Detective Ghost Empress

" General Yu! General Yu! It\'s terrible! Something…something happened!" The soldier who came rushing in front of Yu Lingyun panted heavily as he stopped, his face was flushed and his entire uniform was covered in sweat which showed just how much hurry the man was in when he came to look for Yu Lingyun.

" What is the matter with you? Why are you running like the world is coming to an end?" Yu Lingyun asked with a frown as he looked at the soldier who seemed so terrified that he lost his bearing.

The soldier did not answer at once, instead, he inhaled and exhaled before he lifted his head and then said in a hurried voice, " The bridge …. The bridge has collapsed!"

" What?" Yu Lingyun was both surprised and frightened by this sudden information, he no longer cared about investigating the flower valley and then rushed to the bridge which hovered over the chasm where a river with a violent current flowed intensely.

…

Behind him Qin Mu Yan also followed, he wished to investigate the flower valley but before anything else, he had to take care of his responsibility of protecting the Emperor first.

As the two of them arrived at the bridge, they were surprised to find the wooden bridge dangling on the other side of the land where it moved left and right with the force of the wind.

Yu Lingyun\'s face could not help but turn solemn when he saw the bridge being connected with just one side and then turned to look at the soldier and asked, " Did the bridge break when you arrived here or was it already broken?"

The soldier was carrying a flaming torch in his hand which cast an ominous golden glow on his face causing half of his face to be covered with shadows as the soldier replied in a trembling voice, " It was already broken, general.

We were thinking to cross to the other side and search for concubine Qin since we could not find her in the forest but then as soon as we arrived we found that the bridge has been snapped."

Yu Lingyun\'s expression turned even grimmer as he took the flaming torch from the soldier and then walked over to the poles where the bridge was connected by two strong ropes.

Though the bridge looked rather old and weary, its ropes were made from the fibre of the west. It was rumoured to be the strongest fibre ever sold and the family which was skilled in making it, took ten years to sell a thousand metres long rope and sold it for more than ten taels of gold.

There was no way that rope could just snap in half without any rhyme or reason!

He walked closer to the poles and then brought the flaming torch closer to the poles and just as he expected, the edge of the ropes which were used to tie two knots on each one of the poles was indeed snapped but they did not snap because of the pressure of the wind. Instead, they snapped because someone deliberately used something sharp to cut them!

Yu Lingyun\'s facial expression could not help but twist as he realised what was going on and then turned to look at Qin Mu Yan who was silently looking at the two knots which had sharp edges which were too clean for a rope which was supposed to break on its own.

" Did someone snap them after taking my sister away?" He questioned as he looked at the bridge which was dangling on the other side.

Yu Lingyun on the other hand shook his head and then said, " No, if they took your sister to the other side then they would have cut the ropes from the other side, not this one."

He paused and then admitted, " I am afraid that the culprit is hiding in the forest …and more like running away, this looks like the person behind this incident does not want anyone to run away."

Qin Mu Yan clenched his fists when he heard Yu Lingyun\'s reply, in fact, he also knew that it was impossible for him to find his sister alive after such a long time had already passed by but he was willing to hold on to the smallest flicker of hope but now that he was staring at the bridge which was snapped in half, his hope vanished into nothing.

" Which bastard has a death wish?" He sneered while grinding his teeth as he continued to stare at the snapped bridge.

Yu Lingyun did not say anything and simply suggested going back and telling their findings to Zhai Tianyu. Qin Mu Yan was not willing to go back but standing at the edge of the chasm was not going to help him either which was why he agreed and followed Yu Lingyun back to the hunting ground.

" Do not worry, as the culprit is still hiding in the forest, he will definitely be——-"

A scream tore through the sky again, the scream was mournful and wretched which caused Qin Mu Yan\'s eyes to widen as he rushed towards the direction from where the scream came from.

Yu Lingyun chased after him making sure to not let the distance become any bigger than a few meters.

" Help me!" The scream of the woman echoed once again in the clearing as Qiu Mu Yan\'s eyes turned wide as saucers as he screamed in anguish, " MOTHER!"

The officials were allowed to bring their family with them which was why Qiu Mu Yan\'s mother tagged along with them under the pretext that she wished to see his sister who had been living in the imperial palace ever since she got married.

Did his mother sneak out of the hunting ground to look for his sister? Knowing how much his mother cared for her daughter, Qin Mu Yan thought that it was highly possible which was why he increased his pace and burst past the bush instead of following the rocky path.

But even so, he was a step too late because his mother was now laying dead on the ground with her head chopped off cleanly, her eyes wide in terror as she stared at the sky.