After saying that, Aunt Yue could feel her body organs were failing one by one and the end was near.

Rong Jie was going to say that he loved her too when he felt that she had become lifeless. She... had stopped breathing...

"No..." He yelled loudly, piercing the quiet night. His whole body was trembling in grief and he was desperately tried to wake her up.

"Yue Yue... please... please stop joking! You are only fooling me, right?" He kept begging, however, the woman didn't even move an inch. She just laid there quietly... like she was sleeping. The man could only sit there weakly because he still couldn't accept reality.

It took him a little while before he could gather himself together. If he didn't make a promise, he wouldn't fight the beast inside him and follow along its demand to kill the one who had taken her power... his own granddaughter --- Yao Ling.

Without a second thought, he took his Yue Yue's body away. He needed to get away from this cursed place!

He was feeling angry at their fate! It was so tragic!

What if back then his brother didn't conspire with the others to kill him just to take his t.i.tle? They threw his body away to the sea mercilessly. Not only that, but he had also taken his Yue Yue! If someone didn't save him back then, he would have been dead.

If he knew it would be this painful to be left by his Yue Yue, he should have just died back then. However... he also didn't have the heart to let his Yue Yue bear this pain. He knew what made his Yue Yue persist to continue living was their bond. Their bond knew... that he was still alive...

"Yue Yue... if that didn't happen back then, would we live a happy life?" He asked her lifeless body, even though he knew that she wouldn't be able to answer him. His gaze became blank and he could only see a bleak future.

If only... she didn't force him to make a promise...

'Yue Yue... I never knew that you could be this cruel!' Despite feeling anguish, he still didn't have the heart to blame her.

That night, Aunt Yue's body and a man named Rong Jie vanished from the forbidden place. Someday... he would appear and protect Yao Ling from harm --- just like what he had promised his Yue Yue. After all, Yao Ling was also his granddaughter.

He had already accepted that fact.

Someday... For now, he needed to take care of his Yue Yue's body and lick his own wounds.

Rong Jie didn't forget to burn down the little house so it would remove every trace there. Everything was gone in a heartbeat, but there was no regret in Rong Jie's heart. He had wanted to burn this prison a long time ago.

'Yue Yue... you are free now... When I finish the task that you have given me... I will certainly come to find you... wherever you are...' Rong Jie made a promise to himself.

After that, he went away without looking back...

------------

When the little house was burning because of the fire that Rong Jie had created, it started to spread to its surroundings. There were a lot of trees around the house and with the help of the night chilly wind, it would be weird if the fire didn't spread out.

The unconscious hidden guards woke up due to the hot sensation that they felt. When they woke up, they almost fainted in fear. They knew if they kept sleeping, they would have been burnt along with them.

They couldn't believe what the saw. What did they miss? Where did the fire come from? After a moment of muddleheaded state, they started to remember. What about the prisoner in there? They needed to find out about her whereabouts and save her!

If something happened to Aunt Yue, they would be held responsible! Judging from the Han Emperor's cruelty, there was only one punishment that they would get --- death.

They quickly tried to put off the fire but it was already too late. Everything was gone... They didn't even have the time to pay attention to another thing but trying to find Aunt Yue. If there was a corpse, it would be better. However, there was nothing.

So... where did the old woman go?

The hidden guards looked at each other, wondering what they should report to the higher-up.

Because of the commotion, the ordinary guards outside of the forbidden place also woke up. They felt the pain on the back of their neck and they were in a state of confusion. They were surprised by the fire, but they had another thing that they should care about. Why should they help the hidden guards if they were also in big trouble?

They felt helpless when they saw the hole on the front gate, knowing that the symbols had gone missing too! They wanted to cry but no tears were able to come out! The thing that they guarded wasn't Aunt Yue... but the gate... to be exact this symbol. Where did it actually go?!

'What... what kind of situation is this?!' The guards gaped at the big hole and they knew that they were in deep s.h.i.+t this time!

Xiu who was supposed to be put the symbol back to the front gate again... actually felt at a loss at what to do. Thus, he tried to search for something to stick it back while bringing the symbol along with him! However, he couldn't find anything suitable.

When he was going to just put it back anyhow, the fire happened. Thus, he missed the chance to stick it back and the only thing that he could do was to bring the symbol back with him. He just hoped this symbol wouldn't bring them any trouble! What if it was suddenly s.h.i.+ning out of nowhere?

His young master would certainly blame him ah~! However, he also didn't dare to throw it away. He could only look for his young master and ask her what he should do with the symbol.

Back to the hidden guards... They were at a loss at what to do. Because something had never happened to Aunt Yue before, thus, the Han Emperor had never a.s.signed one of his people to lead them. Their order was only to guard Aunt Yue. That was why when such a big thing happened all of a sudden. They didn't know who they should turn to.

"What should we do?"

"We need to tell someone about this... But who?"

"There's only Qiu Da Ren here... should we go to him?"

Uncle Qiu was only there for Bao Bei, and his other job was to chat with Aunt Yue once in a while. He wasn't a.s.signed to the hidden guards' matter, but he was the only people that they could turn to ah~!

The hidden guards reached an agreement and they quickly tried to find Uncle Qiu in his courtyard. The latter had just woken up because of the commotion when the hidden guards found him.

They quickly reported everything to Uncle Qiu. The latter could only listen to them with a surprised look on his face, after that, it turned into worry. "How?!" He muttered to himself. "Everything was still fine yesterday!"

Uncle Qiu would never think that yesterday was the last time he would meet with Aunt Yue.

Even though he was only taking care of Bao Bei, but he had a good relations.h.i.+p with Aunt Yue, the guards hoped that he would know something. However, when they saw Uncle Qiu dumbfounded look, they knew that the latter also didn't know anything.

It made the hidden guards feel that they had lost all hope.

Uncle Qiu quickly told them to find Aunt Yue's trace everywhere. The most important thing was finding her! They should look around inside the Crescent Lake, if they couldn't find her in here... they should find to the nearby cities. Uncle Qiu promised them that he would send a message to the Han Emperor as soon as possible.

Uncle Qiu could only look at the forbidden place sadly...