Xuanqing Guard-Chapter 66: Mark

Chen Yiyun had just arrived at the Public Office early in the morning when an errand boy outside told him that Households Commander Jiang was looking for him and asked him to come over immediately.

But upon reaching Jiang Cheng’s place, he unexpectedly saw Shen Hao.

"Subordinate greets Lord Thousand Households." Chen Yiyun made a cupped-fist salute to Jiang Cheng, then turned with a smile to Shen Hao, who was standing in the Public Office. "I didn’t expect Shen Zongqi to be here as well."

Shen Hao also smiled and greeted Chen Yiyun, pretending not to notice the hint of shadow in the other’s eyes.

"Hundred Households Chen, take a seat. I called you here mainly to listen together to Shen Zongqi’s report. He’s made some new moves over in Li City lately."

"Oh? Shen Zongqi is quite capable. Since Lord Thousand Households has spoken, I shall listen carefully to what clever plans Shen Zongqi has."

Chen Yiyun sat in the chair, his smile undimmed but his gaze icy; he understood that today’s episode was hardly any mere ’report’. Jiang Cheng was laying his cards on the table for him.

In other words, this situation was Jiang Cheng sending him a clear message: Shen Hao is my man now.

His mind raced, but Chen Yiyun didn’t neglect Shen Hao’s report—in fact he listened very closely. He couldn’t help but sigh inwardly over this Flag Officer who’d bypassed him to join Jiang Cheng’s camp—he was truly a capable man!

To actually come up with the idea of using a copper cabinet to collect intelligence from the populace, and furthermore to coax all the scheming folk out locally to show themselves; as long as a few cases got worked out, he could win heaps of reputation among the common people.

Tsk tsk, a plan that kills three birds with one stone! No, even more! Once the copper cabinet was widely implemented, it would impact the Xuanqing Guard’s traditional intelligence network, and if someone at the top gave the word, the Black Banner Battalion could use this as a thread to quickly establish their own independent intelligence system!

Remarkable!

A pity he joined another’s camp, otherwise he’d be a perfect chess piece.

Shen Hao’s report quickly formed a striking operational model in Chen Yiyun’s mind—he could easily replicate these measures from Li City to his three other Hundred Households Black Banner Battalions, and so long as his people weren’t idiots, they’d surely achieve results.

From this perspective, even though Shen Hao was now aligned with Jiang Cheng, in reality, the more capable Shen Hao was, the more Chen Yiyun himself would gain. 𝒻𝘳ℯℯ𝑤ℯ𝒷𝘯ℴ𝓋ℯ𝘭.𝑐ℴ𝑚

"Excellent! Shen Zongqi truly has extraordinary ingenuity. No wonder Lord Thousand Households values you so highly!" Chen Yiyun offered praise with superficial words. He disliked Shen Hao, but that didn’t stop him from making use of his worth.

"Thank you, Lord Chen, for your praise. Your subordinate will surely strive even harder."

"Your ideas are innovative and well-structured. For now, the Black Banner Battalion’s eyes shouldn’t always be turned inward. Go out, crack a high-profile case—then I and Lord Thousand Households will request merits for you together!"

Shen Hao thanked them again with a cupped-fist salute. Seeing this attitude from Chen Yiyun, he finally felt at ease; clearly, Chen Yiyun would not turn hostile simply because he had joined Jiang Cheng’s faction.

After the ’report’, the three chatted for a bit more. Shen Hao took the opportunity to request from Chen Yiyun for access to Thousand Households Station’s confidential archives. This required Chen Yiyun’s approval and written note; he could go directly to Jiang Cheng, but it wasn’t necessary.

In Jiang Cheng’s presence, Chen Yiyun did not block Shen Hao’s request. After all, if Shen Hao managed to crack a case, it would be good for him as well. As for factional strife, it was still too early to worry about such things.

With the approval slip in hand, Shen Hao took his leave from Jiang Cheng and Chen Yiyun, and went straight to the Library of the Thousand Households Station, presenting the note. The Defense checked it and led him to the confidential section.

"Write what you want to find on a card, hand it in. The people inside will help retrieve it for you. You may only review the material at your assigned seat; no copying or carrying out allowed. Violation is considered leaking state secrets. Do you understand?"

"Understood."

"Alright, go on in."

Following the rules told to him by the Defense, Shen Hao wrote "Yin-Yang Blood and Qi" on a card, handed it to a Warrior in the confidential area, who then had Shen Hao sit and wait at a numbered seat.

After half an incense stick’s time, a thick volume was placed before Shen Hao.

"From now until the library closes, you have three hours to review this material. Please watch your time."

"Mm."

Shen Hao responded and immediately opened the book, seizing the time to study.

Just seeing the thickness of the material, Shen Hao knew his prior suspicions were accurate. Compared to Li City Guard Station’s library, the Thousand Households Station had more and deeper confidential archives.

"Yin-Yang Blood and Qi—a phenomenon of Heaven and Earth. Beneficiaries gain much ease in cultivation, but only until age thirteen... Many freaks and demons covet Yin-Yang Blood and Qi, extracting the tiniest trace of Primordial Qi from it, which they refine to practice evil skills and strange arts..."

Large sections were purely theoretical. Shen Hao was not an expert in magic, so reading the material was a struggle; he could only pick out some key conclusions.

Still, this was enough.

In the area of Yin-Yang Blood and Qi, the evil cultivators indeed had much research, just as Shen Hao first suspected. Their evil skills could extract minuscule amounts of "Primordial Qi"—something he had heard of before, an extremely rare high-tier cultivation resource.

With these conclusions as support, Shen Hao couldn’t help but begin a preliminary deduction about that series of missing cases in his mind:

First, the perpetrator is one or more evil cultivators, motivated by the desire to collect Primordial Qi.

Second, these evil cultivators can accurately pinpoint the birth dates and addresses of Yin-Yang Blood and Qi holders—most likely tied to the Local Government Office’s Population Department, or they directly stole the registries from the Population Department.

Lastly, these evil cultivators should have been active in Li City’s jurisdiction for a long time—otherwise, they could not have committed such well-planned, scattered crimes and gone undetected for nearly ten years.

The reason for "nearly ten years" is that the similar cases reported via copper cabinets have not yet exceeded ten years. Whether there will be older cases later, Shen Hao was still unsure.

"In that case, after organizing the information, I can apply for a combined investigation."

He forced himself to memorize the contents deeply, and only after making sure nothing was missed did Shen Hao return the material.

Leaving the Thousand Households Station, Wang Jian, who had waited outside nearly all day, immediately spotted Shen Hao and hurried over.

"General Flag..."

"We’ll talk later." Shen Hao cut off Wang Jian’s greeting and walked quickly toward the city’s Teleportation Array. Too many eyes and mouths here—it was not the place to discuss business.

Back at the Li City Black Banner Battalion residence, Shen Hao roughly reported what he’d found in the Thousand Households Station archives to Wang Jian, then immediately began drafting a combined investigation application. He also had Wang Jian start prepping personnel; if Tang Qingyuan approved the combined investigation, all similar cases collected so far would need a thorough screening—this would amount to a huge workload.