At the exit of the secret passage, the blue stone slab was slick with night dew. Ye Fan cautiously poked his head out half an inch, and the moonlight immediately flooded his pupils. Qín Wǎnshuāng's soft breath brushed the back of his neck, carrying the faint warmth of gunpowder—she had just been checking the flint on the soft sword in the secret room, and the scent of sulfur still lingered on her fingertips.
"Watch the brick gaps." He reached back to clasp her wrist, pulling her up onto the city wall.
Standing side by side, the entire outline of the imperial palace came into view: below the southeast palace wall, the black-robed death squads of Xuanyin Pavilion surged across the moat like a tide. Those in the front ranks raised black banners embroidered with Xuanyin crests, fluttering in the night wind, each flap accompanied by an eerie, humming sound of bronze bells.
Chapter 186