Ji Lin was friendly on the surface during this court meeting, not wanting anything unpleasant to happen during the process, especially since the one in trouble was a princess who was to be married to King Zhao.
After listening to this, Emperor Qing Yuan became serious and immediately dispatched two teams of soldiers and horses, carrying campfires, to go into the woods to look for people.
But Fu Zhiyu knew clearly that these two armies plus the one from Jingguo were mainly for Lin Miaotang, and Mingdao was just a by-product. Although he was someone close to him, and he emphasized the importance of Mingdao in front of the emperor, no one would really listen. After all, Mingdao did not have an official identity that was worthy of their special attention.
You have to find it yourself.
Fu Zhiyu returned to the tent, quickly changed into a lighter set of clothes, took a campfire, thought for a while, and headed in one direction.
He still remembered that Ming Dao said he was going to hunt foxes before he left. He had been to the hunting grounds several times in his previous life and knew where there were more foxes. He was likely heading in that direction.
Before Fu Zhiyu had walked far, he heard someone calling his name from behind. He knew it was Xie Ke, so he kept walking forward without even turning his head.
"Zhi Yu," Xie Ke seemed to have rushed over, "Don't worry, I've also asked Shadow's people to look for him. Besides Shadow, there's also..."
After hearing this, Fu Zhiyu suddenly turned around and stared at him for a while.
Xie Ke suddenly stopped talking. He could tell that Fu Zhiyu's eyes were not friendly. The defensive and scrutinizing look made his heart sink.
"Will you help me find it?" Fu Zhiyu asked, anxiously, with a hint of sarcasm in his tone, "Xie Ke, did you do this on purpose?"
Xie Ke felt as if his heart was being grasped by a hand, and he felt uncomfortable. He looked directly into Fu Zhiyu's eyes, and his voice began to tremble uncontrollably: "Zhiyu, do you think I did it?"
For the first time, he felt powerless, as if no matter what he did, Zhiyu thought he was pretending and lying to him. He was going around in circles and could no longer get close to his heart.
"I really didn't," Xie Ke tried to explain, "I know Yuan Mingdao is someone you care about, I won't hurt his Zhiyu, nor Lin Miaotang. She's such a young girl, I'm jealous, but you said not to touch her, so I won't, I won't... make you unhappy again. Zhiyu, I'm trying to change, I know the things you hate, I won't do them again, just trust me this time, okay?"
Fu Zhiyu did not answer. He avoided Xie Ke's gaze, turned around and continued walking. Xie Ke hurriedly followed him and eagerly put the cloak on him.
"It's cold and windy at night," he said carefully, "Looking for someone is one thing, but you also need to avoid getting sick."
Fu Zhiyu ignored him and carefully identified the path in the mountains, trying to determine the direction. The last time he came here was in his previous life, and he didn't remember many places very clearly. Xie Ke helped to point the way and seized the opportunity to talk: "Zhiyu, you know about the Shadow. When I gave you the ring, I wanted to give you the entire organization. With them around, it would come in handy at times like this. But you took the ring back and refused to take it back... Zhiyu, I swear I will do a good job of handing over this time. They will only listen to you in the future, and I will never interfere again, okay?"
"No," Fu Zhiyu said, "Shut up."
Xie Ke was not afraid of anything except him, so he shut up on the spot and followed him obediently.
The sound of wild beasts howling could be heard from far away in the woods, which made Fu Zhiyu even more worried about Ming Dao's safety.
Xie Ke really wanted to help him at this time, and he did not do anything to harm Yuan Mingdao and Lin Miaotang in the past. Because Yuan Mingdao often stayed with Fu Zhiyu, and because of Zhiyu's special disorder function, he did not use any monitoring props on him during this period, and none of the remaining props were for finding people. Now he really didn't know where he was.
We can only rely on manpower to find it.
Fu Zhiyu spent the entire night on this, his eyes were red from staying up all night, but he was still looking. Xie Ke felt sorry for him, but he also knew that he couldn't stop him. He would not give up until he found the Yuanming Sword, so he could only do his best to help him.
At daybreak, the Shadow's men sent back a message saying that the Emperor's team had also been searching all night but had not found anyone, and were now questioning who was the last person to see the princess. However, the hunting ground was too chaotic and not many people noticed her, so no matter how much they asked, they got no results.
This forest is too big. If we continue to search aimlessly like this, we don't know when we will find it. Fu Zhiyu doesn't know if Ming Dao encountered something and is hiding in one place, or is he moving around
He tended to believe the former. If Mingdao could move, and there were no clouds last night, he could see the stars. It would not be difficult to determine the direction by relying on the stars. He could find a way back.
If there was any accident, like getting lost, that would be fine. But what Fu Zhiyu was worried about was that someone was deliberately harming him behind his back.
He started to walk on a more remote path, paying attention to the steep mountain streams and cliffs, until he picked up the badge he gave to Mingdao by the side of a stream. There was blood on the badge. Fu Zhiyu looked down and soon saw blood spots on some stones in front. His heart tightened and he followed the blood trail until he reached the edge of the cliff in front, where there was no road.
The stream turned into a rushing waterfall here. Fu Zhiyu looked down and saw that this place was not too high, so he was thinking of a way to go down.
"Let me carry you down," Xie Ke said, "Zhiyu, this place requires more than just strength, it requires skills. You've never learned martial arts in your life, so it'll be difficult for you to go down by yourself. You don't want to get hurt before you find the sword, do you?"
Fu Zhiyu looked at him silently, and Xie Ke once again received the familiar expression of distrust.
"Zhiyu..." He didn't know how to explain, "I just want to help you, really."
One night had passed since Mingdao disappeared, and Fu Zhiyu was already feeling very uneasy. He thought about it and decided that there was no need to endanger Mingdao's safety just because of his momentary mood.
Xie Ke also moved quickly, carefully carrying Fu Zhiyu on his back, and then pulled out a dagger from his waist. The cliff was humid and many rocks were covered with moss. It didn't matter if he fell, but he was carrying Zhiyu on his back, so he couldn't be careless.
The dagger was sharp, and it served as a fulcrum when it was inserted into the crevice of the stone. Xie Ke landed carefully and quickly, and soon he was not far from the ground. However, the weight of the two people was too heavy, and the stone under his feet loosened, and he suddenly found himself stepping on empty air. Xie Ke was startled and knew that he was going to fall. He reacted in an instant, turned around, and fell to the ground. Fortunately, Fu Zhiyu fell on him and was not hurt at all.
There were dead branches and leaves below, and the place where he fell was only a few meters from the ground. Xie Ke was fine, but he just put one elbow on the ground to protect him.
"It's just dislocated," he took a look, then smiled at Fu Zhiyu, "It's okay."
The dislocation is not serious, it's really okay, I will just see a doctor to put it back later. This pain is nothing compared to the previous one.
Fu Zhiyu hesitated for a moment and said, "Ask the Shadow's men to take you back."
"I'm really fine," Xie Ke said quickly, "We have to find the Yuanming Sword before we leave. I'm worried about you being here alone."
Fu Zhiyu was about to say something when he heard a faint voice: "... Master, is that you?"
It's a bright knife!
He was startled and ran quickly towards the direction of the sound, and found the Yuanming Sword in a cave.
Xie Ke, who was quickly left behind, smiled bitterly, pressed his arm, and quickly followed.
"The princess is here too," Yuan Mingdao said. He was obviously much more relaxed after seeing Fu Zhiyu. "They wanted to kill me. The princess happened to recognize me and saw that I was injured, so she came to help me. We suffered together."
Fu Zhiyu carefully checked and breathed a sigh of relief. Yuan Mingdao's injuries were not too serious, only wounds on his arms and waist, no injuries to vital parts, and he had simply bandaged them with strips of cloth torn from his clothes.
The princess had some minor injuries, but she might have fallen into the water while escaping. It would be easy to catch a cold in such weather. She had a fever and was sleeping in a daze, leaning against a rock.
"I'm hiding here. I don't dare go out at night. There are too many of them. I'm afraid I'll run into them again if I go out." Yuan Mingdao said, staring at Fu Zhiyu. "I know the master will find me."
"Let's go back and heal our wounds first," Fu Zhiyu said. He put the Yuanming sword on his back, but hesitated when it came to the princess.
If Lin Miaotang were taken back like this, the two of them would never be able to make it clear.
Fu Zhiyu doesn't care about the rumors, but he can't help but not care for Lin Miaotang. Since he doesn't want to marry her, he can't ruin the princess's reputation at this time.
Xie Ke knew what he was thinking at a glance. He also didn't want Fu Zhiyu to really get involved with another woman, and he was hoping that he would do so.
"I'll ask my people to send the princess back and say that my people found her," Xie Ke volunteered. "I don't know why Ming Dao was being hunted, but it's unreasonable for you to just take both of them back like this."
Several teams from Jilin and Jingguo were searching, but they couldn't find her. Instead, Fu Zhiyu, a stupid and idle prince who had never practiced martial arts, found her single-handedly. It was impossible for this not to arouse suspicion.
"That's it," Fu Zhiyu said without hesitation, "She's still running a fever, ask the imperial physician to take good care of her."
Yuan Mingdao was somewhat relieved when he saw the princess being sent away, then he pulled Fu Zhiyu's clothes and whispered, "Master, I can't go back."
"Why?" Fu Zhiyu frowned, "You are injured, you need to go back and bandage it."
Yuan Mingdao shook his head and said, "Master, you are very careful. You should have brought medicine with you when you came out, right? Just give it to me. My injury is not serious. I don't need a doctor."
Fu Zhiyu knew that Yuan Mingdao had something to say to him. Xie Ke understood after listening to a few words. He stepped back several steps and said, "I don't want to listen. You guys talk."
Fu Zhiyu walked a few more steps with the sword on his back, and gently placed him on a large rock to sit down, and asked in a low voice: "Who did it?"
"The Xue family, or more precisely, the Xue and Lin families and the ancient country in the Western Regions," Yuan Mingdao said, "I took the wrong road when I was hunting foxes and heard some things I shouldn't have heard."