In the bedroom.

Zhang Xintai bent down and picked up a pale red cloak that had fallen out of his wife's bag.

On it, a word was embroidered with white thread: "Xu."

This is one of the characters in their child's name.

'You don't need to do much, just report Zhang Ying's whereabouts and movements periodically, that's enough.'

The contents of that secret letter slowly resurfaced in his mind again.

'It's just the whereabouts, so there shouldn't be any issues... Rongfang's strength is so formidable... even if it's the Righteous Alliance...'

Zhang Xintai unconsciously clenched his fist.

'But if it really causes Rongfang trouble...'

With this thought, Zhang Xintai relaxed his fist again, gritting his teeth.

He now deeply hated himself, hated himself for not having strong power.

Otherwise, he wouldn't be so easily manipulated and forced to yield.

He packed the clothes and miscellaneous items into the bag and tied it up.

Zhang Xintai finally exited the room.

He turned back to look at the place he lived.

Snort.

Suddenly, a small bamboo tube was lightly tossed inside from outside the wall beside him, landing at his feet.

Zhang Xintai glanced at the bamboo tube, his expression slightly changed.

That was a special communication device unique to the Righteous Alliance.

Are there people from the Righteous Alliance here as well?

He swiftly bent down to pick it up, opened it, and checked.

This time, a smaller parchment roll was inside. On the paper, clear writing was visible.

'If you want your wife and child to live, there's another way.'

Attached was information about how Zhang Ying had killed countless righteous warriors in Qingchuan.

Several names mentioned were actually all Zhang Xintai's former friends and family members, and even some elder members within the alliance who had benefited him.

Reading this information, Zhang Xintai's emotions seemed to find a breakthrough.

He tightly clenched the paper in his palm.

He lowered his head, finally making a decision in his heart.

The letter asked him to find a way to seize Zhang Ying's weakness to gain cooperation and assistance.

Given Zhang Ying's status, identity, and strength, simply killing him would be too wasteful and dangerous. But if he could seize his weakness and exploit his influence...

It would greatly benefit the entire Righteous Alliance.

Zhang Ying's weakness was something Zhang Xintai and Zhang Xuan knew best.

It was his background and his sister Zhang Rongyu!

When they arranged Zhang Rongfang's identity, they were very clear about his background.

For the royal faction's Great Dao Teaching, if they knew their Daoist was born of a barbarian sage and had connections with the Righteous Alliance...

No matter how much Yue Dewen trusted him, Zhang Rongfang would hardly continue to gain full support.

The secret of this identity was a fact, and as for the connection with the Righteous Alliance, once it's proven true...

Zhang Xintai quickly sketched out in his mind how to make Zhang Rongfang substantially connected to the Righteous Alliance.

The simplest method was to expose Zhang Rongfang for rescuing the Flying Bear King.

If the three of them could be explained as old acquaintances and mentors...

Then the Flying Bear King was definitely a high-ranking member of the Righteous Alliance; saving him would surely lead to charges of collusion!

And the way to confirm collusion was now, immediately, to have someone inspect Songhe Temple! Catch the evidence on site!

As for who should catch the evidence?

Zhang Xintai pondered.

It should ideally be someone with enough strength and a high position.

'No, what am I thinking!?' Suddenly his eyes cleared, and he gave himself a hard slap.

'Rongfang saved us twice! I can't believe I...!?'

Feeling both ashamed and guilty, he picked up his luggage, turned around, and quickly walked out of the room.

*

*

*

Qingchuan Prefecture, Prefecture Office.

In front of the heavily guarded prefecture office gate.

Groups of people were gathered together, watching the newly posted summaries of various announcements.

The custom here was for the government to post reports of major events and wanted criminals in advance outside the gate for everyone to see. 𝐟𝕣𝗲𝕖𝕨𝗲𝐛𝗻𝗼𝐯𝗲𝚕.𝗰𝚘𝐦

This was known as the traditional bulletin board.

The constables guarding the prefecture office stood to the side.

A group of dozens of people stood on the other side looking at the bulletin board.

The two sides were distinct, without intruding on each other.

At that moment, among the crowd, a woman in a green dress and wearing a white veil glanced at the official notices and then at the prefecture office gate.

She squeezed through the crowd and walked along the prefecture office wall on the other side.

Then, taking advantage of the fact that there was no one in front and behind, the woman lightly tapped with her toes, leapt up, borrowed strength from the wall with her fingers, and easily jumped over the wall, landing inside.

Inside the prefecture office, the patrolling guards happened to have their backs to her, heading away.

The woman advanced calmly and steadily, seemingly slow, yet with each step she crossed more than ten meters. As if floating out of nowhere.

With a few blinks, she passed through the courtyard and arrived at another dark corner of the prefecture office.

Such evasive maneuvers.

In just a few minutes, she found Zhang Rongfang's bedroom study here.

After searching in the bedroom for a while, the woman soon found a black metal waist token.

That token was surrounded by cloud patterns and pine patterns, engraved with complex spiritual texts.

At the center, there were two large words: "Qiankun."

"Just as expected." The woman shook her head slightly. "It seems the Sect Leader was right, this Zhang Ying... not sure what he's thinking."

Although the waist token indeed has some monitoring function, its greater use is to protect against certain inexplicable harm.

With this, one can cultivate the Cultivation of Literature in peace. Otherwise... even a slight negligence could lead to a big mess.

"I need to see what Zhang Ying's current situation is. Hopefully, there's nothing wrong. Otherwise, if he encounters certain residual mystic beings, even I would find it difficult..."

The woman's brow furrowed tightly, she put away the waist token, turned, and with a tip of her toe, shot out like an arrow, leveraging with one hand against the wall, and in the blink of an eye, left the prefecture, disappearing from sight.

*

*

*

Bang!

A dirt fort in the suburbs of Wushan Prefecture.

The main gate was slammed fiercely by a battering ram, causing a loud noise.

The whole dirt fort wall shook in response. The fort guards holding bows and arrows on top had grim expressions.

They stared dead ahead at the black-clad men attacking the fort.

These men were masked in black, making their identities unclear, but they were well-trained and coordinated.

At this moment, several black-clad men were pushing the battering cart, ramming it hard against the wooden gate of the fort.

Cracks appeared on the gate.

"How dare you!" At this moment, inside the fort, a figure leaped down, clad in heavy leather armor, wielding a horse-cutting saber in one hand.

Swoosh!

With one slash, he struck down one of the men at the head of the battering cart.

But soon, three black-clad men stepped forward, forming a triangular offensive and surrounding him.

In an instant, after exchanging several moves, the man shifted from offense to defense, struggling to cope.

Zhang Rongfang gazed distantly at the scene from afar, his expression unchanged.

"This is already the fifth place, my lord," Qingsu said softly with a frown nearby. "We have absolutely no justification, just arbitrarily finding an excuse to attack them. Isn't this a bit... too domineering?"

She was somewhat worried.

"Domineering? To believe in secret teachings is already the greatest crime itself. If reported to the Inspection Bureau of the Spirit Court, they would face extermination all the same," Zhang Rongfang's expression did not change.

"But my lord, with chaos arising all around now, if someone takes this matter as an excuse to cause trouble, saying we deliberately escalate the situation..." Qingsu expressed concern.

"Then say he's colluding with secret teachings! The crime deserving execution!" Zhang Rongfang said decisively.

"..." Qingsu was left speechless, but currently, Great Dao Teaching was in its prime. If Zhang Ying the Daoist really did it, given his status and power, he might actually make it happen.

Zhang Rongfang actually didn't want to do this, but to clear out the Wish Girl followers, he had no choice but to kill.

He wanted to see if this approach could completely resolve the Wish Girl issue while also repaying Xue Tong.

Of course, he investigated beforehand, these so-called good people secretly committed heinous acts of robbery and banditry.

Those who could establish a fort outside and survive, there was no decent one among them.

Qingsu wanted to speak further, but at this moment, a black-clad man suddenly approached from behind, whispering a few words to Zhang Rongfang.

"Hmm?" Zhang Rongfang's expression changed slightly.

"Ran Xinyue..."

This name was very unfamiliar. But in the current situation, being sent by Old Yue to investigate things indicates she is definitely not weak!

One must know even Ding Rui before was already of Grandmaster strength, and now this Ran Xinyue, being called to investigate, is definitely recognized for her strength.

'What must come, will still come.' A trace of peculiarity flashed in Zhang Rongfang's eyes.

Not carrying a token, he had long anticipated that such a situation might occur. And now, it finally came.

It's needless to say, Ran Xinyue had sent someone in advance to pass a message, meaning for him not to wander off, wait for her arrival.

In this situation, if he insisted on leaving, it definitely means something is hidden.

However, if he does not evade, once the token arrives, he cannot conceal his cultivated capabilities, by then....

Zhang Rongfang could not imagine what the reaction outcome would be.

Looking at the fort under siege, his initial plan to eliminate the Wish Girl believers had to be temporarily set aside, to address Ran Xinyue first.

Qingsu seemed to notice Zhang Rongfang was distracted, promptly reporting softly, taking over the command authority.

Wushan Prefecture had scarce Super Grade experts, and this fort truly had none, the strongest was just that Ninth Grade who emerged briefly.

Thus, Qingsu, who struggled in the canyon, wouldn't necessarily fare badly outside.

With numerous recruited experts present, encircling and slaughtering, even a Ninth Grade couldn't escape death.

Time gradually passed.

Soon, within half an hour, the entire fort was completely cleansed, with the last person exterminated.

Qingsu led the release of a large group of slaves imprisoned by the fort.

This group appeared to be merchants in surface activities but secretly posed as horse bandits for robbery and theft. Especially after the vanishing of the Tiger of Dangshan two years ago, they became increasingly rampant.

Luckily, now their accumulations benefited Songhe Temple.

As the team cleaned up the aftermath, set fire to burn down the fort, they returned.

Zhang Rongfang pondered all the way how to address the investigation by Yue Shi.

After returning to Songhe Temple, Zhang Xuan and two companions along with the Flying Bear King had quietly departed.

With skilled hands he dispatched to protect, in Wushan Prefecture's territory, issues were minimal.

Zhang Rongfang's greater concern was still about the token.

"If only I knew, how that token verifies identity and the Cultivation of Literature... Then, whether to disguise or hide, strategies could be well-planned..."

Sitting cross-legged in the quiet chamber.

His brow remained tightly furrowed.

Yue Shi had always been generous to him, and he did not wish for conflict over such matters.

Although he harbored doubts about Yue Shi from Great Capital, without substantial proof, he retained great appreciation for his teacher.

Regardless....

Wait!!

Suddenly, Zhang Rongfang focused intently, a flash of light crossed his mind.

'If... I go seek Xue Tong for an inquiry....'