Chapter 406: The Director

After being thrown out of the Great Xuan imperial palace, the Director of the Great Li Hidden Intelligence Bureau dropped from the sky and hit the ground.

Though his cultivation had been stripped, his physical foundation remained intact, and he came through without serious injury.

Even so, now that he had escaped the palace, he still could not quite believe the Old Ancestor had simply let him walk out this easily.

Taking that puzzlement with him, the Director did not linger where he landed, but neither did he head toward the inn where Li Musheng was staying.

He did not yet understand the Old Ancestor's intentions, and his cultivation was completely gone. Going to the inn without thinking things through might put the Hidden Intelligence Bureau's base of operations at risk.

The Director found a random inn in Taixuan City to stay at, deciding he needed to understand what had happened in the Great Xuan imperial palace and Taixuan City during his imprisonment before deciding what to do next.

After all, the Old Ancestor would never have released him without reason. Something he did not know about must have happened.

The following day, the Director of the Hidden Intelligence Bureau spent time gathering information, and when he learned what had been happening in Taixuan City recently, he was left somewhat stunned.

He had genuinely not expected that in the roughly half a month he had been imprisoned, Taixuan City could have undergone changes this dramatic.

Not only had the Great Xuan emperor died, but nearly all of the emperor's children had been killed as well, and in the end a princess had taken the Great Xuan throne. It was the kind of thing that would shake the entire world.

But the Director still could not understand why the Old Ancestor had let him go.

Though he vaguely suspected it was connected to the upheaval that had just taken place in the Great Xuan imperial palace, he still had too little information to see the full picture.

In the end, after careful disguise and confirming he was not being followed, he took the risk of returning to the inn.

The Hidden Intelligence Bureau agents who had been agonizing over whether to ask Li Musheng for help again were startled into delight when their Director walked back through the door after so many days missing.

"This is not the place for conversation. Let us go to the hidden chamber first."

In the inn's back hall, the Director said this with a grave expression to the inn proprietor, then turned to head toward the underground passage.

But the inn proprietor caught his arm, "There is no need for that, sir. Speaking here is perfectly safe. You have no need to worry about being found by the Great Xuan court at all."

At those words, the Director showed an unusual expression. He clearly did not understand why his subordinate had become so bold. This was completely unlike the Hidden Intelligence Bureau's usual way of operating.

The inn proprietor could see the puzzlement and explained of his own accord, "Sir, as long as the Eighth Prince remains in this inn, this is the safest place in all of Great Xuan."

As he said this, he shook his head, "Even so, once the Eighth Prince leaves, we will probably have to abandon this location as a base of operations. It has become far too conspicuous."

"The Eighth Prince?"

The Director's brow creased. He fixed the inn proprietor with a sharp, authoritative look and said in a level voice, "Tell me everything that has happened while I was absent. Not a single word left out."

At those words, the inn proprietor glanced at the Director. He did not ask about what had happened during the man's disappearance.

Because from the moment he first laid eyes on him, it was plain that the Director had not a shred of martial cultivation left in his body, and that there were clear traces of injuries still on him.

The inn proprietor could naturally guess that the Director's situation during those days had not been pleasant, and had no intention of bringing it up.

He considered for a moment, then recounted everything connected to Li Musheng from the past weeks in full detail.

When he had finished, the Director's expression shifted through a range of unspoken thoughts.

What he cared about most was naturally the matter of rescuing his Senior Sister. But what he had not expected was that Li Musheng had not only already rescued Daoist Qingyu, he had gone further and, single-handedly, put the Great Xuan Seventh Princess on the Great Xuan throne.

And now the Director also understood why the Old Ancestor of the Great Xuan imperial palace had released him.

For Zhao Muning to take the throne, the Old Ancestor's support had clearly been essential, and behind all of it was Li Musheng.

Though he did not yet know the specific details of how it had unfolded, he could still piece together a rough picture of what Li Musheng had actually done in the Great Xuan imperial palace.

"I had not expected his martial cultivation to be this fearsome. Even the Old Ancestor of the Great Xuan imperial palace has to answer to him."

The Director said this quietly to himself. The inn proprietor beside him heard it, looked around in every direction, and then leaned in to transmit quietly through true qi with a grave expression, "There is something sir may not have heard, which has been circulating from the seven major sects in Taixuan City recently. Apparently the Eighth Prince has secretly entered the demonic path."

"On the night the three demonic sects opened the Demonic Cores, the Eighth Prince used the Demonic Patriarch's legacy Heaven-Devouring Demonic Art, absorbing all of the demonic cultivation from the Demonic Cores and draining the three demonic cult masters and a host of demonic experts to husks."

"The word is that the Eighth Prince's demonic cultivation has now reached a level that is virtually without equal under heaven, surpassing even the Demonic Patriarch himself in his prime."

The Director's expression changed visibly. He asked, "Has this been confirmed?"

At those words, the inn proprietor was clearly somewhat hesitant, and eventually shook his head, "Sir, this report is said to have originated from a certain elder of the seven major sects. It has not yet been confirmed."

"But from my observations of the Eighth Prince over this period, he has seemed entirely normal, without any signs of having entered the demonic path."

The Director said nothing, and fell into thought for a moment with a contemplative expression, before gradually composing his face and giving instructions, "The matter of whether the Eighth Prince has entered the demonic path must be treated with utmost care. Spare no effort to investigate, and report to me the moment there are results."

As he said this, the Director glanced into the inn and let his gaze settle on the room where Daoist Qingyu was staying.

Knowing his Senior Sister had been rescued, the stone weighing on his heart finally came to rest. But he did not plan to go and see her immediately.

Instead, he thought it over and decided to see Li Musheng first.

Though the Director was not certain whether Li Musheng had asked the Old Ancestor to release him, he could not have survived the Great Xuan imperial palace without Li Musheng's involvement somehow.

And beyond that, Li Musheng had rescued his Senior Sister, which was something of the greatest importance to him.

"Sir, are your injuries serious?"

The inn proprietor looked at him with concern. The Director withdrew his gaze and waved a hand, "It is nothing. Once I return to Shangyang City, a month or so should be enough to recover."

The Old Ancestor of the Great Xuan imperial palace had stripped his cultivation but had not damaged his foundation, and with the support of the finest medicinal pills in the Great Li imperial palace, he would be able to restore his martial cultivation.