As they walked forward, they heard rustling sounds from behind. Su Muqing turned her head to look and frowned with disgust.
Then she quickly regained her composure, put her arm around Wan Yan'er's waist, and flew to the edge of the jungle in one go.
"Why are you walking so fast all of a sudden? What did you just see?" Wan Yan'er asked Su Muqing, looking at the jagged rocks ahead while shaking her slightly sore calves.
"Nothing much, just a few big snakes!"
"Several of them? Thank goodness you didn't let me see, or I'd have insomnia for days!" Wan Yan'er shivered and felt a chill down her spine.
She was usually fearless, but she felt uneasy whenever she saw snakes. When she saw them on the trees just now, her legs already felt weak.
Su Muqing smiled, not answering her question. In fact, she had not only seen a group of large snakes, but they were also tightly intertwined, their scales glinting coldly, looking utterly disgusting.
It was already past five o'clock in the afternoon. The two of them sat on a large rock in the rocky slope and waited for a while. From a distance, they saw a black shadow flying towards them.
The eagle circled them at a low altitude. Su Muqing grabbed Wan Yan'er and flew into mid-air, placing her onto the eagle's talons.
Wan Yan'er looked at the bloodstains on the talons and the pig bristles with disgust. The eagle let out a cooing sound from its throat, as if urging them on. Su Muqing felt that something had happened.
The two were brought back to the lakeside, where they saw several stewards pacing back and forth with anxious expressions on their faces. More than ten women responsible for cooking were cleaning the wild boar brought back by the eagle outside the wooden shed they had built at noon. However, all the other workers and Brother Lu had disappeared without a trace.
Su Muqing leaped down from the eagle's talons and walked a few steps into the crowd. "What are you doing? Where is Brother Lu and the others?"
"Princess, you're back! Something terrible has happened, the young marquis, he… he's gone! Young Master Lu has already taken people to search for him. When he left, he instructed me to wait for you here." The steward who answered looked deathly pale, and it took him a great effort to finish the sentence.
Su Muqing's heart sank. She glanced at Wan Yan'er, who had just gotten down from the eagle's talons, and stared intently at the steward. "What do you mean gone? Weren't they with you when we left at noon?"
Wan Yan'er ran forward. "Who's gone? Who are you talking about?"
Su Muqing stepped forward and held Wan Yan'er's arm. "Ke Bin Na is gone."
After the two of them got down from the eagle's talons, the eagle turned and flew away. However, Su Muqing's attention was focused elsewhere and she didn't notice anything unusual.
"How could that be? Wasn't he with Brother Lu and the others? How could he be gone? I'm going to find him…" Hearing that Ke Bin Na was gone, Wan Yan'er immediately became anxious and struggled to break free from her hand, running forward.
Su Muqing grabbed the flustered person. "Calm down! Do you know where to find him? Brother Lu and the others have already gone to look. Let's go to the place where the secret guards had their incident first. Perhaps we can find some clues."
"But… I'm worried, he, he won't be alright, will he?" Wan Yan'er didn't know what was wrong with her, but she felt very flustered. As she spoke, tears already streamed down her cheeks.
Seeing Wan Yan'er's worried expression, Su Muqing also felt uneasy. After spending these few months together, they had bickered every day, and at some point, they had grown to care for each other.
However, both of them were strong-willed and refused to admit it first. Those who observed them had already seen the signs, but since the parties involved hadn't said anything, they pretended not to notice.
Su Muqing clasped Wan Yan'er's shoulders tightly, her grip a little too firm. "He'll be fine! Don't overthink it and scare yourself. Perhaps he had something to attend to and returned to the city. Besides, Ke Bin Na's martial arts are not low. Even if he encounters danger, it won't be so easy for him to get into trouble."
Wan Yan'er looked into Su Muqing's eyes, her vision blurred by tears. In fact, the strength in Su Muqing's hands betrayed her true feelings.
Both of them knew very well that Ke Bin Na was the only son of the Regent, a strong contender for the throne, and a target for many. If he were captured, the situation would be dire, and a great conspiracy would surely be awaiting him.
Su Muqing prepared for the worst while praying silently. (Ke Bin Na, no matter what you've encountered, please come back alive! As long as you're alive, even with just one breath left, I'm confident I can save you.)
The two of them adjusted their breathing and calmed their agitated minds. Su Muqing pulled the equally confused Wan Yan'er and said to the steward, "Hurry and take us to where the young marquis went missing! And tell us in more detail what happened!"
"Yes! You two, please come this way. After you left for a while at noon, the young marquis said he was going to relieve himself behind the bushes. But he was gone for a long time and didn't return. When Young Master Lu and the others went to look for him, they found all the dozen or so secret guards who had followed the young marquis lying in the grass by the bend. Eight of them had already died, and four were still breathing. Young Master Lu had already examined them."
Eight secret guards, who had been fishing and eating together at noon, were now dead? Su Muqing felt a pang in her heart.
Those people had always lived in darkness. Both in life and death, no one would remember who they were! This was because secret guards only had numbers, not names.
She let out a heavy sigh and then asked the steward as they walked, "When did the young marquis leave? When did you discover he was missing? When did Brother Lu and the others go to search for him? Did they return in the meantime?"
"Replying to the Princess, I remember you left around the beginning of Wei Shi (around 1 PM). The young marquis must have left around the beginning of Shen Shi (around 3 PM), when everyone was building the small water wheel fence. About half an hour later (about an hour), the head steward noticed that the young marquis hadn't returned for a long time, so he went to see what was happening. But soon after, he ran back saying something had happened. Young Master Lu took us there at that time. When we arrived at the grass pile, eight secret guards had already died. Young Master Lu gave the other four some medicine, which saved their lives. Then he led people to search for the young marquis and instructed me to wait for you here. He never returned…"
Hearing this, Su Muqing couldn't help but frown. From the beginning of Shen Shi until the middle of You Shi (around 6 PM), that meant Ke Bin Na had been missing for over three hours!
Such a long time, and one could have already returned to the capital at full gallop. Brother Lu and the others discovered he was missing two hours ago and started searching, but they haven't sent any news back, meaning they haven't found him either!
Then where did Brother Lu and the others go?
The steward walked while explaining the situation to the two of them. After walking for about ten minutes, they crossed a vast expanse of land and arrived behind a small hill. There was a large patch of tall grass here, where many people usually relieved themselves. Further in was a grove of bamboo.
Su Muqing first approached the four who were still breathing. They were covered in crisscrossing wounds of various sizes, and the scattered swords and sabers beside them were also stained with blood and torn flesh. Anyone who didn't know better would think they had attacked each other.
After scanning them roughly with a detector, she found that although their complexions were pale, their vital signs had stabilized considerably. However, they were still unconscious, so it was impossible to get any useful information from them.
Su Muqing pretended to raise her hand and gently pressed a few times on the forehead of the secret guard commander, but with her other hand, she discreetly held his wrist and secretly used healing arts to treat his wounds.
After a while, the secret guard commander slowly regained consciousness. He opened his eyes and looked at the person in front of him somewhat dazed, as if he didn't recognize her.
Su Muqing saw many red spots around the whites of his eyes, large and small, densely packed, almost covering his entire eye.
This was likely a sequela after the poison was treated with spiritual spring water instead of the correct antidote. Su Muqing had never seen such a poison before, so she searched her spiritual sea for the Ten Thousand Poisons Scripture.
After finding the result, she finally understood. No wonder the secret guards had so many wounds; they had been poisoned by a potent toxin called Illusionary Delusion. Those poisoned would lose their minds and become like beasts. Once they smelled blood, they would fall into endless terrifying hallucinations and attack those around them.
This poison had a time limit and was only effective within the time it took for one incense stick to burn. Once the effect wore off, all those poisoned would become weak, fall to the ground, and await death from bleeding and toxin.
Su Muqing walked to the eight people who were already covered with leaves and picked up a stick to brush the leaves off the corpses. She saw that the complexions of the eight people were all greenish-purple, their lips were swollen, and their tongues protruded slightly from their slightly parted mouths, with bluish-purple bruises on the tips.
Not only that, but they also had wounds of various sizes. She estimated that they never expected to die at the hands of their own people one day. Eight dead and four injured, she seemed to recall that there were more than twelve secret guards when they were fishing at noon?
Su Muqing stood up and squatted in front of the secret guard commander. She waved her finger in front of his eyes. "How do you feel now? Can you understand what I'm saying? How many secret guards came with you this time?"
The man still stared blankly at the sky, his pupils showing no signs of anxiety. Su Muqing took out a bottle of diluted spiritual spring water from her sleeve and dripped it into his eye sockets.
After a while, she saw the red spots in his eyes slowly condense, then gradually turn into red blood streaks, then gradually dissipate until they all disappeared.
After the blood streaks vanished, the secret guard commander's eyes slowly regained some clarity. "The young marquis… the young marquis was captured…"
"You saw the young marquis being captured?" Su Muqing immediately asked, focusing on the key point in his words.
If the person was captured, it meant that those people had not killed him directly.
Seeing that his expression was a little anxious, Su Muqing quickly dripped two drops of water onto his lips, gave him a blood-replenishing and Qi-boosting pill, and then asked gently, "What exactly happened then? Do you remember?"
"The young marquis… after arriving here, someone had ambushed them. Those people captured the young marquis, and he inhaled the poisoned powder, losing his sanity and control… he wanted to kill us, then we were also poisoned, and then we started fighting, and then I don't remember…" After the secret guard commander finished speaking intermittently, his mouth was still opening and closing, and his eyes revealed that he had something to say.
Seeing this, Su Muqing brought her ear closer to the secret guard commander's mouth and heard him softly utter a sentence: "There's a traitor!"
Su Muqing frowned and pondered for a moment: Poisoned powder! Control! Traitor! Capture the young marquis!
What did they want? If it was for the throne, why didn't they kill Ke Bin Na directly? Instead, they captured him…
What could they do by capturing him? Were they trying to threaten the Regent with him? Or make him kill the Regent?
No! Not the Regent! They wanted Ke Bin Na to kill the Emperor!
Once this matter truly happened, the Regent's mansion would be completely destroyed. Then, with the Emperor's death, the entire court would be leaderless, and any prince with an adult heir could step forward to contend for the throne, or even replace the emperor themselves. This was indeed killing multiple birds with one stone!
As soon as Su Muqing figured this out, she quickly blew the whistle she wore. The eagle had disappeared again, and the two waited for a while but saw no sign of it.
Waiting any longer was not an option. Su Muqing leaped into the air, and to the astonishment of the few people, she went to a secluded place on the other side of the small hill, quickly took out an all-terrain motorcycle, hid it in the grass, and left a large bag there.
When Wan Yan'er caught up, she saw Su Muqing struggling to push an unknown large object out of the grass. After she finally managed to push the strange object out, she turned and picked up the black bag.
"Put it on quickly!" Su Muqing put a helmet on her head and threw another one to Wan Yan'er.
After putting on the safety helmet, she climbed onto the motorcycle and started it. Gripping the clutch and twisting the throttle, the motorcycle let out a beast-like roar.
Wan Yan'er imitated her, put on the heavy hat in her hand, and then leaped onto her back. Su Muqing pulled her hands forward to wrap around her waist, then engaged the clutch and twisted the throttle, and sped off.
When the motorcycle roared past the stewards, it greatly surprised them and those around them. What was this thing? And when was it placed here? How did they not know?
Su Muqing handed two medicine bottles to the steward and asked him to feed one of each color of medicine to the injured and drip the water from the other small bottle into their eyes. She also asked the workers to return after eating and get back to work tomorrow promptly.
After instructing the steward, Su Muqing pulled the throttle to the maximum. With a "boom," she rode the motorcycle away, spraying a mouthful of exhaust gas at the steward.
The others watched the two of them suddenly speed far ahead, their jaws almost dropping in shock. What was this? They had witnessed too many incredible things in the past two days!