The man turned around.
By the firelight, Yi Yang saw his face clearly.
He had broad shoulders and a powerful back, an iron-cast face, and high brow ridges that shadowed a pair of unfathomably deep eyes. His dark-gold martial robe snapped in the wind, and the Command Token hanging at his waist gleamed coldly in the firelight.
The newcomer was none other than Qi Shujian, whom Yi Yang had met once before.
The Heaven Patrol Office's Patrol Director.
An expert of the third inner qi realm.
Upon recognizing his immediate superior, Yi Yang's pupils contracted. His grip on his saber did not loosen, but he finally breathed a sigh of relief.
They faced each other across thirty feet of rooftop. The night wind whipped Qi Shujian's robes, yet he stood as steadily as though he had grown out of the tiles, without the slightest sway.
His imposing presence spread silently outward. Yi Yang felt as though something invisible had pressed down on the qi sea inside him.
Not the sixth level.
Not the first realm.
Not even the second.
This spreading sense of oppression... was far stronger than Zhang Bonian's.
Qi Shujian stood there without drawing his sword or showing any intention of attacking.
He simply stood there, his gaze passing from Yi Yang's bloodstained official uniform to the still-unsheathed saber in his hand, then to his rigid back, before he said:
"I passed an alley just now."
Qi Shujian's voice was low and resonant. He sounded less as though he were asking a question than stating a fact:
"There were six bodies inside. One was Wang Gongqin, a Grand Steward of the Nine Evil Sect. Another four were his subordinates."
He paused, then continued at an unhurried pace, "And the last was the Zhang family's chief elder, whom I