I Am Your Natural Enemy

At the Scorching Sun Headquarters, the General Director sat in his office, reading through the materials from the past few days.

The issue in Nanwu Commandery, in fact, was manageable; at least there wasn’t any major incident at the moment. Moreover, after the Office of Sanitation and Cleansing was established, the first task they handled was Nanwu Commandery.

The original members of the Office of Sanitation and Cleansing were all absolutely trustworthy.

The reason for creating this office was simply that there was no way to resolve their distorted mindsets; the only option was to set up an office and turn the matter into something official—then everything would fall naturally into place.

This time, with the exposure of these people, whose orders were given, where did the cars come from, who inspected them, who allowed them to pass—all the procedures were sorted out very clearly.

The branch minister was killed—for the staff in the Office of Sanitation and Cleansing, this was truly intolerable.

Unless they eliminated the person responsible, no one could stop their investigation.

They managed to root out a large group all at once. Some truly had no idea about the inside story and weren’t caught; for them, a transfer was the best possible outcome.

In this matter, it was impossible to make a bet on whether you truly didn’t know just because there was no direct evidence. If you were implicated, you went on the watchlist.

The General Director looked at the list—the number of people from Nanwu Commandery was actually the smallest; on the headquarters side, there were more than in Nanwu Commandery.

Other commanderies were also implicated because of Taiyi Observatory.

As one of the Three Mountains and Five Ridges, over many years, they had built up all sorts of connections and relationships—there were in fact a lot of them.

It’s just that each mountain and sect had their differences.

Qingcheng’s relationships were mostly in the Southwest Divine Land. Dragon Tiger Mountain, which did not prohibit marriage, had disciples who, after leaving the mountain, married and had children. Over time, Dragon Tiger Mountain’s network of relationships had actually become even broader.

Taiyi Observatory’s relationships were actually just average. Because of differences in doctrine and rules, its members were clergy Taoists, and interactions with others were somewhat distanced.

Moreover, the rules were particularly strict, which further severed some ties.

If one were to say which was more lenient, it would be Fuyu Mountain.

Fuyu Mountain actually had no particularly harsh rules, and quite a few disciples left the mountain. It’s just that, for decades, Fuyu Mountain had not produced any outstanding disciples.

Most of their disciples were adopted orphans—if they grew up healthy, that was already not bad; you couldn’t expect too much else.

Normally, among the Three Mountains and Five Ridges, regarding such matters, everyone exercised great restraint. For the most part, once someone left the mountain, there was little connection with their sect—that relationship was nearly like that between a graduate and their alma mater, perhaps even a bit closer.

Those who kept in close contact after leaving and maintained a tight bond were usually the ones who achieved something, who made a name for themselves.

This time, the Scorching Sun Department’s investigation, through clues from Taiyi Observatory, the vehicles in Nanwu Commandery, and Director Liu from headquarters who failed in a suicide attempt—these three threads, as they followed them, the more clearly things became.

The speed wasn’t just due to manpower, resources, or usual methods—over a dozen different wondrous items were also deployed as support.

Things that could have been hidden before, or gotten away with—the old tricks—were no longer effective now.

But clearly, people’s ways of thinking have inertia; you can’t seamlessly switch to a version you’re still trying to figure out.

It’s like when DNA testing first emerged and dealt a crushing blow to countless criminals. All their careful and elaborate precautions were rendered meaningless with a single test report pinned against them.

The General Director looked at the names on the list and quietly sighed.

At Scorching Sun Headquarters, there was one minister, two deputy ministers, and beneath them, seven people at the director level.

The head of the Office of Sanitation and Cleansing, Cai Qidong, was actually at the deputy director level. If the office expanded further, then Cai Qidong would become the eighth director.

This time, there was one director on the list.

The General Director looked complex; he had known there would certainly be someone of high rank, but seeing the result for real still filled him with some regret.

He put down the list and picked up the phone on his desk.

”Notify the two deputy ministers and the seven directors to come to Level Seven underground.”

The General Director picked up the phone again and called the Old Celestial Master.

”Old Celestial Master, I’ll be troubling you to handle the aftermath of the Three Mountains and Five Ridges, as well as to calm down the various mountain sects beyond those.”

”Of course.”

”One more thing, I’m going to visit the monument. Old Celestial Master, would you like to come?”

”Of course I’ll come. My Magic Sword is with you—just bring it along, I’ll send my Yin Spirit over.”

”Old Celestial Master, your Magic Sword isn’t at the Scorching Sun Department.”

”Eh?”

”Your Magic Sword followed Wen Yan away on its own.”

”Impossible.”

”Our men all had body cameras on them—everything was recorded. The Magic Sword wrapped itself in cloth and left with Wen Yan.”

On the other end, the Old Celestial Master suddenly fell silent.

”Just bring my Magic Sword over.”

Leaving that sentence, the Old Celestial Master hurriedly hung up and looked at the Taoist beside him.

”When you delivered the Magic Sword, was there a piece of gray cloth with it?”

”Yes, the Magic Sword was wrapped in a layer of gray cloth, like coarse fabric. Is there a problem?”

”Nothing.”

The Old Celestial Master sighed inwardly—something bad had happened.

His Magic Sword had never been wrapped in gray cloth to begin with.

Earlier, at the Cloud Sea Cliff, a spirit and monster rushed out. After he suppressed and killed it, the only thing left behind was that gray cloth.

That gray cloth still carried some malicious aura at first; he kept it by his side, winding it around the Magic Sword, using his daily morning rites to dispel all the bad aura from it.