The trade routes were cut off, all businesses ground to a halt, and with the arrival of the Metropolitan Guard Bureau's Blood-Clad Guard, prosperous Guangping County fell into complete lockdown overnight.
Two fifth-tier Martial Ancestors personally took command, summoning the elite troops stationed at Xilao Pass to seal off the entire county town so tightly that not even water could leak through, launching a massive, comprehensive investigation.
One of the Martial Ancestors had even brought a special Magic Tool to identify demons.
Even Wang Chen had not expected the Metropolitan Guard Bureau to take this case so seriously. Their stance was practically to dig up the entire county town and unearth every last suspect before they would rest.
Only later did he learn that it was precisely because he had discovered the Demon Ascension Pool beneath Peony Tower that the Metropolitan Guard Bureau had attached such extreme importance to the matter, reporting it to the imperial capital while dispatching elite forces.
The severity of the matter had exceeded everyone's imagination!
But after completing his report on the case, Wang Chen was excluded from the investigation and manhunt. Even though he had demonstrated a keen Insight Ability toward demons, he did not take part in the subsequent work.
He did not mind. Instead, he felt relieved.
The large and small families of Guangping County, along with some local tyrants and merchant households, were the ones who suffered.
No matter how imposing they usually were, beneath the combined pressure of the Metropolitan Guard Bureau's Blood-Clad Guard and the elite troops of Xilao Pass, they could not stir up even the slightest ripple. They could only obediently lie flat and submit to being searched and confiscated.
And in truth, many families were not clean. Finding prohibited items during the raids was perfectly normal.