Pei Ye froze, then turned his head. The exquisite Golden Mask was looking straight at him.
"You and Yu Sicheng have exchanged life-and-death blows. Don't wander around the palace alone. If you need to leave Vermilion Mirror Hall, try to go with me."
"...Oh. As Your Highness commands."
"Let's go." Li Xizhou gently lowered her arm, and Little Cat climbed up it from the chair onto her shoulder. "Let's see where this Chief Secretary of the Imperial Guard has gone."
Though they had been delayed a little in the hall, only a short while had actually passed. When they emerged, Li Xizhou gave a faint sigh at the split grain of the battered door. Looking up again, she could still make out a tiny black speck amid the lingering snow to the west.
Pei Ye could have mustered his qi and given chase, but the red-robed woman ahead of him had no cultivation, so they followed the paths at an unhurried pace.
This was probably the first time since entering Gong that Pei Ye had followed behind this figure in red. The palace servants they encountered turned their eyes toward them, then gave them a wide berth.
The woman seemed accustomed to it. She looked down at the little magnetic disk. "He's going so straight. Does he just smash through trees and things too...? Why does Mother's old confidant seem rather lacking in brains?"
Pei Ye said little. Guo You's route was indeed wild: rockeries, pools, dense woods, high slopes-he swept straight across them all. Li Xizhou had no such ability, so the two followed the paths around in pursuit.
Gradually, the palaces grew sparse. Old snow lay unswept, and no palace servants were in sight. This was the northwestern part of Daming Palace, divided off by Bright Moon