The Empress's No.1 Lackey

The punished maids were filled with resentment, believing the deranged Noble Princess Consort Xiao had reported them to the Empress, thus resorting to beatings for revenge, and this palace maid took pleasure in it, difficult to describe the thrill she felt in beating a former concubine despite her lowly status.

But at this moment, she washed her hands of it cleanly.

Xiao Ran quietly listened, seemingly convinced, sheathed her sword, her expression slightly relaxed, and handed the food box to the hungry and frightened Noble Princess Consort Xiao, gently saying, "Eat slowly, I'll take care of it."

Then she signaled the older maid to exit the Cold Palace and wait for the door to close.

Xiao Ran calmly demanded the maid to name the official who ordered the beating and their location and residence.

"Good, I like people who obey," Xiao Ran extended her hand and patted the maid's shoulder, smiling, "You know what to do, right?"

The sharp-tongued maid's eyes shifted, quickly saying, "I haven't seen you today."

"Go on," Xiao Ran smiled and said.

The maid, relieved, hurriedly ran along the narrow, empty alley outside the Cold Palace into the distance, unsure if she was scared or being affected by the late spring chill, but the old maid only felt cold all over, her legs numb.

With her ordinary eyesight, she naturally didn't realize that when Xiao Ran patted her shoulder earlier, an abundance of Qi Mechanism had already seeped into her meridians, within breaths, severing her viscera's Qi.

About six hours later, the maid would die suddenly, without outsiders noticing any issue.

Xiao Ran's smile gradually faded, waiting for the maid to run far before she calmly, holding the sword sheath, headed after her to the alley's end.

She certainly didn't believe the address the maid provided, so she planned to follow her, using similar methods to kill all involved in the incident and prevent word from spreading.

...

...

The sunset had sunk to the edge of the sky, like blood, slanting its rosy clouds into the alley, splitting the mottled red palace walls into two distinct parts.

The heroine Xiao Ran walked in the alley, suddenly stopped.

"What a ruthless approach, a disciple from the reputable Qingshan, a Martial Artist with Divine Chapter Perfection, to trouble such a minor figure, it hardly seems like conduct befitting a respected sect."

A laid-back voice floated down from above.

Xiao Ran abruptly looked up, her pupils reduced to dots.

She saw a young man squatting on the glazed tiles atop the high palace wall, wearing the attire of an Imperial Family Tributor, his handsome face draped in the sunset light, displaying a bronze glow.

"It's you!?" Xiao Ran clenched her sword sheath.

Casually, Zhao Douan squatting on the wall chuckled, "Miss Xiao still recognizes me. This morning at the Martial Arts Arena, we didn't have much chance to talk, but now we cross paths again."

Xiao Ran, faced with imminent threat, said, "You've been following me?!"

No... it was my people tracking you, I came after receiving the news... Hmm, the method learned from Xu to conceal the aura with rosy clouds is indeed advanced, I've been looking from the wall for quite a while without being discovered...

Zhao Douan muttered inwardly, smiling dimples in his face, "Miss, those words are misplaced, I, as the Inner Court Tributor, naturally have the duty to patrol the Imperial Palace, whereas you... seem to have done something out of line earlier."

Seeing nearby there was only him, Xiao Ran steadied herself, retorting, "Out of line? If you cared about the maid's identity, why didn't you intervene earlier, choosing instead to watch coldly? Now you come to assert justice."

"No, no, no..." Zhao Douan leisurely stood up, leaping from the wall and blocking the heroine's path with exaggerated movements, causing his joints to crackle loudly: "

I'm no good person, nor interested in enforcing justice, but rather, you shouldn't sneak into the Imperial City and secretly enter the inner court... hahaha, why don't you come along with me?"

Xiao Ran sneered, "And if I refuse?"

"Then you have no choice." Zhao Douan sighed softly, immediately and suddenly, his spine unfolded like a dragon, an array of Qi Mechanism surging from his tailbone, reaching the right arm's punching force with crackling sounds.

While swiftly closing the distance, a fierce fist hammered towards the heroine's full chest!

At the slightest disagreement, it's a clash of fists and feet!

Xiao Ran, emotionless without a trace of surprise, her slender figure slightly leaning back at the moment Zhao Douan punched, her cloth shoes lifting off the ground, her whole being retreating swiftly like a willow in the wind!

Seemingly slow, yet extremely fast in reality.

One punches forward, one retreats backward.

Within breaths, they had chased several zhang, Xiao Ran swiftly nearing the palace wall behind her, the shadow cast upon the wall nearly overlapping with her.

Xiao Ran suddenly twisted almost defying physical laws, flipping mid-air, her boots heavily stomping on the palace wall.

She propelled herself like a cannonball towards Zhao Douan, while the dark sword sheath in her hand slipped off.

"Buzz——"

As the soft sword suited for petite-built women unsheathed, its pliant blade bent and vibrated, emitting a peculiar resonance.

The sharp blade, shining like a crescent moon, curved into a dangerous arc nearing a semicircle, then rapidly recoiled.

The sharp sword tip aimed directly at Zhao Douan's fist.

Zhao Douan's eyebrows arched, he withdrew his punch amidst the attack, and the dim Green Lotus mark appeared between his brows, the strands of Qi around him condensed into an illusionary Golden Bell Shield enfolding him.

It rotated with a rumble.

"Ding!"

The soft sword faced the spinning Golden Bell Shield, sparking a cluster of fires.

The power of this sword was weakened by the Buddhist Golden Bell Shield, mutually offset, as Zhao Douan's left punch again thrust forth.

Xiao Ran flicked her wrist, and the soft sword, like a giant python, wrapped along Zhao Douan's straight punch, enveloping his arm, overcoming hardness with softness.

The flexible tenacity like a rope binding his arm, suddenly tightened, intent on twisting his arm into minced flesh.