"Yes, yes—thank you, Brother Xue." Fei Yangsheng was overjoyed at once. A grade-four Great Return Pill would be enough to restore him fully in short order. True, provoking Wei Zhao a second time was somewhat unwise, but when the sky falls there is always someone taller to hold it up—with a man of Xue Jianfeng's caliber standing in front, what did he have to fear?

"Very good. You may all stay here and await news from me. So long as Xue is present, the people of our Tai Gu Minor Jianghu are not so easily killed." Xue Jianfeng cupped his hands to the crowd, then swept off with Fei Yangsheng in tow.

"Worthy of Xue Jianfeng." The others all sighed in admiration. Word in the streets had it that the Tai Gu Alliance, formed by the great sects of the Tai Gu Minor Jianghu, was soon to change its leadership. The hour had not yet come, it was true, but when it did, a man like Xue Jianfeng would surely be a hot new luminary within the Alliance—unmatched by any other of the younger generation.

Emerging from the Shennongjia, Fei Yangsheng played his old trick again and commandeered a car, driving straight for Xima City. Yet when he and Xue Jianfeng reached their destination, the room was long since empty.

"That primordial spirit cultivator must have been afraid of vengeance from our Tai Gu Minor Jianghu and fled ahead of time. What are we to do, Brother Xue?" asked Fei Yangsheng.

"Do? Dig three feet into the earth if we must, but we will drag him out!" Xue Jianfeng snorted coldly. He had boasted grandly before so many of the Tai Gu Minor Jianghu; to return empty-handed now was utterly out of the question.

"But he is a primordial spirit, and ordinarily no different from an ordinary man. Even Sun Baimei and the others of the Evil-Warding Sect would have difficulty finding him. With only you and me, Brother Xue, it is like fishing a needle from the ocean," said Fei Yangsheng, his face sour.

"Did I ever say I would go searching in person?" Xue Jianfeng shot him a glance.

"You mean to rouse the other Tai Gu Minor Jianghu disciples to search together?" Fei Yangsheng's eyes lit up. If Wei Zhao were branded a common enemy of the Tai Gu Minor Jianghu and every disciple set to hunting him, the odds of success would indeed rise considerably.

"Foolish. How many disciples came out for this trial? The mortal world is vast—how could they possibly search it all?" Xue Jianfeng looked at him as though at an idiot.

"Er…" Fei Yangsheng could not help but color. It was indeed the truth of the matter. To rely on the handful of Tai Gu Minor Jianghu to turn Wei Zhao out of the mortal world—who knew how many years that would take. He could only ask feebly, "Then how are we to find him?"

"Did you not say this primordial spirit cultivator is a man of the mortal world? Then naturally we make the mortal world hand him over itself. Come." Xue Jianfeng smiled faintly.

"Where to?" Fei Yangsheng blinked.

"The Mysterious Investigation Bureau. They say all cultivators of the mortal world answer to them. Blood debts must be paid in blood—we come to demand justice. Once we arrive, justice will naturally be found, and we shall kill two birds with one stone besides." A look of lofty disdain hung on Xue Jianfeng's face.

"Two birds with one stone?" Fei Yangsheng did not quite follow.

"Demanding justice is but the first. As for the second—we may as well ask them directly for new disciples of passable aptitude, and save ourselves the trouble," Xue Jianfeng said mildly.

He had always been a radical; at heart he had never taken the mortal world seriously at all. The trial's rules explicitly forbade disturbing the order of the mortal world, and he had in truth thought little of that—especially where the search for new disciples was concerned. To rely on their few dozen trial disciples to fish a needle from the ocean was a method supremely foolish.

In Xue Jianfeng's view, the best approach was none other than to drive straight in—go directly to the Mysterious Investigation Bureau and obtain from them the records of every cultivator in the mortal world. Then one need only sift through them one by one, pick out those who met the aptitude requirements of the Tai Gu sects, and take them away outright. Why go to such great pains to act so discreetly?

Yet for all his displeasure, this was after all the express decree of the Tai Gu Alliance, and even Xue Jianfeng could not openly defy it. But now things were different: the deaths of Yin Zhiping and Sun Baimei gave him ample grounds to make an issue of it. To come knocking for justice was entirely proper, and at the same time he could seize the chance to demand men—two birds with one stone.

"Quite so, quite so—Brother Xue is shrewd indeed. Rather than spending our own effort and wasting time, why not simply ask them for the men!" Fei Yangsheng nodded again and again, thinking to himself that this senior brother was truly a figure of impressive bearing—a man of bold resolve in all he did!

The two set off at once for the headquarters of the Mysterious Investigation Bureau. Such matters were secrets the ordinary man could scarcely touch, but to cultivators of their caliber, the mortal world held no secrets at all.

The situation at the Mysterious Investigation Bureau had long since been observed clearly by the other trial disciples; only, constrained by the rules of the Tai Gu Alliance, they had merely watched from afar and not dared intrude rashly.

Arriving at the Bureau's headquarters, Xue Jianfeng and Fei Yangsheng stepped out of the car and strode in. The guard at the gate started at the sight and hastily barred their way: "Sorry, no unauthorized persons beyond this point."

Unlike other institutions, the Mysterious Investigation Bureau hung no signboard at its gate, and being in a rather remote place, it saw no idle comers and goers save its own people—though mishaps did occur now and then, and the guards' role was to keep such idlers out.

"Out of my way." Xue Jianfeng did not halt his steps, merely cursing under his breath—and the guard, for reasons unknown, dropped to his knees on the spot with a thud.

Fei Yangsheng, following behind, watched this with a cold chuckle. The guard was plainly no ordinary man; by the look of it he had at least a Yellow-rank cultivation. Yet before a master like Xue Jianfeng, one at the great perfection of Foundation Establishment, a Yellow-rank expert was no different from any common man—a single glance could frighten you to your knees.

"Old Wu, are you all right?" Several team members passing by on business hurried over, helping him up while teasing, "Old Wu, you are too polite. It was only a small wound from the last operation—no need to kneel before everyone you meet. And anyway, this isn't Director Feng or Director Song; kneeling to him won't get you back on the action team."

"Nonsense! As soon as my wound heals I'll be back on the action team!" Old Wu's face darkened. Even he could not say what had just happened—perhaps it was simply his leg going numb. Yet when he looked again at Xue Jianfeng and his companion, a measure of wariness entered his eyes, and he said, neither cringing nor arrogant, "Gentlemen, your credentials, if you please."

"Credentials?" Xue Jianfeng stood in lofty posture and glanced down at him with faint scorn. "Wherever I wish to go, I have never needed credentials—nor do I know what they are."

At these words, Old Wu and the several team members beside him wore peculiar expressions. This had to be some scion of a high official's household, one who fancied his power reached the heavens and cared not a fig for anyone, wherever he went.