Zuo Qianwei, you must not!”

The old man tried to stop him, but Zuo Zhengyang had already gripped his saber and strode out in great steps. As his cloak swept behind him, his voice came from the direction of the courtyard gate.

“If matters are as Your Excellency has said, Zuo will relieve His Majesty’s worries and cut down the demons. But if your words prove false, Zuo will return and arrest you himself, delivering you to His Majesty for judgment!”

He descended the stone steps in quick strides and, in a single motion, mounted the horse someone had brought over. At that instant, his words abruptly stopped. He lifted a hand, signaling his deputy to remain silent, his ears twitching slightly.

What he heard was a faint rustling sound.

He snapped his gaze toward one side of the courtyard wall and shouted harshly: “Who goes there?!”

With a sharp clang, the long saber at his waist leapt from its sheath. All around, the officers of the Imperial Apprehension Office drew their weapons in unison. The Qianwei on horseback planted a foot on the stirrup, and his entire body sprang upward like a great bird diving into the woods.

At this moment, Min Changwen stood inside the courtyard near the gate. Hearing Zuo Qianwei’s shout from outside, the old moss-covered tree nearby suddenly shook, its branches and leaves rustling violently.

The old man lifted his gaze. Above him, the sunlight wavered as the air distorted slightly, as though something were descending from overhead.

“Minister Min, be careful—!”

A sharp tearing sound split the air. A slender blade was hurled forth, nearly brushing the old man’s forehead. With a loud bang several inches in front of him, it collided with something unseen, sparks bursting in midair.

Zuo Zhengyang lunged forward and dragged the old man back in one motion. His robe flared as he kicked fiercely at the empty air ahead—but struck nothing. Turning, he thrust Min Changwen toward the eight guards not far away with a single palm.

“Protect His Excellency!”

With a backhand motion, he flipped out a broken-tipped saber from behind him. In an instant, two arcs of blade-light were drawn, compressing the space of the courtyard into a narrow killing zone. To everyone watching, inside and out, all that could be seen was the cold metallic glare of sunlight flashing off the saber’s surface.

Bang—

The whirling blade cleaved into the moss-covered old tree, embedding itself halfway in. Splinters and fragments exploded outward, and amid a sharp crack, the trunk—dragging its dense branches with it—smashed toward the courtyard wall.

Boom!

The crumbling mud-brick wall caved inward. Leaves scattered and fluttered down. Amid their crisscrossing paths, several leaves sliced through the air, only for their original trajectories to seem to brush against something unseen, quietly deflecting as they drifted off to one side.

 Found you.

Zuo Zhengyang narrowed his eyes. With a reverse grip, he hurled another long saber skyward with a sharp whoosh. At the same time, the broken-tipped blade in his other hand swept out in a furious horizontal slash.

Clang—

Ripples of metal-on-metal resonance burst through the surrounding air. Zuo Zhengyang lunged forward, pressing down on the saber hilt as he dragged it in a half-circle. Within what had moments ago been empty air, something twisted in the light, as though hurled backward, before slamming into the low wall by the courtyard gate with a thunderous crash, kicking up clouds of dust.

Hummm…

Above, the long saber fell back down. Below it, Zuo Zhengyang completed his slash and, in the same fluid motion, swung his leg back in a sweeping kick.

His toe struck the spine of the blade.

The weapon, which had been dropping straight down, abruptly turned sideways, its direction sharply altered. It carved a dark streak through the sunlight before slamming into the earthen wall with a dull thud, the blade punching through so that its tip protruded from the other side of the courtyard wall.

Tap… tap… tap…

A deep crimson color emerged amid the drifting dust. It gathered along the blade’s edge, forming beads of blood that dripped steadily to the ground.

The ruined courtyard fell silent.

Still shaken, Min Changwen stood protected in the middle of the guards. When the dust finally settled, he saw a woman in a dark purple-black cassock transfixed upon the blade, pinned against the wall.

“How could it be a woman?”

However, in the very next moment, Zuo Zhengyang pulled the long saber free. The corpse collapsed to the ground, its clothing slack and askew. Within, the body itself was like a paper effigy—at the back of the neck was a slit, and inside there were no organs, no sinews or bones, nothing at all.

“As expected—an evil creature.”

Zuo Zhengyang stared at the corpse and forced out the words in a low voice. He took back his weapon from a subordinate and slid it into place on his back, then turned and strode outward, waving a hand. “Do not let your eyes leave Minister Min. I will return and report this matter to His Majesty and to the State-Protector Venerable Master!”

“That State-Protector Venerable Master is the demon!” Min Changwen spoke out from within the courtyard.

The figure mounting the horse froze for a moment, then turned back, eyes widening as he stared at the old man. For a time, he could not utter a single word. If the powerful State-Protector Venerable Master were a demon, then His Majesty…

At the final thought, Zuo Zhengyang gave the reins a sharp tug, wheeling the horse around as if to depart at once. Min Changwen chased out of the courtyard. “Zuo Qianwei, do not act rashly. The civil and military officials of the capital are likely all no different from this shell. Do not return and throw your life away. I have already sent my young daughter to Qixia Mountain to seek out Lu Liangsheng. Perhaps he has a way.”

“Zuo cannot wait.”

From atop the horse, Zuo Zhengyang cupped his hands. “Whether or not Lu Liangsheng has a solution, I must return to protect His Majesty. This is my duty. Minister Min, farewell!”

With a sharp crack of the whip and a thunderous shout of “Go!”, he galloped wildly away along the road he had come.