Some wore coarse cloth, some wore brocade robes, and some wore nothing but white underclothes.
Five wore Night Guard uniforms: one Ninth Rank, two Tenth Rank, and two who had yet to reach Entry Rank.
Li Qingxian remembered seeing the Ninth Rank and the two Tenth Rank Night Guards before. One of the Tenth Rank men was Jian Yuancang's subordinate, Hong Nian.
Zhou Hen slowly walked to the window and looked out through the broken lattice. His pupils abruptly dilated, his breathing stopped, and his hands tightened around his saber and sword.
Noticing Zhou Hen's subtle changes, Li Qingxian slowly approached the window and peered through the gap.
The courtyard was silent. A pure white paper gate stood directly ahead.
The paper gate was as thin as a cicada's wing, with gray mist faintly visible swirling beyond it.
Gray mist flickered in and out of sight beyond the wall.
Suddenly, a thin strain of suona music drifted from the street, now distant, now close, shrill and mournful.
A faint floral fragrance wafted into the room.
Li Qingxian instinctively held his breath and cast a spell to seal his nostrils against outside odors, then cast the same spell on Zhou Hen.
Suddenly, Li Qingxian and Zhou Hen exchanged a glance.
The faint floral scent inside their noses abruptly intensified, turning into the overpowering smell of fatty meat, rank and greasy, making their stomachs churn.
Scritch, scritch...
It sounded as though sharp fingernails were scraping across the outer wall, sending a chill through their hearts.
"What do we do?" Zhou Hen asked.
"I'm not sure, but we mustn't panic," Li Qingxian said quietly. "I'll work out a plan. Keep them under control."
Zhou Hen nodded.
As Li Qingxian finished speaking, a translucent Fate Disk appeared before him. He fed fortune fish into