Azure Scale Guard

"Sir, what should we do with these people?"

After leaving the City Lord's Mansion, He Zhi respectfully asked.

Ye Kang glanced at Ding Wu, who looked utterly hopeless, and said coolly, "Didn't I already say? Give them the full treatment until they confess."

At that, everyone was dumbfounded.

"Sir... there's no problem with using torture, but what are we supposed to ask them?"

"We don't need to ask anything. If they don't confess, we just keep torturing them."

Ye Kang grinned. The chill in his eyes made Ding Wu shudder, his face pale as paper.

"You can't do this! I'm a martial artist. This violates Great Jin's ancestral laws! You corrupt official!"

Ye Kang ignored Ding Wu's curses completely and turned to leave.

He Zhi could only shake his head. This lord was ruthless.

It was obvious he didn't want to ask anything at all. He simply wanted to torture them.

He Zhi smiled and led his men toward the government offices.

Meanwhile, Ye Kang and Jin Baobei returned to their inn at Wangjiang Tower.

As soon as they reached the upper floor, the door to the room next to theirs opened, and a lively young woman poked her head out.

"Would the two of you care to join me for a cup of tea?"

Ye Kang paused, about to refuse, when a wisp of purple mist suddenly shimmered in the young woman's eyes.

True qi turned to mist. An Innate Master!

Ye Kang's eyes narrowed. He raised a hand and said, "Then we'll impose on you."

The two entered the private room. There was someone else inside besides the young woman: a tall, powerfully built man whose muscles bulged like an iron pagoda.

Unlike the young woman's outgoing manner, the burly man sat with his eyes closed, resting, and paid Ye Kang no attention whatsoever.

Ye Kang didn't mind. He sat down across from them, and Jin Baobei took the seat beside him.

Compared with Ye Kang's nonchalance, Jin Baobei was far more nervous.

The two in the room were probably both Innate Masters. She had no idea whether they were enemies or allies. If they suddenly attacked, wouldn't she be the first to go down with her meager strength?

The young woman seemed to notice Jin Baobei's unease and gave her an innocent smile.

"There's no need to worry, you two. We're on the same side."

"Oh? May I ask where you're from?" Ye Kang asked curiously.

The young woman didn't answer. She simply extended her right hand and tugged lightly at her sleeve, revealing a bracer embroidered with blue-green fish scales.

When Jin Baobei saw the emblem, her pupils shrank.

Ye Kang blinked, clearly not understanding.

Jin Baobei hurriedly whispered, "She's with the Azure Scale Guard."

"The Azure Scale Guard?"

Ye Kang still didn't understand.

This time, even the man, as imposing as an iron pagoda, opened his eyes. His gaze held both confusion and displeasure.

Had the Imperial City Department's Deputy Commander really never even heard of the Azure Scale Guard?

Of course, Ye Kang couldn't be blamed. There was nothing about them in his memories!

The young woman covered her mouth and chuckled, apparently finding it rather amusing.

"Lord Ye, you're quite the character. You're in the officialdom, yet you can't even tell one government agency from another. How amusing."

"Well..."

"It's all right. Let me explain."

The young woman poured the tea, then gazed out the window toward the river.

"Back when Great Jin conquered the realm, it established the Azure Scale Guard to keep the Martial World in check. Later, the Former Emperor swept through the northern Martial World with Thunderous Means. Many sects either went into seclusion or fled south. With no more powerful fighters left in the north, the Azure Scale Guard shifted its operations southward."

Her voice wasn't loud, but it was lovely, with the lightness unique to a young woman.

Ye Kang listened and nodded.

Indeed, all his missions so far had been in the north. Even in Mengzhou, where martial arts flourished most, not one of the so-called Ten Great Sects had an Innate Third Rank expert.

The three great sects of Jiangping Prefecture didn't have a single Innate Master, either.

Ye Kang had thought that was simply how this world was—until this moment, when he finally understood.

So the Former Emperor had been so formidable that he'd smashed the north into ruin.

And Jiayang City, located only at the boundary between north and south, had a City Lord who'd reached Third-Rank Innate. The difference was plain to see.

The young woman continued.

"The Azure Scale Guard is small in number, so it has to garrison the south. All the minor matters in the north are left to the Imperial City Department. Do you understand, Lord Ye?"

The young woman stared straight at Ye Kang. The meaning behind her words was plain.

The Azure Scale Guard handled the south. The Imperial City Department should keep its nose out.

Ye Kang nodded and took an unhurried sip of tea.

"So you're both officials. It must be hard work, garrisoning the south. Don't worry, leave Jiayang City's affairs to me. I'll make sure to lighten your burden."

When Ye Kang finished speaking, the young woman and the burly man stared at him as if he were an idiot.

A moment later, the young woman couldn't help throwing her head back and laughing.

"How amusing! Lord Ye, you're truly a character. Why not join the Azure Scale Guard? I can recommend you."

"No, thank you. I prefer the Imperial City Department."

Ye Kang refused outright.

He'd already climbed to the top of the Imperial City Department. If he jumped ship now, wouldn't all his hard work have gone to waste?

At last, the burly man spoke.

He slowly opened his mouth and said in a deep voice, "I don't want to waste words. The Flower Thief case belongs to the Azure Scale Guard. Don't interfere."

He released his aura. He, too, was an Innate Third Rank master!

And one of the stronger ones at that.

Jin Baobei's face turned pale, but Ye Kang replied without a trace of fear, "We're all serving the Emperor. Why draw lines between us?"

"Rules are rules. No one touches a case we've taken on."

"What if I insist on getting involved?"

Ye Kang held his teacup to his lips and stared straight at the two across from him, not yielding an inch.

The two said nothing more and stood to leave.

"By all means, Lord Ye. Just don't want you wasting your efforts."

Watching them leave, Jin Baobei finally let out a breath of relief.

"Oh my heavens! That's the legendary Azure Scale Guard, and you actually stood up to them!"

"Are they really that impressive?"

"Of course. Without them, those martial artists in the south would've stormed the imperial palace long ago. But even with them racing from one crisis to the next, the situation in the south is still dire."

"So the real Martial World lies south of the Jiayang River."

Ye Kang gazed at the river and couldn't help thinking of his maternal grandfather.

In his memories, his mother had married into the imperial capital from Jiangnan.

And he seemed to have met that grandfather only a few times as a child.

Ye Kang fell into thought, while Jin Baobei looked helpless.

"By the way, wasn't Lord Leng's mission for us to deal with river bandits?"

That night, there was still no news of the Flower Thief.

The men scattered throughout the city had found nothing useful. Instead, He Zhi came hurrying over from the government offices.

"Lord Ye! You're incredible! You really did get something out of him!"

"Huh?"

Ye Kang looked completely baffled. Get what out of whom?

"That Ding Wu—I put him through more than ten kinds of torture. I didn't even ask him anything, but the poor bastard couldn't take it and spilled everything he knew!"

Ye Kang's expression changed.

"Could it be news of the Flower Thief?"

"Exactly! Ding Wu said he'd once seen a guard in the City Lord's Mansion spying on the City Lord's concubine. He used that as an excuse to extort quite a bit of money from the man! I made some inquiries right away, and the guard entered the City Lord's Mansion on the very day of the first flower-thief case!"