“I almost forgot,” he said, handing Lu Piao a rolled parchment. “These are assignments for our new workers. Mostly surveillance, keep an eye on wealthy merchants and officials, but make sure they don’t get spotted. Five silver coins for expenses. If that’s not enough, sell something that belonged to that hog.”

  “Alright. But, Brother Zhang, I can’t read.”

  “Then find someone who can. I wrote it as simply as possible,” Zhang Ming patted the loyal bandit on the shoulder. “I’m counting on you. I’ll be in the farthest room of the estate. If something happens, you may interrupt me, but only in the most extreme case.”

  “I understand, Brother.”

  Taking a bucket of clean water just in case and the precious pills that had cost him a fortune, Zhang Ming strode decisively toward the back room. He sat cross-legged on the wooden floor and opened the jade box. The air filled with the fragrance of medicinal herbs.

  “Not the most expensive, but even these nearly drained me dry,” Zhang Ming examined the smooth herbal pearls, each the size of a thumb’s knuckle. “They look inferior to the ones Xiao Mei found. How much did those cost back then… better not think about it.”

  Normally, pills were taken cautiously, with several days between each dose so the body could absorb them slowly. But he was in a hurry, so he decided to take them one after another. For several minutes, Zhang Ming simply sat in meditation, clearing stray thoughts and focusing his mind. When he reached the proper mental state, he swallowed the first pill without hesitation.

  Bitterness spread down his throat, and in the next instant a blaze ignited in his lower abdomen. Energy flooded into his meridians like a sudden torrent surging through a dried riverbed. Gritting his teeth, he wrestled with it, guiding the flow so as not to waste a single drop of that precious strength. Time ceased to exist; there was only him and the raging Qi. Though these pills were far inferior in quality to the ones Xiao Mei had found, they were perfectly suited for the second stage of Body Tempering.

  When the first pill’s effects began to fade, he swallowed the second, and after some time, the third. Vital force churned within him as if it wished to tear him apart and burst free. A wave of searing heat ran down his spine, and his bones cracked into their proper alignment, fully straightening the porter’s once-bent frame. Joints and muscles creaked throughout his body like the rigging of an old ship, reshaping Zhang Ming into a vessel more fit for martial arts.

  The fourth pill dissolved on his tongue, and in the next heartbeat the energy erupted into a savage storm. Veins bulged along his neck, skin flushed as though doused in boiling water. For several breaths, his muscles seized in convulsions and spine arched like a drawn bow. His heart pounded so violently it seemed ready to shatter his ribcage, and then he vomited thick black sludge. The world dimmed for an instant.

  Clinging to the last threads of consciousness, Zhang Ming continued to direct and restrain the life energy according to the method recorded in the scroll. Like a pair of blacksmith’s bellows, his lungs drew in air and expelled it with a hiss of steam, like some ancient beast. The struggle lasted four days; his clothes were completely soaked in greasy, foul-smelling sweat, and grime dripped onto the floor in heavy drops.

  “Water,” he muttered with cracked lips.

  Breathing heavily, Zhang Ming crawled to the bucket and drank half of it in one go before returning to meditation. From time to time the energy tried to surge again, and his muscles trembled under the strain, but gradually the formidable power of the pills subsided, absorbed and assimilated, becoming part of his own life force. On the morning of the sixth day, Zhang Ming finally opened his eyes.

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  “Just a little short,” he rasped. “Almost…”

  Maybe it’s for the best that I ran out of money. If I’d had a fifth pill, greed would’ve made me swallow it, and I’d likely be dead in this room, he thought. All I need is a small push, and I’ll step into the next stage.

  Leaving dirty footprints behind him, Zhang Ming emerged from seclusion and walked toward the main hall of the estate. No voices could be heard in the inner courtyard or the house, he met not a single person on his way, and in the main hall an unfamiliar old man sat on the floor with a brush in hand, surrounded by sheets of parchment covered in writing. A low table stood before him, and he carefully traced characters onto the paper.

  “Oh! Commander! You’re finished!” Lu Piao peeked out from a side room. “How did it go?”

  “Not bad,” Zhang Ming replied evasively, then pointed at the old man with the brush. “Who’s that?”

  “Uh… a scholar or a scribe, I’m not sure. You said to find someone who can read. So I caught him on the street,” Lu Piao beamed, clearly proud of his resourcefulness.

  “Well… alright. You are paying him, right?”

  “Don’t worry, Brother Zhang! He works for food and is very satisfied.”

  “So the information gathering is going well?”

  “More than well, even our boys got involved. We’ve turned the whole city upside down. We know everything about everyone on your list.”

  “Good. I’ll check later. Have the men heat some water. I want to wash this filth off.”

  Throwing away his old clothes, Zhang Ming spent a couple of hours washing and soaking in a barrel of hot water until he rid himself of the foul stench. After changing, he went to the old innkeeper and, for the first time in several days, ate a proper meal. Upon returning to the estate, he immediately began studying the surveillance reports written by the stranger brought in from the street.

  The Mad Sabre bandits had done well and compiled rather detailed dossiers on several wealthy households and officials of Baohe. It listed all their kinship ties, nepotism, bribery, abuse of power, at times murders and even rapes. It seemed he was reading not about the city’s elite, but hardened criminals drunk on authority. Though he had known much of this even before receiving the detailed reports, having lived here long enough and heard all manner of rumors.

  You can’t hide water in a sieve. People know everything; they’re just afraid to get involved, he reflected. What interests me more are their family connections. How deep do their roots run?

  “Well done. The boys did excellent work. They followed my instructions exactly.”

  “Thank you, Brother Zhang. We tried our best!” Lu Piao glowed with happiness.

  “Here’s an excellent candidate. In the coming days, nearly the entire family will ascend the ancestral mountain… Hm.” Zhang Ming set one sheet of parchment aside. “I can’t tell if it’s a funeral or a wedding. What’s with the bride?”

  “That’s right. The family head’s son died. The lad just turned eighteen and never managed to marry. So now they’re marrying him.”

  “Eh? I don’t follow. Marrying a dead man?” Zhang Ming was taken aback. “What kind of idiotic wedding of the dead is that?”

  “No, no. The bride is alive. A young girl… An old tradition,” Lu Piao explained. “I just hope they at least make her drink poison before burying her with her husband,” the bandit sighed; even to him such a thing seemed too cruel.

  “Why not take one already dead? What difference does it make?”

  “Not sure. It’s just tradition… I suppose her family received rich bridal gifts. So everyone wins.”

  “Good, good.” Zhang Ming stared at the parchment with cold fury. “We’ll start with these beasts.”

  “Start what?” Lu Piao grew uneasy.

  “Don’t be distracted. These four will also do nicely.” Zhang Ming set aside four more sheets. “Three are important city officials, and the last has strong family ties. Oh? This one is a judge, married to the provincial prefect’s niece.”

  “Yes. He isn’t the chief judge, but everyone listens to him and fears him to death,” Lu Piao replied, though a bad premonition crept into his heart.

  “Hm. He’s my favorite. None of the five have strong guards, either. Send the boys to verify that again, by the way. Let them observe from a distance.”

  “Brother Zhang… You said they’ll do. But for what?” For the first time, the loyal bandit wondered why they had gathered all this information.

  “Have you ever walked along a knife’s edge? Now you’ll have the chance. We’ll tread the very brink, and let providence decide our fate.”

  “That doesn’t sound too good…” Lu Piao admitted. “By the way, last night a reply arrived from the Hengyang Clan. It’s time for us to return,” he looked at Zhang Ming with hope, but the latter merely smiled.

  “We’ll stay a little longer.”