Reborn as the Crippled King's Beloved-Chapter 465: Your Majesty’s Blood!

"The fact that His Majesty has not been found is actually the best news. I believe he has great fortune and will certainly come to no harm," she said.

Murong Jiu said gravely, "Now, by my order, secretly dispatch all the Brocade-clad Guards to search for His Majesty’s whereabouts. You and Yang Shan go back to heal your injuries, and remember this matter must not be exposed!"

"Yes!"

Zhou Li complied, but he had no intention of healing his injuries. If His Majesty was not found, he would surely take his own life as an apology.

As soon as Zhou Li left, Murong Jiu immediately summoned Chang Chonghai to bring her relatives into the palace, and also summoned Su Kai and Lou Zixi.

Upon hearing her account, everyone’s faces grew solemn.

"I hope you can secretly send people to search for His Majesty without raising any alarm, which could lead to instability in the Imperial Court. You may use the pretext of searching for fugitives. Lou Zixi, stabilize the court on my behalf to prevent any disorder," she instructed.

"Your Majesty, do you intend to search for His Majesty yourself?"

Lou Zixi asked, catching the implication in Murong Jiu’s words.

Murong Jiu nodded, "Yes."

"But with no one to oversee the court..."

"I have made up my mind, Lou Zixi. I entrust you with this important responsibility. With your abilities, you can surely stabilize the court. I will not be gone for too long," she affirmed.

As she spoke, Murong Jiu clenched a Buddhist bead bracelet in her hand to forcibly calm herself down.

She had never been so flustered, feeling as if she had lost her mainstay.

She even dared not entertain any negative thoughts, forcing herself to focus only on the best possible outcomes.

Zhou Li’s searchers had spent two full days searching without finding anyone, which surely meant that Jun Yuyan was still alive.

There was no flowing water at the bottom of the cliff to wash him away; he must have been lucky enough not to fall, having climbed back up himself to nurse his injuries somewhere.

Yes, that had to be it.

Murong Jiu affirmed to herself.

The generals also tried to comfort her.

Wasting no extra time, Murong Jiu left the palace secretly, known only to her confidants. Even Hong Yi was summoned into the palace to protect Zhijin and Zhiyu closely.

Fortunately, the palace was not overly crowded now, so everything could be controlled.

Even though she would miss the morning court, she couldn’t be absent for too long; three days would be enough to unsettle people.

Riding hard, Murong Jiu arrived at Redcliffe Mountain.

The most brutal, most frightening place of her dreams.

She thought she would never approach this place in her lifetime, yet the day had come when she had to.

"Your Majesty..."

General Fu looked at her worriedly.

"Big brother, I am fine. Have your men skilled in Qinggong tie the ropes and descend the cliff," she instructed.

Murong Jiu feared that Jun Yuyan had been severely injured and was trapped in the middle of the cliff.

Even though Zhou Li and others had already searched several times, it was possible they had missed spotting Jun Yuyan.

Thinking this, she almost wished she could tie a rope around herself and descend the cliff.

Upon arriving at Redcliffe Mountain, a constant tension tightened in her mind—the image of Jun Yuyan lying bloody and silent at the bottom of the cliff replayed over and over in her head.

She didn’t want to think about it, but she couldn’t control her mind.

Time seemed to pass very quickly as she anxiously waited at the cliff top, not expecting that it would soon be night, yet still without any news from below.

Su Kai brought a hundred guards, and the Fu Family brought over a hundred men, not to mention the followers Jun Yuyan had cultivated over the years.

With so many people, Redcliffe Mountain had been thoroughly searched, but without finding anyone, they could only keep searching time after time.

"I want to go down to the bottom of the cliff and see for myself," Murong Jiu said.

It was dark and the paths were difficult, making it impossible for carriages or sedan chairs to get through. They had climbed up the mountain themselves, and now they made their way down again, holding torches along with her siblings.

Since they couldn’t find anyone at the top of the cliff, the person must have fallen to the bottom.

Even if taken by an enemy, they would have left some traces.

They finally descended the cliff, but found no traces, only many disordered footprints left by Zhou Li and others over the past two days.

It was strange; there wasn’t a single drop of blood.

"Kai Xuan, you go search."

Murong Jiu patted the wolf’s head, gave it a piece of clothing with Jun Yuyan’s scent to sniff, and then let it search.

Kai Xuan’s nose was very sensitive, even more than a dog’s.

Kai Xuan scoured the bottom of the cliff with his head low, but unfortunately, it had rained the previous night. Although the rain wasn’t heavy, it was enough to wash away many scents.

Murong Jiu’s heart knotted in worry.

She feared that Kai Xuan would find Jun Yuyan, dreading that what they found might be a mutilated corpse, yet also feared that Kai Xuan would not locate Jun Yuyan at all.

General Fu patted her shoulder.

"Ah Jiu, I don’t know how to comfort you, but the lack of news is good news, just like when your elder brother Fu Heng went missing. Perhaps, someone was at the bottom of the cliff at the right time and saved His Majesty. Don’t be too nervous or too sad, His Majesty has great fortune, he will definitely be alright."

Murong Jiu forced a smile: "Dad, I’m fine, really. Kai Xuan has a sensitive nose; he will definitely help us find His Majesty."

Right after she spoke, Kai Xuan suddenly lowered his head and howled.

Murong Jiu quickly ran towards Kai Xuan and saw a few drops of blood in the crevice of the rocks where he was!

"It’s His Majesty’s blood!"

Otherwise, Kai Xuan wouldn’t have reacted so strongly!

Thus, it confirmed that Jun Yuyan had indeed fallen to the bottom of the cliff.

But where did he go?

Why were there no other traces left elsewhere?

Kai Xuan had searched for a long time before finding the bloodstains in the rock crevice. Could someone have intentionally erased other traces?

At this thought, Murong Jiu’s heart chilled even further.

Whether Jun Yuyan was alive or dead was still unknown. If someone had taken him away, what was their motive?

To incite chaos within the Imperial Court? To overturn Great Yan?

Or to threaten her to relinquish power?

Murong Jiu took a deep breath, rubbed Kai Xuan’s head, and encouraged him to continue searching to see if they could determine in which direction Jun Yuyan had disappeared. This way, everyone would have a direction to search.

Although the air lacked any lingering scents, Kai Xuan soon found bloodstains in three more rock crevices.

This led to the deduction that Jun Yuyan had headed south.

Without Murong Jiu needing to speak, General Fu gave orders for the men to meticulously search within several dozen miles to the south, not to overlook any trace.

Murong Jiu also began searching the mountain with Kai Xuan.

By the afternoon of the next day, Kai Xuan finally proudly howled a few times.

Murong Jiu quickly approached and then discovered a piece of fabric on some thorns.

It was Jun Yuyan’s clothing!

When Jun Yuyan left the palace, all his clothing was prepared by her, and she knew what clothes Jun Yuyan would wear.

She could confirm that this piece of fabric was left by Jun Yuyan.

It must have been torn off by the thorns.

This place was already quite a distance from the cliff at Redcliffe Mountain, taking half a day to reach by walking, let alone with an injured person.

She believed that he must still be alive, just unconscious at the time, otherwise, with his intelligence, he wouldn’t have failed to leave a trace.

And with Jun Yuyan’s tall and strong stature, one or two people couldn’t possibly have taken him away; there must have been at least four people at the bottom of the cliff at that time, one of whom was tasked with covering their tracks, which explained why even footprints were not left behind!