"Tianci."
Prefecture Yamen main hall.
The smile on the middle-aged general's face suddenly vanished, his gaze falling upon Liu Tianci below.
"Your subordinate is here."
Liu Tianci immediately stepped forward, bowing respectfully with cupped hands.
"How is it? How is the secret technique I passed to you progressing?"
"Reporting, Milord, your subordinate has gained some insight and should be able to grasp the basics in a few more days."
"Very good. The top-grade Black Qilin Bloodline is indeed not bad. It wasn't in vain that I kept you by my side. If you had followed Zhang Songbai, who knows when you would have gotten this secret technique to cultivate?"
"Your subordinate understands. Thank you for your cultivation, Milord Wan. Your subordinate will definitely serve Milord with all his might."
Liu Tianci knelt on one knee, his attitude quite sincere and respectful.
This scene brought a smile to the middle-aged general's face. He looked Liu Tianci up and down, nodding with satisfaction.
"Rise. Follow me, and you will achieve great things in the future."
Then, he changed the subject.
"Go to Tianxiang Sword Sect, Yuanyang Beast Sect, and Situ Family. Tell them that war is about to break out on the front lines and that the forces of each prefecture are needed to provide material support. They have been entrenched in Linjiang Prefecture for so long; it's time they contributed."
"Your subordinate obeys."
Liu Tianci's heart tightened, and he immediately responded.
"Oh, right, how is Wanhua City?"
"Reporting, Milord, Constable Wei Bo has already mobilized troops, and control over Wanhua City is increasing daily. It is estimated that within a year, the original forces in Wanhua City can be uprooted and brought under control."
"One year?"
Hearing this, the middle-aged general, or rather, Silver Badge Constable Wan Jianghai, raised an eyebrow.
"One year is too long. Tell Wei Bo that I will only give him two months."
"Well, the forces in Wanhua City are mixed, and some of them are deeply entrenched..."
Liu Tianci showed a hint of hesitation on his face and said softly.
"They are just some small fries. Two months is enough. If those locals have any second thoughts, just eliminate them directly."
Wan Jianghai said indifferently, as if he was just talking about a trivial matter that didn't deserve his attention.
"Yes, I will inform Constable Wei immediately."
Hearing this, Liu Tianci no longer had any objections and immediately responded.
...
Seven Forms Sect.
Qingniao Yard, Xie Qingyun, holding some fish food in her hand, casually threw it into the pond in the yard.
There was a hint of fatigue on her face. There had been quite a few trivial matters recently, and even she, a Bones Transformation Realm expert, couldn't help but feel mentally and physically exhausted.
Just then, Wei Yun walked in from outside the yard, her steps hurried, as if something urgent had happened.
"What's wrong, Yun'er?"
Seeing Wei Yun's appearance, Xie Qingyun frowned, threw all the fish food in her hand into the pond, and asked.
"Master, another convoy has been intercepted. And this time, even the beast materials that had just been accumulated on Guquan Mountain were stolen. Junior Brother Lu Tie of White Elephant Courtyard, who was stationed there, was severely injured. As for the other inner and outer Disciples, many were killed or injured."
Wei Yun's face showed anger as she revealed the news she had just received.
"Something happened on Guquan Mountain too!!"
Hearing this, Xie Qingyun's brows furrowed even tighter.
In the past few days, convoys have been continuously looted inside and outside Wanhua City.
Moreover, the methods were quite brutal, and there were not many survivors.
At first, people thought that the remnants of Crimson Whale Hall who had fled far away had returned, but they soon realized that things were not that simple, because in addition to the convoys having trouble, several wealthy merchants in the city also had problems.
Although these few wealthy merchants could only be considered barely in the middle tier in Wanhua City.
However, the number of Blood Transportation Realm Peak experts in their families was not small, and one Family even had an ancestor who had stepped into the Bones Transformation Realm. Although he had only just entered Bones Transformation First Layer and his vitality had declined, he was still a genuine Bones Transformation Martial Artist, far from what ordinary Blood Transportation Warriors could deal with.
But even so, the wealthy merchant Family with a Bones Transformation ancestor overseeing it still had an incident.
Not only was the Bones Transformation ancestor killed on the spot, but even the dozen or so Blood Transportation Warriors in the Family were not spared, and all the accumulated wealth in the Family was completely emptied.
This series of events caused quite a stir in the city.
And this was just the beginning. Within a day or two, another prominent Family had a problem. The situation was the same as the previous families: the main Family members were tragically killed, and their property was looted.
Such incidents happening one after another made these mid-to-high-level forces in Wanhua City feel insecure.
The Prefecture Yamen, naturally, was also alerted, but unexpectedly, at first, the Prefecture Yamen was quite attentive. A Silver Badge Constable personally investigated, but soon, only some ordinary constables who were only in the Blood Transportation Realm were left to investigate.
The occurrence of this situation caused the situation in the city, which had just begun to recover, to show signs of falling into chaos again.
As a first-rate force in the city, Seven Forms Sect was naturally quite aware of this situation, but they didn't pay too much attention to it, after all, Seven Forms Sect was incomparable to those merchants and wealthy families in every aspect. They didn't think those thieves would dare to have any ideas about Seven Forms Sect.
However, the slap in the face came quickly. Within two days, there were instances of convoys under Seven Forms Sect being robbed.
This was undoubtedly seen as a blatant provocation. Even though Seven Forms Sect had always acted low-key, they would never allow this to happen. Immediately, a Bones Transformation Realm expert was dispatched and successfully captured some of the thieves, but unfortunately, no useful information could be extracted from their mouths.
After killing more than a dozen thieves in succession, they originally thought they had given the other party a warning, but they didn't expect that after only a short period of peace, they would be so audacious as to directly attack their subordinate properties, and even the Sect's direct Disciples were almost in trouble.
"These people are truly audacious."
Xie Qingyun frowned and said coldly.
"Master, who are these people who dare to do such things? I also heard that besides our Seven Forms Sect, some properties of the Fang Family and White Dragon Gang have also been attacked. Do you think this matter could be..."
Wei Yun seemed to have thought of something but didn't finish her sentence.
"It shouldn't be people from the Imperial Court. With the Prefecture Yamen's way of doing things, it's impossible for them to be so secretive, and there is absolutely no need to do so."
Xie Qingyun directly shook her head and denied it. She had naturally considered this possibility, but it was not very likely.
But if it's not the Imperial Court, then who is behind this?
Judging from the quality of the captured thieves, there must be an organization behind them, and this organization is not weak.
"Since the Sect Leader already knows about this matter, he will definitely take action next. Be careful on the Spring Wind River side. If you find anything wrong, preserving yourself is the most important thing."
"I understand, Master. Now that my Bones Transformation Realm is stable, if those thieves dare to provoke me, I will make sure they come but cannot return."
Wei Yun puffed out her chest, a look of confidence on her face.
Only after truly crossing this threshold and entering this Realm did she realize how big the gap was between the two. Now, even if she faced 10 of her former selves before the Breakthrough, she had absolute confidence in winning, and even had considerable confidence in killing all of them without letting a single one escape.
One must know that her former self before the Breakthrough was also a genuine expert in the Blood Transportation Realm.
But with one step, the gap was already so large.
"Yun'er, you have grown up. I'm not too worried about you. What I'm really worried about is Sheng'er."
Xie Qingyun sighed softly, sighing inwardly about her young Disciple's bad luck.
Because of the incident on Dacui Mountain before, the original division of the beast mine was cut.
She knew that her young Disciple cultivated diligently, but his background was poor and he had no connections. So, after learning about the Sect's plan to acquire properties, she was the first to arrange him to go out, and she spent a lot of effort to win him a profitable medicinal herb production area.
She originally wanted him to have more income, but unexpectedly, less than half a month later, such a thing happened again.
"Junior Brother Lin is in charge of Shuiguang Town, which is not far from Wanhua City. I think those people should have some scruples."
Hearing her Master's words, Wei Yun spoke to comfort her.
"Those thieves dare to commit crimes in the city, so what do they care about this?"
Xie Qingyun shook her head slightly.
Hearing this, Wei Yun also frowned slightly.
"How about I put aside the Spring Wind River for now and go with Junior Brother Lin?"
"No, Spring Wind River is something you worked hard to get. You can't just give it up."
Xie Qingyun directly rejected her suggestion. Her brows showed a look of thought, and finally, she seemed to have made up her mind.
"Let's have Bai Qing take a few capable people from the yard over."
The most suitable candidates besides Wei Yun were naturally Zhao Kongfang, but Zhao Kongfang couldn't spare the time now. After all, the Zhao Family was a wealthy merchant Family in Wanhua City.
After this incident, although the Zhao Family did not suffer any substantial damage, they had to be on guard. As the direct descendant of the Zhao Family, Zhao Kongfang had naturally already taken charge there, so how could he spare the time for this side?
Therefore, she could only let Bai Qing take the Disciples from the yard to support them. Even so, she was still a little worried.
She highly valued this Disciple. If she hadn't been unable to leave, she would have even wanted to go there herself to oversee things.
...
Shuiguang Town.
The rain was falling as if it wanted to drown the entire town into the sea.
The sky was covered with dark clouds, and the rarely seen heavy rain seemed to pour down.
Inside the room, Lin Sheng held a carving knife and was absorbed in carving a piece of wood the size of his palm.
His movements were slow, often taking several minutes to make a single cut.
But at this moment, the wood carving in his hand was gradually taking shape, and it seemed that it would not take long to complete the carving.
Rustle rustle rustle...
Amidst the dense rain, several figures quickly moved through, the heavy rain not wetting their black clothes at all.
There were a total of 5 black-clothed figures, standing in the narrow alley of Shuiguang Town, their eyes fixed on the wide courtyard across the street.
"This is it, the Seven Forms Sect's station in this town. Nine Blood Transportation Warriors, the remaining 30-plus people are just Forging Tendons, and there are no decent experts. However, the person in charge of this station seems to have some ability. A hall Master in our gang died at his hands. Although he had help from others, his strength should be quite good..."
"Each of us is no weaker than the hall Master in our gang. There's no need to be cautious. Two batches of shuiguang grass have already been sent away in the past few days. There should be a lot of wealth in this station now. This rain is falling at the right time. Seven Forms Sect's reaction has been very quick recently, so be quick. Directly capture the person in charge, ask for the location of the money, kill him, and then leave."
"Okay, let's do as you say!"
In the heavy rain, the few people exchanged glances. After a brief exchange, their figures had already agilely merged into the courtyard.
Rumble—
A thunderclap like an explosion sounded from the sky, briefly illuminating the night sky.
The sudden explosion scared many livestock in the town into trembling. Lin Sheng in the room seemed not to have heard it, his focus entirely on his hands, the carving knife slowly moving across the wood.
At this moment, the wood carving was only one last stroke away from completion. As a louder thunderclap than before sounded from outside, reflecting the figures of several black-clothed people who had already reached the door, the carving knife in Lin Sheng's hand also moved across at the same time, and the wood carving was finally completed.
The wood carving in his hand had a strange appearance, a peculiar creature that was neither beast nor monster. At first glance, it looked like many different strange beasts, but upon closer inspection, it looked like nothing, appearing quite contradictory.
However, it faintly exuded a chilling, inexplicable coldness that made one's hair stand on end.
The subject of this wood carving was the first demon beast he knew, the Phantom Demon Beast.
Examining the wood carving in his hand, this demon beast was suppressed in Yangping Mountain. Although he had never seen it in person, it had left a deep impression on him.
He had already made up his mind. Once his cultivation was successful, he would definitely return to Yangping Mountain and assimilate this thing. He didn't like being targeted by others, nor did he like being targeted by beasts.
With a crisp sound, the newly completed wood carving shattered and was crushed into a pile of powder by him.
Looking closely, a large amount of wood shavings had already accumulated under the table.
Hoo...
He gently exhaled, blowing away the remaining wood shavings on his hands.
The next moment, the door opened wide, and his figure had disappeared from the room.
"Attack!"
The sudden change startled the few people who were about to attack outside the door, but they were well-trained and immediately let out a low roar, attacking in unison.
They activated their secret techniques and struck fiercely towards the wide-open door with their hands, but the fierce attack only produced bursts of air blasts. There was no one behind the door; it was empty.
"How could this happen!!?"
Their hearts were full of confusion, and this thought popped up at the same time.
"What are you doing?"
At this moment, a calm voice suddenly sounded from behind them.
"Behind us..."
While greatly startled, the five reacted quickly. Without turning back, they struck backwards with a palm.
However, the feeling from their palms was as if they had struck an iron tower forged from refined steel.
"Not from the Imperial Court? Then who sent you pieces of trash here?"
Crack crack...
The calm voice sounded again, accompanied by two crisp sounds.
The upper bodies of two of the five black-clothed figures exploded, turning into a cloud of blood mist that was washed away by the rain.
"Not good, this person's strength is wrong, retreat!"
The remaining three black-clothed figures were horrified by the dramatic scene and had no intention of fighting him anymore. They immediately fled in different directions.
However, three quail egg-sized green light clusters shot out, landing on the three simultaneously.
This time it was more thorough. After a brief pause, the three's bodies suddenly exploded, turning into a cloud of blood mist.
Seeing this scene, Lin Sheng frowned slightly, looked at his palm, and shook his head slightly.
"Sigh, I need to be careful with the force next time. I can't habitually use the penetration characteristic."
Originally, he just wanted to cripple a few of them and leave one alive to interrogate for some information, but he didn't expect the three to be so weak, ruining his original plan. He could only secretly sigh with regret.