Shen Li dispatched several squads and asked them to observe the surrounding environment. As for her, He Yimeng, Mingyue, Jiaoyue, and Chunxi, accompanied by two older monks, entered the cave.
The cave wasn't very big. It was located against a small hill dozens of meters high. The whole cave was in the shape of an inverted bowl. There were no shelters inside, and it was very empty.
"Miss, miss! I'm Chunxi. I'm back! I've brought people to rescue you!" As soon as she entered the cave, Chunxi shouted towards the inside of the cave.
But to her surprise, there was no response from inside the cave.
"Miss, miss!" Chunxi shouted twice more in disbelief, but still received no answer.
"Stop shouting. They're no longer here!" Shen Li observed the situation inside the cave for a while and quickly came to this conclusion.
But Chunxi still refused to give up. She broke free from Mingyue's supporting hand and walked around the cave inside and out twice, but still didn't find anyone.
"How could this be? I clearly remember that before I escaped, the miss and the Fourth Prince were hiding here! Why aren't they here?"
At this moment, Chunxi was completely panicked and didn't care about covering for Shen Li.
Although the customs in the Dongling Kingdom were becoming more and more open, there were still many taboos regarding the prevention between men and women. Even for engaged men and women, they couldn't meet privately before getting married.
Moreover, for someone like Shen Miao, being alone with the Fourth Prince in a room would indeed be detrimental to her reputation if it got out.
He Yimeng looked at the empty cave and was equally worried. The Fourth Prince Xiao Hanzhi and Shen Miao, who had originally been hiding here, were now gone. Did it mean that something might have happened to them? If so, it would be difficult for the others to escape.
After all, from the time Chunxi went to the temple to report the news until they arrived here, nearly half an hour had passed. A lot could happen in half an hour.
"Don't worry yet. Maybe they thought this place was unsafe and moved to another place to hide. Let's search around here again!"
"The Fourth Prince and the others were poisoned by the Soft - Energy Powder and couldn't move easily. They probably didn't go far. They might be hiding nearby. Everyone, search again!" Shen Li saw their worried faces and comforted them.
The people who had been sent by Shen Li to search the surrounding area also came back one after another. They had searched within a radius of 500 meters in the four directions of east, west, south, and north from the cave they were in, but didn't find anyone.
They had also searched the seven or eight caves here, but there was no one there either.
Getting such a result, everyone was very surprised. Shen Li used her light - body skill and climbed up the small hill step by step using the protruding rocks on the mountain.
Fortunately, this small hill was made of rocks and there were no tall trees, otherwise, Shen Li wouldn't have been able to climb to the top so easily.
Shen Li stood on the top of the hill and looked into the distance. Within her sight, she could see seven or eight mountains. The lower ones were even lower than the hill she was standing on, while the tallest one was covered by thick and tall trees, and she couldn't see the situation on it.
"Miss, can you see anything from up there?" Mingyue saw Shen Li flying down from the mountain and stepped forward to ask.
Shen Li shook her head. "This hill is too low, and the situation here is a bit too complicated!"
"What should we do now?" Jiaoyue also looked worried.
"The enemy is in the dark and we are in the open. For now, we can only take it one step at a time. First, try our best to find people. If... we meet those black - clothed men, we can't confront them head - on."
Shen Li called all the people she had brought today together. "Now, form teams of five people each. There will be a total of six teams. Search for people in the southern and eastern directions. If you meet strangers on the way and find something wrong, retreat immediately. If there's any abnormal situation, shout loudly."
"We'll meet there after walking 500 meters!" Shen Li pointed to a relatively tall tree 500 meters in front of this small hill as a marker.
"The rest of you follow us."
The more than thirty people were quickly divided. In each team, there were two monks from the Pufa Temple leading them.
After the six teams set off, Shen Li also led the remaining three guards from the He Mansion, along with He Yimeng, Mingyue, Jiaoyue, and Chunxi, and walked forward.
After walking 500 meters, everyone met at the appointed place. There was still no sign of anything abnormal. They searched another 500 meters, but still found nothing.
They had been here for a long time, but hadn't found a single suspicious person.
"Chunxi, I'll ask you one more time. Did you really see the black - clothed men searching?" Shen Li looked at Chunxi seriously, locking her with her eyes.
Chunxi's face was full of anxiety. She looked into Shen Li's eyes and said without hesitation, "I saw them! Just when I was running back along this small path to report the news, I saw a black - clothed and masked man suddenly rush out of the woods. He was holding a knife in his hand."
"I was so scared that I could only run for my life. That's how I managed to shake them off and come back to report the news!"
"Besides this one black - clothed man, did you see anyone else?"
Chunxi shook her head. "No. At that time, I could only run back along the path I remembered into the back mountain. I didn't see anyone else along the way."
At this time, He Yimeng frowned tightly, walked up to Shen Li, and whispered to her, "Miss Shen, I always feel that there's something strange about this matter!"
Shen Li nodded. "Chunxi said she only saw one black - clothed man, but so far, we haven't seen a single person. It's really strange."
"Chunxi, you said that the three princes and the Prince Li's heir were all poisoned by the Soft - Energy Powder. As far as I know, the Soft - Energy Powder can only take effect when taken orally. Inhaling it through the nose won't work. How did they get poisoned after contacting the woodcutter?"
Chunxi had been looking into Shen Li's eyes, but when she heard this question, she shifted her eyes nervously and didn't dare to look at Shen Li. But then she seemed to think that this was too obvious, so she quickly shifted her eyes back to Shen Li's face. She repeated this several times and looked very embarrassed.
"I... I don't know either! I'm just a maid of our miss. And I was always taking care of our miss at that time, so I didn't notice."
"Hehe! Chunxi, you're lying!" Shen Li said in a definite tone. She stepped forward aggressively, walked in front of Chunxi, and looked down at her from top to bottom. "I'll give you one more chance. If you still don't tell the truth, I can make you lie dead in the wilderness right now!"