Seeing that there were no signs of Duan Nian and the others' suffering around, Qi Guze quickly led his men to the fifth floor.
When he arrived on the fifth floor, he suddenly smelled a peculiar odor in the air.
The smell wasn't pungent, but it had some fragrances I'd never smelled before.
"Everyone, hold your breath! Do not inhale this gas!"
Qi Guze didn't know why, but he subconsciously felt that there was something special in these smells, which might affect a person's mind or be some kind of drug.
As soon as he finished speaking, the guards around him immediately held their breath.
Those who practice martial arts all possess their own internal energy, allowing them to retain it for a long time in a short period of time!
Since they did not breathe these gases, they were not affected.
After searching for a long time on the fifth floor, they still couldn't find Duan Nian and the others.
So, Qi Guze led everyone to the sixth floor.
Upon reaching the sixth floor, they discovered that the items hidden around them were some very special secret manuals. Those who came to this floor were not ordinary people; they had all been ambushed on the fifth floor.
It was on this floor that Qi Guze found several people lying on the ground.
"Your Highness! Look! Those people lying over there look like our men!"
"Are they dead?"
"Let's go take a look!"
As he spoke, several of Qi Guze's bodyguards wanted to go over and check on their men lying on the ground.
Qi Guze quickly raised his hand to stop them: "Everyone, don't go over there yet. We don't know what happened over there. If we go over rashly, we might run into a trap!"
Even if there was nothing in front of them at this moment, and those people were just lying on the empty ground, it did not prove that there was no danger around.
Upon hearing this, the guards beside Qi Guze immediately became wary and stopped advancing.
"Your Highness, what should we do?"
"Aren't we just going to go and save them?"
"They might still be alive. If we can revive them, we'll be able to find out what happened after Duan Nian and the others came in from them!"
These guards really wanted to save their comrades. After all, they had trained together, gone through many life-and-death situations together, and were now best partners. They were especially unwilling to see their comrades die here.
Qi Guze naturally understood the feelings of his men; he didn't want his men to die for no reason.
"Don't worry, I have a plan!"
After saying that, Qi Guze took out a silver thread from his waist, then unfolded it and flew it towards the people in front of him.
The silver threads touched those people without triggering any surrounding mechanisms.
He retrieved the silver thread and examined it carefully, finding no trace of poison on it.
Only then did I feel relieved, confirming that there were no traps around.
"Everyone can go and check it out now!"
Upon hearing this, the guards quickly rushed to the side of those people.
Just when they were still thinking that these people must be alive, they checked their breathing and found that the people lying on the ground were already dead, and their bodies were stiff.
"Your Highness! They're all dead! Not a single one survived!"
After he finished speaking, the surroundings suddenly fell silent, and the atmosphere became extremely oppressive.
Seeing their brothers, who had risked their lives together, die, they were all in a difficult situation to accept.
Qi Guze was also a little upset, but he quickly recovered and his gaze became firm.
"There's no way to take them back now. Let's hide them in a secluded spot here for now, and then take their bodies back when the guards around us are less vigilant!"
Upon hearing this, the guards nearby immediately found a place to hide them.
After everything was done, Qi Guze led them to the upper floors to search for Duan Nian and the others.
The higher they went, the more corpses they found.
Duan Nian originally only brought a few dozen people with him, and now more than half of them are dead.
Qi Guze and the others looked at the corpses, their initial grief turning into resentment.
Someone must have designed this to cause such great damage!
"I wonder if someone betrayed Duan Nian and the others, otherwise, with Captain Duan's abilities, he wouldn't have let so many of his men die!"
"If I find out that anyone has betrayed us and caused the deaths of so many brothers, I will gladly let them die!"
"So many of our brothers have died tonight. This is truly something we never expected. If we had known this would happen, we definitely wouldn't have let Captain Duan bring everyone here!"
These guards didn't think that Duan Nian and Pei Xuan had made a mistake in their decision. They only wanted to save Qi Guze, which was why they brought everyone to the treasure pavilion of the Mingyue Kingdom's palace to look for the Red Vine.
Now, instead of finding the red vine, so many brothers have lost their lives. This is all the work of the person behind it!
If they have any resentment, it is for the insidious person behind it!
Qi Guze truly believed that the possibility of a traitor appearing around him was very small. The secret guards he selected were all top-notch, trained for many years, and had followed him through life and death together. There was absolutely no way they would betray him.
But now that so much evidence is laid out here, if they hadn't been betrayed, Duan Nian and the others wouldn't have lost so many people!
"Alright, keep this matter of the traitor to yourselves for now, and don't tell anyone else! So as not to alert the enemy!"
Qi Guze gave instructions to the guards, who immediately nodded in agreement.
They finally found Duan Nian after walking all the way to the top floor!
Duan Nian knelt on the ground, sword planted in the floor, head bowed, blood flowing from the sword tip, spreading outwards and reaching Qi Guze's feet.
Some of the corpses they had just seen were poisoned, while others were killed by swords!
Seeing the blood-stained sword in Duan Nian's hand, a terrifying thought suddenly crossed their minds.
Could it be that all those brothers who just died were killed by the sword in Duan Nian's hand?
Could Duan Nian be a traitor among these people?
Otherwise, why did everyone else die except for Duan Nian?
Qi Guze didn't suspect Duan Nian so quickly. He said, "Duan Nian!"
Duan Nian's chest was already heaving violently, and when she heard Qi Guze's voice, she immediately looked up.
He saw Qi Guze standing in front of him with a group of people, all of whom were staring at him with extremely shocked eyes.
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