Return of the Swallow

ile the emperor neglected to send provisions and funds—how would this look to outsiders!

Pang Xiao hadn’t found Qin Yining’s body when clearing the cavern, which alleviated his anxiety somewhat.
At least, this proved Qin Yining was possibly still alive.

He immediately issued new commands to his Elite Tigers and Huzi.
“Deploy more men to surround the perimeter.
Leave no stone unturned—we must find the princess consort!”

“Understood!” Huzi and the Elite Tigers answered in a low voice, then went off to execute their orders.

Li Qitian finally couldn’t stand the sight of Pang Xiao covered in muck with a bare chest .
“Come up and take a break.
Warm yourself with some hot tea.
You have yet to find née Qin, no? Maybe she’s still alive and occupied with some urgent business.
If you want to find her, you must look after your own wellbeing first and foremost.”

The emperor came to his own conclusions before Pang Xiao had a chance to respond.
Qin Yining might have gone off in search of the treasure!

Pang Xiao required close supervision after all!

Not having the heart to rest, the prince politely declined and continued searching around the cavern with his men.
He even inspected the hole where Bingtang and Jiyun had hidden themselves, but to no avail.

Pang Xiao expanded the search area to conduct a blanket search with a few men borrowed from the Dragon Riders.
They inspected every blade of grass and tree they came across in hopes of gleaning any sort of clue from them.

An entire day had passed when Pang Xiao found the gravely injured Jingzhe, Xiaoxue, Xiaoman and Dahan.

The four unconscious men had evidently been moved inside the cavern by another party, their wounds also looked like they’d been cursorily tended to.

Pang Xiao’s heart pounded with the desire to know what events had transpired, but Bingtang and Jiyun had yet to awaken, while these four Silver Masks remained comatose.

Then, the disaster relief supplies finally arrived.

They weren’t much, but many of the refugees had already died, so there was enough to support those who had survived.
From then on, Pang Xiao removed himself from the disaster relief efforts to focus entirely on finding Qin Yining.

But when Bingtang and Jiyun came to and recounted what had happened in the cavern, Pang Xiao felt his heart drop and fear overtake his senses.

“She was slashed by a sword?”

“Yes.
To protect me, Her Highness had me hide behind the chests.
She said since she had no way of escaping, I had to survive and find you to warn you.”

Pang Xiao closed his eyes, feeling as someone had plunged a knife into his heart and was twisting it.

The frail Jiyun recalled the events that had transpired in great detail.
“They were fiercer than even the Lu second master’s deathsworn,” she concluded.
“We were all injured, and because of the cave-in, it was too dark to see anything.
I wanted to rush over to where the fight had broken out, but the ceiling had collapsed and everything was blocked off.

“Bingtang called out to me then and pulled me over to hide behind the chests.
When the ground gave way, we had no choice but to crawl into the adjoining cavern.
There was air and water inside, but we had no way of getting out until Your Highness arrived to rescue us.”

By now, Jiyun’s tears poured down her cheeks.
“This useless servant was unable to protect Her Highness.
I have let Your Highness down.” She knelt on the floor and kowtowed again and again, deeply ashamed of herself.

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