The waters of the Zhi River rippled beneath the starlight.
There was a boat upon the river, the common black-canopied boat often seen on the Zhi River. When scholars went on spring outings, they often favored this kind of vessel.
Lin Su and Zhou Mei sat facing each other, sipping tea.
The tea was Crimson Peak Maojian, unique to the Crimson Kingdom. Its fresh fragrance filled the air; this was probably the only Crimson Kingdom product that interested Lin Su even a little.
The tea leaves half floated and half sank in their cups; beneath them, the river half moved and half rested; beside them, the beauty was half dreaming and half awake.
Lin Su's eyes were half narrowed as well, as though he had slowly entered that half-dreaming, half-waking state amid the turbulent river waters.
Suddenly, his eyes snapped open!
Everything before him changed dramatically!
The river was still there, but rather than pale radiance beneath starlight, it had become an eerie jade green.
The wind was gone, the distant city was gone, the far-reaching sky was gone...
Zhou Mei cried out, "What's happening?"
Lin Su reached out and gripped her hand tightly. Zhou Mei suddenly felt her body grow weightless. She could no longer feel her physical body, as if her consciousness had left it and drifted beyond the boundless firmament.
She did not lose her bearings at once, only because her consciousness was connected to Lin Su's.
"He's here!" Those three words passed clearly through their linked consciousness into her sea of awareness.
If Zhou Mei could still sweat, those three words alone would have left her drenched from head to toe. She knew what they meant: after ten days of spring travels in the south, the ultimate assassination they had been waiting for had finally arrived.