Dalantai took 15 minutes to recount, from beginning to end, the calamity of extermination looming over the Da Clan.
In Dalantai’s own words, their Da Clan was simply out of luck.
Somehow, they ended up being targeted by the Central Patrol of the Heavenly Patrol Department.
One third of their Da clansmen served in the Ancestor God Temple, but the majority were still serving the Great Zhou Dynasty; their Da Clan also held a noble title.
It’s just that, within Luoyi, this Imperial Capital, their Da Clan’s First-GradeMarquis title really didn’t amount to much.
Moreover, because the clansmen with the greatest talent for Cultivation were all serving inside the Ancestor God Temple, the rest of the Da Clan in the Great Zhou mostly held civil posts.
They had their own people in the Commerce Tax Bureau and Acquisition Department of the Ministry of Revenue, and Da Clan juniors in the Inspection Division of the Ministry of Justice and in the Military Department.
In fact, the promotions of many Da clansmen had been organized and pushed through by Dalantai, who held high office within the Ancestor God Temple, along with another Vice Hall Master.
Don’t be fooled by how the Ancestor God Temple supposedly has no power, but every army of the Great Zhou has Ancestor God Temple Priests accompanying the troops, and the Great Zhou’s armies treat the Ancestor God Temple Priests like treasures.
Thus, the Da Clan had intricate ties with the Military Faction; the Military Faction in turn was deeply intertwined with the Ministry of Revenue and the Ministry of Industry, so Dalantai took the opportunity to secure some posts, even fat ones, for his clansmen.
In the Great Zhou, it was actually very common for officials in office to skim and fiddle with the affairs they handled.
Take the disbursement of military pay, for example—especially for those ordinary troops. If what they received in hand reached eighty percent of the allotted amount, that was already burning incense to the gods; actually getting fifty percent was the norm.
Of course, this only applied to ordinary units.
And where did that missing fifty percent go? It disappeared into the hands of the various levels of officials who handled it.
Once everyone got used to it, it became an unwritten rule.
But the unlucky part was that recently their Da Clan had been locked onto by the Heavenly Patrol Department.
Almost all clansmen in office showed signs of being investigated, and in just seven days, thirteen clansmen had already been thrown into prison for interrogation.
Originally, the Da Clan did have some connections; Dalantai thought that if he stepped out personally, he could smooth things over.
Unexpectedly, after paying late‐night visits to several of their contacts, not a single one would see him.
After that, he received a piece of utterly devastating news.
A nest case!
Their Da Clan had stirred up a full-blown nest case.
Dalantai’s younger half-brother, his third brother, was the Director of the Acquisition Department. The position was ordinary, but the grease was incredibly rich; because of procurement, he often led people to various Little Worlds across the Great Zhou to purchase unique Heavenly Materials and Earthly Treasures.
At first it was nothing out of the ordinary—even if it was exposed, according to the Great Zhou’s recent handling practice, patching up the deficit would more or less settle it; it wouldn’t be a big deal.
The problem lay with Dalantai’s son—his legitimate eldest son—who had been arranged, forty years ago, into a reserve post as Junior Director of the Military Equipment Maintenance Division of the Military Department.
The Military Equipment Maintenance Division was responsible for taking the weapons and equipment withdrawn from the front‐line soldiers when they were rotated out, or when gear needed refitting or was damaged, picking out those that were still usable and could be repaired, repairing them, and then issuing them to ordinary units.
It was also considered a fat post. After all, whether a piece of weaponry or equipment was deemed unusable was entirely up to them to say; they often took some key components or so‐called scrapped but repairable weapons out to make a profit.
Everyone was doing this. Otherwise, where do you think all those controlled weapons in the armories of the major Royal Family and noble family houses in Luoyi, such as the Sky-Breaking Dragon-Slaying Crossbow and the Flame Spirit Burst Demon Crossbow, came from?
They came from exactly this!
This wasn’t anything new in Luoyi.
But the problem was, after his son was seized by the Heavenly Patrol Department, that son of his turned out to be too timid, too cowardly. Under a few minor tricks from the Heavenly Patrol Department, he was scared half to death and spilled everything he could and couldn’t say in one breath.
His son actually confessed that the scrapped weapons he had taken from the Repairing Department and restored, he had given to his third uncle—that is, Dalantai’s third brother, Dalanshou—who then, taking advantage of his procurement trips to various Little Worlds, sold those controlled weapons of the Great Zhou to Foreign Clans, raking in a hundredfold profit.
What was even worse, among the trading partners there were actually members of the Demon Clan!
This was touching the ultimate taboo!
The Great Zhou’s style was very straightforward: if you skim a bit of leftovers for yourself, take a couple of bites and keep it internal, they don’t mind. If you really take too much, they’ll just confiscate your property—still ends up belonging to our Great Zhou anyway.
But if you collude with enemy nations, selling controlled weapons to Foreign Clans and the Demon Clan, that is a capital crime of exterminating your entire clan.
Because of this case, all Da clansmen in the Acquisition Department of the Ministry of Revenue and the Military Equipment Maintenance Division of the Military Department had already been secretly arrested and interrogated by the Heavenly Patrol Department.
Dalantai was beside himself with anxiety.
Yet the people he usually had connections with now feared being tainted by association with the Da Clan and were desperate to cut ties clean. Who would still dare help them?
Dalantai had run into walls all night long; with nowhere else to turn, he came begging at Hall Master Bi Ze’s door.
Otherwise, Dalantai wouldn’t have gone so far as to perform this grand kowtow rite.
After listening to Dalantai’s account, Hall Master Bi Ze was dumbfounded.
This matter was not something easy to handle!
It wasn’t that it was merely difficult—it was something he absolutely couldn’t touch.
Colluding with foreign powers, colluding with the Demon Clan—who would dare get involved in that?
Bi Ze let out a long sigh on the spot. "Dalantai, I truly do want to help you, but with this matter, even I cannot help you!
If you want to quash this case, looking for ordinary people is useless. The one you must seek is the Heavenly Patrol Chief Wu Yu. But that bastard Wu Yu—he and I have no friendship to speak of, and we even had a small but unpleasant clash once. Even if I wanted to help you, I couldn’t!"
At these words, Dalantai panicked.
He hurriedly knelt again; this time, Dalantai fell to both knees, his voice wretched and tragic. "Hall Master, I beg you, please save my Da Clan! As long as we survive this calamity, my entire Da Clan will be at your command, my lord Hall Master!"
Bi Ze wore a look of utter difficulty. "Hurry and get up. It’s not that I won’t save you, but that I truly cannot. This matter is really......"
"Hall Master, I know of your relationship with Tong Daquan Priest, I beg the Hall Master to save my entire Da Family!" Dalantai once again bowed until his forehead touched the floor.
Dalantai was utterly helpless; this was simply a calamity from the heavens.
Kneeling there, Dalantai failed to notice that the atmosphere in the main hall of War Soul Hall grew strange because of his few sentences.
"Hall Master, there is something I do not know whether I should say or not?" Left Chief Priest Xii Mo suddenly spoke.
"Between us, what is there to hesitate about? Speak!" Bi Ze’s face was full of gloom.
"Subordinate feels that our War Soul Hall may have been schemed against!" Xii Mo said.
"Schemed against? What do you mean?" Bi Ze looked puzzled.
"Hall Master, there is something I have not mentioned. Just two days ago, I received word from my clan: several clansmen of mine who hold posts in the Earth Mining Division were arrested by people from the Heavenly Patrol Department.
At the time I didn’t take it seriously, I kept asking people to pull strings, spent a lot, yet still no result.
If Dalantai’s clansmen have also been investigated by people from the Heavenly Patrol Department, and all of this is concentrated in these few days, then I have reason to suspect...."
"Ah, Priest Xii, your clansmen were also taken by the Heavenly Patrol Department?" The First Deputy Hall Master looked shocked. "I’ve never dared mention this myself. A younger cousin of mine, along with one of my sons and four nephews, were also taken by the Heavenly Patrol Department and are still being interrogated."
"My elder brother, as well as my father, were also taken by the Heavenly Patrol Department!"
"My family also had four people taken by the Heavenly Patrol Department two days ago!"
"And my family...."
In an instant, among the many Daily Priests and core Moon Priests in War Soul Hall, more than half of the priests revealed that either their own clansmen or in-laws had been taken by the Heavenly Patrol Department.
In total, the clansmen of seventeen core members of War Soul Hall had been secretly arrested by the Heavenly Patrol Department.
Not only could the charges in the Grand Capital basically be nailed down, but no matter how they tried to use their connections, they still could not rescue these clansmen.
Even more shocking was that all of their clansmen had been taken within these four or five days.
As if overnight, the families of the upper echelons of War Soul Hall had all been taken by the Heavenly Patrol Department.
Hall Master Bi Ze’s expression instantly became extremely ugly.
Even if he were a fool, he could see that this was the Heavenly Patrol Department deliberately targeting their War Soul Hall.
Otherwise, how could there be such a coincidence under the heavens.
"Ye Zhen!"
"That bastard Ye Zhen comes from the Heavenly Patrol Department; it must be him who requested their forces to坑害 our War Soul Hall!" After being dazed for a long moment, Dalantai suddenly cried out.
Xii Mo, Bi Ze, and the others all shot Dalantai a look of disdain. They had also connected this to Ye Zhen; otherwise, why would the Heavenly Patrol Department, for no reason, deliberately target their War Soul Hall?
In the moment they figured it out, Right Chief Priest Dalantai of War Soul Hall hated so much his teeth itched.
He wished he could give himself a few hard slaps.
This matter could not be clearer—this was Ye Zhen’s revenge.
If, on that day, he had just turned a blind eye and rented the Ten Thousand Bones Reincarnation Seal’s Avatar to Ye Zhen, nothing would have happened.
But now, he had pushed the entire Da Family onto the road of extermination.
"Hall Master, Ye Zhen is deliberately taking revenge, inciting the Heavenly Patrol Department to deal with us; you must stand up for us!"
For a time, the priests whose clansmen had been implicated all spoke up one after another.
At this point, Bi Ze had no choice but to take a position.
"Set your minds at ease. Since this is the Heavenly Patrol Department’s deliberate retaliation, then I will go right now to request an audience with Tong Daquan Priest. I believe Tong Daquan Priest will definitely stand up for us!" Bi Ze said.
"Rest assured, I will certainly do my utmost. Whoever can be pulled out, I will definitely pull out!" Bi Ze promised.
Hearing this, Dalantai, still kneeling there, nodded heavily. Tongg Na Great Priest had wide connections and possessed extremely ample speaking power in the Great Zhou Imperial Court.
Among the Six Ministers, the Tongg Family held one of the seats.
He believed that as long as Tongg Na Great Priest stepped forward, this matter would certainly be resolved.
"There is no time to lose. I will go right now to request an audience with Tongg Na Great Priest!"
"Report!"
Bi Ze had just finished speaking when a Sacrificial Guard hurried over. "Hall Master, Left Chief Priest Ye Zhen of Barbarian Spirit Hall has sent a Jade Scroll, saying it is to be personally opened by the Hall Master!"
"That bastard Ye Zhen sent me a letter? What is he trying to do? Seeking a truce?" With doubts in his mind, War Soul Hall Master Bi Ze opened the Jade Scroll delivered by the priest.
But after only a single glance, War Soul Hall Master Bi Ze’s expression became incomparably shocked, and even the hand holding the Jade Scroll began to tremble.
"Where is Ye Zhen now?" Bi Ze asked urgently.
"He is on the plaza outside the hall. He also said...." The Sacrificial Guard seemed a bit hesitant.
"What else did he say?"
"He also said that once the Hall Master has read this Jade Scroll, you will definitely personally invite him into the hall for tea," the priest said in a low voice.
Stunned for a moment, the War Soul Hall Master suddenly shouted in a loud voice, "Attend me, prepare tea!"
"Prepare good tea!"

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