The Ice Demon was locked in a cave, and the Drunken Sovereign was passed out on his mountain; the Golden Retriever was useless against political manipulation.
Lin Ji'an was entirely on her own.
'Well,' Ji'an thought, her fingers slowly tightening around the handle of her Black Iron Spatula hidden beneath her robes. 'So much for a peaceful road trip.'
***
The journey from the towering, cloud-wreathed peaks of the Celestial Sword Sect to the sprawling, opulent capital of the Azure Empire should have taken exactly five days by royal carriage.
The Imperial Second Prince, Xiao Yichen, traveled with a retinue of highly trained, ruthlessly efficient shadow guards, a team of four majestic, six-legged Spirit-Stallions, and a carriage that was essentially a mobile palace suite crafted from enchanted mahogany and lined with crushed velvet.
It was designed for speed, luxury, and absolute, uninterrupted imperial authority.
