On the way to the ancient tomb.
Lu Ding read the message Director Gao had sent to his phone.
He silently committed the name Tang Hu of the Five Viscera Life Society to memory.
So you like running your filthy mouth.
We'll get a chance to meet.
Their destination was a small park, already cordoned off.
Lu Ding showed his credentials and was just about to enter.
Yan Feifan lagged half a step behind. He had seen the message on his phone too.
"Brother Lu, the Five Viscera Life Society is the weakest of the three factions, yet they still dare act this arrogant. Shouldn't we teach them a lesson?"
The Five Viscera Life Society was one of the qi refiner factions in Baofan District.
Its members were mostly spirit mediums or rogue Maoshan Daoists who dispatched savage spirits. They had come to Yunhai from various places to earn money and work, eventually banding together and settling here.
They usually did things like reading feng shui, exorcising evil, catching ghosts, and stabilizing fortunes.
They also sold minor magical implements and the like, nothing fit for the grand stage.
The Three Brothers Long, Hu, and Bao were in charge.
All three were spirit mediums. The eldest, Tang Long, carried Old Immortal Fallen Dragon on his back-an old loach that had become a spirit after who knew how many years of cultivation. In any case, it was only one step away from becoming a force to be reckoned with.
The second brother, Tang Hu, had chanced upon a tiger coming down the mountain. Luckily, not only had he avoided being eaten, but he had also become the spirit medium who served that tiger.
The youngest, Tang Bao, had supposedly gotten lost in the mountains as a child. A leopard that had lost its cub found him and raised him for several years. Eventually, the leopard became a spirit and comprehended the Dao, and he became its attendant.
Interestingly, both the eldest, Tang Long, and the second brother, Tang Hu, had become spirit attendants while searching for Tang Bao.
The three brothers had all happened to do so around the same time.
Later, they had even changed their names together, becoming the Three Brothers Long, Hu, and Bao, and come to Yunhai.
"No rush. Once things here are dealt with, I'll visit him myself and tell him who these three fires I'm lighting as a newly appointed official are meant for."
Lu Ding did not care how the other patrol officers handled things. But now that he was here, dragons would have to lie low, and tigers would have to coil up. He had not gone looking for trouble with these people, yet they had come to provoke him first.
Then they could have a proper bit of fun.
Nobody would be sitting idle.
He stepped over the cordon and went inside.
The sprawling park had been divided into two areas.
In the outer area, archaeological researchers were excavating the ancient tomb as a whole with little brushes and trowels.
Farther inside, another group stood guard.
Seeing unfamiliar faces approaching, they hurried forward to stop them.
"Do you have entry passes?!"
"No entry without a pass."
Lu Ding took out his credentials and handed them over. "Will this get me in?"
The man took them and opened them. The words "State Security" were written there plain as day, complete with an embossed seal.
The man's hands trembled a little.
However arrogant he might be, even he would go numb when faced with State Security.
It was only because he was not a qi refiner; otherwise, seeing "Bureau 749" would probably have left him even more numb.
In this day and age, the power carried by the name Bureau 749 was no less than that of the ancient Embroidered Uniform Guard: execute first and report afterward, with imperial authorization.
If someone obstructed official business, killing them was simply killing them.
Looking troubled, the man said, "Sir... this place already belongs to the Four Seas Group. Letting you in without a pass would be against the rules. I'll get in trouble too if I let you through."
Lu Ding drew a handgun from behind his waist and chambered a round.
"Will this get me in?!"
Looking at the dark gun barrel, the man no longer dared block him. He nodded hastily. "Yes, yes! Please, go right in."
He really was afraid that if he said another few words, the man would actually dare put a bullet in him.
Obstructing State Security in the execution of its duties was no joke.
Lu Ding accepted the credentials the man respectfully handed back.
He tucked the handgun back into his waistband and entered the actual collapse site.
After he left, the man pulled out his phone and hurriedly sent a message.
[Brother Xuan, someone from State Security is here. He even pulled a gun. I couldn't stop him. He's inside now and will probably reach you soon.]
Ye Xuan looked at the message on his phone, then at another one: the explosives and construction crew would be arriving shortly.
He clicked his tongue.
"What's State Security doing here?"
Ye Xuan, male, nineteen years old, was a qi refiner who had come down from Great Black Mountain.
As for Great Black Mountain, its glory days had been over a century ago.
The place had once been a den of demons and a nest of bandits.
Later, Great Han had suppressed the bandits and pacified the area. Afterward, the place returned to normal. Demons still ran rampant-those things could not be rooted out completely-but the bandits who raided homes and robbed people were gone.
All that remained were the outlaws who had surrendered relatively early and still lived up there.
They were all qi refiners. They neither opposed the state nor accepted incorporation into its ranks.
They simply lived on Great Black Mountain, going nowhere and paying no heed to worldly affairs, living their own lives.
Ye Xuan had been taught by them.
Now he was about the right age. A young man had no future staying on Great Black Mountain, so they had sent him down to make his way in the world.
As it happened, the people on Great Black Mountain had some ties with the four founders of the Four Seas Group.
So they had told him to come to Yunhai and seek their support.
Not long after arriving in Yunhai, he heard that the ground had collapsed somewhere nearby. Bold with confidence in his skills, Ye Xuan decided to take a look.
As it happened, the White-Haired Hou had escaped.
Though it was a monster, its teeth were exceptionally rare, valuable materials.
Ye Xuan had taken care of it in passing.
Then came the dispute over the ancient tomb.
He had dealt with the White-Haired Hou that Ming Jun and his companion had failed to handle. By the rules, this place should be his.
After that, even fighting two against one, Ming Jun and Bei Heguang had failed to beat him.
They could only hand the place over. Although the two no longer controlled it, they could enter whenever they wished.
That counted as Ye Xuan's gesture of goodwill toward Bureau 749.
After obtaining the rights to develop the ancient tomb, Ye Xuan had turned around and given the place to Xie Shunan of the Four Seas Group.
As for himself, he had taken a position as security captain.
Along the way, he had also searched the ancient tomb for treasures. Though he had found some things, they were of little use-until he discovered the burial chamber Ming Jun and the others had found.
Ye Xuan was certain there had to be something good inside.
Over the following days, much like Ming Jun and his companion, he had exhausted every method he could think of. It would not open. No matter what he did, it simply would not open.
With no other choice, Ye Xuan could only inform Xie Shunan. After several more days of attempts, they had originally planned to blast open the burial chamber today.
Who could have known that Bureau 749 would suddenly change patrol officers today?
He had heard the replacement was a ruthless character named Lu Ding. Though only a trainee investigator, he had beaten Yuan Baifeng, a Spirit Sea qi refiner, to death with cultivation at the Illuminating the Jade Pivot Realm.
He had even earned the name Corpse-Dissecting Taisui.
Xie Shunan had gone to invite this Lu Ding to dinner.
Ye Xuan was rather annoyed!
In his eyes, he could do anything Lu Ding could. They were about the same age too. The only difference was that the other man came from the authorities and was a trainee investigator with Bureau 749.
Whereas he, Ye Xuan, was a bandit.
One who had come down from Great Black Mountain.
If that background had not kept him from joining Bureau 749, Ye Xuan reckoned they would have fought over taking him in if he went there.
"Lu Ding just got lucky and made a name for himself a little earlier. Once I'm famous, we'll see if you still dare refuse to give me a proper look!"
Back when he was leaving the mountain, the old men in the village had told him to get to know Xie Shunan properly. If possible, making a fine match of it would be best.
The Four Seas Group might have vast holdings and wealth.
But Great Black Mountain was no pushover either.
At worst, those old men with one foot in the grave would come out again and lend him their backing.
Ye Xuan liked Xie Shunan very much too. She was beautiful, had a great figure, was capable and wealthy, and was clever besides. Every quality was top-notch. What man would not be tempted by a woman like that?
He was naturally no exception.