Liu Wu Sheng arrived with a few military officers.

Luo Qi had always been adamant about defending Yun Guan and not moving out, but Liu Wu Sheng’s first suggestion was to meet the enemy head on. Luo Wei sat beside them watching without saying a single word, trying to diminish his own presence as much as he could so he could see the bigger picture. He took in the way that Liu Wu Sheng’s group were excited and ambitious about their own heroism, and thought about how funny it was. Long Xuan had once said that Luo Wei was the best actor in the world, but to be honest, there wasn’t a single bad actor within Long Xuan’s henchmen. The script was already written, they were just acting by following the directions of the play, but it was a damn good act.

Liu Wu Sheng insisted on marching into battle, and this left Luo Qi no choice but to agree. Even though Liu Wu Sheng wasn’t a commander, but he came under the command of the emperor. His insistence might very well be the insistence of the emperor. Luo Qi shot many looks over at Luo Wei, but by Luo Wei’s silence, he guessed that it was the will of the emperor to march out and meet their enemy.

Luo Wei accompanied Luo Qi wherever he went in the three days following his arrival, watching all of the generals and officers discussing strategies. Liu Wu Sheng suggested that they split into three groups in order to come together and surround the enemy, and that got the approval of all the officers and generals involved. Luo Wei kept silent, and Luo Qi didn’t ask much of him either, thinking that Luo Wei just didn’t understand.

On the early morning of the fourth day, ten thousand soldiers marched out of Yun Guan like a tornado.

Two days into the march, the army marched past Mountain Wu’s Wolf Valley, and set up camp on the south shore of Sunset Lake.

Luo Qi sat in his own sleeping tent. He was just about to order someone to bring food before Luo Wei lifted the tent flap and walked in. “Xiao Wei, have you eaten yet?” Luo Qi asked. He’d been so busy in the last few days that they didn’t even have a chance to talk.

“Big brother, can we go somewhere together?” Luo Wei asked.

Luo Qi was confused, it’s already midnight, “Where do you want to go?”

“Something really interesting is about to happen,” Luo Wei grinned as he tugged on Luo Qi’s sleeve, “So I’m asking big brother to come with me so we can watch it together.” He had to use this trick at home with his second oldest brother, but he didn’t think he’d have to use it again with his oldest brother too.

Luo Qi was still baffled when Luo Wei pulled him out of the tent.

In the depths of the night, the camp was lit with torches all around. The sound of horses occasionally broke the silence, but there were no sounds of people around.

“That’s Liu Wu Sheng’s tent,” Luo Qi recognized the tent in front of them as Luo Wei dragged him somewhere hidden in the shadows.

“Our great general Liu is entertaining a guest,” Luo Wei whispered to Luo Qi, “Big brother, let’s wait a moment.”

Luo Qi didn’t understand why he, a commander of three armies, had to hide here to watch one of his subordinate officer’s tent. He was just about to chide Luo Wei for nonsense when a person dressed in all black exited Liu Wu Sheng’s tent hurriedly.

“Let’s go back,” Luo Wei said.

“Who was that?” Luo Qi asked.

Luo Wei replied, “I’ve already asked someone to follow them, we’ll know in a little bit.”

Luo Qi was full of suspicion, and was dragged all the way back to his own tent again by his little brother.

When they’ve returned, Luo Wei ordered someone to bring Luo Qi dinner while he himself sat beside his older brother with a cup of tea in his hands.

How could Luo Qi still have an appetite after this? So he asked, “What’s really going on here?”

Luo Wei answered, “If I told you now, you wouldn’t believe me.”

“Why don’t you tell me, and I’ll be the judge of it!” Luo Qi said.

Luo Wei grinned, “Aren’t you hungry, though? Eat something first.”

At this moment, Ning Fei arrived too, looking just as confused as Luo Qi.

“I told him to come,” Luo Wei said to Luo Qi, then greeted Ning Fei and invited him to sit down too, “Let’s all wait a while longer.”

This little while longer extended to almost dawn.

Wei Lan was silent when he slipped into the tent, dressed in black and handed an envelop to Luo Wei without a word.

“Big brother, you should read this,” Luo Wei didn’t even look at it before he gave it to Luo Qi, “Wei Lan got this off of that man we saw earlier.”

Luo Qi quickly opened the envelope, but discovered that it was all ciphers, he didn’t understand any of it. When he looked at the writing, however, he recognized that it was Liu Wu Sheng’s.

“This is a book from the private collection of Northern Yan’s Imperial family, called ‘Strategy of All Under Heaven'(1),” Luo Wei gave another book to Luo Qi, “Apparently it’s a text that’s forbidden to be copied or transmitted by the Northern Yan’s Imperial family, but luckily, His Imperial Majesty has a copy in his study. Big brother, you can use this as a guide to the cipher and see what’s written in that letter. Big brother Ning Fei, you should help him look.”

FOOTNOTES:

1. Strategy of All Under Heaven – Original text is Tian Xia Ce, which can be literally translated as book or strategy of everything under the sky.