The First Lackey Under The Empress

Ahead in the alleyway, the Pear Blossom Hall members returning like a tide hadn't brought back any new spies.

Faced with Zhao Du'an's questioning, Thousand-Faced Divine Lord shuddered and bowed, saying humbly, "Couldn't find anyone. They must have gone out."

So late, where could they have gone? Zhao Du'an frowned.

Qian Kerou suddenly said, "My lord, is it possible they were taken away by the demonic Taoist? Like that middle-aged man with the codename 'Ballast' you encountered during the day."

This conjecture changed everyone's expression.

If the guess was true, what was the demonic Taoist National Preceptor's purpose in moving the rebel party?

To understand the situation? To hold a meeting?

Or...?

To strike again?

Zheng Lao Jiu, experienced and a gold-medal Embroidered Uniform Guard from the Imperial Prison thirty years ago, was using the moonlight to sort through the papers in his hand.

The papers recorded the clues about personnel that they had extracted from the arrested people that night through interrogation.

Zheng Lao Jiu continuously cross-connected these clues on the paper, drawing a network of relationships.

He was trying to reconstruct the network of the rebel party's branch in the capital.

In his previous life, Zhao Du'an had heard of the six degrees of separation theory, which said that the separation between you and any stranger would not exceed six people…

Although the spy network had been designed with many barriers by Zhuang Xiaocheng, these people were ultimately related to each other.

And in Zhao Du'an's opinion, the spy network designed by Zhuang Xiaocheng was still somewhat crude.

Therefore, although not everyone had been arrested, the interpersonal network on paper was almost complete.

"My lord, something's not right,"

Zheng Lao Jiu stepped forward, presenting the network-like paper full of lines in his hand, and said seriously:

"According to the situation we have now, although we haven't fully grasped it, we should be able to find traces of that demonic Taoist. Since this person has dismissed the rebel party's agents, there's no reason why the entire rebel party wouldn't have any related news spreading…"

"Especially, we've interrogated so many people, and no one knows the situation. Most people don't even know about Ballast's death. Only some middle-level people who are directly connected to him have noticed that something is wrong…"

Zhao Du'an frowned and stared at him: "Old Zheng, if you have something to say, just say it."

Zheng Lao Jiu said seriously: "My lord, I suspect that this demonic Taoist is not with the rebel party at all, nor is he hiding where the rebel party is."

As confidants of Pear Blossom Hall, they knew that the reason their lord's roundup operation tonight was launched hastily in advance was because of the appearance of the demonic Taoist.

Zhao Du'an's thinking was indeed like this:

Since the demonic Taoist had contacted 'Ballast' and belonged to the same camp as Zhuang Xiaocheng, then at this moment, it was very likely that he would be staying at a place arranged by the rebel party.

At the very least, as long as they caught the rebels who knew the situation, they could follow the clues and find the place where the demonic Taoist was staying.

And arrest him.

But seeing that it was almost the second half of the night, they had arrested so many people, but they still hadn't learned the whereabouts of the demonic Taoist.

It was enough to show that Zhao Du'an's initial speculation might have been wrong in direction.

"My lord, what Old Zheng said makes sense. Could it be that after this demonic Taoist killed Ballast, he hid and hasn't contacted any other rebels? Did we act too early?" Hou Renmeng echoed.

Qian Kerou bit her lip and said:

"Maybe we haven't caught enough people yet. I suggest we continue to arrest people. We can always find clues."

Gongshu Tianyuan, who got out of the carriage, also looked disappointed.

Although he mainly came today to help Brother Zhao, as a disciple of the Celestial Master's Mansion, he also had the intention of slaying demons and eliminating evil, and solving the National Preceptor issue.

— Zhao always made sure people didn't work for nothing. This time, he asked Gongshu Tianyuan to come, also implicitly sending him a credit.

But now, it seemed to be stuck in a predicament.

Everyone discussed at length, and Zhao Du'an hesitated for a moment, frowning and thinking about whether his previous guesses were correct.

If the judgment was wrong, tonight's roundup might instead startle the snake.

"There's another possibility."

Suddenly, a voice came from behind everyone.

Zhao Du'an turned his head to look back, only to see the girl in prison clothes wiping away tears with her sleeve in the carriage.

Yun Xi's eyes were red, kneeling in the carriage, facing the gazes, her eyes were indifferent, and her tone was unusually calm:

"The Kuangfu Society's branch in the capital doesn't only have the people you've mastered. There's also another single line, completely separated from the entire intelligence network, only contacted by the branch leader, or 'Ballast', the deputy."

"If the demonic Taoist you mentioned killed Ballast, maybe he could also learn about this separate intelligence line from him… If I were him, I would obviously prefer to hide there, after all, no one knows if there are spies in the intelligence network."

Zhao Du'an was stunned, looking at Yun Xi with a strange gaze:

"You know that dark line?"

After Yun Xi's faith collapsed, her IQ seemed to have improved, easily understanding his meaning, and said seriously:

"You suspect that Zhuang Xiaocheng abandoned me, indicating that I don't control much information?"

The girl shook her head, refuting:

"First, I was by Zhuang Xiaocheng's side. Although he didn't let me know many key pieces of information, I always had the opportunity to learn some when he wasn't paying attention. Don't misunderstand, this was entirely out of curiosity."

"Second, he abandoned me because it was far away, and using magic to retrieve people, bringing one more person would increase the mana cost exponentially, which doesn't mean I have no value."

"Hmph, do you really think that Zhuang Xiaocheng chooses disciples casually? I am also one of the most outstanding among the younger generation in the society."

At this moment, Yun Xi seemed to have completed some kind of transformation.

Or rather: blackened.

Her slightly round face was incomparably indifferent, and her eyes were somewhat crazy, causing Qingniao to subconsciously move away from her.

Zhao Du'an was stunned for a moment, then smiled.

He smiled very happily, like a demon tempting people to fall.

His original intention in bringing Yun Xi out today was to destroy her mind, but he didn't expect that in addition to achieving his goal, there would also be unexpected gains.

"Then, why should I believe your words?"

Zhao Du'an walked over, using his fingers to lift the kneeling girl's chin, making her raise her small face to look at himself in a condescending posture.

The two faces were very close, their eyes met, the girl didn't dodge, and deep in her pupils was hidden a lasting sadness and death.

Yun Xi didn't resist at all, she said calmly: "You can call that fat dead man to use the Fox Immortal to interrogate me."

She smiled self-deprecatingly: "It's just death anyway. I'm already dead."

She poked her bulging chest with her hand.

There is no greater sorrow than the death of the heart.

No… How can you scold people, little girl… Gongshu Tianyuan was not happy.

Zhao Du'an restrained his smile and asked: "Where is that single line?"

"Bafang Opera House, actor Wu Ling."

Yun Xi said calmly: "Most of the Kuangfu Society's spies in the capital are mortals because they are inconspicuous enough. There are very few experts. This Wu Ling is the only one, a God-Chapter Taoist of the Opera God Sect."

Zhao Du'an took two steps back, rudely pushed the girl back into the carriage, and turned around without any hesitation, saying:

"Divide into two groups! Brother Gongshu, please press Qianmian and lead the Embroidered Uniform Guards to continue to collect the net and arrest people according to the clues already mastered. Kerou, you few Cisi follow me and immediately go to the Bafang Opera House!"

The Bafang Opera House was a bit far away, and the clues given by Yun Xi were only a reference, so he chose a more secure method.

The two teams advanced together, which could maximize the success rate.

Gongshu Tianyuan was stunned for a moment and said:

"Brother Zhao, I have no problem here. With so many people, even if I encounter that demonic Taoist, I have the confidence to take him down, but you here… are there enough people? A God-Chapter Taoist, a bewitching demon with strange methods, if…"

Zhao Du'an wanted to say that it was enough, but then he thought of the law that underestimating the enemy would surely lead to death.

After thinking about it, he summoned three Embroidered Uniform Guards and gave them the addresses of Kong Hanlin and the other three tonight, asking them to shake people.

As a Cisi, he already knew the action arrangements of the Imperial Prison tonight, and Ma Yan would patrol in three places.

…

…

The Qianniu Guard Deputy General's residence was in the west of the city.

Considering the ranking of hatred value, there were two halls ambushing near this military general's residence tonight.

After Ma Yan left Kong's residence, he only hesitated for a moment before rushing towards the closer Qianniu Deputy General's residence.

Although the forbidden army's deputy general had martial arts cultivation, far from being comparable to Kong Hanlin's mortal body, the difficulty of bewitching was much greater.

But Ma Yan never dared to underestimate the power of the National Preceptor.

However, when he rushed there in a hurry, before he even got close, he saw the fire ahead from a distance.

The Deputy General's residence was on fire!

Ma Yan's heart sank suddenly, and the hunting cloak in the darkness almost floated into a straight line.

"Director!"

"Director, you're here!"

When Ma Yan landed in the mansion, he found that the entire courtyard had obviously suffered violent damage, and there were traces of fighting everywhere.

The servants in the house were putting out the fire, but the officials who should have been ambushing outside were gathered in the courtyard, and some were even injured.

"What's going on?" Ma Yan's face was ugly. He saw at a glance the Qianniu Guard Deputy General lying on the ground in the crowd, bound by ropes and covered in blood.

This powerful man, wearing light armor, disheveled, and covered in blood, had bulging veins on his neck, roaring like a beast, seemingly losing his mind.

Begonia, who was guarding here, walked over. Half of the flying knife bag around her waist was empty, obviously after a hard fight.

The female Cisi said bitterly:

"We first saw a man enter the house, and then we squatted according to your instructions, preparing to follow behind, but we didn't wait for any movement. It wasn't until there was a sudden scream in the house, accompanied by the rising fire, that we rushed in."

"We saw the Qianniu Deputy General going crazy, waving a big sword everywhere. Several servants were killed by him. The fire was lit by lanterns burning the house."

"We didn't dare to kill him, so we had to work together to find a way to control him, and it turned out like this."

If they disregarded life and death, the Embroidered Uniform Guards present could easily kill the mad Deputy General.

But in order to capture him alive, everyone obviously paid the price of many injuries.

Ma Yan said in a deep voice: "What about the man who performed the bewitchment?"

Another Cisi came out, pointed to a charred corpse on the steps at the door of the burning house, and said:

"He was the first to be hacked to death."

— — — —

ps: Yun Xi: I was originally a rich lady, but I was deceived by an old man and devoted myself to a scam. Today, I am reborn and return. Cast a vote and listen to my revenge plan…