The night was as dark as ink.
A team of forty to fifty Jinwu Guard elites, led by Regent Zhou Ruoxi and Lu Li, moved like flowing shadows through the dark night.
They silently and swiftly surrounded Zhang’s Sweet Water Shop, located in the West City.
The shop had long since closed for the night.
All the lights were out, and the only thing moving was the shop’s banner fluttering slightly in the night breeze.
The faint fluttering sound only added to the prevailing silence.
A Jinwu Guard stepped forward, his movements practiced as he slid the door bolt open.
The group filed in, but the shop was completely empty.
The shelves were bare.
The places where various water buckets and jars should have been were now covered in a thin layer of dust.
There were signs of a hasty cleanup on the floor, but some water stains still remained.
In the air lingered a faint moisture and… a trace of a strange, sweet, and bloody scent, which was starkly different from the freshness of ordinary well water.
“Search!”
Zhou Ruoxi’s voice came through her ghost mask, cold and concise.
The Jinwu Guards immediately scattered, trained to search the front hall, kitchen, and warehouse with quick and quiet movements.
Lu Li focused his senses on the surrounding auras, his brow furrowing slightly.
The residual fluctuations of Spiritual Qi here were very weak and chaotic.
It was clear that the occupants had been gone for some time and had intentionally erased their tracks.
“Your Highness, Master Lu,”
a Jinwu Guard captain stepped forward to report.
“Both the front and back courtyards have been checked. There is no one here. We found several empty large water vats in the warehouse with water stains and a… strange odor remaining on the walls. There are fresh tracks of frequent carriage movements at the back door, leading toward the city outskirts.”
Zhou Ruoxi and Lu Li exchanged a glance, both seeing the gravity in each other’s eyes.
As expected, they were one step too late!
The opponent had reacted extremely quickly, fleeing at the first sign of trouble!
“It seems this Shopkeeper Zhang, or perhaps the person behind him, is quite well-informed,”
Lu Li said in a heavy voice, his sharp gaze sweeping across the empty shop.
“It is no easy feat to transfer personnel and important items so cleanly in the short time since we obtained the King’s Imperial Decree and Your Highness mobilized the troops.”
Zhou Ruoxi nodded.
Her Black Armor shimmered with a dim, cold luster in the faint light.
“Such a rapid response only proves they have something to hide. I only wonder if they had enough time to destroy or take all the evidence.”
She turned to the captain.
“Search again, carefully! Do not miss a single corner—floor tiles, walls, roof beams—see if there are any hidden compartments or secret chambers!”
“Yes!”
Just as the Jinwu Guards were about to begin a second, more thorough search—
Boom—
From the direction of the Inner Courtyard, there was a sudden, violent roar of clashing energy.
This was immediately followed by the rapid clashing of metal and angry shouts!
Someone was fighting in the Inner Courtyard!
And the commotion was massive!
The expressions of Lu Li and Zhou Ruoxi changed simultaneously.
“Go!”
Zhou Ruoxi barked.
Her figure in the Black Armor was the first to charge toward the Inner Courtyard like an arrow leaving a bow.
Lu Li followed close behind, his movement as light as the wind, his speed not falling behind in the slightest.
In an instant, the two passed through the back door and arrived in the Inner Courtyard.
The once-level ground of the courtyard was now a mess.
The bluestones were shattered, and dust filled the air.
mid-air, a white figure and a black figure were locked in a fierce battle!
The white figure was agile, her sword techniques sharp.
As she brandished the longsword in her hand, she whipped up streaks of bone-chilling Sword Qi that seemed to freeze the surrounding air.
Her offensive was like a rising tide, forcing the black figure to retreat repeatedly.
Her face was covered by a white veil, obscuring her features, but the cold Sword Intent radiating from her caused Lu Li’s pupils to shrink instantly.
‘It’s the Heavenly Sword Sect’s Jian Mingzi! Why is she here? And she seems to be pursuing that person in black?’
The black figure, on the other hand, appeared quite eerie.
He was enveloped in a layer of distorted Black Mist, making it impossible to see his true form.
One could only vaguely make out a short stature and ghostly, unpredictable movements.
He did not seem to excel at direct confrontation; instead, he relied more on his strange movement techniques and a highly corrosive black energy to block and evade.
Under Feng Lingshuang’s violent sword momentum, he was clearly struggling to keep up.
Evidently, the fight between these two had been going on for a while, and Feng Lingshuang held the upper hand.
The moment Lu Li and Zhou Ruoxi burst into the Inner Courtyard, the two combatants noticed their arrival.
The person in black reacted instantly.
Seeing powerful reinforcements arrive—especially sensing the heavy pressure from Zhou Ruoxi’s Black Armor and Lu Li’s unfathomable aura—he knew he could not stay long.
He suddenly unleashed a thick cloud of Black Mist, which expanded rapidly to cover several dozen feet.
It blocked both sight and perception as he shifted his body, transforming into a wisp of Black Smoke to flee over the courtyard wall!
“Where do you think you’re going!”
Feng Lingshuang shouted clearly.
Her sword momentum accelerated as an incredibly condensed streak of ice-blue Sword Qi slashed toward the Black Smoke like a bolt of silk, attempting to intercept him.
However, the Black Smoke was exceptionally strange.
After being struck by the Sword Qi, it only faltered for a moment before continuing its escape as if it had no physical form, moving with incredible speed!
“Pursue him!”
Almost no communication was needed.
The moment Lu Li and Zhou Ruoxi saw the person in black trying to escape, they reached the same decision.
They could not let this person, who was clearly a key figure, get away!
“Jinwu Guards, stay here! Search this place thoroughly and block all news!”
Zhou Ruoxi ordered the approaching guards without looking back, her voice carrying an unquestionable authority through her ghost mask.
Before her voice could even fade, she and Lu Li had already bolted forward at the same time!
Boom!
Zhou Ruoxi’s power exploded.
Every step she took in her Black Armor was like a heavy battering ram, yet she defied common logic by bursting with astonishing speed.
She crashed right through a section of the courtyard wall, and amidst the flying debris, she chased after the fleeing Black Smoke like a bolt of black lightning.
Her momentum was filled with the ferocity and determination of a soldier.
Lu Li’s method was completely different.
His toes tapped lightly against the messy ground, his Daoist robe billowing.
His movements were as smooth as flowing clouds and water, carrying no hint of worldly strain, yet his speed was so fast that he left faint afterimages in the air.
He rode the wind, chasing straight after the target!
One was fierce and violent, the other elegant and ethereal, yet they showed an amazing synchronization at this moment.
From different angles, they both locked onto the rapidly fleeing Black Shadow!
Ahead, Feng Lingshuang saw Lu Li and Zhou Ruoxi pursuing and felt a sense of relief.
She immediately activated her sword mantra, achieving Body and Sword Unity as she transformed into a streak of freezing light, cutting off the escape from another side.
Three powerful auras, like three sharp arrows shot from a bow, sliced through the silence of the Jin Imperial City’s night sky, racing toward the fleeing Black Shadow!
Facing the three experts suddenly closing in on him, the person in black abruptly turned around.
He took a sudden breath, swelling his body like a toad.
Then, he opened his large mouth and spat out a sudden blast of poisonous fog toward the three of them.
Seeing this, Lu Li merely gave his wide sleeve a gentle flick, utilizing his Innate Divine Ability, the Sleeve Universe.
In an instant, he collected the entirety of the poisonous fog.
He then vanished and reappeared in a flash, drifting toward the black-clad stranger like a ghost.
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