Night had yet to retreat.
The fires in Yunlin County's Inner City still stained half the night sky red.
Behind the high walls, estates once filled with gentle lamplight and endless music now rang with running footsteps, cries, and clashing blades.
After meeting Yi Yang on the rooftop, Qi Shujian had left without forcing an investigation into his secrets.
But his instincts told him that old jailer was no ordinary man.
It counted as one interesting encounter tonight.
Unfortunately, he had too much to do tonight to stop. He had to use this chance afforded by his supposed seclusion to sweep away every force in the city connected to the Nine Evil Sect.
The prey he truly sought had never been a few small fry in the qi-blood realm.
He intended to tear out every rotten root beneath Yunlin County: the Zhang clan, the Wang Family, the Red Tiger Gang, and those who wore officials' robes and drew salaries from the Heaven Patrol Office while handing knives to the great families.
Not one of them would escape tonight's operation.
At the eastern street entrance of the Inner City.
Song Tiecheng, Deputy Director of the Yunlin County Heaven Patrol Office, stood armored in the middle of the long street, blood still dripping from his staff.
Behind him, three hundred elite Heaven Patrol Office troops had formed two ranks at his command. Crossbows cocked and shields thrust forward, they sealed the Inner City's eastern exit so tightly that not a drop could pass.
The other Deputy Director, Chen Wuya, stood outside a second-floor window of a teahouse beside the street, holding a thick stack of registers listing the people they had already identified.
Firelight stained the pages red in the night.
Each time he read out a name, a squad of Patrol