Zuan patted him on the shoulder: "Don't worry, I won't silence you. I'm not that kind of person."
Xiao Jianren finally breathed a sigh of relief. For some reason, as an Embroidered-Robe Envoy, he was used to seeing deceit and treachery, but upon hearing the other party's words, he inexplicably trusted him.
After comforting him, Zu An quietly left, but instead of going back to his room to sleep, he went to the city and, based on the information provided by Xiao Jianren, found the Demonic Sect's stronghold.
He couldn't put all his eggs in one basket; he still needed to contact Yun Jianyue.
This hideout was a liquor store, which was naturally closed for the middle of the night. He didn't care about anything else and just barged in.
He quickly subdued the individuals involved. Apart from the liquor store owner, there were only two employees. Without wasting any words, he immediately separated them and interrogated them about how they contacted their superiors.
At first, these people didn't say anything, but Zu'an was confident in his forceful approach. He directly summoned Daji. These people's cultivation levels were generally not high, and with Daji's skill of bewitching the world, she could easily charm them.
After asking around for a while, they discovered that all the people they knew were small fry and they didn't know how to contact the higher-ups of the Demonic Sect.
Instead, they would send someone from above to collect intelligence every now and then. It was a purely one-way communication, and the behavior was extremely secretive. Even the people in the liquor store didn't know who was taking the information.
The key issue is that the last time they gathered intelligence was three days ago, and the next time they come will be at least ten days later. How could Zaun possibly wait that long?
Daji erased their memories of today, then knocked them unconscious. Zuan had no choice but to return to the mission ship.
Not long after, Sang Hong returned with his men. He summoned Zu An to discuss the matter: "I just met with Prefect Zhang. He was initially unwilling to take on this task, but because I spoke on his behalf, and with pressure from the Prince of Yan's mansion, and some other local officials who also wanted to take advantage of the situation, they began to urge him to accept the task. In the end, he agreed."
"He was worried that things might change over time and the cultists would realize what was going on, so the prisoners will be escorted away tomorrow at noon."
Zuan was taken aback: "Tomorrow at noon?"
It should be noted that the governor's office had only half a day to mobilize its troops, which was already quite rushed.
"That's right. When the time comes, Prefect Zhang will make a grand entrance to visit the injured Prince Yan at the Prince's mansion, taking the opportunity to transfer Qiu Honglei from the mansion's dungeon to his carriage. Then, he'll lead his men out of the city. This way, the members of the Demonic Sect won't even realize that Qiu Honglei is no longer at the Prince Yan's mansion. By the time they realize it, the escort team will already be a thousand miles away. At that point, it will be too late for the Demonic Sect to organize a rescue." Sang Hong exclaimed in admiration, "That Prefect Zhang is truly a remarkable individual; he actually came up with this method in such a short time."
"Indeed impressive." Zu An had a headache. If the Demonic Sect didn't help distract them, could he and the seventh-ranked Gold Medalist alone rescue Qiu Honglei from so many people?
"Who is in charge of escorting them?" Zu'an wanted to take the opportunity to gather more information so that he could have a better chance of success tomorrow.
“Yang Sheng, the Commandant of Yi County, is a ninth-rank, early-stage expert. Accompanying him is Liao Ling, the City Lord of Yi County, a seventh-rank, peak-stage expert. I’m not very clear about the other officers and guards.” Sang Hong said while glancing at Zu An, seemingly reminding him to be careful.
Zuan knew that the Prefect was the highest administrative official of a prefecture, while the Commandant was the highest military official, similar to the Regional Commander in the previous world: "Why do the officials of Yi Prefecture seem to have higher cultivation levels than officials of other prefectures of the same rank?"
It should be noted that ordinary prefects and military commanders are only of the eighth rank, and city lords are only of the seventh rank. This situation in Yi County is clearly not normal.
Sang Hong looked towards the direction of the Prince of Yan's residence in the distance: "That's a long story. Yi County is a rather special place..."
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I'm posting two chapters today so everyone won't have to wait.
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