Ember borrowed some money from Melody Wood, then rushed out of the house, planning to find that shabby old man, redeem her belongings, and thank him.
Seeing Ember leave, Lynn Lin asked worriedly, "Are you really letting her go out alone?"
"As long as she doesn't expose herself, those guards shouldn't bother her as long as her face is covered," Melody replied.
"But I'm still worried. Why won't you let me go with her? At least she'd have some company," Lynn sighed.
"I already said, if you two go together, you'll draw too much attention and get discovered easily," Melody explained. In truth, Melody was worried Lynn might notice something, so she didn't say more.
Lynn shook her head helplessly. "Sigh, I just hope she'll be alright." Just as she was about to lie down and rest, she noticed something odd and asked Melody, "That brat—he still hasn't come?"
"He hasn't come," Melody replied.
"Seriously, I almost died and he still hasn't shown up. Luckily the girl found these miraculous pills, or I'd be dead for sure. If I ever see him again, I'm peeling his skin off," Lynn cursed angrily.
"Alright, your wounds have just healed. You should rest," Melody said.
After Lynn calmed down, she finally closed her eyes to rest.
As for Ember, she returned to the original street and found the shabby old man gone. She muttered, "Strange, where did he go? Isn't he here selling every day?"
Just then, a little girl walked over and said to Ember, "Big sister, an old grandpa asked me to give this to you."
Ember saw it was something wrapped in paper, but she could sense her own aura on it. She took it, and was surprised to find it was indeed her magic treasure. "Where's that old grandpa?" she asked, shocked.
"I don't know. He said he had something to do and left," the little girl replied innocently.
"Alright, thank you," Ember said gratefully. She looked around, feeling a bit disappointed when she couldn't find any trace of the shabby old man, and left helplessly.
Halfway down the street, Ember felt she still had to find the old man, so she asked people nearby about his whereabouts. But no one knew; it was as if he had appeared and vanished out of thin air.
"How can he just disappear?" Ember muttered, feeling frustrated. Just as she was about to keep asking, she noticed a squad of guards patrolling nearby and quickly turned away, pretending not to see them.
When the guards approached her and asked if she'd seen the three people on their wanted poster, Ember shook her head.
She thought she'd fooled them, but one guard said, "Take off your face cover."
"My face is ugly. I might scare you," Ember replied.
"It's fine, we're not afraid," the guard replied.
"You really want to see?" Ember asked.
"Of course."
"Alright, then look closely," Ember said. As soon as she lifted her face cover, a surge of powerful flames blasted out. The guards didn't even see her face—fire wrapped around them, and they rolled on the ground, engulfed.
"You wanted to look—consider this the interest for hunting me," Ember said, then quickly fled. When the commander arrived, he found only several charred corpses on the ground.
"Damn it, too late again!" The commander saw the scene and cursed angrily.
It had been over ten days; the king urged the commander daily, but he still hadn't found those people. Frustrated, he returned to the palace, gathered all his forces, and gave the order: search the entire city. When the others heard 'city-wide search,' they froze—the city was huge, and finding them would take forever and be inefficient. But with the commander's death order, they could only obey.
In the palace, the prince had already recovered from his injuries. He sat in a garden, facing the king.
The king looked at the prince and said, "Now you'll have to start cultivating from scratch."
"Why? Isn't there any other way?" the prince protested, unwilling to accept it.
"There's no other way. That's just how things are now, so bear with it. Once I catch those people, they won't get off easy for daring to attack a member of the Bai family," the king consoled him.
"I want to kill that woman," the prince roared. Losing his cultivation was worse than death—even though he could start over, it would take a lot of time.
After calming him, the king sighed, "This time I asked Lord White Tiger for help. Saving your life was already lucky."
"That Lord White Tiger really is powerful. If not for him, I would've died for sure," the prince muttered.
"So just focus on cultivating now. When I catch those people, I'll let you know," the king said.
The prince nodded. The king then called the commander over and asked, "How's it going?"
"She escaped again, but I've ordered a city-wide search. I refuse to believe the three of them can vanish into thin air," the commander replied.
"Three women have thrown my entire dynasty into chaos. If word gets out, it's humiliating. No matter what, finish this quickly—or else you'll deal with the consequences," the king said angrily.
The commander nodded and left. The king thought for a moment, then released his Divine Sense, covering the whole royal city. If he wanted to inspect every detail, it'd burn a lot of power, but any battle would show up instantly.
Such is the strength of a God. Meanwhile, Evan Yang watched the three women from the shadows, ready to step in if a God appeared or their souls were threatened.
The king, as the God of the White Tiger Dynasty, was monitoring the entire city. If any battle broke out, he'd immediately lock onto them, though the girls were unaware and still in the house.
"You were way too reckless just now. Don't do anything crazy again," Melody exclaimed after hearing Ember's story when she returned.
"They insisted on checking, so I just charged them a bit of interest—consider it payback," Ember said.
"You really can't do that again. Don't underestimate White Tiger Royal City," Melody sighed. Lynn added, "Exactly. With your father not around, the three of us need to be extra careful."
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Ember nodded. After a few days of hiding, she couldn't bear it anymore. "Are we going to keep hiding like this forever?"
"You two stay here. I'll look for a way to leave this city. It's just too dangerous here," Melody said.
"That's too risky," Lynn said worriedly.
"Don't worry. There aren't many who can threaten me, and even if they find me, I can still retreat," Melody replied.
Ember and Lynn nodded, thinking it made sense, so they let Melody go. After leaving the house, Melody headed near the city gates and started asking when they'd open.
But the answer everywhere was the same: the city had ordered the gates closed.
"If the gates won't open, that's a problem," Melody muttered, then sat in a teahouse, observing the city's defensive formations.
She noticed a group of guards approaching, but Melody pretended not to see them and continued sipping her tea. The guards skirted the teahouse and disappeared, leaving.
Just as Melody was about to stand, someone laughed, "You sure are hard to find."
Melody turned around and saw the commander entering the teahouse, but this time he wore plain clothes, so she hadn't noticed him approach.
The guards who had disappeared earlier now returned, surrounding the teahouse.
"How did you find me?" Melody asked.
"That's easy. Your portrait's posted everywhere. Even though I've never seen your face, your look stands out. Plus, you kept asking about the gates, which made you a suspect. The moment I came, I knew it was you," the commander laughed.
"So that's how. I wondered how you tracked me. Interesting," Melody smiled.
"Enough talk. Let's go. Last time you escaped, but this time, let's see how you get away," the commander said with a grin.
"There are too many ordinary people here. I don't want to hurt them. Can we pick another spot?" Melody smiled.
"Of course. There's a plaza nearby. Let's go there," the commander replied with a smile.
Melody nodded, and both she and the commander vanished, reappearing at the plaza. The commander shouted, "Clear the plaza immediately!"
In an instant, everyone and everything in the plaza disappeared or was moved away.
"That's pretty efficient," Melody smiled.
"Naturally. Otherwise, how could I be commander of this dynasty?" he replied.
Melody smiled, took out her zither, and said, "Last time I had to leave before finishing my performance. If you're interested, listen closely this time."
"Alright. I'm curious what your zither can do," the commander said with a smile.
Melody smiled and began playing. The zither's music was like a spell, swirling around. People nearby dared not approach, while the commander inside was unaffected, even smiling.
Seeing this, Melody wasn't nervous and asked with a smile, "How does it feel?"
"Not bad, but its power isn't much," the commander said with a smile.
"That's fine. Soon you'll hear something truly extraordinary," Melody smiled and continued playing. The sound waves grew stronger and stacked, and after a while, the commander realized something was wrong—his vision turned white, as if he entered another space. He frowned, "Strange, what's going on?"
"This is the Zither-Song Barrier. Let's see if you can break it," Melody smiled.
"Zither-Song Barrier? Never heard of it, but let's see how strong it is," the commander snorted and tried to break it, but found he couldn't.
"How can this be?" the commander muttered suspiciously.
"Thanks for giving me time to set up the Zither-Song Barrier. I'm leaving now. Enjoy yourself," Melody said with a smile, then vanished in a flash.
The commander was stunned. This was a perfect chance, and he'd let her escape again. He regretted not capturing her right away and giving her time to set up the formation.
"Damn it! This is infuriating!" the commander shouted inside the barrier.