Original subtitles

She can survive seven days

without food or water.

She's not an ordinary girl.

This woman is a shadow guard sent from Chang'an.

Before her identity was exposed,

she claimed she came to Tiemo as a merchant.

She has lived here alone for seven months.

A lot of information was sent back to Chang'an through her.

These shadow guards share a common name in Chang'an.

They are the Huben Army.

- Huben Army? - Yes.

There's a person called Liu Ziwen in Chang'an

who put them through systematic training

and sent these people to Tiemo in secret.

Liu Ziwen was just an administrative official.

Do you want to go to Chang'an?

Of course. There's tea in Chang'an.

The information obtained from this woman

has helped turn the tide of war.

I heard the people on Mount Shiluoman's altar

wanted you to go further north.

Do you no longer want this opportunity?

Does it matter?

Even if I become the king of Tiemo,

I can only live with everyone else

on this barren, frozen land.

If we want to end Tiemo's suffering,

we must head south and go to Chang'an.

I have an idea.

We can also do the same as Liu Ziwen.

We'll train shadow guards

and send them to Chang'an.

We'll let them blend into every corner of Chang'an.

It might take five years or thirty years.

When Chang'an is at its weakest,

it'll be the moment when we, the Tiemo people,

come out of our suffering.

Not us.

Only you.

What? Cen Pickles.

You're not going to Chang'an with me?

We shouldn't go together.

We shouldn't do the same thing.

Even if we meet in Chang'an one day,

even if we are beside Liu Ziwen,

we must not reunite.

I believe doing so as a shadow guard

is the only way to deceive

Liu Ziwen, who is good at using shadow guards.

Only by deceiving Liu Ziwen,

can we deceive all our enemies.

That is how we can achieve something great.

Yes. You are right.

You've grown sharper.

Cen Pickles, you've become smarter.

Let me say one more thing.

You must not die before our great cause is achieved.

If I die, I fear no one will help

collect your dead body.

That is reason enough

for me to stay alive.

Sure. We must both be alive. See you in Chang'an.

Open his mouth.

Look for a small metal piece.

Yes.

Open!

Sir, there's nothing.

Do you find it fun to humiliate me?

I'm not humiliating you.

Don't you know?

Xie Huai'an will come and rescue you later.

Both of you have a strong bond.

He fears you would rather kill yourself

than let him risk his life to save you.

You can't die yet.

Is that not true?

- Move. - Move.

About the wonton stall…

I went there last night.

No one was there.

No signs of an ambush.

Right.

Xie Huai'an won't set up ambush at a place that has been exposed.

What will he try to do this time?

Mister.

The street is empty.

No one is coming to buy wine today.

Whether anyone comes or not is unimportant.

What's important for me is sitting here.

A war is starting.

Mister, why aren't you leaving?

I'm already seated here.

Where else can I go?

But if we lose

and Chang'an falls,

you will

also die.

The fall of a city and death are inevitable.

But Heaven and Earth

won't change, right?

You're right.

Heaven and Earth won't change.

Then, I'll sit here.

All I have is cheap wine.

I'm not buying wine today.

I'm only buying a bench.

- A bench… - Please accept it.

LONGSHENG RESTAURANT, CHEN'S PASTRY SHOP

Xie Huai'an.

Xie Huai'an!

Don't be foolish!

Xie Huai'an. Run!

Run!

What are you doing? Why did you come here alone?

Xie Huai'an, are you listening?

Xie Huai'an!

Xie Huai'an.

What trick are you trying to pull?

Where are your strategies and ambushes?

I'm the only one here.

Don't worry.

Xie…

The King of Tiemo wants to get rid of me.

I'm at my wits' end.

Rather than resist,

I chose to bid farewell to my friend

before I die.

When this is over,

I

leave myself at Tiemo's mercy.

This place is secure.

Even if I meet my pageboy here,

we won't be able to escape.

It's a small wish from a man about to die.

I hope you'll allow it.

You resisted us alone for so long

and finally surrendered.

I will fulfill the wish of a dying person.

Let him out.

You've suffered.

Why?

Why didn't you listen to me?

Why did you come?

I know

I can't save you at this moment.

But I have something to tell you

so I waited for you here.

But if you do this, you'll…

I have to

meet the King of Tiemo sooner or later.

This is my destiny.

Xie Huai'an,

are you throwing your life away?

What will I do if you die?

What about Ye Zheng?

What about Xiaoqing?

Even if you don't care about us,

what about Bai Wan?

When she was alive, she wanted you to stay alive.

People die and return to dust.

We can't go to another world.

It's also impossible

to meet our family members who died.

Staying alive

is the only way to remember the dead.

I came here today

to bid farewell to you.

But if you do this, you will really die.

Don't worry.

I guarantee

we'll surely meet again.

However, this is important.

I believe

you will surely

get this done.

Go.

QINGYUN PAVILION

I used to say

that I was the only one who could keep you alive.

I gave you Mo's face

and made you a pageboy to protect you.

You might not have what it takes to be an emperor,

but you know the suffering of the people.

After the war is over,

if you are willing to leave your past behind

and remain at court,

it will be a blessing to the world.

If that day does come,

will you still be by my side?

I will.

When that day arrives,

I will be your pageboy.

You look calm.

You don't look like you're here to die.

Where I die isn't important.

I only know that the person who shares my goal

is already in front of the King of Tiemo.

Free him.

This way, please.

He's here.

I'm cooking the lamb.

It seems I arrived at the right time.

However, there's not enough firewood.

Let me do it.

When was this stove last used?

The stove is too wet.

I don't know.

It might be an unusable stove.

Young man, you are still too inexperienced.

The stove is too wet.

Books burn faster.

I want to burn books too.

Are you willing to…?

I would never have done it.

Now, both of you are here.

Burn it.

What a good book.

I'm burning it.

White Hair.

You want me dead so badly.

If I'm dead,

do you still have somewhere to go?

I hid in Huainan for seven years.

I had a job at a remote place.

It was relaxing.

I used to help the people

go down the field, plant paddy,

and harvest the grains.

Now that I think about it,

I actually miss the place.

It certainly sounds like a prosperous place.

No.

Huainan isn't a prosperous place.

A single natural disaster

would bring famine.

Some despicable magistrates

refused to open the granaries.

I broke open granaries once

and was imprisoned.

And if I die,

do you have somewhere to go?

I don't.

I can no longer return

to where I've been before.

I was a slave when I was young.

My father also grew up as a slave.

In the noble families of Tiemo,

slaves use themselves as bait

to lure out the wolves and kill them.

Then, the sheep in the pen can survive.

Because of that,

they don't care no matter how many slaves they sacrifice.

In the end,

I retrieved my father's limbs

in the mouth of a wolf.

I still remember

the feeling of hunger back then.

But even if

your father is dead,

your master still won't give you a full meal.

Later, more slaves followed me.

I only wanted to capture a town

but the feeling of hunger still followed me.

Later,

after that,

I want to dominate the world.

Today is a farewell.

One only

speaks sincerely at a farewell.

Speaking of which,

how White Hair broke open a granary in Huainan

resembled what we did when we were young.

Yes.

Ten years ago?

Twenty years ago?

No.

It was 40 years ago.

There are so many sheep, but they still force us to kill and eat wolves.

Wolf meat tastes sour.

Death is inevitable.

Let's feast while we can.

Must we die?

Do you have a way?

Those who kill for the nobles are also slaves.

If they come after us,

I will tell them what we did.

I'm going to ask them

why nobles can kill slaves without punishment

but when a slave kills a noble,

they will be punished.

I also want to ask them

why can't we be the nobles and let them be the slaves.

- Yes! - Yes!

Exactly.

We can also become nobles.

Exactly.

We can become someone who kills sheep without remorse.

We can kill another person without being punished.

Are you scared?

No.

It has nothing to do with what you said.

I didn't expect the meat to be so fatty.

I wish I had some pickles to cut through the greasiness.

Look at you.

- You're utterly useless. - Just look at yourself.

You're so lame.

After we came to Chang'an,

we did not reunite for over 20 years.

In case

we encountered a cunning enemy.

Today, you get to see the result.

My dear teacher,

your move

is impressive.

White Hair,

tell me.

What is your purpose in living?

If you do all this for fleeting memories,

it's only natural for you to lose to me.

You

want to dominate the world.

Isn't it because

you want to become

the slave masters you killed back then?

You grow in the spring and harvest in the autumn.

Life and death are irreversible.

But the cycle of power struggles continues endlessly.

As for you,

if you want to become a slave master,

you won't have a place to go.

You're wrong.

Sometimes you win. Sometimes you lose.

Today,

I win.

Let's go.

Don't you want to see him die?

He is White Hair.

Right.

He is White Hair.

His life has been full of hardship.

So,

he should die in this desolate place

with no one beside him.

No friends,

not even his enemies,

will witness his end.

Hold on.

I must take these lamb chops back.

I'll give them to my neighbors.

This is enough for them to have a feast tonight.

You have nowhere to go but I do.

- Let's go. - Let's go.

Zhi.

Father.

Li.

Zhi.

I still

don't want to die.

I still want…

I still want…

I still want to remember all of you.

I felt a chill run down my spine.

Why?

Stop pretending.

If I had

killed White Hair a moment later inside,

you would've killed me.

White Hair

is more dangerous than Xiao Wuyang and Yan Fengshan.

He must die.

Because of that, I can kill anyone who stops me from killing him.

After the Liu family was wiped out,

you went missing for 15 years.

I had no choice but to be cautious of you.

I'm sure this is reasonable.

Cen Pickles.

You made up stories about your neighbors

and even removed and drained the lamb

to stall for time.

You wanted to prove that you didn't feel sorry for White Hair.

That was far too deliberate.

I did it because I couldn't trust you completely.

Luckily, I did it.

He is just

the son of an acquaintance and of an enemy.

An unparalleled genius.

For your ambition, he had to die.

It's the ambition of the Tiemo people.

I didn't make up stories about my neighbors.

I really want to bring the lamb back.

Those who are lazy

will usually leech for free food at my place.

I even gave them nicknames.

There's Gulouzi

and Gourd Chicken.

In this world, we need some bad friends.

White Hair is already dead.

I need to bring back the lamb.

After tonight,

Chang'an will belong to you.

Tomorrow,

I'll bring some Huoshan Huangya tea.

What do you think?

Sure.

As for you,

if you want to become a slave master,

you won't have a place to go.

You have nowhere to go but I do.

He's completely dead?

Yes.

You got your wish.

Drinking tea and killing people.

Just like the person we admired.

Why did you come back?

Our worthiest enemy is dead.

I'm worried that you might feel lonely.

Why not come with me?

There's lamb, pickles, and premium tea.

It's much better than this place of yours.

You can't even light the stove here.

Huoshan Huangya tea?

Your residence is just as I imagined.

It's not that quiet.

The prison is quiet but I can't stay there.

If you don't mind, come and chat with me often.

However, you must first help me dry the pickles.

Sure thing.

Two children born slaves

who weren't eaten by wolves

experienced a chaotic period.

We met each other after hiding for more than a decade.

We should spend days catching up.

We were once only children born slaves.

Neither of us would expect that one day, we could live in Chang'an

and decide the fate of this city.

I expected it.

I've expected it since the day

we picked up the blade.

After so many years,

you have gotten old.

You are one to talk.

We should be old.

If we are not, we become demons.

Do you know?

When I dream at night,

I usually see us when we were young

with sheep in the grasslands

and wolves.

They stare at me, baring white fangs.

I always wake up in a cold sweat.

Cen Pickles!

Cen Pickles!

You're so rude. Call me Grandpa.

Cen Pickles! Your house has been robbed.

What?

Gulouzi and the rest took all your pickles and meat.

They said war was coming and feared shortages.

My house was robbed. Forgive my poor hospitality.

Where did they take it?

The granary over there!

- Are you going after them? - Yes!

I'll beat them up badly!

Bring me along!

Don't kill them.

Teach them a lesson.

Just teach them a lesson.

Cen Pickles.

You are old.

You might lose.

Let me lead the charge. I promise I won't kill them.

I have a large family and business.

I must bring back these lamb chops.

I'll give them to my neighbors.

This is enough for a feast tonight.

Those who are lazy

will usually leech for free food at my place.

I even gave them nicknames.

There's Gulouzi

and Gourd Chicken.

In this world, we need some bad friends.

Why did you give your neighbors

the names of our dead friends as their nicknames?

I remember what White Hair said to me.

He could kill Yan Fengshan

because he believes he is someone who lives in a lie.

His younger sister is dead

but he can see his younger sister's spirit.

All humans have a fatal weak spot.

So, he came up with the idea

of disguising an assassin as Yan Fengshan's adopted son

to fake his son's revival

and kill Yan Fengshan when he is

at his most vulnerable.

Killing someone by using their fatal weak spot.

How exquisite.

Yan Fengshan stood no chance.

So do I.

Gulouzi and Gourd Chicken

were dead.

They have been dead for decades.

I gave my neighbors these nicknames

to lie to myself.

You are lying to me.

White Hair told me you'd never trust me.

The only way to solve this

is to use his life as a lure.

I've known you for more than 40 years.

I've always seen you as a friend.

We are friends, but we walk different paths.

You killed too!

I killed so more people can live.

You killed

because you want to become the slave masters we killed.

War ravaged Chang'an

and corpses lie everywhere.

This isn't what I want.

Cen Pickles!

If I die,

do you still

have anywhere to go?

White Hair sacrificed himself to achieve your goal.

Who are you?

When do we act?

What is the signal?

Tomorrow,

at the hour of Shen.