Huff, huff, huff!

The Qi rings swirl around like one's own breath, continuously drawing in a vast amount of pure spiritual Qi.

Focus and calm the mind.

Meditate.

Su Yue cannot waste this opportunity.

Undistracted.

...

The freshman assembly concluded.

The West Martial students dispersed, and the students from other schools who came to watch also boarded the buses returning to their schools.

This time, a prodigy rose in West Martial, and over the next four years, each martial arts academy didn't know how the winds would surge.

On the way back to East Martial, Wang Lu Feng's eyelids twitched constantly.

He always felt that something bad was going to happen.

Restless mind.

...

Governor's Mansion in Renqing Province.

Jiang Fuyan sat silently behind his desk, his face frighteningly livid.

On the guest sofa in Jiang Fuyan's office, two major generals sat upright.

They were from the Zhenqin Corps.

The Zhenqin Corps is responsible for Divine Land's security, cabinet safety, and all intelligence.

Several governors of Renqing Province also rushed over.

Wang Nanguo stood with his head lowered in the center of the office.

Slap.

He suddenly slapped himself across the face.

"Governor, I'm sorry. Because of my intelligence, 17 brothers were captured by the Yangxiang Sect. I'll go destroy the Yangxiang Sect."

Wang Nanguo was consumed with guilt, wanting to die.

"Shut up, I am also responsible. We cannot blame this on any one person."

Jiang Fuyan glared at Wang Nanguo.

Then, the governor of Hongyuan City hurriedly pulled Wang Nanguo aside.

Wang Nanguo's eyes were swollen, his face haggard.

"Wang Nanguo, the intelligence wasn't wrong, and you can't be blamed," Li Xingpei stepped forward to console him.

...

A while ago.

Wang Nanguo captured a traitor from the Yangxiang Sect and brought him back to Hongyuan City. Because of the green powder left behind by Su Yue, the traitor, after being tortured for three days and nights, finally couldn't endure and revealed the location of a secret stronghold of the Yangxiang Sect.

Wang Nanguo decisively reported the intelligence to the governor of Hongyuan City.

The governor was shocked and immediately reported it to Governor Jiang Fuyan.

Thus, after a simple deployment, a surprise team selected from the Investigation and Arrest Bureau and the Teacher Combat Institute set out for the Yangxiang Sect's stronghold.

This stronghold was in a primeval jungle on the border of Renqing Province.

Miao Border Jungle.

The Miao Border Jungle is muddy, impassable, and a former battlefield from the technological era, already turned into a most primitive beast forest.

Originally, the governor was to go and direct personally, but due to Mu Jingliang going abroad and Jiang Fuyan having to guard the fifth battlefield, he couldn't leave.

Based on the intelligence extracted by Wang Nanguo.

In the Miao Border Jungle, there is a type of green snake hidden in the trees.

This green snake has an exceptionally high detection ability for Qi blood fluctuations and is adept at hiding. If a Fifth-Grade Martial Artist appears, the green snake will become agitated.

The cunning Yangxiang Sect reared many green snakes specifically to detect foreign martial artists entering the Miao Border Jungle.

After repeated interrogations at the Governor's Mansion, they confirmed that the strongest martial artist in the Yangxiang Sect's Miao Border Jungle stronghold was a Fourth-Grade Martial Artist.

Because of the green snake's instincts, even a member of the Yangxiang Sect who is a Fifth-Grade Martial Artist would struggle to calm them down, rendering the green snakes' warning abilities useless.

Thus, Renqing Province assembled a 20-person Fourth-Grade assault team.

According to the intelligence, the Yangxiang Race is conducting some unspeakable secret experiments within the stronghold.

If the size of the assault team were too large, it might similarly alert the enemy.

Killing was not the ultimate goal.

The task of the assault team was to kill the cultists as quickly as possible, ensuring the integrity of the experimental base.

This way, the Divine Land Research Institute could fully acquire the Yangxiang Race's research data.

Due to the Yangxiang Race's advantage in the Wetlands, the Yangxiang Sect can sell a large number of spirit medicines; thus, they are financially robust and research things that make even the Divine Land Research Institute tremble.

These 20 people entered the jungle, highly mobile, without causing green snake agitation. The assault team members are the most elite Fourth-Grade pinnacle experts of Renqing Province, armed to the teeth. Even if they couldn't defeat the Yangxiang Sect members, they wouldn't worry about escaping.

Moreover, there were three Grandmaster governors waiting outside the jungle.

As long as the assault team could not prevail against the Yangxiang Sect, the Grandmasters would risk alarming the enemy to rescue them.

In fact, according to previous captures of Yangxiang Sect members, those above Fourth-Grade within the Yangxiang Sect are extremely rare.

Even if there was a Fifth-Grade member stationed there, this 20-man team could withdraw calmly; the danger was not significant.

However.

An unexpected incident occurred.

Of the 20 team members.

Three were killed in action on the spot.

And 17 were unfortunately captured alive by the cultists; they probably didn't even have a chance to die.

Three governors rushed into the Miao Border Jungle, searching for three days and nights, but found nothing except three corpses.

However, the kind of green snake described in the intelligence did indeed exist.

A day later.

A letter suddenly appeared at the entrance of the Governor's Mansion in Renqing Province.

This letter was from the Yangxiang Sect.

Inside the letter were photos.

Pictures of all 17 captured assault team members.

They were hung upside down from tree trunks, tortured beyond recognition.

And the Yangxiang Sect threatened:

In 15 days, they would publicly execute this batch of hostages on the Martial Arts Forum.

It was then the Governor's Mansion realized that besides the Renqing Province's Governor's Mansion, the Yangxiang Sect had also captured a total of 61 hostages elsewhere.

They were all Fourth-Grade Martial Artists.

And all were the elite from various provincial Investigation and Arrest Bureaus and Teacher Combat Institutes.

Even... there was a lieutenant from the Zhenqin Corps.

...

List of captured:

Cengyan City: Dai Yuegui, Yuan Zhengtao, Zhu Guocheng…

Hongyuan City: Qin Ziyang, Jing Yong'an…

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