Chapter 495

Xia Yu Sheng's trial had finally come to an end!

This trial, from the beginning of nightfall to the final return to the city, lasted only a little over half an hour in total. The vast majority of that time was spent on the journey; the actual time spent in the Milk Tiger Forest, added up from beginning to end, was less than two hundred breaths.

The entire process could only be described with the word "thrilling."

The Milk Tiger Forest was right next to the city wall, and the commotion of the battle between the Beast King and the Manifesting Yang level experts, combined with the movement of soldiers from the military camp in the central area of the outer city, had long since alarmed everyone in the city. Moreover, it was just at nightfall, and many people were already entering and exiting through the three city gates.

As the army blockaded the city gates and many soldiers searched while on guard outside the city, the news quickly spread throughout the city in less than two hours.

"The Second Prince is in danger?"

"Is he alright?"

"He's fine, a close call!"

"Was it a cold beast or a ghost?"

"Humans. I heard they were Manifesting Yang level powerhouses from the five northern towns. 23 of them came. You all saw the two battlefields above the west side of the Milk Tiger Forest, right?"

"Are you sure they were from the five northern towns?"

"How could that be fake? The Lady exchanged blows with Yang Zun."

"The five northern towns? Kidnapping the Second Prince, are they tired of living?"

"Kidnapping the son of the Alliance Leader, betraying the alliance and breaking their word—the five northern towns are finished."

"The Lady was furious. I heard she killed fifteen of them on the spot, and eight ran toward Red Wood Ridge. The Hunting Department just issued a decree forbidding anyone from going out to gather or hunt tonight, and the hunting teams outside have also been notified to return."

"They won't be able to run. The Department Head and Deputy Department Head Yu Wen are each leading an army of thirty thousand, stationed in Jin Yang City and Dongchuan City respectively. Once the news reaches them, it will surely be earth-shattering!"

………………

Just as the news was spreading wildly in the outer city, the inner city had long since fallen into a deathly silence. To be precise, from the moment some Long Jinwei soldiers escorted Xia Yu Sheng's royal carriage back to the Xia Gong, the atmosphere in the inner city changed.

The battered state of Chiyan Zhu Hong was obvious to anyone with eyes. Therefore, when the royal carriage drove all the way from the main thoroughfare of the inner city into the Xia Gong, the people who saw it along the streets all changed their expressions and quickly returned home, using every connection they had to inquire about the situation.

Compared to the outer city, the people in the inner city had higher authority levels, so their news channels were broader and more accurate. Upon learning that Xia Yu Sheng had almost been kidnapped in the outer city, they keenly sensed that something major was about to happen and returned to their homes one after another, waiting for news from the Xia Gong.

Inner City, Yuan Mansion

"Mother, is the Second Prince alright?"

The mistress, Shi Lu, was holding her two-year-old youngest son, Yuan Yi, sitting in the main hall with an anxious expression, eagerly waiting for her husband, Yuan Cheng, to return. But she didn't wait for her husband; instead, she waited for her eldest son, Yuan Shao.

Her ten-year-old eldest son, Yuan Shao, was wearing a white training suit. His physique was already quite sturdy, and his appearance was becoming more and more like Yuan Cheng's. He was also holding the hand of his five-year-old younger sister, Yuan Shu, who was also dressed in a training suit.

Hearing her eldest son's question, Shi Lu immediately glared at him and said, "How do you know about this? Which gossiping servant told you?"

Her husband, Yuan Cheng, was promoted to a fifth-rank Golden Palace Viscount last year, so his treatment naturally rose with his status, and the specifications of the Yuan Mansion also rose accordingly. Now the residence area had been expanded to 1,000 square meters, and there were 50 maids in the mansion alone, with the number of attendants and servants reaching as high as 100.

Her eldest son, Yuan Shao, had already turned ten and had long since moved to a separate courtyard to live alone. Shi Lu had assigned him 6 maids and 15 servants. The maids usually lived in the mansion and had no opportunity to spread gossip, but those servants often helped her eldest son inquire about news outside.

Yuan Shao shrank his head sheepishly when glared at by his mother, but he was loyal and did not betray the servants. Instead, he gathered his courage and continued, "Mother, tell me first if the Second Prince is alright?"

Shi Lu had originally wanted to get angry, but thinking that her eldest son and the Second Prince were indeed close friends, it was normal for him to be worried now. She sighed gently, "Rest assured! The Second Prince is fine, but I heard he was frightened."

Frightened?

Upon hearing this, a strange look appeared on Yuan Shao's face.

No one knows a son better than his mother. Seeing the expression on her son's face, how could Shi Lu not know what he was thinking? She immediately said sternly, "The world outside the city is not as good as you imagine. With more than twenty Manifesting Yang level experts joining forces to assassinate him, it is a miracle that the Second Prince was able to return alive. How does your strength compare to his? And how many people are protecting you? If the enemy's target tonight had been you, do you think you would have fared any better?"

More than twenty Manifesting Yang level experts!

From the hearsay outside, the servants in the mansion only had a half-understood grasp of what happened tonight. Yuan Shao couldn't have gotten any useful information from them. Now, hearing the truth from his mother, his expression instantly froze.

Although he was young, he had long since thoroughly read the Xia Rites and Cultivation System chapters, so he was very clear about the levels of cultivation. Manifesting Yang level was currently the top-tier powerhouse known in the Southern Foothills nine-town region. His father, Yuan Cheng, had only broken through to this realm last year.

With more than twenty Manifesting Yang level experts joining forces to assassinate him, and the Second Prince only having a strength of a little over 2 zong, how did he survive in their hands?

Yuan Shao's pupils were filled with horror, and there was no longer any trace of contempt in his heart.

Coincidentally, a maid ran quickly from outside the mansion gate into the main hall, hurried to Shi Lu's side, and reported, "Mistress, the Viscount and the other lords have all returned. Their expressions are very ugly, and they all rushed into the Xia Gong in a hurry. I originally wanted to ask the Viscount to return to the mansion, but he didn't even pay attention to me..."

"Something major is going to happen!"

Hearing the maid's words, Shi Lu's expression tightened slightly. Turning her head, she found the maid looking hesitant, as if she were wavering about something. She immediately asked in a deep voice, "Why are you stammering? Speak if you have something to say."

Having been the mistress of the house for more than ten years, Shi Lu had naturally cultivated a sense of dignity. Hearing this, the maid no longer hesitated and said slowly, "I saw Department Head Qiu carry back a female corpse, and that female corpse seems to be... Lady Han Yue."

Hearing this, Shi Lu's expression changed drastically. She stood up from her chair with a start and asked in shock, "Did you see clearly?"

In fact, not only Shi Lu, but Yuan Shao in the hall also felt a jolt in his expression upon hearing this. He turned his head to look at the maid, his pupils filled with shock and questioning.

Being stared at by the mother and son, the maid felt a bit nervous, but after carefully recalling the scene she had just seen outside the mansion gate, she still nodded.

"Lady Han Yue has been to the mansion many times before, and Xiao Ru has seen her. I saw it very clearly just now. Xiao Ru is 90 percent sure that the female corpse is her."

90 percent sure—that was basically confirmed!

A look of sorrow immediately appeared on Shi Lu's face. She then turned her head to look at Yuan Shao, only to find that her eldest son beside her already had red eyes.

Shi Lu was not surprised by her eldest son's reaction.

As the Second Prince grew older in recent years, the Lady Li Ying Xuan Ling began to let Xia Yu Sheng contact the peers of the inner city nobility in advance, clearly intending to pave the way for her eldest son and prepare for the future establishment of the crown prince.

The method of contact was to let the children of the inner city nobility, like her own eldest son Yuan Shao, enter the Xia Gong regularly every month to practice martial arts and learn skills with Xia Yu Sheng.

And the person specifically responsible for doing this was Han Yue.

Han Yue not only came to the mansion regularly every month to pick up these children, but was also responsible for teaching Xia Yu Sheng and them martial arts. The second-generation children of Great Xia like Yuan Shao were all only about ten years old, the most innocent age. After several years of companionship, they had long since established a deep bond with Han Yue. Hearing that she was dead, it was only natural for Yuan Shao to show such an expression.

Not only Yuan Shao, but the Lin family, the Yue family, the Qiu family, the Lu family, and many others in the inner city were likely to have many children heartbroken tonight.

If her own Yuan Shao was heartbroken to this extent, what about the Second Prince?

This thought suddenly flashed through Shi Lu's mind, and she couldn't help but sigh gently.

Han Yue was not just a simple maid official of the Star-Plucking Hall. From the third year of Great Xia, August, when the two princes were born, Han Yue had been taking care of them without leaving their side. To say she was the wet nurse of Xia Yu Yao and Xia Yu Sheng was not an exaggeration at all.

With Han Yue's death, the ones most heartbroken were probably the two princes, especially the Second Prince who was present tonight. She had just heard from someone that Han Yue had met with her fate while protecting the Second Prince.

"Sigh!"

……………………

Xia Gong, Lord's Main Hall

A female corpse was laid in the center of the main hall; it was indeed Han Yue.

Han Yue's arms and legs were all twisted at outward angles, appearing extremely eerie. Her once gentle and quiet face was now left with only ferocity, her mouth agape, and her expression even somewhat distorted.

It was not difficult to see that she must have suffered great pain before her death.

The main seat on the high platform on the east side of the main hall was vacant. Li Ying Xuan Ling was sitting on the special seat on the flank, looking at Han Yue's corpse below, her expression gloomy to the extreme.

Below in the main hall, Qiu Peng and the other twenty-seven Manifesting Yang level experts stood on the left and right, their gazes also gathered on Han Yue's corpse, their expressions also incomparably low.

No one in the hall spoke, and the atmosphere was heavy to the extreme.

In the end, it was Qiu Peng who stood out. He walked to the center of the main hall, first covered Han Yue's corpse with a white cloth, and then turned his head, cupped his hands, and spoke slowly to Li Ying Xuan Ling, breaking the silence in the hall.

"We twenty-seven people, following the Soul-Seeping Incense, chased all the way to a small stone peak over a hundred meters high about thirty kilometers deep in Red Wood Ridge. We caught up with Yang Jian and the others, but in the end, we only killed two of them. Yang Jian, the old man who disguised himself as a Long Jinwei soldier, and four others escaped..."

Speaking of this, he paused slightly, and then continued: "Then we found Han Yue's corpse in the cave on the top of the stone peak. After Yang Jian and the six of them returned to the cave, perhaps out of anger, or perhaps wanting to ask for some key information about Xia City from Han Yue's mouth, in any case, they subjected her to severe torture. Looking at the condition of her corpse..."