After Fang Datong reported to Li Zhizhi that An Qinglong of the Little Knife Society had been silenced, and that the killer was very likely Qian Fu, the current master of the Fierce Tiger Martial Arts Hall, Li Zhizhi remained remarkably calm. He merely said he understood and pursued the matter no further, leaving Fang Datong somewhat bewildered.
In truth, the silencing was both beyond Li Zhizhi's expectations and entirely reasonable. At the very least, if he had been Qian Fu and knew that An Qinglong, a ticking time bomb, was about to explode, he would certainly have snuffed him out first.
"It is good enough that this ends here. No matter what filthy dealings Qian Fu has been involved in, so long as he remains, on the surface, the stern and powerful master of the Fierce Tiger Martial Arts Hall, and no one finds any flaw or evidence against him, all will remain calm and peaceful."
Having served as an official for so many years and governed one region after another, Li Zhizhi had come to understand that stability was the best possible outcome in governing a place.
Once the problems of the Fierce Tiger Martial Arts Hall were exposed, the people from all walks of life it had taught over the years, as well as every social stratum closely tied to it, would be affected to varying degrees, causing unrest.
The party most deeply connected to it was White Jade Temple, the foremost temple in Qingjiang Prefecture. It embodied the unity of Zen and martial arts; within it were both great virtuous monks whose Buddhist teachings were boundless and divine monks with peerless martial skills.
No matter how outsiders viewed it, the Fierce Tiger Martial Arts Hall had been founded outside by White Jade Temple's lay disciples. Though