Before long, Jiang Liu, Elder Bai Elder He, and the five Minor Grandmaster elders had assigned manpower.
The eight people were divided into four teams. Jiang Liu led a Minor Grandmaster, while Elder Bai and Elder He each led a Minor Grandmaster. They went to Corpse Valley's stronghold in the Mountain City to capture people. The last two Minor Grandmaster went to monitor the City Lord's Mansion.
The entire Mountain City, excluding the City Lord's Mansion, has three strongholds: one in the west, one in the east, and one in the north, with the City Lord's Mansion in the south. This was done to avoid alerting the enemy and, more importantly, to prevent them from escaping again.
The four teams acted swiftly. After the assignments were made, they each set off, agreeing that whoever finished first would rush back to the City Lord's Mansion to help, with the most important thing being to prevent Li Chunyang from getting away.
Jiang Liu, accompanied by the Minor Grandmaster elders, flew directly into the Mountain City, heading west. The east side, being the closest, was under the responsibility of Elder Bai, while the north side, being the furthest, was under the responsibility of Elder He.
Jiang Liu and Elder Gong Ruqi quickly arrived at a private residence in the west of the city. As soon as Jiang Liu arrived, he immediately released his Divine Sense to cover the entire house and quickly locked onto the enemy, because the aura fluctuations emitted when practicing the Corpse Valley Technique were different.
Jiang Liu discovered that there were six people inside, just as the intelligence had indicated. The highest level of strength was Rank 9, the lowest was Rank 6, and there were two Body Refinement Realm.
Elder Gong stood guard outside, Jiang Liu entered the courtyard alone. His Nebula Shrunken Earth unfolded, and his ghostly figure darted around, striking repeatedly with both palms. Before long, all six people in the courtyard had fallen unconscious.
There were four people from Corpse Valley, and two of them were probably the original owners of this courtyard. However, judging from their appearance, they should have started practicing the Corpse Valley techniques.
However, their Corpse Golems were not found; they were probably placed somewhere outside the city.
Jiang Liu left Elder Gong to guard the place, and then used his movement technique to head towards the City Lord's Mansion.
Before Jiang Liu even reached the City Lord's Mansion, he saw a ball of fire erupting from it. Jiang Liu immediately knew something was wrong and quickly flew into the air. He saw several figures darting out of the City Lord's Mansion, with two more figures chasing after them.
Jiang Liu pushed the Nebula Shrunken Earth to its limit and chased after one of the figures exuding ninth-grade strength. He quickly caught up with him, and after a brief sensing of the aura, Jiang Liu discovered that this person was actually from Corpse Valley.
Jiang Liu shot out an ice needle, and the figure immediately fell to the ground. The situation was urgent, and Jiang Liu would not consider leaving anyone alive. As for whether the person was dead or alive, he would check later.
Jiang Liu continued chasing after the remaining figures. Soon Jiang Liu saw Elder Bai Elder He also came out. Meanwhile, the two Minor Grandmaster elders were already fighting with someone.
Judging from the fluctuations in their auras during their fight, they were clearly two Minor Grandmaster. No wonder they were able to detect the surveillance of those two Minor Grandmaster elders.
Before long, Jiang Liu caught up with a figure. Upon closer inspection, he realized it was Li Chunyang's aura. Moreover, Jiang Liu found Li Chunyang's aura to be very strange, Jiang Liu shot out an ice needle that froze him in place.
Jiang Liu didn't look closely and continued chasing after the figure that had already fled into the distance. Jiang Liu repeatedly used the Nebula Shrunken Earth technique to get closer and closer. Before long, Jiang Liu caught up with the figure in front of him who was exuding the aura of Minor Grandmaster.
Upon seeing this person's attire Corpse Valley, martial arts style, and aura, Jiang Liu immediately realized that this person was sent by a force colluding with Corpse Valley to make contact with them.
Jiang Liu moved closer, unleashing his Cloudfall Strike, and silently punched the figure in the back. The figure in front of him froze and fell to the ground.
Jiang Liu stepped forward, lifted him up, and removed his mask, Jiang Liu the face of a middle-aged man.
Jiang Liu thought for a moment, then realized he didn't recognize the man, so he ignored him and knocked him unconscious with a single palm strike. Looking around, Jiang Liu saw that the fleeing figures had already been killed by Elder Bai and Elder He.
Meanwhile, the four Minor Grandmaster who were fighting, Elder Bai and Elder He, had already surrounded them.
Not long after, the two Minor Grandmaster were also captured alive. Thus, all seven who had fled were apprehended, with two dead and one whose Dao Sheng.
Jiang Liu carried the Minor Grandmaster in his right hand and Li Chunming in his left, and joined up with Elder He and Elder Bai. As for the ninth-grade Corpse Valley martial artist, he was in Elder He's hands.
When Elder Bai saw Jiang Liu approaching, he asked with concern, "Are you alright?"
"It's nothing, just a few petty thieves," Jiang Liu said casually.
"Haha! Let's go back then!" Elder Bai laughed and led the way, carrying two corpses as he flew into the city wall. The two men behind him also followed, each carrying one person.
The city wall was now brightly lit, guarded by the original Mountain City guards and disciples of the Exotic Beast Valley, all of whom were observing Jiang Liu and his companions.
Upon recognizing the elders of the Exotic Beast Valley and Jiang Liu, they immediately clasped their hands in greeting, "Greetings, Elders! Greetings, Senior Brother Jiang!"
Elder He said to the crowd, "No need for formalities, you can continue your patrol!"
"Yes!" the crowd responded and continued their patrol.
Jiang Liu, Elder Bai, Elder He, and the two Minor Grandmaster carried the seven people over the city wall and headed directly towards the City Lord's Mansion.
When everyone arrived at the City Lord's Mansion, they found that the fire had been extinguished. The burned-down area was the study, where the people must have been discussing something when they realized something was wrong and burned it down to escape.
Jiang Liu looked at the study, now completely destroyed, and wondered what secrets it held. Wouldn't it have been more discreet to simply escape? Why burn it down? Jiang Liu suppressed his thoughts.
At this moment, Elder Bai had already removed the masks from the faces of the remaining masked men. "Eh! Is this A Duanpo from the Lotus Sect?" Elder He suddenly exclaimed, looking at one of the men who had just fought with the two Minor Grandmaster elders.
"The Lotus Sect? Are you sure?" Elder Bai asked anxiously.
Elder He nodded and said, "I've met this person before. She's very active in the Lotus Sect, but I never expected that she would collude with Corpse Valley."
"Let's wake them all up first!" Elder Bai said.
Then the group worked together to wake up the five people on the ground: three Minor Grandmaster, one Rank 9 Martial Practitioner Corpse Valley, and Li Chunming.
When Li Chunming regained consciousness and saw the elders of the Exotic Beast Valley present, his face turned pale with fright. He had only heard from the Lotus Sect that someone was spying outside, and in a moment of panic, he had fled with them.
He never expected that they were Grandmaster Elders of the Exotic Beast Valley. He couldn't understand how Elder Bai and Elder He had gotten here. Then he turned his head and saw Jiang Liu, and immediately he understood.
"It was you? How did you discover the flaw?" Li Chunming said fiercely to Jiang Liu.
He had been cautious ever since he went undercover, but the news Jiang Liu brought last time was too frightening, which made him lose his composure for a moment. It must have been that Jiang Liu saw through his weakness that time.
Jiang Liu ignored him and directly enveloped him with his Divine Sense. Then, his mental power began to invade Li Chunming's Divine Sense sea. Jiang Liu asked a question, and Li Chunming answered it.
This series of actions greatly surprised Elder Bai, Elder He, and the others. They hadn't expected Jiang Liu to have such a trick up his sleeve, making the interrogation much easier.
Subsequently, Jiang Liu also used the same method on another Rank 9 Martial Practitioner from Corpse Valley, and soon Jiang Liu knew the purpose of the Lotus Sect's visit.
Jiang Liu had not expected that the Lotus Sect had such grand ambitions, and that they had a huge plan in the making.
The group sent to make contact with Corpse Valley consisted of three Minor Grandmaster, two Rank 9 Martial Practitioner, and most importantly, a Grandmaster. The two Rank 9 Martial Practitioner had already been killed by Elder Bai and Elder He.
Jiang Liu suddenly felt a bit of a headache. It wasn't that he was afraid of not being able to defeat the Grandmaster, but that he was afraid the Grandmaster would escape, and then the news would be leaked, and the remaining people in Corpse Valley would have to run away.
That would make the arrest very difficult.