"Candidate Chief Inspector."
Yi Yang thought of his current position, but did not let that flicker of satisfaction linger in his heart.
He had seen far too many people let success go to their heads. The gang bosses in Yunlin County, Mo Qianhe in White Fish City, Wei Zhao-which of them had not swaggered unchecked through his own territory?
In the end, they had all died.
His title of Candidate Chief Inspector was merely a ticket to a seat at the table in the Prefectural City.
Outside the city, the Three Great Sects-the Golden Sun Temple, the Profound Sword Pavilion, and Cangwu Mountain-had been entrenched for years. Pick any elder from their ranks, and his cultivation would be in the true astral realm.
Within the city alone, the Liu Family and Wu Family had built their influence over a century, their roots reaching into the Heaven Patrol Office and merchant guilds. Each family had several true astral realm experts.
Among the upper ranks of the four offices, Xiao Zhengyan, Ji Yunzhang, Yan Wuyuan, and Wen Shiheng were all figures considered formidable even within the true astral realm.
And some Candidate Chief Inspectors also possessed true astral realm strength.
As for him? He was in the early true astral realm, barely across the threshold.
Put plainly, his circumstances were not fundamentally different from back in Three Trees Village. Before, a village tyrant could crush him to death. Now, sects and great families had taken that place.
The level had changed. The principle had not.
Yi Yang tightened his Concealed Breath Formless Art a fraction.
He concealed the true astral force in his meridians even deeper, keeping his outward aura steady at third inner qi completion.
The more attention he drew, the more securely he had to hide his trump cards.
That