Master of Strange Dao

"Whoever joins this affair at this time is a traitor seeking to cause trouble for Daqian,"

Song Chengyue saw Jinlan Mountain getting involved, with the Feng family and even King Xiang from Dazhen following suit.

No one was surprised when King Xiang got involved.

King Xiang, in his desperation to save his father, was capable of anything, and no one thought it odd for Dazhen to get involved as well.

Song Chengyue was somewhat surprised when Jinlan Mountain took part.

The reason wasn't important, what mattered was not to hinder the Jinlan Mountain people.

Although No. 7 didn't agree to his request, the information given steadied his position quite a bit.

It bought him time and the opportunity to eliminate some discontent elements within the Jinyi Wei.

Indirectly, it also gave him a slight chance of survival.

Over these days, he had quietly and by the book put to death several traitors within the Jinyi Wei, who were, to him, just troublesome elements.

He also began to follow the vine to the melon, finding a few clues.

And those clues vaguely pointed to a hidden force, one unknown even to him.

All his women were brutally murdered, leaving only two of his descendants. For a standard man of South Qian, this was a deep-seated vengeance that not even the waters of the East Sea could wash away.

He found that a hidden force had been consolidating power outside the Divine Dynasty.

Initially, they roped in weaker cultivators to do odd jobs for them, rewarding them in what seemed on the surface to be typical employment.

Among loose cultivators, such practices were very common, especially among those with lower cultivation.

Gradually, as trust built up, they began slowly upping the ante, filtering through members of the force.

These days, several Jinyi Wei members with official status who died were all because of this issue.

Because there was the death of a minor county magistrate in Daqian, he sent those few screws to investigate.

When they scratched the surface of the iceberg tied to that hidden force, they died accidentally.

Nobody could pinpoint any wrongdoing by Song Chengyue.

Song Chengyue had thus completed his subtle probe.

But recently, there were changes in the Southern Sea. Unusually, the storms had ceased for about ten days, settling the waters significantly.

When Song Chengyue sent people to investigate this matter, he discovered that the people from that force were also investigating.

Moreover, they were faster and seemed a bit anxious.

Along the coast of Daqian, it was quite abnormal for someone to know something ahead of the Jinyi Wei.

Today, he received a new piece of intelligence, and he knew something was amiss.

A Primordial Spirit Realm Strong had been severely injured and had entered Daqian from the west.

This strong individual seemed to have suffered severe damage to the Primordial Spirit and appeared to be fleeing for his life, unable to effectively conceal and hide his tracks, which were discovered by a Jinyi Wei spy.

Yet the Jinyi Wei spy had gone out west, deep into the vicinity of Silver Lake Forbidden Land but still had not found any useful clues.

He only noticed that the southern part of the Wilderness and the Silver Lake Forbidden Land, further south near the coastlines of the Southern Sea, were even calmer than on Daqian's side.

According to Jinyi Wei's intelligence, none of the Primordial Spirit Realm Strong within the entire territory of Daqian was injured.

In recent times, none of the well-known Primordial Spirit Realm Strong had experienced any severe damage to their Spirit.

With all these messages coming together, Song Chengyue was able to deduce from the messy intelligence that only the unknown force and the kidnapping of the Yin Family remained.

Going round and round, not intending to get involved, he went around in circles only to stumble upon it again.

By now, he was quite certain that it was something that could keep the Jinyi Wei, even him, the Commander, unaware of the slightest details,

other than that long-hidden force, there couldn't possibly be another.

His investigation into deep-seated hatred, the Yin Family's kidnapping, that suddenly emerging Primordial Spirit Realm Strong,

all were related to that force.

Now he also had sufficient reason to expand the scope, seek external help, and openly chase it down.

Closing the drawer, Song Chengyue staggered out of the Jinyi Wei government office and headed to Langya Institute.

Looking at the stone puppet descending from the sky, Song Chengyue smiled politely and greeted with a bow.

"No need to announce my arrival. The Jinyi Wei have just received a piece of information, and for the safety of the illustrious youths of the Langya Institute and the Deans, I felt it was very necessary to personally inform you.

A Primordial Spirit Realm Strong of unknown identity, having suffered severe damage to his Spirit, has crossed from the western part of our Daqian into our territory.

Obviously, my Jinyi Wei personnel were unable to track this strong cultivator's whereabouts.

We only roughly know that he has headed in the direction of the Imperial City. Please, Deans, take every precaution."

With that said, Song Chengyue bowed and turned to leave.

The stone puppet also returned the gesture, promptly going back to report.

This matter was not trivial.

Body Cultivation was fine, at least it appeared openly. Langya Institute was most concerned about the Primordial Spirit Realm Refining God Strong,

especially those who arrived unannounced and had suffered injuries, fleeing into Daqian and then going into hiding.