Rebel Alliance

Battalion Commander Li brought Niu Ren and Huang Shaojie to the prison cell where Elder Xiao and the two stewards were being held.

There, they saw three corpses sprawled across the cell, blood streaming from their seven orifices. The blood was dark red, with no sign of poisoning.

Niu Ren reached out, seized Elder Xiao's wrist, and sent true qi into it to probe.

Sure enough, he discovered that every meridian within Elder Xiao's body had been severed.

In such a case, either the deceased had circulated his own power and blown apart his meridians, or an expert had sent internal force into his body and shattered them.

But Elder Xiao and the two stewards had had their martial arts sealed. By all reason, they should have been unable to circulate their power and destroy their own meridians.

Yet if someone had used internal force to shatter the meridians of all three, that seemed even more impossible. This was the Imperial Guard dungeon—even a Grandmaster could not infiltrate it.

Niu Ren stripped off Elder Xiao's clothes and carefully examined the corpse from head to toe, but found no fresh internal injuries.

Niu Ren then inspected the bodies of the other two stewards. Their condition was identical to Elder Xiao's.

"When did the prisoners die?"

Niu Ren looked at Battalion Commander Li and demanded in a deep voice.

Battalion Commander Li cupped his hands. "Reporting to you, sir, it was just now. A jailer heard them scream once and went over to check, only to find that all three had died with blood flowing from their seven orifices. That jailer immediately reported it to me. I hurried over to inspect them, and only after probing their meridians did I discover that all of them had burst apart."

Niu Ren asked doubtfully, "Weren't these three prisoners' acupoints sealed? How could they have circulated their power and destroyed their own meridians?"

Battalion Commander Li pondered before replying, "These Five Lakes Association rebels were captured the day before yesterday. They may have circulated their power to break through the sealed acupoints themselves. Knowing they could not escape death, they destroyed their own meridians."

This explanation was reasonably plausible.

For a martial arts Grandmaster like Elder Xiao, breaking through acupoints sealed by another was not particularly difficult; it was merely a matter of time.

If Elder Xiao had broken through the acupoints sealing him, then released the acupoints of the two stewards, the three of them could have destroyed their meridians and died.

Then why had they not chosen to escape?

Don't be ridiculous. This was the Imperial Guard's dungeon. The prison cells had iron bars as thick as wrists, while layers upon layers of experts stood guard outside. There were also two heavy steel-reinforced iron doors leading up from the dungeon. Even a Ninth Rank Grandmaster could not break through them.

If they had not swiftly destroyed their meridians, then once the Imperial Guard sealed their acupoints again, they would be unable to live or die.

"Have the coroner examine the bodies carefully again."

Niu Ren's face darkened as he spoke to Battalion Commander Li.

"Yes, sir."

Battalion Commander Li cupped his hands in salute, then had a jailer summon the coroner.

Niu Ren then interrogated the several dozen other captured disciples of the Five Lakes Association.

After every kind of torture had been used on those several dozen Five Lakes Association disciples, they all confessed.

These Five Lakes Association disciples admitted that the Five Lakes Association was indeed an organization plotting rebellion. However, they were not fighting alone; throughout Great Chu, there were at least a hundred rebel organizations like the Five Lakes Association.

These organizations had formed an alliance and obeyed the commands of a mysterious religious sect. Their goal was to slaughter every corrupt official, overthrow the decayed Great Chu dynasty, and establish a new government.

However, they knew nothing about which other organizations belonged to the alliance, what the mysterious sect was called, or where it was located. They were merely ordinary disciples.

Upon obtaining these confessions, Niu Ren was greatly shocked.

He had expected the Five Lakes Association to harbor rebellious intentions, and he had guessed that a far larger organization stood behind it.

But he had never imagined that there were more than a hundred rebel alliance organizations like the Five Lakes Association, with an even more mysterious sect above them.

It was a pity that Elder Xiao and the two stewards had destroyed their own meridians and died. Otherwise, under harsh torture and interrogation, perhaps their mouths could have been pried open for more information about these rebel organizations and that mysterious sect.

This matter was of the utmost importance. Niu Ren immediately wrote an 800 Li Express secret report to the Capital City, reporting the Five Lakes Association's plot to rebel to Commander of the Imperial Guard Ling Xiaotian.

Chang'an.

Imperial Guard Headquarters, main hall.

A man clad in a purple-and-gold python robe sat at the head of the hall, drinking tea.

The man was around fifty years old, of average build, and appeared ordinary in appearance, yet a hidden divine gleam lay within his eyes.

He was the Commander of the Imperial Guard, Ling Xiaotian.

As one of the emperor's most favored confidants, Ling Xiaotian was not only the Commander of the Imperial Guard, but had also been bestowed a python robe.

His martial arts were unfathomably profound, and his power reached the heavens. He commanded thirty thousand Imperial Guards to monitor the hundred officials of the court, meddle in affairs of the martial world, and investigate major cases. Whether court officials or the various sects of the martial world, all changed color at the mention of his name.

At that moment, a captain entered the hall at a brisk pace with a thick encrypted document in hand. Dropping to one knee, he raised the urgent secret report overhead and announced:

"Reporting to the Commander, Commander Niu of the Suzhou Imperial Guard has sent an 800 Li Express secret report."

Ling Xiaotian's personal guard stepped forward, took the secret report from the captain, and presented it to Ling Xiaotian with both hands.

An 800 Li Express secret report?

Ling Xiaotian furrowed his brow slightly. What major event had occurred in Suzhou for Niu Ren to send an 800 Li Express report?

He opened the secret report and began reading.

The further he read, the graver Ling Xiaotian's expression became, and his slanted brows drew tighter still.

A case involving the robbery of official silver had uncovered a major case of the Five Lakes Association conspiring to rebel.

A gang of several hundred people plotting rebellion was not enough to surprise Ling Xiaotian. What shocked him was that the Five Lakes Association was merely the tip of the iceberg. Across Great Chu, more than a hundred gangs had joined the Five Lakes Association in an alliance to plot rebellion.

Most bizarrely, there was also a mysterious sect controlling those hundred-odd organizations.

More than a hundred gang organizations likely amounted to at least tens of thousands of people.

These tens of thousands were no ordinary rebel army. They were gang members, tightly organized, rigorously trained, and even martial artists.

Not to mention the mysterious sect behind them.

Once this force, which had developed in the shadows, launched an uprising, the consequences would be unthinkable.

Ling Xiaotian closed the secret report and said in a deep voice:

"Pass the order. Summon the four Pacification Commissioners—Azure Dragon, White Tiger, Vermilion Bird, and Black Tortoise—to Imperial Guard Headquarters to discuss this matter!"

"Yes."

The guard accepted the order and left.

The Imperial Guard had four Pacification Commissioners in the Capital City: Azure Dragon, White Tiger, Vermilion Bird, and Black Tortoise.

Azure Dragon was the Pacification Commissioner of the Eastern Pacification Office.

White Tiger was the Pacification Commissioner of the Southern Pacification Office.

Vermilion Bird was the Pacification Commissioner of the Western Pacification Office.

Black Tortoise was the Pacification Commissioner of the Northern Pacification Office.

The martial arts of the four Pacification Commissioners were exceptionally high. Even Black Tortoise, the weakest among them, had reached the initial stage of the Ninth Rank Grandmaster realm.