Chapter 109: Someone from the Nei Jian Si Arrives

"Are you leaving the city or not?" Su Hanlin finally asked, impatiently.

"Of course I'm leaving."

"I'm not going out just for myself—I'm planning to take Su Jin to practice spells," Su Jian said.

Su Hanlin suddenly gasped, eyes widening.

"You're taking Xue Chiluo out of the city?"

"How do you know that?" Su Jian exclaimed.

"How could I not know? If you take Su Jin out, Xue Chiluo will follow—no matter what. You can't stop it."

Protecting its master is the lifelong duty of every Xue Chiluo.

"Since you know, then tell me what to do? I need a team I can absolutely trust—only then can I safely bring Su Jin and Xue Chiluo out."

"Who else but me?"

Su Jian: "... You?"

"I'll invite An Qian, plus you and Su Jin—we'll form a team of four. With me and An Qian, plus you, our mutual support will be enough."

"Su Jin just needs to focus on practicing her spells."

"I feel like your motives aren't pure," Su Jian hurriedly said.

"Just say yes or no," Su Hanlin shot him a sidelong glance.

"Yes," Su Jian said immediately.

He trusted Su Hanlin more than anyone else. "Is An Qian really trustworthy?"

"She's an orphan—if she's truly a problem, we'll just kill her outright," Su Hanlin said, calm and rational.

Su Jian: "..."

"Then it's settled," Su Hanlin declared.

On the day Su Jin was off duty, early in the morning, Su Jian set out with Su Jin, who carried a small bamboo basket on her back.

The sky was dim, the streets filled with hurried pedestrians.

Xue Chiluo peered out from inside the basket, scanning everywhere.

As Su Jian and his sister approached the eastern city gate, dozens of flying horses descended from the sky, carrying a group of cultivators, landing directly before Xiancheng's eastern gate.

The sound of hooves striking the ground was perfectly synchronized, as if moved by a single will.

Clearly, they were highly trained.

The lead cultivator showed his token; the gate guards didn't even check—immediately pushing aside the barricades to let them pass.

The group of mounted cultivators, led by their captain, were about to ride off.

Then the lead cultivator suddenly glanced at Su Jin... and her small bamboo basket.

Then he smiled faintly at Su Jin.

Su Jin felt guilty under his gaze—had he discovered her Xue Chiluo?

She quickly hid behind her brother, clutching the basket.

Seeing this, the cultivator smirked, then led his mounted team away.

As soon as the flying horses crossed the city gate tower, they resumed low-altitude flight, sweeping across the skies of Xiancheng, soon heading toward the territory of the Xiancheng Patrol Office.

One of the blue-robed female cultivators beside the lead cultivator asked curiously: "My lord Zhan, why did you pay special attention to that child just now? What's special about her?"

The lead flying-horse cultivator, appearing to be in his thirties, had a refined, scholarly air—as if he were a common-world teacher.

He glanced at his trusted subordinate and smiled.

The blue-robed woman gasped: "Could it be the Xue Chiluo that found the Shell Worm?"

"Likely it. The little one looks lively."

"That child?" the woman realized. "So she's the bondmaster? So young and already bonded to a Xue Chiluo?"

"That child is quite interesting," said the lead cultivator, his white robes fluttering as he leapt with his flying horse straight into the territory of the Xiancheng Patrol Office.

"Director Bao Junyi, come quickly and greet your senior brother."

The Chief of the Xiancheng Patrol Office had just finished breakfast when he heard his senior brother's loud voice.

He rushed out to meet him—and saw fifty-six flying-horse cultivators landing one by one, then leading their mounts through the gate.

They all wore white cultivation robes adorned with luxurious silver-threaded patterns, shimmering under the sunlight. Only those from the Nei Jian Si typically wore such robes within sects.

The leader was his senior brother, Zhan Xiongying.

"Senior brother? What brings you here? What divine wind blew you to me?" Director Bao Junyi said, smiling wryly.

"Divine wind? I'd say it's a demon wind! I heard you've been in Xiancheng less than three years and almost got eaten by Shell Worms—how could I not worry? I came to check on you," Zhan Xiongying said.

Director Bao Junyi: You think I believe you?

You old rascal didn't come for me.

You're surely the one in charge of this Nei Jian Si mission.

"Fine, thank you for coming to see me. Let's talk inside. Someone, attend to our new brothers—give them rest and breakfast."

No sooner had he spoken than attendants led the flying-horse cultivators off to rest and eat.

As the two brothers entered Director Bao Junyi's chamber, Zhan Xiongying immediately pulled out a golden token engraved with a tiny qilin on its front.

Director Bao Junyi saw the token and immediately knelt: "I bow before the Qilin Token Master. Your subordinate, Director Bao Junyi, awaits your orders."

"Brother Bao, rise," Zhan Xiongying said, helping him up, then retracting the token. "Brother Bao, let's first discuss our mission here."

This time, the surveillance mission is being carried out by personnel from the Nei Jian Si."

"So you're lucky."

Director Bao Junyi smiled helplessly.

He hadn't done anything wrong—so what difference did it make which office came to inspect?

"Also, the Internal Monitoring Commandant of the Internal Monitoring Office, who is in charge of internal oversight, is very satisfied with your purge efforts here. He feels you've done an excellent job.

With such a major incident, the sect was shaken — shell bugs and bug-men have appeared — yet while slaying the shell bugs and thousands of bug-men, you still managed to keep the damage to an absolute minimum.

The elder says everyone has worked hard, and he will request commendations for all of you.

He also encourages you to press on and smash the entire Starfall Bug Race's conspiracy to pieces.

He says the Starfall Bug Race absolutely wouldn't have sent down just one shell bug.

That doesn't fit those bugs' style of grandstanding and craving big achievements.

So the first mission for us lot is: to cooperate with you in continuing to purge the bug race and the sect traitors colluding with the bugs — no matter who, no matter their position, no matter how long their family has followed the sect — as long as the evidence is solid, no leniency will be shown.

Additionally, we have another mission coming down: to get to the bottom of the truth behind Sima Xuan's death. Exactly who was it that struck and killed him!"

Director Bao Junyi frowned the moment he heard this and said, "Sima Xuan's been dead for over ten years — why are they only investigating now? What could they possibly still find out?"

"People were sent down to investigate before, but they never found the true killer. To tell the truth, counting my own sect, they've already dispatched four groups of people down here to investigate who really killed him," Zhan Xiongying said helplessly, laying out the truth.

"What?" Director Bao Junyi was greatly shocked. "After all this delay, they still haven't found out who killed him?"