Old Acquaintance

"Miss! Are you all right?"

A guard with blood all over his face struggled up from the ground, clutching his caved-in chest. Limping, he edged over to Xuelan and tried to reach out to support her.

Xuelan had a bellyful of rage with nowhere to vent it. Seeing the guard come close, her swollen almond eyes suddenly sharpened. She abruptly raised her foot and kicked him hard in the abdomen!

Bang!

The guard was already badly injured; how could he withstand a kick like that? His whole body flew backward like a torn sack and smashed into a large bronze vat by the street, knocking it over. The cold spring water stored inside splashed all over the ground. He lay sprawled in the puddle, coughed up another great mouthful of blood, and completely passed out.

"Useless! All of you are useless!" Xuelan screamed hysterically. Her hair was disheveled, her golden step-shaker hung crookedly from her coiffure, and her delicate makeup had been smeared beyond recognition by tears and dust. "A dozen of you couldn't even beat five people! Raising you is worse than raising a few sea dogs!"

Her chest heaved violently. Her gaze shifted and landed on Flame Hoof's corpse not far away. That fiery horse, which had been so extraordinary and spirited just moments ago, now lay quietly in a pool of blood. Its golden-red blood wound across the Cold Jade ground like a glaring painting of the setting sun.

The scarlet-gold single horn had snapped in half, and the fiery clouds around its four hooves had long since gone out, leaving only a stiff, cold shell of a corpse.

As Xuelan stared at it, the rage in her beautiful eyes nearly condensed into substance. This Flame Hoof was a spirit pet she had pestered her father for