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Prologue
LI XIANG
Winter, 88 BCE
Outside Chang’An, The Imperial Capitol
The bitter wind howled, rattling bare tree branches and stirring up the snow that had blanketed the world during the day. Most poor creatures huddled in their homes, hiding from the things that lurked in the thick shadows of night, clinging to the flickering candles and dying flames that guttered in the hearth. The pathetic few who were stuck on guard duty around the protective outer walls of the manor house had no choice but to brave the icy cold. The armor did nothing to block the wind. It only bit at the flesh and carried the crunch of snow under their feet to those who watched them.
Cloaked all in black with a cloth across the lower half of his face, Li Xiang crouched on a tree branch, studying the patrol from overhead as they moved sluggishly in the same pattern. The quiet and the cold had made the guards lazy and vulnerable. He glanced to his right where Zhang Junjie balanced on a nearby tree limb, all but his eyes hidden, and they were filled with equal parts apprehension and determination.
In a few short years, Jiang Chong had further culled Sword of the Heavenly Garden Sect numbers to fewer than two dozen, but they’d also come into their powers, making them a near-unstoppable force in the service of Emperor Wu.
Tonight, the Emperor had dispatched them to put down another den of conspirators plotting against the Dragon Throne.
There was no audible signal. Just a blur of black that left the guards on patrol dead. Xiang took the lead, leaping over the wall with Junjie a step behind him. The layout of the large estate was like others they’d infiltrated over the past several months. Buildings linked through a series of swept paths and small curved bridges over water features that now held a thin layer of ice. Torches flickered here and there to push back the gathering darkness, but there were still plenty of shadows for them to linger in as they took out one guard after another.
Their orders were simple: everyone had to die. Every man, woman, and child, from the head of the house to the lowest servant. A pestilence such as betrayal could only be eradicated by pulling it out from the roots.
Xiang didn’t allow his conscience to give even the slightest protest. Their actions were protecting the nation and were the will of the emperor.
The wind howled, masking their light footfalls as more of his martial brothers reached the interior courtyard and moved to dispatch any living creature. No one had the chance to raise an alarm. Tonight, most would be killed in their beds, never knowing how death had stalked these halls. But they still had to locate the conspirators who were meeting in secret.
With Junjie at his heels, Xiang cut to the right and started working his way through the building. They checked each room, killing everyone with a stab to the heart or a slash to the throat. He didn’t allow himself to see faces.
There were very few people here despite the overwhelming size of the estate. So far, he’d encountered almost all guards and three old servants. This couldn’t be right. For a home this size, the lord would require dozens of servants to keep up with the buildings and grounds. The number of guards was high, but Jiang Chong had hinted that the conspirators who were meeting tonight were of the nobility.
After they finished checking the last of the rooms, Xiang paused and looked over at his companion. So far, no one had raised an alarm. Silence blanketed the sprawling estate while blood painted the white snow red. Another team was taking the buildings to the left, while a third team was wiping out anyone in the rear buildings. Their next task was to attack the central building, where the conspirators were supposed to be meeting.
“Something feels off,” Junjie whispered as he looked around, glancing over his shoulder as if expecting to see a specter watching them. Not the newly dead, but their master, Jiang Chong. He had left the attack to the sect, but they all knew he was watching from some dark, secret corner, making sure they were following his orders.
“Too easy?” Xiang inquired, trying to smile at Junjie, but his expression remained hidden behind his mask.
“No. Too empty. There should have been more servants. Everyone knows Luo Jia Wei has a large family, along with several concubines, but there has been no sign of them.”
Xiang grunted and turned his gaze toward the central building. “He must have left them at his estate inside of Chang’An. They’ll be taken care of after tonight.” What he didn’t say was that he was still hoping that the task would not fall to their sect, but to some of the emperor’s other private guards. While he understood that conspiring against the emperor was a death sentence, he didn’t care to be the blade swinging at the necks of children and women who knew nothing of the plans of their lord.
Sharpening his voice, Xiang continued, “It’s not our place to question. We need to move now.”
He didn’t give Junjie a chance to argue. Sticking to the shadows, even though all the guards were dead, they cut across the courtyard and approached the three-story central building with elegant tiers of roofs and dragons perched on the peaks of the curved eaves. Tonight, those dragons could only watch as the betrayers to the nation were eliminated.
They paused at the main doors to the central building. The guards lay dead, their throats torn out. Blood poured from the wounds, crawling in a growing pool across the floor. Jiang Chong had beaten them to the building. Rather than a blade, their new master preferred to use his bare hands and talonlike nails to cut down his enemies. With a nod from Junjie, Xiang slid open the door and rushed inside to find Jiang Chong facing the gathering in black robes and a wintry smile.
Four other men were in the room, rising from their chairs, their faces were panic-stricken and pale.
“Jiang Chong! I thought Crown Prince Ju killed you!”
A chuckle crawled out of his master’s throat. “You’d be surprised how often I hear that.”
But Xiang barely paid him any heed. His head whipped around at the voice of the speaker. “A-die?”?1 slipped out before he could catch himself. What the hell was his father doing there?
“Xiang-er?”?2
“Yes, isn’t this quite an illustrious gathering?” Jiang Chong purred, lifting his hands up to the tense gathering of conspirators. “We have the honorable Luo Jia Wei, Minister Li Guangli, and even Emperor Wu’s beloved brothers, Liu Ci and Liu An.”
Junjie pinched a bit of Xiang’s sleeve, pulling him a step back as others in their sect joined them. Figures hidden in black surrounded the four men. Other than Jiang Chong, only Xiang’s identity had been revealed, but it didn’t matter.
Xiang’s heart raced and his ears became clogged so that he could barely hear anything that Jiang Chong said. His father was here. How could his father be one of the conspirators? Li Guangli had sent his son to the Sword of the Heavenly Garden Sect so he could train to become a loyal, stalwart general under the emperor and protect the nation they so loved. His father had always been loyal to the emperor, right?
