The proof of Emperor Wu began with daily rewards for diligence.

Upon seeing that the man before him was actually his father's comrade-in-arms, Chen Jue breathed a sigh of relief and took the papers with him.

"Uncle Lu, aren't you going to ask what happened here?" Chen Jue seized the opportunity and directly tried to get closer to the two of them.

Lu Zhan waved his hand and said, "What's there to ask? Since the Divine Fire Crow has appeared, the instigator tonight must be the 'Divine Understanding' organization."

"Relying on the special permission granted by the late emperor, they have smuggled a lot of important materials and illegally manufactured firearms."

Chen Jue was startled upon hearing this.

"What a twist! Isn't this supposed to be a non-governmental organization? How does it have this official backing?"

Lu Zhan glanced at Chen Jue.

"What? The Mystic Organization is looking for you?"

"Don't agree to this."

"In the past, in order to prevent powerful clans from colluding with the Star Gods and harming the Ming Dynasty, the royal family specifically supported folk organizations like 'Divine Interpretation' to compete with the treacherous powerful clans..."

"But the situation is different now. Emperor Chong has retreated into the deep palace, the court is controlled by the nine holy lands, and powerful clans are about to control the local areas and do whatever they want..."

"Joining the Divine Understanding Organization at this point would be tantamount to going against those powerful clans who are single-mindedly focused on rising to power through the Star Demon's power. How could that possibly end well..."

"I see, thank you for your guidance, Uncle Lu!" Chen Jue bowed to Lu Zhan in thanks.

Lu Zhan waved his hand and glanced at the martial artists from the Tang, Feng, and Tu families who had been standing ten steps away for a long time.

"Say what you know, and admit what you don't know. Don't be afraid of trouble if someone comes after you."

Lu Zhan took out a training badge and stuffed it into Chen Jue's hand. "This is my daughter's reserve soldier training badge. You can borrow it for a while."

"How could I accept this..." Although he said he didn't want it, reason still made Chen Jue accept the internship badge.

Whether or not it's ultimately useful, it's always good to leave this favor behind.

"I'll take some men to the lakeside to take a look. Be careful how you deal with the powerful clans."

After saying that, Lu Zhan led the town guards of the prison squad away.

When the Tang, Feng, and Tu families saw that the garrison commander of the Jiangnan Wanhu Prefecture had removed the soundproof barrier and left, they immediately surrounded Chen Jue.

"What did you just say to that Demon-Suppressing Captain of the Ten Thousand Households?"

The Tang family warrior was the first to speak. His martial arts attire was seven parts similar to that of Tang Bi, who was killed by Chen Jue, and the clan emblem embroidered on his chest was immediately recognized by Chen Jue.

"Oh, he asked me what happened on Cuihu Street just now..." Chen Jue said honestly.

"What did you say?" the martial artists from the Tang, Feng, and Tu families pressed.

"The abandoned factory by the lake was attacked by the Divine Fire Crow. The explosion was deafening, and the factory was razed to the ground..."

"A man claiming to be a Demon-Suppressing Captain flew down from the sky and killed the leader of the Fire Sect..."

"During this time, some members of the Fire Sect escaped, only to be hunted down by a large number of martial arts practitioners; the outcome is unknown..."

"That's all?" Upon hearing this, the martial artists from the Tang, Feng, and Tu families all frowned.

"Have you heard anything about high-grade elixirs?" they pressed.

"No, not at all..."

"Before the incident, my colleagues and I were on patrol. After the explosion, we didn't dare to go any closer, and that's when we saw these things." Perhaps because he knew only a limited amount of information, Chen Jue scratched the back of his head sheepishly.

Wu Nanyuan had just returned to Chen Jue's side when she nodded in agreement, saying, "I am a member of the Wu family in the inner city. The incident happened suddenly, and a strange creature exploded, so none of us dared to get close."

The two worked together seamlessly, their words revealing no flaws.

"What a waste..." The Feng family warrior muttered under his breath when he couldn't get any useful information out of him.

"Alright, since things have come to this, let's go to the scene and take a look. Perhaps we'll find some clues," said the Tu family warrior.

After discussing their matter as if no one else was around, the three martial artists from the Tang, Feng, and Tu families left together, leaving Chen Jue and Wu Nanyuan standing there.

Upon seeing this, Chen and Wu simply stood with their hands at their sides, as if they were still on guard duty.

After a whole night of commotion, various groups practically turned the entire Green Lake upside down.

Perhaps it was a case of heaven rewarding those who persevere, for at the break of dawn, they actually found a Fire Cult priest, who was submerged underwater, breathing through reeds, and whose body was swollen from being soaked in water, in a patch of dry reeds.

Unfortunately, he only had two Ascension Pills. After the Jiangnan Ten Thousand Households Prefecture took one, the remaining one had to be divided equally among the Tang, Feng, and Tu families.

Chen Jue and his fellow inspectors waited until eight o'clock in the morning before finally receiving the order to go home. The three familiar groups of inspectors then gathered around, asking Chen Jue about the news from the previous night.

Left with no other choice, Chen Jue had to repeat what he had said to the Tang, Feng, and Tu martial artists.

"Wow, there was such a commotion last night, weren't you guys even curious enough to go to the lake to take a look?" someone said, feeling it was a pity.

"It's a good thing we didn't go. If we had, we would have really gone too far." Someone who participated in the lakeside search said mysteriously, "There have been supernatural events at the lakeside. Many martial arts practitioners have had their souls extracted and turned into drooling idiots."

"I just saw... the Tang family took all those martial arts practitioners away, probably to test their medicine?"

"Chen Jue did the right thing. When you encounter something like this, it's best to run as far away as possible. The ruthless characters who can use Divine Fire Flying Crow to strike the Fire Sect are not people that we ordinary inspectors can mess with."

Chen Jue's uncle, He Yuanshan, also participated in this operation.

When he heard Chen Jue mention Lu Zhan of the Jiangnan Ten Thousand Households Prefecture, his expression changed slightly.

"Back then, your father, Chen Zhou, was one of the most outstanding newcomers in the Jiangnan Wanhu Prefecture. He took care of countless people, and Lu Zhan was one of the closest to him."

"However, ten years have passed, and it's hard to say how much affection remains."

"Keep the things he gave you safe, but whatever you do, don't let your mom know, or she'll be up for days and nights again..."

"Beep beep beep!!!"

As the uncle and nephew were talking, the sharp assembly whistle of the garrison suddenly rang out in the street, interrupting their conversation.

"Hurry! Hurry back to the garrison!!!"

"Some audacious thieves have dared to launch a surprise attack on the King of Wu and Yue while our garrison is undefended!"

"Get back to the garrison immediately!!!"

A patrol pickup truck from the Kaiyang Garrison, blaring its stern horn, sped through the streets.

Group leader Zhu Hang stood on the back of a pickup truck, his right hand firmly welded to the roof railing like an iron clamp, his body as steady as a mountain, while his left hand held a megaphone, screaming at the top of his lungs into the street.

"ah?!"

The uncle and nephew exchanged a glance, both seeing utter shock in each other's eyes.

The chaos was already intense enough when the martial arts world's heroes and the Fire Cult were clashing in the early hours of the morning.

Unexpectedly, someone was so bold as to launch a surprise attack on the garrison while its headquarters were undefended.

This is a blatant slap in the face to the government; what's the difference between this and a rebellion?!