Henry Walker has already returned to normal. With a refined appearance and fair complexion, his eyes seemed to hold starlight, and a few strands of silver at his temples made his bearing even more extraordinary and dignified. Caleb Carter, though plagued by illness and looking weary, had twin locks of hair hanging down, a delicate, jade-like face, and lively eyes, displaying a different kind of graceful demeanor. Henry Walker saw him deep in thought for a long time and asked, “What are you thinking about?”

　　Caleb Carter pondered for a moment and spoke honestly.

　　After hearing him out, Henry Walker's expression darkened. He snorted coldly and said, “Just like your dead old man,” then turned to look toward the center of the river.

　　Caleb Carter knew that by “dead old man,” Henry Walker meant his father, but hearing the tone of his words, which seemed to carry some resentment, he was a bit puzzled. His father had always kept to himself and, until the disaster at Bayang, was rarely known to have made enemies. He asked, “Did you know my father?”

　　Henry Walker turned back, his face indeed showing undisguised anger, and said, “Five years ago, I asked him to help me plot to seize Qingzhou. He refused and even advised me to give up and retire to the mountains.”

　　Caleb Carter thought to himself, your notorious reputation was already established by then, so of course my father wouldn’t agree. Even when you had just escaped from Boling, my father saw you were completely blinded by hatred and wouldn’t have paid you any mind. Though he thought this, he showed nothing on his face and continued to listen to Henry Walker, who said, “If he had agreed back then, would the disaster at Bayang have happened? Don’t think the enemy general didn’t know your father—precisely because he was well aware of your father’s abilities did he resolve to massacre everyone.”

　　At these words, Caleb Carter was shaken to his core, but Henry Walker ignored him and continued, “He wouldn’t work for me, nor fall into anyone else’s trap—this has always been the way of the Yi family. But your father was the foremost of the Six Talents, with friends all over the world. To kill him openly was to make enemies everywhere. With such an opportunity at Bayang, how could Andrew Evans let it slip by?”

　　“What? You’re saying the one who killed my father was Andrew Evans?” Caleb Carter gripped the edge of the table, leaning forward, eyes burning as he stared at Henry Walker, his fingernails digging into his flesh without noticing. But before Henry Walker could answer, he slumped back into his chair and said weakly, “My father knew who it was at the time but didn’t say, and even told me not to seek revenge. He must not have wanted me to be blinded by hatred. Besides, how could I possibly avenge him now?”

　　“Stubborn. Think—if your father had helped me with Qingzhou, then moved on to plan for Yixing and Baishi, by now we might have already taken Yongning, and John Bolton could be nothing but bones. My great vengeance would be fulfilled, and the two prefectures would no longer suffer from war. Though I repeatedly led troops to harass the two prefectures, I kept John Bolton from invading Zhongliu to the west. While I brought disaster to Yixing, I benefited Zhongliu. Can such things be judged all the same?”

　　Caleb Carter knew his mind was clouded, justifying himself, but had no way to refute him. His father often said, if you cannot convince yourself, how can you say you are blinded? So he simply fell silent, his face growing even paler.

　　“Think of your father, the foremost of the Six Talents, who presented ten proposals to Southern Min and, within three years, quelled the Ryukyu bandit problem that had plagued the region for a hundred years, becoming famous throughout the land, and then retired after his success. Yet he said, ‘Among all the heroes of the world, none truly care for the world itself,’ and neither served the great families nor attached himself to the powerful. He lived in seclusion in Xinghua, Qingzhou, always envied by the Yi clan, and in the end met a tragic fate. Isn’t that the height of stubbornness?”

　　Henry Walker was speaking of the Ryukyu bandit affair, which Caleb Carter knew about. In the winter of the twenty-sixth year of the new dynasty, Adam Carter traveled south to Min, just as Ryukyu bandits were pillaging Zhangtai, leaving devastation in their wake. Outraged, he went to see the then Prince of Nanmin, Zongzheng Qi, and presented the “Ten Proposals to Eliminate the Ryukyu Bandits,” known as the Ten Strategies for Pacifying Bandits. These included relocating border residents; banning fishing, crossings, and trade; repairing the Guilai Pavilion to pacify surrendered bandits; building tower ships and reorganizing the navy; linking beacon towers to warn of bandit activity; and building the Yi’an Fort at key points, among others. In just three years, the Ryukyu bandit problem that had plagued the region for nearly a century was resolved. With the bandits pacified, Zongzheng Qi incorporated Ryukyu Island into the jurisdiction of Southern Min, establishing Fengzhu Prefecture, which governed Fengzhu, Shannbei, Tianling, and Pingding counties, and appointed his father as Commandant of Fengzhu Prefecture, allowing him to form his own troops and establish a clan. Adam Carter declined and retired to Xinghua in Qingzhou, earning the world’s respect.

　　“In the thirty-fifth year, your father was invited by Wanling’s Ethan Brooks to oversee military and civil affairs in Donghai Prefecture, where he presented the ‘Donghai Salt Policy,’ a thousand-word treatise, and recommended the Donglin Society—the greatest association along the Yangtze—to take charge of the salt administration in Donghai. Only then could Donghai focus all its efforts on eradicating the pirates of Pujihai, and within five years, the pirates vanished from Donghai. It was said throughout the land: ‘Whoever gains the Six Talents can rule the world.’”