It was good news.

His senior brother stated that the letter had been received, and they were already aware of the matter Qin Fang had mentioned... Someone from Huichun Hall in Pingze City had escaped and returned.

A thought struck Qin Fang. ’Could it be that woman?’

Considering the timing, if she had set out for True Martial County immediately, she would have indeed arrived before Monkey.

...After all, he and Monkey had first returned to Fishermen’s, and Monkey had then delayed for half a day before setting off for True Martial County Town.

Pingze City itself was closer to True Martial than Fishermen’s was; even taking the mountain paths, the journey would only take four to six hours.

Even if her pace was slower than Monkey’s, it couldn’t have been by much. It was entirely possible that she had reached True Martial before he and Monkey had even made it back to Fishermen’s...

That was why Huichun Hall had immediately gone on high alert... though his senior brother didn’t specify what form that alert took.

Of course, Qin Fang didn’t care about that.

The only thing he cared about was... whether his master would be affected.

His senior brother told him in the letter that his master would not be implicated by Huichun Hall’s troubles... Although he was a resident physician for Huichun Hall, he was essentially a free agent and not completely tied to them.

Furthermore, the matter had already drawn the serious attention of Huichun Hall, so someone would naturally handle it. There was no need to trouble his master at all.

After all, Huichun Hall’s hard power was not to be underestimated.

A power with three Anjin masters holding the fort... Across all of True Martial, they were considered among the absolute top tier.

As for the rumors... his senior brother felt it shouldn’t be a major problem.

At the very least, it definitely wouldn’t affect the Huichun Main Hall within the county town.

After all, the Government Office was still in charge in the county town; no one would dare to cause a major disturbance so brazenly... Did they really think the Government Office Entrance was just for show?

Then, he mentioned the matter of the Treasure Fish.

In fact, they had received news several months ago... because it wasn’t just Fang Zhou of Pingze who had obtained a Treasure Fish; someone else had gotten one as well.

But his senior brother didn’t mention who the second person to obtain a Treasure Fish was.

But in any case, the Government Office Entrance was already paying close attention to this matter... even the County Magistrate was monitoring it.

Finally, he reminded Qin Fang that while the Treasure Fish were good, the River Surface was not peaceful right now. With the recent business involving the Iron Tiger Gang and the Four Seas Gang... no one could be sure if the Demon that killed Wang Hu and Cao Zhen was the same one that had caused trouble near the Fishermen’s river basin before.

In other words... there was likely more than one Demon.

So he urged Qin Fang to absolutely not venture out onto the river for the sake of the Treasure Fish, to avoid any mishaps.

He told him to stay put in Fisherman City, cultivate daily, and not worry about other matters.

Then, he brought up another matter...

It was about his Identity.

The current County Magistrate had a very hardline stance on vagrants. Recently, he had already arrested nearly a hundred vagrants lingering in various parts of True Martial. Some of them had even joined local martial arts schools or managed to replace their Identity through various channels, but they were all hunted down one by one and thrown into prison.

Therefore, he absolutely could not return to the county town for the time being. If the County Magistrate discovered him, he would almost certainly be arrested.

"There seem to be some hidden secrets behind this matter... but the County Magistrate didn’t say what they were. In short, that’s the situation."

Reading this passage, a flicker of light crossed Qin Fang’s eyes.

’A hidden story...’

’Even vagrants who had replaced their Identity were found?’

Almost instantly, the group that had once forced the vagrants to rebel surfaced in his mind.

...’Could it be that the truth about the vagrant rebellion—that they were forced into it—has been discovered? And that group hasn’t been caught yet, which is why the County Magistrate is so adamant about arresting all vagrants, including those who have already registered? Is his real goal to catch that group?’

Qin Fang’s eyes flashed rapidly.

But in the end, all he could do was let out a helpless sigh...

There were many possibilities, and he couldn’t be sure if his guess was correct.

But no matter what, this problem with his Identity was giving him an even bigger headache.

...Without an Identity, everything was inconvenient.

For instance, he couldn’t enter True Martial County Town right now.

As for other county towns...

How could the vagrant rebellion have affected only True Martial County?

The nearby county towns were probably all like True Martial now, cracking down hard on vagrants.

He couldn’t go to them either.

For one simple reason... even with an Identity, if he went without a Dharma Certificate, he would still be arrested.

One needed both a Dharma Certificate and an Identity to travel to other county towns.

The so-called Dharma Certificate was issued by the government. In ancient times, if a person wanted to go from one county town to another, they first had to go to the local Government Office Entrance to receive a Dharma Certificate, detailing where they were going and what they were going to do...

Then, if the local Government Office deemed the matter feasible, it would issue a Dharma Certificate. It would bear the Government Office’s official seal and state the purpose of the person’s travel, requesting that the "brother" Government Office in the destination grant entry.

Moreover, these Dharma Certificates had anti-counterfeiting marks. A common person wouldn’t know what these marks were, but someone from the Government Office Entrance could spot a fake at a glance.

It was impossible to forge them.

Furthermore, the Dharma Certificate only guaranteed you could stay in the target area. Want to go somewhere else? No problem. You had to go back to your own county town to get a new Dharma Certificate. Then, on the new certificate, you had to clearly state the reason for your travel, even listing out every county and prefecture you planned to pass through.

In a word, it was extremely troublesome.

The only one that offered relative freedom was the business pass... but that was just a Dharma Certificate for a single route.

If you were doing business on that route, you could only travel along that route. Even if you just wanted to visit the county next to your destination? Sorry, no Dharma Certificate meant you’d be, at best, expelled, or at worst, imprisoned and sent back to your place of origin!