Chapter 60

Outside the Hou Fu.

Guan Shanxue, clad in black night attire, slipped out from nearby streets and alleys and lightly leapt onto a locust tree.

She silently gazed into the Hou Fu; the entire estate lay still, with only a few dim lanterns glowing in the courtyard and corridors.

"Why are the guards of this Hou Fu so lax?"

Under the hazy moonlight, Guan Shanxue surveyed the estate—no night watchmen, no servants moving about.

"Something's wrong. The Hou Fu is closely tied to the Taiyin Yuan Zong; there must be experts stationed inside. I cannot let my guard down."

Guan Shanxue frowned slightly—before she could uncover Cang Yin Yue hiding within, she must not be caught by the Hou Fu's experts, or tonight she would never wash away her shame.

Thinking this, she swiftly ran along the outer wall of the Hou Fu, arriving at an unremarkable corner of the rear garden, far from the main buildings, then leapt up and scaled the high wall.

She had assumed sneaking in through such a secluded spot would make it hard for the Hou Fu's experts to notice.

But to Guan Shanxue's surprise, in an instant she suddenly spotted, far off, another figure clad in black night attire appearing in the Hou Fu's rear garden.

The figure used lightness skill to swiftly cross the corridors, reached a corner of the rear yard, then leapt over the wall and vanished.

Guan Shanxue crouched low on the wall, letting the shadows of the trees along the wall conceal her form.

She watched the figure dart into a nearby alley and disappear, her delicate brows slightly furrowing:

"Sneaking out of the Hou Fu at night—could this be Cang Yin Yue?"

Today she had heard from Constables of the Six Gates Bureau that this woman had gone mad, suddenly breaking off her engagement with Fu Yu—truly absurd.

It's not impossible she's trying to flee the wedding under cover of night.

Guan Shanxue glanced once more into the Hou Fu, hesitated briefly, then ultimately decided to quietly pursue the direction the figure had taken.

"I'll follow for now. If it really is Cang Yin Yue, I'll grab her and beat her up—then the Hou might even thank me."

A cold smile appeared on Guan Shanxue's icy face.

Her lightness skill was learned from the Divine Constable Guan Tianqian, called "Golden Goose Thirteen Forms"—silent on the ground, fluttering like a startled goose, exceptionally extraordinary, among the finest lightness techniques in the entire martial world.

Thus, though she had lost some time, she soon caught up to the figure.

And the figure had not sensed her trailing behind at all.

Zhu Yan Fang.

At the end of a stone path in the rear courtyard of a large mansion, a graceful, elegant pavilion stood amid lush trees and blooming flowers.

On the second floor of the pavilion, candlelight glowed; before a vermilion windowsill, a beautiful woman sat before a dressing mirror, combing her jet-black hair with a sandalwood comb.

Her face was delicate and petite, gentle as a modest maiden; incense burned in the room, releasing a faint, fragrant aroma; beside the carved bed, silk curtains hung softly, and a breeze stirred, making the gauze curtains by the window flutter gently.

"Young Lady, it's time to retire."

A maid bowed low, whispering, walked to the window, glanced outside, then closed the opened shutters.

Soon, the scene inside the room was obscured, leaving only the faint, hazy silhouette of movement visible through the translucent paper.

Not long after, the candlelight was blown out, plunging the entire pavilion into darkness.

At that moment, a masked black-clad figure arrived silently, landing atop the pavilion's tree canopy.

With a slight flick of his hand, an odd object shot through the window into the woman's chamber, and in an instant, a faint blue smoke rose in the darkness.

Moments later, the figure on the tree leapt lightly, raised a palm in midair, and shattered the second-floor window without a sound, then slipped into the room.

"This… isn't right!"

Guan Shanxue, trailing behind, immediately sensed something amiss.

Cang Yin Yue would never sneak into a woman's chamber at midnight—much less use a stupefying smoke.

This is clearly a flower-plucking thief!

At this thought, Guan Shanxue suddenly recalled hearing whispers among Constables of the Six Gates Bureau.

They said that recently, in three wards of Shangyang City, a lecher had preyed upon unmarried maidens.

And this thief not only defiled their chastity, but also killed them by piercing their skulls with a strange claw technique—his methods were exceedingly cruel.

Thinking of this, Guan Shanxue's eyes instantly glowed with killing intent.

Without hesitation, she lightly tapped the ground and, like a flying goose, followed the figure into the room.

Simultaneously, her icy qi rapidly gathered, and she unleashed her killing move: "Ice God Palm."

The Ice God Palm was the famed divine art of the Feixue Sect, renowned throughout the martial world—not only immensely powerful, but legend said that at its peak, a single palm could freeze rivers and sever canals.

Guan Shanxue struck immediately with her ultimate technique, clearly intending to kill the flower-plucking thief with one blow.

Boom!

The next instant, a thunderous crash erupted in the dark room, the shockwave of qi shattering every door and window nearby.

The flower-plucking thief was extremely alert; as Guan Shanxue's killing palm descended, he instantly reacted, whipping out a palm filled with sinister, chilling qi.

Thus, the two clashed in the dark room.

Beneath the hazy night, one side of the pavilion was blanketed in frost, the other in chilling, bone-deep cold.

But clearly, the flower-plucking thief was stronger—Guan Shanxue was blasted back several zhang, barely stopping as she landed on the tree canopy outside the pavilion.

"Ice God Palm? You're Guan Shanxue."

From within the dark room, a chilling voice spoke; the man swiftly circulated qi in his palm to dispel the numbness and freezing in his fingers, his gaze cold as he stared at Guan Shanxue outside.

Guan Shanxue grunted, a trickle of blood seeping from her lip; she looked down at her palm, where strands of blueish yin energy curled around it.

His cultivation level was higher than hers; had it not been for the Ice God Palm's power, and her surprise attack, while he was caught off-guard and could only muster less than half his strength—

She would already be gravely wounded by that claw.

"Are you Cang Yunning?" Guan Shanxue narrowed her eyes.

Cang Yunning, third son of the Hou and the only surviving son, and with his mother's ties to Imperial Concubine Ji—

He was somewhat well-known among the nobility of the capital; Guan Shanxue had seen him a few times before, so she recognized his voice.

Hearing this, Cang Yunning's eyes flashed with murderous intent—his identity exposed, he could only kill to silence her.

But just then, a figure silently descended to Guan Shanxue's side.

Her withered, claw-like fingers wreathed in Kui Yin Qi flicked against Guan Shanxue's back, causing him to roll his eyes and faint dead away.

"Fortunately, the Young Lady had this old servant follow to watch over the Young Master; otherwise, disaster would have nearly struck."

The haggard-faced old crone, carrying Guan Shanxue, spoke in a ghostly tone.

(End of this chapter)