The Turning Wheel (End) — The Covenant
Kuaiji Commandery, Wu County.
The ruins of Gusu Terrace, said to have been built by the ancient King of Wu, Fucha, for the kingdom-toppling beauty Xi Shi.
On the crumbling wall, the December sunlight settled with deceptive warmth.
The moss-covered giant foundation stones hinted at the former glory of Wu, which had once commanded the world. Yet in the old artificial pond now used by villagers as a laundry pool, only a few dead carp floated belly-up, their pale undersides exposed.
“…….”
But at the heart of that silent ruin stood an overwhelming aura so heavy it seemed to choke even the drifting dust.
A ferocity like that of a wild beast.
A presence that could uproot mountains and shroud the world—force to pull mountains, spirit to cover the world.
“So you are Yu Ji.”
A low voice echoed through the derelict garden.
The speaker was a young man.
He was twenty-four years old. His height easily surpassed eight chi—roughly 185 centimeters—and his shoulders were as solid as a fortress wall.
His tiger-like eyes held the strange gleam of double pupils that made it seem as though two irises occupied each socket. His entire body was covered in dense muscle, enough to lend credence to the rumor that he could lift a three-legged bronze cauldron as lightly as a feather.
His clan name was Xiang, his given name Ji, and his courtesy name Yu.
Grandson of the famed Chu general Xiang Yan and the renowned nephew of the hero of Wu County, Xiang Liang.
Those cold eyes were now quietly looking down at a small woman who barely reached his waist.
“Yes, that is correct.”
The woman remained composed.
She appeared to be about seventeen years old.
Her skin was as clear as snow, her eyebrows slender and gracefully arched like willow leaves. Her jet-black hair was carelessly pinned up with a single red hairpin.
She wore no ornate jewelry, yet her beauty shone of its own accord.
Her clan name was Yu, her given name Yan.
But the world, in reverence of her loveliness, called her Yu Ji—or the Yu Beauty.
Even in the face of the murderous aura radiating from Xiang Yu, she did not so much as blink.
Her hands were politely clasped, her shoulders modestly drawn in.
Yet her eyes remained boldly lifted, staring straight at the monster before her.
“My uncle recommended you.”
Xiang Yu stood with his arms crossed, chin arrogantly raised.
“‘The greatest talent in all of Kuaiji. Proficient in sword dance and skilled in poetry and song—more than worthy to stand at the Hegemon’s side.’ That old man sang your praises until his mouth went dry.”
“Lord Xiang Liang spoke far too highly of me.”
Yu Ji offered a faint smile.
“This humble girl is merely an unnamed daughter of the Yu family.”
“Enough with the false modesty.”
Xiang Yu took one step forward.
The ground seemed to tremble. The density of the air shifted in an instant.
It was not killing intent. But there was pressure.
The absolute weight of a man’s mere existence—something only one who could command hundreds of thousands of soldiers with a single glance could possess.
“I despise lies and empty decoration. I already know exactly what kind of woman you are.”
Xiang Yu’s rough hand seized Yu Ji’s pale chin in a brutal grip.
“The Yu family has, for generations, carried the bloodline of shamans who oversaw the rites of Chu. I heard your grandmother read the heavens in the palace of King Kaolie. And among your sisters, you inherited that blood most strongly.”
“……Indeed.”
Yu Ji’s eyes narrowed.
“Then this girl will no longer hide anything.”
She did not flinch from his touch. Instead, she straightened her spine and stared directly into the black eyes of the giant before her.
The demure demeanor from moments ago had vanished, replaced by a sharp, icy resolve.
“Lord Xiang Ji.”
“Speak.”
“May I ask you one question?”
“You may.”
“Do you truly intend to seize the world?”
For a moment, silence fell.
It was so profound that even the dry grass rustling between the stones sounded loud.
Only the winter wind whistling through the ruins broke the stillness.
Xiang Yu’s lips twisted.
It was unmistakably a smile. But not a kind one.
It was the smile of a child who had just gotten his hands on a new toy—filled with vicious curiosity and destructive delight.
“A foolish question.”
Xiang Yu declared.
“Qin trampled our Chu. They killed my grandfather Xiang Yan, killed my father, and slaughtered our entire clan.”
He released her chin and slammed a fist against his own chest.
“I will destroy Qin without fail. I will dig up the First Emperor’s tomb and grind his bones to dust. I will burn Epang Palace and scatter its ashes across the world. I will wash the land of Xianyang with the blood of those thieves and console the souls of every Chu person who has fallen until now.”
His next words carried such overwhelming force that even the crows perched on the stone pillars took flight in alarm.
“After that, I will seize the world as Hegemon. I will crush it with strength and rule it with fear, so that no one will ever dare look down on Chu again.”
There was not a shred of doubt in his voice.
It was the absolute certainty of a man who already held the world in his grasp.
Yu Ji gazed at Xiang Yu for a long time.
Complex emotions swirled in the depths of her dark eyes.
Was it admiration? Fear? Or sorrow?
A complicated light she herself could not name lingered at their edges.
“I see.”
Yu Ji gave a small nod.
She then looked up at him with a far more serious expression.
“Lord Xiang Ji.”
“What is it?”
“May I offer you a word?”
“Speak.”
Yu Ji drew in a deep breath.
And then.
“The path of hegemony does not last long.”
She whispered the words with power, as though drawing them from the deepest conviction in her heart.
The air froze.
Xiang Yu’s eyebrows twitched. A razor-sharp killing intent flashed like an arrowhead.
“What did you say?”
“Those who take the world by force will eventually lose it by force. That is the law of history.”
Yu Ji’s voice was calm.
Yet within that calm lay an unyielding will, like water droplets that could pierce stone.
“Qin, too, unified the world through the path of hegemony. They bound the people with laws and punishments and ruled their hearts with terror. But barely a year after the First Emperor’s death, look at the world now. The realm created by the sword is already crumbling from within.”
“…….”
“The path of hegemony burns bright but brief. It flares like a flame and leaves only ashes behind. However….”
Yu Ji took one step closer.
“The path of kingship is long.”
Certainty filled her eyes.
“Those who win the hearts of the people are sustained by those hearts. Those who govern with virtue are protected by that virtue.”
Without hesitation, she wrapped her small hands around Xiang Yu’s clenched fist.
A hand like a flower petal settled over a fist as hard as stone.
“Lord Xiang Ji, you possess the greatest martial prowess of all time. But that alone is not enough. The sword can win the world, but it cannot govern it—as Qin has already shown us.”
A long silence followed.
The biting December wind swept through the ruined garden once more.
Xiang Yu stared down at the audacious woman holding his hand without a word.
The emotion in his eyes was unmistakable rage.
How dare she lecture the Xiang Yu who stood above the world?
Yet beneath that rage, a strange fascination coiled like a serpent.
It was the first time.
The first woman who did not avert her eyes from his. The first who was not crushed by his presence.
“……Hah.”
Finally, a short snort escaped Xiang Yu’s lips.
“To think I would hear a lecture on the path of kingship from a woman I’ve only just met.”
His large, rough hand reversed its grip, seizing the hands that had been covering his fist.
The force was crushing, as if he might shatter her bones. Yet Yu Ji did not cry out. She endured it by biting her lip.
“Interesting.”
Xiang Yu laughed. A bold, hearty laugh that seemed genuinely amused.
Yet there was no contempt in that laughter.
Instead, a strange acknowledgment floated upon it.
“Yes, I understand what you are trying to say.”
Xiang Yu roughly released her hands.
“The path of hegemony does not last. One must embrace people with virtue. It is the same sermon those rotten Confucian scholars have repeated until their tongues grew calluses. Perhaps they are right.”
“Yes, that is…”
“But.”
Xiang Yu took one step toward Yu Ji.
His massive shadow completely swallowed her.
“It is impossible for me.”
“Impossible…?”
“Yes.”
Xiang Yu’s lips twisted.
“Because I was not born that way.”
His hand came to rest on the hilt of the sword at his waist.
Tai’e.
The famous blade said to have been forged by a Chu craftsman who melted his own soul into the molten iron.
“Since childhood, I preferred studying military strategy over learning letters. Two characters were enough for writing, and a sword only faced one opponent at a time, so I found both dull. Therefore, the only thing I have ever mastered is the art of facing ten thousand men.”
Without hesitation, he drew the sword.
With a chilling ring, the blade caught the sunlight and spat out a cold, gleaming light.
“You say those forced to their knees by strength will one day raise their heads again? Yes, that is true. Humans are cunning beasts, after all.”
Xiang Yu’s eyes blazed like torches.
“But a true hegemon does not fear that and change his path. A true hegemon simply…”
He raised the sword high.
“…crushes those who dare raise their heads before him once more—thoroughly, so they can never stand again.”
“…….”
“I will seize the world through the path of hegemony. More powerfully than the First Emperor. More overwhelmingly than anyone.”
And then the sword cleaved the air.
*Whoosh—!*
A simple arc. But its speed outran sound.
Its target was the massive foundation stone standing right beside Yu Ji.
*BOOM—!*
The solid granite block was sliced cleanly along a diagonal.
The rock that had endured nearly three hundred years, witnessing the rise and fall of Wu, was split cleanly in half with a single stroke.
Xiang Yu did not spare a glance for the scattering stone dust and swung his arm once more.
“I am the enemy of ten thousand.”
This time it was a horizontal cut.
The pine tree beside the foundation stone—far taller than Yu Ji—tilted at once.
“No one can stand against me. I am unmatched by a thousand riders,”
The great tree’s trunk snapped like rotten straw.
“Capable of uprooting mountains and covering the world. I am the hegemon,”
*THUD!* The crash of the falling tree shook all of Gusu Terrace.
“Against whom none in the world can prevail.”
A flock of startled crows blackened the sky.
Only then did Xiang Yu sheathe his sword.
Within the thick cloud of dust, an arrogant smile played on his revealed face—one that feared nothing in the world.
“The path of hegemony does not last, you say?”
He looked down at Yu Ji and declared in a voice as resolute as his expression.
“Then I will make it last until the day I die.”
With a click, Tai’e returned to his waist.
“As long as I draw breath, my path of hegemony will never end.”
Yu Ji stared at Xiang Yu in a daze.
The severed stone. The broken pine. And the man standing at the center of that destruction.
Complex emotions swirled in her eyes.
A stunned sense of futility. An instinctive awe at overwhelming power.
And finally, a resignation that bordered on acceptance.
“……Hehe.”
A small laugh slipped from between Yu Ji’s red lips.
“What’s so funny?”
“It is not funny.”
Yu Ji shook her head.
Brushing aside the hair fluttering in the wind, she looked straight at Xiang Yu.
“I simply… realized something.”
“What?”
“That this is who you are, Lord Xiang Ji.”
Yu Ji’s eyes curved gently.
The razor-sharp tension that had filled her only moments ago melted away like snow.
In its place was a fragile yet beautiful gentleness.
“No matter what I say, you will not change.”
“Of course. Because I am myself.”
“I understand.”
Yu Ji bowed deeply.
“Then this girl shall walk beside you.”
“…….”
“If you insist on treading that perilous path of hegemony, I will watch over you from the closest place possible.”
She reached out once more.
This time her grip was firmer, without the slightest hesitation, as she took his calloused hand.
“Whatever lies at the end of that path.”
Her slender fingers traced up his arm and came to rest over his heart, unprotected by armor.
“Whether you will truly seize the world, or…”
She did not finish the sentence.
But the meaning left in the silence was clear.
And Xiang Yu understood it at once.
“Good.”
He asked no more questions.
He simply covered the hand she had placed on his chest with his own large one and gripped it tightly.
“Come to my side, Yu Ji.”
Xiang Yu met her eyes and grinned.
It was the rough, honest smile of a twenty-four-year-old youth, finally revealed.
“I will show you what kind of world I will create.”
“…….”
Yu Ji gave no answer.
Instead, she laced her fingers through his with strength.
A large, rough hand that smelled of blood and iron.
Yet warmer than any silk she had ever touched—the hand of a man.
“I shall humbly follow you, Lord Xiang Ji…”
“No.”
Xiang Yu shook his head.
“Call me Yu.”
“Lord Yu.”
“You may drop the ‘Lord.’”
“……Yu.”
The moment she spoke the name, the last shadow lingering on Yu Ji’s face vanished.
She smiled brightly.
A dazzling yet sorrowful smile, as if spring had returned to the ruined Gusu Terrace.
“You are beautiful.”
Xiang Yu no longer hid his emotions either.
He gently caressed her cheek with his rough fingers.
“……You flatter me.”
A small warmth mingled where their skin touched.
Yu Ji said nothing more. She simply savored that rough yet tender touch.