A thousand enlightenments in one night, starting from being a menial apprentice.

Yang Sixuan suddenly took out a folded note from his sleeve and placed it on the table in front of Duan Rong.

Duan Rong glanced at Yang Sixuan, whose face was cold, his eyes flickered slightly, and then looked at the cover of the newspaper by the light. The cover was blank, and he had no idea what was inside.

Yang Sixuan said, "These are several strongholds of the Filthy Blood Cult that I'm currently monitoring. I originally planned to find important clues before making a move, but now that Fu Yi has been captured, my plan has fallen through. Since this case is under the jurisdiction of Chief Duan, I might as well tell him about these strongholds. I just want to remind Chief Duan that it's best to act quickly, lest those Filthy Blood demons hear the commotion and escape."

Duan Rong was taken aback when Yang Sixuan suddenly produced such a document. He then clasped his hands and said, "I admire your magnanimity and insight, Chief Yang."

Duan Rong's words were not merely flattery; he genuinely admired Yang Sixuan's character.

Yang Sixuan gave a wry smile and said, "I won't disturb Chief Duan's investigation any longer. I'll take my leave."

After Yang Sixuan finished speaking, she turned and walked out of the dungeon.

Wooden frames stood on either side of the dungeon door, with braziers on them, the flames roaring in the night wind.

Yang Sixuan stood there and couldn't help but let out a long sigh.

Since Zhu He succeeded as sect leader, he has always wanted to replace him as the head of the Judgment and Justice Department. Yang Sixuan naturally understood this as well. It is normal for a new emperor to have a new court, especially since the head of the Judgment and Justice Department is an extremely important position.

Yang Sixuan's refusal to step down was not due to greed for power; he was simply unwilling to give up. He had painstakingly cultivated the Blood Filth Cult for decades, and many clues seemed to be slowly gathering together. If he could not capture Fu Yi, he was unwilling to give up.

But now that Fu Yi has been captured, Duan Rong seems to have achieved this goal, which he had been longing for and desperately seeking, with ease.

The Bloodstained Cult is on the verge of destruction, and the few strongholds he controlled will soon become meaningless. That's why he gave them to Duan Rong. It was a favor in the end. After this case, the position of Chief Judge of the Clan Court will probably belong to Duan Rong.

Yang Sixuan walked slowly towards the bamboo house in the mountain valley with his hands behind his back. As he walked in the dark night, his originally heavy mood gradually eased, as if a large stone that had been pressing on his heart had suddenly been lifted.

This large rock not only represented the Filthy Blood Cult, but also the position of the head of the Judgment and Justice Division. Once it was released, Yang Sixuan suddenly felt a sense of lightness.

Inside the dungeon, Duan Rong sat at a table and roughly browsed through the old building left by Yang Sixuan. The several strongholds inside were quite large.

Yang Yi, Fan Hongjiao, and Lu Geng were all leading teams to interrogate prisoners. Duan Rong immediately ordered them to send half of their men to arrest people in various prefectures and counties, according to the records in Yang Sixuan's report.

With interrogations and arrests raging, chaos naturally reigned within the dungeon...

In the mountain valleys ten miles outside Quyang County.

It was late at night, and Wu Shidao was hiding in the shadow of a wooden hut in front of the stone wall. He lit several braziers in the mountain stronghold, including the lantern on the arrow tower at the main gate.

At this moment, he hid in the shadows, projecting his divine sense, waiting for the cult leader named Ding Ze to personally come to his door.

Ding Ze paused slightly as he passed a large rock on the mountaintop. He looked at the rock at his feet under the moonlight, a hint of doubt flashing in his eyes.

He had entered the ravine from this very spot a few days earlier, and he remembered there was a pine tree there. But now that pine tree was gone.

Ding Ze wouldn't normally come to the alchemy workshop so frequently, but he did so to bestow the fourth level of the Filthy Blood Divine Art upon Shang Xiangyu.

Unexpectedly, such a strange thing was discovered on the mountaintop.

"Could I be remembering wrong?!" Ding Ze doubted his memory. "Or maybe the people in the mountain village cut down that pine tree for firewood?"

"But there are so many trees in the valley, why bother going all the way to the top of the mountain to cut them down?"

"Perhaps I've misremembered..." Ding Ze decided not to dwell on this trivial matter, and then used his speed to dart into the ravine.

He would come to this place to refine medicine every two or three months, and he was already very familiar with the mountain path.

After traveling some distance through the dark forest, faint lights began to appear ahead. Ding Ze soon arrived at the wooden fence surrounding the mountain stronghold.

He never used the main gate of the stronghold because he was looking for Shang Xiangyu, who was located deep within the stronghold. Going through the main gate would be a roundabout way. Moreover, he was at the fourth level of the True Qi Realm, so the many guards in the stronghold were practically useless to him.

Ding Ze used his body to leap over the wooden fence like a gecko, using both hands and feet, and then landed as lightly as a bird.

As soon as he landed, he was already at the back of the mountain stronghold. With a flick of his eyes, he headed towards the cave where Shang Xiangyu was.

Ding Zefang darted several meters ahead, but suddenly his heart tightened, and he stopped there. He noticed something strangely unusual: the mountain stronghold was unusually quiet tonight.

Almost every time he came here, after a long and tiring journey, he would have a big meal and drink in Quyang County, then rest for a while before heading into the mountains late at night.

Therefore, he was actually quite familiar with the village at night.

Yes, in the latter half of the night, most of the brothers in the stronghold had gone to sleep. Only the guards on duty would patrol the stronghold, but even the brothers who had gone to sleep were snoring.

This village could never be so quiet, as if it were dead silent.

Ding Ze looked around and saw no patrolling guards, only that the braziers and lanterns were lit everywhere. He looked towards the gate of the mountain stronghold and saw a dim lantern hanging on the towering arrow tower, emitting a dim light.

Ding Ze was puzzled and decided to investigate further before taking any action.

Just then, a figure carrying a lantern emerged from the shadows not far away and asked, "Are you Envoy Ding?"

Ding Ze became very wary. He looked at the face illuminated by the lamplight, and it seemed somewhat unfamiliar.

Ding Ze's hand was already on the knife at his waist. He frowned and asked, "Who are you?"

The man did not answer his question, but continued in a slow voice, "Is Envoy Ding here to deliver the secret manual for the fourth level of the Filthy Blood Divine Art to Pharmacist Shang?"

Ding Ze's eyes flickered slightly. Only Shang Xiangyu and a few of his close followers knew that he had agreed to ask the sect leader for the fourth level of the Filthy Blood Divine Art manual.

Upon hearing this, Ding Ze's guarded expression lessened considerably. He guessed that this person was one of Shang Xiangyu's close associates, so he asked, "Is Shang Xiangyu inside the cave? Take me to see him."

"Of course, Your Excellency." The man replied, and walked towards him with a lantern. When he was within ten feet of him, Ding Ze sensed something was wrong and was about to draw his sword.

The figure suddenly blurred and stood before him, a hand already pressing down on his hand as he reached for his knife. The two were inches apart. Ding Ze saw a cold, gloomy face; his hand felt as if bound by iron hoops, completely immobile. The next moment, he was sent flying backward. In mid-air, the figure suddenly flashed behind him, striking him on the back of the head, knocking him unconscious.

Wu Shidao's face was icy cold. He grabbed the unconscious Ding Ze and landed gracefully. He searched Ding Ze's body and quickly found a yellowish animal skin. He glanced at it in the dim light and saw that it was the fourth level of the Filthy Blood Divine Art.

Wu Shidao concealed the martial arts manual, grabbed the unconscious Ding Ze, and disappeared into the night...

Taiyi Gate, Iron Stone Peak.

Inside the dungeon of the Court of Judgment, the lights never went out day or night, and people were always busy going in and out.

For the past two or three days, while interrogating and arresting people, Duan Rong has been constantly sending in more people because there are not enough manpower.

Yang Yi and Fan Hongjiao were both exhausted, their eyes bloodshot.

At this moment, Yang Yi brought in another group of people to be imprisoned in the dungeon. As usual, before imprisoning them in the dungeon, he had to report to Duan Rong which stronghold they had been captured from.

Yang Yi said, "Commander Duan, these people were captured in a bandit stronghold deep in the mountains outside Linzhang Prefecture."

Duan Rong nodded upon hearing this, wrote the character "broken" next to the location of the stronghold on the paper, and then asked, "How many people were captured in total?"

Yang Yi said, "There are a total of 115 people, including three leaders."

Duan Rong made a simple note, then looked up and saw the three leaders in shackles standing behind Yang Yi.

Duan Rong's brows furrowed slightly; he recognized these three people. However, they didn't recognize him.

He recognized these three people because he was in the illusory realm of Jiang Hanyan's obsession.

These three were the bandit leaders who, within the ruins of gods and demons and in the illusory realm of Jiang Hanyan's obsessive soul, witnessed the massacre of the village, the killing of Jiang Hanyan's parents, and the hanging of their heads on a tree at the village entrance: the eldest leader Meng Zongqiu, the second leader Wu Mingfu, and the third leader Li Tang.

Because Jiang Hanyan's obsession was focused on their appearance when they were young, their faces had aged considerably since then compared to when they were in the illusionary realm. Wu Mingfu had lost an eye, and Li Tang was even more obviously depleted by wine and women.

However, the main reason why Duan Rong was able to recognize them at a glance was because of the leader, Meng Zongqiu.

Although Meng Zongqiu's face had aged considerably, with deep forehead wrinkles that looked as if they had been carved by a knife, the birthmark under his right eye had remained unchanged.

It was because of Meng Zongqiu's birthmark and the fact that the three people's facial features were still largely intact that Duan Rong recognized them at a glance.

Within the illusory realm of the gods and demons within the ruins, these three were killed one by one. Jiang Hanyan's obsessive mission was also in hell mode, and they had put in a lot of effort to complete it.

However, Duan Rong did not expect that these three executioners were still alive in the real world and had even joined the Filthy Blood Cult.

Duan Rong said, "Put these three leaders in a separate cell. Don't interrogate them yet; I will arrange for someone to interrogate them myself."

"Yes." Upon hearing this, Yang Yi's eyes flickered, and he glanced at the three bandit leaders with a questioning look.

In the past few days, countless strongholds have been raided, and this small bandit camp is really nothing special among them. But why did Commander Duan single out these three? There must be more to this than meets the eye.

Although Yang Yi's mind was in turmoil, he couldn't figure out what was going on, so he had no choice but to take these people to the dungeon.

After Yang Yi left, Duan Rong thought for a moment, then suddenly called over a guard at the dungeon entrance and instructed him, "Go deep into the dungeon and call Ximen Kankan over. Tell him I need to see him."

Upon receiving the order, the guard immediately acknowledged it and left. He had only taken a few steps after turning around.

"Come back!" Duan Rong suddenly called out to him again, saying, "No need to call Ximen Kankan, call Shen Mizhi over."

Duan Rong just remembered that Tianzhu Peak was all female disciples, and Shen Mizhi seemed to be more suitable than Ximen Kankan.

Shen Mizhi emerged from the depths of the dungeon. Despite not having rested for several days, she remained upright. She walked to Duan Rong's desk, clasped her hands in greeting, and said, "The Commander summoned me."

Duan Rong glanced at Shen Mizhi and saw two specks of blood splattered on her cheek, indicating that she had just been interrogating a prisoner. In the past few days, Duan Rong had also heard about the cruelty and brutality of Shen Mizhi's interrogation methods, which even the old supervisors of the imperial court were terrified of.

Duan Rong said, "Go to Tianzhu Peak and invite Jiang Hanyan over. Tell her I'm looking for her."

Upon hearing this, Shen Mizhi coldly clasped her hands and said, "Yes." Then she turned to leave the dungeon.

Duan Rong said from behind, "Wipe the bloodstains off your cheek, it looks creepy."

Shen Mizhi raised her hand and pursed her lips before stepping out of the dungeon.

Duan Rong watched Shen Mizhi's figure disappear through the dungeon entrance, his eyes flickering slightly. Shen Mizhi had one redeeming quality: she would never ask why she was asked to do something. Ximen Kankan, on the other hand, was the complete opposite; if he were asked to do something, he would relentlessly demand an explanation.

Duan Rong lay down on the table and began to organize the case files. The case files for such a major case were very complicated. If he waited until the case was finished before organizing them, he didn’t know when it would take.

Now that Fu Yi has been arrested, Duan Rong has decided to use the three-tiered system theory of the Filthy Blood Cult as a framework to build this dossier and slowly fill it with information.

He was writing furiously when Shen Mizhi led Jiang Hanyan into the dungeon.

As soon as Jiang Hanyan entered the dungeon, she laughed and said, "Brother Duan, congratulations! It's all over the sect that you destroyed the Filthy Blood Sect and even captured its leader, Fu Yi. What a great achievement!"

Upon hearing this, Duan Rong stood up and first gave Shen Mizhi, who was behind Jiang Hanyan, a wink. Shen Mizhi then left to continue interrogating the half-dead prisoner deeper into the dungeon.

Duan Rong then smiled and looked at Jiang Hanyan, but did not respond to her words. Instead, he said, "It is a bit presumptuous of me to invite Senior Sister Jiang here. However, there is something here that concerns you."

"It's related to me!?" Jiang Hanyan's eyes flickered slightly. She knew what it meant for Duan Rong to think that the case of the Bloodstained Cult was related to her.

Duan Rong smiled and said, "Senior Sister Jiang, please don't misunderstand. This isn't related to the case. Please come with me."

As Duan Rong spoke, he stepped out from behind the desk and walked into the dungeon. After taking a few steps, he turned and glanced at Jiang Hanyan. Jiang Hanyan, who had been standing there with a puzzled expression, followed him into the depths of the dungeon with suspicion upon seeing Duan Rong's grave face. (End of Chapter)