n

n

n

nBack in the capital city,

n

nXiao Ran opened the Golden Tome of Creation and saw four items. 1.2 million Mastery points, 100 years of Martial Arts Evolution, 120 years of soul cultivation, Stars Sand (10 grains).

n

nLooking at his gains, he thought it was definitely worth his effort to turn the capital city upside down during this period of time.

n

nHe added the1.2 million Mastery points to the Universal Phenomenon.

n

nAfter the attributes were refreshed,

n

nUniversal Phenomenon: Dominating Refinement

n

nIt had skipped the Minor Achievement level and advanced two realms.

n

nHe was still 250 years away from breaking through to Level 5 of the Profound Realm.

n

n“Two hundred and fifty. That’s a very infuriating number!”

n

nIn terms of Spiritual Master Evolution, he was still twenty years away from breaking through to Level 4 of the Earth Realm.

n

nUltimately, the most valuable thing was the Stars Sand.

n

nStar Sand: Each grain weighs ten thousand pounds and has various wonderful uses.

n

nHe played with a grain of Stars Sand. It was gold-colored and was about the size of a rice grain, but it weighed ten thousand pounds.

n

n“This is good stuff! It will pair well with the Spawning Soldiers from Beans skill.”

n

nHe put away the Stars Sand.

n

nA group of people dashed across the street. Judging from the direction, they seemed to be heading for Xia Ming’s residence.

n

nThey were all acquaintances.

n

nThe people from the Spiritual Divinity Bureau were also present, along with Shen Yiming and Little Zhou.

n

nAfter reciting softly for a while,

n

nXiao Ran walked out of the darkness and chased after the group from behind. He caught up and patted Little Zhou on the shoulder.

n

nThe sudden unexpected action frightened him out of his wits. He turned around and saw Xiao Ran. He heaved a sigh of relief and called out excitedly, “Brother Xiao!”

n

nShen Yiming and the others stopped as well when they heard Little Zhou’s shout.

n

n“Why are you here?” Little Zhou asked.

n

nXiao Ran said, “After leaving the Divine Sword Guards, I continued to investigate the ‘Celestial Varg Guards’ case. There was no news at all, so I found a place and ate the Earth-rank Healing Pill that was rewarded.”

n

nAt this moment, the level of skills evolution he exhibited was that of Level 10 of the Connate Realm.

n

n“I see.” Little Zhou was enlightened.

n

nThen he couldn’t contain himself and began to brag.

n

n“I’ve broken through to Level 8 of the Connate Realm myself.”

n

nShen Yiming kicked him in annoyance. “Is this the time to show off?”

n

nHis gaze landed on Xiao Ran.

n

n“We’ve received news that Xia Ming has stolen the ‘Celestial Varg Guards’ manual! It’s already in the hands of the God Enforcement Division and the Forbidden Martial Guards. We won’t be able to claim a big credit this time. If we rush over now, we might still get some crumbs of credit.”

n

nThey continued on their way.

n

nWhen they arrived at Xia Ming’s residence…

n

nGood Lord.

n

nPreviously, when Old Gu launched his attack, there were at least some parts of the palace left. In just a short while, the remaining areas had been completely demolished by the two groups of government forces.

n

n“Dig 3 feet into the ground,” Shen Yiming ordered.

n

nEveryone separated and began to dig.

n

nThere were already quite a few people digging, most of them people from the God Enforcement Division and the Forbidden Martial Guards.

n

nRapid footsteps could be heard coming from outside again.

n

nThe Sacred Martial Bureau finally arrived, but their leader had changed.

n

nLi Heng was seriously injured by the wolf demon and was still lying in bed recuperating.

n

nWhen the men from the Sacred Martial Bureau arrived, they were more straightforward. They immediately joined in the ‘digging’ operation without a word.

n

nThis time, Little Zhou’s good luck did not materialize.

n

nEven if there was something good, it would have been dug up by the God Enforcement Division and the Forbidden Martial Guards by now.

n

nThe Divine Sword Guards and Spiritual Divinity Bureau regrouped, empty-handed.

n

nShen Yiming shook his head in disappointment. “I was careless this time.”

n

nLing Qing’er smiled and said, “Don’t worry too much. We solved the stolen tax money case, so even if we didn’t gain anything this time, the reward from the tax money case was still worth the effort.”

n

n“Yes.” Shen Yiming nodded.

n

nThey left the premises and the two sides separated.

n

nWith uncanny coincidence, they bumped into Qin Fangzhen and the others on their way back, escorting the apprehended white-haired old man.

n

nShen Yiming hurried forward. “My Lord, why are all of you here?”

n

nQin Fangzhen briefly explained the situation.

n

n“That guy deserved to die!” Shen Yiming cursed.

n

n“Xia Ming stole the ‘Celestial Varg Guards’ manual. He was plotting something big. I must go to the palace immediately and report this matter to His Majesty so that he can make a decision,” Qin Fangzhen said sternly.

n

nHe handed the white-haired old man to Shen Yiming and asked them to haul him to the Celestial Dungeon.

n

n“Let’s go!” Shen Yiming said.

n

nThe group hurried to the Celestial Dungeon.

n

nAt the moment, the Celestial Dungeon was very busy. There was a secret passage hidden in the Jade Manor that led to the outside of the capital city. If someone used it at a critical moment, the consequences would be unimaginable.

n

nQin Fangzhen was furious and immediately ordered everyone in the Jade Manor to be arrested and locked up in the Celestial Dungeon for interrogation.

n

nHowever,

n

nin the end, the Jade Manor Bookmaker managed to escape, but his two Deputy Bookmakers were captured.

n

nThe lieutenant directed the dungeon guards to lock these people in the cells.

n

nSeeing that more would-be prisoners had arrived, he stopped what he was doing and quickly came up to the group. “Greetings, my Lord!”

n

n“Go about your business.” Shen Yiming waved him away.

n

nThey brought the prisoner to the ninth floor and tied him to a metal rack in the big hall.

n

n“Run through all the different kinds of punishment on him.”

n

n“What if we end up killing him?” Little Zhou asked nervously.

n

n“He’s at Level 2 of the Profound Realm. His vitality is very strong, so he won’t die! If he dies, so be it.”

n

nLittle Zhou understood. He brought all the torture devices and threw them on the ground.

n

nHe then rolled up his sleeves and smiled wickedly.

n

nHe tore a piece of cloth from the prisoner’s body and stuffed it into his mouth.

n

nHe was holding the set of steel needles that he had used to scare Daoist Priest Xuan Yang previously, and a hammer.

n

nUsing the steel needle to trace an acupoint on his chest. Little Zhou grinned maniacally. “I’m good at this. I can hit the point in one stroke.”

n

nGasp!

n

nHe smashed the steel needle in like lightning.

n

nThe old man’s eyes bulged in pain, and veins popped out on his forehead.

n

nIf it weren’t for the cloth in his mouth, his cry would have reached the first floor.

n

n“Such a big reaction? This is just the beginning,” Little Zhou said in mock surprise.

n

nHe then rapidly hammered the complete set of steel needles into his body.

n

nMeanwhile, Xiao Ran and Shen Yiming finished their cups of tea.

n

nThe two of them walked over.

n

nShen Yiming removed the cloth from his mouth. “Tell me in detail how you stole the ‘Celestial Varg Guards’ manual.”

n

nLittle Zhou took out some writing materials and prepared to record down everything.

n

n“Kill me if you have the guts!” The old man blurted out defiantly.

n

nShen Yiming stuffed the thick cloth back into his mouth.

n

nLittle Zhou took up the remaining torture equipment and implemented torture again.

n

nBy the time he had gone through the complete set of punishments, the old man was unrecognizable. He was covered in blood, but he wasn’t dead, yet.

n

nShen Yiming removed the cloth from his mouth again. “You can persist until the end. But I promise you! As long as you refuse to tell me everything, I’ll let you taste all the punishments every four hours.”

n

n“My Lord, what if he commits suicide?” Little Zhou scratched the back of his head.

n

n“If he had wanted to die, he would have killed himself when Old Gu caught him,” Shen Yiming said.

n

nThe old man was silent. Seeing Shen Yiming raise his palm to give the order to start the torture again, he became scared!

n

n“I’ll talk!”

n

n“You bitch!” Shen Yiming cursed at him.

n

nFrom the old man’s mouth, they learned that Xia Ming had received news that the Celestial Varg Guards were about to appear in the world. From there they begin their set up, including the Yama group… and then, how they managed to steal it from the Ministry of Defense.

n

nIn this operation, there was a key person, the First Assistant Minister of the Ministry of Defense. He was bribed by Xia Ming to work with them from the inside. Thereafter, the old man himself took action. This was how this matter was done without alerting anyone.

n

nShen Yiming immediately summoned his men and sent them to the residence of the First Assistant Minister of the Ministry of Defense.

n

n“And what about the secret passage in the Jade Manor?”

n

n“I don’t know!” The old man shook his head vigorously.

n

n“If the wolf demon hadn’t interfered tonight and things hadn’t happened so suddenly, I wouldn’t have known about the secret passage.”

n

n“Do it.” Shen Yiming didn’t believe him.

n

nLittle Zhou gagged him and tortured him again.

n

nWhen the second round ended,

n

nShen Yiming asked again, but the answer was still the same.

n

n“He really did not know?”

n