"Let's speak of it in a moment." Zhang Liang lifted a hand, then stepped to Goku and bowed. "Sir Goku, after more than ten years you are unchanged—your bearing as dazzling as ever."
"Zhang Liang—so you weren't seized by Qin?" Goku smiled at the refined, scholarly figure.
"To be frank," Zhang Liang said, bowing again, "I heard you had come to Sanghai and sought you out to ask a question. By chance, I escaped this calamity."
"You were looking for me? What matter?" Goku's brows rose.
"I've heard you understand Qimen Dunjia, that you can read the stars, glimpse the future… even alter another's fate." His gaze slid briefly to Shaoyu. "I wish to know one thing only: how will the world's destiny end? Will an age of peace truly arrive?"
The room sobered. It was the question they all carried.
"You shouldn't ask me," Goku replied with an easy smile. "Ask him." He nodded at Shaoyu.
"Ask him? Why?" Da Tiechui stared, baffled.
"Could it be that Shaoyu… Shaoyu will…?" Ban Dashi and the others gaped. Xiang Liang's eyes, by contrast, shone with barely contained excitement.
"He's the one I've chosen," Goku said. "But whether he walks the hegemon's path or the king's way—that rests entirely on those around him."
"So it truly has been your hand upon the board," Zhang Liang murmured, bowing deeply. "Your methods are beyond mortal reckoning. Zhang Liang is in awe."
"Then—you've made your choice?" Goku asked, amused.
"Isn't this precisely what you hoped for, Sir Goku?" Zhang Liang cupped his hands.
"You're not so hidebound after all." Goku patted Shaoyu's shoulder. "Congratulations. Treasure such a mind—one fit to steady your empire."
"Ah?" Shaoyu blinked, still a step behind the conversation.
"You little rascal, thank Sir Goku already," Fan Zeng murmured, nudging Shaoyu. "With Zi Fang at your side, what enterprise could fail?"
"R-right!" Shaoyu bowed solemnly. "Thank you, brother Goku. I swear I won't fail your expectations." He turned and bowed to Zhang Liang. "Mister Zi Fang—please guide me hereafter."
"Gladly," Zhang Liang said. "But you're still young. Learn first. When I'm satisfied, I'll pledge myself to you unto death."
With that, the pattern of fate shifted. The Zhang Liang who, in another history, followed the Hegemon of Western Chu now stood at a fork. What future would this world choose?
"Look!" Tianming cried, pointing. "Smoke—thick smoke!"
"That's our Xiao Sheng Xianzhuang…" Zhang Liang's face drained. "I thought Li Si might show mercy for old times' sake. He is without heart."
"So the burning of books and the burying of scholars begins," Goku said softly—then froze. "Damn—I forgot Shi Lan went back to the Confucian estate!" In the next instant he vanished.
The previous night, he had taken his companions into his inner world; Shi Lan had not gone with them and had returned to the Confucians alone.
"We should go too," Shaoyu said, bolting for the door.
"Wait for me!" Tianming sprinted after him. "Hey—slow down!" Dao Zhi flickered and was gone.
"Master Ban, hold things here. I'll guard Tianming," Xiao Gao said, and flashed away.
"Gai will take his leave," Gai Nie added, bowing once before he, too, departed.
"Zi Fang—Shaoyu and the others are in your hands," Ban Dashi said.
"Rest easy," Zhang Liang replied, and leapt after them.
"You should go as well," Ban Dashi told Rong with a teasing smile. "Since you care, don't waste your chance—or you'll regret it."
"What nonsense," Duanmu Rong said coolly, though color rose at her ears. She slipped away without another word.
"Sigh. There goes our goddess physician," Ban Dashi muttered.
Outside the Confucian hall, flames clawed at the sky—not the estate itself, but piles of bamboo texts hurled into the blaze by streams of Qin soldiers.
"Li Si—you studied among us," Fu Nian shouted, bound and forced to his knees with the others. "Why be so ruthless?"
Had he not feared for his disciples, he would already be cutting his way out. But if he struck now, they might escape while the innocent died in droves.
"If you had not colluded with Mohist rebels, would this be your end?" Li Si replied, voice flat as he watched volume after volume vanish in fire. "I carry out His Majesty's will. If blame must be laid, lay it at your own feet."
"For the sake of our old ties—spare the disciples. Take me," Fu Nian said.
"I cannot." Li Si's eyes were unreadable. "You chose the worst moment to be discovered. I believed the Confucians stood apart. Instead you plot with rebels against Qin. Unforgivable. By imperial command—no traces left: burn the books… bury the Confucians."
Shock rippled through the bound masters. "You would exterminate us?" Fu Nian snarled. "Never!"
He tensed and snapped the ropes around him to strands. Freedom was a heartbeat away—
"Hmph." A cold grunt split the air. From the Qin ranks a scarred giant, glyphs of many states tattooed across his body, vaulted forward. The edge-less greatsword in his hands cleaved down like a falling mountain.
"Ju Que," Fu Nian breathed, face tightening.
"Senior Brother—beware!" Yan Lu cried, moving to aid him—but three black shadows flashed in, blades kissing his throat. The killing intent was ice.
Fu Nian bent and slipped the first savage strike, the blade's wind scorching his cheek.
"Eh!" The warrior—Sheng Qi—spun, Ju Que howling as it swept crosswise. Stone cracked as the strike carved a furrow, showering grit.
Empty-handed and caught cold, Fu Nian could not answer such power. In a handful of exchanges he was kicked hard to the ground. Ju Que slammed into the earth beside his face, and the courtyard webbed with cracks.
"Ju Que is only twelfth," Fu Nian said, breath steady despite the dust and blood, "yet its force is unmatched. I concede the strike."
"An unworthy victory," Sheng Qi snorted. "They say your Tai A ranks fourth. I had hoped to test it. The times deny us both."
"Chancellor, all is prepared," a Qin officer reported.
"Then send the Confucians on their way," Li Si said, the briefest flicker—regret?—passing and gone.
Soldiers shoved disciples toward the gaping pits. Cries and curses rose and fell in waves.
The tragedy had begun.
One after another, Confucian disciples tumbled into the trench, voices interweaving—pleading, raging. Even some Qin soldiers' eyes burned with shame.
Yet they were Qin's soldiers. Orders are iron. Their duty was His Majesty's command.
Clouds congealed, winds climbed. Thunder rolled. Rain came down in sheets, as if Heaven itself could not bear to watch what men would do.
...
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