Yun Yishan tumbled off the wall and crashed to the floor, her whole body shuddering with pain as consciousness slowly returned, what the hell was this outrage! She, the Empress of an entire nation, had been slapped against a wall like a swatted fly!
A surge of towering fury rose up, and the lights along the entire corridor flickered almost imperceptibly darker for an instant.
Yun Yishan lowered her head, gasping for breath, her gaze landing on a pair of gleaming black military boots. She forced herself up, lifted her eyes, and met a pair of unfathomably deep eyes staring down at her with cold indifference.
She was just about to see which lunatic dared strike her when the man looked away first:
“Tie her up.”
Yun Yishan froze wait, tie up who?
The man turned on his heel, not sparing her another glance, his gaze sweeping over the two sentinels standing rigid: “Chatting and laughing with the mission target? Useless, both of you.”
“What?!”
“She… she’s the target?”
“Take her for her Rating Assessment immediately.” The man wasted no more words and turned to leave.
“Yes, sir!”
Yun Yishan struggled, but the sentinels gripped her arms tightly and hauled her stumbling along. Their deliberately hushed exclamations reached her ears: “Captain Lu is incredible! I couldn’t sense him approaching at all just now.”
“That’s an S-Class Guide for you!”
A Guide?
This… this was a Guide?! Yun Yishan’s vision went dark. This Palace was deceived! Weren’t Guides supposed to have low combat power, meant to groom and dress Sentinels?
She gritted her teeth and glared at the back of the culprit ahead, his white military uniform outlining broad shoulders and long legs. Beneath the fabric, the full, firm lines of his shoulders and back shifted subtly with his steady stride, elegant and composed. Even though the uniform covered nearly his entire body, it couldn’t hide the perfect physique of a mature man.
Her gaze involuntarily fell on the small sliver of neck revealed at the ends of his hair.
Long, coldly pale, flawless like a piece of fine jade.
The wind and sand of Yunhuang meant that even royalty and nobility couldn’t cultivate such translucent skin, as if washed in pure snowmelt. For some reason, it strangely brought to her mind the phrase “skin of ice and bones of jade.” After appraising him in her mind, Yun Yishan uncomfortably looked away.
What a waste of such a fine appearance, when inside he was nothing but an arrogant, insolent brute. She had never offended him, yet he’d slammed her against a wall for no reason! Granted, no bones were broken, but who was she, that he dared lay hands on her? She would repay it a hundredfold in the future! Torn apart by chariots! Death by a thousand cuts! Exterminate his entire clan to the ninth degree!
If she didn’t avenge this, she would… she would…
She would turn her head and quietly ask the sentinel beside her: “Who is that?”
The sentinel was about to answer when he saw the man ahead pause slightly, turning his head to shoot back a warning look.
He immediately fell silent as a cicada in winter, walking straight ahead without glancing sideways. Only after a while did he sneak closer, like a thief, and whisper rapidly: “Lu Feichen, S-Class Guide, captain of the Special Task Force. He’s a rare Combat Guide, no one at the White Tower dares cross him.”
Yun Yishan barely understood: the man surnamed Lu was someone not to be trifled with. She looked up and happened to meet Lu Feichen’s cold, stern gaze.
The air suddenly froze. That familiar cold wind, carrying a strange fragrance, brushed her face again, more aggressive than before, as if it would pierce straight into the depths of her consciousness. Her heart couldn’t help pounding wildly as she clenched her teeth against a slight dizziness.
The cold wind quickly dissipated, and Yun Yishan felt fine again. Unwilling to be outdone, she lifted her chin and glared right back.