The roar of the fire was a living beast, devouring the cedar beams of the Imperial Stables with a crackling hunger. Smoke, thick and oily from the burning horse-fodder, swirled into a choking curtain. Lin Xiyao felt the searing heat against her skin, but it was eclipsed by the unnatural furnace radiating from Lu Yan.
He moved with a "weak-to-strong" surge of adrenaline that defied human limits. With Xiyao tucked firmly against his side, his claws dug into the scorched stone of the ventilation shaft. Every muscle in his back rippled like a coil of steel under his silk robes—a physical manifestation of the "Lunar Suppression" tonic's volatile side effects.
"Hold your breath," Lu Yan grunted, his voice a low, vibrating chord that resonated in Xiyao's very bones.
He surged upward.
They burst through the collapsing roof just as the primary support beams gave way. The night air of the Forbidden City hit Xiyao's face—a freezing, sharp contrast to the inferno below. They landed with a heavy thud on the sloped emerald tiles of a nearby storehouse.
Xiyao gasped, clutching her medical chest. Her "Heavenly Forensic" System immediately recalibrated to the open environment.
[Heavenly Forensic System: Navigation Active] Condition: Escape from High-Heat Zone successful. Current Threat: Imperial Archers on the Meridian Gate towers. Distance: 400 yards. Warning: High-Tier Martial Qi detected in the eastern courtyard.
"We aren't clear yet," Xiyao whispered, her "sub-personality of responsibility" taking over as she stabilized her breathing. She looked toward the Meridian Gate. Tiny sparks of light—torches—were moving with lethal precision.
"They won't find us on the heights," Lu Yan said. His amber eyes were wide, the pupils narrowed into needle-points. The tonic had suppressed the full transformation, but it had left him in a state of "Berserk" clarity. He began to run along the ridge of the roof, his footsteps nearly silent despite the heavy tiles.
Xiyao looked down. The Forbidden City at night was a sea of ink and silver, a "grand worldview design" that felt both majestic and terrifying. They were sky-dancers on the edge of a blade.
Suddenly, a sharp hiss cut through the wind.
[Hazard Alert: Projectile Inbound] Trajectory: North-East. Type: Armor-piercing arrow (Wolf-poison tipped).
"Lu Yan, drop!" Xiyao screamed.
He didn't just drop; he twisted in mid-air, a shadow becoming a blur. An arrow whistled through the space where Xiyao's head had been a second before, shattering a ceramic roof-ornament behind them.
From the darkness of a lower balcony, a figure rose. It was a woman dressed in the midnight-blue silk of the Empress's personal shadow-guards—a "classic support character" designed to be extreme and impulsive.
"Commander Lu," the woman called out, her voice cold and melodic. "The Eunuch Wei wants your heart, but I only want the girl. Hand over the physician, and I will let you die in the shadows instead of on the executioner's block."
Lu Yan stopped. He set Xiyao down behind a decorative chimney. His claws unsheathed with a metallic shink. The "emotional connection" between the leads was palpable; he didn't even look at the guard—his eyes remained fixed on Xiyao for a fraction of a second, a silent promise of protection.
"Xiyao," he said, his voice dropping into that terrifyingly calm register. "Stay in the shadow of the brick. Do not move until the wind stops."
"Wait," Xiyao said, reaching into her kit. Her system was already "disassembling frame by frame" the guard's movements. "Her stance... she favors her right hip. She was wounded recently. Use the 'Fey Evolution' strike I saw in the tunnels. Strike low."
Lu Yan didn't ask how she saw a hidden wound through silk and darkness. He simply launched himself forward, a Brocade-Clad Beast reclaimed by the night.