Xuanqing Guard

Shen Hao still hadn’t fully understood the forces behind Ma San Kui, and beside him lay a list that had just been delivered overnight. The list detailed items confiscated from Ma San Kui, Zhang De, and the deceased Xu Qian, including those found in their storage bags.

The items on Zhang De and Xu Qian were mainly those storage bags and the grain inside. This time, they failed to deliver the grain to the Barbarian Race, and all those storage bags fell into the hands of the Black Banner Battalion. Furthermore, upon inspection, these storage bags bore the distinctive marks of the Jingxi Army Supply Battalion, identified as military magical artifacts. As long as the bags can be matched to the in-out records of the Jingxi Army Supply Battalion, the evidence is ironclad.

Aside from the storage bags and grain, Xu Qian and Zhang De carried only a few Ministry of War waist tokens and several approved documents.

These waist tokens and documents similarly serve as evidence, useful for reverse investigation. Each document can be traced to the person who handled it and the originating department. These are extremely important pieces of evidence.

Other than these, the two had nothing further on them, leaving Shen Hao’s desire to dig deeper into their backgrounds unmet.

The second list was Ma San Kui’s inventory, which was far more complicated than what Xu Qian and Zhang De carried.

First of all, Shen Hao’s impression was that Ma San Kui was definitely the kind of person with no ties, someone living alone, otherwise his storage bag wouldn’t have been packed with an absurdly diverse range of belongings as if it was his entire household. Everything from silver notes to dried rations, jade scrolls to elixirs, plus magical artifacts, even clothing. Only someone on edge every day would always carry all his possessions.

What surprised Shen Hao was that the most numerous and valuable items on Ma San Kui weren’t silver notes or magical artifacts, but elixirs. They far exceeded the amount someone of his cultivation stage should possess; he even carried upper grade Treasure Pills. There were five Great Nourishing Pills—rare and high-end even among the Xuanqing Guard—in Ma San Kui’s storage bag!

Shen Hao’s first reaction was, "Could these be fake pills?" But after carefully inspecting the attached appraisal from the Black Banner Battalion, he realized they wouldn’t confuse real and fake elixirs. So, the only explanation was that Ma San Kui had ample and cheap access to elixirs.

This was very interesting.

Shen Hao paused his pen, pondered, but decided not to record this particular discovery in the dossier.

"It seems that the supposed sect backing Ma San Kui does have some real confidence." Shen Hao was certain in his heart; Ma San Kui’s abundance of elixirs must be due to support from the sect behind him. Either this sect had a special channel for acquiring elixirs—such as secret deals with some major alchemy sect—or the sect itself specialized in alchemy.

"Plenty of elixirs... Does that mean there’s an alchemist?"

Shen Hao quickly dismissed the possibility of the sect privately dealing with an alchemy major. Simply put, the volume was too great. For someone like Ma San Kui to carry so many elixirs shows the abundance, but even an alchemy major wouldn’t be so generous to others—elixirs aren’t magical artifacts, they are consumables, hard currency in the cultivation realm, needed by all cultivators, and no one would be that free-handed.

Therefore, most likely, Ma San Kui’s sect has alchemists, and not just one, with considerable cultivation too.

"Alchemists, more than one... That doesn’t quite add up."

Although Shen Hao analyzed this way, he remained self-doubting, because the status of alchemists in the cultivation realm is indisputable—even novice alchemists are revered. Why would someone of such status and position lower themselves to serve a sect of pseudo-evil cultivators?

Under coercion? Or for some benefit?

Shen Hao had heard about the steadfastness of alchemists; while he didn’t believe all were unyielding, most wouldn’t easily submit. So coercion was unlikely, especially since an alchemist capable of crafting Great Nourishing Pills has considerable cultivation; forcing them isn’t simple.

So, it must be for profit?

At this point, a thought flashed in Shen Hao’s mind—he felt he’d grasped an important thread. After pondering and sorting it out, he thought: Could these alchemists be after certain medicinal ingredients?

It’s said that many alchemists are obsessed with their craft, often consumed by the pursuit of new formulas and pill types. If Ma San Kui’s sect could use "new pill types" to lure these alchemists, it’s quite possible they’d attract a number of pill-obsessed alchemists. This could also hint at why Ma San Kui’s sect colluded with the Barbarian Race.

What specialties do the Barbarian Race have? Besides slaves, it’s medicinal herbs. These are the two main revenues of the Slave Trade Association. Their resources in pharmaceuticals are far richer than those of the Jingjiu Dynasty.

In this way, the basic logic blocks line up.

"Let’s sort things out... It now seems that certain people in the Ministry of War—or perhaps a group—actively helped the Barbarian Race at the tail end of the last war, for reasons yet unclear, preventing their complete annihilation or ensuring they weren’t utterly destroyed, leaving them with a foundation.

Meanwhile, decades ago, an evil cultivator calling himself ’Master Bai Gu’ produced a group of pseudo-evil sect cultivators, whose motives are unclear. But these pseudo-evil sect cultivators were drawn into contact with the bad apples in the Ministry of War a few years ago. The relationship between ’soldiers and bandits’ changed, reached a tacit understanding, and then these more covert pseudo-evil sect cultivators established contact with the Barbarian Race, which had regained some of their strength.

The Barbarian Race received resources from the Jingjiu Dynasty to rebuild, possibly serving as one of the Ministry of War bad apples’ goals. The pseudo-evil sect cultivators, in turn, received massive quantities of ’certain medicinal ingredients’ from the Barbarian Race, which could be used to lure pill-obsessed alchemists. From the alchemists, they obtained copious amounts of mid- and low-grade pills to grow stronger themselves or to sell for profit...

Every link seems to produce winners."

The only ones to suffer are likely the ordinary soldiers, whose lives will be devoured by the impending flames of war. Also, the common people in the Jingjiu Dynasty will be affected—markets, livelihoods... every aspect will be impacted.

Shen Hao stood up, poured himself a cup of tea—slightly cold now—and downed it in one gulp, finally loosening his mind.

Previously, Shen Hao’s understanding and speculation regarding the ’Ma San Case’ were fragmented, without a complete narrative. Now, he finally sorted out a coherent thread, with a beginning and end. Although still unclear and with many details unresolved, at least Shen Hao now had an overall grasp of the matter.

"This is an event driven by several forces interacting: the Barbarian Race, Ministry of War, evil cultivators, pseudo-evil cultivators, and perhaps some alchemists."

Shen Hao collected himself, took out a puduan in the Public Office, sat cross-legged, and with two and a half hours left before dawn, decided not to sleep, choosing instead to meditate and refine his qi, preparing to check on Zhang De’s situation the next day.