Return to Fasnuo! Di Yao Seals the Accounts with a Single Order, Leaving Everyone in the Branch Hall in Fear!

Fasinuo Province.

Outside a border town, the convoy of Spirit Hall's Law Enforcement Team slowly came to a stop.

A crowd had long since gathered before the Branch Hall gates.

The new acting hall master stood at the foot of the steps with a group of Deacons, waiting respectfully.

The moment they saw Di Yao step out of the carriage, their expressions changed.

A few months ago, this child had still been an orphan awakening his Martial Soul here.

Now, as he returned, he was followed by the Pope Palace's Law Enforcement Team, with a Temporary Enforcement Token hanging at his waist.

His status was now entirely different.

The acting hall master hurried forward and bowed.

"Lord Di Yao."

"Everyone of the Fasnuo Branch Hall welcomes you, my lord."

Di Yao glanced at him.

"Where is the Accounting Department?"

The acting hall master froze.

He had prepared a whole bellyful of pleasantries.

Yet the first thing Di Yao asked about was the Accounting Department.

"Th-this... you must be weary from the journey, my lord. Why not come inside and rest first?"

Di Yao said blandly, "I did not come here to rest."

Sweat immediately beaded on the acting hall master's forehead.

Hu Liena stood beside Di Yao, her gaze sweeping across the Branch Hall personnel.

She could clearly sense that several people's expressions were off.

They were not nervous.

They were panicked.

Di Yao saw it too.

But he did not expose them.

He raised a hand and displayed the Pope Palace token.

"By order of His Holiness the Pope, I am investigating the resource loss case at the Fasnuo Branch Hall."

"From this moment onward, the Accounting Department, Warehouse, Soul Beast Catalog room, Potion Vault, and Awakening Apparatus Vault are all sealed."

"Without my order, no one may enter or leave."

The acting hall master's face paled.

"Lord Di Yao, isn't this a little too sudden?"

Di Yao looked at him.

"The one in a hurry should not be me."

The acting hall master's throat tightened.

Di Yao turned to the Law Enforcement Team.

"Split into three groups."

"First team, seal the Accounting Department and investigate the resource release records from the past five years."

"Second team, seal the Warehouse and compare the current supplies against the gaps in the Account Ledgers."

"Third team, investigate the list of people who handled them."

"Hu Liena."

Hu Liena immediately looked at him.

"Here."

"Watch them."

"Anyone whose expression is off, anyone who tries to leave—record them first."

Hu Liena nodded.

"Understood."

Di Yao then looked at the Soul Emperor enforcement officer.

"Deacon Zhou, take two Spirit Kings and guard the Branch Hall gates."

"Without my word, do not let even a bird fly out."

Deacon Zhou replied solemnly, "Yes!"

The instant the orders were issued, the entire Branch Hall sprang into action.

The Law Enforcement Team moved with remarkable speed.

Seals were pasted directly onto the Accounting Department doors.

The keys to the Potion Vault were confiscated.

Several low-ranking Deacons who had intended to slip away amid the chaos were pinned in place by a single glance from Hu Liena.

The acting hall master stood nearby, breaking out in increasingly heavy cold sweat.

He had not held this position for long.

But he was not entirely unaware of how rotten this Branch Hall had been before.

It was just that there were many things he did not dare investigate.

Nor did he want to.

Now that Di Yao had arrived, he did not beat around the bush with anyone.

His first move was to seal the accounts.

He was overturning the whole table.

Hu Liena walked to Di Yao's side and asked quietly, "You're not interrogating the acting hall master first?"

Di Yao flipped through a preliminary roster.

"No rush."

"People will coordinate their stories."

"The accounts will not run away on their own."

Hu Liena glanced around.

"But the accounts can be destroyed."

"That is why we seal them first," Di Yao said.

He raised his eyes toward an Accounting Department Deacon in the distance.

That man had already stepped backward three times.

Each time, he had pretended to straighten his sleeve.

Yet his eyes kept drifting toward the side door.

Di Yao said blandly, "That one. Record him."

Hu Liena followed his gaze.

"Someone from the Accounting Department?"

"Mm."

Di Yao said, "He'll make a move."

Hu Liena frowned slightly.

"How can you be sure?"

Di Yao closed the roster.

"A truly clean person will be nervous when they see an audit."

"Someone with a guilty conscience looks for a way out."

Hu Liena paused.

The words were straightforward.

But they were accurate.

Less than half an hour later, the first batch of Account Ledgers was delivered to the main hall.

The ledgers piled up across an entire table.

All resource transfer records from the Fasnuo Branch Hall over the past five years were laid before Di Yao.

Di Yao did not immediately examine the Master Ledger.

He first picked up the release registrations.

Then he examined the receiving signatures.

Finally, he checked the returned results.

Hu Liena stood beside him, her brows drawing tighter the more she read.

"These records are a mess."

"They are not a mess," Di Yao said. "They were deliberately made convoluted."

"Look here."

He pointed at one entry.

"Awakening crystal fragments, nominally listed as recovered losses."

"But on the next page, they were loaned out again under the name of 'theoretical samples.'"

"The receiving location was Notting Academy."

Hu Liena flipped to another ledger.

"The low-grade potions were the same."

"They were nominally for supporting commoner Soul Masters, but the recipient was neither a Branch Hall Deacon nor the academy headmaster."

Di Yao said, "Signed on someone else's behalf."

Hu Liena continued reading.

"Thirty-two copied volumes of the Soul Beast Catalog were loaned out."

"Returned results... none."

Her expression turned cold.

"This is not research."

"This is taking things for free."

Di Yao was not surprised.

He placed several Account Ledgers together.

"A stable hidden pipeline."

"The Branch Hall supplied the resources."

"Notting Academy received them."

"Someone signed in the middle."

"No results were returned."

"The shortfalls were erased under labels like losses, support, and exchanges."

"Yu Xiaogang?"

Di Yao nodded.

"His name appeared seventeen times."

"A few other entries were under the academy's name, but the handwriting looked like it belonged to the same person."

Upon hearing this, the acting hall master's face went even whiter.

He said in a low voice, "Lord Di Yao, Grandmaster Yu Xiaogang has been at Notting Academy for many years. He has indeed often had theoretical exchanges with the Branch Hall."

Di Yao looked up.

"Grandmaster?"

The acting hall master forced himself to continue. "He proposed the Ten Core Competencies of Martial Soul. Within the Soul Master theory world..."

Di Yao cut him off.

"What I asked was, what did he return?"

The acting hall master opened his mouth.

Not a single word came out.

Di Yao slapped the Account Ledger onto the table.

"Theoretical exchanges are not a one-way street."

The main hall fell utterly silent.

Those words were like a blade, directly stabbing through Yu Xiaogang's veneer of respectability.

By evening.

The Law Enforcement Team uncovered the first batch of problems.

The Warehouse shortfall was not large, but it occurred with alarming frequency.

Awakening Apparatus components.

Low-grade potions.

Copied volumes of the Soul Beast Catalog.

Mimicry Cultivation Materials.

Individually, none of them were especially valuable.

But accumulated over five years, the quantity was extremely considerable.

More importantly, all of these items were suitable for low-level Soul Masters.

Suitable for training newcomers.

It was also suitable for secretly feeding to some genius.

Di Yao looked at the list of discrepancies, the chill in his eyes deepening.

"Interesting."

Hu Liena asked, "What's interesting?"

"These items don't look like they were being resold."

Di Yao said, "Resellers would pick high-value supplies."

"These low-tier resources don't bring enough profit."

Hu Liena immediately understood.

"Someone was using Spirit Hall resources to cultivate someone over the long term?"

Di Yao nodded.

"Or a small circle."

Just then, a Law Enforcement Team member hurried inside.

"My lord, a Deacon from the Accounting Department has disappeared."

Hu Liena's gaze turned cold.

"The person you singled out just now?"

Di Yao asked, "Where did he go?"

The Law Enforcement Team member lowered his head.

"The old warehouse in the rear courtyard."

"Our people followed him and found him trying to burn the old records."

Hu Liena sneered.

"So he really made a move."

Di Yao rose to his feet.

"Bring him here."

Very soon, the Accounting Department Deacon was escorted into the main hall.

Ash still clung to his cuffs, and his face was deathly pale.

Hu Liena walked up to him as the Demon Fox Spirit quietly manifested behind her.

This time, she did not use gentle Charm.

She first threw the charred account pages before him.

"You burned these?"

The Accounting Department Deacon trembled as he said, "I... I was only afraid the old records would get damp, so I wanted to sort them out..."

Hu Liena's eyes turned cold.

Her spiritual power pressed down.

"You have two choices now."

"Talk."

"Or I'll make you see the thing you fear most in your heart, over and over again."

The Accounting Department Deacon shuddered all over.

He looked toward Di Yao.

Di Yao sat in the seat of honor without saying a word.

But that calmness frightened him even more than Hu Liena's spiritual pressure.

At last, he broke.

"I'll talk!"

"There's a private warehouse at Notting Academy!"

"Not everything that was loaned out is recorded in the academy's accounts."

"Most of it went into Yu Xiaogang's private warehouse!"

The acting hall master's expression changed drastically.

Hu Liena's eyes lit up as well.

Di Yao merely nodded.

"Continue."

The Accounting Department Deacon looked as though he were about to cry.

"I was only the handler."

"Every time, the old hall master approved the slips."

"Yu Xiaogang held special authorization rights."

"He said it was for theoretical research and told us not to ask too many questions."

"Also... some things were handed over to people outside the academy."

Di Yao asked, "Who?"

The Accounting Department Deacon shook his head.

"I don't know."

"There were only code names on the receipts."

"But I heard them mention the Black Market Soul Hunting Group once."

The Black Market Soul Hunting Group.

Hu Liena's expression turned completely cold.

This was no longer an ordinary case of borrowed supplies not being returned.

Spirit Hall resources were being siphoned away.

They might have even flowed into the Black Market.

Di Yao stood up.

"Seal the testimony."

"We'll go to Notting Academy tomorrow."

Hu Liena asked, "We're not going now?"

Di Yao looked toward the night.

"No."

"Release the information tonight."

Hu Liena froze.

"Release what?"

Di Yao said calmly, "Spirit Hall is only investigating the Branch Hall's traitors. We will not touch the academy."

Hu Liena understood instantly.

"Fishing?"

Di Yao nodded.

"Anyone who believes it is stupid."

"Anyone who rushes to act is the next line."

Outside the main hall, the night wind swept past the Branch Hall's banners.

Di Yao looked toward Nuoding City, a flicker of Dark Gold Firelight flashing in his eyes.

Yu Xiaogang.

Theoretical Grandmaster?

Very well.

Tomorrow, they would see whether his theories could settle the accounts.