The imperial guards answered with a roar. More than a hundred armored soldiers drew their blades and gave chase, while the rest nocked arrows and aimed at the two fleeing figures.
Zhao Shun, bringing up the rear, suddenly turned around, spread his hands, and slammed them together before his chest.
"Smack!"
Amid the crisp, ringing clap, two water dragons surged up from the distant artificial lake again—but their targets were not the imperial guards, but the two fugitives.
The water dragons twisted through the air and collided above the two foolish rulers' heads, turning into a torrential downpour.
The curtain of rain blurred everyone's vision. Some archers loosened their bowstrings, while those who persisted found their aim completely ruined by both the night and the rain.
Taking advantage of the opportunity, Zhang Yuanqing and Beauty Wan darted through one luxurious pavilion after another, vaulted over rockeries and white-marble railings, parkouring through the vast imperial palace as they fled toward the south gate.
"Whoosh!"
An arrow coated in burning oil shot toward them from afar.
As it neared Zhang Yuanqing and Beauty Wan, the firelight suddenly swelled. Beauty Wan turned her head and spat out a jet of water, extinguishing the expanding flames.
In the distance, flames had just ignited across the level-six Fire Demon's body before being hastily snuffed out.
Fire Walk had failed.
"Whoosh! Whoosh!" The shrill whistle of something cutting through the air came again. Two three-inch flying swords pierced through Beauty Wan's back under cover of darkness, spraying water as they shot straight toward Zhang Yuanqing.
Beauty Wan, broad and plump, let out a muffled groan. Her head felt as though it were splitting apart, as if needles had pierced her crown. Though the water spirit art she cultivated allowed her to ignore physical damage, she knew