At the Commandery City headquarters, the Chief Steward stared at the written reprimand sent from the Main Hall, his face ashen. For days, he had been unable to eat or sleep in peace. Frustration, fear, regret, and anger tangled together in his heart, nearly crushing his mind.
The last time he had received such a scolding had been decades ago.
He refused to accept it! Absolutely refused!
It was all Lin Fan's fault.
If he did nothing from now on, was he supposed to simply let Lin Fan soar straight to the heavens in the Azure Elixir Sect? Was he supposed to silently swallow the bitter fruit of losing two transforming force fighters, paying an enormous sum on top of that, and enduring the headquarters' harsh reprimands?
He gritted his teeth, refusing to give up, still clinging to one last obsession.
"Lin Fan must have family! Relatives!"
"He himself has entered the sect and gained its protection, but his kin in the secular world must still be back home!"
"If I can't capture him, I'll capture his kin! I'll use them as leverage and force him to bow his head! Force him to serve the Ten Thousand Treasures Hall!"
With that thought, the Chief Steward immediately mobilized hundreds of scouts, casting a wide net across the hundreds of towns and thousands of villages within Azure Cloud Commandery, determined to uncover every trace of Lin Fan's connections in the secular world!
For more than ten days, every scout of the Ten Thousand Treasures Commerce traveled tirelessly from one town and village to the next, taking turns investigating.
Finally!
More than ten days later, a scout spurred his horse back to the Commandery City to report his findings!
"Chief Steward! We found it! We found a lead!"
"Before Lin Fan came to