Farm Girl's Manor

Watching the grim-faced Xiao Ruiyuan stride over, several guards looked at each other in confusion, clueless about the situation.

Xiao Ruiyuan paid no attention to them and walked straight through the underbrush in front of him. Indeed, it was empty, not even a ghost of a shadow to be seen.

The guards who had followed became pale as beads of cold sweat streamed down their foreheads, and a single thought filled their panicked minds: They were doomed!

Xiao Ruiyuan’s face was overcast as he studied the surroundings meticulously, and found nothing out of the ordinary. He was almost certain that the Thirteenth Prince had not met with misfortune, but had left quietly on his own.

"Ah, where is the Thirteenth Imperial Brother? Why can’t I see the Thirteenth Imperial Brother?"

The other princes, having eaten and drunk their fill, became restless after waiting for a while and not seeing Xiao Ruiyuan return. They came over to look, never expecting that all would be there except the Thirteenth Imperial Brother.

A dark flash crossed Xiao Ruiyuan’s eyes; he had no time to comfort the panicked princes and commanded the thirty guards, their faces drained of color, in a cold voice, "Split off ten men to immediately escort the princes back to the manor. Report the Thirteenth Prince’s disappearance to the Emperor. The rest follow me to search for the Thirteenth Prince at once!"

"Yes, Sir!" The thirty guards responded in unison, displaying the high discipline expected of imperial guards and quickly divided the tasks among themselves.

The younger princes knew this was not a time to be willful and obediently followed the ten guards down the mountain.

The Sixteenth prince walked a few steps then stopped, turning to look at Xiao Ruiyuan with a hint of guilt in his eyes. He opened his mouth to say something but realized that at such a time, anything he said would be superfluous.

Xiao Ruiyuan was oblivious to the Sixteenth Prince’s feelings; following the traces left by the Thirteenth Prince, he soon led the remaining twenty guards in pursuit.

If the Thirteenth Prince had only lingered on the outskirts of Phoenix Mountain, it might have been alright, but once inside the deep forest, it wasn’t a question of whether he might encounter wild beasts and become their prey. The mountains were fraught with peril. One misstep could send someone tumbling over a cliff to their death. Even if the Thirteenth Prince were lucky and cautious, avoiding both scenarios, getting lost in the maze-like forest and finding one’s way out was nearly impossible.

In the time span of the disappearance, a ten-year-old child could have traveled a great distance. As Xiao Ruiyuan led the guards in pursuit while keeping an eye out for traces of the Thirteenth Prince, they naturally weren’t able to move quickly. Even so, after half an hour, they had nearly closed the three-mile distance to the Thirteenth Prince, who had reached the outskirts of the Savage Beast Forest.

Xiao Ruiyuan’s brow furrowed tighter as he recognized the increasingly familiar surroundings. Not far ahead was the Savage Beast Forest, where many of the fierce beasts from Phoenix Mountain had been driven. The danger lurking there was self-evident.

Despite knowing that the situation was fraught with strangeness, and that one more step might lead into a trap carefully laid by someone else, he had no choice but to keep moving forward, to find the person as quickly as possible.

The search party continued the pursuit and, as expected, soon reached the Savage Beast Forest, where the trail of the Thirteenth Prince vanished.

Just as Xiao Ruiyuan was preparing to continue the search deeper into the forest, Prince Qi, who had always been at odds with him, emerged from the woods with a group of people.

Behind Prince Qi were not only several younger princes but also the sons of over a dozen influential World Family officials. Even the previously missing Thirteenth Prince was among them, his head lowered, not daring to meet the frost-covered face of Xiao Ruiyuan.

"Oh, isn’t this General Xiao who led our brothers on a hunting expedition?" Seeing Xiao Ruiyuan, Prince Qi lifted his chin with a hint of scorn in his eyes, "General Xiao has frightened off my Third Imperial Brother. Had I not been in the vicinity and intervened in time to prevent the Thirteenth Prince from entering the Savage Beast Forest, his fate might have been sealed. What say you, General Xiao, hm?"