Why was she angry?
Fang Yuan stared at her for a long moment, his gaze searching her expression trying to decipher whether this was another one of her absurd games… or something real.
But there was no teasing glint this time.
No smug smile tugging at the corners of her lips.
Only a tight jaw, a coiled tension in her stance, and eyes fixed with open hostility, not at him, but at the shadows emerging ahead.
He followed her gaze then stiffened as a dozen men stepped out from between the trees, dressed in matching armor engraved with a delicate orchid motif, emblem of the Gu family.
Each one radiated Golden Core realm cultivation, steady but unremarkable.
The man at the center stood just a step higher, peak of the realm, the clear leader.
He wore robes a little too refined for someone skulking through a swamp and waved an ornate fan lazily, despite the damp chill in the air.
Purely for flair as the forest was damp enough to freeze water....
