Master of Strange Dao

"What are you planning to do?"

"I can't give him the information on all the Jinyi Wei spies of Dali and Dazhen. Doing so would be equivalent to sending those spies to their deaths or handing over this power to him. Ten stalks of Heavenly Materials and Earthly Treasures are out of the question. Even the Jinyi Wei treasury can't gather ten stalks, I would have to steal from the Royal Treasury. Even if I managed to accomplish all of that without being exposed, given his ruthless nature, I wouldn't have a way out. If I die, my son would lose his value and would die too."

"Many people know what Song Chengyue fears the most, how to provoke him. But all along, outwardly, Song Chengyue had neither parents nor children, completely alone. There were even rumors that Song Chengyue was impotent. Otherwise, given his status, having children should be very easy for him. People would curse at Song Chengyue, but that's all they could do. He had weaknesses, but those weaknesses simply didn't exist. Other than cursing him for some temporary relief, what else could you do to anger Song Chengyue? Moreover, apart from Song Chengyue, who would know whether his anger was genuine or an act?"

"I calmed down and thought for a long time, I think I might have figured out why. Because the first thing I did when I found out that my son was kidnapped was to personally go see my daughter. Surely someone had been watching my movements all along, and when I returned and lost my composure, I exposed a flaw. Have you discovered anyone from the dong chang over there?"

"I have discovered it, but on the surface, it looks like a regular kidnapping case."

"You might be in danger there, hurry and take her back."

Song Chengyue was silent for a moment, his tone even deeper.

"As long as one is alive, as long as one is still alive…"

"Your mind is a mess, you shouldn't do anything, you'll just make more mistakes now."

Yu Ziqing advised him and asked Old Song to leave first. Then Yu Ziqing found Old Yang to inform him.

"There's a little girl, she needs to be sent back, you guys handle it."

Leaving the Seventh Floor ring, Yu Ziqing opened his eyes, wearing a serious expression. Something was amiss, very wrong, very abnormal. Old Song's mindset was indeed a bit unstable, being in the midst of it, he probably couldn't see clearly as an outsider now. But Yu Ziqing felt something was definitely off about this.

He had reviewed the dong chang's roster, and the people still alive should all be quite aged. The dong chang replenished its manpower at a particularly low rate. To conceal information, they only dispatched reliable individuals from the palace at the most suitable times. Outsiders were not trusted, only those who had been verified under close watch could be relied on. The dong chang didn't have many people, no matter how deep their penetration was, the very nature of being eunuchs was a major limitation. They certainly weren't highly skilled individuals who had shown themselves in the limelight.

The chief director was indeed strong, but his strength lay in concealment, cultivation, and incarnation. The previous eunuch named Chun Ting, what he mentioned about the Feng family, must be true, it couldn't be fabricated and was particularly easy to verify. Yu Ziqing just believed that these dong chang eunuchs, scattered and infiltrating Dali, didn't need to rise to high positions in any power, they just needed to gather intelligence. Finding the most suitable target for the chief director, then the true infiltration would be completed by the chief director himself. This would be more discreet, and it would provide an opportunity for an incarnation to one day hold power within influential forces. How could such a small number of people infiltrate the intelligence network to such an extent?

Oh, right, the only entity capable of infiltrating the intelligence network in Dali to such an extent was the Shadow Department. So, was the new Chief Venerate involved in this event? How did he have the audacity? In such a sensitive time, to collaborate with the designated Evil Dao Demon. Wasn't he handing a handle over to the chief director? No, it couldn't be right, maybe he already had a significant hold over him. There's even a possibility that he was one of the chief director's incarnations, one below the Ninth Tier.

Yu Ziqing glanced at the little girl, paused, took out the Second Generation Compass, and tested it. The needle didn't move at all; the little girl wasn't an incarnation. Yu Ziqing put away the compass, feeling a bit haunted by shadows manipulated by the chief director. At this moment, his Yin God suddenly opened its eyes and scanned around. Yu Ziqing looked at Lou Huai.

"Take her back first."

The little girl reached out and grabbed Yu Ziqing's arm.

"You behave and listen, uncle is going to fight Human Traffickers; you might get hurt by accident."

Yu Ziqing took out a Void Escape Scroll and handed it to Lou Huai. Lou Huai hoisted the little girl onto his shoulders and tore open the scroll. Instantly, a halo swirled around them, enveloping the two, and they vanished from the spot. Yu Ziqing sensed for a moment but couldn't sense a thing, the Void Escape Scroll was indeed effective. It just required a little time to activate, and that moment could be extremely fatal at a critical time. But it was one of those rare life-saving treasures that didn't restrict cultivation level, even ordinary people could use it, its high value was justified. He had kept three of them until now without using any. This time, to be safe, he used it directly, and at the same time, verified to see firsthand what effect the scroll had.

After all, he could claim reimbursement from Old Song later, no reason not to use it.

Having sent Lou Huai and Shi Sisi away, Yu Ziqing looked around and waited a few breaths. Soon, beams of tunneling light descended from the sky, and three people landed around Yu Ziqing. Yu Ziqing took out the Compass, activated it in front of them, and while its light shone, the needle didn't move immediately. Yu Ziqing then put the Compass away.