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Fa Zheng and Hua Xiong rushed back, only to find the messenger almost in tears. The letter Lub Su had given him was marked as special, denoting the highest level of urgency. Yet, he ended up waiting so long that even a regular letter would have arrived faster.

"Alright, you don't need to worry about this anymore, I'm here," Hua Xiong said upon seeing that the messenger was one of his own overworked soldiers. He waved his hand, signaling that he would take over the responsibility, and told the man to rest and just be sure to return to Mount Tai before the end of the month.

"Yes!" The messenger was overjoyed. His biggest fear was that a failure to deliver the message on his part would lead to a disaster, which could very well end with him being executed—many messengers had died that way…