After hearing the guard's report, the man looked up at the direction of the cave, then turned to look at the nearby Sea King's Palace. He realized there was no other way out except the path they were on. No wonder Hai Quan had been so confident in hiding the hostages there. The number of Sea King's Palace guards wasn't as numerous as he had imagined.

Dark clouds drifted across the night sky, obscuring the bright moonlight. A chilly wind suddenly blew through the mountains. The man's spirits suddenly perked up, his calm black eyes appearing extremely bright in the darkness. He covered half of his face with a black cloth and quickly ordered the guards beside him, "Leave a few more people guarding the cave entrance. Don't be careless."

Since Haiquan dared to place the hostages here, besides the extremely steep terrain and difficult escape, there must be other traps. Their purpose of coming here was to rescue the hostages, and they could not afford to fall prey to Haiquan's schemes without rescuing them.

After saying this, the man left a dozen people to guard the dark corner of the cave, and he entered the cave with only one guard...

The cave was pitch black, with gusts of cold wind blowing from the bottom up. The guard took out a tinder from his sleeve and lit it. After illuminating the path for the two men, the man continued to walk inside...

The firelight made it easier for the man to see the path below. Before them lay a long, winding rock staircase. The firelight could only illuminate a limited area, but it allowed the man to clearly see the layout of the cave. This staircase, which went from top to bottom, was easy for the guards of the Sea King's Palace to guard, but it was extremely difficult for the hostages to escape.

"Master, let me go down and find someone. This cave is too deep. What if there are ambushes inside? How can your precious body be harmed?" The guard who followed closely behind him looked at the endless stairs in front of him, frowned, and tried to dissuade his young master.

However, the figure reflected on the rocky wall shook his head slightly, and the man's low voice of refusal echoed in the silent cave, "No need. I won't feel at ease unless I see it with my own eyes. Let's go."

After that, the two of them stopped talking and walked down quickly, carefully stepping on the wet rocks...

The further down we went, the stronger the mountain wind became, and the weeping sounds carried by the wind became more and more distinct...

Hearing the woman's sobbing, a hint of surprise suddenly flashed in the man's silent eyes. His steps became faster and faster, not daring to linger for a moment.

"Greetings, master." When the man arrived at the cell in the cave, the guards who had arrived here before him immediately stepped forward to salute. However, the dozen or so guards had stern expressions and did not show any joy at all.

The situation before him instantly dimmed the man's joy. He raised his head and glanced at everything in the cell, and found that all the legitimate sons and daughters of the noble families were there, with men and women locked up on the left and right sides. Everyone looked at the masked man with confused and frightened expressions on their faces, hiding in the corner of the cell trembling and not daring to make a sound.

After the man surveyed the cell, he fixed his gaze on the women. His sharp eyes swept over each of them carefully, his brows furrowed from their original calm to a frown. "What happened?"

Upon hearing the question, the guard knew his master must have anticipated this, so he didn't dare to hide anything. He reported in a low voice, "Master, I've just checked carefully and haven't found the young lady, Miss Qu, Princess Xiahou, or anyone else. Could it be that the Sea King is aware of their special identities and has imprisoned them elsewhere?"

Hearing this, a hint of gloom flashed across the man's calm eyes, but a hint of doubt emerged in his heart.

Qu Feiqing is the cousin that Princess Chu cares about the most, and Xiahou An'er is the cousin that Chu Feiyang loves the most. It is completely understandable that Hai Quan imprisoned these two people alone just in case.

But Hanyu was only a daughter of the Han Xiangfu. He had only been the Left Xiang for a few months and had yet to gain full control of the government. Furthermore, with Emperor Yugan dead, he, the Left Xiang, was effectively a cripple. Hanyu would be of little use to Haiquan, so why wasn't she here?

Thinking of this, Han Che turned his eyes, which were exposed outside, to the woman's cell again, searching for other figures among the crowd...

After a moment, Han Che's eyes darkened, his brows wrinkled slightly, and the doubt in his eyes became more and more obvious...

Wu Qinqin from the Duke of Han's Mansion is still imprisoned here. Compared to Han Yu who is of little use to Hai Quan, Wu Qinqin has a more restraining effect on the Duke of Han's Mansion and Prince Chen. What is Hai Quan's purpose in making such an arrangement?

"Are there other secret rooms here?" Han Che took the torch from the cell, walked to the rock wall, and carefully examined the rock wall in front of him with the torch, trying to find any clues from it.

"I and others have just checked and found no secret room. It may be that it is extremely difficult to build a secret room in this cave, so we didn't dig it out separately." The guard explained in detail, which made Han Che's heart sink suddenly and his face gradually became ugly.

"Master, what should we do now?" Seeing Han Che lost in thought, the guard reminded him.

"Since the person we are looking for is not here, let's evacuate." Han Che pondered for a moment and then gave the order.

"What about these people?" Looking at the nobles who had been imprisoned for several months and whose faces were sallow, the guards asked Han Che for his opinion.

The young men and women who had been hiding in the corner, seeing that the dozens of people who suddenly broke in did not harm them, felt a sense of luck in their hearts and turned their eyes to Han Che.

Han Che raised the torch in his hand, illuminating the sky above the cell, and spoke coldly, "Hai Quan has already made preparations. If we open the cell door, the people in the Sea Palace will immediately know that someone has broken into the prison. We are like turtles in a jar. Not only can we not save others, we can't even save ourselves."

After he finished speaking, Han Che said no more. Holding the torch in one hand, he led the way out of the cave. Seeing this, the other guards said no more. They followed him and walked out of the cave very quickly.

"Who dares to trespass into the Sea King's Palace? Get out now!" Just as everyone walked out of the cave, a scolding voice came from afar, and in the darkness, they saw a fire dragon walking towards them quickly.

"Leave!" Everyone's expression was stern. Han Che immediately extinguished the torch in his hand and ran towards the pre-arranged path...

After traveling for several days, Yun Qianmeng and the others were finally about to reach the northern border and came to a small town that had not yet been affected by the war.

The carriage stopped at the door of an extremely simple inn. Mu Chun put a gauze hat on Yun Qianmeng in the carriage, and then she and Qiao Ying helped Yun Qianmeng slowly get out of the carriage.

Even though Yun Qianmeng and the others had already changed out of their fancy clothes a few days ago and donned cotton dresses, and even the carriage they rode in looked extremely ordinary from the outside, they still received many strange looks when they set foot in this small town.

Qiao Ying glanced around with his fierce eyes. Seeing that although the villagers here cast curious glances at them, there was no suspicious person among them, his heart finally relaxed a little. However, he still stayed close to Yun Qianmeng and carefully helped Yun Qianmeng into the inn.

After everything was settled, Qiao Ying reported to Yun Qianmeng, "Princess, the secret guards have just checked this town and found no suspicious individuals. You can rest assured."

Seeing Qiao Ying being so cautious, Yun Qianmeng smiled at her with confidence, "Of course I can trust you guys to do things."

"Your Highness must be tired after traveling for so many days. I will prepare some hot water for you to take a bath in this guest room to relieve your fatigue."

After Mu Chun packed up some daily necessities, he came over with two extremely soft pillows in his hands and carefully placed them behind Yun Qianmeng, hoping that Yun Qianmeng would feel more comfortable sitting down.

Yun Qianmeng slowly walked back to the table and sat down. With a slightly serious expression, she instructed, "We'll set off tomorrow morning. If we're short on anything, we should make up for it now to avoid any accidents along the way. My body can still handle it, so there's no need to slow down to account for my condition. The sooner we reach the northern border, the safer we'll be. Otherwise, there are too many variables along the way, and it's hard to guarantee there won't be any accidents."

Having said this, Yun Qianmeng gently stroked her bulging belly with one hand, a faint smile on her lips. Her eyes fell on the three people in front of her, and she slowly spoke, "If I hadn't been so unwell, we wouldn't have been walking so slowly. Fortunately, we had no danger along the way. You've all been tired these past few days, so you three should rest well tonight and don't overwork yourself."

"Yes." Mu Chun and Qiao Ying spoke in unison, and then they went their separate ways.

Yun Qianmeng sat quietly in the room, looking out through the open wooden window. The weather at the end of October was clear and crisp. The gorgeous maple leaves in the garden outside formed an extremely beautiful scene with the white clouds and blue sky, which was dazzling.

However, Yun Qianmeng's thoughts drifted away with the white clouds in the sky...

After dealing with Yun Yijie and others, their group traveled along the way over the past few days and saw the true appearance of Western Chu after the war.

Whether it was an official road or a small path, there were displaced people everywhere, and corpses of people who had starved to death, frozen to death, or been slaughtered were everywhere. Everywhere you passed was desolate, which made people feel depressed and dull.

Fortunately, the 'Yu Family Pawnshop' along the way was safe and sound, and he got a lot of useful information from it.

What worries Yun Qianmeng the most is the recent battle between the three kings.

The Sea King was now personally leading his troops to defend Chaocheng in the west, while his top general, Yuan Yao, was ordered by the Sea King to expand outward from Chaocheng, encroaching on the surrounding cities. At the same time, he was concentrating his forces to fight against Chu Feiyang.

From this, it seems that Aquaman is now focusing on defeating Chu Feiyang.

This is the thing that worries Yun Qianmeng the most. Although Chu Feiyang is a master in using troops, the difference in military strength between the enemy and us is too great. What's more, while dealing with Hai Quan, Chu Feiyang also has to deal with King Chen. I'm afraid Chu Feiyang is too busy to cope with it.

Thinking of this, Yun Qianmeng couldn't help but have a look of worry on his face.

The hand supporting her belly paused for a moment. Yun Qianmeng lowered her head and whispered to the baby in her belly, "Baby, you must be very worried about Daddy too."

These few words expressed all the emotions in Yun Qianmeng's heart.

Husband and wife are connected by heart, how can she not worry?