When the youth struck backward with his palm and knocked the girl who called him brother into the lake, almost everyone present froze in shock.
"What are you..."
While Bai Shijun was still struggling to make sense of it, Hall Master Zhang-who had just raised his hand to kill his sister amid casual conversation-bowed to him and said:
"Prefect Bai, although my little sister is young and ignorant, and Daoist Flying Fortune's origins were suspicious, killing someone so rashly was indeed reckless. My palm strike sent her into the lake as punishment. Whether she escapes with her life will depend on her own fortune."
Bai Shijun was speechless for a long while before finally sighing.
"Hall Master Zhang, why did you act so impulsively? I hadn't finished speaking just now... Ah, never mind. Since it has already happened, I can only hope Miss Qiong Rong comes through unharmed."
This time, his words were sincere. Xing Yan's unexpected, lethal move had thrown him off balance, and the fury that had filled his chest had now subsided somewhat.
Thinking it over calmly, he suddenly felt that threatening the youth without leaving him any room to maneuver had been rather unwise. After all, the princess was close to him, and that dead Daoist had indeed shown some telltale cracks earlier. Yet although he now sincerely wished Qiong Rong safe, one glance at Autumn Reed Lake's unruffled surface, its misty waters stretching into the distance, told him the little girl had almost no chance of surviving.
Just as Bai Shijun was about to order his men into the lake to recover her, the noble princess, who had long remained silent, suddenly spoke.
"Hall Master Zhang, you will stay at my place tonight."
With that, the lovely princess, her face frosty, turned and left amid