In his official directive, Fang Yun explicitly stated that this crackdown on spirit beast traffickers was not merely about upholding the nation's laws. It was also about avenging those fifteen victims, as well as everyone the traffickers had killed before them.
Fang Yun cited records from the Sacred Academy in the directive. Every year, more than ten thousand people on the Saint Origin Continent died at the hands of spirit beast traffickers. Some were murdered when their household spirit beasts were stolen, some were silenced after accidentally discovering a trafficker's identity, and others died in clashes between rival traffickers.
Among them, constables, yamen runners, and their families who suffered retaliation from spirit beast traffickers numbered in the hundreds each year.
Fang Yun expressly ordered that any spirit beast trafficker who dared resist arrest was to be executed on the spot. He would assume all responsibility.
Before issuing the directive, Fang Yun had assembled the officials of Xiang Prefecture and declared before them that if a nation could not avenge the heroes who sacrificed themselves to protect its people, then every official in that nation ought to follow them into the grave!
This time, Fang Yun sent a clear message to every official, clerk, and runner in Xiang Prefecture: spirit beast traffickers were to be rooted out to the last, not merely to set the nation's foundations right and demonstrate the authority of its laws, but also for its heroes, both dead and living!
Once Fang Yun's directive was issued, constables and yamen runners throughout Xiang Prefecture sprang into action as though they had been granted the Imperial Sword. They posted notices calling for the arrest of spirit beast traffickers everywhere, drawing on all manner of informants and intelligence to report or apprehend them.
The operation targeting spirit beast traffickers swept