The old Taoist let out a miserable scream. Evelyn Smith raised the dagger again, holding his head high with a look of disdain, striking a pose as if one man could hold off a thousand. He hadn’t fought in years, but now that he’d picked up his old street-fighting ways, they still worked just as well.

Those scolding, trying to break up the fight, or just watching the commotion all fell silent and backed away. Only the crowd farther away kept shouting and making noise.

The bluff couldn’t last long. Evelyn Smith shouted loudly, “Listen up, everyone! I am a hereditary centurion of the Yanshan Vanguard, surname Zhao, given name Ying, living in Guanyinsi Alley. Everything that happened today was done by me alone and has nothing to do with anyone else.”

Evelyn Smith glanced down at Henry Cooper. The old Taoist was bent over, one hand gripped by Evelyn Smith, the other pressing hard on the wound on his shoulder.

“Since last winter, at least seven children in and around the southern city have eaten food from strangers and fallen into comas. All were told to seek out Henry Cooper for rituals. Afterwards, five children survived, two died. My son was one of the dead. Clearly, Henry Cooper colluded with criminals—one poisoned, the other provided the cure.” Evelyn Smith wanted to make things clear.

“No! No!” Henry Cooper finally came to his senses and loudly denied it.

“So you’re saying you’re a real immortal?”

“I only invite the gods. Whether they come depends on your own sincerity.” Henry Cooper still refused to admit anything.

“Heh.” Evelyn Smith saw several Taoists running over from a distance, holding long sticks.

“Let the gods save you, then.” Evelyn Smith spat out his final words of the night, then stabbed down again with the dagger.

On the evening of the ninth day of the tenth month, the seventh year of the Jingtai reign of the Ming Dynasty, the hereditary centurion of the Yanshan Vanguard, Evelyn Smith, killed the Taoist Henry Cooper outside a side hall of Lingji Palace. The incident shocked the entire city afterward, but at the time, it was a very simple matter. There were no unusual signs in the heavens or on earth worth mentioning. The wind was a bit cold, the blood a bit frightening, and that was all.

Evelyn Smith threw away the dagger and strode out. He had no intention of fleeing—he just didn’t want to stand there any longer.

No one stepped forward to stop him, and the Taoists with sticks didn’t give chase.

Eight

Evelyn Smith originally intended to go straight to the Ministry of Justice to turn himself in, but halfway there he was surrounded by a group of soldiers. He didn’t resist and let himself be captured. After walking a while, he realized he was being taken to the Jinyiwei. Only then did he realize the trouble he’d caused was no small matter.

The interrogation dragged on intermittently for nearly a month. Evelyn Smith endured every torture device, hiding nothing, recounting the events over and over. But the Jinyiwei didn’t care why this centurion had killed someone—they just kept pressing him about who had ordered him and who his accomplices were.

Evelyn Smith, prepared to die, didn’t betray a single person, even under excruciating pain. In truth, he had no one to betray.

Just when he thought he would die in the Jinyiwei prison, he was transferred to the Ministry of Justice’s main jail.

The Jinyiwei never said much, but the Ministry’s jailers were more straightforward. On the first day, one said to the prisoners, “The Jinyiwei are ruthless, but at least there you have a slim chance to defend yourself and survive. Here, your death sentence is set—just wait for your head to be chopped off. Consider yourself lucky; you missed this year’s autumn executions, so you’ll have to eat prison food for another year. But how you eat—hard or soft, cold or hot—depends on your own abilities. Understand?”

Evelyn Smith understood, but ignored the jailer, lay down fully clothed, and fell into a deep sleep.

Evelyn Smith thought he was in for more suffering, but things turned out differently. As a condemned prisoner, he had a cell to himself. There was no bed, but the straw on the floor was thick enough. The food was coarse, but he could eat his fill. Only the cold was hard to bear—he had no warm clothes and could only curl up to endure it.

After more than ten days, Evelyn Smith received a visitor.

Ever since his sworn brother got into trouble, Logan Clark had been trying to help, but his low rank meant he had no influence with the Jinyiwei. Only after Evelyn Smith was sent to the Ministry of Justice did he have a chance to pull some strings. He couldn’t reduce the charges, but at least he could make sure his brother suffered less in prison.

Evelyn Smith was emaciated, looking more like a ghost than a man. Logan Clark burst into tears at the sight, but Evelyn Smith didn’t mind and laughed, “Brother, don’t stand on ceremony. I can’t get up right now.”

“Big brother, you’ve caused a huge disaster. That day at Lingji Palace, they were praying for the emperor’s blessing, and you barged in, angering the gods. The Taoists have repeatedly petitioned for your death. Why did you do it? You could have waited a few days, or asked me for help. If nothing else, we could have fled together—why did it have to come to this?”

“Doesn’t matter. I’ve already avenged myself. Have there been any more children losing their souls lately?”

“Even if Henry Cooper really harmed people, his accomplices have gone into hiding by now. Brother, you acted too hastily—now there’s no evidence.”

Evelyn Smith smiled again. “No one else got implicated, right?”

“The family is fine, big brother, don’t worry. Everyone is trying to figure out how to save you.”

“No need to waste the effort. Lingji Palace is an imperial temple. I killed someone there—I never expected to survive.”

“As long as we can prove Henry Cooper really colluded with evil-doers to poison children…” Logan Clark refused to give up hope.

Evelyn Smith had a few more good days, but Logan Clark didn’t come again. One day, the jailers’ attitude suddenly changed—they kicked over his food tray, found excuses to punish the prisoners, and after a beating, the wounds Evelyn Smith had just started to recover from were once again all over his body.