Qing Chen did not stop, however, and pointed to another jade slip that pulsed with pitch-black spiritual light.
"Over the past ten years, nine secret passes were privately established in Suzhou. Through seven Outer Sect trading houses of the Taotie Yuan-Devouring Sect, Provincial Governor Luo shipped military spiritwood, formation plates of various tiers, and fortune talismans to the various nations of the Western Regions. The spirit stones left unrecorded in the provincial government's official registers alone amounted to no less than a billion."
"Several decades ago, a shipment of mid- and low-grade battle formation treasure ship keels dispatched by the Ministry of War to Yanmen Pass disappeared within Suzhou. The Suzhou government reported that they had come under attack by demonic barbarians. Heh."
At this point, an inscrutable smile suddenly curled the corners of Qing Chen's lips.
"Naturally, I would never condemn someone for their words."
From deep within the blood mist, Qing Chen's voice drifted slowly out, so calm that it even held a trace of gentleness, as though Yan Zhen's earlier words, which had almost amounted to a public interrogation, had been nothing more than an inconsequential complaint to his ears.
But the next moment, his voice abruptly sank.
"I will only-arrest traitors!"
As those final words fell, the entire great hall of the Sky-Patrol Governor-General's Residence seemed to be seized in a giant hand's crushing grip!
"Lord Qing!" Luo Chong, the Provincial Governor of Suzhou who hailed from the Taotie Yuan-Devouring Sect, looked as grim as dark water. Seeing quite a few provincial governors quietly retreating around him, he abruptly stepped forward.
"The origins of these jade slips are unknown, and the truth of their contents has yet to be established! I am a Principal Third Rank provincial governor of the Immortal Dynasty. Even if I truly