Xuanqing Guard

June 18th. Noon.

After three consecutive sunny days, the temperature in Fengri City shot up like crazy.

Now, being indoors is even hotter than outside—so damn stuffy.

Shen Hao once again sighed at the perks of having high Cultivation. Wrapping himself in True Qi not only let him practice his fine control over it, but also kept some of the heat out. With a palm fan and iced tea on the side, he could barely hold out.

Maybe I should ask those Array Masters in the Arsenal if they can whip up something like a magic disc equivalent to an air conditioner? This thing would be a sell-out for sure!

It’s a money-making idea, and Shen Hao made a mental note to chat properly with Flying Dragon once things were less hectic. Who knows, maybe after the Wuliangye deal, he could add another revenue stream.

But was Shen Hao short of cash? Heck no—he already had so much he could barely use it all. As long as he kept a tight cover on Zhang Family’s Wine Shop, and with more Wuliangye shops springing up, his income would just keep skyrocketing—way faster than he could spend it. After all, booze was a notoriously high-profit business. Especially once a good liquor gets famous, profits could be hundreds of times the cost.

If you really count it, all these thoughts are just "distractions," little things Shen Hao thinks about when he’s bored or needs a mental break. But unless he gets through the mess at hand, there’s no time for any of it.

"Sir, maybe you should rest for a bit?" The Gatekeeper had been around a while. He wasn’t particularly talented, but at least he was honest and never caused Shen Hao any trouble, always kept to his lane. Shen Hao had gradually warmed up to him, so now seeing Shen Hao hadn’t slept all night, the Gatekeeper gave a friendly reminder.

"No need. A day or two without sleep isn’t a big deal. By the way, Old Liu, you should go take a nap—you stayed up all night yesterday too, right?"

"I’m good, sir. I barely get sleepy. I’ll go make you another pot of tea."

"Yeah, make it strong."

"Alright, sir."

Shen Hao used to shy away from strong tea, thought it was bitter and addictive. But these last couple days he really felt himself drifting—energy flagging, needed strong tea to perk him up.

Doorman Liu took the kettle outside, quickly came back, set it down, and backed out with perfect decorum. Through the whole process, he kept his head lowered, never peeking at Shen Hao’s desk.

The thing Liu didn’t dare look at was just a few Copper Rods. They weren’t even separated, but Liu had his rules and kept them well.

Shen Hao took a sip of tea—super strong, bitter, but instantly refreshed him.

He pulled his mind back, tossed away the distractions, and looked at the three Copper Rod reports delivered early this morning. They were status updates from the Jingxi Army, Border Army, and Imperial City Ministry of War—first summaries sent right away; full details wouldn’t come so quickly, at least not in the next two days, since follow-up data was still on the way.

Actually, just looking at the delivery time of these three Copper Rod reports, Shen Hao could see the problem. Every single one arrived at least two hours later than he’d expected. That meant all three netting operations had run into trouble—a delay in progress.

Complications popping up were exactly what Shen Hao didn’t want, but couldn’t avoid. You can’t clamp down on others and expect no resistance. This was a game of moves and countermoves, really the main strategy between Shen Hao, Wang Jian, and the Four Divisions. Still, even with surprise attacks and minimizing possible conflict, the backlash was bigger than he’d thought.

Faced with the Order from Xuanqing Guard Commander’s Office and the authority from the Vice Minister of the Ministry of War, people actually dared to defy and outright refuse to comply, even going so far as to accuse the Xuanqing Guards coming to do the job of "disobeying orders" and "fake identities." Some even tried to use their numbers to start a fight.

The local reactions were fierce but with one detail that let Shen Hao breathe a tiny sigh of relief. No matter if it was the Ministry of War, Border Army, or Jingxi Army, when the Xuanqing Guard launched their sudden attack at dawn, the highest command tier didn’t make a move.

The Minister Yang Yansi and Vice Minister Xu Hong of the Ministry of War were summoned to the palace by the Emperor’s messenger at midnight. Before dawn, nearly all Junior Third Grade and above officials in the Imperial City went out to the suburbs for a hunting trip supposedly lasting a day and a half—wouldn’t be back till the night of June 19th.

And the one left behind at the Ministry of War was Vice Minister Wen Mingju—a former Imperial Guard, trusted deeply by the Emperor. Normally third in command and nearly invisible most of the time, not saying a word, but this time he was the Ministry’s most crucial chess piece.

With the Emperor’s secret order, Wen Mingju and the Xuanqing Guard Commander jointly sent out an authorization letter—that was Shen Hao’s legal basis for brazenly going into their camps to "invite" people.

But looking at it now, even with the Ministry of War’s high prestige among the military, it wasn’t necessarily all transferred to Wen Mingju himself.

The target members in the Jingxi Army and Border Army outright dismissed the Vice Minister as "just a fart," using that as grounds to resist the request for cooperation—even said it was "disobeying orders."

But whether it’s really "disobeying orders" is just what the targets are saying—like that Assistant General Zhou Qing at Tanshi, who tried to turn the tables and capture Chen Tianwen, who was there to "invite" him. If Shen Hao hadn’t kept an ace up his sleeve and tucked several Golden Sword Cultivators into each group for emergencies, they’d have been slapped in the face.

The targets all pushed back hard, but the top local chiefs were either transferred away or kept absolutely silent.

Nothing at all from the Jingxi Military Governor’s Mansion—it was like they hadn’t heard a thing. Same with Border Army: all the chaos was at the lower levels, up top it was dead quiet. Forget the Southern Military Commander’s Office—Zuo Yuliang wasn’t moving, and even the Tanshi Garrison’s Chief Officer was keeping his mouth shut.

Were they all just waiting to see how things turned out, or had other plans?

On the Jingxi Army list, nine people; Border Army, twenty; Ministry of War, eight. So far, all the targets were captured and are now undergoing sudden interrogation in their respective locations.

Why not bring them all back for interrogation?

That was Shen Hao’s call—interrogate them right where they were, so as not to immediately escalate conflict with the military, buy some more time. Besides, this first batch weren’t even really the masterminds in the case—weren’t all that critical—so there was no need for cross-regional detention yet. Got to keep digging upwards.

"Still, soldiers are soldiers—tough nuts everywhere."

That’s what’s really giving Shen Hao a headache.

In total, they caught thirty-seven men, and ten of them were hard-core tough guys. Even with Xuanqing Guard’s methods, they were still holding out and refusing to confess, driving the interrogators up the wall.

The Xuanqing Guard’s methods aren’t for ordinary people—Shen Hao had seen that plenty. And someone who could stay stubborn under that pressure definitely wasn’t some nobody.

Right now, Shen Hao’s concern was, if they couldn’t crack these tough guys quickly, they’d have to figure out new ways to push the next phase forward?