Everything Feng Jiu’er had feared was now truly and vividly unfolding in the mountains behind the Imperial Academy.

“She left after nightfall. I asked her where she was going at the time, and she only said she was going out for a walk — she didn’t share any other information with me.”

Feng Jiu’er hadn’t returned that night. At first, Xiao Yingtao hadn’t thought much of it — wasn’t disappearing just one of Feng Jiu’er’s habits? She hadn’t found it particularly alarming.

But now, Huo Yan had actually come along with Yu Jingfeng to ask questions, which made it clear enough that the situation had already escalated into something serious.

Before long, Qiao Mu came back from outside and walked straight up to Yu Jingfeng, saying in a low, grave voice: “Lord Yu, the entire Mingyue Courtyard has been searched — there is no trace of Feng Jiu’er anywhere.”

Shortly after, Xing Zizhou also hurried over and cupped his fists toward Yu Jingfeng: “Lord Yu, Juefeng Courtyard has been searched as well. Mu Mu is indeed nowhere to be found.”

Yu Jingfeng suspected that Mu Mu had done something to harm Feng Jiu’er — this was certainly the Ninth Prince’s intention. At this moment, the Ninth Prince himself was personally leading men to search the area around the back mountain. He had also issued an order to seal off the imperial city and conduct a thorough search throughout. As long as the two of them were still within the city walls, it should only be a matter of time before they were found.

Xiao Yingtao, knowing they suspected Mu Mu, couldn’t help but interject: “Actually, isn’t it quite common for Mu Mu and Feng Jiu’er to go out together? This… doesn’t seem all that strange, does it?”

Though her voice was soft, everyone heard her perfectly clearly.

“Miss Feng Jiu’er goes out with Mu Mu often?” Yu Jingfeng asked.

Xiao Yingtao nodded. “They have a very close relationship and frequently discuss things together…”

Thinking it over, and out of consideration for Feng Jiu’er’s reputation, she quickly added an explanation: “Of course, there has never been anything improper between them — they’ve always been perfectly proper, just friends. Please don’t read too much into it.”

No one was reading too much into it right now. What Yu Jingfeng remained most worried about, above all else, was Feng Jiu’er’s safety. It was the Ninth Prince who had felt restless and unsettled tonight and sent them to bring Feng Jiu’er over — yet to everyone’s dismay, Feng Jiu’er had simply vanished. Not only was she not in the academy, but someone had also been dispatched at full speed to inquire at Feng Manor, and Feng Jiu’er had not returned there either.

Xiao Yingtao added quietly: “It’s just Feng Jiu’er’s nature to be like this — she often slips out at night. I think you’re all worrying too much. She’ll be back soon.”

Yu Jingfeng had something on his mind to say but ultimately swallowed the words back down.

Why Miss Feng Jiu’er slipped out at night so often — that, he understood better than anyone. After all, many of those times it was he himself who had come personally to invite Miss Feng Jiu’er to the prince’s residence. But he could hardly announce in front of so many people that Miss Feng Jiu’er had been spending her nights away from home because she was staying at the prince’s residence to keep His Highness company. Saying such a thing would ruin Miss Feng Jiu’er’s reputation for the rest of her life.

The Ninth Prince had never cared about what the world thought, so he naturally paid no mind to the idle gossip and rumors of the mortal world. As for Feng Jiu’er herself, her temperament was nothing like that of women from this era — she was carefree and unbothered in that regard, and likely didn’t concern herself much with conventional opinions either. But he couldn’t afford not to care. Miss Feng Jiu’er was to be their future Ninth Princess Consort, and until Miss Feng Jiu’er formally entered the Ninth Prince’s residence as his wife, she absolutely could not afford to have any further ill repute attached to her name.

Since neither Mingyue Courtyard nor Juefeng Courtyard had turned up either of them, Yu Jingfeng saw no point in wasting any more time here. The prince had clearly sensed something wrong tonight, which gave Yu Jingfeng more than enough reason to believe that Miss Feng Jiu’er must have run into some kind of trouble. It had to be because of the deep bond between the prince and Miss Feng Jiu’er — when something happened to one of them, the other could feel it.

The prince was already personally leading men to search the back mountain, so Yu Jingfeng could not afford to stand idle either. He glanced at Huo Yan, then turned and immediately led his men out the door.

Xiao Yingtao, Xing Zizhou, and Qiao Mu exchanged glances — none of them were willing to stay behind and wait. They followed after Yu Jingfeng and stepped out the door.

They had barely walked out of Mingyue Courtyard when a figure came hurrying over and stepped quickly up to Yu Jingfeng: “Lord Yu, signs of a struggle have been discovered in the back mountain. His Highness has already taken men to pursue in that direction.”

The signs of struggle in the back mountain were extremely faint. Had there not been an expert tracker among them, they likely would have been nearly impossible to detect.

After Xiao Yingtao arrived with Yu Jingfeng, she immediately joined the investigation team, and it wasn’t long before she noticed something off.

“Lord Yu, this should be Feng Jiu’er’s footprints — but at a certain point, they suddenly become noticeably heavier.”

“What does that mean? She was injured?” It was fortunate the prince wasn’t here for this — if he were, a statement like that would likely be enough to send His Highness into a panic.

Xiao Yingtao nodded, then shook her head. “There’s another possibility — perhaps she was ambushed and drugged. Wait, let me look more carefully.”

Xiao Yingtao was small and unassuming, unremarkable in most ways — yet no one had expected her to be an expert tracker. Xing Zizhou had witnessed her abilities before, and so had Feng Jiu’er, so when Xiao Yingtao spoke now, Xing Zizhou was willing to believe her.

By the light of torches, Xiao Yingtao quickly picked up the trail of Feng Jiu’er’s footprints heading back from the mountain. Because it was nighttime, and because Feng Jiu’er herself had no small skill in lightness techniques, these footprints were almost imperceptible to an ordinary person. And that was saying nothing of the dense grass covering the mountain — the grass grew through the night, which to a great extent would have disturbed and obscured any faint impressions left behind.

Xiao Yingtao’s temples and face were slick with sweat by the time she, after great effort, finally pieced together the full trail left by Feng Jiu’er and Mu Mu.

“Lord Yu, it appears that tonight it was Feng Jiu’er who arranged to meet Mu Mu out here. After they talked for a while at this spot, Feng Jiu’er left first, and Mu Mu followed after her shortly afterward.”

“But before Mu Mu reached that spot just now, there was clearly another highly skilled person who had been trailing Feng Jiu’er. By the time Mu Mu arrived, Feng Jiu’er had already been taken away by someone.”

“Then what about Mu Mu?” Yu Jingfeng pressed urgently.

“Wait — I need to go back to that spot and look again.” All of this was Xiao Yingtao’s inference. It wasn’t entirely perfect, but she trusted her own judgment.

Yet even as she distrusted her own conclusions, she returned to the original location and examined the footprints left there once more with careful eyes — and Xiao Yingtao’s expression turned grave.

“Mu Mu appears to have realized that Feng Jiu’er had been taken. He then gave chase, heading deeper into the back mountain.”

The footprints ended there entirely — because when they left later, they had not been walking. Instead, they had made their escape entirely through lightness techniques, skimming through the air. Once lightness techniques had been employed, even Xiao Yingtao’s tracking skills were powerless.

Yu Jingfeng followed the direction that Xiao Yingtao’s slender finger was pointing — and that direction pointed unmistakably toward the depths of the back mountain.

“Xiao Yingtao, come with me to search. Huo Yan — take men immediately into the back mountain to find His Highness, tell him everything Xiao Yingtao has reported, and then find a way to rendezvous with us.”

“Understood!” Huo Yan clasped his hands in salute and immediately led his men into the mountain forest to find the Ninth Prince, who was still searching for the missing.

Xing Zizhou and Qiao Mu exchanged a look, then simultaneously moved to catch up with Yu Jingfeng’s group: “Lord Yu, please allow us to come along!”