Endless Winter: My Camp Upgrades Infinitely

Chapter 1571: Chapter 493: Xia City Shaken, Han Yue’s Death, Earth-Shattering Tremors (Part 2)

Having served as the Lady of the House for over a decade, Shi Lu naturally cultivated a sense of authority. Upon hearing her voice, the maid immediately stopped hesitating and slowly said, "I saw Qiu Sizheng carrying back a woman’s corpse, and that corpse seemed to be... Lady Han Yue."

Upon hearing this, Shi Lu’s expression changed dramatically, and she stood up from her chair with a start, asking in surprise, "Did you see clearly?"

In fact, it wasn’t just Shi Lu; Yuan Shao in the hall also reacted strongly upon hearing this, turning his head to look at the maid, his pupils filled with suspicion and inquiry.

Under the intense gaze of the mother and son, the maid grew somewhat nervous but carefully recalled the scene she had just seen outside the mansion’s gate, nodding nonetheless.

"Lady Han Yue had visited the mansion many times before; Xiaoru had seen her, saw clearly just now, Xiaoru is ninety percent sure that the corpse is her."

Ninety percent sure, which practically confirms it!

Shi Lu’s face suddenly showed a mournful expression, and as she turned to look at Yuan Shao, she noticed her eldest son already had teary eyes.

Shi Lu was not surprised by her eldest son’s reaction.

With the Second Prince growing older in recent years, Lady Li Xuanling began to let Xia Yusheng advance in familiarizing himself with the Inner City’s nobles of the same age, clearly intending to pave the way for the elder son for future succession preparations.

The way of contact was to let Inner City noble youths like Yuan Shao from families regularly enter Xia Palace monthly to accompany Xia Yusheng in practicing martial arts.

The person responsible for carrying out this task was Han Yue.

Han Yue not only regularly visited each month to pick up these youths but also taught Xia Yusheng and them martial arts, as these noble youths of Great Xia’s second generation like Yuan Shao are around ten years old, the age of innocence. After years of companionship, they naturally built deep emotional bonds with Han Yue. Hearing of her death, Yuan Shao’s expression was completely understandable.

Not only Yuan Shao; children from the Lin Family, Yue Family, Qiu Family, Lu Family, and other Inner City families would probably also be grieving tonight.

Seeing Yuan Shao devastated like this, what about the Second Prince?

This thought suddenly flashed across Shi Lu’s mind, and she couldn’t help but let out a soft sigh.

Han Yue was not merely the Female Chief Steward of Star-picking Hall; from the birth of the two princes in August of the Third Year of Da Xia, Han Yue had been closely taking care of them, calling her the wet nurse of Xia Yuyao and Xia Yusheng would not be an exaggeration.

Han Yue’s death would likely sadden the two princes the most, especially the Second Prince present tonight, as she had just heard that Han Yue died protecting the Second Prince.

"Alas!"

............

Xia Palace, Lord’s Hall

In the center of the hall lay a woman’s corpse, none other than Han Yue.

Han Yue’s arms and legs were all bent at odd angles, looking extremely eerie. Her usually gentle and serene face was now only left with contorted anguish, her mouth agape, expression even somewhat twisted.

It clearly showed that she must have suffered great pain before her death.

The high platform master seat on the east side of the hall was vacant, while Li Xuanling sat on the special seat of the side wing, staring at Han Yue’s body below, his expression as grim as ever.

Below the hall, Qiu Peng and the other twenty-seven Xianyang Level elites divided on either side, with their gaze focused on Han Yue’s corpse, their expressions incredibly somber.

No one opened their mouths to speak; the atmosphere reached the height of heaviness.

Ultimately, it was Qiu Peng who stepped forward. He walked to the center of the hall, first covered Han Yue’s body with a white cloth, then turned and cupped his hands towards Li Xuanling, slowly breaking the silence within the hall.

"The twenty-seven of us, following the trail of Soul-Permeating Incense, pursued to about thirty kilometers deep into Redwood Ridge, to a small stone peak over a hundred meters high, where we caught up with Yang Jian and others. But in the end, we only managed to track down two, Yang Jian, the old man masquerading as a Dragon Forbidden Captain soldier, along with four others who all escaped..."

Saying this, he paused slightly before continuing, "Then, we found Han Yue’s corpse inside the mountain cave atop the stone peak. After Yang Jian and the six others had just returned to the cave, possibly due to a venting urge, or intending to extract some essential information about Xia City from Han Yue, they inflicted severe torture on her. Judging from the condition of her body..."

Qiu Peng didn’t finish his sentence, but everyone present involuntarily looked down at Han Yue’s corpse on the ground, their expressions shifting slightly.

Given the identity and strength of Yang Jian’s group, venting their anger on a woman with Cold Resistance Level Cultivation seemed unlikely, so unsurprisingly, it was probably the second scenario Qiu Peng mentioned: Yang Jian and his group attempted to extract crucial intelligence about Great Xia from Han Yue.

Looking at Han Yue’s body’s gruesome state, whether or not she ultimately yielded, there must have been a period of undying resistance, which was the reason for everyone’s changed expressions.

After their expressions shifted, the anger within everyone’s hearts naturally began to rise rapidly, particularly with Qiu Peng, who first spoke.

His face was full of fury, ready to step forward and speak, but didn’t anticipate hearing staggered footsteps from outside the hall.

"Lord Qiu, Yuan Bai said they found Yue..."

Entering from outside the hall was none other than Han Yue’s husband, Dragon Forbidden Captain Tie Xinchuan, but not only him; Yuan Bai, Lu Dong, Luo An, and the other nine Dragon Forbidden Commanders accompanied him.

However, unlike the others, Tie Xinchuan’s legs seemed leadenly heavy, stumbling with steps into the hall, eyes filled with hope and anguish. He dared not step quickly inside but first inquired Qiu Peng.

Unfortunately, before he could finish, he’d already seen the white cloth in the middle of the hall. It was stained with blood in quite a few areas.