The three shadows diverged in the night. Like a bat, Gu Xiang clung onto the eaves of the inn, entirely still. The girl’s eyes were unusually bright in the darkness, like those of a little critter that was quietly biding its time to pounce on its prey. Thereafter, her gaze flashed; out of the corner of her eye, she caught the firelight that was rising in the courtyard behind, and knew that Cao Weining was already over there. They only had to wait for the fire to blaze a little higher...

Then she heard Cao Weining, straining his vocal cords, howl from the courtyard, “Oh no! The building’s going to collapse!”

Gu Xiang nearly choked on a breath of qi. Over on his side, Cao Weining had been singularly preoccupied by the thought of Gu Xiang on the roof, and had casually shouted such a sentence. Once the words were out of his mouth, he, too, had realised that he had said the wrong thing, and hastily corrected himself, “No, no, I mean, fire! Fire! Run, quick! The building’s burning!”

A beat later, chaos followed within the inn. A few women in black, unkempt and hastily dressed, rushed out to check on the disturbance outside. The other guests within the inn joined in on the commotion, clamour rising from all corners of the tranquil night. Gu Xiang flipped off the roof, pulled up her mask, and nonchalantly blended into the crowd under the cover of confusion, then stealthily flung a few messenger flares from her wide sleeve. Those messenger flares shot out, and exploded amidst the noisy crowd. As the small licks of flame sprung up, shrieks rose from all around. Someone shouted, “The fire has gotten into the rooms!”, and everyone scrambled in different directions, forcing the women in black apart from one another in the mayhem.

Gu Xiang frowned inwardly. This chaos was exceeding her expectations a little, and they would have to proceed more cautiously from here on out. Yet, it seemed like the heavens were helping her. Just as she was standing in the corridor like a fool, a woman in black who had been separated from the rest by the crowd shoved her abruptly and shouted, “Go check on that Gao wench! Someone could be doing this on purpose!”

Gu Xiang yearned to cackle aloud, but quickly submitted herself to be dragged along, and together, they headed towards the room that imprisoned Gao Xiaolian--her heart was beating faster and faster in great excitement. Yet, misfortune struck in her joy. That woman that was dragging her along had a keen sense of alertness; just as she was about to push the door open and enter, she abruptly glanced back at Gu Xiang strangely, and asked, “What are you trembling for?”

Gu Xiang’s heart sank. Scrambling to put on a nervous demeanour, she mumbled, “I...I’m...scared…”