Knock, knock, knock.
Three knocks sounded, neither hurried nor slow.
Hearing the knocks, Yi Yang set down his teacup, glanced toward the door, and said, "Come in."
The door opened, and Xu Min's tall figure stepped inside. He pulled the door shut behind him, strode over to Yi Yang, and bowed.
"Sir."
"Sit."
Yi Yang pointed at the chair opposite him.
Xu Min sat as instructed, but perched on the edge of the seat with his back ramrod straight.
Over the past two days, the Pacification Guard had settled into the accommodations arranged by the Qing Province Heaven Patrol Office. Following Yi Yang's instructions, Xu Min had changed into plain clothes and gained a general understanding of the office's inner workings, along with some of Qingzhou City's unwritten rules.
"What did you find out?" Yi Yang poured him a cup of tea.
"I've gotten to the bottom of it all."
Xu Min accepted the cup with both hands, set it aside, and took a folded sheet of paper from his robes, unfolding it across the table.
This was what he had pieced together over two days of roaming the city, gathering scraps of information from teahouses, taverns, weapon merchants, and even the Heaven Patrol Office's lowest-ranking Patrol Guards.
After laying it out, Xu Min leaned forward slightly and lowered his voice to explain:
"Sir, the waters in Qingzhou City run much deeper than we thought."
There was undisguised shock on his face. He had never expected Qingzhou City to be so complicated.
"When people in the city talk about its powers, they often use one phrase: one general, one office, four lineages."
"The 'one general' refers to Qingzhou City's original master, a hereditary lineage whose title has passed down undiminished for over a thousand years-the Azure Jade Divine General Lineage."