The Prefectural Office's Secret! The Empty Ren-Rank Camp!

"Wait... wait..."

Just then.

Inside the carriage, Tang Ren, the squad leader who had awakened after taking the pill, spoke up.

"Squad Leader, you're awake!"

Liu Shan hurriedly helped him sit up.

Tang Ren looked weakly at Jiang Bei and said in a pale, feeble voice, "The... the waters of the Pingyang Prefectural Office run too deep. Brother, you're no match for them. There's... there's an Eighth Rank Great Training stationed there. Go... go back to the camp and summon the Battalion Commander..."

Jiang Bei's expression did not change. Instead, he asked, "Do you know where the others were taken?"

Tang Ren shook his head. "Either they're in the Prefectural Office, or they've already been sent to Five Sects Mountain."

Jiang Bei nodded, then urged his horse onward.

"He... sigh!"

Seeing that Jiang Bei was determined to go, Tang Ren let out a deep sigh and said to Liu Shan, "What are you standing around for? Take me there! With his strength alone, he's no match for those people in the Prefectural Office!"

"Yes!"

Liu Shan nodded repeatedly.

Just then, another squad leader woke up as well, and everyone headed for the prefectural city together.

Inside the prefectural city.

After arriving, Jiang Bei did not hesitate in the slightest and rode straight into the Prefectural Office.

The other soldiers besides Tang Ren were still missing.

They were most likely being hidden inside this Prefectural Office.

If he was even a step too late, they might be sent to Five Sects Mountain and blood-sacrificed to the Barbarians!

"Stop! This is an important government office! Get lost!"

At the entrance to the Prefectural Office, two guards immediately stepped forward to block Jiang Bei.

"Get out of my way!"

Jiang Bei roared, and the two guards' faces instantly turned pale as their bodies were flung backward.

Meanwhile, Jiang Bei had already stepped into the Prefectural Office.

Inside the main hall.

Prefect Li Sizheng was leisurely drinking tea. Besides him, there was also a burly man in the hall.

"Hm?"

Hearing the commotion, both men looked up.

They immediately saw Jiang Bei striding into the hall.

"Who are you? How dare you barge into this important government office? You've got some nerve!"

Li Sizheng furrowed his brow and slammed his hand onto the table in anger.

His piercing gaze locked tightly onto Jiang Bei.

"You're the prefect of Pingyang Prefecture?"

Jiang Bei asked coldly.

"I am! Since I am standing here, why haven't you knelt?"

Li Sizheng sneered.

"I am Jiang Bei of the Ren-Rank Camp! As far as I know, more than a dozen soldiers from my Ren-Rank Camp have been imprisoned in your Prefectural Office. If I don't see them within ten breaths, I'll tear this damned place apart!"

Jiang Bei shouted, his voice deafening.

"Impudence!"

The burly man abruptly rose to his feet. "Even if you're from the Ren-Rank Camp, how dare you speak to Prefect Li like that? Believe it or not, we can submit a memorial to have you punished!"

A cold smile appeared on Li Sizheng's face as he looked at Jiang Bei. "You claim that I have detained soldiers from your Ren-Rank Camp. Do you have any evidence? Without solid proof, you are falsely accusing a court official—under Great Qian law, that is punishable by death!"

By the end, his face was filled with fury.

"Evidence?"

Jiang Bei laughed coldly.

He focused and activated the sensory power of Seventh Rank Lesser Training. After a brief search, he raised his hand and pointed behind the hall. "Isn't the 'evidence' you want hidden in the rear courtyard? Why don't we go take a look together?"

Li Sizheng's expression changed drastically, though he still forced himself to remain calm. "This is an important government office. Do you think you can enter wherever you please? Luo Zhenyu, what are you standing there for? Throw him out!"

"Yes!"

The burly man called Luo Zhenyu clasped his fists and accepted the order. He stepped forward, and the force of Eighth Rank Great Training surged toward Jiang Bei like a tide.

"Since you refuse to lead the way, I'll find it myself."

Without hesitation, Jiang Bei strode toward the rear courtyard.

Li Si's pupils contracted as he shouted urgently, "Quick! Stop him!"

Seeing this, Luo Zhenyu shot out a hand and grabbed for Jiang Bei's shoulder.

But just as he was about to touch Jiang Bei—

Jiang Bei suddenly sidestepped, easily evading the grab.

At the same time, Jiang Bei struck.

His palm came crashing down, chopping into Luo Zhenyu's shoulder.

Bang!

"Argh—!"

Blood burst forth, and his shoulder bone shattered completely. Luo Zhenyu let out a miserable scream and dropped to one knee, unable to rise again.

"W-What?!"

Li Si's face turned pale, disbelief written all over it.

Luo Zhenyu, an Eighth Rank Great Training martial artist, had actually been defeated in a single move?

Who exactly was this man?

Hadn't they said... there were no longer any Eighth Rank Great Training martial artists or Battalion Commanders in the Ren-Rank Camp?!

Since when had the Ren-Rank Camp produced such an expert?!

Seeing Jiang Bei steadily approach the rear courtyard, Li Si hurriedly stepped forward to stop him. "M-My lord, you can't go in!"

With a sweep of his arm, Jiang Bei sent Li Si flying like a kite with a severed string. He crashed outside the main hall and spat out blood.

Then, Jiang Bei strode into the rear courtyard.

After entering the rear courtyard, Jiang Bei followed the corridor for more than a hundred meters.

Soon, he heard voices coming from ahead.

"Quick! Faster! This batch is about to be shipped out. Nothing can go wrong!"

"We're already going as fast as we can! Feed them a few more pills and increase the dosage. They absolutely can't wake up halfway through!"

Jiang Bei stopped outside a room.

The next instant, he kicked out fiercely—

Bang!

The door shattered open.

The sight before him made his pupils shrink sharply.

The room was piled high with silk of every color.

But those were not goods at all—wrapped within the silk were human bodies!

Several of them were soldiers from their Ren-Rank Camp!

Most of the others were common civilians.

Covered in blood, they had been beaten until they were almost unrecognizable. Even more cruelly, they had been forcibly stuffed into narrow silk packages.

Having taken the pills and fallen into deep comas, they felt nothing despite enduring immense pain.

"Y-You... who are you?!"

Three men responsible for the packing were still in the room. Startled by Jiang Bei's violent entrance, they spun around abruptly.

Jiang Bei did not waste a single word.

The Mystic Cloud Saber suddenly left its sheath, and icy blade light instantly filled the entire room.

Splurt—

Three heads hit the floor, blood splattering everywhere.

At the same time, Tang Ren, Liu Shan, and the others had also rushed into the Prefectural Office. The moment they saw the heavily injured Luo Zhenyu and Li Si lying on the ground, their expressions changed drastically.

"Did... Jiang Bei do this just now?"

A hawk-nosed man asked in horror.

His name was Zhao He, another Squad Leader.

Earlier, when he and Tang Ren had been tied up, they had tried to resist, but even working together, they had been no match for Luo Zhenyu.

Never had he imagined that Luo Zhenyu would end up so badly injured!

More importantly, there were barely any signs of a fight at the scene, which meant it had been done within one or two moves!

Such strength was simply too terrifying.

"I was even worried about him before. Looking at it now, I was worrying for nothing."

Tang Ren could not help but sigh.

"Squad Leaders, Lord Jiang Bei now commands the entire Ren-Rank Camp. I heard that just a few days ago, he even killed Xie Kaiyue of Dingzi Camp!"

Liu Shan hurriedly added.

"What? He killed Xie Kaiyue?"

Tang Ren and Zhao He exchanged glances. Xie Kaiyue's name was well known to them, yet they had never expected him to be...

"No wonder he could crush Luo Zhenyu!"

Zhao He exclaimed.

"Come on. Jiang Bei should have gone to the back courtyard. Let's go take a look!"

Tang Ren said.

The group immediately rushed toward the back courtyard.

Before long, they arrived at the room where Jiang Bei was.

Upon seeing the people and silk strewn across the floor, Tang Ren and Zhao He felt a heart-wrenching pain, but not much surprise.

Because they had gone through the same thing just moments ago!

"Are there still some people missing here?"

Jiang Bei asked.

"More than half are missing. We'll have to ask that dog official, the prefect, about that."

Tang Ren said furiously.

Jiang Bei immediately returned to the main hall.

He had two men lift Li Si up.

However, Li Si had passed out. Jiang Bei did not indulge him; he knew the man was playing dead. With a single slap, Li Si immediately woke up.

"Where are the rest of them?!"

Jiang Bei demanded coldly.

"M-My lord... I don't know! I truly don't know why there were people in the back courtyard!"

Li Si still stubbornly refused to admit it.

"At a time like this, you're still pretending!"

Liu Shan could no longer stand it. He viciously kicked Li Si in the head.

"I'll talk, I'll talk! The others have already been sent to Five Sects Mountain!"

Li Si hurriedly changed his tune.

Upon hearing this, Tang Ren, Zhao He, and the others clenched their fists tightly, rage churning in their eyes.

Being sent to Five Sects Mountain meant they were already dead!

"What exactly do you send people to Five Sects Mountain for?"

Jiang Bei continued questioning him.

"It... it's for blood sacrifices. The five major sects on Five Sects Mountain have colluded with the Barbarians, and many Barbarians are stationed on the mountain. They refine living people into Human Pills. I heard they are sent to the front lines for the Barbarians fighting there to consume..."

Li Si answered in a trembling voice.

"How long have you been colluding with them? During that time... how many people have you sent over?"

Jiang Bei's voice grew increasingly cold.

"About two or three days... It wasn't many, my lord, truly not many—only four or five hundred people!"

"Four or five hundred, and you call that not many?!"

Tang Ren was so enraged that he kicked him again.

Li Si wailed, "My lords, I was forced into it too! The people from Five Sects Mountain came to Pingyang Prefectural City and threatened me. They said that if I didn't send people over every day, they would kill my entire family! They also said that even without me, they could still abduct the common folk—it would merely take more time... I had no other choice!"

"Then why didn't you seek help from Ren-Rank Camp?"

Jiang Bei demanded sternly.

"Seek help? Five Sects Mountain has five entire major sects, with five Eighth Rank Great Training experts overseeing them! It's not that we didn't want to report this to Ren-Rank Camp, but does the current Ren-Rank Camp... still have the ability to deal with Five Sects Mountain and those five Eighth Rank Great Training experts?"

"Over at the Eight Desolations Mountain Range, even Lord Jiang Qingfeng, leading three units, has been unable to suppress the situation! On top of that, the other three units are all out carrying out missions and cannot spare themselves. Even if they could return, so long as Lord Jiang does not come back, they would still be no match for Five Sects Mountain even if they joined forces!"

"The Ren-Rank Camp is now weaker than ever. Even if we reported this, who could suppress Five Sects Mountain? Who could deal with five Eighth Rank Great Training experts at once? There was no other way—I could only compromise... I really didn't dare gamble!"

After Li Si finished speaking, the entire hall fell silent.

Tang Ren, Zhao He, and the others said nothing.

Because what Li Si said was indeed the true state of Ren-Rank Camp!

Their Ren-Rank Camp truly had been weakened to the extreme!