"What time is it? Why are these slackers not helping out on the city wall and instead chasing after us?" Tiran pulled Jojo along as they dashed madly, with several blue-clad guards armed with knives following closely behind and on the walls to the side, moving like shadows.

Just one shout could bring the guards down upon us. Anyone unaware might think we were playing some sort of infiltration game. Do their senses have to be so sharp?

"Looks like the Queen's Blue Wing Guards... They are the personal bodyguards, directly responsible for the Queen's safety and won't engage in direct combat." Tiran's running speed was quite impressive, and Jojo was basically being dragged off the ground by him, not needing to exert any effort to run. He even had the leisure to turn around to identify the pursuers.

"Experts from the palace? Whatever, I don't care who they are, which way now?" Tiran asked as they neared another intersection.

"Straight ahead, then take a left at the next intersection, and you'll see the Witch's Tower."

"Almost there, let's shake them off quickly!" Tiran shifted Jojo to his left hand and drew a sword from his storage wristband with his right hand. He pivoted on his left foot, with the icy flames on the blade instantly solidifying into hexagonal ice flowers in the air. After a moment's pause, they transformed into several enormous ice pillars leaning over, piercing towards the pursuing Blue Wing Guards on the road and the wall behind.

At least they were palace experts; even if they were not the best, they wouldn't be taken out by a surprise attack. But just as they barely escaped the ice pillars, Tiran unleashed two cross-shaped sword lights to shatter the ice pillars into a dense cloud of ice mist, instantly obscuring visibility.

"Wind Flag!" The quick-thinking Blue Wing Guards burned a talisman to summon a gust of wind that dispersed the ice mist, but in just a few short seconds, Tiran had already whisked Jojo away to safety.

...

"Oh, Aya, look, there is someone here you might be interested in."

In the starry sky of the Star Pavilion's The Realm, Star appeared to be accompanying Aya— or perhaps guarding? The two sat on the ground, overlooking the battlefield in the imperial city through the screen that flowed like black glass. They watched as the city guards breached the gate and started to advance, while the imperial guards were still desperately resisting within the narrow confines of the gate. It was quite a spectacle if the loss of lives was not taken into account.

However, at that moment, Star abruptly cut off the feed.

"Hey, it's just getting to the crucial moment!"

Aya felt as if she was being force-fed like having a commercial interrupting a video she was watching.

"If you don't want to watch, just tell me who this person is, or I'll switch it back." Star crossed her arms and hummed a couple of times, almost as if threatening like a sulking girl.

Hearing her, Aya took another careful look at the screen. She didn't understand how this projection was created, as it not only allowed for an aerial view but also zoomed in, panned, and even provided close-ups. Now, in the center of the screen, was a silver-haired girl with a ponytail running while dragging someone along.

"Tiran?!"

"Yes, and she's heading straight towards my tower, probably got some message from somewhere and came looking for you." Star pushed her hands behind her, effortlessly defying gravity and standing up lightly.

Seeing her move, Aya became nervous. "What are you planning to do? I warn you not to lay a hand on her!"

"Oh?" Star's face lit up with a playful smile as she leaned down and lightly tapped her finger on Aya's forehead. "Seems you're quite anxious about Princess Tiran, huh?"

"Uh..." Aya felt as if her secret thoughts were completely exposed by those all-seeing black eyes.

"Don't worry, don't worry, I won't do anything." Hoshimi shrugged, but before Aya could relax a bit, he added, "But instead of worrying about that, you should worry about yourself."

"What do you mean...?"

"Good afternoon, Miss Aya, it's been a while." At the perfect timing, a young man smiled from behind Hoshimi, appearing as if he had been hiding there God knows since when.

"Yuan..." Aya almost moaned calling out his name.

Even someone like Hoshimi had entered into a partnership with Yuan for reasons unknown to Aya. She felt like she wouldn't be surprised if this guy appeared anywhere in any form, but seeing Yuan still gave her a sense of impending trouble.

"It hasn't been that long... and I really don't want to see you." Aya forced a smile, realizing that her attempt at smiling probably looked worse than crying.

"Oh, come on, Miss Aya, you're an important companion to me."

"To hell with being your companion!" Aya felt a chill down her spine, this was getting nauseating.

"No, no, no, Miss Aya, you don't understand how important you are to me. Everything I've done is all for you!"

“Why are you talking like some kind of suspected perverted maniac?! What the heck do you want to do? Don't come near me!"

...

Tiran was intercepted.

In the empty square, the pitch-black Yin Star Tower stood tall in the center, but it seemed not so easy to pass through.

"These guys really don't give up easily, are they made of bull's hide candy?"

Tiran had thought that unleashing a set of skills could at least shake off those Green Feather Guards, but they still relentlessly pursued her. Ah, where was the agreed-upon non-lethal engagement? Show us some face, friends.

"Tiran, maybe I can talk to the Green Feather Guards and persuade them to let us through, they seem to be unified under Grandpa Wu's command now." Jojo, protected by Tiran with one hand behind her, popped up with a suggestion.

"I don't think they can listen to anyone now." Tiran's gaze locked onto the three Green Feather Guards, her body tensed like a spring pulled to its limit. "Haven't you noticed that the aura from those three doesn't seem like that of living people?"

"Huh?"

Having Tiran point it out, Jojo finally noticed the subtle abnormality in the Green Feather Guards. Despite their natural appearance and actions, their eyes lacked the sharpness expected of elite warriors.

"It's quite a coincidence, I've only seen this kind of technique recently, didn't expect to encounter it again so soon."

Tiran raised her long sword, adjusted her breathing, and enhanced the blade with Chi.

"I did tell you we would meet again, beauty."

With a somewhat frivolous tone, behind the three Green Feather Guards, a black mist materialized out of thin air in the mid-air about three to four meters above the ground, and a man covered in a black robe emerged from it, stepping on faint threads beneath his feet.

"So, General Ling wasn't wrong, the attack on the relay station was indeed orchestrated by which prince... Who is your master, Prince Xiang Liang or Prince Xiang Ji?"

Despite thinking about quickly finishing him off to find Aya, since their last encounter, Tiran had a rough estimate of the man's strength before her eyes, a solid Level Nine. Not a foe to be underestimated in her non-peak state—of course, the princess felt it was just a matter of some extra sword swings.

"It's Prince Xiang Ji." The man didn't intend to hide it, with only the two of them present anyway, and since they were all at the stage of revealing their cards and fighting for their lives, this piece of information was meaningless.

"Last time you left in a hurry without introducing yourself, old man. My name is Guishan, and I'm coming for you, beauty!"

"Not interested in remembering the names of people I'm gonna take down." Tiran pushed Jojo aside, looking at the seemingly overly excited guy with disdain. "Watch yourself."

In the next instant, the two turned into interlacing shadows.

The sharp blade was blocked in a moment of surprise by Tiran. Even if it was a Chi-enhanced sword blade from a Level 9 knight, even if it was just an inferior iron sword, or even a stick, it could cut gold and jade, but it was stopped by the semi-transparent net woven by Guishan.

Surprise lasted just a moment, as Tiran shifted the blade to slide past the net woven by Guishan's hands like a rope, delivering a swift, precise, and fierce side kick that knocked Guishan to the ground.

"Cough... that hurts quite a bit, beauty. I prefer gentle beauties," Guishan rubbed his side ribs that were kicked, coughing. His craftiness summarized in a single sentence as valuing quantity over quality, dabbling in a variety of things, despite having versatile methods, lacks a path to mastery.

"..." Tiran looked down at his right leg. The spot where his boot had hit Guishan had corroded into a hole, revealing the smooth skin beneath.

But that was all.

Tiran looked somewhat amused at Guishan below, coughing and seemingly waiting for something, gazing back at Tiran. "Forgot to tell you, this lady has quite a good resistance to most poisons."

"What...? Ugh, such a headache of a beauty, I like it!"

Although he seemed to be losing, Guishan appeared more excited. "It's okay, let's go again!"

In response, Tiran showed no mercy with his ice blade, his abundant Chi reserves being unruly. He threw out an exaggerated ice blade, heavy and sharp. This time, the force was more domineering compared to Tiran's first strike. Even though Guishan once again summoned the silk net, he couldn't fully hold it off and could only dodge by relying on substitution techniques.

"Beauty, I've talked so much, can't you make a move – Earth Flow Wall!"

After withstanding another ice spear from Tiran using an earth spell, Guishan reappeared close to Tiran, weaving countless threads in his right hand into a short spear thrust.

"Sorry, but I have zero interest in your kind of man!"

Before the short spear could reach, the air in front of Tiran suddenly cooled, ice crystals forming and dissipating the kinetic energy attached to the spear. Then, with no mercy, he kicked Guishan in the face with a high kick. At that moment, Tiran's dynamic vision could see this guy's face contorting to a quite comical extent, a cry of pain cut short as he swallowed it back down.

In the following rounds of attack and defense, Guishan used almost all his tricks, from his usual wire nets and poison which had no effect on Tiran, then continuously moving using substitution techniques. He then employed Five Element spells, Tai Chi Bagua, hidden weapons, Taiqing Lingfu alternately, but he never caught any obvious openings.

After a series of clangs, the dozens of needles, darts, and knives thrown by Guishan were knocked down by Tiran without a miss, with Guishan himself repositioning himself ten steps away.

"Tsk, beauty, I'm really starting to like you more and more, strong and spirited!"

"....I'm starting to feel more and more disgusted by you. Are you a number one bootlicker? Crawl away from this lady! Fighting, be serious!" Tiran rolled his eyes in exasperation.

"Heh, I just like flat-chested women, even better if they're strong." Guishan seemed rather proud.

Click.

A stone at Tiran's feet, shattered into dust without a sound from the scuffle just now.

Hm? A Killing intent?