Chapter 74: Daughter Returns, Governor Father is Furious!

The main gate of the Governor's Mansion stood over thirty feet high, its two vermilion-lacquered iron-clad doors standing heavy and imposing in the night.

The lanterns hanging from the lintel swayed in the wind.

Orange light swept back and forth across the stone steps.

Lin Chen led Nangong Yao to the bottom of the stone steps.

The captain of the personal guards at the very front was stunned at first, then he sprang up as if pricked by a needle.

"Young... Young Miss!"

His voice was so sharp it cracked, and his eyes bulged as if they were about to fall out of their sockets!

Immediately after, the clattering sound of armor colliding came from behind him.

A dozen personal guards all turned their heads to look, their faces filled with shock as if they had seen a ghost.

Nangong Yao did not stop her pace, merely nodding slightly to them.

"Go inform my father and say that I have returned."

The guard captain's legs trembled twice before he turned and ran into the mansion.

He ran three steps, then stopped and looked back.

His eyes were already red, and his voice was trembling.

"Young Miss, you... you're finally back!"

"The Governor... he's been nearly driven mad with worry these past few days."

Nangong Yao didn't respond to this, merely gathering her hair scattered over her shoulders and stepping up the stone stairs.

Lin Chen followed half a step behind her, his left hand carrying a coarse cloth bundle.

His right hand habitually rested on the hilt of the black abyss.

Inside the bundle was the ledger recovered from Medicine Elder's main altar, along with several letters found in the north city sub-altar.

Just as the two passed through the corridor of the front hall, a series of heavy footsteps sounded from the direction of the main hall in the distance.

Each step was like a heavy hammer striking the bluestone floor, and also striking the hearts of those present!

The door to the main hall was pushed open from the inside, slamming hard against the walls on both sides!

Two loud bangs rang out.

A tall, middle-aged man appeared in the middle of the doorframe.

His hair and beard were streaked with white, and his face was majestic, yet his tiger-like eyes were bloodshot.

The dark circles under his eyes were so deep they were almost purple; he clearly hadn't closed his eyes for many days.

He was still wearing the official robes from the daytime meeting, but the front of his garment was crumpled into a mess.

His belt was also half-loose.

Nangong Xiong.

Governor of Nanyang Prefecture, a powerhouse of the Divine Treasury Realm.

He stood at the entrance of the main hall, his gaze crossing the dozen paces of the corridor and pinning firmly onto Nangong Yao's face.

His lips parted twice, but his throat seemed blocked by something, and he couldn't utter a single word.

Nangong Yao also stopped her pace.

Seeing her father's haggard appearance, her nose felt sore.

The mist in her eyes became somewhat disobedient.

But she still straightened her back, her voice held very steady.

"Father, your unfilial daughter has returned. I have made you worry."

Nangong Xiong's Adam's apple bobbed up and down several times before he strode over.

He walked up to Nangong Yao and reached out both hands to grab his daughter's shoulders.

The force was so great that Nangong Yao's body swayed slightly.

He looked his daughter up and down, from head to toe, and then from toe to head.

It was as if he wanted to confirm that every inch of her was intact and unharmed.

Finally, his gaze fell on the two deep purple rope marks faintly visible beneath her cuffs.

Nangong Xiong's breath hitched for a beat.

"Who did it?"

These three words were ground out one by one from between his teeth.

The chill in his voice was enough to freeze the entire main hall!

The personal guards standing watch on both sides of the corridor all shivered, feeling as if their blood was about to be frozen solid.

This was not the release of True Qi.

This was the instinctive influence on the surrounding space when a Divine Treasury Realm powerhouse experienced intense emotional fluctuations.

Nangong Yao retracted her wrists half an inch into her sleeves.

"Father, let's go inside to talk. There are too many people out here."

Nangong Xiong's jaw clenched twice before he finally released his grip on his daughter's shoulders.

He turned his head and only then noticed the young man standing half a step behind Nangong Yao.

The youth had a pitch-black long saber hanging at his waist; his expression was calm, and his Aura was restrained.

Under the pressure of his Divine Treasury Realm Aura, the youth didn't waver in the slightest.

Nangong Xiong's gaze lingered on him for two breaths.

"Who is he?"

Nangong Yao spoke up before Lin Chen could open his mouth.

"Father, he is Lin Chen."

Nangong Xiong's brow twitched.

"The Little Banner from the Patrol Division who was transferred from Qingxi County?"

Nangong Yao nodded.

"He was the one who saved me."

Nangong Xiong's gaze swept over Lin Chen's face again, lingering three breaths longer than before, his eyes becoming unfathomably deep.

Then he turned his head to look at the personal guards on both sides of the corridor, his voice cold.

"Everyone, withdraw thirty paces from the main hall. No one is to approach without my command."

The guard captain took the order and quickly led his men away.

As the sound of footsteps faded, the door to the main hall was pushed shut by Nangong Xiong with a palm strike from the inside.

The moment the door closed, his Aura changed.

He was no longer the anxious father at the doorway.

He returned to being the Divine Treasury Realm powerhouse who governed a region and scrutinized everything.

He walked to the main seat of the hall but did not sit down, instead turning to face the two of them.

"Tell me everything from the beginning. Don't leave out a single word."

Nangong Yao walked to the front of the hall, stood by a chair on the left, and began her narration.

"Eight days ago, I left the city for training according to a set route, with the destination being the Cangwu Forest sixty miles outside the city."

"The route was decided three days in advance; only the mansion's guard commander, Uncle Zhao, and the inner courtyard manager, Nanny Liu, knew about it."

Nangong Yao continued, "When we reached Qingshi Ridge, thirty miles outside the city, someone had set an ambush there."

She paused for half a beat, her breathing becoming slightly heavier.

"The opponent was an evil cultivator in the Early Stage of the Ningdan Realm. He knew from the start that we would pass through there and had set a trap on my mandatory path."

Nangong Xiong's knuckles actually carved a clear crack into the back of the chair, wood chips fluttering down.

His voice, however, remained steady.

"What about the accompanying guards?"

Nangong Yao's hands clenched at her sides, a hint of bitterness in her voice.

"The two accompanying guards, though both experts in the Late Stage of the Tongmai Realm, were ambushed by the opponent using a secret technique."

"One died and one was heavily injured. The injured one was later silenced as well."

Nangong Xiong's breathing grew heavy, his chest heaving significantly under his official robes, but he forced his emotions down and did not interrupt.

Nangong Yao recounted her experience after being captured from beginning to end.

From being locked in a Runic Cage, to being bound by fine iron chains, to having her True Qi continuously suppressed by a Runic Array.

She explained every detail clearly, without any emotional embellishment.

Yet Nangong Xiong's face turned from a dark green to a deathly white, bit by bit.

That was not fear.

That was a deathly white caused by killing intent reaching its peak, steaming all the blood from his face!

"And then?"

Nangong Yao turned her head, her gaze falling on Lin Chen.

"Then Lin Chen arrived."

She described how Lin Chen investigated the evil cultivator case and how he discovered the north city sub-altar.

How he entered the underground secret room alone to slay the altar master, and how he found the secret passage leading to the cells.

And how he, with a Tongmai Realm cultivation, broke through a Ningdan Realm Runic Array—she recounted it all one by one.

The air in the hall grew heavier and heavier, oppressive enough to make one suffocate.

Nangong Xiong's gaze moved several times from his daughter's face to Lin Chen's, then back again.

His eyes were complex, containing scrutiny, appraisal, and a deeply hidden sense of gratitude.

When Nangong Yao spoke of how Lin Chen took her to strike directly at the Jian Ward main altar, and how the two of them cooperated to slay the Ningdan Realm evil cultivator Medicine Elder, Nangong Xiong's fingers finally released the back of the chair.

He took two steps forward and stood before Lin Chen, the two of them less than three feet apart.

The Aura of a Divine Treasury Realm powerhouse was vast and profound, making it hard to breathe.

But Lin Chen still stood there, his back as straight as a spear.

Nangong Xiong stared at him for five breaths.

"Middle Stage of the Tongmai Realm, slaying an evil cultivator of the Early Stage of the Ningdan Realm."

His voice was very low, as if he were chewing over the weight of this feat.

"You are very good."

Lin Chen's reply was calm.

"The Governor overpraises me."

Nangong Xiong's brow arched slightly.

But he did not linger on this topic, instead shifting his gaze to the coarse cloth bundle in Lin Chen's left hand.

"What is that?"

Lin Chen placed the bundle on the long table in front of the hall and unwrapped the coarse cloth.

Inside were three items.

A ledger with a sheepskin cover, a stack of folded letters, and a confession with a thumbprint.

Lin Chen flipped the ledger open and pushed it toward Nangong Xiong.

"This is the ledger recovered from Medicine Elder's main altar, recording the sources of the Nether Sect's activity funds in Nanyang Prefecture City over the past two years."

Nangong Xiong looked down, his gaze falling on the first page of the ledger.

He had only flipped three pages when the force in his fingers began to lose control, crumpling the edges of the paper.

The records in the ledger were simple: time, amount, and source.

And in the source column, a pseudonym appeared repeatedly: Master of the Eastern Court.

When Nangong Xiong flipped to the seventh page, his movements stopped.

That page recorded not silver, but a batch of special materials.

Twelve sticks of Soul-Condensing Incense, sixty Blood-Devouring Pills, and two hundred Binding Talismans.

A line of small characters was written in the remarks column.

"Delivered personally by the Master of the Eastern Court, with instructions to complete the setup of the Blood-Devouring Grand Array within three months, as a distinguished guest will need to be dealt with then."

Nangong Xiong's finger lingered on that line of small characters for a long time, motionless.

He set down the ledger and picked up the stack of letters.

The first letter was very short, with only two lines of text, but the wording was so blunt it made one's scalp tingle.

"After capturing Nangong Yao, do not be in a hurry to kill her. First, use the Blood Devouring Technique to extract seventy percent of her essence blood and refine it into a blood pill to be sent back."

"The remaining husk can be dealt with as you wish."

There was no signature at the end of the letter, but on the dark red wax seal, a pattern was pressed.

A golden eagle with spread wings, treading upon a horizontal saber.

Nangong Xiong stared at that wax seal, his entire Aura becoming dangerous.

The floor tiles beneath him silently began to spread with spiderweb-like cracks, centered on him.

"This seal..."

His voice was ground out from the depths of his throat word by word, carrying a tremor that made one's heart turn cold.

Nangong Yao stood by the side, her lips pressed into a straight line.

"Father, you recognize it."

Nangong Xiong crumpled the letter in his hand, his voice low and heavy.

"It looks like the private seal of Steward Wang Zhong, the head manager of the Wang Family's inner courtyard."

Nangong Yao looked up at her father.

"When I was locked in the cage, I heard those black-robes mention the Wang Family's name, saying they had to report back to the Wang Family once the matter was finished."

She revealed the rope marks on her wrist from her sleeve by half an inch; the two deep purple marks were exceptionally striking under the lamplight.

"I only had suspicions at first, but with this letter and this seal, there is no longer any need for suspicion."

Lin Chen spoke at the right moment, his voice calm and devoid of emotion.

"Governor, besides the ledger and the letters, there is also the confession of the captured evil cultivator."

He handed over the confession with the thumbprint.

"The black-robe from the north city sub-altar confessed that Medicine Elder's main altar has been receiving funding from the Wang Family for two years."

"Silver, medicinal herbs, and cultivation resources were all secretly transported through the Wang Family's inner courtyard channels."

Nangong Xiong took the confession, and as his gaze swept over a few lines, the veins on the back of his hand bulged one by one!

Lin Chen continued, "In exchange, Medicine Elder's organization eliminated dissidents for the Wang Family in the shadows."

"Including some disobedient small merchants and members of small families competing with the Wang Family."

His fingers tapped lightly on the edge of the long table.

"The second and third victims among those shriveled corpses both had business disputes with the Wang Family during their lives."

"One was a grain merchant driven to bankruptcy by the Wang Family."

"The other was a clerk in the Prefecture Government Office who had opposed the Wang Family."

Nangong Xiong slammed the confession onto the table and looked up.

His gaze passed through the dim lamplight of the main hall and fell on Lin Chen's face.

The previous scrutiny was gone from his eyes, replaced only by a profoundly heavy emotion.