Late at night, the entire Chu Family's West Mountain hot spring villa blazed with lights, while over ten thousand Imperial Guards surrounded the estate in a watertight cordon.
When Chu Rulai arrived at the villa with the Ministry of Justice's subordinate officials and capable officers, both hands were trembling inside his sleeves.
His face appeared expressionless.
Yet utter shock, boundless fury, indescribable grief, and irrepressible hatred brewed within him, becoming a heart-scorching fire that burned his heart.
Especially after he saw the corpses strewn across the villa, a coppery sweetness rose in Chu Rulai's throat, and blood flooded his mouth.
He forced the blood back down, then flew into the inner courtyard and looked down over the devastation below.
"Where are the Grand Princess and Divine Ability? Have you found any clues? Who did this?"
Experts from the Heavenly Yamen Embroidery Guard and the inner palace were already examining the scene.
The Heavenly Yamen Embroidery Guard kept as many as three thousand-household commands stationed year-round in the Imperial Forest Garden to protect this imperial retreat.
Because their station was so close, they had not only been the first to notice anything amiss at the Chu Family villa, but also the first to arrive.
Xiao Hongchen, the Heavenly Yamen Commander-in-Chief, had even come in person before Chu Rulai arrived.
With a grave expression, he cupped his hands toward Chu Rulai. "We have yet to find any trace of the Grand Princess or your son. The three second-rank spellcasters stationed in the Imperial Forest Garden have used an imperial secret art to search for the Grand Princess.
"She should still be alive, but they cannot pinpoint her location. They can only surmise that an extremely powerful magic array is suppressing the place where she is now. There is nothing more they can