She pivoted on her heel, her eyes locked onto the massive mahogany double doors at the far end of the banquet hall.
'If I can make it to the gardens, I can scale the outer wall. I can hide in a merchant's cart. I can flee to the southern spice jungles and start a new life as a hermit who only cooks radishes,' Ji'an strategized, her boots silently gripping the polished floor as she prepared to activate her Wind-Step technique.
She took exactly one explosive step forward.
She didn't even make it a full yard.
A shadow fell over her, moving with a speed that fundamentally defied the laws of physics and heavy plate armor.
Before Ji'an could even register the shift in the air pressure, a large, heavily calloused, leather-gloved hand clamped down onto the thick, embroidered collar at the back of her white Inner Sect robes.
Ji'an let out a strangled, undignified "Ack!" as her forward momentum was effortlessly halted.
