Tiannan Prefecture City.
Inner city area, Workshop Treasury.
Roar...
Waves of violent roars continuously emanated from the vast and important area of the Treasury.
Inside the main hall, the heavy hall doors were tightly shut, completely isolating the chaotic roars from the outside, while inside was filled with singing and dancing.
Graceful women were dancing lightly in the hall, their clothes thin.
As they moved, glimpses of fair white skin were occasionally revealed, making people involuntarily shift their gaze.
And these women seemed to have received special training, their movements appearing enchanting and alluring, delicate and pitiful, with a seemingly reluctant yet welcoming demeanor that made one feel an uncontrollable urge to roughly ravage them.
Above the main hall, Gongsun Yuanzhou was lazily reclining on a chair, his ox-like eyes occasionally sweeping over the dancing figures below.
Several enchanting figures surrounded him, occasionally letting out soft laughter, their fair and tender hands gently stroking his strong body, truly captivating.
Gongsun Yuanzhou narrowed his eyes, appearing to be thoroughly enjoying himself.
As a God-Form Martial Artist, and furthermore, a member of Tianhong Pavilion, he was definitely a person of high status and authority, even in the Grand Capital, he was a person of noble identity.
Naturally, he was not lacking in women on weekdays, and the reason he was so fond of women was not just because of his innate temperament, but also because he needed to use this to vent the violent bestiality in his heart, especially during this period.
Just as he was narrowing his eyes in enjoyment, fully immersed in the land of tenderness.
Urgent knocking sounds came from outside the main hall, suddenly interrupting this comfort.
Gongsun Yuanzhou opened his eyes, withdrew his rough large hand from the enchanting figure beside him, and gently waved it.
The heavy hall doors opened from the inside with a bang.
A guard wearing heavy armor was seen walking in quickly with his head lowered.
Ignoring the dancers in the hall, he immediately knelt on one knee on the ground, speaking with an urgent expression.
"Reporting to the Special Envoy, a report from the front line states that the Beast Suppression Army sent to Nanli Prefecture ten days ago was attacked, the guards responsible for the escort suffered heavy casualties, and over half of the thousand Beast Suppression Army soldiers were killed or injured."
"Oh?"
Hearing this, Gongsun Yuanzhou's face showed no expression, still maintaining a lazy appearance, merely raising an eyebrow slightly and speaking indifferently.
"I understand. Was the identity of the attackers confirmed this time?"
"Reporting to the Special Envoy, based on Lord Lu's message, it can be basically confirmed that this attack was orchestrated by the Dark Star Organization. According to the intelligence profile of the Dark Star within the Pavilion, the one responsible for this attack is the Dark Star Blazing Star Envoy, Thousand Faces."
The heavy armored guard spoke respectfully.
"Thousand Faces?"
Hearing this name, Gongsun Yuanzhou's eyes narrowed slightly, as if recalling something, and quickly found this name in his memory.
"Is it the Thousand Faces who assassinated the Grand Commandant in the Grand Capital ten years ago? Interesting. Hiding for ten years, and now finally willing to show herself."
A cold smile curved at his lips; he seemed indifferent to this attack.
"Since she's out, then it's just right to bring her back. Send a message to Lu Chuan; I will send another group of people over in half a month."
"Yes, Special Envoy, I will go and make the arrangements now."
After receiving the order, the heavy armored guard turned around to leave.
However, just then, urgent and panicked footsteps sounded from outside the hall doors, and two Silver Badge Constables wearing black robes rushed in with looks of panic.
Upon seeing Gongsun Yuanzhou, they immediately prostrated themselves on the ground.
"Lord Gongsun, something has happened... Zhou City Lord and Divine Catcher He... something has happened to them..."
"What happened?"
Gongsun Yuanzhou raised an eyebrow, picked up a wine cup from the desk. His gaze fell upon the two constables as he spoke indifferently.
"Just now, Zhou City Lord, Divine Catcher He... their life tokens broke... shattered..."
Crack—
As soon as the two constables finished speaking, with a crisp sound, the wine cup in Gongsun Yuanzhou's hand had already turned into dust.
Before the two could react, Gongsun Yuanzhou's tall figure had already appeared before them.
"What did you say!?"
His two ox-like eyes stared at them as he spoke slowly.
"Reporting... Reporting to the Special Envoy, Zhou City Lord and their life tokens... shattered..."
The two constables. Swallowing with some difficulty, they replied tremblingly, and as they spoke, they shakily took out two tokens covered in cracks from their In arms.
Not to mention others, even though they had been constables for decades, this was the first time they had experienced such a thing.
For Tiannan Prefecture and even the entire Great Yan Imperial Court, the deaths of two genuine God-Form Martial Artists, the power holders of a prefecture, were major events that could not be ignored.
Gongsun Yuanzhou directly snatched the tokens from the two men's hands, looking at the life tokens covered in cobweb-like cracks, a dangerous aura flashed in his eyes.
Crackling—
The life tokens, which were already on the verge of shattering, finally completely broke apart with a crackling sound.
Watching this scene, Gongsun Yuanzhou clenched his hands.
"Very good, the Dark Star's audacity is growing..."
Although he wasn't sure what exactly happened regarding their deaths, who else but the Dark Star would dare to do this?
He hadn't expected such a heinous incident to occur just a few months after his arrival in Tiannan Prefecture.
Their misfortune was ultimately related to him; there was no need to think to know that after this matter was resolved and he returned to the Grand Capital, he would inevitably face severe punishment.
Thinking of this, an uncontrollable violent emotion surged in his heart.
Several fine black lines, as thin as hair, appeared in his dark brown pupils, quickly spreading to the entire whites of his eyes.
Constantly twisting black patterns appeared on his bald head, intertwining and knotting together.
The next moment, the skin on top of his head actually tore open, and a black single eye squeezed out from within.
As soon as the black single eye appeared, it blinked rapidly, while also constantly moving on his head.
The two constables who saw this scene, no, it should be said that everyone in the main hall, felt a chill rise in their hearts.
The two constables subconsciously took a few steps back, but two large hands with distinct knuckles had already reached out to grab them.
In their fear, the two turned their heads and ran, but just as they turned around, the large hands had already seized their necks.
Then a terrifying scene appeared before everyone in the main hall: the two Silver Badge Constables who were full of life just a second ago, rapidly shriveled up the next second, turning into two mummified corpses that looked like they had decayed for many years.
Ah—
The dozen or so dancers who were originally singing and dancing were so frightened that they screamed.
They frantically tried to escape the main hall.
However, strands of black silk shot out from Gongsun Yuanzhou's strong body, instantly penetrating the bodies of all the dancers.
As the black threads entered, the dancers' bodies immediately froze, then trembled continuously, turning into mummified corpses in the space of a breath.
Soon, the thin black threads were withdrawn from the bodies of these mummified corpses, quickly returning into Gongsun Yuanzhou's body.
At this moment, an indescribably strange aura emanated from Gongsun Yuanzhou.
He turned around, his deep black eyes staring at the heavy armored man who was the only one still standing in the hall besides him.
"Sp-Special Envoy, it's me..."
Feeling the coldness in the gaze, the heavy armored man trembled, his heart already filled with fear.
But he still forced himself to respectfully kneel on one knee on the ground.
He knew very well that with his strength, it was absolutely impossible to escape from the hands of the person before him.
Fortunately, he had bet correctly; the strange aura in the main hall suddenly rapidly converged and quickly disappeared completely.
When he raised his head again, Gongsun Yuanzhou had already returned to the main hall, his back facing him.
"Pass down the order, tell Lu Chuan to come to Tiannan Prefecture within 5 days."
"Yes, Special Envoy."
Hearing this, the heavy armored man's hanging heart finally completely relaxed.
Then he respectfully agreed and turned around, trotting away.
"Wait..."
But before he could walk out of the main hall, the low voice behind him sounded again.
This made his heart, which had just relaxed, immediately hang again.
"First, have someone clean this place up."
"Yes, sir!"
The heavy armored man felt as if he had been granted a great pardon and quickly retreated.
Watching the other party's figure leave, Gongsun Yuanzhou then slowly turned around.
At this moment, black eyes had already appeared on his rough cheeks, numbering over a dozen, spread across his entire face, making one's scalp tingle.
He took out a white jade stone from his In arms, closed his eyes, and concentrated.
A warm glow appeared in his palm, enveloping his entire body.
The eyes that had appeared on his cheeks seemed to sense something, revealing a strange hint of mockery in their gaze, then slowly sank into his skin.
Only after completely returning to normal did Gongsun Yuanzhou slowly open his eyes.
"Hmph, the side effects of the demon blood seem to be worsening, attempting to influence my mind, ridiculous. Sooner or later, I will thoroughly refine you."
He spoke coldly, but thinking of the matter concerning Zhou Xingwen and the other person, his brows couldn't help but furrow again.
"Two pieces of trash..."
*
*
At the same time.
Within Nanli Prefecture, an unnamed valley.
Over a dozen figures appeared within it.
Leading them was a tall woman wearing a black dress.
She was sitting cross-legged on a large stone, closing her eyes to regulate her breathing.
And the dozen or so figures below her were sitting haphazardly on the ground, many of them with wounds, currently taking medicine to heal.
The aura emanating from each person was quite formidable; all dozen or so were actually masters of the late Bones Transformation stage.
As for the black-dressed woman sitting cross-legged on the large stone, she was even more powerful, her aura long and profound, far surpassing the others below.
Just then, an eagle's cry came from above the valley.
Those who were healing and regulating their breathing immediately looked up with wary expressions.
They saw a black giant eagle, two to three zhang in size, rapidly descending towards the valley from thousands of meters high in the sky.
Upon seeing the giant eagle, the wary expressions on everyone's faces dissipated.
Soon, the black giant eagle landed in the valley, and a masked man was standing imposingly on its back.
The aura emanating from the man was formidable; he was unmistakably a God-Form Martial Artist.
The man dismounted from the giant eagle's back, nodded towards the group, and finally leaped onto the large stone.
The black-dressed woman raised her eyes and glanced at the other party, after which the figures of the two had already disappeared from the large stone.
When they reappeared, they were already above the valley.
"Black Hawk, what are you doing here? Did Lu Chuan and the others discover something?"
Only then did the black-dressed woman speak softly.
"No, this operation went smoothly, Lu Chuan and the others didn't discover anything. However, this time the Beast Suppression Army were basically Martial Artists below Blood Transportation, most of them in the Body Tempering Realm. According to the large-scale actions on Tiannan Prefecture's side, this level of garrison seems a bit off."
The masked man spoke indifferently, his gaze falling upon the tiny figures below.
"You mean, Gongsun Yuanzhou sensed something about this operation? This transport was intentional on his part."
"Exactly. However, our Dark Star has been dormant for several years without any major actions. Logically speaking, the possibility of Gongsun Yuanzhou sensing something is very low. Therefore..." The masked man called Black Hawk spoke slowly, but did not continue after saying 'Therefore...'.
"So you think there's a traitor in the organization?"
The black-dressed woman frowned slightly, speaking in a deep voice, but soon she shook her head slightly.
"Those who knew about this operation were all veteran Hidden Star Envoys in the organization; their loyalty has been verified through numerous operations and time."
"I naturally know that point, but of course, this is just my speculation. I came here just to give you a reminder. However, Thousand Faces, it's still better to be cautious in everything."
Black Hawk spoke softly, his tone unchanged.
The black-dressed woman didn't speak boastfully; her gaze was also directed at the dozen or so people below, her eyes flickering, unsure of what she was thinking.
"Alright, the message has been delivered, so I won't disturb your healing. Thank you for your assistance in this operation."
The man withdrew his gaze and lightly whistled.
Soon, below the valley, the black giant eagle had already flapped its wings and ascended.
The man's figure moved and he was already on the giant eagle's back. Just as he was about to leave, he seemed to sense something and looked towards the sky to the side.
A small bird covered in green feathers was shooting towards this direction.
The man's eyes flashed, and he opened his palm. The small bird seemed to have found its target and shot over quickly, landing in the man's palm.
The man gently stroked the small bird's feathers a few times, and pulled out the hidden letter paper from its thick plumage.
But after opening it and taking a look, a look of surprise appeared on his face.
Then, with a flick of his hand, the letter paper in his hand shot out.
"Thousand Faces, Lan Man is in charge on the Tiannan side, right? It seems something big has happened."
"Something big?" Hearing Black Hawk's words, Qi Ning frowned slightly, reached out and caught the flying letter paper, and after opening it and taking a look, her beautiful eyebrows immediately furrowed tightly.
"Zhou Xingwen, He Lanjiang are dead!!"
...
Tiannan Prefecture.
Yan County, dozens of miles away, in a small bamboo building within a dense bamboo forest.
"Alright, for Seven Forms Sect and your family, I've already had people from Dark Star find them a hidden residence. Don't worry, just stay here."
In the bamboo building, Lan Man stretched lazily.
At this moment, the listless aura on her body had completely disappeared.
Although she hadn't fully recovered, there were no major issues anymore.
"I have to go. This matter is a bit serious, I need to figure out how to handle it first. In short, I can't expose you. I'll figure out a way to take responsibility for this incident."
"Thank you, Lan Jie." On the side of the bamboo building, Lin Sheng spoke his thanks, and this thank you was from the bottom of his heart.
After all, the matter he had caused this time was indeed difficult to wrap up.
Although Lan Man was a high-ranking member of the Dark Star Organization, taking responsibility for this matter would definitely lead to vigorous pursuit by the Imperial Court, which was absolutely not an easy task.
"No need to thank me, I should be thanking you. If it weren't for you, I would have been in trouble. If I had known you were so powerful, why would I have waded into this muddy water?"
Lan Man spread her hands, a hint of helplessness appearing on her face, and said somewhat exasperatedly.
Soon, she had left the bamboo building.
Taking one last look at the inconspicuous bamboo building, she murmured in her heart.
"I need to quickly tell Sister Qi about this matter; I can't handle it myself..."
After speaking, her figure had already disappeared.