Jiang Cheng considered himself a tough man. He thought that even if he couldn’t endure all the tortures in the Xuanqing Guard, he could probably withstand at least half of them. But now he realized he’d taken things for granted. Forget the Xuanqing Guard’s tortures—even the methods Pang Ban was using on him now almost broke him, nearly forcing him to cry out in pain.

He didn’t know how much time had passed before that dreadful pain and itch inside his body slowly subsided and finally disappeared.

Only then did Jiang Cheng swallow the mouthful of blood in his mouth—all from biting his teeth to endure the pain just now.

Kneeling back into position, Jiang Cheng remained silent, waiting for Pang Ban to speak.

"Take this as a minor punishment—a warning. From now on, if anything touches upon the bottom line, you must get my permission first. Understand?"

"Understood, sir." Jiang Cheng let out a huge sigh of relief inwardly, knowing he’d barely scraped by this time. But it seemed that the "Black Water Plan" he’d initiated would be forcibly suspended.

However, Pang Ban’s next words rekindled the stirrings in Jiang Cheng’s heart.

"Besides you, who else knows the full scope of this plan?"

"Only the Black Banner Battalion’s Hundred Households Officer, Shen Hao, in Fengri City, knows everything."

"Was this plan his idea?" Pang Ban disregarded Jiang Cheng’s earlier claim that the plan was guided by him. He knew Jiang Cheng wasn’t someone with such unique thoughts—bold, yes, but he couldn’t come up with this kind of scheme.

"Yes, sir. The original planner and current executor of the Black Water Plan is Shen Hao. I’m only responsible for steering the overall direction." Jiang Cheng was straightforward, not avoiding bringing up Shen Hao.

"That’s quite a talent. You need to control him well. Used properly, he’s a great asset. Used poorly, he might bring disaster upon you."

"Yes, sir. Shen Hao was promoted entirely by me. His character and temperament are excellent, and he’s also my disciple. He has absolutely no divided loyalty towards the Xuanqing Guard."

"Good. Let him continue with this matter, and you’d best not show yourself directly. If things turn bad, your status is too high—you wouldn’t be able to escape responsibility. Understand?"

"This... I understand."

"Also, pressure the brokerage men again about their progress. I want a conclusion within the year on whether they can achieve the intended results or not."

Half an hour later.

Jiang Cheng walked out from the Commander’s Office and looked back at the vermilion gates, feeling a burst of relief as if he’d survived a disaster.

Though he’d suffered somewhat, everything had been thoroughly settled. Just as he expected, Pang Ban was very interested in the second phase of the Black Water Plan. Even though he had not stated it explicitly, it was clear he meant to target those in the Civil Servant Group with deadly force.

The Civil Servant Group contained many complicated factions. Now, Pang Ban grouped them together under one term—showing that, in their dealings with the Xuanqing Guard, all these factions had found common ground.

All this was something Jiang Cheng hadn’t considered before.

Despite now being a Fourth-Grade Official, Jiang Cheng’s special status in the Xuanqing Guard meant he had no access to the upper echelons of the Dynasty, nor any chance to witness the Temple Hall. So he only knew the political atmosphere was bad because the Emperor had yet to appoint a Crown Prince, leaving the seven Princes restless—but he hadn’t expected things had escalated to this degree.

According to Pang Ban’s earlier words, even the covert struggle had begun to turn into open conflict—what were they up to?

The Emperor still sat on the throne, yet the princes were already vying for power?

This was an omen of chaos!

Jiang Cheng thought about it and felt a heaviness in his heart, because he could sense, from Pang Ban’s hints, a feeling of urgency. Even Pang Ban had been forced to take a risk by indulging him to proceed with the Black Water Plan—one could imagine the amount of pressure and storm the Xuanqing Guard faced from outside.

Jiang Cheng didn’t realize what truly worried and pressured Pang Ban wasn’t actually the restlessness of the seven princes.

...

The very next day after Jiang Cheng returned to the government office, a squad of twenty personal guards vanished from the roster without a trace or warning.

Far away in Fengri City, Shen Hao met these twenty experts, whom Jiang Cheng had hidden using the "Spring and Autumn Pen Technique," in a small-town tavern outside the city. 𝐟𝕣𝕖𝐞𝐰𝕖𝚋𝐧𝗼𝚟𝐞𝕝.𝗰𝐨𝐦

"Subordinates pay respects to Lord Shen."

In the tavern’s private room, the twenty men stood in four rows and cupped their fists in salute as Shen Hao entered. The sheer presence of these men gave Shen Hao a feeling of formidable strength.

Not all were unfamiliar faces—among them, Shen Hao had met a few before. Though he couldn’t recall their names, he knew they were Jiang Cheng’s personal guards. Secretly he noted just how seriously Jiang Cheng took this mission.

The tavern was run by people under the Flying Dragon. In the present situation, Flying Dragon had established many such easily concealed bases throughout the Fengri City area. Security was not an issue.

Shen Hao sat down, poured himself a cup of wine, and looked at these men, who had a strong military air about them, asking, "Did Lord Jiang tell you anything specific when he sent you?"

"Lord Jiang instructed us to obey your orders and commands without fail."

"Who’s your leader?"

From the first row, two men stepped out and bowed. "Subordinate Zhang Lie, Small Banner Officer of Team A." "Subordinate Liu Meng, Small Banner Officer of Team B."

"Introduce your own cultivation level and your specialties."

"Yes."

Among the twenty, there were four at the Gathering Spirit Realm, with the highest reaching the Fourth Layer—higher than Shen Hao’s own realm. But strangely, Shen Hao didn’t feel the slightest pressure from their cultivation, and even suspected they wouldn’t be his match. He felt puzzled, but kept it to himself.

The other sixteen were all experts between Qi Refinement Fifth Layer and Eighth Layer—such cultivation would make them pillars in any Hundred Households Station of the Xuanqing Guard.

Speaking of specialties, these twenty also brought a surprise to Shen Hao. They were masters of the Skill of Combination, proficient in Combined Attack Skill formations ranging from three to ten people. Among them, two specialized in Tracking, three in interrogation, one in arrays, and one in illusion skill.

These twenty constituted a complete combat unit—and one that could be freely split and recombined. Such a force could be deployed right away, and was adaptable to many situations.

However, it seemed the twenty did not know why they had been secretly sent to Fengri City. Their expressions were stern as they covertly sized up Shen Hao, perhaps curious about the task that awaited them.

"Are you all from the military?"

"Yes, sir."

"If I tell you that from now on you’ll become street thugs or miserly, ruthless officials, entirely cut off from the Xuanqing Guard’s reputation—perhaps never able to reclaim your status, even in death—are you still willing to stay?"

Shen Hao’s words did not alter their countenances; as one, they declared their resolve to never retreat, whether climbing a mountain of blades or plunging into a cauldron of oil.

"Very well. Since you have such resolve, I won’t say more. From today forward, your records in the Xuanqing Guard will be classified as top secret. No ordinary person will ever find out about you, nor know you were ever part of the Xuanqing Guard.

You will be split into two teams, each going to a different place to carry out missions. As you’ve already divided yourselves, I’ll take one group with me now. Decide among yourselves who comes with me first."