The director's office at the Heaven Patrol Office.
Chen Wuya slammed the case file that had just arrived from the Martial Law Hall onto the desk with considerable force. The mahogany desktop gave a dull thud, making even the ink in the inkstone ripple.
"The Zhang." Anger colored his face as he spat out the name.
Song Tiecheng sat opposite him. He had just returned from inspecting the defenses at the Drill Ground and had not yet removed his armor. His iron-gray bracers rested on the armrests, knocking dully against the chair. He raised his eyes and glanced at his second brother's livid face.
"What happened?"
"See for yourself." Chen Wuya pushed the file toward him.
Song Tiecheng took it and turned two pages. His brows slowly drew together.
The file detailed the defensive arrangements at South City Prison. Feng Haiyuan, Grand Steward of the Nine Evil Sect, would arrive under escort in Yunlin County at noon tomorrow. He was a tough customer, with cultivation at the qi-blood sixth level. Although Master Jingyuan had sealed eighty percent of his qi and blood with a secret technique, his foundation remained intact.
The Heaven Patrol Office dared not take him lightly and had specially cleared out a Heaven-Class cell in the deepest part of South City Prison to hold him.
The top four in the Quarterly Ranking Battle-Qin Ju, Wang Qiongyu, Tang Ji, and Zhao Tong-had spent two days wrangling over custody of the prisoner. In the end, Master Jingyuan of the Golden Sun Temple had made the final decision: the prisoner would be held at the Heaven Patrol Office, and each of the four would send a trusted subordinate to participate jointly in the interrogation.
The arrangement sounded perfectly reasonable. Chen Wuya had initially thought it would work, too.
But the