Chapter 617: Isn't that a corpse floating in the river?

The stone path was damp, cramped, and low, and everyone proceeded slowly.

Li Qingluo remained tightly guarded front and back by Que'er and Zheng Mama, so she couldn't walk with arms swinging and long strides; instead, the whole way was slippery and difficult.

She looked at them helplessly and said, "Can you let me walk properly on my own?"

Que'er and Zheng Mama refused her in unison: "No!"

Zheng Mama gently advised, "Miss, what would we do if you fell and got hurt?"

"Let this old servant support you."

Que'er said, "Miss, I will absolutely not let go of you!"

Zhui Yu, walking ahead, turned back to look again.

Today, their behavior seems rather strange, doesn't it?

He had barely narrowed his eyes when his gaze met Li Qingluo's.

Li Qingluo gave a slight smile.

"Sha San, take Que'er down for me!"

Sha San dared not disobey; he hurried forward and grabbed Que'er.

He held on tightly, refusing to let go, preventing her from going forward to cling to the miss.

"Sha San, you idiot, let go quickly!"

Sha San said, "Sorry, Que'er, but I have to obey the miss."

Que'er stomped her foot in anger: "What do you know?!"

"The miss, she is..."

Li Qingluo gave Que'er a warning glance; Que'er's face flushed red, she dared not speak the truth, and instead she stamped hard on Sha San's instep.

Sha San still kept a blank expression and did not loosen his grip.

Que'er was so angry she was speechless: "Doesn't it hurt?"

Sha San: "It hurts."

Que'er laughed in exasperation: "You feel pain but show no expression or reaction?"

Sha San said nothing.

Que'er felt as if she had punched cotton.

She tiptoed to bring her mouth near Sha San's ear: "Are you listening to me or to the miss?"

"I would never harm the miss, would I?"

"We're about to get married; can't you just listen to me once?"

Sha San stared at Que'er to show his attitude: "Que'er, I love you."

His sudden confession left Que'er stunned.

Then her face turned bright red; she stammered, unable to speak, before hearing Sha San say: "But between you and the miss, I will still listen to the miss first."

"Sorry."

"I suppose you feel the same, right?"

Que'er was left speechless by him.

Although what he said was completely true, it was infuriating!

Seeing the miss walk farther away, Que'er, furious, shoved Sha San hard in the chest.

Before Sha San could fall backward, a force pushed him hard into Que'er.

Sha San quickly reached out to brace against the wall behind him and protect Que'er's head; although they ended up tightly embraced, fortunately no accident occurred.

Sha San and Que'er weren't even angry yet when a crowd of people behind them shoved them forward.

Everyone winked and gestured at them, wearing the look of those who enjoy a spectacle no matter how big; this left Que'er and Sha San speechless yet helpless.

Because of the twenty-seven kills, twenty-six of them are still bachelors.

Here, Li Qingluo finally managed to shake off one of them, and she hurried forward while pushing Zheng Mama.

But Zhui Yu came up and squeezed in behind her.

"Miss, are you hiding something from me?"

After Zhui Yu completely let go of Que'er, she seemed to have become much smarter.

Before Li Qingluo could answer, Qin Ling ahead suddenly shouted, "Look! There's a corpse!"

Just around the bend lay a pitch-black dark river.

Isn't that a corpse floating in the river?

Moreover, judging by the clothing, they are people of DaLiang.

However, no one knows how long the corpse has been afloat, and it emits a foul stench.

In an instant, it made everyone feel nauseous and want to vomit.

Li Qingluo was the first to be unable to hold back; she turned and vomited at the side.

Soon she was vomiting, her face full of discomfort.

Zheng Mama patted her back sympathetically: "Miss, oh dear, miss..."

Qin Ling squeezed over and shoved something into her hand.

"Put on this veil, then quickly hold this thing before your nose and smell—it should help."

Li Qingluo nodded, followed the instruction, and indeed felt much better.

But after that bout of vomiting, she felt her whole body go weak.

So this is what morning sickness feels like.

Really not a pleasant feeling.

Having just taken two steps forward, suddenly her foot slipped; Zheng Mama hadn't even reacted when another hand shot out from beside her.

"Be careful——!"

Li Qingluo was also quite surprised.

The person who reached out for her turned out to be Li Yunchu.

"Th... thank you."

Li Yunchu, feeling uncomfortable under everyone's stare, quickly thrust her hand forward.

Even Qin Ling, bewildered, hurriedly pursued.

"My love, wait for me, my love——"

Zheng Mama, still shaken, steadied Li Qingluo.

"Miss, she wouldn't be hiding something bad, would she?"

"Don't trust her!"

"She's no good! After all, she was born of Old Nurse Deng!"

Li Qingluo: "Let's go."

Li Yunchu waited until Qin Ling caught up, then hurriedly explained: "I'm not trying to curry favor with her."

Qin Ling: "Hehe, my love, you've worked hard."

"I know, my love, you've endured all this for my sake."

"We'll have to live under the same roof with her for at least a year, constantly seeing each other; it's hard on you, my love, that you willingly lower yourself for me."

"Being kind to her will make our days easier. You saw today that she never deals harshly with her own people."

"Even those precious anti-poison pills, she just handed them over to us to eat."

"I've examined it; I still can't replicate it for now... After all, Luo Fan's skill is still a notch above."

Qin Ling seemed a bit disheartened.

Li Yunchu remained silent, only realizing in her heart that she would follow Qin Ling back to see Li Qingluo, even reaching out to steady her, all because Li Qingluo had unintentionally called her 'aunt'...

In her heart, she wondered whether she truly counted as that aunt.

After walking about the time it takes to burn an incense stick, a fork appeared ahead.

"Miss, should we go left or right?"

The decision fell into Li Qingluo's hands.

She first looked at the direction of the water flow.

To the right is upstream.

To the left is downstream.

Li Qingluo: "If the Princess of Nanping is truly still here, she would certainly go downstream."

"Only downstream might there be an exit."

Everyone no longer hesitated, quickly turning left and continuing downstream.

Soon they arrived at a slightly open, flat shoal and discovered traces of someone having been there.

"Miss, there's a shoe here!"

"And it's a woman's shoe."

"There's a vermilion hairpin here."

"How does this look like a piece of pastry?"

Everyone hurriedly picked up the scattered items on the ground.

"It's also strange—how could these things be so scattered here with no one picking them up?"

"No one picked them up; could it be that the princess... met with misfortune?"

Sha si said something, and Sha er slapped him across the face with a "pap".

"Jinx, hurry up and spit!"

Sha si glanced at the miss's expression, then quickly turned away and spat heavily a few times.

Li Qingluo's face grew grave: "Everyone, search the area."

Zheng Mama came over to comfort Li Qingluo: "Miss, don't worry, we'll find you—whether alive or dead..."

Que'er, however, worried: "If over a hundred people are still alive hiding here, we ought to see some sign, right?"

"But we've encountered a corpse, soaking in the water, already rotted away."

"If Liu Li has deceived us..."

Zheng Mama: "Enough!"

She glared at Que'er, chiding her for not knowing how to read the miss's expression.

"Miss, the Princess of Nanping surely has strong guards around her; it doesn't necessarily mean something happened."

"Putting it bluntly, to see if someone is alive you need to see the person; if dead, you need to see the corpse—if anything truly happened, we would surely catch a glimpse."

Li Qingluo hadn't even responded when Sha wu felt something else.

"Huh? This seems to be movable again?"

He tried twisting it a bit, and before anyone could react, the ground gave way beneath his feet.

"Ah——"

Sha wu let out a miserable cry and tumbled down.

"Sha wu!"

Everyone lunged forward, but no one managed to grab Sha wu.

Below, a hollow black wind rushed in—where could any sound still be?

"Sha wu!"

"Sha wu?"

Sha Yi hurriedly shouted several times again.

However, aside from a deathly silence, there was no response.

Everyone's hearts sank heavily.

Li Qingluo's face turned pale: "Alive, we must see the person; dead, we must see the corpse!"

"Search!"

Sha Yi was the first to go down: "Let my subordinates go first!"

He turned and was about to go into the cave, but the cave entrance, with a boom, shut again.

Fortunately, Sha San was quick-eyed and quick-handed, and again pressed the stone that Sha wu had pressed.

Then the cave entrance slowly slid open again.

Sha Yi turned and slipped into the cave entrance, and immediately Sha Er also slipped down from the cave entrance.

But after these two had gone down for a while, there was no sound either.

Everyone's faces grew uglier, and immediately Sha San and Sha Si also volunteered to go down.

Li Qingluo said: "If anyone is going down, it will be me."

"I am your master."

"Not only do you protect me, I also want to protect you."

"Everyone, do not disobey orders!"

After saying that, she sat directly at the cave entrance.

This scared Zheng Mama out of her wits.

Lunging forward, she grabbed her tightly: "Miss, this must not be done!"

"Let this old servant go!"

"This old servant would gladly die, but must never let you, miss, take risks!"

"Miss, you not only look after your own body, but you also need to, you also need to look after others, right?"

"Miss, just listen to this old servant!"

Que'er also stood aside, anxious and at a loss.

Li Qingluo merely shoved their hands away forcefully.

"That's enough."

"I'm not that fragile."

"Granny, rest assured, I know what I'm doing."

"Sha San and Sha Si, pull Granny and Que'er apart for me!"

"Zhui Yu, you go with me."

After saying that, Li Qingluo, with one hand protecting her head and the other guarding her belly, slid down.

Zhui Yu, hearing the sound, hurriedly followed closely behind.

He did not stop Li Qingluo, but merely heard Qin Ling shouting angrily from behind: "Nonsense! How can this still be nonsense?"

"Li Qingluo, you had better come up quickly——"

"With your recklessness, even I, a Great Luo Divine Immortal, could not save you!!"

"You're going to make me die of anger——"

However, Li Qingluo had already resolved to slide down all the way, and soon could no longer hear any sound from behind.

Just as those above cannot hear those below.

All sounds were cut off!

In the pitch-black tunnel, Li Qingluo continually slid downwards, while Zhui Yu followed silently behind.

Both were somewhat nervous, not knowing what this pitch-black underground tunnel actually was, or even how long it was—it was unknown.

"Miss!"

Suddenly Zhui Yu grabbed Li Qingluo's shoulder.

"Wait."

"It sounds like there's a noise."

Li Qingluo also heard it.

This sound seemed near, yet also far.

"Thud——thud——"

This sound was clearly a heavy object repeatedly striking the stone wall.

Who is it?

Or rather... what is it, and where is it striking?