“Look here,” Cao Yuqing pulled Qin Yining’s hand, pointing at the crack in the ground and speaking in a low voice. “I suspect the entrance is right at this spot. During these days of investigation, I was afraid of alerting them, so I didn’t get too close. But I vaguely saw faint light emanating from the cave opening at night. Although they covered it with tree leaves, some light still leaked out.”

Qin Yining nodded. “I trust your judgment won’t be wrong. Should we go down now?”

Cao Yuqing thought for a moment and said, “Since we’re already here, let’s quickly go in and take a look. I suspect the treasure is at this location. But you must stay alert and remain close by my side. Don’t wander far. I’m worried the other party might turn against us, though I can’t be certain yet.”

Qin Yining nodded. Rationally, she felt that the Blue Sky Alliance members might have already betrayed them, but emotionally she still didn’t want to believe it.

Cao Yuqing pulled Qin Yining forward a few steps, then suddenly stopped. “Wait first. Let’s have someone quietly investigate first. Since we’ve already arrived here, there’s no rush for this moment. Xiao Xue.”

The dark-skinned Xiao Xue immediately stepped forward and bowed.

“You go down quietly and take a look.”

“Yes.”

Xiao Xue had the most outstanding lightness skills among them all, and was very adept at tasks like scouting terrain.

Cao Yuqing protectively shielded Qin Yining behind her, leading the remaining three scouts, Bingtang, and Ji Yun as they all retreated behind the roadside thicket.

Xiao Xue’s figure disappeared into the cave opening.

They waited for a full incense stick’s worth of time before Xiao Xue finally emerged again.

Seeing him push aside the branches covering the ground cave entrance and nod toward them, only then did Cao Yuqing feel relieved and lead Qin Yining’s group toward the cave opening.

“How is it inside?”

Xiao Xue said, “The space inside is very large. It’s probably caused by an earth dragon turning over. This ground fissure actually leads to a natural mountain cave. There are some chests in the cave, but you can hear the sound of flowing water inside, suggesting there are other exits, though I haven’t had time to investigate yet.”

Cao Yuqing nodded and looked inquiringly at Qin Yining.

Qin Yining thought for a moment and said, “What was placed in the chests? Did you look?”

“Inside are silver ingots. Ten-tael silver ingots.”

Upon hearing this, Qin Yining became even more certain of her judgment that part of the treasure was hidden here.

“Let’s go. We have to go in and see. Even though there’s no one else here.”

Jingzhe and Xiao Xue went down the cave opening first, followed by Cao Yuqing supporting Qin Yining, with Bingtang and Ji Yun following behind Qin Yining, and finally Xiao Man and Da Han descended last.

Da Han walked at the rear, using the fire starter in his hand for illumination. He closely followed the steps of those ahead, but when encountering turns, he couldn’t help but look back toward the cave entrance.

Sure enough, after walking through the spacious corridor, they soon arrived at a very vast space. The jumping light of the fire starter was stirred by wind blowing from some unknown direction, casting a layer of orange-red halo over their bodies. Several large chests with camphor wood and metal corners were piled not far away. Inside, neatly arranged snowflake silver reflected the orange-red lamplight, appearing golden and particularly dazzling.

Qin Yining carefully examined those wooden chests, feeling they looked extraordinarily familiar. “That’s right, these chests are indeed from that batch of treasure belonging to the Grand Emperor.”

She had previously been trapped with Pang Xiao at the treasure hiding location for a long time, seeing these chests frequently and becoming very familiar with them.

Jingzhe strode forward, grabbed a silver ingot and looked at it, saying in a muffled voice, “The Grand Emperor, his old self, was really too…”

After all, he was once a scout beside the Grand Emperor, so even with much dissatisfaction in his heart, it wasn’t appropriate to speak it aloud.

But everyone present had suffered hardships in Great Yan before. Everyone would have dissatisfaction in their hearts. The Grand Emperor ignored so many common people of Great Yan, preferring to let the people starve to death rather than caring about their lives, hiding away money and wealth while harboring delusions of making a comeback. Such a foolish ruler who completely disregarded the people’s lives still made people’s teeth itch with hatred when remembered, wishing they could devour his flesh alive!

Several scouts all went to look at the silver in the chests.

Qin Yining, however, frowned deeply.

Cao Yuqing noticed Qin Yining’s unease and asked in a low voice, “What’s wrong? Is there something improper?”

Qin Yining also walked to the front of the chests, picked up a silver ingot and weighed it, saying, “I always feel something’s not right. There was so much treasure, so why are there only these few chests here?”

Cao Yuqing smiled. “Perhaps the people hiding it divided the treasure into several parts and placed them separately?”

Qin Yining shook her head. “I don’t think it’s like that. Now isn’t an ordinary time. Even if they wanted to hide it, there’s no need to specifically place a portion in the central area where the earth dragon turned over.”

“Then what do you think…”

“I think these few chests seem more like bait.”

As Qin Yining spoke, she threw the silver back into the box and rummaged through the bottom. To her shock, she discovered that the silver was only two layers deep. Underneath was a layer of wooden board. Grabbing the wooden board and lifting it, silver ingots clattered into the chest – there was actually only a surface layer of silver!

Qin Yining’s expression changed drastically. “Not good! This place is a trap! Let’s leave quickly!”

Everyone was greatly alarmed and immediately rushed toward the cave opening.

Who would have known that after running only a short distance, they would see Madam Liao leading more than ten people down from the cave entrance.

Qin Yining’s face was as dark as water, and she smiled mockingly. “I didn’t expect Madam Liao would be at this place.”

Madam Liao smiled as she looked at Qin Yining. “I also didn’t expect the Alliance Leader would be at this place.”

“Oh?” Qin Yining raised an eyebrow. “I thought Madam Liao had already anticipated this. When you came to find me that day, hadn’t you already set up all the traps?”

“You saying this truly breaks people’s hearts!” Madam Liao frowned, striking a pose like Xi Shi clutching her heart. “Alliance Leader saying this means you’ve decided that we brothers have become the bad people?”

Qin Yining pointed at the men behind Madam Liao who were holding swords, spears, clubs, and staves, glaring at her with cold hostility, and couldn’t help but laugh. “In this scene, if Madam Liao can still say that everyone has no hostility toward me as Alliance Leader and remains completely loyal, tell me – should I believe it or not?”

Upon hearing this, Madam Liao couldn’t help but turn to look at the crowd behind her, then covered her mouth and laughed. “I’ve always known the Alliance Leader is an intelligent person. Given the current situation, I won’t beat around the bush with you.”

“You simply want my life, nothing more.”

Upon hearing this, Madam Liao was quite surprised.

“People say Zhi Pan’an has divine calculation abilities. Looking at the Alliance Leader now, you truly have some resemblance to Zhi Pan’an.”

This was a silent admission that they would kill Qin Yining.

Qin Yining was no longer afraid.

She pressed her lips together and said, “First tell me, where are my other six subordinates now?”

Madam Liao smiled broadly. “I thought with the Alliance Leader’s intelligence, you should already be able to guess their whereabouts.”

Upon hearing this, Qin Yining raised her head and closed her eyes.

Although she had never met those six scouts, if her orders had led to their deaths, how could Qin Yining bear it in her heart?

Madam Liao led the crowd forward, taking a treasured sword from someone behind her. As she walked, she said, “Your subordinates were too difficult to deal with. If they hadn’t become suspicious, we wouldn’t have lost those brothers either.”