Chapter 1147: Strange Life-taking

Seeing the distorted handwriting, Zu An and Yu Yanluo could feel the guard's fear through the paper.

They exchanged a glance, their expressions turning serious, and quickly looked further into the notebook, hoping to find more information.

Unfortunately, the rest of the notebook was blank, with no further entries.

Zu An said in a deep voice, "Could what he mentioned be the thing we heard roaring earlier?"

"It must be," Yu Yanluo said, taking the notebook with a somber expression. "The guards informally called this 'the Book of Life and Death' because it verified their identities and recorded their last words. They practically kept it on them at all times. The fact that it's here now clearly means he met with misfortune..."

Zu An fell silent. The oppressive aura from the mysterious creature had instilled fear even in them; how could a mere guard possibly contend with it?

Yu Yanluo closed the notebook. On its leather cover was the owner's name: "Ping An."

Seeing this name, which held the parents' wish for safety and peace, a pang of sorrow went through Yu Yanluo.

She had no recollection of the name. As the head of the Yu family, it was impossible for her to know every single subordinate.

Yet, this ordinary member, even when facing danger himself, had prioritized helping the trapped miners.

"As the head of the family, I failed to protect them..." Yu Yanluo's eyes welled up.

Zu An put an arm around her shoulder to comfort her. "It's not your fault. No one could have predicted such a drastic change would occur here while you were imprisoned."

Yu Yanluo gnashed her teeth. "As the de facto local official of Cloud City, how could that scoundrel Xu Yu not have noticed the anomalies in the mine?"

Zu An thought to himself that Xu Yu, entrusted with the Emperor's imperial decree, was focused on how to deal with the Yu family, and perhaps even wished for them to be completely crippled.

However, there was no point discussing it now. He looked around. "According to the notes, there might still be other survivors down in the mine. Let's search around and see if we can find anyone."

"Alright!" Yu Yanluo put away Ping An's notebook, her eyes filled with determination. What she was thinking now was not even about going to the Snake Clan, but first resolving the issues here.

Zu An sighed inwardly. From the information they had, those trapped below were likely ordinary miners and some guards. Neither the black mist nor the mysterious beast was something they could handle.

After so many days, they had probably already...

Of course, he couldn't voice such thoughts, so as not to discourage Yu Yanluo.

The two quickly began searching along the mine shaft, while also keenly guarding against hidden dangers. According to the guard's recent entry, there were clearly other, more terrifying presences besides the black mist.

However, Zu An felt a bit puzzled. Given the mysterious beast's power, if it had appeared, its sheer oppressive aura alone would have rendered the guards speechless and wiped them out instantly. Why would it make them disappear one by one instead?

Unfortunately, there was too little information to make a judgment.

The two walked for a long time again. Apart from the black mist, they didn't encounter any other dangers along the way.

Suddenly, Yu Yanluo crouched down in a corner. There was a patch of dark red earth there, barely noticeable in the pitch-black mine unless one looked closely.

Zu An crouched down and rubbed the soil with his fingers, then sniffed it. "This is blood!"

Human blood, at that.

Yu Yanluo nodded, her expression grim.

Soon, they found a broken sword nearby, a standard issue saber for a Yu family guard.

Yu Yanluo was surprised. "This seems to belong to someone close to me."

Zu An looked puzzled.

Yu Yanluo explained, "The hilt's decoration is different. All the guards directly serving me bear the surname Yu."

As she spoke, she pointed to the hilt, where the character for 'Yu' was carved.

She picked up the broken sword and examined the break. "Although these guards' sabers aren't divine weapons, their quality is certainly good. They aren't easily broken."

Zu An observed, "Looking at the break, it doesn't seem to have been snapped by hand or cut by another weapon... There are some fine, jagged lines on it that are hard to notice without a close look."

"Where the sword is, the man is; where the sword perishes, the man perishes..." Yu Yanluo murmured, searching around. Suddenly, her eyes lit up, and she hurried to a spot nearby, discovering a notebook embedded in the wall.

Both had been focused on searching the ground moments earlier, which was why they hadn't noticed it right away.

She pulled the notebook free. Seeing the name stamped on the leather cover, her expression instantly darkened. "It's Yu Bin."

Zu An was startled. "Yu Bin?"

When Zu An first met Yu Yanluo outside Brightmoon City, Yu Bin had been one of her personal guards.

Later, when Zu An first visited the Yu Manor in Cloud City and was stopped by the guards at the entrance, it was Yu Bin who happened to pass by and helped him out of the situation.

As the image of the cheerful young man appeared in his mind, Zu An quietly sighed.

Yu Yanluo opened the notebook, and her hand instantly froze. Many parts of it were stained with congealed blood.

Fearing that the sight would be too much for her, Zu An took the notebook and began turning the pages for her. The initial entries were routine daily task records, interspersed with numerous expressions of admiration and reverence for Yu Yanluo.

Zu An was already accustomed to this; Yu Yanluo commanded unparalleled prestige within the Yu family, something that couldn't be achieved by beauty alone.

He could feel that their respect for Yu Yanluo was heartfelt. It was clear that Yu Yanluo had treated them exceptionally well over the years. As seen from Ping An's earlier entry, she would never abandon anyone who encountered an accident in the mine, and everyone believed she wouldn't give up on them...

He continued turning the pages and soon found the most recent entries:

"News from the Prefect's mansion reports that Madam seems to be under house arrest, and there are rumors she's a Medusa? How can that be!"

"Other masters in the manor have also been arrested by the Vice-Prefect's men. They carried imperial arrest warrants, and we didn't know what to do."

"...The Yu family is in chaos, and Xingnu is nowhere to be found... I wanted to consult with Lord Zu; he's an imperial envoy and should have a solution... Unfortunately, the imperial guards said he was in seclusion, recuperating from injuries, and not seeing visitors."

Zu An frowned deeply. He had never imagined that Yu Bin would come looking for him. Unfortunately, at the time, Zu An had been preoccupied with finding a way to rescue Yu Yanluo and couldn't consider anything else.

"Oh, surely the Duke has a solution."

"...I heard the Duke went personally to demand their release. Many of my companions and I followed him. However, the Vice-Prefect had an imperial decree, and the Duke also backed down..."

Zu An sighed. "I didn't realize he was among them at the time."

Yu Yanluo pursed her lips, remaining silent. She had naturally heard Zu An, disguised as Jian Yanyou, demanding their release from inside.

"...More and more reports suggest Madam might truly be a Medusa... How could such a beautiful and noble lady be an evil Medusa?"

Yu Yanluo's expression darkened. "It seems ordinary people genuinely can't accept this."

Even her own guards couldn't accept it, let alone others.

Zu An turned to the next page. "...So what if Madam is a Medusa? I know perfectly well everything she's done these past years. Even if she is a Medusa, she must be a good Medusa, and she will always be our Madam."

Upon reading this, Yu Yanluo was stunned, and a glimmer of hope appeared in her eyes.

"...Perhaps the Vice-Prefect was worried about us causing trouble, so he transferred us to the mine. We wanted to defy the order, but unfortunately..."

"Huh, something so major has happened here at the mine! I wanted to return to the city to report it, but the Vice-Prefect's men stopped me. What scoundrels!"

At this point, a chill entered Yu Yanluo's eyes.

So Xu Yu had known about all of this, yet he suppressed the information.

Even Zu An cursed Xu Yu inwardly, deeming him utterly despicable. Initially, he had admired Xu Yu somewhat as a capable official. The subsequent events were simply a matter of differing stances, and it was understandable for each side to employ their own methods.

However, knowing full well that there was a major problem in the mine, yet deliberately suppressing the news to target the Yu family, and disregarding the safety of so many people—that was unforgivable.

"He saw Xingnu!" Yu Yanluo exclaimed as she read further.

Zu An quickly checked and discovered that Xingnu had brought her clansmen to the vicinity and was almost discovered by Xu Yu's men. Fortunately, Yu Bin had passed by and helped them.

Learning that Xingnu was bringing people into the mine under Madam Yu's orders, he hesitated for a moment before deciding to help escort them. Because of the strange occurrences in the mine recently, and seeing Xingnu was injured, he worried for their safety. In his view, this was the only thing he could do for Madam at the time.

Several other guards shared his sentiments, but fearing word would leak, they dared not inform too many people. Only the closest few escorted Xingnu and her group down.

They later encountered the black mist and had to detour. Then, an earthquake suddenly struck, collapsing the mine shaft. He first helped others to safety but was then cut off by falling rocks.

He intended to take another route to reunite with Xingnu and her group, but soon after, he heard strange, life-claiming sounds.