Inside the bamboo house, the black-robed man stared at your retreating back. His eyes shifted once more into golden, vertical pupils.
His voice was hoarse, as though he had not spoken in ages. Awkwardly, he forced out a few words:
"There... there... he..."
Lu Hua clapped her hands beside him and teased him by imitating his stammer:
"There, there, there's what?"
"Are you trying to say he carries Second Sir's scent?"
The black-robed man nodded.
Lu Hua rose and walked to the desk. Her expression turned stern, her voice cold.
"If you want to die, don't drag me down with you. Better a fellow Daoist dies than me."
"This is Great Qi's Kyoto. Go outside and look—the Academy stands right there on Literary Star Street. Let even a trace of your aura slip out, and Bianjing's Spirit-Refining Array will detect it."
A flicker of anger had lingered in the black-robed man's eyes, but at the words "Spirit-Refining Array," he fell silent.
The Spirit-Refining Array had been left by the Master. All of Bianjing City had been designed and built around it.
Whenever a demon or wicked person entered Bianjing, the array knew at once.
Seizing her chance, Lu Hua quietly slipped into her sleeve what Xie Hong had written earlier about Xie Guan's understanding of "benevolent people and people of conviction." Then she strolled back to her bamboo chair and sat down at ease.
Xie Hong paid her no mind. He gazed at the black-robed man.
"Until New Year's Eve, you are not to take a single step outside this bamboo house."
The black-robed man knew what was at stake. In his hoarse voice, he said,
"Fine!"
Lu Hua could not help sighing. "If today's Academy were anything like the one of old, then even with the Master away in