As the brass key slid into the lock of the final door, Li Ban heard a crisp click.
"Got it!"
He smiled and pushed the iron door open.
There was no light inside the hidden room.
As it opened, the dim glow of the Illumination Stone cast over his shoulder, lighting up only a small patch of the floor.
At first glance, he didn't see anything at all.
Only when Li Ban lowered his gaze to the floor did he spot something highly reflective.
Since he didn't recognize the object, he approached with extreme caution.
First, he had the Silver Kingfisher give it a peck.
Only then did he step into the secret room and lean down. The object on the floor was a single-handled bronze mirror.
Its edges were carved with a wheat-ear pattern, and though the surface was mottled with verdigris, the handle gave off a faint gleam.
Li Ban immediately tossed the small mirror into his Cubic Space, planning to examine it later when he had time.
With the item in hand, he left at once. He didn't bother searching for any other hidden rooms, sprinting straight for the exit.
Behind him, the heavy door of the hidden room slowly swung shut.
The horizon was turning faintly pale.
In about half an hour, the sun would rise again.
Early morning in Hundred Flowers City was stripped of its usual bustle, reduced to an absolute, desolate silence.
Scattered goods and torn paper littered the main streets.
Withered petals from the night before were swept into the air by the morning breeze, flaunting their final beauty before falling to the dirt, waiting to be trampled into mud by pedestrians and carriages.
Cat Girl stood in the narrow gap between two walls, watching a single petal drift lazily to the ground.
—
The moment it touched the earth, she lunged. Her silhouette blurred into a phantom as she shot across the long dirt road, brushing past brick houses and mud shacks before vanishing beneath a set of eaves.
Hooking one hand and her tail around a wooden pillar, she hung suspended in midair.
Her free hand clutched her lower stomach.
She furrowed her brow every so often; she was in rough shape.
The city lord of Hundred Flowers City had been assassinated, his head and heart punctured by several massive holes.
This earth-shattering news would soon spread across Langzhou, right alongside the news of the Hundred Flowers Pavilion burning down.
Cat Girl knew perfectly well that if her pursuers caught her, the headline "Gold Badge Assassin Cat Girl Captured" would shock the province even more than the first two.
'Sigh,' Cat Girl lamented inwardly. 'Failing me at the critical moment.'
Though she had successfully killed City Lord Wang Yong, she had pushed herself too hard. Exchanging blows with others right after the assassination had caused the violent qi within her body to erupt during her escape. Her movements had grown sluggish, and she had narrowly avoided capture.
Worse still, she had taken a Peach Blossom Dart to her left arm.
The dart was the signature hidden weapon of the Peach Blossom Gentleman, a retainer kept by the city lord's estate.
Calling himself a gentleman, he refused to coat his hidden weapons with poison.
Instead, he coated them with his exclusive Tracking Incense!
The kind that couldn't be washed off no matter what!
Cat Girl had already treated the wound, going so far as to carve out a large chunk of her own flesh, yet her pursuers kept appearing in her vicinity.
They had clearly caught up to her.
And rumor had it that this Tracking Incense wouldn't fade for an entire month.
To the Peach Blossom Gentleman, anyone hit by his dart was as conspicuous as a walking signal flare, at least until the scent wore off.
Cat Girl had originally planned to exit through the east gate and return to the Hundred Flowers Pavilion to find Li Ban.
The pavilion wasn't as simple as it appeared on the surface. She was a little worried Li Ban wouldn't be able to handle those vice pavilion masters, not to mention the old pavilion master who hadn't shown his face yet.
At the same time, she desperately wanted to know if Li Ban had managed to secure the item she was after.
But looking at the situation now, recklessly returning would likely only drag Li Ban into an even bigger mess.
So, Cat Girl changed course midway. She decided to leave through the north gate, putting off her rendezvous with Li Ban until she shook off her pursuers, after which she could send someone to ask about his situation.
She slipped through the commoner streets and arrived in the slum district filled with shanties. Just a little further ahead was the north gate.
Because the pursuers were tailing her so closely, Cat Girl had to circle around constantly to prevent them from predicting her escape route. That was why she had dawdled until now without making it out of the city.
The city gates were already under martial law. Cat Girl knew she would have to force her way out, which would probably worsen her injuries.
But she couldn't worry about that right now.
As long as she left Hundred Flowers City and escaped into the deep mountains or dove to the bottom of a river, the Peach Blossom Gentleman would have a much harder time tracking her by scent.
Taking a deep breath, she suppressed the turbulent qi churning in her abdomen and braced herself to charge the gate and clash head-on with the guards.
She set off again, her movements swift.
Taking a left at the end of the alley would give her a clear view of the city gate down the road.
The moment Cat Girl appeared at the north gate, the defending soldiers would definitely fire a signal, drawing the entire city's forces down on her.
She had to end the fight quickly; the longer she delayed, the more dangerous it would become.
Just as Cat Girl readied herself, flicking her hand and tail to effortlessly bound onto a roof, prepared to spring across the rooftops toward the north gate, a terrifying, invisible pressure suddenly crashed down upon her chest.
Her limbs instantly went weak, and she collapsed uncontrollably onto the eaves.
'What kind of ability is this?' All Cat Girl could move were her eyes and her mouth.
She had never encountered a situation where she was so entirely powerless to resist.
Terror flooded her mind.
She scrambled for any possible countermeasure, but her body remained entirely paralyzed, as if it had surrendered before she even could.
"This is not an elemental ability," a gentle, smiling voice rang out.
The voice was like the newly risen morning sun in the east—gentle and unglaring, warming a person to their very bones.
Cat Girl struggled to raise her head, but she could only manage to lift her eyelids enough to see a pair of thick-soled black boots woven with a dark brocade pattern.
Above them hung a set of black robes that draped over the shoes, its edges trimmed with white patterns.
The arrival slowly crouched down, and Cat Girl finally caught sight of his face.
It was a face so breathtakingly average that one would forget it the moment they turned away.
'What a perfect face for an assassin.'
Just as Cat Girl thought this, she heard the man speak.
"What an excellent batch of beast blood."
Cat Girl's pupils instantly shrank into thin vertical slits.
The man with the incredibly pleasant voice and the incredibly plain face grabbed Cat Girl by the scruff of her collar with one hand, hoisting her into the air like an actual kitten.
Her limbs dangled weakly. She still hadn't regained control of her body.
'If this man is one of Hundred Flowers City's pursuers—I might really be finished here today!'
Cat Girl blinked, a deep sense of exhaustion washing over her at her own utter helplessness.
However, she didn't give up. Instead, she began gathering her strength.
As long as the man didn't kill her right away, she still had a chance to escape.
The black-robed man jumped down from the roof, carrying Cat Girl.
His movements were so weightless that it didn't even look like he was using a lightness skill—it was more like he was simply flying.
Even while carrying a person, he landed without making a single sound.
Then, still holding Cat Girl, the man turned and strolled deeper into the city.
The clatter of colliding armor grew closer and closer.
Soon, a heavily armed squad of soldiers and a few officials sprinted rapidly toward them.
Cat Girl stared wide-eyed as they closed the distance bit by bit.
And then—as if they couldn't even see the two of them—the soldiers brushed right past and slowly faded into the distance.
'?' Cat Girl was baffled.
What was wrong with these pursuers?
A different theory gradually took root in her mind.
Perhaps this black-robed man wasn't on the same side as Hundred Flowers City.
Furthermore, he possessed an ability that forced others to ignore their existence.
Then what did he capture her for?
'What an excellent batch of beast blood.'
Could it really be for the beast blood running through her veins?
Beast blood had always been viewed as a low-grade bloodline.
Although it had its powerful aspects, in the eyes of other spiritual practitioners, it mostly just equated to 'brutality' and 'madness'.
The vast majority of beast-blood inheritors were forever stuck at the 4th Tier.
Cat Girl had only managed to reach the 5th Tier relying on the sheer courage to either advance or die trying.
The only 6th Tier beast-blood spiritual practitioner she knew of was Yan Jiu.
And that was only because Yan Jiu's beast blood was relatively thin to begin with, and with the help of her powerful imperial father, she had slowly stepped into a tier beyond Cat Girl's reach.
But this black-robed man had displayed a peculiar ability Cat Girl had never seen before. Maybe he truly needed beast blood for something?
The moment she realized she was useful to him, Cat Girl perked right back up.
She wasn't afraid of being used; she was only afraid of not even having the value to be used.
Since he didn't seem inclined to kill her right away, there was still a chance to escape—or even kill him in return.
Moreover, after being caught by the black-robed Priest, the Tracking Incense on her body had seemingly vanished. She finally didn't have to worry about being pursued.
While she was plotting her escape, Cat Girl looked up again, and her expression changed slightly.
Only a few thoughts had passed. How had she suddenly gone from the north gate to the east gate?
The eastern city gate was already right in front of them, guarded by numerous soldiers.
Evidently, the news of Cat Girl appearing at the north gate hadn't caused the soldiers at the east gate to lower their guard.
'This man... how in the world is he doing this?'
At first, the black-robed man's ability to paralyze her, as well as his power to make others ignore them, hadn't shocked Cat Girl too much.
After all, some rare elements did possess wondrous powers.
But Cat Girl had never heard of any element that could allow two people to cross half a city and instantly appear in another location.
A special identity Cat Girl had only recently learned of involuntarily floated into her mind.
A Priest!
"You're a Priest?"
"Mhm," the black-robed Priest replied readily. His voice was as pleasant as ever, laced with a hint of a smile.
It was obvious just from listening that he was in a great mood.
The black-robed Priest continued walking forward, while the guarding soldiers and passing spiritual practitioners continued to ignore their existence. As the two drew closer and closer to the gate, the Priest showed no intention of stopping to wait for it to open.
They were going to crash right into it!
Cat Girl's vision suddenly blurred.
When her sight cleared again, the scenery before her had already transformed into the official road outside the city gates.
Verdant mountains stretched out into the distance, and a bright red morning sun had already crested the peaks, radiating a tranquil, peaceful, and hopeful warmth.
"Where are you taking me? What are you going to do?"
"To my secret base. The Hundred Flowers Pavilion. Have you heard of it?"
Cat Girl's heart leaped with joy.
Li Ban was there!
Then, horror struck her.
Li Ban was there!!!
Li Ban had once said that in his current state, he didn't even count as a Priest. If he encountered this black-robed man, would he be in danger?
Cat Girl certainly didn't believe that all Priests were safe to rely on.
A Priest with the potential to become a Wizard, as long as they stepped into the light, would inevitably draw throngs of spiritual practitioners begging to follow them.
If Cat Girl hadn't accidentally stumbled upon Li Ban's secret, she never would have learned his true identity.
As they spoke, the black-robed Priest once again unleashed his miraculous space-crossing ability.
Cat Girl looked at the familiar road ahead and knew they were now much closer to the Hundred Flowers Pavilion.
Suddenly, the black-robed Priest stopped and turned to look at the woods by the roadside.
The shadows in the trees wavered.
In the deepest patch of gloom, the silhouette of a man slowly emerged.
The moment he locked eyes with the black-robed man, Li Ban, hidden within the shadows of the trees, knew he had been exposed.