Chapter 521: Chapter 391: Cave No.3
Ye Lingyue told Lan Cai’er everything about her encounter with Noble Princess Consort Luo and some secrets of the Dan Palace, insisting that Lan Cai’er must not casually divulge these matters to a third person, not even to General Lan and his wife, without exception.
Lan Cai’er was utterly shocked upon hearing this.
On the Qing Province Continent, Chen Hongru, the widely renowned Palace Master of the Dan Palace, turned out to be such a person.
Seducing female disciples, secretly conceiving children, and even stealthily sending someone into the Daxia Palace with the intent of usurping the throne; each of these crimes, if disclosed, would cause political turmoil in both Daxia and Beiqing.
Thinking of this, Lan Cai’er gulped down her saliva.
"Ling Yue, why do you look so pale? Right, Prince Feng looked odd when he left, should we... hurry after him? He only has Sword Slave by his side, and in Cave No.3, there are people from the Beiqing Delegation and the Kaijiang Prince Manor. I’m afraid he might be in danger," Lan Cai’er said nervously.
"I will go after him now, but you and Little Wuya should stay here. Cave No.3 might be even more dangerous than Cave No.4."
Ye Lingyue thought it over and still decided not to take Lan Cai’er and the others with her.
This time, Lan Cai’er did not insist. After all, she was well aware of her own strength; she was already at her limit when confronting Zhuge Yi earlier. However, letting Ye Lingyue go to Cave No.3 alone, Lan Cai’er was still uneasy.
"I’ll take Little Zhiyo with me. Little Wuya, you stay here for now and keep my sister company. You all got some Elixir Pills earlier in the Stone Chamber, so take this opportunity to cultivate in the Xingxiu Cave," Ye Lingyue consoled Lan Cai’er.
With Little Zhiyo with her, which could at least transform, it added an extra layer of security.
Lan Cai’er and Little Wuya took the hint, and only then did Ye Lingyue take Little Zhiyo and, using the Jade Carving, headed directly for Cave No.3.
Feng Xun, worried about Ye Lingyue’s safety, entered Cave No.3.
Two paths appeared ahead.
"Prince, which path should we take?"
Sword Slave glanced at Feng Xun and saw that his brows were tightly furrowed, and a sense of lonely coldness had settled upon his handsome features.
Such a prince was strangely unfamiliar to Sword Slave.
Sword Slave even suspected that the current Feng Xun had already turned into "that person."
Yet, judging from his tone, he still seemed like the prince.
"There’s a sound." Feng Xun said, and with a flash, he headed towards the South Fork. Ahead, Hong Mingyue and others, who had entered the cave earlier than them, were already in battle with a group of people.
"Brother Prince Feng." To their surprise, Princess Qing Bi and Cong Lv were present as well.
It turned out that shortly after Hong Mingyue and others entered Cave No.3, they encountered people from the Beiqing Delegation who had turned back from the South Fork.
Princess Qing Bi, anxious about Xiahou Qi’s safety, confronted Hong Mingyue about his whereabouts. When Hong Mingyue did not respond, Qing Bi started a fight without further ado.
"Why are there only the two of you? Where are Lady Ye and the rest?" Seeing Feng Xun’s complexion, Cong Lv knew something was amiss.
"Cong Lv, isn’t there one more person in your team?" Feng Xun’s phoenix eyes shifted, not answering directly, but his gaze fell on the Beiqing Delegation’s team.
Every delegation, apart from Ye Lingyue and Feng Xun’s team which had eleven people—ten members and a team leader—now in Cong Lv’s Beiqing Delegation, there were only ten people left.
Given Feng Xun’s understanding of Cong Lv and the people of the Beiqing Delegation, it was impossible for them to have lost anyone in Cave No.3.
Moreover, no one could evade Elder Wang’s eyes and enter the Xingxiu Cave.
There was only one reason: someone had mixed in with the delegation and entered the cave.
Cong Lv’s expression changed at once; he caught a chilling tone in Feng Xun’s words.
Just as they had entered Cave No.3, an alchemist in the team claimed to feel unwell and stayed at the entrance to rest. The person had earlier been following Wen Xu, and Wen Xu had let her rest there; Cong Lv hadn’t paid much attention to it.
But upon doubling back, the person was nowhere to be seen.
"Heh, I did see something. Not long after we entered the cave, one person from the Beiqing Delegation left the team and disappeared."
While speaking, a playful voice came through. Chen Minzhi and a few guards from the Kaijiang Prince Manor emerged from another fork in the path.
Chen Minzhi’s narrow eyes coldly settled on Feng Xun’s figure.
His gaze made Feng Xun very uncomfortable, as if a snake was secretly watching his soul in the shadows.
Feng Xun indifferently lifted his eyes to meet Chen Minzhi’s, gaze to gaze.
His eyes were like an ancient well without ripples, profound and unfathomably deep.
Seeing that both Chen Minzhi and Cong Lv had turned back, Hong Mingyue and others, who had originally planned to take advantage of the chaos today in Cave No.3, suddenly lost interest.
Unlike the Daxia Delegation, which had suffered casualties, both the Beiqing and Kaijiang Prince Manor’s teams had nearly no losses, the latter only missing one person.
The strength of these two teams was already superior to the Daxia Delegation; one backed by the Dan Palace and the other by the Hunyuan Sect; Hong Mingyue and the others stood little chance against them.
Hong Mingyue simply stood by coldly to see what exactly was going on.
"Prince Feng need not look at me that way; I merely happened to see that person. Unfortunately, she was wearing an Alchemist Robe, so I couldn’t see her face clearly. However, she disappeared after using a blank Jade Carving. If I’m not mistaken, that Jade Carving looks exactly like the ones distributed by the Dan Palace, except that it had no number engraved on it," Chen Minzhi withdrew his gaze, adding fuel to the fire with his words.
No sooner had Chen Minzhi finished speaking than Cong Lv felt a heavy sinking feeling in his heart. The Jade Carving mentioned by Chen Minzhi was one he had seen before—Xue Pianran also had a similar Jade Carving.
Feng Xun cast a glance at Cong Lv, who pursed his lips and said nothing.
"Sword Slave, let’s get out of here," Feng Xun turned and walked towards the nearby Jade Engraving Array.
Since Cong Lv intended to shield that person, he could only confront that person directly.
"No, I’m afraid Prince Feng cannot leave just yet," Chen Minzhi stepped out and blocked Feng Xun’s path.
"What do you mean by this, Second Son?" Feng Xun’s tone was already running out of patience.
"I think Guard Cong and Master Wen mean the same as I do. Not only can Prince Feng not leave, but no one present can leave either," Chen Minzhi said while taking out half of a Jade Carving.
The same half of the Jade Carving was also in Cong Lv’s possession.
It turned out that at the ends of the south and north forks of Cave No.3, there was only the number "four" Jade Carving and half of the number "two" Jade Carving.
It meant that both the Kaijiang Prince Manor and the Beiqing Delegation only had half of the number "two" Jade Carving each.
These two half pieces of Jade Carving were to be united to form one complete Jade Carving.
Cong Lv and Chen Minzhi, being clever people, would naturally cooperate—this was also why the people from the Kaijiang Prince Manor and the Beiqing Delegation had turned back the same way.
"Even so, Second Son, what difference does it make whether I stay or leave?" Feng Xun was still completely ice-cold.
"Of course, it matters." Saying this, Chen Minzhi turned the Jade Carving over.