Hearing this, Zhang Cheng’s already furrowed brow only grew tighter.
"This man indeed has no direct connection with the Inspection Department."
Zhang Cheng pondered for a moment, then looked at Chu Bai. "If he was a mole planted by Wei Chuan of the Inspection Department, then back at Threadline Gorge, when Wei Chuan used the Foundation Establishment Decree to lock down the area, the first thing he would have done would have been to silence him. He never would have let us bring him back to the Evil Suppression Department alive."
Han Xingmo nodded as well, the lingering fear in his heart easing slightly.
’As long as this wasn’t a case of internal strife from a Government body like the Inspection Department, perhaps there was still room for maneuver.’
However, Chu Bai wasn’t satisfied with this answer. He walked over to Qii Pan, stared into the man’s vacant eyes, and voiced the biggest question on his mind:
"Qii Pan, you said they taught you a Secret Technique to destroy the Seal and Ribbon. But what I don’t understand is this: since those people had the power to assassinate a Regular Eighth Grade Water Uncle at Threadline Gorge, their strength must far surpass your own."
"If they wanted to destroy the evidence, why didn’t they act when they committed the murder? Why would they leave such a glaring loose end, only to go through the trouble of having an inside man like you clean up their mess?"
If the assassins had the power to fell a Divine Spirit in an instant, destroying the Seal would have been a trivial, effortless act.
Qii Pan gave a wretched laugh and shook his head, his eyes filled with bewilderment. "I don’t know... I really don’t know."
"They only told me that the Seal and Ribbon is extremely difficult to destroy with external force. That it requires a specific Spell to guide the process and completely erase its Spirituality. The direct order I received... was to extinguish that golden light at all costs before the Law Net could finalize its record."
Zhang Cheng cut in, "This Wild Cultivator influence, what’s their background?"
Qii Pan took a deep breath, a strange reverence in his voice. "It’s an organization that’s existed for decades. I’m not high-ranking enough to know what it’s called. They rarely operate in towns covered by the Law Net, mostly lurking in the wilderness and mountains or at the very ends of Water Veins."
"Of the members I’ve met, at least three were at Late-stage Qi Cultivation... And from the way they spoke, the ultimate power behind them is likely a Great Cultivator who has entered the Foundation Establishment Realm."
A chill ran through Chu Bai.
’Formed decades ago, rarely active within the reach of the Law Net, and led by a Foundation Establishment cultivator.’
Piecing these bits of information together, he instantly made the connection to the True Spirit of Origin and Inheritance that Zhang Cheng had mentioned earlier.
The chaos surrounding the dissemination of cultivation methods decades ago had indeed left behind a large number of Wild Cultivator factions within Qingzhou—groups that were not only unrecognized by the Court, but actively hostile to it.
"A faction that operates outside the Law Net dares to make a move against an Imperial Decree True God."
Zhang Cheng sneered, but a flicker of worry passed through his eyes. "It looks like Dayuan Prefecture is about to see some real trouble."
He turned to look at the Seal in Chu Bai’s hands, which still pulsed with a faint golden light. "Since they couldn’t destroy it, this Seal must hide a truth they’re terrified of the world discovering. Chu Bai, guard this well. They failed to destroy it on site, which means... they’re about to get even more desperate."
As the atmosphere in the duty room grew heavy, a thick moisture suddenly filled the air.
Immediately after, an azure stream of light shot down the corridor, and Shi Guanqiao’s somewhat delicate figure appeared in the doorway.
Han Xingmo had sent out a distress call via his Water Department Token as soon as Zhang Cheng broke the barrier, but Shi Guanqiao’s travel speed was ultimately a beat slower than Zhang Cheng’s at full blast.
The moment Shi Guanqiao entered, not even bothering to wipe the beads of sweat from his temples, his gaze swept over the crack-riddled Golden Seal.
Seeing the Seal and Ribbon was there, his tense face instantly relaxed, and he clasped his hands toward Zhang Cheng with a loud laugh.
"Magistrate Zhang, your timing was impeccable! By intercepting this Divine Dao Seal and Ribbon and safeguarding the Status of an Immortal Dynasty’s True God, you have performed a service of immense merit!"
Shi Guanqiao’s voice was filled with joy as he strode forward, almost unable to contain his eagerness.
For him, the Water Department Director, the complete fall of a Water Uncle would mean not just a loss of face, but a loss of authority. Now that the Seal and Ribbon had been recovered, the Water Department had the ace it needed to regroup.
However, when he reached the desk and carefully examined the Seal with his Divine Thought, the smile on his face gradually stiffened.
"This..."
Shi Guanqiao reached out, his fingertips trembling as he lightly brushed the jagged crack on the Seal.
In his perception, while the Seal and Ribbon still possessed a sliver of Spirituality, it had been corrupted for so long that more than half of its Divine Dao Origin had already drained away.
The faint golden light was like a guttering candle in a storm, ready to be extinguished at any moment.
With the Seal and Ribbon in this state, even if the Water Uncle could be revived, his cultivation would likely be more than halved. If he were lucky, he might retain his combat strength; if not, his Status would probably drop to that of the Middle Stage of Qi Cultivation.
For someone like Shi Guanqiao, who was bent on expanding his power within the Water Department, this Seal had become a bitter prize—too weak to be truly useful, yet too important to discard.
But as things stood, he had no choice. If he couldn’t even manage the revival, he, Shi Guanqiao, would have no way of explaining himself to the Prefecture City.
"Brother Zhang, I’ll have to trouble you to stand guard."
Shi Guanqiao’s playful demeanor vanished, replaced by a solemnity he had never shown before.
He unhooked his own Water Department Chief’s Seal from his waist—the Regular Seventh-Grade Official Seal that represented his authority over the waterways of Anping County.
Spiritual Power surged around Shi Guanqiao, and azure ripples radiated out from him. Behind him, the illusion of a bottomless ocean faintly materialized in the air, exuding an aura that was simultaneously of the Netherworld, pure, and boundless.
This was Shi Guanqiao’s Foundation Establishment Dao Foundation: Pure Nether Water.
"By decree of the Water Department, within the Anping watershed, all spirits shall heed my summons!"

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