Capital City · Wanglu Ward
The ward had a fine name, but it was one of the poorer wards in the Capital City, with sixty or seventy households in all. It was deep into the night now, and the streets lay silent. Only the night watchman walked with his lantern, striking his bronze gong. In the dim light, most households appeared to have gone to bed, though a few were still up late weaving.
In a long, narrow alley stood a house that appeared to have extinguished its lights. Inside, one room held nothing but a straw mat, on which a man sat cross-legged.
His face was waxen yellow and his lips black. He looked more than a decade older than he had just a short while ago, and every so often, he spat out a mouthful of blood. He was none other than Gui Junxi, who had escaped from Prince Lu's Residence.
He was now beneath an ordinary house, surrounded by pitch darkness. Yet his eyes shone like ghost fire, blazing with unwilling fury in the gloom.
He had actually lost?
Prince Lu had been doing so well, with victory finally within reach, only for everything to fall apart at the last hurdle. How could that not cut him to the heart?
Yet all he could do was flee here, like a rat in the darkness, not even daring to show his face.
The backlash had greatly diminished his cultivation, forcing him to treat his injuries. A bronze mirror stood before him, its images visible whenever he lowered his head. At present, it showed the courtyard outside the secret chamber. Only with its help could Gui Junxi feel at ease.
Suddenly, his slightly lowered gaze turned cold. "Who's there?"
No one answered inside the secret chamber. Gui Junxi was