At the thought of that outcome, Li Zhaoyan's body shuddered again. That jade box was merely a spirit-treasure-grade box with an illusion array and somewhat greater sturdiness. Its defensive power was limited.
A string of images immediately surfaced in Li Zhaoyan's mind—several scenes that felt strangely familiar. She cried out instinctively.
"Mother!"
Even as she cried out, she shot away like an arrow loosed from the bow. At some point, a token had appeared in her hand. As its light flashed, the formation restrictions around the courtyard instantly lit up with streaks of white light.
Li Zhaoyan's flight and the activation of the restrictions were completed in one smooth motion, as though she had practiced them countless times before.
Just as she shot out of the courtyard and the formation restrictions lit up with white light, a tremendous explosion rang out behind her.
Boom!
Flying through the air, Li Zhaoyan felt the ground beneath her feet shake violently. Her body swayed fiercely in midair several times, and only after desperately circulating her spiritual power did she keep from falling out of the sky.
Yet after that thunderous blast, everything behind her fell utterly silent.
Li Zhaoyan immediately turned back and discovered that, aside from the white light flickering a few times above her courtyard, everything else appeared perfectly normal. Only then did she pat her already rather full chest with a jade-white hand.
"That scared the life out of me!"
After saying that, she hurriedly covered her mouth, then quickly looked around. Seeing that no one else had appeared nearby, she stuck out her pink tongue.
In her fright, she had actually blurted out one of Li Changting's habitual phrases, the kind she often said to her uncle.
But the next moment, as if recalling something, Li Zhaoyan's lovely face