Chapter 194 He developed strange feelings for Shen Chu.

Sun Yan quickly discovered the messy footprints.

"Your Highness, there are many footprints here. Lord Shen must have run to the back of the village."

Pei Yuan stared intently at the footprints for a moment, then quickly ran towards the back of the village.

The two chased each other through the woods behind the village all the way to the Canghe River.

The footprints stopped abruptly.

Sun Yan looked at the turbulent river and blurted out, "Oh my god, did Lord Shen jump into the river?"

"With such a swift current, even the best swimmer can't handle it... Ouch!"

Before he could finish speaking, Pei Yuan kicked him hard in the butt.

"Shut up. If you don't speak, no one will think you're mute."

Pei Yuan stared intently at the river with his peach blossom eyes, his face grim and silent, the cold aura emanating from him like an ice cave.

Sun Yan felt a chill on his neck.

It has been a long time since I have seen His Highness with such a somber expression.

He belatedly realized that he had said the wrong thing.

He quickly tried to salvage the situation, saying, "Your Highness, rest assured, Lord Shen is a lucky man and will surely be alright."

Pei Yuan didn't even glance at him, turning his gaze to the reeds on the riverbank.

The reeds were not large, only seven or eight feet wide, but they grew very lushly, about half a person tall, densely packed, and rustled loudly when the wind blew.

A sword aura flashed past.

The tall reeds were instantly cut in half, flying into the air and then falling onto the river like a rain of reeds.

The reeds that were originally half a person tall were instantly reduced to just a few roots.

It was completely empty inside; there was nothing there.

Pei Yuan tightened his grip on the jade-bone fan slightly. "Go downstream."

Sun Yan dared not delay and quickly led his horse over.

They hadn't gone far when they encountered a group of men in black.

Their voices, mixed with the sound of the wind, came through intermittently.

"The boss is really something, why did he have to make us go find that kid's body?"

"After all, he is an imperial censor. The boss said he wants to see him alive or dead, otherwise the boss will have a hard time explaining himself."

The words "Imperial Censor" reached Pei Yuan's ears, and he suddenly pulled on the reins and turned to look.

The man in black was still complaining, "The current was so strong last night, who knows where his body was washed away to? The Cang River is so big, we can't just keep searching downstream, can we?"

"Hey, why be so serious? When we get back, we'll just say we found the body. It's all bloated from being soaked in water; the person is as dead as can be..."

Before the last word was finished, I suddenly felt a pain in my neck.

Bang.

The man in black, who was complaining, suddenly widened his eyes and fell straight to the ground.

The man in black next to him was startled. Before he could even cry out, the cold jade fan was already placed against his neck.

"Where did the imperial censor you chased last night go?"

The man in black was terrified.

Where did this person suddenly come from?

"Will you talk or not?" The icy voice carried an indescribable hostility.

The man in black trembled with fear. "He...he jumped into the river. We're looking for his body too."

"Say it again, what are you looking for?"

The voice beside my ear was deep and cold, as if it were coming from underground, making my skin crawl with goosebumps.

The man in black stammered, "It's...it's the body of the Imperial Censor from last night..."

Before I could finish speaking, I suddenly felt a chill on my neck.

A spurt of blood gushed out, and the man in black turned pale with fright, his eyes wide open as he collapsed to the ground.

The remaining men in black exchanged a glance in fright and, without prior arrangement, took off running.

Pei Yuan's jade-bone fan seemed to have eyes, and it spun around in a flash.

When it returned to Pei Yuan's hands, the men in black were already lying on the ground, barely breathing.

Sun Yan gasped, looking at Pei Yuan's cold expression.

His Highness hasn't gone on a killing spree for a long time.

Oh my god, please don't let anything happen to Master Shen.

Right now, the only problem is that they can't find Lord Shen. Those men in black are speaking without any restraint, and His Highness is already going crazy.

If something were to really happen to Lord Shen, His Highness would probably tear down the entire city of Yueyang.

Sun Yan was praying earnestly when he heard his prince's icy voice.

“Sun Yan, go and ask them what happened last night, and also, where is their leader.”

The leader of the men in black was quickly captured by Sun Yan and thrown at Pei Yuan's feet.

No matter how much Sun Yan pressed him for answers, the leader of the men in black insisted that Shen Chu had jumped into the river.

“It’s absolutely true. When we caught up with him to the riverbank, we could still see a corner of his clothes floating in the water.”

*Smack*

The stone in Pei Yuan's hand shattered into pieces and fell to the ground.

The leader of the men in black couldn't help but shrink back, his eyes filled with terror as he looked at Pei Yuan.

This is already the umpteenth piece that has been broken.

Every time he mentioned that the imperial censor who was being chased the previous night had jumped into the river, the other person would break a stone.

The stone was broken into pieces, like potato slices cut with a knife.

It gives people the creeps.

The leader of the men in black couldn't help but wonder about the other party's identity.

Then I heard the other person ask in an icy tone, "Where does this river lead? Where does the current slow down?"

The old man in black said, "It leads all the way to Changsha Prefecture. The water flow slowed down at the spot where we were salvaging the water."

But ever since the floods in Hanyang Prefecture, the floodwaters have been diverted to the Cang River, and the current has been swift day and night, all the way to the Han River. I estimate the bodies... Ah!

A piece of stone flew into his mouth, knocking out two of his front teeth.

The leader of the men in black, stunned by the beating, spat out a mouthful of blood and said, "I really wasn't lying! The corpses have probably already washed into the Han River... Ahh!"

This time, two stone fragments went in, and four teeth came out.

The leader of the men in black was instantly punched in the face, leaving him with a gaping hole and no teeth.

Looking at the other person's face, which was so cold it seemed like ice crystals were about to fall off, he vaguely realized that he might have violated the other person's taboo.

The word "corpse" seemed to be taboo for him.

The realization that came at the cost of six molars was incredibly painful.

The moment the leader of the men in black opened his mouth, it felt like the wind was pouring straight into it.

"Ye Su Neng didn't die. Near Changsha Prefecture, there's a whirlpool where the current is calm..."

Before he could finish speaking, the other person had already disappeared.

A horse neighed and galloped past me.

Pei Yuan tossed out a command from afar, "Sun Yan, take these people back to Anhua."

If anything happens to Shen Chu, I need them..."

The rest of the words were blurred in the wind and could not be heard clearly.

But then he looked at the two dead men in black on the ground, and then at the leader of the men in black with a gap in his teeth.

Sun Yan couldn't help but shiver.

He had a premonition that if something happened to Lord Shen, his prince would go completely berserk.

Pei Yuan rode his horse down the river, his face so grim it could have been soaked with water.

He really, really disliked this feeling of being out of control.

He was extremely worried when Shen Chu ventured into Leigong Village alone last time.

But Shen Chu's current disappearance has made him realize a problem once again.

Shen Chu held a special place in his heart.

What kind of bullshit colleagues are these, what kind of superiors treat their subordinates?

None of them.

Unbeknownst to him, he had already developed unusual feelings for Shen Chu.

He couldn't even hear the man in black mention words like jumping into the river, death, or corpse.

The mere thought of those words being used against Shen Chu drove him to a frenzy, a urge to kill.