Chapter 181 A living person can vanish into thin air
Sure enough, no sooner had the two left than Cao Dongyang arrived with more than a dozen assassins.
One of the men saw the body in the snow and rushed over to check it. He then looked up and reported, "My lord, it's not the princess, it's the guard who was with her."
Upon hearing this, Cao Dongyang quickly stepped forward and saw a young man lying in the snow with several feathered arrows stuck in his back.
The bloodstains on his chest had congealed into a dark purple color at low temperatures. His eyes were closed, and his lips were bluish-gray, indicating that he was no longer breathing.
Even so, Cao Dongyang frowned, drew a dagger from his waist, squatted down, and plunged the blade into his heart without hesitation!
Only after confirming that dark red blood was gushing out from the slit of the dagger did he pull out the knife and wipe the blood off the blade with snow.
He stood up and looked around.
They had already missed the best opportunity to assassinate the princess. Shen Churong's elite troops could surround them at any time, and staying here would only be walking into a trap.
He dared not delay and waved to his remaining men: "Withdraw!"
The group quickly disappeared into the depths of the dense forest, leaving Chen Yanqing lying alone in the snow.
A very, very long time passed, so long that even the snow in the sky stopped.
Chen Yanqing's entire body was already covered by thick snow, and from a distance, he looked like a small snowdrift.
Just then, a figure slowly approached.
The footsteps were exceptionally clear in the silent valley, eventually stopping in front of a small snowdrift buried under snow.
...
After Li Yuanzhao and Shen Churong left the valley, they were soon met by Shen Churong's deputy general who led a large number of personal guards to meet them.
Upon seeing the two men, the lieutenant immediately knelt on one knee to apologize.
"Your Highness, General, please forgive my lateness. We encountered a large number of assassins on our way here and fought them for a long time until we wiped them all out, which is why we were delayed."
Li Yuanzhao asked expressionlessly, "How many people are left?"
The lieutenant quickly replied, "Most of them have been dealt with. Only a small group managed to break through, and we have already sent a team to pursue them."
"No need to chase after them." Li Yuanzhao took the horse brought by the soldier, nimbly mounted it, and suddenly ordered before leaving, "Send someone to bring Chen Yanqing back."
Shen Churong was stunned upon hearing this.
What does it mean to bring them back?
Given Chen Yanqing's injuries at the time, he would probably have died from blood loss long ago.
If we send people to search now, they will most likely only find a frozen corpse.
But he did not question it and immediately accepted the order, saying, "Yes, Your Majesty, I will send someone to search for it immediately."
After returning to the camp, Li Yuanzhao removed his blood-stained clothes, changed into clean civilian clothes, and had the army doctor treat the lacerated wound on his arm.
After resting for half a day, Shen Churong returned, travel-worn, to report back.
He stood in the center of the tent, his expression solemn, seemingly wanting to say something but holding back.
"The person has been found?" Li Yuanzhao put down his teacup and looked up at him.
Shen Churong took a deep breath, his tone tinged with trepidation: "Your Highness, I have led my personal guards to search the entire valley thoroughly, but we have not been able to find any trace of Chen Yanqing."
Li Yuanzhao then frowned. "What do you mean?"
"It's as if he vanished into thin air." Shen Churong's tone was tinged with disbelief. "Besides our footprints, there are no other traces on the snow. I suspect that wild animals in the mountains might have smelled the blood and dragged his...body away..."
"A corpse?" Li Yuanzhao said with certainty, "He won't die."
Shen Churong was stunned.
He didn't understand why the eldest princess was so certain.
Chen Yanqing was hit by several arrows and lost too much blood. He had been lying in the snow and ice for so long that no one could have survived.
Li Yuanzhao stood up, his tone leaving no room for doubt, "Send more people, expand the search area, even if we have to dig three feet into the ground, we must find him for me."
Shen Churong's doubts deepened.
He didn't understand why, back at the bottom of the cliff, His Highness had abandoned Chen Yanqing without hesitation, without even glancing back.
But now that they've returned to the camp, they're so determined to find him, even convinced that he's still alive.
What exactly is Chen Yanqing's importance in His Highness's heart?
Shen Churong couldn't understand, but dared not ask any more questions. He could only bow and reply, "Yes. Your subject will make the arrangements immediately."
After Shen Churong left, silence returned to the tent.
Li Yuanzhao walked to the tent, lifted a corner of the curtain, and looked at the snow-covered mountains and forests in the distance.
How could a living person disappear into thin air in such a short time?
Did he hide on his own? Or did someone rescue him?
But neither of these situations is a good thing for her.
Especially since the Lunar New Year's Eve banquet is just around the corner.
The time traveler said that Chen Yanqing recognized his father at the New Year's Eve banquet.
Therefore, she would never allow Chen Yanqing to become an anomaly and disrupt her plans.
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