Chapter 284
Chapter 284
“Your Highness, there are charred bodies all over the ground. It’s too horrible. You’d better not go and look.”
After the officials uncovered the decomposing bodies, the people inside the mortuary went out to examine them.
Zhao Wan had originally wanted to join in. Once she heard it was all corpses, she was less eager to go.
Now only she, Xiaoxizi, and two Golden Plume Guards remained in the mortuary’s main hall.
It was completely dark outside. All the light in the room came from the wood fire before them.
Looking around, they found the place rather eerie and frightening.
“Isn’t it just as gloomy here? We might as well have gone with them.”
After a little while, Zhao Wan could no longer sit still. She stood up and was about to go outside.
Unexpectedly, a strange sound came from the empty coffin beside them.
It was not loud, but all four people in the hall heard it.
The two Golden Plume Guards immediately drew the long sabers at their waists and went on the alert. “Be careful, Your Highness. I’ll go and look.”
Zhao Wan felt nervous, but also a little thrilled. She deliberately asked Xiaoxizi, “Didn’t that Daoist say the coffins were empty? Why is there a noise coming from one? Is it a ghost?”
“Please don’t make wild guesses, Your Highness!” Xiaoxizi was even more frightened. She swallowed and said shakily, “I think… it should be a rat! Places like this are full of rats.”
She had barely spoken when a rat did indeed poke half its head out of the coffin and stare at them with wide eyes.
Zhao Wan and Xiaoxizi shrieked at the same time.
A Golden Plume Guard slashed at it immediately. Before the rat could react, it gave a squeak and fell to the floor in two pieces.
“Ah!”
Looking at the dead rat on the floor, Zhao Wan screamed again. “That’s disgusting! Hurry up and get it out of here!”
The two guards exchanged a look. One first swept the rat outside with a broom. Seeing blood all over the floor, the other went to fetch water to clean it up…
The large pool of blood made Zhao Wan feel sick as well. She said to Xiaoxizi, “Let’s go outside for some fresh air.”
They had been out of the hall only a short while when a cry of pain came from behind the building.
“Your Highness, that sounds like… Xiao Guo!”
Xiao Guo was the Golden Plume Guard who had just gone out for water.
The remaining guard’s expression changed. Sensing that something might have happened to his companion, he said at once, “I’ll go and look!”
“Wait.” Zhao Wan immediately stopped him, her expression turning grave. “It’s too dangerous for you to go alone. I’ll come with you.”
Then she instructed Xiaoxizi, “Go out and bring the commander back at once.”
Xiaoxizi hesitated. She was just about to object when the cries from the rear courtyard grew still more agonized.
Zhao Wan immediately gripped the long whip at her waist and ran toward the back in great strides. Seeing this, the Golden Plume Guard dared not delay and hurried after her.
Knowing the princess’s temperament, Xiaoxizi immediately ran toward the mortuary, heading straight for Zhu Family Village.
Meanwhile, Ren Fengjue was gazing at snow-covered Mount Ya, considering the whereabouts of the Di Slaves. The inconspicuous mortuary happened to fall within his field of vision.
Could there be a connection between the two, he wondered?
As he pondered, a figure came running up, gasping for breath.
“The mortuary… the mortuary!” It was the princess’s maid Xiaoxizi.
She had run from the mortuary as fast as she could, slipping and falling twice along the way.
Still unable to catch her breath, she could not get the words out. She could only point toward the mortuary, her face red with urgency.
Ren Fengjue’s heart suddenly tightened. “This is bad.”
Without even waiting for Xiaoxizi to finish, he raced toward the mortuary. Following close behind him was Xia Ximo.
Yu Lang and Yan Zhengchu exchanged a look. Though unsure what was happening, they both followed.
County Magistrate Li Zhao was utterly bewildered. He asked Xiaoxizi, “What’s happened at the mortuary?”
Only then did Xiaoxizi manage to say, “The mortuary may be haunted!”
An uproar broke out around her.
Ren Fengjue hurried all the way back to the mortuary. The main hall was empty.
Xia Ximo spotted the footprints on the ground first and alerted him. “The rear courtyard.”
Following the footprints, they reached the rear courtyard, where two mangled, bloody bodies met their eyes.
The two Golden Plume Guards left to protect the princess were dead.
There were clear signs of a struggle in the snow. A leather whip lay on the ground, with an enormous footprint beside it.
It was not hard to tell what had just happened…
“The princess’s whip… The footprint…”
Ren Fengjue bent to examine the bodies. His brow twitched. “Just like the villagers. They were bitten and torn to death.”
But Xia Ximo pointed to a corner. “Look at that well. Doesn’t it seem familiar?”
“Qiongying Inn…”
“The opening is even larger than that one.”
They went straight to the well and dropped a pebble inside. Sure enough, there was no sound of water.
If what lay below was indeed like the well at Qiongying Inn, Princess Fenghua’s chances looked grim…
Yu Lang and Yan Zhengchu caught up just then. Both were shocked by the bodies on the ground.
“My lord, what happened? Where’s the princess?”
Knowing how urgent the situation was, Ren Fengjue offered little explanation. “Give me a lamp. We’re going down to look.”
He jumped down first, followed by the other three.
As expected, another world lay beneath the well. Compared with the one beneath Qiongying Inn, however, its depths were even more unfathomable.
They followed the footprints for a long way, yet still saw no end to the passage.
But they all knew perfectly well that it was leading toward Mount Ya…
Yu Lang could not help saying, “My lord, judging by the bodies and footprints outside, the killer must have been a Di Slave!”
Ren Fengjue replied, “It’s not that simple. I have a feeling we need to find one particular person before we can learn the whole truth.”
Yu Lang paused, then understood at once. “The mortuary keeper?”
“Exactly. I suspect he’s connected to those Di Slaves.”
“What?”
Yu Lang and Yan Zhengchu were both startled.
At last, the passage came to an end. A piercing shriek suddenly rang out, scraping against their eardrums.
They immediately recalled that the Giant Fourteen, whom they had seen at Qiongying Inn, had made the same sound.
Then they all heard Zhao Wan crying out, “Help! There’s a monster!”
Looking toward her voice, they saw her tied to a rock with vines. Not far from her stood a man in a bamboo hat and a straw rain cape.
Behind the rock stood an enormous member of the Di people, glaring at them with blood-red eyes and roaring.
Seeing Ren Fengjue and the others arrive, Zhao Wan’s distress turned instantly to joy. “Thank goodness! You’re finally here! I’m saved!”
Ren Fengjue advanced a few steps, silently assessing the situation.
Yu Lang was about to go forward to rescue her, but Ren Fengjue blocked him with an arm. “Let’s see what’s happening first.”
Just then, the man in the bamboo hat suddenly asked, “You… came from the capital, didn’t you?”