Martial Suppression Bureau

To Chu Yuan's surprise, Qi Da did not ask how he had managed to reach the Internal Breath Realm in such a short amount of time.

He had already prepared a backstory involving a mysterious and powerful master... it turned out to be completely unnecessary.

All that effort he had wasted...

In truth, even without him saying a word, Qi Da had likely already guessed as much.

There were only three possibilities for Chu Yuan to go from an ordinary person to the Internal Breath Realm in a single week.

First: The methods of an Alien Race.

Second: He had obtained a powerful inheritance.

Third: He had met a powerful martial artist who took him on as a disciple.

Although none of these were particularly likely, Chenyang City was just a small inland town; it wasn't worth the Alien Race investing much attention here.

Qi Da couldn't even remember how many years it had been since he last heard of the Alien Race causing trouble in Chenyang City.

As for obtaining an inheritance... Chu Yuan's movements were practically transparent. To anyone interested, it wasn't hard to investigate. He had stayed in the city, living a life between home and school; where could he have possibly found an inheritance?

Could it be that a spatial rift just happened to open beside him, and an inheritance fell out?

If that were the case, it would be the most terrifying scenario of all. Just how heaven-defying would his luck have to be?

Therefore, the possibility of him having a powerful master was the most plausible.

Even so, breaking through to the Internal Breath Realm in one week was still too monstrous, which was why Qi Da had told him to keep a low profile.

Chu Yuan didn't mind. Although his Internal Breath Realm status was a sham, judging by his clash with the killer earlier, he was indeed qualified to go toe-to-toe with an Internal Breath Realm martial artist now.

Of course, if the opponent were too strong, he wouldn't be able to win, otherwise, he would have kept the guy there earlier.

According to his previous deductions, once he completed his Foundation Establishment, he would be practically invincible within the Internal Breath Realm!

After tonight, aside from clearing his own name, his status in Qi Da's eyes had risen once again. Not to mention the Li Family, at the very least, the trouble from the Public Security Bureau... should be gone.

However, neither of them expected that the gag order issued by Qi Da had come too late.

Or rather, the Public Security Bureau captain on the scene had reported the news far too quickly.

Inside a building in the center of Chenyang City, a man with a square face hung up his terminal, a look of solemnity flashing in his eyes.

Immediately after, he sent out two messages.

Before long, a man and a woman pushed the door open and walked in.

"Captain."

"Have you both read the files I sent?"

"We have." The man, who looked to be about twenty-five or twenty-six, was wearing loose casual clothes and found a seat at random. "So, what is our mission?"

"The scent of those vermin is too obvious... go and root them out!"

The man nodded. "Understood. Then... what about that kid who supposedly broke through to the Internal Breath Realm in a week?"

The square-faced man shook his head. "Leave him be. If there were truly something wrong with him, Qi Da wouldn't have missed it."

"I didn't mean there was something wrong with him..." The man sat up a bit straighter, leaning forward with a mischievous glint in his eyes. "I mean, should we take advantage of the fact that he hasn't seen much of the world yet and try to lure him into our Martial Suppression Bureau?

The files show that his father sacrificed himself in the Third Guard Army.

Perhaps he has a different perspective on the military..."

"...Do as you see fit." The square-faced man gave his silent consent.

The two major violent apparatuses of the Great Qin were the military and the Martial Suppression Bureau.

The former followed a path of mass screening, piling up powerhouses through one brutal war after another! The latter followed a path of quality over quantity, consisting entirely of elites!

Furthermore, the danger level of the Martial Suppression Bureau was no less than that of the military.

Criminal martial artists, infiltrating Alien Races, cult organizations... these all fell under their jurisdiction. Even when a major war broke out, the Martial Suppression Bureau had to dispatch experts to assist the military.

Although both served the nation and often cooperated, there was also competition between them.

There were only so many experts to go around; if you had one more, I had one less...

After stepping outside, the woman who hadn't spoken in the office finally asked, "Brother Jiang, what did the captain mean by 'those vermin'?"

"A group of rebels hiding in the gutters," Jiang Fei explained. "The thing they love doing most is destroying martial arts geniuses who haven't grown up yet!

Either by assassination, or by... turning them into one of their own."

"Turning them into one of their own?" The woman was puzzled. Any martial artist with a halfway normal brain wouldn't associate with them, right?

"Take this person named Chu Yuan, for example. Someone used his face to kill people, and they only killed those who had grudges against him.

Under normal circumstances, it would be very difficult for Chu Yuan to clear his name.

Once he was arrested and tried by the Public Security Bureau, those vermin would have jumped out to 'rescue' him, and then... he would have had no choice but to join them." Jiang Fei shrugged, looking somewhat gleeful. "But this time, they underestimated the target's strength... they tripped up right from the start."

"That sounds like it has a lot of loopholes..."

"A high school senior isn't a martial artist yet. Under normal circumstances, homicide cases involving ordinary people are handled by the Public Security Bureau; our Martial Suppression Bureau wouldn't get involved."

"But Chu Yuan is a member of the super-tier Blue Cloud Project. Even if Chu Yuan were arrested by the Public Security Bureau, our people would step in during the final review stage... They wouldn't have succeeded from the very beginning," Jiang Fei explained.

There was one more thing he didn't mention: why was the reaction from the Li Family of the Prefecture so muted after losing a direct descendant? Why hadn't they even sent someone to come in person?

One reason was the Blue Cloud Project... or what is commonly known as the quota for support.

The other reason was the Martial Suppression Bureau.

This was part of the "rules" that Qi Da had once spoken of to Chu Yuan.

"Then why are they still wasting their effort?"

"Who knows... maybe they didn't even know Chu Yuan had joined the Blue Cloud Project?" Jiang Fei said as he walked out. "Actually, it was also carelessness. Chenyang City hasn't seen something like this happen in years. Xiao Yun, your vacation is ruined..."

"It's fine, Brother Fei. The mission is what matters."

"You couldn't even handle such a simple task. Tell me yourself, are you trash?" In a dimly lit room, someone spoke in a calm tone.

The person wearing Chu Yuan's face knelt on the ground, trembling all over, as if something terrifying was about to happen. His chest was bleeding, but he couldn't care about that, only saying nervously, "My Lord! I didn't expect Chu Yuan and the people from the Public Security Bureau to be hiding there in advance! He... he is already in the Internal Breath Realm!"

"Excuses."

At this moment, someone else pushed the door open and walked in.

A mocking, delicate laugh rang out: "Heh... Yan Xuan, it seems your subordinate is just as useless as you are."

Yan Xuan seemed not to hear anything; he reached out and pressed his hand onto the top of "Chu Yuan's" head.

"My Lord, spare me! My Lord... ah!"

A shrill, miserable scream erupted as streaks of red light flowed up along Yan Xuan's palm and into his body.

In just a few short breaths, "Chu Yuan" looked as if all the essence had been drained from his body, turning into a dried-up corpse!

He then collapsed to the ground, completely devoid of life...

Only then did Yan Xuan look up, his killing intent still lingering as he stared at the newcomer—a woman with a beautiful, shapely figure, but whose face was covered in dense, crisscrossing scars.

"Cao Rong, what are you here for?"

"Heh, trying to scare me by killing your own men? Even if you killed all your subordinates, what does that have to do with me?" Cao Rong curled her lip in disdain, causing the scars on her face to writhe like crawling centipedes. "The Envoy sent me to ask you: how is the mission progress?"

"It can begin at any time."