“Twelve noon sharp, Your Majesty—your seven-day grace period has officially expired!”
The golden foreclosure seal blazed in Shen Qiaoqiao’s hands, casting harsh amber light across the weeping, bloodstained face of Emperor Ji Wudao.
“Guards!” Ji Wudao shrieked, his voice cracking like dry bamboo under an iron boot. “Treason! Slay this insolent wench! Slay her where she stands upon the imperial steps!”
Two Golden-Core Royal Guards lunged forward from the heavy shadows of the carved marble pillars. Their crimson capes snapped in the autumn wind as their dragon-tooth sabers cleared their sheaths with a ringing metallic hiss. They were sworn blood-retainers, bound to the royal clan by ancient soul-vows, trained to kill without thought or hesitation.
Before their boots could touch the third marble stair, a pale blue shadow flickered between them.
Chu Lingxiao appeared without a whisper of displaced air. She did not even draw her sword. She simply extended two slender fingers and tapped the brass crossguard of her scabbard against the stones.
Ting.
A ring of cold white sword qi rippled outward. The air around the two guards froze solid in an instant. Frost locked their leather joints, their sabers stalled three inches from their scabbards, and their momentum slammed them rigid into the floor like two frozen bronze statues.
