Six Celestial Swords Read Free

strongly advised against the Five Kingdoms Resolution. In his opinion it was no resolution, but a prelude to disaster. He blamed the Kingdoms for the Song family’s current struggle.
    Since the lords of the outer regions of Sheng Fan had been given a taste of the Dynasty’s power, it seemed they now wanted more of it. Or as if they’d like to spit it back and create something new that they would force all of Sheng Fan to swallow—under a new banner and a new emperor, of course.
    An example came to mind: Du—residing on the farthest western border of Sheng Fan—harbored steadily evolving ambitions of becoming a separate nation in and of itself. It would not be so, not so long as at least one member of the Song family remained who could be placed and kept upon the throne of the Empire, offering enough stability to the land to hold such ambitions at bay. However, posing a more urgent threat was the Xun Kingdom, to the south of the Imperial City, who wanted simply to bring down the Song and begin a new dynasty of its own. It was a constant struggle to keep the rebellious governors mollified or beaten back and, unfortunately, it was too late to revoke power that had already been given without provoking costlier civil battles.
    And now the Empress was under attack from another source as well. One whose roots carried back to the very creation of Sheng Fan and whom no one, including Xu Liang, expected to see in their lifetime.
    The oldest of the bodyguards, Gai Ping, positioned his horse alongside Xu Liang’s, placing himself between his master and the young guard he’d previously reprimanded. “My lord,” he beckoned with respect. When Xu Liang looked at him, silently inviting him to speak further, he said, “I know that you can see things as other men cannot, but the air disturbs me. The others are uneasy as well. Should we quicken our pace?”
    “No,” Xu Liang replied quietly. He looked away from the man and again caught a spectacular view of the sky gleaming orange over the river as the sun departed from the sky. “Moving at a rushed pace would only attract attention. If there is someone here to be concerned with, they are going to be a concern regardless of how quickly we arrive at the inevitable conflict.”
    “You sense something, then?”
    Xu Liang shook his head. “I sense nothing here, but I trust your instinct, which leads me to believe that the disturbance awaits us in the village, or will come from there. In fact, … here it comes now.”
    As he was speaking, Xu Liang returned his gaze to the upcoming river settlement, where a well-armored man on horseback rode out to meet them.
    The stranger stopped at the edge of the village, wearing a grim smile on his broad, bearded countenance while no less than ten armed men scrambled to catch up with him on foot. As the peons arrived they took up a defensive stance in front of their evident commander.
    Xu Liang drew his mount to an eventual halt and held his arm out, silently instructing his bodyguards to do the same. Xu Liang studied the men on the ground and assessed by their common appearance that they were little more than bandits, men paid for the use of their sword arms.
    Paid by whom?
    “The famed Xu Liang of the Imperial City,” the man on horseback said with tremendous confidence and very little respect. Perhaps it had not yet been earned in his eyes. “Can it be?”
    Xu Liang looked to the speaker on horseback. The man bore no symbols or colors anywhere on his person that would readily indicate his lord, if he served one. The man’s attire appeared mostly blue, a shade too pale to belong to the Blue Dragon of the Ji Kingdom. Besides, Ji housed the Imperial City, or had rather been formed around it, like armor for the breast to protect the heart. No one of Ji’s military would dare impose so vile and flagrant an act of treachery before one of the Imperial Court. Xu Liang knew this not so much through personal pride, as through the pride of others. He