Xiao Yan stared, dumbfounded, at the girl who had materialized on the windowsill like a phantom. After a long moment, he murmured in confusion: "What is she doing here?"
"Heh heh... looks like she's here for the same reason you are." Yao Lao's chuckle carried an air of mystery.
Xiao Yan's brow furrowed. He pressed deeper into the shadows, then asked hesitantly in his mind: "How has Xun'er's strength grown so powerful? The speed she showed just now—it wouldn't be weaker than a Great Dou Master's, would it?"
"Her true strength is what you normally see. But right now, she's clearly using some sort of secret technique that temporarily boosts her power. Given her background, possessing such methods is hardly surprising." Yao Lao's voice was light.
Xiao Yan blinked in surprise, then shook his head with a bitter laugh. Once again, he marvelled at Xun'er's mysterious origins. He fell silent, peering through the gauze curtains at the strange scene unfolding in the room.
Inside, Xun'er's ghostly appearance had gone unnoticed by Liu Xi. The man, his mind consumed by desire, was staring with hungry eyes at the beautiful woman sprawled across the bed, his hands fumbling to tear away his own clothing.
At some point, Liu Xi's hands froze. As a six-star Dou Warrior, he had finally sensed something amiss. He hesitated, then slowly turned his head toward the open window.
There, a girl in a golden dress leaned languidly against the sill. Her eyes, faintly flecked with golden flame, regarded the disheveled man with cold indifference. In her slender fingers, golden fire danced like a living thing, tracing eerie, sinuous patterns in the air.
Liu Xi stared, transfixed, at the girl bathed in moonlight. His gaze drifted to her exquisite, emotionless face, and a kind of intoxication crept into his eyes. Even now, in this ominous atmosphere, the girl's flawless beauty and ethereal grace made it impossible to look away.
But after a heartbeat of stunned reverie, Liu Xi spun around. His foot slammed against the floor, and he shot toward the door like an arrow loosed from a bow. The chilling premonition of death had finally extinguished every last ember of his lust. Liu Xi was arrogant, but he was not fool enough to believe that this ghostly girl had come merely to chat.
The room was spacious, but at Liu Xi's speed, crossing from the bed to the door took only seconds. The wooden panel was mere inches away. A flicker of hope sparked in his eyes. If he could just reach it, he could shout for help—and Jia Lie Bi would come running.
But just before his fingers touched the wood, a searing pain tore through both legs. His sprinting body pitched forward, slamming into the floor with brutal force. Blood sprayed from his mouth, carrying several broken teeth.
"What—someone's trying to kill me!"
The agony nearly made him black out, but he clenched his teeth and screamed with everything he had.
"Don't bother. My aura has sealed the room. No one can hear you." The girl's voice drifted from the windowsill, calm and indifferent. Her slender finger flicked, and a golden flame-spur crystallized at its tip. The wounds in Liu Xi's legs—charred, reeking of burnt flesh—had clearly been caused by this very weapon.
"What—what do you want? Money? Pills? I'll give you anything—just let me live!" Liu Xi's face was chalk-white, his terror absolute. The threat of death had finally eclipsed even his greed for beauty.
The girl glanced down at Liu Xi, who writhed on the ground, her expression devoid of sympathy. She hopped lightly from the windowsill, her steps graceful as lotus blossoms, and glided toward him.
Watching her descent, Xiao Yan noticed that her dark hair—which had once reached only to her waist—now cascaded all the way down to her hips. The secret technique must have caused the change.
In the spacious room, clad in her golden gown—the color of nobility—she walked toward the wailing man on the floor. She halted before him, looked down, and let out a soft laugh. For one fleeting instant, her smile made Liu Xi's heart lurch.
"Weren't you the one who wanted to have me captured?" Xun'er crouched beside him, her voice gentle but edged with frost.
Liu Xi swallowed hard. Cold sweat plastered his hair to his face, his features twisted with terror.
"I actually hate killing people..." Xun'er sighed softly, her gaze resting on his horrified face.
Hope flickered in Liu Xi's eyes. But before he could beg, the girl's expression turned to ice, plunging him into the depths of despair.
"I don't really mind what worthless people think of me. But why did you insult him? What right do you have? Even if he wouldn't care about trash like you, I cannot tolerate it. I truly cannot!" As her voice dropped to a frigid whisper, the golden flame-spur shot from her fingertips like a bolt of lightning, piercing Liu Xi's chest. A dark wound bloomed instantly.
The fatal blow struck home. Liu Xi's pupils contracted. The grayness of death crept across his pallid face, his bulging eyes a ghastly sight.
The girl regarded the fading life with cold indifference. She straightened, let out a quiet sigh, and a trace of resignation surfaced on her composed features. She murmured under her breath: "If I weren't afraid Xiao Yan would blame me for interfering, the Jia Lie Clan would have ceased to exist in Wutan City long ago. There would be none of this trouble..."
She shook her head, swept a casual glance around the room, and in a blur of movement, appeared at the window once more. She leapt into the night, vanishing into the darkness.
"Heh heh... that girl looks so gentle and refined. Who would have thought she could kill without so much as a blink. Looks like you've found yourself quite the treasure, kid." Yao Lao's teasing voice echoed in Xiao Yan's mind shortly after Xun'er's disappearance.
Xiao Yan shook his head with a wry smile: "It seems tonight's trip was for nothing."
"Heh heh... not necessarily. That girl may be ruthless, but she's still young. Her experience is lacking." Yao Lao's tone was knowing.
Xiao Yan paused, confused: "What do you mean?"
"Just watch..." Yao Lao smiled mysteriously, then fell silent.
Xiao Yan could only shake his head and retreat further into the shadows, his eyes fixed intently on the room.
Inside the dim chamber, all was quiet save for the soft breathing of the unconscious maid on the bed.
After another ten minutes of waiting, just as Xiao Yan's brow began to crease, his eyes—glancing occasionally at Liu Xi's body—narrowed.
Near the door, the supposedly lifeless Liu Xi's hand twitched, almost imperceptibly. A moment later, his closed eyes slowly opened. The gray pallor of death had receded from his face.
"Hss..." Liu Xi sucked in a breath through his teeth, staring at the wound in his chest. His eyes burned with venom: "Damn that woman! If I hadn't stolen a Turtle-Breath Pill from my teacher before I left, I'd be dead for certain."
With trembling hands, he fumbled a small jade vial from his robes. He carefully sprinkled white powder over the wound, then swallowed a pale-blue pill without hesitation. The small effort left his face even more deathly pale.
"This injury... will take at least six months to heal. I'll have the Jia Lie Clan send me back tomorrow, then bring my teacher here. With his help, the Xiao Clan will know no peace. And when that happens—I'll have that girl until she's begging for death!" His lips peeled back in a savage grin, his face a mask of pure venom.
"Apologies for the interruption, but you may not have the chance to go anywhere." Just as Liu Xi fantasized about the golden-clad girl's torment, a calm voice drifted through the room without warning.
Liu Xi's body went rigid. His face contorted. He turned his head with difficulty.
A figure draped in a black cloak emerged from the shadows.
"That careless girl... it seems I'm the one who has to tie up the loose ends." The youth's laughter came from beneath the hood. A pale hand extended, and eerie, bone-white flame coiled slowly from his palm.
"A... Heavenly Flame?" Liu Xi's eyes shrank to pinpoints, his voice cracking with horror.
"Congratulations. You've guessed correctly. Your prize..."
The black-robed figure smiled. His hand waved, and the white flame shot forward, engulfing Liu Xi in an instant. Before the man could even scream, his body had been reduced to nothing but ash.
Thus did Liu Xi, first-rank alchemist, vanish utterly from the face of the continent.
The black-robed figure dusted off his hands with cold indifference, then waved once more. A gust of force swept the ash from the floor, leaving it spotless. He drifted to the window, stepped into the night, and vanished.
He crossed the Jia Lie compound without disturbing a soul. His toes touched the tip of a rooftop, and he glided forward—then froze. He sighed softly and looked up.
On a pavilion some distance away, the golden-clad girl sat swinging her shapely legs. Her autumn-water eyes, flecked with golden flame, regarded the black-robed figure on the rooftop with lazy amusement.
"Who are you, really?"
Her slender fingers brushed a strand of hair from her forehead, caught by the night breeze. She tilted her delicate chin, her crystalline voice drifting through the small world between them.