Chapter 426: First victim
Concubine Qin got lost in the forest, the information itself was earth shattering and to make things worse, no one knew in which direction she left earlier.
Though Zhai Tianyu was very much doubtful that concubine Qin was lost, he could not turn a blind eye to the happenings in front of him, when he heard official Qin say that his daughter did not return even after three hours passed by.
Immediately two search teams were appointed under Yu Lingyun and Zhai Heng and about fifty soldiers were given to each of them.
"Make sure to search every corner of the forest! Do not return unless you find concubine Qin!" Zhai Tianyu ordered as he exchanged a look with Zhai Heng and Yu Lingyun who nodded silently.
They knew how important finding concubine Qin was, if that woman was not found alive, there was a chance that official Qin would make things difficult for them.
Even though she was annoying, she was an important figure to balance the power in the imperial court because of the backing that she had, lest something happened to her—— the Qin family will not sit still and it will give the Ji family another chance to make trouble.
The last time someone from the Liu fraction died, Zhai Tianyu had to compensate them with a round of new posts and titles, which was fine in his eyes given that the Liu Dong Ming was in total control of the Liu family and would never let them go over the limit but in case the Ji family was to make trouble —— then he was certain that they will not rest at ease unless they got hold of the red sun army.
Something that his grandmother had been trying to take over for a very long time.
The red sun army was the Emperor's army and was only used at the time of war, the small army comprised of soldiers who were elites and they only listened to the orders of the person who was the owner of the red sun seal.
Currently, the seal was in his hands, while the one who was in charge of that fraction was Zhai Heng because he could not afford to hand the army to anyone other than the person he trusted blindly, Zhai Tianyu had not allowed either of the family to get close to the Red sun army.
But in case, something as big as concubine Qin's death was to take place —— then the Ji family will surely have enough reasons to push someone of their own fraction into the position of assistant commander of the Red Sun army.
Something that he very much wanted to avoid.
' Please don't be dead! It doesn't matter whether you are missing a limb or two but do not be dead!' Zhai Tianyu prayed in his head as he sent the two search team off while the Eldest Master Qin followed them as well.
Contrary to Official Qin who was worried about the losses that he had to suffer because of his daughter's disappearance, Qin Mu Yan was genuinely concerned about his little sister.
They were born from the same womb and she was his biological sister, there was no way he will not worry about her.
As Liu Hui Ying watched the search team leave, she turned to look at the three ghosts including witch Mao and Xiao Lin.
" Go and take a look around the forest, see what is going on," she did not care whether concubine Qin was dead or alive, the thing that she was worried about was, that she will be the one who will be targeted because of these sudden turn of events.
She did not wish to be blindsided which was why it was better to know what was going on instead of staying totally unaware.
" Does this means that you are accepting me?" Xiao Lin asked with a twinkle in her eyes which caused Liu Hui Ying to narrow her eyes as she remarked with a sneer, " Don't push it."
Xiao Lin of course did not dare to push her luck since she was very much aware of how ruthless Liu Hui Ying can be when she wanted to which was why she followed the rest without saying anything and then separated from them while chasing after the yin energy which was scattered in the forest.
Even though the search teams were looking for concubine Qin, no one on the hunting grounds expected them to find anything. It was the middle of the night, and concubine Qin had been missing for almost three hours, it was near to impossible for her to stay alive.
Though everyone had the same thought in their heads, no one dared to say anything, even Zhai Tianyu who hoped that concubine Qin would return safe and sound did not have much hope in his heart and as the time ticked by, the remnants of the hope which he had also slowly started to get dimmer by the second.
….
On the other hand, the two search teams were busy looking for concubine Qin but it was as if that woman had vanished into thin air, there were no traces of her presence left behind.
Even the flower valley where she said that she was going to take a walk did not have a shred of evidence that concubine Qin came to the flower valley.
Yu Lingyun looked at the vast valley and frowned when he found nothing, with his sharp senses he was able to detect the scent of blood which was fluttering in the valley but the scent was very weak like it was a day old which meant that the scent did not belong to Concubine Qin's blood.
And as for everything else, nothing was out of place.
" If she did not come here then where did she go?" Yu Lingyun muttered as he looked at the valley and then turned to look at Qin Mu Yan who was standing behind him with a livid expression on his face.
And Yu Lingyun did not blame him, they have been looking for three hours in the forest and they even went as far as to go deeper inside the heart of the forest but they did not find anything. With these three hours added to the ones since Concubine Qin went missing, it added up to a total of six hours.
The more time passed by, the more the chances of concubine Qin being found alive would lower.
...…..
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