I clenched the fragment tightly and turned into a deep alley. The wind swept ashes into my face, carrying a bitter, scorched smell. The edge of half a butterfly wing was blackened, like feathers singed by fire, and my fingertips could still feel the lingering heat.
Without slowing, I swiftly stuffed the jade bottle into the Treasure Pouch, pressing my left hand over my right wrist to suppress the surging blood and qi. The metallic sweetness in my throat had not faded, but I could not cough. One cough, and my breath would break; hiding my tracks afterward would become difficult.
No one chased after me, but I knew he would not let me go.
When Ji Hantian stood at the entrance of the Dry Bone Workshop, his tone had been casual, yet every word had driven into my bones like nails. He had been waiting for me all along. Perhaps from the moment I stepped into the Spirit Hall, I had already fallen beneath his watchful eyes. He had not killed me because he still had a use for me—either to force Ji Wuchen's secrets from me, or to use me as bait and lure him out.
I did not dare look back, nor did I dare move in a straight line. Before turning into the eastern alley, I grabbed a handful of old medicinal dregs from the base of a wall, kneaded them with the blood foam on my fingers into a lump of mud, and flung it into a crack in the stones at the corner. This was Trace-Delaying Powder. When it met moisture, it slowly released a scent that could muddle a pursuer's judgment. If they sent puppets to search, it could at least buy me half a quarter-hour.
I had just vaulted over a low wall when a faint sound suddenly came from behind me.
It was neither footsteps nor wind, but the soft rustle of powder scattering.
My heart tightened, and I immediately lowered myself. In the next instant, a dark green mist skimmed past the top of the wall and landed where I had just stood. The moment it touched the ground, it ignited, corroding several small pits into the bricks as white smoke rose.
Demonic Powder.
Ji Hantian had made his move.
I did not wait for his second wave of attacks. Flipping down from the wall, I planted my medicine pestle against the ground for leverage and shot diagonally three zhang away. I still had the last three qian of Thunderfire Fuse hidden in my sleeve, but I could not use it unless driven to the brink. Once this thing exploded, the commotion would be too great. Not only would it draw the City Guard, it might also alarm other forces lurking in the dark.
The alley was narrow, hemmed in by high walls on both sides, with only a thin strip of night sky overhead. I raced along the base of the wall. The moment I heard something strange in the wind, I twisted aside. A fan rib grazed my shoulder and buried itself in the opposite wall, its end still trembling.
"Miss Ye, why run?" His voice came from the mouth of the alley, neither hurried nor slow. "What did you uncover? Why not tell me face-to-face?"
I did not answer. Instead, I sped toward the end of the alley. There was a woodshed there with half its roof collapsed, an escape route I had marked while scouting earlier. As long as I passed through the woodpile, I could enter the old goods market. With its crowds and chaos, it would be easier to get away.
But after only a few steps, the ground suddenly softened.
I stopped sharply and looked down. The bluestone slabs I had just crossed had taken on a sticky sheen, as though they had been soaked through by some liquid. When I looked up again, Ji Hantian was already standing ten paces ahead, his folding fan swaying lightly, the Blood Crystal on his left arm glowing faintly.
"I laid seven layers of trapping formations in this alley." He smiled. "Every step you take activates the restrictions for me."
I held my breath and slowly retreated half a step. A faint tug came from beneath my foot, as though threads had wrapped around the sole of my shoe. Looking down closely, I saw several nearly transparent spider threads stretching from cracks in the walls, silently creeping over me.
Puppet Technique.
This was not Ji Hantian's method. It was the style of the Blood Demon Sect. Someone by his side must have left behind a contingency, or perhaps it was Mo Xuan's arrangement.
My right hand moved toward the medicine pouch at my waist, my fingertips brushing a bottle of Calming Dew. This medicinal liquid was originally meant to soothe the Divine Soul, but it would react violently when it came into contact with certain demonic substances. The only way out now was to create chaos.
He advanced step by step, lifting his folding fan and pointing it at the space between my brows. "Tell me. How much did your Crystal Butterfly see?"
I did not answer. Instead, I splashed the medicinal liquid onto the ground.
The instant the liquid scattered, it touched the spider threads with a sharp sizzling sound. Pale blue flames flared up, racing backward along the threads. A muffled groan sounded from within the wall crack, and a black shadow withdrew.
Now.
I bent my knees and kicked off the ground, driving my medicine pestle down hard. Like an arrow loosed from the bowstring, I shot toward the woodshed. An angry roar came from behind me as Ji Hantian swept his sleeve and scattered more Demonic Powder. Green mist spread, obscuring my vision.
Holding my breath, I sprinted forward. Just as I was about to crash into the woodpile, my left sleeve suddenly tightened—a spider thread had wrapped around my arm and yanked me violently to the side.
My shoulder slammed hard into the wall, and pain blackened my vision. Gritting my teeth, I raised my hand and scratched open my wrist with my nails. Blood dripped down, splashing onto the Demonic Powder staining my sleeve.
When blood met Demonic Powder, it instantly turned black.
This was the trigger for Reverse Detonation Powder. I had long mixed the powder into the inner layer of my wrist guard, waiting only for the right moment to set it off.
Boom!
An explosion thundered, flames shooting into the sky. Cracks spread across the entire alley wall as rubble flew everywhere. Borrowing the force of the blast, I forced myself into the air and leaped onto the rooftop. Broken tiles sliced open my palm, but I had no time to care about the pain. I rolled over the ridge and raced madly toward the depths of the eastern alley.
An enraged roar came from behind me. "Search! You must find them!"
I did not look back, only feeling a searing pain in my left arm. Looking down, I saw that my sleeve had been corroded through by the Demonic Powder, exposing part of my forearm. My skin was flushed red, and blisters were beginning to rise around the edges. Had I been a moment later, my whole arm would have been ruined.
I endured the pain and continued racing. The rooftops rose and fell beneath me as I leaped from tile to tile, doing my best to avoid the brightly lit main streets. After circling past three courtyards, I finally saw the sweeping eaves of my residence.
Fifty steps more.
Just as I was about to jump down, a sudden tremor shook my body.
It was as though something had awakened within my meridians. A warm, gentle golden light rose from my dantian and spread through my eight extraordinary meridians. A faint golden halo seemed to appear behind me. Though it flashed for only an instant, it steadied my steps.
The aura of the Pseudo-Primordial Body.
This power was not mine. I remembered the first time I saw Ji Wuchen. He had stood outside the Medicine Hut, sunlight falling across the scar on his left cheek, and I had caught a trace of a similar fluctuation. Later, whenever I came close to him, this aura had quietly seeped into my bloodline, burying itself like a seed.
Now, at this critical moment, it surfaced on its own and steadied my collapsing spiritual platform.
Seizing the chance, I jumped down and landed on the locust tree outside the courtyard wall, pausing briefly to catch my breath. My residence was right before me. A dim yellow candlelight shone through the gap in the door. Hongxiu probably had not gone to sleep yet.
But at that moment, I heard a cold laugh from the rooftop.
"So that's how it is."
I abruptly looked up.
Ji Hantian stood on the opposite roof ridge, his folding fan closed, his gaze cold as ice. He had not chased me, yet he had been watching me all along.
"You carry his aura..." he said quietly. "It is more than merely having met him. The ties between you have already... run too deep."
I did not move or reply. My hand quietly reached for the last Thunderfire Fuse at my waist.
Yet he did not attack again, only saying coldly, "You think you'll be safe after fleeing back here? By tomorrow morning, the entire Northern Wastes will know that a concubine-born daughter of a branch family has secretly cultivated the Blood Phoenix Body and colluded with a piece of trash."
He paused, the corner of his mouth lifting. "I will make everyone in the Ji Clan watch with their own eyes as you are struck from the clan register."
With those words, he turned and left, his figure quickly vanishing into the night.
I sat on the branch, my breathing still unsettled. The wound on my left arm burned fiercely, more than half my medicine pouch was empty, and the blood and qi within me had yet to calm. That golden light had long since faded, but its lingering warmth still flowed through my meridians.
I slowly slid down the tree trunk, staggering two steps before I found my footing. I pinched the web between my thumb and forefinger, forcing myself to stay awake.
I had to treat the wound before dawn, or the poison would seep into my marrow. Supporting myself against the wall, I walked toward the courtyard gate. Just as my hand touched the door knocker, I suddenly sensed something was wrong.
The candlelight in the gap beneath the door had changed color.
It had originally been dim yellow, but now it carried the faintest hint of blue-green.
That was the color of a flame lit with Spirit-Calming Oil. This lamp oil was supplied exclusively to the City Lord's Manor; ordinary households could never obtain it.
Someone had come.
I froze where I stood, slowly withdrawing my hand from the door knocker.
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