Chapter 158: Naturally, to capture the bandits, you must first capture their leader

Heaven Star City

Night fell, and a light snow draped the Azure Province in a white veil.

Inside the Northern Garrison Office.

Shen Qing was reading a secret letter delivered by the Shadow Guard.

These past few days, the entire Azure Province and Capital City have been seething with undercurrents, and the Shadow Guard has been frantically gathering intelligence.

In Azure Province they searched for Qinglong's traces, while in the Capital City's imperial court they followed clues relentlessly to track down the Prince of Peace's whereabouts.

According to the progress written in the secret letter, finding Qinglong and the Prince of Peace was only a matter of time.

Suddenly, Shen Qing looked toward the window and said, "If you've come, just come in."

The room's door slowly opened, and a man in a black robe walked in, removing his mask.

He was an acquaintance, the Great General Xu Ying of the Azure Province Golden Guard, the same one who had previously delivered an imperial edict to Shen Qing in Jia Shui Jun.

Xu Ying clasped his hands and said, "Xu Ying pays his respects, Young Master Shen."

"I didn't expect to see you again so soon."

Shen Qing set down the secret letter and said, "Now that you're here, I understand what Zhu Lingyue means."

"His Majesty said that we Golden Guard will obey Young Master Shen's orders, and externally we will raise the banner of suppressing rebellion, so we will not make things difficult for Young Master Shen."

Shen Qing nodded and asked, "How many people have you brought this time?"

"Together, the Azure Province and Martial Sun Province Golden Guard total thirty thousand, with eight Golden Core cultivators."

"The people of Martial Sun Province are all waiting at the border of Azure Province, just awaiting Young Master Shen's command."

Shen Qing chuckled, "That's quite a formidable force."

Xu Ying also felt helpless: "There's nothing we can do; in less than five years, a prince has risen in rebellion."

"Young Master Shen, do you have any news of the Prince of Peace on your end?"

Shen Qing turned his head toward the window, as if something had landed in the courtyard; he opened the window, and a secret letter landed precisely in his hand.

Shen Qing unfolded it and saw only a few lines of text.

"'The identity of the Prince of Peace has been confirmed: he is Prince Shun Zhu Nantian, the Seventh Prince."

"'By his side year-round follows a female martial cultivator of Golden Core Realm, named Lin Queer."

Shen Qing was also somewhat surprised.

"How could it be him?"

Zhu Nantian has never been the clever one among the princes, and his talent is only middling.

In Shen Qing's impression, Zhu Nantian never cared about imperial struggles; his dream seemed to be to become a wandering hero of the martial world.

Thus, during Emperor Jing's reign, he received no favor at all—how did he end up dragging the Peaceful Society into this?

Just then, a scholar hurriedly pushed the door open and ran in, knocking on the door.

"Boss! We have news! Deputy Commander Ma Qing sent a secret letter: he has locked onto Qinglong, who is a martial artist named Cao Hai; Ma Qing has been tracking him all the way—right up to Cao Hai entering Azure Bamboo Mountain."

Shen Qing set down the secret letter and walked toward the outside of the room.

The Embroidered Uniform Guard and the Shadow Guard have both locked onto Prince Shun's residence—there's no problem.

This saves effort—Qinglong ran straight to the Prince of Peace's residence.

One sweep will net them all.

Xu Ying looked at Shen Qing and said, "Young Master Shen, what about us?"

Shen Qing waved his hand: "Tell the Golden Guard to bring their provisions and gather outside Azure Bamboo Mountain."

The sky grew faintly light.

Inside Prince Shun's residence, there was a secret chamber.

All three remaining chief officers of the Peaceful Society were present, along with its senior leadership.

Zhu Que slammed the table hard, his voice burning with anger.

"Who can tell me why you went to provoke Shen Qing? Don't you know he's a member of the Shen family?"

"What do you have in your heads? Is it just water?"

A senior member spoke low: "I didn't mean to provoke him—isn't Su Judi the leader of the Eternal Peace Prefecture Martial Alliance? I was thinking of kidnapping her to cause a rift between the court and the martial world, so we could better absorb those sects, right?"

This completely enraged Zhu Que.

"If you're not going to use your brains, throw them away! Utterly stupid, yet you still like to act on a whim!"

Qinglong spoke from the side: "Zhu Que, calm down; since things have already happened, we should still think about how to resolve them."

Before his words faded, a fierce golden light descended from the heavens, cleaving the secret chamber cleanly in half.

Several Peaceful Society elders who couldn't dodge in time were hacked into pieces.

Soon after, the sounds from outside grew clearer.

Qinglong and Baihu burst out of the secret chamber to see Yazi about to burst.

At that moment, countless cannonballs rained down on Prince Shun's residence, and the skulls of countless Peaceful Society members flew everywhere.

In the sky, ten Golden Core cultivators stood aloft, along with a flood dragon and an eagle, both Golden Core ferocious beasts.

A Golden Guard great general bellowed.

"The Golden Guard acts under the Empress's orders to eradicate the remnants of the Peaceful Society! Surrender now!"

Qinglong's face fell: "How is this possible?"

"How could it be so fast? How could the Embroidered Uniform Guard possibly investigate this quickly?"

Though hard to believe, he still reacted, turning his head to look at Zhu Que.

"Zhu Que, hurry! Take the lord and go! I and Baihu will hold them off!"

Zhu Que nodded, turned, and sprinted deep into Prince Shun's residence.

And the White Tiger and Azure Dragon exchanged a glance, a resolute look appearing in their eyes.

Azure Dragon let out a fierce shout, and the hand gripping his spear suddenly burst forth with a fierce blue light.

One spear thrust forward, the spear tip carrying an Azure Dragon phantom.

This is Azure Dragon's killing move, Azure Dragon Breaks the Army.

Shen Qing's side actually had twelve Primordial Core Realm combatants, so he dared not hold back at all.

"Shen Qing! I will kill you!"

The spear in his hand burst forth with boundless might, swiftly rushing toward Shen Qing.

Shen Qing simply stood calmly in the void, coldly watching Azure Dragon approach.

But before Azure Dragon could get close, the six Golden Warrior Guards swiftly rushed out, jointly weaving a blade net that intercepted him midway.

Meanwhile, the White Tiger behind was also held there by Bai Yun and the Black Eagle.

Azure Dragon's eyes flared with rage, desperately trying to kill Shen Qing, but he could not break through the Golden Warrior Guards' encirclement.

Shen Qing chuckled: "You want to kill me? If it's just you like this, it's far from enough."

"But you are quite loyal, actually not choosing to flee."

To be frank, Shen Qing's side actually had twelve Primordial Core Realm combatants, so Azure Dragon and the White Tiger had not the slightest chance of victory, yet they still chose to stay and buy time.

Shen Qing glanced in the direction the Vermilion Bird fled; she ran all the way into the depths of Prince Shun's Mansion, clearly where Prince Tai Ping Zhu Natian was located.

Shen Qing waved his hand: "Leave this to you."

Having said that, Shen Qing flew toward the Vermilion Bird's direction.

Naturally, to capture the bandits one must first capture their leader.