The city gate guards intercepted them. The men in black produced Blackwater Bureau tokens, and the garrison swiftly let them through. Shao Pingbo led his men galloping out through the East City Gate.
At the same time, two Blackwater Bureau officers, acting on Shao Pingbo's orders, sped straight to the military encampment outside the city. They mobilized more than a hundred men within their authority, led them to South Tomb Mountain, and made directly for the Fire God Temple. All the temple's servants of the gods were arrested and escorted to a prison controlled by the Blackwater Bureau, where interrogations began at once.
The Blackwater Bureau's prison had a simple, straightforward name: Black Prison. Inside Black Prison, the dozens of captured temple servants wailed miserably, one after another, under brutal torture.
The interrogation had been Shao Pingbo's idea—to investigate the list of nobles and dignitaries who had gone to the Fire God Temple to offer incense within the past year.
Shao Pingbo himself led his men straight toward a small town several dozen li away. His force charged into the town and directly surrounded an inn.
The local constables soon arrived, shouting demands to know what was happening and who they were.
A Blackwater Bureau token was displayed, and the constables immediately trembled as they withdrew to the side. The Blackwater Bureau was a secret organization in the hands of imperial power. To carry out special missions, it had been granted the authority to kill first and report afterward. Small fry like them could not afford to provoke it.
Shao Pingbo remained seated on horseback and raised a hand in signal.
Shao Sansheng immediately leaped down from his horse, led a group of men into the inn, and soon dragged someone out, forcing him to kneel before Shao Pingbo's mount.