Although Shen Li only threatened Chun Xi with words, Chun Xi felt as if Shen Li's gaze was tangible, like a cold blade pressing against her neck. A shiver ran down her spine, and goosebumps rose on her skin.
"Miss!"
"Hmm?" Almost as soon as Chun Xi opened her mouth, Shen Li responded with a questioning tone.
"This afternoon, our young lady thought they were just going to play at the foot of the mountain for a while. But unexpectedly, the Fourth Prince and the others went straight into the depths of the back mountain. When they took a break on the way, our young lady distributed some pastries she had brought from the Shen Mansion for everyone to share."
"Then, everyone gradually felt weak! But those pastries were all brought from the Shen Mansion by our young lady. There's no way there could be anything wrong with them! This matter has nothing to do with our young lady!"
Chun Xi was in a hurry to explain, but her words were hardly convincing.
"Who ate those pastries?"
"The Fourth Prince, the Seventh Prince, the Tenth Prince, and the Heir of the Li Prince all ate them! Oh, and our young lady ate them too!"
"I remember that the three princes and the Heir of the Li Prince all had servants and attendants. How come even their people were poisoned?"
Chun Xi nodded helplessly this time. "The servants around them didn't eat those pastries, but they were still poisoned! They couldn't use any of their martial arts skills. That's why I said that their being poisoned has nothing to do with our young lady's pastries."
Now, the situation had far exceeded everyone's expectations. It was very likely that the poisoning of those people was related to the pastries Shen Miao had brought. And not a single black - clothed man had been seen. Perhaps this was a huge conspiracy.
All the people Shen Li had brought had been sent out in all directions to search for the missing people. At the same time, she also asked two monks to go back to the Pufa Temple to mobilize more people to help with the search.
"Wait for me here. I'll go up and take a look. Jiaoyue, Mingyue, protect Miss He well!" Shen Li said to them.
"Miss, it's too dangerous for you to go up alone. My martial arts are not bad. Let me go with you!" Mingyue said as she took a step forward when she saw Shen Li was about to leave.
In Mingyue's heart, even the three princes were not as important as Shen Li's safety. She didn't care about the lives of those princes. She only cared about Shen Li's well - being.
"It's okay, Mingyue. I'm just going up to scout the situation. I'll be back soon. Just wait for me here!"
After making up her mind, Shen Li tapped her feet lightly and used her light - footed skill to fly towards the highest mountain. But there were so many trees on that mountain that she could only fly up about one - third of its height before she could no longer use her light - footed skill.
Shen Li stood on the top of a tree, observing the surroundings. It was very quiet all around, with only the sounds of birds and insects.
Instead of landing on the ground, Shen Li carefully moved back and forth between the trees to observe the situation. In this way, she slowly moved towards the top of the mountain. At first, seeing that the top of the highest mountain was covered by branches and it was pitch - black, she guessed that they might have come here to hide, because it was not easy to use light - footed skills here, and it would be difficult for those black - clothed men to catch them.
But now, Shen Li had reached the middle of the mountain, yet she still hadn't detected a trace of any living person other than herself. She began to feel anxious.
Just as she was about to change direction and continue searching, she faintly heard voices coming from above the mountain. Shen Li quickly and carefully moved in that direction.
Shen Li carefully concealed herself on a tree branch that was so thick that it would take about three or four people to hug it. She looked in the direction where the voices were coming from. There were about seven or eight black - clothed men gathered there.
"Everything is ready in the south and the north. We can start the fire at any time!" a black - clothed man said to another who was standing in the middle of the group.
"Good. If we still can't find them after an hour, start the fire!" After saying that, the black - clothed man waved his hand at the others around him. Those black - clothed men disappeared in a flash and walked into different parts of the forest.
But the leader of the black - clothed men stood still. After a while, another black - clothed man with his face covered, whose features couldn't be seen clearly, walked out from a direction in the forest.
"My lord, there's movement in the capital! Shen Yi has met the Emperor of Dongling and reported the matter to him!"
"Don't be in a hurry. We have plenty of time to play with them. First, make sure the people in the capital keep a close eye on this matter. Once there's anything that goes against the plan, immediately take those two people and withdraw!"
"Yes!" The black - clothed man who had just appeared for less than a quarter of an hour left to carry out his task after reporting to his leader.
The leader of the black - clothed men didn't stay there any longer. He also turned around and walked into the forest.
After everyone had left, Shen Li still didn't move from the place where she had been hiding. Her mind was racing: Start the fire after an hour! If she guessed correctly, they were going to set the mountain on fire to force out the people hiding in the depths of the mountain.
Moreover, they weren't doing this blindly. They should be a huge organization with their own spies in the capital. The Night Shade Department was a special organization under the Emperor of Dongling. It had special channels to directly send messages or meet the emperor without being known by others.
But now, these black - clothed men knew this information. It seemed that their intelligence system was quite perfect.
If Shen Li's guess was right, they might have already captured one or two people. These black - clothed men wanted to capture the princes. They must have other motives. If so, their lives were probably not in immediate danger for the time being.
But after setting the mountain on fire, the safety of those still hiding in the deep mountains couldn't be guaranteed.
After only a moment's hesitation, Shen Li continued walking up the mountain. She only had an hour. If she went down the mountain to call for help and then came back up, the fire might already be burning.
Moreover, those people at the foot of the mountain would probably just be killed in vain if they encountered these black - clothed men.
As Shen Li walked further towards the top of the mountain, she saw more black - clothed men scattered in different places, searching the mountain caves.
She didn't see any black - clothed men at the foot of the mountain, which meant they had already searched the lower part and hadn't found them. So it was very likely that Xuan Yuanjue and the others were still on the upper part of this mountain.
Shen Li observed the search directions of these black - clothed men and found that they were all searching horizontally around the hillside. She chose a different path from them and walked towards the leeward slope of the mountain.