The moment she finished speaking, an explosion rang out in the courtyard.
This blast was far closer and fiercer than the one from the direction of the mine.
The entire eastern wall burst apart in the middle. Rubble and dust poured into the courtyard like a torrential downpour, and fragments of brick and stone clattered against the bluestone paving, bouncing and rolling. Several broken bricks even tore through a window's paper covering and flew into the room.
The blast knocked the lantern at the courtyard gate to the ground. The oil inside spilled over the bluestone and caught fire, sending flames leaping waist-high.
A gap wide enough for two people to pass side by side had been blasted through the stone wall on the eastern side of the Guest Courtyard. Stones kept falling from its edges, and choking dust streamed through the opening, filling more than half the courtyard in an instant.
Sikong Hongyue spun around, shoved the door open with one hand, and rushed into the courtyard. The instant she crossed the threshold, Shen Fei pressed his hand against the table.
The Shadow Mantis activated instantly in the depths of his soul. A black phantom rose from the shadows behind him and merged with his back. Its Blade Forelimbs emerged on either side of his shoulders, wreathed in dense black mist.
Shen Fei sprang from his chair, his entire body becoming a black afterimage. The Blade Forelimbs traced a dark arc through the air, slashing straight at the back of Sikong Hongyue's neck.
Sikong Hongyue reacted with extraordinary speed. Still charging forward, she forcibly twisted at the waist and turned. The longsword at her hip was already drawn, its blade wrapped in a layer of silvery-white spiritual power, and precisely intercepted the blade sweeping toward her neck.
A sharp