Xian Ling and my gripes with her go far back, even before being wedded to Fan Xhu. She was always one to disregard social standards. A beggar, a manipulator and extremely selfish. Always wishing for me to share but never sharing of her own accord, a woman whose mouth and brain live two different lives. But the worst part always was the glee she felt whenever I was in agony. The fun she had when she forced me to concede. As scuh, I became harsher and warier, turning my words venomous and never letting me relax, always havign to be vigilant and hyper-aware.

Isn't it ironic then that it seems I have fallen for something while having no clue as to how I've been surrounded. It seemed the guards were not as much patrolling as surrounding us. And as such, I quickly thought of plan 2: Misleading Flight.

Before coming to the plan, what would the situation be?

12 guards, all rank 2 cultivators in different folds, only fighting then 2 on 1 do Chen Yu and I might have a chance of winning, depending on which guard we face, and by no means is it a big chance.

My sister, by far the weakest point, but likely also well protected. Worst case scenario Fan Xhu would be lurking, taking us down the moment we come into contact with her.

The first step is obvious. I casually went inside and took the bottle of Bleeding Heart extract, putting it inside a small compartment in the gown I'm wearing. Not even a 5th ranker would be unaffected by this high quality poison, and Fan Shu should only be a 4th ranker.

As for the 2nd step, we have two options. Await patiently for my sister to come close and hold her hostage, or immediately run to get my bodyguards. Of course, the 2nd one is the safest approach as I'm not really in a state where I desperately want my sister dead no matter the cost. She is a nuisance, but my resentmnt has waded a bit the last couple of days. By now she looks more like a fool to me, so readily sacrificing herself in order to have the final laugh.

Before leaving, I switched my footwear to something more practical, as to not hold Chen yu back.

"Chen Yu, on the count of 3 we will run toward Xian Ling. Approximately 20 meters away from her we make a sharp turn right and run through the overgrown area, with this shortcut, we will be able to quickly get Jin, Min and Yin awake, this should at least keep us safe from the guards."

She nodded, and showed a concetrated expression.

"One... Two... Three!"

We immediately charged toward my unsuspecting sister. Startled, she stopped running toward us, knowing that we are aware of her schemes. She slowly shifted back while we were approaching and the moment we came near... we made a sharp 90 degree turn heading toward the servants' dorm.

Guards were at this point scrambling to cut us off, but as we were already running among the overgrown plants, the 8 guard stationed there hard a hard time deciding where to place themselves as they couldn't see us.

However there was one guard who spotted us and gave chase. I considered using a few drops of the Bleeding Heart but quickly realized that that could easily backfire if we accidentally inhaled it's fumes. Instead I picked up a small stone and flung it at the chasing guard dead center.

He had approached too closely and could not react to the sudden attack. He slumped over for a few second before being able to give chase again, giving us much needed distance. But we weren't in the clear, as his shouting could alarm another guard if they were closeby.

A two on two would be a definite, guaranteed loss.

I picked up two more stones as we started to come close to the dorms, and gave one to Chen you if we were to be intercepted again. The other guard couldn't find us anymore, or so I assumed, seeing as he was out of sight as of now.

At this point, we were startled by a booming sound far behind us, followed by the distinct sound of wood snapping. Alarmed we sprinted even faster, knowing that letting it catch up to us would only result in swift death.

We ran inside and I let Chen take the lead, as she knows this location best. Far off at the end of the hall to the right we barged inside and forcefully shook the 3 sisters awake.

"We must run, NOW!!!" I shouted.

still in their sleeping garments, 2 of them carried us as they were much more agile, Chen and I were gasping for breath still.

But the booming sound still seemed to slowly catch up. Far off in the distance we could see the trees horribly bent, some almost even been cleanly snapped in half.

Yu and I pleaded for them to hurry up and leave this place once and for all.