Pan Yucheng went into the peach trees carefully.

Only then did he see there was a lone grave off to one side.

A man in white sat with his back against a peach trunk, several empty wine jars scattered around him.

Pan Yucheng cupped his fist and was opening his mouth when the man's sleeve swept out, scooped up one of the empty jars and flung it back at him.

The jar came at him like a round out of a barrel.

Pan Yucheng had no time to draw. He put a fist into it without thinking.

Bang!!!

The jar burst.

Pan Yucheng grunted. The force of it threw him clean off his feet and into a peach tree behind him. His blood surged, and he nearly brought up a mouthful of it.

The man in white was already on his feet, kicking again and again with the one foot.

The empty jars on the ground went at Pan Yucheng with a shriek of split air.

Pan Yucheng's face changed. He slipped one jar, moved fast sideways, and got behind a peach tree.

The tree was too low. The jars struck its branches and burst, one after another, and shards flew, and limbs as thick as a child's arm snapped clean off.

"Old Pan! Get out of there —"

Ning Chen had come into the peach trees behind him, and he shouted it at the top of his voice.

Pan Yucheng didn't hesitate. He went backwards like lightning.

A hiss.

A sword went straight through the trunk.

The terrible thing was that it was made of wood.

The blade turned in the wood. There was a crack, and the peach tree broke in half at the middle.

The cold sweat came out all over Pan Yucheng. Without Ning Chen's shout, that sword would have gone through more than a trunk.

The man in white held the sword slanted down at his side. His eyes, sharper than any edge, were on Pan Yucheng.

Bang!!!

Ning Chen didn't hesitate. He raised the musket and fired.

A flicker of white, and the man…