The Empress's No.1 Lackey

"Zhuang... don't let him shout..." Zhao Douan struggled to his feet.

At this moment, Zhuang Xiaocheng had lost the silk bindings and regained his mobility. Although there was still a hairpin piercing his back, Yun Xi had aimed to capture him alive and had avoided the heart. Now, with his eyes wide open, he was about to shout.

"Bang!" Zhang Han smashed him with the sword hilt. "Better behave yourself!"

Zhuang Xiaocheng's vision went dark, and he decisively fainted.

"That was close... almost got outwitted by this old dog, good thing you had a trump card hidden on you." Haitang, with a terrified expression, glanced at Zhao Douan, not too surprised.

In her opinion, this guy dared to come out of the palace to capture people; he must have obtained some protective treasure from His Majesty.

"Hurry up and take the medicine, restore your strength, prevent Qi Yuchun and the others from returning!" Zhao Douan took out several bottles of Pills from the Space Scroll in one go and distributed them to everyone.

The crowd immediately gobbled up the Pills, racing against time to restore their cultivation — given their numerical advantage, if they could recover to fifty percent, they wouldn't fear the two strong enemies.

Moments later, Zhao Douan recovered a bit of strength, gained confidence, and got up to walk to the cliff edge to take a look down.

All he could see was a large cloud of dust, resembling a sea of clouds, obscuring the view, making it impossible to see the bottom of the cliff.

"It seems those two won't be coming back anytime soon. They'll have to thoroughly search through the mountain rubble, looking for your 'bodies.'

Gongshu Tianyuan walked over, clicking his tongue in wonder: "Should we go down to look for them?"

"No," Zhao Douan shook his head and said seriously, "The mastermind has already been captured, no need to complicate matters further."

Well, the main reason was that he had no assurance... Though they were many, it indeed would be difficult to keep the opponent.

"Everyone, first move into the villa, quickly search for any important documents." Zhao Douan hesitated for a moment, not immediately evacuating the mountain, and instructed.

The group nodded, Lang Shiba tied Zhuang Xiaocheng to his back — unfortunately, neither the 'Void Illusion Scroll' nor the 'Mystic Turtle Seal' could hold a living person, otherwise, he would have been much easier to carry.

The group quickly entered the remnants of the half villa and conducted a rapid search.

"Nothing, there's nothing. The rooms are filled with fire pits, and many letters have been burned." Haitang returned from the direction of the study room.

"The cashier's room is also empty, and there are only a few hundred taels of silver in the entire villa." Zhang Han also walked back.

Zhao Douan gathered the intelligence, not surprised:

"As expected, it seems that what Zhuang Xiaocheng said was true. The Forbidden Mountain Villa was indeed prepared by him as the battleground with me, so all key items were transferred in advance, and this main base, apart from him being the 'leader,' has almost become an empty shell."

Pausing, he laughed again:

"However, having captured this old dog, it's already satisfying enough."

The so-called capturing the ringleader first, Zhuang Xiaocheng might not be an ordinary person, but just his life alone was worth half of the Kuangfu Society's foundation.

"Let's go, this place is not suitable to stay for long. We need to return to the city ASAP to prevent Qi Yuchun from coming back." Zhao Douan, eyes filled with excitement, exuded a calculating air:

"However, on this return trip, we need to be discreet."

...

...

Feng City government office.

Magistrate Luan Cheng stood behind the docket in the main hall of the office, continuously handling the gathered reports.

The atmosphere throughout the government office was unusually restless, with soldiers from both the Imperial Court Jinyi and the military mansion weaving in and out of the courtyard.

After Zhao Douan took Gongshu Tianyuan away, Luan Cheng found no further reason to stay at the execution ground.

He immediately returned to the government office and learned through the Jinyi members of Lihua Hall that "Junior Guardian Zhao" had earlier prepared for the attack on the rebels and was advised to stay calm.

Afterward, every now and then, Luan Cheng would see a team of officers escorting captured "rebels" to be imprisoned.

The cells soon filled up quickly, leading to the necessity of using all available rooms throughout the government office as temporary "prisons."

With many spies' obstructions and timely handling by the soldiers, the losses caused by this mighty assault were not significant.

However, a few spots did manage to catch fire, but Luan Cheng was already satisfied and even felt fortunate.

"Lord Prefect, a few more prisoners have been brought back; this should be the last batch. Still, quite a few rebels have fled or hidden amidst the chaos, and my troops are searching, but significant results are unlikely."

The feisty Vice General Yuan Ji entered the courtyard, clad in heavy armor and holding a war hammer.

Beneath the eaves, the bored Hou Renmeng and others rose, smiling:

"Leave the rebels to us."

Magistrate Luan didn't concern himself with the rebels and busiedly asked:

"Any news of Junior Guardian Zhao?"

Yuan Ji shook his head.

The round-faced secretary Qian Kerou smiled:

"Lord Prefect, you needn't worry. Our master has always been cautious in action; any arrangement he makes surely serves an important purpose."

"This office is aware of Junior Guardian Zhao's capabilities, yet... it can't help but worry." Luan Cheng sighed, waved Yuan Ji away.

Sitting in the public hall, filled with anxiety, he constantly got up to look outside, pacing and sighing repeatedly, his mind extremely anxious.

Time passed unknowingly until several members of Lihua Hall's Jinyi suddenly left the room, returning shortly to clear out bystanders.

Closing the main hall's doors, they spoke to the air under the puzzled gaze of Magistrate Luan:

"Master, the place has been cleared."

Suddenly, a large parasol-like "red veil" materialized in the air, Gongshu Tianyuan raised his hand to collect this invisibility suppressing object.

Inside the hall, Zhao Douan and his party broke their invisibility, revealing themselves.

"Ah, Mr. Zhao? You returned?"

Magistrate Luan was taken aback, his face lit with joy, not surprised at such cultivation techniques:

"You have no idea how worried this office has been, fearing... huh? This is..."

Magistrate Luan noticed the old Confucian scholar with white beard and hair on Lang Shiba's back, looking somewhat familiar.