Chapter 806: Panic

Upon hearing that mournful cry, the entire camp instantly erupted. Believing they were under attack, everyone immediately grabbed their weapons and rushed out.

Beside the tent, Bi Linglong and Zu An also awoke instantly. Bi Linglong realized she had slept the entire night leaning against Zu An, and her pretty face flushed red like an apple.

However, as the Crown Princess, she wasn't as flustered as an ordinary young girl. She immediately grasped the seriousness of the situation, stood up, and looked towards the source of the sound.

Unfortunately, sleeping in that position all night had somewhat hindered blood circulation in her legs. When she stood up too quickly, she felt dizzy, her legs weakened, and she began to fall to the ground.

Zu An quickly caught her. He had to admit, the woman was truly soft.

He quickly composed himself. "The sound seems to be coming from outside the camp," he said.

Just then, Pu Duandiao rushed over to report, "Your Highness, a dead body has been found outside the camp. It appears to be Bi Chang."

His gaze fell on Zu An's hand, which was supporting Bi Linglong's waist, and his scalp tingled. What was going on with the Crown Princess? She seemed to show no resistance at all.

The Crown Prince was in the adjacent tent. Even if he was foolish, did she have to openly cuckold him?

However, he didn't have much affection for the Crown Prince. These guards secretly preferred the beautiful and noble Crown Princess, feeling that her marriage to the Crown Prince was like a flower stuck in cow dung.

But even if he was cow dung, he was still the Crown Prince. Didn't the Crown Princess know the consequences of such actions?

Never mind. There were too many sordid affairs within the royal family; this was nothing. It was best to pretend he hadn't seen anything.

He and Jiao Sigun had analyzed it yesterday: whether it was because of Zu An's relationship or their own interests, pretending not to see was the best option.

Otherwise, if they exposed it, they could easily be silenced by the Crown Princess or the Bi family. Even if they were dealt with, the Emperor might execute them, the witnesses, to preserve the royal family's reputation.

Ultimately, they were small figures, unable to control their own destinies, so it was best to avoid getting involved.

Bi Linglong quickly shifted sideways, subtly freeing herself from Zu An's hand. But upon hearing the name he uttered, her face instantly turned pale. "What!" she exclaimed.

"What's wrong?" Zu An asked, curious. The name sounded like someone from the Bi family. Was he her relative?

Bi Linglong's face was solemn. "Bi Chang was the person I sent back to the secret realm entrance yesterday to deliver the message!"

Zu An was also moved. The messenger sent to deliver the letter was dead?

Even more bizarre, he had been walking back, while the main group was moving forward. They were heading in opposite directions, so why was the man found dead ahead of them?

Bi Linglong clearly realized this too, and a chill ran down her spine.

A group of people quickly arrived at the scene. Zhao Xi and others were already gathered there. Seeing the two approach, they bowed in greeting. "Greetings, Crown Princess."

As for Zu An, they automatically ignored him.

Zu An quietly observed the body suspended in mid-air. It looked somewhat familiar; indeed, it was the messenger who had been sent back yesterday.

He was impaled on a tree branch, his face contorted, eyeballs bulging, and blood-tears streaming down. Combined with the corpse's pale complexion, he looked like a vengeful ghost, straight out of a horror film. No wonder the person who discovered him earlier had let out such a bloodcurdling scream.

"Who on earth killed him!" Liu Xian's voice trembled slightly as he instinctively shrank behind his cousin, Gao Ying.

Meng Pan tapped his foot lightly and, light as a swallow, leaped onto the branch. After examining the body, he said in a low voice, "Judging by the wound in his chest and the color of the blood, this is not the crime scene. He was killed elsewhere and then impaled here."

Watching him calmly examine the body, Zu An was secretly surprised. These noble scions weren't all useless; it was no wonder they were chosen by their families for such an important mission. Each of them had a unique skill.

"What concerns me more is why his body is here. He was walking in the opposite direction yesterday, so he shouldn't possibly be ahead of us," Zhao Xi also voiced the same doubt that Zu An and others had just had.

"Could it be a 'ghost wall,' where he thought he was going out but actually lost his way?" Pei You speculated.

"Impossible," the Gu brothers said in unison. "They are scouts hand-picked by the Bi family. Their cultivation might not be the best, but their reconnaissance experience is extremely rich. How could someone who has survived countless battlefields get lost?"

"That's right, we haven't encountered any maze-like terrain along the way," Zhao Xi also nodded.

"Could it be some kind of fierce beast? I've heard of a Butcher Bird that likes to impale its prey on branches like this," Liu Xian suggested. Although his cultivation was average, he had read many miscellaneous books.

Meng Pan shook his head. "Impossible. If it were a Butcher Bird, there would be claw marks or peck marks from a sharp beak on his body. Although he has many wounds, none are similar. Furthermore, I've noticed he doesn't seem to have any fatal injuries."

"No fatal injuries? Then how did he die?"

"Could it be a ghost?"

...

A chorus of voices immediately rose, and everyone felt a chill creep up their spines.

At this moment, Zu An's voice rang out. "It's not that there's no fatal injury; it's just that his fatal injury has been hidden. His heart meridian was likely shattered directly by someone. He was impaled on the branch specifically to conceal the injury to his heart meridian in his chest. All other wounds are mere deceptions."

Having served as an Embroidered Uniform Emissary for so long, he possessed this basic level of investigative skill.

Meng Pan was startled and quickly re-examined the body. "You're right. His heart meridian is severely damaged. It appears he was killed instantly with a single blow."

The others, who were just beginning to be impressed that Zu An wasn't as useless as he previously seemed, were all shocked upon hearing this. "Killed in one blow?"

Bi Linglong said in a deep voice, "Bi Chang was a fifth-rank cultivator, alert and skilled in concealment and self-preservation. For the killer to slay him in one blow, their cultivation must be at least one major realm higher than his."

Because the messenger was crucial, she had specifically chosen Bi Chang yesterday, never expecting such an outcome.

"Huh?" Hearing the Crown Princess's analysis, everyone's expressions turned peculiar. There were only a few individuals in their current group with cultivation above the sixth rank, implying the killer must be among them.

Bi Linglong keenly sensed the shift in the atmosphere and continued, "There's no need for wild speculation. The killer is likely an outsider."

"But according to our intelligence, there are no natives in this secret realm, and with Lord Bi and others keeping watch, it's impossible for anyone else to get in," Zhao Xi noted, displaying a surprising attention to detail.

Bi Linglong said, "Let's not be suspicious without evidence, lest we fall into internal strife."

Pei You asked, "Should we send someone back to report the situation here? I have a bad feeling about this."

Bi Linglong gave him a deep look, then turned to Zu An. "Lord Zu, what do you think?"

Zu An understood the meaning in her gaze. She had always been somewhat suspicious of the Pei family's motives, having mentioned several times last night during their conversation that he should be wary of Pei You. He replied, "The enemy deliberately left his body in this terrifying and bizarre state to instill panic among us. Given the current situation, either our main force turns back, which would mean mission failure, or we continue to send scouts back to report, which would just be a piecemeal strategy, allowing whoever is lurking in the shadows to defeat us one by one and gradually wear down our strength."

"But what if we don't send the message out, and something happens to us here? No one outside will know the specifics," Pei You said, frowning.

Zu An replied, "Don't worry. The fact that the enemy deliberately chose this method of creating panic to divide us proves that their strength is not yet sufficient to confront us directly. That's why they resorted to a cunning trick. We just need to be more careful from now on."

Hearing his analysis, the commotion among the crowd gradually subsided.

The group then continued their journey, but everyone's spirits were lower than yesterday, and their expressions were solemn.

Fortunately, nothing happened for the next two days, and everyone gradually breathed a sigh of relief.

However, Zu An's expression grew serious, as they had now entered the depths of the mountains, getting closer and closer to the red danger zones marked on the map.

So he began to alter their route, trying to bypass those red zones as much as possible.

But because of the detour, what would have been a half-day's direct journey now took two or three days. These young noblemen could hardly endure such hardship.

Complaints arose one after another, and many even went to the Crown Prince and Crown Princess to lodge their grievances.

The straightforward Zhao Xi grumbled, "Your Highness, isn't Zu An making too much of a fuss?"

"Exactly, exactly! He keeps saying it's dangerous here, but where have we encountered any danger along the way?" Gu Xing added, fanning the flames.

"If we keep detouring like this, when will we ever find the Sky-Measuring Azure Moon Dragon, and when will we complete the mission?" Meng Pan grumbled.

"Ugh, I miss the warm embraces of the capital. Sleeping in a tent every day, my back is getting sore," Liu Xian complained, rubbing his shoulder.

...

"Alright, everyone, you must trust Lord Zu. It's precisely because he's leading the way that we haven't encountered any danger," Bi Linglong said, trying her best to calm everyone down.

However, things soon changed. Several scouts who had gone ahead to reconnoiter had disappeared!