“Your subject makes bold to ask Your Majesty — what is this immortal powder?”

The Right Chancellor bent forward as he asked it.

The Xuan Emperor’s face was ugly with it. “Ning Chen. Explain it to them.”

Ning Chen nodded, and went through what immortal powder does.

When the court had heard him out, their faces changed all at once.

This stuff could shake the foundations of the state and bring a whole country to ruin.

But with the officials in the grip of the craving there in front of them, held down by the guards, the court had to believe it whether it wanted to or not.

Li Hanru stepped out and said, “Your Majesty, this thing does great harm. The source of it must be run down and the root of it cleared out.”

The Right Chancellor stepped out too. “Your Majesty, this old subject begs Your Majesty to send an edict to every prefecture and county that no man is to touch this immortal powder.”

The Xuan Emperor’s face was cold, and he inclined his head slightly.

Ning Chen thought a moment and said, “Your Majesty, to stamp out immortal powder there must be heavy punishment.”

“It ought to go into the law of the Great Xuan.”

The Xuan Emperor nodded.

His eyes went coldly across the court. “Anyone else who has smoked immortal powder, stand out now, and this emperor can be lenient with you to some degree.”

“If this emperor has to find you out, it is the sword and no mercy!”

When the Xuan Emperor had finished, several more officials knelt down, trembling all over.

“Any more?”

The Xuan Emperor said it in a hard voice, and his face was frightening to look at.

The court was too frightened to breathe out loud.

But fortunately nobody else knelt.

The Xuan Emperor said angrily, “Carry this emperor’s command. Throw all these dogs into the Inspectorate’s cells.”

“This emperor allows that you did not know what immortal powder does. If the poison is got out of you, this emperor will not press you hard… But afterward you will resign your posts yourselves.”

“Nie Liang. Take these dogs away.”

Nie Liang said quickly, “Your subject obeys the command!”

Before long every one of the officials who had smoked immortal powder had been taken off.

The Xuan Emperor rubbed the space between his brows, his mind in a turmoil.

“Ning Chen?”

“Your subject is here!”

The Xuan Emperor said heavily, “The Inspectorate will take this business and go to the bottom of it. This emperor wants to know who is stirring up the wind and the waves behind it.”

Ning Chen bent forward. “Your subject receives the edict!”

The Xuan Emperor glanced across the court and said, sounding tired, “My lords may all go back… You all understand now how much harm immortal powder does. Do not give this emperor any more to worry about.”

“Ning Chen, come with this emperor. Beloved Minister Ji, wait outside.”

The Xuan Emperor turned and started back toward the Hall of Cultivated Heart.

Ning Chen followed him in.

The Xuan Emperor looked tired all over, and said heavily, “Ning Chen, this emperor knows you have no great awe of the imperial house. But the face of the imperial family is at stake, and what happened with Prince Fu is to be kept quiet.”

Any other man with no awe of the imperial house would have been snicked long ago.

But the Xuan Emperor could not bring himself to kill Ning Chen. He was truly fond of the boy.

Ning Chen had the look of a man who had something to say and had stopped himself, and in the end he held it in and bent forward. “Your subject understands!”

The truth was that he wanted to warn His Majesty that there was something wrong with Prince Fu.

He could see how indulgent His Majesty was toward Prince Fu.

He had no proof at present, and there was no testing a man’s water in this world, so Prince Fu had not smoked immortal powder merely because Ning Chen said so.

To come out with it with no proof behind it would only let Prince Fu call it a frame-up.

And Prince Fu was His Majesty’s own younger brother. To frame a prince was a serious crime.

So Ning Chen held it in.

Better to wait until he had proof.

“Ning Chen, the empire itself is at stake in this. It must be run to the bottom.”

Ning Chen nodded. “Your subject will spare no effort.”

The Xuan Emperor made a sound of assent and said, “You should get back early too. Send Ji Mingchen in to this emperor on your way out.”

“Your Majesty should not worry too much over it either. Your Majesty’s health is what matters… Your subject withdraws!”

Ning Chen bent and bowed, and turned to go, but then stopped and turned back.

“Your Majesty, your subject asks leave to search the residence of Prince Fu.”

A slight change went over the Xuan Emperor’s face, and for a long while he said nothing.

After a moment he waved a hand. “You may withdraw for now. Let this emperor think about it.”

Ning Chen did not press him, and turned and left.

Whether the Xuan Emperor agreed or not, he was going to investigate Prince Fu on the quiet.

First, His Majesty was genuinely good to him.

Second, that he was alive at all now, and living as comfortably as this, was entirely because of His Majesty’s favor.

So he not only had to keep a firm hold of His Majesty’s leg, he had to protect it.

“Is there truly no feeling for kin in the imperial house? You are this emperor’s own younger brother.”

The Xuan Emperor watched Ning Chen’s back as he went, the light gone out of his eyes, and said it low to himself.

Ning Chen came out of the Hall of Cultivated Heart, and Ji Mingchen, the Minister of War, was waiting outside the door.

“Lord Ji, immortal powder has spread as far as the Ministry of War. Shao Hongbai has been smoking it too, and there is no telling whether others are in it with him.”

“The cannon are of the first importance. Lord Ji will have to take great care.”

The two of them were old acquaintances, so Ning Chen did not go around and around about it but put his finger straight on the sore place.

Ji Mingchen nodded slightly. “This minister failed in his watch. It is thanks to you. If the drawings of the muskets and the cannon were lost and fell into an enemy country’s hands, ten thousand deaths would not wipe out this minister’s offense.”

Ning Chen shook his head. “It is no fault of Lord Ji’s. I doubt you had ever heard of immortal powder before this either, let alone known what it does.”

“Now go in quickly, Lord Ji. His Majesty is waiting for you.”

Ji Mingchen nodded and went into the Hall of Cultivated Heart.

Ning Chen stretched himself and walked toward the palace gate.

The inner palace, the Hibiscus Palace.

The Empress’s big pancake face was livid all over, and there was a snarl in her eyes.

She looked at the old eunuch in front of her, her voice dark and cold. “Are the men all in place?”

The old eunuch said quickly, “All in place!”

He hesitated, then said, “Your Majesty, is this a good time to move? If it were traced back to Your Majesty it would be trouble.”

The Empress smiled a dark smile. “You are wrong. This is the best moment there is to be rid of Ning Chen.”

“Every official of the court knows he is in the palace… If Ning Chen is killed on his way out, every official of the court is under suspicion, and however they investigate it will never come back to this empress.”

“First the gold mine and now immortal powder. All that we built up over so long, and every bit of it ruined in his hands. Even Prince Fu is shut up now… The man is simply our undoing.”

“This mongrel cannot be left alive any longer. We have to be rid of him, whatever it takes… This empress has a feeling about it. Whether our rising comes off or fails, Ning Chen is the one thing that could turn it.”

“And then there is the crown prince. What a useless creature… We gave him the thing all that time ago, and Old General Chen is alive and well and Ning Chen is still jumping about.”

Something flickered in the old eunuch’s eyes. “Your Majesty, the crown prince has been slow to move. Could he have begun to suspect us?”

The Empress’s eyes tightened, and then she made a cold sound in her nose. “And if he has? It is too late for him to get off the boat now.”

“On the killing of the Second Prince alone he can never get off this boat of ours… He can sit on it quietly for this empress until the day he dies.”

“You may go. If Ning Chen is dead, remember to bring this empress the good news before anyone else.”

The old eunuch bent forward. “Yes!”

The palace was too big. It took Ning Chen better than an hour just to walk to the palace gate.

He got on Diaochan and went clopping off toward the Inspectorate.

The cold wind was howling.

There had been nobody in the streets for a long while.

This is the hour when a man ought to have his arms around Yudie, sound asleep, Ning Chen thought.

But he still had to go to the Inspectorate and question Feng Cheng.

When he reached Great Sun Street, Ning Chen was suddenly uneasy.

And just then Diaochan let out a rough, unquiet whinny.

Whip!!!

The sharp sound of split air went up.

Purely by reflex, Ning Chen swung himself down off the horse.

An arrow went by, grazing the horse’s back.

Christ!!!

Ning Chen swore inside, drew his long blade, and slapped Diaochan on the rump. “Run…”

As he said it his eyes went once around him, and then he went for a shopfront at the side like a cheetah.

With a ringing of metal on stone, arrow after arrow struck the ground almost at his heels and glanced off the paving.

Ning Chen rolled where he was and got to the shop, and his back went into the shop door with a bang.

Just then a voice came from inside. “We’re closed. Come back tomorrow.”

“Go to hell…”

Ning Chen swore at him furiously, and just then the sound of split air came again.

Ning Chen rolled along the foot of the wall.

Several hard, ringing raps, and sharp arrows stood in the shop’s wooden door.

When the shower of arrows was past, Ning Chen took his chance and sprinted, and got behind the corner ahead of him.

Just then a figure dropped down off the roof above.

Ning Chen brought the crossbow up and loosed.

Whip!!!

Before the man could turn, the bolt took him in the back. He let out a scream and went flat on the spot.

Ning Chen hurried to load the crossbow.

But before he had the bolt in, several more figures dropped from the roof and came at him like lightning.

Ning Chen gave up loading it, threw the crossbow at them, came out from the corner and ran for his life.

He was hardly out when two long blades came down at him, cold light running along them.

The cold sweat came out on Ning Chen. He fell back fast, out from under the stroke, then drove forward, and before the two of them had caught up with it he swept the blade across.

One of them was too slow. The blade took him through the throat, and he went staggering back with his hands at his neck, his own blade on the ground, blood welling out between his fingers.

The other stepped back and got clear of it… and then brought his blade down at Ning Chen.

Clang!!!

Sparks flew.

Ning Chen caught the man’s blade on his own, and then the dagger in his left hand opened the man’s throat like lightning.

But two long blades came at him from behind.

Ning Chen threw himself to the left, rolled where he landed and came up with the roll.

Not good!!!

Ning Chen groaned inside.

He was surrounded.

He had killed three, but there were more than ten of them left, every man in black with black cloth over his face, and nothing showing but a pair of dark, cold eyes.

“Who sent you? Do you know what the charge is for the murder of a silver coat of the Inspectorate?”

They did not answer. They came on toward Ning Chen slowly with their long blades in their hands.

Ning Chen suddenly looked off into the distance and called out, delighted, “Geng the Purple Coat! You’ve come at last!”

The men in black followed his eyes without thinking… and there was nobody there at all.

And in the moment when they turned their heads or looked around, Ning Chen moved.

He put everything into one stroke at one of the men in black.

The man in black was half a beat slow, and in his fright brought his blade up to block.

Clang!!!

Ning Chen’s blade came down on the flat of the other man’s and bore it under by main strength, and went on into his shoulder.

Ning Chen tried to pull the blade out, and it was caught in the bone.

He let it go, and went straight through and out of the ring.

Ning Chen did not hesitate for an instant. He ran for his life.

“After him!”

A dark, cold voice went up.

The men in black got hold of themselves and came after him hard.

Ning Chen saw an alley ahead and went straight into it.

Once he was in he did not run. He crouched low and pressed himself against the wall.

The first man in black into the alley had never thought Ning Chen would not run, and before he could take it in he had two inches of steel in his belly, twice over.

He staggered back with his hands over his belly and blocked the men behind him.

Ning Chen gripped the dagger and ran for his life.

The wounded man was pushed aside and the men behind him came on… The alley was black dark, and not even Ning Chen’s shadow could be seen in it.

The whole crowd of them went on down the alley.

When the last of them had gone by, Ning Chen came sliding down from above like a ghost. The alley was not wide, so he had put his feet against the two walls and hidden himself up there.

Ning Chen came down behind the last man in black, one hand over his mouth and one across his throat, clean and quick.

He laid the body down softly on the ground and went up behind the man now at the back, and did the same thing… one hand over the mouth, one across the throat.

(End of Chapter 204)