"Is this how the Hidden Blade Pavilion taught you?"
Dusk seeped into the sky like ink. Fu Jin's voice, laced with the chill of clashing iron, exploded by Yue Mountain's ear.
"Talisman Master?!"
The hairs on the back of Yue Mountain's neck stood on end, and the veins beneath his skin throbbed. As he spun around, his footing was so unsteady that his stomp cracked the green bricks into a spiderweb pattern. A startled cry, like the clang of a broken gong, pierced the dusk, its trailing note holding a tremor even he didn't notice.
With a light tug of his palm, Fu Jin sent Yue Mountain's hulking frame toppling like a log. He rolled across the ground like a gourd, slammed hard against the wall, and crashed right through it, tumbling out of the courtyard.
Covered in dust, Yue Mountain scrambled to his feet. Head down, he was about to leave when Xu Yunfan called out to him.
"Hold on."
