╭( ) Casting Off the Dust, Stepping into the Heavens
Three days later...
In the Jinyiwei Thousand Household Office in Yingtian Prefecture, the morning light fell on the gloomy, storm-dark face of Lu Bing, the Jinyiwei Commander who had just returned from the Jiangyin front.
He had barely made it back and hadn't even changed clothes. Still wearing his purple-black Flying Fish uniform, he paced back and forth across the hall, irritable and restless, a far cry from his usual dignity and composure.
The reason for his agitation was that, ever since the Sun Moon Holy Cult had seized Hangzhou Prefecture on the fifteenth day of the eighth lunar month, he had ordered the Jianghu intelligence organization under his Jinyiwei—the so-called "Jianghu All-Knowing Scholar"—to lie low and stop publishing any new martial-world rumors. All its members were to stand by or provide intelligence support exclusively to the Jinyiwei.
Yet three days ago, without notifying him or obtaining his permission, they had brazenly published a new monthly martial-world bulletin, reporting that the imperial army had laid siege to Mount Hua and suffered a crushing defeat.
In his eyes, that was an extremely serious matter!
So he had hurried back from the Jiangyin front at once, then summoned the relevant subordinates to hold them accountable.
After a long while...
Only once the last of the Yingtian Prefecture Jinyiwei thousand and hundred household officers had arrived did he finally stop pacing, his face dark. He took his seat at the head of the hall and glared down at his assembled subordinates.
"Speak!"
"What exactly happened?"
"Ever since Hangzhou Prefecture fell, I ordered the 'Jianghu All-Knowing Scholar' to lie low until the time was right."
"For the past three months, everything had gone smoothly. But then this happened three days ago. Take a look