However, their base of operations is located within a labyrinth of subterranean caverns heavily warded by ancient illusion arrays. An army could search these woods for a decade and never find the entrance."

The pieces clicked together in Ji’an’s mind, creating a picture of such profound, ruthless manipulation that it made her physically nauseous.

"So you used us as bait," Ji’an whispered, her grip on the spatula tightening until her knuckles turned white. "You knew I was traveling with the runaway heir to the General’s Estate. You knew Xuan possessed the Iron-Marrow Physique. You deliberately flaunted his presence on the open road, knowing the Syndicate would sense his constitution and ambush us."

"A perfectly executed gambit," Yichen agreed, his smile widening, entirely unapologetic. "They took the boy. They believe they have secured a priceless hostage, so they will take him directly to the heart of their subterranean fortress to be processed. And thanks to the microscopic tracking array I slipped into the boy’s traveling cloak three days ago... they are currently leading us right to their front door."

He snapped his fan shut, tapping it against his palm. "We don’t have to search the woods, Ji’an. We merely have to follow the map they are currently drawing for us. We breach the stronghold, we eradicate the Syndicate, I secure the top rank on the sect leaderboard, and you get your brother back. It is a flawless, highly efficient strategy."

Ji’an stared at him.

She looked at his handsome, aristocratic face. She saw the absolute, sociopathic disconnect in his eyes.

He genuinely did not understand why she was angry.

In his mind, using a terrified child as a tracking beacon to secure a military victory was a completely logical, completely acceptable sacrifice of a pawn.

He viewed human beings as statistics. He viewed trauma as a tactical expense.

"You arrogant, manipulative, soulless piece of garbage," Ji’an stated.

Her voice wasn’t yelling anymore. It was a terrifying, flat absolute zero that rivaled the deepest, darkest ice of the Eternal Cloud Peak.

Yichen’s smile finally faltered. His brow furrowed slightly. "Ji’an, you must see the logic—"

"I see a coward who couldn’t find a door on his own, so he threw a child to the wolves to fetch the key," Ji’an interrupted, her dark eyes blazing with a feral, unyielding hatred that completely stripped away her usual cowardly, self-preserving persona. 𝒻𝘳ℯℯ𝑤ℯ𝒷𝘯ℴ𝓋ℯ𝘭.𝑐ℴ𝑚

She didn’t use the spatula. She didn’t even channel her Qi into her hands.

She channeled every single, hyper-compressed ounce of her Dao of the Iron Wok internal meridian power directly down into her right leg.

"You think this is a game of chess, Your Highness?" Ji’an sneered, stepping into his guard. "Let’s see how well you strategize without a patella!"

Ji’an launched a devastating, lightning-fast front kick, aiming the reinforced, steel-toed tip of her leather boot directly at the absolute center of Xiao Yichen’s left kneecap.

It was a strike designed not to kill, but to permanently, brutally cripple.

If the kick landed, the sheer density of the kinetic force would shatter the prince’s joint into a fine, irreparable powder, leaving him limping for the rest of his immortal life.

Yichen’s eyes widened in genuine, unadulterated shock. He had expected her to yell. He had expected her to insult him.

He had not expected the cook to instantly resort to brutal, targeted, crippling violence against an Imperial Prince.

He didn’t have time to dodge. The kick was too fast, fueled by raw, murderous adrenaline.

But fortunately, Xiao Yichen was not alone.

A shadow detached itself from the perimeter of the carriage with terrifying, Golden Core speed.

"Your Highness!"

Commander Mo, the leader of the shadow guards, blurred into the carriage through the shattered doorway.

The commander didn’t try to block the kick because he knew instinctively that trying to stop the condensed kinetic mass of that strike would shatter his own arm.

Instead, Commander Mo grabbed Xiao Yichen by the back of his collar and violently yanked the Prince backward, hauling him out of the trajectory of the strike just a fraction of a millisecond before impact.

Ji’an’s steel-toed boot missed Yichen’s knee by a hair’s breadth.

The kick continued its upward trajectory, slamming directly into the heavy, solid mahogany frame of the carriage wall.

KRA-KOOM!

The impact sounded like a cannon firing at point-blank range.

The hyper-dense Qi exploded upon contact. The reinforced mahogany didn’t just break; it completely disintegrated.

The entire side of the luxurious, enchanted carriage was blown completely off its chassis, sending massive splinters of wood, velvet, and magical warding arrays flying fifty feet into the muddy forest.

The carriage tilted violently, the suspension groaning as half of its structural integrity ceased to exist.

Commander Mo tumbled backward out of the ruined carriage, dragging the Prince into the mud.

For three seconds, absolute silence reigned over the highway.

The remaining shadow guards stared at the gaping, smoking hole in the side of the royal carriage, their jaws hanging open.

They looked at the slender, sixteen-year-old cook standing in the wreckage, her right leg still extended in the follow-through of the kick.

’He... he almost shattered the Prince’s leg,’ Commander Mo thought, breaking out in a cold, terrified sweat as he scrambled to his feet, shielding Yichen with his own body. ’If I had been a half-step slower, the Emperor’s favored son would be drinking meals through a straw. The rumors are true. The Prince’s Royal Uncle is a monster!’

Inside the wreckage, Ji’an slowly lowered her leg. She dusted a stray piece of splintered mahogany off her gray apron, her breathing heavy, her chest heaving, still enraged, but not knowing where to vent.

She glared down at Xiao Yichen, who was currently sitting in the mud, staring at the obliterated side of his carriage.

Yichen slowly looked from the shattered wood back to Ji’an.

He should have been furious. He should have ordered his shadow guards to execute her on the spot for high treason and attempted assassination of a royal.