Prologue

  In 581 AD, Yang Jian usurped the throne of Zhou and established Sui. In 587, he annexed Western Liang. In 589, he pacified Southern Chen and unified the Central Plains. In 588, Shibi Khan surrendered and submitted to Sui, and Emperor Wen of Sui was honored with the title "Shengren Mo Yuan Khan".

  In the 18th year of Kaihuang, after more than a decade of recuperation and growth, the Sui dynasty's military became powerful and prosperous, with its influence extending to every corner of the land. The society was affluent, the people lived in peace and contentment, and politics were stable, ushering in a golden age unprecedented in the past few hundred years!

  However, Emperor Yang of Sui was approaching his sixtieth year, but he was still dissatisfied with the crown prince who had been in the position for eighteen years, and Yang Guang, who had a hidden intention to seize the throne, was getting closer and closer. Underneath the peaceful surface of the prosperous Sui Dynasty, there were already undercurrents surging.

  Eighteenth year of spring, second month. Daxing, East Palace.

  In the bedroom, Crown Prince Yang Yong suddenly woke up from a nightmare. His face was pale and his whole body was wet with sweat. He sat on the couch for a long time, his voice low and deep, "Summon Tang Lingzhen, Zou Wenteng, Xiahou Fu, and Yuan Yan to come!"

  Although it was midnight, the four of them arrived quickly.

  Tang Ling was the Left Junior Guardian of the Crown Prince, Zou Wenteng was the Household Provisioner of the Crown Prince, Xiahou Fu was the Registrar of the Left Guard, and Yuan Yan was the Director of the Imperial Kitchen. All four were officials in the Eastern Palace and were absolutely trusted by Yang Yong.

  Guo Gang had just had a terrible nightmare, in which he met him again.

  "Is it that child again?" asked Crown Prince's Housekeeper Zou Wenteng cautiously.

  "No." Yang Yong shook his head somewhat wearily and said, "This time it's not a child, but a young man who has just come of age, holding a sword and taking his own life."

  Recently, Yang Yong often had a dream, more precisely, this dream has been going on for many years. Every year around this time, he would have several nightmares. In the past, the one in his dreams was always a child, but this time it turned out to be an adolescent who even came at him with a sword.

  Upon hearing this, Zou Wenteng's expression changed slightly. As the steward of the Crown Prince's household, a high-ranking official of the fourth grade, he was in charge of penal affairs, food and drink, warehouses, slaves, and so on. However, within the Eastern Palace, Zou Wenteng also controlled internal and external communications, responsible for secret intelligence. Yang Yong's words reminded him of something.

  Recently, an Iron Guard secretly dispatched by the Eastern Palace to handle local affairs accidentally discovered a person carrying a jade pendant that had been strictly investigated by the Eastern Palace.

  "Jade pendant?" Yang Yong was perplexed at first, then his face suddenly changed color, "Are you referring to that jade pendant?"

  Zou Wenteng's face turned slightly pale as he nodded, while Yang Yong's face turned somewhat iron-green. The young man in his dream tonight, and the jade pendant that had been missing for many years, suddenly brought up countless memories of the past that had been sealed away.

  "Xiahou Fu, I'm ordering you to find him immediately and bring him back!"

  Xiahou Fu felt that the temperature around him had dropped a lot.

  "When alive, one must see people; when dead, one must see a corpse. Moreover, no matter what, you must find that jade pendant for Gu (the lonely one) and return it to him."

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  In March in Yangzhou, willows float like smoke.

  On a clear morning in late spring, summer is approaching, the weather is fine but the sun is not strong, and the temperature is not high. A team of dozens set out at dawn, riding horses with anxiety. After Ji Yao went missing for half a year, he finally found a clue this time, appearing vaguely in Yangzhou, Jiangnan. He hurried to Jiangnan without delay. This was the spring of the 18th year of Sui Kaihuang, and Yi Feng was exactly 18 years old, born on the day of the founding of the Great Sui.

  The team has arrived at the foot of Guabu Mountain in the suburbs of Liuhe County, Yangzhou. There is a not-so-small manor here, which is very secretive and solid. Wei Bao thinks that the owner of this manor is a salt merchant, and Ji Yao is now in his hands. Yi Feng recalls the experience of getting to know and being with Ji Yao over the years, and he can't help but be furious. Ji Yao is the sister of his best brother, three years ago, his good brother Ji Hu replaced him with an arrow and died, entrusting his sister to him before his death, asking him to take good care of her. He had vowed at Ji Hu's dying moment that he would marry Ji Yao as his wife in the future and take good care of her for a lifetime.

  However, this year during the Lantern Festival, Ji Yao asked him to accompany her to Youzhou City to watch the lantern festival, but he didn't go because of a sudden matter, and as a result, Ji Yao disappeared in Youzhou City. Every year's lantern festival is bustling with excitement, but it also often happens that many young girls, women, and children are kidnapped or taken away.

  Yi Feng didn't know whether the Yangzhou salt merchant in front of him had bought Ji Yao from a human trafficker or had personally kidnapped her from Youzhou City, but in any case, he had already touched Yi Feng's reverse scales.

  Ten horses stood quietly at the foot of the mountain villa in the morning mist, and the breath of humans and horses wove together into a white mist that rose into the air.

  He waved his hand, and in a low voice, he gave the order to prepare for a surprise attack on the manor. His black hair was tied up into a knot at the top of his head, with a short black beard just starting to grow under his chin, making him look slightly more mature than his actual age. He stood nearly seven feet tall, with starry eyebrows and sword-like eyes, his arms long and slender like an ape's, his waist narrow like a bee's. He wore a deep white robe fastened with a belt studded with jade, over which he wore a silver cloak, and at his waist hung a long sword with a jade hilt. At this moment, his eyes were flashing with anger, and no matter how you looked at him, he didn't look like the refined scholar he normally was. He had already put on a silver mask that looked like a fierce beast, which was the signal to take action.

  In the quiet morning, a gentle breeze blew open his cloak. He grasped the jade ornament on the hilt of his treasured sword with his right hand and pulled it out with force. With a loud voice, he declared: "Advance and rescue Xi Yao! Anyone who resists will be killed!" Before he finished speaking, he raised his long sword above his head.

  Wei Bao closely followed with his sword drawn: "Dare to provoke us? This is looking for death! Kill him, leaving no chicken or dog alive, not a blade of grass surviving!"

  Facing a solid manor, with only ten riders, Yi Feng and Wei Bao did not have the slightest fear, and they didn't even put this manor in their eyes. This was not because of their arrogance, but because they had previously investigated that there were not many people in this manor, just a small villa, with about dozens of people, but they were all farmers' wives and children, and the guards did not exceed ten people. And their ten riders were absolutely not something that a few guards and a group of farmers could stop. Moreover, they chose to launch a surprise attack at dawn.

  Yi Feng left Wei Bao and three others outside to keep watch, in case any fish slipped through the net. He led six riders quietly towards the manor!

  Everything went smoothly, even more so than expected. They opened the manor gate and entered the estate without any issues.

  Soon, Yi Feng had a premonition and vaguely felt something was off.

  It was quiet, and by now it was early morning. Strangely, there wasn't a single person in sight in the village, as if everyone was still sleeping in.

  When Yifeng realized he was in a dangerous situation, everything was already too late.

  He noticed that there were some unnatural glows on the eaves of the houses on both sides of the village, and out of instinct, he sniffed out a hint of something ominous.

  "Halt, something's off here, retreat quickly!"

  Yi Feng pulled his horse around and shouted loudly. There were six riders around him, all of whom were fierce and brave warriors, capable of taking on a group of ordinary villagers with ease. But now they found themselves in a narrow alleyway between two rows of houses, which surrounded the narrow street and put them at a disadvantage. The rooftops on either side of the street loomed above them, looking down on them from a height.

  Just then, Yi Feng heard a shout coming from above his head, and he subconsciously lifted his head.

  "Beware of the bow and arrow!"

  A strong gust of wind blew by, and in the next instant, dozens of arrow feathers flew out from both sides of the roof, emitting a sharp whistling sound.

  This sudden rain of arrows caught them off guard, and Zhao San on the side didn't have time to take down the shield hanging beside his horse's saddle, and was directly hit by multiple arrows, becoming a hedgehog, only managing to let out a mournful cry before falling to the ground. Wang Lao Wang was nailed to the ground along with his horse, his limbs convulsing. A dull sound echoed through the streets, the terrifying sound of arrowheads piercing flesh.

  They swung their shields to the left and right, gathered together when they took off their shields, and the second wave of dense shooting followed, then the third wave, the fourth wave, the fifth wave...

  The people around him fell one by one, and even the strongest warrior couldn't escape being ambushed in this narrow terrain. Just when Yi Feng thought he was going to die, Ling Li's arrow rain suddenly stopped. Yi Feng looked around and saw that among the six brothers who had entered the village, only three were left, and the other three had died. The remaining four people also suffered varying degrees of arrow wounds.

  Yi Feng knew that the situation had already spiralled out of control. He didn't know why a salt merchant's estate would have so many bows and arrows, and judging from their archery skills and the feathered arrows, they were clearly not ordinary bows and archers. The shooting technique was reminiscent of the imperial guards' archers, and the bows and arrows were also standard issue military equipment. This was a trap, but what he couldn't understand was that if the other party were military personnel, why would they go to such great lengths to set up this trap, luring them from the north all the way to Yangzhou in Jiangnan?

  And why did they stop shooting arrows?

  "How dare you reveal your name, you who hide their heads and show their tails?" Yifeng roared in anger.

  Angry voices echoed in the air filled with the smell of blood, and footsteps sounded from ahead. Several black-clad men wearing leather armor appeared on the other side of the alley, surrounding a burly man.

  "Easy Young Master should worry more about his own life." The burly man sneered, "I went to great trouble to invite you here, just to ask Easy Young Master one question: where is Yang Lin?"

  "Where is Ji Yao?" Yi Feng glared at the burly man angrily.

  "Ask you again, where is Yang Lin? If you don't answer seriously, you won't see your woman again."

  "I don't know anyone named Yang Lin!"

  Zhuang Han looked at Yi Feng like a venomous snake for a moment, then changed the subject: "I heard that Young Master Yi has a jade pendant with his name 'Yi Feng' engraved on it. May I borrow it to take a look?"

  Yi Feng was taken aback, he had been wearing a jade pendant on his body since childhood, with the words "Yi Feng" engraved in seal script on it. He had worn this pendant for eighteen years, but few people knew about it. Unexpectedly, someone used such a method to probe into this pendant today.

  He reached into his bosom and took out the jade pendant which still retained some warmth.

  The robust man opposite saw the jade pendant for a moment, his eyes revealing a look of surprise and frenzy, "It's it!"

  Yi Feng took back the jade pendant, "Hand over Ji Yao to me and let us leave. I can give you the jade pendant." He could tell that the man had a great interest in this jade pendant. Although the jade pendant might have clues about his own life, at this moment, for the sake of the woman, his brother, and his own safety, he was willing to use it as an exchange.

  But little did he know, the robust man burst into a loud laughter: "Do you think you can still leave this place today?"

  Yi Feng's face turned a few shades darker, and he whispered to his brother beside him: "Prepare to fight desperately to break out of the encirclement. As long as we can escape the manor, there will still be hope outside." While speaking, he gritted his teeth to endure the pain, for in the previous attack, he had been shot by an arrow, fortunately not a fatal wound.

  "Take them down, alive." The burly man had already given the order.

  "Charge!" Yifeng let out a loud roar as he led the way, charging on horseback towards the outside of the village.

  The bow and arrow on the roof have stopped, and dozens of black-clad men with horizontal knives and long spears rushed out from inside the house and the alleys. Due to the order to capture alive, Yi Feng and others had a glimmer of hope again. With a sword in hand, he beheaded one of the black-clad knife-wielding men who blocked his way. He broke through the encirclement and relied on his agile warhorse to miraculously rush out of the manor gate in one breath.

  Just then, **the war horse let out a mournful cry and fell to the ground, hit by several arrows shot by the black-clad men chasing from behind, and did not get up again.**

  Again, several mournful cries sounded, and the three brothers following Yi Feng were unable to break out of the encirclement, once again trapped inside the manor gate. Yi Feng's eyes blazed with fury, a desperate roar escaping his lips as he raised his sword, his bloodshot eyes fixed on the enemy as he charged forward. In the next instant, his sword flashed in the light, striking down two black-clad men, but he himself was stabbed from behind by a horizontal blade.

  A man in black clothes rushed up with a knife, and from behind, he knocked Yifeng unconscious to the ground with one knife. He was about to carry him back to present his merit. However, just then, a rapid horseshoe sound approached, and Wei Bao's three men who were left outside the village happened to arrive, and one of them stabbed the knife-wielding man to death.

  "Brother Leopard is taking Second Brother away from here, we'll cover the rear!" The other two shouted loudly as they saw Yi Feng had already fainted.

  "No, if one dies, we all die." Wei Bao said.

  "Brother Leopard is talking nonsense. Have you forgotten what Big Sister said before we came out? In any case, protect Second Brother well."

  Wei Bao hesitated for a moment, then gritted his teeth and lifted Yi Feng onto the horse's back, urging it to gallop southward.

  They fled south for a long time, and when they saw the pursuing soldiers approaching again, Wei Bao looked at Yi Feng who was still unconscious, feeling anxious. With one horse carrying two people, it was clear that they couldn't escape this way. After running for another segment of road, they arrived at the bank of a large river, and looking at the reeds by the riverbank, he came up with an idea. He stopped the horse, hid the unconscious Yi Feng in a clump of reeds by the riverbank, then got back on the horse, changed direction, and led the pursuing soldiers to flee in another direction.

  Until nightfall, Wei Bao finally shook off the black-clad pursuers and carefully made his way back to the riverbank, feeling his way to the hidden place where he had left Yi Feng, only to be shocked and frightened to find no one there.