I exhaled slowly, pushing the cup of poison away from me, preparing myself for the inevitable shift in atmosphere. "You must be Wan Shun."
The effect was instantaneous and dramatic. "Shit! I've been found!"
In one fluid motion, Wan grabbed Mei's untouched cup of hot tea from the table and hurled its contents directly at our faces. Time seemed to slow down as Jian, Liangyu, and Qinyue, bless them, dodged perfectly as the hot brown liquid missed them by inches.
I froze at the heartbreaking moment of betrayal, as the scorching liquid hit me square in the face. I fell backward off my chair, screaming in pain as the heat seared my skin.
Wan didn't stick around to apologize. He rushed towards the entrance, his robes flapping, desperate to escape.
Jian and Liangyu quickly got into their stances. With a stomp of their feet, the ground rumbled. Thick, gnarled tree roots burst through the floorboards at the entrance, weaving together instantly to form an impenetrable wooden wall.
