Thunder reverberated across the horizon yet crackled unnervingly close. Torrential rain veiled the world in a watery haze3. When scalding blood dripped into the icy downpour, Shen Yaozhi clung to the fractured tree at the cliff's edge, her silhouette dissolving into the shadows beneath4.
The rain hammered the branches with deafening fury, paradoxically washing away the bloodstains trailing from her wounds3.
"Where is she?"
"Traces lead here."
"Vanished again?"
Footsteps encroached. Shen bit her lip until it bled, breath suspended3.
She never imagined rebirth would hurl her back to this catastrophe—eloping with that wolf-hearted Lu Zhuo, nearly captured by mountain bandits. At least she'd preserved her virtue and slain one pursuer. Five days of flight had led to this dead end4.
Peering into the abyss, she saw only swirling mists where the Lan River raged below. In her past life, survival odds here were three in ten. Yet captivity promised worse3.
Just as she loosened her grip, screams erupted above. Two severed heads tumbled past, eyes frozen in terror. Blood sprayed her face as a sword flicked aside the foliage3.
"Shen Yaozhi of the Shen Clan?"
The youth in crimson robes stood silhouetted against storm clouds, his phoenix eyes glacial beneath the sheltering umbrella4. Though fresh from slaughter, not a droplet marred his aristocratic poise3.
"I am Cui Heng." The blade tapped her quivering branch. "Was it your elopement that shamed Elder Brother Huo Yan?"
Shen's grip faltered. Memories flooded: the Huo Clan's annihilation in her past life, Cui's siege against the imperial court, his icy command—"Kill her."4
"Not elopement." Through chattering teeth, she explained: a marriage pact sworn by her late father; her aunt's deceit about a long-lost brother; abduction in Qu'an by Lu Zhuo. "Would any runaway backtrack toward Jingcheng?"4
Cui's laughter rang hollow. In one fluid motion, he swept her up—umbrella miraculously intact—only to drop her into the mud. "My apologies, Lady Shen." His smirk belied the words. "Slippery hands."3