Xuanqing Guard

Wang Jian and Wang Yiming were both stunned by this plain, unadorned name. It was like someone telling you that "chopsticks" should just be called "bamboo sticks."

"Water Torture? Did... did you come up with this yourself, Lord?"

Shen Hao was about to shake his head—how could a five-good-youth, who’d received nine years of compulsory education, invent such a perverse punishment? But then he realized, if he denied it, he’d have to make up some excuse to smooth things over; better to just admit it and save himself the hassle.

"Mhm." Shen Hao nodded. From this moment on, his name was eternally carved alongside "Water Torture."

"Lord, I don’t understand. That’s just ordinary water—maybe a bit cold at most. There’s no way dripping it down could actually hurt anyone. Why does Zhang De look like he’s in so much pain?" Wang Yiming also didn’t get it. Unlike Wang Jian, he didn’t overthink it and simply asked directly.

"The water is ordinary, but the torture isn’t. It doesn’t target the flesh, but the mind. Ever heard the saying ’Dripping water carves stone’? No? Heh, then keep this in mind—if drip after drip can break stone, it can also pierce a person’s soul."

Shen Hao had no choice but to drop this bit of vague, all-purpose nonsense and forcefully end the introduction to the Water Torture. It wasn’t that he was pretending to be aloof—it was just that he couldn’t possibly explain the principle behind the torment this method caused. He hadn’t invented it either; he’d just seen an article online once and memorized it, so he decided to try it out now. Anyway, luck was on his side—it was working like a charm so far.

But even as Shen Hao was pretending to act all mysterious, Wang Jian and Wang Yiming were totally awestruck, so stunned that they even forgot to breathe—the last thing they’d imagine was that the famous Lord Shen of Fengri City was just showing off. All they could assume was that the "profound reasoning" Shen Hao spoke of was some deep truth.

Maybe this is what it means to distill the complex into the simple? Wang Jian and Wang Yiming couldn’t help but think the exact same phrase, in perfect unspoken coordination.

"Let’s go. We’ll have another look at that Zhang De; maybe he’s ready to talk."

Not even the time it takes to eat a few meat pies and chat for a couple minutes had passed. When they returned to the dungeon, Zhang De’s face was a picture of pallor and suffering—he wanted to open his eyes, but the icy water dripping down kept forcing him to blink. His eyeballs were full of bloodshot veins, maybe thanks to water seepage, maybe not, but either way, it looked wretched.

This time, after they pried the Iron Walnuts from his mouth, Zhang De didn’t curse, or even shout, just begged to die—just as Ma San Kui had earlier.

Too bad, in the Xuanqing Guard’s dungeon, the hardest thing to come by is a quick death. Unless they squeeze you for every last drop, death itself is a reward.

"Same question as before: Which division of the Ministry of War are you from?"

"Fea... Feather Guard."

Shen Hao froze, the only sound in his ears was Wang Jian’s reflexive gulp of saliva.

Even the three interrogators and guards nearby pursed their lips and lowered their heads, all pulling an "I suddenly went deaf" impression.

"Feather Guard? Heh." Shen Hao forced a chuckle. Because he knew exactly what that meant.

Within Xuanqing Guard, aside from the standard units, there were also "personal guards." These could be "Hundred Households Guards," "Thousand Households Guards," and at the Governor’s Office, there were also "Governor’s Personal Guards."

Personal guards were the direct combat forces under the chief officers’ banners—basically, they represented the best each Garrison had to offer.

The military had similar special units, parallel to the Xuanqing Guard’s personal guard structure—different names, but same function: elite shock troops, the favored blades in the hands of their leaders.

The reason why "Feather Guard" sent a tremor through everyone in the cell was because they were the Ministry of War’s equivalent of the Xuanqing Guard’s personal guard—directly under the command of the Minister of War. Their whole establishment was a Hundred Households Station, staffed entirely by cultivators, the lowest of which were Post-Qi Refining Realm.

Which meant, if Zhang De really was Feather Guard, then backing him was none other than the person who could command such a unit: the Minister of War, National Pillar General, Yang Yansi.

Even though Shen Hao had realized before that this case would uncover some big fish, he hadn’t expected the "fish" would turn out to be this massive.

This was practically brushing up against a shark’s dorsal fin!

Who was Yang Yansi, anyway? Put it this way—his illustrious life could be made into illustrated volumes for kids in the Enlightenment Hall! In fact, the last century or so of the Jingjiu Dynasty wouldn’t have made its way through so many storms without a fifth of the credit going to Yang Yansi!

Don’t be fooled by how the military gets bossed by the civil servants—no one dares mess with Yang Yansi. Not even the Emperor would cross him lightly. Status-wise, Left Minister Ye Lansheng can’t hold a candle to Yang Yansi.

And this kind of man is supposed to be the mastermind behind the Ma San Case?

After a moment of silence, Shen Hao pushed down the shock in his heart and pressed on: "Are you aware that you and Ma San Kui were aiding the enemy? Betraying the Dynasty?"

"It was just a mission. The Feather Guard... the Feather Guard don’t question what our leader intends." Zhang De gritted his teeth—obviously suffering mentally from the water torture, and at the same time ashamed for giving in to the agony.

Shen Hao pulled up a chair beside the bunk and continued, "Who gave you the order? Who directed you to act?"

"Shut off the water! Turn off the water above me, now!" He almost screamed it out.

Shen Hao replied with a smile, "Answer me first—then I’ll turn it off for you."

"It was a direct order from Hundred Households Zeng! He planned everything. Every step was his arrangement! Shut off the water!"

Shen Hao kept his word, reaching out to screw the stopper back onto the spouted jug. The gentle, relentless drip instantly stopped, and Zhang De, who’d been wracked by suffering, let out a huge sigh of relief. His strung-tight expression melted away in an instant.

"Hundred Households Zeng? His position?"

"Zeng Wenhe—Feather Guard’s Hundred Households Officer. He’s our commander."

Shen Hao glanced at the scribe behind him, confirming that the man’s pen was moving, before looking back to Zhang De. "Feather Guard reports directly to the Minister of War. Even if Zeng Wenhe is your chief officer, he shouldn’t have the authority to mobilize you, right?"

After a pause, Zhang De answered, voice low: "He has the General’s token—means he can issue orders on the General’s behalf."

With this opening, the rest was straightforward.

For instance, the storage bag—Zhang De’s confession matched the evidence Shen Hao held in hand, which made the case rock solid.

As for all the permissions, and the names of those who facilitated their coming and going from the Imperial City, plus the documents—every detail rolled out from Zhang De’s mouth.

That was as close to a full confession as they could get. But there was one thing that still left Shen Hao uneasy: the exact role that Yang Yansi, the Minister of War, played in this affair. Zhang De hadn’t said a word about him—just insisted from start to end that it was all Hundred Households Officer Zeng Wenhe’s doing, not a trace of Yang Yansi’s shadow.