The masked man had a large-denomination silver note hidden in his belt, worth five thousand taels. 𝙛𝒓𝒆𝙚𝒘𝒆𝓫𝙣𝓸𝙫𝓮𝒍.𝒄𝒐𝓶

"That’s a huge sum—even working as a Prison Guard for a lifetime wouldn’t earn you this much silver."

Jiang Feng sighed.

Next were two black pills.

Jiang Feng took a careful sniff and muttered, "This medicinal scent is refreshing—could it be the Qi Blood Pill that Sister Dong once mentioned?"

"Better keep it for now."

To be hidden in the masked man’s belt,

Jiang Feng figured it surely wasn’t anything ordinary.

"Hmm? It’s a Black Patterned Draft, and a sample of Five Poison Grass. This guy carried both with him—could he have wanted to start deciphering them the moment he got the Cultivation Techniques?"

Jiang Feng found the Black Patterned Draft and the sample of Five Poison Grass inside the masked man’s chest.

Previously, Han Dong had given him these two items, but Jiang Feng, afraid of trouble, didn’t take them; now, since he retrieved them from the masked man, he accepted them without hesitation.

After making sure there was nothing else, Jiang Feng moved to the corpse of the old Beast Master.

This guy had been cleaved in two by Jiang Feng’s blade—a ghastly death.

Blood pooled everywhere.

In his clothes, Jiang Feng found two silver notes, both torn apart by Sword Qi, and a whistle. In addition, hidden in the Beast Master’s belt, there was a cracked black token.

It was split in two by his Sword Qi.

Jiang Feng fit the pieces together.

He saw a white character for "black" on the token.

Beside the character were carved dragons and painted phoenixes, with the forms of many demon beasts; it seemed to be a Beastmaster Token. But since it was now broken, Jiang Feng put it back.

Finally, he came to the elderly man of advanced age.

He turned the corpse over.

After searching for a while, Jiang Feng found a few silver notes, and some poisonous powdered hidden weapons.

"None of them carried any Cultivation or Martial Arts techniques?"

Jiang Feng felt a bit disappointed.

He thought that cultivation was like going against the current—if you wanted to refine your Cultivation and Martial Arts to Great Perfection, you had to study the manuals frequently; carrying them around when traveling was basic for any expert.

After all, not everyone was like him, able to store techniques in the panel and upgrade his cultivation and martial arts with Fortune Points.

But as things would have it—

None of the three were carrying any.

"I’d better take care of the scene, can’t have people thinking I killed all three by myself."

Finding no cultivation techniques, Jiang Feng started cleaning up the battlefield.

His idea was simple.

Even if Han Dong and Xiao Ran found out he was a First Grade Qi Refining expert, they couldn’t be allowed to believe he killed three of the same level all by himself.

Especially Xiao Ran.

Jiang Feng always felt there was something off in Xiao Ran’s gaze. Maybe there’d be trouble later—he couldn’t reveal all his cards in front of him.

So—

Jiang Feng cleaned away many traces at the scene.

He buried the corpses of the three masked men in different places, making sure they wouldn’t be easily found.

When all this was done, Jiang Feng set off back toward Dragon Capital.

On the road, he was cautious and careful,

to avoid running into members of the Rebel Faction, or the Second and Seventh Princes’ men.

Finally, by the time the Dragon Capital Gate opened the next day, he slipped in with the crowd.

He didn’t go to Zhenbei Prison,

but headed first to Willow Alley.

In the evening, when Uncle Huo returned from shift, Jiang Feng brought three catties of tofu over to visit.

"Well, boy, where’ve you been these past days? All of Zhenbei Prison’s been saying you and the Grand Commander Han went out for some mission."

Uncle Huo was sitting in the courtyard, waiting for Aunt Huo to boil water for his foot bath.

Suddenly he saw a figure appear at the door.

It was none other than Jiang Feng. Barefoot, he excitedly went to greet him.

"I had something in the city outskirts, and Grand Commander Han had to leave the city too, so she just brought me along."

Jiang Feng didn’t explain in detail. He played along with Old Huo’s words to round off the story.

"Oh, Xiao Jiang, you’re back! Old Huo’s been talking about you these past days, said you’re making a name for yourself at Zhenbei Prison, always going out with Grand Commander Han."

Aunt Huo came out carrying a basin of hot water. Seeing Jiang Feng, she greeted him with great enthusiasm.

"It’s not like what Uncle Huo says. Grand Commander Han is way up there—I’m just a Little Prison Chief. We happened to leave the city for a task, no idea if she’s returned yet."

Jiang Feng smiled.

"Grand Commander Han came back yesterday. I heard from a few brothers that as soon as she returned, she went straight to the Imperial City and hasn’t come out since."

Uncle Huo replied at once.

"Probably due to official business! Auntie, here’s the tofu—please go cook it. In a bit, Uncle Huo and I will have some wine in the courtyard."

Jiang Feng handed the three catties of tofu to Aunt Huo.

"Ah, it’s good enough you’re here—you didn’t need to bring tofu. All right, I’ll grab you a chair. You two talk, I’ll handle things."

Aunt Huo took the tofu into the kitchen, a broad smile on her face.

Jiang Feng took the chance to ask what had been happening in Zhenbei Prison recently. He knew Han Dong must have gone to the Imperial City with Bao Longwei to report the Rebel Faction’s spies and the incident at White Tiger Mountain to the Emperor.

As expected—

The next few days would be turbulent times in Dragon Capital.

No telling how many people connected to the Rebel Faction’s spies would get caught up in it.

Jiang Feng understood well—while the Emperor might tolerate corrupt officials and factional strife, there was no way he’d allow the Rebel Faction to infiltrate the court. That was a direct provocation to his Imperial Authority.

Starting tomorrow, no doubt—

The cells of the Four Great Prisons would be packed full.

In the end, Jiang Feng shared three pots of wine with Uncle Huo in the courtyard. As he was leaving, Jiang Feng gave little Huowa a hug—

The little fellow was babbling his first words, at just the cutest age.